Roll into Good

Mo Sanders reinvented himself with a skate shop in Dallas, and he’s known as an expert on skate equipment among the roller derby community here.

practice, Sanders grabbed her leg, near her thigh, three times, even after she told him to stop.

“That’s what the story was,” he says. “So I literally lost my entire livelihood. I was completely shut out.”

In a public apology at the time (he says he also personally apologized to the woman), Sanders said it is possible he touched the woman. But he said in 2018 that he is “sure he did not continually grope or force himself on her.

“I know what verbal and nonverbal cues are, and I know what consent is and I would never knowingly touch someone in a sexual way without consent.”

The accusation divided the derby community, Sanders says. The accuser, also a respected member, had many supporters. Some wrote Sanders off. Others, including several of his teammates (who Sharpied his number 23 on their legs for the highprofile World Cup match, drawing their own criticism), defended him.

At the time of publication, the woman who accused Sanders of misconduct had not responded to an interview request.

Not wanting to make things worse for his friends or himself, Sanders says, he withdrew from the sport he had loved for so long.

NEW BEGINNINGS

“And that was it. I was out of the spotlight for probably two years,” he says. “Then, about three years ago, I moved down here.”

When his buddy first pitched the idea of helping him open a store in Dallas, he says, “I was like, ‘hell no.’”

But further prodding and financial encouragement finally convinced him.

Now Good Foot is a low-key gem that attracts customers from all reaches of the roller universe.

“You’ve got professional skaters, pro athletes, moms, dads, kids, people who used to skate all the time and just want to pick it back up 30 years later,” Sanders says. “You got new skaters, roller derby, roller disco, skate park and street skaters — all of them.”

It’s not base jumping, but having the correct gear and preparation, which Good Foot provides, can prevent injuries, so a full-service shop is a good place to start for beginners, he says.

Sanders has become a trusted member of Dallas’ roller derby community, says Tasha Willingham, chief marketing officer at DFW league Dallas Derby Devils, lending credibility to a character once called into question.

Willingham has been in roller derby

since 2009 and has known Sanders a long time.

“We played in the same tournaments, and while, back then, I did not know him like I now know him, I personally have never seen him in a different light than the highly respected person we know today,” she says. “Mo has been around longer than I have. He’s been somebody that many people have always looked up to.”

She says the league takes participants’ safety seriously. Members take SafeSport training, designed to prevent abuses in organized sports, and undergo background checks.

Sanders volunteers with the league and coaches kids and new members. And he is the most knowledgeable person around when it comes to gear, Willingham says.

As Quadzilla, Sanders skates for the Death Row Rumblers, and when his team isn’t playing, fans will probably see him refereeing or helping out in some other way, Willingham says.

SKATE DALLAS

Skate culture in our city is altogether blossoming, Sanders says. The little DFW Skate group on Facebook, which started with a few people, has some 8,000 members now. Outdoor and lifestyle skating — on trails, the pedestrian bridge, skate parks and smooth streets — is especially popular. It’s good exercise and looks cool on social media, but roller skating, in whatever form, is mostly about enjoyment, Sanders says.

“It’s just one of those things that is fun, a tie to childhood,” he says. “There’s this endorphin release when you’re just having a good time with it. It is what I love.”

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COYOTES & RODENTS & BOBCATS, OH MY!

A wildlife guide to Dallas

Spend any amount of time at th Trinity River, and you’ll see wildlife. Lurking in grassy patches and flying across the skies all over Oak Cliff are animals and birds large and small that, if they could talk, would call our neighborhood home. At this point, we’ve all heard about the coyotes, the bobcats, the bald eagles — critters that can cause havoc and generate a lot of chatter on social media and during community meetings.

But often overlooked are animals such as rabbits and rodents.

Curious about our non-human neighbors, we called Brett Johnson, an arborist and wildlife biologist with the City of Dallas. Here are a few highlights from our conversation.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF RODENTS IN THIS WORLD.

Well, that’s a generalization. But for our purposes, this is true. There are species such as Norway rats and black rats that are commensal to humans; that means they enjoy living in human habitats. Then there are species such as cotton rats and deer mice, which live in natural areas.

“Just because you have a prairie or a wildflower area across the street from you does not mean that’s where the rodents in your house are coming from,” Johnson says. “Because the ones that are typically found in your house don’t like living in those natural areas.”

HERE’S WHERE BOBCATS COME INTO THE PICTURE.

Most of us don’t see bobcats every day. But if one is spending a lot of time in a neighborhood, Johnson says there’s a really good chance that somebody has a rodent problem. “All it takes is one house in that neighborhood to be unintentionally feeding rodents, and you’ll have a bobcat that’ll hang around,” Johnson says.

The scariest part is that in the bobcat cases he has seen, Johnson says the homeowners — most of the time — have no idea they have a rodent problem.

WHAT ABOUT COYOTES?

They feed on rodents, too, but they’re omnivores. They eat flora and fauna, as opposed to bobcats, which are exclusively meat-eaters. That’s why bobcats are more likely than coyotes to be seen sick because of too much rodenticide in their body, ingested by their rodent prey.

Both coyotes and bobcats can injure humans and pets, but it’s rare. Though the Lake Highlands coyote attack is still fresh in the minds of Dallas residents, it really was an outlier, statistically speaking.

OH, DEER. Texas Parks and Wildlife estimates there are about 4 million whitetailed deer in the state, and they can be found in urban areas where deer overpopulation is a problem.

But they aren’t common here.

Historically, Dallas was part of the Blackland Prairie area, which wasn’t a deer habitat. Now, there’s a small deer population near the Trinity River Audubon Center.

“It’s really only been the last 20 or 30 years that we started seeing more,” Johnson says. “You would have a periodic deer down along the creeks and along the river.”

SPEAKING OF BODIES OF WATER…

The Trinity River is attractive to wildlife, and one reason why is because of the water, especially during droughts.

And it’s not just the lake. Almost all of the neighborhoods surrounding it are covered with lush lawns, which

provide additional food and water to animals. Many homes have English ivy, which holds moisture, making it attractive to rodents and rabbits and thereby, maybe some bobcats.

BUT WHAT HAPPENS WITH UNDEVELOPED LAND?

When plowing and construction starts, predators including bobcats, coyotes, owls and hawks flock to the area because rodents are stirred up. That’ll last for a few weeks, until most of the vegetation is gone.

Then, over a course of months to years, wildlife numbers decrease; it’s displacement.

Populations can begin increasing again around five years after construction ends. Landscaping is growing and maturing, making the area again desirable to wildlife.

In short, Johnson says: “You spike. You go down. And then you start going back up.”

ONE THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT INTERACTING WITH WILDLIFE

“In the end, the best thing you can do is let them fend for themselves, and let them figure out what they’re doing,” Johnson says.

“Supplemental feeding, or feeding them in general, in the longterm, does not help them. It makes them dependent on people. It can turn them into borderline pets, and that’s when we start seeing more nuisance issues.”

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ALL IN THE FAMILY

An Elmwood pizza shop is adding grab-and-go dinners

THE ELMWOOD COMMERCIAL CENTER ON EDGEFIELD HAS ITS COMPLICATIONS.

Sitting amid the ongoing West Oak Cliff Area Plan and poised for renovations like new sidewalks and lighting, it brims with big potential while encapsulating the small-town feel that makes people love Oak Cliff.

Husband-and-wife entrepreneurs David Rice and Roxy Chairez say they feel lucky to be planted on South Edgefield with their second Oak Cliff restaurant.

Their cozy Bocce Italian Kitchen served comfort food on West Davis at Madison in the Bishop Arts District for about 4.5 years.

With Roselli’s Pizza Fritta, they dipped into Rice’s family heritage and put a spin on Neapolitan street food to create a concept they are working to expand with beerand-wine sales and grab-and-go dinner options.

The restaurant serves 16-inch New York-style pizzas that are hand-tossed and will serve 3-4 people. But it was Dave’s idea to make pizza fritta as well. Rice uses a pan to fry the dough in hot oil before topping it with sauce, cheese and fixin’s and finishing it in the oven.

“He researched it, and he calls it ‘the pizza of the people,’” Chairez says.

The result is a 10-inch personal pizza that can be customized or ordered with the same specialty toppings as the larger pies. Those concoctions include the Elmwood pizza, with brisket, giardiniera and caramelized onions, or the Sicilian, with eggplant, bell peppers and feta.

The wings are a star here, with not a buffalo in sight. Spicy garlic parm and lemon scampi wings are crispy and well-seasoned.

Pasta and subs like meatball and

Left: Chicken parm surrounded by pizza and wings from Roselli’s Pizza Fritta.

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David Rice and Roxy Chairez previously owned Bocce Italian Kitchen. Fried artichoke hearts, above, are a holdover from that Bishop Arts District Restaurant. Spicy garlic parm and lemon scampi wings, left, are crispy and well-seasoned.

chicken parm round out the menu, along with appetizers like fried artichoke hearts, a holdover from Bocce.

The restaurant is BYOB, but Rice and Chairez are applying for a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission License to sell beer and wine by-thedrink and to-go as a complement to their planned grab-and-go selection of pastas, sauces and salads.

Henderson Elementary is within 250 feet of the restaurant, prohibiting alcohol sales, so they are asking for specific permission from the state of Texas.

Many neighbors in the area have said they want beer and wine sales to be allowed in downtown Elmwood as a way to invigorate the area, according to the West Oak Cliff Area Plan, which remains otherwise very contentious in our neighborhood.

Chairez, 36, and Rice, 43, met at Ten Bells Tavern about 10 years ago, when he was still chef of Whitehall Exchange. They now have three daughters.

Chairez, who is from Oak Cliff originally and is a math teacher at Molina High School, handles much of the business side of the restaurant. Rice is from Michigan, but his mom is Italian American from Chicago. Roselli was her maiden name, and it was Chairez’s idea to use it in the restaurant’s name as a tribute to Rice’s grandmother, to whom he was devoted.

Chairez and Rice live in the South Edgefield neighborhood, and after four years in Bishop Arts, decided they weren’t done with Oak Cliff. They say they feel right at home in Elmwood.

“It’s the perfect place for us,” she says.

Roselli’s Pizza Fritta 2109 S. Edgefield Drive, 469.372.5632, rosellispizzafritta.com