From Fake IDs To Guns, Ecstasy And GHB, Doug Havard Was One-Stop Shopping For Dallas' Spoiled Rich Kids You didn't just walk up to Jeremiah Simmons and start talking business. You had to go through someone he trusted--that's how he survived. So when one of his associates asked him to meet a white high school kid with money to spend, Simmons was willing but wary. "He wants to talk to you about buying some guns," Randy Castelon told Simmons one spring day in 2000. "He wants five Berettas." Then Castelon added an odd warning: "He's a crazy white motherfucker, man." [continues 4700 words]
Re: "Bush girls should be thankful for drinking laws," Viewpoints, Dec. 14. The Steve Chapman column on teen driving and alcohol was fine. It was also instructive for what it implies about our policy on other drugs. * Regulated alcohol is more difficult for teens to get than illegal drugs. * Teens value their driver's license more than the booze. Think how much more adult addicts would value a license to purchase now illegal drugs and how they would shun sales to the young rather than use those sales to finance their purchases as they do now under unregulated prohibition, the drug war. [continues 121 words]
As Grand Jury Works to Assign Blame, DA Enacts Safeguards A scheme involving at least three Dallas police informants to plant bogus drugs on innocent immigrants in exchange for snitch pay started to unravel about this time last year. Lab tests showed that several big drug busts made by the Dallas Police Department involved nothing but chalk or only traces of illicit substances. Prosecutors and defense attorneys were asking questions. Reporters were nosing around. The problem was about to go public. [continues 1469 words]
Re: "Man acquitted in priest attack - He's guilty on lesser charges after defense argues he was abused," Dec. 17. Governments that don't return confiscated property (even when the accused is found innocent), practice indictment stacking, dole out unbelievably harsh sentences beyond any pretense of justness, routinely violate double jeopardy, create racially suspicious laws (powder cocaine vs. crack cocaine), promote unwise judges and politically motivated prosecutors. This is the Bizzarro World foreseen by our constitutional forefathers who understood that the only thing that would be the last line of defense for oppressed groups would be jury nullification. Remember, this Bizzarro World is the only world where absurd abuses can be negated by nullifying juries running amok. Truette Cliver, Irving [end]
Officials Have Seized More Than 93 Tons of the Drug Since Oct. 1 FALFURRIAS, Texas - As a steady stream of traffic pulled through the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here, Agent Johnny did not look twice at the gravel trucks, the 18-wheelers or even the powder-blue Cadillac. But he knew instantly the green Dodge pickup was carrying more than firewood. Johnny, a dope-sniffing Belgian Malinois, started barking like mad, pawing and pressing his snout against the driver's door. [continues 376 words]
ACLU Says Federal Grant Funds War on Minorities in Texas When the cops showed up at the Chelsea Street Pub and Grill looking for Regina Kelly, she thought it was about parking tickets. Kelly, the first black waitress to work at the eatery in Hearne, Texas, had a hunch her shift was about to end early. "I told my boss I'm fixing to go to jail for some tickets," says Kelly. "My manager tried to write them a check, but they wouldn't take it." Even after Kelly was hauled in front of a judge hours later, she couldn't believe she'd been picked up for pushing something more than an illegal parking tab. "They said I had a bond of $70,000 for delivering a controlled substance," says Kelly. "I said, 'No, it's just tickets.' " [continues 1159 words]
Border Patrol Snags Over A Ton A Day Falfurrias, Texas -- As a steady stream of traffic pulled through the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here, Agent Johnny did not look twice at the gravel trucks, the 18- wheelers or even the powder-blue Cadillac. But he knew instantly that the green Dodge pickup was carrying more than firewood. Johnny, a dope-sniffing Belgian Malinois dog, started barking like mad, pawing and pressing his snout against the driver's door. When agents got into the truck and pulled out the seat, there it was: a half-pound or so of marijuana, bundled in plastic, in a cab doused with air freshener to hide the smell. [continues 658 words]
I appreciated the Chronicle's excellent Dec. 15 article about the "drug war" ("War on drugs nets small-time offenders / District attorney hears from black leaders / More than 75 percent of cases involve tiny amounts"). I have written many times with my concerns about these practises that have run amok, so it was wonderful to read your bold words saying many of the same things. Please accept my heartiest congratulations for your recording of the truth. Dean Becker Houston [end]
AUSTIN - The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has released a report calling for an end to the state's $200 million regional narcotics task force system."After 15 years of operation, it is clear that these task forces are a failed experiment that have filled Texas prisons with nonviolent offenders, many of them African American, and tainted Texas law enforcement with scandal," said Will Harrell, executive director of ACLU of Texas. Gov. Rick Perry's office distributes funding for the task force through his criminal justice division. Spokeswoman Kathy Walt said Perry believes the program is worthwhile and funding for it will continue. [continues 222 words]
AUSTIN - Texas' prison population has grown 1.5 percent compared with this time last year, putting the number of inmates in state prisons at 147,000, about 2,000 more than expected. The increase coincides with a drop in the percentage of eligible inmates being released on parole, and it could put another strain on a tight state budget. Prisons officials play down the population growth and say they still could cut their two-year budget next year, as promised when they thought the inmate population would be lower. [continues 438 words]
In the United States, few issues worry the parents of teenagers more than drug abuse.The thought that your son or daughter could be among the 15 million Americans hooked on illegal drugs is terrifying. But a recent national survey of teenagers' behavior offers some hope that educational efforts may be getting better results than expected. The survey, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found that smoking, drinking and the use of illegal drugs among teenagers is at its lowest level since the annual tally began 27 years ago. [continues 203 words]
Texas' war on drugs punishes few major importers and dealers but imprisons thousands caught with less than a sugar packet full of cocaine or other illegal drugs. The battle rages most fiercely in Harris County. Of the 58,000 drug convictions won by local prosecutors over the past five years, 77 percent involved less than a gram of a drug, according to district court data analyzed by the Houston Chronicle. Harris County sent 35,000 of these small-time offenders to jail or prison. [continues 1007 words]
Lawyer Says Grand Jury Hearing Fake-Narcotic Suits; Indictments May Come Soon, Experts Say A federal grand jury has begun hearing from witnesses involved in a series of phony drug cases filed last year by the Dallas Police Department, says a defense lawyer for a confidential informant who has pleaded guilty in the cases. Legal experts say the convening of the grand jury could mean that the investigation is entering the final stage before indictments are issued. Others said federal law enforcement may be testing the credibility of three confidential informants who have pleaded guilty to civil rights violations. [continues 1127 words]
I have read about the virtues of allowing Mexican truckers to operate in the United States. A lot of us are not happy about this. We lived in the Rio Grande Valley for more than 30 years and lived and worked in Mexico. Mexican trucks are not safe. Standards are nonexistent, and the Mexican truck driver's idea of a rest stop is to pull into a cantina and have a beer. The Mexico City News reported that many truckers in Mexico are concerned about how they will finance the work to make their trucks meet U.S. safety standards. [continues 90 words]
But Statistics Show Many Will Return To Prison Another time, another place, the men would be frightening, unnerving at the very least. Muscled, square-jawed, with heads shaved and skin scarred and tattooed, they are convicted drug users and drug sellers, drunks, thieves, robbers, rapists, murderers. But on the day they are to be released from prison, they are as bright-eyed and optimistic as honor students. On this day, nearly every man believes tomorrow will be better than yesterday and there is no turning back. [continues 2181 words]
I am currently residing in the annex of the Bexar County Jail, where I have been since Aug. 26. I am writing this letter on paper provided by Social Services and with a pen from the same place. I will mail this in an envelope provided by the county. With all the negative press about the situation at the jail, I felt obligated to add this little report from "ground zero." I came in without a dime to my name and a bad attitude. That's "bad" as in whiney, not tough. [continues 216 words]
LAREDO - The Border Patrol is seizing more marijuana along the 171-mile Laredo Sector than anywhere else on the U.S.-Mexico border, as drug smugglers shift their focus to Texas from Western states, officials said Tuesday. Officials speculated the change might be the result of beefed-up enforcement at other ports of entry. "Perhaps the special operations have been successful in forcing these organizations to look at other areas where they can smuggle in their drugs," said Alfonso Moreno, the Border Patrol's Laredo agent in charge. [continues 93 words]
DEL RIO - Nearly four decades later, lawyer Arturo Gonzalez can still clearly picture the polite, dark-haired East Coast disc jockey who showed up without notice at his Pecan Street office back in late 1963. "He introduced himself as Bob Smith, and he wanted to know who was the owner of radio station XERF," recalls Gonzalez, 94, who at the time sold advertising contracts in the United States for the super-powered station in nearby Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. "I said 'What can you do?' and he said 'I'm a radio announcer and I can sell whatever you have to sell.' And I think he was on the radio station that same night, selling baby chicks - 100 for $2.98," Gonzalez said, chuckling. [continues 1624 words]
Arrest of police chief latest Donna scandal DONNA -- In this small city that calls itself "The Heart of the Valley," some stout hearts will be needed to overcome the stigma of recent history. Two weeks ago -- and for the second time in five years -- Donna's chief of police was arrested on federal corruption charges. Chief Marco Abel Partida, nephew of a presiding state district judge, was arrested by FBI agents who contend he took bribes from a drug trafficker. A different police chief was arrested on drug conspiracy charges in 1997. [continues 1228 words]
Is the cost of liberty in America having to live under the anti-civil rights measures hawked by the Bush administration? Who decides what is terrorist activity in the homeland security agenda? Attorney General John Ashcroft? Dancing, drugs, abortion, peace activists are offensive to Ashcroft. Let us all be thankful that the Bush-Ashcroft theocrats haven't fully implemented their new social order on America yet. Ron Lowe, Harlingen [end]
The Dallas Cowboys are on a winning streak, both on and off the field. I'm a lifelong, die-hard Cowboys fan, so obviously I'm grateful for last week's Turkey Day victory over the Washington Redskins. How sweet it was. But the Cowboys are doing a far more honorable thing this week than winning a football game. They're trying to help save lives. Fifteen former Cowboy greats are joining hands this week with the Starfish Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded four years ago to battle drug and alcohol addiction. I'll tell you more about that shortly, including how you can get involved and maybe have some fun at the same time. [continues 572 words]
"In Nevada, voters rejected a ballot measure that would've legalized small amounts of marijuana. Opponents said legalizing pot would've sent the wrong message to Nevada's young gamblers and prostitutes." Conan O'Brien [end]
A Long-Ago Bust Gets a City Staffer Fired and Raises Questions About Drug Policy In March, just two months after he was hired, Ryan Blum-Kryzstal was fired from his job at the St. John's Library and Community Center - because he rolled a joint in a parking lot on South Padre Island seven years ago. Since his job involved working with children, he was subject to a criminal background investigation; when the CBI was eventually done, it found that Blum-Kryzstal had pled no contest (nolo contendere) in 1995 to a misdemeanor marijuana charge, and the city disqualified him from his position at St. John's. [continues 2338 words]
San Antonio Police Chief Albert Ortiz is being prudent by withholding judgment until after a full investigation of a drug raid that left two innocent people injured.The investigation must be thorough, and it is Ortiz's duty to make sure the findings are comprehensive enough to address many legitimate and disturbing concerns citizens have about the SWAT team drug raid gone awry. Officers invaded the wrong South Side duplex, breaking through the rear sliding glass door, according to reports. A concussion grenade was also used in the raid. [continues 184 words]
The recent SWAT fiasco in San Antonio was not an isolated incident ("SWAT raid roughs up wrong guys," Nov. 21). Bungled SWAT raids occur frequently across the country, and at least half a dozen innocent people have been killed in the past few years by SWAT teams running amok. Last year, the SWAT team in Lubbock killed one of its own members and injured another while raiding a house occupied by a lone unarmed man. This shows how the war on drugs has become a war on the American people. It shows how the Fourth Amendment has been eviscerated. [continues 60 words]
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - While drug seizures decreased post Sept. 11 along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, they rose to record levels on the Texas end, the U.S. Customs Service reported Monday. During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 326,553 pounds of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana were seized along the border in West Texas and New Mexico. The previous record was 308,998 pounds in fiscal year 2000. In 2001, 308,852 pounds of drugs were seized. [continues 322 words]
The editorial "Parents in denial on ecstasy" (Nov. 18) correctly pointed out the danger of ecstasy use among our youth. Drugs are eating away at Americans' lives. We cannot ignore the problem. I recently introduced legislation, the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act, to deter illicit drug use and protect children. The bill ensures that those who seek to profit from drug activity at "raves" - -- dance events often portrayed as alcohol-free parties for young adults -- will not be able to use any loophole in the law to escape prosecution. The most important thing we can do to win the war on drugs is keep young people from ever using them. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith [end]
San Antonio police, who continued to apologize Thursday for storming the wrong Southwest Side duplex, said they'll meet next week to review the foul-up that sent an innocent man to a hospital with minor injuries. Officials said SWAT team members apparently were confused in the darkness Wednesday night by the cluster of look-alike dwellings in the 5900 block of Fairshire Road, even though officers spent two days watching a duplex there in an effort to serve a warrant on a man they suspected of dealing drugs. [continues 623 words]
San Antonio's top cop said Friday that he was concerned about the wrongful invasion by police of a Southwest Side duplex earlier this week, but he wants a full inquiry before speaking out against the SWAT team members who made the mistake. "I want to assure the community that if there are any problems, we'll rectify them," Chief Albert Ortiz said. "We are going to review this and look at the fine details. We don't mind making changes if that's what needs to be done." [continues 443 words]
In a quest for guns and drugs, the San Antonio Police SWAT team invaded the wrong West Side apartment Wednesday night, leaving one person to be treated at a local hospital and another with minor injuries. Police spokesman Gabe Trevino told KSAT-TV news it was a mistake and the department apologized for the incident around 8 p.m. in the 5900 block of Fairshire Road. "We are sitting here and then all of them arrived," Salvador Huerta, 20, said in Spanish, referring to himself and his two cousins, who were watching a telenovela when police shattered the back glass door. "We were kicked and punched at least 20 times. I couldn't talk. I was good and scared." [continues 182 words]
Re: the Nov. 13 article "6 linked to $22 million in cocaine sales": In my 20 years of practicing law, I have seen at least 50 big drug busts that supposedly were going to cripple the dope-dealing business. This is a farce. Selling drugs is so profitable that all dealers are immediately replaced. To really cripple the business, the government should decriminalize it. The huge profits would disappear and dealers would have to find a new racket. The district attorney and the U.S. attorney can grandstand all they want, but this latest drug bust will have little effect on the business. Raymundo Aleman [end]
I was reading about the City Council members and lawyers accused of bribery. I was discussing it with friends and family, and their opinions seem the same: No more deals! We let the "cocaine cops" off with deals. But not these people. If they lied and took bribes, they broke the law and should be treated like criminals. Give them their day in court, but no legal wrangling. I do not think it is just San Antonio who is tired of these plea deals; I think it is the entire United States. Send them to prison for the prescribed amount of time. Terry Workinger [end]
PAY THREE BUCKS and you can step inside the prison cell display, put on an old-fashioned striped prison shirt and get a personal photo souvenir of your visit to the prison museum at Huntsville. No thanks. Already I was out $4 admittance, and other exhibits had made me plenty uncomfortable, so pretending to be an inmate held no attraction whatever. The place gave me the willies from the time I pulled into the parking lot overlooked by a watchtower manned by a dummy armed guard. I'd been feeling uneasy about this tourist attraction even before that, starting when I saw the front-page picture of "Old Sparky" that ran last Wednesday, with a story about the prison museum's new building. [continues 611 words]
Although many kinds of drug abuse can destroy a person's life, no illegal substance is more dangerous than ecstasy. There is scientific evidence that the synthetic psychoactive drug can cause permanent brain damage. But despite warnings, organizations such as Partnership for a Drug-Free America report that 12 percent of American teenagers use, or have used, the drug. Equally disturbing is that most parents, though they know how dangerous ecstasy is, are in denial. A recent national survey showed that only 1 percent of parents think their children use ecstasy, according to the partnership. [continues 103 words]
El Paso Border Crossing To Test System That Reads Cargo's Chemical Makeup EL PASO - A new type of detector that can identify the chemical composition of loads inside trucks and alert inspectors to suspicious materials will be in place next summer at a southeast El Paso international bridge. "It's an exciting concept," said P.T. Wright, operations chief for the U.S. Customs Service in El Paso. "For 5,000 years, customs inspectors had to see it, touch it and feel it, but this enables them to inspect something without ever having to open a container." [continues 405 words]
I believe the Independent's assessment of the El Paso County Jail Bond issues is flawed [Endorsements, Oct. 17]. The short-term fix of sending our prisoners to other county jails compares very unfavorably with the long-term solution offered by expanding our own jail. Other counties charge about $55 per day, or $20,000 per year to hold one inmate. So if El Paso County were to contract with other counties to hold 250 inmates per year, the annual cost to the County would be $5 million. This cost appears to be marginally cheaper than the annual cost of the two ballot issues. However, the sheriff would incur additional costs to transport these prisoners around the state, assuming that there would be 250 beds available to rent. [continues 158 words]
TULIA - The judge who presided over most of the cases from the controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting recused himself from two of the cases Thursday. District Judge Ed Self filed the order removing himself from the writ of habeas corpus cases of Jason Jerome Williams and Christopher Eugene Jackson, and he requested that another judge be appointed to hear the cases. Defenders of those arrested in the bust hailed the action as a major step toward their long-stated goal of securing what they consider to be fair hearings. [continues 500 words]
N. Texas Force Will Add 3 Squads To Target Oklahoma Meth Labs A North Texas federal drug task force is expanding its reach into Oklahoma to counter some of the nation's largest concentrations of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. The North Texas High Intensity Drug Area task force, one of 33 multiagency groups funded across the country in recent years to dismantle major drug organizations, has won approval to form three new squads from a number of Oklahoma law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement officials in Dallas said gaining approval for the task force expansion to Oklahoma had been difficult because counterterrorism has been such a high priority, but they said an inability of thinly stretched local police to stem a major rise of a national methamphetamine trade made a powerful argument for the expansion. [continues 530 words]
White heroin potent enough to be lethal could be circulating on Houston streets, police warned Friday. Officers recently intercepted a "significant" amount of white heroin that was 87 percent pure -- more than five times the purity considered dangerous and potentially deadly. Police arrested a street-level dealer who had the potent narcotic and decided to alert the public. "Clearly, we're concerned about people's health," said acting Police Chief Tim Oettmeier. "A certain segment of the population takes drugs, and their health is at risk. If we know something is going to endanger their health, even if they're doing something illegal, the right thing to do is to make them aware of it." [continues 231 words]
25 Tips Parents Should Know About Substance Abuse to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program: 1. Alcohol and drugs are powerful. They cause more physical and emotional damage in young people's lives at a faster rate than adults. 2. You cannot isolate your child from this issue. Social tolerance of drug use is far more prevalent than when you were a teenager. 3. Good parents can end up with a child on drugs. Don't let shame or embarrassment stop you from asking questions and seeking help. In most cases you did not do this to them. [continues 478 words]
A cocaine smuggling cell handled nearly $22 million in drug sales in less than a year until arrests hobbled the group last week, officials said in San Antonio on Tuesday. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton and District Attorney Susan Reed hailed Friday's six arrests as the product of a joint federal and local task force investigation nicknamed Operation Alacran (Scorpion). Next to the city's top prosecutors, some 30 confiscated firearms lay lined up on tables. The task force accuses the group of moving the drugs from Eagle Pass through San Antonio to points north, such as Dallas and Chicago. [continues 233 words]
Men Won't Get New Trials, Despite Involvement Of Discredited Informant Two men caught in early drug stings arranged by a now-discredited police informant won't get out of prison anytime soon. The state's highest criminal appellate court has denied the appeals of Dario Luna Medrano and Jose Santos Gonzalez - even though prosecutors and a judge joined their lawyer in requesting new trials because of witness credibility problems. The discredited witness is Enrique Alonso, the police informant who pleaded guilty in September to federal charges stemming from dozens of drug arrests involving fake substances. The men's appeals - filed in May - are believed to be the first considered by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin that raise concerns about Mr. Alonso's credibility. [continues 848 words]
The border does not provide an easy dividing line for those who have relatives on both sides. The saying is you can choose your friends but not your relatives, but the border presents its own complications. On Sept. 12, two El Paso FBI agents were seriously injured during a law-enforcement operation at Sunland Park-Anapra that targeted suspected train robbers. Juarez politicians, activists and others made a big stink over allegations that FBI agents either stepped onto Mexican soil to arrest suspects, or Juarez city police and Mexican federal customs officers yanked suspects from their Anapra homes and turned them over to U.S. federal agents. [continues 352 words]
AUSTIN - Tooling around his hometown of Laredo last year, months before he won the Democratic nod for governor, Tony Sanchez talked about the risks of the oil and gas business on which his family's fortune was built. "You go in to drill the well knowing - if it's a wildcat well - that the risks are very high," he said. "The potential is high, which is why you're taking the risk, but there is a very, very big chance that you're not going to be successful." [continues 1139 words]
BROWNSVILLE - A seven-count federal indictment alleges that three former members of the Cameron County constable's office have trafficked at least a ton of marijuana since 2000. The grand jury indictment, which was partially unsealed Thursday, named four defendants, including former Precinct 7 Constable Jose Alfredo Jimenez, 44. Jimenez's La Feria home is to be seized, according to the indictment. Jimenez's bond hearing was continued Friday until Tuesday, and he is in custody in Houston. Former Deputy Constable Benito Villarreal, 32, was freed after paying a 5 percent deposit on a $100,000 bond. Federal Magistrate John W.M. Black set a curfew for Villarreal and appointed Villarreal's brother, a Mission police officer, to supervise him. [continues 156 words]
For years, Mexico has blamed its drug problem on the United States. From the president to ordinary people, Mexicans have insisted that their illegal drug industry has blossomed because of the huge demand in the United States. They've been right for the most part. If 15 million Americans were not hooked on illegal substances, the narcotics market of more than $30 billion a year would not exist. But President Vicente Fox noted this week that a growing number of Mexicans also are becoming addicted to illegal drugs. [continues 149 words]
Just a plant: Good for Mark. It takes a lot of courage to speak out against unjust laws. Someday, hopefully soon, this country will stop arresting sick people and everyday Americans for possessing a simple plant. It should be a freedom of choice--that's what this country is all about. Via e-mail [end]
Harmless hemp: I was thrilled to read about the Dallas Cowboy who has now dedicated himself to dispelling the myths about marijuana. In the year before 9/11, this country arrested 750,000 pot smokers and two international terrorists. A plant that has, by the government's own admission, killed not one human being gets all the attention, while New York burns. Alcohol and tobacco kill millions, Al Qaeda kills thousands, yet we're spending our resources banning a plant that hasn't killed anyone and in fact has many proven medical uses. Noelle Stettner, Falls Church, Virginia [end]
Get your buzz on: So, according to Mark Stepnoski ("Steppin' Out," October 31), we should grab us a couple of joints and enjoy it in the comfort of our homes, and whether we have a family or are in a car full of kids, just light up. Maybe your kids will start taking whiffs of the smoke and start diving into the parent's private stash just out of curiosity. Ahhh, nothing like seeing your 13-year-old on a nice buzz, huh, Mark? And then maybe the buzz isn't quite enough, and the little tyke may want something a little stronger, or hell, anything to take him over the edge, like glue or paint. Hell, Mark, let's start pushing that in addition to Mary Jane--why stop at pot? Mark, you don't have any kids, do you? My respect for Mark would not have changed even if I was around him while he toked. But for him to advocate that everything is cool to legalize this junk, my respect for him just dropped a few notches. Lou Mendez, Cedar Hill [end]
Good for Mark. It takes a lot of courage to speak out against unjust laws. Someday, hopefully soon, this country will stop arresting sick people and everyday Americans for possessing a simple plant. It should be a freedom of choice--that's what this country is all about. Steve C. Via e-mail [end]
I was thrilled to read about the Dallas Cowboy who has now dedicated himself to dispelling the myths about marijuana. In the year before 9/11, this country arrested 750,000 pot smokers and two international terrorists. A plant that has, by the government's own admission, killed not one human being gets all the attention, while New York burns. Alcohol and tobacco kill millions, Al Qaeda kills thousands, yet we're spending our resources banning a plant that hasn't killed anyone and in fact has many proven medical uses. Noelle Stettner Falls Church, Virginia [end]
Get your buzz on: So, according to Mark Stepnoski ("Steppin' Out," October 31), we should grab us a couple of joints and enjoy it in the comfort of our homes, and whether we have a family or are in a car full of kids, just light up. Maybe your kids will start taking whiffs of the smoke and start diving into the parent's private stash just out of curiosity. Ahhh, nothing like seeing your 13-year-old on a nice buzz, huh, Mark? And then maybe the buzz isn't quite enough, and the little tyke may want something a little stronger, or hell, anything to take him over the edge, like glue or paint. [continues 72 words]
