City prepares for immigration rally

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Regional Roundup .....................2
Lakewood/East Dallas ...............3
Classifieds ................................6
Obituaries ..........................10-11
Weather .................................14
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE METRO AREA, PLUS MORE FROM:
Dallas neighborhoods, Park Cities and Richardson
The Dallas Morning News
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they’re ready for just about anything.
“It will create huge problems
going in and getting out of downtown,” Police Chief David Kunkle
said. “But I believe it’ll be a safe
event, a peaceful event, but we’ll be
in position to deal with all concerns that come up.”
When asked if Dallas is ready to
accommodate more than 100,000
marchers, Mayor Laura Miller
said: “We will be prepared for that
many people.”
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Duncanville Community
Theatre will conclude the
production of the romantic
comedy Coming Apart with
a final performance at 8
tonight. Admission is $8 to
$10 at the theater, 106 S.
Main St., Duncanville.
972-780-5707.
www.dctheatre.org.
wildly. Organizers say they expect
more than 20,000 people — their
By DAVE LEVINTHAL
official city parade permit pegs the
and JASON TRAHAN
number between 20,000 and
Staff Writers
50,000 — and city government ofMost everyone involved ex- ficials say they’re preparing for as
pects that Sunday’s immigration many as 200,000 marchers.
But even the low end of that
rally in downtown Dallas will be
massive and disruptive — but range would probably make the
march the largest single civil rights
peaceful.
Estimates of how many pro- gathering in city history.
Police and city officials say
testers will attend continue to vary
ak
Cathedral Shrine of the
Virgin of Guadalupe
ton
Hous
FOR CURTAIN
CALL
Dallas: Safety a priority
as crowd estimates
reach 200,000
Hispanic professor threatened. 12B
Mercedes Olivera, 12B
March route
DART line
DART station
This march route, released by Dallas
City Hall on Friday, is subject to change.
ry
FOR THE BEAT
The Dallas Symphony
Orchestra will perform with
percussionists Colin Currie
and Jennifer Higdon at 8
tonight and at 2:30 p.m.
Sunday. Admission is $8 to
$102 at the Morton H.
Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. 214-6920203. www.dallassymph
ony.com.
City prepares for
immigration rally
MARCH ROUTE
o
Vict
BEST
BETS
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Convention Center
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research
See CITY Page 12B
LAYNE SMITH/Staff Artist
For more arts and entertainment, see the Guide
section each Friday. Or visit
www.guidelive.com.
SHERRY JACOBSON
Another
migration
quandary
FOCUS ON YOU
Today, the Metro section focuses on Lakewood/South Dallas.
E
Smooth start: Students
at East Dallas’ Eduardo
Mata Elementary are
embracing ballet. 3B
More focus communities and the days they
are highlighted:
Park Cities
Thursday
North Dallas
Friday
Richardson /
Lake Highlands
Sunday
Have an idea for a story
about people or events
in any of these areas?
Send an e-mail to
central@dallasnews
.com.
SHE SAID IT
“All of this has got to
be fixed. This isn’t
good.”
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller
while touring Deep
Ellum with
neighborhood activists.
Story, 12B
INSIDE
Dallas official takes
Irving job offer
Dallas assistant city manager Tommy Gonzalez has
accepted the Irving City
Manager’s position. 8B
Feds agree with
fixes for Dallas jail
Federal inspectors’ recommendations after a recent
follow-up visit to the Dallas
County Jail were similar to
fixes Parkland Memorial
Hospital proposed. 7B
Retiree gets chance
to fly in bomber
A McKinney retiree got a
blast from the past when he
caught a ride on a B-25 for a
birthday present. 11B
C
. . . . . . . .
TOM FOX/Staff Photographer
Sparky the Spark Plug, Ryan Pashia, 24, practiced his back flip with the assistance of Steven Webb on Thursday at
Texas Motor Speedway. The move was made famous in racing circles by driver Carl Edwards.
Being Sparky can misfire
brave the crowds once more this weekend
Speedway mascot loves job, during the Samsung/RadioShack 500.
“Children don’t seem to always know where
but giant head, kids
their arms and legs are,” said Mr. Pashia, 24,
of Hickory Creek.
are road hazards
“Let’s just say that the way you’re built
By KATIE MENZER
and the way they’re built just doesn’t always
Staff Writer
add up right.”
He might be dressed as a genderless, 11Sparky is the public-relations creation of
foot-tall spark plug, but that doesn’t mean racetrack general manager Eddie Gossage,
it’s OK to kick him in the gasket.
who also invented the loveable Lugnut of
Ryan Pashia is the man behind Sparky, Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte,
Texas Motor Speedway’s red-hot mascot, N.C.
and he’s experienced it all in his five years as
Pit Boss is Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s
the world’s most huggable — or punchable promotional character, with a head that is,
— ignition device.
disturbingly, a fuzzy die.
