Fort Worth Bum Steers That Didn’t Crack 'Texas Monthly’s' List

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Texas Monthly, our regional magazine rival that we no less enjoy the heck out of reading, recently published their annual list of Lone Star State people, places, and things that have dabbled in twit-like behavior over the last 365 days — better known as the Bum Steer Awards.  

While we respect the publication’s choices of “honorees,” and its selection of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as Bum Steer of the Year, the lack of “winners” from our own town didn’t go unnoticed. Fort Worth, for its part, largely managed to dodge the biting wit and sarcasm of Texas Monthly’s writers, appearing only once.

To help subsidize Texas Monthly’s roll call, we decided to offer a few of our own Cowtown-inspired suggestions. From sheriffs to billionaires to councilmembers and an entire school district, we left no stone unturned and found plenty to fatten up Texas Monthly’s feature.

Suggested Bum Steer of the Year: Dickies

How dare you, VF Corp.: News of Dickies’ plans to relocate to Costa Mesa, California, shocked us and Costa Mesa. The ruling VF Corp., not to be confused with Moses of Old Testament renown who actually led the Israelites out of subjugation, clearly missed all of Captain Obvious’ memos: There is a mass exodus from California.

Who on God’s green Earth relocates to California?

And they might as well have sent in the moving trucks in the dark of night. Just got up one day and said, “We’re leaving for something far worse.”

To make matters all the more dubious, the VF Corp. plans to move Dickies, born, raised, and an integral part of Fort Worth, Texas, since 1922, to the Vans campus in California. Vans, as in the skateboarding, nonconformity brand.

The company says the move “will help us carry on the brand’s heritage for years to come.” Are you sure about that?

Whole thing is gnarly, dude.

Suggested Bum Steer: Bracken Darrell, VF Corp. president and CEO

More Suggested Bum Steers

Foot-in-Mouth Disease: In December, Chris Nettles was allegedly caught on tape calling three of his colleagues on the Fort Worth City Council racists, including Mayor Mattie Parker. Councilmembers Michael Crain and Carlos Flores were also branded because all three in 2022, Nettles later said, voted against a proposed police advisory board made up of members of the community. The video was released by an old friend on Mao Zedong’s TikTok. With friends like those … . In the end, Nettles scrambled to his feet like a glass-chinned boxer knocked six ways to Sunday by an in-his-prime Mike Tyson, saying, paraphrasing, “Silly me, I didn’t really mean all that stuff.” He never did explain musing about putting his brother and “God brother” in the hospital because they, according to Nettles, had eyes for Mrs. Nettles. Suggested Bum Steer: Chris Nettles, District 8 Fort Worth City Council

Get Away, Gateway – As far as looks go, a church with predatory pastors might be the worst look an institution — any institution — can possibly have. Gateway, the Southlake mega church, was knee-deep in scandal this year following the revelation that founding pastor Robert Morris had molested a 12-year-old girl in 1982. Other church elders, eight in total, would resign over the scandal — and their apparent knowledge of the crimes and subsequent inaction — over the coming months. Not a good look. Suggested Bum Steer: Gateway Church

Failing Grades: There appears to be a serious leadership chasm in the Fort Worth school district, which is lagging behind in conveying the fundamentals to its young clients. The FWISD turned in woeful STAAR scores, 11 points even behind the Dallas school district. At the urging of the mayor, the school board gave a firm push to Superintendent Angelica Ramsey, whose golden parachute landed her nicely on her feet after resigning — a payout of more than $573,000, plus her annual salary of $335,000 through Sept. 1, 2025. Suggested Bum Steer: Fort Worth ISD Board of Education.

Judge No: Hey, we like situation comedies, particularly the new one titled “County Judge Tim O’Hare’s Idea of Election Integrity.” A year ago, the Tarrant County judge, Sheriff Bill Waybourn, and District Attorney Phil Sorrells created a county election integrity task force to help ensure the fairness of elections. And, by God, they were going to throw the book at anyone who undermined the voice of the people. So, imagine our surprise this year when O’Hare, who has essentially turned the Commissioners Court into a political action committee, proposed manipulating the outcome of the 2024 election by eliminating voting locations at some colleges, whose students are typically Democratic voters. O’Hare cited low turnout and cost as his reasons. Irony is as tasty as blueberry pie. Gary Fickes and Manny Ramirez, both Republicans on the court, nixed this terrible idea. Policy makers need’nt waste the public’s time and resources trying to deprive the public from voting. The public does that just fine all by itself. Suggested Bum Steer: Tim O’Hare, County Judge

