Lessons From Kids' Sports

Zac Crain, in FrontBurner, relates a lesson from his experience coaching his young son's basketball team. Crain's story involves poor sportsmanship on the part of parents of the opposing team. His point is muddled somewhat by Crain revealing that his own son was ejected from the game for committing a flagrant intentional foul, but, hey, Crain's point comes through anyway: "Sports Parents Need to CHILL."

After the jump, my own lessons.

Help Wanted: Apply at City Hall

Longtime Richardson City Manager Bill Keffler announced his retirement yesterday. He's served as City Manager for 17 years. Congratulations to Mr. Keffler on his retirement and thanks to him for his 35 years of service to the city of Richardson. Keffler's retirement compounds the changes Richardson is undergoing at city hall. Last year, longtime mayor Gary Slagel stepped down. For years, city government in Richardson was almost synonymous with the Slagel/Keffler partnership.

Due to Richardson's council-manager form of government, the role of city manager is a particularly strong one. The city council sets policy for the city and has the responsibility to hire the city manager, but day-to-day execution of city business is in the hands of the city manager. It's that responsibility to hire another great city manager that now falls to this city council. Because of Keffler's long tenure, no one on this city council has any experience doing that. I urge them to take their time, to act independently and resist outside influence, to conduct a wide and thorough search, and to choose someone who is a strong leader, an able manager, a good communicator and will always have the best interests of Richardson at heart.

Richardson 45, Berkner 51

The Berkner Rams extended their District 9-5A leading record to 11-1 Tuesday night, beating the Richardson Eagles 51-45 on the Rams' home court. The win clinched the district championship for Berkner. Berkner closes out their season with away games against Sunset (Friday, Feb. 10) and Samuell (Tuesday, Feb. 14).

Winter in the Steger Garden (2012)

From Flowers

The calendar says Winter but the daffodils say Spring.

Selection, Election, and my Defection

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I'm allowed to change my mind. I've done it before. Now, I'm doing it again. After long opposing the direct election of the mayor of Richardson, I'm now in favor.

After the jump, my reasoning, not that reason is all that important here.

Guys and Dolls at BHS

From 2012 01 Musicals

Guys and Dolls, at BHS: Celebration of 1940s sexism. Great singing, live orchestra, shout out to choreography. See it.

Berkner 76, Lake Highlands 71

From 2012 02 Berkner Basketball

The Berkner Rams men's basketball team extended their District 9-5A leading record to 10-1 with a 76-71 win over Lake Highlands (7-4) on the Wildcats court. Berkner closes out their home court season next Tuesday at 7:30 pm with a game against Richardson (5-6). Be there to support your school, whether it's BHS, RHS, or just the kids in general.

All photos can be seen here.

Review: The Prague Cemetery

Amazon

The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco: Spider web of 19th century European conspiracies. Relentlessly depressing novel. C+

From The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco (2010):


At the end of that alleyway, quite inconspicuous, was the window of a junk shop that a faded sign extolled as Brocantage de Qualité -- a window whose glass was covered by such a thick layer of dust that it was hard to see the goods on display or the interior, each pane being little more than 20 centimeters square, all held together by a wooden frame. Beside the window ... a door, always shut, and a notice beside the bell pull announcing that the proprietor was temporarily absent."

After the jump, my review.

Campaign Promise? That Was Then

Perhaps you remember the 2011 Richardson City Council election campaign as being particularly contentious, with the candidates unable to agree on anything, even the benefits of planting trees. Well, memory can be a tricky thing.

Despite the overall tone of contention in the election campaign, one thing that all candidates agreed on, every last man and woman, was that they were open to the idea of a charter review. It's been a quarter of a century since the last time a commission was appointed to review the city charter to bring it up to date.

The man ultimately chosen by the council to be mayor, Bob Townsend, said he would strongly support a charter review. Even the one candidate who expressed opposition to making structural changes to Richardson's form of government, Scott Dunn, even he said that if specific sections of the charter were found to be outdated, he'd be open to review and revision.

Monday night, the city council finally got down to work on the issue. Or not. After the jump, what went down.

Assigning Blame for School Closures

Yesterday, I looked at a recent Dallas Independent School District (DISD) school board meeting and criticized the trustees for not all remaining present for a public hearing. Some stepped out during the hearing and eventually the whole board moved to a private room to finish their deliberations and vote on a plan to close 11 public schools in the DISD. Trustee Carla Ranger said her fellow trustees "walked out on their community."

I didn't criticize the DISD for those school closures, only for how they mishandled the public hearing. It's a shame that they did. DISD is between a rock and a hard place, but their behavior at the public hearing caused the public to overlook the state's share of responsibility for the mess our public school financing is in.

After the jump, placing blame.