The Nation - News from Jan. 10, 1988

About 200 people, including ministers, civil rights activists and politicians, gathered outside a Hemphill, Tex., church to protest the death of a black truck driver allegedly killed in a beating by police. State Rep. Hal Edwards, a black Democrat from Houston, said: “This thing of racism is costing this country too much.” Three white officers have been indicted on state charges and the FBI has been investigating. Loyal Garner Jr., 34, of Florien, La., died Dec. 27 of head injuries that investigators believe were inflicted during a beating in the Sabine County Jail. Garner and two companions had been jailed on a traffic violation Christmas Day. The two friends, Johnnie and Alton Maxie, said Garner was pulled from his cell and beaten unconscious after he asked to use a telephone to call his wife, and was returned to the cell covered in blood.