MODERN STITCHING OIL AND COTTON
REALITY TV STARS FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SHARE STORIES ABOUT LIFE UNDER THE LENS
We don’t just sell Oak Cliff homes. We live in them, too.
Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate agents can speak to the benefits of living in Oak Cliff because we know those benefits personally. We start our weekend on the first tee box of Stevens Park. We ride our bikes to Bishop Arts. Our children attend the neighborhood’s schools.
And, as always during October, we are proud to sponsor the 41st annual Fall Home Tour. For more information, please visit DavePerryMiller.com.
Radiation oncologist Dr. Ramzi Abdulrahman leads a dedicated team of health care professionals who specialize in delivering extremely precise cancer treatments that allow our youngest patients to continue their journey into adulthood with fewer long-term side effects. UT Southwestern is the No. 1 referral center for Children’s Medical Center, and the only local facility that regularly treats children with advanced radiosurgical tools such as the Gamma Knife and CyberKnife. This is UT Southwestern—where scientific research, advanced technology, and leading-edge treatments come together to bring new hope to cancer patients.
To learn more, contact:
Radiation Oncology at 214-645-8525 | UTSWmedicine.org/radonc
This is where we’re helping young patients put cancer behind them.
Dr. Cockerell is building the best dermatopathology lab in the world, and that requires a team with a clear vision. That's why he partnered with LegacyTexas. Taking the time to learn about his practice, LegacyTexas showed Dr. Cockerell exactly what he was looking for in a bank.
YOUR LEGACY?
Once again, U.S. News & World Report ranked Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas first in the Dallas Metro Area. Baylor Dallas is nationally recognized in three specialty areas—diabetes & endocrinology, gastroenterology & GI surgery and neurology & neurosurgery—and high performing in eight specialties—cancer; ear, nose & throat; geriatrics; gynecology; nephrology; orthopedics; pulmonology and urology. Baylor Dallas also is recognized for excellence in treating COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and heart failure. For you, these recognitions simply confirm our commitment to providing safe, quality, compassionate health care each day. It’s one more way we are Changing Health Care. For Life.™
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My father and mother have lived in the same house for almost 60 years.
The house has changed over the years
they’ve added a bedroom, a bathroom, an office and a den. They’ve painted, repainted, painted yet again and finally gave up and added metal siding to the outside of the place. They’ve mowed and tended the acreage so lovingly, I swear they know most of the blades of grass and even the weeds by heart.
They’ve fixed water leaks, solved electrical problems, dealt with foundation cracking, repaired broken windows (at least two caused by my childhood baseball game simulations throwing a ball against the wall), and dealt with all kinds of happy times and personal calamities there, too.
There are far more memories than problems in a house that has become a home, but the good times of the past still can’t change the realities of the present.
Today, the house and grounds are far larger than two jokingly self-described “old” people need, even as the house and storage buildings are jammed with just about everything anyone in the family ever acquired over the years — including what appears to be every school project my sisters and I completed from kindergarten through college.
They are not hoarders, at least in the current reality-TV vernacular. But like many of us, since they have room to save stuff, lots of stuff has been saved.
So I asked my dad what it would take to get them to move to a smaller home that would be easier to care for and would demand less from them as they continue try-
ing to defy the aging process.
He paused, thoughtfully I presumed rather than for that “give-the-kid-the-ideaI’m-actually-considering-this” effect, and said words that ring true regardless of age and status.
“I don’t know,” he told me. “It just seems a lot easier to stay put here where we’ve always been.”
It is easy for my sisters and me to express our concerns and offer our opinions, because of course we know what’s best for people other than ourselves. But only my mom and dad can determine what’s best for them, and if they choose to ignore us, should we blame them? They’ve done just fine over the years despite all of the things we’ve dragged them into, through and over.
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My parents have earned the right to live their lives how they see fit, not that they need my permission to do so anyway, and if health-permitting they want to ride off into the sunset in this house they’ve called home for so long, I guess that is their call. It certainly isn’t mine.
That point was clear as I left their home after a recent pilgrimage, driving off into the sunset myself.
There they were, arm in arm and waving goodbye while standing in the front door of the only home they’ve known together — just as they have so many times over so many years and under so many circumstances.
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RAN, JENNIFER SHERTZER, KATHY TRAN, ANDREW WILLIAMS, SHERYL LANZEL
Thanks to Curiosities in Lakewood Shopping Center and McShan Florist in East Dallas for lending props to “The Real World” cover story.
one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.
There are far more memories than problems in a house that has become a home, but the good times of the past still can’t change the realities of the present.
“The only concern that I have is the developer originally asked for $11.5 million in [Tax Increment Financing] for three buildings and now it’s the same amount but for two buildings. This doesn’t seem like a good deal for the city unless the eventual third building will be completely privately funded.”
Lakewoodhobo
“I doubt anyone believes that development at Davis and Zang can be stopped. Thankfully, our very vocal community was able to prevent some ugly red boxes from becoming our new neighbors. Though their replacement will not be perfect, it will be vastly better.”
George
“I would to encourage everyone reading this article to not confuse silence with compliance. Just because more negative feedback wasn’t offered definitely does not mean that it doesn’t exist.” Samueal
Stuard“What a great investment. That’s about $13,500 per bicycle that has used the lane.”
Roadweary
“Too bad NCTCOG and the Mayor are planning to demo the bridge to make room for the I-35 to Trinity Tollway Interchange.”
DallasMay
The idea came from a weekend-long popup shop called Rock, Paper, Scissors that offered art classes to children, during the first Better Block in 2011.
It was so successful that Kayli House Cusick and Shannon Driscoll pooled $5,000 and opened a fulltime business of the same vein, Oil and Cotton.
The shop, which offers art, music and crafts classes, plus art supplies and gifts, is now 5 years old; its legacy as a shepherd of the arts continues to blossom.
It has a magnetic quality. Many early Oil and Cotton volunteers and students have returned as teachers and interns.
The first scholarship student, Madeline Dean, was a student at Rosemont Elementa-
ry School back then. Now she is a freshman at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
The shop’s first volunteer, Rachel Rushing, has since completed a master of fine arts degree and now teaches at Mountain View College as well as Oil and Cotton.
“It was amazing to see two women who were bosses in every sense of the word,” Rushing says. “And they’re so passionate.”
The shop gives art school students a place to land when they graduate. They may not make their rent by teaching workshops there, but it’s a place among like-minded people where they can take a moment to find the next step in their artistic careers.
