🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 06 Aug 2006 10:02:00 -0500, Lady Veteran <armyvet@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 5 Aug 2006 17:11:14 -0500,  wrote:
>
>>Hi, Michael.
>>Consider donating your vehicle to KERA (Public TV and Radio for North
>>Texas).
>>For more details, see:
>>    http://www.kera.org/support/donatevehicle.lasso
>
>I would recommend Dallas I Can. This is an organization that teaches
>kids that others have given up on.
>
>LV


Do you mean the ex-con felon bank robber who founded Dallas Can! by
the name of Grant East. ?  I'm sure he teaches kids a hell of a lot

"A biography of Mr. East that states: "In the late 1960s, with his
business going under, he made the terrible mistake of taking money
from banks that was not his. He was charged with bank robbery and
incarcerated for three years."

The prison stay was described as a spiritual turnaround in his life
and the start of his social work."

He learned you can take more money with a lawyer than a gun.



DALLAS MORNING NEWS
STEVE BLOW

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, July 9, 2006


Celebrity breakups are seldom pretty. But a local one is even uglier
than usual.

This split involves one of the oldest, best-known relationships in
town � between TV sports anchor Dale Hansen and the Dallas Can!
schools.

After 16 years together, their celebrity endorsement bond has
dissolved into allegations of financial impropriety, competing
lawsuits and Mr. Hansen's vow to "destroy" Dallas Can! founder Grant
East.

"I can't believe it has come to this," Mr. Hansen said. "It's so sad.
It's so unbelievably sad."

It's a tangled tale involving Mr. Hansen's 35-year-old son, Eric. He
owns a local marketing and advertising firm, and he managed his
father's annual golf tournament benefiting the Dallas Can! schools for
at-risk youth.

The saga also involves a Dallas oil and gas company, Noble Royalties
Inc., which was the title sponsor of the last two golf tournaments and
also did business with Eric Hansen's company.

Each company is suing the other. Eric Hansen's Iris Advertising
accuses Noble Royalties of refusing to pay $455,903 in fees unrelated
to Dallas Can!. 

Noble accuses Iris of fraud in failing to pay $238,000 in golf
tournament proceeds to Dallas Can!.

The school now has joined that lawsuit, which also names The Hansen
Foundation.

The WFAA-TV (Channel 8) sportscaster said he's mystified by the whole
thing. When questions first arose, he said he made an offer that
should have promptly settled it.

"I said, 'I don't think there's a problem. But if you think there's a
problem, let's all sit down in a room, bring in all the accountants,
open all the books, and if we can't justify every single dollar we
have spent, I will personally write a check to make it good.' "

Mr. Hansen said he made that offer repeatedly but no one took him up
on it. 

"If this is really solely about money, why won't they sit down with us
and go over the books?" he asked.

Randy Foret, attorney for Noble Royalties and Dallas Can!, counters
that any such meeting would first require an independent audit of all
financial transactions � and that Eric Hansen stopped just such an
audit. 

"We're fully willing to sit down and discuss this, but we weren't
allowed to complete our audit to our satisfaction," he said.

"Absolutely not," Eric Hansen responded. "They could come in today for
all I care. I have nothing to hide."

Back and forth it goes. In this messy split, there's even disagreement
over who is leaving whom.

Dale Hansen said he decided last year to part ways with Dallas Can!
after losing faith in Mr. East's leadership and integrity. 

"I plead guilty to looking the other way too many times," Mr. Hansen
said.

He believes the allegations of financial impropriety in the golf
tournaments are Mr. East's attempt to discredit him and make it appear
he was forced out. 

"While that doesn't make much sense to me, none of this makes sense to
me," he said.

But a spokesman for Noble Royalties said Mr. Hansen's departure is
simply retaliation for the school's decision to stop using his son's
advertising company for its Cars for Kids campaign. 

"That is the cause of it. Eric told them in advance that would
happen," said public relations representative Jackson Harrell.

"Typical response," snorted Mr. Hansen, denying that his son played
any role in his rift with Dallas Can!.

Mr. Hansen said the irony was that he had no intention of going public
about his departure. 

"No one would have even noticed," he said. "I planned to walk away
quietly."

But with the attack on his son's integrity, the gloves are off. Mr.
Hansen said, "I called Grant East and I said, 'I'm going to destroy
you.' "

Perhaps to that end, Mr. Hansen noted: "I'm not the one who has been
to prison. He has."

Dallas Can! spokeswoman Cheryl Rios said Mr. East was not available
for an interview. While decrying its mention as a personal attack, she
said the prison term had been no secret. 

She provided a biography of Mr. East that states: "In the late 1960s,
with his business going under, he made the terrible mistake of taking
money from banks that was not his. He was charged with bank robbery
and incarcerated for three years."

The prison stay was described as a spiritual turnaround in his life
and the start of his social work.

Each side in this mess offers wildly different versions of events. And
in another twist, the attorney for Noble Royalties, Mr. Foret, later
said Mr. Harrell was not authorized to speak for the company, even
though it was Mr. Harrell who returned my original call to company CEO
Scott Noble.

They may not agree on much, but every single person expressed deep
concern for the students trying to get their lives on track at Dallas
Can!.

And rightfully so. If ever a case cried out for peaceful resolution
through mediation, this is it. While their disagreements are many,
their point of agreement is the most important.

The kids at Dallas Can! deserve better.

E-mail sblow@dallasnews.com




http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-blow_09met.ART.West.Edition1.23fce49.html