Odds and Ends from The Sunday Paper

A pretty readable Sunday in the S-T. Some of the highlights:

The Man At The Door: Chris Vaughn had an enlightening story on Mark Kelsey of Pantego, a man you never want to see at your door if you have a loved one in the service. He's the man who comes to tell you that your loved one is dead, a task he has performed 55 times since he went back on active duty in 2006. How does he do it? Why does he do it? "Even though I am bringing them horrible news, I'm there to help them," he told Chris. "I get a sense of accomplishment from that. I'm also honored to be there. The soldier would want a caring professional to bring their family the news. So while I'm helping the family, I feel that I'm also honoring the soldier." It's unfortunate that America needs Kelsey to do this job, but I'm glad as an American that we have someone who is able to handle this task with such compassion and professionalism.

Salim Nourallah: Cary Darling's profile of Salim (pictured at right) was quite revealing and well-timed. "Shades of Jeff Buckley, Wilco, Ray Davies and Crowded House color the melancholic splendor of Nourallah's work, which has been honored with numerous Dallas Observer music awards -- best producer at last week's 2007 ceremony and best album, song and producer at last year's." I'm already a big fan of Salim's blog -- now I need to pick up his latest album, Snowing in My Heart. (iTunes link)

Mahler Overview: Matthew Erickson provided a good overview of Gustav Mahler's life and work leading up to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's Mahler Festival, starting this Thursday. Me and the girls are going to check out the Ninth on Saturday, so this help me get geeked up.

The Foreclosure Crisis: Mitch Schnurman does what he does best -- taking a big national story and making it relevant for the local reader. "Foreclosures aren't the cause of the trouble; they're a symptom of scores of bad home loans and years of overbuilding. In this area, rising foreclosures were sending a signal to the market three or four years ago, but they were ignored -- with few consequences. ... Texas foreclosures should have been the canary in the coal mine: Put too many people in homes they can't afford, and loans go bad and streets fill up with empty houses. ... In the latest postings, the average loan originated in 2003, according to George Roddy of the Foreclosure Listing Service in Addison. And an even greater number of risky loans were made in '04, '05 and '06. 'Do the math, and that means we have two to three more years of this left,' Roddy says." Yipes.

Roommate for RadioShack?

Evidently there is an upside to laying off a bunch of people. Mitch Schnurman reports that RadioShack maybe looking for a roommate to share its palatial new digs on the banks of the Trinity. Thanks to the $96 million in public subsidies that Cowtown gave RS to build its mighty PleasureDome, "RadioShack has a distinct advantage over other developers who couldn't get tax breaks."

Of course, that wasn't even the best part of the column for me. Check this: "Since Julian Day arrived as chief executive last July, RadioShack has been brutally cutting costs big and small. Last week, office plants were carted to a garage and sold to employees for $5 each, presumably to save the expense of caring for the greenery. Now that's depressing, given that the company made $42 million in the first quarter." Wow, I wish I had known. I need some landscaping.