Dressed in Sparky’s 3-foot-tall head,
Atlanta’s got the enviable Monkey
jeans, chaps and other “protection,” he’ll Wrench monkey man.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
The Dallas Morning News
documents a 24-hour period
this week at Victory Home, a
nonprofit drug rehabilitation
center in South Dallas.
FRIDAY: “Good morning,
homeboy.” The men wake up
for hours of prayer and chores.
TODAY: “This could be a
hustle.” They hit the streets to
sell banana bread and
evangelize.
SUNDAY: “This whole street is
demon possessed.” A
confrontation with a
nonbeliever marks the night.
DigitalEXTRA
^ Video: Residents and
counselors at Victory Home
discuss the changes the
minstry has made in their
lives
@ Photos: See more images
from the home
1 Link: Read previous
installments in the series
DallasNews.com/extra
Good faith
can be a
tough sell
Dallas: Addicts in rehab
hit a wall trying to raise
funds, spread the Word
By SCOTT FARWELL
Staff Writer
A man’s pride can flake away a
little at a time, or fall off in big
chunks.
On this day, Elliott Haynes
stands along McKinney Avenue in
Uptown, cradles a grocery bag
with banana bread, and holds
himself together.
He’s angry, hurt, conflicted.
It’s 3:33 p.m.
The drug-addicted men of Victory Home raise most of the mon-
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“I wish I had thought up Monkey
Wrench,” Mr. Gossage said. “That monkey
costume lets you do a lot of things.”
The limitations of a giant spark plug became abundantly clear during the mascot’s
inaugural appearance in 1997, when Sparky
— then played by Mr. Gossage’s 15-year-old
son — tried to alight from the track’s 12foot-high flag stand, where he’d been waving at the crowd.
Sparky’s corkscrew head restricts the
wearer’s vision, and Mr. Gossage’s son
couldn’t see the stairs that led to the track
below.
He fell from the top of the staircase to the
concrete and landed in a motionless lump.
See SPARKY Page 2B
verybody seems so excited
about stopping people
from illegally moving to
the United States, but nobody
cares that elderly Americans are
being enticed to cross our southern border and take up residence
in a foreign country.
Am I alone in noticing there’s a
lot of two-way traffic down there?
Mexico has made it so easy for
retired Americans to spend their
remaining years soaking up the
sun in places that offer affordable
living — and cheap margaritas to
boot.
Somewhere
between
600,000 and 1 million Americans
are purported to have taken up
residence in expatriate communities across that country alone.
Shouldn’t we be trying to stop
this population hemorrhage before it gets out of control?
These American deserters are
changing dollars for pesos, learning a language other than English,
and enjoying warm weather in
January and February.
It’s positively un-American.
I pondered this migration dilemma as I vacationed last week in
San Miguel de Allende, a popular
See MANY Page 2B
Tulips fall,
but Blooms
presses on
Dallas: As nature steps on
200,000 festival stars,
stand-ins take root
By KATIE MENZER
Staff Writer
There’s no tiptoeing around it.
The tulips — 200,000 of them
— are dead.
“Everything was going along
and the tulips looked fantastic,
and then one day we came in and
they didn’t look so good,” Karen
Vassar, a spokeswoman for the
Dallas Arboretum, said Friday.
“The tulips have expired.”
The tulip tragedy is forcing arboretum officials to hustle to replace the dead flowers with
25,000 gorgeous, late-spring annuals for the final week of the arLAWRENCE JENKINS/Special Contributor
boretum’s most popular festival,
Thomas Jacobs (left) tries to talk Cedric Steele into coming to Dallas Blooms.
Victory Home, a Christian-based drug rehab center.
Who’s to blame for the blooming blight? Mother Nature.
rings, and then spend hours each
A mild winter — January had
ROAD TO
day on the street selling.
the warmest high temperatures on
REDEMPTION
Mr. Haynes, 36, and Anthony record — befuddled tulips, irises
Hackett, 35, worked a Kroger and daffodils this year, tricking
ey for the South Dallas rehab cen- parking lot, until an employee ran them into peaking their little
ter in Fair Park. They bake sweet them off.
heads above ground weeks early.
bread, coat apples with candy,
See STREET Page 13B
stitch beads onto colorful key
See TULIPS Page 5B
B1 C 04-08-2006 Set: 21:27:45
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The Dallas Morning News
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THE GARDEN
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NATHAN HUNSINGER/Staff Photographer
After withering before the April 17 close of Dallas Blooms,
thousands of tulips are soon to become compost.
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Tulips have packed it
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Continued from Page 1B
Things that bloom early, die early — including the tulips that the arboretum had planted as the traditional stars of Dallas Blooms, which
runs through April 17.
Although the tulips are pushing
up daisies, there’s no reason to pine
the plants’ passing, said Dave Forehand, the arboretum’s vice president of gardens.
“We had a good five weeks of tulips. It just started a week and a half
early and ended a week and a half
early,” Mr. Forehand said. “And people who regularly come to Dallas
Blooms this time of year will get to
see some flowers that they wouldn’t
normally see.”