WASHINGTON - U.S. officials announced charges Wednesday involving alleged plots to sell drugs to finance weapons purchases for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization and a Colombian paramilitary group. The separate cases show the threat to national security from the "toxic combination of drugs and terrorism," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. One set of charges involves an alleged plot by four people, two of them Houston-based, to trade $25 million in cocaine and cash for a huge cache of weapons to be sent to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, as the 8,000-member paramilitary group is known by its initials in Spanish. [continues 402 words]
AUSTIN, Texas - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit yesterday alleging that an east Texas drug sweep in which 28 blacks were arrested was racially motivated. The 28 were arrested in Hearne in November 2000 on felony charges of possessing or distributing crack cocaine. Eleven pleaded guilty, and prosecutors later dropped charges against the 17 others. The lawsuit seeks compensation and an end to what it calls a pattern of exclusively raiding the town's black community even though other neighborhoods have drug problems. [continues 227 words]
How many joints can be rolled from 3 ounces of marijuana? This is a serious debate in Nevada. Residents of the Western state will vote Tuesday on a state constitutional amendment to legalize adult possession of no more than 3 ounces of pot. It may have looked quixotic at the onset, but the Nevada campaign has flourished at the hands of a Texas political handler the chief legalization foe calls a "carpetbagger." "Apparently she doesn't like Texans much," says Billy Rogers, ruefully. [continues 1261 words]
In a federal lawsuit filed Friday in Austin, the American Civil Liberties Union accused Robertson County authorities of violating the civil rights of 28 people from Hearne arrested in a drug sting. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court and accuses Robertson County District Attorney John Paschall and members of the South Central Texas Narcotics Task Force of targeting people for drug investigations based on their race. The lawsuit also alleges authorities charged innocent people with drug offenses and locked them up. [continues 202 words]
SO WILL YOU CHOOSE for governor the fellow who bullied the state trooper or the guy whose S&L laundered drug money? The investment of many millions of dollars by each of those campaigners, to tell us over and over about his opponent's flaws and frailties, has been so effective that whichever one of them wins it, far too many voters will be left feeling like losers. A story in Friday's Chronicle bore the encouraging news that these two major-party candidates for the state's top office had completed the negative stage of their race and are starting the final sprint. [continues 585 words]
A controversial campaign ad linking Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tony Sanchez to the drug dealers who killed federal agent Enrique Camarena has been taken off the air, but outraged San Antonio Democrats insist Gov. Rick Perry should apologize. The commercial, which features two former DEA agents who say the drug dealers involved in Camarena's murder laundered millions of dollars through Sanchez's thrift, was scheduled to be removed from television stations around the state Thursday, according to Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan. [continues 354 words]
In a draft of a report released by state public health officials at a May 24 meeting, physician E. S. Cox noted that confinement of the mentally ill in jails is "barbarous, cruel, inhuman and heathenish." As the Associated Press reported, Cox and his colleagues, meeting in Galveston since May 12, urged the state "to make all haste in providing accommodations for them." If the words sound a bit archaic, there's good reason: That May meeting chaired by Dr. Cox took place in 1916. [continues 523 words]
No one disputes that the confidential informant who claimed he bought drugs from 28 black people in the community of Hearne was trouble. Robertson County District Attorney John Paschall said the informant, Derrick Megress, stole some of the cocaine he was supposed to turn over to police as evidence, masking the thefts with flour. Megress also probably pocketed some of the money he was supposed to use to buy drugs, Paschall said. "Unfortunately, we can't get Baptist ministers to go make drug busts," Paschall said. [continues 817 words]
AUSTIN, Texas -- The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Friday alleging that an East Texas drug sweep in which 28 blacks were arrested was racially motivated. The 28 were arrested in Hearne in November 2000 on felony charges of possessing or distributing crack cocaine. Eleven pleaded guilty and prosecutors later dropped charges against the 17 others. The lawsuit seeks compensation and an end to what it calls a pattern of exclusively raiding the town's black community, even though other neighborhoods have drug problems. [continues 228 words]
Former Cowboy Mark Stepnoski Tackles A New Role--Leading The Charge For Marijuana Reform He knows it won't be easy--coming out of the "smoky closet," as one marijuana advocate puts it. After all, he has been a professional football player for 13 years, a five-time Pro-Bowler, a two-time Super Bowl champ, a Dallas Cowboy. He can almost hear the voices of those who would accuse him of all manner of betrayal. Wasn't he supposed to be a role model? Someone who needed to send the right message to kids--a message in lockstep with the hard-line anti-drug stance of the NFL? But to sign on as the new president of Texas NORML, an organization dedicated to reforming marijuana laws, to join its national advisory board, well that just seemed a reckless way to kick off his retirement. [continues 1506 words]
Republican Gov. Rick Perry has launched a new ad linking Democratic challenger Tony Sanchez and his savings and loan to the drug dealers who killed a federal drug agent. Accompanied by the sister of slain agent Enrique "Kiki'' Camarena, Perry accused Sanchez's failed Laredo savings and loan of laundering drug money for the dealers who killed Camarena. At a brief news conference Friday morning, an angry Sanchez repeatedly called Perry a liar and suggested he had sunk to a new low in Texas politics. [end]
It's hard to tell who is winning when only one side keeps score. The big contest at the new activity center/basketball court in the Sunnyside neighborhood will be over the future of the kids. The Rev. James Nash of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church plans to offer activities, challenges and experiences there, to attract young people and keep them off the streets and out of prison. Maintaining any accurate count of his successes will be impossible. We won't know when his side makes points. We will have no way of counting when a kid makes a good decision because of something learned or developed at the activity center. [continues 651 words]
By the time Carlos Dienno took a court-mandated drug test last year, word had already leaked out to his probation officer about "The Whizzinator." Two weeks before Dienno's June 17 appointment, court officials had caught an 18-year-old college student wearing a prosthetic device attached to a heat-controlled pouch of synthetic urine. On the alert, a probation officer noticed something didn't seem natural as Dienno was relieving himself. "He obviously didn't know we were more conscious and aware of the Whizzinator and that we were looking a bit more closely," Chief Probation Officer Caesar Garcia said. [continues 229 words]
AUSTIN - The smell of marijuana did not give Abilene police officers probable cause to enter a home, the Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled, upholding a Taylor County trial judge's suppression of marijuana seized at a house. "The odor of marijuana, standing alone, does not authorize a warrantless search and seizure in a home," wrote Judge Charles Holcomb in a 6-3 opinion released Wednesday. "This case is about the right of citizens to be left alone in the privacy of their homes," wrote Judge Cathy Cochran in a concurring opinion. [continues 327 words]
DIMMITT -- Dimmitt Independent School District reinstated its random drug-testing policy last week, with some revisions, said Les Miller, Dimmitt ISD superintendent. All seventh-through 12th-grade students in extracurricular activities will be tested on Nov. 4, 5 and 6, and the school will test students randomly throughout the year, Miller said. "(Now) we're really trying to emphasize the counseling portion of it," Miller said. "We're trying not to make it punitive as such, but more of a deterrent policy." [continues 303 words]
AUSTIN -- Where there's smoke, there may not be fire, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded Wednesday in ruling that the odor of marijuana didn't give Abilene police officers probable cause to enter a home. "The odor of marijuana, standing alone, does not authorize a warrantless search and seizure in a home," wrote Judge Charles Holcomb in a 6-3 opinion. "This case is about the right of citizens to be left alone in the privacy of their homes," wrote Judge Cathy Cochran in a concurring opinion. [continues 424 words]
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Ron Kirk admitted in a debate Wednesday night that he tried marijuana when he was younger. Republican John Cornyn refused to answer the question. DALLAS (AP) - Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Ron Kirk admitted in a debate Wednesday night that he tried marijuana when he was younger. Republican John Cornyn refused to answer the question. "I tried marijuana when I was in college but didn't like it," Kirk said, responding to a panelist's inquiry. [continues 919 words]
Police Say Ring Had Ties To Las Vegas, Miami, Netherlands A two-year investigation has culminated in more than 65 arrests and the dismantling of a major ring distributing the drug "ecstasy" in North Dallas, Plano and the surrounding area, authorities said. The ring, which distributed drugs in area nightclubs, had ties to trafficking organizations in Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, officials said Tuesday at a news conference in Dallas. The ring also distributed cocaine and gamma hydroxybutyrate, the so-called date-rape drug known as GHB, authorities said. [continues 226 words]
Two groups have been awarded nearly $1 million in federal funds to operate drug and alcohol treatment programs targeted at minorities in Texas with HIV and AIDS. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the awards. Hope Action Care, a nonprofit agency that provides a variety of services for the poor and indigent, was awarded $500,000 to expand substance abuse recovery programs for HIV-positive Hispanics and African Americans and to enhance programs for drug screening, detoxification, psychiatric evaluation and methadone maintenance. The University of Houston will receive $499,788 to expand its treatment capacity and its existing network of community service providers. [end]
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is having problems with his daughter, Noelle, because of her use of illegal drugs. I would contend this is a family matter and should be of no concern to the general public. However, what does concern the public is that Miss Bush is going to jail for 10 days while thousands of poor and minority young people in Florida are sent to prison for the same offense. Centuries ago, many societies practiced witchcraft and at one time differentiated between two types of witches. One group was considered to be a "willing possessor" of evil spirits, and they were burned at the stake. However, witches who were seized against their will were "unwilling possessors" and treated with more compassion. Could class, status and family power have had anything to do with the different treatments? Bill Barrington New Braunfels [end]
President's niece, like other drug offenders, needs more treatment Noelle Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president, already was in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of the young woman. [continues 642 words]
Election Day Draws Nigh, But We Still Hold 13 People From Tulia in Texas Prisons Unjustly Some of us were reminded of the Tulia 13 a few days ago when a judge ordered the release of one of the Dallas Sheetrock bust victims, Jaime Chavez. He lost more than two years of his freedom because of false testimony. Candidates running for governor and U.S. senator have told Texas voters that the Tulia drug bust mess is not a campaign issue. They have avoided taking any stand. They don't mention this festering boil in their speeches. [continues 588 words]
NOELLE Bush, 25-year-old daughter of the governor of Florida and niece of the president of the United States, was already in a drug rehab program when she was found with a one-gram rock of crack cocaine in her shoe. The judge who sent her to rehab in the first place found her in contempt of court for the latest offense. Contempt of court? At a time when America's prisons are bursting with drug offenders who are less well-connected? When crack abusers in particular are languishing under mandatory sentences? I say we ought to make an example of this young woman. [continues 637 words]
Police at Southern Methodist University in Dallas say they found a methamphetamine lab in a music practice room. The drug lab was found Thursday, a day after students returned from fall break. The lab was in a fine arts center with offices, classrooms and practice rooms. It's open to the public until being locked at night, a police official said. [end]
A county jail guard was charged Thursday with smuggling marijuana to Cameron County inmates after admitting to supplying prisoners with the drug, county authorities said. Robert Dalzell saw what it is like on the other side of wrought iron bars Thursday night after Justice of the Peace Oscar Tullos reprimanded the officer at his arraignment, and ordered him held under $25,000 bail. "We are here to protect the inmates, and you are doing exactly what they did to get in here," Tullos told Dalzell. "This is a serious crime." [continues 260 words]
Growing up, I remember the innuendoes: "He's in the drug business." That was the explanation when a Mexican American's business was successful. In college, my marketing professor said we were not prominent in corporate America because we had an "anti-business attitude and lacked motivation." Today, there's a candidate for governor who has shown the right attitude and motivation and has an impeccable reputation. Despite this, Gov. Rick Perry has resorted to that convenient ugly stereotype: "He's rich, he's Mexican, he's got ties to drug trafficking." [continues 81 words]
LIVINGSTON - Racial profiling legislation topped the list of concerns that members of the local law enforcement community recently relayed to State Representative Dan Ellis. Numerous issues and concerns were voiced by about a dozen local law enforcement officials to Ellis and his legislative staff during a recent lunch meeting. Legislation addressing racial profiling that was passed during the last legislative session has resulted in concern among law enforcement circles statewide. The legislation uses Department of Public Safety (DPS) statistics as the benchmark and then ties those statistics to census data, something most law enforcement officials are opposed to, as it's the equivalent of comparing apples to oranges. [continues 625 words]
A former South Texas narcotics investigator, described by authorities as so strapped for cash that he pawned his gun, was convicted Thursday of trying to sell cocaine to raise money to retrieve his pistol. Until his indictment in January, Xavier Villarreal was affiliated with the Live Oak County Sheriff's Department and assigned to the Central South Texas Narcotics Task Force based in George West. Convicted of possessing and intending to distribute cocaine, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $1 million in fines, the 52-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 16. [continues 281 words]
HUNT - With a walking stick in hand and his heart flush with resolve, Aaron Pena Jr. left Thursday on a deeply private pilgrimage that also holds public policy implications. The Edinburg attorney, who is unopposed for the District 40 state representative's seat in next month's election, is walking to Austin to highlight the need for better mental health and substance abuse programs across Texas. "It really is a personal quest, as well as a public one," Pena, 43, said of the 125-mile, six-day trek. "It's like an act of prayer." [continues 509 words]
U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona called on his own experiences as a young Latino of Puerto Rican descent growing up on the streets of Harlem as he spoke Tuesday at Kennedy High School about how alcohol and tobacco abuse had touched his family. Through stories of his own youth, Carmona shared with hundreds of mostly Mexican American high school students that he was no different from any other inner-city kid who felt, growing up, that he had little odds of success. [continues 412 words]
A former undercover narcotics officer convicted of fabricating evidence and record tampering was sentenced to five years' probation Wednesday. The Wilson County jury that found Albert J. Villarreal guilty recommended he receive the lightest possible punishment. District Judge Fred Shannon also sentenced the Poteet man to 300 hours of community service, defense attorney John A. Longoria said. "I literally heard a big sigh of relief," he said of his client's family's reaction to the sentence, which included probation terms ranging from 180 days to five years on all five charges, to be served concurrently. [continues 272 words]
A former nurse who tested positive for HIV pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that she stole injectable painkillers from a Jourdanton hospital. Jacqueline Fillingim, who entered the plea Tuesday, faces up to 20 years in prison on each of seven charges of obtaining drugs by fraud or misrepresentation from the South Texas Regional Medical Center. They (prosecutors) want the maximum; we want the minimum," said her lawyer, David Willborn, who said he will seek probation for his client. Fillingim pleaded guilty to avoid trial and because she wanted to take responsibility for her actions, Willborn said. [continues 212 words]
FLORESVILLE -- A Wilson County jury on Tuesday found a former narcotics agent guilty of charges that he tampered with records, fabricated evidence and abused his position as a member of the 81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force. Albert J. Villarreal, 33, faces up to 10 years in prison. The jury acquitted the Poteet man of 19 other charges, including one charge of witness tampering. Villarreal was found guilty on two charges of tampering with a governmental record, and one charge each of fabricating physical evidence, abuse of official capacity and official oppression. [continues 351 words]
Questionable Informant May Lead Prosecutors To Drop Charges A Dallas judge set the stage Thursday for a 22-year-old Mexican citizen to be freed two years after his conviction on drug delivery charges that were based on perjured testimony from a questionable police informant. While awaiting word from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, state District Judge Henry Wade Jr. agreed Jaime Chavez could be released on a personal recognizance bond. Defense attorney Juan Sanchez said Judge Wade agreed Mr. Chavez should be released from jail until the appeals court grants him a new trial in a February 2000 drug raid in Oak Cliff. Prison officials in Austin released their hold after receiving word of the judge's decision, and Mr. Chavez was set to be released from the Dallas County Jail overnight. [continues 573 words]
Again, Greg Sagan has hit the nail on the head (Oct. 1 column, "There are questions to be answered in Tulia"). After spending three years in Tulia as a high school student, I have no doubt that Sheriff Larry Stewart is a "nice man." I have seen his car parked in front of the Church of Christ on a regular basis. I have no doubt that he cares about Tulia. Furthermore, I would be wrong in asserting that Tulia is anything but a nice town to live in. [continues 234 words]
Billy Wayne Dick's Sept. 28 guest column about the Tulia drug bust provided a different perspective. Dick was a 1960 football star in Tulia with the current sheriff and several others he listed as "the real citizens of Tulia." In his column written to several area papers, he stated the sheriff and the "real citizens of Tulia" were "Christians," "humanitarians," and "true patriots." The only evidence in these cases was provided by a former jailer fired from his past job and hiding from arrest warrants related to his previous law enforcement employment. He supposedly was the only witness to 100-plus crimes committed in Tulia by 46 people. No other evidence or witnesses were brought forward. [continues 189 words]
FLORESVILLE - Was Albert J. Villarreal a dirty cop or did local drug users concoct stories to incriminate the former Wilson County sheriff's deputy? A jury of six men and six women will ponder that question today at the close of Villarreal's trial here on 28 charges, including falsifying evidence and police reports, official oppression and witness tampering. His attorney, John Longoria, is expected to argue this morning that Villarreal was set up by the crooks he busted, as well as their friends. [continues 254 words]
Jurors in Wilson County could begin to deliberate as early as Monday in the trial of a former narcotics agent accused of making up cases and falsifying reports. Albert J. Villarreal, 33, of Poteet had worked as an undercover agent for the 81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force, which operates in Atascosa, Frio, Karnes and Wilson counties. Villarreal has been in jail since his arrest in September 2001, when a Wilson County grand jury indicted him on 28 charges, including tampering with a governmental record, fabricating physical evidence, tampering with a witness, official oppression and abuse of official capacity. [continues 147 words]
The 2001 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey results are good news indeed ("CDC survey finds more teens saying no to sex," Sept. 27). From 1991 to 2001, the percentage of U.S. high school students who have had sex decreased from 54 percent to 46 percent. Of these, fewer are currently sexually active and fewer have had multiple partners. But there is some not-so-good news as well. Among those who are sexually active, the use of condoms is no longer increasing. Use of alcohol or drugs before sex is increasing. And 46 percent having had sex is still too many. [continues 65 words]
A fundamental question was lost amid the details of the drug bust gone bad last week ("6 are charged in drug bust on North Side; Sting triggered mayhem at mall," Oct. 5). Why did police conduct a sting operation in the middle of the day at one of the city's busiest intersections? I appreciate law enforcement's commitment to fighting drugs, but they shouldn't compromise the safety of the public in the process. The operation shows signs of poor planning. An undercover policeman arranged to meet a dealer in the parking lot of a crowded store (where there would be traffic and innocent bystanders). The police thought the dealer and his posse would have two cars, but they had three. [continues 81 words]
Re: The letter "Money Spurs Drug Sales" (A-J, 10-8). In 82 words, the letter writer spells out the bottom line on prohibition, whether it's prohibition of alcohol, uppers, downers, or sideways-ers: The treatment is worse than the disease. From a religious viewpoint, prohibition substitutes worldly force for spiritual self-control. But when we put our trust in an arm of flesh, we abandon our trust in God. From a secular view, prohibition is based on the premise that we humans must be protected from our own corruptibility. But it is impractical because it must be enforced by other equally corruptible humans. [continues 71 words]
Court Wants to Know If Agent's Word Was Sole Basis For Convictions AMARILLO - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has asked the trial court of two men convicted in a 1999 Tulia drug sting for clarification on whether they were convicted solely on the word of one undercover agent. The court also wants to know whether the state failed to turn over information from agent Tom Coleman's background that may have impeached his testimony. Mr. Coleman, who is no longer in law enforcement, has been criticized for having no corroborating evidence to support the drug busts. [continues 251 words]
The 2001 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey results are good news indeed ("CDC survey finds more teens saying no to sex," Sept. 27). From 1991 to 2001, the percentage of U.S. high school students who have had sex decreased from 54 percent to 46 percent. Of these, fewer are currently sexually active and fewer have had multiple partners. But there is some not-so-good news as well. Among those who are sexually active, the use of condoms is no longer increasing. Use of alcohol or drugs before sex is increasing. And 46 percent having had sex is still too many. [continues 61 words]
I've never been one to speak out publicly, but feel now that I should. I wish to comment first on Billy Wayne Dick's Sept. 28 guest column, "Drugs, not race, the problem in Tulia." My husband and I fully agree with his remarks. We, too, know the families he mentioned in his column, as well as the Dick family. They are decent, respectable, well-educated people. Billy Wayne knows of what and whom he speaks. We lived in Tulia for 12 years, 32 years ago. We found the community to be made up of fine Christian people who stand for what is right. We'd like to thank Billy Wayne for speaking out. [continues 77 words]
Police have botched probe To The Left Small towns usually don't stir up the controversy that Tulia has. I've been there several times over the years. It looks like the quintessential Panhandle town. Bypassed by Interstate 27, get off on the old highway, encounter grain elevators, abandoned service stations, a really good Mexican restaurant, then you're back on the interstate. Drive to a downtown that hasn't changed much since the 1950s. Go southeast to an area of upscale homes. A point of interest there is the home-studio of famous western artist Kenneth Wyatt. Tourists are welcome. [continues 989 words]
After mistaking a backyard patch of okra for homegrown marijuana, the La Porte Police Department has found itself in the middle of an internal affairs investigation into whether an officer stole personal property during the mistaken drug raid. The officers on Aug. 14 served a warrant at the home of 88-year-old Irene Gilliam Hensley, in the 200 block of North Nugent Street. Officers believed her grandson, Charles Gilliam, who also lives there, was growing pot in a backyard shed and garden. [continues 918 words]
WE HAVE FREQUENTLY noted that ordinary citizens can help police protect our city simply by using their eyes and ears and reporting any suspicious activity. In the case of the methamphetamine labs that are springing up in West Texas, we pointed out that they can also use their noses. The chemicals that are "cooked" to produce amphetamine give off some very pungent odors. An alert neighbor who reported to police a strange smell coming from a West Lubbock residence recently helped break up a methamphetamine ring. Seven people were arrested, and 10 pounds of the drug were seized. [continues 63 words]
I am 80 years old. I hate to see what illegal drugs have done to destroy lives. But I think alcohol has destroyed and killed more people than drugs. I agree with the young lady who wrote the newspaper that drugs should be legalized. If they can cut out the incentive for the big money, no one would be selling them. There are those who think I am crazy for saying this. But I bet there are others who agree with me. Lubbock [end]
Your Sept. 20 editorial, "Drug-testing policy supports local control," is frighteningly reminiscent of Lester Maddox and George Wallace pledging their undying loyalty to the principle of "state's rights." Jim Crow was nourished by the ideal of local autonomy. Your ill- considered editorial pits big, centralized government (always bad) against local community control (always good). The Constitution never enters the discussion. The five justices who concluded that student drug-testing does not violate the Fourth Amendment were not supporting the principle of local autonomy. Their arguments were constitutional. [continues 109 words]
Much of the recent argument over legalizing drugs has been the dollar cost of the drug war. There's more to it than that. There is also the cost of swollen prisons, broken families, dead kids, and social disruption reaching into the work place and public schools where all are treated with suspicion over the few who may be users. This thing was a loser at its inception 40 years ago by not treating it as an attitudinal and mental health issue rather than criminal. [continues 178 words]
Re: The letter "Legalize Marijuana, Not Meth" (A-J, 9-24). Friends have asked why I never write anything with which they can disagree. I strongly suspect I'm about to do that. I support your correspondent whose most cogent letter clearly ratified the case for decriminalizing marijuana. Forty years ago, when I served as a physician in Lubbock's drug crises center, I made my first public plea for that action. Now, as I consider the time, money and effort wasted in the attempt to control marijuana, I only wish my requests to legalize its use had been louder and longer. [continues 136 words]
HOUSTON - Considered to be one of the drugs of choice in the 1980s, methamphetamine is enjoying a renewed popularity in the new century. Its popularity is enough that it has once again regained the close attention of law enforcement officials in Texas and across the United States. Thus, a new program designed to combat an old problem was given to law enforcement agencies at the start of this year. The Methamphetamine Initiative Group, referred to as "Mig," was started in January. The original commander of the Mig was Department of Public Safety Narcotics Lt. Joseph Longway. He set the goal for the first year of operation at taking down 50 clandestine (clan) labs. Many experts thought Longway's goal was overly ambitious. [continues 1370 words]
VICTORIA - The Victoria Police Department's Special Crimes Unit is the city's main line of defense in stopping the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine and other drugs in the city. But unlike the Methamphetamine Initiative Group, or Mig, from Houston, the unit doesn't have the luxury of specializing in just that one area. "We handle crimes that require specialized investigations," Sgt. James A. Martinez of the Victoria unit said. "I would say that between 80 and 90 percent of our work is in drugs and that whatever drug cases are made, we'll be involved in 99 percent of those. But we are also pulled in on other offenses. We are actually set up to work whatever kind of case we are assigned to." [continues 582 words]
Two Dallas men wrongfully convicted on the testimony of a tainted undercover police drug informant may be paroled from prison before a lengthy appeals process clears them, their lawyers said. Defense attorneys Juan Sanchez and Michael Hawk said that the Dallas County district attorney refuses to back measures used in the past that could free at least two men whose felony drug convictions relied heavily on the testimony of a corrupt police informant. First Assistant District Attorney Mike Carnes agreed that convictions won against Jaime Chavez and Manuel Rodriguez Garcia should be overturned and dismissed. But, he said, his office is only following the letter of the law, which puts the issue of undoing their convictions in the state's highest criminal appeals court. [continues 1110 words]
Re: The letter "Don't Legalize Everything" (A-J, 9-15). In an attempt to make the case for continued drug criminalization, a letter writer actually suggested that "God," during early creation, had experimented with Libertarianism! Unfortunately, according to the writer, "(God) quit using the Libertarian concept" essentially because it didn't work out! The obvious foundational implications this understanding poses to Abrahamic religions aside, I will simply pick up where the writer left off. Continuing: "God" then imposed the law. And after many years of failed yet brutal enforcement of that law, "God" wasn't pleased. For tyranny had crept into society. Henceforth, life under the law was difficult and unjust. [continues 161 words]
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - I read your Aug. 29 story about Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart with great interest. I met Larry in 1958, when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman in high school. I played football and was probably recognized by Larry because football players in Texas are highly visible students. I was the third black student to enter Tulia High School. The first two students enrolled in 1956 and only stayed in school a few weeks. In 1960, I was the first black student to graduate from Tulia High. I suspect I may be the first black student in Texas to graduate from an integrated school system, having spent all four years in the same school. My three sisters followed me in graduating from Tulia High. [continues 451 words]
The region's three congressmen supported the House effort to give Mexico and other nations the benefit of the doubt regarding cooperation with the United States in the fight against illegal drugs. As part of a larger bill to fund the State Department, the House on Wednesday approved a provision to grant a two-year moratorium on the annual drug certification program. Under the program, the State Department grades nations on their efforts to assist the U.S. anti-drug war. The nations that don't comply will not receive U.S. aid. [continues 520 words]
The two people who run Starfish Foundation, Inc, executive director Belita Nelson, and public relations director Mel Renfro, former Dallas Cowboy and Pro-Football Hall of Famer, share a major life experience. Both experienced the pain a family suffers from alcohol and drug addiction. The Plano-based foundation, a non-profit organization whose motto is "Making a Difference, One at a Time," was founded in 1997 by a group of Plano teachers, parents, and students after a series of heroin-related deaths. [continues 912 words]
Mattie White Claims a Rogue Cop Accused Her Kids of Crimes They Didn't Commit Mattie White never planned on becoming an activist. Being black in Tulia, Texas (pop. 5,033), wasn't always easy, but she saw the dusty crossroads halfway between Amarillo and Lubbock as a haven from big-city dangers. "I like Tulia," says the 51-year-old grandmother. "You don't have to worry about drive-by shootings and people breaking into your house." But White's view of her hometown would change forever on July 23, 1999, when local sheriff's deputies arrested 46 people - all but six of them African-American -- as alleged drug dealers. Although the only evidence came from a single white undercover officer with a checkered past and, critics charge, a penchant for lying, four of White's six children, her brother, a niece, two nephews, two cousins and a son-in-law were caught up in the dragnet, making her the person with the most jailed relatives in town. "I guess I was in shock," she says. "I never did cry." [continues 928 words]
The Kimble County Sheriff's Department has a reputation for sniffing out large sums of cash. On Monday, Sheriff Mike Chapman did it again. And when the counting at Junction National Bank finally ended that evening, a record had been established for currency seized by the department - $2,241,555. "It was exciting," said bank President Rob Spiller, who oversaw the six-hour tally. "We've never seen that much before." The excitement began when Chapman noticed that the driver of a pickup on westbound Interstate 10 near Junction wasn't wearing a seat belt. [continues 225 words]
Re: The letter "Don't Legalize Everything" (A-J, 9-15). I really don't understand the letter writer's claim on why some drugs should not be legalized. There are some legal drugs out there that cause more harm, in my opinion, than some of the drugs that are illegal. So he is absolutely correct on stating that not all things should be legal, but maybe we should rethink some of the things that aren't compared to some substances that are. [continues 131 words]
Re: The article "Legalizing Drugs Not Answer" (A-J, 9-14). Concerning the legalization of drugs in the Netherlands, the writer stated Amsterdam is a violent and squalid place because of legalized drug use. Hardly so. Amsterdam is a much safer place than Honolulu, London, LA or NYC. Maybe she was there when hooligan bullies from the UK were present for soccer matches or before the authorities ran out all of the illegals from the former Eastern Bloc and the Balkans. J.E. BARBEE/Lubbock Via e-mail [end]
Two years ago, I investigated and prosecuted corrupt police officers Quentis Roper and Daniel Maples for falsely arresting and stealing from Dallas citizens. I was recently asked by a reporter if I thought there were citizens still wrongly imprisoned by the actions of these two officers and had the audacity to say I thought so. Regrettably, and unbeknownst to me at the time, First Assistant Mike Carnes turned heads by voicing his own opinion that it wasn't the job of Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill's office to worry about wrongly imprisoned citizens ("False drug convictions may linger," Sept. 8). Mr. Carnes and Mr. Hill, after receiving a frank exchange of views from Dallas citizenry, have now decided it is unquestionably the DA's duty to worry about just such issues. [continues 398 words]
Review Of Procedures Involves Mostly Officers; DA's Office Has Conflict Conflicts of interest because of an ongoing federal investigation into a series of questionable drug busts have limited membership on a panel charged with reviewing Dallas police narcotics procedures to mostly police officials. Group members and law enforcement experts say the panel should broaden its membership to be effective. The review board was established to include members from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. attorney's office and the district attorney's office, as well as police officials and a citizen chairman. [continues 676 words]
As the Association for Addiction Professionals observes National Addictions Counselor Day today, local counselors say addiction treatment has improved with better education, counseling techniques and medications during the past two decades. For a long time, most counselors were recovering addicts themselves. "Thirty years ago, you could just call yourself a drug and alcohol abuse counselor and get someone to pay you," said Charles Parks, a licensed marriage and family therapist for Parks & Associates Counseling Service. But across the country, states are requiring counselors to earn bachelor's and master's degrees. The Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse requires 175 classroom hours, 300 practicum hours, 4,000 hours interning, and passing a comprehensive written exam for a counseling license, said Ned Creswell, clinical director of the Alcoholic Recovery Center. [continues 377 words]
Re: The letter "Decriminalization Of Drugs" (A-J, 9-4). The decriminalization of all drugs I do not agree with. Methamphetamines ("speed") can cause users under the influence to go into uncontrollable mood swings and violence. There is only one drug that I think should be legalized and that is marijuana. I believe marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol (which is legal). Imagine the money America would save and gain if it were legalized. Right now we spend millions of dollars incarcerating users and dealers. In my opinion, we waste millions of dollars a year trying to keep it out of the U.S., which doesn't work. Imagine the profit the government could have by legalizing it and taxing it like cigarettes. One last thought: When was the last time you heard of a person getting into a wreck and killing another human while under the influence of marijuana? Lubbock [end]
BROWNSVILLE - The McAllen sector of the U.S. Border Patrol seized more cocaine from October to July than any of the other 20 sectors around the country, officials said. About 55 percent of all seizures in the first 10 months of this fiscal year were made by McAllen agents, officials said. During that period, the Border Patrol seized 11,138 pounds of cocaine nationwide valued at $352.7 million, while McAllen agents alone intercepted 6,133 pounds of cocaine at nine international cross points. The haul is valued at $196 million. [end]
A GREAT controversy was generated in Tulia in the summer of 1999 when 43 people in that South Plains city were arrested for selling drugs to an undercover officer. Charges that racism was involved in the arrests were leveled because 37 of the 43 defendants were black. And now, a mere three years later, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has announced that his office will conduct an investigation of the Tulia drug busts. What took you so long, Mr. Cornyn? Please don't get us wrong. It is not that we mind another group of sharp-eyed investigators looking at the facts of the cases and the circumstances involving the matter. We say "another" because the state investigators would be in addition to the investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice, who are already looking into it. [continues 150 words]
Ecstasy Made Mark In Houston Through Netherlands Shaped like clovers, festooned with Playboy bunnies and popular cars, the colorful little Ecstasy pills that landed the owners of two popular downtown clubs in jail last week started their march to Houston in clandestine, rural laboratories in the Netherlands. Chemists, sometimes working out of large, sophisticated buildings, sometimes mobile laboratories, have churned out as many as 500,000 Ecstasy pills an hour for a mere 20 cents each, making the Netherlands, a country known for its liberal attitude toward the illegal pursuit of happiness, one of the major worldwide producers of Ecstasy. [continues 1035 words]
Despite Critics' Confusion, DA's Office Has Done Its Job It wasn't his intent, but Paul Coggins' column last week taking issue with a Dallas Morning News editorial urging the FBI to expedite its investigation of the fake drug scandals actually proved why The News was so accurate in its opinion. Until some closure is brought to this matter, people will continue to make false assumptions, as does Mr. Coggins. After suggesting it might "take months or even years" for the FBI to conclude its investigation, Mr. Coggins presumes to outline steps that should be taken immediately by the Dallas County district attorney's office. [continues 796 words]
More than a dozen Seguin residents were arrested Friday in an early morning roundup targeting 10 men and four women charged with peddling crack cocaine. Guadalupe County Sheriff Arnold Zwicke said the 14 suspects operated independently, or in groups of two or three, as street-level vendors. All were charged in federal court with intending to distribute the chunky and relatively cheap form of smokable cocaine. If convicted, most face five-year mandatory minimum sentences that rank among the more intensely debated penalties in federal law, and a maximum of up to 40 years in prison. [continues 362 words]
The Texas Narcotics Officers Association has recognized El Paso County Deputy Louis Almonte and his narcotic detector dog, Blackjack, as Narcotic Detector Dog Team of the Year. During fiscal year 2001, which began Oct. 1, 2000, Almonte and Blackjack seized 21,200 pounds of marijuana and 7,706 grams of cocaine, and were responsible for 72 felony arrests. They were also responsible for several money seizures totaling $247,600, said Rick Glancey, spokesman for the El Paso County Sheriff's Department. [continues 220 words]
WE FAVOR RANDOM drug tests for high school students - but only for those students who have chosen to participate in extracurricular activities. It is not that we would like to exclude high school students with no extracurricular interests from drug-testing. On the contrary, testing all of them undoubtedly would result in more parents being alerted about festering drug problems of their children. But the problem with testing all high school students is that it simply would be illegal. The law dictates that children must go to school. They do not have a choice. Therefore, requiring all students to be subject to drug testing would effectively mean that the law dictates the drug testing of all children. [continues 363 words]
Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a controversial 5-4 decision allowing public school districts to conduct drug tests of students participating in extracurricular activities. Such tests have fostered a national debate over the past few years. Opponents of the drug-testing procedure were quick to predict the mass erosion of rights and privacy as school districts across the country jumped on the drug-testing bandwagon. Some have, and some have not, but at least school districts now have the authority to determine their own needs. [continues 176 words]
OUR TEXAS CRIMINAL justice system is a complicated, confounding and frustrating puzzle, but some pieces are starting to fit together. State District Judge Michael T. McSpadden heard from many people during the past week, after he stated publicly that delivery or possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance should be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor. And all but one agreed with him, he said Friday. McSpadden made his view known at a recent meeting hosted by black ministers who are concerned about the large number of young black men being sent to prison and the impact this has on their families and neighborhoods. The ministers also are concerned about the way a felony record can limit a young man's opportunities and potential for the rest of his life. [continues 561 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Most drug offenders in state prisons are black males with no history of violence or high-level drug dealing, an interest group says. The Sentencing Project, which advocates for alternatives to incarceration, says that just over half of these state inmates - 58 percent, or 124,885 people - are nonviolent offenders. "They represent a pool of appropriate candidates for diversion to treatment programs or some other type of community-based sanctions," the authors wrote. "The 'war on drugs' has been overly punitive and costly and has diverted attention and resources from potentially more constructive approaches." [continues 274 words]
Re: "Tulia Justice - State should pursue West Texas case," Aug. 29. I stay in the metroplex several weeks a year, but I am a 30-year resident of Tulia. My favorite newspaper is The Dallas Morning News. But I am totally disgusted about all the media our town has received for two long years. Negative media - three articles in one week. Mr. Editor, I am personally inviting you into my home for a week's stay to investigate the story of the drug bust for yourself. In doing so, you must attend church with me, go to the town's favorite restaurant, eat lunch at the senior citizens place, go to a ball game, enter any of three banks, walk down any street, visit City Hall and the county courthouse, even the sheriff's office. Then you may print an unbiased article of "Our Town." [continues 69 words]
On Sept. 4, Tulia was graced by a visit from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez. When asked about the Tulia drug bust, Sanchez said, "It's improper for anybody running for political office to politicize this issue." When exactly did racism and injustice cease being political issues? When did Sanchez decide those issues were not relevant to his campaign for governor? Was it when he crossed the county lines into Swisher and Hale counties to court the votes of the Democratic Party faithful? [continues 134 words]
Tulia is trying hard to understand the attitude of the nation that has been fed "dessert" by the media and Amarillo Globe-News columnist Greg Sagan. Let me paraphrase: Don't judge until you have walked in our community's shoes. Does Mr. Sagan think we have not prayed for the innocent to be released, and for loved ones who are hurting? We also have prayed that the guilty not be released from their punishment and possible transformation. For that, we would be thankful and would welcome them back into society. [continues 206 words]
To the editor: How many people are aware of the origin of our anti-drug laws? They had nothing to do with drugs or narcotics as such. Marijuana was prohibited in the 1930s as a weapon to harass illegal aliens and send them back to Mexico. They used marijuana, and by making it illegal, it gave the immigration authorities another weapon for harassment. Congress in its infinite wisdom made other drugs illegal to harass the hippies and the anti-Vietnam War protesters. None of these anti-drug laws were passed to prohibit drugs for their content, but just to harass certain groups. [continues 72 words]
Since Colombian President Alvaro Uribe took office last month, he has assumed dictatorial powers. The Harvard-educated leader, elected by a landslide after promising to take a strong stand against rebels and drug dealers, has suspended basic freedoms in the name of national security. The armed forces can impose curfews, search a home or arrest people without a warrant, restrict domestic travel and monitor the movement of all foreigners. Uribe should reconsider his tough stand. Most Colombians are willing to pay more taxes and allow some intrusion into their lives - such as notifying the government every time they move or travel - if that's what it takes to end the violence. [continues 104 words]
Late-night comedians have the drug hungers of Noelle Bush, daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and niece of the nation's president, George W. Bush, to kick around some more. But let's get serious for a moment. Noelle, 25, needs help. She has, in the parlance of these times, "issues." She was found with crack cocaine in her shoe Monday night at a drug treatment center in Orlando where she was in a court-ordered rehabilitation program. You know somebody has got a S-E-R-I-O-U-S drug problem when he or she is caught with illicit drugs while in rehab. [continues 526 words]
LOCKNEY, Texas (AP) - A West Texas school board went back to the drawing board, unanimously approving a new drug-testing program for secondary students after an earlier policy was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge. The Lockney school board voted 6-0 on Tuesday to implement a testing policy that applies only to students in grades 7-12 who participate in extracurricular activities. The earlier policy mandated testing of all secondary students. "I don't feel like we have a drug problem right now. This is a chance not just for athletes but for every kid in this community to say no," Athletic Director Joe Robison said in Wednesday's editions of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. [continues 227 words]
Say Clubs Laundered Money Federal authorities have dismantled a Houston Ecstasy-trafficking ring that used two popular downtown nightclubs to launder profits and was supplied by an international network considered among the largest in the world, officials said Tuesday. Authorities have charged 24 people in Houston and 10 members of the international organization -- most in Israel, the base of the operation, and in the Netherlands, where the Ecstasy was produced. Among those charged in Houston are two brothers, Sarabjeet "Rick" Singh and Amrik "Spiro" Singh, who authorities said oversaw a local network that distributed massive amounts of Ecstasy and opened the Spy Club and The Hub to launder profits. [continues 456 words]
At the very least, credit Tulia law enforcement with being consistent: They appear to discriminate equally against both blacks and Hispanics. First there was the now well-publicized bust of nearly 10 percent of the town's small black population in 1999 (see "Color of Justice," by Nate Blakeslee, June 23, 2000) based on the testimony of a single narc with a questionable history. Then last May, at the invitation of Tulia police, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission busted up a predominantly Hispanic backyard high school graduation party. The officers had no warrant but insist they saw minors drinking from beer cans in an alley adjacent to the property. According to the owners of the home, there was a keg in the backyard but no beer cans at the party. They insist no minors were drinking alcohol. [continues 268 words]
The Baylor University community welcomed Asa Hutchinson to campus Monday as he gave the inaugural lecture of the Public Leadership Series on the nation's drug policy. But it wasn't the Arkansas native's first association with the university. The current head of the Drug Enforcement Administration was a defense attorney in 1996 for an assistant basketball coach convicted for his role in an academic fraud scandal. Then-coach Darrel Johnson was acquitted, but the jury did not spare three assistant coaches, including Hutchinson's client, Troy Drummond. [continues 442 words]
WACO - A Central Texas police department that once disqualified would-be officers who had smoked marijuana more than 50 times has softened its policy, now rejecting only candidates who have smoked at least once in the last two years. Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis said the old policy was costing the department some potentially good officers who went on to have successful careers with other law enforcement agencies. But the policy change, which took effect in August, is drawing fire from some veteran officers who say standards on drugs shouldn't be weakened. Or, if a policy is going to be changed, they say, the department might want to look at its strict vision requirements as well. [continues 121 words]
Re: The letter "Decriminalization Of Drugs" (A-J, 9-4). Maybe the writer has not heard of all the problems with drinking and driving - all the millions of dollars that have been lost because of the "repeat offenders"' inabilities to control their habits. Also, all the lives lost or crippled because of drunken behavior; and, the child abuse connected with drugs and alcohol. Bipolar disease in children is directly connected to alcoholism. Does the writer have statistics on the statement, "Prohibition on alcohol created more criminals than legalized alcohol?" So, let's legalize drugs so we can have more drug-impaired drivers on the road; and more babies born with multiple defects connected with drugs; increased crime to support the drug habits. There are no values to legalizing drugs! [continues 87 words]
Re: The letter "Decriminalization Of Drugs" (A-J, 9-4). Should everything be legalized and placed before society? Libertines would legalize alcoholic beverages, cocaine, etc., and place a stiff penalty on anyone who committed a crime under the influence of the drug. That method has already been tried. It didn't work. God created the heavens and the earth and a man. He made a woman from part of the man and placed them in a beautiful garden. They were to tend the garden and eat of it. That is, they could eat of all the fruit of the garden except from one tree. If they ate of the fruit of that forbidden tree they would die. They ate of it and died instantly spiritually, and eventually physically. God drove them from the garden and wouldn't let them back in. God restrained them from the forbidden tree and, eventually, did away with the tree. [continues 63 words]
Re: The letter "Decriminalization Of Drugs" (A-J, 9-4). Society has a responsibility to uphold morals and values, especially when it comes to "illegal drugs" (as the letter writer mentioned). No less than four times did the writer refer to money as a reason to make illegal drugs legal. No less than three times did she refer to her opinion as a reason for making illegal drugs legal. Money should never be a factor in determining a moral issue. Far too often, money is used to make moral decisions. I, for one, am grateful that our "war on drugs" has not fallen prey to money. [continues 111 words]
Re: The letter "Decriminalization Of Drugs" (A-J, 9-4). I am sometimes amused and always amazed that people can lack the critical thinking skills to read and research the issue of legalizing illegal drugs. I kept a wonderful article you ran on May 22, 1997, by Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, a physician in England who makes excellent points concerning this issue. As Dr. Dalrymple stated, "A man whose appetite is his law is not liberated but enslaved," He also addresses the argument that, "It isn't the pharmacological properties of drugs that is the scourge of society, but the criminal activity." [continues 147 words]
In these troubled times, it's nice to know that there is one thing that can always bring a smile to our faces, and maybe even cause us to laugh so hard that we cry. I am referring, of course, to the War On Tobacco. Rarely in the annals of government -- and I do not mean to suggest anything juvenile by the phrase "annals of government" -- will you find a program so consistently hilarious as the campaign against the Evil Weed. [continues 681 words]
The last of nine police officers who agreed to guard cocaine shipments was sentenced Thursday to almost three years in prison. Thursday's sentencing of former San Antonio Police Officer Lawrence Bustos closed the door on what has been described as a sordid episode of local law-enforcement. Bustos, pleading for leniency from U.S. District Judge Edward C. Prado, said he rued the day he allowed a fellow officer to recruit him into a conspiracy among six officers and a police sergeant's uncle. [continues 115 words]
GRAND PRAIRIE - A former Grand Prairie narcotics sergeant was fired Friday after a July audit revealed about $1,000 missing from a drug unit cash fund. Blaine Smith, a 13-year veteran who had no prior disciplinary record, has 10 days to appeal Police Chief Glen Hill's decision to a civil service arbiter. Police forwarded their investigation to the Dallas County district attorney Aug. 27. Prosecutors have not presented the case to a grand jury. "He certainly denies any criminal wrongdoing," Smith's attorney, Bob Baskett, said Friday. "We will be appealing his termination as being too harsh a punishment based on the evidence." [continues 183 words]
Former Attorney General Dan Morales testified Tuesday about drug cartels and money laundering before Gov. Rick Perry's Anti-Crime Commission, saying Texas needs to update its money laundering laws. Morales noted that the state's money-laundering statutes have not been revised since he first wrote them in 1991, while the cartels continue to target financial institutions along the Texas border to transfer profits from drug sales. "About half of all cocaine and marijuana comes into the United States across the Texas-Mexico border," Morales said. [continues 493 words]
IT HAPPENED IN CHURCH. Judge Michael T. McSpadden of the 209th District Court stood up and testified that he knows the way. Black ministers were seated on one side of the aisle, white judges on the other. The preachers had invited Harris County's felony court judges to meet and discuss how they might work to restrict the flow of young black men from Houston neighborhoods to state prisons. The way he knows to do that, McSpadden said, is to reduce the penalty for delivery or possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance. Make the crime a misdemeanor instead of a felony. [continues 589 words]
COCAINE : An Unauthorized Biography. By Dominic Streatfeild. St. Martin's Press, $27.95; 498 pp. IT has been said there is no greater sensation on earth than a cocaine high. In very short order, a snort of the glimmering white powder produces an overwhelming feeling of well-being, mental clarity and boundless energy - - not to mention a sort of post-orgasmic glow in the solar plexus. Smoking it only intensifies the feeling. Injecting it, well, that defies description. Given a limitless supply of the stuff in their water, laboratory animals will abandon food, sleep, sex, grooming and all other drugs, dosing themselves until they literally die of exhaustion. [continues 674 words]
Ex-AG Urges Nonpartisan Effort to Fight Money Laundering SAN ANTONIO - Strengthening state money-laundering laws to attack the nation's multibillion dollar illegal drug market should be a nonpartisan effort, former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales said Tuesday. Mr. Morales, who helped draft the state's money-laundering legislation in the early 1990s while attorney general, was one of 12 presenters during daylong testimony before Gov. Rick Perry's Anti-Crime Commission meeting in San Antonio. But Mr. Morales declined to revive charges made last year that the opposition of Tony Sanchez, his Democratic primary gubernatorial rival, to money-laundering reform had benefited terrorists and drug dealers. [continues 326 words]
Former state Attorney General Dan Morales testified about drug cartels and money laundering before Gov. Rick Perry's Anti-Crime Commission today, but he declined to repeat the campaign charges he leveled against Tony Sanchez in the Democratic gubernatorial primary last spring regarding similar issues. "My role as a participant in this commission is strictly policy oriented, and I'm going to adhere to that," Morales said, adding that he had been asked by the commission to avoid partisanship and politics. [continues 284 words]
Now that the halcyon days of almost unlimited state spending on anything with the words "prison" or "criminal justice" are gone, it is time to step back and assess the impact of the choices we made during the past decade or two. Two recent studies bring us face to face with the results of our spending decisions in Texas, and the picture we see ought to leave us feeling pretty uncomfortable. The Bureau of Justice Statistics just reported that 6.6 million people across the United States are under the control of the criminal justice system. Texas is the leader of the pack, with more than 755,000 people under some form of supervision. Compare that to New York, which has a mere 355,000. In the Lone Star State, one in every 20 adults is in prison or jail or on probation or parole. [continues 423 words]
Action Highlights Disparity Between State, Federal Law The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency raided a medicinal marijuana dispensary in California last week, despite a California state law permitting distribution to prescribed patients. DEA agents seized 167 marijuana plants along with a small amount of hashish at an operation run by Michael and Valerie Corral said Richard Myer, a DEA spokesman. The Corrals, who as of Sunday had not been charged, grew and harvested their own cannabis plants for patients around the Santa Cruz area. [continues 505 words]
It's baaaack. After several months of being absent from public view as the Federal Bureau of Investigation diligently probed possible corruption and civil rights violations, the Dallas Police Department's fake drugs scandal have blasted back on to the headlines. A paid police informant has reportedly agreed to a plea bargain in exchange for testimony that may finally solve the mystery of who planted ground gypsum on dozens of Mexican immigrants, many of whom eventually were sent to prison or deported for drug trafficking. [continues 274 words]
Ruben Navarrette, in his Aug. 31 column, says the drug bust in Tulia was just racist and not an effort to rid a town of drugs. Some people in Tulia said the arrest of several underage people drinking beer was racist because most had Hispanic surnames. The prosecutor in Tulia must have been good to get juries to send people to prison for a very long time just on the word of a stranger. There had to be more that is not making the papers. [continues 59 words]
Other Big Cities Have Paid Big Bucks To End Similar Litigation Dallas city leaders have faced public relations problems since the fake-drug scandal surfaced more than nine months ago, but the biggest problem could turn out to be financial. Taxpayers could foot the bill for millions of dollars in judgments or settlements of civil rights lawsuits related to the questionable drug arrests, based on money paid by other cities in similar litigation, legal experts say. Fifteen people have sued the city and the Police Department over their false arrests for drug trafficking, and more are expected to join the suits as an FBI investigation continues. [continues 1356 words]
A three-day conference hosted by TurningPoint is trying to help community members be aware of drug and alcohol issues in the area. The group is running the 29th Annual Conference on Alcohol and Drug Abuse at the Multi-Purpose Event Center, which will conclude today. "Historically this used to be (only) for drug and alcohol counselors and social workers," said Steve Rueschenberg, TurningPoint executive director. "Now we're trying to open it to the public. This is an effort to try to bring it to the community level." [continues 205 words]
WE STILL HAVE 13 people from Tulia locked in Texas prisons across the state unjustly. Cash Love is in Livingston doing 99 years. At the very least, someone in power should figure out how to release them on personal recognizance bonds, pending the outcomes of state and federal inquiries into the Tulia drug bust of 1999. Joe Moore is in Abilene doing 90 years. What put them in prison was the word of one itinerant undercover cop whose methods and ethics and reputation have sparked many serious questions, investigations, lawsuits and even changes in state law and policy. [continues 596 words]
HARLINGEN (AP) - The state is moving as quickly as possible in its investigation of the controversial 1999 Tulia drug bust, Assistant Attorney General Howard Baldwin said Friday. Baldwin discussed the arrests in Tulia during the state's first briefing on the investigation to the House Committee on Judicial Affairs. "We're going to move through this as quickly as we can, but we're going to be very thorough and we'll see where the investigation leads," he said during the briefing, which was held in Harlingen. [continues 352 words]
HARLINGEN, Texas - A state review of a controversial drug bust in Tulia, Texas, will move as quickly as possible but may have limited ability to help those imprisoned in the sting, a legislative panel was told Friday. Three prosecutors and two investigators from the attorney general's office are investigating the 1999 West Texas drug cases, and they began meeting Thursday with local authorities, First Assistant Attorney General Howard Baldwin told members of the House Judicial Affairs Committee. But committee Chairwoman Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, said the attorney general's efforts may do little to help those convicted because their cases are under the jurisdiction of the appellate courts. [continues 753 words]
Don't Politicize Drug Sting, He Says; Cornyn Defends Inquiry TULIA, Texas - Democrat Tony Sanchez said Wednesday that candidates should not try to politicize a local narcotics sting that state and federal authorities are investigating. "It's improper for anybody running for office to politicize this issue," the gubernatorial contender said in response to a question after speaking to about 100 people in downtown Tulia. Mr. Sanchez, a Laredo businessman trying to oust GOP Gov. Rick Perry, did not discuss the disputed 1999 drug bust in his remarks, but mentioned that the Panhandle town has faced national scrutiny because of allegations that the arrests were racially motivated. [continues 406 words]
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez said Wednesday the issue of a controversial drug bust in 1999 in this Panhandle town should not be politicized. "I think it's improper for anybody running for office to politicize this issue," Sanchez said in response to a question after he spoke to a crowd of about 100 people in downtown Tulia. Sanchez did not discuss the drug bust in his remarks, but mentioned the town had come under national scrutiny recently because of controversy surrounding the bust. [continues 803 words]
Hello, I am a "drug" user. But my "drug" use will never put me in danger of contracting Hepatitis C, the HIV virus or any other fluid- transmitted disease. I smoke marijuana. That's it. I don't like to drink. I have an addictive personality, alcoholic parents, alcoholic siblings, alcoholic aunts and uncles. I have smoked weed for almost 10 years. In that time, I graduated both high school and college and have a job many people would love to have. My marijuana use has not negatively influenced my career. However, I recently heard through the grapevine that there are signs posted all around the Dallas area stating, "You think it was dry this month? Wait until next month," with an X-ed out marijuana leaf on it. [continues 155 words]
Breaking a three-year streak of sharply rising crime rates, property crimes dipped during the first part of the year while violent crimes reported to police increased only slightly. Overall, there were 54,524 crimes reported from January to July. Last year, in that time period, there were 54,737 reported, a drop of 0.4 percent. Police statistics released Tuesday show that homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault rose by small percentages from January to July compared to the same seven months last year. [continues 435 words]
Re: The letter "Clandestine Meth Labs" (A-J, 8-28). What law enforcement needs is not specialized training on how investigators can make methamphetamine lab bust methods safer. What law enforcement needs is for the decriminalization of methamphetamine and other drugs considered illegal. The lure of money from manufacture, or sales, is so powerful. (Especially with the 18- to 25-year-olds who, in my opinion, are the largest group associated with manufacture). I believe the "war on drugs" raises the price of illegal drugs by 17,000 percent (no exaggeration). It supports the multi-million- dollar-a-year prison industry by supplying it with non-violent drug users (instead of offering less expensive drug treatment and counseling). [continues 138 words]
A former police officer was sentenced Wednesday to more than five years in prison for agreeing to protect cocaine shipments and, in one instance, offering to transport a briefcase of narcotics in his squad car. David Anthony Morales, who tried to commit suicide last month, appeared pale and said little before U.S. District Judge Edward C. Prado handed him a sentence of five years, 10 months behind bars. "I'm very sorry for what occurred," the 40-year-old said in a weak voice. "I did lose a lot." [continues 324 words]
Raymundo Aleman defies the televised stereotype of the ostentatious, histrionic lawyer. Dressed in a brown and khaki suit and olive tie, Aleman is unobtrusive and restrained, except for a left leg that tends to jiggle when he's enthused about an issue. The issues that get him jumping: economic injustice and oppressive drug laws. As the Libertarian candidate for district attorney and a criminal defense lawyer, he's up against a Texas Criminal Justice System that houses 150,000 prisoners, the most of any state. In the November 5 general election he will battle Republican incumbent Susan Reed -- the Democrats haven't fielded a candidate -- for the right to set the tone of the Bexar County justice system. [continues 823 words]
After reading the recent opinion column on the tragedy of teenage drug "mules," I could only shake my head in wonder. The editorial's solution to the problem is to do what we already do, only do more of it. It seems that the editorial staff has been infected by government logic (see "oxymoron.") Recent Justice Department statistics show that the U.S. now incarcerates 2 million people, and more than 6 million are under judicial supervision. That means we lead the world in the per capita rate of imprisonment, and that includes all those dictatorships and communist countries we like to chide for human- rights abuses. [continues 59 words]
To the editor: Mr. Cagle's and Ms. Cowgill's arguments against decriminalization ("Stupid to back legalization," Aug. 15; "Monitor wrong on legalization," Aug. 18) are wrong. Cagle argues that we are losing the war on murder! As a cop, he knows murder rates are dropping. I bet 10,000 times more money is being spent on drug interdiction than murder reduction. Are people volunteering to be murdered? He argues the experience of other countries is invalid because their results have been "doctored." I find it hilarious that he is alleging a massive conspiracy without evidence. [continues 428 words]
The Chronicle Aug. 21 article, "Teens: Pot easier buy than cigarettes, beer," reported on teen drug use and said that "63 percent of students said their schools are 'drug-free'." What a farce. Just ask any teenager and watch his eyes roll: No school is "drug free." The survey did correctly note that illegal markets, the creation of drug prohibition, have made illegal drugs easier for teens to get than legal drugs in regulated markets. But Humpty Dumpty insists that drug prohibition "protects our children" -- go figure. [continues 102 words]
I read the article in last Thursday's Globe-News in which Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart asserted that Tulia is not a racist community, despite the fact that the now infamous "Tulia Drug Bust" would suggest otherwise. After reading this piece, I found myself wondering what Sheriff Stewart would have said if Tulia really was a racist community. A generation ago, the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force found themselves in a similar position. With America's armed forces facing the transition from the draft-oriented Vietnam era to the post-Vietnam all-volunteer force, the perceptions of minority service members took on significance for the first time. [continues 762 words]
Re: "Georgia voters boot Barr in GOP redistricting showdown," Aug. 21. I find it perplexing that your coverage of the landslide defeat of drug war zealot Bob Barr made no mention of the one factor that may have been the most important in bringing it about. Over a two-week period, Mr. Barr's Libertarian opponent, Carole Ann Rand, flooded Georgia's 7th District with more than 4,000 TV spots. The ads feature a multiple sclerosis victim who lashes out against the congressman for his crusade against medical marijuana. Because of the redistricting, one Republican incumbent was destined to lose, but the fact that it was Mr. Barr probably had a little less to do with redistricting than you reported. George Hale, junior, Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas [end]
Editor, the Advocate: National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institutes of Health print booklets on facts parents need to know and on what teens need to know about drugs. The fact is that no one is aware of the booklets. Everyone hears a little here and there about drugs being sold but no information about what drugs do to you. Even marijuana is very harmful. Parents, you can call 1-800-386-0931 to order these booklets free. Or you can write to: Council on Substance Abuse of South Texas, 744 Henderson Road, Angleton, Tx, 77515. [continues 63 words]
FLORESVILLE -- Testimony began Tuesday in the case of a former drug task force officer accused of fabricating cases. Albert J. Villarreal, of Poteet, faces 28 charges, including falsifying police reports, fabricating evidence, official oppression and witness tampering. The 81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force, for which Villarreal worked, serves Atascosa, Frio, Karnes and Wilson counties. "It's confusing, but if you listen carefully, you will see the pattern in this case," Wilson County prosecutor Carrie Moy told the jury in opening arguments. "Somewhere along the line he turned into the last thing we want to see, a dirty cop." [continues 252 words]
