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    Early Voting Starts Now

    7 candidates vie for Angela Hunt's Dallas City Council seat in District 14

    Teresa Gubbins
    Apr 29, 2013 | 11:16 am
    • District 14 has seven candidates vying for seat vacated by Angela Hunt.
      Photo by Teresa Gubbins
    • District 14 candidate forum at Lee Park drew full house of voters.
      Photo by Teresa Gubbins

    Early voting begins April 29 for the upcoming elections in Dallas County, taking place on May 11. The election includes contests for Dallas City Council, ISD and Dallas County School Board. But the most visible contests are city council, where four council members are leaving: Pauline Medrano, Angela Hunt, Linda Koop and Ann Margolin.

    The talkers include District 1 North Oak Cliff, where candidates Delia Jasso and Scott Griggs are two perfectly good incumbents now forced to run against each other after stupid redistricting, and District 3 Pleasant Grove, where three candidates — Michael Connally, Claudia Meyer and Kermit Mitchell — are running against incumbent Vonciel Jones Hill.

    Meyer is a popular 70-year-old retiree who's been involved in protesting gas drilling. You may recall that Hill went off on a religious bender at a February meeting, comparing Dallas city manager Mary Suhm to Jesus Christ.

    Magnificent seven
    District 14, covering Uptown, East Dallas and Lakewood, has the briskest action. Seven candidates are vying for the seat vacated by outgoing Angela Hunt: Bobby Abtahi, David Blewett, Kevin Curley, Philip Kingston, Chuck Kobdish, July Liimatainen and Jim Rogers. Nearly all have long histories of community involvement.

    The candidates have dutifully trooped through five public forums, organized by neighborhood associations to give the candidates an opportunity to establish their identities.

    A forum on April 22 at Lee Park, hosted by Uptown Dallas, State-Thomas Area Residents and the Lee Park Conservancy, showed how the seven candidates had settled on a kind of rhythm.

    Moderated by lawyer Beth Ann Blackwood, the forum drew a near-capacity crowd of about 120. Candidates stayed on course thanks to a timer that rang when their designated answer time was up (with the exception of Abtahi, who playfully exceeded the allotted time more than once).

    In a nutshell:

    • Abtahi emphasized his profession as a lawyer and his list of endorsements.
    • Blewitt accentuated his family with six kids and his longtime residence in the district.
    • Curley stressed his youthfulness and technological savvy.
    • Kingston underscored his participation in neighborhood associations and activism in improving Greenville Avenue.
    • Kobdish championed his everyman stance and his attentiveness to the concerns of the small businessman.
    • Liimatainen recounted her lifelong record of volunteering and the conciliatory advantages of her gender.
    • Rogers spotlighted his ability to win over opponents and diverse kinds of people and the fact that he'd be on the job full-time.

    Topics included the noise situation at the Katy Trail Ice House and what city codes needed rethinking. Blackwood asked the candidates how they'd work with the other council members to get the eight votes that are required for any initiative. Their answers, please:

    • Abtahi: "I'm willing to do the hard work."
    • Blewitt: "With six kids, I count to eight every day."
    • Curley: "I'm not a lawyer. I'd bring a change of culture."
    • Kingston: "I'm 20-0 in getting codes enforced."
    • Kobdish: "I solve problems in my job every day."
    • Liimatainen: "I know how to deal with people; I know how to listen."
    • Rogers: "I won't get eight votes; I'll get all 15."

    Early voting runs from April 29 through May 7. Find a list of locations here.

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    Animal News

    Advocates find false info being fed to Texas legislators on pet store law

    Teresa Gubbins
    May 8, 2025 | 10:30 am
    Puppy mill dogs do not have a great life.
    Puppy mill dogs do not have a great life.
    undefined

    A national pet store chain has been implicated in a dishonest campaign to try and influence Texas lawmakers on an upcoming bill making its way through the legislature.

    The pet store chain is Petland, and they're engaged in a battle against The Ethical Pet Sale Bill (SB 1652 / HB 3458), which would encourage pet stores to stop selling at-risk animals from puppy mills and support shelters and rescue groups instead.

    The Ethical Pet Sale bill has support from rescue and animal groups across Texas, who are all grappling with a glut of animals on the streets and in overcrowded shelters. That pet overpopulation problem gets even worse when pet stores import more animals from puppy mills in states like Missouri and Ohio.

    If Texas passes the bill, it will join a growing number of states and cities who've already passed similar laws including Dallas, Austin, Bryan, College Station, El Paso, Euless, Fort Worth, Houston, New Braunfels, Pasadena, San Antonio, The Colony, Sherman, and Waco.

    Most reputable pet store chains such as PetSmart and PetCo do not sell cats and dogs. Petland does. The company operates 84 stores in the U.S., and fights bills like this by hiring lobbyists to discourage legislators from supporting these bills.

    Phony list
    In this case, a two-page summary was distributed to some Texas state senators listing reasons why they should oppose SB ("The evidence from other states, especially California, demonstrates that these types of bans do more harm than good"), plus a list of organizations that are opposed.

    Most of the organizations opposed to the bill profit directly from animals, such as Petland and Puppy Dreams, a North Texas chain that also sells animals.

    But the list also had surprising names including PetSmart, PetCo, and Pet Supplies Plus — the three largest pet store chains who all have a history of supporting adoption of shelter animals.

    Their presence on the list caught the eye of animal advocacy groups such as Texas Humane Legislation Network and Humane World For Animals, who've worked with the big three in the past.

    "We became aware of Petland Inc.’s lobbyist apparently sharing the attached document with legislators, claiming the listed pet and pet product industry leaders are opposing this legislation," said a spokesperson from Humane World of Animals (HWA). "We checked in with contacts at Petco, Petsmart, and the American Pet Products Association, and all of them deny opposing this legislation or giving Petland permission to list them on this opposition letter. It’s very possible others listed in this letter also did not give their permission to be included — we only connected with the those listed above at this stage."

    CultureMap also contacted the three major pet store chains and received similar responses that they had not been consulted nor did they issue a rejection of the bill, although none wanted to be quoted.

    The misrepresentation is concerning because it muddies the water with false information at a time when the bill is still under consideration:

    HB 3458 — the version going through the Texas House — passed a House Committee with a 10-1 vote and has been moved up the chain towards passage.

    SB 1652 — the version going through the Senate — still needs to get through the Senate Committee, Calendars, and a floor vote.

    "By creating a false narrative about the position of the above industry leaders, this letter has the potential to sway lawmakers at a critical juncture in the legislation’s journey," the HWA spokesperson says.

    Two Petland stores in the Dallas area — in Frisco and Tyler — have been the subject of undercover investigations. Petland Webster recently settled a lawsuit with several families that the store allegedly sold sick puppies to, and several lawsuits have been filed against Petland Woodlands in Texas, claiming the store sold sick puppies. One pet owner told the House Committee that he'd spent $20,000 on medical care of a puppy he bought at a pet store.

    "Banning the retail sale of puppies and kittens is a common-sense solution to protect both animals and Texas consumers," said Dean Senator Judith Zaffirini of Laredo, who filed the bill. "My SB 1652 would help reduce pet overpopulation, promote responsible breeding practices and prevent families from unknowingly purchasing sick animals. With varying local ordinances in place and further action at the city level now restricted, it is important for the state to provide a clear and consistent approach that prioritizes both animal welfare and consumer protection."

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    news/city-life

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