VALPARAISO -- Officials will be able to drug test Valparaiso High School students based on reasonable suspicion starting in the 2007-08 school year. The Valparaiso School Board approved the new policy Tuesday Reasonable suspicion, according to the revised VHS student handbook, could arise from a number of indicators. These include physical appearance, unusual behavior, odors or credible information communicated to administrators. The testing might be done with either saliva or urine samples. The district considered a random testing policy, Assistant Superintendent John Hutton said, but decided against subjecting students to stresses related to such a policy, on top of other things they deal with. [continues 207 words]
PORTER TOWNSHIP -- Drug testing for township students driving to school or taking part in extracurricular activities could be in place by fall. Random, unannounced testing of perhaps 10 percent of eligible students would occur several times a year, said Nick Brown, Porter Township School Corp. superintendent. Brown presented the testing policy and guidelines to the School Board last week. The board will review the policy at its March and April meetings. Students will be invited to buy into the concept, Brown said. In exchange for the privilege to drive to school or to participate in athletics or clubs, students would agree to the random testing. [continues 206 words]
CHESTERTON, DRUGS: Heroin Addict, 'Good' Father Look To Warn Of Drug Destruction CHESTERTON -- You can't see the connection by looking at them. Bill is 56, an avuncular figure with neat gray hair and an easy smile beneath wire rim glasses. He's at home in a cardigan. Max, at 26, has a more windblown look to his short dark hair and ruddy face. He's an informal, T-shirt sort of dude. A generation apart, Bill Sexton and Max Donnella share a connection neither would have wished for: Their lives have been scourged by drugs. Now both are intent on saving others from the same fate. [continues 1454 words]
CHESTERTON: New "Reasonable Suspicion" Policy To Include All Students CHESTERTON -- Any Duneland Schools student exhibiting signs of drug use next year may be asked to undergo drug testing. The Duneland School board on Monday unanimously accepted the recommendation of a committee chaired by Chesterton High School Principal Jim Goetz to institute across-the-board testing based on "reasonable suspicion." The new policy has significant differences with Duneland's previous testing program. It will not be the random testing that targeted only students in co- and extra-curricular activities during the 1999-2000 school year. Under the new policy, all students are subject to testing, but only if they have given staff reason to suspect the use of drugs. [continues 357 words]
An annoying but relatively harmless virus that advocates legalizing marijuana is making enemies out of some potential allies: potheads. Unlike Stoned, which appeared a dozen years ago and could corrupt all data on a disk drive, the Marijuana virus doesn't damage victims' PCs. Its payload, which is spread by an e-mail worm and through a Trojan Horse program, sets the infected computer's Internet Explorer browser start page to marijuana.com and places an unmistakable green, palmate leaf in the Windows system tray of an infected PC. [continues 490 words]
The Lockney Independent School District will appeal a ruling which deemed its mandatory drug policy unconstitutional. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans received the notice of appeal Thursday. Larry Tannahill was the only parent who refused to allow his son to be tested when the district began drug screening students and faculty in February 2000. Assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union, Tannahill sued the school district claiming its policy violated his son's rights under the Fourth and 14th Amendments, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. [continues 186 words]
A former Abernathy police officer was sentenced Friday to more than four months in jail for possession of marijuana. In addition the 135-day jail term, the jury assessed Benjamin Buono, 27, a $1,500 fine. The three-man, three-woman Lubbock County jury deliberated about two hours Friday before announcing the sentence. Buono was found guilty Thursday of a misdemeanor charge of possessing marijuana stemming from a traffic stop on Feb. 23. He still faces a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge from the same incident. [continues 224 words]
