8 January 5-11, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents in many cases there is almost no change),” the foundation’s statement said. “This re- lease is much like those in 2017, 2018, and 2021, and is nowhere near the full disclosure required by law.” During a press conference held by the foundation, U.S. District Judge John Tun- heim, who chaired the Assassination Re- cords Review Board established in the ’90s, said continuing to withhold these docu- ments only allows conspiracy theories about the assassination to flourish. The review board was established under the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Col- lection Act of 1992. “These are records related to the assassi- nation of an American president that carry an enormous public interest,” Tunheim said. “This congressional mandate occurred in 1992. That’s a long time ago. The assassina- tion was 59 years ago. That’s a long time ago. It’s time to release everything and stop with the redaction process.” The White House memo explained that records could still be shielded from disclo- sure when “necessary to protect against an identifiable harm to the military defense, in- telligence operations, law enforcement, or the conduct of foreign relations that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public in- terest in disclosure.” Several federal intelligence and law en- forcement agencies had to submit letters to The White House requesting that docu- ments continue to be withheld. “All information in CIA’s JFK Act collec- tion about President Kennedy’s assassina- tion itself has been previously released,” the CIA wrote in its letter to the White House. “What remains redacted in the documents in this collection are not related to the assas- sination itself, but rather are primarily post- assassination documents, and details which remain classified concern intelligence sources and methods of current relevance.” But, Tunheim said he thinks it’s unneces- sary to continue to withhold the documents and the issue should be taken up by Congress again. “I think it’s necessary at this point, be- cause we still face these issues of protection of information, that Congress hold a hear- ing, perhaps even more than one,” he said. “Let’s get this issue out on the table and de- termine why 25 years after the fact we still see significant redactions in records that, for all practical purposes, should have been re- leased a long time ago.” ▼ COWBOYS WAYWARD SUN JERRY JONES KEEPS DROPPING THE BALL WHILE THE COWBOYS CAN’T SEE IT. BY KELLY DEARMORE T here are many traditions associated with the Dallas Cowboys. Some are fun, such as the annual Thanksgiving Day game and halftime show, and some aren’t so great, like the consistent early- round playoff exits. During the Cowboys’ Dec. 24 win against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, another tradition made its unwel- come presence felt in a blinding way. In the second quarter, Cowboys receiver Michael Gallup failed to catch a ball while being as- saulted by the sun’s glare beaming through the stadium’s massive windows. He later ac- knowledged he couldn’t see the ball. You read that correctly. In a stadium with a retractable roof that reportedly cost $1.3 billion to build just over a decade ago, play- ers fail to make plays because they simply cannot see the ball. So, when Gallup failed to make a catch that would’ve resulted in a touchdown, it was met not with shock from fans and media, but with exasperation. The biggest problem here isn’t the way in which the gargantuan stadium sits with its windows on each end facing east and west, or the fact that there are large curtains available to block the sun’s troublesome glare going un- used. The problem is that owner Jerry Jones refuses to acknowledge there’s a problem. Jones has always been an advocate for the stadium’s many modern amenities and the fancy artwork his wife, Gene Jones, has installed in the interior. He’s not in a hurry to allow that there might be room for even the simplest improvement. Jones has been asked about this rather glar- ing problem before. For some reason, the issue barely seems to register on his radar in any dis- cernible way. When asked about this sun-fu- eled controversy by 105.3 The Fan in January 2022, the owner said the topic was “about 10,000th on my list of things to worry about.” That was following the Cowboys’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the playoffs. A vital drive just before halftime was thwarted by sunshine in the face of re- ceiver Cedrick Wilson, who said after the game, ““It’s one of those things you can’t do anything about. I turned around and couldn’t see [quarterback] Dak [Prescott] or the ball.” Following the most recent sunny intrusion on Christmas Eve, Jones was again dismis- sive of the problem on his regular radio ap- pearance, saying, “The sun was there for both teams. So, both teams have to look for it. But we’ve got about 30 coaches, we’ve got a lot of people, and they’ve got assistants. You don’t have any lack of people out there that can tell you where that sun is. So, everybody knows where the sun is on both sides of the ball.” Naturally, some of the biggest voices in North Texas talk radio have more to say about the sun-drenched field than the owner does. George Dunham, co-host of the Dunham and Miller morning show on 1310 The Ticket, wishes someone other than the media got in the owner’s ear about it. “I know that coaches worry about every- thing,” he says. “And I guarantee you [head coach] Mike McCarthy is bothered by this. I wish he would say something. How can you say everything you do is all about winning the game and have this thing that hurts the game?” In a September 2016 game against the New York Giants, disruptive sunlight was cited as the reason Cowboys receivers dropped at least three passes in the crucial final minutes of the game the home team lost by a score of 20–19. Jones owner didn’t see much of an issue back then, telling reporters after the game, “I thought the sun was pretty good out there today, really, relative to coming in from the east.’’ Ben Rogers of the Ben & Skin show on 97.1 The Freak is also incredulous when it comes to Jones’ unwillingness to admit there’s a glare problem. “It’s as if there’s a part of the field where a giant alligator lives,” he says. “And every once in a while it’ll randomly jump out and attack a player. But Jerry, stuck on pretend- ing his stadium is perfect, is too damn stub- born to admit that alligators exist.” During a November 2017 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs, former star receiver Dez Bryant lost a couple of passes in the sun. After the game, he didn’t waste time identi- fying the problem, saying, “The sun really is that big a deal. I was going across as I was going up. The ball caught the light and I lost it a little bit. I told coach, ‘Hey, man, there’s nothing I can do about that one.’” In 2018, curtains were placed over the stadium windows when the NFL draft took place on the field. According to Dave Lane of 1310’s The Hardline program, those curtains are probably just getting in the way of what the owner treasures the most — the stadi- um’s general beauty. “Gene doesn’t want curtains to obscure her artwork,” Lane says. “So Jerry has to cling to the flimsy excuse that he planned for future development to block the sun. As if a skyscraper is going to go up across from the Walmart on Collins Street. I guess we need Dak to be permanently blinded during the NFC championship game for anything to change.” The Cowboys stadium lets the sun shine in. Getty Images Unfair Park from p6 o D DIGITAL MARKETING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERESTED CANDIDATES PLEASE SEND YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO CHARLIE. CHARLIE. DONDLINGER @DALLASOBSERVER.COM
