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Pulse of the CITY

By D Magazine |

Is Emmitt Smith a Deadbeat Dad?

Nope. But that doesn’t stop a sleazy lawyer from suing him.

Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith’s daughter Rhea-gen, who is 18 months old, has become the foot ball in a lawsuit filed by her mother, Smith’s former girlfriend. Hope Wilson sued Smith just before his recent marriage, claiming that she was his common law wife and therefore entitled to half his assets. The lawsuit made it appear as if the pro athlete was dodging responsibility to his child, bom Nov. 2, 1998. But according to court papers under seal in the 330th State District Court, rather than avoiding his obligations, Smith himself filed papers three months after the child was born seeking to affirm his paternity. Smith agreed to pay Wilson child support of $3.500 a month, provide for Rheagen’s medical care, and send her to private school and college–all in return for visitation rights to the child, which were granted. In fact, Smith began supporting Wilson when he learned of her pregnancy.

In early March of this year, Wilson filed her lawsuit seeking matrimonial status. In a public hearing, she admitted she started referring to herself as “Mrs. Smith” only after lawyer Larry Friedman [see “Odor at the Courthouse.” September 1997] had signed her to a contingency contract that gives him a percentage of any award. Friedman has demanded a jury trial to determine whether the two were married. Friedman tried a similar gambit in 1996 against pro basketball player Tony Dumas. Friedman lost.

(In that one, Friedman had his client file a criminal complaint as well. Dumas was acquitted.)

Meanwhile, Smith has gone back to court to enforce previously ordered visitation rights to his daughter.

The Accidental Radio Show

How Glenn Mitchell created his popular Friday afternoon Q&A show.

HALFWAY THROUGH THE radio program, the host was stumped. “Where do the seagulls that circle Webb Chapel and Forest Lane come from?” a caller asked. “Don’t they need salt water?”

“Hmmm,” Glenn Mitchell shrugged as he wrote down the question. “We’ll try to get you the answer.” Mitchell is the host of a weekday radio program on KERA, The Glenn Mitchell Show. Every other Friday he opens the phones for questions and answers.

One afternoon in the mid-1980s, Mitchell was subbing on another program when, five minutes before airtime, the scheduled guest canceled his appearance. “I wouldn’t say I panicked,” Mitchell explains, replaying the incident, “but I wanted to do something more than a typical call-in show.”

Spontaneously, Mitchell

delivered the following challenge on the air: “Call in with any question, and I will answer it.” Mitchell doesn’t remember whether he answered the first question correctly. But it didn’t matter. As soon as he ponied up his off-the-cuff reply, a listener phoned in the correct answer. A show was born: Callers ask, callers answer. The Friday afternoon segment, Anything You Ever Wanted to Know, has become one of the most listened-to radio programs at the station.

“I may change the name to Fish Truck” Mitchell told me during a break a! the quarter hour. “We get so many callers asking about the trucks cruising around town with the word ’Fish’ plastered on the sides.” Evidently, state law requires fish truckers to declare their catch.

A Friday Mitchell show flies by. One caller asked where General George Marshall was during the bombing of Pearl Harbor (horseback riding); another asked why goats are raised in the Hill Country (Angora wool); and another, what makes cheese sharp (bacteria).

Oh, and the seagulls at Webb Chapel and Forest Lane? They are fresh water seagulls from the Great Lakes. They migrate south in the winter.

Publicists Do Cry

Dallas native Troy Nankin plays publicist to such stars as Hillary Swank and fellow Dallasite Angie Harmon.

Hillary Swank raised a few waxed eyebrows in Hollywood when she picked up this year’s Academy Award for Best Actress for her stunning performance in the movie Beys Don’t Cry.

She also reduced one man in the audience to tears during her acceptance speech when she thanked her publicist, former Dallasite Troy Nankin.

After leaving the Awards show, Swank and Nankin stopped by the Vanity Fair party at Morton’s to “do some quick face time” but ducked out for a private celebration. To Chinois? Indochine? L’Orangerie? Not even close-the limo headed straight to the Astro Burger on Santa Monica Boulevard and Hillary, Troy, and Oscar gorged on cheeseburgers, fried zucchini, and chocolate shakes. You just can’t take the Dallas out of that boy.

WHERE THE BOYS ARE

Dallas has some new bachelors in town.



One of Dallas’ most eligible bachelors is officially off the market: Troy Aikman has settled into wedded bliss. But husbandhunters are breathing a collective sigh of relief because a new generation of uber-athletes with seven-digit paychecks is officially swinging single.

Take the fabulously gorgeous Texas Ranger, Royce Clayton. The 30-year-old shortstop recently moved into a bachelor pad high off the corner of Blackburn Street in Turtle Creek. In between stops around the American league the All-Star chills out at Sipango.

Just around the corner in Highland Park, Dallas Stars center Mike Modano is setting up new digs far from the Valley Ranch house he shared with his former fiancé Kerri Nelson. Stargazing at Patrizio’s bar just got better.

Wanna score points with Maverick guard Steve Nash? When he isn’t nestled on the couch of his Uptown condo, he’s hanging out ai the local dive. The Loon Bar on McKinney Avenue.

Ont of Sight

Occhiali has a reputation for contemporary eyewear worthy of New York or Los Angeles. Top So bottom:

Steve Vaughn for men, $300.

id “Allan” for men, $190.

Jean Lafont for women, $180.

Image Eyewear has been a mainstay boutique for glasses and sunglasses alike, with one of the best selections in the city. Top to bottom:

Face a Face “Flash” for men, $265.

Chanel for women, $189.

Jean Paul Gaultier for women, $325.

Polarized lenses are a must for the avid golfer or fisherman bothered by the glare of the sun. And they’re also available in reading glasses (called photo-chromic polarized lenses)-perfect for the avid reader or anyone spending hours in front of a computer screen. Top to bottom:

Costa Del Mar for men, $129.

Jean Lafont for women, $210.

Oakley for men. $130.

winners

■Thanks to the efforts of member Sandy Greyson and Scenic Dallas, the Dallas City Council banned construction of new billboards-unanimously. That’s a start. Now, when do we start tearing the old ones dow

■Children’s Medical was the only pediatric hospital in America to answer desperate pleas to medivac a child wounded by pirates in Honduras. The others wanted cash up front. Children’s performed all services for free.



losers

■Tsk, tsk. The only city council member to miss the legal deadline for financial disclosure statements was-drum roll, please-Laura Mille

■Dallas software magnate Sanjiv Sidhu lost $8.2 billion on his i2 stock during the NASDAQ freefall. Repeat after us: It’s only paper. It’s only paper. It’s only..

■He should have tried the Admiral’s Club: Wife murderer Patrick Richardson made the mistake of trying to upgrade at a ticket counte

■Kenneth Payne was sentenced to 16 years in prison for stealing a king-sized candy bar. It was not his first offens

■DotComGuy. We had more sympathy for the Biosphere people.

QUOTABLES



He’ll never eat lundi in this town again.

“The only thing I miss about Dallas is Souper Salad.”

Chicago Tribune sports columnist Skip Bayfess, who once wrote for the News and Times Herald.

STATS

2,631

Number of Southwest Airlines airport agents who handle an estimated 178,871 passengers per day-one agent for every 64 passengers-the highest ratio among U.S. carriers. About the same ratio of cowboys to cattle required to drive a herd into a loading chute.

Source: Wall Street Journal



1,500,000

Number of people who shop at Tom Thumb every week, presumably including repeats.

Source: Tom Thumb

HEADLINE

OF THE MONTH

Can we reschedule it for Saturday? Say, right before soccer?

“Doomsday won’t be Friday, experts assert”

-DMN. 5/1



BEEFCAKE

OF THE MONTH

“Do we love ourselves?”

The question asked under the pose for February in John Wiley Price’s new calendar. The calendar features the County Commissioner in 12 different personas. including “Easy Rider, ” bodybuilder, and doll collector, and is on sale for only $20. But we’re not selling ours!

WHAT PEOPLE ARE

READING



STEVEN TYE CULBERT,

Dallas author of the novels Lovesong for the Giant Confessa and The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy. Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon. “Hemingway wrote down Spain.”

MR. PEPPERMINT. JERRY HAYNES:

The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong and Weird Like Us, by New York Times music critic Ann Powers. ” The Battle for God is about the rise of fundamentalism in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; Weird Like Us is about the Bohemian movement in America.

My brother recommended it to me.”



MARILYN

Schwartz, Dallas Morning News columnist: “I’m reading Proust in French. Not really. Women of the Silk by Gail’ Tsukiyama and Inside and Outside by Herman Wouk.”



ROSLYN DAWSON THOMPSON,

Principal at Dawson/Duncan Communications: The 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham. “It’s an intricate, ’parallel lives’ piece, beautifully crafted and lyrically written.”

HOT TIPS FOR CHEAP TRAVEL

BestFares’ Tom Parsons, offers 8 secrets for savings.

MODE OF EUROPE FOR LESS Buy more than 5100 worth of Nexere luggage from JCPenney’s and receive a free coupon book full of travel savings, including a voucher good for a free stop-over in London on your way to Europe on British Airways and a $99 domestic travel companion coupon.



MAKING TAXES WORK FOR YOU If you plan to travel east of Dallas this summer, it may be worth your while to invest in TAXCUT, a computer tax program. Inside boxes are US Airways travel certificates good for up to four travelers through December 15.



THE BENEFITS OF AGING A $470 flight on TWA and Northwest to the West Coast drops down to $198 when travelers 02 and older request a special seniors fare using Sabre codes SNN or SRC. An added bonus: Younger travel companions get the same rate.



MEXICO AT WHOLESALE

Pay almost 50 percent less than sale fares to popular Mexican destinations like Cozumel and Los Cabos when you buy your tickets wholesale through companies like Hobbit Travel (877-835-3942).

FLORIDA FRIENDS AND FAMILY Visiting the in-laws in Orlando this summer? Then send them to the Guest Relations booth at Disney World, where Florida residents can get a discounted four-day pass for $99 versus the S180 price tag for out-of-state visitors.



HALF-PRICE ROOMS

The whole point of taking a vacation is to relax, but that’s hard to do when your husband wants to watch CNN and the kin’s want to play videos-all in one room. Stay at a Wyndham, Hyatt, or an Intercontinental and your problem is solved. All three hotels offer a 50 percent companion rate for adjoining rooms. Turn one room into a den, and catch your Zs in the other.



PASSING UP THE LINES

A fast pass, or a flex pass at some theme parks, guarantees you’ll avoid the lines at Disney-world and Universal Studios. Get to the park around 7 or 8 in the morning, and you’ll never wait more than 15 minutes-even for Space Mountain.



PLANNING EQUALS SAVING

Traveling before June 15 can mean a 5400 to $500 savings on airline tickets to Europe, and after September 1, tickets can be up to $100 cheaper.

5 summer HOT spots for kids

Register now For these offbeat summer camps.

These winners will fill up fast



RAISING THE NEXT EMERIL?

Le Petit Gourmet offers themed camps for ages 8 to 16. Each chef-in-training Is equipped with a cookbook, chef’s hat, and apron before blending into classes on sweets, pastas, Texas specials, and more. June 5-Aug 16. 214-348-7567.



LIFE IMITATES ART IN OLD CITY PARK.

Girls 6 to 12 explore the life and times of American Girl Samantha by acting out excerpts and recreating Victorian crafts. The American Girls Camp concludes with a special camper-prepared lunch. June 19-23 & July 10-14. 214-421-5141 or www.oldcitypark.org.



LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! The Young Actors Studio offers weekly TV Camps for 9- to 17-year-olds. Rising stars are coached in acting for commercials, TV dramas, and sitcoms. June 19-July 28. 972-401-2090 or www.youngactors. org.



GAME PLAYER TO GAME PRODUCER-CHA-CHING! The SMU Summer Youth Program’s Computer/ Internet Gaming Camp introduces campers to game theory, logic, and design. Gamers will design and test two original games. June 12-30. 214-768-5433 or www. smu.edu/summeryouth.



OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS. Nortel Networks and the National Science Foundation sponsor Tech Camp 2000, open to rising 7th- through 9th-graders. Campers will build their own directional antenna, which will be used in orienteering, radio direction finding, and radio propagation. June 5-23 & July 10-28. 972-377-1715, 972-377-1785 or www.ccccd.edu

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