Star-Telegram Connections To Texas, Part 18

One of my 2 readers may remember me making mention of that Fort Worth paper that I continue to read, the constantly shrinking Star-Telegram, and its odd habit of making any possible connection, no matter how remote, to someone in the news, or on TV and Fort Worth or any other town in North Texas.

I've really not understood why this bugs me. Til today's example.

In the TV section, esteemed, likely sometime Pulitzer Prize nominated, writer, Robert Philpot, describing tonight's So You Think You Can Dance, wrote, "Fort Worth's Joshua Allen and Carrolton's Comfort Fedoke continue to represent for North Texas...."

And this, about tonight's Bravo show, Sheer Genius, Frisco's Daniel Lewis and Dallas' Matthew Tully continue to cut on this hairstyling competition..."

Okay. A few day's ago an awful show called The Bachelorette ended on ABC. I read about the finale in the Seattle P-I. A guy from the Seattle zone city of Kirkland, was one of the final two. And a guy from Breckinridge, Colorado.

The P-I's verbiage was like this, "Kirkland account executive, Jason Mesnick.....and Breckinridge, Colorado professional snowboarder, Jesse Csinsak....."

See the difference? The P-I does not describe the local as Kirkland's Jason Mesnick, as if the town possessed the guy. And the P-I identifies where the other guy is from. The P-I does not make it's frame of reference filtered thru a local prisim, instead the P-I just states the facts. One guy is from Kirkland, the other Breckinridge. Neither town possessing either of the guys.

Where, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, it is always, "Burleson's Kelly Clarkson." Not "Burleson songstress, Kelly Clarkson."

It's like by turning something like this into a possessive, as in "Fort Worth's Joshua Allen," it just comes across as real, I dunno, ultra small townish. And, well, like Lulu said, pathetic.

Now, that I've finally figured out why this verbiage bugs me, I think this will likely be the last time I make note of it. Unless a particularly pathetic, amusing example crops up.

Fort Worth's Enviable Quality Of Life

Back in May I blogged about a weird announcement from the City of Fort Worth in which the city advertised that for the 3rd time in 45 years the city would hold a city wide conversation with its citizens.

In this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram there was a paid ad from the city of Fort Worth. I don't know if this counts as the Star-Telegram using the infamous "envy of" verbiage, due to this being a paid ad, but this is the first paragraph...

"In a recent city survey, residents agreed that Fort Worth is a great place to live, work and play. Such an enviable quality of life, though, is no accident."

The ad article goes on to talk about all the good the 2 previous city wide conversations accomplished . The 1963 conversation somehow resulted in Fort Worth's seldom used convention center and much used D/FW Airport. And resulted in Fort Worth being named an All-American City. Wow!

And then in 1992 Fort Worth's Ruling Junta Oligarchy deigned to listen to the citizens of Fort Worth again. This conversation resulted in a recycling program, the return of minor league baseball and the Bass Performance Hall. And once more, Fort Worth was named an All-American City. Wow, again!

It is interesting, to me, that this 1992 city wide conversation resulted in the downtown Fort Worth Performance Hall. I thought the Bass family initiated that. I'm impressed, I tell you, impressed, that the Bass's built that hall after listening to the good citizens of Fort Worth verbalize their desire to have a good performance hall.

Now, the 2008 city wide conversation is under way. Maybe this time all the talking will result in recycling occurring in my zone of Fort Worth. I'm not sure that that All-American City thing is still in operation. If so, I'm sure Fort Worth will be an All-American City again after the wonders produced by this 2008 city wide conversation between Fort Worth's citizens and the Ruling Junta.

Flipping Out on Bravo

I've got a new favorite TV Show. Flipping Out on Bravo. I'd seen bits and pieces of this show last season and found it annoying. I've watched several episodes this season and find it amusing.

A good reality show is so much better than scripted TV. No one has the imagination to make up the lives some people lead. Or like the recent rescue in Columbia of all those hostages held for so long by the FARC rebels. That reality show played out like a tightly scripted, implausible Hollywood movie, with a very happy ending.

On Flipping Out you've got this guy, Jeff Lewis, with a bad case of OCD, which makes him obsess about the oddest of things. And he can say the most blunt, rude of remarks, caused, by his own admission, by his lacking of an empathy gene. He is in therapy, sees a therapist, a spiritualist and a psychic.

Yes, it is obvious this show is set in Southern California.

Flipping Out is so named because Jeff Lewis flips houses, has done about 50 flips and has a reputation for doing a brilliant job. Part of what is entertaining is seeing the transformations take place.

Jeff Lewis has several pets that he obsesses over. Three mutt dogs, one fat cat and, temporarily, 3 deer. The fat cat is a handful. Jeff Lewis had a psychic examine the cat so as to best determine how to make the move to a new house the least traumatic. One time the cat got acupuncture.

Jeff Lewis does not do any of life's mundane chores himself. He has a guy named Chris who is his house manager. Chris Elwood, the House Manager, has an assistant, also named Chris, as in Chris Keslar.

To my shock, I learned last night that Chris, the House Manager, is married to Lewis' Executive Assistant, Jenni Pulos. They are married, but don't share last names. I learned last night that the married couple rents a bungalow from Jeff Lewis. Jeff and Jenni dropped in to inspect the property. On the way there, Jeff had to slam the brakes, slightly. He reached out across Jenni's chest, which caused her to scream, "Get your hands off my boobs." He explained he was acting as a seatbelt backup. She then admitted her big boobs were hard to not touch, accidentally, in such a scenario, due to their size.

Regarding the mutt dogs, Jeff Lewis found a place that tested your dogs DNA to determine its breed mix. So, all his "people" worked with him to figure out the self-test. The results came back. One little mutt's supposed DNA indicated it was a Chihuahua/Poodle mix. Another one was a Cocker Spaniel/Doberman mix. This seemed ridiculous to Lewis, because the dogs bore no resemblance to those breeds. Lewis decided he'd been scammed. And at $200 per dog, he thought maybe he should get into the DNA Dog Test Scam.

The best drama of the night came about after Jeff's OCD Paranoia caused him to put a spy cam in his house. He was sure his House workers were taking advantage of him. As Jeff and Jenni drove along he had someone call his house. His people are instructed to answer in a precise manner, instead Jenni's husband answered and said "Bon Jour, Chez Lewis," or something like that.

Later, Jeff confronted Chris, who denied, vehemently his egregious breaking of the phone answering rules. Later Jeff saw that he had proof Chris had lied, when Jeff played back the day's spying.

In subsequent days, Jeff caught Chris on Jeff's computer for hours. Employees are banned from Jeff's computer, except for Jenni. Jeff caught Chris spending a lot of time text messaging. But the worst offense was Chris was caught going through Jeff's personal papers.

Next week's episode appears to deal with Jeff dealing with Chris' bad behavior. I'm sure much hilarity will ensue.

Chesapeake Energy, Barnett Shale, Tandy Hills Park & Don Young in Time

Time Magazine, online, published an interesting article about the new phenomenon of citizen's fighting back against the gas drilling industry's encroachments on their peace and quiet and property.

The article quoted Fort Worth's noted Eastside Rabble Rouser, Don Young. I'll paste the Fort Worth part of the article below. You can read the entire TIME article here.

Don Young went from being a full-time glass artist to spending 50% of his working hours battling the energy companies via his website, FWcando.org (Fort Worth Citizens Against Drilling Ordinance). He first became alarmed at the exploration boom when a prairie reserve near his old, cherished Fort Worth neighborhood was threatened. He began the fight by printing flyers and distributing them to his neighbors, but he soon set up a website to keep the information flowing. It has not only been a clearinghouse for Fort Worth residents concerned about the impact of backyard gas wells, but it also attracts daily e-mail messages from groups across the country, Young says. His site links to other anti-drilling advocates from New Mexico and Wyoming to Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Michigan.

Young says some of his neighbors are attracted by the sort of Texas mythology that is woven into Fort Worth's cultural history, including legends portrayed in movies like Giant with the brooding poor ranch hand played by James Dean turning into a plutocratic wildcatter. But Young and other opponents insist the real Texas — the city's old neighborhoods and tree-lined trails, plus the rolling prairie lands and nearby small towns — are threatened. "The oil companies are acting like it's West Texas here, but it's not," Young says. "We're trying to put a brake on things."

For him the fight is personal, sometimes sadly pitting neighbor against neighbor. Young has turned down a $25,000 signing bonus offered for his own land. With daily headlines proclaiming new exploration moves, Young is now committed to focusing his neighbors' attentions on the impact that the accompanying pipelines and service roads will have. Says Young: "The war is not won by them or lost by us ... yet."

Hell's Kitchen Winner: Christina

I did not get hooked on watching Hell's Kitchen's latest trip to hell. The first season of Hell's Kitchen I watched it all. Hell's Kitchen is not a reality show train wreck like, well, The Bachelorette. You can learn some useful things on Hell's Kitchen. Like new swear words and how to ruin Risotto. I did not know what Risotto was til I watched Hell's Kitchen, so it is quite educational.
I find Chef Gordon Ramsey quite amusing. His other show, Kitchen Nightmares, put me off restaurants for awhile. The new season of that show starts soon. I'll likely watch some of it. And be put off of restaurants again.

The winner of Hell's Kitchen is determined by who Gordon Ramsey thinks did the best job of designing a kitchen, a menu and executing their restaurant operation.

Last week, the 2 remaining chefs worked on their restaurants and then were whisked off to New York City by private jet. In NYC they had to prepare their signature dishes in one of Ramsey's restaurants, to be judged by chefs from his restaurants around the world. There were 5 chef judges. 3 of the 5 liked the chef named Petrozza's steak better than the chef named Christina's steak.

Because Petrozza had the better steak when they got back to LA he got first pick of booted chefs to staff his restaurant. The episode ended with one of those cliffhangers that leaves you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. Who will Petrozza pick as his last chef? The bumbling buffon, Matt, or the lady with an attitude, Jen?

We'll find out tonight. And then Hell's Kitchen opens and Petrozza likely wins. I don't remember what the prize is.

UPDATE: Ooops! My guess was wrong, as usual. Christina won. The finale was actually pretty entertaining.

Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma

Until I visited Enchanted Rock State Park I would tell people that Turner Falls Park is the most scenic place I've seen in Texas. Even though Turner Falls isn't in Texas. It's across the border in Oklahoma.

I'd driven right by Turner Falls Park several times, not realizing it was worth seeing. It's only a few miles off I-35. When you are driving the Turner Falls Park zone of I-35 you see signs telling you that you are in the Arbuckle Mountains. But being a person from a land of actual mountains, I didn't know what they were talking about.

There is a scenic lookout exit from the freeway. I pulled off to see the scene. But to my eyes there was none. So, my first time to Turner Falls Park I had very very very low expectations. The first surprise is that almost immediately upon exiting the freeway the road does seem like a mountain highway. Twists and turns and steep drop-offs.

Then you come to an overlook built by the CCC, back in the Great Depression era. It is from that overlook you get your first look at Turner Falls. That's a zoomed view, from the overlook, you see in the photo above. The CCC also built a rock trail to the valley below, from this lookout.

You pay a fee to enter the park. There is a lot to do there. An underground spring created Honey Creek, which goes over a cliff creating Turner Falls. It is crystal clear water. And quite a pleasant temperature in summer. There are several swimming holes, including one right under the falls.

Turner Falls Parks has camping, cabins, a rock castle, lots of trails. And caves.

Go here to see photos from my first visit to Turner Falls and park info.

Go here to see a winter visit with better photos.

Go here for a map of the Turner Falls Park area.

Go here for a very short Turner Falls Park video.

Barnett Shale Pollution in Wise County

Wise County's best blogger, Texas Sharon, aka Bluedaze, on Sunday, went on a reconnaissance mission to a Braden Exploration drilling site about a mile from her abode.

Bluedaze was dazed by the bad stench and fumes. And appalled to see the amount of pollution on the ground, this being near a creek that flows into Denton Creek which flows into Lake Grapevine and then into people's homes.

Go here to read Texas Sharon's account of her unwelcome, messy neighbor, and more photos.

The Fort Worth Way

An interesting letter to the editor, this morning, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reinforced, for me, what's been my observation after seeing Fort Worth in operation during my years of exile here.

Fort Worth is basically an oligarchy. That's where political power rests with a small elite of society, distinguished by wealth, family or military powers, or a combo of all three. In Fort Worth wealth and family can put you in the oligarchy, a Greek word which means "rule by few."

Below is the letter to the editor that sort of discusses the Fort Worth oligarchy and how it operated during the recent Tarrant County College, Radio Shack Headquarters Debacle Boondoggle.

Recognize the Fort Worth way

In retrospect, the grand plan for the downtown Tarrant County College campus failed because outsiders had no understanding of how Fort Worth operates. Neither architect Bing Thom nor Chancellor Leonardo de la Garza are native. They chose to operate unilaterally rather than get consensus and approval of the local power structure. Result: fiasco.

Arrogantly they forged ahead without going through historical power channels. For the first half of the 20th century that meant Amon Carter. Nothing important got done without Carter’s blessing.

After Carter’s demise, the power shifted to a group of businessmen loosely referred to as the Seventh Street Gang, mostly bankers and utility executives. When federal deregulation sapped their power, the young Bass brothers took over and reshaped the city.

Always working quietly behind the scenes, they have been the force to be consulted with regarding city development for a couple of decades. TCC disregarded this, and has flopped spectacularly regardless of the merit of its plan. Bass opposition to the Thom plan should have been a signal to proceed with caution.

Solution: Rather than proceed with a “split campus” as proposed, turn the bluff property east of the courthouse over to the innovative Bass family to develop. They would come up with a suitable project that Fort Worth can be proud of, and which will enhance the proposed Trinity Uptown development.

— Jack White, Fort Worth

ABC's The Bachelorette Getting Married to a Snowboarder

I tried, really I did, but I could only make it through a little over an hour of last night's bizarre Bachelorette show.

In that hour The Bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas, desperate for a husband, took the boys to meet the family, including Papa Pappas.

The family seemed as desperate as DeAnna for her to find a husband. Greek family's must be big fans of getting the daughters married off.

The boys did the predictable asking the dad if he'd approve if they proposed. Papa Pappas approved, with the stipulation that Jesse the Snowboarder get his hair cut shorter.

I quit watching soon after the Dallas guy, Jeremy, who DeAnna said bye-bye to last week, showed up at her door and begged her to re-consider, going on about their shared bond of having dead moms and how deeply he'd fallen in absolute powerful all-encompasing love during the few weeks he's known her and the couple of dates they'd been on.

But, it was all in vain. with tears running down her cheeks, DeAnna gave poor lovesick Jeremy the boot again.

In the next hour, apparently Jason made DeAnna a board game, while Jesse made her a "Book of Thoughts," which was a photo album of their long courtship.

And then it came time for DeAnna to break someone's heart. Jason Mesnick, the account executive with a kid, got down on his knees to propose. DeAnna quickly yanked him back vertical and told Jason that "...even though I'm falling in love with you, I'm in love with someone else."

The above said, to the shock of millions of viewers, as they realized she was dumping the responsible adult, described in the Seattle P-I as "Perfect: clean-cut, tall, dark, handsome, self-assured, someone who wanted Pappas to complete his family, " for Jesse Csincsak.

The P-I described the Husband Hunter's choice thusly, "Csincsak has longish locks, an Owen Wilson nose and clothes that can be Mars Volta-concert loud. He's still searching for what's after snowboarding, but he did start a nonprofit for disadvantaged kids. (It revolves around snowboarding.)"

In the hour that followed an "After the Final Rose" show ran another hour, during which DeAnna and Jesse announced their wedding date as a year in the future. Yeah, I bet that's gonna happen.

Comments on ABC's Live Blog verbalized total disdain and disbelief that she chose the greasy-haired, short snowboarder.

