SCARY. VERY SCARY.

OK, it has been upheld in the courts that students have no expectation of
privacy on school grounds, and therefore can be subject to locker searches,
etc. But the comments by some of the young folks in Feb. 28's T-G, and
similar comments from students along the Front Range in response to
searches and video surveillance to the effect of "It's OK, we have nothing
to hide" are very troubling indeed.

Hey youngsters, how about random pat downs in the hallways at school? Sure
you might be uncomfortable being touched by strangers, but hey, you've got
nothing to hide, right? How about strip searches, or maybe cavity searches?
Gotta stop those druggies! And you've got nothing to hide, right?

Or, how about if "dedicated public servants" just stop by your homes
occasionally and do a "walk through" of your yard, garage, kitchen, living
room, bedrooms, checking your drawers, your computer files, your personal
diary, etc. Must be okay because you've nothing to hide, right?

How about roadblocks where cops will bring over a dog to sniff around your
car in a totally random search for drugs or whatever. Must be okay, right?
Because you got nothing to hide! Buzzer — WRONG — the U.S. Supreme Court
has recently ruled this kind of activity is an unconstitutional invasion of
a citizen's privacy. Good for the court for getting this right, hurrah for
us, and shame on those "dedicated public servants" who thought it was a
good idea!

Paraphrasing Ben Franklin: those who give up liberty for a little security
deserve neither.

Ronald E. Thomas

Estes Park