That happened to Emily Riggert. As an
undergraduate in 2011, she wandered into Oil and Cotton. Cusick needed an on-site babysitter for her daughter who was about 2 years old at the time, so that’s where Riggert started. Cusick and Driscoll encouraged her to teach toddler classes, always in high demand at O and C. She balked at first but then she got into it, co-writing curriculum with Cusick.
Riggert recently moved back to Dallas after finishing her degree in Austin. She took a job in the education department at the Crow Collection of Asian Art, and she also teaches toddler and kindergarten-first grade classes at Oil and Cotton.
Aside from that, Oil and Cotton presents art to the community in a way that is unpre-
tentious and approachable.
When they had a workshop inside the Dallas Museum of Art a couple of years ago, every security guard came over to participate.
“Here they are constantly surrounded by all of this amazing art,” Cusick says. “But this caught their attention in a different way.”
The shop also offers classes once a month at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the Latino Cultural Center and the Kessler School. They would like to expand that part of their business, offering workshops to schools, clubs and museums as well as birthday parties, corporate events and the like.
Oil and Cotton moved into a space next door to Davis Street Espresso near West Davis and Tyler this summer. The new space is nearly half the size of the old shop on Tyler at Seventh, but it is just right, they say.
Starting from the back door, tables and chairs graduate in size based on whom they serve: toddlers, 4 and 5 year olds, elementary age and then big kids and adults.
A music room with a piano and comfy sofa is between the classroom and the shop counter.
In the old space, they took advantage of an old-timey department store window to showcase art installations. Here, they’re using the front patio. That adds the challenge of creating public art that will stand up to the weather.
Oil and Cotton has never taken out a loan, and the owners still don’t have a business credit card.
“We live within our means,” Driscoll says.
Early on, they tried to pay themselves at least a little something. They had a landlord who let them do whatever they wanted to the space. They’ve adapted to demand, and they stay relevant by allowing volunteers, interns and employees to take a sense of ownership.
Cusick and Driscoll are still their own janitors. It’s all do-it-yourself, but after five years, they’ve hit a stride.
“We just took this little thing and kept it growing,” Cusick says. “Now we have payroll.”
—RachelStone
SEE MORE PHOTOS at oakcliff.advocatemag.com
How many thousands of women in Texas history have entered their handiwork to be judged at the great State Fair of Texas?
Shannon Page is one. Among hundreds of entries from all over Texas, she won two blue ribbons, in quilting and sewing, in 2014. Given her 10 entries in this year’s fair, more wins are likely.
Your grandmother’s quilt repeated a 12inch block patterned evenly over the surface of a blanket, perhaps. Modern quilts make more use of white space. They’re flat and incorporate an overall graphic unrestrained by quilt blocks.
Page, who serves as education coordinator for the Old Red Museum, is a master of modern quilting.
After her mother died in 2011, she taught herself to sew by watching Youtube videos. It was partially to give herself a distraction, partially to connect with her family heritage.
“Everyone in my family has quilts from my great-grandmother,” she says.
As it turned out, she had a knack for sewing.
A weekend suitcase, covered in quilted Japanese linen and fitting perfectly under the seat in front of you, won her the blue ribbon in the “Sewing: Other” category last year. That’s a huge category, with hundreds of entries.
A handbag with a recycled leather bottom, quilted of course, is among this year’s entries.
And, unless you are a serious baller, this could break your heart: You can’t really have one.
Page is an artist. Not counting the modern quilts she frequently shows, sometimes there are too many works of art piling up in the Dells district home she shares with her boyfriend. A large quilt could take 80 hours of her time, not to mention the investment of her heart and soul.
Taking a few hundred bucks for one would feel cheap. But she likes to give them away to friends and family.
“Really, if you come to my house and tell
me you like one, I will probably give it to you,” she says. [Editor’s note: No, I will not give you her number.]
Page, a member of the Quilters Guild of Dallas, also serves on the board of directors of the Modern Quilt Guild. She is a seam-
stress and cook, and she crochets. Find her designs at pressandpin.com. —Rachel Stone SEE MORE PHOTOS at oakcliff.advocatemag.com
And our magazine, The Dave Perry-Miller Collection, allows us to tell dozens of them. The second edition, which showcases the finest properties in Dallas’ most sought-after neighborhoods, will be delivered to homes in late September.
Look
Oct. 2
October 2015
RAFT takes over the campground at the Trinity River Audubon Center for a moonlit hike and party around the campfire. Campsites cost $25 per night and can be purchased in the center’s lobby.
Trinity River Audubon Center, 6500 S. Great Trinity Forest Way, 214.309.5801, raftdallas.org
OCT. 2
The Bishop Arts Theatre Center’s jazz series returns with two shows, 7:45 p.m. and 9 p.m., from Larry Carlton and Althea Rene.
Bishop Arts Theatre Center, 215 S. Tyler, 214.948.0716, tecotheater.org, $60-$65
OCT. 3
The Friends of Oak Cliff Parks and the Dallas Park and Recreation Department celebrate the restoration of the stone pergola at Kiest Park at 10 a.m. The Works Progress Administration built the pergola in 1934 and it was restored last year.
Kiest Park, 3080 S. Hampton, friendsofoakcliffparks.org, free
OCT. 10
Oak Cliff’s own rock and blues great Jimmie Vaughan brings his Tilt-A-Whirl band to the Kessler.
OCT. 11
A 3 p.m. group bike ride will tour Oak Cliff, stopping at some of the childhood haunts of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan before returning for an outdoor screening of “When Dallas Rocked,” the documentary from Oak Cliff resident Kirby Warnock.
The Wild Detectives, 314 W. Eighth, 214.942.0108, bikefriendlyoc.org, free
OCT. 12
Take Monday off and play golf. It’s for the neighborhood! Proceeds from North Oak Cliff Greenspace Inc.’s Golf For the Parks tournament go to improving parks and trails in our neighborhood, particularly the Coombs Creek Trail. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch and a 1 p.m. start. Stevens Park Golf Course, 1005 N. Montclair, 214.670.7506, $150 per player
An Ebby Halliday Company
The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis, 214.272.8346, thekessler.org, $20-$48
We are proud to sponsor the 41st annual
Every home has a story.
OCT. 17-18
The Old Oak Cliff Conservation League’s Fall Home Tour showcases ten homes throughout the neighborhood in a self-guided tour. The tour, from noon-6 p.m. both days, is the league’s major fundraiser, and proceeds go back to the neighborhood in the form of grants. Tickets are available in advance online or at “ticket central,” 7th and Bishop, on the days of the tour.
Various locations, ooccl.org, $20
OCT. 31-NOV. 1
The Texas Custom Bicycle Show is now the Texas Bicycle and Beer Expo, brought to Dallas by Oak Cliff Cargo Bikes. Custom frame builders will exhibit, as well as many other bikerelated manufacturers and retailers. It’s from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. both days, amid Bike Friendly Oak Cliff’s annual Spookycross cyclocross races.
Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park, 1515 S. Harwood, 214.205.4205, texasbicycleandbeerexpo.com, free
Oct. 10
Diorama-o-rama is a big party where local artists and others offer dioramas to be auctioned in a fundraiser for the Oak Cliff Foundation and the Texas Theatre building. There are awards for the best dioramas, plus food and drinks. A 9 p.m. concert at the Texas Theatre features New Fumes and Botany and is free with a Diorama-o-rama ticket. Jefferson Tower Events, 351 W. Jefferson, $10
235 Centre 214.943.5669
AMBIANCE: COUNTER SERVICE
PRICE RANGE: $6-$8
HOURS: MONDAY-SUNDAY, 10 A.M.-8 P.M.
Beforebrothers Raul and Martin Solis opened Tortas Las Tortugas, it was hard to find a good torta on homemade bread in Dallas, Raul says.
“The things you can do with a sandwich are limitless,” he says.
The brothers have been exploring those limits since 2008 at their shop, a former Dairy Queen on Centre Street at Madison.
The bread, baked in-house every day, is what sets their sandwiches apart. Raul and Martin are the sons of a baker, Lupe Solis, whose family owned a bakery in their small town in Guanajuato for decades.
Raul Solis moved to Texas in 1984 and spent 26 years working for a food-service corporation before striking out with his brother in the torta business.
Since then, their success has allowed them to open two more sandwich shops: One in Flower Mound in 2011 and another in Garland recently. The lomo milanesa, or breaded pork shoulder, is the most popular torta on the menu, followed by chicken pesto, queso fresco and avocado. They also make their own real-fruit aguas frescas, including lemonade, pineapple and horchata. —Rachel
Stone
Lomo milanesa torta: Photo by Kathy Tran
CocoAndré Chocolatier has relocated to a cottage at 508 W. Seventh, which the family-owned business bought and renovated. Aside from a chic retail space finished out by Oak Cliff-based carpenter Charisse Tasset, the new digs allow chocolatier Andrea Pedraza much more space for production. That means more treats for everyone. On the every day menu, CocoAndré now offers drinking chocolate in four flavors — dark, milk, dark spicy Oaxacan and white with orange blossom — which can be served cold or hot. Try these little mood elevators for $3.75 each or $9 for a flight of all four.
The leaves are changing from summer green to autumn orange and if you’re like me, you have waited all year for pumpkin season to officially begin. From savory to sweet, there are endless pumpkin recipes to get you in the spirit. One of my tried and true favorites is this classic Pumpkin Roulade with sweet Maple Cream Cheese Icing.
GROCERY LIST:
6 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, unsalted
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, grease a half-sheet pan and cover with parchment paper.
Beat the eggs and sugar until light in color.
Add pumpkin puree.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and fold into pumpkin mixture.
Spread the cake batter onto a prepared half-sheet pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until cake springs back at the touch.
Allow cake to cool before spreading a thin layer of maple cream cheese icing
to cover the entire top of the cake. Roll the pumpkin cake to make a log and refrigerate for 20 minutes to allow icing to set.
Spread the remaining maple cream cheese on top of the log.
(Optional garnish: sprinkle with chopped pecans)
Serve at room temperature and enjoy!
Combine butter and powdered sugar and beat until crumbly.
Add in cream cheese and maple syrup and mix until smooth.
unning the gamut from voyeuristic trash to societal edification, reality TV shows have amassed over the past 15 years like old newspapers on an episode of “Hoarders.” The grand paradox of the so-called “reality” genre is its supremely contrived, controlled and cut-up content, which — while necessary for palatable programming — deprives us of those stories beneath the surface.
We tracked down Oak Cliff people who have spent time on reality TV show sets. They share candidly about their experiences, what they learned and life after the cameras shut off.
Hilari Styles tripped in some designer shoes and landed in TV stardom.
“Nothing in my life seems to be deliberate. I don’t have any triumph over tragedy moments,” she says. “I just stumble into life, and I think for some people it happens like that.”
Hilari and her husband, Cedric Powell, had just moved from Washington, D.C. to Dallas. Before Texas, she’d earned a fashion degree from Howard University and had worked in interior design.
A neighbor here asked if she wanted to ride with her to a cattle call for HGTV’s “Design Star.” So Hilari tagged on, bringing along her new puppy in a vintage bowling bag and wearing a green blouse that drew out her eyes.
She caught the producers’ attention and a spot on the show.
“I had never seen that show before I was on that show,” she says of “Design Star,” where designers compete in weekly challenges and are eliminated one-by-one. The grand prize is a TV show of one’s own.
On “Design Star,” she lived in a dorm-style setting with fellow contestants for six weeks of filming. After winning several design challenges,
she agreed to join the cast of season seven, “All Stars,” which filmed in the seven weeks immediately following.
Some contestants were fans of the show living their dream, she says. Some practiced challenges before filming began.
But Hilari is just Hilari. Already energetic, she says she can turn it up even more for TV. She fell right into it, and made it almost to the finale.
“It made me realize that I’m a real design star,” she says.
“This means something to me. This is really an art form to me.”
The experience opened a path as a fulltime interior designer and sometime TV personality. She has design clients in Texas, D.C., New Orleans, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles, although most of her design jobs nowadays are in the Dallas area. She also appears on local morning TV and radio shows.
Hilari lives in Winnetka Heights with her husband and daughter Haili, 9. They are renovating a 1920s house, the first she’s ever attempted for herself.
Could she be a lifestyle guru in the fashion of Martha Stewart?
“That’s where I see my brand going,” she says. “I love design, but there’s so much more to me: fashion, cooking, parenting, travel, anything cultural.”
We’re sure she will stumble on something.
“THIS MEANS SOMETHING TO ME. THIS IS REALLY AN ART FORM TO ME.”
Cliff Temple is pleased to announce a new band-led worship opportunity on Sundays at 5pm in our chapel. Coram Deo, or “the presence of God,” is a service that represents an ancient/future dichotomy, embracing ancient forms of Christian worship in the context of our modern culture.
Having served in this community for over 116 years, we’ve seen Oak Cliff’s many transformations. Our community’s history and diversity have shaped our community in a unique way. We hope this new service will tap into that uniqueness while offering a fresh way to encounter God.
Sandy Bates Emmons makes a living selling airtime to reality TV shows for Time Warner Media. But she’s also had her 15 minutes of reality TV fame.
She made the cut for the first season of “Top Chef” but had to turn it down because she owned two restaurants at the time.
Her own reality TV time would come later, with ghost stories instead of pastries.
After she met her husband, artist Andy Don Emmons, she moved to his generational family ranch in Fairfield. She got a job in town as curator of the Freestone County Historical Museum, which began with the 1851 courthouse and jail.
Sandy worked by herself most of the time, and it wasn’t long before strange things started to happen. Lights would turn on and off by themselves, footsteps and voices echoed down empty hallways, disconnected antique phones suddenly rang.
Emmons saw an opportunity for the smalltown museum.
“I thought, ‘Gee, this place is super haunted; I think people would come here if we could connect the ghosts to the history,’” she says.
Cliff Temple Baptist Church
Sundays at 5:00 p.m. in the Chapel 125 Sunset Ave, Dallas, TX 75208
Childcare for Infants to PreK
214.942.8601|clifftemple.org
Soon, paranormal investigators descended on the museum, often overnight, to collect haunting audio and video evidence: disembodied voices, an orb of light that zooms through a wall and a light that appears to flip off by itself.
Her publicity stunt did the trick. The museum went from earning a few hundred dollars a month to a few thousand dollars a month, as people clamored for their own ghostly encounter.
The lore of the haunted museum led to an
appearance on “My Ghost Story,” which ran for six seasons on the Biography Channel.
What looks like a ghost in a historical photo of a Freestone County firefighter sitting at the wheel of an early engine gives the museum’s ghost stories an evidentiary boost. Video, audio, photos and a history of haunting, the perfecta of spectral evidence.
The segment ran as the season six finale, titled “Disturbance at the Jailhouse.”
In addition to the evidence collected by paranormal investigators, the couple was flown out to Los Angeles to shoot their interviews.
“They kept telling us, ‘Act scared,’” Sandy says. “We weren’t really scared. We were just intrigued.”
It wouldn’t be their last time in front of the reality TV lens. The couple later appeared on “American Treasures,” a show that tied antiques shopping with historic tales. Recently they were asked to appear on a show about antiques picking that’s set in Alaska, all-things Alaska being a recent television trend. They turned that down because it would require eight weeks of filming, and who can be away from work that long?
“Once you’re on their radar, they keep coming back to you,” Sandy says.
Ghost stories are still bringing museumgoers to Freestone County despite the fact that religious townsfolk put an end to the paranormal publicity.
“We just did it for the museum,” Sandy Emmons says. “The best thing you can possibly do is get as much publicity out there as you can. It generates more income.”
Chef Blythe Beck has everything she needs to be a television star: the talent, the hardened personality, the unrelenting determination and the voice.
Just add a dash of pink and a few too many curse words, and poof; you have “The Naughty Kitchen with Blythe Beck.”
These days Beck has her work cut out for her opening Pink Magnolia, a Southern-inspired restaurant in Oak Cliff. But before that, she worked at Dallas’ Central 214, where “The Naughty Kitchen” was filmed.
The show, which aired on Oxygen in 2009, was all about Beck because that’s the way she wanted it, and she usually gets what she wants.
Even as a little girl Beck wanted to be on TV, she says. Oddly enough, the talent that got her there — cooking — wasn’t even on the menu at the time.
In college she was “The queen of takeout,” she says. But eventually, she found her way in the kitchen.
“It was sweaty and dirty and gross,” she says. “I was like, ‘I’m home.’ I went home
and told my parents, ‘Mom and dad, I know what I want to be. I want to be in the restaurant business.’”
In her first culinary class, something clicked, she says.
“I thought it was like a spiritual moment,” she laughs. “There were all these raw ingredients and I put my stink all over them, and all of
the sudden I made a biscuit.”
She set her sights on becoming a chef and working for Dean Fearing at The Mansion. Becoming his apprentice was her first big break.
“I got paid $6.50 an hour, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “I was the only female, and I wasn’t allowed in
the big kitchen. There was a prep area that smelled like dead fish and shame. I killed more lobsters than I ever care to remember. But once I got past the sexual harassment and the regular harassment, they were like, ‘Oh she’s not leaving.’ I stayed and stayed and stayed.”
And she worked her way up the ranks, gaining valuable experience.
From there she went became the sous chef at Hector’s on Henderson. “I told the chef, ‘Sleep with one eye open because I’m taking your job,’” Beck says. “And he laughed, but within a year I had it.”
Soon, she began shooting a “sizzle reel” to pitch her own television show.
“Getting a show on television is so hard,” she says. “So hard. You go in and pitch to everyone — Bravo, Lifetime, TLC and Oxygen, which is where I wanted to go because Oprah owned it.”
After making her pitch, she came back to Dallas, when Central 214 reached out seeking a new chef. She took the job.
“Then three weeks later we sold the show,” she says — and to none other than Oxygen.
Within a week, Oxygen’s camera crews had descended on Central 214, adding to an already hectic time.
“I’d work all day as the chef of 214, and I was doing crazy press at that time because I had just been named the executive chef of Central 214,” she says. “And I was doing press for the show and shooting the show. Then we’d shoot b-roll. I was working like 20-22 hour days. It was nuts.”
The cameras loved her. If you’ve seen “The Naughty Kitchen” and wondered if she’s acting out for the sake of the show, Beck is the first to tell you: “No, that’s all me.”
She’s both larger than life and self-deprecatingly grounded. She’s bold and outspoken, and she cusses like a sailor, but she’s also an advocate for empowering women.
One season of “The Naughty Kitchen” was enough for Beck. However, a lot of other opportunities grew out of that. She started appearing on the Food Network and the Paula Deen Network, and she won’t shy away from other opportunities in front of the lens.
