Meet Your Neighbor
The drive-by shooter caught on surveillance tape.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Local’s ‘disease’ prompts drive-by shootings
“I swore I’d never be down here without my camera again,” was the statement given by long-time nature lover and photographer George Boyd. Boyd saw a bald eagle at White Rock Lake one morning four years ago on his daily walk – without his camera. Such a rare sighting captured his enthusiasm but escaped his film. Ever since then, Boyd brings his F1 Canon and its 30-pound lens and tripod with him each time he visits the lake. But because of its...
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Photo by Lucy Higginbotham. Michael Maddox and Caitlin Cunniff pave their way to matrimony.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Marriage proposal paves the way for local couple
Setting a “Mr. and Mrs.” in stone before she says “yes” takes a lot of confidence. But that is something Michael Maddox had in his pocket last December 16. That… and a diamond ring. Maddox had been dating Caitlin Cunniff, a lifelong Lakewood resident and daughter of David and Tracey Cunniff, since they met while students at the University of Texas five years ago. He knew he wanted to marry her, but how to pop the question eluded him until l...
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Vickey Beausejour and Janice Myrlin celebrate their new friendship and the car (named “Myrlin”) that brought them together.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: The kindness of strangers alive in Casa View
If you found out someone needed a car and you had one to give, would you do it? Just give it away… to a total stranger? Two ladies in our community have a wonderful story to tell about trust, generosity and sheer perseverance. Janice Myrlin is the giver who reluctantly agreed to have her story publicized. “I didn’t even want Vickey to know who was giving the car, but I couldn’t be anonymous because my name was on the car title. I don’t want ...
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Jerry Allegro with two of his passions – plants that he grows and pottery that he makes.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Forest Hills couple enjoys being cooped up
If Jerry Allegro could have lived in the little house on the prairie, he might have been perfectly content. But it’s 2012 in Dallas, so he is trying to make the best of it. “We’re homebodies, really,” he said. “We don’t drink, we don’t smoke, we don’t do drugs…so we might as well have chickens.” And a garden. And a green house. And a pottery studio… Even though he has had a successful 28-year career as a real estate appraiser, owning his ow...
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Laurie Taylor of the Grief and Loss Center.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Local center helps turn sorrow to hope
Getting through the holidays is hard enough for many who struggle with loss. But facing a new year without that loved one can seem impossible. Getting through each day requires a listening ear and sympathetic heart. That’s where Laurie Taylor and the Grief and Loss Center (GLC) can help. “We are honored to walk alongside those who grieve and offer hope. Each person grieves differently, and many feel like others don’t want to hear their stor...
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Maria Valenzuela takes a time out from shoveling sand to encourage volunteerism in the Ferguson Road communities.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: FRI volunteer takes pride in giving back
You might not think a grown woman likes to play in a sand box, but that is what Maria Valenzuela does every time she helps her community. “It is really satisfying to me to know that I’ve put a little grain of sand in a big bucket helping the community. If I just do it alone, it is not enough. But if everyone does it, it fills the bucket,” said this Claremont neighbor, who volunteers as the part-time bookkeeper for the Ferguson Road Initiativ...
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Desi Tanner helps keep Truett Elementary and its surrounding community safer.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Crime Watch volunteer would ‘rather fight than switch’
Being a retired firearms instructor for the City Marshall’s office and teaching concealed handgun certification, is not required to volunteer with a crime watch. But it helps. When paired with the enthusiasm and commitment of Desi Tanner, it creates change. Having moved to Dallas from Chicago more than 20 years ago, Tanner settled down just a few blocks from Truett Elementary School next to Bishop Lynch High School. “Love brought me down he...
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Jacob Buhrer’s dairy farm is now White Rock Lake.
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Writer recalls 2011’s residents to remember
This New Year’s marks the first full calendar year that I have been writing the Meet Your Neighbor profiles for the paper. That makes 52 individuals and organizations that I have met each week and introduced to you, the East Dallas community. Last year, I did a year-in-review column and, having re-read it, I liked it so much that I thought I would do it again. Hey, if Dale Hansen can do his “Thank God for Kids” video year after year, why can...
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MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Selling trees 'fir' Christmas rewarding for two locals
Picking out a Christmas tree can be a very personal thing. It’s a form of art, nature and tradition all grown together. For many East Dallasites, shopping local is truly that: buying their yearly art/nature/tradition from one of their own who have been gracing homes and business for more than 25 years. Patton’s and Sandone’s (pronounced San-DOH-nee) operate within a mile of each other and are both run by Woodrow Wilson alumnae. Sandone’s kids...
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MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Le Café c’est magnifique for Forest Hills mum
Forest Hills resident Katie Fagelman designs portable playhouses that both teach and inspire. If Necessity is the mother of Invention, then her children must live in a cheerful, busy house on Forest Hills Boulevard. Formed from cardboard boxes and creativity, what was once a stop-gap playhouse has become, for Katie Fagelman, a long term pursuit of play for pay. “When we moved in, I took the box our stove came in and turned it into a café fo...
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