RIP Joe Tillotson

No, nobody famous, and not a takedown obit.

Joe wasn't perfect, but when I was at the Today Newspapers group years and years ago, I considered the then mayor of Lancaster a personal friend. He did a lot of good for the city in many ways. I didn't know all the places he lived, let alone that his great-great-grandfather fought at San Jacinto. An interesting story.

It does leave me nostalgic about my time in Lancaster. The city park, with new library and main fire station, was arguably the best use of the land on North Dallas, even if the fire station part of it, especially, didn't quite fit the bill of original plans for the site.

The Dallas Inland Port and related things? Yes, it was in many ways the best use of much of Lancaster's land — at least, best use in terms of the current operations of the American economy.

I don't know how long he remained in the corner of the (in)famous Larry D. Lewis as Lancaster ISD superintendent after I left. However long he did, it was too long. That would be the one real blot on his escutcheon, to use the old phrase.

==

Flip side? Even if a bit naive at times, like over the Ten Mile Creek flood, he had the city's best interest in other ways. That includes the school district under Lewis' predecessor, the widely perceived as racist Bill Ward, per this old Dallas Observer piece. (I recall the incident, the school board meeting, and the difficulty in getting anything close to a straight answer out of Ward.) Sadly, when doing teh Google earlier today, I came across a "Memories of Lancaster, Texas" Facebook group, where someone had posted his obit. One White commenter went racist by saying he turned Lancaster into a ghetto. While not saying said commenter is AS racist as white folks whose actions are noted in the Observer piece, she IS racist by what I see from that comment alone. And ignorant. (Said person, per her profile, now lives in Kaufman County. Sounds about right.)

Wilmer: A blast from the past! Albeit miswritten

Very interesting longform piece at the Dallas Observer about the town's history of abuse of involuntary annexations and related issues.

I remember when UP started developing its Dallas Railport. I remember when Our Man Downtown, John Wiley Price, being paid Perot campaign money to protect its railport on the Santa Fe next to Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, did everything he could to gut it, and if not, to try to force local communities to hire Friends of JWP as subcontractors for local development tied to that. (I heard more about that in Hutchins than Wilmer.) I remember JWP trying to gut Richard Allen's Dallas Inland Port, too, also at Perot bidding.

Part of the blast from the past? Mention of the "Wilmer Citizen."

I was unaware of this Joe Aldrich starting this website "Wilmer Citizen." I WAS pretty sure that there was an old blog by that name, and there it still is, and pretty sure that it had, in its early days, some sort of backdoor semi-connection with the convicted felon Joey Dauben, who is nowhere mentioned by the Observer. Most commenters on early posts from the site, back in 2008, are either Joey or groupies of his, from what I can tell, starting with how many have deleted or hidden blogger profiles. Also, and related? The old racist (or it at least used to be, as detailed in my Dauben link) Ellis County Press, an early landing site of Dauben's before firing him, is in links in the right hand rail. In any case, it's NOT a website, contra the Observer's author. It's a blog that's updated 1-2x a month.

So, even if Joey Dauben is not directly connected? I'd take half of what's on there with big grains of salt.

There's further reason I worry about the Observer puffing up some blogger who doesn't have a journalism background and doesn't write regularly. Even with Dauben, who did have a quasi-background in journalism, and who wrote profusely, you  still have someone who makes insinuations that get to the edge of libel (and often, probably went over that edge, but he had no money to be sued over). And, you had the Observer giving him a fawning profile in 2011. That's why I look askance at Christian McPhate even doing this level of puffery of Aldrich.

As for the issue at hand? Rather, per its backstory?

Anybody who lived in either Wilmer or Hutchins 15 years ago knew that its growth potential was in logistics. Ditto for Lancaster, between UP and Richard Allen. As long as the tax money is being put to good use (including wide, strong-based streets to and from these logistics warehouses), isn't that a good bottom line? And, if some elected officials sold their land to commercial developers, as long as the real estate version of insider trading didn't happen, isn't this America? And, if you ran for mayor and lost? (Aldrich did in 20-12, and you won't find that in the story. He also was (is? can't tell from Wilmer's website and I don't know if Bizpedia's listing is current) on the board for the Wilmer Community Development Corporation. That means, depending on when he served, he might have been in a position of authority when this forcible annexation was being abused. I think that would be relevant.

As for the details of tax abatements for UP and the returns on that? $1.5 million in net revenue, if rounded up, is $2 million, which is "millions," plural. The 30K jobs? UP didn't promise all the employees would live in Wilmer and there's no way it could do that. I don't know if it's delivered on that; the promise appears to be vague enough it's hard to measure. And, people working in Wilmer could be living in Hutchins, Lancaster, Dallas, Ferris, Combine, Seagoville or unincorporated Dallas County. After all, there's still lots of that, per map below.

Beyond that? There's other reasons people might work in Wilmer but not live there.

One is the now-absorbed Wilmer-Hutchins ISD. I don't know how much better the schools there have gotten since Dallas ISD took it over. I don't know how much newer any schools facilities have gotten. But, per what I mentioned above? If I had kids, there are other places I'd live first.

Second, Wilmer, like Hutchins to its north, is prone to flooding on its east side in the Trinity bottoms. (So is much of unincorporated Dallas County.) Speaking of, even if it's not delivered on all its vague promises, do you want the inland port of Union Pacific, along with the logistics sites, or do you want Hutchins State Jail, as your driver of growth?

 

And, maybe if JWP hadn't knifed it in the back along with the Inland Port, it would have delivered more. And, weirdly, McPhate links to Schutze stories about said knifing. I can't tell if he totally supports their angle, more supports than objects, more objects than supports, or what.

If I had to put a bottom line on the story? I'd say Wilmer civic leaders of the past 15 years before 2022 were about 40 percent civic-minded, 40 percent personally grifting and 20 percent semi-clueless about legal restrictions. And, I'd say Aldrich is about 50 percent concerned citizen, 35 percent butt-hurt failed grifter and 15 percent quasi-Daubenite winger.

Sidebar: Did not know former Hutchins Mayor Artis Johnson (from whom I heard the same stuff about JWP's shakedown attempts as did Jim Schutze) was stupidly indicted. Fortunately, Craig Watkins dismissed charges shortly before leaving office.

GRACKLES INVADE NORTH TEXAS!

But, it's not QUITE "Children of the Corn."

But ...

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

If this is your lead story, as a pullout, with not one but two photos on the front page, you're at a small daily paper that should either
A. Consider running a Trib partnership story on the front, if you have to
B. Consider an AP story if you have a membership (that issue may be "open" per what I know) or
C. Consider going non-daily.

Knowing the cut-rate chain ownership?
B. May be iffy because of what is in parenthesis in combination with occasional inside content
A. Might turn up corporate noses, but if you do a story below just the grackles lead photo as wild art, why not
C. Will never be done as long as an Alabama dime can be milked.

If you're the shorthanded editor, whether or not you're familiar with the reality of end of summer/start of fall great-tailed grackles in North Texas, I'm sorry for your situation. I'm also sorry per other things.

As for that reality?

Grackles as an "urban invader" will find some swarming spot in any town of more than 5,000 people.

And, no, they don't just swarm at cheap places, or high food-litter places, like Walmart.

When I lived in the Metromess, one of their top swarms was along Oak Lawn, most heavily near the intersection with Turtle Creek Boulevard. In the Best Southwest, they semi-swarmed DeSoto's Town Center area because of the Tom Thumb across the street and the proximity of Ten Mile Creek.

Oh, north Texas newspaper? Those aren't common grackles. They're great-tailed grackles.

And bird experts or semi-experts, whether for small newspapers or Aggie state Extension pages? Stop calling them things like "pests" just because, like ravens, they're smart enough and opportunistic enough to massively expand their urban range.

Finally, said person who wrote this is not only the editor but also the general manager of this daily paper. The Peter Principle runs deep.

Royce West ain't running against John Cornyn nemmind, he must have found Pullman baggage handlers

A week ago, it was reported that Royce West continues to "do his due diligence" about running in the Dem primary to face John Cornyn.

Reality? Royce is taking about as long to shit or get off the pot on this decision as Joaquin Castro, and having lived in his state senate district most the previous decade, I say he'll probably get off the pot.

Update, July 10: The fact that Gromer Jeffers is breathlessly announcing today that Royce will have some announcement on July 22 (scribblings uncritically passed on by Kuff) only increases my guess that he is either
A. Not running
B. Will suck in the race if he does run.

July 21: OK, so he is running. I'll make sure that his baggage gets better known. And, with pleasure.

First, he likes his little south Dallas barony that being a part time legiscritter allows.

Second, he took a pass at challenging Cornyn on a previous cycle. He also took a pass on running for Dallas County DA in the year that Craig Watkins won. This is probably in part related to No. 1, and in part related to other things. Related to that? He and former Houston black state senate peer Rodney Ellis both have taken powders in the past on other statewide runs. Royce has done this enough, though, unlike Joaquin, with less public deliberation, that he's kind of the Hamlet of south Dallas politics.

And point the third?

He's got too much of a black eye potential from old Dallas Inland Port shenanigans, as both I and Jim Schutze know. He also was MIA on some south Dallas development issues next to his beloved UNT-Dallas. And, the inland port issues would raise his connections with John Wiley Price. Read everything with my Royce West tag for more.

This all said, back to Royce's baggage, individualized..

Yeah, most of it is more than a decade old. But, you know Cornyn would bring it up in the general election, along with West's apparent continuing ties to John Wylie Price. That's why he took a pass in 2014. And, if he does run in 2020, it will be on a gamble that his baggage is enough further away that he can avoid it.

But can he? After all, JWP went on federal trial just over two years ago. He beat the rap, tis true, but prosecutorial ineptitude was one factor. And even fellow Dems like former Dallas County Judge Jim Foster say that Price and West are "joined at the hip." That Snooze piece (you didn't deal with it, Gromer) mentioned other past conflicts of interest that Royce has had. Shit, the toothless Texas Ethics Commission fined him in 2010. And I haven't even mention West's ties to convicted Dallas County constable Derick Evans, who also had other ethics issues beyond what got him convicted.

He's got other baggage that's not even tied to JWP or Evans.

Like grifting off his legal contracts with Dallas ISD, then trying to get the Lege to allow said contracts, in the future, to be hidden from the public. Go here for more.

And, if a Sema Hernandez is a good-government progressive, or if GOP-lite ethics cop Chris Bell jumps in, there's a chance it becomes an issue already in the primary.

A House race in a safe district avoids all of that. If PB&J steps aside before Royce gets close to aging out himself.

And, to a lesser degree, ties to Our Man Downtown is why Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins won't run.

As for how well Royce would do in a primary? Contra a commenter at Kuff's site talking about him "holding his own" in the Valley, there is no "holding his own" there. With Sema Hernandez in the race plus Adrian Ocegueda as a definite vanidad candidate, West — and others who aren't Hispanic — are fighting over a fairy small bag of bones, and West isn't well known in the Valley.

Plus, there's already an African-American candidate in the race. And, while Michael Cooper may be relatively unknown, he's already run a state race, losing the 2018 primary for Lite Guv.

That said, other than possibly Cooper, none of the candidates float my boat and Royce wouldn't either. Sema sold her "progressive" soul for a mess of Beto endorsement pottage. M.J. Hegar? Too ConservaDem, starting with the military.

Two other questions.

One, if he loses, does this make Stephen Young of the Dallas Observer right that new mayor Eric Johnson is first in line to replace Eddie Bernice Johnson?

Young thinks Eric Johnson is next in line for that seat, but I disagreed a month ago. If she refuses to retire, in 2022 or later, he may be next in line, but not right now.

Second, does some up-and-comer finally primary him in 2022?

If I'm right about him not running for the nomination to try to defeat Big John, and also right that he, not Eric Johnson, is currently first in line for Eddie Bernice's seat, how long does he hold the No. 1 ticket there?

Through 2024 is my answer.

Back to the current race.

As for how well Royce would do in a primary? Contra a commenter at Kuff's site talking about him "holding his own" in the Valley, there is no "holding his own" there. With Sema Hernandez in the race plus Adrian Ocegueda as a definite vanidad candidate, West — and others who aren't Hispanic — are fighting over a fairy small bag of bones, and West isn't well known in the Valley.

Plus, there's already an African-American candidate in the race. And, while Michael Cooper may be relatively unknown, he's already run a state race, losing the 2018 primary for Lite Guv.

That said, other than possibly Cooper, none of the candidates float my boat and Royce wouldn't either. Sema sold her "progressive" soul for a mess of Beto endorsement pottage. M.J. Hegar? Too ConservaDem, starting with the military.

Good bye to Rob Franke as Cedar Hill mayor You deserve a legal kick in the butt that you're not getting

STB-ex Mayor Rob Franke and then-Councilman Chris Parvin — Cedar Hill's original Piety Brother hypocrites.