“I want to be back on TV,” she says. “That’s my dream. I want to put something pink and positive on TV. I want to focus on stuff that makes us feel good — especially women. I think women feel bad about themselves a lot of the time, and it’s like, ‘Why? We’re badass.’ ” —Brittany Nunn
Who is the most interesting man in Oak Cliff?
He was the first DJ in Texas to play NWA on the radio. He saw Willie Nelson jam with Supertramp at the Ritz. Once in 1982, he played pinball all night with Kirk Hammett of Metallica at a bus station in downtown Austin. He’s been nominated for a Grammy.
And yes, of course, Jeffrey Liles has met Oprah.
Liles, artistic director of the Kessler Theater, was on an episode of “Oprah” in the early ’80s about parents who are highly successful but have children who are out of control.
“My parents had just been divorced, and my dad was living in Chicago,” he says.
These were Oprah’s early years when a Chicago radio station would announce themes of the following weeks’ shows, so listeners could call in to see if their stories fit the topic. Allen Liles, a retired Southland Corp.
executive who wrote the book on 7-Eleven, called in.
“I don’t know if he did it as a joke or not,” Jeff Liles says. “He has a real deep sense of humor.”
The show flew the 22-year-old Liles up from Dallas, where he’d just been out of rehab for marijuana.
“Oprah” put him up at the Nikko, and he invited all of his Chicago friends over for an all-night party in his room the night before taping.
Oprah, he says, was a sweetheart. Before taping, she came out and spoke to each guest of the show until they felt comfortable being on set. She was professional and lovely and, well she’s Oprah.
“Some doctor had written a book. That’s what the show was about,” Liles says.
He says he never even saw his episode of “Oprah.” His great aunt did catch it, and she called up his grandmother to say, “I didn’t know Jeff was in rehab!”
Pet Services
2406 Emmett Drive Dallas thepetropolitan.com
469.930.9827
Now open in Oak Cliff!
The Petropolitan in Oak Cliff & Downtown offers a full complement of services like boarding, play-care, dog & cat grooming, dog walking, in-home services & pet products.
For Us It’s All About The Animal!
JAMES DOLAN, MA, LPC
Family & Individual Counseling
5310 Harvest Hill Rd Suite # 282 Dallas, TX 75230 214.629.6315 www.therapistdallastx.com Individual and relationship counseling. Adults and Teens, LGBT, Anxiety, Depression and Trauma. Licensed since 1981. Lifelong Oak Cliff resident, call this number for details about my Oak Cliff location in Kessler Park.
Getaway
2299 County Road 2008 Glen Rose, Texas 76043 254.897.2960
fossilrim.org
Take your sweetheart on a romantic getaway. Reserve your spot on the Sweetheart Safari Tour and an overnight stay at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center on Saturday, October 17. Enjoy a three-course candlelit meal, live music, a scenic tour at sunset and a peaceful night away from the city. DAN
Computer Repair
972.639.6413 stykidan@sbcglobal.net
Confused? Frustrated? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky Windows computer. Hardware & software installation, troubleshooting, training, $60/hour — one hour minimum.
Answer: The married lawyers from Kessler Park who appeared on “Jeopardy!” in different decades, with different hosts, both finishing in third place.
Question: Who are Scott Chase and Debra Witter ?
When Chase was a young lawyer in the U.S. Army, he watched “Jeopardy!” every day on his lunch break. He drove from Fort Lee, Va. to New York City to try out for the trivia show, and made the cut. It was 1974. Art Fleming was the host, and Don Pardo was the announcer.
Five shows a day were shot in a New York City studio, so Chase sat through several tapings before playing the game. He says he knew the correct Final Jeopardy response in all the prior games he’d watched, but none of the contestants got it right in his round.
He still remembers it. Category: “Monarchs.”
Answer: He assumed the throne the same year as King George VI, and he abdicated the year George died.
Question: Who is King Farouk of Egypt? He came in third place, but he got to keep the $160 in his pot, which he spent on a new desk.
Witter called into a radio show to answer a question for a shot to be eligible for a “Jeopardy!” cattle call in Dallas in 1997.
She and Chase, then newlyweds, decided to take a long weekend to L.A. and catch a Dodgers game. “Jeopardy!” does not pay the way for its contestants.
As in decades past, five shows were shot each day, giving Witter a chance to watch game after game being filmed until it was her turn.
She says she knew most of the correct responses, but her thumb wasn’t quick enough on the buzzer. Host Alex Trebek,
she recalls, was not a warm person.
She also came in third, and she also remembers Final Jeopardy. Category: “Nicknames.”
Answer: Ezra Pound called him “The Old Possum.”
Question: Who was T.S. Eliot?
Witter did not get to keep the money in her pot, but she won a Jeopardy board game and some other prizes, which she declined to avoid paying the taxes.
She and her coworkers gathered around the TV the day of her episode, but it was preempted in our market for an after-school special.
“What are the chances?” Witter says. “Of all things.”
The local TV station mailed her a VHS later.
Chase and Witter rarely get to watch “Jeopardy!” these days, but you should want them on your pub quiz team. On a cruise last year, they won two bottles of wine at trivia night.
Send
The Kessler Theater has a new sister.
Kessler owner Edwin Cabaniss bought the Heights Theater in Houston with plans to renovate it into a venue similar to his first musical baby. If all goes as planned, the Heights could be dazzling Houstonians’ ears by 2016. This addition to the Kessler Theater family is expected to draw more artists to Texas with back-to-back bookings in two major cities.
The Heights was built in 1928, so it’s actually older than its sibling, which was built in 1941 and renovated in 2008.
Urban Acres Farmstead, whose mission of providing local and organic meals and groceries to our neighborhood boosted the accounts of many Texas farmers, has closed. It was 18 months old.
“We’ve seen a lot of folks in the organic sustainability market struggle here in Dallas,” Urban Acres founder Steven Bailey stated in a release. “We were hoping to be one of the few who could weather the storm, but after many hard discussions the wisest thing for us to do is close down our brick and mortar location. We are truly sorry to be closing the doors of the farmstead.”
The farmstead is survived by the Urban Acres grocery co-op, which offers produce
shares from the Beckley location. Melt Ice Creams will continue its pop-up shop inside the store from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday to Sunday through Oct. 31.
Urban Acres started about five years ago as a grass-roots produce-share co-op. It expanded to include a storefront on West Davis and then the “farmstead store” on Beckley, which showcased honeybees, chickens, rainwater collection and other urban farming modules.
A 1930s inspired bar opened recently at the corner of West Davis and Bishop is named after West Dallas outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
Parker Barrows Drafthouse and Deli has refurbished ceiling fans, pendulum lamps and an industrial fridge from the ’30s to match its period décor.
Bar manager Adrian Abeyta has worked up a menu of six classic cocktails and six seasonal cocktails. There are 24 taps — 23 for beer and one for root beer. Chef Kevin MacClaren will offer a menu of traditional New York deli-style sandwiches. All the bread and desserts will be baked nearby at Cretia’s.
Parker Barrows is open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., making it one of a few of late-night spots in Bishop Arts.
Two Oak Cliff teachers won top prizes from the Rotary Club of Dallas as recipients of its Service Above Self Teacher Awards. The awards are given annually to teachers who go the extra mile to serve students and the community. Stacy Cianciulli of Rosemont Primary School and Shareefah Mason of Boude Story Middle School each won $2,500 first-place prizes, along with Emmanuel Malana of Skyline High School. Beth Poquette-Drews of L.V. Stockard Middle School won an $800 second-place prize. All of the Rotary Club’s nine winners received a customized plaque and an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in their honor.
Front: Stacy Cianciulli of Rosemont Primary School and Erin Elliot of Stonewall Jackson Elementary School. From left to right: Emmanuel Malana of Skyline High School, William Adkins of Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, Elena Bates of W.T. White High School and Shaunissy Brown of Fred Florence Middle School, Shareefah Mason of Boude Story Middle School, Elsy Serpas of Alex Sanger Elementary School, Beth Poquette-Drews of L.V. Stockard Middle School and event vice chair Colleen Brainerd.
The Oak Cliff-based Salesmanship Club of Dallas elected William B. McClung as president of the 95-year-old nonprofit, which produces the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament and owns and operates the Momentous Institute, an Oak Cliff school. McClung, who has been with the Salesmanship Club since 1990, is executive vice president at Cushman & Wakefield.
Yvonne Craig, the actress most famous for her role as TV’s Batgirl, died recently at her home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. She was 78. Craig attended Adamson and Sunset high schools, and she was one P.E. credit shy of graduation.
Please
LAKEHILL
Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931 / lakehillprep.org
Kindergarten through Grade 12 - Lakehill Preparatory School takes the word preparatory in its name very seriously. Throughout a student’s academic career, Lakehill builds an educational program that achieves its goal of enabling graduates to attend the finest, most rigorous universities of choice. Lakehill combines a robust, college-preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community involvement. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.
4019 S. Hampton Rd. Dallas 75224/ 214.331.5139 / www.saintspride.com
At St. Elizabeth of Hungary, our fundamental task is the education of the whole child combining learning with faith, Catholic doctrines and moral teachings. We introduce all PK3-8th Grade students to the integrated ways of STEM. This approach to education is designed to revolutionize the teaching of subject areas such as mathematics and science by incorporating technology and engineering into regular curriculum. Over the past 10 years, 95% of St. Elizabeth 8th graders were accepted to their first choice high school. Join us for an informational school tour and see for yourself how easy it is to become a Saint! Call 214.331.5139 for information.
848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org Founded in 1953, St. John’s is an independent, co-educational day school for Pre-K through Grade 8. With a tradition for academic excellence, St. John’s programs include a challenging curriculum in a Christian environment along with instruction in the visual and performing arts, Spanish, German, French, and opportunities for athletics and community service. St. John’s goal for its students is to develop a love for learning, service to others, and leadership grounded in love, humility, and wisdom. Accredited by ISAS, SAES, and the Texas Education Agency.
call 214.560.4203
CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601
Serving Oak Cliff since 1899 / CliffTemple.org / English and Spanish
9:30 am Sunday School / 10:45 am & 5:00 pm Sunday Worship
GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST MULTI-CULTURAL CHURCH
Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30 am / Spanish Service 11:00 am
831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org
UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS MINISTRY CONFERENCE / udallas.edu/udmc
October 22-24, 2015 / Sponsored by Catholic Diocese of Dallas Sessions on Faith, Scripture, & Ministry / Exhibitors / Music / Mass
EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185
Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel
10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org
OAK CLIFF CHRISTIAN CHURCH / Celebrating 125 Years
Fellowship 9:30 am / Sunday School 9:45 am / Worship 11:00 am 660 S. Zang / occch.org / 214.376.4375
KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.
“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.”
10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com
OAK CLIFF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6000 S. Hampton Road
Sunday Worship at 9:30 am & 11:05 am 214-339-2211 / www.ocpres.com
A long list of famous (and infamous) people have roots in Oak Cliff: Jimmy and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie and Clyde, George Robert Phillips McFarland (“Spanky” of The Little Rascals), Edie Brickell and Ray Wylie Hubbard, just to name a few. Writers, sports figures, notable doctors and newscasters still call our neighborhood home.
But some of our most valuable neighbors will likely never see their names in lights or walk a red carpet. They are the ones among us who serve — from firefighters and sanitation workers to police officers and those who wait tables at local restaurants. These are the unsung heroes of our community who make our lives better. Rather than seeking the limelight, they show us the meaning of greatness through simple, everyday acts of hard work and kindness.
We often define greatness by material success, fame or achievement in some field. Someone rises to greatness through natural ability or the capacity to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of a goal. Another definition of greatness, however, focuses on service rather than worldly success. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26) Such a person sets aside the desire for accolades and reputation in order to work for the good of one’s neighbors.
Martin Luther King said, “Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
So how can we celebrate and encourage the servants among us? Let me offer three simple ways, or three “cheers” to lift up those who serve.
Remember to say “thanks.” Sure, someone may be getting paid for her job, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to say “thank you.” Everyone needs to know that they are valued and appreciated. You can say thanks with words, or you can say thanks with a large tip. You can commend someone to their supervisor as a way of expressing thanks.
Start a conversation. Put down your phone and look someone in the eye and ask how his day is going. Ask about their family, what they enjoy, what they do when they’re not working. If you see someone going the extra mile, say so.
Serve someone in return. A small act of kindness can be the difference between a bad and a good day. Go out of your way to recognize someone with a baked good a small gift.
I often start the day in a local coffee shop. The coffee is good, but it’s the people who serve that really keep me coming back. I’m greeted with a smile and a genuine word of welcome. The way the servers talk to me conveys that I’m not just someone who hopefully will leave a good tip, but someone of value.
What a blessing it is to glimpse a different kind of greatness.
