WAR ON DRUGS JUST GOT HARDER

Now everyone knows about Tulia, Texas. But how the Swisher County seat
made national headlines and TV morning shows isn't how most residents
intended to promote their city.

Last week, a dozen people were released from prison -- some had
served up to four years behind bars -- after being corralled in a 1999
drug operation. Of 46 people netted in the sting, 39 were black. The
racial element played a large part in media interest and the
activities of civil rights groups and attorneys.

The Tulia story underscores the difficulty of bringing drugmakers,
drug dealers and those who abuse drugs to justice. Following the law
to the letter while also going to war against some of the most
ruthless and thoughtless people in our communities is a difficult
task. Perhaps impossible.

Those in law enforcement have given up trying to eradicate the
problem. Their job, they say, is to keep it in check.

Whether you want to hear it or not, drug-related offenses top the list
of Panhandle crimes. Here in this spacious, conservative, flag-waving,
church-going, sports-loving countryside, drugs are making the same
kind of negative impact they are in urban and suburban areas -- the
same places that new residents are trying to escape from and longtime
residents have vowed never to live.

It's no wonder that law officers asked no, begged people to elect
tough-on-crime public officials, from district attorneys to state
legislators. This is no time, they argue, to give more ground to criminals.

The undercover officer at the center of the Tulia case was known to
crowd that paper-thin line between right and wrong in doing his job.
The final verdict was that, in this case, he crossed the legal line.
It's a tough call because, recalling the old schoolyard dig, it takes
one to know one.

To take down lawbreakers, deputies, police, narcotics officers and
others in law enforcement must be able to seize the upper hand. It's
not always a case of outsmarting the crooks but overpowering them.

The Tulia case has crippled the county in many ways, from spending a
huge quantity of money to making it even more difficult to administer
equitable law and order.

Yet, is it better to err on the side of protecting our Constitutional
and civil rights? Yes.

But the jury is out on what the future holds for Tulia and towns like
Tulia where law enforcement just got harder to administer.