Amanda Schulz For Dallas

Yesterday, over 130 area East Dallas neighbors came out for a free morning of swim time to celebrate the annual Tietze Splash! For two hours, pool admission is complimentary and yummy treats like breakfast tacos, coffee, cereal bars and cookies are provided for attendees. Tietze Splash is held every August and co-sponsored by Friends of Tietze Park and the neighborhood associations of Lower Greenville, Lakewood Heights and Wilshire Heights.

Also, on the horizon, Tietze Park will celebrate its centennial in 2024! The park has two exciting projects coming up…the installation of a new sand volleyball court and a centennial tree planting. If you would like to donate to either of these efforts, please visit the Friends of Tietze Park link below!

https://www.tietzepark.org/join-us.html

There are so many things to do and so many places to visit in Downtown Dallas, including our central J. Erik Johnson Public Library! I had the opportunity to attend, for the first time, the DPL’s True Crime Mini-Convention this weekend. It was the second time this event has been offered. On Friday, we spent time with keynote speaker Brian Fillingim, of DPD’s Cold Case Squad. Currently, DPD has over 2,500 cold cases. That’s a lot to tackle, but kudos to Fillingim for his assistance on the case to exonerate Martin Santillan, this spring, who was unjustly incarcerated, for over 25 years, for the murder of Damond Wittman. DNA evidence is finally bringing the true perpetrator to justice! Fillingim told attendees, however, that he is most proud of his work on the tragic cold case of attorney Ira Tobolowsky, who was murdered by being set on fire in his garage. Through a lot of diligent work, the perpetrator, Steven Aubrey, will now stand trial at the end of September for this heinous murder. Which two cases has Fillingim worked on the longest? They’re both from my East Dallas neck of the woods…Jill Bounds (Lakewood) and Gail DeLay (Lovers/Skillman).

Saturday morning was spent with the fun, married duo of Brandy and Chris Diamond, hosts of the Texas Wine and True Crime podcast. They did a podcast recording with attendees, and we covered the famous case of Candy Montgomery, out of Wylie, Texas, and the bizarre murder of Canadian real estate agent Lindsay Buziak. I haven’t listened to this podcast before, but after meeting Brandy and Chris, I will definitely tune in!

We rounded out the afternoon with true crime author visits from James Renner, Alan Prendergast, and Jake Anderson (via Zoom), and then finished the day by breaking up into teams for true crime trivia!

If you love true crime, I would recommend attending this event when it comes around again in 2024.

If you are looking to do other fun things at our downtown central library, you might also check out Summer Screen Saturdays, where they feature a different movie every Saturday at 2:00 in the first floor auditorium. Check out the link below!

https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/event/summer-screen-saturdays

It was a wonderful morning attending the Dallas Park and Recreation Department Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast! Our parks system includes 410 parks, comprising over 23,000 acres of land, and the staff and army of volunteers that make that system operate is nothing short of staggering. I have been volunteering in our parks system now for 6 years, and it has definitely become an integral part of my life. If you are interested in volunteering your time with Dallas parks, more help is needed! Simply use the QR code or go to the link listed in the informational sheet below and set up your own account. It’s that easy to get started!

A special thank you to Maria Guerrero of NBC 5 - Dallas, Mistress of Ceremonies, and to Park Board members Daniel Wood, Maria Hasbany and Priscilla Rice for spending your Saturday morning appreciating the volunteers of Dallas. 💚

Today, I had the opportunity to join a room full of engaged women to hear British A. Robinson, President and CEO, speak about the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Did you know that the latest census shows the United States population at just over 331M people? Did you also know that 130M of those people are adults that cannot read above a 6th Grade level? This is an astounding figure. We have to do better as a nation, and Dallas should be an integral part of that mission!