Notes from MAP: A high quality photo of the protest is at:
http://home.flash.net/~rmz/Images/Aust000929-5.jpg
Bookmarks: MAP's link to Texas articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/tx
For Journey for Justice Protest news items: http://www.mapinc.org/journey.htm

TEXAS ACLU FILES SUIT OVER DRUG BUST

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A lawsuit was filed against two law enforcement agents
and a district attorney for their role in an arrest stemming from a
much-criticized drug bust that prompted allegations of racial
discrimination in 1999.

Forty-three people were arrested in the bust in Tulia, in northwest Texas.
Forty were black, and the other three, two whites and a Hispanic, are said
to have ties to the black community.

About 40 residents of the community of 5,000 rallied Friday at the Capitol
as Will Harrell, executive director of Texas American Civil Liberties
Union, announced the lawsuit.

The suit was filed on behalf of Yul Bryant, who was arrested in July 1999
for allegedly selling cocaine.

His case was dismissed when District Attorney Terry McEachern found out
that undercover agent Thomas Coleman was not certain he had bought cocaine
from Bryant.

The suit, filed in federal court, accuses McEachern, Coleman and Sheriff
Larry Stewart of falsely arresting, imprisoning and prosecuting Bryant, who
is black. Swisher County was also named in the suit.

"These unlawful actions were part of a deliberate plan ... of targeting
members of the African-American community of Swisher County, Texas and
removing them from the area using the legal system," the lawsuit claims.

Bryant is seeking $2 million in damages.

Stewart would not comment on the suit. Coleman did not immediately return
telephone calls made by The Associated Press.

McEachern says he does not believe that he did anything wrong and that he
dismissed the case as soon as he found out Coleman was not sure Bryant had
sold him the drugs.

Of those arrested in the same bust as Bryant, 17 have pleaded guilty and 11
have been convicted.

LaWanda Smith said she pleaded guilty to one count of delivering a
controlled substance because she was afraid of the sentence she might
receive if she went to trial. But she denies selling drugs to Coleman.

"I have never met the guy," she said. "Not ever."