2023 January Lake Highlands Advocate

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ELKS LODGE #71

Chartered 134 years ago, here’s some history

Story by MARISSA ALVARADO

Is anyone else curious what the Elks Lodge is? They have weekly events, but what are they? How long have they been here? Here are some answers for those curious.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was a social club and fraternal order founded in New York in 1868. It was started under the name “Jolly Corks” by 15 actors, entertainers and others associated with the theater. In ensuing years, membership expanded to other professions.

It was founded “To promote and practice the four cardinal virtues of Charity, Justice,

Brotherly Love and Fidelity; to promote the welfare and enhance the happiness of its members; to quicken the spirit of American Patriotism and cultivate good fellowship,” according to their website.

What does this have to do with Dallas? Well, the Elks Lodge #71 was chartered on Jan. 28, 1888, making it one of the first Elks Lodge in Texas and one of the oldest clubs in Dallas, reports Flashback Dallas.

On Jan. 29, 1888, the Dallas Morning News wrote an article on the first meeting of the Dallas Elks Lodge No. 71, entitled “Or -

der of Elks in Dallas; A Lodge Instituted Here Yesterday.”

Their first official building sat at 1817 Pocahontas, the northwest corner of Pocahontas Street and Park Avenue in the Cedars area, just south of downtown, which is Old City Park.

Designed by architect H. A. Overbeck, the lodge was built in 1914; the land and the construction of the lodge cost $45,000. Surprisingly, this lodge served the Elks for only six years — they returned downtown, where they took over and renovated the old YWCA building on Commerce Street.

The diary of a grieving woman

Elevating heart care in Dallas since 2002

Kim

Pierce on her debut novel

Interview by JEHADU ABSHIRO

Photography by HUNTER LACEY

It was love at first sight for Kim Pierce. She had noticed a man, Gregory, attend Father A.A. Taliaferro’s services at St. Alcuin Community Church. Pierce didn’t have a chance to speak to him until she saw him at a mutual friend’s pool party. Pierce remembers him as being social and chatting with everyone. He only remembered talking to her that night. They were together for five years before they were engaged. In 1998, Pierce was sitting at an airport when her friend rushed to tell her the news. Her fiancé had died. Pierce, a long-time journalist who worked at Buddy Magazine , Dallas Times-Herald and Dallas Morning News , decided to sit down and write her own story 20 years ago. Her novel My Dead True Love is her tale of mourning and searching for the answers to why.

It’s been 20 years since we opened the first North Texas hospital dedicated solely to cardiovascular care. Today, we provide you with more treatment options through our ongoing heart and vascular research, our innovative programs, and our nationally and internationally recognized services.

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WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN THOSE FIRST FEW YEARS?

Grief is a journey of a lot of pain. And there’s just no way around it. Much of the first part of the book is taken from what you would call my grief journey. We didn’t really have support groups back then. And the way we do now, we didn’t have the Internet to connect. Joan Didion hadn’t written her wonderful book, My Year of Magical Thinking . At least for me, I wasn’t going to find what I needed in a church. I turned to friends and my writing and just spent a lot of time being sad and crying.

WHEN DID YOU START WRITING YOUR NOVEL?

I started writing it almost immediately after he died. I would write to Celtic music. And I got it up about 13 chapters. And this was probably over a couple of years. And then I did what so many fiction writers do. I got to a point and said to myself “Now what?” because I didn’t understand how to develop the story. So, I got in the writer’s course, and really learned some of the nuts and bolts of construction. I was also able to develop it as a narrative, outside of the constraints of having everything be factually accurate. This is very hard when you spent your whole career verifying facts. It gave me the freedom to fictionalize it and make it into a true novel, without sacrificing so much of the information.

AT WHAT POINT IN YOUR GRIEF PROCESS DID YOU START EXPLORING?

Almost immediately, in one of my one of my counselors that I went to, told me about a medium she had encountered with a group of professionals that she knew. And she said, “I think this might help you. And I think this woman is legit.” And she was right. It was a remarkable reading. As it was as good as they get. And this was before we were ever talking about what are called evidentiary mediums, which are mediums who asked for information that can be verified when they work as a mediums.

WAS THERE ANY POINT IN YOUR EXPLORATION THAT YOU FELT RELIEF?

I really felt that way with the reading. It was such a release of so much pain and burden. And unfortunately, I shared it with a friend of close friend who basically said to me, “you know, those people are fake, they have ways of finding things out.” And because he was such a close friend with whom I’ve shared so much, it was just like deflating a balloon.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO PROCESS AND EXPLORE THOSE FEELINGS?

I think I’m still doing it. That’s as far as coming to some sense, I know I’m on the right path, I will put it that way. I now really take a lot of my direction from Susan Guzman, who is both a mystic and a medium, but not airy fairy in any way. She used to be a naval commander. So she certainly doesn’t come at this from any sort of, shall we say “woowoo” direction. I feel the scale is tilted towards something being out there for all of us.

WHAT’S IT LIKE SELLING YOUR BOOK?

While I’m still doing, it’s hard. It’s not something that comes easy to a journalist. I’m lucky that my partner now is a retired salesman. So, he’s always helping me find ways to promote it. I just want to get it out there for people who need to read about this kind of exploring, and so it’s very comforting to certain people. It’s also a lovely story about women bonding.

AFTER SOMEONE HAS READ YOUR BOOK, WHAT DO YOU WANT THEM TO WALK AWAY WITH?

I want their heart to be open. I want them to feel a certain elation. And I hope they feel some curiosity about some of the seeds I planted in the book and desire to find out more about what I wrote about.

Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Kim Peirce is on a virtual blog book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. For more information, visit mydeadtruelove.com.

Story by SIMON PRUITT

There’s a massive indoor dirt track located at an unassuming building on unassuming lot on Saturn Road. Along with a fully stocked repair pit for drivers, there’s an auto parts store. Many members of the racing community travel from around the country to use the facilities. No, it’s not Devil’s Bowl Speedway. This is Indy RC World — racing for remote control cars.

Among the community is one Caleb Halligan, a father of three who grew up racing pro circuits in southern Utah.

“I haven’t raced in years; in order to do that you’ve got to cough up a lot of time and cash. When I was single, I was able to do that,” Halligan jokes as he repairs a car for one of his kids to drive.

“Now I guess I’m just a mechanic.”

DRIVERS AT THIS LOCAL REMOTE-CONTROLLED CAR TRACK PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL

Halligan’s children ran off to race their cars in an open practice, held in the morning for both beginner drivers and competitive ones to drive their cars in a relaxed environment.

Outside of simply recreational joyrides, Indy RC World can transform their dirt track into an oval, drag racing strip, or an off-roading loop. Each alteration to the course drastically changes the clientele that comes in to race and their own racing strategy.

Most events organized by Indy RC World are purely recreational. With the exception of a major pro circuit hosting an event in the space, almost all races and tournaments are held just for bragging rights and the placard for first place.

“Tuesday night is electric night. Those get pretty crazy,” says Juan Castro, a racer and freelance artist who specializes in RC car painting. “Fridays are dirt oval races and Sundays we do electric and nitro together.”

the manner in which a car is accelerated. Electric cars are entirely battery powered and tend to slow down and die quicker than their nitro counterparts.

On the other hand, nitro cars are powered by gas just like real full-size cars and feature many of the same engine and carburetor components.

The electric versus nitro distinction is very easy to notice once the sleek cover of each RC car is pulled apart to reveal everything working underneath. With electrics always being powered by batteries and nitros always being powered by gas, each racer tends to narrow down their plan of attack to a few minor screws and switches in their own car in order to beat their opponent.

Many drivers prefer to build their own cars from scratch as opposed to buying them premade. Eighteen-year-old driver Luke Hawkins has been building them for most of his life.

“My dad bought me my first RC car when I was 10,” Hawkins says. “But once I started getting into it seriously, I like to know the ins and outs of my car.”

Hawkins says he’s not good enough to enter races but enjoys coming to the tracks and meeting other drivers. His friendly sentiment seems to represent the vast majority of those in the RC car world. The hobby is nothing but a good time.

“The whole thing is a nice escape,” Hawkins says. “Plus it’s fun to crash your car and be OK after.”

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Other than avocado and bacon, fried eggs, chili and mushrooms are among the optional burger toppings at JG’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers.

LONG-RUNNING BEEF

After more than 30 years, this family-owned burger joint is still going strong

Story by ANDREA HANCOCK | Photography by KATHY TRAN

MORRIS BAGHERI IS 83 YEARS OLD, but you wouldn’t guess that while watching him bus tables or work the grill at JG’s Old Fashioned, the burger joint on Upper Greenville that he and his wife Susanne Bagheri have owned for 36 years.

“I think it’s good for us,” says Susanne, 74. “It keeps us active.”

The Bagheris bought JG’s from a college student named John Green in 1986, when the restaurant had been open only a year. Morris, who previously managed French Continental restaurants, was planning to bring an Italian or French spot to a new office building across the street.

After a meeting with the building manager, Morris stopped in for lunch at JG’s, which was packed. His order taker happened to be his kids’ old babysitter, and, knowing Morris was a restaurateur, she mentioned JG’s was for sale. Morris dismissed the suggestion. “I said, ‘What would I do with a hamburger joint?’”

But as his meetings about the new restaurant continued, Morris kept dropping in for lunch, and each time, it was busy. So he called off the deal in progress and bought the hamburger joint. However, Morris soon discovered the restaurant had only been packed because Green had given out an abundance of coupons, so many that the restaurant

A double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and bacon.

wasn’t very profitable.

So Susanne and Morris transformed the place. They created a new menu, changed business practices and eventually expanded their space into the suite next door. The restaurant still bears the name of its founder, but Morris likes to say it stands for “Just Great.”

Why is the place so popular, even after almost four decades?

“Honestly, the quality of the ingredients,” Morris says. The burger patties are made from Certified Angus Beef, the vegetables at the condiment bar are always fresh, and every dressing and marinade is made in-house.

The Bagheris say they were the first restaurant in America to serve a mushroom and Swiss burger, and the original Chili’s (also on Greenville, south of JG’s, until it was demolished in 2012) copied and popularized the idea. Along with the mushroom and Swiss burger, the marinated chicken sandwich, Kobe beef burger and salad supreme are some of JG’s most popular items.

The homemade ranch and honey mustard are particularly popular. The honey mustard recipe is inspired by Persian pomegranate sauce, which Morris grew up eating on chicken in Iran.

Morris immigrated to

America to receive an education in petroleum sciences so he could work for oil companies back in Iran. He worked in restaurants while in school, and — even having earned his master’s degree in geology — the industry reeled him in.

Asked if he ever regrets staying in America, Morris says he’s thought about it.

“I could have been somebody back home,” Morris says. “I could have helped a lot of people; I could have helped the country. But on the other hand, how would I be married to this one?” he says, smiling at Susanne.

The couple met at Morris’ French restaurant, La Louvre. As business partners, they have survived several economic downturns, and they literally survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Morris was confined to the couple’s bedroom for a month after contracting the virus in summer 2020.

“I was just praying,” Susanne says. “The hospitals were just jampacked, and people were dying every day.”

But Morris recovered without hospitalization, and Susanne avoided contracting the disease. And the restaurant stayed open, at 25% capacity. One of their top priorities was ensuring their 11 employees, all of whom have worked at JG’s for at least 15 years, still received full wages.

Now, the restaurant is at full capacity again, and the money flows a little more easily. Even with high rates of inflation across the country, prices at JG’s have stayed relatively low.

“We’ve got to not only maintain the quality, but affordability for the average guy,” Susanne says. “You have a lot of families coming in with lots of kids. They need to be able to eat without breaking the bank.”

