Street TALK

Lifestyles of the Rich and Bankrupt



Zale Corp. may be officially broke, but its executive compensation plan is working just fine, thanks. Recent testimony in the company’s ongoing bankruptcy hearings revealed that chief financial officer Andreas ludwig received a $100,000-a-year raise in January, after the company had been forced into Chapter 7 involuntary bankruptcy. Only days after the company boosted Ludwig’s annual salary to $275,000, it consented to enter Chapter 11, shut hundreds of stores nationwide and told a federal bankruptcy judge it would run out of cash in a week. Mr.Ludwig remains on the payroll.



Why We Love Lawyers, Chapter V



Speaking of Zale, exec salaries aren’t the only things ticking off empty-handed bondhonders. After weeks of negotiations, attorneys for Zale and its creditors reached an agreement on a $500 million loan to keep the stores operating, in an arrangement known as debtor-in-possession, or DIP. To mark the end of talks, the attorneys had T-shirts printed up that read “I survived Camp DIP.” Bondholders were not amused. “With all that work, somehow they had time to get some T-shirts made,” wrote David Glatstein of Dallas investment company Barre & Co. in a newsletter to other bondholders. “Can you believe this lunacy?”



New Hope, Old Habits



Same song, second verse. In 1988, super-preacher BILL WEBER was forced to leave his post as leader of Preston-wood Baptist Church because of his numerous extramarital affairs. After resigning, Weber started New Hope Community Church on Midway Road with a handful of loyal followers. Now it seems Weber has been forced out of this position, too. The official line from the church is that Weber left to concentrate on business activities; Weber does motivational speaking. But according to insiders the real reason was-again-adulterous romances.



Perot Patrol



When it comes to Ross Perot’s views on gay rights and AIDS, his supporters apparently have been as much in the dark as the rest of the country. Earlier this spring, as the Perot juggernaut gaired steam, calls flooded campaign headquarters asking his opinions on those topics. Flustered by the inquiries and with the billionaire out of the country. Perot supporters called Dallas gay activists and asked them if they knew where Perot stands.

Kathy and Craig



Want to buy a house with political connections? Would-be-mayor KATHRYN CAIN’Ss home on Gaston has been on the market, to the tune of $249,000. . . And in one of life’s little ironies, Cain’s boyfriend Craig Hall still has an autobiography on the shelves of local bookstores. Its title: News of My Death . . . Was Greatly Exaggerated: How I Survived the Texas Crash. “When that came out,” says Craig, recent bankruptee and subject of an RTC lawsuit, “I thought things were improving.”



Booked



Add 14-1 plaintiff ROY WILLIAMS to the list of people who think the story of their lives would make a great book. Williams recently published Time Change: An Alternative View of the History of Dallas. Encouraged by that venture, he plans not only an autobiography but also a book about his metaphysical beliefs. . .Williams’ partner-in-litigation, MARVIN CRENSHAW, also has a publication in mind. He’s researching a book about Dallas’ civil rights movement that he says will refute the common notion that “there was no struggle in Dallas” prior to the 1980s.



The Rainmaker



At a recent picnic on the expansive grounds of the TRAMMELL CROW home, guests were nonplussed when the real estate baron predicted that, despite the clear skies overhead, it would rain in five minutes. Sure enough, five minutes later, it started raining. Crow later explained that he had received a weather report from the airport, but many of the guests credited him with being in contact with a higher source.



It’s A Family Affair

The Jones boys and girls all get into the act, and on the payroll, with dad JERRY JONES’ Dallas Cowboys. Son STEVE is a vice president, charlotte JONES-ANDERSON is marketing and special events director, and JERRY JR. works ticket sales during summers when he’s not in college at Georgetown U.



Rainbow Warriors

With Dallas County Commissioner JOHN WILEY PRICE likely to spend part of the summer in court on rape charges, lead defense attorney BILLY RAYKIND is working all the angles. During Price’s assault re-trial in May, Ravkind, an Anglo, teamed up with an African-American, CHERYL WATTLEY, and a Hispanic, Joe Montemayor. Ravkind also wanted to add Councilman DOMINGO GARCIA, who declined because of a Mexico trip. Garcia may be a player at the rape trial.



Just Look At the Pictures

Some Dallas bookstore clerks can be a bit overprotective. When grandmotherly JAN BARTON asked for a copy of the national gay news magazine, The Advocate, a bewildered clerk at The Original Magazine and Book Store asked, “Are you sure that’s what you want?” It certainly was. Barton, a winner of the Foley’s 1992 Savvy Award for her extensive work on behalf of AIDS patients, just wanted to see the magazine’s profile of her.



Hooked

S&L swindler DON DIXON’s five-year prison sentence, handed out earlier this year by U.S. District Judge JOE FISH, was seen as a mere wrist-slap by U.S. Justice Department attorneys who are now pursuing new charges against Dixon. Indignation was summed up by a cartoon that hung for months on the wall of the Dallas Bank Fraud Task Force’s office. It showed Dixon standing before Fish’s bench. Fish was saying, “Five years of community service, Mr. Dixon. How can the community serve you?”