Pulitzer Prize for Bob Herbert; Stupider Prize for the Amarillo Fishwrap

NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert began writing about the abortion of justice in Tulia, TX more than a year ago. His series of columns (especially those of 7/29/2002 - 8/22/2002) prompted the Department of Justice to open an investigation of the Tulia drug busts. The Amarillo fishwrap was silent (except to exult about the reign of law'norder in Swisher County) about the curious fact that the drug busts targeted the nonwhite population of Swisher County. The dominos began to topple with the DOJ inquiry. When the dust settled, the City of Amarillo—principal in the Panhandle Drug Task Force that created this travesty of justice—settled the wrongful arrest/prosecution cases for $5M. The Amarillo fishwrap piled on after the settlement. Where was the Amarillo fishwrap when Bob Herbert (in New York City goes the Texas sneer) was calling national attention to the travesty in Swisher County, TX? Nowhere. Now the editorial voice of the Amarillo fishwrap is in full cry to find those responsible. How about the 4th estate in Amarillo? The fishwrap can sell advertising with the best of 'em. When it comes to real journalism, look elsewhere. If this is (fair & balanced) disgust, so be it.

EDITORIAL DESK | July 29, 2002, Monday
Kafka In Tulia

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 799 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 19 , Column 6

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column on prosecution of 46 black residents of Tulia, Tex, following their arrest by white policeman Tom Coleman--officer with questionable history--who charged them with being drug traffickers; many have been convicted and sent to prison even though Coleman provided almost no evidence at trials to substantiate charges (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | August 1, 2002, Thursday
'Lawman Of the Year'

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 794 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 25 , Column 6

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column on charges of police abuse of blacks in Tulia, Texas; relates wrongdoing of Tom Coleman, 'clownish and inept officer' who was nevertheless given state 'Lawman of the Year' award (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | August 5, 2002, Monday
Tulia's Shattered Lives

By Bob Herbert (NYT) 768 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 15 , Column 6

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column describes devastation of tiny black community Tulia, Tex, stemming from convictions and sentencing of many black residents to long prison terms for drug dealing following allegations by white narcotics detective, Tom Coleman; defendants were convicted even though no drugs, money or weapons were found in drug raids, and although evidence against suspects consisted almost solely of Coleman's uncorroborated, unsubstantiated word (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | August 8, 2002, Thursday
Railroaded in Texas

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 816 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 25 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column says 1999 drug arrests of black residents of Tulia, Tex, had clear malicious intent; says arrests were followed by assembly-line trial in which guilty verdicts were foregone conclusions; says Tom Coleman, narcotics agent on whose testimony defendants were convicted and given long prison sentences, had atrocious employment history and penchant for making criminal allegations against innocent people; cites prosecution of Kizzie White and Freddie Brookins (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | August 12, 2002, Monday
Justice Goes Into Hiding

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 740 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 15 , Column 6

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column says top law enforcement officials in Texas and at Justice Dept in Washington know of hateful treatment of black people caught in drug sting gone haywire in Tulia, Tex, but no one has bothered to do anything about it; says more than 10 percent of Tulia's black population was arrested in 1999 and several are serving unconscionably long prison sentences; says right thing to do would be for local authorities to admit that there was not sufficient evidence to justify these cases, but Texas authorities are deferring to Justice Dept in this matter and Justice Dept under Atty Gen John Ashcroft has closed its investigation without doing anything (M)


EDITORIAL DESK | August 22, 2002, Thursday
A Confused Inquiry

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 737 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 23 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column welcomes Justice Department's announcement, after much external pressure and much internal confusion, that it is continuing its criminal investigation into drug sting in Tulia, Tex, that rounded up more than 10 percent of town's black population; says department should not confine its investigation to Tom Coleman, on whose testimony so many defendants were sent to prison, but to entire criminal justice hierarchy that worked in concert in this injustice (M)

DITORIAL DESK | December 26, 2002, Thursday
The Latest From Tulia

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 705 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 39 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column welcomes tentative, preliminary steps being taken to correct injustice done to dozens of black men and women in Tulia, Tex, who were arrested, convicted and imprisoned on specious drug trafficking charges; says Texas would still be ignoring this travesty were it not for media; notes that John Cornyn, state attorney general who presented Texas Lawman of the Year to Tom Coleman, 'clownish undercop' responsible for roundup, has been elected to US Senate

EDITORIAL DESK | April 3, 2003, Thursday
Mugging the Needy

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 812 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 21 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column says Bush administration and its allies in Congress are close to agreeing on set of budget policies that will take terrible toll on nation's poor, young, elderly, disabled and others in need of assistance and support from their government; says budget passed by House mugs the poor and helpless while giving unstintingly to the rich; says Senate plan is not as egregious, but it still is not a reasonable budget; says House and Senate conferees will try to resolve differences in two budget proposals, and do all they can to minimize public relations hit bound to come when it becomes obvious that money is being given to rich at expense of poor (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | April 28, 2003, Monday
The Tulia Story Isn't Over

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 735 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 23 , Column 1

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column says Thomas Coleman, self-styled 'deep undercover' narcotics agent, has been indicted for perjury for concocting one of worst criminal justice atrocities of recent years, leading to wrongful convictions of many black residents in Tulia, Tex; says it would be outrageous if he is nailed for perjury but higher-ups who enthusiastically encouraged his activities were allowed to escape all responsibility for their actions; says Texas Court of Criminal Appeals should release on bail 13 people still incarcerated pending final ruling of appeals court (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | June 16, 2003, Monday
Partway To Freedom

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 775 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 19 , Column 1

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed column lambastes Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for failing to overturn convictions of those falsely imprisoned on felony drug charges in Tulia, even though District Judge Ron Chapman has recommended that all convictions be vacated and prisoners released (M)

EDITORIAL DESK | June 19, 2003, Thursday
A Good Day

By BOB HERBERT (NYT) 792 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 25 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - Bob Herbert Op-Ed welcomes release of 12 inmates sent to prison as result of discredited drug prosecutions in Tulia, Tex; says that while their convictions are likely to be overturned, their future is less certain (M)

Copyright © 2004 The New York Times

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[x Amarillo Fishwrap]
Editorial: Lack of oversight lesson for Amarillo

Now that Amarillo has reached a $5 million settlement with the victims of the infamous 1999 Tulia drug sting, the city needs to ask itself what it has learned.

Call it the $5 million question. The answer is accountability.

The city and the Amarillo Police Department made a costly mistake in not being more aware of the liability and legal issues of being the lead agency in the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Task Force.

Granted, the city and the APD may have been stiff-armed by counties and cities wanting their own authority of how to carry out drug investigations, but there should have been the foresight to see how the city could take the financial fall for this lack of authority.

Amarillo police officers Lt. Mike Amos and Sgt. Jerry Massengill were administrators of the task force. They will retire at the end of the year. It was unclear whether the retirements were related to the settlement, although that assumption can be made.

Retirement, forced or not, is a small price for these officers to pay.

Amarillo's decision to pull out of the PRNTF effective May 31 will likely spell the end of the task force, but the city had almost as little choice as it did authority in the matter.

Any future involvement by the APD, no matter the degree, with neighboring law enforcement entities needs to be scrutinized thoroughly.

As for the $5 million, that also is a small price to pay. The legal and liability costs alone to Amarillo could have easily been 10 times that amount. And thanks to the city's self-insurance fund, taxes and public services are immune to the settlement.

There is no other way to describe it: Amarillo got burned because of what happened in Tulia nearly five years ago. However, because of a lack of authority and direction by those who should have known better, the city paid the price.

Copyright © 2004 Amarillo Globe-News

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[x Amarillo Fishwrap]
Regarding Tulia, Amarilloans need answers
By Ralph Routon

Through all the painful details of Amarillo paying $5 million to settle a lawsuit over the Tulia drug sting of 1999, one vital point appears to have eluded many city officials.

Somebody has to be responsible.

This cannot be swept under the nearest rug, simply by writing a $5 million check and hearing attorney Jeff Blackburn say how admirable Amarillo's actions were.

It's not just a bad dream that will go away, simply because Amarillo agreed to effectively shut down the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force.

Somebody has to be responsible.

We're going to continue saying that, in part because so many Amarillo residents feel the same way.

We're not satisfied, being told how much worse this outcome could have been. We're not relieved that our city government has to shell out $5 million of our money instead of $53 million, $200 million or whatever.

We're not content with the explanations so far, especially the one insisting Amarillo's responsibility and legal exposure were mainly the result of being the task force's lead agency.

That's not good enough.

Somebody has to be responsible.

This is not to suggest corruption is running rampant in Amarillo city government. It's not. In fact, after the settlement went public, the prevailing mood inside City Hall was gloomy, somber, even depressed and embarrassed, starting with City Manager John Ward.

Still, it's amazing that not one elected city official attended the news conference Thursday announcing the settlement. Just lawyers.

It's amazing that nobody involved, either in city government or with any aspect of the task force, has openly acknowledged the threat of a public revolt here. Nobody seems to realize that people will blame somebody - and if they don't get answers, they'll want scapegoats.

It's even more amazing that no elected official has called for a full, complete accounting of what went wrong inside the task force, since the operation was being run by two Amarillo Police Department officers. We're not talking about just an internal investigation, because that already has been done, but the sincere promise of a speedy, thorough, unbiased public report to the people of Amarillo.

It's mind-boggling that nobody has demanded anything like that.

Somebody has to be responsible.

And every Amarilloan deserves to know the details.

We know the task force has had many positives, many successes. But we also know it had little if any outside supervision. We know that Lt. Mike Amos, head of the task force, could have prevented the hiring of agent Tom Coleman. We know that Sgt. Jerry Massengill was supervising Coleman and the discredited Tulia investigation.

Yet, we hear Amos and Massengill are retiring "voluntarily," and nobody is holding them publicly accountable in any way.

Why not? And if not them, then who?

Somebody has to be responsible.

Somebody has to explain why nobody was watching the task force more closely. Somebody has to explain why, if Coleman and the Tulia investigation weren't up to Amarillo and APD standards, nobody raised a red flag and nothing was done - long ago.

Somebody has to explain why, after Coleman himself was charged with a felony in 1998, early in his Tulia investigation, nobody saw the prospect of a damaging credibility problem for Coleman. And nobody made any effort then to remove him from the task force.

Somebody has to explain why, even after Coleman's cases began falling apart at least two years ago (surely, the task force and APD knew before that), nobody viewed it as a shortcoming of task force leadership.

Somebody has to explain why nobody considered doing anything about the task force - or Amarillo's participation in it - until now. Also, please tell us how nobody saw or feared the possibility of the city being legally culpable for the task force's actions.

Somebody has to explain what has been or will be done to make sure nothing resembling this happens again - ever.

Somebody has to investigate the situation and make sure this Tulia debacle is the task force's only legal albatross. Somebody has to find out for sure whether any other potential lawsuits might be lurking out there.

If anyone in Amarillo city government honestly thinks the worst is over, and that the best strategy is to use the $5 million settlement and abandoning the task force as cover to ride out the storm, that's a serious mistake.

Somebody has to be responsible.

People won't forget this one. And neither will we.


Copyright © 2004 Amarillo Globe-News