THESE PARTS Found: Carro-Dento- Dallasites

THE 18,000 DALLAS1TIS NOW LIVING in Denton County might have an identity crisis. Carrollton almost surrounds this 2/2-square-mile area. It’s served by Carrollton’s merchants, phone company, fire department, and school district. They’ve got a Dallas city councilman-Max Wells. And they’re in a Denton county commissioner’s district. Until recently, these Carro-Dento-Dallasites wondered if anybody cared. Their asphalt streets were in disrepair. Stop signs were faded. The area was ignored.

So the residents decided to make government notice. The Morningside Residents Association, led by the unabashed Theresa Lang, worked tirelessly to plead their case. And their efforts paid off.

“The area is stronger than any other area I represent in terms of involvement,” says Denton County Commissioner Sandy Jacobs. Also impressed was Councilman Wells. Now, streets are being resurfaced with concrete, and Wells’ top priority in the 1995 bond package is completing Frankford Road, which will solve part of the identity crisis by allowing Dallas’ fire department to serve the area.

“People are almost incensed when a Carrollton fire truck pulls up,” Wells says. “They say, ’I pay Dallas taxes. Where’s my Dallas fire truck?’”