Pubdate: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel (FL) Copyright: 2002 South Florida Sun-Sentinel Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1326 DRUG COUNSELORS DECLINING TO GIVE EVIDENCE AGAINST GOV. BUSH'S DAUGHTER ORLANDO - A court hearing was postponed Friday for Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter, whom police said was caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehabilitation center earlier this week, because clinic staffers are refusing to cooperate with investigators. Noelle Bush, the president's niece, was to go before Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead at 2 p.m. Friday to answer for what, if proven true, would be her second lapse since entering The Center for Drug-Free Living in February. But Friday morning, Whitehead issued an order delaying the hearing until Orlando police finishes their investigation and turns over the findings to the State Attorney's Office. A 0.2-gram, or 0.007 ounce, rock of crack was found in Bush's shoe Monday evening, police reported. However, she wasn't arrested because officers could not obtain sworn statements from staffers at the center. The State Attorney's Office issued subpoenas to four staffers Thursday, spokeswoman Lisa Roberson said. ``The Orlando Police Department feels they're not getting the cooperation they need,'' Roberson said. ``They can't rule one way or another without speaking to the workers.'' Roberson said it is up to the clinic whether the staffers will cooperate. If the clinic fights the subpoenas, then it can seek a quash order from the court system. A spokeswoman for the center, Joan M. Ballard, did not immediately return a message Friday. Bush's attorney in Orlando, Dean Cannon, also did not return a call. A clinic patient had called police on Monday, but staffers tried to persuade responding officers to let the center follow its standard policy of handling the matter internally. One staffer even tore up a sworn statement she had written for police. An officer retrieved the torn document from a trash can and tagged it as evidence, but police didn't reveal what it said. ``We have not dealt with a situation where it's necessary for us to go to the steps that we have,'' police spokesman Sgt. Orlando Rolon said. Bush is in a court-ordered rehabilitation program because she was arrested in January at a Tallahassee pharmacy drive-through window while allegedly trying to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax with a fraudulent prescription. She was admitted to the treatment center a month later, with the possibility charges would be dropped if she completed the program. But in July, she was found to be in contempt of court after being caught carrying pills which belonged to a treatment center worker and had been taken from a cabinet. For that lapse, Whitehead punished her with three days in jail. While it remains unclear whether the crack was Bush's, her father said Thursday that she has tested negative for any drug use. ``It is heartbreaking,'' Jeb Bush said. ``Drug addiction is not an easy thing, and when you're having to do it with the glare of public light shining on you, it makes it extraordinarily even more difficult.'' - --- MAP posted-by: Derek