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Safe From Nuclear Attack: Dallas Man Has Underground ‘60s-Era Bunker

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Five stories that have North Texas talking: An underground bunker underneath a Dallas home, Wendy Davis tells us what we already know, Friday night lights dance across the downtown Omni Hotel, and more.

Don Sanders’ home in Dallas came with a surprise: An underground fallout shelter built during the early 1960s, when tensions were high between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The shelter contains three beds, a toilet and an air and water filtration system. The funky feature made him want to buy the Kessler Park house. The Dallas Morning News reports that the shelter also comes with a hand crank that filtered air in and out, and jugs of brown liquid “used to dispel unpleasant smells.” Sanders has taken 400 visitors deep into the bunker, although it freaked out his neighbor, whose house just happens to have its own shelter: a 7-foot trench dug by pick and hammer, The News reports.

  • A fancy deck for Reunion Tower: The iconic Dallas tower reopens its observation deck Saturday morning. And it has a fancy name: GeO-Deck. The name is a tribute to the “geodesic sphere,” the tower’s iconic shape.  The deck offers high-definition zoom cameras and an interactive digital-touch screen display. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets -- $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and $8 for kids 4-12 -- are available online, although organizers say that tickets will be available at the tower.

  • A big bash on Saturday at the Crow: Saturday is the big opening day for the Crow Collection of Asian Art’s Sculpture Garden. To celebrate, the Crow is throwing a Garden Party and Street Festival. It starts at 10 a.m. Saturday. Fifteen works of sculpture will be introduced. There will be guided tours of the Sculpture Garden, food trucks, and lots of entertainment. There will be face painting, a family photo booth, origami and family meditation. Also: Learn how to move like a ninja.

And, lucky you, today is Bonus Day at The High Five. Here’s a sixth item:

  • Get your art on in Richardson: This weekend’s Cottonwood Arts Festival, in its 44th year, features more than 240 artists who have produced museum-quality work, from ceramics to photos to drawings to metalwork. And music will be in the air as bands will perform throughout the weekend. Children can create their own wax hands and make hats from scrap, among other crafts. Cottonwood Park is at 1321 W. Belt Line Rd. Parking and admission are free. Dogs on leashes are welcome.
Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.