2023 February Lake Highlands Advocate

LAKE HIGHLANDS

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YOU’RE THE POP TO MY CORN

Family-run Pop Popcorn celebrates anniversary

Story by SIMON PRUITT Photography by SYLVIA ELZAFON

Pop Popcorn combines myriad unique flavors with pretty packaging, perfect for Valentine’s Day.

“We have expanded our offerings to include truffles, featured popcorn flavors, sodas and candy that customers have requested,” says owner Betsy Cummins.

Cummins was brought into the industry by her sister-in-law Carol Davis, who opened Crave Popcorn in Plano nine years ago. After seeing her success, Cummins decided that Lake Highlands and the Dallas area needed a spot of their own.

The shop celebrates one year with champagne Jan. 28, right before their busiest season of the year.

“We are expecting Valentine’s season to be very busy with custom orders for children, schools and businesses,” Cummins says.

The shop plans to introduce three new specialty Valentine’s flavors — “Cupid’s Crush,” “Chocolate Cherry” and “Amaretto Love” — which will be phased in during February.

Producing and selling desserts isn’t always as sweet as it sounds. As such, Cummins is very intentional about making sure her family is deeply involved in the process. Whether it be her Lake Highlands family or her husband, and two children, the shop and its employees have their priorities right in line.

“At any given time, you may see all four of us,” says Cummins, referring to her husband Alden, and her daughter and son, Caroline and Carden. “Our employees are all local, and we treat our employees as family.

FINDING HER VOICE

Julie Dobbs knows what it’s like to be a woman in ‘guy talk’ radio

Interview by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB Photography by JESSICA TURNER

Drama ticked up on Dallas’ talk-radio scene last year when Mike Rhyner, a retired founder of KTCK The Ticket, helped launch a new station at 97.1 — The Freak. Neighborhood mom Julie Dobbs was paying close attention: She had already been tapped as one of several former KTCK staffers invited to join The Freak.

A female voice on either station is rare. Dobbs, bolstered by her legitimate sports-reporting and broadcasting chops, fit right in at both.

The rising local star and her husband, Dallas Stars video coach Kelly Forbes, purchased their North Lake Highlands home from its original owner, Dobbs’ grandparents, Julia and Carl Ziegler. Dobbs says she can’t imagine living anywhere else.

The past few years, Dobbs has survived breast cancer, created a popular podcast ( The Mom Game ), gained a stepson and mothered two children, all while navigating male-dominated professions.

While on holiday break from her spot on The Freak’s morning show, The Speakeasy , Dobbs shared thoughts on DFW’s talk-radio rivalry, what it’s like for a woman on guy-talk radio and let us in on her hard-won battles off the air.

YOU WERE KTCK’S FIRST FEMALE DAYTIME SHOW HOST — DID THAT, OR THE DUDE-TALK FORMAT, WORRY YOU?

I came to it from a different angle — born in Lake Highlands but moved to Austin at 8, I wasn’t a lifelong fan like some. I was into sports, so when I returned to Dallas, I just listened to Norm Hitzges, Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell, because they talk about the Stars. I met my husband when we both worked with the Stars, so I cared about the Stars.

Maybe I did not fully know what I was getting into.

Most of my reporting career was

in TV, where I crossed paths with Sean Bass (sports director at The Ticket), which is why I decided to apply. I started part time. When the reporting job came open on the Bob and Dan show in 2018, I got it.

THOSE GUYS WERE THE ONES WHO NEEDED TO WORRY, IT SEEMS. I MEAN, EARLY ON YOU CONFRONTED MCDOWELL ON AIR ABOUT A DEROGATORY COMMENT HE MADE YEARS BEFORE …

Yes. It wasn’t planned, but while bantering, Dan said he remembered meeting me at a Dallas Stars game (in 2010). I reminded him that after we met, he told someone I was “press-box hot” (a backhanded compliment implying she’s attractive for someone in the media area at a hockey game).

WHAT RESULTED WAS “RADIO GOLD,” SOME MEDIA MEMBERS HAVE SAID.

Well, it turned out that the person scheduled for an interview for the next segment canceled, so we spent that time untangling the story of the press-box incident.

DID YOU AND DAN MCDOWELL BECOME FRIENDS AFTER THAT?

He knew that it wasn’t some big elaborate plan. There was this unexpected opening, and that’s when I dropped that bomb. It showed him that I could hang, or be one of the boys, if you will, and, of course, we’ve become really good friends since.

HOW DID LISTENERS TAKE TO YOU?

Being able to find my voice while on such a big stage was usually fun. But you say something someone doesn’t like, and they’ll tweet at you or email something mean. That was

something I had to work through, because there is a medium between being totally yourself and trying to not offend anyone. You’re walking a very thin line all the time.

WHY DID YOU QUIT THE TICKET?

I started there right after my second baby. I was pregnant when I interviewed. The timing was hard. That third year on the job, I was asking myself if it was worth it. It’s no secret my role wasn’t financially lucrative. You get to a point where after hiring a babysitter you’re losing money. But it was heartbreaking leaving. I even said I would stay at the salary if they could reduce the hours to let me pick up my son from school, but they said there’s a line of people out the door wanting the job, which is true.

THEN THE FREAK CAME CALLING?

I was still friends with The Ticket, still had my Mom Game podcast with Emily Jones (who covers the Texas Rangers). I was working with Mike Rhyner on a podcasting platform, so he’s the one that gave me the heads up and said “Would you be interested if this (new radio station) happens?” I was like, 100% Are you kidding me?

TICKET LOYALISTS WERE SHOCKED WHEN RHYNER AND OTHER EX-TICKET TALENT WENT TO A NEW STATION — DID YOU FEEL THAT?

The listeners are so passionate. They feel like they know you, and they really do. And for the most part, everybody was nice. But I saw that some of them were stressing or didn’t know how to feel. It made me sad.

THAT’S WHY YOU PUT OUT A STATEMENT?

I posted a personal letter on social media because I wanted

to be very candid and explain that there is room for both radio stations. And that we are all just trying to do best for our families. In my mind it was never supposed to be some big battle.

HOW ABOUT YOUR TICKET FRIENDS?

I still talk to my Ticket friends and reached out to most of them as soon as I was able to discuss it. They couldn’t have been more happy for me, for my career and that I get to come work with some of my fa vorite (former Ticket-ers) Rhyner, Michael Gruber, Danny Balis and my new family of co-hosts (Jeff Ca vanaugh, Kevin “KT” Turner and Matt Cather). They get that.

WHY DID YOU WANT TO LIVE IN LAKE HIGHLANDS?

We bought the home from my grandmother, its original own er. My mom and stepdad both are LHHS alumni. I just love the feel ing of being close to downtown but in your own nook. And we have 25 kids on our street — hockey and soccer games break out in our yard almost every day after school — the sense of community is a dream come true.

YOU’RE SKILLED AT EM BRACING CHANGE, ADAPT ING, TAKING REASONABLE RISK — WHAT MAKES YOU THAT WAY?

At 28 I was diagnosed with cancer, went through radiation and a double mastectomy. That was when I was covering the Stars for Fox, and I tried to work as much as I could, keep as normal a life as possible.

That really did change my perspective. I decided to stay positive and not dwell on the small stuff, which is everything. So I said, you have this opportunity, do it. It’s early mornings, it’s challenging, but you can figure it out. And this is so worth getting up for. We are all so excited about where this station is going.

edited for brevity.

A Helping Hand

Annie’s Place provides a place for parents who can’t miss another health appointment

Story by RAVEN JORDAN | Photography by HUNTER LACEY

Left: Annie’s Place, an offshoot of Mommies in Need, opened in November 2020 at Parkland Health.

Above: Natalie Boyle founded Mommies in Need in 2014, after seeing the importance of child care for parents with health issues.

CHILD CARE FOR YOUNG KIDS isn’t always accessible for working and sick parents, and managing medical treatments or a hospital stay doesn’t make it any easier.

The demand for child care increased when mothers returned to the office, and 52% of parents said parenting during the pandemic was difficult, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey.

One local nonprofit is addressing the issue of child care for mothers who need it most in Lake Highlands, East Dallas and the Greater Dallas area with a solution: free child care. Annie’s Place, which branched off from

Mommies in Need to serve more families, opened in November 2020 on the Parkland Health campus.

Annie’s Place also broke ground on a 4,800-square-foot expansion with the addition of a learning center in the existing child care space at Parkland this past November, marking its second anniversary.

Hospital employees get a spotlight in the expansion because child care for children of health employees is a key focus.

Lake Highlands mom Natalie Boyle founded Mommies in Need in 2014 when she was struggling with her own

15 $894,375.00 $671,976.00

19 $622,626.00 $528,291.00

18 $608,050.00 $546,503.00

21 $569,082.00 $497,119.00

illness. At the same time, she had two young children to care for, but she couldn’t find a babysitter.

“I was kind of going through some really difficult health stuff while being a stay-at-home mom to twin toddlers,” Boyle says. “I was just coming out of that when a friend of mine got diagnosed with colon cancer, and she had a 2- and a 4-year-old. Essentially, I started sending my nanny over to her and we got a bunch of friends to chip in to pay for it. We raised enough money that we were able to just have enough to cover her entire treatment.”

Her friend with the cancer diagnosis was named Annie. In her memory, Boyle named the center after her.

What sets Annie’s Place apart on the mother-child nonprofit scene is that it’s considered to be a first-of-its kind organization. No other hospital in the country has a fully-functioning child care center for patients, Boyle says.

After a hospital board member introduced Boyle to Parkland’s Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Kavita Bhavan, Bhavan suggested opening a child care center at the hospital.

“That’s sort of where we started getting the idea. We just started talking about, ‘Well, could you put a child care center at the hospital?’ And pretty immediately, she was on board with knowing that it was a need in the hospital.”

Until that point, Mommies in Need’s main issue was not being able to serve the most vulnerable families, those at or below poverty level. Patients were

to cancel appointments because they couldn’t find child care.

The children of patients also look forward to what was previously the uncertain and frightening experience of going to hospital appointments with their parents. Now, they look forward to the activities the center offers, which include story times from Dallas Public Library librarians, daily music classes and an indoor play space.

In their first five years, Mommies in Need provided almost 30,000 hours of free child care, which was an inhome service for 40 hours a week for up to six months.

The in-home program was paused due to the pandemic but now has two nannies on duty working to relaunch the program. Initially, care was mainly for health crisis patients, but it has since expanded to all patients who need child care. Boyle even launched a podcast, Culture of Caring , to share good news from the nonprofit world.

“During the height of the shutdown and the last couple years with all the scary and bad news, I found that I always had a good news story to tell somebody because I’m very active in the nonprofit world,” Boyle says. “Every day, I meet people that are doing amazing work to solve all the problems that you hear about.”

Annie’s Place isn’t done growing. In 2024, Boyle says, the expanded learning center will open, along with a new location in East Dallas.

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COME FOR THE VIBES, STAY FOR THE BOBA

Squishies Bubble Tea is planning on expanding

Story by SIMON PRUITT | Photography by KATHY TRAN

SQUISHIES BUBBLE TEA has become a neighborhood staple, filling a boba-sized hole in Lake Highlands.

Squishies boasts a massive selection of drinks with an anime theme throughout the shop. With colors that pop just as much as boba in the cup, Squishies has created a fun environment tailored to students and young adults.

“During COVID I was watching tons of anime and decided to open a boba store super close to my house,” says owner Frankie Nuccio. “What better theme than my favorite anime titles to decorate? It

has resonated with so many customers.” Nuccio says he’s a serial entrepreneur.

“I’ve always taken my hobbies and turned them into businesses. I did this with my first store when I was 19; it was a used video game store and hangout. I did the same with roller/ice hockey. I was playing both, so I decided to open a very successful store in the late ’90s.”

After over a year in business, Squishies enters its expansion phase: Nuccio plans to open a second location, this time combining with his family restaurant, Pizza Gianna.

“My dad had a bar downtown and

added pizza in 1956,” Nuccio says. “He then opened a stand-alone pizzeria in 1962.”

With Nuccio at the helm, Pizza Gianna operated at Preston and Royal until 2019.

“There was a tornado that destroyed a lot of the neighborhood and shopping centers,” Nuccio says. “Some fiercely loyal customers talked me into reopening at Lovers and Inwood.”

Pizza Gianna has been open at the new location ever since. Recently, Nuccio decided to merge his two concepts.

Cutline + Photography by sentence. No photo credit if byline.

Items at Squishies include Jasmine Milk Tea, Hibiscus Cooler and Taro.

“I’ll be converting it to a boba store that serves my family’s pizza,” he says. “I’ll have to repaint the inside and maybe even rebrand to have the freshest of starts.”

As the new store preps for opening, focus is not lost on the original Squishies in Lakeridge Village. The store is mostly staffed and frequented by Lake Highlands High School students.

One of those is senior Ethan Rommel, who has worked at Squishies since opening day.

“It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had,” Rommel says.

“Being a small local business starting up out of nowhere, there are times where things get rocky. But Squishies has grown to be a family.”

Rommel credits his time at Squishies with helping him learn to work in a unique environment with the struggles and advantages that come with it.

“Leading a small business, it’s important to treat everyone, coworkers and customers, like a friend,” Rommel says.

Squishies Bubble Tea , 9850 Walnut Hill Lane, 972.807.2562

smooth sailing

White Rock Lake is home to two boat clubs

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

jeanne Tunks has always loved the water. But as a kid in Scott, a small town west of Lafayette, Louisiana, she couldn’t participate in watersports except at camp. During college, she became a water safety instructor for the Red Cross.

She taught people living with blindness, cerebral palsy and other conditions how to swim. Wanting to be a more effective teacher, she enrolled at a training school operated by the Red Cross in Mobile, Alabama.

A limited number of participants meant the students in Tunks’ program and those in the sailing program were merged into one class. She was learning how to sail.

“It was that first time on Mobile Bay, just not knowing what the heck it was going to be,” Tunks says. “But just really, there’s something about when you can capture the wind just right, and it pulls you along. And you’re just part of the elements of nature.”

Tunks and her husband, Tom, who used to sail on Lake Michigan, have been sailing at White Rock Lake for decades.

In addition to two rowing clubs, a handful of historical buildings and yet-to-be-unearthed artifacts from Dallas’ Davy Jones’ locker, White Rock Lake Park is home to two sailing clubs.

Corinthian Sailing Club and White Rock Boat Club differ in key ways. But at their essence, they host hundreds of people with a shared interest in being on the water.

Even the history of the clubs is intertwined. Corinthian was officially incorporated in 1939 by Tom Nash, Frank Parker and Wilfred Bruce. The story goes that a few people

who had been sailing from a public pier on the northwest side of the lake were searching for deeper water. So they built a pier and eight slips where the north entrance of the club is today, along E. Lawther Drive.

By 1942, Corinthian had 22 members, and the primary boats used by members were snipes.

White Rock Boat Club started about two decades later. Three Corinthian members — brothers Phil and Pete Oetking and Henry Pittman — spearheaded the creation of the club in 1961, after their old club was having problems tracking davit ownership and the price of davits was increasing. The Oetkings had developed a catamaran called the Hellcat and needed a place to sell them. With help from Pittman, who financed construction, White Rock Boat Club was established to meet their needs.

Corinthian, built entirely over the water, has 183 boat slips and 70 board boat pads. All 380 member households sail; those who race and those who don’t each comprise about half of the total membership.

“There’s a boat for everyone,” says Renee Comen, the club’s commodore, whose term ended January 2023. “We have a guy that’s 90 years old that comes out and sails. We took our kids out when they were toddlers.”

Comen, who’s originally from New Mexico, started sailing at White Rock Lake in 1986.

“This guy said, ‘Hey, you want to come sail with me?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ I ended up marrying him,” she says.

Corinthian has several fleets, including Flying Scots, Snipes, Corinthians, RS Aeros and Lasers, plus 420s and Optimists for kids.

Above: White Rock Boat Club, founded in 1961, sits at the north side of the lake near Boy Scout Hill.

Right: Two members of White Rock Boat Club.

Far right: Corinthian Sailing Club’s clubhouse has a small kitchen inside.

In addition, they have members who participate in parasailing competitions. They share a butterfly fleet with White Rock Boat Club, which has more than 20 types of sailboats.

While 100% of the members at Corinthian have to sail, only 70% of the members at White Rock Boat Club face that requirement. The rest can have canoes, kayaks, paddle boards or rowboats.

The club, which has about half the membership of Corinthian, sponsors a Sea Scouts troop. Part of the Boy Scouts of America, the scouts have access to White Rock’s boats and facilities, and in return, they help with projects, such as building new picnic tables for the club house dock.

Members in both organizations don’t have to own boats, and all of them pay fees, which help cover maintenance and other costs incurred by the clubs. At White Rock, members can offset the costs by participating in work days or performing acts of service for the club.

Corinthian and White Rock, both all-volunteer organizations,

are similar in their stewardship of the lake. They help pull logs and debris out of the water, and they participate in For the Love of the Lake’s monthly shoreline cleanups.

Both also face the challenges of dredging, or lack of it, freezes and flooding. Water levels have risen as high as the windows at Corinthian’s club house. When water recedes, White Rock has had to remove snakes from the club house.

From March until November, Corinthian hosts races four times per week. A few of the members travel across the nation to compete, and the club has even hosted a remotecontrolled sailboat race.

White Rock is less competitive. There are some members who don’t own boats anymore but just come by to hang out. One man comes every Monday night with a group of people to play Rummikub on the dock. Others come to watch the sunset.

“I have a sailboat here, a canoe and two kayaks,” Tunks says. “OK, why do I need all these boats? Well, because if you like boats, you need them.”

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB | Photography by JULIA CARTWRIGHT

It has been almost a year since a coyote attack on a small child had Dallas residents on edge.

A White Rock Valley incident involving 2-year-old Knox Thomas was the driving force behind a coyote management plan the city of Dallas launched in 2022, city spokesperson Margo Clingman says.

Following the event, in which a coyote grabbed the boy by the throat and held on until his siblings screamed and mom charged the animal, Dallas partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create a comprehensive program to educate people and observe the animals. The goal: Broker peace between human and beast. The city web page BeDallas90.org/coyotes includes a coyote reporting system and displays a map that tracks sightings.

Dallas’ coyote lady

The attack also prompted our city government to appoint a coyote czar, of sorts, whose primary role is investigating, advising and helping to coordinate wildlife policy specifically related to the increasingly problematic canines.

That’s Animal Services officer Jacqueline Sutherland. She says she was called to the scene (of Thomas’ incident) immediately and led the investigation.

As the little boy underwent surgery and recovered from his injuries, Sutherland’s team, with help from USDA hunters, captured and euthanized four neighborhood coyotes.

Lethal removal is only for extreme cases. Extracting or exterminating coyotes typically does little good, Sutherland explains, because the species will breed precisely to replace each family member lost to death or relocation.

Sutherland has been Dallas’ coyote point person since that investigation.

Urban coyotes have been a hot topic in the White Rock area for decades. But until the toddler’s attack, residents had been led to believe that, while cats, squirrels and small dogs are at risk, coyotes are not likely to harm humans.

It remains true that assaults on people

are atypical. But when a neighborhood child is the victim, it doesn’t matter how rare they are, parents pointed out during public meetings. The city did not do enough to prevent an attack that was imminent, they said.

White Rock area dad Clayton Rainey told the Advocate last year he had reported an animal that might have been Knox’s attacker in the days before the incident. The coyote was brazenly scouring the treeline and alleys in search of food.

“It’s scary, and it should have been taken care of right then.”

Anecdotal evidence suggests an increase in Dallas’ coyote population, Sutherland says.

“In some neighborhoods, I’ve spoken with people who lived there 30 years without seeing a coyote but now (are) seeing an entire family of them,” she says.

For an even more scientific assessment, the coyote management team is analyzing data they began collecting after the White Rock Valley event.

“Now that we’re monitoring families, territories, activities, behaviors, that kind of stuff is going to give us some insight in regard to their growth and how they function and how they distribute themselves.”

Please don’t feed the fauna

What she knows for sure is that coyotes are quite content to live among people, especially when they connect a human with a food source.

“It makes them want to hang around.” And that turns into a habit for the animals and their offspring.

“People who come from Colorado or East Texas are shocked by the way the coyotes behave around here,” Sutherland says.

This habituation can result from unintentional or deliberate feeding, which does happen, Sutherland says, though people don’t want to admit to it.

She says some people use food to get good wildlife photos. That includes social media users with feeds to fill.

“I was working with an apartment

Jackie Sutherland and her dog, Missy, patrol Dallas’ wooded areas for coyotes that neighbors have reported. She says the pup draws attention so she can do “high-intensity hazing, and teach coyotes that there are negative consequences if they try to approach a dog.”

where we found kids throwing food over the fence to get a coyote to come out of the woods so they could get it in a TikTok video,” she says.

The more problematic members of the coyote populations tend to be tweens, Sutherland says, because, like their human counterparts, young coyotes push the boundaries of where they are supposed to tread or how long they stay out.

These “teenage” coyotes “are going places they shouldn’t be; they’re missing curfew,” she quips. They are going to be asking a human’s permission, in a sense, to get close, and people just need to make it clear that that is not OK.

“If people are on board with that, then the behavior goes back to normal relatively quickly.”

Coyotes serve a vital role in the ecosystem by helping to control the population of rodents. That means they go where the rodents go — unsecured trash bins, for example.

Even feeding ducks and other birds can inadvertently attract coyotes, she says. An ordinance banning wildlife feeding will go to a City Council vote sometime this year, and Sutherland says it’s necessary.

Sutherland says that if everyone did their part to tackle the coyote-feeding problem, the risk of further injuries to humans would be almost nil.

“We’re really struggling to educate people about the dangers of feeding, and we’re still trying to get that (ordinance) passed,” Sutherland says. “I’ve got areas where I’m basically having to beg people to stop leaving food out in an inappropriate fashion.”

There have been a dozen or so incidents on record of coyotes attacking humans in the entire state of Texas, Sutherland says, and in every one of those cases, “they’ve been able to trace back to somebody feeding the animal.”

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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

DANHANDY.NET Repairs Done Right For A Fair Price. References 214-991-5692

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

ONE CALL WEEKEND SERVICES Contractor & Handyman. Remodels, Renovations . Paint, Plumbing, Drywall, Electrical. 469-658-9163

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

Certified Arborists, Fully Insured 469.983.1060

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

PEST CONTROL

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

ROOFING & GUTTERS

SERVICES FOR YOU

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

DONATE YOUR CARS TO VETERANS TODAY. Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800 -245-0398

"Keeping Children & Pets in Mind" Termite Specialist - Mosquito Mister Systems Licensed · Insured · Residential · Commercial · Organic 214-350-3595 • Abetterearth.crw@gmail.com abetterearth.com

PLUMBING

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

PLUMBING

MCDANIEL

Prices Start

For General Treatment.

Average Home-Interior/Exterior

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

OFFICE SUBLEASE In Bishop Arts. Cool, Quiet. 1,179 Sq ft. 4 rooms + kit / bath, parking. $2,950 + NNNs. 713.302-7722.

REMODELING

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

FENN CONSTRUCTION Kitchens And Baths. Call Us For Your Remodeling Needs. 214-343-4645. dallastileman.com

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

RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247

SQUARE NAIL CONSTRUCTION

Kitchen/Bath remodeling Re-facing, Pergolas/Decks. 30Yrs exp. 469.585.1588, 469.585.7756

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

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

BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR. We want to read your book! Dorrance Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation,production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author’s guide 1-877-729-4998 or visit dorranceinfo.com/ads

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

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

HUGHESNET Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live.25 Mbps just $59.99/mo! Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499 -0141

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

SAFE STEP North America's #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-the-line installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available. 1-855-417-1306

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

TUTORING/ LESSONS

GARTH ORR - TUTOR Math & Physics grade 8-12. Private Tutoring that works! garthorr.com

By DR. ROBERT HUNT

The elephant in the city

Spiritual but not religious

Changes in the religion of a neighborhood often happen so slowly, you hardly see them.

We can see this happening throughout Dallas. My daily drive takes me past churches that have become bilingual or host a whole new congregation. It takes me past churches clearly in decline, holding fewer worship services on a Sunday morning or simply having fewer people.

There has been an invisible elephant in the religious world, and its name is secularization. Part of this is the process of religion becoming less visible in public, the classic sign of a secular society. Yet the secular age in which we live is characterized less by the disappearance of religion than by religious transformation.

The biggest transformation is people who used to say they were religious now say they are spiritual.

These changes, often so slow that they go unnoticed, are accelerating. Recent polls carried out by Pew Research, Gallup and others show the number of Americans who identify as Christian (by far the dominant religion in the United States) has declined from 90% to 64% in the last 50 years.

It’s the abandonment of institutional religion. Since each generation is less religious than the last, the continued decline is certain. The youngest generation of Americans, Gen Z, is 20% less likely than the national average to identify as Christian.

But while we Americans and Dallasites are less attached to traditional religion, secularism is transforming rather than destroying the religious landscape.

Younger generations who are turning away from traditional religion are turning their energies toward organizing new religious groups, adopting new spiritual practices and engaging in social entrepreneurship based in religious ethics.

America is becoming “spiritual but not religious.”

For every story of a church turned into a bar, there are a dozen of a coffee shop turned into a Bible study, a restaurant into a prayer group, or a failed business into a Christian clinic, a Muslim food pantry or a Jewish counseling center.

These changes don’t even take into account the way that religion and spirituality have moved online. One of my students has a daily Christian meditation podcast with hundreds of thousands of listeners. The largest online Bible study has more than 3 million subscribers. If we add the number of people participating in online ministries of existing churches, the number increases exponentially.

For nearly a century, the boundaries between self-help, positive thinking, motivational speaking, political organizing, entertainment and worship have become increasingly fuzzy. Online or in spaces that resemble arenas, auditoriums, gyms, coffee shops and even bars, it may be hard to tell where religion ends and secular society begins.

When we look closely, religion in our city isn’t going away. Instead, it’s going to look different than it has in the past, reflecting the dynamism and energy that continue to make this an exciting place to live.

DR. ROBERT HUNT is director of SMU’s Perkins School of Theology Global Theological Education department.

WORSHIP

LUTHERAN

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.

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