Texas

Eulogy for My Dad Roger Cadenhead

I delivered this eulogy for my dad Roger Cadenhead today at Prestonwood Baptist Church. On behalf of the family I'd like to thank everyone for coming out to honor dad. I'm his son Rogers, also known as Roger Jr., also known as Little Roger. There are some people you meet whose brains spin at a different RPM than anyone else's. He was one of them. My dad was 20 when I was born and my mom was 18. I am a happy accident. Dad had some unusual parenting techniques. Our apartment in Oak Cliff was so ... (read more)

2017/02/09

Remembering My Dad Roger Cadenhead

My dad Roger Cadenhead died yesterday after a long battle with Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. He was 70. Dad was a microelectronic engineer, rock-ribbed Republican, ham radio operator K5PCS and one half of the June 1980 father-son championship at the Hulen Mall Putt-Putt. You could start a conversation with him on the weather and find yourself an hour later in a discourse on the root causes of World War I. He'll be taken back to Honey Grove, which he loved, to the mother and grandmother who raised ... (read more)

2017/02/07

Ladies, You Need to Look Good for Your Man

I'm reading Molly Ivins: A Rebel Life, a biography of the sorely missed Texas liberal columnist by Bill Minutaglio and W. Michael Smith. When Molly was eight months old, her father Jim Ivins was serving on the USS Gallup in the Coast Guard during World War II. He wrote this in a letter home to his wife Margaret: I think your new stationary is solid, but how about a picture of you lately? I think you have a complex about your looks. When you put your mind on it you are one hell of an attractive ... (read more)

2011/06/06

Texan's Ad: 'You Will Never Silence Me'

While stopping in Liberty City, Texas, recently to eat at the binding arbitration Whataburger restaurant, I found an interesting display ad in the Longview News-Journal. The ad, which was almost a half-page in size, read as follows: Amos Snow, III Longview, TX 75605 Apparently, I'm an enemy of the State. I'm a Navy veteran, who for 7 years served my country in the forgotten conflicts of the '80s. I'm a small business owner who provides jobs within the community and provides finished goods to ... (read more)

2009/08/11

Building a New Football Stadium at UNT

I have a letter to the editor in today's North Texas Daily, the student newspaper I edited back in the Mesozoic Era, to support a student fee to build a new football stadium at the University of North Texas: As an NT alumnus and former Daily editor, I'm disappointed that the current staff of the newspaper didn't endorse the athletic fee referendum. Fouts Field is an eyesore that detracts from the university. It's the fifth-oldest building on campus, the conditions inside are abysmal, the ... (read more)

2008/10/14

Hurricane Ike Poised to Strike Galveston

Hurricane Ike is going to kill a lot of people who don't evacuate Galveston and the surrounding Texas coast before it strikes tonight. I just heard a disturbing report on MSNBC that disabled residents have yet to be evacuated and can't reach emergency authorities on the phone. Weather Underground Jeff Masters offers this grim assessment: Hurricane Ike is closing in on Texas, and stands poised to become one of the most damaging hurricanes of all time. Despite Ike's rated Category 2 strength, the ... (read more)

2008/09/12

Remembering Journalist Bill Muller

Bill Muller, one of my long-ago colleagues from the student newspaper at UT-Arlington, died yesterday at age 42 after a year-long battle with cancer. The Arizona Republic, where he worked the past seven years as the film critic, does a good job of covering his many accomplishments in journalism. Muller was an investigative reporter before he became a critic, and his paper editorializes today about why he was so good at it: But above all else, Bill Muller was a great journalist because he was ... (read more)

2007/09/07

Read the Fine Print On Your Whataburger

A sign on the front door of a combined gas station and Whataburger restaurant in Liberty City, Texas: By entering these premises you hereby agree to resolve all disputes or claims of any kind whatsoever, which arise from the products, services or premises, by way of binding arbitration, not litigation. No suit or action may be filed in any state or federal court. Any arbitration shall be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, and administered by the American Mediation Association." Although I ... (read more)

2007/06/13

SMU's Loss to UNT Its Worst Ever?

Covering last night's UNT-SMU game, Dallas Morning News columnist Gerry Fraley writes, "The alumni wanted coach Ray Morrison's head after the Mustangs lost the first game in school history -- at TCU in 1915." SMU had no alumni in 1915. That's the year the school opened. Speaking as a UNT homer, the rest of Fraley's commentary is equally sloppy. The North Texas team that beat SMU as a five-point underdog Saturday is one season removed from four consecutive Sun Belt championships. Though the ... (read more)

2006/09/10

USA Today is running a cover story on Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas of the University of North Texas Mean Green, the NCAA-leading rushers in 2003 and 2004. They'll become the first season leaders to ever share the same backfield when my alma mater loses by several touchdowns to LSU on Sept. 3. ... (read more)

2005/08/15

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