JG’s, 12101 Greenville Ave. jgshamburgers.com, 972.644.8628

CHRISTIAN MONTESSORI Serving children 18 mo. through Kindergarten Exploration • Independence Self-Motivation • Creativity • Compassion 9845 McCree Road stjamesdallas.com | 214-348-1349

Time to show your heart some love

February is Heart Month. And heart disease is the leading cause of death in our community and across the country. So, let’s do something about it, together. Every week during Heart Month we’ll be sharing heart healthy tips, from early warning signs to recipes and exercise ideas. Caring for the heart health of our friends and neighbors. That’s community and why so many people Trust Methodist.

Sign up for Heart Month emails with tips, recipes, exercise ideas, info on events, and more at: Methodist.com/HeartMonth

‘NO EQUALIZER LIKE THE BOATHOUSE’

Story by ANDREA HANCOCK

IT WAS A BUSY AFTERNOON

AT Dallas United Crew’s boathouse on White Rock Lake, even though no one was preparing to get on the water. High-schoolers pulled down rowing machines from where they were stored vertically along the walls. Middle-schoolers milled about, chatting with their friends, and then reluctantly headed toward the walking trail outside for a warmup jog. Intermittently, coaches gave orders, explaining the day’s workout to high-schoolers or doing their best to wrangle the middle-schoolers. The boathouse was loud with chatter and the whir of the rowing machines’ fans; the high ceiling and carbon fiber boats echoed every noise.

In the middle of it all was Nan Miller. Miller has been DUC’s middle school coach for the past five years,

and if there’s anyone who knows how to navigate the din, it’s her. If her shoulder-length shock of straight white hair wasn’t enough to make her stand out in a crowd, the megaphone she wields makes her impossible to miss. When the middle schoolers returned from their jog, she explained the plan for the day, which was the last practice of the fall season: a 250-meter sprint on the rowing machines, a test of how much fitness the rowers had built over the past few months.

The middle-schoolers wore different expressions at the news: some excited, some nervous, some unimpressed. Some of them have joined the team through RowDallas, a program DUC has created in partnership with Dallas ISD and Dallas Park and Recreation. RowDallas invites kids from two Title I schools in the city to join the middle

school crew, and if they continue to row in high school, DUC provides them with unique scholarship opportunities.

Half an hour later, when it’s time for the 250-meter test, half of the middle -schoolers sit on rowing machines, while the other half whoop and cheer their teammates on. You’d never guess who is and isn’t from the RowDallas program; at the boathouse, and out on the water, the rowers are one cohesive unit. It’s the first year of rowing for all of them, so they’re all learning together.

“I always say,” Miller mentioned, ‘There’s no equalizer like the boathouse.’”

Rowing is traditionally reserved for the wealthiest and most privileged of athletes. For example, the Henley Royal Regatta, one of the most prestigious rowing races in the world, used to explicitly exclude anyone “who is or has been by trade

RowDallas provides new opportunities to kids from disadvantaged schools

or employment for wages a mechanic, artisan or laborer.” Even today, the expensive upkeep of rowing boats and equipment often makes the costs to join the sport exorbitantly high. Traditionally, it is also an overwhelmingly white sport — only five Black rowers have ever represented the United States at the Olympics.

“From a bigger picture standpoint, we are not drawing our best athletes because of the lack of inclusion that we have in the sport,” says Austin Brooks, the executive director of DUC. “Our hope is down the line, as RowDallas grows and improves, that we’re really drawing the best athletes into our program (and) promoting them to get recruited to college.”

Not only does RowDallas give middle-schoolers the opportunity to row, but the program also provides tutoring. The RowDallas students meet weekly at the Harry Stone Recreation Center and hone skills they might be struggling with at school, particularly in math. Jacqueline Freeman, a former CPA who rows in the DUC’s masters program, is one of the tutors who volunteers to help out. She says that their sessions usually focus on helping students with foundational

skills they need to start learning more advanced concepts like algebra.

“It’s not a drudgery type of tutoring,” Freeman says. “It’s something that I believe firmly; if you’re passionate about what you’re teaching, they’re going to pick up your passion for it as well.”

In addition to math tutoring, RowDallas students also work on science projects, which Freeman says the kids have a lot of fun with. Last year, the project was thinking of a problem astronauts might encounter while living in a space station, and how they might solve that problem. This year, with the help of an SMU computer science student named Nicole Sood, the students learned about coding. Sood walked students through demonstrations, showing them how changing small variables could make or break codes.

“It really got their attention, and then they were asking a lot of questions,” Sood says.

Sood believes STEM is best taught in a hands-on fashion, so before the last practice of the season, she arranged a field trip for students to visit the Deason Innovation Gym at SMU. There, students got to experiment with 3-D printers and laser

cutters. Solving a math problem was no longer about getting good grades; suddenly, it was in order to configure a laser. Sood was proud of how students’ eyes would light up when they brought the designs they had created to life through math and science.

“They got to see some other potentials of engineering that isn’t just like, ‘Solve this math problem to get this answer.’” Sood says. “It’s like, ‘We’re solving this math problem so we can cut this out and physically have it with us.”

In the future, Miller hopes that DUC can expand the RowDallas program into more schools and provide more opportunities to the kids in the program, like offering swim lessons. In the meantime, she focuses on fostering a love of the sport. She emphasizes the psychological benefits rowing can provide besides the physical aspect, like being out in nature or learning about teamwork.

“Nothing about rowing is about you,” Miller says. “You can’t do anything if you’re not working together, and that’s why it’s called the ultimate team sport.”

Dallas United Crew’s RowDallas program teaches rowing and provides academic help to students at Title I schools. Photography courtesy of Dallas United Crew.

[* DALLAS HAS SOME OF THE BEST DOCTORS. AND THE BAD DOCTORS ARE THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE. BUT THAT DOESN’T HELP WHEN YOU’RE THE PATIENT OF THE EXCEPTION.

the bad doctors

DENTISTS, HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES, SURGEONS, NURSES AND OTHER HEALTH CARE WORKERS

(IN SOME CASES, THOSE IMPERSONATING THEM) ARE DOING TIME FOR DOING HARM

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB | Illustrations by JESSICA TURNER

In the 1870s, a bright young dentist — tall, lean, mustachioed and blonde, with a slight speech impediment and a nagging cough — opened his practice in Deep Ellum.

The lanky Georgia native Henry John Holliday had earned a doctorate of dentistry at 19 and won three awards, including best set of gold teeth, at a Dallas County fair.

But Doc, as he was known, had a dark side. Not only was he sick with a terminal illness, tuberculosis, but he also had a gambling habit. Thus, he would never become the doctor

he might have been.

Like some other promising healers in this story (most of whom had far more formal medical training and credentials than our outlaw DDS), Doc Holliday would be remembered for less noble reasons.

The law ran Doc out of town after a shootout at a Dallas saloon. He attempted several times to resume a dental practice, historians say, but his hacking concerned potential patients. He went on gaming and gunslinging until he died from his illness in Colorado in 1887.

Dallas is home to substantial

medical resources — Baylor Scott & White is the most awarded notfor-profit health system in Texas ( U.S. News & World Report ); we have the No. 1 scientific health care research institution at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center ( Nature Index ), the No. 10 overall hospital system in the nation (The Lown Institute) with Parkland Health and the country’s second largest Veterans Affairs hospital system.

But with so many doctors, clinics and hospitals, on occasion a bad actor violates his vow to do no harm.

doctors

Dr. Death

dr. Christopher Duntsch became the subject of a Peacock original series for all the wrong reasons. He’s serving a life sentence for gross malpractice that resulted in two direct fatalities and the maiming of more than 30 neurosurgery patients, as told by Laura Beil, the journalist who hosts the Dr. Death podcast, on which the eponymous show is based.

Beil’s reporting was sensational and entertaining in a true-crime sense, but it served an important public service. It exposed a local health care system that allowed a dangerous doctor to move around to different hospitals rather than be scrutinized for his incompetence and, in some cases, willful destruction of patients’ health and lives.

It’s important to remember, Beil says, that this “pass the trash” phenomenon, where institutions transfer a destructive employee rather than deal with them, is not consigned to medicine.

*Duntsch began his career at Baylor Scott & White in Plano, but after several of his surgeries ended in paralysis, permanent damage or death, as well as reports of him showing up to surgery inebriated, Baylor revoked his privileges.

“The one ‘Holy Cow’ I had, was when I learned from the [then] president of the medical board that, had [Baylor] properly notified them of what was going on … they could have suspended him on an emergency basis while they investigated,” she says. “If that had happened, there are people who died who would have still been alive, because he would not have been able to immediately go somewhere else.”

Duntsch performed several surgeries and mangled more patients at South Hampton Community Hospital (now University General Hospital). He sliced through a man’s artery during a surgery at Methodist Hospital, and he left the sponge he used to soak the blood inside the patient when he sewed him up, causing a horrific infection. Duntsch’s reign of terror, reportedly, ended after that operation.

As recently as 2021, his patients were still dying. Jerry Summers, a primary subject of the Dr. Death podcast, and Philip Mayfield both were left paralyzed with compromised immune systems and died from infections, according to what Summers’ lawyer and Mayfield’s wife told respective local reporters.

Beil’s podcasts reveal that often hospitals do not report problematic physicians to governing boards such as the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which is intended to flag them, because of costs associated with fighting and possibly losing wrongful termination suits.

Beil, a resident of Southern Dallas County who has continued to report on deadly docs, says her stories are not meant to reflect negatively on the profession.

“The vast majority of doctors are good and caring people who want the best for their patients,” she says. In fact, they are the heroes in the Duntsch story because they filed complaints, made phone calls and testified against him.

“The thing you don’t want is to be the patient of the doctor who is the exception,” she says in one podcast episode. “We are limited in what we can find out about a doctor, but a skepticism of a doctor you don’t know is not a bad thing.”

If there’s an overriding good thing about getting this story out there, she says, it is that people will take that extra measure, to the degree that they can, to protect themselves.

In 2021, Duntsch became the first doctor to be convicted of a crime committed in the operating room during the act of surgery.

While awaiting trial, Duntsch was arrested trying to walk out of the Walmart at Northwest Highway and Skillman Street without paying for $887 worth of sunglasses, watches, ties, briefcases, cologne and a pair of pants that he put on in the dressing room, according to a Dallas police affidavit filed on April 8, 2015

Dying for Curves

woman known by her clients as Wee Wee operated a clandestine med spa in East Dallas where she offered black-market butt injections.

In 2015, clients hoping to attain Kardashian-esque curves could ask for the “Wee Wee Booty,” and, 24 hours before their appointment, she would send them the address, 3800 East Side Ave. The amateur plastic surgeon, Denise Rochelle Ross (Wee Wee), and her assistant, Alicia Clarke, used material that was not safe to inject into cli -

Wykesha Reid, 34, did not survive an injection of silicone caulk, which prosecutors said entered her veins, traveled through her heart and was trapped in her lungs. Reid died in the clinic after lying down, saying she felt unwell. Her injectors left her “to rest” overnight and discovered her dead the next day, when Clarke frantically called 911, according to court records.

In 2017, Wee Wee and her assistant, Clarke, were sentenced to prison for murder in two separate trials. They were not doctors, but were practicing medicine without a license, according to police and court documents; thus their malpractice amounted to murder.

Police documents show Wee Wee

was arrested at an Oak Cliff address shortly after they issued a warrant. She was sentenced to 60 years. She was denied parole in 2020.

It is uncertain whether Wee Wee or Clarke administered the fatal injection. Each woman refused to testify against the other.

The dangers of pursuing the perfect rump are not relegated to the black market.

In 2017, a woman from Oklahoma, Rolanda Hutton, sued several cosmetic surgeons and nurses associated with the Dallas Plastic Surgery Center after she was left paralyzed following what she said at a press conference was a “botched Brazilian Butt Lift.”

The BBL procedure involves transferring fat from other areas into the buttocks. It’s both an in-demand and dangerous surgery, reports the New York Times . “The procedure has the highest mortality rate of any cosmetic surgery, but many women are undaunted,” the paper reported in 2021. In 2020 alone, there were 40,320 buttock augmentations, per the Aesthetic Society.

It’s common practice to move patients to unlicensed post-operative hotels after procedures — in Hutton’s case, The Cloister at Park Lane — but that is dangerous, her lawyers alleged. The defendants — doctors and nurses with offices in Lake Highlands, East Dallas and University Park among them — said, officially, that her claims are without merit.

Court records reveal no settlement reached at this time.

The Forest Park scandal

in 2014, a YouTube video went up showcasing a shiny new medical facility serving Dallas’ affluent, well-insured residents.

Located off Central Expressway between Preston Hollow and Lake Highlands, the gleaming five-level doctor-owned Forest Park Medical Center featured a luxurious lobby with fine art, modern furnishings and a two-story waterfall. A posh cafe and a Starbucks sat opposite a branch of Dougherty’s (a trusted high-end pharmacy and gift shop with a Preston Hollow store). Above bougie lounges were floors of doctors’ offices, state-of-the-art operating areas and commodious recovery rooms. Similar facilities emerged in Southlake and Fort Worth, and surgeons and specialists from all over Dallas can be seen in videos singing Forest Park Medical’s praises.

Seven years later, 14 people — the group’s managing partner, Wilton “Mac” Burt, a number of spinal and bariatric surgeons, a pain management doctor, anesthesiologists, nurses and a chiropractor among them — would be convicted in a bribery scam.

These individuals were sentenced to a combined 74 years in federal prison and ordered to pay a total $82.9 million in restitution (one of the largest ever medical fraud cases, according to the Department of Justice).

According to a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the $200 million scheme was designed to induce doctors to steer lucrative patients — particularly those with high-reimbursing, out-of-network private insurance — to

the now defunct hospital.

Hospital manager Alan Andrew Beauchamp testified for the government during his co-conspirators’ 2021 trial and pleaded guilty in August 2018 to one count of conspiracy to pay health care bribes and one count of commercial bribery. He admitted that Forest Park “bought surgeries,” and then “papered it up to make it look good.”

Beauchamp is serving 63 months (five-plus years) in federal prison. Burt, the group’s managing partner, was found guilty on 10 of 12 counts — one count of conspiracy, two counts of paying kickbacks, six counts of commercial bribery and one count of money laundering. Burt faced the stiffest sentence, 12 1/2 years. Other defendants received sentences that ranged from probation to 96 months.

Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah said of the case that his staff was pleased with the harsh sentences, which issued a “strong deterrent message: Violate anti-kickback laws, and you will face consequences.”

Many good health care professionals worked at the hospital, and hundreds of patients reported their excellent experiences on sites like Yelp. No injuries or malpractice have been publicized in connection with this scam.

At the time, however, Shah said that allowing money to influence medical decisions puts patients in danger.

As the lawyer said following the 2021 trial, “Patient needs, not physician finances, should dictate where, when, and how patients are treated.”

The Novus Health Scam

In December 2021, two doctors and a nurse helped a local hospice agency to scam Medicare and were sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison. Their crimes put patients at risk and allowed non-doctors to distribute dangerous medicine, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.

At least one of those docs, Laila Hirjee, treated patients right here in our neighborhood.

Hirjee, who promoted her White Rock Trail practice on Google (now marked “permanently closed”), was convicted along with Dr. Mark E. Gibbs of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in their role as the medical directors at Novus Health Services.

MEDICARE FRAUD CASES SUCH AS THE NOVUS SCAM HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF INVESTIGATING HEALTH CARE FRAUD, FBI DALLAS SPECIAL AGENT MATTHEW DESARNO SAYS.

HE ENCOURAGES WORKERS AND THE PUBLIC TO REPORT ANY SUSPICION OF HEALTH CARE FRAUD TO THE FBI AT TIPS.FBI. GOV, 1.800.CALL. FBI.EXCEPTION.

The founder of Novus, a non-doctor named Bradley Harris, testified against his former employees after his own conviction months earlier.

He and other staffers who were not licensed to practice medicine determined treatment and dispensed drugs, Harris testified. They were able to do so because Drs. Hirjee and Gibbs essentially provided a pre-signed blank prescription pad on which Harris and others ordered highly regulated substances, such as morphine, hydromorphone and fentanyl, at will and without physician oversight.

“The doctors allowed Bradley Harris — an accountant with no medical expertise — to dispense controlled substances like candy,” Meacham said following the trial. “They claimed to have had hands-on experience with hospice patients, when in fact, they’d entrusted life-ordeath medical decisions to untrained businesspeople. We are satisfied to know they will spend the next decade behind bars.”

Case of the Tainted IV Bags

in June 2022, anesthesiologist Melanie Kaspar was feeling unwell. So the 55-year-old doctor grabbed a bag of what she believed was saline IV fluid from the area surgery clinic where she worked, returned to her Lakewood home, got comfortable, and began filling her veins with the contents of the bag. A few hours later, she was dead. Investigators would learn that she died from toxic effects of bupivacaine, a local anesthetic that’s fatal when improperly administered. Investigators would also find evidence of the same drug in more IV bags at

the clinic and more patients suffering complications. Fortunately, those patients were in a hospital setting where they were saved from Kaspar’s fate.

Her fellow anesthesiologist, Dr. Ray Ortiz, was arrested in September, suspected of tampering with IV bags at the clinic.

Criminal allegations against Ortiz are not evidence nor proof of guilt, notes the Department of Justice in a press release. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. Meanwhile, the Texas Medical Board has suspended his license.

As documented in court, clinic personnel identified more than 10 cardiac emergencies during otherwise unremarkable surgeries between May and August 2022, and exclusively when Ortiz was in the room.

Ortiz is charged with tampering with a consumer product and with intentionally adulterating drugs. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

This isn’t the doctor’s first time in a courtroom. He was fined $3,000 in August 2022 in relation to a November 2020 incident in which a patient he was anesthetizing required resuscitation and emergency transportation to another hospital.

Ortiz also had relinquished medical staff privileges at North Garland Surgery Center for failing to disclose to the board a prior criminal conviction and arrest “for cruelty to a non-livestock animal,” according to the Texas Medical Board. In June 2016, a Collin County jury found Ortiz guilty of cruelty to an animal, for shooting and wounding his neighbor’s dog.