Workers are now digging up the
beds of belly-up bulbs and replacing
them with thousands of begonias,
petunias, torenias, marigolds, cyclamen and other late-spring blooming
annuals.
A few tulips remain — standing
strong like Dutch soldiers among a
sea of purple pansies — but it’s the
azaleas, cherry blossoms and dogwoods that are hogging the limelight now.
“We want people to know that as
they are driving around seeing tulips
expire, it doesn’t mean there is nothing to see here,” Ms. Vassar said.
But even Ms. Vassar — obviously
a tulip fan — can’t help from sounding just a little contrary about how
her garden grows.
“When they were here,” she said,
“they were spectacular.”
E-mail kmenzer@dallasnews.com
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Candid Contractor reveals how to stop
“Over Paying” the utility company and
put $1500 in your pocket…
“As of January 2006 the price consumers pay TXU will be 84% higher than in 2002”
Source – KDFW Fox 4 News
Dear Interested Homeowner,
If you're air conditioner is over 8 years old, I've got great news for you
and your pocketbook, if you think you may be paying too much to cool
your home because your air conditioner is past its prime.
Right now, you can replace BOTH your inefficient air conditioning
system and heater for about $1500 less than you'd normally expect to
pay.
This is not a scam. In fact, it solves one of my biggest problems. (It's
also an incredible financial opportunity for you.)
Over Payment Protection
Absolutely No Obligation
Even after my comfort advisor completely explains the installation,
there is absolutely no obligation. If you decide you don't want to take
advantage of the spectacular savings… that's okay. I will give you a
surprise gift worth $25 because you are kind enough to read this rather
long letter and give me a chance to solve my problem. I want you to
think well of ONE HOUR AIR CONDITIONING & HEATING even
if you don't buy.
You can Buy with NO Cash
You don't even have to pay me right now. I have set up a terrific bank
rate financing plan. I even decided not to mark up the interest rate like
some companies.
Consider this. If you decide to make monthly investments instead of
paying cash, the entire amount of your payments might be more than
offset by the savings on your utility bills. It's like “having your cake and
eating it too”.
Perfect Fit For Your Home
Just call me at 214-328-2100 anytime. I will have one of my comfort
advisors come out and measure your home and determine the availability
of the proper size. Don't forget I only have a limited number of matched
systems. When they are gone they're gone.
My comfort advisor, who has been extensively trained to properly
analyze the comfort requirements of your home, will show you the real
world price on the system that fits your home. Then, he will show you
the substantial savings now.
Stop Over Paying
You can drastically reduce your utility bills with a high efficiency air
conditioning and heating system. You can actually cut your bills by as
much as 30% - 50% with today's technological advances in efficiency by
replacing that old worn out system.
I know, “If it ain't broke don't fix it!” My question is - do you own
stock in the utility company?
Cold Cash
Now here's your “Opportunity of the Year.” Buy one of these brandnew first quality systems sized to fit your home's needs and I will give
you a rebate of up to $1500. You can use it as a discount or receive it in
the form of a check from us.
Additionally my comfort advisor will show you how to earn up to
$500 in Federal tax credits. Yep, you read correctly. You get a brand new
system for about $1500 less than you'd normally pay and you can reduce
your taxes by up to $500.
Candid Contractor
I'm so confident that you will save at least 30% on your cooling and
heating bills. (I'm projecting more like 40-50%), that I will pay you
Double the Difference for two years if you don't. I'll show you exactly
how this works.
There is no way you can lose. Your lower utility bills will help you
save big. And I will even double your savings if you save less than 30%.
If these systems and my installation technicians were not the best in
the industry, I couldn't afford to make such a bold promise.
Here's My Problem
The early spring months we're in right now are traditionally tough for
my business. My phone doesn't ring. My technicians sit around doing
nothing. And I take such a financial hit during these couple of months, I
have to peddle twice as fast to make up for it the rest of the year. BUT
NOT THIS YEAR!
I've decided to plan ahead and take action that I hope will cut my
losses so I don't have to play so much catch-up. Here's how I'm doing
it… and here's how you can benefit.
I know from experience that one of the biggest challenges air
conditioning contractors face is the weather. Knowing this I've decided
to quit trying to forecast the weather on when it's going to get hot.
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• No “seconds,” no “slightly damaged” units, no builder-grade models
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Why this Offer Can't Last
You must act before May 31st. Here are two reasons why.
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If I have any of the systems left on May 31st (although I doubt I will),
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no profit (for me) offer is because of the traditionally tough spring
months. My business always starts to improve in June. I can then sell
them at normal retail price.
Give Lisa a call now at 214-328-2100 and she will set an appointment
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Thank you for reading this rather long letter. I hope you will profit
greatly because of it.
Yours for lower utility bills,
Randy Kelley
Randy Kelley
General Manager
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P.S. Don't forget. If your air conditioner is over 8 years old, a rewarding
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Find out where your weekend fun is happening. Every Friday.
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