The Survivor Sucksters were typically more colorfully opinionated. Here is one choice example. (Pardon the language)

"At first I was pissed she'd reject such a sweetheart like Jason but then again she deserves to breed with that prick Jessie and produce retarded offspring. Jason and Jeremy can do better than that dumb bitch."

Below is a video of the bizarre visit to Seattle where DeAnna got to meet Jason's family and kid. The best part of this video is the good look at good-looking Seattle.

Chesapeake Energy & Tandy Hills Park Action Alert

I'd just told my little story of my fun at Tandy Hills Park today. Then I went to check email to find an urgent message from Don Young. Don Young works hard to preserve Tandy Hills and to get the people of Fort Worth to realize what a treasure they have in the heart of their city. A treasure that has been long neglected and is currently threatened, again, by Cheseapeake Energy's plans to drill on the west side of the park. Tandy Hills Park does not need a drill rig lighting it at night. Nor does it need the noise. Or the dust. Even if only for the few months it takes to get the drilling done.

Below is Don Young's Call for Action----

Dear Friend of Tandy Hills Natural Area-

Once again, our park is under attack from gas drillers. Exactly one year ago 80 of you wrote letters of protest when Chesapeake Energy bought 50+ acres on the east boundary of THNA. Thankfully, no drilling has been done there. Now, they have leased 30 acres adjacent to the west side of the preserve. Your letters and emails are needed again to help stop this affront to our vanishing prairie lands.

Your influence is urgently requested to help persuade Chesapeake Energy to not drill adjacent to Tandy Hills Natural Area (THNA). They recently filed for a permit to drill the so-called, Thomas Well, on a 30-acre private tract, due west of THNA.

Read on for details or scroll down to ACT NOW!

This forgotten corner of the city is one of the last surviving pieces of original, Fort Worth Prairie in the city. It is not an ordinary vacant lot, but exactly like THNA, with an incredibly diverse ecosystem containing over 500 native plant species, home to a variety of wildlife and breathtaking views.

The proposed gas well is less than 600' from a neighborhood that would ordinarily require waivers, but Chesapeake has, apparently, used a loophole in the ordinance to buy the affected property. Legal or not, this action violates the spirit of the ordinance. It will seriously impact the West Meadowbrook neighborhood as their equipment and trucks would likely access the well from historic, Scott Avenue. They also want to run an odorless, gas pipeline through the neighborhood and, who knows, what else.

The city gas well inspector told me that the well and access road would require the removal of a lot of trees. I have walked the property and observed the same thing. Many old growth trees are in the way of the necessary road and pad site.

More importantly, the integrity of THNA is at stake as Chesapeake continues to nibble around the edges of our park and neighborhood. It is clear that they are marching eastward towards Scenery (Broadcast) Hill bringing more devastation. Just one year ago, over 80 master naturalists, biologists and esteemed members of the community wrote letters to Chesapeake expressing serious concerns about their purchase of this equally at-risk site.

Even if gas drilling were safe and environmentally benign, it is not the appropriate use for such exceedingly rare land. The surface is far and away more important and more valuable to the public than any short-term profits derived from what lies 8,000 feet below.

I understand that my request may seem overwhelming, but I also know we can prevent drilling on this site if enough of the right people take charge and find a solution. I urgently implore you to do everything possible to help Friends of Tandy Hills Natural Area save this property from destruction and get in the park system where it can be protected.

Sincerely-

Don Young

ACT NOW:

1) Send an email right now to District 8 city council rep. Kathleen Hicks asking that she use her influence to halt this permit. Remind her that the Tandy Hills area is NOT just a vacant lot, but a rare and endangered ecosystem that must not be drilled on.
Kathleen.Hicks@fortworthgov.org

2) Please cc Julie Wilson at Chesapeake Energy, Mayor Mike Moncrief and Don Young:
julie.wilson@chk.com
mike.moncrief@fortworthgov.org
donyoungglass@earthlink.net

3) Please forward this email to anyone else with whom you have influence . If you represent an organization, church or business, please send letters and emails on your letterhead.