F.E. (SandraDunn) Dunaway: Change requires 'careful approach'

F.E. (SandraDunn) Dunaway worried her campaign for mayor of Amarillo would become a media circus.

When the transgender woman announced in February her plans to run in the May 14 city election the news ricocheted through the Internet, picked up by mainstream media, bloggers and rights organizations alike.

"I don't want this campaign being about me being transgender," said Dunaway, who lives as Sandra Dunn. "I want it to be about what I do, what I support."

Dunaway, 53 certainly is a candidate like Amarillo has never seen before, but some might draw a parallel between her and the city.

Both are in transition: Dunaway navigating the legal moves necessary to change her name and identity permanently to Dunn, and the city steering its way through issues that could alter its makeup and future.

Change in Amarillo requires a careful approach, said Dunaway, who supports only a limited role for the city in downtown redevelopment.

"One of the things I always hear a lot about is the downtown stuff, downtown revitalization, bringing downtown back to life, which it's all fine and grand," she said. "I agree it would be nice to see our downtown come to life again."

"But downtown is too focused on. ... And, when we talk about spending money downtown for these different businesses, what about the rest of the city?"

The city can encourage new business downtown with tax breaks, but not at the expense of mom-and-pop shops in other areas that could use the city's support and guidance, Dunaway said.

Amarillo's role in downtown revitalization should center on parking, lighting upgrades and security, she said.

Dunaway supports the single-member district proposition on the May 14 ballot. Under the plan, the city would be carved into four districts, and voters in each district would select a commissioner from among people who live in their district.

Commissioners would be more attuned to the wishes of residents across the city, Dunaway said.

"How many people from southwest Amarillo get to the northeast?" she asked.

Single-member district advocates contend the city's current at-large system disenfranchises some voters.

Of the 11 candidates for mayor, Dunaway and four others - Roy McDowell, Rodney W. Johnson, Steve Dawson and David Grisham - did not vote in the 2007 or 2009 city elections, according to county voter registrar records.

"Honestly, I thought I did," Dunaway said. "'07 and '09? Wow. My bad. I intended to vote. I usually do."

Dunaway wants to increase Amarillo's police force but she said she would do so with voters' blessing for the additional costs.

One police officer costs the city about $70,000 in salary, benefits and equipment, not including a patrol car, Assistant City Manager Dean Frigo said.

A fully equipped squad car costs another $50,000, which is why the city tries to add police officers three at a time, so that the required car is in service on three shifts daily, Frigo said.

Voters have talked with Dunaway about slow police response times and security, she said. So, the candidate believes they would support the expenditure.

"I don't think you can really come up with enough police force to curtail all crime," she said. "Part of it is we're getting bigger (as a city), part of it is we're spread out more. And, we need to pay the officers we've got a decent salary."

Dunaway has repeatedly complimented the police department for its work.

"I know first-hand," she said at a candidate forum last week, referring to the investigation into the July beating death of Thomas Ray Vaughan, 63, at the business they co-owned, Fort Williams Military Surplus and Supplies Depot, 703 N. Williams St.

At the time of her partner's death, Dunaway was attending the 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree, a celebration of 100 years of Scouting, in Virginia. She attended as Fred Dunaway.

Photographs uploaded to the Internet of the 2005 National Jamboree Physical Arrangement Group - a staff that handles the event's electrical, plumbing, maintenance, telephone equipment and other tasks - show Fred Dunaway with other team members.

Asked about the jamborees, Dunaway said, "I didn't make mention of the Scouting thing earlier out of respect to the Scouting organization. The Boy Scouts is a private organization, and I do honor the way they wish to conduct business."

Dunaway, the second of three generations of Eagle Scouts, said, "It was important to make that (2010) jamboree. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event."

The 2005 Scout Jamboree occurred before she began living round-the-clock as a transgender woman, she said.

"I do hope Scouting someday will realize it makes no difference, someone's orientation," Dunaway said. "A volunteer is a volunteer, if it's a qualified volunteer."

Dunaway touts her experience as a city employee as an advantage in helping her assess Amarillo's needs.

From 1998 to 2009, Dunaway worked in departments ranging from parks maintenance to wastewater management. The public-information portions of Dunaway's personnel file show she regularly received good evaluations and tested for and gained several advancements.

Dunaway's time in the U.S. Army and her government employment - she also was employed by the Potter County Sheriff's Office - earned her the opportunity to retire early. She now is a full-time graduate student, earning a master's degree in psychology online from the University of the Rockies, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. She hopes to become a therapist.

Dunaway could be called a study in contrasts.

She has a wife and two children from a previous marriage who call her dad - because that's what they know - but introduce her as their parent.

She can mine a garage sale, taking equal interest in fine china and a crossbow. And, the former Army diesel mechanic does her shopping in high-heeled pumps.

A question about them brings to her lips a smile that crinkles her nose. "A girl has to look good," she replied.

She joined a bellydancing class while still living outwardly as a man and got hooked on "the most enjoyable, fun exercise you could ever do."

That's where retired nurse Linda Hayhurst met her.

"I'd never met a transsexual before, and it's been a little bit difficult, but she's the same person inside that she was before," Hayhurst said. "A good person's a good person.

"She's gutsy. I think she would be good for Amarillo."

Dunaway said she isn't sure she would call her decision to run brave, but rather a "willingness to go through that scrutiny."

Others, though, have praised her courage.

Amarillo artist Joseph Holmes met Sandra Dunn years after he met Fred Dunaway.

"I was a little surprised," he said. "But I guess after meeting Sandra, ... I realized how much Sandra became a more down-to-earth person. She's easily one of the kindest persons I've met, and is a much happier person as Sandra."

Holmes calls Dunaway "Rosa Parks brave."

"I guess it's kind of difficult to think of Amarillo being ready for Sandra as mayor," he said. "But if people can get past the image of Sandra as a transgender person, then we can have one hell of a mayor."