Every year, Advocate photographers capture thousands of neighborhood-related scenarios. We publish the images in this magazine or here on our website, and most inevitably land on the cutting-room floor. This month, we dug through piles of pics, mining them for interest-piquing peripheral details about the subjects, places and events depicted.
Rachel Carter
April 2013
Hoops in the Highlands
‘Geek’ Gusto
This photo came to us buried in a batch Advocate intern Rachel Carter brought back from the spring 2013 Hoops in the Highlands.
Seriously. A photo that so effectively depicts the spirit of competition and wit deserves to see the light of day.
Hoops in the Highlands is an annual fundraising event benefiting neighborhood schools.
William Haskins is the player on the right. We recently tracked down his mom, Heather, who supplied the following facts: Go For It Sports Grill in Lake Highlands last year sponsored the team, which has played in the event together — give or take a member — since they were in first grade.
Now William, 13, is a student at Forest Meadow Junior High. He attends Watermark Community Church, where he belongs to a boys’ Bible study group that meets Wednesdays. He loves being outside, no matter how extreme the heat or chill, and he hopes to be in the sports-medicine field when he grows up.
His opponent, a member of the Geek Squad, is Lucas Herman; the boys are friends and play on the same select baseball team, Heather says.
Who won this one? Team Go For It — which also included Moss Haven and Lake Highlands Elementary students Pierce Walling, Nick Valdez and Brendan Bouldin — won first place in the sixth-grade-males division. They have two more years of Hoops in the Highlands eligibility.
Danny Fulgencio
April 2013
Police breakfast
‘That just happened’
Several officers from the Northeast Division of the Dallas Police Department, Police Chief David Brown and civilian crime-watch leaders enjoyed breakfast at Chubby’s Restaurant in Lake Highlands in April 2013.
The gathering was a gesture of appreciation for a job well done, Bill Vandivort II, the host, said at the time. Everyone at the table was cutting up, laughing and eating when a burly, white-haired man lumbered to the table and halted, hovering over Chief Brown. He reached into his pocket, produced two hundred-dollar bills and placed them alongside a short stack of pancakes.
The table — the whole dining room, in fact — fell silent; every eye was on the man.
“You captured my son’s killer, and I want to buy your breakfast,” he said. Without pause, Chief Brown rose and hugged him. Then, one by one, every officer at the table did the same.
We learned later that the man’s name is Paul Chapman, a longtime neighborhood resident. He says that several years ago his son was murdered.
As Chapman returned to his table, a few contemplative seconds followed, then a voice that seemed to convey the collective sentiment said, “Wow. That just happened.”
James Coreas
August 2013
The Hottest Half Marathon
Holy, half-marathon, Batman!
It took a little work, but Advocate sleuths discovered the true identity of this Batman (hint: looked up that number on his chest in the official race results).
The Hottest Half Marathon and 10k launched from Norbuck Park and went around White Rock Lake one late-August morning. Because of searing temperatures, participants generally don as little clothing as the law allows.
Hence, Michael Edelstein — dressed as Batman and carrying a substantial American flag and accompanied by his girlfriend Merissa, the partially obscured Wonder Woman — turned heads and elicited spectator cheer.
A week after the Boston bombings, Edelstein tells us, he carried the flag in the Oklahoma City Half Marathon.
“I was already registered to run Oklahoma City when Boston happened. I wanted to run with Old Glory to show strength and motivate others. I have run with it in every race since.”
Also around the time of the Boston bombings, Edelstein —who is an injured military veteran — joined Team Red White and Blue, a running group that supports American military transitioning to civilian life, he says.
“I run despite physical pain and push myself because I’m not a quitter. My friends weren’t killed so I could be lazy on a couch and whine about my problems.”
It’s not all so somber. Take the costumes, for instance. That idea, he says, came from a trip to Six Flags, where the superhero getups were on sale at the gift shop.
“Merissa said it’d be funny to run a race in those. Usually I run in my Team RWB T-shirts, but I figured, ‘Why not?’ ”
Danny Fulgencio
March 2013
Lake Highlands North Park egg drop
Like manna from heaven
On an overcast Saturday morning before Easter, some 10,000 sugar-infused plastic eggs rained down on Lake Highlands North Park.
Thousands of neighborhood children had gathered — looking like small, well-dressed ruffians ready to rumble, if necessary — to collect.
Even more surreal than the colorful plunging ovoids was the sight of the vehicle from which they fell — a helicopter co-piloted by the Easter Bunny.
Prestonwood Baptist Church, whose pastor Chris Kouba is a Lake Highlands resident, instituted the helicopter egg drop, which was free for all children ages 2 to third grade.
Kouba called on Brian Dunaway and his Fort Worth-based company Epic Helicopter. Dunaway was happy to help. He, EB and pilot Jason Miles offered services pro bono. Prestonwood provided the eggs and candy.
After several drops, one executed for each age group, the helicopter landed across the street from Lake Highlands High School and EB posed for at least 100 photos with attending families.
Over the years Dunaway has donated helicopter rides to young natural-disaster survivors and children living with incurable illness, to name a couple of charitable examples.
For profit, he has been known to provide traffic-free trips from Meacham Airport to Texas Motor Speedway for NASCAR fans who can afford the $350 fare.
