TOWN DIVIDED OVER DRUG BUST

Rallies in Tulia Weigh Racial Implications of 1999 Arrests

TULIA, Texas -- People attending a public rally Monday evening
thanked local law enforcement and city and county officials for
helping rid their small farming community of drugs and said that
overlooking the problem would have been worse than addressing it.

Echoing the opinions of many of the 230 people who showed up for a
"Thank You" rally, Tulia pastor Matthew Veals said he did not think a
1999 drug sting that landed 40 of the town's black residents in jail
was racially motivated.

"When you live in a town this size, it is a known fact that everyone
knows what everybody else is doing. And to overlook something because
it's a certain group is just not right," said Mr. Veals, who is black
and a minister at the New Fellowship Church.

Mr. Veals says he stands behind the bust in part because his son works
for the town's small police force.

The rally was held six days after the NAACP led a rally protesting the
arrests.

The dueling rallies stem from a 1999 drug bust in which 43 Tulia
residents were jailed on charges of delivering cocaine.

Of those arrested, 40 were black, and the other three -- two
white and one Hispanic -- had close ties to the town's tight-knit
black community of less than 250.

Tulia is a town of fewer than 5,000 residents between Lubbock and
Amarillo.

Critics of the bust, including local members of the NAACP, said it was
racially motivated. Many of those critical of the arrests gathered at
a park for a separate barbecue and rally Monday evening.

Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union sued District Attorney
Terry McEachern, Swisher County Sheriff Larry Stewart, undercover
officer Tom Coleman and Swisher County on behalf of Yul Bryant, whose
charge of delivering cocaine was dismissed when Mr. Coleman told Mr.
McEachern he wasn't 100 percent certain he had purchased cocaine from
Mr. Bryant. Mr. Bryant spent seven months in jail.

The suit accuses Mr. Stewart of preparing a list of people he
considered "undesirables" before enacting a policy to strong-arm them
out of Swisher County. The lawsuit says that most on the list were
black and that Mr. McEachern was in on the plan. The lawsuit contends
that Mr. Coleman was put to work as an "undercover agent" to help Mr.
Stewart.

On Monday, Lana Barnett, president of the Tulia Chamber of Commerce,
said the lawsuit couldn't be further from the truth. "If there is any
prejudice [in Tulia], it is against dope dealers," Ms. Barnett said.

Mr. McEachern has tried 11 people as a result of the bust, and all
were found guilty. Another 17 entered guilty pleas.