Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Copyright: 2001 Amarillo Globe-News Contact: http://amarillonet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) SETTLEMENT RELEASED IN WAFER CIVIL RIGHTS SUIT Terms of the settlement in a civil rights lawsuit filed by one of 46 people arrested in a controversial 1999 drug sting in Tulia were released Thursday. Attorneys for plaintiff Billy Wafer and defendants Tom Coleman, Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart and Swisher County reached a settlement in Wafer's lawsuit and the case was dismissed from U.S. District Court, according to court records. Wafer will receive $5,000 cash in hand plus $25,000 for attorneys' fees in the settlement, records show. The settlement is in no way an admission of liability, fault or wrongdoing on the part of any defendant, according to the settlement. Wafer was one of 46 people -- 39 of whom were black -- indicted in 1999 after a 1-year investigation by Coleman, an undercover agent. The arrests and subsequent trials generated a firestorm of controversy that pushed Tulia into the national spotlight as a battleground in the fight over the country's drug policy. Wafer was charged with delivery of a controlled substance in the sting. The charges against Wafer were tossed out later by the 7th Court of Appeals. Wafer filed the lawsuit in February, alleging that his civil rights were violated by Swisher County, Stewart and Coleman. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager