Rear of Village Station in 1980. The building now houses Zini’s and Skivvies
Funny what you find when you’re going through old drawers when you’re packing to move.
Apparently attorney Don Maison is still owed $28.30 for some work he did on a case in 1980-83 in which about a dozen people were arrested at Village Station for public lewdness. Yes, they were — wait for it because it’s pretty graphic — dancing. Ironically, the song playing during the raid was “Enough is Enough.”
A photo of the back of the building shows graffiti that reads, “STOP POLICE HARASSMENT.” Maison said this and other photos were taken as part of the evidence shown at the trials.
According to a Dallas Morning News clipping that we found in the same folder, after a criminal judge found four of the defendants not guilty, District Attorney Henry Wade removed the remaining cases from Judge Chuck Miller and placed them in another court. No, that wasn’t legal, and the paperwork filing the grievance against Wade is also included in the folder.
Maison said as he sat in court that day, he realized the police officer testifying couldn’t have possibly seen what he claimed he saw from where he said he was standing. He called Ernie Smith from Caven Enterprises, owner of Village Station, and had him rush building plans over to the courthouse. On the stand, Smith explained how the cop couldn’t have seen what he said he saw using those plans. The judge acquitted because the officer was obviously lying.
Maison said among the witnesses who came forward to testify that she went to Village Station often just to dance was a very young Pauline Medrano.
According to Maison, who is now CEO of AIDS Services Dallas, only one person was convicted. Another was found guilty at the trial level but that was reversed and rendered on appeal and later expunged from the record.
Also found among the papers are depositions for the case Dallas Gay Alliance, Inc., Ronald Dickson Woodroof vs. Dallas County Hospital District d/b/a Parkland Memorial Hospital. Maison was one of the attorneys on that case too. Woodroof is better known as founder of the Dallas Buyers Club. DGA and Woodroof prevailed, forcing Dallas County to fund medical care and medication for persons with AIDS.
These files are going up to University of North Texas to be added to the LGBT archives.
Found among the files was this interior shot of Village Station, 1983
