Clerk Fitszimmons says Dupree must go
Judge Maryellen Hicks’ report on the harassment allegations against Constable Mike Dupree has been released. The report does not make for pleasant reading. Judge Hicks’ findings clearly describe a persistent pattern of harassment and retaliation by Dupree against his employees.
Elected officials, including myself, must be held accountable for their actions. Law enforcement officers in particular are held to a high standard of accountability. Dupree’s abuse of authority has violated the public trust, and he should resign his office immediately.
Gary Fitzsimmons
District Clerk, Dallas County
Local T-shirt printer discriminated
This is a sad day for the LGBT community, not just as a people, but as businessmen and women.
My friends and I have an online T-shirt design business and were looking for a local printing company to create our shirts to be sold at the upcoming Dallas Lesbian Festival.
We decided to have our shirts printed by Dallas Screen Printing. We made the arrangements and sent the artwork.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but since we are on a tight deadline, my business partner called them to check on the progress.
It was only then that she was told that the owner was shown our artwork and that she was refusing to print our shirts due to her religious beliefs.
This is disheartening not only because it’s blatant discrimination, but more importantly, because it is a failure to perform a service which could result in a loss of revenue to us!
Shame on them.
Rebecca Saunders
Dallas
On the reasons for Oakley’s defeat
I found reading the Dallas Voice’s analysis of the June16 city election runoffs to be interesting, and I agree that being out can be a double-edged sword. I also agree with Dan Weiser’s comment that there were numerous reasons for Ed Oakley’s loss, and I haven’t heard some of them discussed. One was the attack ad that featured Tom Leppert’s facial tic, which hurt Oakley as much as it helped. In the little time I spent on the campaign phones, I heard several comments from supporters who were turned off by it, and Ed’s defense of it during the TV debate was weak. Using a physical trait over which he has no control opened the door to attacks on orientation.
Another was the zoning issue of the Hollywood Door Co., which Leppert used as a club during the last two weeks with a commercial that ran frequently on WRR. If Bill Blaydes misrepresented the issue when asking for Ed’s support, he needed to come out and apologize.
This is not to say that the media buzz over “a gay candidate” and the anti-gay robo calls to voters were not major factors. They were just not the only ones. Most worrisome, as I said on election night, this result validates gay-baiting as a campaign tactic. Perhaps our next candidate can be pictured with a same-gender spouse and at least one child, making a statement on “family values.”
I’m curious to see how the new mayor carries out his agenda, beyond his vague promises which may prove empty.
The city will not be able to retain police officers until the lawsuit is settled, and we will continue to train them for the suburbs. We are unable to raise salaries without bankrupting the city, and the signing bonus may be bringing them in, but does little to keep them.
As for education, there is something the city could do: offer parenting classes! Having worked in a number of schools, I will say that the biggest problem is children who come to school not prepared to learn. After dealing with one bunch of second-graders, I wanted to go work for Planned Parenthood. However, it’s easier to push for teacher training, or even more testing of students.
Thank you Dallas Voice, for your clear and balanced reporting.
Daniel Polk
Dallas
Isaiah Washington deserved to be fired
Re: the firing of Isaiah Washington.
We need more, not fewer, substantial punishments for the crime of bigotry, particularly when it comes from those who should know better. It does Washington no good trying to blame the victim of his hate crime that’s the classic response of bigots in the spotlight.
However, Washington’s remarks and the damage the do pale in contrast to the roles of religious bigots like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Der Pope Ratzinger, a former or maybe not so former Nazi.
Somebody should place Herr Ratzinger and Robertson under citizens arrest and deport them to a gay-friendly jurisdiction for trial and imprisonment for the felony of inciting violence against gays and lesbians.
People like them are just as responsible as the killers and thugs who do their bidding with knives, boots, fists and guns.
Bill Perdue
Las Vegas
To send a letter
We welcome letters from readers. Shorter letters are more likely to be printed, as are those that address only a single topic. On some weeks we receive more letters than we
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This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, June 29, 2007.
