People – Page 2 – The Other Side Dallas

April 26, 2023April 26, 2023

Harlan Crow Second Citizenship

Harlan Crow second citizenship news makes news internationally. The Intercept and Pogo jointly reported that Crow holds a second passport for St. Kitts and Nevis yesterday.

Crow bought his citizenship in a cash for citizenship scheme. This makes him a dual citizen of both the United States and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Crow made recent headlines as a longtime benefactor to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas owns a second passport.

St. Kitts and Nevis is known as a tax haven known for impenetrable financial secrecy.

A whistleblower provided documents showing Crow and his brother Trammel paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for the second citizenship status.

approval_letter_for_harlan_rogers_crow_and_family Download

Experts on financial transparency say the island’s tax regime would make tracking Crow assets nearly impossible. This includes gifts to Supreme Court justices, such as Clarence Thomas.

Harlan Crow Second Citizenship Issues

Crow is in headlines because of multiple financial gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The dual citizenship status purchased complicates questions about his compliance with federal tax laws. It also draws into question transparency over his gifts to Justice Thomas and potentially others.

Other Side Dallas will continue to post updates on this story as they become available.

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023

Dallasite Buys Supreme Court

Dallasite buys Supreme Court of the United States per a ProPublica article late last week alleging Harlan Crow paid for lavish trips for Clarence Thomas.

Per the ProPublica report, Justice Thomas has accepted luxury trips consistently for twenty years from billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.

Thomas has not disclosed those trips which breaks a long-standing norms for judicial behavior.

The Crow-Thomas trips included island-hopping through Indonesia on a superyacht and annual summer stays at a private Adirondack resort.

ProPublica says the extent and frequency of gifts to Thomas has no known precedent in the history of the Court.

This brings some to question how a Dallasite buys Supreme Court access.

The ethical lapses make Dallas’ ‘normal’ ethics issues almost boring.

Justice Thomas issued a brief statement.

“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable,” Thomas said.

His statement continues, “I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”

“Justice Thomas likes to focus on the language of authoritative texts, and that’s not what he’s doing,” said Kathleen Clark. Clark is a legal ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dallasite Buys Supreme Court: Just One Issue?

Beyond the questions related to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are Crow’s own decisions on interior decorating.

Crow’s garden includes statues that appear to celebrate world dictators.

Statues in what some call the “Garden of Evil” are Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito.

Additionally, Crow has two paintings by Adolf Hitler and a signed copy of Mein Kampf. This is in addition to other assorted Nazi paraphanelia.

January 1, 2023January 1, 2023

Happy New Year 2023

Happy New Year 2023 to all our readers of Other Side Dallas. We all want to wish you the very best new year personally, professionally, and as a citizen of the City of Dallas and Dallas County.

Here’s hoping our communities can find greater safety, more affordable housing, and a stronger economy driven by local educational success.

2023 is another opportunity to get our neighborhoods right.

We have the right to expect accountability and transparency from schools and local government.

We have the right to know our streets are safe, protected by well funded police and firefighters.

Our neighborhoods deserve the chance to chooses representatives that place them before special interests.

Happy New Year 2023

Again, our best for you in 2023. Here’s hoping we open a new book and use that opportunity to create something better for all of us.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” – Edith Pierce Lovejoy

December 25, 2022December 24, 2022

Merry Texas Christmas 2022

Other Side Dallas wishes all its readers, members of Dallas City Council, and businesses a very Merry Texas Christmas 2022.

We hope you will remember the many front line responders (police, fire, EMS) and hospital workers who work today to keep Dallas safe.

Merry Texas Christmas 2022

We wanted to share the quote below from one of our favorite holiday stories in hopes that we all find these days to be filled with charity, mercy, and general good acts of kindness. These are the same traits that brought America together in difficult times past and together we accomplish so much more than apart.

“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” – The Conductor (played by Tom Hanks), in Polar Express

Christmas Weather

Christmas will see the Dallas area rise well above freezing today. Early next week we will see temperatures approaching 70. This is a great present – even if a little late – to say Merry Texas Christmas.

Other Side Dallas will continue to post about the arctic blast that hit our area.

December 5, 2022December 5, 2022

Sanders Ordered To Pay For Brutal Assault

Deion Sanders ordered to pay for brutal assault by son Shilo could be reason for leaving SWAC.

A 2016 personal injury case has led to an eight figure legal judgement against Deion Sanders family. The judgement against Sanders includes his son, Shilo, comes after an assault at the successor to Prime Prep Academy. The successor agency Focus Learning Academy attempted to salvage Sanders’ mismanagement at Prime Prep Academy.

In September 2015, Darjean then an employee with Focus Learning Academy. Darjean was violently attacked by Shilo Sanders – son of Deion and Pilar Sanders.

The attack caused by the younger Sanders hospitalized Darjean for multiple days in the hospital. It also required significant medical care including spinal surgery.

The outburst by Shilo Sanders cost medical providers more than $115,000 in medical care at the time. Per court documents the injuries made Darjean unable to maintain gainful employment due to permanent neurological injuries and damage to his cervical spine.

Deion Sanders had publically denied the allegations and accused Darjean of being a liar.

Darjean is a former New York Yankees prospect who ran free baseball programs for Dallas area children. He also assisted one of his students in, a Townview alumni, with starting a nonprofit to bring baseball for children with cancer.

Darjean’s suit blames Sanders and his ex-wife Pilar of failing to supervise their child and failing to raise him to not act like a savage in public.

The full judgement can be found here:

Sanders Judgement Download

Sanders Ordered To Pay For Brutal Assault, But Not Only Issue?

Prime Prep Academy was founded in 2012 in part by the former NFL cornerback. When it was established it had 1100 students in Oak Cliff and Ft. Worth, but things would quickly go sideways.

By January 2015, the school was closed due to financial insolvency. It and its nonprofit sponsor Uplift Ft Worth are still subject to pending court action over National School Lunch Program.

The school was closed with less than an hours’ notice and employees were shocked to find out their health insurance and retirement premiums were not being paid. A lawsuit by six employees helped recover some of their back wages that weren’t paid.

Focus Learning Academy took a majority of the students from Prime Prep Academy. Later the Texas Education Agency closed Focus Learning Academy for violating “Three Strikes” provisions for charter schools.

The elder Sanders is leaving Jackson State University and the Southwestern Athletic Conference. He is the new coach of the University of Colorado at Boulder. There are rumors of financial problems at Jackson State University and possible NCAA recruiting issues.

August 11, 2022August 11, 2022

Andy Ngô Identified North Texas Antifa

Andy Ngô – author of the New York Times best seller Unmasked – identified members of an antifa operation in Dallas.

Ngô, unmasked the antifa operatives, associated with Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club on his Twitter feed.

He did so hours after we published about the group disrupting homeless operations.

A 22-year-old woman & recent graduate of @UNTsocial details how #Antifa & far-left extremists tied to terrorist groups threatened her for organizing conservative events in north Texas. Antifa also threatened her parents after she refused to self-censor. https://t.co/74ccAkpHSv
— Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 10, 2022

Ngô states that members of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club targeted a UNT student and a prolife prayer she led. He also links to a Human Events piece detailing the harrassment by members of antifa while at UNT.

He names Christopher Guillott as a leader of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club. Ngô states Guillot directed efforts against Kelly Neidert.

In another report, an antifa member died carrying out a terror attack in 2019. This person was from the Washington state chapter.

Garrett Lee, made open threats on Twitter with no response from law enforcement. Lee is also an extremist member of antifa based in Dallas.

Andy Ngô Biography

Ngo was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. His parents fled Vietnam in 1978. They had been subjected to forced labor and communist re-education camps.

Ngo volunteered with AmeriCorps while attending the University of California, Los Angeles. He graduated with a graphic dessign degree.

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022

Yaser Said Convicted

Yaser Said convicted this afternoon in Dallas Judge Chika Anyiam’s court room. Said evaded arrest for the January 1, 2008, fatal shootings of his two daughters, Amina (18) and Sarah (17).

Said disappeared after the killings. He remained a fugitive from Irving Police for twelve years. Six of those years included being listing on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.

Chika Aniyam is the judge who lowered the bond for a political donor and legal friend in another murder case.

Yaser Said Background

Said was born in Sinai, Egypt. He came to the U.S. on a student visa in 1983. Said married Patricia “Tissie” Owens in February 1987 when he was thirty. Owens was fifteen at the time.

Patricia later alleged that Said abused her during their marriage.

Their daughter Amina was born in 1989, and Sarah was born in 1990.

Other Side Dallas will update our feed with new information in this story.

June 21, 2022June 21, 2022

Eric Johnson Surrenders

Mayor Eric Johnson surrenders in his battle against TC Broadnax. In a post on Medium, Johnson said he will work with Broadnax moving forward. The two pledged a collaborative environment moving forward.

As we asked earlier it appears Tristan Hallman is the mayor’s janitor – cleaning up his messes.

Less than two weeks ago Johnson said,” it was time for a change at the top of our city government.” Johnson now realizes he is short the votes needed to remove Broadnax. Johnson has effectively boxed himself into a corner.

Eric Johnson Surrenders

The mayor and city manager have “agreed” to improve personal relations. They will focus their combined attention on several issues.

Those include permitting, public safety, and general city communication.

Permitting may be the biggest issue to tackle.

The city manager will develop a new action plan for permitting delays. It is unclear if he will start anew or use Council Member Blackmon’s recommendations from May.

The plan will move from the usual city system and be customer centric. The goal is to both create systemic improvements in the system, but also respond to issues now.

On public safety, the two have found new friendship. Both Mayor Johnson and City Manager Broadnax say they will work together.

Broadnax has committed to active and timely meet-and-confer negotiations with public safety. This is for both fire and police services.

Broadnax will also continue violence interruption service, lightning improvements, and blight remediation. Violence interruption often has high price tags with questionable results.

The mayor and city manager will also start having biweekly discussion on issues to promote discussion. A few citizens we spoke to already expected this type of communication and were surprised it wasn’t happening already.

Moving forward initiatives like the mayor’s “Summer of Safety” campaign will be a focus.

These issues will receive attention also. They include attracting talent, technology infrastructure, and firefighter concerns.

June 21, 2022June 21, 2022

Tristan Hallman – Fall Guy or Janitor?

Is Tristan Hallman a fall guy or the mayor’s janitor trying to clean up the inevitable mess that follows him?

Ten days ago Dallas expected TC Broadnaz to be cleaning his office by now. Instead it appears Broadnax is stronger than ever and has a council majority behind him.

For groups like the Dallas Builders Association the anger is palpable. The same for Dallas Professional Firefighters. They are starting to point fingers not only at Eric Johnson, but Tristan Hallman, too.

Hallman is the former Dallas Morning News reporter/editor who is the mayor’s policy chief.

Tristan Hallman Helped Eric Johnson Win Bum Steer Award

Tristan Hallman – Man In The Middle

Some city employees accuse Hallman of fabricating city council signatures. Those signatures were on the five signature memo putting Broadnax contract for discussion.

The Broadnax agenda item fell off the schedule once it was obvious Broadnax would not resign. It appears either the Mayor or his acting chief of staff can not count to eight. (Eight votes are needed to remove Broadnax from his position.)

Adam Bazaldua’s name appeared on the five signature memo calling to review Broadnax.

He was unquivocal: “mayor’s staff fabricated this memo and submitted it to themselves.”

Other Side Dallas reached out to Hallman more than a week ago with no response. This is a stern accusation and it isn’t clear who will investigate it.

Hallman – Not All Failure

Hallman is not a complete failure. He has helped the mayor win at least one award.

While Mayor Johnson was unable to defund the bureaucracy he did win an award. Texas Monthly gave Johnson a Bum Steer Award. They credited his ability to ‘managed to alienate almost everyone.’

While Texas Monthly notes Johnson’s decade of time in the state legislature, they fail to mention any accomplishments.

The Johnson-Hallman duo has shown complete ineptitude on both economic development and sports.

Earlier this month, Johnson argued for another NFL franchise in Dallas. NFL watchers stated the obvious: Eric Johnson is an idiot. “Jerry Jones won’t allow a team in San Antonio, why would he here?”

June 13, 2022June 13, 2022

City Manager Broadnax Reacts

Dallas City Manager Broadnax reacts to multiple reports, including in Other Side Dallas, that city officials want him out.

On Friday, Mayor Johnson and others on Dallas City Council made clear they plan to oust him from his position.

Mayor Johnson has made clear he believes Broadnax should be relieved of his duties given ongoing problems under Broadnax’s supervision.

Johnson and three council members, Blackmon (D9), Mendolsohn (D12), and Willis (D13) have asked for the closed session meeting.

The result is a week of arm twisting to get to eight votes. In Facebook posts, Cara Mendolsohn makes clear she thinks they are there.

There is a long list of accountability issues with Broadnax’s tenure. Some of those include general management accountability including failure to supervise former Police Chief Reneé Hall, the loss of terabytes of city data, and a nonfunctional permit office inhibiting economic growth.

City Manager Broadnax Reacts: The Statement

City Manager Broadnax’s statement is nonconfrontational over the report stating periodic performance review is critical to me…”

He went on to say that these reviews “demonstrate progress” and “ensure transparency…”

Both of these are called into question as Broadnax has allowed Chief Garcia to hide real time crime data from citizens. Additionally, Broadnax was reluctant to come forward on the city data loss endangering prosecutions.

Broadnax went on to say that he was proud of the hard work and goals accomplished relating to strategic priorities.

He concluded his statement about improving lives in Dallas.

Specifically he mentioned actions that were “equitable, accountable, and legitimate, together as One Dallas.” Mayor Johnson is unmoved.

Broadnax spent Friday at an Austin area spa. He attended a Texas City Management Association conference there.

It is unclear who takes over day to day city management if Broadnax is pushed out. There are also other questions about