Keith Fever

God bless NORTH TEXAS! GTNT, I prefer the Mean Green over the Longhorns.

I complained about Dickey (never the players) as much as anyone and I feel we were justified in doing so after the 2001 Monroe loss. If you were a die hard follower of the Mean Green then, you know how much that loss hurt. That loss motivated the team to turn the corner and become a winning program. That loss was a wake up call to DD, the Athletic Department and evidently the team. I am ecstatic that Dickey has turned around the program and I admit I was wrong. He has recruited well with what he has to work with facilities and support wise. And although the conference winning streak and bowls are great achievements for this program, we have to remember that we are in the Sunbelt conference. I cannot remember a IA conference as bad as the Sunbelt. I realize DD has no control over our conference situation and he is doing the best he can in this conference. It doesn't seem like the Belt is getting any better either. Name 1 team that improved significantly this year. My point is, with a career losing record, I don't see any job offers for him (worth taking) for a few years and we win some big non-conference games and maybe get ranked. Major conferences (which is everyone but the WAC) will not turn over their programs to a coach with DD's resume yet. What irks me about the "everyone gave up on us" speech is that over the years, I have defended the Athletic Department/ football team (like many others of you I presume) to my friends, co-workers, and family (many of whom are alumni). When we get beat badly or win against a bad team, the general feeling from others is that I am wasting my time. Although I am proud to answer the following questions, I do get tired of them: You have given money to the Athletic Department? You have season tickets? You actually go to the games? You've travelled to games all over the country? You spend how many hours on gomeangreen.com? (this is more from my wife and my boss if I get caught at work) We have a football team? Why is that North Texas bobblehead on your desk? How many damn North texas shirts do you own? DD, the majority of the Mean Green fans are behind you now. Appreciate what you have and continue to win and it will get better.

Chris, I am just happy to finally be at 50. Bald Eagle, oh yeah!

I don't know the entire history of KDTN but I know Channel 13 still runs and programs it from Dallas. KDTN actually had a studio on campus at TWU at one point. The studio is still there, but it is in very poor condition. They actually still have a floor to ceiling mold of the call letters on the wall. The 2 studios in the newly renovated RTVF building are really nice. They are used quite a bit by classes and NTTV. There is another studio at the Center for Media Production, which is just as nice as the RTVF ones (if not better). This is where CAV works. I sort of doubt that PBS would allow students to run one of its stations with turnover every semester, but it is an interesting idea since KDTN has no local Denton programming. By the way, one of the members of the RTVF department advisory council is "Rick Owen, chief engineer and chief technology officer for KERA-TV and KDTN-TV." (from UNT website). NTTV (an education cable access station run by students) started doing Mean Green basketball games again this semester. You would reach a larger audience with a broadcast channel, so this would be something worthwhile. However, I think it would be quite expensive to buy the station back from KERA Ch 13, but that is a guess. With budget cuts, there is no way this could happen without a big donation.

Please tell me how Lewisville is more progressive than Denton. The City and UNT partner on so many different levels. Internships, classes, environmental research, transportation, advertising. The Mayor and her husband are big time donors to the school and Athletics, the City Manager has a ticket package and goes to every game he can, which is a lot. Until 2 years ago he had no tie to UNT and now he goes to more athletic events than 99% of our alumni. One Council member is a UNT professor. Cities cannot build facilities for a university. Even if they could, UNT has a lot more money than the city does. What has UNT built for the City off campus? There is a reason that DISD does not have a lot of money. Denton is very unique in that UNT, TWU, DISD, FEMA, Denton County, and City of Denton do not pay school tax on their land, which is a lot obviously. DISD is compensated somewhat by the state but not enough. Until Dr Pohl, UNT admittedly did not support its' athletic department, yet the city and its residents get blamed for an apathetic attitude toward it. Gee, where did the apathy originate? I think before the city or Denton residents are blamed, we should look at the UNT Admin in the past, the Alumni, and the current students. It is getting better and hopefully it will continue to do so.

OK, Plumm, here is my attempt to answer some of your musings. I didn't realize asking you to explain yourself meant I wanted to get into a pissing contest. Denton was never approached for the Wal Mart Distribution Center. Wal Mart has a history of putting these in very small towns. Do you think price/ amount of land was better in Sanger than in Denton? 20,000 people go to the fair. I'm saying the City as an organization lost money. These are facts. You can not trust my sources for this if you want but this is the truth. Some businesses do make money, but not as much as you would think. And at least 9 of the businesses actually do lose money. This is what they told the city. Although I do not agree with the Denia group, I understand their stance. If I lived there and did not support athletics or the school, I would probably fight against it as well. It is just survival instinct. Actually, if I lived there for real, I would be pretty happy about being that close to the stadium. By the way, the Mayor lives in the Denia neighborhood. She and her husband are big supporters of athletics and the school. Jim, I just asked for some clarification. Don't get upset at having to explain yourself. Just explain yourself. The problem is when you say some things that are not true or cannot be backed up, people start to believe what you said is true. I think that is where a lot of this anti-business mentality comes from. I cannot speak about the City in the past. I have only been here for 10 years or so. I still live in Denton by the way. I can speak about what is going on now. $100 million construction of a new Denton Community Hospital $30 million expansion of Denton Regional Medical Center $30 million construction of a new Sally Beauty Supply Headquarters multi-million dollar Denton Crossing shopping center Foley's and Barnes and Noble in the mall Numerous new hotels and restaurants around town

Could you please elaborate on what the city is doing to keep Denton from being progressive and relevant to other college towns? This is not meant to be accusatory, I would just prefer to have some specific examples rather than just a general accusation. The communications on the Fair broke down with the Delta Lodge. See my above post. I don't think moving an event such as this onto school property could ever happen. It took a long time for the UNT Legal Department to approve drinking during tailgating much less an event like the Fair.

Maybe I can clarify a few points for the board. The Police and Fire Departments have valid concerns about public safety at the Fair. They are responsible to Denton residents to look out for these concerns. If there were a death or serious injury at the Fair, the City would be liable and they would pay damages with taxpayer money. Delta Lodge would be liable as well, but they could avoid paying damages by declaring bankruptcy. The City was willing to work with the Fair on those safety concerns to have it on Fry Street this year, but the Delta Lodge didn't want to do that. And the city offered to look at alternate locations IN DENTON for the future. The Delta Lodge decided not to do that either (yet). In the time since this was offered and this recent announcement, The Delta Lodge has made no contact with the City. A big concern seems to be the city is throwing away money. Actually, the City loses money every year because of the Festival. Some Fry Street businesses lose money as well and they don't support the Festival or even like having it at all. They lose money due to additional employees, private security, additional dumpster pickups, and repairs to property. Of course some make money, but it isn't really that much after added expenses. The City made a total of $5,717 last year due to the Festival. This includes all motel/ hotel tax (not just those here for the Fair) and sales tax from the Fry Street businesses. The City determined that in order to maintain the same level of Public Safety during and after the event (calls to Police increase dramatically the night of the Fair after it is over) would cost over $30,000 of taxpayer money. With all of that said, I think it is wrong that the Fair will be in Deep Ellum, but I think the Delta Lodge is more to blame than the City. The City tried to work with the Delta Lodge but they did not want to work with the city because they didn't like what we had to say.

Channel 4 and 8 mentioned UNT. 4 even mentioned she went to my high school, Grapevine, before Booker T Washington. And she was a marching band nerd like me, too!