Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, April 7, 2000 Page: 6 of 84
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Dr. Laura protest
planned in Dallas
Youth organization to buy Bryan's House
Youth First Texas will focus on needs of metroplex gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning youth
Organizers proceed with action
despite station officials' agree-
ment to meet with activists
By Chris Leeds
Staff Reporter
Demonstrators representing various
activist organizations are planning a protest
against a local tel-
evision station's
plans to air a pro-
gram hosted by
pop radio thera-:
pist Dr. Laura
Schlessinger, who
calls gays and
lesbians "biologi-;
cal errors."
Schlessinger Members of
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays, the Dallas Gay and Lesbian
Alliance and the predominantly gay Jewish
congregation of Beth El Binah began prepa-
rations for the April 15 protest prior to an
unanticipated response from the television
station, CBS Channel 11 (KTVT).
A telephone call Tuesday afternoon from
Channel 11 general manager Brian Jones,
responding to a letter from the Alliance,
caught some of the activists off guard and
had them reconsidering the rally. Jones
agreed to meet with local activists concern-
ing the Dr. Laura program.
But by Tuesday night, Alliance president
John Ames said they'd continue with their
support of the protest, despite concerns that
it may paint DGLA as pessimistic about the
outcome of a meeting with KTVT.
"We're going to use it as a negotiating
tool, and say, 'If you guys call off [the
show], no protest on the fifteenth If you
don't call it off, we'll go ahead,'" Ames said.
Last week Alliance activism chair Steve
Atkinson sent a letter to Jones requesting a
meeting and a reply by Friday, April 7. But
Ames said he didn't expect a reply.
Since Channel 11 had not responded to
the written requests for a meeting by
Tuesday, Ames said they had to make a
decision regarding the protest. With less
than 12 days to prepare, he and other
activist realized they needed to begin mak-
ing plans, he said.
Furthermore, StopDrLaura.com — an
activist Web site group — had stepped up
pressure for Dallas to kickoff a national
wave of demonstrations. As a result local
activist John Sehg fired off an alert and
press releases announcing the protest, and
Ames said he approved the notice.
Later that day, however, Jones tele-
phoned Selig and agreed to meet with
Alliance representatives and others. No
date was set. At that point, Ames said he
See PROTEST, Page 9
By Tammye Nash.
Staff Reporter
Current programs reach only about one of
every 250 of the county's gay and lesbian
youths, said a leader of a new organization
designed to fill that gap.
The group, Youth First Texas, will focus
exclusively on serving the needs of gay, les-
bian, bisexual, transgender and questioning
youth, said board member John Dunn.
Dunn said the estimates of the number of
gay youth in Dallas County represent 5 per-
cent of the number of young people between
the ages of 13 and 22 counted in a 1998 study
conducted by the City of Dallas.
Youth First Texas, established in January, is
"a by-product of the volunteer youth workers
who have been involved with youth program-
ming with other agencies," Dunn explained.
Through that work, the volunteers began to
see the "immense need for an organization
that deals specifically with gay youth issues,"
he said.
Other agencies offer youth programs, Dunn
noted. But those programs are not their only,
or even their primary, concerns. At Youth First,
meetings the needs of gay and lesbian youth
would be the only mission.
Dunn added that Youth First does not
intend to try and replace existing programs.
The new organization would instead help
coordinate those programs and make them
more accessible to the youth.
Youth First's only paid staff member cur-
rently is development director Larry Crain,
who is focusing his efforts on fundraising and
program development.
Initially, Youth First will target young peo-
Youth First Texas development director Larry Crain is working to raise funds to help
the new organization purchase the property currently owned by Bryan's House.
pie in the Metroplex. Eventually, the group
hopes to reach out to youth in all of North
Texas and even around the state.
But Youth First's primary priority is getting
rezoning approval on the Oak Lawn property
that the organization plans to buy. Then Youth
First must raise the substantial sum required to
purchase and remodel the property, located at
Knight and Brown streets.
The plot is currently occupied by Bryan's
House, which will move at the end of this year.
"We already have a contract on the proper-
ty, but that contract is contingent on the city
approving the zoning changes we need,"
Dunn said. The City Planning and Zoning
Commission supports the proposed changes,
he said, adding that he expects the Dallas City
Council to give final approval in late April.
The powerful Oak Lawn Committee, which
focuses on zoning and planning issues in the
neighborhood, so far has declined to support
the organization's rezoning request.
Committee president Neil Emmons said the
committee's decision was based in its concern
over the long-term impact on the surrounding
residential neighborhood.
"We are all impressed with Youth First
Texas and its goals," Emmons said. "But the
fact is that any upzoning done to accommo-
date [Youth First] stays with the property, even
if the organization sells it sometime in the
future. The kind of [special use permit] they're
asking for would mean that someone could
Continued on Page 8
Adventure in the wild blue yonder
Flying 'lesson' opens door to a whole new world of wonder, excitement
By Tammye Nash
Staff Reporter
The sun was shining. The sky was clear and
bright blue. The breeze was cool, but not too
strong. It was a beautiful day for a flying les-
son.
I met flying instructor Ary Sarmento about
6 p.m. that evening out at Addison Airport for
what I expected to be a regular interview fol-
lowed by a brief jaunt in one of the small sin-
gle-engine airplanes he uses to teach flying les-
sons with FlightStar Aviation.
But as soon as he got there, I could tell that
after the frustration of rush hour traffic on the
LBJ Freeway, Ary was anxious to get up in the
air and away from it all.
So I willingly agreed to cut the interview
short, and we headed on out to the tarmac.
Having flown once before in a single-
engine plane with a private pilot, I knew there
was a pre-flight check that had to be done, and
I expected I'd stand to the side, patiently wait-
ing, as Ary went through the process of mak-
ing sure all the plane's parts were present and
in working order. But instead, Ary took me
through the "walk around" with him, explain-
ing what each part of the plane was for and
how it worked as he went down the written
checklist.
That's when I realized this wasn't just
going to be a quick jaunt over downtown
Dallas. I was actually going to learn a little bit
about how to fly the plane, as well as a little bit
about the actual mechanics of aviation.
We checked the gas in both tanks,, located
on the wings, not just to make sure there was
gas in the tanks but also to make sure the gas
didn't have water in it. Just to be double sure,
we also checked the gas in the carburetors for
impurities, too.
We checked the engine — it was there —
and we checked the oil level. We checked the
propeller, the landing gear and the lights. We
even checked the emergency locator beacon,
although I thought to myself that if we crashed
the plane into
downtown
Dallas, it would-
n't be any trouble
finding us.
Finally we
climbed into the
cockpit of the tiny
Piper Warrior,
and I thought,
well here we go.
But not yet. Ary
pulled out a different writti: checklist to go
over the interior instrumentation.
A quick listen to the control tower's record-
ed message told Ary what he
needed to know about weather conditions and
radio frequencies and we taxied out to the
edge of the runway. As we waited to take off,
Ary pulled out yet another list, going through
one more check of the equipment.
I wondered there for awhile why a pilot
with 18 years experience needed a written list
to guide him. Surely by now, I thought, he
See FLYING on Page 10
Sarmento
6 APRIL 7, 2000 DALLAS VOICE
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 49, Ed. 1 Friday, April 7, 2000, newspaper, April 7, 2000; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth615485/m1/6/?rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.