Fort Worth Weekly // November 2-8, 2022

Mo’ Beto Blues

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

CITY IN CRISIS

Documents appear to indicate TCC covered up a bad report with a less bad one.

BY EDWARD BROWN

EATS & DRINK

At Funky Picnic, tasty pints and pies overflow the speakeasy-ish Back Room.

BY EDWARD BROWN

BUCK U

BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT

MUSIC

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

Texans want a theocracy with forced births, forced massacres, and forced Christianity because of Messicans and gas prices.

TCU’s sloppy win over WVU exposed some weaknesses.

When we Music Awards, we always Music Awards Showcase!

Bet on O’Rourke

By Anthony Mariani

That AAC Magic

Legal TV

By Patrick Higgins

By Kristian Lin

Back

By Jennifer

TaxpayerFunded Cover-ups?

When a 2019 internal investigation revealed employee misconduct, TCC’s leaders commissioned a new report that better suited their predetermined narrative.

BY EDWARD BROWN

Private messages from around a dozen adjuncts and former professors at Tarrant County Col lege (TCC) convey a consistent message. The community college’s leadership, as we’ve been told this year alone, protects inept employ ees while mistreating loyal longtime teachers, many of whom work on starvation wages.

The bulk of the problems stems from the college’s HR department, headed by Gloria Maddox-Powell. Several former HR employ ees allege that Maddox-Powell is a “bully” who

rewards allies with pay raises (“Double Secret Probation,” April 20). Despite the damning first-hand accounts by former workers who spoke on the record about their mistreatment by Maddox-Powell, TCC’s leaders have re newed their commitment to keeping the HR leader who is now tied to what could become a second scandal.

Two whistleblowers with intimate con nections to TCC’s Northeast Campus provid ed us with copies of emails from TCC attorney Carol Bracken and other employees along with three internal investigation reports of alleged mistreatment of campus students between 2017 and 2018. The whistleblowers, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their privacy, allege that when the first of the three investigations found widespread misconduct by teachers and administrators, TCC leader ship ignored the results and commissioned a second investigation that the whistleblowers believe was intended to cover up evidence of student abuse.

Prompting the first investigation, ac cording to the whistleblowers, were incidents in 2017 and 2018 of one instructor abusing special needs students at TCC’s Skills, Train ing, and Enrichment for Promoting Success (STEPS) program.

“We had an instructor abuse four of our special needs students,” said whistleblower Jill (not her real name). “There were five or six of us [teachers] who kept complaining over and

A Recent Open Records Release Reveals Yet Another Tarrant County Housing Deal Possibly Tied to Insider Dealings

Just days after we published the contents of county documents that appear to tie the Tarrant County Housing Finance Corpo ration (TCHFC) to unethical payments to a Dallas law firm, an anonymous letter full of new accusations landed in our office.

“Thank you for your story and expos ing a portion of Norton Rose Fulbright and Paul Brayden’s apparent scheme to use po litical influence to enrich themselves with public dollars,” the whistleblower wrote.

In our September article, we connected two county housing group projects worth near ly $100 million to the Dallas law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. The Dallas Morning News recently found that Paul Brayden, a Norton Rose Fulbright partner who until recently sat on the board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), may have used his position as a board member for that department to award housing contracts to groups that then paid lucrative legal fees to Brayden’s firm (“To the House,” Sep 14).

Our reporting found the Tarrant County housing group, which works to provide lo cal affordable housing options, paid Norton Rose Fulbright around $500,000 in consult ing fees after Brayden approved public fund ing for two Tarrant County projects. The author of the anonymous letter lists an addi tional eight projects that may be tied to con sulting fees paid to Norton Rose Fulbright.

From an open records request, we re ceived an invoice that indicates that the county housing group paid $236,837 to Norton Rose Fulbright and Kelly Hart and Hallman, a Fort Worth law firm, for legal services tied to funding the Gardens of Haltom City Apartments. The county housing group document does not disclose how those legal fees were split, but the two law firms’ services resulted in more than $24 million in state and federal bonds for the apartment that is not yet under con struction.

One of Brayden’s tasks before he re cently stepped down from the state housing board, the whistleblower alleges, was to en sure that deals went through.

“If a deal dies, an attorney in Mr. Brayden’s position would not be paid,” the whistleblower says in their letter.

The county housing group did not re turn our requests for comment.

In the DMN’s reporting, a spokes

over. Our supervisor kept saying, ‘Give her grace,’ ” referring to the instructor.

Jill alleges that the instructor would de grade and mock the students, the majority of whom were autistic. The mistreatment, according to the whistleblowers, was con stant and relentless and often left the 18- and 19-year-olds trembling.

In a 2019 email from investigator Kathy Fragnoli to Susan Alanis, TCC’s chief operat ing manager, Fragnoli wrote that she was hired to conduct “fact finding” about mistreatment of students at TCC’s Northeast Campus. Frag noli reviewed around 200 pages of emails and interviewed 11 employees.

In her final investigation summary, Frag noli notes that several employees described TCC’s STEPS director at the time, Jerry Zum walt, as someone who could not be trusted. One employee at the time said Zumwalt was “aggressive toward women” and “lazy.”

Zumwalt “has a problem with strong women who he can’t push around,” another employee told Fragnoli.

The VP of academic affairs at the time reported that she would fire him if he worked under her because demoting him would simply cause problems for whomever he reported to.

Both whistleblowers allege Zumwalt failed to take reported incidents of student abuse seriously. In the report’s final analysis, Fragnoli describes the STEPS program under Zumwalt’s leadership as an “off-key sympho

person for Norton Rose Fulbright denies Brayden did anything illegal or unethical while serving on the state housing board.

Another recent Norton Rose Fulbright contract highlights the lengths Brayden allegedly underwent to close deals, espe cially when a client had only one proposal before the state housing group.

The deal involves the Palladium Port Aransas housing project in Port Aransas Closing the deal, the whistleblower alleges, was an “all or nothing” proposition. Oth erwise, Norton Rose Fulbright might not have been paid.

With a deadline of 67 days before the deal expired, minutes from a state housing group board meeting on April 23, 2020, show Brayden seconded a motion to award around $9 million to the project.

Missing from the minutes is evidence that Brayden abused his power as a board member to push the item onto the agenda, but the whistleblower alleges the timing of the vote as the deadline approached sug gests inside help.

“A quick approval was critical to a suc cessful closing,” the whistleblower writes.

The whistleblower ends their letter by warning that Norton Rose Fulbright attor neys may be misusing their connections to steer large Texas Public Finance Author ity (TPFA) bonds toward personal clients.

ny with no conductor.”

Multiple former instructors told Fragnoli they believe Zumwalt fired them for reporting student mistreatment, based on the report. Fragnoli also released a summary of TCC Spe cial Projects Director Debra Sykes-West.

“Because Sykes-West played a promi nent role in several problematic issues raised in my first investigation of Mr. Zumwalt, I was asked” to prepare a report on Sykes-West, Fragnoli writes.

Many TCC staffers allege that SykesWest, a Black woman, gave preferential treat ment to Black co-workers.

“The tipping point in this department came when the only white instructors in STEPS were fired after they complained about an African American’s treatment of students,” part of the report reads.

The whistleblowers allege that Fragnoli’s report was concealed by TCC leadership and that HR told employees the matter had been resolved. The whistleblowers learned about the first investigation several months after it was completed and not made public.

In mid-2020, possibly to whitewash the damning findings, TCC attorney Bracken hired Fort Worth labor attorney Jennifer Sweeny to conduct a second investigation into possible employee misconduct on campus.

“I have a few more interviews before I can make any final determination,” Sweeny

METROPOLIS continued on page 6

When asked whether TPFA plans to hire Norton Rose Fulbright for legal consulting, a spokesperson for the group that finances state construction projects did not answer.

The Tarrant County Commission ers Court recently allocated $32.5 million in public funds to increase the number of affordable housing units in the county. County Judge Glen Whitley recently told the Fort Worth Report that he is excited to see which contractors bid on the Request for Proposal.

After our recent reporting on tax dol lars potentially being misused to buy board votes at the state housing group, county leaders should take steps to ensure that no more tax dollars are used to curry favor with well-connected law firms who may have un duly leveraged their power and influence to earn consulting fees

This column reflects the opinions of the ed itorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly. com. Submissions will be gently edited for factuality, concision, and clarity.

This story is part of City in Crisis, an ongo ing series of reports on unethical behavior and worse by local public leaders, featuring original reporting.

emailed Bracken a few months after beginning the investigation, “but I have not found any ev idence of retaliation” by staff against the com plainants. “It is my opinion at this time that [there is] an irrational level of distrust that has developed among STEPS employees.”

In the chain of emails, both Bracken and Sweeny make disparaging remarks about a for mer instructor who requested an investigation into alleged staff mistreatment of students.

Based on the chain, either Bracken or Sweeny accidentally included one com plainant, Shelly Lemman, on the email thread.

“This doesn’t seem appropriate that the attorneys are trying to guide the outcome,”

Lemman replied to the thread. “Jennifer Sweeny also indicates that I have an irrational level of distrust. Why would I not? My distrust is justified. I was fired, retaliated against, and mistreated.”

Sweeny then asks Lemman to delete the chain of communications.

“Forgive me, you received that email in error,” Sweeny replies. “This is a privileged communication with TCC’s attorneys. I must request to claw that email back and delete it on your end.”

Soon after, Sweeny notifies Bracken that she is resigning from her role as a third-party investigator. “It has already become clear that Mrs. Lemman will not accept the results of my investigatory findings,” Sweeny writes.

In September 2020, TCC’s legal team hired Employment Practices Solutions, a

North Texas firm, to again investigate the complaints. The whistleblowers told us that this third effort appeared to be another at tempt to generate a report that painted TCC’s leadership favorably. In a supplement to the report, Employment Practices Solutions’ lead investigator notes that Maddox-Powell alleged that one of the original complainants was calling her office in a harassing manner. In an in-person interview, the complainant who asked to remain unnamed described the HR director as a “fucking liar.”

Despite widespread allegations from sev eral TCC employees of racialized retaliation in the Fragnoli report, the Employment Practic es Solutions report rebuffed those concerns.

The information did not “substantiate” that complainants and former employees Lemman and Thomas Quinn were “discrim

inated against based upon their race,” the re port summary reads.

When describing allegations that TCC staffers were paid while not working and that office supplies were purchased for personal use, Employment Practices Solutions’ lead investigator acknowledges that they never in terviewed the main complainant behind the allegations.

“They didn’t talk to me, so there had to have been a cover-up,” Quinn told Employ ment Practices Solutions’ lead investigator. “It’s offensive that the fraud and waste were not investigated.” l

This story is part of City in Crisis, an ongo ing series of reports on unethical behavior and worse by local public leaders, featuring origi nal reporting.

Mo’ Beto Blues

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

I shrugged off the first one. I also ignored the second and the third. And the fourth and the fifth. And even the 10th and 11th. It wasn’t until I finally saw one Greg Abbott yard sign in an en tire neighborhood filled with “Beto”s that I felt what could be charitably described as optimism. Maybe, I thought, just maybe, the darkness upon our otherwise fair republic would be swept clean by the champion prince of El Paso. Maybe (I was getting crazy now), just maybe all the years of “Mmmyeah, we need more gun violence to stop all the gun violence” and “Mmmyeah, we’ll fix the grid, uh, tomorrow” and all the weeks of “Mmmyeah, you ladies are going to jail for un dergoing life-saving health care or providing it to women” would be eradicated by our lord and savior, Beto O’Rourke. Maybe, just maybe … Without trying to sound more racist than I, the father of a Black boy, probably am (un consciously), I wasn’t driving through a neigh borhood littered with Democrats smearing goat’s blood all over their bellies and gyrating by a raging fire while listening to the Indigo Girls and voting by mail. I was in the middle of Whitey Central, Arlington Heights, on the side closest to the highway. On the other side, I did not see any yard support for the gubernatorial challenger, as expected, but I also didn’t see any in favor of the incumbent. And I had driven right past Rivercrest Country Club, which is like the Whitey House of Fort Worth. I took all this as a good … sign. (I’ll show myself out.)

My joy since then has been prejudicial ly zapped by the latest polling data that puts Abbott ahead by nearly 10 percentage points. The likely conclusion is that all the roadblocks erected by conservative lawmakers to suppress the power of the people are working. There’s still Election Day, and in honor of those few sacred hours on Tue., Nov. 8, I will argue that a vote for Beto is a vote for a better future for all Texans and that casting a ballot for Abbott will only lead to mothers and doctors behind bars, more school shootings (we’re already No. 1 in the nation in that category), and a theocracy that will force Christianity on all of us. When I was a kid, thickly forearmed nuns pressed our pimply faces into the musty pages of the Bible. I’m not a kid anymore. I’ll take a nun down! *unsheathes twin katanas*

Along with our love affair with the Dallas Cowboys and firearms, being a Texan can be embarrassing in many other ways. Based on the pollsters’ info, many of us have already forgot ten about abortion and Uvalde. Most of us are apparently back to worrying about immigration and “secure borders.” As I am every election season, I am once again aghast at how fucking stupid we are. Oh, I know how we got here: Fox

“News,” Facebook, Twitter, the Star-T’s edito rial page, and serial liar Tucker Carlson, whose Fox show, wrote a U.S. district judge in Septem ber 2020, quoting Fox’s lawyers during a slan der case against Carlson, “should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not ‘stating actual facts’ about the topics he discusses and is instead en gaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal com mentary.’ ” Worse, if anything’s worse than that racist twat, Texas voters clearly consider polit ical ads to be journalism. How dumb do you have to be? This is not a rhetorical question. I’m seriously asking, Where’s the floor? The average political ad, from the left and the right (but mostly the right), is a verifiable lie. It’s like one of the first things you learn in grade-school social studies: Don’t trust political ads. I wake up at least five times a night picturing some un decided schlub — or “unencumbered,” because he apparently doesn’t care about anyone but himself — strutting to the polls, doopty do, and being stopped by a political ad on his phone which sways his decision. You know this has happened a bunch over the years, and, I dunno, maybe handing over the keys of our democracy every two years to a bunch of nitwits too lazy to learn about issues rather than be scared by them via 30-second sound bites might not be the best way to go about electing our political leaders.

Beto has come this far because of his clear, simple messaging: Abbott has had eight years to make life better for all Texans, not just his voters, and all he’s done is make his rich, white, undoubtedly Christian friends and family even richer. And perhaps whiter. It’s science: The richer you are, the whiter you become or, as in the case with many of our Hispanic, Asian, and Black friends, the more white-adjacent you get. There once was a guy back in the early aughts (name doesn’t matter) who emailed his celeb rity crush through her website, and as wormy, sad, and #lowenergy as he was, he’s not nearly as pathetic as people from non-white races at tempting to buy into or mimic white privilege. (Still here, Kate.)

“I vote Republican,” recently tweeted user @brandondarby. “As a Texan, I can’t help but notice that the Republicans in power want us to reelect them to solve problems that have all de veloped or thrived under their own leadership. ‘Elect me so I can stop ____. Even though I’ve been in power for many years already.’ ”

Beto has also shaken a lot of hands. He probably goes through one 24-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer an hour. He’s everywhere. He is the definition of whistlestop campaigning. He was just in Fort Worth for the fifth or sixth time this campaign season last week. Hundreds of peeps showed up and showed out. I wouldn’t be surprised to pop into the Boiled Owl for a Lone Star pounder over the next couple of days and see ol’ Robert Francis sitting on a barstool waving his hands around explaining something while drinking a Rahr because he’s even more Fort Worthy than I am. (Beto O’Rourke, Mag nolia-approved.)

Not only is he normal-seeming, but he’s also smart. As he has said, Greg Abbott has had a long time to figure out why gunmen keep mass-murdering our loved ones in public spaces and why we must sacrifice the creature comforts that we pay for to keep his buddies’ electric grid running and their mansions prop erly air-conditioned and illuminated and why property taxes and rent keep rocketing sky ward. The time is now for a new beginning with someone who might not have all the answers but who knows exactly where to start: in Greg Abbott’s office.

while the other, disappointing yet not evil side has watched and sent URGENT emails. A vote for a Republican, any Republican, is a vote for a theocratic state no better than the Taliban in Afghanistan. It starts with them telling us what we can and can’t do with our own bodies. It ends with them telling us where we can trav el, who we can be friends with, where we can work, even who we can love and marry. As an Atheist and somewhat of a wild ass who maxi mizes his personal freedoms, nothing scares me more than the morality police, and Greg Abbott would love to take some of our hard-earned tax dollars and create an armed force dedicated to policing our ethical decisions. Like the pervs that they are, the party of so-called “small” gov ernment sure is interested in our households. And our bathrooms.

Taking away your bodily autonomy, taking away your books, taking away your freedom to go to school, church, Walmart, or anywhere else people gather without fear of being torn apart by an AR-15, taking away your right to vote — this is everything the freedumb party of Texas wants. A vote for Greg Abbott is a vote for Big Brother. Don’t think it’s not.

One great follow is Conservative SelfOwns. Almost every other week, some id iotic Texas Republican rants about all the drugs seized at the border. What the posters think they’re saying is “Look at all the drugs them damn Messicans are trying to smuggle through!” The actual takeaway is “Look at how awesome President Joe Biden’s border patrol is.” The distinction is important. Re publicans, who have absolutely zero original ideas, are once again falling back on “Dems are soft on immigration and crime” — and it’s working because most voters are idiots. If you take anything away from this eloquent, mon umental, haphazardly spellchecked rant, let it be that the states with the most crime are red Again, I apologize for disrupting your monster truck rally in the parking lot of Target, but Fox “News,” the Star-T, and Tucker Carlson are ly ing to you, bro.

At the border, the joke is even funnier. In 2021, border patrol says 90% of fentanyl con fiscations occurred at legal points of entry and more than 86% of fentanyl smuggling convic tions were of U.S. citizens.

Let me be perfectly clear: I would vote for a used condom stuck in the teeth of a craggy street gully in deep suburban Saginaw before casting a ballot for Greg Abbott — or for pretty much any Republican politician anywhere. We’ve come to a point in our 250-year-old democrat ic experiment when one political side has tried to overthrow the government to stay in power

As Abbott goes on claiming Beto is soft on crime, because, again, “soft on crime” is all that the intellectually bankrupt other side has to run on, Beto continues hammering the gov ernor on guns and abortion. And rightfully so. Since nothing has changed since Texas’ most recent mass shooting, in Uvalde, and since now Texas women with complicated pregnancies can die — die — without abortions, Beto is smart to pin all this death and dying on the guy (allegedly) in charge.

Texas has experienced eight mass shoot ings since firearms became more accessible here over the last 13 years. When asked if he would consider banning assault-style weapons for 18-year-olds after Uvalde, Abbott waffled, and his prevarications show that not only is he be holden to the NRA but he is also unfit to lead. More dead children have become the norm in this state. Instead of making schools safer, Tex as handed out DNA kits for parents to be able to identify their children after a gunman slices them to pieces with an assault rifle. Abbott will do nothing to stop the bleeding as long as the National Rifle Terrorist Association keeps writ

Texans want a theocracy with forced births, forced massacres, and forced Christianity because of Messicans and gas prices.

Operations, LP,

No.

to the

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for

of

ing those fat campaign checks with his name on them. Assault weapon bans, background checks, age limits, waiting periods, and ammunition re strictions would all help curb the spread of mass shootings and gun violence in general if only Republican politicians had the balls to listen to the facts instead of kick back and count all the blood-stained dollars rolling in. Other countries have mental illness, other countries have hate groups, other countries even have doors, and there are more mass shootings in this country than anywhere else in the world because there are more guns than people here

Chapter 101, Subchapter

I understand collectors. I’m a collector of things. I like stuff. (Vintage magnets, anyone?) No one wants to take away anyone’s priceless Civil War flintlocks or whatever. We just want to keep rapid-fire weapons out of the hands of criminals, immature punks, and the mental ly ill. Why anyone other than a soldier needs a firearm capable of snuffing out or maiming large swaths of people in mere seconds should not be up for debate. Penis enlargement surger ies cost much less. Sounds like a lot of bros in this state need one.

The NRA has contributed $16,750 to Ab bott. Though chump change compared to what voting members of Congress receive from the terrorist organization, that amount of blood money is huge for a governor.

Under Abbott, Texas has suffered five of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history “as gun violence became the leading cause of death among kids and teens,” Beto says. “How did [Abbott] respond? By making it easier for another [mass shooting] to happen. How do we respond? By voting him out and preventing it.”

a blind eye to price gouging and windfall profits while hundreds of people die seems like a good return on investment.”

I, a Texan in good standing for the past 24 years, 20 of them consecutive, did not know that our grid was not connected to the national one. That’s on me. Now that I am fully aware of its lone wolf status — or “Teen Wolf,” if you’re rock ing a Ted Cruz “beard” — I am with Beto. The Dem nominee says that once elected, he’s going to “fully weatherize” Texas’ power grid, connect it to the national one “so that we can draw power when we need it most,” and prevent energy cor porations from price gouging us for our displea sure. Energy bills overall should shrink because of his measures. In case you haven’t noticed, en ergy bills across the state have shot up $45 per month on average due to the grid failure.

Here’s another little something Beto could cer tainly slam Abbott over: the stupid grid.

It failed, drastically, during the 2021 snow storm, and because it’s not connected to the national power system, it’s constantly at risk of going limp if the weather gets one degree too hot or one degree too cold. Make sure you keep your thermostats at a lukewarm 78 in the sum mer, suckers! Is this one of the united states of America or Papua freaking New Guinea?

The grid’s collapse cost more than 700 Tex ans their lives and created more than $300 bil lion in economic damage, and when Abbott had the chance to craft tighter regulations to keep the power flowing the way it needs to, he punted. Bad news for us was a windfall for him. All the energy CEOs who made more than $11 billion by price gouging us during and after the disas ter? Abbott let them slide, and in return, those rat bastards showered his campaign with cash.

Oil, gas, and other energy interests ejac ulated about $4.6 million total, the governor’s “largest haul ever from those groups in the post-legislative session fundraising period,” the Texas Tribune says, adding that four out of Ab bott’s Top 10 individual donors are oil and gas men and that his Top 10 voters this election are all Grade-A suckers.

“Gas producers got a pass by Texas poli cymakers,” a UT energy prof told the Tribune. “Making a million-dollar political donation to reward the government for its light touch and encourage the government to continue turning

Uninquisitive folks will blame inflation, and while it’s true that hard times are spreadin’ just like the flu across the entire globe, not just the U.S., corporate profits are up 53.9% from last year. Next time you try to balance your fam ily budget, instead of blaming the president for a global catastrophe, how about taking aim at the 55 billionaire companies whose tax rate is a big fat 0%. Since functioning as consumers may be the only voice we have left, shop accordingly.

Blaming the president for global eco nomic strife is an American tradition, and it’s one I’m not going to step on here. But before raising your “FJB” flag like the brainwashed hockey puck that you are, you must acknowl edge a fraction of Sleepy Joe’s accomplishments in only two years, like his pandemic recovery bill, his infrastructure bill, his health care bill, the largest climate change bill in history, and his cutting the deficit by the largest amount in U.S. history ($1.4 trillion … with a “t”). If there’s ever been an American president not to blame for (global) inflation, it’s Joe Biden. And don’t forget that Arizona Iced Tea still costs 99 cents. What Grandpa Joe is or isn’t doing isn’t the problem. Corporate greed is.

“For every extra $1 you’re paying due to inflation, 54¢ is going right into the pockets of big corporations,” tweeted U.S. rep and whiteboard maestra Katie Porter. “Wall Street is price gouging families to earn sky-high profits, jeop ardizing our entire economy in the process.”

For my kid’s 11th birthday a couple weeks ago, the fam and I met our friends and their

Courtesy Truth by Texas

own 11-year-old at Jellystone, the outdoorsy kid-friendly resort in Burleson. I expected a ton of “FJB” flags and other MAGA bullshit be cause we live in this redneck state and because, unlike Whitey, Black folk know better than to go messin’ with bears and whatnot in the damn woods. The road into B-town had me believing I would be right. (Spoiler alert: I normally am.)

Traveling south on 35, there’s a huge billboard: “Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and other genders are from Uranus!”

I reached into one of the 17 pockets on my cargo shorts for my hunting knife before realizing I lost my hunting knife years ago. I’m pollyannish that way. You have a dog that sits by your feet while you’re making food in the hopes that you’ll drop a shred of cheese? I’m the dog, and the cheese is life. I hope. That’s all I do. Hope. Now, I had to face the unwashed with only a Maglite to defend my family, my friends, and me. What would have been routine back in 2015 — a family outing! friends! cheap beer consumed vigorously! — had become fraught with terror. The feds recently released a joint intelligence bulletin warning of the threat of domestic violence aimed at “candidates run ning for public office, elected officials, election workers, political rallies, political party repre sentatives, racial and religious minorities, or perceived ideological opponents” like my fami ly and me, who aren’t dumb enough to wander into mixed company with our Black Lives Mat ter gear but have been known to rock our RBG and John Lewis shirts at Kroger and our son’s baseball games. “Violence,” continued the De partment of Homeland Security, the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the U.S. Capitol Police, “will largely be dependent on drivers such as personalized ideological griev ances and the accessibility of potential targets throughout the election cycle.”

In my head, I practiced attack moves with the Maglite. In nearly every scenario, I saw it flying from my hands and thudding inertly onto the dirt paths. Charm, I thought. I’ll be utterly charming! *smiles in creep* My family’s gon die.

The truth is that, while political fisticuffs are real, our children are more likely to be sex ually assaulted by a clergy member than “other genders.”

The truth doesn’t matter to the unencum bered. They’re taking direction from the TV. (How have these people managed to stay alive this long to be able to reach voting age? How have they not accidentally started WWIII with a toaster and a wet fork yet?)

For you un-unencumbered, there are facts. Fear is all Republicans have to run on. It’s all they’ve ever run on. Fear that someone (of a different color) will take your job. Fear that the same police force you worship will come and take your handheld dick extenders. Fear that an

embryo won’t be brought to term while nearly 52,000 children languish in Texas foster care. As the Buddha said, “Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.”

All Democrats have to do is offer bet ter-seeming options, understanding that the unencumbered are not going to bother to surf to a credible news outlet and actually read. Dems need recognizable faces to meet the populist mo ment we’ve been living in since 2016. As the oth er side opts to scare voters and lie to them, what have the Dems chosen to do? It’s like one side is twirling fire like some mad Hawaiian hopped up on coke and Mountain Dew while the other is trying to find two sticks to rub together. Here’s what the Dems are up against: almost half the country loyal to a disgraced, one-term, twice-im peached, de-platformed racist rapist under crim inal investigation for espionage, obstruction, conspiracy, fraud, and sedition, plus one civil investigation for now, who lost the House and Senate along with the presidency two years ago, can’t get any bank to return his calls, can’t hire any accountants, and can’t sell his “brand” for more than a dollars stuck to the bottom of your shoe. This is what the Dems are up against, and they still may lose next week and in 2024. It’s no wonder we’ve lost faith in them.

One guy to have faith in is Beto. The way he takes the proverbial high road is by trying to unite us, bless his hopeful heart. Just a few weeks ago, he wrapped up a whistlestop at eas ily the most conservative college campus in not only Texas but maybe the whole country, Texas A&M, to a packed house’s standing ova tion. Now that Texas added more than 300,000 new voters since the illegal U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas Dems have a 10% advantage among new registrants. The old, rich, white, Christian farts in Brazos Coun ty responded generically to that data and spe cifically to Beto’s popularity by refusing to re open an on-campus early-voting site in College Station in time for the midterms. This is why there’s so much animosity toward Dems. They allowed gerrymandering to go unchecked for so long. They allowed Roe not to be codified. They continue to allow Republicans to push them around. Beto says no mas.

“Greg Abbott has been Governor of Texas for eight years with Republican majorities in the House and Senate,” Beto recently tweeted. “Anything he’s saying he’s going to do is some thing he could have done but didn’t.”

At Jellystone, the lack of Dump and “FJB” flags and “Let’s Go, Brandon” crap in fused me with even more optimism than I had cruising Arlington Heights. And everyone was super-nice. Maybe it’s time for the audacity of hope again. Maybe it’s time for Beto O’Rourke. Fort Worth says yes. l

Business, Veterans, “Local Voter Education” & Bob Willoughby Installment #13

HELP!

We need your help, in sharing this information. We have over 1,000,000 citizens in Fort Worth. And over 900,000 do not vote in our local elections. This is costing us! We have allowed bad people take over the city of Fort Worth and they brought more bad people with them. You can sign up anytime to become a registered vote. It requires 30 days to process so do not wait, we need help! January is when candidates can be placed on the ballot. We know out of more than a million citizens there must be a handful of Americans that will run or back a candidate for council or mayor, the self-centered, inexperienced and untrustworthy Mayor & council have set the bar so low that Satan Would be a better choice.

Mayor Mattie loves herself more than her children

District 6 Council Member Jared Williams is too young and afraid of his own shadow

District 3 Council Member Mike Crain is a two-face coward

District 9 Council Member Elizabeth Beck calls people names and is totally insane

How can we let anyone stay in office who has betrayed our trust and have abused their power to remove the people’s right to speak at city council meetings like these people did.

City Manager Mr. Cooke is Derelict in his Duty at $1,700 a Day

Communications & Public Engagement

Michelle Gutt has a salary 3 x that of a Police Officer and she does not engage. Her only job is to try to make the mayor look good. In the city news. Michelle’s salary is over $170,000

Code Compliance Director Brandon Bennett is incompetent and a pathological liar at over $200,000

City Attorney Leann Guzman was brought in for her ability to turn a blind eye to corruption

These people are nothing but crooks robbing us in broad daylight. We welcome any of the above to deny any of the facts that we have listed (it is a safe bet that not one will respond) because the truth is the best defense against slander

City Employees that are overcompensated for their dishonesty Is not having the skill for the job what matters? Shouldn’t moral values count in the salary they receive?

Banjo Bowl

TCU survives a clunker in Appalachia to remain flawless ahead of the first College Football Playoff rankings.

BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT

West Virginia is an odd place, not only because their fan base is most famous for setting furniture on fire or because North Texas sports a population four times their entire state’s or because their football play ers wear song lyrics made famous by a sing er born in New Mexico who was obsessed with Colorado. But anyone who has been to Morgantown knows you don’t quite feel like you’re part of the greater United States any more, or the Big 12, or even the 21st centu ry. Still, TCU’s offense didn’t start slow, but West Virginia’s game plan exposed a purple Achilles’ heel, and it’s a foreboding warning about possible pitfalls that also represent the Frogs’ greatest overall strength.

Defensively, this was the same game we’ve watched the last three weeks, and it’s a little like watching a ’90s action flick: It’s well produced and entertaining, but you wish they would shock you by breaking the formula a bit. As fans have come to expect, Joe Gillespie’s defense couldn’t stop West

Virginia in the first half but mostly clamped down in the second, though 10 points was the most they’ve surrendered after halftime since the Kansas game.

In case you didn’t read my prediction for this game, do so, and then buy me a drink if you catch me out and about. TCU’s offense went colder in the second half than anticipated, but five different Frogs found the end zone as Sonny Dykes spread the love in an offense by committee. Max Duggan (#15) seemed to be fighting calf issues but still tossed the ball for more than 300 yards and three scores despite throwing only his second interception of the season. Kendre Miller (#33) topped 100 yards again and averaged an insane 10 yards per carry with a score. Quentin Johnston (#1) was slowed by an ankle injury but still managed a long touchdown while Taye Barber (#4) and Sav ion Williams (#18) each logged stat lines near 100 yards with a touchdown grab each. The most ridiculous part of this game was the speed at which the Frogs scored. The five touchdown drives from the Frogs to taled 23 plays, meaning — on seven-point drives — the Frogs found the end zone ev ery 4.6 plays on average (not accounting for punting or Griffin Kell’s two field goals).

As I alluded to earlier, the speed of scoring also proved to be something that kept West Virginia in the game. The Moun taineers managed to possess the ball for 13 more minutes than TCU and the speed at which Duggan and company appeared and vanished from the field meant Gillespie’s defense earned their paychecks by playing overtime. The team stats, otherwise, are remarkably similar. TCU outgained WVU only by 60 yards, and each team coughed the ball up twice via one fumble (TCU’s was an egregiously officiated “muffed” punt) and an interception each. The difference in the game was the very reason West Virginia was able to control the ball and keep things man ageable and close until the very end, but the Mountaineers played pickleball while the Frogs played tennis.

TCU was Federer with a monster fore hand in the form of Barber and Johnston streaking downfield, and WVU was some

one who is good at pickleball, stubbornly catching deke and dunk passes to advance the sticks on long drives. But TCU survived, and they’ll need to keep doing just that. I wouldn’t say — and Coach Dykes agreed in an on-field interview — the Funkytowners played especially well, but good teams win their clunkers on the road, even when sev eral of their players (Duggan and Johnston, especially) are banged up.

TCU returns home to face Texas Tech on Saturday morning in a matchup I circled at the beginning of the season thinking both squads would be searching for identity be hind new coaches. It turns out that Tech has pretty much the same identity they’ve always had: an explosive but inconsistent offense and mostly bad defense. The Red Raiders are 4-4 and have beaten Texas and West Vir ginia but have yet to find victory on the road at all this season. The tortilla tossers are fresh from a homecoming butt-whooping by

Baylor and will be looking for redemption by spoiling TCU’s playoff run in their quest to reach a bowl game. The Raiders are most vulnerable, statistically, on the ground, but teams have passed against them successfully as well. Based on the data, Joey McGuire’s defense is better than the Frogs’, but his offense is far behind TCU’s, an impressive unit ranked fourth in yards per game and second in yards per play.

The betting line for this weekend opened with the hometown boys favored by 9.5 points. I wouldn’t touch that spread in a game where the coaches and players know each other extremely well, and TCU has become every remaining team’s de facto national championship game. There are no easy outs on the schedule as the Frogs are the biggest game left for a slate of confer ence opponents with no chance of going to the Big 12 championship game or anything better than a third-tier bowl at best. l

Savion Williams helped the Frogs put West Virginia on ice with a late receiving touchdown after the Mountaineers jumped offsides on fourth and short.

Courtesy TCU Athletics

Don’t Sleep on Mavs, Stars

As the Cowboys continue to dominate area sports, the other local teams are proving they deserve some love.

BY PATRICK HIGGINS

When it comes to sports coverage, there’s no doubt our hometown pigskin purveyors sit atop the media mountain. The NFL looms like a colossus high above the other leagues in sports consumption, and the Dallas Cow boys dominate the NFL’s media domination. Jerry Jones’ $8B plaything remains the most valuable sports franchise in the world. With countless words steadily put into print and endless segments on radio and TV constant ly burned on whether Tony Pollard should start at running back over Ezekiel Elliott or if Dak Prescott is really a $40M quarterback, it’s easy to forget that the worthwhile local sports landscape is really quite wide. This “other sports amnesia” is only compounded when the Cowboys are winning, yet as they

have been steadily climbing the NFL power rankings, the kid brother leagues in town are boasting plenty of reasons to compete for room inside your otherwise football-stuffed sports brain.

Since cranking back up a few weeks ago, the Dallas Stars are sending an exciting newlook team over the boards and onto the ice. New head coach Peter DeBoer seems to be turning the page on years (decades) of Stars teams composed of gritty yet aging and of fensively challenged veterans running vari ous analogous versions of the coma-induc ing neutral zone trap. Under the tutelage of DeBoer, this year’s Stars finally look young, fast, and high-scoring. Leading the way is third-year phenom Jason Robertson, who signed a four-year contract extension that puts him in the top 10% of salary earners in the league this offseason. So far, his point/ game clip has him earning the extra dough. Adding to the high-flying youth movement

are forward Mason Marchment acquired from the Florida Panthers (4G, 3A), defense man Nils Lundkvist (3A), and rookie center Wyatt Johnson (3G, 1A).

Though faster-skating and bet ter-skilled, the team hasn’t sacrificed a ton of its historically characteristic grit as cap tain Jamie Benn is still logging big minutes along with “Captain America” Joe Pavelski and scrappers like Radek Faksa and Jani Hakanpaa. Despite the newfound scoring prowess, it’s perhaps goalie Jake Ottinger (also recently extended) who has had the most impact on the team’s fast start. The second-year starter sits near the top of near ly every goalie stat through his six starts. Otter leads the league in goals against av erage (1.40), is second in save percentage (0.952), and tied for second in wins (5) and in shutouts (1). The youth infusion has led the team Dallas to a 5-3-1 record that sees them sitting atop the Central Division. Sad ly, the Stars will be without Otter’s services for a least a week as he’s saddled with the ev er-cryptic “lower body” injury designation.

High scoring is an attribute the Stars share with their American Airlines Center bunkmates in the little Mavericks. Though hovering around .500, led by a seemingly possessed Luka Dončić, the Mavs are near the league’s best in points/game. After set ting a new season-high 44 points (more than 30 in the first half) against Orlando on Sat urday, No. 77 has scored at least 30 points in each of the Mavs’ first six games, a feat not accomplished in the NBA since Michael Jordan did it in 1986. Luka’s 36.7 points per game leads the league, and his 220 total points has him ranked second, behind only Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant.

Chipping in on the offensive side, fel low guard Spencer Dinwiddie and newly acquired center Christian Wood are contrib uting 16 points per game apiece with a now healthy Tim Hardaway Jr. adding 15 per game off the bench.

Unfortunately, the defensive acumen that head coach Jason Kidd instilled last year has so far not carried over. The Mavs’ points against have risen nearly a full six points per game from 104.9 a year ago to

Somehow, the kid just keeps getting better. Luka Dončić is starting the new season off at an MVP-caliber pace.

110.5 through their first six games. Defen sive liabilities have seen Dallas blow big leads late in games that a year ago would have sent Luka and the starters to the bench for rest with victory ensured. A lack of D accountability is no doubt contributing to Wood’s minutes decreasing each game.

Since Kidd took his team to the West ern Conference Finals just five months ago, I feel he’s earned some equity and trust to turn the early defensive struggles around. Hell, with the way Luka is playing, even if the Mavs give up 115 a game, the Slovenian Superstar just might score enough himself to keep them in most games. We say it ev ery year, but we could be watching an MVP season developing for the 23-year-old. If he keeps up this pace, it would be a crime on par with trying to steal the 2020 election to deny him the award. Per usual, the Mav ericks remain worth watching for Dončić alone. l

Courtesy Mavs.com

Winger Jason Robertson is leading a new, fast, and exciting Stars team to the top of the Central Division.

Photo

Woo! Whisper it softly, but this Korean lawyer show about autism is great TV.

BY KRISTIAN LIN

When was the last time you saw a good lawyer show? The last one I saw was The Good Wife, which went off the air in 2016. Its spinoff doesn’t have the same zest, and there’s no reason to think the upcoming reboot of Law & Order will do more than rip off news headlines like its previ ous incarnation did. If you want a TV drama that truly does something new with the form, Netflix has the Korean show Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Likely inspired by The Good Doctor, which has been remade on ABC, this show about a lawyer on the autism spectrum initially drew minuscule ratings in South Korea but ended its 16-episode

season as one of the country’s biggest hits. It probably won’t inspire any internet memes or merchandise like Squid Game did, but it may just be an even more radical piece of television.