THREE YEARS HAVE PASSED since the Tulia undercover drug sting and finally, this week, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn yielded to pressure and announced he was beginning an investigation into possible violations of state law. I wish I could muster some optimism. I wish I believed the investigation would lead to a quick release for the 13 people in prison. But I just don't expect much to come of it. Cornyn is running for U.S. Senate, and the Tulia controversy could cost him votes. This investigation he avoided for so long now has the look of political ploy, a tactic, a way of keeping the Tulia thing under control until after November elections. [continues 653 words]
Drug charges were dropped in July against the last defendant in the now infamous 1999 drug bust in Tulia, Texas, that involved nearly 10 percent of the small Panhandle town's 430 black residents. But Texas Attorney General John Cornyn's decision not to let the story end there or languish in a federal investigation is good. Let's just hope, for the sake of justice, that the state actually pursues its investigation of the whole incident more quickly than the federal authorities have. Some of the accused are doing time. [continues 273 words]
Hooray for Nevada ("Going to pot?: Nevada's permissive culture aids marijuana-legalization proposal," Sunday, Insight). Demonizing Nevada is a smokescreen that hides the issue of responsible adults' rights. President Nixon started his war on drugs and had the Shaffer Commission look at marijuana. Its findings suggested relaxation of laws against marijuana use but were silenced to not interrupt the president's other "war. "The Drug Enforcement Administration has hampered medical use, and its leader, Asa Hutchinson, disbelieves all research that shows marijuana's utility. The DEA has collaborated with groups opposed to ballot proposals on drug law reform, perhaps violating federal law. [continues 88 words]
Re: The article "Lawmen step up training to battle meth labs" (A-J, 8-25). As a past resident of Lubbock and currently the sergeant in a narcotics unit in a small city in east Arkansas, we have seen the awful power that methamphetamine has over its victims. Arkansas is the unfortunate leader in the number of clandestine labs per capita. The dangers in the use and manufacture of this drug have a far- reaching effect on all, whether they are users or not. When meth is used, the effects are clear. But when these "environmental terrorists" begin dumping the chemicals into the ground and water supply, it directly causes trouble for everyone, not to mention the explosive risk. Law enforcement officers desperately need all the training that can be supplied to them. The training money in Arkansas has run out and the clandestine labs continue to rise. Don't let the "cranksters" win. Everyone loses. DANA J. DYKES/Marion, Ark. Via e-mail [end]
Until three years ago, insurance agent Robert Copple was an avid outdoorsman, a doting husband and father of three who loved barbecuing on Sundays for friends and family. But an addiction to crack cocaine and an affair with a much younger woman cost Copple his 20-year marriage and his Colleyville business, as well as his good name and longtime friends. His life slipped into a free fall, his ex-wife and several close friends said. Last week, with a SWAT team and FBI agents outside his Fort Worth motel room, the once successful insurance agent hanged himself. The officers and agents were there to serve an arrest warrant issued after Copple skipped a federal sentencing hearing. [continues 1175 words]
AMARILLO - For the past year, the man elected to safeguard Swisher County has kept quiet about the 1999 drug sting in Tulia that critics say was racially motivated. Now Sheriff Larry Stewart is defending the undercover operation and the town of 5,000, which has come under fire from civil rights groups. "This is not a racist community," Stewart said Wednesday. "This is a wonderful community full of wonderful people." Stewart said he stands behind the drug busts, in which 43 people were arrested, 37 of them black. Of those arrested, 11 were found guilty and 17 more accepted plea agreements. [continues 341 words]
MOST TEEN-AGERS, even if they do not intend to smoke marijuana, either know where to buy it or know someone who can find it for them. In fact, a recent survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse indicated that buying marijuana is easier for teens than buying cigarettes or beer. If that doesn't startle the daylights out of parents, it should. Teen-agers talk often about drugs, alcohol and sex. The problem is that most of such conversations are with other teens rather than with their parents, who are the people with whom they should be discussing the subjects. [continues 143 words]
From Staff Reports A former Dallas Cowboy and current University of North Texas assistant football coach was arrested Thursday at an Arlington topless club on drug charges, police said. Kelvin Martin, 37, was taken into custody at Flashdancer, 520 N. Watson Road, after an officer observed him "sniffing what appeared to be a white, powdery substance," said Christy Gilfour, an Arlington police spokeswoman. "The officer notified patrol officers, and he was arrested," Mrs. Gilfour said. "We did find what appeared to be drugs on him." [continues 275 words]
Swisher Sheriff Breaks Silence, Says Tulia Not Racist Community TULIA - For more than a year, Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart has kept silent about the controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting, hoping the cases would run their course and the furor would die down. But with renewed national attention focused on the drug bust in the past few weeks, Stewart has decided to step forward and defend his hometown and the undercover operation, in which he still believes. "Nobody likes to get beat up, but I can take my lumps," Stewart said. "What I find so disappointing is what's being said about Tulia. This is not a racist community. This is a wonderful community full of wonderful people." [continues 755 words]
That border drug cartels are using teenage "mules" to do their dirty work should not come as a surprise. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors who are immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children. In Europe, the Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by replacing marijuana prohibition with adult regulation. Dutch rates of drug use are significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category. [continues 124 words]
If letter writer Phil Beeson, who criticized Mexican President Vicente Fox ("Mexico, do more," Sunday), would take out his notes from economics, he would find what is known as "supply and demand." Drugs pour in from all parts of the world, not just Mexico. Second, why would he want Fox to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants? Did San Antonio suddenly find the manpower to substitute for these gentlemen, who work hard, day in and day out, for minimum wage? And why does he say Mexico thinks the United States is a "rich cousin"? Does you not understand where America stands at this moment? Eduardo Ramirez Laredo [end]
HOUSTON, Aug. 28 - Attorney General John Cornyn of Texas has opened an investigation into a 1999 drug sweep in which about 12 percent of the black population of Tulia, Tex., was arrested. The decision failed to appease civil rights lawyers, who describe the arrests in an undercover operation as atrocities and want the convictions overturned. Mr. Cornyn, who announced the investigation on Monday, suggested that he had opened the inquiry partly because of confusion that had arisen this month about whether the United States Justice Department was continuing its own civil rights investigation of more than two years. [continues 402 words]
AUSTIN (AP) -- With a federal investigation dragging on, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has opened a state investigation into a 1999 Tulia drug bust that civil rights groups say was racially motivated. "There has been some confusion over whether there even was an ongoing investigation," Cornyn said. "I became concerned things had gotten bogged down." In a letter Monday to R. Alexander Acosta, deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division, Cornyn said he told his staff to open an investigation and has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to join. [continues 481 words]
In 1999, Many Blacks In Town Were Arrested On One Man's Testimony HOUSTON -- Attorney General John Cornyn of Texas has opened an investigation into a 1999 drug sweep in which about 12 percent of the black population of Tulia, Texas, was arrested. The decision failed to appease civil rights lawyers, who describe the arrests in an undercover operation as atrocities and want the convictions overturned. Cornyn, who announced the investigation Monday, suggested that he had opened the inquiry partly because of confusion that had arisen this month about whether the U.S. Justice Department was continuing its own civil rights investigation of more than two years. [continues 305 words]
Civil Rights Groups Have Complained That Sweep Unfairly Targeted Blacks Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has announced that he will begin an investigation into a 1999 drug sweep in Tulia that resulted in the arrest of 37 African Americans, about 30 percent of the town's black male population, and was criticized by civil rights groups. "There has been some confusion over whether there even was an ongoing investigation," Cornyn told The Associated Press. "I became concerned things had gotten bogged down." [continues 573 words]
A New Study Shows State Has Increased Spending Faster On Prisons Than Education WASHINGTON -- Percentage increases in spending for Texas prisons has far outstripped state spending hikes for higher education since the mid-1980s, according to a report released Wednesday. The study, by the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington advocacy group, also showed Texas now has more black men in state prisons than in state colleges and universities. Texas was not alone in seeing its spending on prisons rise along a steep curve in the past decade and a half, while money set aside for higher education rose much more slowly, according to the study. [continues 932 words]
AG Criticism Secondary To Goal For those heaping criticism upon the Texas Attorney General's Office for its presumed tardiness in conducting a state investigation into the controversial 1999 Tulia drug bust, well, better late than never. Attorney General John Cornyn announced Monday the beginning of a state investigation into the Tulia case, which has become a national story following the arrest of 43 people, 37 of whom were black, in a drug sting almost four years ago. Eleven were found guilty and 17 accepted plea agreements. [continues 279 words]
GOLIAD - Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza vows the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program will continue as always despite not receiving financial backing from either the county or city. "We definitely have enough to get started, so Oct. 1 it's going to be like nothing ever happened," DeLaGarza said. "I'm still hopeful. In fact I'm confident that we're still going to make it." Last month, Goliad County commissioners pulled the plug on the $43,500 program, explaining that they would possibly reconsider putting money towards DARE if other entities, such as the school district and the city, assisted with funding. [continues 275 words]
AUSTIN -- Under mounting pressure, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has ordered an investigation into a narcotics sting operation three years ago that resulted in the arrests of 43 residents of a small town, all but six of them black. Civil rights organizations have described the 1999 police sweep in Tulia, in the Texas Panhandle, as a racially motivated act. In a letter Monday to the Department of Justice, Cornyn said he was ordering the investigation "to determine whether state laws have been broken and what other action needs to be taken by state authorities." In a separate letter, he asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to assist his office in the investigation. [continues 591 words]
U.S. Investigation Continues To Drag AUSTIN - With a federal investigation dragging on, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has opened a state investigation into a 1999 Tulia drug bust that civil rights groups say was racially motivated. "There has been some confusion over whether there even was an ongoing investigation," Cornyn said. "I became concerned things had gotten bogged down." In a letter Monday to R. Alexander Acosta, deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division, Cornyn said he told his staff to open an investigation and has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to join. [continues 455 words]
Regarding your Aug. 15 editorial on Colombia, not only is our government turning a blind eye to paramilitary human rights violations, but a very real environmental threat is being ignored. In an effort to eradicate coca plants, toxic herbicides are sprayed from above, hitting water supplies, staple crops, and people. The aerial eradication campaign drives peasants further into the Amazon basin, which in turn leads to more rain forest destruction. Plan Colombia could very well spread both coca production and civil war throughout South America. [continues 78 words]
AUSTIN -- With a federal investigation dragging on, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has opened a state investigation into a 1999 Tulia drug bust that civil rights groups say was racially motivated. "There has been some confusion over whether there even was an ongoing investigation," Cornyn said. "I became concerned things had gotten bogged down." In a letter Monday to R. Alexander Acosta, deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division, Cornyn said he told his staff to open an investigation and has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to join. [continues 250 words]
To the editor: Your Aug. 13 editorial on Colombia was right on target ("Chaos in Colombia: U.S. actions not helping to end violence"). Not only is our government turning a blind eye to paramilitary human rights violations, but a very real environmental threat is being ignored. In an effort to eradicate coca plants, toxic herbicides are sprayed from above, hitting water supplies, staple crops and people. The aerial eradication campaign drives peasants further into the Amazon basin, which in turn leads to more rainforest destruction. [continues 158 words]
AUSTIN (AP)-- With a federal investigation dragging on, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn has opened a state investigation into a 1999 Tulia drug bust that civil rights groups say was racially motivated. "There has been some confusion over whether there even was an ongoing investigation," Cornyn said. "I became concerned things had gotten bogged down." In a letter Monday to R. Alexander Acosta, deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division, Cornyn said he told his staff to open an investigation and has asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to join. [continues 456 words]
Inside Texas
