The new owners of the Texas Land & Cattle Restaurant across Lake Ray Hubbard in Garland announced today they plan to refresh their brand and bring new life into it.

Story was in the Dallas Morning News:

“(Scott) Smith and (Tim) Dungan, who were previously the senior executives in charge of Texas Land & Cattle and Lone Star Steak House, are one year into a three-year strategic plan designed to refresh the brands, reestablish category leadership and bring new life into the chains, which have seen little growth recently.

“Tim and I are obviously strong believers in the growth potential of both brands, which is the biggest reason we moved so aggressively to acquire the company,” said Smith.

Texas Land & Cattle is a great place to eat with delicious food and a warm and inviting atmosphere, overlooking Lake Ray Hubbard and facing Rockwall.

According to initial reports, many area residents have complained that the banners look too tacky and trashy and Council members agreed.

Certainly most of these signs are too small for drivers to read anyway. I’ve never understood why organizations put up banners that are too small to read.

There is some talk that the City will continue to post banners and signs about City events. There’s some question about how appropriate that is, according to at least one Council member I spoke to,  if all the other banners are being banished.

We’ll find more and report details soon at TheRockwallNews.com.

ROWLETT – The City of Rowlett has announced it will hold a special election July 16 to replace former Mayor John Harper, who resigned April 19, plus elect a City Council Member in Place 4.

Current Place 4 City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Todd Gottel has announced his candidacy for the mayoral spot and will give up his seat to campaign for it.

The filing period for candidates will run through 5 pm, Monday, May 16.

Early voting will begin June 29 and run through July 12. There will be no voting on July 4 due to the holiday.

All voting will be consolidated into one polling place at the City Hall Annex to save the City $15,000 on the special election.

Contact Rowlett City Secretary Susie Quinn to file for office.

He says over 30,000 voters are registered in Rowlett!

ROYSE CITY – Wednesday nights are 2-for-1 steak nights at the huge Southern Junction Nightclub & Steakhouse. My wife and I took a house guest there recently and had a great time! It’s located just 10 minutes east of Rockwall on Hwy. 276 near Blackland. Families are welcome on weeknights so you can eat and dance there with your kids. They even have a mechanical bull you can ride and have your picture taken on!

We enjoyed eating delicious $20 T-bone and New York Strip steaks – which you either season and grill yourself over an open flame or pay an extra $2 to have someone cook it for you – plus huge Idaho baked potatoes covered with all the fixins’, a large house salad and all the buttery Texas Toast you can eat.

Then we danced some of it off to the live music of the excellent Marcus Lindsey C & W House Band, which recently signed its first recording contract. The night ended at about 10 pm, when most everyone went home.

On weekends, however, you can still enjoy eating the 2-for-1 charbroiled steak dinners – if you get there before 7 pm! – plus dance into the night until 2 am or so. It’s  great entertainment for quite reasonable prices, considering all you get! Get there after 7 pm and dinners are still just $20 each.

For info, see http://southernjunctionlive.com/home.htm.

Darn! I loved the Italian Torpedo sandwich at Quizno’s but when I went there yesterday to grab one, the door was locked and lights turned off…again!

For the second time in about two years, Quizno’s has closed in Rockwall. It also closed in Rowlett, I discovered today.

Could it be because they never advertise, except for some coupons they distribute once in a while?

I’ve seen so many businesses go out of business because they don’t advertise correctly.

I can predict some more Rockwall businesses that will go out soon because they don’t. I’ve been around long enough to spot them.

Ninety percent of businesses fail within their first five years – largely because they think they can just rely on word of mouth – among other reasons. Most don’t even have a written business plan.

What is the old saying, “If you don’t plan to succeed, you’re planning to fail!”

Good-bye, Quiznos’s Italian torpedo sandwich…again!

So what do you want for Christmas this year? A TSA naked body scan or full-body pat-down?

Kim Kardashian chose the pat-down when photographed at LAX recently, as shown above.

Should I say, “Tough job but somebody has to do it?”

Sorry, I can’t resist some humor about a very serious subject!

Congrats to six of our area football teams which start Bi-District playoff action this weekend.

Friday night, Rockwall (6-4, 5-2) plays former District 10-4A foe Carrollton Newman-Smith at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco at 7:30 pm. (Above photo is of Rockwall quarterback Alan Reed.)

Royse City (3-7, 3-3) also takes on Whitehouse (8-2) at Lindale, just east of Canton on I-30, at 7:30 pm.

North Forney (3-7) plays Lindale at Whitehouse High School at 7:30 pm.

Saturday at 6 pm, Rowlett (8-2, 7 -1) plays Jesuit (6-4) at SMU’s Ford Stadium.

In private school action, Rockwall Christian plays at Shiner St. Paul Friday at 7 pm.

In TAPPS six-man football, Rockwall’s Heritage Christian Academy and The Fulton School have also qualified for playoffs but game times are unknown at this time.

Just learned that Rockwall County Court-at -Law Judge David Rakow was appointed the new 439th District Judge.

It was announced yesterday by Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office yesterday. For the complete story, see TheRockwallNews.com.