FREEDOM RIDE HITS TULIA

On Anniversary Of Drug Bust, Town Keeps Up Cry For Justice

TULIA - About 300 people helped celebrate an anniversary Sunday for Billy
Wafer.

Wafer was among 43 people - 40 of whom are black - arrested July 23, 1999,
during a drug sting operation that has been widely contested as illegal and
a violation of civil rights.

The 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo dismissed the drug charge against
Wafer in January.

"It's an extraordinary moment for Swisher County. It's amazing," he said.
"We're celebrating that we were able to make an impact on the world out of
our misfortune."

Friends of Justice, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union
organized a Freedom Ride, which began Saturday night in Austin and carried
civil rights leaders, drug police reform activists and victims of the drug
war to Tulia. The ride included a stop at the prison near Plainview where
one of the defendants is imprisoned.

People listened to music and poetry readings, played basketball and ate
hamburgers and hot dogs as they waited for the speakers to take the stage.
The rally was to conclude with an 11 p.m. march to the Swisher County
Courthouse for a candlelight vigil.

The rally was peaceful Sunday afternoon. Police occasionally circled the
block, and about 35 officers, including a Department of Public Safety riot
team, waited at police headquarters.

Charles Kiker, treasurer of the Tulia organization Friends of Justice, said
the 1999 sting operation in his town exemplifies why the country's war on
drugs is misdirected.

"Tulia is an extreme example, but it's not atypical. The war on drugs all
over the country is a war on poor people, and that tends to be people of
color," Kiker said.

Amid the controversy following the operation, the town formed a chapter of
the NAACP.

"This gathering hopefully will open people's eyes to the war on drugs. The
problem with the war on drugs is that officers don't need corroboration,"
said Freddie Brookins, president of the Tulia NAACP chapter.

"It's been happening throughout America, but until the sting operation here
in Tulia, they were able to cover it up. The operation here took so many
where it causes you to stop and look at it and see what the real picture is."

Brookins' youngest son was among the 43 people arrested during the sting
and is sitting out a 20-year sentence. Brookins has doubts, however, about
whether his son committed the crime.

"My son wasn't in town when the officer stated he sold him the drugs," he said.

The 1999 arrests were based on an 18-month undercover investigation by
officer Tom Coleman, who worked alone and used no surveillance equipment.

A lawsuit has been filed against Coleman, Swisher County Sheriff Larry
Stewart and Swisher County. The suit alleges that officers "conspired to
carry out Swisher County's policy to eliminate the county's
African-American population."

Coleman, who was honored as Outstanding Lawman of the Year following the
bust and currently resides near Waxahachie, declined comment Friday.

The sheriff and Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern, who
prosecuted the cases, have denied allegations of racial bias.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting an investigation into the
undercover operation. An FBI agent based in Amarillo said Friday that the
investigation could wrap up in about a month.

Ezra Teter, 22, took the Freedom Ride from Austin to attend the rally and
to learn more about the bust. He said he sides with those who challenge
Coleman's investigation.

"I think that he is the perpetrator of everything," he said. "I'm furious
the U.S. appeals court hasn't thrown out all of the sentences from the
sting operation."

Wafer filed a civil rights suit claiming racial discrimination led to the
arrests. Officials in Tulia have defended the sting operation. The lawsuit
remains pending.

Teter said he disapproves of the country's war on drugs, of which his
father, imprisoned several times for drug offenses, is a victim.

"I don't like the fact that they're taking my dad, who's an addict, and
putting him in jail. I think he should be treated as an addict, not a
criminal," he said.

Some audience members advertised different viewpoints on the drug issue,
but Brookins said they all had something in common.

"We know that the drug war needs reforming," he said.