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NORML Weekly News (Marijuana Appears To Protect Against Brain Injuries,
Federal Researchers Find; Hemp Could Be Lucrative Cash Crop For State,
University Of Kentucky Report Says; Medical Marijuana Proposals Await
November Ballots In Several States; Comprehensive Look At Marijuana's
Medical History And Potential As An Analgesic In July Issue Of
'The International Association For The Study Of Pain')
From: NORMLFNDTN@aol.com
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 14:08:10 EDT
Subject: NORML WPR 7/9/98 (II)
The NORML Foundation Weekly Press Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
normlfndtn@aol.com
July 9, 1998
***
Marijuana Appears To Protect Against Brain Injuries, Federal Researchers
Find
July 9, 1998, Washington, D.C.: Research published in this week's
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that
naturally occurring compounds in marijuana may protect brain cells during
a stroke.
Researchers at the National Institute for Mental Health found that
THC, the chief psychoactive compound in marijuana, and cannabidiol (CBD),
a nonpsychoactive component that previously showed promise as an
anti-convulsant, both appear to be potent antioxidants in laboratory
studies. Doctors rely on antioxidants to protect stroke victims from
exposure to toxic levels of a brain chemical called glutamate. Head
trauma and strokes cause the release of excessive glutamate, often
resulting in irreversible damage to brain cells.
Scientists asserted that CBD could hold advantages over other
antioxidants because the compound is fast acting and nontoxic. "We have
something that passes the brain barrier easily, has low toxicity, and
appears to be working in animal trials," lead researcher Aidan Hampson
said. "I think we have a good chance" to help patients with this
compound.
The U.S. study follows earlier research conducted in Israel
demonstrating that Dexanabinol -- a synthetic analog derived from
marijuana -- protects healthy brain cells against glutamate. Israeli
researchers declared this May that the drug will undergo Phase III human
trials shortly. They hope to begin marketing the drug by the year 2000.
Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, said
that the new research strengthens the need for medical marijuana reform.
"This research highlights the therapeutic value of compounds in marijuana
besides THC," he said. "Patients find maximum relief from whole smoked
marijuana because the plant contains several therapeutic properties
unavailable elsewhere. Federal law must change to allow patients access
to these naturally occurring compounds."
Federal law currently prohibits the medical use of marijuana and all
the plant's active compounds other than synthetic THC.
Harvard Medical School professor Lester Grinspoon said this research
represented the "tip of the iceberg" as far as the medical potential of
the marijuana plant. "When science gets serious about investigating
cannabis as a medicine, we will discover many more such findings," he
said. Grinspoon also stressed that the scientific community has come
full circle regarding marijuana's effects on the brain.
"The debate has moved from alleging that marijuana destroys brain
cells to finding that cannabis is clearly neuropathic," he said.
The findings indicate that marijuana may also hold medical value in
the treatment of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, the
team of U.S. scientists said.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Dr. Lester Grinspoon
may be reached @ (617) 277-3621.
***
Hemp Could Be Lucrative Cash Crop For State, University Of Kentucky
Report Says
July 9, 1998, Louisville, KY: Hemp would rank second only to tobacco
products as a cash crop for Kentucky farmers, concluded a $23,000 study
conducted by Center for Business and Economy Research at the University
of Kentucky. The 18-month study also determined that present market
demand for the crop could support the cultivation of 82,000 acres in the
United States.
"We believe the UK study is a landmark, watershed event," said John
Gilderbloom, a University of Louisville economics professor who wrote a
forward endorsing the study. "This is the premiere study done on the
impact of hemp."
Gilderbloom said the environmental advantages of hemp, coupled with
the crop's economic potential, give the plant an edge over other possible
alternatives to tobacco. "The UK report could provide the spark for a
serious review and evaluation of the benefits of industrial hemp for the
state of Kentucky and the United States," he concluded.
At least 29 nations -- including Canada, France, England, Germany,
Japan, and Australia -- allow farmers to cultivate hemp for industrial
purposes. The report found that farmers in the European Union grew over
50,000 acres of hemp in 1997 alone. U.S. law forbids the cultivation of
hemp because the plant is of the same species as marijuana.
Authors of the study, entitled "Economic Impact of Industrial Hemp in
Kentucky," argued that climate and soil conditions make Kentucky "the
primary area in North America for growing industrial hemp." They
estimated that legalizing the crop could lead to hundreds of full-time
jobs and millions of dollars in workers earnings for the state.
This study is "the knockout punch for opponents to hemp, including the
nation's Drug Czar [Barry McCaffrey,]" Gilderbloom announced.
For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen
St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Copies of the study
are available online at: http://www.hempgrowers.com. University of
Kentucky's Center for Business and Economic Research may be contacted @
(606) 257-7675.
***
Medical Marijuana Proposals Await November Ballots In Several States
July 9, 1998, Washington, D.C.: Petitioners hoping to place medical
marijuana proposals on the November ballots in Colorado, Oregon, and
Washington state turned in signatures to their respective Secretary of
State offices this week. In all cases, the number of signatures far
exceeded the state's requirement to place an initiative on the ballot.
"These signatures represent thousands of citizens who care about
relieving the suffering of patients with terminal or debilitating
illnesses such as cancer and AIDS," said Dr. Rob Killian of Washington
Citizens for Medical Rights. The group collected over 230,000 signatures
in support of their medical marijuana measure.
Proposals in all three states seek to exempt seriously ill patients
from state criminal marijuana charges if they use the drug medicinally
under a physician's supervision.
Medical marijuana petitioners in Nevada are also awaiting validation
from the Secretary of State's office to determine whether they turned in
the required number of valid signatures last month to certify their
initiative. In addition, spokesmen from Washington D.C.'s ACT-UP
announced they acquired enough signatures to place their proposal on the
upcoming ballot..
A similar initiative filed in Alaska has already qualified for this
year's fall ballot.
"This will be an unprecedented opportunity for voters across the
nation to voice their direct support for a seriously ill patient's right
to use marijuana medicinally," NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup,
Esq. said.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML @
(202) 483-5500 or Dave Fratello of Americans for Medical Rights @ (310)
394-2952. Washington Citizens for Medical Rights may be contacted @
(206) 781-7716.
***
A COMPREHENIVE LOOK AT MARIJUANA'S MEDICAL HISTORY AND POTENTIAL AS AN
ANALGESIC APPEARS IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
FOR THE STUDY OF PAIN. THE AUTHOR, DR. ETHAN RUSSO OF THE WESTERN
MONTANA CLINIC, HAS SOUGHT FEDERAL APPROVAL FOR OVER ONE YEAR TO CONDUCT
CLINICAL TRIALS ON THE EFFECTS OF WHOLE SMOKED MARIJUANA AND MIGRAINE.
- END -
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Two Bullets In The Back ('The Houston Press' Describes The Case
Of A 10th-Grade Boy, Travis Allen, In Bellaire, Texas,
Killed In Police Custody While Allegedly On LSD - A $25 Million Lawsuit
Filed By His Parents Against The Bellaire Police Department And Two Officers
Alleging Excessive Use Of Force Goes To Trial On August 17 -
When A Grand Jury At First Absolved Police, One Juror Told
The 'Houston Chronicle' That Another Politically Connected Juror
Had Applied Pressure Not To Indict, Which Led To District Attorney
Johnny Holmes Jailing The Reporter And Indicting And Prosecuting
The Juror Who Spoke Out)
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:11:30 -0700
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US TX: Two Bullets in the Back
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Tammera Halphen
Source: Houston Press
Contact: feedback@houstonpress.com
Website: http://www.houstonpress.com
Author: Randall Patterson
Pubdate: July 9-16, 1998
TWO BULLETS IN THE BACK
The fear began. At 1:35 a.m., Carolyn Deal was wakened by the sound of
shattering glass. She roused her 62-year-old husband, Jack, who told her to
get dressed, lock the bedroom door. She heard coughing just outside as she
turned the lock. Jack, fighting the haze of sleep, put the telephone to his
ear. "Uh," he said, "there's someone in our house."
Over the Bellaire police frequency, the dispatcher sent the call for a
burglary in progress. The alarm was screaming when Bellaire police officer
Dan Shelor arrived at 1:36. Officers Michael Leal and Carle Upshaw were
close behind. The Deals by then had retreated through a bedroom door to
their roof. Crouching in the bushes, the police could see that most of the
windows around the front door had been smashed. Leal and Shelor took
positions in the front of the house, and Upshaw headed for the rear.
Then through a front window, a bicycle came crashing out. For an instant, a
white male stood in the window frame. The officers shouted, "Get the fuck
out of there!" And the man stared at them and disappeared inside. Through
another window, Upshaw saw him coming fast toward the rear. Upshaw, too,
shouted for the man to come out, and this time, the man turned to the glass
door and collided into it. The glass held, but his arms were already
covered with blood. Staring at Upshaw, he tried to unlock the door. He
couldn't. He walked away, leaving the glass smeared with blood.
Leal came back to help. Together, he and Upshaw yelled into the house for
the intruder to lie down. The man emerged from the shadows then and began
complying. The officers kicked more glass out of the window, and charged in
after him.
They found him between the long white couch and an antique table. Down the
barrel of a gun, Leal discerned that the intruder was only a teenager.
Upshaw saw that the boy was not very big. Holstering his pistol, Upshaw
began putting handcuffs on the boy.
Five, maybe ten minutes later, Skip and Becky Allen were wakened by the
ringing telephone. It was a friend of their son's. "Uh, Mr. Allen?" said
Mike Morgan. "I think Travis is in trouble with the police."
It was quickly decided Mrs. Allen would stay home with Gracie, their
two-year-old. Mr. Allen snatched on his clothes and jumped in his truck. He
found Mike at Trevor Ayer's house, and they sped through Bellaire. When
Mike told him to turn onto Acacia Street, most of the Bellaire Police
Department was already there, and a large clapboard house had been cordoned
off with yellow police tape.
Mr. Allen pulled over and said he'd heard his son was in trouble here. When
the officer asked how he knew this, Mr. Allen pointed at Mike, and Mike was
taken away. The officer told Mr. Allen to wait. He stood by his truck and
waited.
It began to rain. Mr. Allen stood in the rain, asking the passing policemen
what was going on. At last, one of them answered: There was a deceased
person inside.
Mr. Allen said his son was supposed to be inside, and couldn't he go in
there? The officer asked him if he needed a priest or something. Mr. Allen
said no, and he was told to wait.
The hearse came. A bag was carried away. Still, Mr. Allen gazed at the
house and the landscaped lawn. He kept thinking his son would come running
out, saying, "Daddy! I'm okay. I was in trouble, but I'm okay."
Instead, after three hours, a Bellaire policeman cameout. He said there had
been a struggle, and an officer's weapon had discharged. It had discharged
into a person, and that person's name, according to the driver's license,
was Travis Allen. He had then died. Mr. Allen could go now. "We don't need
you anymore," the officer said.
The Deals went to a neighbor's house. Mr. Allen drove home alone. And
Bellaire police detectives stayed up all night July 15, 1995, trying to
explain how a 128-pound, unarmed boy on LSD had been shot twice in the back
by a police officer as the boy lay on the floor beneath another officer's
boot.
In the days and weeks that followed, the local crime-solving community bent
to the task. The medical examiner examined; Bellaire investigators
investigated.
A grand jury heard the evidence and deliberated.
The result was no indictment.
The entire criminal investigation was wrapped up within two months; the
officer who pulled the trigger was required to take only two days off work.
He was absolved so quickly that Skip and Becky Allen were left breathless.
They knew their son had deserved a great punishment; they couldn't accept
the necessity of death. They lost 60 pounds between them. They went to
church, joined grief-recovery groups. Determined to wring justice from the
justice system, they finally found themselves in the office of a lawyer.
In December 1995, they filed a $25 million lawsuit against the Bellaire
Police Department and officers Michael Leal and Carle Upshaw, alleging
excessive use of force. The lawsuit has forced the Allens to relive their
son's death, but has also uncovered many new details about it. Efforts to
dismiss the case have been themselves dismissed. Last week, U.S. District
Judge David Hittner scheduled the case for trial on August 17.
Travis grew up near the Heights, in an old neighborhood called Magnolia
Grove. Skip became a safety director over construction at a Baytown
refinery, Becky a therapist for disabled children in the school system.
They lived together in a Victorian home with latticework trim and a yard
just big enough for lush tomato vines.
He was five foot nine and growing. Travis was the one who unloaded the
dishwasher, vacuumed the house, mowed the yard, raced motocross with his
father, picked up his mother when he hugged her. And laughed. Puberty hit
him like a hurricane, but after tenth grade, his clothes and hair had begun
to settle down, and instead of skipping classes, he enrolled in summer
school to get ahead.
He came home that Friday in July at about 2 o'clock and began playing with
his sister Gracie. They rolled around in the grass, and two hours must have
passed before Travis finally got the lawn mower out. He had mowed only a
small section when rain began to fall, at which point he gave up on the
grass and put Gracie in a laundry basket. From the porch down the walkway
and back, he ran in and out of the rain. Skip remembers that you could hear
the laughter all over the block.
Then Becky came home, and she wrapped Gracie in a towel and began making
dinner. Travis went up to his room. He called his friend Trevor, who said
Tony Patt had just called: A neighbor of a friend of Tony's was throwing a
party in Bellaire.
At dinner, Travis announced that he would be sleeping at Trevor's this
evening. "No!" said Skip, because the yard was not mowed, and they were
going to get up early the next morning to ride dirt bikes.
So Travis finished his dinner and went back to his room. Becky told Skip
that Travis hadn't been out all week. Why not let him go? She went upstairs
to tell him the news. When she saw his face, she knew he wouldn't mind
staying home. But she let him go anyway, "and that's the saddest thing,"
she says.
The city of Bellaire is an enclave town, entirely surrounded by Houston.
Most law violations are committed by intruders, and most of these intruders
are simply speeding motorists. But every now and then, said Chief Randall
Mack, someone comes into Bellaire to rob a bank or something, and "you've
got to be ready to do it all."
One officer who can always be counted on to go "above and beyond the call,"
according to Mack, is Michael Leal (pronounced lay-al). Legal concerns
prevent Leal from talking to reporters (and Mack, too, wouldn't discuss
the case), but Leal is said to be 33 years old now, a resident of Katy and
the father of two young daughters and a son. Ten years ago, he joined the
department, and in 1991, he was named Bellaire Police Officer of the Year.
He long ago became a department instructor in both firearm use and
defensive tactics, and also is a founding member of Bellaire's volunteer
SWAT team equivalent, whose drills consist of wearing camouflage and
shooting one's fellow officers with paint-ball guns.
The state requires peace officers to take 40 hours of continuing training
every two years, but Leal usually takes triple that in a year. In the
summer of 1995, some of his recent courses were "ASP Baton Refresher,"
"Officer Involved shooting Investigation" and "Mental Preparation for Armed
Confrontation," which consisted of video footage of officers getting
killed.
By July 15 of that year, there had not been a police shooting in Bellaire
in 20 years, and there had never been a fatal one. But the record shows,
before his shift, Leal took the precaution of checking out two shotguns.
When Travis got to Trevor's, James Burns was there, and one of them
produced the acid. Weed and ecstasy were the usual choices; acid, said
Trevor, was kind of a special occasion.
This acid was called Blue Shield, and the dealer had said the paper was
dipped three times, instead of once. James and Trevor each took one hit,
and Travis, who was a little bigger, took two. When Meaghan Welzbacher came
over to pick them up, Travis showed her what was on his tongue. "You be
careful now," she said, and Travis smiled.
None of them knew the host of the party or cared that she was only 12 years
old. Tony said the magic words were "parents not home." The house was small
by Bellaire standards, and the party left it much reduced. Punk rock
blasted through the air. In the garage, by the keg, someone smashed a
mirror. Before long, the guests were running through the house punching the
walls. One climbed the roof and hurled a gallon of paint onto the walkway.
The whole evening became a blur to James. Trevor saw a lot of flashing
lights and moving people. And Travis, who was usually "a grinning fool"
when he was tripping, grew terribly frightened.
He was seen at the start of the evening in a chair in the back yard with a
beer, "just chilling." Later, Jessica McCracken saw him standing very stiff
and asked him what was wrong. "Bugs," said Travis. She offered him bug
repellent, but it didn't seem to help. With his hands jammed in his
pockets, Travis soon began shaking. Someone told him that there were bears
in the backyard. He seemed to believe it. He became afraid of the people
around him. Most of them were strangers, and he got the notion they were
going to jump him for the $20 in his pocket. His friend Mike Morgan finally
decided to get him away from the party. They would take a short walk to the
end of the street and come back.
Along the way, Mike asked what Travis was seeing. "Colors," said Travis.
Then he quit responding. They hadn't gone far when Tony Patt and Ben
Steinberg pulled up behind them. Travis saw the headlights, and his friends
believe he thought these were the people who had come to rob him. Travis
flung his money on the ground, and he fled as fast as he could -- over the
soft grass and under the trees and into the side of the house that was Jack
and Carolyn Deal's. At his feet, there was a 50-pound paving stone; he
heaved it through a full-length window and heaved himself after it.
Mike, who had chased until this point, heard the burglar alarm and ran the
other way. Travis was alone then, and like something wild that has flown
inside and can't get out, he knocked over plants and banged against windows
until his arms were wet with blood, and he heard voices telling him to lie
down.
Officer Upshaw put his gun away and was handcuffing Travis when he realized
that maybe he should be using gloves. He sent Shelor to get them from the
car. Then, unable to think of anything else to do, Upshaw placed his
cleated boot in the square of Travis's back and proceeded to wait.
The gloves were not in the first car; Shelor searched the second. Inside,
Leal kept his gun trained on the suspect. They had sent Shelor away without
searching the suspect or the house, or even turning on the lights. The
suspect, meanwhile, had begun to resist again. Beneath the boot, he would
not lie still. Travis flailed his arms and pushed against the boot, and the
more weight Upshaw pressed into him, the more Travis writhed and pushed
against it. All the while, he was making an awful grunting sound, which to
the neighbors next door, behind closed windows, sounded like roaring, and
which Leal described later as "this noise you make when you're exhausted."
Leal and Upshaw never reached for the batons that hung at their waists.
Leal recalled glancing again and again over his shoulder, shouting to
Travis, "Let us see your hands!" And then Upshaw, trying to help, stepped
on Travis with both boots and all of his 190 pounds. Again, Travis put his
hands beneath him, and the officers swear he pushed himself off the ground
with Upshaw on his back. Upshaw reverted then to the one-foot hold, but
Leal found himself shouting, "You're going to get shot! You're going to get
shot!" It is for moments like this that police officers drill and drill
again, so that instinct overrides emotion. Leal's first shot missed
Upshaw's foot by less than an inch, but after the recoil, Leal had the
presence of mind to aim before shooting again.
Under the vaulted ceiling, Travis lay still at last, hemorrhaging onto the
Oriental rug.
Then the house filled with new horror. Shelor arrived with the gloves. Leal
told him to handcuff the suspect, now lying in an expanding pool
of blood. Shelor did so and fled the house, and was later referred to a
counselor for emotional distress. Leal stayed inside, comprehending in the
light that he had shot an unarmed man.
The legal standard by which police shootings are judged is whether the
officer feared for his life or other lives, and whether that fear was
justified. When the house was filled with Bellaire detectives, Leal
consulted with his union lawyer and agreed to describe what had happened.
He said he had fired when Travis reached into his right pocket. Only when
asked what other move Travis had made did Leal add, "I guess he would be
rolling to his left. Basically looking at me."
The media were handled by Randall Mack, then the assistant chief. "It was
obviously a life-threatening situation," he told the Houston Chronicle. In
his first press releases, Mack never mentioned that Travis was shot while
on the floor with a policeman's boot on his back. The assistant chief only
said the suspect had refused to lie down, there had been a struggle, and
the suspect had persisted in putting his hands in his pockets. Mrs. Allen
had the impression her son was shot while attacking.
Bellaire detective Don Hazelwood supplied the Harris County medical
examiner an account that was equally vague, much more exciting and wrong:
The officers had "wrestled" the suspect to the floor. The suspect had
knocked one of them off. He had risen and was reaching into his pocket,
when "the second Bellaire officer saw his partner down and fired two
rounds of Winchester .45 caliber, Super X-silver tips, 185 grain."
Thereafter, the suspect became known as "the decedent."
Pathologist Eduardo Bellas went about his work with three Bellaire
detectives standing by. "The body was that of a well-nourished,
well-developed, thin-framed Caucasian male," he noted. The eyes were hazel;
the hair, short and brown-red. The hands were covered with bruises and
cuts. There were "brush burns" over the nose and chin, as though the face
had been pressed into carpet, though Bellas didn't suggest that. Finally,
beside a pattern of bruises, there were "gunshot wounds (2) of the back."
The bullets perforated the spinal cord, esophagus, trachea and aorta,
passing through all the corridors of life before coming to rest in the
upper chest. The heroic tale of the shooting offered no explanation for
gunshot wounds to the back. Bellas doesn't seem to have been curious. He
concluded that yes, the decedent had died of gunshot wounds.
As time passed, Leal apparently became more sure of his own story. After he
and Upshaw consulted their union lawyer, they gave their written
statements. Upshaw confirmed that under his boot, the suspect had indeed
been rolling left. Leal now testified that, "the suspect seemed intent on
fixing his gaze on me for the express purpose of whatever was going to
happen when he removed his hand from his pocket." Eventually, what was
initially described as "basically looking at me" became known as Travis's
"target stare."
Leal's description of Travis became even more threatening. At first, Leal
said they entered the house when Travis had lain down. Later, he said that
Travis had never lain down completely. Detective D.L. Oglesby, in his
official Bellaire Police Department report, recorded that Leal issued
commands to Travis "with no apparent effect."
Leal claimed he was crouching to the right of Travis when he fired, but
Oglesby later said in his deposition that he thought Leal had leaned over
the couch. The report reconciled the difference by avoiding any reference
to Leal's position.
With Upshaw on his back, and his right arm in his pocket, Travis would have
had difficulty rolling onto his left side. If Leal were leaning over the
couch above him, it would have been nearly impossible for Travis to have
given that "target stare" and still to have been shot in the back. Oglesby
initially wrote in the report that Travis had been lying on his stomach
when he was shot. But the report had been given to Leal, who sent Oglesby a
memo, a copy of which was forwarded to Randall Mack: "I noticed some
mistakes that I feel should be corrected," Leal wrote. And though what he
said didn't make sense, Oglesby nonetheless changed the report: With a boot
on his back, the suspect was rolling onto his left side when he was shot in
the back. Oglesby sent a memo informing Leal of the revisions. "You are
welcomed to review the report again if you like," he wrote.
When the investigation was complete, the case was presented to a grand
jury. The judge who presided over the grand jury, Debbie Mantooth
Stricklin, was a former prosecutor who had worked for District Attorney
Johnny Holmes, and whose husband was Holmes's chief assistant.
Prosecutors routinely work with the police and might be expected to
sympathize with them. Holmes himself said, "Not a whole lot of people have
much sympathy with a burglar in a house." In this case, he said Assistant
D.A. Belinda Hill had his absolute confidence. According to his memory,
Hill's presentation to the grand jury consisted of the autopsy report and
the testimony of Leal, Upshaw and Shelor. Hill made no recommendation for
or against indictment, according to a juror. The juror later told the
Chronicle that another, politically connected juror had applied pressure
not to indict. In the end, the 11-member grand jury missed indicting Leal
by two votes.
Holmes wouldn't present the case to another grand jury (it wouldn't be
fair, he says), but he pursued with great vigor the name of the juror who
violated the grand jury secrecy law. For refusing to disclose that juror's
name, the Chronicle reporter briefly went to jail. The juror was eventually
found and prosecuted. Holmes explained that the grand jury system can't
work if its secrets are told.
When they heard the FBI was investigating the shooting, the Allens were
relieved. "We were beginning to feel that we were the only ones who thought
something was wrong," Mrs. Allen said then. An FBI agent went by the
Bellaire Police Department to pick up Oglesby's report, but neither Oglesby
nor Upshaw nor any of Travis Allen's friends or family were ever
interviewed by the FBI. The results of the inquiry were forwarded to the
Justice Department, and after waiting months, Skip and Becky Allen made an
inquiry of their own as to the status. The reply they received was
addressed to Travis, informing Travis that "after a careful review," no
evidence could be found that his rights were violated. "Thank you," the
letter concluded, "for bringing this matter to our attention."
They had never hired a lawyer before and didn't know where to look. The
Allens wound up around the corner from their house, in the firm of Richard
"Racehorse" Haynes. Their lawyer, Graydon Wilson, claims to have no concept
of the word justice." He says there is only the system, and you pour facts
into the system, and sooner or later, you get a result. But everything
depends on the facts.
The lawsuit provided access to internal papers of the Bellaire Police
Department, and also to the officers themselves. The Allens sat across a
table in the depositions, gazing at the officers' faces. Leal and Upshaw
avoided eye contact but otherwise were courteous enough. The only exchange
between the parties occurred in the men's room during a break. Skip was
standing at the urinal when the officers walked in. Turning to Skip, Upshaw
ended an awkward moment. "This thing is taking so long," he said, "they
ought to have piss pots by the table." Skip flushed and left.
Shelor was not present at the shooting; he had little to say in his
deposition but fought tears as he said it. Michael Leal answered the
questions directly, addressing his interrogator as "sir." He claimed to be
unaware of any department policy changes prompted by the shooting, or even
any discussions on how to handle such situations better. It had been dark
in the house, he said, and in the shadows between the couch and the table,
it was hard to see Travis -- though not hard to see him rolling, reaching
into his pocket, staring. "I went forward, bang, bang," Leal testified. He
was afraid, but he denied that he had panicked. If he had shot Upshaw in
the foot, "he would have recovered," said Leal.
When it was Upshaw's turn, he said it never occurred to him to reach for
his baton. He couldn't kick Travis because "my foot was busy," he said.
Upshaw couldn't remember the size of a baton, or when he had been taught to
use it, or whether there was or wasn't a department policy on batons. But
this was not to say that he had forgotten his training; it was just that
"here today there's nothing triggering my memory for me to remember it."
It squeaked out that Upshaw had never really been afraid that night. He was
being sued for failing to stop the shooting, which he says he couldn't have
done, since he didn't expect it. "I don't know what Officer Leal considered
a threatening move," said Upshaw. "In my view, I didn't see anything
threatening."
Chief Mack later said that he thought the officers "did the best job they
could, under the circumstances." But at his deposition, Mack was unsure
what these circumstances were. He couldn't recall whether the department
hired an outside investigator for the shooting, or whether in 21 years as a
cop, he had ever restrained a suspect by standing on his back. ("I may
have," he said.) He said his press releases hadn't mentioned the boot or
the fact that Travis was on the floor, because he may not have known these
things. In fact, he still did not know them, he said, nor did he have any
"personal knowledge" regarding the location of Travis Allen's wounds. When
pressed, he admitted he had heard the rumor about the back -- but he didn't
find it especially significant. He could not judge what had happened
because, he said, "I wasn't there."
The reluctance of police to judge other policemen finally forced the use of
outside experts. Wilson said several local peace officers expressed dismay
over the shooting, but none were willing to testify publicly. Wilson
brought in from New Hampshire a police instructor in the use of lethal
force named Massad Ayoob; and from the University of Texas Medical Branch
in Galveston, a pathology instructor named Sparks Veasey.
It was Ayoob's expert opinion that "standing upright with both feet on a
person's back is more akin to riding a surfboard than to any method of
stabilizing a resisting person that I am familiar with." Upshaw's choice
not to carry gloves on his belt should not have interfered in the
performance of his job, according to Ayoob. If Upshaw had finished
handcuffing Travis, the death could have been avoided, he said.
Then, looking at pictures of the body, Ayoob noticed that where the bullets
protruded from Travis's chest, the outer skin seemed abraded. He and Sparks
Veasey came to the same conclusion. If Travis had even been partially on
his left side, Veasey reported, "one would expect the wounds would be
oblong in character," but they were circular. This trajectory, Veasey
determined, "would be more consistent with the decedent being flat on the
floor" when he was shot from a distance of about 18 inches.
The lawyer for the defense also hired an expert, of course. In the view of
David Grossi, a police instructor from Illinois, Travis was an "aggressive,
drug-laced, superhuman felon." Assuming the truth of Leal's version, Grossi
called the shooting "totally justified, completely necessary and
objectively reasonable."
The last motion to dismiss the case was denied. In April, the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals returned the case for trial, calling it "a significant
fact-related dispute."
The glass was replaced, and the blood was covered up with paint and new
carpet, but the Deals could feel something down below. After a while, they
left their home in Bellaire. They settled in an artists' colony in Mexico.
For Travis's friends, acid became a symbol of sadness. Many of them gave it
up, and said Travis was responsible. Also, they said, you grow out of it.
"You got better things to do," said Meaghan, "than deal with an entire day
on a drug."
They've become econ majors, store managers, waitresses and slackers.
Prosecutor Belinda Hill has become Judge Hill.
Assistant Chief Mack became Chief Mack. He quietly oversaw a drastic change
in Bellaire's use-of-force policy; the policy manual now includes a section
called "Use of Force Continuum" listing all the tactics an officer might
consider before deciding to shoot.
But none of this had anything to do with the shooting, said the chief. Last
year, he promoted Michael Leal to sergeant. Leal was put in charge of
criminal investigations, supervising everyone who had investigated him.
As for the Allens, they filed the lawsuit, they say, to find out how their
son died. They know that now. Last year, they had a giant portrait of
Travis painted on the southern wall of their house. An inscription reads,
"The laws sometimes sleep but never die."
Contact Randall Patterson at his online address
(rpatterson@houstonpress.com). Or call him at 713.280.2478.
Got a comment/compliment/beef? Send us your feedback.
(feedback@houston-press.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Clinton's Antidrug Plan - $2 Billion Ad Blitz ('The Christian Science Monitor'
Notes President Clinton And General Barry McCaffrey Today Will Roll Out
A Five-Year Media Campaign Bigger Than Nike's, Sprint's,
Or That Of American Express, The Largest Media Blitz Ever Undertaken
By The Federal Government, Though There's Not Any Evidence
That's 'Totally Conclusive' The Ads Will Have A Beneficial Effect)
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 14:53:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: Clinton's Antidrug Plan: $2 Billion Ad Blitz
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: isenberd@DynCorp.com (Isenberg, David)
Pubdate: Thu, 9 Jul 1998
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Contact: oped@csps.com
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Author: Francine Kiefer Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
CLINTON'S ANTIDRUG PLAN: $2 BILLION AD BLITZ
Biggest government ad campaign ever aims to lower youth drug use.
But will it work?
Think about how many times you've seen an ad with the Nike swoosh or a
pitch for Sprint's long-distance rates. Now compare that with the number of
times you've seen an ad against drug abuse.
The drug ad probably doesn't even come close.
But that should change today, when President Clinton and drug czar Barry
McCaffrey roll out an antidrug media campaign that's bigger than Nike's,
Sprint's, or that of American Express.
It's the largest media blitz ever undertaken by the federal government. And
antidrug ads like these will be hard to forget: bugs crawling all over a
teenage boy (as he might hallucinate while on methamphetamines); a young
woman demolishing her kitchen with a frying pan (symbolic of the
destruction heroin use can cause); and a sweet grade-school girl who looks
at the camera blankly when asked what her mother told her about drugs.
(Picture)
IN-YOUR-FACE AD: These frames are the first part of an antidrug TV spot
that will run in prime time describing the consequences of using heroin.
(PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA)
Drug use by youths has risen throughout most of the Clinton presidency. But
now with a five-year, $2 billion ad campaign, the White House hopes to
lower it within two years, especially among children 13 and under.
But the question remains: Will this high-cost, high-profile strategy work?
Research shows a link between advertising and less use, though there's "not
any that's totally conclusive," says Lloyd Johnston, principal investigator
for the Monitoring the Future study, a comprehensive survey that tracks
drug use in America.
Several studies, including those done by Dr. Johnston, support the premise
that ads affect kids' attitudes toward drugs - and that attitudes in turn
affect behavior.
When advertising increased in the 1980s, drug use by youths decreased. When
it declined in the 1990s, drug use increased (though it leveled off last
year and declined in some areas, such as marijuana use).
Yet other factors have contributed to increased use of drugs in the '90s.
The music industry, for instance, began to send pro-drug messages through
lyrics and individual stars' behavior. Marijuana became more acceptable,
because many kids' parents once used it and because of its increasing
medicinal role.
Leigh Leventhal, spokeswoman for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America
(PDFA), expects the administration's campaign will have an impact on use.
For the first time, she points out, the US government is going to pay for
prime-time advertising. That's a welcome development after "dwindling"
public-service advertising. "What we've been lacking is consistency, and in
order to be consistent and reach kids, you've got to be on prime time,"
says Ms. Leventhal, whose New York-based nonprofit group is providing the
ads for the campaign.
TV, Radio, Internet, Schools
The media campaign, aimed at nonusers and infrequent users, will go far
beyond prime time, though. It will include national and local TV, radio,
and print ads.
It will also reach kids through the Internet, Channel One in schools, and
billboards. The White House calls it "not just an ad campaign," saying the
administration will also work with the entertainment industry to portray
more accurately the consequences of using drugs.
Those inside and outside the White House say that for the media campaign to
work, it must target the needs of America's different communities, include
parents, provide follow-up support at the grass-roots level, and be
consistent.
The program is a bipartisan, public-private partnership. Half its cost will
be covered by the government, half by the media industry, which will
contribute time and space for the campaign.
Congress has approved this year's federal installment of $195 million and
is likely to support the next installment. The media industry, Leventhal
says, "has been enormously generous."
On the surface at least, the campaign seems to meet many of the criteria
for success. One measure is that in five months of pilot testing in 12
cities, calls to a national clearinghouse hot line increased 40 percent
compared with cities that weren't part of the pilot program. Some local hot
lines in the pilot cities saw the number of calls increase by 400 to 500
percent.
Early Ads Showed Success
In the test, the ads were targeted at different communities.
Anti-methamphetamine ads appeared in San Diego, because this drug is on the
increase in the West and Midwest. But anti-heroin ads were aired in
Baltimore, because that's the emerging drug there.
All the test cities had ads aimed at parents, because research shows that
drug use is significantly lower among children who learn at home about the
risks of drugs.
Meanwhile, groups like the National Guard and the Community Anti-Drug
Coalitions of America - which include about 4,000 local antidrug groups -
are working with the administration to support the campaign at the
grass-roots level.
The pilot test hasn't been without bumps. "These ads don't talk to my
population," says Jeff Spiegel of San Diego's Communities Against Substance
Abuse. He wants to see ads that focus on Latinos.
The White House acknowledges this gap and others, including a lack of staff
to deal with the interest the media campaign is expected to generate.
But it says it is trying to solve these problems and points out that its
campaign will be monitored and adjusted if it is not meeting goals.
(c) Copyright 1997, 1998 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All
rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
US Starts Paid Ad Campaign Against Drugs ('New York Times' Version)
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 14:53:52 -0800
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
Subject: MN: US: U.S. Starts Paid Ad Campaign Against Drugs
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: emr@javanet.com (Dick Evans)
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Pubdate: Thu, 9 Jul 1998
Author: Courtney Kane
U.S. STARTS PAID AD CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUGS
The White House's drug policy agency will introduce its first paid national
advertising Thursday as part of its fight against drug use among
adolescents.
President Clinton will join Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy, in Atlanta to introduce the
campaign, the largest government-financed social marketing effort to date.
It will have an initial budget of $195 million, appropriated by Congress,
and will involve television, radio, print, billboards and interactive
media. The decision to spend taxpayer money to finance the aggressive
anti-drug campaign is a marked change from the government's longtime policy
of watching from the sidelines as advertising and media professionals
coordinated unpaid anti-drug messages as public service advertising. "For
the first time we will be able to buy the time slots in the best media
vehicles," said Thomas Hedrick, vice chairman of the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America in New York, "just like Nike or McDonald's or Pepsi does
on a regular basis."
The partnership, a nonprofit coalition of advertising and media
professionals, has supervised the anti-drug pro bono campaign since 1987.
Though the media have donated the equivalent of more than $2.5 billion
worth of commercial time and ad space for anti-drug advertising, Hedrick
said, the organization has found it increasingly difficult to reach
specific audiences with specific ads because the pro bono campaigns depend
on the availability of time and space.
For instance, in a strong economy, exposure in desirable places like
popular prime-time TV series is difficult to obtain, and many public
service spots are relegated to late-night time slots when few if any of the
intended viewers are watching.
"We're going to pay for the precise placement we need to get the right
message to the right audience," Hedrick said, "with enough frequency to
change attitudes and, over time, drug behavior."
The national paid campaign comes after a six-month test in 12 cities,
including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, San Diego and Tucson, Ariz.
Each year for the next four years, Congress will be asked to appropriate an
additional $195 million to continue the campaign.
The ads, which will begin appearing Thursday, will be a mix of work already
produced for the partnership and new spots.
In an interesting twist, the media that will be selling the paid time and
space will be asked for such bonus or in-kind contributions as public
service advertising or programs or articles addressing drug issues. For
example, a TV network that receives ad dollars for anti-drug commercials
may agree to run an episode of a sitcom in which a character confronts the
problem of drug abuse or may produce a segment on drug policy for a news
magazine show.
In the test markets, Hedrick said, the media matched the paid ads with
bonus contributions.
The television part of the paid campaign is scheduled to appear Thursday
night on the four main broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC -- and
on CNN. The goal is for anti-drug spots to run about 9:15 Eastern time, on
the five networks in a TV tactic known as a roadblock. The Daily Fax
edition of Advertising Age said that other cable networks like ESPN2, ESPN
News, MTV and VH1 had also committed to run spots at about the same time.
The plans call for ABC to run an anti-heroin commercial recently created
for the partnership by Margeotes/Fertitta & Partners in New York. The spot
updates the famous "This is your brain on drugs" commercial by showing a
woman wrecking a kitchen with a frying pan to simulate the effect that
heroin can have on a life.
CBS is scheduled to run a spot aimed at parents that features actor Carroll
O'Connor, whose son died after years of drug abuse. On Fox, teen-age
viewers are the intended audience for a commercial with the rap star Chuck
D. The spot planned for NBC is aimed at young parents, and the spot on CNN,
to run during "Larry King Live," is also aimed at parents, addressing the
need to discuss drugs with their children.
The print part of the campaign is set to begin Thursday in big-city
newspapers. One hard-hitting ad, titled "Disconnect," is meant to
illustrate a generation gap about drugs. A photograph of a woman is
accompanied by these words: "My kid doesn't smoke pot. He's either at
school, soccer practice, piano lessons or at a friend's house." Underneath
is a photograph of a boy, who says, "I usually get stoned at school, after
soccer practice, before piano lessons or at my friend's house."
The ads for the paid campaign are being donated by agencies through the
partnership, which is serving as an unpaid consultant and will receive no
Federal money. Media planning and buying are being handled by Bates USA in
New York, part of Cordiant Communications Group PLC, and Zenith Media
Services in New York, which is owned by Cordiant and Saatchi & Saatchi PLC.
Though many Americans consider anti-drug advertising a necessary component
of the federal war on drugs, some perceive the ambitious crusade as money
ill spent. Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center in New York,
a drug policy research organization that is part of the Open Society
Institute sponsored by financier George Soros, said: "For the past 10
years, our nation's kids have been bombarded with anti-drug messages, and
it is these same kids who are experimenting with more drugs. While these
ads are well intended, this money could be better spent on programs that
are proven effective in reducing drug use, such as after-school programs
and treatment on demand."
Hedrick, needless to say, disagreed. "I don't understand how it is a big
waste of money," he said. "We have seen in independent research a strong
and consistent correlation between exposure of anti-drug messages and
improving anti-drug attitudes and behavior." "There is simply no more
cost-effective way" to deter drug use, he added, "than by investing 1
percent of the federal anti-drug budget in this public-private partnership."
Still, Hedrick said, "the proof will be in the pudding." The partnership is
awaiting the results of research from the 12 test markets, which are
expected sometime in the fall, he said. There will also be research to
evaluate the effectiveness of the national paid campaign. Other
organizations are also offering their assistance. The American Advertising
Federation in Washington -- which represents agencies, media and marketers
-- will serve as a clearinghouse for matching public service advertising in
100 local markets where the paid campaign will appear. And the Advertising
Council in New York -- the nonprofit organization that coordinates public
service campaigns for the agency and media industries -- will serve as a
clearinghouse for matching public service advertising nationally.
