Pubdate: Sat,  2 Aug 2003
Source: Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright: 2003 Amarillo Globe-News
Contact:  http://amarillonet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author: Greg Cunningham

APPEALS COURT TOSSES TULIA DRUG-TESTING LAWSUIT

TULIA - A New Orleans appeals court has tossed out a suit contesting the 
constitutionality of the school drug-testing program in Tulia.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an opinion Thursday that found 
moot a lawsuit filed by Hollister Gardner, leading the court to dismiss the 
case. The court decided since Gardner has graduated from the Tulia 
Independent School District, he has no standing to sue the school, court 
records show.

School board members said it's another step toward putting the controversy 
to rest.

"It's like anything, you'd like to have closure and just get on with what 
you're doing," said school board member Richard Chapman.

The news was not quite so welcome in the Gardner family, which has been 
fighting the drug-testing program for more than five years.

"We kind of expected it," said Gary Gardner, Hollister's father. "The thing 
that makes me mad is they just said it was moot. They didn't rule on the 
legal questions."

The Gardner family filed the suit in 1997, alleging Tulia's drug testing 
violated the Gardners' constitutional rights by mandating all students who 
participate in extracurricular activities be drug tested.

Amarillo's U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson ruled for Gardner in 
December 2000, but the school district appealed. That appeal was made moot 
a year ago when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in another case that testing 
of all extracurricular students was legal.

The 5th Circuit vacated the decision for Gardner based on the High Court's 
decision, and the Gardners appealed, an appeal that was rejected this week.

In the decision, the appeals court warned the Gardners for use of 
inappropriate language, which peppers their homemade legal briefs. Gary 
Gardner laughed off the warning.

"There was some earthy language in there, but we're pretty common people," 
Gardner said. "I read that little thing down at the bottom as just a threat 
to keep us from filing something else."

Dan Gardner, whose daughter Molly was a party in the original suit, said 
the ruling won't necessarily end the fight.

"You don't stop fighting until you're down for the full count," he said. A 
second suit, filed by Alan Bean on behalf of his son, Amos, remains active 
in Amarillo's federal court, challenging the drug testing on different grounds.

TISD has reinstituted its policy of randomly testing all students involved 
in extracurricular activities, and the most recent decision will not change 
the policy, Chapman said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman