We live in a time when people feel the need to watch and be watched. Whether it's our fear of terrorists or our fear of 16-year-old cheerleaders, never has this nation's pervasive paranoia felt closer to home than when I read in a recent Athens NEWS that Alexander Local School District is instituting drug testing for all athletes, cheerleaders and students who drive to school.

This is happening despite the fact that drug testing will be costly, despite the fact that most parents do not want their children to be treated like suspects, and despite the fact that we supposedly live in a democratic society where the input of citizens is (supposed to be) genuinely considered -- and debate encouraged -- the Alexander School Board has acted against all reason in the face of a Constitution that guarantees certain rights.

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