Perhaps the soon-to-be-ex Cedar Hill mayor did nothing criminally wrong, but ethically wrong? Shit, that good-old-boy network of real estate issues stunk to high heaven ethically. And, per Franke's personal background, was hypocritical as hell for a conservative evangelical Christian. Franke said he was embarrassed, but maybe it was only for being caught, especially since he blamed city staff for not reminding him — OVER A FULL DECADE — to not file conflict of interest materials. Others caught up in the issue, like Councilman Chris Parvin, may not even have been embarrassed. And, it's too bad Creuzot, didn't find enough to bring charges during the investigation, or rather, it seems, too bad Creuzot went in the tank for whatever reason. (Adding to the problem, perhaps, is that Creuzot's Greg Abbott-appointed GOP predecessor, Faith Johnson, is a Cedar Hill resident.)

Parvin, like Franke, was at least embarrassed enough not to run for re-election, ending his tenure a year ago. Fellow hypocrite Jami McLain — not on the council when I was there — unembarrassedly tried to succeed Franke as mayor, and lost. It makes me wonder what shenanigans went on behind what is now the semi-flop of a mall in Cedar Hill, the former Uptown Village, even if it's not inside the economic development zone that brought up the conflict of interest problems. The same lack of ethics that led to a refusal (NOT a "failure") to disclose conflicts of interest could have led to other unethical behavior in terms of land and economic development. The 2008 start of non-compliance is kind of a red flag. I wish I could ex post facto throw up Parvin's White Rhino coffee.

Parvin, unlike Franke, never really fooled me. Parvin was active then in partisan politics, along with then-fellow councilman Wade Emmert, who went on to eventually become Dallas County GOP chairman.

Franke? I don't bash all conservative Christians as people, even when I disagree strongly with their views. But, if they walk the walk ethically, I will tip my hat. And at the time I was in Cedar Hill, he struck me as a straight shooter.

I had no idea until reported several years later that he had these conflicts of interest ... and conveniently chose to stop reporting them just as the old downtown area of Cedar Hill was looking at new development, a possible planning overlay for that, etc.

And, Franke made this all much worse by claiming it was inadvertent, and that it was inadvertent because city staff didn't remind him.

Really, Rob? You (IMO) lying sack of shit? You'd been filing conflict of interest forms before that, and after that, because some city staffer reportedly didn't remind you, you magically forgot?

And, if I'm understanding correctly, this isn't just a civil issue. Creuzot could have filed Class B misdemeanors, at least if the prohibition on state officials applies to local elected bodies. He would have had to prove intent, but, still ...

That said, if former long-term city manager Alan Sims (city manager in 2008 and 2009, at least, per Franke's comments above) is now joining the city council, how much will really change? (Cedar Hill ISD trustee Valerie Banks would have been better, IMO, even if Sims won't be bad — I think.) Well, Cedar Hill voters are apparently allowing package booze sales, so that much has changed. And, Sims didn't appear to be as much a toady to Franke as Sims' assistant city manager, then successor, Greg Porter.

Other Best Southwest election results show long-term Drunkenville ISD board member Dorothy Wolverton poised to lose her seat.

Dallas County Schools' ticking time bomb keeps exploding

Earlier this week, Jim Schutze said that Dwaine Caraway’s bid for mayor is probably dead in the water if a corruption lawsuit has any meat. Given that it’s connected to Dallas County Schools, it probably has plenty of meat.

He was right —  Caraway and his future are both dead in the water; he has now
pled guilty to two federal charges and resigned, the Observer reports.) I have a bit of personal familiarity with Dallas County Schools from it having a bus barn in Lancaster. This is just the latest in the ticking time bomb of corruption even worse, speaking of Lancaster, than that seemingly exemplified by former Lancaster ISD superintendent Larry Lewis.

In what might have been the last collapse of Caraway's hopes of dodging a bullet, former DCS "superintendent" Rick Sorrells was sentenced earlier this week. At least Dallas City Council won't have to pay Caraway's legal fees now.

There's probably still more time bombs to explode as the Eff Bee Eye continues to look and now the SEC too.

Already a decade ago, the rationale for DCS looked thin. I never understood why three of the four Best Southwest school districts used them. Had all of Dallas County been under a desegregation order (we can only wish) it might have made sense. Why Lewis, who actually had some financial sense, didn't dump DCS and make that part of one of the district's bond packages, if needed, in hindsight, I don't understand, either.

Cedar Hill: You can't yet vote the rascals outbut don't vote another one in!

First, I'm talking about the Dallas suburb, not the St. Louis exurb or other places.

Second, the rascals? Mayor Rob Franke and Councilman Chris Parvin, leaders behind this development scheme which benefits them and their cronies. More details about the land holdings behind the bond issue voted on last year for this here.

I'll admit that I'm surprised at Franke himself. I really shouldn't be. I'm not so surprised at other members of the Cedar Hill City Council who are mentioned. Nor at City Manager Greg Porter, who was a "yes man" when assistant city manager.

However, neither Franke nor Chris Parvin are up for re-election. Jami McCain is, but unopposed. Even worse, the city's planning and zoning commission chair, Chad McCurdy, wants to step up to the council, running against Valerie Banks, former CHISD trustee, and from what I remember of her, a decent school board member.

And, it's "interesting" that Franke stopped making potential land-holding conflict-of-interest disclosures in the same year, 2008, that the now-semi-tumbleweeds Uptown Village mall was under construction.

In addition, it's "interesting" that Franke's veneer of Christian piety appears to be just that and nothing more. I should have been more skeptical a decade ago, at the end of my journalism time there.

Next thing Cedar Hill needs is somebody to run against Franke when he comes up for re-election.

==

Update: Unfortunately, McCurdy one. And a reminder of past electoral shenanigans in the city.

'Our Man Downtown': John Wiley Price HAS BEATEN the rap (so far)

Having lived in Dallas — specifically the Best Southwest suburbs — most the previous decade, I'm familiar with John Wiley Price. Indeed, as a newspaper journalist, I've met him a few times, and reported on a few events in which he was involved, as part of my suburban newspaper group was in his county commission precinct.

Regarding his current federal trial, do I think Price has done some ethically slippery things? Hellz yes. Do I think they're legally slippery? Also, ditto.

(Update, April 28: Hung jury on the tax charges, and acquitted of the bribery and mail fraud charges that Judge Barbara Lynn said she was likely to dismiss anyway due to prosecutorial incompetence or worse.) ‡

That said, there IS the irony of D Magazine's piece about him, "The Hustler," written by later Dallas mayor Laura Miller, who turned out to be pretty much of a hustler herself, although not one likely committing illegalities.*

As for the claims about business shakedowns, or trying to force people to use JWP-connected businesses for certain things, let's just say that, off the record, I've heard stuff myself. Stuff related to freeway expansion and bridges.

Beyond what the Observer, in this piece about five key trial points, and the Snooze have reported on Richard Allen's Dallas Inland Port ideas, I heard some bits myself about the port. The stuff in the paragraph above relates to development a couple of years before that.

And it's not racial. JWP will, from what I've read, heard, and seen, hustle you no matter your race.

And, per a quote he gave the Snooze after Judge Lynn officially killed the trial on the hung charges? Yes, he will be so transparently hypocritical as to be laughable:

That's worse than Jesse Jackson's Seuss-speak. And JWP's only god, at least in this world, is JWP.

Do I think what he was on trial for is illegal in the actual legal sense of the word? No. As in, I don't think the prosecutors have the goods on him beyond a reasonable doubt.

And, that was even before their most recent clusterfuck on discovery issues last week. It's part of a whole series of prosecution clusterfucks. Frankly, I think Judge Barbara Lynn should have gone ahead and pulled the plug last week with a mistrial ruling. It would have done both Price and the feds a favor — and hopefully would have done southern Dallas County voters, and Democrats, a favor as well. Don't forget that Dwaine Caraway's lawsuit against JWP is still working its way through the court system.

Our Man Downtown could have reviewed his defense strategy. He also could have started doing reflections about not running for re-election again. Meanwhile, Dallas County Dems could also start talking about nudging him out, and/or recruiting a primary opponent if he won't leave peacefully. That's the favors for everybody else. There's three full years until his next election year. If Dems won't recruit somebody, that shows their own problems in Dallas County. And they've got them. For years, despite repeated evidence she's nothing but a neoliberal hack, nobody's primaried Eddie Bernice Johnson. That said, with things like Kwanzaafest, JWP's a better retail politician.**

Meanwhile, the feds could figure out if they've got a viable case against OMD, and if they don't, then drop it. If they do, then devote the manpower to ironing out their presentation before the next trial. And get new prosecutors involved.

But, since Judge Lynn didn't do that, a jury starts deliberations Tuesday, after closing arguments. Price's lawyer was brilliant not only in not calling him to the stand, but in wrapping up his case on Thursday, giving jurors plenty of time to think about the feds' incompetence. At a minimum, if JWP is convicted, he's got clear grounds to ask for a new trial. Lynn would have been better having everybody start over for that reason, even though this case has drug on for years already.

Judge Lynn first gave JWP a partial break, saying she will likely toss the six mail fraud charges even if the jury convicts. If she does, in my non-legal opinion, I'm not sure how the conspiracy charge stands; that leaves "only" the tax evasion.

And, ADA Simonton's response sounds like foot-stomping, further indicating how weak the gummint's case is.

A way out of the thicket might be, if Lynn's not going to do the mistrial route, for JWP to take a nolo on one tax charge, agree to cut the appropriate check to the IRS, and agree to immediate resignation in lieu of serving any time in the clink.

But I doubt Price would take such a deal. And, maybe he shouldn't.

The prosecution's closing argument was as weak as its trial presentation. Katherine Miller, to my eyes, essentially argued that Price should be tried for violations of county ethics police. If County Judge Clay Jenkins and two other votes on the Commissioners Court want to censure Price, go for it. Not Katherine Miller's job, though, if OMD didn't commit criminal offenses. Such censure, with the rest of the court 3-1 Democrat, and Jenkins still giving no clear appearance that he's anything more than Price's water boy, is not likely.

‡ The feds have one month, per Lynn's mistrial order, to decide whether or not to retry him on the tax charges. Whether they will or not depends on how much they indulge whatever mix of stubbornness, frustration and embarrassment prosecutors feel right now.

==

* Laura Miller's legal hustles have basically involved being suck-ups to much of the Dallas business class she excoriated when working at the Dallas Observer, then doing that in spades after leaving the mayor's office.

** Now that Eddie Bernice's district goes out in the 'burbs more and more, not just city of Dallas, somebody smart from said 'burbs, which she never visited until my last month on the job, would be the ideal candidate to challenger her.

(While we're at it, Yvonne Davis is another long-term south Dallas black politico who needs to leave or get pushed out, as this year's performance in the Texas Lege shows.  And don't even get me started on Helen Giddings.)

Royce West: MIA on #UNT-Dallas and south Dallas development

Jim Schuetze of the Dallas Observer has had a series of pieces on how Dallas City Councilman Tennell Atkins has refused to pay to run new sewer lines to the vicinity of UNT-Dallas before retail developers officially commit to come there first. The latest, with exposure of some prime Atkins hypocrisy, is here.

He wrote (in the Dallas Morning Snooze): "Evidence of tangible public support is critical to the process of obtaining viable development partners and leveraging other capital sources."

This happens to be exactly the same argument that the same city councilman has consistently rejected for the area in his own district around the new University of North Texas-Dallas campus. There, landholders have been begging Atkins to free up funding already authorized for a sanitary sewer system -- something they have never had before -- so they can lure serious investors to develop much-needed student housing.

And Atkins has repeatedly refused.

First, whether elected officials like it or not, that's not the way said developers work.

Second, where the hell is state Sen. Royce West, the man who pushed for years and years to get UNT-Dallas started? I know that his primary goal was having a university inside the Dallas city limits, but having been in the news biz during that whole run-up time in a Best Southwest suburb just across I-20 from where UNT-Dallas was being built, I always had the assumption that UNT-Dallas was just step 1 in larger development of this area.

That's certainly the impression Schutze has, too:

If you were looking for something in southern Dallas on which to capitalize, it's hard to imagine a better bet than the glamorous new UNT campus that opened four years ago near the intersection of Interstate 35E and I-20. But Atkins has been adamant that he's not going to let the city risk bond money on a sewer system until the developers are already outside his office door with plans rolled up under their arms.

I asked him once about the mayor's "Grow South" initiative to spur economic development in the city's segregated southern hemisphere. He said, "That's the mayor's deal. Ask him."

Unfortunately, Atkins is wedded to the idea of revitalizing the carcass of Southwest Center Mall, aka Red Bird Mall. What an idiot. Even if there are sewer lines there, traditional malls are a dying breed.

As for West?

Who knows? Maybe he's like "our man downtown," Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, with his attempts to get the mayor of Wilmer give his buds some business help in work related to Union Pacific's intermodal facility there, as part of his illustrious alleged history of following the money, including reportedly kicking his own constituents in the nuts for Ross Perot Jr. money, an alleged shakedown which reportedly had friend of JWP trying to cut West in on a piece of the pie.

Maybe West hasn't leaned on any city of Dallas folks because he doesn't have friends involved, or nobody is trying to get friends of his involved. 

I have the distinct impression, though, that if Royce West really wanted to make development happen near his baby, he could make it happen.

BIG Medicare fraud in my old stomping grounds

Were Dr. Jacques Roy or Teri Sivils members of the DeSoto (Texas) Chamber of Commerce? Because, $375 million would go a long way. Here's the details;

Under the alleged fraud scheme, the doctor and his office manager in DeSoto, Texas, Teri Sivils, who was also charged, allegedly sent healthcare “recruiters” door-to-door asking residents to sign forms that contained the doctor’s electronic signature and stated that he had seen the residents professionally for medical services he never provided.

They also allegedly dispatched more “recruiters” to a homeless shelter in Dallas, paying $50 to every street person they coaxed from a nearby parking lot and signed him up on the bogus forms.

Next question: Did the shelter get any kickback?


If a bunch of home health agencies are being suspended from Medicare for alleged conspiracy, who's to say what a homeless shelter might do?

Joey Dauben, nutbar, profiled

Really, Dallas Observer? You had THIS slow of a week? Alt-media becoming tabloidy in a bad sense.

This Joey Dauben profile does have nuggets of truth. Dauben, without admitting civil guilt, admits he was cybersquatting on misspelled URLs, and that there were deep pockets backing him up.

(That said, per other lies Dauben has told in his pre-incarceration career, none of those pockets were likely that deep, or, if they were, they were only occasionally deep when their own griftings hit oil instead of dry wells.)

Oh, and here's a great one, given that Mr. Dauben is nowhere near gay-friendly:

And once, during an ill-fated Congressional bid, Dauben offered to take supporters on a date to the Galaxy Drive-In for a $25 donation. ("It was 98 percent gay men who responded to the ad," he says.)

They probably backed off again, and quickly.

Update, Feb. 16, 2025: On the other hand, per updates below, there may have been good reasons, despite Dauben's apparent self-denialism, that he got 98 percent gay men responding.

Here's another truth:

"I love him to death, I feel like he could've been a son of mine," (Ellis County Press publisher Charlie) Hatfield says. "He used to know how to do it, but he chose to go another path." He calls Dauben's current work "libelous trash."

Of course, both of them are wingnuts, and ECP at least is borderline racist.

That said, per page 5 of the story, I seriously doubt Dauben will shut down his papers if a tenuous connection to the Amber Hagerman disappearance doesn't pan out.

(Update, Oct. 24, 2021: As for finding Amber Hagerman's killer? Hell, Dauben couldn't find Amber Guyger if she were still in Botham Jean's apartment with Jim Schutze claiming she was innocent. As of this year, it's been 25 years, and since Arlington PD has said it has DNA evidence, it's clear Dauben had no such identification. It would also be both disgusting, and typical of Dauben, if he preyed on hopes of any Hagerman family members and relatives.)

For people who don't know Dauben, this also is true:

"I don't personally feel like he's looking out for the city as much as he's basically trying to sell his wares," says Palmer City Administrator Doug Young, another man who turns up frequently on Dauben's site.

Young says he tried correcting Dauben when he got things wrong the first few years, but quickly learned it wasn't much use. "Whatever I say, Joey tends to twist to fit his own needs," Young says. "He prints what he wants, he handles what he wants. I'm not gonna try to post a correction."

From my own experience, I know that Dauben's never let the truth stand in the way of a slanted story.

Finally, in his run for mayor of little-bitty Palmer, Texas, his paranoia and megalomania meet:

As the polls near closing time, Dauben's team spills out of a pair of cars and joins him in the street. Dauben leans in and whispers that they're carrying "protection" around town. Asked what kind of danger they're worried about, he says, "Hits out on my life." But he isn't too concerned. "I don't think they're willing to do that and vindicate everything I've ever done," he says.

Turns out Dauben had more subscribers to his Palmer "newspaper" than he got votes.

And, sadly, I Facebook-friended him on tenuous hopes of getting back to Dallas.

Update, Jan. 18, 2020: Weirdly, per the new picture above, replacing a link bust, I didn't realize that D Magazine, with piece written by Mike Orren of then-independent Pegasus News, had also fellated Dauben.

Update, March 16, 2013: I had a new light bulb pop on tonight. Joey Dauben reminds me of a slightly less mature James O'Keefe of Breitbart fame, detailed here in all his sordidness. 

Update 2, July 19, 2017: How did Dauben know that a mayor of tiny little Henderson County burg Seven Points, way away from Ellis County, was gay unless Dauben has a gay grapevine or good gay gaydar?

And, why did you feel compelled to say "I'm not gay"? Even as, in the original Observer piece, you said that 98 percent of responses to a "date Joey" ad were from gay men? Gaydar isn't everything but it is sometimes something. (A gay grapevine is even more "something.")

And why does David Webb, writing for the Dallas Voice and other gay mags, continue to insist you're not gay, Joey? Is it image protection?

Joey, you're in prison because of repression and denial, IMO.

++

Update, Aug. 22, 2021: Besides "Sunflower" and his other groupies who trailed him, at the Ellis County Observer, Dauben had as one of his flunkies a guy named Ali Akbar, who also allegedly was working on the Texas effort for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Today, you know him as "Stop the Steal" thief Ali Alexander. Dauben, per this piece, back then thought Akbar (already then a convicted felon) was shady as shit, claiming that Akbar/Alexander had talked back then of ways to rig an elelection. And, if Joey Dauben thought that ...

 

Update, April 17, 2023: Akbar/Alexander now accused of soliciting "dick pics" from followers of Nick Fuentes. Says he's been "battling" same-sex attraction. Uses "so gay" as a slur. Statement, via Twitter, claims he's done nothing illegal. Other than possibly breaking the law if any of these were of minors (and hence highly illegal), sounds like he needs to stop battling and start accepting being bisexual. Plus, it's all about the money. Milo Yiannopoulos (THAT Milo) ratted on him after he and Fuentes cut him out of a "potentially lucrative" position with Kanye West's presidential run. (Was this 2020, or is he looking at another in 2024? YE gads.) And, rats like Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to dissociate from both. 

==

 

Akbar/Alexander new update, Feb. 16, 2025: More on the Alexander is allegedly gay. Gives a whole new angle to his connection to Dauben.

Why real estate is even worse than claimed, especially in Big D

Many repoed houses that are resold? The official sale price ain't anywhere near being true. Oh, and shock me that this type of sales lying may have its ground zero in Dallas.

That's why Gov. Helmethair's claims about the strength of the Texas economy are bullshit. Unemployment is still going up in most major metropolitan areas, the heavy local reliance on property taxes looks shaky (especially with those fake resale Z prices, eh?)

And, I totally agree that this is part of the issue, too:

Compounding the problem is the seemingly endless prairie that stretches in every direction. Residential real estate in Dallas is all about what’s new, fresh, clean and contemporary, and beyond last year’s farthest-flung suburban outpost there is always more prairie, another slice of raw land on which to build this year’s model of the luxe domestic dream.

And, no, per the quote at the end of the story, nothing will change. Cheap gas prices will lead to more sprawl, not just suburban but exurban sprawl, while inner-ring suburbs on the north and east of Dallas, not just the south, will age ever less gracefully and ever more quickly.

I lived in suburban Dallas just about all of the last decade. Trust me on this one. I told residents of a Dallas suburb, back in late 2006, to vote against a new school bond issue in part because default and foreclosure numbers were already rising.

So, state Sen. Steve Ogden's plan to push more of school funding on a statewide property tax may not work so well, either. Especially if it caps appraisal rises not at 10 percent, but at even less than that.

Hey, Downwinders at Risk ...

Note to one Katy Hubener (and friends of hers):

Now that the Wyly E. Coyote bros' financial deceitfulness stands exposed, will you and Downwinders at Risk continue to sacrifice ethics in the name of alleged green benefits by taking money from these folks?

I don't care if these folks are allegedly that "green," by supporting nobody but GOP candidates, the Wyly brothers aren't green at all, but you, on the other hand, are a sucker for corporate greenwashing.

(Note to other readers: I've actually talked to the actual Katy Hubener about this, and she stoutly defended accepting the Wylys' tainted money.)

Today Newspapers, RIP 1 year ago

To some of my friends back in Dallas, it's time to, belatedly by a day or two, mourn the one-year anniversary of the demise of Today Newspapers. That said, more than just ownership issues were involved with its end, though of course, that was a problem. But, a market that just wasn't ready to support journalism gets the lack of a newspaper it deserves. And, the lack of circulation numbers (along with the inflated ones at Focus Daily News) show south suburban Dallas just didn't want to support much in the way of a newspaper.

Larry Lewis comes back to Best Southwest

You Lancasterites will love this one in south suburban Dallas.

The "late," not so lamented Larry Lewis, former Lancaster ISD superintendent, is now an interim assistant principal in Cedar Hill.

That said, showing how the Dallas Morning News' knowledge of the area has gotten ever thinner, and isn't challenged since I and Today Newspapers are no longer around, the Snooze story has one big error of commission and one of omission.

The error of commission claims Lewis hasn't worked since Lancaster let him go. NOT TRUE.

He was still peddling insurance, or consulting, or whatever, for AFLAC some time after that, because it became a matter of dispute in his settlement terms.

The error of ommission? Lewis' ex-wife, Sylvia (divorced after Lancaster canned him - I could say more) still works in Cedar Hill ISD as Highlands Elementary's principal.

"Ohhh, my," as George Takei would say!

Ohh, last I knew, Lewis' first ex-wife was still in Duncanville.

There's still DeSoto, Larry.

Also, per one commenter to the Snooze piece, why the rush, I rhetorically ask CHISD Superintendent Horace Williams? You've only got two months of school left. Second, did you talk to Sylvia about this at all? Third, as an interim hiring, did this dodge having to talk to the school board?

South suburban Dallas newspaper follies

First, the quasi-newspaper that’s attempting to replace Today? Well, the graphic artist/pagebuilder got a real job, and I don’t think he’s been replaced. And, I don’t think they’ve found someone to fill the very part-time editor’s slot that’s been open since I moved on. (I would have taken a real job soon enough, had the Suburban not gotten huffy about my “three months’ viability” and decided to move on.

As it is, we’re not quite to the three-month mark, and my prediction looks pretty much in the ballpark.

But, that’s not the real folly.

Ellis County’s “favorite” nuttbar/“journalist,” who later decided to inflict himself on southern Dallas County, one Joey Dauben, is in jail in New Hampshire, awaiting extradition to Texas on a variety of felony charges, related, as one would suspect, to his more edgy blogging.

Of course, per his blog, you get the usual, namely, when other people are apparently doing wrong, they’re crooked/chiseling/Communist or some combination of the above.

But, (scare quotes), “When I, Joey Dauben, appear to have done wrong, I actually haven’t. It’s all part of a conspiracy to take me down. Besides, the rules only apply to those other people anyway, not me.”

I’ve actually seen this type of attitude before, in folks like active alcoholics in denial. And, “denial” is probably a polite word for young Mr. Dauben.

A felony criminal record, and the loser, at the federal district court level, of at least one cybersquatting lawsuit and counting, he’s definitely on the less grounded fringes of “libertarianism.”

Assuming he’s tried and convicted (no, he won’t plea to anything, you can bet on that), will he learn from this?

No.

Per his blog, he appears to have fallen close to the family tree, and that’s where he’ll remain, as long as he’s in denial.

Q: How is shooting Joey Dauben different from shooting fish in a barrel?

A: The fish are smart enough to recognize they’ve been shot.

Say good night, Joey.

==

Update, Aug. 22, 2021: Besides "Sunflower" and his other groupies who trailed him, at the Ellis County Observer, Dauben had as one of his flunkies a guy named Ali Akbar, who also allegedly was working on the Texas effort for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Today, you know him as "Stop the Steal" thief Ali Alexander. Dauben, per this piece, back then thought Akbar (already then a convicted felon) was shady as shit, claiming that Akbar/Alexander had talked back then of ways to rig an election. And, if Joey Dauben thought that ...

 

Update, April 17, 2023: Akbar/Alexander now accused of soliciting "dick pics" from followers of Nick Fuentes. Says he's been "battling" same-sex attraction. Uses "so gay" as a slur. Statement, via Twitter, claims he's done nothing illegal. Other than possibly breaking the law if any of these were of minors (and hence highly illegal), sounds like he needs to stop battling and start accepting being bisexual. Plus, it's all about the money. Milo Yiannopoulos (THAT Milo) ratted on him after he and Fuentes cut him out of a "potentially lucrative" position with Kanye West's presidential run. (Was this 2020, or is he looking at another in 2024? YE gads.) And, rats like Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to dissociate from both. 

==

 

Akbar/Alexander new update, Feb. 16, 2025: More on the Alexander is allegedly gay. Gives a whole new angle to his connection to Dauben. 

Goodbye, Best Southwest

This is along the lines of the farewell column I would have written at Today Newspapers, had we had more than one day’s notice of closing.

Since I have been offered, and accepted, a copy editor’s job with the Odessa American, I will be leaving this area shortly. I will miss some things about the Best Southwest in particular. I will miss more things about Dallas in general, above all, the arts and cultural life. And, I will miss some friends both in the BSW and elsewhere in Dallas.

Right now, though, I will focus on the Best Southwest.

Goodbye, especially political leaders. And, a few parting thoughts.

While Cedar Hill is doing well with attracting retail, and Duncanville is adding a few new stores, retail alone is not the answer for continued economic growth. Nor is a mix of retail plus “traditional” light industrial and offices. Cedar Hill is fortunate enough to have a couple of more upscale office sites, but even that’s not enough.

Think and dream bigger. Medical technology. Anything related to the computer industry. Think outside boxes. Don’t believe you always have to settle for scraps, compared to the rest of Dallas.

That’s what’s happened for too long, as is, whether from daily newspaper coverage, or regional economic development, or other things.

Second, insist on better residential development standards. Too many new houses all around the Metroplex, but especially down here, are energy-leaking big boxes that don’t even look that good. Toughen your building codes to insist on higher minimum insulation standards, thermal windows and other green features. Insist new developments use a minimum percentage of recycled materials. Other cites, suburbs on the other side of the Metroplex do this; why won’t you?

You’ll get quality residents moving into quality homes, because they’re quality homes, not quantity homes. And, if growth slows for a few years, so what? As nature philosopher Ed Abbey said, and has been quoted by me before:

Growth for growth’s sake is the theology of the cancer cell.

Learn to settle political differences both peacefully and honestly, especially in Duncanville. Move beyond the smallness of the bad side of small-town viewpoints.

I’m sorry that Today Newspapers can’t be with you to encourage, push, prod and coax you political and civic leaders toward those goals and ends. I hope, as both a former resident and former Today editor, you move in that direction without needing so much encouraging, pushing, prodding or coaxing, but because you have vision, courage, intuition and a sense of the main chance.

Otherwise, goodbye and good luck.
-END-

Personal thoughts on south suburban Dallas newspapers

First, the good.

Going to a free throw gets rid of the horrible cost of second-class postage and otherwise reduces overhead. The tabloid size sets it apart from the old Today and the Focus.

Now, the not so good. I think trying to cover Grand Prairie, Midlothian and the Best Southwest is just biting off too much. And, I think the paper has its smallest ad sizes set too small. Finally, there’s probably going to be some trust issues, especially related to the publisher.

As for publishing? Well, we had moving-related glitches last week. We’ll have an issue out this week. We may go two weeks before another.

Seriously? I give this about a 50-50 shot of doing anything beyond three months.

Update: Several points.

First, if I am being too pessimistic on the Suburban, great. Obviously, I'd love for it (us?) to fully succeed, even if I am no longer there. But, it's not just me who says it's biting off more than it can chew on territory/coverage; I've heard similar comments from other people with as much or more background in the business as I have. I could maybe see Midlothian plus the three most advertising Best Southwest cities, with getting what we can editorially and adwise out of Lancaster.

But, Grand Prairie? Stupid. First, those car ads will NOT be back at all for 18 months, and only at a diminished rate then, with the possible exception of snagging a "cash for clunkers" ad or two.

Second, GP is as big as, or bigger, than all four BSW cities. It's difficult to do a paper JUST on it.

When Today tried it, it did not try it the way I thought it was going to be tried - no first issue until we had X number of column inches of ads signed up on 13-week contracts, credit card numbers in hand.

There are a couple more lesser issues I may tackle in a future post.

(Update, Aug. 14: Everyone who has given me feedback on my being fired by the Suburban says it's ridiculous.)

Sacked by the Suburban - canned by SoDallas starter paper

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about my estimates of the likelihood of success of the Suburban, a new startup newspaper in south suburban Dallas, making an attempt to replace the recently-closed Today Newspapers.

I updated that post, and then a friend and former Today employee picked it up and linked to it on his blog, which focuses on south suburban Dallas news, especially Duncanville news.

Well, the publisher of The Suburban, Lisa Bradley, got more than a bit bent out of shape, and decided to fire me; Katy and Ann Hubener of Crescent Real Estate, providing seed money for the venture, agreed.

True, it was not the smartest, most aware thing in the world to do, but I said it. And, yes, it surprised other people whom I told that I was getting fired over that. That said, if I had offered the advice in advance, in private, to one of the Suburban financial supporters, it probably would have been dismissed, anyway. So, here goes.

Update, Aug. 13: Everyone who has given me feedback on my being fired by the Suburban says it's ridiculous. If that means negative PR, so be it.

More seriously, in newspaper job interviews I've had so far, plus talks with others who know the biz, the verdict is unanimous — even if you know how to run a newspaper, a suburban weekly is tougher than an exurban or rural community paper.

I don’t claim to be irreplaceable; the Suburban may do better without me. But, I do know that a lot of Today readers liked me, even when they didn’t always agree with my editorial columns.

If I’m in for a penny, I’m in for a pound. Let’s look at the background of why I offered my estimates of 50-50 chances of success in three months.

First, a bit of Today background.

Today’s parent, the original Suburban, went bankrupt in 1989, let’s remember. Maybe that’s part of why Duncanville’s Royce Brown sold the old Suburban back in 1985. If anybody from Duncanville who knows more on that has information, fire away.

Dick Collins had subsidized the Today group for years. I don’t know if he officially charged rent, for the right hand to bill the left, at Today’s DeSoto office, when he owned both office building and newspapers. Later, after he sold the papers, I believe the rent was below-market/subsidized in some way, and he continued to invest money in the paper.

He continued to do so even after it moved to Duncanville, after he sold Today’s DeSoto office building, at least at first, I think.

And, it still lost money, even with his investment.



Even with belt-tightening that already began back in 2004, when the old People section was canned and we let an editorial position go, by attrition.

And, beyond losing money, it still has debts in various places, including a certain amount to the federal government.

It was still losing money even after all four Best Southwest papers were consolidated into one, and the final round of editorial staff slashing happened. Part of that was recession-related, but not that much.

I’ll take a venture that, on average, over the last 12-18 months of its life, the paper was losing as much as $2,500 a month, and that’s a conservative guess indeed. I don’t know exactly what Today paid in rent for its Duncanville office, but I’m making a rough internal guess.

Lisa Bradley herself, still having at least one uncashable Today paycheck in hand, probably knows even better than I do, from talking to Today owner Kim Petty, just what the situation was like. Or maybe she didn’t inquire that much.

It’s possible that Katy Hubener’s offering free office space, the paper being a free throw (though mileage costs and driver[s] pay at least partially offset the cost of a second-class postage permit) and having a part-time editorial person, may not be enough to fully cover that difference.

But, what news will you get for that? Let alone what sports, once school starts? (And, I told Katy that I was surely the only Today longer-term editorial staffer of the past five years or more who would have done that myself.)

Next, Today’s presence in the market, or ANY newspaper’s presence in the market.

Let’s be honest. South suburban Dallas simply doesn’t support a newspaper.

Marlon Hanson’s Focus? He claims his 33,000 circulation is audited, but didn’t tell me by whom. If it hasn’t been audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it ain’t that real. (And, I’ve looked for an ABC logo in the paper, from time to time.) And, I can do long division; at 33K circ, that’s better market penetration than the Dallas Morning News.

The “Neighbors” Friday tab of the Dallas Morning News? Half the ads in its aren’t from the Best Southwest suburbs. In essence, other editions of “Neighbors” are subsidizing the BSW one. Maybe it still makes a profit. But, with an editor AND assistant editor both making more money than I did at Today, I doubt it.

Plus, I’ve heard rumor that Belo is looking at yet more cuts. If you’ve seen the ads in a recent issue, or lack thereof, that shouldn’t surprise you.

Now, the circulation side.

In one interview I’ve had since Today closed, I told the people who headed that newspaper group, two former Dallas Times-Herald editorial staffers, what the circ numbers were at Today’s individual papers before they consolidated into one, then closed and they rolled their eyes. At the same time, I’ve seen the pages the papers in their group pushed, with the ads they had, and I roll my eyes at how few ads we had, and pages.

South Suburban Dallas businesses simply aren’t buying that many ads.

The Best Southwest is bad enough. And Grand Prairie is worse. If businesses really bought ads in even close proximity to a good small-town paper, a Best Southwest-only paper should easily have 30 pages a week, and Grand Prairie at least 36. In this economic climate. Eighteen months ago, those numbers could have been 36 and 42 pages. And, I’m being conservative, yet allowing for this being a suburban area, not a free-standing small town.

As for trust issues, there’s first the trust issues of Today closing on one day’s notice. Yes, I could have kept my mouth shut with the Suburban, and told Hubener if she still wanted to keep me on, that I could do so in the future. But, after being, in all likelihood, the biggest Today cheerleader in the last remnants of its editorial department its last few months, I said I couldn’t do that any more.

Anyway, back to The Suburban and what it carries over from Today.

Getting advertisers to pay up-front on credit card? My understanding was that, before Today closed, everybody there was supposed to be getting put on credit cards. Didn’t happen there, probably won’t at the Suburban.

But, if some of Duncanville’s city or economic development corporation issues are that “iffy,” well, find non-nutbar alternatives to run for the Duncanville City Council. If Katy Hubener wants change and is tired of state representative campaigns, she can start smaller and do that herself. It might actually turn out to be less expensive than sinking money into the Suburban.

Oh, and directly contravening my thought that they’re biting off too much, the Suburban has added “Waxahachie” to cities of coverage in its masthead.

Finally, to not be too anti-sentimental, Duncanville existed before the original Suburban did. And it will in the future, whatever happens in the way of a newspaper presence or not.

A gander on the future of south suburban Dallas media

A week or so ago, I took an in-depth look at the likelihood of survival of the Suburban, the attempt to restart a pseudo-edgy version of Today. (Tabloid-size format doesn’t make you “edgy”; ax-grinding just to grind axes makes you sound like a former Ellis County Press reporter.)

Now, I’m looking at the likely future success, or lack thereof, of other print media in south suburban Dallas.

That includes Focus Daily News, the Neighbors section of the Dallas Morning News, the News itself, and other venues.

First, this “against the wall” observation.

In newspaper job interviews I’ve had so far, plus talks with others who know the biz, the verdict is unanimous — even if you know how to run a newspaper, a suburban weekly is tougher than an exurban or rural community paper. And, folks at the Suburban don’t know how to run a newspaper, while part of the “competition” isn’t really a newspaper, part of it isn’t fully suburban, part of it, you have to question how it’s being run, and part of it isn’t a newspaper at all.

Details on all below the jump.


Marlon Hanson’s Focus? He claims his 33,000 circulation is audited, but didn’t tell me by whom. If it hasn’t been audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it ain’t that real. (And, I’ve looked for an ABC logo in the paper, from time to time.) And, I can do long division; at 33K circ, that’s better market penetration than the Dallas Morning News.

That said, in one recent interview at another newspaper company, started by the former top editor at the Dallas Times-Herald, with its executive editor being a former DTH higher-level editor, when I mentioned Mr. Hanson, formerly a national ad account manager at the DTH, they basically rolled their eyes. And once of them said the Focus was essentially a wrapper for inserts.

Yes, Hanson’s still making money. Mainly because Brett Shipp at WFAA has yet to do the story on it. (Or a lottery winner with a personal interest has yet to hire a lawyer.)

A decade ago, Hanson did have at least a bit of local news more than

The “Neighbors” Friday tab of the Dallas Morning News? Half the ads in its Best Southwest version aren’t even from the Best Southwest suburbs. In essence, other editions of “Neighbors” are subsidizing the BSW one. Maybe it still makes a profit. But, with an editor AND assistant editor both making more money than I did at Today, I doubt it. I really doubt it.

Plus, I’ve heard rumor that Belo is looking at yet more cuts. If you’ve seen the ads in a recent issue, or lack thereof, that shouldn’t surprise you.

So, how long will Belo continue to subsidize it from other regional versions?

And, even if that many people in the Best Southwest read “Neighbors” itself, do they actually read its staff’s blogs?

I doubt it. (No offense to my friend Loyd Brumfield.) Blogging by newspaper staff, like op-ed pages, as a prime source of advertising revenue, online circulation focus, or whatever, is a no-go. The New York Times found that out several years back when Times Select folded like a cheap tent.

And, beyond that, unless Loyd has more pressure than so far to increase news content in the tab, it’s largely reader-submitted feature stories.

Ellis County Press? It may do OK covering the white-flight folks in Ellis County.

But, by definition, those folks don’t live in southern Dallas County. The folks that do, whether white, black, or Hispanic, don’t want to read what ECP offers.

ECP is thin on coverage as is, and thin on real news at times instead of ax-grinding. (See top.)

So, it’s an exurban, not a suburban, paper, with no angle on suburbia.

The main pages of the Dallas Morning News? See “cuts” above, and note thinness of current staff. Note also the decade-old “Collin County plan.”

In short, the occasional world-class feature (the August home-rebuild story should take care of the next three months), and the more than occasional bad news story of hard news, and that’s it.

Now magazine? A monthly features magazine. No news.

Now, the circulation side.

In one interview I’ve had since Today closed, I told the people who headed that newspaper group, those two former Dallas Times-Herald editorial staffers, what the circ numbers were at Today’s individual papers before they consolidated into one, then closed and they rolled their eyes, but in a different way than over Marlon’s claims with the Focus.

Beyond that, as shown by “Neighbors,” south Suburban Dallas businesses simply aren’t buying that many ads. Yes, they bought more in Today, but that was with three ad salespeople, not one.

The best odds? Minority-oriented newspapers, perhaps.