FEDS' SHAM DRUG 'STING'

Tulia Case An Offense To Even Most Diehard Antidrug Advocate

Tulia, Texas, population 4,699, has been making a name for itself with an
assist from the Department of Justice.

A July, 1999, drug sweep netted over 10 percent of Tulia's tiny
African-American population after a purported cocaine-bust sting. Pushed by
suits from the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP, the Justice
Department has been investigating this undercover operation by the
Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force.

Cases against all 40-plus defendants came from a former sheriff's deputy
from out of town named Tom Coleman, with no previous experience
investigating narcotics. The drug arrests involved no surveillance by
partner detectives; no video-tapes; no audiotapes; and no asset forfeiture.

From Coleman's testimony, undercover work sounds awfully unvarying. Almost
uniformly, Coleman's 100-plus alleged drug buys during 18 months in Tulia
were powder cocaine, the most expensive form; little crack or marijuana.
Ninety-nine of the hundred were a uniform few grams each. Every sale was to
Coleman directly, none to other parties witnessed by him. Even though many
defendants lived in trailer homes or in public housing, almost all the
alleged drug sales occurred within 1,000 feet of a school or park
harvesting long jail-sentence convictions for several defendants and
horrible plea bargains for others.

All occurred in the throbbing burg of Tulia itself; not on the outskirts,
not in fields, not on the highway. Defense attorneys have filed to get all
the evidentiary cocaine tested. Falling under the beyond-the-bizarre column
is the result that much of the "cocaine" has turned out to be powdered
drywall.

If the Department of Justice deserves its name, it will investigate this
"sting" thoroughly before winding down, and will dismiss charges against
those punished heretofore. With any luck, the investigation will also
discover that the Justice Department funded the sting.

Under the Edward Byrne Memorial Formula Grants program and a related
discretionary program, millions of dollars annually go to local anti-crime
task forces. The Amarillo Globe-News has reported Sen. Phil Gramm's press
releases that the Panhandle task force received $478,670 in 1996, $685,670
in 1998, $760,115 in 1999 and $832,297 in 2000 (before the DOJ investigation).

Yes, National Endowment for the Humanities, eat your heart out. Funding
from these grants increases yearly. Texas alone received over $81 million
in Byrne funds last year and is slated to receive over $34 million this
year. Funds go through the Bureau of Justice Assistance to the Texas
Narcotics Control Program. From there the funds mostly go to
"multi-jurisdictional" task forces like the one in the Panhandle or the
Southeast Texas Narcotics and Intelligence Task Force (defunct as of this
year), reportedly where Coleman went after leaving the Panhandle.

Where a real cocaine epidemic rages, the medico-academic establishment
follows; drugs pull a well-funded kite tail of medical researchers,
conferences, publications. Real drugs also leave a trail in local hospitals
and morgues. No word, from either, pertaining to powdered cocaine in Tulia.

What's weird here, aside from everything else, is that government grants
are supposed to come with "compliance issues," guidelines and application
rules. A formula grant theoretically is allocated by formula. Funds for
crime-fighting are supposed to be determined by the amount of crime in the
jurisdiction. Byrne grantees are supposed to file quarterly financial
reports, an annual performance report, and audits.

In this particular case, these poor people jailed by a boondoggle should be
out of jail. Any American president with room for empathy on
minor-drug-bust charges could see to it, and new Democratic Party
gubernatorial and Senate nominees Tony Sanchez and Ron Kirk should insist
on it, and without further delay.

Texas native Margie Burns is a Washington, D.C.-based free-lance
journalist.