To Victory and Beyond!

So last night, some friends and I went to Victory Park to watch a broadcast of WFAA's 10 newscast. It was pretty cool.. We did not hear what they were saying, but we could see all of the behind the scene's actions. There was a cop outside of the studio doors, making sure that no deranged lunatic tried to get into the station.

Inside, the floor crew was preparing, getting cameras where they needed to be and then the talent started to appear and get themselves ready. Brett Shipp, a reporter, walked up and into the building while we were waiting. We saw him go inside, put on his tie and then start memorizing his lines for his (virtually) 2-second talk-up to his taped story. Then Macie Jepson and John McCaa took their places at the anchor desk. Macie Jepson is really tall! Despite the 3 inch heels that she was wearing, she is a tall lady. She seemed really nice. As she was walking out to their van, she waved to goodbye to us.

Pete Delkus appeared and walked over to the weather center to start prepping for his segment. He even came outside and did a little stand up giving the viewers a tease for weather. He told us all to come closer so we could be on TV. I did not choose to do so, but still managed to make it on TV. You could see my arm in the background as they went to break. He was pretty nice.

Watching the weather segment was pretty interesting. As Pete was talking, he walked over to the computers and started to manipulate the radars to try to demonstrate what he was talking about and after that, he walked over to the green screen. He then did his thing and then walked back over to the desk. This was as I expected, nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion. It was just cool to see it in person.

If you are in the Metroplex and are somewhat curious about how a TV newscast works/happens, I would suggest checking it out.. If not for that, just for the whole plaza because it is just pretty cool..the TVs and all of the colors that come from that square.. and just looking at the skyline at night...I could spend many hours just staring at the AAC...it is just an awesome style... but I digress...

An Ode to HEB

So I heard a rumor that my favorite grocery chain is looking at joining the North Texas market. In response, I let them know how I really feel about them:

I just wanted to tell you what a great shopping experience that you provide and how sad I was when I came to North Texas for college and how I miss HEB. Every time that I walk into an HEB when I am at home (my hometown HEB is the Clear Lake store) I am always greeted with friendly smiles and a pleasant shopping experience. I also enjoy the quality of goods that I find there and excellent prices. When I go home for a visit, there are a few things that I stock up on to hold me out until my next visit; HEB Contact Solution and HEB Root Beer and Dr. B. I have been to the Central Market in Plano and was disappointed when I did not find these items, but was not too shocked because I understand that these items do not "fit" the Central Market scheme. I just want to let you know that I think that the HEB brand can work here in North Texas. Walmart is #1 in this market, but with the type of products, service and prices, you can sure give the nasty Wallyworld a run for their money. I have heard a rumor that ya'll may be interested in starting in small towns in this area, and if that is true, I will be really excited. I was on an HEB high for 30 minutes after I heard of the rumor. I am not kidding, I have references if you need to check. I am just asking that you please enter our market and bring me a little taste of home, the taste of HEB Rootbeer and Dr. B, the taste of a pleasant shopping experience and the taste of an awesome company that I am proud to be a customer of.

Here is what HEB had to say in response:

Dear Mr. Mayfield:

Hello and thank you for contacting us at our H-E-B Web Site. We always appreciate hearing from our Friends and Customers.

Thank you for requesting a store in North Texas. We will share your suggestion and comments with our Real Estate Department for their information and consideration. We are continually evaluating where to build new stores and where to expand. Unfortunately, we can't give you an exact answer as to when something might be done in this area. Thank you for your feedback.

H-E-B is proud to serve you as our Customer and we will look forward to all future opportunities we may have to serve you. We genuinely value your comments and your business. As we strive to deliver superior Customer Service, we encourage you to continue letting us know how we can serve you better.

Sincerely,

Cathy

Customer Relations Specialist

H-E-B Grocery Company

She was quite vague, which is standard for any company, but there is still hope! Next step will be a petition drive. I know that the South Texans for an HEB in Denton group on Facebook will be a good base to start with. Let's start the fight. The fight for our right to an HEB. Our motto will be "Give me HEB or give me death!"

Quote of the Day...(Awesome!)

AP questions to the 2008 Presidential Candidates:

"What is the last work of fiction you've read?"

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson: " The administration's energy plan."

Its almost that time again!

Yes, that most exciting time for a hunter of sorts is almost here. Can you guess what it is? Hurricane Season! Oh yeah! This past year was a quiet one, which was fine with the people of the United States after a busy season in 2005 with the total destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The reminder of the Hurricane season comes today as a sub-tropical system forms off of the southeastern coast of the United States. The Hurricane Season does not start until June 1st, so this is quite out of the ordinary. Meteorologists are calling this a subtropical storm, meaning that it is not quite tropical storm, and not quite a frontal storm. The National Hurricane Center in Miami sent out a Hurricane Hunter plane today and verified that it does have the qualities of a "sub topical cyclone" and that if it continues to develop and stay on track with "subtropical" trends, they will start issuing advisories on "Subtropical Storm Andrea." And this is with 22 days still left before Hurricane season starts!

The reason that it is not an outright tropical storm is because the highest wind speeds are away from the center of the storm, whereas in a tropical storm, the highest wind speeds are found in the center near the "eye" (if it has one).

If it does "hit" the coast, it would be good because GA and FL are having some fire issues because they are experiencing a drought right now. It is moving 5 mph in a westward direction, but as far as it making an impact on that situation, I do not think it is favorable.

Is this a sign of what is to come this Hurricane season? It may or it may not. Only time will tell. Remember, if we do run out of names for this season, we go GREEK! "Party on Wayne, Party on Garth!"

Yeah, I know.. they were not Greek nor was that very funny.. I have to try sometimes though..

Grr....

I am so tired of hearing about people with guns and buildings! Right now, some idiot is holed up at JSC (Johnson Space Center in Houston) with a gun. Due to all of this, Clear Creek ISD had to lock down Space Center Intermediate because they are on the JSC grounds, practically right across the street from the building where all of this mess is happening.

Why can't we use our words? Why is it that people choose guns? Why is it that we are the only country in the world that has these types of problems?

If you go back and look at the United States Constitution, at the 2nd Amendment, and read the true content of the amendment, it was only written to allow states to have militias. It was not written for the intent of people having guns. Just for the ability to have guns to arm the militias. Unless you are a part of your local state guard, military or public safety, nobody else really needs a gun. They only ask for trouble. If a student was packing heat at VA Tech when the crazy dude came in, would it really have helped or stopped him earlier? No. There probably would have been more injured, or even dead.

Do we need more gun control? Yes. Is it ever going to happen? No. Why not? Because it is too controversial and nobody would ever agree on a single piece of legislation. How did the Brady Bill get passed? I have no idea. I wish that it was not allowed to expire, because now that it has expired, assault weapons are more readily available than before the Brady Bill. If the Brady Bill were still in effect, the gunman from VA Tech would not have had the gun that he used and also it would have slowed him down and possibly preventing him from harming others. What's going to happen in the future? Who knows....

Virginia Tech Tragedy

Another school was under attack today. School shootings have now migrated to higher education. As of now (130 pm CDT) 31 students have been either wounded or perished, including the shooter. It is just a sad day. The last time that there have been a great tragedy at a school was Columbine in 1999. The last incident like this at an institution of higher education was in the 60's at the University of Texas with the bell tower shooter with approximately 90 minnutes of terror and 16 students dead. It is now the deadliest shooting incident in US History.

This is the second incident at Virginia Tech in the past 6 months. In August, on their first day of class, classes were cancelled and buildings put on lock-down because an escaped inmate came on campus and killed a sheriff's deputy. What would it be like to be a beginning freshman through all of this? This would be a hard introduction to independent living.

Why do we have to face this in our society? Why are people going against others in mass casualties like this?

It is sad because many students are part of Generation Y and have already experienced school shootings at the terror that it can cause at school. After hearing things like this, it makes you a little uneasy and makes you re-evaluate the safety situation at your respective homes and campus.

Here is a first hand prospective of the situation: http://icantread01.livejournal.com/103060.html

It is also interesting how technology has affected this situation. When the phone systems failed, people turned to websites, blogs and social networks like Facebook and Myspace to find news about their friends and about what was going on around them. The link above is a prime example of this. Here is another link with information and other blogs : http://www.cybersoc.com/2007/04/virginia_tech_s.html

This situation is quite unfortunate and our prayers are with the students and families of this situation.

Is change really good?

I was surfing on my favorite radio station's website, and I encountered a piece of news that I did not know about. Virgin Radio has a morning show called the Breakfast Show. I usually listen to it via podcast because I don't really want to stay up all night so I can listen to it as it comes on at 12 am here in Denton. Well, one of the DJ's (Chris Smith) took a leave of absence so he could attend to his wife while she had a baby. This was like 2 weeks ago. Well, while he was gone, the station played around with having Christian O'Connell (the main DJ) go solo and then they added a producer to the mike and tried that. They tested around and found out that they liked the show better without Chris Smith (the new daddy) who was out on leave. Now, Chris was an awesome sidekick. The main DJ is a little childish and is really evened out by Chris. They have worked together for a while and even switched radio stations this past year.

The news that I read last night was that he was canned. The main DJ never made any mention of the demise of Chris Smith. There was no statement and they deleted all of his pictures and anything that had to deal with Chris. The team was now broken up.

I just think that was a bad move. It would have also been nice for them to give him a proper send off and explain everything to the listeners. Not to mention, he was on a leave of absence to attend to a new member of his family. Is that a kick in the balls or what?

Why is radio so fickle like that? They did the same exact thing here in the Metroplex at Mix 102.9; canned Cappy from the Morning Mix with Tony and Cappy. Which is better? Running away old listeners from a radio show or trying to gain new ones? I know that it is easier and cheaper to gain new customers for a business, but shouldn't they work harder to keep old customers around?

Picture: To the left, Brian The Producer, to the right: Newly canned Chris Smith

Joel Osteen: Is it all necessary?

Ok, so if you are from Houston, know somebody from Houston, watch Christian TV, read Christian Books, anything besides live under a rock (and maybe not even then), you have definitely heard of Joel Osteen. He is the pastor of a little church called Lakewood Church. You can catch his sermons on TV on Sunday mornings and he is that guy on the cover of that book that everybody is reading, according to the NYT best seller list: Your Best Life Now. Now, according to fellow Blogger Mike McGuff and Christian Today, Joel Osteen has the #9 most listened to podcast online. In addition, he also has a board game based on his book.

My question is: "Is all of this necessary?" Yes, one of the points of Christianity is to spread the word. I am not against that. Not at all. However, I think that there is a point in which you can take things too far. I can understand the podcast thing and maybe localized distribution of his weekly sermons; Lakewood is a big church (so big that they had to take over the old home of the Houston Rockets) and these methods are a good chance to keep the local congregation in touch with their massive church. I can even understand the book. I have not read it myself, but from what I understand, it is a self-help book; with all that is going on in our world, why not? But is there a point of over saturation? TV, podcast, book, board game, all kinds of interviews.. That is a little much. Simplicity is enough to spread the word. What happened to just talking to your local parishioners or people in the community? That is what God would have done, not gone national or even global. One big issue is that I have a problem with the game. I don't understand the need of the game. There is just no need. If it were one of those games that was like a bible quiz game, I would understand it a little more, but I don't think that is it. It just makes me wonder...

Now don't get me wrong. Lakewood has done great things for the people of the City of Houston and worldwide. Back in 2001, they organized a huge food and clothing drive to help those who lost all in the horrible 100 year floods from Tropical Storm Allison. I just sometimes wonder if John Osteen, Joel's father, would be satisfied with how the church has evolved and what Joel is doing with it since his death. I remember the day that he passed away in 1999, The whole City of Houston mourned is death.

But a game about the book? I just don't know about that.

Photo Credit: Houston Chronicle

Random Thoughts (sorry its boring)

So I have been thinking about going abroad and taking classes in the UK. I've got a bug and something has to kill it. However, there are a lot of factors that come into play if I were to do this.

Cost is key, but if you read a previous posting, there are some possibilities. Another thing would be what would I study? The only subjects that make since is Education and American Studies. If I were to do Education, I would still have to take some certification tests once I came back here to start teaching.

However, I am already starting classes and preparing to take my subject test at the beginning of next month. With the American Studies degree, my first instinct says "Why study America in the UK? It doesn't make since." The only logical thing that I can pull from it would be that I could study it and see how foreigners construe the US while teaching about it. Also, it would be a good chance to live abroad (something that I have always wanted to do) and to take in some UK culture (no, it is not too different from ours, but there are some differences). I just think that it would be awesome. I know that I just came back from a study abroad trip, but that is not the same. We did not stay in one place for more than 3 days and it was not like a typical study abroad experience (it was still awesome!).

Additionally, I have bills here that I have to pay, take care of my new car that has a 3 year lease on it, stuff like that. I just don't know what to do. Should I continue what I am working on and forget about it? Should I just do this after I get my Masters and then go and study abroad?

I think that I will still investigate the options, but I don't know what I would do.

What would you do?

Why mess with a good thing?

I know that I have probably told all of y'all about the recent 'news' with Grey's Anatomy... The business about how they are going to have a spin off with Addison Montgomery as the lead character. Personally, I think that this is a bad move. The show is great as it is. There is a great dynamic as it is with all of the characters. If they remove one, I think that it will mess up the dynamic and take away from the show. This is a really popular show, it does not make since. I don't think that Addison is strong enough to actually be on her own. They are bringing in all kinds of people who had shows that eventually failed so who knows how that will pan out.. A lot of shows have had spin offs: Friends had Joey (which only lasted a season and a half) the Cosby's had A Different World (I'm sure that did not last long..) etc. You get the picture. They rarely work. Maybe ABC is trying to give these actors a second chance, or maybe they had contracts with some of them. I just call it a bad move. They will figure it out this fall when they see a decline overall ratings with Grey's Anatomy.

Scholarship Opportunities

This is a good tidbit of information if you are interested in continuing your education beyond a bachelors degree. Personally, I should have investigated this more before I started my course work, but I may still be eligible. I will have to see. There are several opportunities for Study Abroad and stateside study as well. These are highly competitive and world renown scholarships, so they are pretty cool and extensive. A couple that I am investigating are the Rotary Ambassador Scholarship, the James Madison Scholarship and the Marshall Scholarship. Dr. Duban from the office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships is holding a workshop on March 28th from 3-4pm in the Lyceum if you are interested. You can get more information about the different types of scholarships available at this website : http://www.opgf.unt.edu/ You can also contact Dr Duban with specific questions at jduban@unt.edu.

The James Madison Scholarship is for those who are interested in teaching Secondary American History. They will pay for your Masters degree and all you have to do is teach for the amount of years that you receive scholarship money from them (which you would be doing anyways). The deadline has already passed, but worth looking into for the next go around.

The Marshall Scholarship allows you to study in the UK for 2 years at most UK universities. It will pay for room and board, books, round fare ticket from here to there and a Masters Degree. There is no obligation with this one except for completing your program.

The Rotary Ambassador Scholarship allows you to study almost anywhere on the globe and they will pay for tuition and housing. All you have to do is be an ambassador for your country in the place that you choose to study. for Rotary International.

If you are interested, check out the website to get more details on the programs.

Is it child abuse?

Connor McCreaddie of Wallsend, England, is 8 years old. He is also 218 pounds. On Tuesday, Connor and his mother had to meet with the County Council (equivalent to our court system) to determine if Connor was facing harm at home due to his diet. Ms McCreaddie was worried about loosing custody of Connor. However, the North Tyneside County Council determined that Connor could stay with his mum but they all needed to watch over him to ensure that this situation does not get out of hand.

Recently, ITV, a British televison network, followed Connor around for a month watching his every move. He would eat snack every 20 minutes, usually comprising of chips and cookies (or in British, crisps and biscuits). He can put away 8 lunch sized bags of chips and 3 packages of cookies a day. For dinner, his mother would prepare french fries, buttered bread and other bad things. She tells Connor to stay out of the fridge between meals, (which he ignores) and refuses to put a lock on the fridge. She admits that he was a big baby. At age 2 1/2, she could not pick him up anymore and at age 5, he was 126 pounds.

Is this abuse? I think that it can be if the mother is not doing anything about this situation. She is not forcing him to exercise and it is aparent that she is not changing the diet. I am sure that she is not deliberately trying to fatten him up like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, but in this age, it is necessary to be more cognizant of diet and weight. It is all just sad. I can understand that she is a single parent of 2 kids and that it is hard, but if she were to put a little bit of effort into it, it could go a long way. Maybe take the kids to the park every other day. Throw in some salad instead of bread. Try some vegetarian dishes. GET A LOCK FOR THE FRIDGE! He will not starve to death, he will just gripe until the next meal time.

I think that the County Council made a good move in not removing him from his mothers custody. That probably would have been detrimental to him and caused depression which leads to even more eating. They should just help his mother construct a diet and exercise plan for him. That is all that he can do for now. Maybe they should also check him for a disease that may be causing him to be obease.... Whatever happens, a change needs to be made immediately before it causes long lasting effects that will be with him for rest of his life..

Denton Apartments Suck!

Recently, my roommate and I have been shopping around for a new apartment. That is just something that you do around the time that you lease is up. We were interested in looking for a new place, some place that was more modern and had a few specific features that we were looking for. As we were driving around on Saturday to these newer apartment complexes in town, we quickly discovered that we could not move into any of them. Why you may ask? They are all Federally subsidized and subject to income restrictions. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! I was livid, especially after the 3rd place that we went to told us that. These are all brand new apartments, all built within the past few years and are the nicest apartment complexes in town and they are out of reach because our incomes equal over $31,000. The only choices that we have remaining to us are some dumpy apartment complexes or ones that we cannot afford altogether. Where is the logic in this? One apartment manager put it eloquently, "You are being penalized for actually having a job."

My question in all of this is why is there such a need for low income housing in the City of Denton? Denton is not that poor in my opinion. Yes there are some parts of town that seem poorer than others, but over all, we as a city are not doing that bad economically.

So I thought.... Then I checked with the Census Bureau. According to the 2000 Census the median household income was $35,422 for the City of Denton, comparing to 63K for McKinney, 54K for Lewisville, 62K for Carrollton and 78K for Plano. I just cannot believe this. I don't understand why the median household income is so small for Denton. We have a lot of industries here, Peterbilt, national headquarters for Sally Beauty Supply, UNT, TWU, Denton ISD (it is a big school district) and other big employers. I guess what this number shows is that a lot of people are not making that much money from these employers (I know that I'm not) or that they are living in other communities outside of Denton.

Maybe the fact that we have a large population of college students living in Denton has something to do with how low our median income numbers are. I don't know. You would think that the Census Bureau would account for this though. Who knows? It is just a major shock to me and my roommate. Now we have to decide if we want to stay in our current complex or possibly pay more and live in another complex a little more out of the price range. I just seems a little unfair for those who are actually starting off in their adult lives and want to continue to live in Denton.

Maybe I should be complaining more to the City of Denton for not enticing other complexes that could cater to a customer such as myself. Yes, we have a lot of complexes already in Denton, but if you really look at a lot of them, nobody would really want to live in them. Ah, and that is another thing. Maybe I should complain to all of the management companies for not keeping up with their properties and making them appealing to people. Curb appeal says a lot. If it does not look good on the outside, that is definitely an indicator of what you will find on the inside.

I am still boggled by the income numbers for Denton. I just don't understand. Even if these incomes were for 2 people, they would still be too high for these low income complexes. There are a lot of variables and would be a good topic of study for somebody who needs an economic or business project...

What do you think of all of this? Post your thoughts below...

They JUST changed the rate!

Is it just me or didn't the Postal Service just raise the rates for the 1st class stamp? I can remember when it was a quarter to send a letter in the mail. My mom remembers when it was a dime to send a letter. What is the deal? The postal service has just announced that it wants to raise rates for a stamp from 39 cents to 41 cents, a 2 cent increase. I know that it is needed because of the increase in cost of gas and labor, but it is just crazy! This will be another reason for people to start paying their bills online and stray away from the paper and pencil method of paying bills. Our generation is starting to abandon this old method and I think that this will force others to abandon this method as well.

The postal service is talking about implementing a "forever stamp" which would lock in prices at the time of purchase, but you will still have to buy those stamps at the 41 cent price. It is a good concept, because it will save money over a period of 10 or more years, but then you will have stamps coming out of your ear for that period of time. It will save a trip to the Post Office or Kroger to get stamps, though, which is good too..

My plan to help the Postal Service earn more money, charge those advertisers who send junk mail that nobody ever reads a dollar or more just for being annoying..

What do you think?

WTWO Fights back!

This is a follow up to a blog that I wrote a looong time a go.. http://dlm0078.blogspot.com/2006/05/thats-right-biotch.html

Basically, WTWO, local NBC affiliate in Terre Haute, IN, made a promo talking about the greatness of their weather department and how their CBS competitor sucks. Here is the video :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJH-nvnCqLI

John Stewart got wind of this and called WTWO out on making fun of their competitor and he made fun of them.. Supposedly, (I say that because this happened quite some time ago and I am now just reading about it..) there was a bunch of controversy between WTWO and Stewart. In response to Jon Stewart, they made this great gem: http://www.ifilm.com/video/2753363. Obviously, it is probably safe to assume that this was never aired on WTWO. Supposedly it was an internal film.

It is all just freaking hilarious! I would love to see some of this kind of action between WFAA (ABC-8) and KXAS (NBC-5) in Dallas or KTRK (ABC-13) vs KHOU (CBS-11) in Houston.

Sign of the times?

Is it a sign of the times that Americans depend too much on Fast Food and a high fat diet? I have an interesting example for you...

I am 22 years old. I am a good weight for my stature. I am not bouncing off the walls with activity, but I am not totally stagnant either. I am moderately healthy. I am a semi-moderate consumer of fast food or dining out (about 2-3 times a week), but I do not do it all of the time. I would rather cook at home most of the time. With all of that said, I have recently been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol. When I learned of this, I was shocked. I am pretty healthy. My previous physical showed great results. And now I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol and the medications that accompany such conditions.

Now granted, my doctor said that alot of this had to deal with family history, and yes, I do have some history. But still, is this an indicator of what will happen to others in my generation who h ave grown up in the age of Fast Food and high fat diets?

Are there others out there from our generation who are experiencing this? It would be interesting to see the numbers on this.

I could be blowing all of this out of proportion, but I think that there could be an interesting correlation. What about others out there from my generation who are heavy eaters and eat out at least once to twice a day?

Abolition of the N Word in A Southeast TX Community

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Brazoria, the county seat of Brazoria County, is working on outlawing the "N-Word". The law is not on the books yet, but they mayor is going to hold a few public sessions about this law and try to get a consensus of what the public thinks of this proposed law. If they agree with it, he will take it to the city council and if they agree with it, then they will pass the law.

It will not prevent you from saying the word, but makes it a criminal offense if the word is used in a derogatory way. The fine will be around $500.

When asked why he wanted to implement this new law, the mayor said :

Corley said he got the idea while watching two black ministers talking on television about how offensive that word is. "I just think it would be great if this little town of Brazoria, with 2,800 people, leads the way in fighting against this offensive language," said Corley. "It's not a particular problem in Brazoria," Corley said, "but it's a national problem."

There are questions about the legality of this new law. Usage of the word is protected by the First Amendment and the law maybe over turned if it is ever questioned.

I think that this is a good idea. There is no need for ANYONE to use that word, Black or not. There is so much history with that word and all of it leads to many years of oppression. If the true connotations of the word were understood by all, I think that some would think twice about using it. There are other ways that we can address each other.

What do you think? Would this be a good law to have on the books? Post a comment below....

Do You live in a foreign country? They Do!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Work has been crazy busy and I have not really had much time to do anything but my actual work... weird huh?

I do want to share 2 blogs that I have been reading lately.. They are pretty cool. They are written by Americans living in Africa. One is a Peace Corps volunteer and the other one is a former Peace Corps volunteer working for a non-profit organization.

It is interesting to read about their lives in these foreign countries and about how things are much different in their respective countries : Togo and Angola.

They are good things to read if you have been or are interested in the Peace Corps or living in a foreign country, which both of these are things that I have contemplated..

So here are the websites as promised:
Aaron in Africa (Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo)
and
Back in One Piece (Non-Profit)

More Fry Street Evictions

This is from the Save Fry Street Organization....

"Yesterday, members of SFS confirmed with business owners on Fry Street that yes, they have received eviction notices. The Tomatoe, Bagheri’s, and other businesses have been given until Jan. 31 to vacate their homes.

While we understand that even with renovation, this would be part of the process, we wish the tenants had been given more notice. We are sad to see such great businesses leave and hope that no matter what the outcome, they can and will come back to Fry Street.

Also, this is not over. We are still planning to meet with the developers again to discuss options. The developers still need variances to make plans and changes. We still have input so do not give up on Fry Street."

(More updates to come…)
SFS - Save Fry Street

Happy 150 City of Denton!!

This year, the City of Denton is celebrating its 150th Birthday! The City is celebrating by hosting exhibits, workshops and lectures that pertain to the City of Denton. This month, there will be talks about how the city was created, what life was like during the frontier days in Denton, and how the 1st Methodist church has affected the City.

A kick off celebration was held tonight at the Emily Fowler Central Library to get it all started. The next will be a lecture presented by Nita Thurman called "Going, Going, Gone! The Auction that Created Denton." It is Tuesday, Jan. 9th at 7pm at the Emily Fowler Library. I am excited to go listen to this (hopefully I will be off work in time...)

To find out about all of the events, go to www.denton150.com and click on Calendar. There are also pictures and videos about Denton and also some cool facts and timelines.

An interesting fact about Denton is that back in the late 1800's, there was a small community that is where the Civic Center resides today that was called Quakertown. It was named for the Quakers who helped the freedmen in the early years of the Reconstruction. In 1922, the City of Denton bought out the land and annexed it into the city limits and turned it into a park and later a Civic Center, as it is today. (Some information from Texas State Handbook Online)