DRUGS, NOT RACE, THE PROBLEM IN TULIA

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - I read your Aug. 29 story about Swisher County
Sheriff Larry Stewart with great interest. I met Larry in 1958, when I was
a sophomore and he was a freshman in high school. I played football and was
probably recognized by Larry because football players in Texas are highly
visible students.

I was the third black student to enter Tulia High School. The first two
students enrolled in 1956 and only stayed in school a few weeks. In 1960, I
was the first black student to graduate from Tulia High. I suspect I may be
the first black student in Texas to graduate from an integrated school
system, having spent all four years in the same school. My three sisters
followed me in graduating from Tulia High.

I was voted the most popular male student of 1960. I also was voted to the
All Southwest High School Football Team of 1960, and I am positive that all
of the voters knew I was black.

Larry and I became acquainted during football practice when one of the
captains asked me to "put a lick on him" (hit him as hard as I could) to
find out what he was made of. I came at Larry during a running play with
the intention of "knocking him out." As I came flying through the air (I
was so little, he didn't see me), he raised his knee to run forward and hit
me flush in the top of the helmet. I woke up a few minutes later, wondering
what happened.

Growing up in Tulia in the 1950s was no different than my kids growing up
in San Jose, Calif., in the 1970s.

Larry and the people of Tulia are not racists; they are Christians and
humanitarians. They are true patriots who were willing to obey the School
Desegregation Law of 1955. They are true Texans who want to protect their
families and community from the lost souls who have turned to illegal drugs
for profit.

Illegal drug use reminds me of an incurable cancer - once you get it, death
is inevitable. Tulia is simply trying to rid itself of a cancer, and the
only way to do it is the legal way.

Drug dealers are industrious people.

They will start with a person who does not want to work for a living and
offer him the world to simply sell drugs for them. The dealer may even give
him free drugs to start with. Eventually the subject starts seeing more
money than he could ever imagine and becomes a recruiter for the dealer.
From there it spreads, sometimes to whole families.

If the media really are interested in knowing what kind of community Tulia
is, they should start by interviewing the real citizens of Tulia, like the
Stewarts, Roberts, Swinburns, Rogers, Fergusons, Childresses, Ruckers,
Rectors, Hulseys, Dalluges, Houses, Huttos, Barbras, Snodgrasses,
Vandergriffs, Poages, and many more.

I will stand in any court and defend Larry, and any of his friends,
relatives and classmates, against the charge of racism.

I am very proud to be from Tulia and very proud to know Sheriff Larry
Stewart and Justice of the Peace Marie Rucker.

I have experienced racism in many places in my 61 years - Tulia is not a
racist community.

I also have found that people who charge others with racism usually have an
inferiority complex and can only compensate for it by lashing out at others.