This house in Oak Cliff has spared no expense trying to scare trick-or-treaters. Staff Photo: Chris McGathey

If the thought of sending your child out into the streets to ask strangers for candy sends shivers up your spine, then consider the following alternative. Hillcrest High School is holding an indoor trick-or-treating experience Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. And the event is titled “Safe Trick-or-Treating,” so you know it’ll be on the up and up.

The concession stand at Franklin Middle School is in need for a few volunteers, which is a term that should be loosely interpreted.

The net money brought in at each event will be distributed to the team/group that worked the stand at the end of the season. There are two shifts available for soccer games on Saturday and one on Monday, with space for two adults and two students each. Go to the jump for scheduling details and contact information. Read More…

The U.S. Department of Justice has just been sent the City Council’s adopted redistricting map, says assistant city attorney Barbara McAninch.

The next step involves a 60-day window review — a clock that stops and starts again, essentially, whenever the DOJ has questions regarding the map.

If you’d like to share some thoughts of your own with the feds, here’s how (and yep, it has to be done by snail mail):

Via regular U.S. Postal Service, you can address comments to the  Chief, Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, Room 7254–NWB, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20530. If you opt for UPS or another means of delivery, the recipient and room number will stay the same, but the address differs: 1800 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20006.

All comments should be marked “Comment under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” and include “Dallas” and the Attorney General’s file number (2011– 4417) in the subject line.

If you’re thinking of stopping at the IronStone Bank on Walnut Hill Lane between now and Halloween, maybe it’s best to leave your mask in the car; this is the sign from their front door. Also, maybe use the restroom before heading in as well.

If you drove by the Rachofsky House Saturday night, you may have seen a gentleman passed out in the grass. No, it wasn’t an edgy, living art exhibit. It was just a drunk painter.

Alan Peppard of the Dallas Morning News captured photos of Mark Grotjahn sleeping in the 8600 block of Preston Road while the annual Two by Two for AIDS and Art gala was underway. Maybe Grotjahn mistook the Rachofsky House for one of the frat variety.