DRUGS ARE ISSUE NEAR, NOT ON, CAMPUS

Officers Say Criminals Recognize There Are Harsher Penalties for Drugs on
School Grounds, So They Deal Outside the 1,000-Foot Rule

GRESHAM -- As undercover officers watched last week, two youths -- one a
17-year-old student at nearby Sam Barlow High School -- drove up to the
duplex on Southeast 16th Loop where John Sauer and Tony Cooper live.

The youths picked up Sauer and drove around the streets of the newer row
houses and duplexes for a few minutes, police said. A short time later, the
boys dropped Sauer off at the duplex and drove to a nearby church parking lot.

The boys had bought pot from Sauer, police said.

"They were rolling a joint when a uniformed officer drove up," said
Detective Bob Peterson of the Gresham Police Department. "We're not sure if
they were going to head right back to school, but it is a reasonable
assumption that they were."

The officer confiscated the drugs and cited both boys for possession of
less than one ounce of marijuana -- a violation that carries a $100 to $150
fine. Unless the boys want to contest the charge, they won't have to appear
before a judge.

But if the Barlow High student had been caught with marijuana on school
grounds, the penalties -- from both the judicial system and school
officials -- would have been more severe. That reality, school and
law-enforcement officials say, may comfort parents.

Ultimately, it means that drug dealing just shifts out into the community,
sometimes just beyond school boundaries but within access of high school
students.

Just moments after the boys were cited, narcotics detectives from Gresham
police and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office broke down Cooper and
Sauer's front door. Inside, they found six ounces of cocaine, a pound of
marijuana, $45,000 in cash and several scales.

Police said students from Barlow High frequented Cooper's neighborhood, and
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