The motive, the jury decided, was retaliation after the neighbor testified against Ortiz at a protective order hearing and helped one of Ortiz’s domestic violence accusers escape his home. According to documents from the State Medical Board, Ortiz was arrested in 1995 over accusations of assault causing bodily injury to his former spouse.

The Pill Mill Doc

two Dallas physicians and several co-conspirators ran a medical clinic near White Rock Lake. But rather than a place of healing, it was a front for distributing dangerous and addictive drugs, said U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña following a 2014 trial in which one of the docs, Nicolas Alfonso Padron pled guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance. District Judge Barbara Lynn ordered forfeiture of Padron’s house, two cars, a boat and several bank accounts, and sentenced him to 87 months in federal prison. That’s in addition to time Padron was already serving in an unrelated health care fraud case.

Along with co-defendant Jose L. Martinez, who was convicted in an earlier trial, Padron’s cash-only Padron Wellness Clinic amounted to nothing but a “pill mill,” a front for dealing opiates and benzodiazepine pills, Saldaña said.

The other co-defendants, including non-medical staff, were “dealers” who would recruit “patients,” often from homeless shelters, and drive them in groups to the clinic, the prosecution said at trial.

Sometimes, Dr. Padron would see two or more patients at a time in the examination room. He diagnosed the majority with lower back pain and anxiety without regard to their condition. Once Padron issued the prescriptions, the co-conspirators would drive groups of patients to Urban Independent Pharmacy on Samuel Blvd. to fill up on narcotics, most of which the co-conspirators would resell on the street.

The pharmacist, Lisa Hollier, also is serving time in prison for conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance. In all, 17 defendants were convicted related to this pill mill case.

THE WAITING TIME

Story by RAVEN JORDAN

Eight months after the release of Bastards of Soul’s second album, Corners, a music video for a new song and preview from a pending documentary dropped.

Producer and creative director Paul Levatino, an East Dallas resident, produced the music video for the song, “It’s Gonna Be Alright,” dedicating it to late Bastards of Soul frontman Chadwick Murray’s wife, Hannah, and their son, Lennox.

Filmed from one of the band’s studio sessions, it was the last video Levatino filmed of Bastards of Soul before Murray’s death in September 2021.

“They wanted to go in and record that A and B side single, kind of true to the original kind of '60s sound that they were going for, that soul sound, which was different from the album Corners. It didn’t fit Corners, and it didn’t fit the other album and kind of had its own vibe.”

The band — Chad Stockslager on keys, Chris Holt on guitar, Matt Trimble on the traps and Danny Balis on bass — wanted to go for a retro sound, which is why they went with The Echo Lab to get what they were going for.

Over the course of the pandemic, they had recorded about three albums worth of songs, “It’s Gonna Be Alright” being one of them. It’s featured on a documentary that’s still in the works.

Lake Highlands grad produces final tribute to Bastards of Soul frontman Chadwick Murray

Page 30: Paul Levatino, left, and Chadwick Murray, center in car, in a behind-the-scenes take from “The Waiting Time” music video. Photo courtesy Matt Malaise.

Page 31: Bastards of Soul band and production crew. Photo courtesy Matt Malaise.

The band had gone back into the studio during the pandemic to record without pro tools or a computer but faced some difficulties, including lockdown and Chadwick’s health concerns.

“So, the thought was why don’t I bring my crew and film the whole process of that happening,” Levatino says. “During that, I started getting a bunch of different interviews, fly on the wall, kind of footage. And we never realized it was going to be the last pieces that we ever caught of Chadwick alive. I got interviews with the whole band and got some really special moments of him before his baby was born.”

After Chadwick’s death in 2021, it became difficult for Levatino to even look at the footage for about six months.

Levatino and Murray’s ties weren’t just work-based. Their bond stretched all the way back to halls of Lake Highlands Junior High, where they first met. The two went on to graduate from Lake Highlands High School. Levatino says he was the new kid.

“I moved here from Austin and didn’t have a lot of friends, but I was a drummer. And I guess through the grapevine, he heard I was playing drums. He came over and he asked me if I wanted to jam, I think we were 15 years old, and from there we became really close friends and stayed friends his whole life,” he says.

Though their careers took different paths in the span of those 30 years, Levatino and Murray remained close until his last days.

Currently, Levatino is executive creative producer for Pourri (formerly Poo~Pourri) and is behind the Flip that Funk campaign featuring RC & The Gritz and Black Joe Lewis. Plenty of his videos for Bastards of Soul and other creative work was done under his own label, PL Presents.

He’s also spent decades connected to the music scene, serving as manager for Erykah Badu’s Badu World for 10 years. She hired him originally to help her with production at the historic Forest Theater.

“Erykah is her own manager,” he says. “I oversaw her business at her direction, but I also oversaw for concert production. So, how that happened was we met backstage at one of her concerts. She started talking to me about my connections, marketing, and working with brands, music and film and she wanted me involved somehow.”

When asked where his creative journey began, Levatino draws back to Lake Highlands. Even though he grew up in Austin, he says the culture and diversity of Lake Highlands sparked his passion for the arts.

WORSHIP

By BETSY SWETENBURG

Happy New Year

Reflect on the past, and embrace what’s ahead

“N

ew year. New you.”

The start of a new year brings endless possibilities for businesses to pedal this message to us, promising that the simple turn of a calendar page can erase all that has been and usher in all that we imagine for ourselves, be it health, wealth, achievements, you name it. While I lov e the sentiment of grasping possibility and heading enthusiastically into the future, I don’t like the suggestion that the past should be tossed, as if it was nothing more than a box of holiday treats that have gone stale sitting on the kitchen counter. New Year’s messages reek of “don’t look back” subtext, and that’s unfortunate because you can’t appreciate the new without looking back.

