Pubdate: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Copyright: 2004 Amarillo Globe-News Contact: http://amarillonet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13 Author: Greg Cunningham Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) BLACKBURN HONORED YET AGAIN Blackburn in Texans of Note He may not be as Bootylicious as Beyonce or as hard as The Hammer, but Amarillo attorney Jeff Blackburn has made the list of Texans of Note. Blackburn said Monday that he is honored to be on The Dallas Morning News list, although he's a bit puzzled to be joined with such Texas dignitaries as Beyonce Knowles and Tom "The Hammer" DeLay. "I guess they're not giving recognition based on political fidelity or good looks," said the bespectacled, proudly liberal attorney. "Maybe they gave it to me because they needed someone who didn't look like Beyonce, and didn't hew to the current trend in Texas politics." Blackburn is one of 24 people recognized by the Morning News as a Texan of Note. The list was topped this year by President George Bush, who won the first title of Texan of the Year. Keven Ann Willey, editorial page editor for the Morning News, said the list was determined by a variety of criteria. Blackburn's choice likely was based on the criteria of showing an independent streak and staring down adversity, which was amply demonstrated when he helped get the convictions of 46 people overturned from the Tulia drug bust, she said. "There is definitely that, but you could also use the making news (criterion)," Willey said. "The Tulia case was national news for a long time." The competition kicked off in November when readers of the Morning News were asked to nominate a Texan of the Year, and more than 500 names flooded in. The numbers were winnowed down until the editorial board made the final decision, with Bush coming out on top. The rest of the finalists were lumped together into a Texans of Note category. Blackburn said it felt good to win the award - one of many to come to him from his Tulia work - but it also felt a little uncomfortable. "It's a great award, but it feels stange to receive his kind of recognition sometimes," Blackburn said. "I and a lot of other lawyers just did what we were clearly supposed to do in Tulia. As it turned out, we won the case, and now there's a tendency to want to make the contribution bigger than it was. We were just doing our duty to see that justice was done." - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager