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Former Dallas Cop Goes Down Again

January 6, 2011 By Trey Garrison 5 Comments

Got word of this last night from a great Dallas police officer, and now it’s up at FrontBurner.

As boss man Tim puts it:

If you’ve been following along at home, you know that four Dallas cops sued D Magazine for libel in 2008. For those who need to catch up, you can read about how the whole deal started right here. Needless to say, we and our fine lawyers and Haynes and Boone believe the suit is without merit. Nonetheless, it drags on. We won a judgment against them. They’ve appealed. It’ll be another six months probably before we get a ruling from the appellate court.

One of the plaintiffs in the suit against us is Jeffrey Nelson, who is now known to the fine folks of Seven Points, Texas, as Police Chief Jack Nelson. Or he was until recently. Seven points is east of Ennis, out by Gun Barrel City. After a political shakeup in Seven Points, Nelson was installed as the top cop there in July 2010. But just five months later, in November, Nelson had to resign “amidst allegations that he had made a sexual and racial slur to a female officer in the department.”

Here’s my 2007 investigative story that got Nelson, et al, up in D’s grill.

I give Tim the last word since he put it so perfectly:

Our magazine has spent quite a lot of time and money dealing with the groundless lawsuit that Nelson filed against us. Reading that story from the Athens Review about the allegations against Nelson, the word “schadenfreude” comes to mind.

Filed Under Civil Wrongs, D Magazine, FrontBurner, Police

Comments Return to FrontBurner

September 8, 2009 By Trey Garrison 13 Comments

Goodbye, heavy traffic here.

Ah well.

Filed Under D Magazine, FrontBurner

FB Open Comment Thread, and a Happy 41 to Tim Rogers

May 5, 2009 By Trey Garrison 3 Comments

Today’s comment thread is open for business. Post on anything you want, be it FrontBurner related or whatever.

Also, a special happy birthday to Tim Rogers, who turns 41 today.

Tim’s B-Day

Here’s a shot from when we went fishing, back before Tim’s first hip transplant.

n629175838_518857_4210UPDATE: Adriana Bate kindly wished Tim a happy 41st birthday on WRR 101.1. Very kind of her.

Filed Under D Magazine, FrontBurner

Daily Comments Thread

April 29, 2009 By Trey Garrison 7 Comments

Sound off.

Tim pulled a little boner in declaring Brint Ryan had his Chazz Redd moment. I’m thinking this is going to be Ann Margolin’s shirtless with guns experience. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Filed Under D Magazine, Free Speech, FrontBurner

Daily FB (and other) Comments Thread

April 28, 2009 By Trey Garrison 9 Comments

Here it is again. Speak your piece on FB items such as the running Burl Osborne commentary on whether the new media will destroy the old. (Initial post, and yesterday’s first follow up.) Or whatever else strikes your fancy.

Also, check Matt Pulle‘s latest story for Texas Watchdog on how the Republicans are striking back at the man who brought down Rep. Tom DeLay.

Or get into whether a mere girl who sometimes blogs American Idol can also provide witty commentary and depth insights into bigger issues. (My vote is yes.)

Then there’s the debut tonight of Dallas DNA which looks at the ongoing exonerations from DNA evidence of now a score of Dallas prisoners. Can’t wait.

Sound off.

Filed Under Fort Awesome, Free Speech, FrontBurner, Humor, Media

A Comment About Comments, and the Daily FB Comment Thread

April 27, 2009 By Trey Garrison 19 Comments

We got the rush of FB bashing comments on Day One, and then a slowdown on Day Two. But since then, comments have been coming in at great volume and of great quality, despite the point made in friend Gordon‘s but-gusting Quick column.

So we continue the daily FrontBurner comment thread. Have your say on any FB topic (ID it with the FB headline and link if you know HTML) and speak your mind.

Or talk about any topic that strikes your fancy, FB related or not. Links are always good. Fire away.

Usual rules apply: no excessive goddamn obscenity, clever forgives much, attacks on me are always encouraged, and while I’ve only ever deleted comments at a commenter’s request, I reserve the right to pull anything too far over the line. Note: It hasn’t arisen yet because everyone has been great, but I won’t create a list of rules people can play outhouse lawyer with, though I will explain my reasons if I ever pull a post.

Filed Under Free Speech, FrontBurner

D Publisher Swings for the Fences

April 25, 2009 By Trey Garrison 3 Comments

Wick Allison takes the pro-hoteliers to task in a spanking good FrontBurner post.

Filed Under Capitalist Superheroes, FrontBurner

Daily FB Comment Thread

April 24, 2009 By Trey Garrison 33 Comments

Participation in numbers dropped off yesterday, but the quality of the posts was outstanding. This is the kind of thing I love to see. I’m hoping we’ll get more of the same today, rather than the simple-minded FB and Wick bashing we saw on Day One. (I tolerate the latter, but I don’t endorse or enjoy it.)

Format suggestion — post the headline and/or link to the FB thread you want to discuss, and then throw in your two cents. As a pro-comment guy, I think the quality we saw yesterday puts to question Gordon’s assertion that comments denigrate rather than advance the conversation.

Final note: FB (Stephen Edmondson) is working hard on a modified comment system, so this feature is temporary. Your quality comments here will go a long way to convincing the Powers That Be that FB benefits from reader participation. So show me what you got.

Personal Note: I may start randomly deleting RayRay’s comments. Not because I disagree; I just like seeing him go all Yosemite Sam. Or maybe not. There’s a bastard that lives inside me that loves messing with people.

As for comments, I’ll start: Interior Designers

Wick is spot on with his characterization of licensing for interior decorators, hairdressers and other professions as “protectionist, anti-competition statutes” because the whole point is to limit competition. It most hurts the smaller operators with limited start-up capital, and it doesn’t protect anyone except those already in practice. Licensing makes some sense for some professions — lawyers, doctors, construction companies — but it doesn’t for pillow-tossers and hair stylists. The worst case I saw was the black lady who did weaves and braiding for mostly black clients out of her home who was told to cease and desist because she didn’t have a license. Getting a license was costly and required joining an expensive association, and the training was for a whole bunch of stuff she didn’t do. It’s ridiculous. The training they required didn’t even touch on the unique needs of braiding black women’s hair or doing weaves, and who exactly was at risk from this lady not having a license?

And on interior decorators — come on. What risk is there to clients over the placement of throw pillows or choosing the wrong color wall paint?

UPDATE: Regarding interior designers, my friend Radley Balko had this a while back.

Filed Under FrontBurner

Daily Comment Thread

April 23, 2009 By Trey Garrison 4 Comments

Free range comments welcome on the day’s FrontBurner topics, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Quit walkin’ and get talkin’.

I’m interested in what folks think of this from our buddy Gordon Keith.

Comments in general — good, bad, and who makes you read them?

Filed Under FrontBurner, Media

New Feature: Daily FB Comment Thread

April 21, 2009 By Trey Garrison 12 Comments

With comments shut down on FrontBurner, I’ll have a daily open thread here for comments on the day’s FB postings.

Let’s see if this works.

Filed Under FrontBurner