A Zealous Prosecutor of Drug Criminals Becomes One Himself

New York Times ^ | February 14, 2005 | RALPH BLUMENTHAL

[Scenic Sounds]

PAMPA, Tex., Feb. 9 - No one prosecuted the war on drugs in the Texas Panhandle more zealously than Richard James Roach. As the blustery and hot-tempered Republican district attorney for five counties overrun with methamphetamines, he had eked out an election victory in 2000 vowing a crackdown and was soon gleefully reeling off the harsh sentences he had wrung from juries: 36 years, 38 years, 40 years, 60 years, 75 years - even 99 years. "I think it's quite clear that the good citizens of this district are fed up with drugs," he said.

He had barely missed riding the issue to victory in an earlier race. "My campaign is centered around doing something with the dope dealers," he told a local newspaper in 1996, complaining that "it's kind of hard to fight drugs when you've got dirty law enforcement."

But of all the quarry brought down by drugs in the district's 4,600 square miles of achingly flat oil fields and cattle rangeland northeast of Amarillo, the biggest by far was the stunned figure clapped into handcuffs by F.B.I. agents in the Gray County courthouse here one morning last month: the $101,000-a-year prosecutor himself, Rick Roach.

[pageonetoo]

How are we any better off than before we spent those billions?

WE've made a lot of lawyers rich... and fueled a few industries!

[ClintonBeGone]

I'd rather have the liberty our Founders died for.

You won't get it with drug legalization.

[ClintonBeGone]

I'd rather have the liberty our Founders died for.

You won't get it with drug legalization.

[mysterio]

When viewing what the WOD has done to the Bill of Rights, one must either be pro-Constitution or pro-WOD. The government has absolutely refused to run a WOD that is anywhere near Constitutional. I am not a drug user, and I would not become one if they were legal. But the amount of money we are throwing at this problem and the amount of damage it has done to the Constitution make it impossible for me to support the WOD.

[Bon mots]

Did anyone notice how the NY Times managed to mention that he's a REPUBLICAN within the first 25 words?

Yet when it comes to a Democrat under arrest, the party affiliation mysteriously is omitted... such as the DEMOCRAT JUDGE who was using a penis pump... or any number of similar such cases.

G-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rrrrrrrrr!

[ClintonBeGone]

The government has absolutely refused to run a WOD that is anywhere near Constitutional.

Funny how most of the judges that the contitution provides to be the arbitors of such claims have laughed statements like these out of their courtrooms.

[The Electrician]

As the blustery and hot-tempered Republican district attorney

The New York Times is sooooo predictable. We learn by the second sentence that the perp is a Republican. As opposed to cases where the perp is a Democrat, and that fact is buried paragraphs later, if mentioned at all...

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I've been one of the few voices on the Rush Limbaugh threads calling for him to stand and accept punishment for whatever drug related crime he may have committed.

Glad to hear you're no hypocrite, at least.

[ClintonBeGone]

Is that what you mean? or an America free of the particular drugs you happen not to like?

Nope, just the ones we've made illegal.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

You won't get it with drug legalization.

Somehow, freedom managed just fine up until the 20th century . . .

[Scenic Sounds]

The New York Times is sooooo predictable. We learn by the second sentence that the perp is a Republican.

It could be particularly unfair in this case because, while he was a Repbubican when he ran for office, I sense a subtle change in his political philosophy. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if he's beginning to lean a little more toward libertarianism.

That's just a guess, though.

[Bon mots]

I would rather have a drug free america.

I'll drink to that!

LOL

[Know your rights]

I'd rather have the liberty our Founders died for.

You won't get it with drug legalization.

The level of federal power needed to win the federal WOD is far beyond what the Founders died for.

[Know your rights]

the judges that the contitution provides to be the arbitors of such claims

Like the ones that gave us Roe v Wade and Lawrence v Texas? A conservative wouldn't dream of pointing to them as authorities on the meaning of the Constitution. Why do you?

[bassmaner]

I'd rather have the liberty our Founders died for.

You won't get it with drug legalization.

Throw it up on the wall, see if it sticks (kinda like the DemocRATs).

Explain your thoughtfully researched premise, please.

[bassmaner]

Oh, and BTW, more pot smokers were arrested during the Clinton Admin than all previous presidential admins combined. Why were you in such a hurry to get rid of the Non-Inhaler?

[Hank Rearden]

You'd better watch that badthink - it's doubleplusungood to think like that.

[mugs99]

drug dealers who try to get kids hooked on drugs.

ROFL!
It's people like you who get kids hooked on drugs!
You support the WOD. The WOD has increased the availability of drugs. The WOD protects the producers who flood the streets with cheap drugs.

Twenty years ago we were told that all we had to do to get cocaine off our streets was send the DEA down to Columbia to get rid of Pablo Escobar. Pablo Escobar is dead, the DEA is still in Columbia, and cocaine is cheaper and more abundant than it was twenty years ago.

This guy isn't the only WOD crook. He was busted with drugs to sell. He was in a position to get rid of the competition, and he did. How much of his product went to those children people like you claim you're protecting?

Before the WOD it was hard for kids to get drugs. Now it's easier for them to get hard drugs than it is beer. The WOD has created a drug problem the same way alcohol prohibition did. It's called organized crime, in case you've forgotten. It's people like you that endanger my children with your support of organized crime.
...

[jmc813]

Do you consider JimRob to be a "pro-druggie" since he opposes the federal Drug War?

I'm still waiting for your answer to that one.

[jmc813]

I've been one of the few voices on the Rush Limbaugh threads calling for him to stand and accept punishment for whatever drug related crime he may have committed.

Does Rush say to listen to CBG, he's right on those threads?