Embattled Republican prosecutor Oliver Kitzman plans to resign
/The embattled district attorney of Waller County,
who was criticized last year for questioning whether Prairie View
A&M students can vote in local elections, confirmed Saturday he
plans to step down next month.Oliver Kitzman told The Associated Press
he sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter Friday indicating he will resign
effective Sept. 16.Kitzman said his decision was not related to the
voting controversy.Kitzman sent a letter to the Waller County election
administrator last November saying students at Prairie View, a
historically black university, were not automatically eligible to vote
locally.The district attorney, who is white, was accused of having
racial and political motives in challenging the large voting bloc that
the mostly black 5,000-student Prairie View campus represents.His
comments led to protest marches, complaints to state and federal
officials and a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of
Justice. The college's chapter of the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit
against Kitzman in February.To settle the lawsuit, Kitzman apologized
for his "threatening" behavior toward Prairie View students. Earlier
this month, six black Waller County leaders filed a federal lawsuit
against Kitzman, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other white county leaders
alleging "an extensive illegal reign of terror against
African-American" officials.The lawsuit accuses Kitzman of a campaign
of "repression and intimidation" toward blacks with a goal "to
intimidate, harass, oppress, malign, beleaguer and torment plaintiffs
in order that they might become discouraged from participating in any
aspect of the political process in Waller County." [more 
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]- Prairie View Students to March for Voting Rights [more ]