F-35 U, Too, Elon – Military industrial complex aside, the world’s wealthiest individual and designated chair of the new Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, might be Fort Worth’s public enemy numero uno following his recent social media tirade against the Cowtown-built F-35. Though Texas Monthly unsurprisingly “honored” Musk as a 2024 Bum Steer, it was for entirely different reasons. However legitimate Musk’s claims of wasteful spending may be, we argue the planes are necessary and, well, badass. Come to Fort Worth and see for yourself, Mr. Musk. We see it, and hear it, every damn day. Suggested Bum Steer: Elon Musk, Richest Man in the World and Future Co-Chair of Department of Government Efficiency

That’s Not an Original Idea: When Robert Self, the owner of The Original, which formally sat on the bricks of Camp Bowie, lost a yearslong lawsuit in 2023 over a lease dispute, he picked up his things from the sandbox and stomped home. Though he didn’t own the building, he did own the adjoining parking lots. To demonstrate the bitterness of one in the developmental years, he barricaded his lots with temporary fencing for the next year, only reopening access after announcing his plans to put a mini-The Original on the site. After all, if you want to do business in the neighborhood, you need to be nice to the neighbors. Suggested Bum Steer: Robert Self

Jeremiah, We Hardly Knew Ye: The Big Southern Dummies of South Carolina rolled out the red carpet for TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati, probably looking for an out after the former golf coach went scorched earth in a lawsuit earlier this year. The suit depicted an athletics department run by frat brothers. Well, Donati is now the former athletic director. The Horned Frogs head athletics man took the bait of the greener pastures in the heart of the War of Northern Aggression, as they call it in the Southeastern Conference, leaving the Frogs looking for new head lizard to shoot blood from his — or her — eyes as a defense mechanism against the predators of big-time college athletics. Suggested Bum Steer: Jeremiah Donati, former TCU athletics director.

Downtown’s a Gas – Despite all the city happenings, the sole Fort Worth story that managed to make every national news network included the lasting image of a debris-filled street and the first two floors of downtown’s Sandman Hotel hollowed out from an explosion. Though miraculously no one was killed, the January blast, which was likely caused by a gas leak (the smell permeating downtown for a good while after), closed 8th Street for six months; negatively impacted nearby businesses; destroyed a potentially incredible restaurant, Musume; and the high-end hotel remains closed. To add insult to injury, it was reported in July that the Feds closed their investigation after statute of limitations ran out. According to the report, “an OSHA inspector provided no notes, narrative, interviews or photos for the investigation and missed months of work for emergency surgery.” We’re just thankful he was well enough to collect his checks. Suggested Bum Steer: Downtown’s Gas Pipes and the Under-the-Knife OSHA Inspector

A Win for the Word of the Lord: Daunte Newton and fellow evangelists of Christ for All Nations found themselves sitting in judgment by the Fort Worth Police this summer in the Stockyards while spreading the truths of the Gospel. A police officer got out his ticket book and started writing up Newton for violating the city’s noise ordinance that limits the maximum decibel level to 70. Four hundred big ones, buddy. Newton challenged the ticket. In court, he was able to show his megaphone tops out at 50 decibels. The judge tossed out the ticket. Bottom line: The Stockyards district simply doesn’t want street preachers down there. Somewhere, the Rev. J. Frank Norris wore a smile as big as Exchange Street. Suggested Bum Steer: Fort Worth Police Department

Smack-Talking Mayor: Each September, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s mouth moves faster than a caffeinated auctioneer at a charity gala. You’d think it was election season. But, no, he’s always driveling over the TCU-SMU football game. He’s had a bee in his bonnet ever since TCU decided to no longer play the game after 2025. This year he wore a T-shirt to the Dallas City Council meeting with the inscription, “TCU Sucks.” Sadly, TCU did indeed suck that particular Saturday this year and got its head taken off by the Mustangs. It didn’t help that SMU was pretty good in 2024. So, a double wince. Suggested Bum Steer: Eric Johnson, Dallas mayor.

Jail As Death Trap – Since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017, there have been over 65 deaths in the Tarrant County Jail — this compared to 25 deaths in the eight years that preceded him. One death earlier this year that involved pepper spray resulted in murder charges against two jailers. To make matters worse, while the two guards were initially terminated following the death, they were reinstated a few weeks later only to be fired again following their indictments. A few months later, a pair of stories in Fort Worth Report revealed the jail had scrapped policy recommendations and the Fort Worth Police Department had failed to investigate 20 in-custody deaths since 2021. From the outside, the whole kit and caboodle isn’t pretty, and we’re sure it isn’t any prettier from inside the jail. Despite his unsurprising reelection in November, when it comes to jail deaths, the buck still stops with Waybourn. Suggested Bum Steer: Sheriff Bill Waybourn and Jailers With Pepper Spray

More Sleeping Panthers — Did you hear about the guy visiting from Dallas who went to Sundance Square and found it so slow and quiet he believed a panther could sleep peacefully undisturbed in any part of the 35 blocks. Reata and Four Day Weekend were this year’s fallen favorites, both told new leases would not be forthcoming. It sure was fun while it lasted. Suggested Bum Steers: Ed and Sasha Bass

Saved by the Retirement – In early October, an NBC DFW investigation found that the Fort Worth Police Department had amassed a backlog of over 900 rape kits that had passed the 90-day window for testing required by state law. According to the investigation, such missed deadlines are par for the course for the FWPD, as the department misses its state-required deadline 43% of the time and, in 28 cases, kits were submitted over a year late. While staff shortages and difficulty finding private labs to complete DNA testing appear to be the culprits, Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes was justly scrutinized and criticized for the backlog. Noakes would announce his retirement from the department two months later. While he rightly took full responsibility, allowing the backlog to get to such a point is the epitome of dropping the ball. Suggested Bum Steer: Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes

Art Decay – At the end of the month, the Fort Worth Community Arts Center will close its doors to the public; its fate now resting in the hands of potential developers and the City Council. Due to a lease agreement that left maintenance costs in the hands of local nonprofit Arts Fort Worth, the Herbert Bayer-designed building that opened in 1954 and includes the William Edrington Scott Theatre, largely deteriorated over a 22-year period. The building now requires $30 million in repairs, a price tag the nonprofit cannot afford and the city sure as hell ain’t gonna budget for, putting at risk a significant structure belonging to one of the most architecturally significant museum districts in the U.S. Suggested Bum Steer: The Fort Worth Community Art Center’s Crumbling Foundation

Hollywood Traffic – While we love the spotlight Taylor Sheridan’s shows put on Fort Worth, such attention comes with its drawbacks, too. You see, when famous folk film scenes for movies and TV — in the middle of downtown Fort Worth during weekday rush hour, no less — it’s not only streets that close but whole dang sections of the city. Add Fort Worth’s dependence on automobiles to the mix, and the result was pure mayhem. We love you, Sheridan, but Kevin Costner never caused such a debacle. Suggested Bum Steer: Police Saw Horses in Downtown

Now That’s a Dig — Elizabeth Beck, c’mon down. The city councilmember allegedly turned “Little League parent” in the worst possible way, according to a coach and administrator at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy. In a letter to Mayor Mattie Parker, the volleyball coach said Beck allegedly bullied and harassed her over the role Beck’s daughter had on the team. According to the coach, Councilwoman Beck threatened her job and, in a separate instance, called her a “white, skinny, dumb bitch.” Cringey. God only knows what happens in these closed sessions. Actually, we’ve heard. Suggested Bum Steer: Elizabeth Beck, District 9, Fort Worth City Council

Michelin, Stick to Tires – A whole lotta brouhaha followed the announcement that the coveted culinary awards that are the Michelin Stars were coming to Texas. According to reports, Texas’ five largest cities (Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth) struck a deal with the folks at the France-based Michelin Guide — compensation included — to create a guide in Texas. While three Fort Worth restaurants made the guide as “Recommended” joints, Cowtown wound up with none of the 15 stars Texas restaurants would ultimately receive — the only city of the five to go starless. While we don’t dare claim Fort Worth as a culinary capital, to go starless is a slap to the face of many a fine dining establishment in the city. And the fact the entire state of Texas received only 15 single-star selections (San Francisco, by itself, has 39 stars) makes one question the whole damn thing. To quote Billy Shakespeare, it felt like much ado about nothing. Suggested Bum Steer: Michelin Awards and Whoever the Hell Thought It a Good Idea to Pay Them

Pointing Fingers (at Ourselves) – Now that we’ve taken a moment to be somewhat judgmental and given counsel to Texas Monthly, we’re going to turn the pomposity down a peg and apply a little humility to our following suggestion. Fort Worth Magazine and its editors should not get off scot-free. Perhaps our greatest blunder of 2024 came at the beginning of the year, when the magazine’s January cover misspelled iconic rodeo announcer Bob Tallman as Bob Tillman (facepalm). Yes, such an egregious error put a damper on the following 365 days. Hell, I don’t think we’ll ever get over it. Bum Steer of the Year? We sure feel like it. Suggested Bum Steer: Fort Worth Magazine