LETTERS

POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL

I KNEW CATHY PRICHARD KAPLAN [“OUT on the Street,” December 1996] and her former husband, Charles, quite well. She was always a failure at life, and her parents were to blame. She only knew how to shop and spend other people’s money. And when the money was gone, so went her self-esteem. Why else would she humiliate herself by publicly airing her ditty linen and allowing herself to appear on the cover of your magazine looking like one of the pathetic anorexic characters from Thomas Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities?”

LYNN FORBES

WESTON, CONN.



THE FEATURE QUOTES A FRIEND OF CATHerine Kaplan as saying, “The company is gone, the house in Fort Worth is gone, her father’s business is gone, everything is gone.” What is not said is that Ms. Kaplan received over $400,000 in cash for her father’s practice, its receivables, furnishings and office real estate. Her father’s business is still here. It is the money Ms. Kaplan received for it that is gone.

WILLIAM L. PURIFOY, D.D.S-M.S.D

FORT WORTH



CORPORATE COMPLAINT

I WAS DISAPPOINTED BY YOUR COMMENTARY and selection of “Worst Corporate Citizens” [“Best & Worst,” January]. Last year. Quaker State generously supported the 1996 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic, helping raise funds to support underprivileged and troubled youth.

OSCAR C.

GOMEZ

CALTEX FOR FIVE YEARS HAS MADE SIGNIFicant contributions to The Science Place and was instrumental in helping us build and open the new IMAX theater.

DR. WILLIAM M. SUDDUTH

President and CEO

The Science Place

IN 1996,I COORDINATED THE IRVING POLICE Youth Programs Benefit Golf Tournament and Auction. It was my pleasure to work with the employees and executives of Quaker State. I could not have been more satisfied with the company’s enthusiasm and willingness to be involved.

STEVE FARISH

IRVING



AS A PARTNER IN EDUCATION WITH THE Irving school district, Quaker State has made personnel available to mentor students the most al risk of not reaching their potential.

KAREN KRUMME

IRVING



THE DALLAS CHILDREN ’S ADVOCACY CENer has received annual program contributions from Caltex since 1992. We are thankful too, to have the time, expertise and energies of Seifu Yigezu, from Caltex. who is a member of the Dallas Children’s Center Board of Trustees.

CLAUDIA BYRNES

Executive Director

Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center



BEST & WORST RULES Congratulations to D for doing what other area publications have long ignored. Kathlyn Gilliam has been a saboteur of harmony and a paragon of self-aggrandizement for years. Yet, since she has been on the school board for 24 years, can she name any accomplishments? This doesn’t say much for those who cast their votes for her! What corporate entity would want to move their operations to a city that has the likes of Gilliam on its board of education?

ED FRICK

DALLAS

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS, I STOPPED BY my neighborhood 7-EIeven store to pick up the January issue of D Magazine, a personal favorite because of its annual Best & Worst awards. In a matter of seconds, I had purchased your magazine, a cup of 7-Eleven’s Irish Cream coffee, a bagel, a freshly prepared Larry North entree for lunch and, while shopping, filled up my car. I took a few minutes to flip through your publication. Of course, I went straight to the “Best & Worst” article, when suddenly I saw it! One of your reviewers-while noting our wide selection-thinks service at 7-EIeven is too slow. We like to take the approach that the customer is always right, so please pass along a few of the things we’re doing to make our quick service even quicker: installing state-of-the-art cash registers, complete with scanners; enhancing ATM machines; and enhancing training and staffing to achieve even better customer service. We’re confident that long before D Magazine’s, next awards, we’ll have your staff as well as all of Dallas saying, “Oh, Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven.”

JAMES W. KEYES

Executive Vice President and CFO

7-Eleven

“THE COWBOYS HAD ONLY A BARELY WINning season record going into the playoffs.” The person who wrote this is either a stupid moron or a feminist. For the record, the Cowboys finished 10-6 with a record fifth NFC conference title, the third best season out of 14 NFC teams and fifth or sixth in the NFL out of 28 teams.

ROBERT J. WERSHAY

FORT WORTH



EDITOR’S NOTE: For the record, at the end of November-the beginning of the playoffs, as the article states-the Cowboys were 8-5.



I AM THE PET LOVER WHO WROTE THE “scathing letter” about your ill-advised Best Pet Resort that was recapped in “20 Years of Best & Worst,” and if I influenced your editorial slant back in 77, perhaps I can immodestly claim some credit for the excellent B&W of ’97. You have come from focusing on fluff to highlighting what is really the best and worst of the character of Dallas. And the new D Business held my interest from beginning to end. Agree or disagree, D is never dull.

SUE LOCKHART

DALLAS



HOW ABOUT NO. 2?

AS A GREAT FAN OF D MAGAZINE, I WOULD like to make a small correction on the “We’re No. I ” piece [“Inside Dallas,” February). Whereas the corporate division of Sabre Reservation Systems is located in the DFW area, those 4,176 messages per second are being processed by 12 maintrame computers in a concrete bunker at Tulsa International Airport. I guess we’ll have to share that title with Big “D.” Keep up the good work on a most interesting metropolitan magazine.

L.J.GREGG, M.D.

TULSA



LATIN LIVES

I WISH YOU HAD RESEARCHED A LITTLE FURther for your “Optima Signa Temporae (sic)” in the January issue. “Temporae” is a glaring error that my first-year students would gave caught. You either need tem-poris or temporum, depending on whether you wish to say the best signs of the “time” or “times.” Second, Latin is also alive and well in Mesquite (and has been for more than 30 years} and Garland schools.

DIANE HALL

MESQUITE HIGH SCHOOL



THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER ENCOUNtered an essay concerning Latin, let alone written in Latin, in a mainstream publication. As the longtime Latin teacher at Hillcrest High School, I personally resuscitated the language four times, and now, as the part-time Latin teacher at Providence Christian School, I am gratified to discover that Latin is flourishing. Latum lingua vivet in aeternam.

MICHAEL G. FLEWHARTY

DALLAS



STILL COOKIN’

RE: “Zagat’s Top Picks” [February], I was quite surprised when I read about the three restaurants that had closed and did not return to the survey this year. Gaspar’s of Coppell was the original Gaspar’s restaurant, opening in May 1989, and has remained open since.

STEVEN J. PILAT

Executive Chef

Gaspar’s of Coppell