Pubdate: Wed, 10 Jan 2001
Source: Austin American-Statesman (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Austin American-Statesman
Contact:  P. O. Box 670 Austin, Texas  78767
Fax: 512-445-3679
Website: http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/
Author: Susan Smith

PANHANDLE TOWN'S DRUG WAR REVEALS RACIAL DISPARITY

TULIA -- Cotton is scattered on the side of the road like abandoned 
snowflakes. Granaries decorate the flat landscape. A street sign points 
toward a Texas Department of Corrections facility.

Welcome to Tulia, in the Texas Panhandle.

The red sign on the door at the Tulia Chamber of Commerce reads ``Known Far 
and Wide for Our Hometown Pride.'' The sign is part of a public relations 
war to change the image of a town that is becoming famous for the excesses 
of the war on drugs. In Tulia, it appears to be a war on African Americans.

In July 1999, 40 African Americans -- or 16 percent of the African American 
population of this town of about 5,000 -- were arrested by an undercover 
officer with a regional drug task force. Tom Coleman had neither wiretap 
nor video surveillance to back up the allegations against the defendants. 
And no money, guns or drugs were confiscated during the arrests.

Tulia may be at the center of the controversy surrounding the war on drugs. 
But the town, where churchgoing is as much a part of the social fabric as 
the cotton and prison industries, is also at war with itself over its 
racial issues. Some of the sentences in the drug operation, which range 
from probation to hundreds of years, may have been too long, said Lana 
Barnett, president of the chamber of commerce. But she denies that race is 
a factor in the cases.

``There's never been a (racial) problem here,'' said Barnett, referring to 
two African Americans who recently received top awards from civic groups.

But the statistics in the drug operation paint a different picture. Of the 
43 people arrested, 40 were African American, two were Hispanic and one was 
white. A few had previous arrests for drugs and other things. Fearful of 
long sentences, many of the defendants pleaded out on charges of delivery 
of cocaine. Several are serving prison sentences. All had court-appointed 
lawyers. Last week, an appeals court in Amarillo, north of Tulia, dropped 
charges against one defendant.

Austinites collected about $1,600 and donated it to the Friends of Justice, 
an interracial group that is raising money for the defendants' families.

The arrests have touched most families in the African American community, 
which is about 5 percent of Tulia's population. I met Tamara Barrow outside 
of a store. Her husband, James, is on probation. At least two of his 
relatives are in prison as a result of the sting.

``Somebody has to make a stand. I'm not gonna let my kids grow up thinking 
they are less,'' Barrow said.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a civil rights lawsuit in 
September against Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart, who supervised 
Coleman, and District Attorney Terry McEachern on behalf of the Tulia 
residents. And the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the sting 
operation.

This question deserves an answer: How could a town of 5,000 support 43 drug 
dealers of any race?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart