Although Frisco Wakeland has had a penchant for come back playoff wins against the Scots, Thursday night Highland Park shut down the Wolverines to pull out a 3-1 win in the first game of the Class 4A Region II quarterfinals.

But it didn’t come without a scare.

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Last November, I kicked up a crap storm by detailing an unpleasant experience at Rafa’s. The headline for that post said I would not be returning to the Lovers Lane restaurant that is treasured by so many Park Cities families. Well, I lied.

On Tuesday night, prompted by a Hardline segment on the prodigious amount of Mexican restaurants in Dallas, my wife demanded that I take her out for enchiladas, ASAP. I was covering a Highland Park ISD Board of Trustees meeting at the time, so we decided to give Rafa’s — one of the closest Mexican restaurants to Highland Park Middle School — another try.

The service was much better this time around, and my kids got a kick out of the piñatas (“There’s SpongeBob! There’s Elmo!”) and the fact that they could write on the paper tablecloths in crayon. My tacos al carbon were delicious, but I do have one complaint. And I don’t think Rafa’s is going to be able to remedy this problem anytime soon. It falls into the “TMI” category, so jump if you’d like.

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State Department Special Agent John Carlock talks with 6-year-old Michael Malone who is in the final stages of his fight against Stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma. Photo Credit: Alana Harrison

Last Friday, I covered a story about a young University Park boy named Michael Malone.

Michael is now in his final stages with Stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor that develops from nerve tissue. Although the 6-year-old has been given a few months to live, his family has made it a mission to try and make his last days memorable. Read More…

John Holbert has taught at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology for 33 years. For 26 of those years, I’ve been good friends with his son, Darius. John is one of eight retiring faculty members on the Hilltop this semester, and I’m betting none of the other seven received a sendoff like this.

Mike Crum gets some hang time at his skate park, Overground Project. (Staff photo by Chris McGathey)

When I had my stint as People Newspapers’ society editor, I often ran into Yvonne Crum at philanthropic parties and such. She is a friendly, funny, elegant woman in her early 70s (I know this last part because I looked it up), and I’ve always thought it cool that for decades and decades — until 2010 — she worked as hard at being at flight attendant as she does at volunteering and community service.

More Crum trivia, if you don’t already know: Yvonne’s son, Mike, is a well-known pro skateboarder who grew up  in a house on St. Johns Drive, right across the street from Armstrong Elementary. So back in the day, their place was the after-school pit stop for skating and snacks (young Mike even had a ramp in the backyard, which was “interesting,” says his mom, “to say the least”).

Anyway — full-circle, here — Yvonne reached out to me the other day about a fundraiser Mike is hosting this weekend at Overground, his skate park. It’s called Boneless One, and it’ll feature art, skate demos, “vert jams,” and live bands with names like Hood Rat. It is, says the well-coiffed senior Crum, “amazing.” It’s for a good cause, too; It benefits the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas.

I was kicking around Goar Park before yesterday’s University Park City Council meeting, when I spotted the scene to the left.

In addition to the sidewalk scrawl, the sign on the trash can reads ” BEES BEES KEEP AWAY.”

A few thoughts:

1. Judging by the grammar on the sidewalk and the sign, were these two warnings posted by different people?

2. If so, which came first?

3. If they were separate people, why didn’t the first person go and tell a parks employee to fix this?

4. Maybe I’m being a jerk though, and there was only ONE bee to begin with. Then the sidewalk warning makes sense.

5. This isn’t a lava pit. “Don’t Enter” may be too harsh of a warning.

6. Anyone in the park today? Is this still an issue?

Lindsay Rather and Maddie Fehlman

On Friday, eighth-graders at Highland Park Middle School celebrated the final days of their junior high years with a Spirit Day. HPMS PTA volunteers Michelle Fehlman and Laura Yancy co-chaired the day’s events for the more than 500 students of the Class of 2016. The day’s events included a group breakfast and lunch in the gym, as well as a dance in the evening.

A woman hunted a man quite the distance to try and get her phone back. Photo Credit: northparkcenter.com, google.com

In the longest thief foot chase — although I have nothing to put this claim against — in NorthPark history,  a woman chased down a man who had stolen her phone at 5:55 p.m. last Monday while she was dining at La Madeleine.

The thief snatched her $500 iPhone from the table she was sitting at and took off towards Center Park. The victim immediately bolted after him as he weaved through the garden area and ran out the North doors by Kona Grill.

She did not let up as the suspect cut through the parking lot towards Park Lane, but eventually lost sight of this cross-country criminal as he crossed over North Central Expressway.

The map shows the potential path they may have taken and here is my unofficial distance ran by the two: Far.

This event took place a day before NorthPark announced their new curfew for 17-year-olds and younger. Which would have nothing to deter this ruffian who was believed to be in his late-20s or early-30s.

My only thought: Why does no one find a woman chasing a man through the mall suspicious?

Photo: Tim Rogers

To the left you’ll see chef Kent Rathbun, being rather un-cheffy.

That’s the cover of the Chefwear catalog, which, for some reason, comes to the home of D editor Tim Rogers. In addition to his sartorial stylings, let’s all just take a minute and think “Hey, Rathbun must be doing pretty well if he can afford that ride.”

Stop by his Knox-Henderson haunt Abacus and Preston Center restaurant Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen to razz him, if you so desire.

Short notice on this one, but if you’re dreading a summer of dealing with your selfish kids, you may want to attend. University Park resident Kay Wills Wyma has written a book called Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Wyma and members of her “Ironing Board” — the advisory board for her M.O.A.T. blog — will discuss the book and answer questions from 9:30 to 11 this morning at Blue Print.