BILL CHERRY

When the garden apartment market began to expand in the '50s, developers began to put pressure on architects to make the exterior and interior designs more appealing.

During one of those apartment-style reinventions, a small porch or balcony was added to new units, and access was through sliding glass doors, the style that was being used in single-family residences to access a patio, deck and backyard.

But the design came with a sticking point. What type of window covering would be appropriate? Venetian blinds were impractical because they had to be completely risen to allow the use of the doors. Shutters were too expensive and maintenance on them was high. Vertical slat blinds hadn't yet been invented.

Curtains on traverse rods seemed to be the answer. But their use came with a problem: When they were open, especially at dusk or night, anyone walking or driving by could see inside, especially those units that were on the first level.

So architects answered that issue with pony walls, a wall about three feet tall that would block the lower part of the apartment's porch from view,

But with the solid pony wall came a real security problem. Intruders could hide behind the pony wall as they removed the sliding portion of the patio door or otherwise forced entry.

In the '80s, all sorts of burglaries, rapes, and assaults could be easily traced back to the ease of entry through a patio door blocked from outside view by a pony wall.

And for nearly fifteen years, a good portion of my real estate practice was as a consultant and expert witness for plaintiff attorneys whose clients suffered injury, death or loss of property resulting from an intruder breaking in through a patio door blocked from outside view by a pony wall.

If one were to add up the settlements and awards of just the cases I was involved with, it would be in excess of $100 million.

But architects, developers and owners never seem to learn. Here is a Dallas retirement home apartment building that is nearing completion. Pony walls on the first floor, iron fences on floors two through four. It's only a matter of time.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS-HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

OUR 45TH YEAR SELLING TEXAS!

Letter to the Editor -- Galveston County Daily News, August 16, 2009

No matter which side you're on, you can't help but enjoy this writer and his approach

**************

Dangerous Republican Ripe For Instant Arrest

There's at least one radical, right-wing "nut job" in Galveston - me! I should be a prime suspect in all anti-President Barack Obama propaganda.

Look at my record: I served my country in uniform for 12 years, from 1960, was a Merchant Marine for 15 years, am a Christian and voted for Wallace, Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, Bush 1 and 2 and McCain.

I'm a member of the National Rifle Association, American Legion, Ducks Unlimited, the Better Business Bureau and Texas State Rifle Association.

I belong to Sarah Palin's official political action committee and contribute to her regularly. I believe marriage should be limited to a man and a woman, abortion is murder, 99 percent of politicians are crooked, lazy or traitors, and most couldn't give a damn about the people.

I despise everything the "Chicago mob" in the White House has done. We'd be better off under the mafia - at least everyone would have a shot at the "action."

If I were the government, I'd get me off the streets as soon as possible. At least in "Club Fed," I'll get three squares a day, which is more than most Americans will be getting after another year of this administration.

Ralph LaPaugh
Galveston

DR. LEON BREEDEN

Leon Breeden Received Honorary Doctorate at UNT

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Leon Breeden, who was director of the University of North Texas Jazz Studies Program and the One O'Clock Lab Bandfrom 1959 to 1981, was awarded an honorary doctorate at UNT's doctoral commencement ceremony. The ceremony was held Aug. 14 (Friday) in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, located along the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard.

The degree is awarded by the university to a candidate who has demonstrated high standards of excellence through his or her scholastic achievements, professional accomplishments, philanthropy or public service record.

Under Breeden's direction, UNT's jazz studies program rose to international prominence. It was during his tenure that world-renowned bandleader Stan Kenton discovered the jazz program, the first of its kind in the country, at the Notre Dame National Jazz Festival. That event is widely considered to be a breakthrough for the program's ongoing international reputation.

During this period, Breeden also took over direction of the One O'Clock Lab Band, a name that developed when he moved the rehearsal time for the premiere band up to 1 p.m. from 2 p.m.

Before he stepped down, the lab bands celebrated many "firsts" under Breeden's direction, such as becoming the first college or university band to appear at the White House by presidential invitation in 1967. The lab bands also received almost 50 national awards for group performance and for individual performance.

In addition to spurring the nation's first bachelor's degree program in jazz studies, Breeden also developed a reputation for himself beyond the university to become a respected clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger and composer. His arrangements were performed by many groups, including the Boston Pops and the Cleveland and the Cincinnati orchestras.

He received an Outstanding Professor honor in 1976 from UNT. The Texas Legislature proclaimed May 3, 1981, "Leon Breeden Day."

In 1985, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the National Association of Jazz Educators. The North Texas Jazz Festival unveiled a Leon Breeden Award for the best middle school or high school big band in 2003.

Now a professor emeritus of music, Breeden was recognized as an Honorary Alumnusat UNT in 1986 and has played important roles at many of the jazz program's celebrations and milestone anniversaries.

Breeden earned a bachelor of arts in music education and master of music education from Texas Christian University. He was awarded an honorary "Doctor of Letters" degree by TCU in 2001.

UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Monique Bird (940) 369-7017
Email: monique.bird@unt.edu

We have the alleged "racist" and "race-or" with the president. Such an interesting insight this snapshot offers into the upbringing of each of them.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

The University of North Texas began as North Texas Normal College. A normal college was the name given colleges that primarily educated students to be public school teachers.

And normal colleges, for whatever the reasons, were second rate citizens among colleges and universities.

Oft times their classroom credits wouldn't even transfer to a new college should a student move, say, from North Texas Normal to the University of Texas.

Or, if the credits were accepted, they came in as a "C" regardless of what grade the student had earned.

Additionally, at least in Texas, the legislature had a history of not giving fairly, much less adequate funding normal colleges. Instead they showering University of Texas and Texas A&M with an abundance.

So the question that has always haunted me is this: Why did college professors choose to teach in normal colleges when pay was substandard and the employment wouldn't enhance their resumes? If can only be because educating others in schools where they thought there was the most needed, rose above all else.

By the time I entered North Texas State College, it had slowly moved from its normal college beginnings to being North Texas State Teachers College and then North Texas State College. But its position in the world of academics hadn't risen significantly, even though the education it put out was equal to or better than all Texas state universities, public or private.

Oddly, in the late 1950s, Texas Christian University professor, Leon Breeden, was talked into taking over a relatively new program at North Texas, its jazz music studies. His jazz bands -- known by the hour of the day the band rehearsed -- became so exciting and popular that they became North Texas' world-wide ambassadors, playing for presidents, in foreign countries, in fact literally playing for audiences around the world.

The North Texas Lab Bands by themselves put Denton, Texas' North Texas State College on the academic map, and thus the status rose, and finally it became University of North Texas. The school couldn't be ignored anymore.

So after Mr. Breeden retired, it just seemed only right to me that the school owed him full honors -- an honorary doctorate degree and a building named after him. The story of the marriage of Leon Breeden to North Texas State College should be memoralized, I thought.

My nearly twenty-year pleas were largely ignored by the University under three presidents and several boards of regents.

But alas, on August 14, 2009, now 88-years old, Leon Breeden will become Dr. Leon Breeden. And there seems to be hope that a building, rehearsal hall, maybe a special classroom will be named after him within the near future.

Congratulations to those who made this happen, including President Gretchen Batzille, and college of music dean James Scott.

The University of North Texas finally got its priorities right.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

Copyright 2009 - William S. Cherry