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.
gloriasflowersdallas.com 3101 Davis St.
A concert and fundraiser at the Kessler Theater recently raised $40,000 for a permanent monument to the Vaughan brothers, Jimmie and Stevie Ray, in Kiest Park. Pictured from left to right: Mark Mundy, Edwin Cabaniss and Kirby Warnock.
A FREE CONSULTATION Wills/Probate/Guardianships. MaryGlennAttorney.com 214-802-6768
JAMES H. DOLAN, MA, L.P.C. Therapist, Executive Coach 214-629-6315. Individuals, couples & teens. LGBT Mobile. SEO Friendly. Maintainable.
GREEN PET DELIVERS FREE TO OAK CLIFF
row seats. Share prime, front-row Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars tickets (available in sets of 10 games). Prices start at $105 per ticket (sets of 2 or 4 tickets per game available) Seats are behind the plate and next to the dugouts for the Rangers: seats are on the glass and on the Platinum Level for the Stars. Other great seats available starting at $60 per ticket. Entire season available except for opening game; participants randomly draw numbers prior to the season to determine a draft order fair for everyone. Call 214-560-4212 or rwamre@advocatemag.com
Family Owned & Operated
972-274-2157
www.CrestAirAndHeat.com
JD’S TREE SERVICE Mantels, Headboards, Kitchen Islands, Dining tables. Made from Local Trees. www.jdtreeservice.com 214-946-7138
BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730
AFFORDABLE, PROFESSIONAL CLEANING
A Clean You Can Trust
Staff trained by Nationally Certified Cleaning Tech. Chemical-free, Green, or Traditional Cleaning. WindsorMaidServices.com 214-381-MAID (6243)
CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133
TWO SISTERS & A MOP 20 Yrs Exp. 214-242-9885
WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM
Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134
ALL EPOXY COATINGS, CONCRETE Countertops, Stamping, Staining & Designs, Floor Demo and Overlays
Landscape Designs Call 214-916-8368
BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319
BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS
Mortar Repair. Straighten Brick Mailboxes & Columns. Call Cirilo 214-298-7174
CONCRETE REPAIRS/REPOURS
Demo existing. Stamping and Staining Driveways/Patio/Walkways
Pattern/Color available
Free Estimates 972-672-5359 (32 yrs.)
CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001
ANNA’S ELECTRIC Your Oak Cliff Electrician Since 1978. tecl25513. 214-943-4890
ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricofdallas.com 50 Yrs. Electrical Exp. Insd. 214-328-1333
GOVER ELECTRIC Back Up Generators. New and Remodel Work. Commercial & Residential. All Service Work. 469-230-7438. TECL2293
TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658
G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925
#1 COWBOY FENCE & IRON CO. Est. ‘91. 214-692-1991 www.cowboyfenceandiron.com
4 QUALITY FENCING Call Mike 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood, New or Repair.
FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645
THE TEXAN FLOORING SERVICES
Wood, Laminate. Remodel Showers, Bathrooms. thetexanflooringservices.com 214-680-0901
CARPET · HARDWOODS · CERAMIC Quick, Reliable Installation John: 972.989.3533 john.roemen@redicarpet.com
Reinventing the Flooring Experience
hardwood floors Superior Quality:
214-824-1166
Tip: Prepare Trees for Winter
Prune and brace your trees before winter hits to minimize branches being broken by ice or snow.
HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635
HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606
HONEST, SKILLED SERVICE With a Smile. General Repairs/ Maintenance. 214-215-2582
The Handyman Save $25 or $50 on handy-dan.com
Your Home Repair Specialists Drywall Doors
972-308-6035 HandymanMatters.com/dallas
LocalWorks.advocatemag.com
LocalWorks.advocatemag.com
FENCING & WOODWORK oldgatefence.com
charliehookerswoodwork.com 214-766-6422
HANNAWOODWORKS.COM
Decks, Pergolas, Patio Covers. 214-435-9574
EST. 1991 #1
COWBOY FENCE & IRON CO.
214.692.1991
SPECIALIZING IN Wood Fences &Auto Gates
cowboyfenceandiron.com
ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with any Advertiser. Please ask each Advertiser that you contact to show you the necessary licenses and/or permits required to perform the work you are requesting. Advocate Publishing takes comments and/or complaints about Advertisers seriously, and we do not publish advertisements that we know are inaccurate, misleading and/or do not live up to the standards set by our publications. If you have a legitimate complaint or positive comment about an Advertiser, please contact us at 214-560-4203. Advocate Publishing recommends that you ask for and check references from each Advertiser that you contact, and we recommend that you obtain a written statement of work to be completed, and the price to be charged, prior to approving any work or providing an Advertiser with any deposit for work to be completed.
UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned.214-826-8096
EAST DALLAS WINDOW CLEANING Power Wash. Free Est. Dependable. Derek. 214-360-0120
ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829
A R&G HANDYMAN Electrical, Plumbing, Painting, Fencing, Roofing, Light Hauling. Ron or Gary 214-861-7569, 469-878-8044
BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730
MANNY’S HOME PAINTING & REMODEL Int./Ext. Sheetrock. Manny 214-334-2160
RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513
FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645
• Tubs, Tiles or Sinks
• Cultured Marble
• Kitchen Countertops
STONE AGE COUNTER TOPS Granite, Marble, Tile, Kitchen/Bath Remodels. 972-276-9943.stoneage.dennis@verizon.net WE REFINISH! www.allsurfacerefinishing.com 214-631-8719
A BETTER TREE COMPANY • JUST TREES Complete tree services. Tree & Landscape Lighting! Mark 214-332-3444
A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925
DALLAS GROUNDSKEEPER Comprehensive services designed to meet your needs. 214-504-6788 dallasgroundskeeper.com
HOLMAN IRRIGATION
Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061
IRISH RAIN SPRINKLER SYSTEMS TXL#2738 Repair, Stonework & Drains 214-827-7446
YOUR TREES could look like a WORK OF ART, I Guarantee It.
OCTOBER SPECIAL $200 OFF 4 man crew/4 hours
Call Mark Wittlich 214-332-3444
RESPONSIBLE TREE CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Locally harvested wood!
BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730
FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials!
214-343-4645
O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 17 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com
214-341-1448
RENOVATE DALLAS renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247
Family owned and operated for over 40 years • Residential/Commercial • Over 30,000 roofs completed • Seven NTRCA “Golden Hammer” Awards • Free Estimates www.bertroofing.com
214.321.9341
Firewood/Cooking Wood Full service trimming & planting of native trees. 214.946.7138
AM MOVING COMPANY Specialty Moving & Delivery.469-278-2304 ammovingcompany.com
A BETTER EARTH PEST CONTROL
Keeping the environment, kids, pets in mind. Organic products avail. 972-564-2495
MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL
Prices Start at $85 + Tax For General Treatment.
Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident
AC PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. Gary Campbell. 214-321-5943
ANDREWS PLUMBING • 214-354-8521
# M37740 Insured. Any plumbing issues. plumberiffic69@gmail.com
Sewers • Drains • Bonded 24 Hours/7 Days
*Joe Faz 214-794-7566 - Se Habla Español*
ARRIAGA PLUMBING: General Plumbing
Since the 80’s. Insured. Lic# M- 20754 214-321-0589, 214-738-7116, CC’s accepted.
M&S PLUMBING Quality Work & Prompt Service. Jerry. 214-235-2172. lic.#M-11523
NTX PLUMBING SPEC. LLLP 214-226-0913
Lic. M-40581 Res/Com. Repairs & Leak Location
A stray dog put an Oak Cliff man in the hospital this summer. Polo Rodriguez was walking his dog when a stray approached. Rodriquez says he threw a newspaper at the dog in an effort to shoo it away, but it attacked, tearing into his arm and causing a wound that needed stitches.
That came two weeks after a brutal dog attack on a man in Winnetka Heights. Charlie Howell and Laura Stankosky were walking their dogs on Edgefield near Jefferson when a pit bull bounded toward them and attacked their German shepherd. Stankosky managed to get their leashed dogs away, but the loose dog continued to bite Howell’s hands and face. A neighbor called 911, and a paramedic fashioned a catchpole to subdue the dog.
The stray-dog situation in southern Dallas is out of control.
Recently, chronically underfunded Dallas Animal Services told City Council it needs a little more money. DAS is seeking $1.14 million more than they received last year, for a total budget of $10,094,518, to hire nine new employees, seven of whom would focus on southern Dallas.
The department runs a shelter with as many as 650 animals. It provides as many as 200 exams and vaccinations and 26 spay/ neuter surgeries a day. Employees field about 250 phone calls a day. And animal control officers answer about 50,000 service calls a year.
Despite the thousands of dogs sterilized in the Big Fix for Big D and a concerted effort to combat the problem over the past year, stray and loose dogs abound, especially in area codes 75216 and 75217, where more than a quarter of all of the city’s loose/straydog calls originate.
The department proposes doubling its staff, from nine to 18, adding seven employees for southern Dallas and two citywide customer-service agents.
red Ford Explorer that drove around Bishop Arts, Kidds Springs and Kings Highway, throwing bricks and rocks through the back windows of dozens of cars
of August, in broad daylight, they were caught on camera, although a license plate number wasn’t captured
200077-2015
is the case number is online too!
LocalWorks.advocatemag.com
President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Dallas June 11, 1936 as part of a tour of the state for the Texas Centennial celebration. His convertible, with secret service officers on the running boards, left the Adolphus Hotel at 9:30 a.m. the following day. Also in the car were First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and their host, Dallas Mayor George Sergeant.
Sergeant, who lived on Zang Boulevard just north of Davis, served as Dallas mayor for one two-year term. But it was an eventful two years.
Sergeant was an old-school Southern conservative and teetotaler who led a campaign on vice. A world traveler, he had served for years as a district judge when he was elected to city council in 1935. Back then, a majority of council members voted in the mayor.
According to a newspaper story published before the election, Ser-
geant had traveled to Europe, Asia, Canada, Alaska and Mexico. The story compared him to legendary Texan Sam Houston.
“Mr. Sergeant spent part of his life among the Indians,” the story stated. “When he was a boy of 16, he went to live among the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in Oklahoma, spending part of 1898-99 among these early Americans.”
Sergeant took office with a whole new city council. The first priority for
this new council: All married women employed by the City of Dallas whose husbands had jobs would be fired.
This was during the Great Depression, and having a dual-income household was perceived as greedy. Local politicians spun the tale that “women whose husbands come for them every day in sedans” were bad citizens and worse homemakers.
About 20 married women worked for the city at the time. One unnamed city employee told the newspaper that she liked her job so much she would consider getting a divorce. Another woman said she worked while her husband stayed home to do housework, “including some of the laundry,” and care for their baby.
“Single women working in the city hall kept their mouths shut Monday as the tension of the situation increased,” the newspaper said.
The city council voted for an ordinance banning married women from city employment in July 1935, and it didn’t stop there. Council also tried to enact the law retroactively as a way to skirt Civil Service Board rules that protected the women from being fired.
When the women fought back, they were met with political threats.
“One Councilman answered that those might be the ones to feel the ax
first,” the newspaper reported.
The move set off a citywide discussion, which also was taking place nationally, about whether married women should hold jobs. This was the same year that Sarah T. Hughes, a married woman, was appointed to the Fourteenth District Court in Dallas, making her the first female district judge in Texas.
Sergeant, who had voted against the ban on wives, received a call of congratulations from Hughes.
About six weeks later, the city’s Civil Service Board found that the wife ban was against its rules, nullifying the sexist ordinance.
“The Civil Service Board is of the opinion that public servants in the service of the city of Dallas should be selected and retained solely on their efficiency…”
The 1935 city council had a couple of other top priorities. Among them: cut salaries. The city manager’s salary was cut from $13,500 to $10,000, a difference of about $50,000 in 2015 dollars. All of the city’s department heads received drastic pay cuts.
Another priority: Spend $20,000 on a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
On the day Roosevelt visited Dallas, he toured the great State Fair of Texas. Then the delegation had lunch and drove to Lee Park, where the Confederate monument was dedicated before the President traveled on to Fort Worth.
Sergeant lived in Oak Cliff until his death in 1971. After that, his house on Zang fell to his son, and after the son’s death in 2009, to a caretaker. Real estate investor Jim Lake Cos. bought it in 2011, along with boxes of scrapbooks, letters (including a hand-written thank-you note from Eleanor Roosevelt), manuscripts and photo slides.
Jim Lake Jr. has plans to turn the house into a restaurant once he finds the right occupant. He thinks it should be called The Mayor’s House. —RachelStone
The first priority for this new council: All married women employed by the City of Dallas whose husbands had jobs would be fired.
