DISTRICT WILL STRIP TITLE FROM STUDENT PRESIDENT

PHOENIX - A week before graduation, Phoenix High School administrators plan
to oust the student body president.

Keanon Ferguson, caught with marijuana on campus last summer, likely will
officially receive the bad news on Monday or Tuesday, school administrators
said Friday.

He still will be allowed to participate in normal graduation activities on
June 9.

Last month, the state Supreme Court denied a request to review an Oregon
Court of Appeals ruling, giving the district the authority to depose Ferguson.

"We will probably do it pretty quickly," Superintendent Dave Willard said.
"The point was made and the board has given us the direction we can take."

Ferguson, 18, was found last June with a quarter-ounce of marijuana and a
glass pipe by a Phoenix police officer. More drug paraphernalia was found
in his car. At the time, Ferguson was student body president-elect.

Soon after that, school administrators decided to remove Ferguson from
office. His father, retired attorney Bill Ferguson, sued in Jackson County
Circuit Court, which overturned the district's decision.

The district eventually got the Oregon Court of Appeals to overturn the
circuit court ruling.

The Fergusons then attempted to get the Supreme Court to review the case,
but that request was denied, essentially letting stand the appellate decision.

The district will not celebrate its hard-won legal battle. "There is no
high note in this," he said. "It is not a positive thing for anybody."

Ferguson said he was sad at the prospect of losing his title.

But, he said, "I was president for almost the whole year. I had a pretty
good year as president."

Ferguson also survived a recall effort when the student body voted to keep
him in office.

Ferguson plans to attend the University of Oregon; he intends to play
football and study biology.