Pubdate: Thu, 22 Nov 2001
Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2001 Duluth News-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.duluthnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/553
Author: Mark Stodghill
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

MOOSE LAKE MAN SUES SCHOOL OVER DRUG TEST

Rumors, angry gestures and crank phone calls ran Duane "Dewey'' 
Anderson and his wife, Dianne, out of Moose Lake, the couple 
testified in Duluth federal court this week.

They said the harassment they received is linked to Dewey Anderson 
being suspended from his job as a Moose Lake school bus driver 
because of an insufficient drug test.

Anderson, 57, was suspended because the School District said that he 
provided 15 fewer milliliters of urine than was required for a drug 
test -- an amount that would fill two soda straws -- and because he 
refused to take a second test.

Anderson filed a civil lawsuit against the Moose Lake School District 
and its former superintendent, Nancy Kaldor, who is now 
superintendent of schools at Columbia Heights, Minn.

Anderson is asking for damages for slander, emotional distress, wage 
loss and medical expenses.

On April 23, 1998, Anderson was selected for an unannounced, random 
test for drugs and alcohol. A split sample is required for testing. 
For a split sample, 45 milliliters of urine are needed. The School 
District said that Anderson provided only 30 milliliters.

Anderson testified Wednesday that he provided 60 milliliters -- 30 
milliliters in each of two vials.

Kaldor said that Anderson was suspended from employment for the sole 
reason that he failed to provide a sufficient urine sample and that 
she understood that federal regulations required that he be suspended 
until he furnished a sample, tested negative and had an evaluation 
from a substance abuse professional.

Peter Nickitas, Anderson's attorney, told jurors that Kaldor's letter 
of suspension had "implied defamatory disclosures'' because it 
included the statement: "... federal regulations provide that refusal 
to provide an adequate urine sample constitutes a refusal to submit 
to testing, which is deemed to mean that the driver would have tested 
positive.''

Anderson testified Wednesday that he believed it would have been an 
admission of failing the first drug test if he took a second test.

One of Anderson's claims is that School District employees unlawfully 
made the information of his drug test public. He contends that the 
suspension he received from the School District led others to believe 
he used drugs.

Kaldor testified that she never regarded Anderson as a drug user.

The plaintiff has been on a leave of absence from his bus driving 
job. A hearing will be held to determine his future employment with 
the district after the trial.

Anderson said he received more than 200 crank phone calls after word 
got out about the drug test. People have made obscene gestures and 
uttered profanity at him, he said.

He said he went to a Moose Lake service station to have a tire put on 
a rim and mistakenly brought along the wrong size tire, leading the 
auto serviceman to say: "If you weren't strung out on drugs so bad, 
you'd know what you were doing.''

Anderson said he's never used alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs.

Dianne Anderson testified that people who used to be friendly and 
talk to her in Moose Lake either glared at her or turned and walked 
away after her husband's suspension.

The Andersons have a 220-acre farm a mile west of Moose Lake. Dianne 
Anderson testified Wednesday that the couple, who have been married 
for 29 years, were forced to sell their 60 head of beef cattle and 
much of their farm equipment to pay for a move to Forsyth, Mo., in 
the Ozark Mountains. They are living in a house trailer. Dianne is 
working as a school librarian and Dewey has worked a variety of 
part-time jobs.

One of their sons is living at the dormant farm with his wife.

John O'Donnell, the Mendota Heights, Minn., attorney representing 
Kaldor and the school district, argued that Kaldor only said that 
Anderson didn't provide a sufficient sample for the drug test.

There was no evidence presented at trial that Kaldor or the school 
district said that Anderson abused drugs or failed a drug test.

O'Donnell pointed out to jurors that the Andersons had been losing 
money on the farm and had traveled to Missouri for recreation before 
moving there.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim is presiding over the trial, which 
is adjourned until Monday morning when attorneys are scheduled to 
make their closing arguments.
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