Fort Worth Weekly // March 16-22, 2022

March 16-22, 2022 FREE fwweekly.com

Our expert has located three North Texas spots that are as close to swamp-style as you’ll find without hopping on a plane to Looziana.

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FEATURE Counting down the most cowardly acts of government obfuscation.

BY THE ELECTRONIC F RO N T I E R FO U N DAT I O N AND MUCKROCK

METROPOLIS In this week’s News Roundup, the water district squirts by, Texas burns thousands of votes, cops complain, and more.

BY S TAT I C

CROCKETT ROW AT WEST 7 !

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ATE DAY8 A WEEK J.R. Bentley’s, Muy Frio Margaritas, and The Horny Toad have your St. Paddy’s Day weekend plans wrapped up.

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

March 19

Free Outdoor Festival With Green Pony Rides & More!

MUSIC On their new album, Bruce Magnus interprets familiar lodestars while still maintaining pure originality.

BY STEVE STEWARD

See Page 5 13for for Details

Vol ume 17

N umb er 50

Marc h 16-22, 2022

INSIDE Rounding Up the News The 2022 Foilies

It’s still news that the government will go out of its way to keep information hidden.

By the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock

In our mostly weekly rundown, the DA neglects to indict the water district, Southlake is still a shit-show, and Fort Worth cops got a new Bearcat.

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By Static

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Crawdaddy Livin’

By Cody Neathery

Vacations or Staycations

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SXSWish

Though we are no fans of South-by, we love that it’s back.

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Heart of Fort Worth’s South Main Village!

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By Steve Steward

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Metro Feature N&D

Big Ticket . . . .15

18 Stuff 20 Eats & Drinks To All Interested Persons And Parties: TXI Operations, LP, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the amendment of an Air Quality Permit, Permit No. 151649, which would authorize modification of the two Concrete Batch Plants located at 1362 Markum Ranch Road, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76126. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.

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24 Music

HearSay . . . . . .26

27 Classifieds

Backpage . . . . .28

COPYRIGHT The entire contents of Fort Worth Weekly are Copyright 2020 by Ft. Worth Weekly, LP. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the publisher. Please call the Fort Worth Weekly office for back-issue information .

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These three local eateries are doing mudbugs the right way.

Cover photo by Cody Neathery STAFF Anthony Mariani, Editor Lee Newquist, Publisher Bob Niehoff, General Manager Ryan Burger, Art Director Jim Erickson, Circulation Director Edward Brown, Staff Writer Emmy Smith, Proofreader Michael Newquist, Regional Sales Director Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive Julie Strehl, Account Executive Tony Diaz, Account Executive Wyatt Newquist, Digital Coordinator Clintastic, Brand Ambassador CONTRIBUTORS Megan Ables, Christina Berger, E.R. Bills, Jason Brimmer, Sue Chefington, Buck D. Elliott, Juan R. Govea, Patrick Higgins, Bo Jacksboro, Laurie James, Kristian Lin, Vishal Malhotra, Cody Neathery, Wyatt Newquist, Linda Blackwell Simmons, Madison Simmons, Teri Webster, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Cole Williams EDITORIAL

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The DA’s water district investigation ends with no indictments, the police union calls for more armored vehicles on our streets, voter suppression wins again, and more.

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When District Attorney Sharen Wilson expressed interest in investigating the Tarrant Regional Water District last summer, Lon Burnam was cautiously optimistic.

The former state rep who now volunteers for the grassroots group Water District Accountability Project has long criticized water district leaders who have wasted tens if not hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on lavish personal expenses and boondoggle projects like Panther Island, the $1.2 billion Northside development aimed toward the wealthy.

Our news magazine and other media outlets have documented the graft and abuse of power at the water district for nearly two decades, but the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office refused to investigate our findings. Now, many of those offenses are now too old to prosecute, according to a recent letter by DA Sharen Wilson.

“While these past violations may have been substantiated, none of the violations were within the statute of limitations for prosecutions,” Wilson wrote to one member of the accountability project earlier this month.

In other words, DA attorneys — over multiple administrations — ignored whitecollar crimes for so long that it’s now too late to hold the scofflaws accountable.

“I believe that white-collar crime is never prosecuted anyway,” Burnam told us. “I was pleasantly surprised when Sharen Wilson approached me in July. I thought it had more to do with her reelection than cleaning up government activity.

We had a good working relationship with her assistant district attorneys. After she

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DA Turns off Water District Investigation

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announced that she would not seek reelection, I knew [the investigation] would go nowhere.”

Burnam said his group forwarded documents to the DA’s office that showed water district employees breaking large contracts into smaller ones as a means of skirting laws that require government projects to go through an open bidding process. The fudged agreements allowed water district officials to selectively award projects to personal friends, Burnam alleges.

Nepotism was rampant at the water district, and the investigation forced much-needed resignations and restructuring, Burnam added. The recent departure of Shanna Cate Granger is linked to new anti-nepotism policies that the water district’s board adopted in response to the DA’s investigation. Three years ago, Shanna married J.D. Granger. Congress member Kay Granger’s son is the executive director of Panther Island and, until recently, his wife’s supervisor. The billionplus development has long been Kay’s pet project, and the placement of her son in a top position that pays $242,216 annually remains an example of how Tarrant County’s powerbrokers rule with impunity.

Burnam said many of the water district employees who would have been culpable for criminal acts were low-level workers, and that may have been by design.

Water district “staff are obstructionists when it comes to complying with public information requests,” Burnam said.

“They do what might be considered the bare minimum in allowing citizen input at board meetings. Even though this DA has put this particular investigation to rest, that doesn’t mean that a new DA won’t reopen the case if there is probable cause.”

More than 18,000 Texans Disenfranchised from Recent Primaries

The primaries matter more than ever.

Many state representative and federal congressional districts are no longer competitive due to a concerted effort by Republicans to crack and pack minority voters into diluted or isolated voting pockets that favor conservative candidates.

If those efforts weren’t evil enough, Gov. Greg Abbott and his misogynistic, racist, transphobic cohorts have gone after access to the ballot, especially when those votes come from Democrats and large urban centers that are more diverse and educated and less likely to be duped into beliefs that the gay mafia is out to take over the world.

Last year, state leaders passed SB 1, a voter

Cour tesy of Facebook

News Roundup

METROPOLIS Fort Worth City Council recently voted to accept federal funds for an armored personnel carrier, but that didn’t stop Fort Worth’s police union from whining about the vote because it wasn’t unanimous.

suppression law pushed through under the guise of “election integrity,” because, ya know, voter fraud was behind President Joe Biden’s 2020 landslide electoral win.

The law largely targeted mail-in ballots that were heavily favored by Texas Democrats during the 2020 election. SB 1 criminalized efforts to register voters for mail-in ballots, and a new requirement that voters include their driver’s license number or last four digits of their social security number on their absentee ballots disenfranchised more than 18,000 voters during the recent primaries.

Recent reporting by the Texas Tribune found that the new voter suppression law was responsible for spikes in mail-in ballot rejections across the state. Harris County, a Democratic stronghold, saw 6,919 ballots scrapped, and all but 31 of the tossed votes were due to the new ID requirement. In a public statement, End Citizens United, a nonprofit that works to reduce corporate influence in elections, said Texas’ voter suppression law achieved its aim.

“The Texas GOP politicians who passed this restrictive voting law are getting exactly what they wanted — preventing Texas voters from making their voices heard on issues that matter most to them,” End Citizens United said. “The alarming ballot rejection rates in Texas underscore why it is so important to election champions of protecting the freedom to vote.”

And where is Papa Joe when the most fundamental democratic right is being stripped from tens of thousands of Texans?

Apparently giving lip service to ending the filibuster while ass-slapping Joe Manchin and fumbling his way through his second year of office.

Fort Worth Police Union Butt-Hurt Over “No” Votes on Third Armored Vehicle

Given the Fort Worth police department’s history of racially profiling Black and brown drivers, shamelessly meddling in local elections, and failing to discipline high-ranking officers for breaking the law, you’d think blue leadership would spend more time building trust in the community and less time trying to acquire military equipment.

Last week, three Fort Worth city councilmembers — Elizabeth Beck, Chris Nettles, and Jared Williams — voted to not accept federal grant monies for Fort Worth police to buy their third armored personnel carrier. According to the manufacturer, the vehicle can be fitted with gun ports and a wide range of weapon systems that can include M240 machine guns.

Although the measure passed with five councilmembers voting in favor of the $368,236 Bearcat, police union president Manny Ramirez blasted Fort Worth’s three progressive councilmembers for doing what their constituents demand — placing the safety of Fort Worth residents over the Fort Worth police’s perverse desire to militarize local law enforcement.

“It is a slap in the face to every Fort Worth police department member and their family members for these three councilmembers to put politics above the safety of our police officers,” Ramirez said in a public statement.

What’s a slap in the face to not just every Fort Worth police officer but all of us Americans is the militarization of local law continued on page 6

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MARCH 16-22, 2022

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enforcement. Since 1996, through the controversial 1033 program, the federal government has awarded nearly 10,000 jurisdictions with more than $7 billion in equipment. The preponderance of cops with rifles, helmets, allegedly “non-” or “lesslethal” weaponry, and combat vehicles has — you guessed it — not made our streets any safer. Released just months before police killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the ACLU report “War Comes Home” documented the myriad ways in which militarized police “act aggressively and violently, target Black and Brown communities, and kill Americans at an alarming tempo.” Chickenshit white politicians and bullshit artists on TV will clutch their pearls and say protests like the Black Lives Matter ones last summer demand a military-grade response from local law enforcement. The truth is that over 95% of all BLM protests were nonviolent, based on research

by Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, and of the small percentage that resulted in violence, vandalism, or something else negative, Radcliffe says, “Very often police or counterprotesters were reportedly directing [violence] at the protesters.”

So when you find yourself wondering whether or not our local boys and girls in blue need military-grade weaponry, just ask: If it’s used by the U.S. Army in wars overseas, does it have any place on our city streets?

No. The answer is no. And if you find yourself thinking “well, maybe,” then that’s because our biggest domestic terroristic threat is not BLM or “antifa” (whatever that is) or poor children crossing the border. Our biggest domestic terroristic threat is white supremacy. You wouldn’t think that by the way the cops let the Jan. 6 insurrectionists just waltz into the Capitol and how police across the country fired rubber bullets at BLM protestors and worse merely for being Americans, but it’s true. White supremacy is everywhere. Including the Republican party. Including local law enforcement. Until we see a Bearcat mowing down some Nazis, we’re a hard “no.”

While we may never know what Beck, Nettles, and Williams were thinking when they voted, it’s absurd to think they were trying to endanger Fort Worth police. The three likely understand that public safety should be based on building trust with local communities and employing best practices when it comes to investigating and preventing crimes. Over the past 20 years, 11 Tarrant County law enforcement agencies have received more than $4 million in military equipment, according to one federal government website. Armored vehicles, assault weaponry, and other types of “enhanced weapons” are designed to kill on a mass scale. If Fort Worth police are so enamored with military weapons, then they should join the Army.

Southlake Families PAC Bristles Under Civil Rights Probe

Donors to Southlake Families, the deeppocketed right-wing PAC with $168,907 on hand, appear poised to initiate Phase 2 of Operation Upend Liberal Democracy.

Last year, funds from the PAC supported backward-facing lunatics who now control Carroll school district’s board, Southlake city council, and the Southlake mayor’s office.

According to recent campaign finance disclosures, the PAC paid a $10,000 retainer to Meadows Collier, a Dallas law firm whose main focus is defending clients in “investigations, litigations, and other civil, criminal, and administrative controversies with governmental agencies.”

It would make sense that the fragile white donors to the PAC would seek legal counsel after the U.S. Department of Education recently launched an investigation into alleged civil rights abuses of three Southlake students. The tony suburb is quite possibly the most racist city in the United States, and the federal intervention is all that stands between Southlake Families donors and their plan to transform the wealthy community into a fantasy world where conspiracy theories are enshrined in law and minorities learn their place.

Tim O’Hare, the Republican county judge candidate who falsely claims he founded Southlake Families, alleges that the civil rights probe is a political hit job spearheaded by President Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats have no right to interfere in one of the highest performing school districts in Texas because our community chose to reject the brainwashing of our kids through Critical Race Theory teachings,” O’Hare said in a public statement, echoing false information about CRT peddled by Fox News and other rightwing propagandists who love the sound of their own whining over nonissues. “I am proud to have founded Southlake Families to counter the onslaught of CRT and other liberal ideologies into schools by electing strong, conservative candidates to our school board.”

Unlike Tarrant County’s judges and DA, federal investigators cannot be bought. The feds could not care less about the conspiracy theories that fuel political life in Southlake.

No amount of money can stop the process that will inevitably bring Southlake’s school into compliance with federal laws — something the well-monied PAC’s supporters appear unwilling to accept. l This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@ FWWeekly.com. Columns will be gently edited for factuality and clarity.

Cour tesy Jason Leopold, BuzzFeed News

The Foilies 2022 Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency.

Cour tesy Jason Leopold, BuzzFeed News

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The C.R.E.A.M. (Crap Redactions Everywhere Around Me) Award — U.S. Marshals The Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to F’ with … unless the F stands for FOIA. Back in 2015, Wu-Tang Clan put out Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, but they produced only one copy and sold it to the highest bidder: pharma-bro Martin Shkreli, who was later convicted of securities fraud.

When the U.S. Marshals seized Shkreli’s copy of the record under asset forfeiture rules, the Twitterverse debated whether you could use FOIA to obtain the super-secretive album. Unfortunately, FOIA does not work that way. However, BuzzFeed News reporter Jason Leopold was able to use the law to obtain documents about the album when it was auctioned off through the asset forfeiture process.

The Operation Slug Speed Award — U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) The federal government’s lightning-fast timeline (by bureaucratic standards) to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine lived up to its Operation Warp Speed name, but the FDA gave anything but the

MARCH 16-22, 2022

a private server. Is storing potentially classified correspondence on a personal email system any worse than hoarding top-secret documents at a golf club? Is “acid washing” records, as Trump accused Clinton, any less farcical than flushing them down the john?

Ultimately, we decided not to give Trump his seventh Foilie. Technically he isn’t eligible. His presidential records won’t be subject to FOIA until he’s been out of office for five years. (Releasing classified records could take years, or decades, if ever.)

Instead, we’re sticking with our original 16 winners, from federal agencies to small-town police departments to a couple of corporations, who are all shameworthy in their own rights and, at least metaphorically, have no problem tossing government transparency in the crapper.

For example, he acquired photos of the album, the bill of sale, and the purchase agreement.

But the marshals redacted the pictures of the CDs, the song titles, and the lyric book citing FOIA’s trade secrets exemption. Worst of all, they also refused to divulge the purchase price — even though we’re talking about public money. And so here we are, bringing da motherfoia-ing ruckus.

(The New York Times would later reveal that PleasrDAO, a collective that collects digital NFT art, paid $4 million for the record.)

Wu-Tang’s original terms for selling the album reportedly contained a clause that required the buyer to return all rights in the event that Bill Murray successfully pulled off a heist of the record. We can only daydream about how the marshals would have responded if Dr. Peter Venkman himself refiled Leopold’s request.

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Back in 2015, Wu-Tang Clan produced only one copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and sold it to the highest bidder: pharmabro Martin Shkreli, who was later convicted of securities fraud. Through BuzzFeed’s FOIA request, a couple images are the closest any of us will ever get to seeing — or listening to — the real thing.

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ach year during Sunshine Week (March 13-19), a national campaign in support of open records and open government, The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek “awards” for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine forces to collect horror stories about requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and similar state laws from journalists and transparency advocates across the United States and beyond. Our goal is to identify the most surreal document redactions, the most aggravating copy fees, the most outrageous retaliation attempts, and many other ridicule-worthy attacks on the public’s right to know.

And every year since 2015, as we’re about to crown these dubious winners, something new comes to light that makes us consider stopping the presses.

As we were writing up this year’s faux awards, news broke that officials from the National Archives and Records Administration had to lug away boxes upon boxes of White House documents from Mar-a-Lago, former president Donald Trump’s private resort. At best, stealing away with government records was an inappropriate move; at worst, a potential violation of laws governing the retention of presidential documents and the handling of classified materials. And while Politico had reported that when Trump was still in the White House, he liked to tear up documents, we also learned from New York Times writer Maggie Haberman’s new book that White House staff claimed to find toilets clogged up with paper scraps, which were potentially torn-up government records. Trump has dismissed the allegations, of course.

This was all too deliciously ironic considering how much Trump had raged about Hillary Clinton’s practice of storing State Department communications on

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same treatment to a FOIA request seeking data about that authorization process.

Fifty-five years — that’s how long the FDA said it would take to process and release the data it used to authorize the vaccine, responding to a lawsuit by doctors and health scientists. And yet, the FDA needed only months to review the data the first time and confirm that the vaccine was safe for the public.

The estimate was all the more galling because the requesters want to use the documents to help persuade skeptics that the vaccine is safe and effective, a timesensitive goal as we head into the third year of the pandemic.

Thankfully, the court hearing the FOIA suit nixed the FDA’s snail’s-pace plan to review just 500 pages of documents a month. In February, the court ordered the FDA to review 10,000 pages for the next few months and ultimately between 50,000-80,000 through the rest of the year.

These 10-day Deadlines Go to 11 Award — Assorted Massachusetts Agencies Most records requesters know that despite nearly every transparency law imposing response deadlines, the responding

agencies almost always violate those dates, yet Massachusetts officials’ time-warping violations of the state’s 10-business-day deadline take this public-records reality to absurd new levels.

DigBoston’s Maya Shaffer detailed how officials are giving themselves at least one extra business day to respond to requests while still claiming to meet the law’s deadline. In a mind-numbing exchange, an official said that the agency considers any request sent after 5 p.m. to have technically been received on the next business day. And because the law doesn’t require agencies to respond until 10 business days after they’ve received the request, this has in effect given the agency two extra days to respond. So, if a request is sent after 5 p.m. on a Monday, the agency counts Tuesday as the day it received the

request, meaning the 10-day clock doesn’t start until Wednesday The theory is reminiscent of the Spinal Tap scene in which guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off the band’s “special” amplifiers that go “one louder” to 11, rather than maxing out at 10 like every other amp. When asked why Spinal Tap doesn’t just make the level 10 on its amps louder, Tufnel stares blankly before repeating, “These go to 11.”

Although the absurdity of Tufnel’s response is comedic gold, Massachusetts officials’ attempt to make their 10-day deadline go to 11 is contemptuous and also likely violates laws of the state and those of space and time.

happened. The requester sent another email that Krizek saw, and he responded in time.

Anyone else might view that as a public records (and technology) success story: The ability to email requests and quickly follow up on them proves that the law works. Not Krizek. He decided that his personal spam filter hiccup should require every requester in Virginia to venture to a post office and pay at least $3.75 to make their request.

