Alright, this case just turned 18. I think we’ve all learned a lot. For example, I now know many of you are not Michael Jackson fans.

Allow me to explain myself: When you sit in a courtroom for 10 or so hours a day, things start to be funny to you that may not resonate with the general public. I apologize to those of you who felt my trial-induced delirium about a Thriller flash mob was inappropriate. However, to those precious few who understood it was a total joke, I give you a virtual fist bump.

It’s the first full day of ESD’s case. Board chair John Eagle testified yesterday, and you can see all the details on the Day 17 post as I’ve just finished updating it with his testimony. I have yet to add the quotes from Dr. David Thompson, ESD’s first expert witness. But he’ll be continuing testimony today, so you’ll get to hear from him as well in a bit.

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In light of all of our coverage of the trial involving the Episcopal School of Dallas, managing editor Dan Koller put out the call for some positive story ideas about ESD. We got three responses asking us to do a story on crew coach Matthew Naifeh, who just helped coach the United States Junior National Team in Great Britain.

I set up an interview with Naifeh, 24, for Monday. He called and said he had to postpone it until Tuesday because of a personal issue. Then, yesterday afternoon, I got a message from him saying he had to cancel the interview again because he had resigned as ESD’s coach earlier in the day because of “reasons of conflict with the athletic department heads.”

Wow. On top of that, Naifeh is an ESD graduate.

UPDATE: I didn’t see that one coming, part two.

I just got off the phone with Naifeh. Everything has been resolved, and he is still the crew coach at ESD.

We learned of them too late to promote them in our Aug. 26 paper, but Franklin Middle School is hosting a series of parent-friendly events tomorrow evening. There will be a dinner of hot dogs, chips, and cookies in the cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. (Cost is $2), followed by a PTA meeting at 6 and a Mini-School at 6:30. The latter event involves parents following a condensed version of their children’s class schedules.

Meanwhile, next door at Hillcrest High School, an ice cream social/community rally that was originally set for Aug. 25 has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. tomorrow.

It’s not Lisa LeMaster. It’s not Charla Aldous. And it’s not Stephen Swann. It’s me. I disabled the comments on Claire’s ESD post yesterday simply because I was too busy to moderate them. And believe me — they need to be moderated. If you’re offended by some of the comments that have appeared here, you should see all the ones that we don’t approve.

But I agree with the commenters (and callers and emailers) who have complained about the tenor of the discussion on this blog. So we’re tightening things up around here. I’m going to be a bit more judicious when moderating the comments, in an attempt to raise the level of discourse. That means that some of you may write a comment that never appears on Preston Hollow People’s blog. The key words there are “Preston Hollow People’s blog” — i.e., my blog. No one has an inalienable, Constitutional right to anonymously comment on my blog.

If you don’t like that, let me offer you a full refund. Oh, wait — that’s right; we’re offering you all of this coverage for free.

Know of a home for a friendly coonhound (and/or have you lost such a pup)? Preston Hollow resident Marilyn Kapral is putting our Good Neighbor page to good use. And she has, you know, the scoop.

Seems a good neighbor has come across a lost pup. Says Marilyn Kapral, who includes her phone number below:

She is exceptionally well-behaved, hardly barks, and is just plain loving and likes a good snuggle and lots of petting. She has lots of tickle spots, it seems.

Her only quirks are that she will chew cardboard and paper, and she sneaks off with clothes just to smell them with that bloodhound nose; she has never torn up any clothes, but she will go after shoes – found her more than once with her nose stuffed into them! As with some big dogs, she will take you hand or arm unto her mouth, but doesn’t bite; she is just looking for attention and wants to play; just gets a little slobbery.

And lastly, she apparently is used to sleeping in bed with someone and/or being on sofas, because she sure does like to try that. I’ve had to kick her out of my bed several times; seems to be her comfort spot. That, and laying in front of an air conditioner.

She does need steady access to a lot of water.

Marilyn Kapral
214-352-7897

The little miss is spayed, about a year old, and weighs 54 pounds — though she’ll probably continue to fill out. Please give Marilyn a call if you know this dog or know of a good home.

I was cruising the websites of all the schools in our coverage areas, trying to find items to fill our Preston Hollow Planner calendar, when I came across the face of Tony Hale, the actor who hilariously played “Buster Bluth” on the late, great Arrested Development. He’s going to be in Dallas on Sept. 11 to speak at an event hosted by the Covenant School.

I called the school’s headmaster, Kyle Queal, to ask how little old Covenant booked one of my favorite actors. Queal said that some parents met him through a mutual friend, New York-based artist Makoto Fujimura, who’s visited Covenant a few times. The school brought in poet Billy Collins as a speaker a few years ago, and they were able to get Hale to fly in for a similar event.

However, Queal said Hale’s schedule is quite packed. His only availability was the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and Queal admitted he’s worried about attendance. I pointed out that his bigger worry, attendance-wise, should be that Hale’s speech (“Can Hollywood and Integrity Coexist?”) is scheduled to go head-to-head with the Cowboys’ regular-season opener. This was news to Queal.

“I guess we’ll see who the true, die-hard Tony Hale fans are that night,” he said.

Go ahead and record the Cowboys’ game, folks. Hale’s speech begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Lakewood Theater, and admission is free.

Preston Hollow resident Bob Wilson is about to get some time in the spotlight that has nothing to do with him being the father of Andrew, Owen, and Luke. Wilson was one of the first chief executives of KERA. To commemorate the public television station’s 50th anniversary, a 30-minute documentary entitled Bob Wilson and the Early Years of KERA will air at 8 p.m. on Sept. 21.

Yesterday’s proceedings only lasted a few hours, and Erin Mayo’s testimony appears to be wrapped up. Judge D’Metria Benson ostensibly took the extended recess to rule on a variety of pending issues, including the admissibility of the phone call recordings between CFO Chris Burrow and J. Nathan Campbell. So that only leaves a few reasonable options for the rest of the plaintiffs’ argument.

1. Burrow gets back on the stand, at the very least, to finish his testimony and be cross-examined, and at the most, to answer to what is purported to be his voice giving Campbell advice and encouragement.

2. The Former Student, who claims she had sex with a coach in the ’90s and told Father Stephen Swann about it as recently as this year, testifies.

3. Marc Salz, Campbell’s former officemate, takes the stand.

4. Charla Aldous leads the entire courtroom in a flash-mob-style dance to Thriller.

Which one would you most like to see?

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