At Lake Cliff Park in southwest Dallas, across from the home of John Wiley Price, a man pulled up in his white SUV, got out of his vehicle, and raised his fists in the air, yelling “victory.”
That was one reaction to the arrest of the longtime Dallas County Commissioner. Here’s another, from neighbor Charles Reeder, who was sitting under a tree, trying to escape the summer heat.
“I mean, if you did something as dastardly as that (take bribes), it means that you’re money hungry. You’re greedy. You have no concern about the poor man, the public. I mean, in that position I’m pretty sure he makes over a $100,000 a year.”
Price makes $126,000 a year.
“Always negative issues about him,” Reeder said. “And I’ve never seen him out in the public, doing anything constructive. I mean, he doesn’t even come out and play basketball or anything, or even jog, or walk around here. I have never seen him. ... I live right next door.”
Just minutes away, outside the restaurant Jonathon’s, off Beckley Avenue, Kenneth Moore says the arrest of Price is depressing news.
“John, basically is a good guy, very good guy. I just talked to him Sunday, and he said he was running late to church. But I’ve never had a problem with him. ... He did a tremendous job for the city of Dallas.”
Moore says Price has been a great asset to the community, and he’s a down-to-earth-guy.
“If you were to come up here to Jonathon’s, you could talk to him all day long ... not bourgeois. And the fact of the matter [is], these people that came to him in this manner with these bribes, under the table. ... I guess he thought about himself, you never know.”
Other neighbors, many who didn’t want to give their names, described Price as a nice fellow, who may have gotten lost in politics.