Transparency advocates quickly panned the bill, and a legislative committee voted in late January to strike it from the docket. Hopefully, the bill stays dead and Krizek starts working on legislation that will actually help requesters in Virginia.

The Return to Sender Award — Virginia Del. Paul Krizek

The Spying on Requesters Award — FBI

There are lawmakers who find problems in transparency laws and advocate for improving the public’s right to know.

Then there’s Paul Krizek.

The Virginia lawmaker introduced a bill earlier this year that would require all public records requests to be sent via certified mail, saying that he “saw a problem that needed fixing,” according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The supposed problem? A records request emailed to Krizek got caught in his spam filter, and he was nervous that he missed the response deadline. That never

If government surveillance of ordinary people is chilling, spying on the public watchdogs of that very same surveillance is downright hostile. Between 1989 and at least 2004, the FBI kept regular tabs on the National Security Archive, a domestic nonprofit that investigates and archives information on, you guessed it, national security operations. The Cato Institute obtained records showing that the FBI used electronic and physical surveillance, possibly including wiretaps and “mail covers,” meaning the U.S. Postal Service continued on page 9

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The Futile Secrecy Award — Concord Police Department When reporters from the Concord Monitor in 2019 noticed a vague $5,100 line item in the Concord Police Department’s proposed budget for “covert secret communications,” they did what any good watchdog would do — they started asking questions. What was the technology? Who was the vendor? And they filed public records requests under New Hampshire’s Right to Know Law. In response, Concord police provided a license agreement and a privacy policy, but the documents were so redacted, the reporters still couldn’t tell what the tech was and what company was receiving tax dollars for it. Police claimed releasing the information would put investigations and people’s lives at risk. With the help of the ACLU of New Hampshire, the Monitor

The Highest Fee Estimate Award — Pasco County Sheriff ’s Office In September 2020, the Tampa Bay Times revealed in a multipart series that the Pasco County Sheriff ’s Office was using “Intelligence-led Policing” (ILP). This program took into consideration a bunch of data gathered from various local government agencies, including school records, to determine if a person was likely to commit a crime in the future — and then deputies would randomly drop by their house regularly to harass them. continued on page 10

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recorded the information on the outside of envelopes sent to or from the Archive.

In a secret 1989 cable, then-FBI Director William Sessions specifically called out the Archive’s “tenacity” in using FOIA. Sessions specifically fretted over former Department of Justice Attorney Quinan J. Shea and former Washington Post reporter Scott Armstrong’s leading roles at the Archive, as both were major transparency advocates.

Of course, these records that Cato obtained through its own FOIA request were themselves heavily redacted.

And this comes after the FBI withheld information about these records from the Archive when it requested them back in 2006. Which makes you wonder: How do we watchdog the spy who is secretly spying on the watchdog?

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sued, but Concord police fought it for two years all the way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The police were allowed to brief the trial court behind closed doors, without the ACLU lawyers present, and ultimately the state supreme court ruled most of the information would remain secret, but when the Monitor reached out to EFF for comment, EFF took another look at the redacted documents. In under three minutes, our researchers were able to use a simple Google search to match the redacted privacy policy to Callyo, a Motorola Solutions product that facilitates confidential phone communications.

Hundreds of agencies nationwide have in fact included the company’s name in their public spending ledgers, according to the procurement research tool GovSpend.

The City of Seattle even issued a public privacy impact assessment regarding its police department’s use of the technology, which noted that “Without appropriate safeguards, this raises significant privacy concerns.” Armed with this new information, the Monitor called Concord Police Chief Brad Osgood to confirm what we learned. He doubled down: “I’m not going to tell you whether that’s the product.”

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provide the requested records.

Why the long delay? One possible reason: The agency went to the trouble of redacting information from old press releases — releases that, by definition, were already public.

For example, the sheriff ’s office redacted the name of a suspect who allegedly shot a sheriff ’s deputy and was arrested for attempting to kill a police officer in May 2014, including blacking out the name from a press release the agency had already released that included the name. And it’s not like the press had accidentally missed the name the first time: reporter Thadeus Greenson had published the release in the North Coast Journal right after it came out.

That isn’t Greenson’s only example of law enforcement redacting already public information. In response to another public records request, the Eureka Police Department included a series of news clippings, including one of Greenson’s own articles, again with names redacted.

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Out of suspicion that the sheriff ’s office might be leasing the formula for this program to other departments, EFF filed a public records request asking for any contact mentioning ILP in emails specifically sent to and from other police departments. The sheriff responded with an unexpectedly high-cost estimate for producing the records. Claiming there was no way at all to clarify or narrow the broad request, they projected that it would take 82,738 hours to review the 4,964,278 responsive emails — generating a cost of $1.158 million for the public records requester, the equivalent of a 3,000-squarefoot seaside home with its own private dock in New Port Richey.

Last year, Bruce Alpert received records from a 12-year-old FOIA request that he filed as a reporter for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Back when he filed the request, the corruption case of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, was still hot — despite the $90,000 in cash found in Jefferson’s cold freezer.

In 2009, Alpert requested documents from the FBI on the sensational investigation of Jefferson, which began in 2005. In the summer of that year, FBI agents searched Jefferson’s Washington home and, according to a story published at the time, discovered foil-wrapped stacks of cash “between boxes of Boca burgers and Pillsbury pie crust in his Capitol Hill townhouse.” Jefferson was indicted on 16 federal counts, including bribery, racketeering, conspiracy, and money laundering, leading back to a multimilliondollar telecommunications deal with highranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon.

By the time Alpert received the 83 pages he requested on the FBI’s investigation into Jefferson, Alpert himself was retired and Jefferson had been released from prison. Still, the documents did reveal a new fact about the day of the freezer raid: Another raid was planned for that same day but at Jefferson’s congressional office. This raid was called off after an FBI official, unnamed in the documents, warned that while the raid was technically constitutional, it could have “dire” consequences if it appeared to threaten the independence of Congress.

In a staff editorial about the extreme delay, The Advocate (which acquired the Times-Picayune in 2019) quoted Anna Diakun, a staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University: “The Freedom of Information

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MARCH 16-22, 2022

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The Rip Van Winkle Award — FBI

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The Clear Bully Award — Clearview AI Act is broken.” We suppose it’s better late than never, but never late is even better.

The FOIA Gaslighter of the Year Award — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry In another case involving the TimesPicayune, the FOIA Gaslighter of the Year Award goes to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry for suing reporter Andrea Gallo after she requested documents related to the investigation into (and seeming lack of action on) sexual harassment complaints in Landry’s office.

A few days later, following public criticism, Landry then tweeted that the lawsuit was not actually a lawsuit against Gallo per se but legal action “simply asking the Court to check our decision” on rejecting her records request.

Gallo filed the original request for complaints against Pat Magee, a top aide to Landry, after hearing rumblings that Magee had been placed on administrative leave. The first response to Gallo’s request was that Magee was under investigation and the office couldn’t fulfill the request until that investigation had concluded. A month later, Gallo called the office to ask for Magee and was patched through to his secretary, who said that Magee had just stepped out for lunch but would be back shortly.

Knowing that Magee was back in the office and the investigation likely concluded, Gallo started pushing harder for the records. Then, late on a Friday

when Gallo was on deadline for another story, she received an email from the AG’s office about a lawsuit naming her as the defendant.

A month later, a Baton Rouge judge ruled in favor of Gallo and ordered Landry to release the records on Magee. Shortly after Gallo received those documents, another former employee of the AG’s office filed a complaint against Magee, resulting in his resignation.

The Redacting Information That’s Already Public Award — Humboldt-area Law Enforcement Across the country, police departments are notorious for withholding information from the public. Some agencies take months to release body camera footage after a shooting death or might withhold databases of officer misconduct.

California’s state legislature pushed back against this trend in 2018 with a new law that specifically puts officer use-of-force incidents and other acts of dishonesty under the purview of the California Public Records Act. But even after this law was passed, one Northern California sheriff ’s office was hesitant to release information to journalists — so hesitant that it redacted information that had already been made public. After local paper the North Coast Journal filed a request with the Humboldt County Sheriff ’s Office under the 2018 law, the sheriff took two full years to

Clearview AI is the “company that might end privacy as we know,” claimed The New York Times when it publicly exposed the small company in January 2020.

Clearview had built a face recognition app on a database of more than 3 billion personal images, and the tech startup had quietly found customers in police departments around the country. Soon after the initial reports, the legality of Clearview’s app and its collection of images was taken to court. (EFF has filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of those privacy lawsuits.)

Clearview’s existence was initially revealed via public records requests filed

by Open the Government and MuckRock.

In September 2021, as it faced stillongoing litigation in Illinois, Clearview made an unusual and worrying move against transparency and journalism: It served subpoenas on OTG, its researcher Freddy Martinez, and Chicago-based Lucy Parsons Labs (none of which are involved in the lawsuit).

The subpoenas requested internal communications with journalists about Clearview and its leaders and any information that had been discovered via records requests about the company.

Government accountability advocates saw it as retaliation against the researchers and journalists who exposed Clearview. The subpoena also was a chilling threat to journalists and others looking to lawfully use public records to learn about public partnerships with private entities. continued on page 11

Feature

continued from page 10

What’s more, in this situation, all that had been uncovered had already been made public online more than a year earlier.

Fortunately, following reporting

by Politico, Clearview, citing “further reflection about the scope of the subpoenas” and a “strong view of freedom of the press,” decided to withdraw the subpoenas. We guess you could say the face recognition company recognized their error and did an about-face.

Whose Car Is It Anyway?

Award — Waymo Are those new self-driving cars you see on the road safe? Do you and your fellow pedestrians and drivers have the right to know about their previous accidents and how they handle tight turns and steep hills on the road?

Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc. and operator of an autonomous taxi fleet in San Francisco, answers, respectively: none of your business and no! A California trial court ruled in late February that Waymo is allowed to keep this information secret.

Waymo sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles to stop it from releasing unredacted records

requested by an anonymous person under the California Public Records Act. The records include Waymo’s application to put its self-driving cars on the road and answers to the DMV’s follow-up questions.

The DMV outsourced the redactions to Waymo, and Waymo, claiming that it needed to protect its trade secrets, sent the records back with black bars over most of its answers and even many of the DMV’s questions.

Waymo doesn’t want the public to know which streets its cars operate on, how the cars safely park when picking up and dropping off passengers, and when the cars require trained human drivers to intervene. Waymo even redacted which of its two models — a Jaguar and a Chrysler — will be deployed on California streets … even though someone on those streets can see that for themselves.

#WNTDWPREA (The What Not to Do with Public Records Ever Award) — Anchorage Police Department “What Not to Do Wednesday,” a social media series from the Anchorage Police Department, had been an attempt to provide lighthearted lessons for avoiding arrest. The weekly shaming session regularly featured seemingly real situations requiring a police response. Last

February, though, the agency became its own cautionary tale when one particularly controversial post prompted community criticism and records requests, which APD declined to fulfill.

As described in a pre-Valentine’s Day #WNTDW post, officers responded to a call about a physical altercation between two “lovebirds.” The post claimed APD officers told the two to “be nice” and go on their way, but instead the situation escalated: “We ended up in one big pile on the ground,” and one person was ultimately arrested and charged.

Some in the public found the post dismissive toward what could have been a domestic violence event — particularly notable because then-Police Chief Justin Doll had pointed to domestic violence as a contributor to the current homicide rates, which had otherwise been declining.

Alaska’s News Source soon requested the name of the referenced arrested individual and was denied. APD claimed that it does not release additional information related to “What Not to Do Wednesday” posts. A subsequent request was met with a $6,400 fee.

FWIW, materials related to WNTDW are not valid exemptions under Alaska’s public records law.

By the end of February 2021, the APD decided to do away with the series.

“I think if you have an engagement strategy that ultimately creates more concern than it does benefit, then it’s no longer useful,” Chief Doll later said.

It’s not clear if APD is also applying this logic to its records process.

Do as I Say, Not as I Do Award — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Texas law requires a unique detour to deny or redact responsive records, directing agencies to go through the Attorney General for permission to leave anything out. It’s bad news for transparency if that office circumvents proper protocol when handling its own records requests.

It’s even worse if those records involve a government official — current Texas AG Ken Paxton — and activities targeted at overthrowing the democratic process.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Paxton — who is currently up for reelection while facing multiple charges for securities fraud and was reportedly the subject of a 2020 FBI investigation — and his wife were in Washington, D.C., to speak at a rally in support of former president Trump, which was followed by the infamous invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters. Curious about Paxton’s part in that historic event, a coalition of Texas newspapers submitted continued on page 12

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a request under the state’s public records law for the text messages and emails Paxton sent that day in D.C. Paxton’s office declined to release the records. It may not have even looked for them. The newspapers found that the AG doesn’t seem to have its own policy for searching for responsive documents on personal devices, which would certainly be subject to public records law, even if the device is privately owned.

The Travis County District Attorney subsequently determined that Paxton’s office had indeed violated the Texas open records law. Paxton maintains that no wrongdoing occurred and, as of late February, hadn’t responded to a letter sent by the DA threatening a lawsuit if the situation is remedied ASAP. “When the public official responsible for enforcing public records laws violates those laws himself,” Bill Aleshire, an Austin lawyer, told the Austin AmericanStatesman, “it puts a dagger in the heart of transparency at every level in Texas.”

The Transparency Penalty Flag Award — Big Ten Conference

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In the face of increasing public interest, administrators at the Big Ten sporting universities tried to take a page out of the ol’ college playbook last year and run

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some serious interference on the public records process.

In an apparent attempt to “hide the ball” (that is, their records on when football would be coming back), university leaders suggested to one another that they communicate via a portal used across universities. Reporters and fans saw the move as an attempt to avoid the prying eyes of avid football fans and others who wanted to know more about what to expect on the field and in the classroom.

“I would be delighted to share information, but perhaps we can do this through the Big Ten portal, which will assure confidentiality?” Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank shared via email.

“Just FYI — I am working with Big Ten staff to move the conversation to secure Boardvantage website we use for league materials,” Mark Schlissel, thenpresident of the University of Michigan, wrote his colleagues. “Will advise.”

Of course, the emails discussing the attempted circumvention became public via a records request. Officials’ attempt to disguise their secrecy play was even worse than a quarterback forgetting to pretend to hand off the ball in a playaction pass.

University administrators claimed that the use of the private portal was for ease of communication rather than

concerns over public scrutiny. We’re still calling a penalty, however.

The Remedial Education Award — Fairfax County Public Schools Once a FOIA is released, the First Amendment generally grants broad leeway to the requester to do what they will with the materials. It’s the agency’s job to properly review, redact, and release records in a timely manner, but after Callie Oettinger and Debra Tisler dug into a series of student privacy breaches

by Fairfax County Public Schools, the school decided the quickest way to fix the problem was to hide the evidence. Last September, the pair received a series of letters from the school system and a highpriced law firm demanding the removal of the documents from the web and that they return or destroy the documents.

The impulse to try to silence the messenger is a common one: A few years ago, Foilies partner MuckRock was on the receiving end of a similar demand in Seattle.

While the tactics don’t pass constitutional muster, they work well enough to create headaches and uncertainty for requesters who often find themselves thrust into a legal battle they weren’t looking to fight.

In fact, in this case, after the duo showed up for the initial hearing, a judge ordered

a temporary restraining order barring the further publication of documents. This was despite the fact that they had actually removed all the personally identifiable data from the versions of the documents they posted.

Fortunately, soon after the prior restraint, the requesters received pro bono legal assistance from Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute and Ketan Bhirud of Troutman Pepper. In November — after two months of legal wrangling, negative press, and legal bills for the school — the court found the school’s arguments “simply not relevant” and “almost frivolous,” as the Goldwater Institute noted. l The Foilies were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Director of Investigations Dave Maass, Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Frank Stanton Fellow Mukund Rathi, Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton, Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia) and MuckRock (CoFounder Michael Morisy, Senior Reporting Fellows Betsy Ladyzhets and Dillon Bergin, and Investigations Editor Derek Kravitz), with further review and editing by Shawn Musgrave. The Foilies are published in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. For more transparency trials and tribulations, check out The Foilies archives at EFF.org/issues/foilies.

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EULESS

Thirsty Lion Gastropub (1220 Chisholm Trl Ste 100, 817-283-9000) hosts its Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration 12pm-10pm featuring a Taste of Ireland food menu and cocktail specials with a $1 per drink donated to St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Live performances by McTeggart Irish Dancers of North Texas 3:30-4pm and a bagpiper 4:30pm-5:30pm.

Oh, there you are. Back for more green beer, I see.

While St. Patrick’s Day is officially this Thursday, there are shenanigans to partake in all weekend long.

North Texas, you’re fun!

MUTTS Cantina (5317 Clearfork Main St, 817-3770151) hosts a St. Pawtrick’s Day Promotion 4pm-8pm Thu thru month-end. Through the end of the month, MUTTS will be hiding golden stickers on the bottom of its $4 Green Frozen Mules. Winners who find the golden stickers can choose a prize from the MUTTS “pot of gold” including free fries, free day passes, or free annual membership to the dog park.

The Post at River East (2925 Race St, 817-945-8890) hosts Saint Patrick’s Day at The Post 6pm-10pm Thu featuring live Irish music performances by Jacob Furr, LessMore, and Too Much Time, $5 classic cocktails, and $5 Irish whiskey shots. Dogs are welcome outside.

All ages welcome. Parking is free. Cover is $10.

The Rabbit Hole Pub (3237 White Settlement Rd, 817-744-7160) hosts St. Patrick’s Day Parking Lot Party 4pm-2am daily Thu thru Sun featuring crawfish available for purchase, drinks specials, and a DJ. Trinity College Irish Pub (910 Currie St, 682-2243525) is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day starting at 11am Thu with live music by Five Second Rule. No cover.

Whiskey Garden (2800 Bledsoe St, Ste 150, 682-3127708) is the starting location for the Fifth Annual Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day Crawl 4pm-12am Sat. Other stops on the crawl include America Gardens, Concrete Cowboy, Junk Punch, Kung Fu Saloon, Reservoir, and Your Mom’s House. Tickets are $20 at CrawlWith.us/FortWorth/StPattys and include two complimentary drinks or shots.

ARLINGTON

Hooligan’s Pub (310 E Abram St, Ste 150, 817-2741232) hosts its annual St Paddy’s Day Party 11am-

J. Gilligan’s Bar & Grill (400 E Abram St, 817-2748561) hosts the 43rd Annual St Patrick’s Day Block Party 11am-1am Thu featuring coloring/face painting for the kids, plus DJ Jimmy, live music, giveaways, food/drinks specials, green beer, and Irish nachos.

Live music will be provided by Don McCloud Bag Pipes, Jay B & The Zydeco Posse, Josh Cornett Band, Morning People, and Don Pendley. No cover before 6pm, $6 after.

Tanstaafl Pub (409 N Bowen Rd, 817-460-9506) hosts its annual St. Paddy’s Day Party 2pm-2am Thu featuring beads/swag giveaways and specials on Celtic Crossing, Jameson, Guinness (keep the pint glass), green beer, Irish car bombs, Irish whiskey, and shamrock shots all night. Plus, Mel will be making her Guinness Floats. Live music by Neil Schnell at 10pm..

Texas Live! (1650 E Randol Mill Rd, 817-852-6688) hosts the Shamrocks & Shenanigans Party at 4pm Sat featuring live entertainment, plus drink specials, green beer, and a giveaway of $700 in real gold coins.

(There is also a Dallas Stars vs New York Rangers hockey watching party at 1pm.) Tickets are $15-$35 at Texas-Live.com.

Two Brothers Winery (110 Lamar St, 817-541-9463) hosts St. Patrick’s Paint & Sip at 6pm Thu. All the needed painting supplies and one glass of Two Brothers wine are provided. Additional food and wine will be available for purchase, plus attendees receive 25% off take-home bottles of wine. Tickets are $45 at TwoBrothersWinery.com.

MANSFIELD

Historic Downtown Mansfield (106 S Main St, @HistoricMansfield) hosts the World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade & Palooza 10am-5pm SatSun featuring the main parade, plus a baby parade, a pet parade, the Pickle 5K/10K/KidsK, beer keg races, food/retail vendors, live music, and a pickle playground. There is no cost to attend but bring beer/shopping money. For more info and parking instructions, visit PickleParade.org.

PLANO

Hear Cleghorn’s brand of Celtic rock in Irving Thu.

specials, Irish whiskey shots, and beer-battered fish and chips available for purchase. Live music by The Rich Girls (Hall & Oates tribute 7pm-9pm. There is no cost to attend.

Shark Club Sports Grill (8451 Parkwood Blvd, 469535-5200) hosts Shamrocks & Stilettos 7:30pm11:30pm Thu featuring DJ I Am He spinning southern blues, soul, and R&B. “Are you 100% Black and 0% Irish but still want to have a good time?” asks the promoter. If so, Shark’s has you covered. Ages 21+ welcome, but 25+ preferred. No cover charge, but tables for 2-4 people can be reserved for $50 on EventBrite.com or call 601-842-0678.

ROANOKE

Legacy Hall (7800 Windrose Av, 972-846-4255) hosts a St. Patrick’s Day Party 3pm-9pm Thu. Green Beer Happy Hour is 3pm-6pm with $4 brews, Irish mule

Roanoke ChopHouse Live (39 S Oak St, 817-4028677) hosts its Saint Patrick’s Day Party at 7pm Thu with an Open Mic Night hosted by Jamie Richards.

Crawl Home

BURLESON

Lost Oak Winery (8101 County Rd 802, 817-426-6625) hosts Texas St. Patrick’s Day 5pm Thu featuring 90s country hits played by Coston Cross. Barbeque will be available for purchase from Dubb’s Smokepit BBQ. Green sangrias will also be available for purchase.

There is no cost to attend.

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Fort Worth Stockyards (131 E Exchange Av, 817625-9715) hosts Cowtown Goes Green, a familyfriendly St. Patrick’s Day Celebration 10am-8pm Sat. Participating venues include Exchange Main Stage with its Shamrock Beer Garden, Stockyards Station with Old West Comedy Gun Fights Shows, Cowtown Coliseum Entertainment Plaza with rodeo events, and Water Tower Stage with Cowboy Poetry, plus The Herd will have a cattle drive at 11:30am and 4pm.

Then, the day ends with a big Irish Western Parade at 4pm. There is no cost to attend and all activities are free. (Just bring beer money.) For the full list of activities at each venue, go to FortWorthStockyards. com/Events/Cowtown-Goes-Green.

12am Thu thru Sat. The Jameson Irish Whiskey street team will be on hand giving away swag on 9am-10pm Thu, and then Tullamore D.E.W. will be there 9am11pm Sat. There will be specials on floats, green beer, Irish car bombs, Irish margaritas, old-fashioned drinks, shots, and more.

KELLER

COLLEYVILLE

The Londoner Pub (5120 State Hwy 121, 817684-8810) has specials for St. Patrick’s Day from Thu to Sat featuring a special food menu, green beer, giveaways, and live entertainment including a bagpiper on Thu.

DALLAS

The Quixotic World Magikal Event Space (2824 Main St, 972-534-3099) and Fun Intended is hosting the Lucky You St. Patrick’s Day Soirée in Deep Ellum 7pm-11pm Thu featuring performers Gwen Sinful, Luna Flor, Spyke Styletto, and Vivienne Vermuth, plus dance tunes by Jay Sustain, tarot readings, and face painting. Tickets are $10 on EventBrite.com.

DENTON

Harvest House (331 E Hickory St, 940-218-6148) hosts its Saint Patrick’s Day Party 4pm-2am Thu featuring Flogging Molly music overhead and specials on green beer and Irish whiskey. There is no cost to attend.

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Dublin Square (6651 Fossil Bluff Dr, 817-306-7312) its annual St. Patrick’s Day Party 11am-2am Thu featuring music by OverDrive Texas and Velvet Love on an outside stage, and Terrence Strickland playing inside the bar. Food trucks will be onsite including The Brunch Truck, Crown Tacos, and Hook & Ladder.

VIP tables are also available, call to reserve.

Pooches are welcome at the Pickle Parade in Mansfield.

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

Crockett Row (N University Dr at West 7th) hosts Shamrocks & Shenanigans St. Patrick’s Day Festival 11am-3pm Sat. This free outdoor festival features green miniature pony rides, balloon art, face painting, food/drink specials, gift card giveaways, live music, and a Lucky Pot of Gold Donation Station benefiting Cook Children’s Medical Center. There is no cost to attend.

Toyota Music Factory (316 W Las Colinas Blvd, 972810-1499) hosts its Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration 6pm-10pm Thu featuring Celtic music by Cleghorn, picture-taking with a leprechaun, and a costume contest at 9pm. There is no cost to attend. You can also play Saint Patrick’s Day Bingo for prizes at participating onsite restaurants and bars now thru Thu.

C o u r t e s y Fa c e b o o k

Blue Bayou Restaurant (12670 Morris Dido Newark Rd, 817-236-4446) hots The Blue Bayou Turns Green Party 7pm-12am Fri featuring live music by The Jason Cartmell Band and specials on Reuben sandwiches and corned beef and cabbage. There is no cost to attend.

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See Shrek: The Musical at Casa Mañana thru Sun, Apr 3.

Kids ages 5 and up can spend one, two, or three days 9am-1pm thru today Friday learning about horses at Spring Break Horse Camp at Benbrook Stables (1001 Benbrook Blvd, 817-2491001). Campers will spend the day(s) riding with instructors while getting hands-on experience bathing, grooming, and tacking; learning about horse anatomy, maintenance, nutrition, and safety; doing arts and crafts; playing equestrian-related games; and going on hayrides. The cost is $75 per day. Call to enroll or go to BenbrookStables.com and click “buy me.”

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In celebration of Women’s History Month, the National Multicultural Saturday Western Heritage Museum (@NMWHM) hosts a Women’s Health Expo 11am-4pm at The Warehouse (1125 E Berry St, 817-922-9999).

Admission is free, but RSVP is requested at WHMHealthExpo.EventBrite.com.

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Thu-Sun at various times thru Sun, Apr 3, see a liveaction musical featuring Sunday everyone’s favorite ogre.

Yes, Casa Mañana Theatre (3101 W Lancaster Av, 817-332-2272) is producing Shrek: The Musical. Based on the wildly popular DreamWorks Animation film, this is “the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside

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From 6pm to 9pm every Monday, head to Fat Daddy’s (781 W Debbie Monday Ln, Mansfield, 817-4530188) for Free World Poker Night hosted by the WPT League. Winners receive $50 cash for first place and a $25 gift certificate for second place. Happy hour specials from 2pm to 7pm include $2 domestic draft beers and well drinks, $3 margaritas, $8 domestic pitchers, $10 import pitchers, $10 quesadillas, and $10/$12 chicken, beef, or combo nachos. #AnteUp

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From noon to 2pm every Tuesday, Courtside Kitchen (1615 Rogers Rd, 682Tuesday 255-5751) — Fort Worth’s first all-pickleball facility — hosts Ladies Paddleball Battle in which two-woman teams play competitively for two hours in a “roundrobin” format. The cost is $24 per team. Pick your partner, and then one of you needs to register at App.CourtReserve.com. For more information, visit CourtsideKitchenFW.com.

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The Stockyards’ newest entertainment destination, Wednesday Downtown Cowtown at the Isis (2401 N Main St, 817-808-6390), is hosting a Texas Country Showcase, featuring up and coming musicians Austin English, James Lann, Jason Allen, and Randy Brown. Doors open at 6:30pm, and the show is at 7:30pm.

Tickets are $18 at OuthouseTickets.com.

All street parking is free, plus there are two paid lots nearby.

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$20 for 10 Games of Bingo and Drag Show with Prizes for the Winners!

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What was I meant to do today? It was something special, for sure. Oh, yeah.

Thursday Drink green beer and act silly. But where? I think I’ll check out the Big Ticket listings in the St. Patrick’s Day section in the center spread of this paper.

You do the same.

Tue, Apr 1, 6pm Ikebana: e Art of Flower Arranging

First Tuesdays: Unique curated experiences each month

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NIGHT&DAY

Every Saturday & Sunday at 3:30pm at the

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STUFF Teachers Are Not Pinatas Contrary to right-wing belief, the shortage in educators is not because no one’s trained to do it.

Standing by the temporary fencing, I squinted at the wreckage of where I’d once spent most of my waking hours. My old portable at Carter-Riverside High School, where I’d taught for 17 years, was now in a trash and scrap metal heap waiting to be hauled away. In my head, I tried to figure out how many days I’d taught there: 180some odd days times 17 equals … well, a helluva lotta days.

For the past few years, I’ve watched in amazement as practically a new high school was erected behind the old one.

Inside those new buildings, students and teachers will be making memories. And while I wax nostalgic for my old digs, those portable eyesores that are no more,

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I don’t begrudge the teachers getting to work in brand-new classrooms. Today’s teachers more than deserve that because the past few years have been pure hell.

First of all, because teaching is hard, period. Not everyone can do it. I’ve seen many first-year teachers bail after a few weeks or even days. But also, it’s been made even harder by the constant pressure to raise state-mandated test scores. Back in 2013, the last year I taught, for the first time I saw teachers breaking down crying during English department meetings because of the relentless pressure to up student test scores.

These tests may have a place, but currently their outsized role is greatly diminishing the pleasure of teaching and the joy of learning. Not to mention putting a target on the back of public schools, so as to make it easier to defund them and help charter and private schools thrive.

Then COVID came along. Teachers had to learn on the job how to do instruction online with all sorts of daunting challenges — students who didn’t have a parent at home to monitor them or good WiFi connections.

Then it was, well, COVID again.

When schools went back into session, some parents objected to masks.

In those early days, there was an honest debate to be had about requiring masks in schools, but that’s not what happened. All over the country, we had parents getting fed disinformation about masks and “freedom” by the usual suspects in the right-wing outrage machine.

It made for some ugly confrontations where administrators and teachers were threatened.

Mask disinformation was just the beginning. Next, the outrage machine stirred up the totally fictitious Critical Race Theory (CRT) scare of 2021. Why white students are so privileged to not be exposed to the unvarnished truth of our country is never really explained. If you argue there is no systemic racism in America, you arguing the point makes

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The old portable was now in a trash and scrap metal heap waiting to be hauled away.

it so. Why did this reaction against nonexistent CRT in public schools come after the Black Lives Matter protests? The same reason we saw Jim Crow laws after Reconstruction or the rise of Republican conservatives after the Civil Rights gains in the ’60s. For every three steps Blacks make, white reaction forces them to take two steps back. And in 2022, we should all be better than that.

As if anti-mask and anti-CRT protests were not enough, the old bookbanning mojo got going. My former state representative Matt Krause put out a list of 850 books he wanted school districts to check. That was a brazen attempt to intimidate teachers and stop them from doing their jobs. In some locales, people are demanding cameras and microphones in every classroom to catch any teachers not toeing the conservative line. Little wonder so many hard-working educators are facing burnout. According to the Texas American Federation of Teachers, about two-thirds of teachers have thought about leaving the profession this past year. I’m only surprised it’s not 100%.

In my desk waste basket are the campaign fliers from the March 1 primaries. I’d like to burn them all,

but its toxic smoke would undoubtedly destroy everything in its ugly path. All the Republican politicians do is brag how they’re well to the right of Attila the Hun and that Donnie or Teddy loves them best. Plus, they promise to ignore BLM more than the other guy. Reveling in their reactionary politics, they care little for the damage they have and will continue to cause, especially their hateful war on trans students and their families.

A friend of mine in Fort Worth ISD administration told me about a teacher who was one of the best young instructors she’d ever seen. Her room was decorated with eye-catching paraphernalia, and her classroom was filled with eager students who wanted to learn. She was exactly the kind of teacher we need now, yet one day she shared with my friend that she’ll probably have to quit the job she loves because of all the pressures on teachers now.

And this just in: Gov. Greg Abbott, without a hint of irony, has announced a task force to investigate Texas’ teacher shortage. I won’t mince words here. Good teachers are leaving because their jobs have been made a living hell by right-wing crazies. If Abbott really wants to improve teachers’ lives, stop using public education as a beachhead in the culture wars. Treat educators with respect and stop the constantly inflamed and hate-filled right wing from harassing them. And give them a bump in pay, too. Believe me, they’ve more than earned it. l Fort Worth writer Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue taught ESL at Carter-Riverside High School for 17 of his 26 years in the teaching profession.

This column reflects the opinions of the author and not the Fort Worth Weekly.

To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@ FWWeekly.com. Columns will be gently edited for factuality and clarity.

Whiskey, Wygant, and other great reads Brought to you by an old friend

TCU PRESS

Publishing in Fort Worth since 1947 Find these great titles and more at https://www.tamupress.com/consortium/tcu-press/

ART Break!

Join us at the Modern for ART Break 2022!

Take an ART Break during spring break, March 14–18.

Even though you can’t touch the art (!), we have fun, hands-on, creative activities designed for the whole family to enjoy together—every day 11 am–3 pm.

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 3200 Darnell Street Fort Worth, Texas 76107 817.738.9215

MARCH 16-22, 2022

Monday, March 14, and Friday, March 18, it’s FREE for ALL at the Modern.

Admission for kids under 18 is free every day.

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

Free Spring Break Monday and Friday

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Get your creative energy flowing as you work on your own projects while spending time with the Modern’s collection of paintings, photographs, sculpture, and video.

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price per sack. Depending on the individual restaurant, prices they charge per pound could definitely reflect that.”

Having harvested at the Frugé crawfish farm myself, visited the crawfish capitol of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and eaten my weight in mudbugs across the South, I’m always looking for them locally. And that isn’t easy.

Most of the crawfish I come across here are either overcooked or already dead before being cooked, which affects texture and quality, or boiled without an inkling of spice or hotter than hell to the point of being inedible. Perhaps the most common mistake is sprinkling seasoning over the entire batch after pulling them from the pot. This is simply unacceptable.

Fear not. I have discovered three places whose crustaceans are cooked on point with respect for tradition without room for doubt.

Doing Crawfish Right

Our expert has located three North Texas spots that are as close to swamp-style as you’ll find without hopping on a plane to Looziana.

B Y

C O D Y

N E A T H E R Y

“You get a line / I’ll get a pole / We’ll go down to the crawdad hole, honey” is easily the most popular song lyric about crawfish, a.k.a. “lobsters of the ditch,” which

FIRST BLUE ZONES

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

MARCH 16-22, 2022

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APPROVED THAI RESTAURANTS IN FW!

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Cody Neathery

EATS & drinks

Tributary Cafe

A tray from Tributary Cafe wants to know if your mouth’s watering yet?

are dumped upon newspaper-covered foldout tables in restaurants or at backyard boils every spring. And when the stars align, the good eatin’ often begins early in the winter.

This year’s forecast is a bit iffy, according to Richard Hotard, sales director for Lafayette, Louisiana’s Frugé Seafood, the company that provides approximately 80% of Fort Worth-Dallas restaurants with crawfish every year. Inflation and supplychain issues aren’t the only problems.

“Due to the relatively warm winter we had, January started off very promising for this year’s harvest,” Hotard said. “The bugs were a decent size for being early in the season. Unfortunately, with the cold snaps we saw in January and February, the crawfish burrowed back into the mud for warmth, which slowed their eating habits, which slows their growth. When supply dipped, we were having a hard time meeting demand. Add in the increase in fuel costs, restaurants will be paying more for

“Best Thai Food” – FW Weekly Critics Choice 2015, 2017 & 2019 4630 SW Loop 820 | Fort Worth• 817-731-0455 order online for pickup Thaiselectrestaurant.com

(2813 Race St., 817-832-0823) Originally hailing from Fort Worth rather than New Orleans, Chef Cindy CrowderWheeler has managed to capture the flavors of the bayou and given them a home at Tributary Cafe on Race Street in a funky bungalow that feels more Cajun Country than Wild West.

With a playlist that bounces between Frenchmen Street brass bands and zydeco, you can comb through your tray of mudbugs either perched at the bar or on the patio. The spice-to-flavor ratio on a recent visit was consistent without breaking a continued on page 21

SPICE

“Best Thai Food”

– FW Weekly Critics Choice Thai Kitchen & Bar 2016 – FW Weekly 411 W. Magnolia Ave readers Choice Fort Worth • 817-984-1800 2017, 2019, order online for pickup at Spicedfw.com 2020 & 2021

THE BEST THAI IN FORT WORTH

Cour tesy of Acadia Parish

Acadia Parish Crawfish owner Daniel Demaline doing it right.

Eats & Drinks

steaming crawfish make their presence known when the foil is pulled back and the cayenne and citrusy aroma is breathed in. These bad boys retain a good amount of juice, and with that comes flavor. The crawfish here are cooked in three boilers that hold upwards of 400 pounds total with temperatures ranging from 180 to 200 degrees. After the crawfish are boiled for about five minutes, they receive an ice bath to stop the cooking process before they are allowed to soak up to 45 minutes.

Tullis regularly post updates on social media regarding recipes, inventory, and pricing, so you know what to expect ahead of time, and as he says, “This is Cajunstyle and requires no sprinkled-on seasonings if soaked properly.”

continued from page 20

sweat, and the accoutrements (corn, potatoes, Brussels sprouts) were a lagniappe to my taste buds, albeit with a kiss of heat.

The twist of meat from the tail was easy, which translates to a perfect boil time.

THE Cajun Market & Cafe

(5409 Colleyville Blvd., Colleyville, 817-527-2175) Houma, Louisiana native Phil Tullis found his way to the Fort Worth suburbs, bringing the love of the swamp with him. In addition to operating THE Cajun Market & Cafe, he also owns a wholesale seafood business in Hurst making goodies like frog legs and blue crab more accessible to the public. Along the Gulf Coast, most seafood markets are found in fabricated metal buildings, and that’s exactly how the Cajun Market is set up. What it lacks in décor is made up for in well-stocked shelves of Louisiana products that one would typically discover in small towns such as Opelousas or Scott.

Served in a foil-covered pan, the

I TA L I A N K I T C H E N

store hours Tuesday - Friday saturday & sunday 4pm to 10pm 11Am to 10pm Closed Monday

5733 crowley rd • fort worth tx 76134

817.551.3713 | GIOVANNISFW.COM

So, go forth, enjoy this season while it lasts, but be sure to call ahead or check social media for availability prior to your crawfish adventures. l

Stock your Kitchen at Mission!

Small wares, pots & pans, and all kitchen essentials available to the public.

Come see our showrooms!

MON-FRI 8am-5:30pm

2524 White Settlement Road Fort Worth • 817-265-3973

MARCH 16-22, 2022

Hot Deals At Cool Prices

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

(7914 Camp Bowie West, 318-433-0650) After decamping from its Eastside location, Acadia Parish Crawfish found a new home in conjunction with Chubby’s Burger Shack on Camp Bowie West in 2020.

Minden, Louisiana native Daniel Demaline worked in the oil industry, which introduced him to Fort Worth, and it didn’t take long for him to realize no one cooked crawfish the way he knew. Not long after, he began his business with catering and now offers an assortment of Cajun and Creole foods along with live sales where call-ahead orders are recommended.

While Demaline still does a fair share of catering gigs, you can find him regularly at Chubby’s, where his boils will often include Gulf shrimp, Dungeness crab legs, and Cajun eggs as add-ons. The juice is retained by the spongy crawfish for a well-balanced flavor and kick — which proves there is a certain reward that comes with cooking them right. Demaline reiterated to me that most self-proclaimed Cajun restaurants that advertise crawfish don’t know how to properly boil them, which is why they are typically bland, covered in seasoning, then outrageously priced.

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Acadia Parish Crawfish

Cody Neathery

THE Cajun Market & Cafe is our kind of picnic.

GIOVANNI’S

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FORT WORTH ARLINGTON

BEST RAMEN WINNER

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

MARCH 16-22, 2022

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- Fort Worth Weekly Best Of 2021

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K I N T A R O R A M E N . C O M

1.) Just as it has been doing annually for the past 41 years, English pub J.R. Bentley’s (406 W Abram St, Arlington, 817-261-7351) will be offering specials on Irish beer and adding Reuben sandwiches and corned beef and cabbage with new potatoes to the menu 11am-2pm and 5pm-10pm Thu in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. 2.) Muy Frio Margaritas (3613 W Vickery Blvd, Ste 109, Fort Worth, 817-238-3386) is partnering with Queso Carne (@ queso.carneboxdelivery) for a class called Charcuterie with Me: St Patrick’s Day Edition 6pm-8pm Thu. The $65 fee includes the food and supplies for class, a charcuterie tray, and a complimentary miniflight of drinks from Muy Frio.

Register at MuyFrioMargaritas.com/BookOnline.

3.) DFW Sheraton (4440 W John Carpenter Fwy, Irving, 972-929-8400) is the host hotel for the 36th Annual Bluebonnet Brew-Off happening 1pm1:45pm Fri-Sat. This homebrew contest and craft beer festival includes beer samples, beer-pairing lunches, live music,

Cour tesy Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce

There are tons of delicious events to check out in North (and Central) Texas this spring. Here are eight.

$17.50 per person. However, if you go 7pm10pm Fri, Mar 25, you can make a night of it by attending When in Rome: A Taste of Italy in Dallas, where you will see the exhibit while enjoying live music by a string quartet, imbibing drinks, and eating slices of Sicilian pizza. Tickets for When in Rome are $50 per person at ChapelSistine.com.

Try Holy Frijole and more at The Texas Food Truck Showdown Sat.

pub crawls, stein-holding competitions, technical speakers, and more. Tickets are $35-$75 at BBBrewOff.com.

4.) After a pandemic hiatus in 2021, Waco’s (typically) annual Texas Food Truck Showdown is back for 2022. Head to Heritage Square (300 Austin Av, Waco, 254-757-5600) 10am-8pm Sat and enjoy bites from 40 food trucks and vote for them in the showdown. Before and after the competition, the trucks can accept payments for their regular food items.

However, during the competition (10am4pm), you can use only $5 Tasty Tickets — sold on-site — to sample 4-ounce signature dishes, and in doing so, you are giving that food truck a vote. There is no

cost to attend. For more information, visit TheTexasFoodTruckShowdown.com.

5.) It’s time for the first crawfish boil of the year at The Horny Toad (9530 Camp Bowie West, Fort Worth, 817-560-8623). The Wild Cajun (@TheWildCajun, 985-637-9506) will be on-site serving an all-you-can-eat boil, including crawfish, alligator sausage, corn, and potatoes for $35 per person 12pm4pm Sun. Dalton Torres will perform 2pm4pm. For tickets, sign up and pre-pay with the bartender upon arrival.

6.) Now thru Sunday, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition is open at Irving Mall (Lower Level, 3865 Irving Mall, Irving, 972-255-0572) with tickets starting at

7.) Lost Oak Winery (8101 CR 802, Burleson, 817-426-6625) is the location of the spring 2022 DFW Wicked Wine Run 5:30pm-9pm Sat, Mar 26. Known as “the race with a drinking problem,” the Wicked Wine Run combines wine festivals with vineyard runs/walks for those 21 and up. Enjoy contests, food trucks, vendors, and wine, of course. Race start times are 5:30pm for the 5K run and 7pm for the 1K walk. Race registration is $40 at WickedWineRun.com/Locations/TexasDallas, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting local nonprofit Allie’s Haven Animal Rescue (@AlliesHaven). Four wine tastings are included.

8.) Heart of the Ranch (5000 Clearfork Main St, @HeartoftheRanch1848) is this year’s location of the main event for the Fort Worth Food & Wine Festival 6:30pm9pm Fri, Apr 1. Tickets ($125 per person at FWFWF.TicketSauce.com) cover tastings from artisan producers of craft beers, wines, spirits, and specialty foods, plus bites from the best chefs and restaurateurs from all over the world. (Note: No one under the age of 21 is allowed to attend.)

By Jennifer Bovee

The Ori g i n a l F T W

Fort Worth | 612 University D R I NeK of th Month

ry Tues $2 oFF eve

Happy Hour Mon - Fri

Dollar Off Beers | $8 Drink of the Day

10%Mondays oFF To-G o CoCkTails! and Tuesdays WeekniGHT speCials

a reFresHinG blend oF Monday - Thursday aGriCole , FalernuM , pineapple , leMon , vanilla and orGeaT 117 S Main St • Fort Worth

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

Going on 50 years. Come see us!

MARCH 16-22, 2022

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Oyster Bar

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MUSIC Spare Beans

Bruce Magnus gets a little creative on their new album.

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

MARCH 16-22, 2022

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B Y

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S T E V E

S T E W A R D

On Friday, area rock ’n’ rollers Bruce Magnus will digitally release their new album. Spare Beans is the band’s third fulllength in almost four years. Putting out a long-player every year is no small feat, more so when the release of the second of them was canceled by a global pandemic.

That album, Elevate, expanded on Bruce Magnus’ bar-band blues-funk sound into some difficult-to-categorize stylistic ideas, but because of quarantine, the trio of singerguitarist Samuel Fatzinger, drummer Billy Hildreth, and bassist Aaron Richter didn’t get to promote it with live shows. The guys dropped Elevate online anyway, and then, because the three of them lived together and didn’t have much else to do while cooped up under COVID lockdowns, they wrote and recorded their third album, tracking it during the pandemic with Joe Tacke at Cloudland Recording, with additional guitarwork from former full-time bandmate Camilo Grisales. But Spare Beans would also be sidelined for a year because even though venues began reopening last year, shows were few, and the crowds were even sparser.

“There really weren’t a lot of opportunities to play, so we couldn’t really promote it anyway,” Fatzinger said of the year Spare Beans has sat on the shelf.

“Deflating is a good word for that feeling.”

Yet the experience wouldn’t be all bad. For the pandemic’s obstacles and the time that it’s taken for the band to officially release its third full-length, the musicians managed to write and record half of a fourth album. Of course, they intend to give Spare Beans its due with Bruce Magnus’ upcoming live shows. One of them will be a release party at MASS on Friday that also features Denver Williams, Siamese Hips, and the Red Admirals. And at this point in Bruce Magnus’ career, they have enough songs so that every live show is different.

“We have, like, 40 songs to sift through continued on page 25

Music

Bruce Magnus Album Release 8pm Fri w/Denver Williams & The Gas Money, Siamese Hips, and Forest Ray at MASS, 1002 S Main St, FW. $10.

817-707-7774.

continued from page 24

song sung by a heroic pro wrestler.

“We’re thinking about recording all three parts of the Eggman saga as one thing, maybe putting it out as a seveninch,” Hildreth said.

“Maybe after we put out the next new album,” Fatzinger said.

At the rate with which they put out albums, Bruce Magnus could probably do a greatest hits compilation.

Fatzinger chuckled. “Maybe we can do that once we have five.” l

J o e Ta c k e

Bruce Magnus: “One of the things about writing songs in a pandemic, we came to the realization that we don’t have to be bound to one type of thing.”

