POLICE SNIFF OUT BLUFFTON HIGH

BLUFFTON -- An unannounced search Friday didn't uncover any drugs inside
Bluffton High School, but police dogs detected remnants of marijuana in a
student's car in the parking lot, Principal Aretha Rhone-Bush said.

The drug search was conducted by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office's K-9
Unit and the Bluffton Police Department, and it was the first in what
Rhone-Bush said will be ongoing random inspections at the school.

The searches are part of the principal's overall plan to eliminate illegal
activity from the school and increase security measures.

After searching the building without finding any drugs, law enforcement
officers took the dogs to the parking lot, where they sniffed around cars.

Bluffton Police Detective Pat Blankenship said a dog found "remnants of
marijuana" in a student's car. The police charged the teenager with simple
possession of marijuana, and the student was given a courtesy summons to
appear in court.

Rhone-Bush said she contacted the student's parents.

There was another car that a dog "hit" on, she said, but the police found
nothing in it. She said she also contacted the parents of that student
because drugs could have been in that car recently.

Both parents responded well to the calls and were very supportive of the
school, she said.

Rhone-Bush said she asked the Sheriff's Office about two weeks ago to
conduct a drug search. But nobody at the school, not even Rhone-Bush, knew
when it would happen.

It started at 8 a.m. Friday when the drug-sniffing dogs and multiple law
enforcement officers arrived at the school, which was then "locked down"
until about 10 a.m. Students had to remain in their classrooms as the dogs
sniffed the hallways and lockers for drugs. No drugs were found inside.

Then, one class at a time, students were asked to step out of their
classrooms and leave their book bags and purses behind, Rhone-Bush said. A
dog, an officer, a school administrator and a staff person then entered the
classroom as the dog sniffed for drugs, she said.

When the dog sniffed out an item of interest, the bag or purse and the
student were sent to Rhone-Bush, who searched it.

The dogs had 12 hits in the school, none of them for drugs.

"Dogs are dogs," Rhone-Bush said, and they are attracted to many different
scents. The canine investigators turned up lunches, rotten bananas, fashion
magazines with scented inserts and some Pop Tarts, she said.