MAN SUES SHERIFF, SAYS HIS ARREST WAS MOTIVATED BY RACE

AMARILLO -- A Tulia man who was arrested as part of a 1999 drug bust
that put 43 people behind bars has sued Swisher County, its sheriff
and an undercover officer, arguing that the sting was motivated by
racism.

Forty of the people jailed are black.

In January, an appeals court threw out a charge accusing Billy Don
Wafer, 42, of delivery of a controlled substance. On Thursday, Wafer
filed a suit in district court nearly identical to one filed in
September by another man who was charged. Because of Wafer's suit,
the earlier suit was dropped.

"We have decided to focus all our efforts on the case of Billy
Wafer," said Jeff Blackburn, an Amarillo attorney involved in both
lawsuits. "Billy Wafer embodies everything that was wrong with the
Tulia drug sting. He's a good man who was falsely arrested. He
suffered tremendously because of it, and he was eventually cleared in
a court of law."

The new lawsuit deletes District Attorney Terry McEachern as a
defendant because prosecutorial immunity would make suing him
useless, Blackburn said.

An attorney representing Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart said
the original lawsuit was dropped because allegations against the
county, the sheriff and the undercover officer who conducted the
investigation lack merit.

They remain defendants in the new suit.

The suit stems from an 18- month investigation by undercover officer
Tom Coleman, who said he bought drugs from those who were later
arrested. Coleman worked alone and used no surveillance equipment.

Eleven people arrested in the bust were found guilty, and 17 others
have accepted plea agreements.