Park Eun-bin portrays the title character, whose full name Woo Young-woo is a palindrome in the Korean language, which explains her ob sessions with other palindromes. We first see her as a 5-year-old girl (Oh Ji-yul) in 2000 who doesn’t speak until the day when she sees her father (Jeon Bae-soo) attacked in the street by a crazy neighbor. The distressed girl starts reciting from the criminal code regarding assault, which she has picked up from reading her father’s law books, and her dad is so happy about her first words that he hugs the man who beat him up.

Twenty-two years later, she’s a summa cum laude graduate from Seoul National University who is nevertheless passed over for jobs because of her condition — she can memorize reams of documents and instantly recall which one is rel evant to a case, but no one believes in her ability to talk to clients or argue cases in open court. That’s until the country’s second-largest firm Hanbada extends her a special job offer, and that turns out to be because the firm’s CEO (Baek Ji-won) is playing her own Machiavellian long game against the country’s biggest firm, Taesan. Young-woo is blissfully ignorant of this as she starts litigating both civil and criminal matters.

Show creator Kim Chul-yeon has clearly borrowed much from the template of David E.

Kelley’s 1990s lawyer shows. The weekly cases alternate between heavy (an autistic and men tally challenged man is accused of beating his brother to death) and palate-cleansingly light (a bride sues after her strapless wedding dress falls off and exposes her boobs to her wedding guests). Young-woo’s neurotypical fellow law yers are hapless in their personal lives despite being young, attractive, rich, and working for prominent people. At its quirky worst, the show plays like a latter-day version of Ally McBeal — at one point all the lawyers drop everything to track down the chef from a closed-up noodle shop on Jeju Island. Granted, their boss (Kang Ki-young) is in the middle of a cancer scare and the chef’s gogi guksu is that good, but how does that justify so many trained professionals ignor ing the case they’re working on?

Nevertheless, Young-woo’s condition does lead the show down some interesting paths, and Episode 10 is a deeply disquieting story about Hanbada defending a young man (Lee Won-jung) who’s accused of raping an intellectually disabled woman (Oh Hye-soo). His defense — a variation of “it’s not rape, we love each other” — is echoed by the alleged victim, and no one has pure mo tives or an easy answer. The main plot mirrors a subplot in which the impossibly handsome litiga tor (Kang Tae-oh) who’s dating Young-woo starts a bar brawl with his college friends after they say he’s only with her out of pity.

Lead actress Park is not autistic, though she has clearly undertaken a close observation of their behaviors. She makes an excellent guide as she points out the complicated Nazi past of the early autism researcher Dr. Hans As perger. She has to deal with insensitive clients and a horrible new boss (Choi Dae-hoon) who screams at her to shut up when she’s babbling compulsively. The climax of the season, when Young-woo manages to squeeze out of a bind created by Hanbada and Taesan, is neatly man aged as well. When trying to poach her from Hanbada, Taesan dangles the offer of a job in America, where there’s greater understanding of autism among medical professionals and the general public. I’m not qualified to say how true that is, but I can say this: Neither America nor any other country has made a TV drama like Extraordinary Attorney Woo l

Park Eun-bin is finally allowed to argue a case in court in Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Courtesy Netflix

Head to Amphibian Stage (120 S Main St, 817-9233012) at 8pm Thu-Sat or 2pm Sun for The Hollow, a new take on Washington Irving’s famous ghost story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. “Our narrator spins Irving’s tales into vivid light, only to find himself entangled in his own web of paranormal terrors.” This adap tation promises horror and humor in equal parts. Tickets start at $25 at AmphbianStage. com/Shows/The-Hollow.

Based on the book of the same name, an all-youth production of James and the Giant Peach, Jr. runs today thru Sun, Nov 13, at 7:30pm Fri-Sat and 2pm Sun as part of the Family Series at Theatre Arlington (305 W Main St, 817-275-7661). “When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion that results in a tremendous peach and launches a journey of enormous proportions.” There are human-sized insects and sharks and a landing on the Empire State Building. The dangerous voyage is a success, and much is learned about living and working together. Appropriate for ages 3 and up. Tickets are $17 at TheatreArlington.com.

At 8pm, join Arts Fifth Avenue (1628 5th Av, 817923-9500) for In the Liv ing Room with Marcelo Berestovoy, an intimate listening experience. This Argentinean guitarist and former Musi cians Institute educator has a long list of re cording credits — Azulejos and Música Clásica are available on CD Baby — including writing with some of the biggest names in Latin music and Hollywood films like Indigo (2003), Music in High Places (2000), and Paulie (1998). Tick ets are $15 at ArtsFifthAvenue.org.

For DFW Mariachi Fest, Arlington Music Hall (224 N Center St, Arlington, 817226-4400) is hosting some of the greatest names in the mariachi game 6pm-8pm. Grammy Award winner Mariachi Los Camperos was the first mariachi group to perform at Carnegie Hall. Javier Aguilar has put out several albums, including his latest, Vas a acordarte de Mi, produced under the direction of Grammy multi-award-win ning producer Manuel Cazares. El Mariachi Pura Sangre is a diverse mariachi band made up of women and men who recently accom panied Steeven Sandoval, a luminary in the world of mariachi music. Tickets start at $45 on Eventbrite.com.

The Beethoven Quartet Cycle 2022 series presented by the Chamber Music So ciety Fort Worth (817-8773003, CMSFW.org) begins this evening at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell St, 866-824-5566). At 8pm tonight and Wed-Fri, plus 2pm Sun, experience all 16 of Beethoven’s quartets performed by The Miro Quartet, featuring Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer on violin, John Largess on viola, and Joshua Gindele on cel lo. For program details and tickets starting at $35, visit CMSFW.org/Dates.

A total lunar eclipse can be seen at 3am, but how do you view it? The astronomy experts at telescope retailer High Point Scientific will do a free lives tream via Facebook.com/HighPointScientif

ic, so once you get home from the bar, just do something different for a change and hop on social media. For tips on photographing the event yourself, visit HighPointScientific. com/How-to-Photograph-a-Lunar-Eclipse.

Have you been think ing about volunteering at Planned Parenthood? From 6:30pm to 8pm, stop by the November Volunteer Night at Southwest Fort Worth Planned Parenthood (6464 John Ryan Dr, 817-276-8063) to learn more. “Our volunteer nights are welcome to all support ers who want to do something good for re productive rights, meet with like-minded individuals, and find out about upcoming opportunities with Planned Parenthood.”

By Jennifer Bovee

Theatre Arlington presents an all-youth production of James and the Giant Peach, Jr. this week.

NOW OPEN

Husband- Wife foodie duo: Trent Shaskan (Icon Bread) & Dena Peterson Shaskan (formerly Café Modern Chef).

The sourdough bread bar offers fresh baked breads, soups, salads and sandwiches. Also, featuring rotating coffee selections, fresh pressed juices, wine and beer.

Great place to watch artisan bread in the making, relax and visit.

www.3rdstreet.market

425 W. 3RD ST. | 817-310-1000 | MON-SAT 9A-7P

Cooking classes, afternoon teas and private events. Located inside the 3rd Street Market. www.Indulgefw.com

At Squoze we want to bring the magic of our cold pressed organic juice philosophy to our beloved Fort Worth community. Made in Fort Worth for Fort Worth www.Squozejuicery.com

In Sundance Square Garage #3: 325 W Third Street

Weekdays – 2.5 hours of FREE self-parking (with sales receipt) for Sundance customers 6A to 6P Weeknights – FREE self-parking 6P to 3A (M-Thurs) Weekends – Free self-parking Fri 6P to Sun 3A

Back Room Dealings

Funky Picnic’s adultsonly pizzeria/cocktail lounge expands on the brewpub’s already plentiful offerings

The Back Room at Funky Picnic Brewery & Cafe, 401 Bryan Av, Ste 109, FW. 817-708-2739. 3-11 Fri-Sun.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY EDWARD BROWN

Few local bars or breweries offer more fam ily-friendly game nights and themed events than Funky Picnic Brewery & Cafe. On a re

cent afternoon, I was greeted by co-owner Sa mantha Glen wearing a head-to-toe narwhal costume. The day’s theme was “wear your onesie to work,” she told me with a laugh.

The Funky Picnic crew recently ex panded to the adjacent former Black Cat Pizza building. Fans of Jaime Fernandez’s now-shuttered eatery will recognize the new space, which still has the same basic layout.

The revamped restaurant called the Back Room at Funky Picnic has a Prohibition theme. Large photos plastered to the wall show protests against beer and cops dump ing bootleg suds into the sewer. Given the speakeasy vibe, the imagery works.

The beer selection includes popular Funky Picnic brews and one-offs that are only available in the new cocktail lounge. I

opted for the barleywine, a dense and boozy mix of raisin, berry, and molasses flavors.

One of several cocktails, the Trick or Treat Martini was a delight to behold and sip. The glass came dressed with Hershey’s syrup and crushed graham crackers along the rim. Crowning the concoction was a fire-roasted marshmallow. The libation was continued on page 17

The steak pizza was meticulously prepared.

The Trick or Treat Martini was a dreamy blend of Irish cream, peanut butter-infused vodka, and chocolate.

silky smooth and rich, like a straight pour of Irish cream but with a heavier chocolate and peanut butter profile.

As with Black Cat Pizza, the centerpiece of the new spot is the large brick oven. The menu offers Italian-inspired fare like spin ach dip, Caprese salad, and smoked toma toes in addition to various pizzas.

I started with two appetizers, the house ricotta and stuffed dates. Long piec es of toasted cornicione bread came out hot, charred, and chewy and were topped with salt and bits of rosemary that enlivened the generous mound of creamy cheese. Every bite of the stuffed dates was loaded with pungent flavor. Funky blue cheese defined much of the experience sweetened by the dense fruit and drizzles of honey.

The steak pizza was topped with arugu la and zigzags of reduced balsamic vinegar. Every slice was meticulously prepared with a sliver of lightly seasoned steak placed on a roasted cherry tomato. The dough was flavor ful and lightly charred. The mix of mozzarel la and blue cheese complemented the beef.

The next pie up was the Il Porco, in which the traditional tomato paste was replaced with red gravy that had a Ca jun-spiced kick. The layers of soppressata, prosciutto, and capicola added an intense, salty, and slightly spicy kick. Another de light was the soppressata and mushroom

pizza, which again featured a red gravy base and generous amounts of fungi for an earthy experience subtler than the meat-heavy ones.

The Back Room at Funky Picnic is adults-only. Keep in mind that the neigh boring brewpub is super family-friendly

with board games galore and menu options that would please the pickiest of eaters, who may or may not be into narwhal costumes. For group outings and date nights, the Back Room offers a quieter environment where you can still order a pint of the freshest and damn tastiest beer in town. l

The former Black Cat Pizza location, now owned by Funky Picnic Brewery, is still serving superlative pies.

Dense, pungent, and sweet, the stuffed dates were a delight.

1.) On Friday from 5pm to 8pm, local cook ing studio Indulge FW inside 3rd Street Market (425 W 3rd St, 817-310-1000) hosts a Chinese Takeout Cooking Class. Learn to make some classic to-go dishes, includ ing beef and broccoli, vegetable chow mein, Chinese greens, and crab rangoon. The cost of $89 per person covers all needed supplies. Register at IndulgeFW.com.

2.) On Monday at 7pm, head to Southside City Church (2606 Hemphill St, 817-9235659) for the first installment of The Gos pel Cafe, a new monthly music television program recorded in front of a live audience by Ramled Productions. Hear the music ministry of indie artists like this week’s per former, Candi Bleu, while enjoying a catered buffet. Tickets are $25 on Eventbrite.com.

3.) Fort Worth Feast of Sharing is 3pm-7pm Wed, Nov 9, at Dickies Arena (1911 Mont gomery St, 817-402-9000) and is in-person and free for the public again this year. This annual event presented by Central Market feeds holiday meals to nearly 25,000 people, with more than 1,000 volunteers making it happen. For more info or to volunteer, visit CentralMarket.com/FeastofSharing.

4.) In honor of Veterans Day, B&B Butchers & Restaurant (5212 Marathon Av, 817-7375212) is inviting all active military and veter ans with valid ID to enjoy a complimentary three-course meal during lunch service 11am-3pm Fri, Nov 11. (The guests of the ac tive military members and veterans can enjoy the special menu for $25 per person.) Reser vations are recommended. To reserve a table, call the restaurant or book at OpenTable.com. For details on the special menu, keep an eye on Facebook.com/BBButchersFWTX.

5.) BRAVE/R Together and United Way of Tarrant County present the 76104 Phoenix Festival 7am-6pm Sat, Nov 12, at Evans Avenue Plaza (1050 Evans Av, LinkTr.ee/ BraverTogether76104). Along with a full day

of “health care, justice, and community joy,” there is a farmers’ market 10am-2pm hosted by local farmers and gardeners and an allday Kids Korner with learning activities and games. Then from 4pm to 9pm, enjoy The Taste of 76104, featuring restaurants and food vendors with food tickets bought on-site. For more info, visit BraveRTogeth er.org/Phoenix.

6.) Head to Log Cabin Village (2100 Log Cabin Village Ln, 817-392-5881) 10am-2pm for a Dutch Oven Cooking Demonstration by the Prairie Dog and Chisholm Trail Chap arral chapters of the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society. Log Cabin Village is a 19th-century living history museum owned by the City of Fort Worth, and admission is only $7. The class is free with your museum admission, and no reservation is needed.

7.) Maxine’s (4020 Benbrook Hwy, Maxine sCocktails.com), a Westside watering hole of fering beer, cocktails, darts, pool, and sports ball watching, has its annual Chili Cook-Off & Cornhole Tournament at 3pm Sun, Nov 13. The entry fee for the cook-off is $10 for one average-sized slow cooker or crockpot. The deadline to sign up is Fri, Nov 11. Prize money will vary depending on the entries received, but the prize for first place will be a minimum of $100. To sign up, call Tucker at 817-228-5977. For details on the cornhole tournament, find Maxine’s on Facebook.

8.) On the hunt for a new best friend and the best beer selection? This event is for you! Head to The Radler (1229 7th Av, 682250-6926) — our critic’s choice for best beer selection in Best Of 2022 — from noon to 4pm Sun, Nov 13, for Pumpkin Spice & Pets That Are Nice. Cowtown Friends of Fort Worth Animal Car & Control will be on hand with some “super nice pets” in need of a new home and information on how to adopt or foster them.

By Jennifer Bovee

MUSIC

Music Awards Are Here

We need you to vote (and not just for Beto).

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

Voting, amirite? Election time is upon us, and we have a lot to say about former punk musician turned politician Beto O’Rourke in the front of this week’s paper. Back here, we’re talking Music Awards, baby!

Actually, we’ve been talking about ’em since August, so I was surprised that some locals were upended by our ballot that went live on Sun., Oct. 2. We said what we were going to do, and then we did it. We made it all readers’ choice this year.

We haven’t done Music Awards in a cou ple of years, since 2019, before the pandemic.

The traditional awards of old, with tons of categories, multi-venue showcases, and com pilation cards passed out like free candy, are just not feasible in our smaller, post-pandem ic Weekly world. We are small and mighty, for sure, but superheroes, we are not.

In preparation for Best Of 2022 a couple weeks ago, we had an idea. As we were al ready asking our readers what they thought about tons of other things, why not music? We decided to pick a few categories and let the readers write in their choices during that process. The top five readers’ choice winners from Best Of 2022 moved on to the MA22 ballot. It’s that simple.

Did we accidentally leave off 20 award categories? No. These are the 16 we intended. Is this a perfect list? No. For example, Mandy Hand is not a folk artist, though many read ers voted for her in that category. While we missed that finer point during Best Of — the most chaotic time of our year — for the Mu

sic Awards ballot, we removed her from Folk and added her as a keyboardist nominee. As Editor Anthony Mariani commented recent ly, “Our ballot was not created by local ex perts but by our readers, and we thank them kindly for their pitching in.”

While some of the musicians on the ballot are quite recognizable, others may be more obscure. Since our readers’ choices in Best Of never include write-ups, we’ve add ed URLs to the list below for you to investi gate further. For a great rundown of all the artists and samples of their work, we also suggest you check out the Oct. 9 episode of the Funkytown Podcast (FunkytownPodcast. Podbean.com).

As for hearing these bands IRL, the Mu sic Awards Festival (#MAF22) will be the eve ning of Sun, Nov 13, in District 90 at Lola’s Fort Worth (2000 W Berry St, LolasFW.com) and Smokestack 1948 (2836 Stanley Av, 817201-4709). Stay tuned for lineup details and the December awards ceremony announcement.

Best Blues/Soul nominees include James Hinkle (YouTube: search “James Hinkle”), JZ & Dirty Pool (FB: @DirtyPoolMusic), Michael Lee (Beacons.ai/MichaelLeeFW), Holland K. Smith (FB: @HKSmithBand), and Buddy Whittington (FB: @Buddy WhittingtonBand).

Best Country nominees include Summer Dean (FB: @AmeriTonkMusic), Jesse Jen nings (JesseJennings.com), Cody Jinks (CodyJinks.com), Joe Savage (LinkTr.ee/Jo eFnSavage), and Squeezebox Bandits (Link Tr.ee/SqueezeboxBandits).

Best DJ nominees include DJ CV Fields (Connor Fields, IG: @CVFields), DJ Data bass (IG: @DJDatabass_FTW), DJ Dogstyle (Michael Sherman, IG: @DJ_Dogstyle), DJ Reckless1 (Ross Cardona, Soundcloud.com/ Reckless1), and DJ Technic (Ryan Cerda, YouTube.com/DJTechnic).

Best Folk nominees include Jacob Furr (JacobFurr.Bandcamp.om), Charles Milton Gaby (CGaby.com), Keegan McInroe (You Tube.com/C/KeeganMcInroe), and Camer on Smith (LinkTr.ee/CameronSmithSongs).

Best Rap/R&B nominees include 88 Killa (88Killa.com), Lil Sick (Soundcloud.com/LilSick), Lou Charle$ (FB: @LouCharlesTx), SageMode Wrex (SageModeWrex.Soundcloud. com), and YMG Yolo (LinkTr.ee/YMGYOLO).

Best Rock nominees include Celestíal L’amour (LinkTr.ee/CelestialLamour), Jay birds (LinkTr.ee/JaybirdsMusic), Novaka in (Novakain.Bandcamp.com), Royal Sons (RoyalSonsTX.com), and Uncle Toasty (LinkTr.ee/UncleToasty).

Best Tribute nominees include Ashmore (AshmoreRocks.com), Chasing Rent (FB: @ChasingRent), The Dick Beldings (FB: @TheDickBeldings), Poo Live Crew (PooLiveCrew.com), and Rise Against the Machine (RATMTX.com).

Best Bassist nominees include Josh Brantley (Jaybirds, LinkTr.ee/JaybirdsMusic), Pan da Cuenca (Phantomelo, Phantomelo.com),

on page 21

Ryan Burger

Dylan Kain (Novakain, Novakain.Band camp.com), Dustin Schneider (Uncle Toasty, LinkTr.ee/UncleToasty), and Joe Tacke (Mean Motor Scooter, MeanMotorScooterTX.com).

Best Drummer nominees include John Bere uter (Novakain, Novakain.Bandcamp.com), Jeffrey Chase Friedman (Mean Motor Scoot er, MeanMotorScooterTX.com), Matt Mabe (Arenda Light, ArendaLight.com), Connor Mullen (Jaybirds, LinkTr.ee/JaybirdsMu sic), and Mike Surdel (Uncle Toasty, LinkTr. ee/UncleToasty).

Best Guitarist nominees include Rowdy Carter (Arenda Light, ArendaLight.com), Kyle Kain (Novakain, Novakain.Bandcamp.com), Sammy Kid (Uncle Toasty, LinkTr.ee/UncleToasty), Darrin Kobetich (DarrinKobetich.com), and Matt Tedder (MattTedderMusic.com).

Best Keyboardist nominees include Rick Fulton (Cortez, ReverbNation.com/AlCor

tez), Steve Hammond (Chet Stevens Band, ChetStevensMusic.com), Amanda Hand (Big Heaven, LinkTr.ee/BigHeavenMusic), Justin Pate (JZ & Dirty Pool, FB: @DirtyPoolMu sic), Chris Watson (Retrophonics, FB: @ RetrophonicsMusic), and Eric Webb (Cut Throat Finches, CutThroatFinches.com).

Best Vocalist nominees include Sammy Kidd (Mean Motor Scooter, MeanMotorScooter TX.com), Celestíal L’amour (LinkTr.ee/Ce lestialLamour), Blake Parish (Royal Sons, RoyalSonsTX.com), Nick Tittle (Arenda Light, ArendaLight.com), and JP Walsh (Jaybirds, LinkTr.ee/JaybirdsMusic).

Best Album nominees include Let It Break (Jaybirds, LinkTr.ee/JaybirdsMusic), The Oh No! Unknown (Novakain, Novakain.Band camp.com), Pipeline (Cool Jacket, LinkTr.ee/ CoolJacket), Praise & Warships (Royal Sons, RoyalSonsTX.com), and Uncle Toasty (Uncle Toasty, LinkTr.ee/UncleToasty).

Best Song nominees include “Away from Dead” (Arenda Light, ArendaLight.com), “Butcher of Burundi” (Uncle Toasty, LinkTr. ee/UncleToasty), “Honey Bee” (Jaybirds, Link Tr.ee/JaybirdsMusic), “I Don’t Care” (Novaka in, Novakain.Bandcamp.com), and “Shark At tack” (Phantomelo, Phantomelo.com).

Best Open-Mic nominees include Black Dog Jam (Scat Jazz Lounge, ScatJazzLounge.

com), Lazy Daisy Coffee Bar (LazyDaisy CoffeeBar.com), McFly’s Pub (FB: @Mc FlysPub), Pinky’s Champagne Room & Vel vet Jazz Lounge (PinkysChampagneRoom. com), and Playtown Blues Jam (Lola’s Fort Worth, FB: @PlaytownBand).

Best Venue nominees include Billy Bob’s Texas (2520 Rodeo Plz, 817-624-7117), Lo la’s Fort Worth (2000 W Berry St, LolasFW. com), Magnolia Motor Lounge (3803 South west Blvd, 817-332-3344), The Post at River East (2925 Race St, 817-945-8890), and Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, 817-367-9798).

As for hearing these bands IRL, the #MAF22 Showcase will be the evening of Sun, Nov 13, in District 90 at Lola’s Fort Worth (2000 W Berry St, LolasFW.com) and Smokestack 1948 (2836 Stanley Av, 817-201-4709). Nominees Royal Sons, Arenda Light, Squeezebox Ban dits, Celestíal L’amour, Novakain, and more are already slated to play. Stay tuned for lineup details and the December awards ceremony announcement. l

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS

MIND / BODY / SPIRIT

Gateway Church Church time is the BEST time! Join us for online church each weekend. Online services start at 4 pm on Saturdays and are available to watch any time after at https://gway. ch/GatewayPeople.

OREGON

From Mt Hood to the Oregon Coast, Explore Oregon with the official tourism at: TravelOregon.com

MAINE

Take the Guesswork Out of Planning Your Getaway at: VisitMaine.com

EMPLOYMENT

Hysen’s Nizza Pizza is Now Hiring!

Nizza is seeking a counter person, delivery drivers, and wait staff. Apply in person at 401 University Drive, FWTX, 817-877-3900. (Open SunThu 11am-10pm and Fri-Sat 10:30am-11pm.) HysensNizzaPizza.com

J&J Oyster Bar

Work where you are appreciated. 612 University FWTX. Call today! 817-367-9791

EMPLOYMENT NOTICES Companies Offering Travel Accommodations:

According to the New York Times, the following companies have said they would cover travel expenses for employees who need abortions: Airbnb, DoorDash, JP Morgan Chase, Levi Strauss & Co, Netflix, Patagonia, Reddit, Starbucks, Tesla, and Yelp. Additionally, NowThis has listed the following companies also offering the same assistance to employees: Amazon, Apple, BuzzFeed, Citigroup, Comcast, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lyft, Mastercard, Meta, Microsoft, Paramount, Sony, Tesla, Walt Disney Co, Vox Media, and Zillow. (JMB, FWW)

HEALTH & WELLNESS Cardiovascular Disease & Stroke

These are leading causes of death, according to the American Heart Association. Screenings can provide peace of mind or early detection! Contact Life Line Screening to schedule your screening.

Special Offer: 5 Screenings for $149! Call today! 1-833-636-1757

DENTAL INSURANCE

1-888-361-7095

Physicians Mutual Insurance Company covers 350 plus procedures. Real dental insurance - NOT just a discount plan. Do not wait! Call now! Get your FREE Dental Information Kit with all the details! Call or visit Dental50plus.com/fortworth (#6258).

Planned Parenthood Of Greater Texas

We’re not going anywhere. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now, but we are here with you and we will not stop fighting for YOU. See 6 ways you can join the #BansOffOurBodies fight on FB @ PPGreaterTX. For more info, go to:

Hannah in Hurst 817.590.2257

Massage Therapy for pain relief, deep relaxation, and better sleep. Professional office in Mid-Cities for over 25 years. “I am accepting new clients now and happy to return your call.” -Hannah, MT#4797. MasseuseToTheStars.com

MUSIC XCHANGE

Music Junkie Studios 1617 Park Place #106, FWTX www.MusicJunkieStudios.com

We offer lessons on voice, piano, guitar, bass, ukulele, violin, viola, drums, recording, and music for littles!

PUBLIC NOTICES

Complaints

Any Texans who may be concerned that an unlicensed massage business may be in operation near them, or believe nail salon employees may be human trafficking victims, may now report those concerns directly to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) by emailing ReportHT@TDLR.Texas.gov.

SUBMISSIONS

We’d Like To Hear From You! Do you have thoughts and feelings,

questions, comments or concerns about something you read in the Weekly? Please email Question@ fwweekly.com. Do you have an upcoming event? For potential coverage in Night & Day, Big Ticket, Ate Day8 A Week, or CrosstownSounds, email the details to Marketing@fwweekly.com

TOURISM

CALIFORNIA

From its celebrated coastline to its broad heartland and granite Sierra peaks, CA offers a lifetime of vacations in one Golden State. CaliforniaTouristGuide.com

CONNECTICUT

Great shopping, dining, casinos, Mystic maritime fun in CT, the southernmost New England state. More at: VisitConnecticut.com

DELAWARE

Explore the Great Outdoors with DE’s Scenic Drives, State Parks and More. Find Trip Ideas at: VisitDelaware.com

ILLINOIS

Places to go, things to do, the best places to eat and drink, must-see Chicago, trip ideas and inspiration for your travels at:

MARYLAND

If you thought Maryland was just battlefields and Old Bay, think again! VisitMaryland.org

MASSACHUSETTS

Find countless fun things to do from Boston to The Berkshires at: VisitMA.com

MINNESOTA

MN is the place for extraordinary, eye-opening adventures likr camping under the stars in a Dark Sky Sanctuary. More at: ExploreMinnesota.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NH is the perfect outdoor playground. Roll the windows down and explore scenic routes, walk around vibrant small towns and make unforgettable memories. VisitNH.gov

NEW JERSEY

NJ wows with 130 miles of shorelines and cities that pulse with exciting entertainment and culinary pleasures. Discover the Garden State. VisitNJ.org

NEW MEXICO

Visit New Mexico for a unique family vacation filled with exciting activities like skiing, hiking, shopping and sight seeing. NewMexico.org

NEW YORK

Explore all the state of New York has to offer including fun things to do, year-round events, festivals, and more. ILoveNY.com

NEVADA

Outdoor recreation, exciting events, and stories for days. Plan your next trip to Nevada. TravelNevada.com

RHODE ISLAND

RI is 400 miles of New England coastline, with beaches and freshfrom-the-ocean seafood. It’s also public art, charming villages, and more. VisitRhodeIsland.com

VERMONT

Our cities and towns welcome visitors with their rich history, eclectic shops, farm-to-table dining establishments, and recreation areas. VermontVacation.com

WASHINGTON

Emerge yourself with things to do in Washington from fishing, tours, volcanoes and more. StateOfWATourism.com

Find us online at

CLASSIFIEDS

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 a Concrete Batch Plant located at 1362 Markum Ranch Road, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76126. This application is being processed in an expedited manner, as allowed by the commission’s rules in 30 Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 101, Subchapter J. AVISO DE IDIOMA ALTERNATIVO. El aviso de idioma alternativo en espanol está disponible en https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/air/newsourcereview/airpermitspendingpermit-apps. 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=32.691388&lng=-97.521666&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 October 5, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 787113087. 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 1800687-4040 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 75234-6007 or by calling Mr. Jesse Martindale, Sr. Environmental Engineer at (972) 647-3742.

NOW HIRING

NOW HIRING IN CEDAR HILL, TX: ENTRY LEVEL WELDER

Welders have a four day work week! They fit and weld natural gas delivery products built from raw materials according to blue print specifications in accordance with API 1104 certification standards and procedures.

NOW HIRING IN CORSICANA, TX: FABRICATOR

Fabricators are responsible for fabricating and assembling polyethylene pipe to create a variety of customized structures such as: fittings, valves, T’s, Y’s, elbows, aqua shields, geothermal vaults, manholes, dual containment units, pumps, gas aeration lines and similar structures.

At ISCO, we put high value on appreciation and respect, and provide you with an opportunity to really make a difference. ISCO is a family owned and operated company born and raised in Louisville, KY that is focused on our team members’ growth. In addition to a standard benefits package of medical/ dental/vision, ISCO offers a 6% match on retirement! ISCO Industries is an end-to-end piping solutions provider that specializes in HDPE, working with leading edge technology that makes us a market leader.

For more information on these positions or to apply go to: isco-pipe.com

Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice: All rights reserved re common-law copyright of trade-name/trade-mark, ROBERT WALTER© -as well as any and all derivatives and variations in the spelling of said trade- name/trade-mark-Common Law Copyright © 1988 by Robert Walter Bonner ©. Said common-law trade- name/trade-mark, ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, may neither be used, nor reproduced, neither in whole nor in part, nor in any manner whatsoever, without the prior, express, written consent and acknowledgement of Robert Walter Bonner© as signified by the red-ink signature of Robert Walter Bonner©, hereinafter "Secured Party." With the intent of being contractually bound, any juristic person, as well as the agent of said juristic person, consents and agrees by this Copyright Notice that neither said juristic person, nor the agent of said juristic person, shall display, nor otherwise use in any manner, the common-law trade-name/trade-mark ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, nor the common-law copyright described herein, nor any derivative of, nor any variation in the spelling of, ROBERT WALTER BONNER© without the prior, express, written consent and acknowledgment of Secured Party, as signified by Secured Party's signature in red ink. Secured Party neither grants, nor implies, nor otherwise gives consent for any unauthorized use o ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, and all such unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Secured Party is not now, nor has Secured Party ever been, an accommodation party, nor a surety, for the purported debtor, i.e. "ROBERT WALTER BONNER ," nor for any derivative of, nor for any variation in the spelling of, said name, nor for any other juristic person, and is so-indemnified and held harmless by Debtor, i.e. "ROBERT WALTER BONNER, " in Hold-harmless and Indemnity Agreement No. RWB-060970-HHIA dated the Ninth Day of the Sixth Month in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-eight against any and all claims, legal actions, orders, warrants, judgments, demands, liabilities, losses, depositions, summonses, lawsuits, costs, fines, liens, levies, penalties, damages, interests, and expenses whatsoever, both absolute and contingent, as are due and as might become due, now existing and as might hereafter arise, and as might be suffered by, imposed on, and incurred by Debtor for any and every reason·, purpose, and cause whatsoever. Self-executing Contract/ Security Agreement in Event of Unauthorized Use: By this Copyright Notice, both the juristic person and the agent of said juristic person, hereinafter jointly and severally "User," consent and agree that any use of ROBERT WALTER BONNER © other than authorized use as set forth above constitutes unauthorized use, counterfeiting, of Secured Party's common-law copyrighted property, contractually binds User, renders this Copyright Notice a Security Agreement wherein User is debtor and Robert Walter© is Secured Party, and signifies that User: (1) grants Secured Party a security interest in all of User's assets, land, and personal property, and all of User's interest in assets, land, and personal property, in the sum certain amount of $500,000.00 per each occurrence of use of the common-law-copyrighted trade- name/trade-mark ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, as well as for each and every occurrence of use of any and all derivatives of, and variations in the spelling of, ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, plus costs, plus triple damages; e(2) authenticates this Security Agreement wherein User is debtor and Robert Walter Bonner© is Secured Party, and wherein User pledges all of User's assets, land, consumer goods, farm products, inventory, equipment, money, investment property, commercial tort claims, letters of credit, letter-of-credit rights, chattel paper, instruments, deposit accounts, accounts, documents, and general intangibles, and all User's interest in all such foregoing property, now owned and hereafter acquired, now existing and hereafter arising, and wherever located, as collateral for securing User's contractual obligation in favor of Secured Party for User's unauthorized use of Secured Party's common-law-copyrighted property; (3) consents and agrees with Secured Party's filing of a UCC Financing Statement in the UCC filing office, as well as in any county recorder's office, wherein User is debtor and Robert Walter Bonner© is Secured Party; (4) consents and agrees that said U C C Financing Statement described above in paragraph "(3)" is is a continuing financing statement, and further consents and agrees with Secured Party's filing of any continuation statement necessary for maintaining Secured Party's perfected security interest in all of User's property an interest in property, pledged as collateral in this Security Agreement and described above in paragraph "(2)," until User's contractual obligation theretofore incurred has been fully satisfied; (5) consents and agrees with Secured Party's filing of any UCC Financing Statement, as described above in paragraphs "(3)" and "(4)," as well as the filing of any Security Agreement, as described above in paragraph "(2)," in the UCC filing office, as well as in any county recorder's office; (6) consents and agrees that any and all such filings described in paragraphs "(4)" and "(5)" above are not, and may not be considered, bogus, and that User will not claim that any such filing is bogus; (7) waives all defenses; and (8) appoints Secured Party as Authorized Representative for User, effective upon User's default re User's contractual obligations in favor of Secured Party as set forth below under "Payment Terms" and "Default Terms," granting Secured Party full authorization and power for engaging in any and all actions on behalf of User including, but not limited by, authentication of a record on behalf of User, as Secured Party, in Secured Party's sole discretion, deems appropriate, and User further consents and agrees that this appointment of Secured Party as Authorized Representative for User, effective upon User's default, is irrevocable and coupled with a security interest. User further consents and agrees with all of the following additional terms of Self-executing Contract/Security Agreement in Event of Unauthorized Use: Payment Terms: In accordance with fees for unauthorized use of ROBERT WALTER BONNER© as set forth above, User hereby consents and agrees that User shall pay Secured Party all unauthorized-use fees in full within ten (10) days of the date User is sent Secured Party's invoice, hereinafter "Invoice," itemizing said fees. Default Terms: In event of non-payment in full of all unauthorized-use fees by User within ten (10) days of date Invoice is sent, User shall be deemed in default and; (a) all of User's property and property pledged as collateral by User, as set forth in above in paragraph "(2)," immediately becomes, i.e. is, property of Secured Party; (b) Secured Party is appointed User's Authorized Representative as set forth above in paragraph "(8)"; and (c) User consents and agrees that Secured Party may take possession of, as well as otherwise dispose of in any manner that Secured Party, in Secured Party's sole discretion, deems appropriate, including, but not limited by, sale at auction, at any time following User's default, and without further notice, any and all of User's property and interest, described above in paragraph "(2)," formerly pledged as collateral by User, now property of Secured Party, in respect of this "Self-executing Contract/Security Agreement in Event of Unauthorized Use," that Secured Party, again in Secured Party's sole discretion, deems appropriate. Terms for Curing Default: Upon event of default, as set forth above under "Default Terms," irrespective of any and all of User's former property and interest in property, described above in paragraph "(2)," in the possession of, as well as disposed of by, Secured Party, as authorized above under "Default Terms," User may cure User's default only re the remainder of User's said former property and interest property, formerly pledged as collateral that is neither in the possession of, nor otherwise disposed of by, Secured Party within twenty (20) days of date of User's default only by payment in full. Terms of Strict Foreclosure: User's nonpayment in full of all unauthorized-use fees itemized in Invoice within said twenty- (20) day period for curing default as set forth above under "Terms for Curing Default" authorizes Secured Party's immediate non-judicial strict foreclosure on any and all remaining former property and interest in property, formerly pledged as collateral by User, now property of Secured Party, which is not in the, possession of, nor otherwise disposed of by, Secured Party upon expiration of said twenty- (20) day default-curing period. Ownership subject to common-law copyright and UCC Financing Statement and Security Agreement filed with the UCC filing office. Record Owner: Robert Walter Bonner© , Autograph Common Law Copyright © 1988. Unauthorized use of "Robert Walter Bonner " incurs same unauthorized-use fees as those associated with ROBERT WALTER BONNER©, as set forth above in paragraph "(1)" under "Self-executing Contract/Security Agreement in Event of Unauthorized Use."

fwweekly.com

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

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EMPLOYMENT

Mouser Electronics, Inc. seeks a Senior Web QA Analyst in Mansfield, TX. to create and implement

Telecommuting is

Apply @ https://www.jobpostingtoday.com/ Ref#31429

EMPLOYMENT

Sr. Cloud Engineer (#L194) sought by Levi Strauss for their Westlake, TX office. Drive cloud automation adoption and provide a stable automation infrastructure with repeatable processes and procedures. Bach+5 yrs exp. Please submit resumes to Levi’s at MBXHR7821@levi.com, referencing job title and job code. Levi’s is an EOE.

EMPLOYMENT

Wabtec US Rail, Inc. seeks Staff Software Engineer in Fort Worth, TX to ensure that all processes adhere to strict internal, as well as industry, standards, requirements, and regulations, and serve to augment our international organization. Telecommuting permitted. Apply at www.jobpostingtoday.com Ref # 82423.

FALL SERVICES

all home repairs: painting, texture, fences, tile, doors, windows, decks, patios, shelves 817-881-2408 Adrian

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Call 817.590.2257

HISTORIC RIDGLEA THEATER

THE RIDGLEA is three great venues within one historic Fort Worth landmark. RIDGLEA THEATER has been restored to its authentic allure, recovering unique Spanish-Mediterranean elements. It is ideal for large audiences and special events. RIDGLEA ROOM and RIDGLEA LOUNGE have been making some of their own history, as connected adjuncts to RIDGLEA THEATER, or hosting their own smaller shows and gatherings. More at theRidglea.com

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NOTICE TO CREDITORS

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT Douglas Michael Wiklund, as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Lisa Dalene Wiklund, Deceased.

In Probate Court No 2 in Tarrant County, Texas, in Matters of Probate No. 2022-PR00753-2 TO ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN THE ABOVE ESTATE:

WHEREAS, on the 24th day of October 2022, the undersigned duly qualified as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Lisa Dalene Wiklund, Deceased. Notice is hereby given that Original Letters of Independent Administration on this estate were granted and this is to notify all persons having claims against said estate to present the same to the undersigned within the time prescribed by law. Any person indebted to said estate is hereby notified to pay same to the undersigned. Douglas Michael Wiklund, Independent Administrator of the Estate of Lisa Dalene Wiklund, Deceased.

By: _Matthew J. King_______ MATTHEW J. KING, Attorney-at-Law KING ESTATE LAW, PLLC P.O. Box 575, Helotes, TX 78023 Office: (210) 319-8746 Fax: (210) 783-1253 Email: Info@KingEstateLaw.com

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