A photo on White-Rock-Lake.blogspot.com shows a man swimming in White Rock Lake.

Local blogger Bernard Brown of White Rock Lake, Dallas last Wednesday snapped photos of a man swimming in the lake near the old Dreyfus Club near Sunset Bay and posted them on his site.

It wasn’t until later that he heard the story about the drowning, which we reported last week; he deduced that the swimmer and the drowning victim might be one in the same. After all, we don’t get many swimmers in White Rock Lake, where swimming has long been illegal.

Sure enough, Brown says, the sister-in-law of the drowning victim contacted him through his blog and let him know that the man in the photos was indeed the man who drowned.

“In fact, they have asked me for all the pictures that I have since it was the last time he was seen alive,” Brown notes.

Since being contacted by the family, Brown has removed photos in which the man can be identified from his blog, leaving just one that shows a shadowy figure swimming. One of the now-deleted photos showed the man, who looks to be in his late 20s or early 30s, exiting the water safely.

Apparently it was after Brown left that the man went back in the water and lost his life.

Photo by Can Türkyilmaz

Dayna Martin, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School, is one of 1,000 students nationwide to win the Gates Millennium scholarship this year. The scholarship provides students with money for tuition, fees, books and other expenses.

Gates Millennium Scholars also are provided with personal and professional development through a leadership program. Scholars are chosen based on academic performance, leadership potential and volunteerism.

Read more about Dayna Martin in the May Advocate, which comes out next week.

By “we”,  I mean the team that represented our ‘hood at the National Senior League Wii Bowling Championships.

Remember the C.C. Young Wii bowling team the Young Strikers? We ran a story about them last year when the newly formed team, whose members range in age from 50-90-something, advanced to the Wii national bowling playoffs.

This year, they were crowned National Senior League Wii Bowling Champions. Coach Jerome Lewis, C.C. Young’s wellness director sent out the announcement today, noting, tongue in cheek, that there are talks of a parade (obviously the route wasn’t planned in advance).

Congrats, Young Strikers. Way to make East Dallas proud!

The Woodrow spring musical opens tonight and runs through Sunday.

The Matrix Challenge, aka the King of Crits, takes place Saturday and Sunday in the Wilson Historic District, near Baylor hospital. The challenge is a series of timed bike races, and it’s the biggest and oldest bike race in Texas. Neighborhood resident David Adams, who has been organizing the race for 10 years, recommends arriving in time for the men’s race that starts at 11:25 a.m. each day. That is followed by “the kiddie challenge,” with trophies for any kid who wants to participate, then the elite women’s race and the elite men’s race at 2 p.m.

Good Records celebrates its 12th birthday and Record Store Day Saturday. Bands perform all day, starting at 10:30 a.m., including The Ting Tings at 3 p.m. Stardeath and White Dwarves go on at 11 p.m.

The Roundup for Startups is at 4 p.m. Saturday at Deep Ellum Brewing Co.

Earth Day Dallas is from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Fair Park.

The White Rock Home Tour is from noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Woodrow spring musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” opens tonight and runs through Sunday, April 22.

Tickets cost $12-$18 and are available at the box office, starting an hour before each show.

An adult male was swimming in the lake between two unspecified points, Dallas Fire-Rescue media liaison Jason Evans says, when a witness apparently spotted him struggling and called 9-1-1 at about 6 p.m. yesterday.

By the time EMTs arrived, the man had been pulled from the water by a bystander. Paramedics performed CPR but the yet unidentified man was later pronounced dead at Doctors Hospital.

Dallas Police were still investigating the incident last night.

A couple of my running buddies were at the lake when this went down. They witnessed the man being pulled from the lake and, shortly after, EMTs performing CPR. They say he was wearing a bathing suit, but it is still unclear whether he was intentionally going for a swim or if he fell from a boat. Swimming is prohibited in White Rock Lake.

Benny’s Classic Grill, a new restaurant from the owners of Lover’s Pizza and Pasta, is expected to open in about a month in the former Arby’s on Garland Road.

Owner Benin Zeqiri, who is from a town in Slovenia on the Italian border, says a trip home inspired the new concept.

He noticed that panini and grilled pizzas with gourmet toppings are popular in his hometown and in Venice.

Benny’s menu will include burgers, panini and grilled pizzas, all under $10.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown will participate in the DPD’s “Chief on the Beat” community event Saturday, April 28th. The Crime Prevention, Safety and Health Fair, to be held at Bryan Adams High School near White Rock Lake is supported by the DPD Northeast Division.

The idea is to bring officers into the community in a relaxed setting, allowing them to get to know families, neighbors and community leaders. Various police departments including SWAT, the Gang Unit, Recruiting, Neighborhood Police Officers, Narcotics and several others will be on hand to meet and greet. Dallas Fire Department, Code Enforcement, Emergency Management and Parks & Recreation will also participate, ready to inform, answer and engage.

Health service providers will address quality of life issues and provide free services, including child safety seats, kid’s bike helmets, diabetic testing, blood pressure checks, dental and eye exams and more.

Children’s activities and entertainment will also be offered, along with a Senior Citizen Safety educational program.

The fair is free and open to the public and will run from 10am to 2pm at Bryan Adams, 2101 Millmar Drive in Dallas.

Lincoln Property Co.’s plans for the intersection of Gaston and Garland prove we all should’ve bought there years ago. The real estate company is planning a vast, high-end retail development on the intersection’s three corners.

So far, Lincoln will say only that it is considering a grocery tenant for the 15-acre development.

That intersection is extraordinary because of its location and underutilization. It’s at the gateway of White Rock Lake, a few blocks from the Dallas Arboretum, a few blocks from a public golf course and adjacent to the Santa Fe Trail. That’s not even mentioning the hundreds of high-end homes in the area. Yet the intersection’s main tenants recently have been a liquor store, a pawnshop, a nightclub that neighbors deplore, Subway and the YMCA.

The White Rock YMCA plans to move to a more visible site, the former Trinity Lutheran Church, and it looks like Far West nightclub’s days are numbered.

Now that most of those properties surrounding Gaston/Garland are in the hands of one developer, it could be a game-changer for the neighborhood.

Lincoln has given up few details about the development, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speculate a little.

“There hasn’t been any retail around here forever, so I think they could get some quality tenants out there,” says John Whiteside, the real estate broker who listed the Trinity Lutheran Church site.

That intersection is “the last collage of ill-fitting businesses that used to be around Lakewood,” says Whiteside, a neighborhood resident since 1981. He recalls, for example, when there was a pawnshop in the Lakewood shopping center.

The former Backyard Beach Club could be a nice restaurant with access to the Santa Fe Trail, Whiteside suggested.

Whiteside notes that the apartments-turned-condos on Connecticut, adjacent to the YMCA, recently sold. “How smart were they at this point?” he says of the buyers. “They’re about to be right next to this high-end retail development.”

There are 14 acres of new apartments that just opened on East Grand at La Vista. And Shadyside, the 9-acre former apartment complex on East Grand that was torn down a few years ago, has a new buyer as well.

The way Whiteside sees it, all this bodes very well for property values in the neighborhood.

“If I had enough money, I’d go out and buy every house I could get my hands on right now,” he says.

Total Wine, a large regional chain, is supposed to open in Dallas shortly. Throw in Trader Joe’s, which is supposed to open this fall, and Spec’s, Texas’ largest chain, which opened at the end of last year (as well as all of the current retailers), and we have an abundance of wine choices — not just more than we’ve ever had, but lots and lots more.

Which will not only drive the retailers crazy (and probably put a couple out of business), but give consumers more choice and lower prices. How can I argue with that?

Case in point is the Vin Gourmand ($13, purchased, available at Spec’s), a white Rhone blend. It’s a style of wine not much sold here; Dallas is an oaky California chardonnay kind of town when it bothers with white wine, and that’s usually an afterthought to red. And, when you do find a white Rhone, it’s usually a couple of dollars more than in the rest of the country. So, when I saw the Gourmand and for less than elsewhere, you can imagine how quickly I scooped it up.

My enthusiasm was amply rewarded. This is quality wine at a terrific price — a blend of grenache, roussane and viognier that is fresh and clean, with lime and apricot fruit (the latter from the viognier). It’s not overly complex, but it’s not lacking in a middle or finish, either, and even has a bit of stoniness on the end. This is perfect warm weather wine that will pair with almost any kind of summer food. Given that we’ve already been in the 90s, this is a a welcome addition. Highly recommended.