RIDGLE A THE ATER

IHW/IHWE

THU 3/31 WRESTLING DOUBLE HEADER FRI 4/1

Z E LO

PRO WRESTLING

KNOCKED LOOSE SAT 4/16 & MORE FRI 5/6 PATTY GRIFFIN

WITH JOHN FULLBRIGHT

RIDGLE A ROOM FRI 3/18 FRI 3/25 FRI 4/1

DECADES OF ROCK: THE VIRGE SHIBBY • WAJA • COLLIDE OVER ME MARCH MADNESS AT THE RIDGLEA ROOM MALIKWORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

RIDGLE A LOUNGE THU 3/17

THE MODERN MISTAKE TOUR ON ST. PADDY’S DAY FEAT. RATCHET DOLLS

FRI 3/18

TYLER GILBERT (MONTANA/SASKATCHEWAN) - STONEHAVEN - DANK & MORE! COSMOS X KHAOS ALBUM RELEASE PARTY!

SAT 3/26

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U LC H SAT 3/19 G & MORE

MARCH 16-22, 2022

“Cold Ones.” So, for all Bruce Magnus’ willingness to try odd ideas just because they can, their current sound still has that continuity with their days rocking the Peppermill Lounge when their setlist was largely composed of songs from High Mountain, their 2019 debut. And there’s also the space opera that began on their second album with the song “Eggman” that continued on Spare Beans in the track “Nebula,” which sounds like a Wolfmother

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

Magnus’ sound. It’s reminiscent of one thing yet entirely its own, unique thing.

Any of their references to an extant sound or genre are similar to how Ween have songs that sound like they might have been written by Jimmy Buffett or Motörhead but are still very obviously Ween songs.

Still, Bruce Magnus’ bedrock is bluesy stompers that often serve as delivery vehicles for guitar solos, and on Beans, you get the biggest taste in “Business” and

Cour tesy Bandcamp.com

when we’re making setlists,” Hildreth said.

Having such an abundance of material is a good problem to have, and it also shows a band’s evolution in what amounts to real time.

“One of the things about writing songs in a pandemic, we came to the realization that we don’t have to be bound to one type of thing,” Fatzinger said.

That’s not to say that Bruce Magnus is cramming reggae songs where they don’t belong. It’s just that the band’s tunes are free to be whatever — Richter mentioned The Tubes and Men Without Hats as some bands Bruce Magnus had listened to while working on the tracks that ended up on Spare Beans — and the album does have a vibe that wouldn’t be out of place in the early days of New Wave or punk. “Bag of Bones,” for example, would fit nicely on The Damned’s Damned, Damned, Damned.

“Dick’s Noodles” sounds like a fuzzed-up Minutemen song, if D. Boon sang about how to make ramen — a trumpet, courtesy of Cliff Spiers, appears and reappears like a popular recurring character in a sitcom.

The sonics and riffage on “Henchmen” make you think of Agent Orange, without really sounding like Agent Orange, especially when it gets to the part with the 5/4 breakdown. And that’s sort of Bruce

25

Hearsay I don’t know if this happens to you on occasion, but I regularly experience bouts of longing for certain aspects of the 2020 quarantine. Obviously not the sickness, death, and collective psychological trauma, but there were moments and vibes during quarantine that were at the time new and very nice.

Besides the peculiar financial blessing from my experience with unemployment insurance and the influx of free time to tend to an ever-expanding houseplant jungle in my apartment balcony, there was the eerie novelty of the sudden pause forced upon the world, where traffic was sparse because there was nowhere to go and Facebook invites were suddenly empty, my brain finally freed from the expectations to be somewhere at a particular time. That part of lockdown is what I miss most.

But parceled with this nice feeling was the fascinating unreality of witnessing the cancellation of major events, and, weirdly, I also miss that experience quite a bit. I remember being bummed about Fortress Fest getting canceled, and when I watched the Mavs game that would end up being the last one of the non-bubble 2020 season, that’s when I knew that the pandemic was real. But when it came to SXSW finally throwing in the proverbial Bounty™ Quicker Picker Upper Ska-lamity Stage towel, I can best describe my emotional reaction with the words “avid” and “glee.”

Do I hate SXSW? No, not exactly.

Well, kind of. Maybe a little. Maybe even more than a little. I have had really enjoyable SXSW experiences, and I have had others that made me wish I’d stayed home, and there’s no reason to

Contact HearSay at Anthony@FWWeekly.com.

26

Cour tesy the author

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

MARCH 16-22, 2022

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Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Not Go Back to Austin …

think that the festival’s bloated branding and constant onslaught of content monetization are any more tolerable than they were prior to 2020, any more than there is reason to think that the traffic in Austin would be lighter. So, I guess I’d enjoy and dislike it as much as ever if I ever went again?

I don’t know. Seeing bands — both local and otherwise — once again spam their fans’ feeds with SXSW show updates mostly reminds me that that pandemicfomented quietude of making do without any Tough Actin’ Tinactin™ Itchin’ Hardcore showcases to attend was never going to last and probably (or hopefully, I suppose) will never occur again. But what I felt the week after SXSW 2020 would have normally ended was the reality that live music was mostly turned off everywhere, and who knew when it would return.

That realization made me really fucking sad. As much as I like dragging SXSW, I never wanted it to just … vanish. Cue up Cinderella, because I didn’t know what we had ’til it was gone. For good or nah, SXSW is symbolic that people still want to experience live music. And one thing I wondered at the time: Will people care when SXSW comes back?

Turns out, two years later, people still care. I see SXSW-related content and imagine the same triumphs and hassles of fun performances in crappy spaces and gigs on huge stages with nobody watching them. Despite my wistful rearview glances at the peacefully empty social calendar of 2020’s spring and summer, I am grateful that Austin’s annual music festival is back, even in its gross, corporate ignominy. SXSW’s return to cultural prominence is a reminder to everyone that live music is a vital part of life, and as much as I miss the empty freeways, I’m grateful that bands have shows to invite us to. — Steve Steward

The author at SXSW 2015 playing with Son of Stan at a Grey Goose-branded show “watched by, like, 11 people.”

CLASSIFIEDS

bulletin board/ public notice

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Consolidated Notice of Receipt of Application and Intent to Obtain Permit and Notice of Application and Preliminary Decision Proposed Air Quality Permit No. 151649 APPLICATION. TXI Operations, LP, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the amendment of Permit No. 151649. This application would authorize modification of the two Concrete Batch Plants located at 1362 Markum Ranch Road, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76126. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility's general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/hb610/index.html?lat=32.691484&lng=97.522131&zoom=13&type=r. The proposed facility will emit the following air contaminants: particulate matter including (but not limited to) aggregate, cement, road dust, and particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less.

This application was submitted to the TCEQ on February 16, 2022. The executive director has completed the administrative and technical reviews of the application and determined that the application meets all of the requirements of a standard permit authorized by 30 TAC § 116.611, which would establish the conditions under which the plant must operate. The executive director has made a preliminary decision to issue the registration because it meets all applicable rules. The application, executive director’s preliminary decision, and standard permit will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, the TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth regional office, and the Benbrook Public Library, 1065 Mercedes Street, Benbrook, Tarrant County, Texas, beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review at the TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Office, 2309 Gravel Drive, Fort Worth, Texas. Visit www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/cbp to review the standard permit.

Public Comment/Public Meeting. You may submit public comments or request a public meeting. See Contacts section. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application. The deadline to submit public comments or meeting requests is 30 days after newspaper notice is published. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to consider in the permit process.

The purpose of a public meeting is to provide the opportunity to submit comments or ask questions about the application.

A public meeting about the application will be held if the executive director determines that there is a significant degree of public interest in the application or if requested by a local legislator. A public meeting is not a contested case hearing.

If a public meeting is held, the deadline to submit public comments is extended to the end of the public meeting.

Contested Case Hearing. You may request a contested case hearing. A contested case hearing is a legal proceeding similar to a civil trial in state district court. Unless a written request for a contested case hearing is filed within 30 days from this notice, the executive director may approve the application.

INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLINE. For details about the status of the application, visit the Commissioners’ Integrated Database (CID) at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/cid. Once you have access to the CID using the link, enter the permit number at the top of this notice.

CONTACTS. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/ eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this application or the permitting process, please call the TCEQ Public Education Program toll free at 1-800-687-4040 or visit their website at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/pep. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.

Further information may also be obtained from TXI Operations, LP, 1503 LBJ Freeway Suite 400, Dallas, Texas 752346007 or by calling Mr. Jesse Martindale, Environmental Engineer II at (972) 647-3742.

Notice Issuance Date: March 3, 2022

MARCH 16-22, 2022

MAILING LIST. You may ask to be placed on a mailing list to receive additional information on this specific application by sending a written request to the Office of the Chief Clerk. See Contacts section.

FO R T WO R T H W E E K LY

TCEQ Action. After the deadline for public comments, the executive director will consider the comments and prepare a response to all relevant and material, or significant public comments. The executive director’s decision on the application, and any response to comments, will be mailed to all persons on the mailing list. If no timely contested case hearing requests are received, or if all hearing requests are withdrawn, the executive director may issue final approval of the application. If all timely hearing requests are not withdrawn, the executive director will not issue final approval of the permit and will forward the application and requests to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled commission meeting. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to address in this proceeding.

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A person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility is entitled to request a hearing.

To request a hearing, a person must actually reside in a permanent residence within 440 yards of the proposed plant. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and registration number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests which the group or association seeks to protect must be identified. You may submit your proposed adjustments to the application which would satisfy your concerns. See Contacts section.

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