COMMON SENSE 10/19/98

Charges Dropped Against Herbologist

An outbreak of common sense in Craig County has spared the state further
embarrassment. This week, the district attorney there decided not to appeal
a judge's ruling and pursue charges against a Vermont man wrongly accused
of driving under the influence of drugs. Immediately after the judge
dismissed the charges, a Craig County prosecutor vowed to appeal the
judge's ruling and prosecute the man. That, of course, made a bad and
embarrassing situation worse.

Herbologist George Singleton, 49, was stopped Feb. 27 on the Will Rogers
Turnpike and held for 25 days in the Craig County Jail at Vinita. Tests
proved that there were no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system at the
time of arrest.

But the Highway Patrol trooper who stopped him said that his eyes were
bloodshot and that he had trouble walking.

Of course, Singleton had been on a cross-country trip in his van. Having
bloodshot eyes and trouble walking is not that unusual for someone getting
out of a car after hours on the road.

Singleton, however, is a Rastafarian. He is black and wears his hair in
dreadlocks. Countercharges have been made that he was arrested solely for
those reasons.

That may yet be decided in a civil court. In the meantime, Craig County
District Attorney Clint Ward has made the right decision to drop the
criminal charges against Singleton. This has been one of those unfortunate
cases that brings national attention to our state. For people who have
never been to Oklahoma, it reinforces their opinion that it's a state full
of rednecks.

Fortunately, Singleton found a lot of support from Oklahomans who could
easily see the injustice of his situation.

That is what we hope he remembers about this state.

It took entirely too long, but the right decision was finally made in Craig
County.