Reflecting on the past is part of what makes Christmas so poignant for Christians. Jesus’ birth did make everything new. It marked a new year. It marked a new life for everyone who had been waiting and wondering if the promise of a Messiah was true. But Jesus’ arrival did not mean that people threw out memories of the past as quickly as they could. Instead, remembering the past was part of what made the birth so powerful. They remembered the past with honesty, recognizing how grim and dark things had been for so long. They remembered the broken relationships, dashed dreams, bleak political situation and senseless violence. They remembered how desperate they were for hope. And then they remembered the promise of a light shining in the darkness and the depths of their gratitude

only grew when they recognized that the Christ child had been born into such a dark world.

The promise of newness was not a promise to override all that had been — a light beaming so bright that darkness and memories of past darkness, would cease to exist. The promise of newness was and is a promise that even in the dark, light can break through.

Instead of embracing “New year. New you,” what if we embraced “New year. New light”? What if we started this year with confidence that we don’t have to discard our past to receive new hope and new possibility? What if we reflected honestly on the things that make us want to abandon the past so we’re capable of recognizing newness when it comes instead of trying to manufacture a future without memory? What if we resolved to face the darkness of our lives and our world expecting to see light no matter how faint the glimmer? Light shines in the darkness. If we begin this year trusting that light will arrive to even the darkest places of our lives, then I imagine we’ll find newness that can’t be bought with a gym membership, a beauty regimen, a technological gadget or a meal plan.

New year. New light. The light shines in the darkness if only we have eyes to behold it. It’s a happy New Year, indeed!

BETSY SWETENBURG is pastor of Northridge Presbyterian Church and a regular contributor to the Advocate’s Worship Column. To help support the Worship Column, email sales@advocatemag.com.

WORSHIP

LUTHERAN

CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

A Welcoming & Affirmation Church / Rev. Veronika Czutor Sunday School 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am/ centrallutheran.org

FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA) / 6202 E Mockingbird Ln. Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule. 214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

METHODIST

LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com

Sunday Morning 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am coffee Worship 8:30 am & 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Contemporary

PRESBYTERIAN

NORTHPARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / Summer Worship at 10:00 a.m. www.northparkpres.org / 9555 N. Central Expy. / 214.363.5457 Welcoming Seekers, Thinkers and Doers.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

AC & HEAT

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APPLIANCE REPAIR

JESSE’S A/C & APPLIANCE SERVICE TACLB13304C All Makes/Models. 214-660-8898

BUY SELL TRADE

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CABINETRY & FURNITURE

SQUARE NAIL WOODWORKING

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CONCRETE, RETAINING WALLS 25 yrs exp. T&M Construction, Inc. 214-328-6401

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FLAGSTONE PATIOS, Retaining Walls, BBQ’s, Veneer, Flower Bed Edging, All Stone work. Chris 214-770-5001

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC

Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricdfw.com 50 Yrs. Electrical Exp. Insd. 214-328-1333

BRIGHT LIGHT ELECTRIC • 214-553-5333 TECL 31347 Brightening Homes and Businesses

LAKEWOOD ELECTRICAL Local. Insured. Lic. #227509 Call Rylan 214-434-8735

TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658

GARAGE SERVICES

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned. 214-251-5428

GENERAL CONTACTING

A2H GENERAL CONTRACTING,LLC Remodel, Paint, Drywall/Texture, Plumbing. Electrical, Siding, Bathroom/Kitchen Remodels Tilling, Flooring, Fencing. 469-658-9163. Free Est. A2HGeneralContactingLLC@gmail.com

GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

LAKE HIGHLANDS GLASS & MIRROR frameless shower enclosures • store fronts replacement windows • mirrors 214-349-8160

PRO WINDOW CLEANING prompt, dependable. Matt 214-766-2183

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

HOUSE PAINTING

RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513

TOP COAT 30 Yrs. Exp. Reliable. Quality Repair/Remodel. Phil @ 214-770-2863

VIP PAINTING & DRYWALL Int/Ext. Sheetrock Repair, Resurfacing Tubs, Counters, Tile Repairs. 469-774-7111

KITCHEN/BATH/TILE/GROUT

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. dallastileman.com 214-343-4645

MELROSE TILE James Sr., Installer, Repairs. 40 Yrs. Exp. MelroseTile.com 214-384-6746

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

Complete Full Service Repairs, Kitchen & Bath/Remodeling, Restoration. Name It- We Do It. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

AESTHETIC AMBIENCE

214.727.7957

Cabinet Refacing, Built-ins, Entertainment/ Computer Centers. Jim. 214-324-7398 www.squarenailwoodworking.com Artwork Rentals for Airport, Business & Home by Mon./Qtr.

CLEANING SERVICES

ALTOGETHER CLEAN

Relax ...We’ll Clean Your House, It Will Be Your Favorite Day! Bonded & Insurance. Free Estimates. 214-929-8413. www. altogetherclean.net

CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133

THE CLEANING GIRLS

Customized Cleaning to fit your needs Bonded. 972-462-4875

WANTED: HOUSES TO CLEAN, Organize, De-clutter, or Pack. Sunny 214-724-2555

WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134

COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS

AT ODDS WITH YOUR COMPUTER? Easily Learn Essential Skills. Services include Digital Photo Help. Sharon 214-679-9688

CONFUSED? FRUSTRATED? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky Windows computer. Hardware/Software Installation, Troubleshooting, Training. $100/hr. 1 hr min. Dan 972-639-6413 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net

CONCRETE/MASONRY/PAVING

ADVANCE STONE ART CREATIONS

Decorative Concrete Overlays. 214-705-5954

BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS Mortar Repair. Straighten Brick Mailboxes & Columns. Call Cirilo 214-298-7174

CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001

WHITE ROCK ELECTRIC All Electrical Services. Lic/Insd.TECL-34002 214-850-4891

EXTERIOR CLEANING

G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

FENCING & DECKS

4 QUALITY FENCING • 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood. YourWoodmaster.com

AMBASSADOR FENCE CO.

Automatic Gates, Fences/Decks, Pergolas, Patio Covers, Arbors. AmbassadorFenceCo.com 214-621-3217

FENCING, ARBORS, DECKS oldgatefence.com 214-766-6422

LONESTARDECKS.COM 214-357-3975 Trex Decking & Fencing, trex.com All Wood Decks, Arbors & Patio Covers

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

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HANDY DAN The Handyman. ToDo’s Done Right. handy-dan.com 214-252-1628

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HANDYMAN WANTS your Painting,Repairs, To Do Lists. Bob. 214-288-4232. Free Est. 25+yrs exp.

HOME REPAIR Doors, Trim, Glass. Int/Ext. Sheetrock, Windows, Kitchen, Bathroom 35 yrs exp. 214-875-1127

HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606

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LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

#1 WHITE ROCK TREE WIZARDS Professionals, Experts, Artists serving Dallas 15 years.Trim, Removals. Tree Health Care services. Insured. Arborwizard.com. Free Est. (972) 803-6313.

A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 18 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925 Lawns, Gardens & Trees

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

MAYA TREE SERVICE Tree Trim/Remove. Lawn Maintenance. Resd/ Commcl.Insd. CC’s Accptd. mayatreeservice.com 214-924-7058 214-770-2435

MONSTER TREE SERVICE DALLAS

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NEW LEAF TREE, LLC

Honest, Modern, Safety Minded. 214-850-1528

PAT TORRES 214-388-1850 Lawn Service & Tree Care. 28 Yrs. Complete Landscape Renovation. New Fence Install & Brick Repair. Concrete Removal and Gutter Cleaning.

RED SUN LANDSCAPES • 214-935-9779 RedSunLandscapes.com

TAYLOR MADE IRRIGATION Repairs, service, drains. 30+ years exp. Ll 6295 469-853-2326. John

WALTON’S GARDEN CENTER

Stop in for home decor, candles, house plants, succulents and more. It’s time to plan for spring. Call us for design, prep and plantings! 8652 Garland Road 214-321-2387

DALLAS

Average Home-Interior/Exterior

PEST CONTROL

NATURE KING PEST MANAGEMENT INC. Squirrels, Racoons, Skunks, Snakes, Possums, etc. Pest & Termite. Neighborhood Resident 30+ Yrs.exp. 214-827-0090

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PLUMBING

AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943

POOLS

CERULEAN POOL SERVICES Family Owned/ Operated. Weekly maintenance, Chemicals, parts & repairs. CeruleanPro.com 214-557-6996

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

C.A.S. BOOKKEEPING SERVICES

Personal/Small Business. Payroll, Accounting, Organizing, Consult. Cindy 214-577-7450

REAL ESTATE

ESTATE HOME NEEDS TO BE SOLD?

Facing forclosure? IG Heron Homes Call Ricardo Garza @ 469-426-7839

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REMODELING

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O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 24 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com 214-341-1448

RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

Complete Full Service Repairs, Kitchen & Bath/Remodeling, Restoration. Name It- We Do It. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

MP ARCHITECTURAL Design & Construction. mattandpaul.com 214-226-1186

URBAN PIONEER REMODEL. Total construction & Remodel. 214-682-4564 urbanpioneerconstruction.org

SERVICES FOR YOU

ATTENTION HOMEOWNERS If you have water damage and need cleanup services, call us! We'll get in & work with your insurance agency to get your home repaired and your life back to normal ASAP! 855-767-7031

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available. Call: 855-761-1725

DENTAL INSURANCE-Physicians Mutual Insurance Company. Covers 350 procedures. Real insurance -not a discount plan. Get your free dental info kit! 1-888-623-3036 www.dental50plus.com/58 #6258

DISH TV $64.99 For 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply.Promo Expires 7/21/21.1-833-872-2545

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SERVICES FOR YOU

ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate today. 15% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-855-402-0373

FREE HIGH SPEED INTERNET if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/one-time $20 copay. Free shipping. Maxsip Telecom! 1-833-758-3892

GENERAC Prepare for power outages today with a GENERAC home standby generator $0 Down + Low Monthly Pmt. Request a free Quote. Call before the next power outage: 1-844-334 -8353

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MOBILE HELP, America's premier mobile medical alert system. Whether you're home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure! 1-888-489-3936

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THE GENERAC PWRCELL, a solar plus battery storage system. SAVE money, reduce your reliance on the grid, prepare for power outages and power your home. Full installation services

VIVINT SMART SECURITY

Professionally installed. 1 connected system for total peace of mind. Free professional installation! 4 free months of monitoring! 1-833-841-0737

JAN. 3-26

Little Man Wrestling

5-5:45 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jan. 3-26. This program is designed to introduce wrestling fundamentals to 4-6-year-olds. They’ll also learn about discipline and how to work through tough situations—all while having fun.

Where: Lake Highlands High School Wrestling Room Cost: $50 More info: activekids.com

5 things to do in Lake Highlands this January

JAN. 7

Do-It-Yourself Snow Globe Session

Supplies are provided at this family event, thanks to Friends of the Dallas Public Library, where attendees can construct their own globe that, when shaken, fills with a beautiful snow or glitter storm. First come, first serve. Space is limited.

Where: Forest Green Library, 9619 Greenville Cost: Free

JAN. 11

Goofball the Magician

Magic tricks, balloon art and jokes keep preschoolers, toddlers and families mesmerized at this Atmos Energy-sponsored event featuring the magical entertainer Goofball.

Where: Bookmarks, NorthPark Center Cost: Free

JAN. 14

Latte Art Workshop

White Rock Coffee shop presents a hands-on class in the art of steaming milk like a professional and the process of pouring the art so it’s simple, fun and repeatable. By the end of this $120 session, students will be skilled at pouring a heart, a tulip and a rosette. Registration is refundable until seven days out.

Where: WRC Brew Lab, 10109 E. Northwest Highway Cost: $120

JAN. 28

Too Cold to Hold Half Marathon

This annual 13.1 mile, 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer races draw competitors from around the state of Texas. It’s known to have some of the best runner’s swag including hats, long-sleeved technical shirts and artistic finisher medals. Half marathon registration starts at $84 and increases as race day nears.

Where: Norbuck Park, 200 N. Buckner Cost: $84