Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Copyright: 2003 Amarillo Globe-News Contact: http://amarillonet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13 Author: Alton McQueen Note: Alton McQueen of Amarillo is a frequent contributor to the Other Opinion page. Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) http://www.mapinc.org/source/Amarillo+Globe-News (Amarillo Globe-News) http://www.mapinc.org/author/Alton+McQueen (Alton McQueen) AGN PART OF MASTERFUL PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN Allow me to congratulate the Globe-News on your successful propaganda campaign to release most of the convicted Tulia drug pushers. It was as mendacious and misleading as any I have seen in 40 years of interest in propaganda technique. You, like the national media, ran the endless allegations that the fact 39 of the 46 people arrested in the sting were black proved that racism was the motivation. Your April 3 front-page story about the charging of 26 people in a drug task force amphetamine investigation was of similar interest. Of the 16 individuals named in the article, 12 had Hispanic names. Is it possible birds of a feather do flock together? The movement to free the convicted was not based on any claim of innocence, but, in recent stories, they have been referred to as "defendants" or even "victims." Of the first 35 convicted, 27 (later reported as 25) pleaded guilty and eight were convicted in jury trials. These people were convicted of selling drugs. They are drug pushers. In the pages of the newspaper, they were called kinder, gentler names, and the public was not reminded of what drug pushers do. They victimize the weak and simple. On occasion they offer free samples to children to hook them early. Many pushers are addicts who will victimize their own mothers to feed their habits. There is a far more important story than the drug sting in the measure taken by the appellate court to discredit Tom Coleman. Witness credibility is traditionally a matter for juries to decide. Why did the court send a gaggle of foreigh lawyers to disenfranchise the people of Swisher County by replacing their elected officials, thereby excluding them from any influence in the matter? To provide a plausible pretext for reversal of all convictions, including those of people who pleaded guilty. In your paper, it was endlessly repeated that the convictions rested on Coleman's unsupported word. His testimony was supported by physical evidence. For each drug purchase, he turned the drugs in to the task force for analysis. There is no plausible reason he would buy from one source and say he bought from another. It is unlikely he could have done so, in any case. Your June 17 front-page celebration of the return of the 12 convicted pushers to Swisher County was obscene. Even John Kanelis, in his June 15 column, admitted that "some of these yahoos are bad apples." By any measure, the return of these 12 was a disaster for the law-abiding people of Swisher County, black and white. Through your support of the national-controlled propaganda media in this matter, you have made the criminals' cause your cause and their future victims your victims. God may forgive you, but the people of Swisher County have no reason to do so. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake