With two major wars taking place overseas, many Americans ignore the war taking place within our borders.

The phrase 'War on Drugs' was first coined by Richard Nixon in 1971. American's ongoing battle with narcotics, however, can be traced back to congressional action taken nearly 100 years ago. Financial data shows we've spent more than $400 billion on the drug war since the 1970s.

Even after spending $50 billion this past year, the struggle appears to be going nowhere.

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I was glad to see that George W. Bush commuted the prison sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

I never had much sympathy for Ramos or Compean, disgraced law enforcement officers who were convicted of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler and then lying about it.

Bush was also convinced that the men were guilty. That's why he didn't pardon them.

In a stunning display of situational ethics, Ramos and Compean became instant superheroes to anti-immigration activists.

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Last Friday, the Supreme Court decided to take a deeper look into a case involving Savana Redding, a 13-year-old girl who was strip-searched on school grounds because of her alleged possession and distribution of drugs.

And what favorite teenage drug were her teachers looking for? Pot? Ecstasy? Prescription pills like Loritab, Adderall or Xanax?

Nope. Try ibuprofen.

Now granted, at 400-milligrams the pills were prescription strength (barely), but was it really worth emotionally scarring a young girl just to find out whether or not she had pills rarely used recreationally?

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School Board Says It Has New Policy

A teachers' lawsuit over drug and alcohol tests should be considered moot because of changes to testing policy, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board said in a court filing.

But the document, filed Friday, does not specify what changes have been made to a policy that members of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers say is unconstitutional. The federation opposes mandatory tests for injured educators who are not suspected of abusing drugs or alcohol.

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LEESVILLE, La. - The Leesville Police Department laid to rest one of its finest Tuesday in a solemn ceremony near the Department's shooting range and training ground.

A bitter, sleet-laden wind and a mournful rendition of "Taps" marked the passing of Chip, the Department's first K-9, and a trailblazer as far as K-9 law enforcement in this area is concerned, according to Deputy Chief of Police Tom Scott in his eulogy of the dog.

"Chip was the first, folks," Scott told those gathered to pay their final respects. "Here's where the legacy began. This was the trailblazer."

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THIBODAUX -- Appointed and elected Lafourche Parish officials may soon face mandatory random drug tests.

The proposal, which the Parish Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday, is the brainchild of Councilman Lindel Toups. He introduced it after proposing random drug tests of public-school employees, which prompted some local residents to question why the same tests aren't required of government representatives.

Toups said he believes his peers will support his newest measure.

"I don't see why not. I don't see why somebody could vote against it," he said. "We drug test employees, so why not drug test the council and administration?"

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The Lafourche Parish Council last week soundly defeated a resolution encouraging random drug testing of school employees.

That's good.

What isn't so good is that Councilman Lindel Toups has promised to revive the proposal and make it even broader.

The intentions behind Toups' idea is laudable. We don't want users of illegal drugs educating our children. But interference in the education process -- even through well-meaning resolutions -- isn't a proper activity for the Parish Council, which has more-important issues on its legislative plate.

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Mr. Obama, bring on the change.

Bring on that new dawn of American leadership you say is at hand.

Bring on your soaring rhetoric, your mandate from the media, your party's near veto-proof legislative majority.

Get down to Washington in January and use your political superpowers to begin solving what you say are "the greatest challenges of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril and the greatest financial crisis in a century."

Yes, you can try.

We, your people, understand, as you have said, that the road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep and we may not get to wherever very liberal place you're taking us to as a nation in one year or - rather conveniently for you - even in one term.

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Police reports tell the story time and again.

A driver is stopped for a traffic violation and winds up in jail for carrying illegal drugs, alcohol or weapons.

A common subplot: Officers ask the suspects for permission to search their vehicles, and the suspects consent, even though the thumbs up almost guarantee their arrest.

A fact that poses the question: If guilty suspects are so willing to forgo their rights and submit to optional searches and seizures, how many law abiding citizens do the same?

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LOGANSPORT - A DeSoto sheriff's deputy assigned to the Directed Patrol Unit is recovering from an eye injury sustained Thursday while scuffling with a man being arrested on drug charges, DeSoto authorities say.

Deputy Jayson Richardson was stabbed in the eye with a stick while attempting to handcuff John C. Jones III, 19, of Logansport, according to a news release Monday. Richardson was treated in DeSoto Regional Health System's emergency room and released.

Jones was booked into DeSoto Detention Center on one count each of resisting an officer, battery on a police officer and second-degree battery of a police officer involving injury. He's also accused of felony possession of marijuana and possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute.

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THIBODAUX - Enactment of a law requiring drug testing of all Louisiana public employees would undoubtedly be met with a lawsuit, an official with the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Any such law would have to be approved by state legislators and signed by the Governor.

But it was a Lafourche Parish councilman who has floated the proposal, and wants the Parish Council to formally ask the legislature to act.

District 6 Councilman Lindel Toups' suggestion has -- in addition to inflaming the ACLU -- drawn the ire of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.

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THIBODAUX - A Lafourche Parish councilman pushing for random statewide drug tests for public-school teachers said he plans to expand his proposal to include council members and other government employees.

Councilman Lindel Toups, who represents Gheens, has urged his fellow council members to send a formal request for random drug tests to the state Legislature.

Council members were set to vote on the matter Tuesday night, but concerns that it may violate the U.S. Constitution prompted them to delay a decision for two weeks.

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THIBODAUX - A Lafourche Parish councilman wants Louisiana to adopt random drug tests for teachers and other public-school employees that civil-liberties groups say would violate key provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

District 6 Councilman Lindel Toups, who represents Gheens, said a former employee of the school system alerted him to heavy drug use among faculty and teachers, prompting his request.

But school boards are regulated by the state, meaning tests can only be performed if the Louisiana Legislature passes a law approving it, officials say.

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Every October St. Tammany Parish students join students across America in celebrating Red Ribbon Week. This week speakers are urging students to remain drug and alcohol free, special projects are ongoing and marches are being held.

Students are hearing the message. What we hope is they are listening.

Red Ribbon Week is an important tradition in the drug prevention community. It began as a grassroots tribute to a fallen DEA hero, Special Agent Enrique Camarena. The National Red Ribbon Campaign was sparked by the murder of Camarena by drug traffickers.

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Federation of Teachers Calls Drug, Alcohol Tests Abuse of Power

The largest teacher union in East Baton Rouge Parish sued the parish School Board on Tuesday in an effort to outlaw policies that require teachers injured on the job to undergo drug and alcohol testing.

The East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers, which claims approximately 1,600 members, filed its lawsuit in Baton Rouge federal court because the automatic test policy does not require probable cause.

"The longer this goes on, the more our teachers are wronged," said Carnell Washington, president of the federation. "If there is suspicion, we have no problem (with drug-and-alcohol testing). What we're practicing in Baton Rouge is against the law."

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The raid on Russell's Tire Shop had the look of a successful garden-variety drug bust.

Acting on an informant's tip, police stormed the building on North Galvez Street and hauled out three suspects, a bag of heroin, a quarter-ounce of crack cocaine and more than $4,000 in cash. Police say they found the evidence in plain sight.

But 11 months after the August 2002 bust, prosecutors dropped the charges. And this June, attorneys for the city offered the men accused of dealing the drugs $85,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged the four New Orleans police detectives involved in the raid planted the drugs - -- and uprooted the lives of innocent people.

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Roderick Moore Previously Convicted Of Drug Counts In Caddo

A former Shreveport police officer who was convicted in Caddo Parish for supplying strippers with drugs in exchange for sexual favors has admitted to seven drug charges in Bossier Parish.

Roderick "Ricky" Moore pleaded guilty as charged Friday in Bossier District Court to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, methadone, marijuana, oxycodone, hydrocodone, alprazolam and lorazepam, according to the Bossier district attorney's office.

Two days prior, the 53-year-old pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated.

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THIBODAUX -- A man authorities arrested last month on drug-possession charges returned to California this week after a district judge granted him permission to seek treatment while awaiting his next court date.

Hours before he returned to his home in California on Wednesday, Matthew Zugsberger said he remains resolute in his fight to prove his California license for medical marijuana should be recognized in Louisiana and anywhere else in the U.S.

Zugsberger, 32, faces three drug charges stemming from a June arrest where State Police allegedly discovered 951 grams, or 2.12 pounds, of marijuana inside his apartment, 2316 St. Bernard Road Apt. E.

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Shortly after Keva Landrum-Johnson took over as district attorney following Eddie Jordan's resignation Oct. 30, hundreds of new felony cases flooded the public defenders office, overwhelming the 29 defense attorneys.

After New Orleans regained its title as the nation's murder capital, the public demanded its city leaders crack down on violent crime. By filing hundreds of new felony cases each month, it appeared as if the new DA heeded their call.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, said Steve Singer, chief of trials for the Orleans Public Defenders Office.

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Roderick Moore Faces Up To 30 Years On Each Of Two Counts.

A Caddo jury quickly found former Shreveport police officer Roderick "Rickey" Moore guilty Saturday of supplying drugs to strippers in return for sexual favors.

Judge John Joyce polled the seven-woman, five-man jury just after 2 p.m., barely two hours after he charged them. That showed only two of the 12 jurors believing defense claims there was no proof

Moore actually passed drugs to the police confidential informant, a stripper at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. Moore, 52, had been charged with providing her with Lortab and cocaine.

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