D-Rated.

A Shuttered Charter School And Armed Idiots Protesting Outside A Mosque Took Things South.

Welcome to D-Rated, in which we try to determine if the quality of life in Dallas and its surrounding areas is moving up or down by arbitrarily awarding and subtracting point values to our living situation based on current events.

Basketball Jones: Thanks to a quick, aggressive change in their playing style, the Mavs have won five games in a row and should make the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. While this season has been something of a disappointment — they could have easily been the fourth or fifth seed had they showed a little more effort — it’s good to see they’re not rolling over and playing dead. And while they’ll surely be knocked out during the first round — they’re likely to face either the Golden State Warriors or the San Antonio Spurs, both of which have set franchise records for wins this season — it will be nice to say they survived in the brutal Western Conferenc regular season. And there may be even more basketball in Dallas next February: Thanks to North Carolina’s insane, transphobic “religious liberty” law, it’s highly likely the NBA will move the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte. Dallas has expressed major interest, and it proved to have a successful run when the game was held here in 2010. We at least know city council member Philip Kingston supports bringing the game to Dallas: “I’d love it,” he was quoted as saying by CBS. “I’d absolutely love it. We will take whatever business, whatever we can get from those shoeless hillbillies.” Plus 4.

BAIR Shit: It wasn’t the first time, and it sadly won’t be the last, but last Saturday, a group of local morons armed to the teeth decided to protest outside a mosque in South Dallas. But, being morons, they didn’t do their research. For one, the mosque is a Nation of Islam center, which is, at best, tangentially connected to the more orthodox Islam these hillbillies are worried about. They also forgot NOI’s connections to the Black Panther Party, which showed up to counter-protest, also armed to the teeth. Luckily, this didn’t end in violence. But it seems like it’s only a matter of time before tempers flare too high and a lot of innocent people get hurt. Minus 5 for the incident, Plus 4 that no one was hurt.

First is Last: The Children First Academy has seen its fair share of trouble over the years, and now that trouble is catching up with them. The school’s charter will expire in July and won’t be renewed. That’s because the Texas Education Agency found that the school has consistently mismanaged funds, even going so far as to pay family members of administrators for work they probably didn’t do. The school previously shut down in 2013 because — holy shit! — they forgot to run background checks on their staff. One employee even had a felony involving a child. What really sucks about this is that this is another blow to poor, mostly African-American students living in South Dallas. They’ve already had to deal with shitty public schools — and now this charter school has failed them as well. Minus 4.

Good Dog: Well, here’s a positive story about the police for once. Sr. Cpl. Susan Millard, with the help of her K-9 partner Yoll, was able to find a 12-year-old girl before she harmed herself. The kid had left a suicide note and ran away out her bedroom window. The dog picked up her sent from a sock and led Millard to some brush near an Oak Cliff church, where officers picked her up. Plus 3.

Blue Lagoon: Having grown up nearby, I never thought of Lake Ray Hubbard has a place where I wanted to go swimming. But developers are hoping to change that with a planned Crystal Lagoons Resort, which features a gigantic swimming pool near the coast of a body of water. The water is a lot cleaner and clearer than what you’d find in the lake, and the hope is that the “beachfront” addition will boost property values around the area, in addition to attracting new business and those all-important condo owners with money to blow. It should be pretty sweet when it’s all said and done, but color me a bit skeptical at this $1 billion dream. Plus 1.

This Week’s Total: Plus 3.
Last Week’s Running Total: Minus 11.
This Week’s Running Total: Minus 8.