Pubdate: Wed, 26 May 2004 Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX) Copyright: 2004 Amarillo Globe-News Contact: http://amarillonet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas) TULIA DRUG STING STILL STINGING Potter County left with no choice. The aftershocks of the controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting continue to rattle in Amarillo. Left with few alternatives, Potter County commissioners unanimously approved Monday a resolution for a grant application to the Governor's Criminal Justice Division. The grant will partially fund the salary for an assistant district attorney whose sole responsibility is the prosecution of drug offenses and also pay for training for the sheriff's department to handle the cleanup of methamphetamine labs. This is the cost of doing business these days when those ultimately responsible for wrongdoing are not as accountable as those culpable in name only. The travesty in Tulia led to the demise of the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force, which in turn left counties such as Potter County out in the cold when it comes to money the PRNTTF previously allocated for drug enforcement. If Potter County wants to maintain its current level of law enforcement, then the county is left with little choice but to seek the aforementioned grants, and unfortunately, shift more of the cost onto taxpayers. County Judge Arthur Ware quizzed 47th District Attorney Rebecca King on where the money would come from for the county's portion of the matching grant - $43,082 for the assistant district attorney salary for two years and $7,500 for meth lab cleanup training. It's a valid question, one that commissioners will have to answer at budget time. However, commissioners did what was necessary to provide adequate law enforcement even though the county played no direct role in the Tulia fiasco. As Commissioner Joe Kirkwood said: "The drug problem is not going away." And neither, it seems, is the fallout from the Tulia drug sting. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh