DRUG DOGS SWEEP COUNTY SCHOOLS

Drug dogs patrolled the halls of three county school buildings Monday
morning.

The county high school, middle school and the Butler Area Youth
Development Center were canvassed by K-9 teams from the Owensboro
Police Department, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department and the
McLean County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Stan Hudson said charges had been brought against one high
school student as a result. The juvenile was charged with marijuana
possession.

Another student may face a charge of possession of a controlled
substance as a result of a separate investigation.

A small amount of marijuana and some pills were confiscated at the
school, the sheriff said; School Superintendent Carrell Boyd noted
that the pills' discovery was not directly related to the dogs' search.

The school district had requested the dogs be brought in some time
ago, as a proactive measure, said CCHS Principal Glen Ringstaff.

"This is what we hope will become an annual or semi-annual event," he
said. "It's basically a preventive measure, part of our ongoing
effort to dissuade the movement of drugs in the schools."

The K-9 units, accompanied by the sheriff and Deputy Brock Thomas,
the county's school resource officer, arrived at the high school at
about 8 a.m. Monday.

The building was placed on lockdown while the teams conducted their
sweep.

Lockers, restrooms, some classrooms and student vehicles were
checked. If a K-9 unit alerted on a location, school officials
accompanying each team were notified.

School officials would then search the indicated area. Local
sheriff's units took over when contraband was discovered.

Hudson said he preferred to bring in outside agencies with K-9
capabilities to do the drug sweep, and said he knew the Owensboro,
Daviess and McLean County units from some training he had attended in
that area.

"They've got several years of experience, too," he
said.

Hudson said the school district always gave law enforcement a green
light to bring in the drug dogs.

"We expect to do it more often than we have been in the past, and we
appreciate the school's cooperation," he said.

"I believe we caught the students by surprise, which is always a
plus," he said. "There will be more surprise visits in the future."

With only two individuals facing charges in connection with the
morning's events, Boyd said some would make the easy assessment that
there were few drugs in the schools, or in the community.

"I think most of us would agree that's probably not accurate," he
said.

While the drug problem exists, the random sweeps would help "to deter
any of our students thinking that the school is a place where any
type of drug activity can take place," he said.

The drug sweeps are nothing new, he noted: the school district had
previously utilized the Princeton Police Department to use their own
K-9 teams in the schools. The police department no longer has a K-9
unit.

By facilitating K-9 activity through the sheriff's department, Boyd
said, the school district hopes to schedule such sweeps more frequently.

"We would prefer not to interrupt the educational activities, but
we're serious about keeping drugs out of our schools," he said.

Illegal possession of prescription medication is becoming one of the
school district's larger issues, he noted, and encouraged parents and
guardians to keep their medications under lock and key.