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OakCliff
F R I D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 0, 2 0 1 0
STAFF PHOTO: DAN KOLLER
Tera and Janna Berg of Grand Prairie
bought a snow cone for their dog,
Niko, at Aunt Stelle’s on Monday.
Season For
Aunt Stelle’s
Melts Away
Snow cone fans
gather for last
taste of summer
BY DAN KOLLER
Staff Writer
Before Aunt Stelle’s Sno-
Cones shut down for the sea-
son Monday, a steady stream
of customers stood in line for
one last taste of summer. Most
stood on two legs, but some
stood on four.
Janna Berg and her daughter
Tera brought their dog, Niko, to
Aunt Stelle’s for a “wet snow”
snow cone — also known as a
plain. But he seemed to be eat-
ing his fair share of Janna’s tam-
arind-sour apple concoction.
“Obviously, he’s wanting fla-
vor today, and not just the ice,”
she said.
The Bergs drove in from
Grand Prairie a dozen times this
summer to visit Aunt Stelle’s,
including two trips in the last
weekend of August alone.
Despite all that, they made one
final trip on Monday evening.
“We had to get our flavors in
before the season closes,” said
Janna, who grew up in Oak Cliff
and is therefore privy to the
knowledge that the best snow
cones in town are made on the
corner of Clarendon Drive and
Marlborough Avenue.
Hyiat El-Jundi and Rosi
Sanchez were also among the
season’s final customers.
“I got coconut and water-
melon,” El-Jundi said. “And
I only got coconut because
[Sanchez] and her mother swore
See SNOW CONE, Page 9A
NEIGHBORS
How well do you
N E W S F R O M YO U R S I D E O F T H E R I V E R
Arts Groups Hit by City Cuts
Some programs trimmed by half in Dallas’ budget proposal
BY DAVID CONARD
Staff Writer
While the Oak Cliff Cultural
Center may be fine next year,
other cultural programs face a
tough time with proposed city
budget cuts.
The cultural center, which
opened Aug. 12, is budgeted to
get another staff member next
year, said Maria Munoz-Blanco,
the city’s director of cultural
affairs.
David Haedge will compete in Blues, Bandits, and Barbeque on Sunday with assistance from neighbor Linda Ward.
Winnetka Heights Man
Has Brisket in His Blood
Fest to feature his secret mesquite beef
BY DAVID CONARD
Staff Writer
The 20-something competi-
tors in Sunday’s Blues, Bandits,
and Barbeque festival will be
facing a 30-year brisket man
who’s been cooking since he was
an 8-year-old Cub Scout.
“I always admired a lot of the
restaurants who cooked brisket,”
David Haedge said. “I’m kind of
a barbeque foodie. I just love to
cook, basically.”
Haedge said he started cook-
ing brisket on a small Weber
kettle grill for the first 10 or 15
years. But about 15 years ago, he
discovered a secret weapon from
his wife’s cousin’s husband.
“It’s mesquite wood, a very
special mesquite wood from a
special place,” Haedge said of
his fire fuel. He wouldn’t fess up
know Kyle Ward? [ 3A ]
One employee split time
between the center and other
duties this year, Munoz-Blanco
said. The center will be open
31 hours a week next year, she
added.
“It’s really a good number
of hours for a cultural center,”
Munoz-Blanco said.
However, other cultural pro-
grams aren’t faring so well in the
fiscal 2011 budget that the City
Council is set to adopt Sept. 22.
Munoz-Blanco said the
BLUES, BANDITS,
AND BARBEQUE
What: Music, barbeque, and
game festival
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: Corner of West Davis
Street and North Clinton
Avenue
any further, other than to say he
has to drive a couple hundred
miles to get the wood, which he
planned to do last weekend.
Other than that, Haedge said he
uses a very simple dry rub of salt
and pepper and no marinade.
“The smoke and the wood are
the seasoning,” the Winnetka
Heights resident said. “It’s the
length of time the smoke hits
[the brisket] is what gives it its
flavor.”
SPORTS
Bishop Dunne rolls
VO L . 5, I S S U E 3 5
Cultural Organizations Program
is slated to lose 53 percent
of its $2.7 million budget.
Consequently, each of the 40
organizations that the program
funds is facing a similar trim.
Oak Cliff ’s TeCo Theatrical
Productions gets 15 percent of
its budget from the Cultural
Organizations Program, said
Teresa Coleman Wash, TeCo’s
executive artistic director.
“If that funding was cut, it
would devastate our organiza-
STAFF PHOTO: CHRISTINA BARANY
Once the cooking starts, he
mostly just monitors the meat
for 12 to 14 hours.
Haedge will get cooking, fire-
watching, and moral support on
Sunday from neighbor Linda
Ward. She said Haedge pro-
vided brisket for last month’s
benefit for Vicki Fitzgerald and
for many other events.
“David is just the man to be
doing brisket,” Ward said. “He
may be an engineer on the out-
side, but on the inside … he’s the
Julia Child of the grill.”
Haedge said Sunday’s com-
petition wouldn’t take as much
work as his sideline catering
business, since he needs only
10 pounds of brisket instead of
150. He’s not going to enter the
chicken or sausage competition,
See HAEDGE, Page 9A
past St. Mark’s [ 10A ]
50 CENTS
tion,” she said.
Munoz-Blanco said the
city is also eliminating the
NeighborhoodTouringProgram,
which provided $100,000 last
year to artists or groups doing
workshops or presentations in
public.
Steve Cruz, owner of Mighty
Fine Arts gallery, said he was a
NTP artist for about 10 years.
Through the program, he con-
See CULTURAL, Page 9A
NY Towers
Honored at
OC Tower
Replicas revere
slain civilians,
1st responders
BY DAVID CONARD
Staff Writer
Two transparent towers
stood in a building lobby, a
ghostly representation of what
once was, now filled with
color to represent the bright-
ness lost nine years ago.
The two 6-foot plastic tow-
ers are at the Oak Cliff Tower.
By today, those representa-
tions of the World Trade
Center were scheduled to be
filled with colored rocks rep-
resenting the victims of 9/11.
The display is the brainchild
of Oak Cliff Tower managing
partner Ralph Isenberg, who
designed it with Tim Alonzo
of Isenberg Management
Associates and Ken Demko of
Demko Construction.
“These things don’t have to
be negative; public art is a very
appropriate way of reminding
people,” Isenberg said of the
replicas. “That is such a bet-
ter way of coping with the
losses we’ve had. I so believe
in this.”
On Sept. 1, firefighters from
Station 15 read the names
of several first responders
killed on 9/11, rang a bell, then
placed black stones on pieces
of paper bearing the names.
The stones and paper will
be placed in the base of the
models.
“It means a lot to us, that
someone would take time to
honor the firemen … to show
their appreciation for what we
do,” said firefighter Brandon
Terry.
See MEMORIAL, Page 9A