Pubdate: Sat, 19 Aug 2000
Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2000 The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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Author: Linda Kane, Avalanche-Journal

LOCKNEY BOARD MEMBER VENTS FRUSTRATION AT FILMMAKER

LOCKNEY - A school board member confronted a filmmaker working on a 
documentary about mandatory student drug testing moments after a school 
board meeting ended here late Thursday.

Mark Birnbaum was taping a documentary for the Dallas public television 
station KERA-TV when he was approached by school board member Dan Smith.

"He said, 'Get the camera out of my face,' " Birnbaum said. "He raised a 
fist right in my face."

Smith, a former mayor in Lockney, acknowledged Friday that he was 
frustrated, but said he never raised a fist nor intended to harm the filmmaker.

"He just swung that camera around, got it right in my face just as I was 
walking out the door, and I said to get it out of my face," Smith said. 
"And that's all I said. I never had any intention of hitting the man.

"That would be assault. I'd be thrown in jail for that. I know better than 
that."

The incident took place outside the door of the Lockney Independent School 
District's administrative office at about 11 p.m. and was witnessed by at 
least three people, including a reporter for The Avalanche-Journal.

School district Supt. Raymond Lusk didn't see the exchange, but said after 
the meeting Thursday night that the board was tired of the widespread, 
national media attention it's been receiving since the district implemented 
a mandatory drug testing policy in February.

Larry Tannahill, a parent in Lockney, which is about 50 miles northeast of 
Lubbock, sued the school district claiming the drug tests are 
unconstitutional. The case is pending in federal court in Lubbock.

Thursday's incident is the second in recent months involving a media 
representative attending a Lockney school board meeting.

In March, several community members surrounded a Plainview newspaper 
reporter and tried to take his notes. The reporter requested that a law 
enforcement official escort him out of the meeting.

Smith said he holds no hard feelings against the journalists who have been 
flocking to the small community since the inception of the drug testing policy.

"I was frustrated, I will admit that," he said. "It was hard to concentrate 
at that meeting. People were constantly getting up and moving around. It's 
hard to concentrate with all that going on."

The filmmaker and Sharon Philippart, vice president of corporate 
communications at KERA-TV, said they are not planning to file a complaint 
regarding Thursday night's incident.
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