by Geoff Staples

Matt Pulle of the Dallas Observer called today to say he was not the person making obscene phone calls to Jim Gilliand which we reported here a week ago. Pulle wanted me to listen to the answering machine tape so I could tell it wasn’t his voice and to talk to Jim Gilliand.

I told him I had seen the police report and that listening to the tape or talking to Gilliand would not disprove the police report. In fairness, the police report states that the obscene calls came from Pulle’s phone number, but doesn’t say whether Pulle or another adult male in his household made the calls.

A bit later this afternoon, I received a phone call from Dallas Observer Editor Julie Lyons. She also wanted me to talk to Gilliand and listen to the tape. I told her I wasn’t an expert in voice analysis and didn’t have the equipment to do it, Anyway, I felt the police report was far stronger than anything she and Pulle had offered.

Lyons then said that she had phone records which proved the calls didn’t come from Pulle’s phone. I told her I would be happy to look at them. She then stated that the records had other personal numbers on them. When I asked for the phone records again, she said that she hadn’t decided whether to provide them or not.

Lyons asked me if I knew what “reckless disregard for the truth” is. I told her she couldn’t intimidate me and that if she or Matt had documentation disputing the police report, I’d look at it. I gave her my address, but no phone records or other documentation have shown up at my door.

I may be a little bit paranoid. But, would anyone care to bet whether I will be attacked in next week’s Dallas Observer?