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Pulse of the CITY

By D Magazine |

Radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is locked in a fight with the American Library Association over its refusal to support even minimal efforts to keep Internet pom oui of children’s reading rooms at public libraries. A check of four area library systems shows that parents who send their children to the library with the assumption that their activities will be monitored by the library staff are mistaken. While it is unlikely young Johnny will get his hands on the latest copy of Playboy at me circulation desk, he is free to find a computer, type in simple phrases-“naked women” or “naked men” on Yahoo, for example-and enter a cyberworld full of web sites with titles like XXX Men on the Web and Gang Bang Goddesses. Though the X-rated sites may warn that they are intended for mature audiences only, no one checks for a valid ID.

“Parents need to be aware,” says Bonnie Case, director of the Highland Park Library. “There is no way to be sure your child doesn’t see what you don’t want them to unless you are there with them.”

Even if your child is not interested in browsing the Internet’s seedier side, he could be exposed to it unwittingly. The library systems in Dallas, Highland Park, Richardson, and Piano do not regulate where potentially offensive material is viewed. A boy reading in the first floor children’s area at the J. Erik Jonsson Library downtown, which faces one of the library’s largest computer labs, may glance up and catch a glimpse of www.jockmeat.com-a site that discourages minors from entering, while on the same page promising viewers “hot pictures of naked guys”-while an adult patron checks out the site. (One D staffer visited the downtown library one afternoon and found a row of homeless men perusing pom sites, the screens visible to anyone who passed by.)

Nor do any of the city’s library computers offer filtering software, which blocks known pom web sites or sites that contain specific phrases. Even if they did, filtering isn’t foolproof; the Web is full of sites with instructions on how to disable filter software. And filters may block innocuous sites while leaving loopholes for savvy web designers to slip their X-rated pages through.

“One program blocked out the official White House web site because it contained the words ’the dynamic couple,’ which the program considered potentially offensive,” says Case. “Another took the word and blocked all sites related to the word and its derivatives, including sites with the words sexton and sextant present.”

In Piano, City Council members, concerned parents, and librarians may have found a solution: filtering its computers on two levels- one for young children and adolescents and one for adult patrons who wish to avoid certain types of sites. Unfiltered computers will remain for those who want complete access. Children who use the library’s computers to browse the Internet will be required to have parental permission, which will then be recorded into the library’s main system. A child who wishes to use the Internet will type in an access number, shown on his library card, which will determine what type of material he will be allowed to view. But when the plan will be implemented is up in the air.

“We will still encourage parents to come with their children,” says Joyce Baumbach, director of Piano Public Libraries. “The perception is that, if you’re filtering, then you’ve denied access to objectionable material, and that’s a false sense of security.”

Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman is the highest paid player in professional football, with a contract thai pays him $16 million a year to play 16 games. But other Dallas star athletes lag far behind the pack. Sources: Wall Sheet Journal and Staff.

BASEBALL

HIGHEST PAID: Kevin Brown. LA Dodgers. $15 million.

HIGHEST PAID TEXAS RANGER: Rafael Palmeiro, $8.64 million.

BASKETBALL

HIGHEST PAID: Kevin Gannett, Minnesota Timberwolves, $21 million.

HIGHEST PAID DALLAS MAVERICK: Michael Finley, $8.4 million.

HOCKEY

HIGHEST PAID: Tie between Paul Kariya.Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and Peter Forsberg. Colorado Avalanche, $10 million.

HIGHEST PAID DALLAS STAR: Mike Modano, $5 million.

MONEY SHOULD BE FUN Cashing in on Canines

When luxury goes to the dogs.



Pooch lovers are doting on their pets as never before. That bowl of tap water, once served in a plain old pan, has been replaced by bottled “Champ-aign” in a hand-painted, monogrammed ceramic bowl. Flea powder has been replaced by faux-designer pet cologne (Timmie Holedigger, Miss Claybone, White Dalmatian, Bono Sport, TK9). The doghouse is outfitted in designer furniture. Life’s ruff.

Custom oil painting of your dog dressed in 18th century period costumes by Paris painter Véronique Gaudin; available at Haute Dogs & Fat Cats; $880 to $5000.



Custom oil painting by Ron Burns, national artist for The Humane Society; at Haute Dog & Fat Cats; $4700 to $15,000.



Personalized birthday cake (shaped like a giant bone) in three flavors-apple cinnamon, peanut butter, garlic-with frosting; at Haute Dogs & Fat Cats; $29.99.



Coach, bejeweled, or animal-print dog and cat collars; at Haute Dogs & Fat Cats, Perky Poodle Salon, and The Platinum Collar; $18 to $60.



Private clay cue. including home made dog treats, take-out {for fussy eaters}, spa and salon treatment, and 101 Dalmatians at nap time; at Perky Poodle Salon; $100 per month.



Rug customized with pet’s image so Spot can be underfoot, never stepped on; at Rugmakers Gallery; $2000-plus.



Hand-painted and monogrammed wood trundle beds by Joanne West, assorted sizes; at Haute Dog A Fat Cats; $495 to $600. (Matching mirrors, $300 to $500.)



Wrought-iron dog bed with matching water bowl and sheepskin blankie; at Perky Poodle Salon; $250.



Fauna hair-and skin-care products (people-tested to insure they’re safe for your pet); at The Platinum Collar; $12 to $20.



Pet boarding school with supervised swimming, exercise, and stories. Most offer pick-up and delivery; at Petite Pooch Chateau (in Carrollton); Canine Fitness Camp (in Fort Worth);Tailwaggers Country Inn (in Van Alstyne); Lailia’s Pet Bed and Breakfast (in Rockwall). Prices range from $20 to $30 per night.

Yesterday: Old Faithful

The first bridge over the river still stands.

In the hullabaloo over whether Santiago Calatrava’s modernistic bridge designs are artistic accompaniments to the Trinity River Corridor Plan or expensive pipe dreams, the grand old dame of Dallas bridges is virtually ignored. The Houston Street Viaduct may not be a thing of beauty, but at least it hasn’t washed away.

It was bom in calamity. In the flood of 1908, water was 12 feet deep on Zang Boulevard in Oak Cliff, junk dealer Frank Edwards drowned in the middle of McKinney Avenue, and all of the bridges over the Trinity River were ruined. As soon as the citizens of Oak Cliff came down from the rooftops, they held a mass rally to demand reliable access to and from downtown, and on October 24, 1910, work commenced on what was to be known initially as the Oak Cliff Viaduct: 50,000 yards of gravel were mixed with 74,000 barrels of Trinity Portland cement. At a cost of $675,000 and a length of 5,480 feet, the viaduct was said to be the world’s longest reinforced concrete bridge.

For the formal opening of the bridge, the town fathers decided that since this was the closest Dallas was likely to come to an authentic nautical event, the bridge should be christened with a bottle of champagne. But the Dallas Mothers Council squelched this notion; there would be no booze, not even to smash against a concrete pillar. Local politicians jockeyed to decide who would be die first to officially cross the bridge, a contest that ended in a tie between the governor, the mayor, and the county judge who would ride together in the lead automobile.

On February 22, 1912, a parade of dignitaries waited for the 22-cannon salute signaling the commencement of the crossing. As white smoke from the big guns fined the air, the chauffeur of the lead automobile stepped on the gas, and the engine died. Not one to stand on protocol, 12-year-old Herbert Gambrell, aboard a Sears, Roebuck bicycle, shot across the bridge into the arms of destiny as dismayed VIPs and furious law enforcement officials watched helplessly from the fool of the bridge.

Hoping to restore dignity to the occasion, officials moved to the final event, a release of 12 white carrier pigeons by 12 lovely maidens “to carry throughout Texas a message of love and greeting,” along with “word that the great viaduct is completed.”

Eleven of the birds followed the script. But the 12th made a suicidal beeline for a Cottonwood tree and crashed with a sickening thud into an overhanging limb.

HEARD ON THE STREET…

■ Memento of the millennium: A miniature nickel-plated copy of the Texas Schoolbook Depository, one of six “Buildings of Disaster” offered for $95 by New York artist Constantin Boym in his Souvenirs for the End of the Century catalog. Others in the collection include the World Trade Center, the Watergate, and the Unabomber’s Montana Shack.

After a stop at The Wine Enthusiast, Julie Bain, former editor of Dallas-based Private Clubs, has put together a test issue of a new magazine showcasing B. Smith, who’s being called the black Martha Stewart. On newsstands this fall, B. Smith Style will focus on holiday entertaining. Bain’s returned to freelancing while waiting to see if the new magazine does well enough for American Express Publishing to order more issue



When Gov. George W. Bush joined Bobby Ray, Chairman of the University of North Texas Systems Board of Regents, Mayor Ron Kirk, and State Sen. Royce West for the groundbreaking of the school’s new South Dallas campus, a special interest group showed up to protest. Holding an oversized banner reading “Polluters for Bush,” the South Dallas residents said their tongue-in-cheek sign was meant to draw the presidential candidate’s attention to pollution in their community.



■ In the Observer’s recent “Best of Dallas” issue, TV critic Bobbie Wygant confides that her favorite place for brunch is the Conservatory at Beau Nash. We liked it too and were sad to see it close four years ago. Don’t get out much, Bobbie?



■ Talking recently to fellow SMU Theater students. Patricia Richardson, star of TV sitcom Home Improvement, warned students that drugs and alcohol had ruined the careers of many actors she knows. “We were all doing it,” she says. “But there were some who began to identify more with ’I am a drug user’ than ’I am an actor.’ Lucky for me, I never lost sight.”



Lipscomb Still Receiving Money

Though under federal indictment, council member being paid by buddy who also faces charges.



Floyd Richards, the taxi company owner under indictment for allegedly paying AI Lipscomb in return for city hall influence, is still paying the Dallas City Council member $1,000 a month.

The two face trial in federal court on 65 counts of bribery and conspiracy, Their trial is set for Jan. 10. Lipscomb insists that he doesn’t “have a thing to hide,” but declined to say anything further, Richards, who had a liver transplant in September, also declined to comment, citing his illness.

Scottie Allen, one of Lipscomb’s retinue of attorneys, says he can’t confirm or deny the payments. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was continuing to help him [Lipscomb] any way he could,” Allen says.

Though courthouse speculation is that the payments are simply trial strategy cooked up by lawyers (“Judge, I didn’t want anything from AI, I just like him!”), attorney Jay Ethington, who represents Richards, says that’s not so. He didn’t learn of the money changing hands until shortly after Labor Day, when Richards received his transplant. But he didn’t tell his client to stop paying Lipscomb.

“When I learned that the payments were continuing, I just smiled,” Ethington says.

Racism or Hoax?

Radio jock Joyner falls for an ugly prank and brands CompUSA as racist.



arly this fall, Tom Joyner, the most popular black radio host in America, complained that major companies, including CompUSA, don’t advertise in black-oriented media. Days later, Joyner’s sidekick Tavis Smiley read snippets of a letter on the air he said came from “Roger Finley,” CompUSA’s director of marketing and sales. The letter said that the company doesn’t place ads in media targeted to African-Americans because blacks don’t buy computers from CompUSA.

Outraged, Joyner called for blacks to send him receipts showing they had made CompUSA purchases and then called for a boycott of the company. Since the Tom Joyner Morning Show is syndicated by ABC Radio and broadcast on 99 stations (aired locally on KRNB), the message went out across the country: CompuUSA executives are not only racist, they’re also stupid. E-mail by listeners spread the news of the boycott. But CompUSA’s Director of Public Relations Suzanne Shelton says that the company did not send the letter, and they have no Roger Finley on the payroll.

“We wound up getting a lot of publicity we don’t deserve,” Shelton said. “It’s very upsetting.”

Joyner says the letter was on CompUSA letterhead and came from a fax number that was traced back to CompUSA. But though it was filled with typos and grammatical errors, neither Joyner nor Smiley verified it came from CompUSA before blasting the company.

Smiley later corrected the mistakes on the air, saying that he and Joyner “sincerely regret” spreading the false story. But he also told listeners that CompUSA only spends about two percent of its ad budget on black radio, a figure he got from CompUSA’s advertising agency. Shelton says that the only advertising CompUSA does is through newspaper inserts distributed by large newspapers-presumably read by anyone who subscribes.

The hoax may have cost CompUSA some business. Soon after Joyner’s call for a boycott, SMU’s Information Technology Services announced that CompUSA would no longer service its Computer Corner. A student representative said the reason wasn’t the letter; they weren’t satisfied with the company’s service. But the timing is striking, and the university pulled the plug on CompUSA before choosing another vendor.

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