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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Heck No, They Won’t Go
“One, two, three, four, we don’t want your stinkin’ war,” just doesn’t pack the same wallop as the 1960s original. Unlike the protests from that raucous and irreverent decade, Saturday’s anti-Iraq-war rally at Dallas’ John F. Kennedy Memorial was f-word free. But even though the protesters in Dallas last weekend chanted a cleaned-up version of the ’60s classic, the message was the same.
Neatly dressed, with short hair and no visible body piercing, UTA graduate student Clayton McCook of Fort Worth looked nothing like the student protesters of the Vietnam era as he mounted the stage, representing a recently formed UTA group, Students for a Just Peace. Recounting his past six months working and traveling in Europe, he told the crowd of blacks, browns, Christians, Muslims, yuppie moms and dads pushing baby strollers, gray-haired peace activists, and war vets what millions of citizens around the globe were at that moment telling George the Younger: “A large number of people in this world absolutely do not want this war.”
Lon Burnam, who’s been a peace activist longer than he’s been Cowtown’s state rep, was there. He called the local protest a successful beginning. “Who would have thought we’d get 3,000 here in Dallas, of all places? George is in trouble.”
Clear View of Hole in Head
Bark-huggers take solace: All the heavy-machinery activity over at Burk Burnett Park isn’t harming any trees. Forestry workers are merely relocating six live oaks to give all of us a better look-see at that infernal “Man with a Briefcase.” Five of the trees are being moved to other parts of the park, while one is slated to live out the remainder of its days in the nursery run by the city’s forestry department. The people behind the leaf-shaking, Downtown Fort Worth Inc., have been co-stewards of the park with the Burnett Foundation since the park’s re-opening in the mid-1980s. These two groups are responsible for renovating this clean, well-lighted place that, because of its high visibility, is arguably the most important park downtown. Downtown Fort Worth last winter took over full responsibility for maintenance of the park. Now, they can really do whatever they want — within reason, of course, and under the city’s semi-watchful eye. The still-unsolved mystery: Where was the city when Downtown Fort Worth got the big idea of installing a big-ass stencil there?
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