- Originally published on September 5, 2004 in the LA Times
By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer
In a small rural county, a district attorney is stepping down after
being accused of 'reign of terror.' He denies any discrimination.
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- When Dist. Atty. Oliver Kitzman announced his
plans to resign from office, black leaders here compared it to nothing
less than the Emancipation Proclamation.
Kitzman, a political fixture in Waller County who caused a firestorm
last year when he questioned whether students at a local black college
could vote in local elections, announced during a county Republican
Party meeting that he would step down later this month. He later said
in an interview that his reasons were "personal and private" and had
nothing to do with allegations of discrimination.
Black community leaders, however, said Kitzman had become a symbol of
deep-seated racism in their community. And that as welcome as his
resignation was, they knew their work had just begun.
In lawsuits, documented complaints to authorities and interviews, civic
leaders pieced together a detailed allegation of what they called a
"reign of terror" shouldered by the black community here.
Kitzman and other white officials denied that anyone had been targeted or harassed because of race.
But black leaders described the county as a throwback to a time the
South had tried to overcome -- a time when black men were called "boys,"
or worse, and whites walled off the political and justice systems to
keep blacks out.
They allege not only that crude intimidation techniques were used --
rocks thrown through house windows, police cars passing slowly and
repeatedly by homes of black "troublemakers" -- but even schemes to
suppress blacks' voting rights.
They charged that authorities routinely declined to pursue cases
brought against white residents by black residents. Conversely, they
said, flimsy charges and indictments were frequently drummed up against
black community leaders, only to result in dropped charges and
acquittals, but not before damage was done to reputations and meager
bank accounts.
"It is selective prosecution. This is the new front in civil rights,"
said Waller County Judge DeWayne Charleston, a black justice of the
peace who repeatedly faced ethics and timecard falsification charges.
He has been cleared by state ethics officials and has not been
convicted of a crime.
"The objective is not to get a conviction," he said. "They don't care
about that. The objective is to hit you in your wallet, to discredit
you, to disenfranchise you."
Waller County, population 35,000 or so, is a 518-square-mile smattering
of country towns and hayfields that has historically been isolated from
the big cities of east Texas.
Kitzman said racial tension in Waller County would disappear "if we took several of the players and sent them to Los Angeles."
"If we could eliminate the stuff they scatter around, we wouldn't have any problems here," he said.
Kitzman served as the district attorney of a three-county area,
including Waller, from 1967 until 1979, becoming best known for a
hands-off approach to a famous local brothel that prospered and became
the inspiration for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." He served as
a judge until January 2003, when he became the top law enforcement
official in the county.
Upon his return, he announced that students at Prairie View A&M
University, where 96% of the 5,000 students are black, might not be
eligible to vote in local elections.
Even though the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled 24 years earlier that
students could vote where they attended college in most cases, Kitzman
threatened to prosecute students who voted in the wrong county. To
black leaders here, it was a clear attempt to confuse and intimidate
black voters. Following protests, lawsuits and an investigation by the
U.S. Justice Department, Texas state officials overruled Kitzman's
interpretation of the law and he backed off.
Kitzman was one of eight white county officials named last month in a
federal lawsuit filed by six black community activists that alleged,
among other things, discrimination, civil rights violations and
malicious prosecution. The officials who could be reached for comment
declined to discuss specific allegations but denied that race or bias
was a factor in their decisions.
"I get along good with everybody," said Waller County Sheriff Randy
Smith, one of those named in the suit. "All this nonsense, it's kind of
silly."
Waller County Republican Party chairwoman Ann Davis said she was
convinced that Kitzman's resignation, announced Aug. 26, was not
because of the allegations but for family reasons. "He is a just man,"
she said. "He always does what he thinks is right."
Davis, who was not named in the lawsuit, said the group's allegations
did not depict the community she knew. "Waller County is my home," she
said. "People get along here."
That was true, said Herschel Smith, the head of an activist group
called the Waller County Leadership Council, but only for whites and
blacks who don't "step out of line." He said many black pastors,
government officials and civic activists had become accustomed to an
unsettling pattern.
"You get charged, so you have to post bail," Smith said. "Then you have
to hire an attorney. Then you've got to take days off of work so you
can go to court and deal with the charge. So you lose your job. So
you're broke. So you get evicted. Can you believe this still goes on
today?"
Smith alleged that he had been assaulted last year by a white
politician after a tense meeting. A police detective confirmed that she
has filed a misdemeanor assault charge in the altercation, although the
district attorney's office so far has declined to pursue the case.
Smith's allegation was one of many contained in the lawsuit and in other documented complaints to authorities.
Jerryl A. Brandyberg, a science and ROTC instructor at an area high
school and an election judge, said he had been falsely accused of
voting in the wrong place because he maintained a home in San Antonio.
He said he had been charged even though he had told authorities that
his family had a second home there because his wife, who is in the
military, worked nearby. Brandyberg, who is black, said he had been
targeted unfairly and accused of voting irregularities simply because
white officials did not like the outcome of a municipal election he
recently had overseen. His case is expected to go to trial this year.
"Any charge these people can muster against you, they will take it," he
said. "You hear about a new case all the time. Everyone in this county
knows it goes on."
Kitzman is expected to step down Sept. 16. He said it saddened him to leave office under such circumstances.
"But I'll be all right," he said. "I'd rather have rode out of here on
a big white horse, but it's not necessary. I've had a very rewarding
career. Life goes on."