Chances are, unless you’re Jimmy Page or Mick Jagger, Plowboy rocks harder than you. The band of 12-year-olds (Devonshire resident and recent Lamplighter grad Evan O’Brien (lead guitar), St. Rita Catholic School student Matt Musso (drums), and East Dallas residents Jonah Smith (guitar, vocals) and Gus Baldwin (bass)) bills itself as the “anti-Disney Channel band,” and they have the ear-splitting musical chops to prove it. They’re definitely more Joe Strummer than Jonas Brothers. They’ve been together about a year (Evan joined six months ago), and they have about a dozen original songs. To read the article on the band, check out today’s edition of Preston Hollow People.

My ears are still ringing.

So reports Kim Pierce at the Eats blog. I reported in May that Natural Grocers was coming to Preston Forest, but I had no idea that it would be followed by the retirement of Roy Beard, eponym of the Preston Royal Village anchor. A retirement party will be July 11-16.

You’ve no doubt seen it if you’ve driven down Royal Lane: The white Hummer limo parked at the house just east of the Tollway. I’ve driven by it a million times, and I’ve always wondered, though never quite strongly enough to knock on the door. Guy probably owned a limo company or something, I figured. But when I saw the ‘For Sale’ sign on it today, I figured I better ask now before it was gone.

Turns out, I was wrong. Viktor Derkach is the owner of LaBare Dallas (nsfw), “the first full time male dance club, featuring a Las Vegas style burlesque show catering to woman.” You know. Bachelorette parties. Girls’ nights out. That sort of thing. He bought the Hummer so he could offer limo service at the club, but it’s been more headache than business asset, hence the “For Sale” sign.

So if you’re looking to add limo service to your strip club, or if you want to stick a finger in the eye of environmentalists, or if you just don’t want to be messed with on the road, give Viktor a call, [redacted; limo has been sold].

After Liberty Institute director of litigation Hiram Sasser made his appearance on behalf of Hillcrest Church and Coram Deo Academy at yesterday’s City Council meeting, I did a quick search of federal lawsuits in which he is an attorney. As I mentioned, Sasser and Hillcrest Church pastor Mark Brand say they are discussing their options. Sasser had several federal suits, most of them closed, and I didn’t have time to look through all of them. But here are the ones still pending (including a familiar one from Plano):

Jonathan Morgan, et. al. v. Plano Independent School District, et. al. (2004): Objects to the “continual efforts to ban Christmas” from Plano schools. Students were prohibited from distributing “The Legend of the Candy Cane” message and pencils that said “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” Red and green colors and religious symbols were banned from PISD schools, according to the suit. The suit claims the prohibitions were unconstitutional.

Evelyne M. Shatkin and Linda Shifflett v. University of Texas at Arlington, et. al. (2006): Shifflett and Shatkin, over-40 UTA employees, were fired for praying in the cubicle of another employee, according to the suit. Shatkin dabbed olive oil on the cubicle in accordance with Bible passages. Another employee who prayed with them, a man under 40, was not fired. The suit claims religious, sex, and age discrimination.

Paul T. Palmer v. Waxahachie Independent School District (2008): Claims WISD violated a student’s constitutional rights when it punished Waxahachie High School sophomore Paul “Pete” Palmer for wearing a t-shirt with “John Edwards ‘08” emblazoned across the chest. School district rules prohibited students from expressing messages that don’t “concern ‘WISD clubs, organizations, sports, or … spirit … [or] college[s] or universit[ies]’ on their t-shirts.”

A couple of weeks ago we received notice that the Jewish Community Center would be renaming its J Early Childhood Center in honor of a generous donation from Kenny and Sherry Goldberg, who own a home in Hillcrest Estates. (I would have done a story on the couple’s donation for the print product, but, alas, I was unable to contact them).

It seems that Kenny’s generosity knows no bounds. Hot on the heels of his JCC donation, he has saved the city’s Fourth of July plans at Fair Park, which had been nixed due to a funding shortage. Kenny and brother Neil (who also lives in Hillcrest Estates) made an unspecified donation through their company, Gold Metal Recyclers, to revive the fireworks display.  Dr. Pepper also pledged.

The celebration will be on July 5.

Chris McGathey took this photo at Preston Hollow North’s Fourth of July parade last year. If you’d like to see pictures of your neighborhood’s Independence Day activities in the July 9 edition of Preston Hollow People, send us the details. Come on, Les Jardins. We’re looking at you, Greenway Parks. Don’t make us beg, Russwood Acres.

I’m going to put it out there: I love beer.There, I said it. So maybe I was a little overexcited when I heard that a real-life brew pub and “beer boutique” will be opening in Bluffview. Come September (assuming all goes well), Disney Streets resident Nick Griffin will open the Civic Tap Room on Lovers Lane at Bluffview Boulevard.

The concept is a bit different from your typical beer emporium (the Meddlesome Moths, Flying Saucers, and Old Monks of the world), Griffin said. The most obvious difference is that the 38-year-old Griffin, who has been a home brewer since he was an 18-year-old, will brew his own–A Belgian farmhouse ale to start with, then at some point maybe adding a lambic, which is trickier to brew. And rather than offering a mind-boggling array of beers from sundry corners of the globe, the Civic Tap Room will be dedicated to Texas beers.

“Good Texas beers go beyond Shiner and Lone Star,” Griffin said, acknowledging his use of ‘good’ was relative. “We have a lot better breweries [in Texas] than we think.”

So Griffin will carry not just the Saint Arnold, Rahr, and Real Ale that are available in your local beer-selling Tom Thumb, but a lot of beers (namely from the Austin area) that don’t have distribution this far north: Independence, Jester, 512, and so on.

And it should be mentioned that Griffin is, and will continue to be, a PGA golfer who plays in tournaments but mostly teaches lessons at the city’s L.B. Houston Golf Course. I haven’t had his beer yet (I will for sure in September), and, for his wife’s sake, I won’t burden him with the moniker of the “Tiger Woods of Texas beer”. Instead, I’ll wish him to be the fellow Aussie Greg Norman Ernie Els of Texas Beer?

Parish Episcopal School tweeted Tuesday that founder Mary Loving Blair died Sunday. The Dallas Morning News has details this morning in an obituary. Blair died of complications from lung cancer at Signature on the Pointe, a nursing facility a couple of miles north of LBJ Freeway on Preston Road.

Yesterday, the Lamplighter board of trustees sent out a missive to parents and faculty laying out their side in what is becoming a very bitter fight. Contrary to what the trustees claim, Cohen never asked to be bought out and will fulfill the remainder of his contract, Cohen writes. The settlement talks were a result of attempts by trustees to force him out, and the signature on the retirement announcement was, indeed, forged. But here’s the note in full:

Dear Lamplighter Community:

I was appalled by the notice that was sent to all of you yesterday by the Lamplighter Board of Trustees.  It not only discusses confidential conversations had in an effort to resolve the dispute between two individual board members and me, but it also is a gross distortion of the facts.  Thus, I feel compelled to set the record straight.  Here are the facts.

It is simply not the case that I asked to be bought out of the last two years of my contract with the School.  I have never resigned my position as Head of School at Lamplighter.  To the contrary, I have consistently informed the new Board chair that I am ready, willing, and able to fulfill the remainder of my contract with the School.  Of course, I do insist that the Board abide by its contractual obligation not to interfere with my administration of the School and its faculty.

It was only after certain members of the Board interfered with decisions I made in the best interests of our School and its students that a controversy arose.  It is important for you to know that when I would not accede to their demands relative to personnel matters, I was informed by Mr. Miller and Ms. Pollock that they wanted me “gone!”
As such, I entered into confidential settlement negotiations in an effort to resolve the current dispute.  But no mutually agreeable settlement agreement was ever reached.

However, that did not stop certain members of the Board from attempting to orchestrate my departure from the School – while confidential settlement negotiations were still ongoing.  Hours after the close of business on Monday, June 14, 2010, counsel for the School sent an e-mail to my counsel informing him that the School would release my alleged “retirement announcement” the following morning.  At the time, I was in Virginia attending my daughter’s wedding.  By the time my counsel notified the School’s counsel that I had not resigned and the release of the draft retirement announcement was not authorized, the School had already disseminated it to the School’s faculty and others in the independent school community.  In fact, the School distributed the announcement before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

To be clear, not only did I not authorize the release of the disseminated “retirement announcement,” I never signed it.  As unbelievable as it may sound, my signature was affixed to the announcement without my knowledge or consent.

Needless to say, I am shocked by the overt attempts to mislead you regarding the facts.  I stand by the claims made in my lawsuit.
Finally, I have never failed to maintain the confidentiality of any student academic records, or to uphold my commitments to the School and the education of its students.

Sincerely,

Arnie

The City Council’s hearing on Hillcrest Church’s application for a specific-use permit to house Coram Deo Academy was, as expected, contentious. Neighbors lined up to reiterate their historic distrust of the church and concerns over traffic. Supporters of Coram Deo spoke about the positive impact the school will have, both on students and Dallas as a whole, and the importance of schools in civic life.

What was less expected was the appearance on the scene of Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the conservative, pro-religious freedom Liberty Institute (which features the zoning battle on the front page of its website), who represented the church and school at the hearing. Sasser challenged the council’s right to do anything but approve the specific-use permit, citing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

“You’re required to pass this SUP,” Sasser said. “There’s really no choice to be had.”

Theresa O’Donnell, director of development services, quoting city code that the “applicant has the burden to demonstrate that [the SUP] is harmonious and compatible with the surrounding neighorhood.”

Councilwoman Linda Koop, whose district Hillcrest Church is in, said allowing a school to operate in the church would add traffic to an already congested Churchill Way. She held up a binder of 150 e-mails she had received from her constituents opposing Hillcrest’s plan (the city’s official count: of 108 notices sent out, three were returned in favor, 68 in opposition). Given the overwhelming opposition of neighbors, she said the “harmonious and compatible” stipulation was not met.

“When you set these precedents, you have to be very careful,” Koop said. “You have to think about what the ramifications will be.”

The council voted unanimously to deny the SUP application.

Following the hearing, Hillcrest Church pastor Mark Brand said church leaders would meet with their attorneys to decide the next step. But no one’s ruling out a lawsuit in federal court.

“While city ordinance says one thing, federal law says something else, which I understand trumps city ordinance,” Sasser said.