TILLMAN LAUNCHES VOLUNTARY DRUG TESTING WITH PREP BASEBALL TEAM

Student drug testing has unofficially begun in Mobile County schools,
under a program launched by Sheriff Jack Tillman.

The testing sponsored by the Sheriff's Department is voluntary,
however, and school system Superintendent Harold Dodge said Wednesday
he had not known about the program until being notified Tuesday.

Varsity and junior varsity baseball players at Mary G. Montgomery High
School in the Semmes area volunteered last week and this week to have
hair samples tested for drug use at Tillman's suggestion.

Tillman said he has offered department funding for similar testing at
five other high schools: Alma Bryant, Baker, Citronelle, Satsuma and
Theodore. At this point, the tests would be available only for
baseball players.

"I'm just tired of parents saying, 'It's not my kid,' when it very
well could be your kid," Tillman, backed by parents, a baseball coach
and the principal at Mary Montgomery, said at a news conference
Wednesday. "The purpose of this is not to punish anybody ... it's to
identify who might have a drug problem and get them help."

Tillman said his office is prepared to pay for about 40 baseball
players at each school to be screened for marijuana and cocaine use.
The hair tests -- which at $3 apiece are cheaper than the more
thorough urine tests -- do not pick up traces of steroids or other
physical enhancement drugs.

The county school board voted in August to oppose testing students for
drugs. Some members expressed concern about whether it would be fair
for students to face such tests if school employees did not.

Board member David Thomas, who said he was unaware drug tests were
being done until Wednesday, called the sheriff's actions "noble" but
said Tillman should have consulted with the superintendent prior to
contacting the schools.

"I would love to do drug testing," Thomas said, but he would tell the
sheriff and others "that we go to our delegation and ask them to write
legislation allowing us to test all of our employees first. Until that
is done, I won't support testing any students."

'Just crawling now':

Board President Lonnie Parsons, a sheriff's deputy, joined Tillman at
the Wednesday news conference. Parsons said he favors the tests for
all high school students involved in extra-curricular activities, such
as athletics, band, chorus and school-sponsored clubs.

"We're just crawling now," said Parsons. "Hopefully this will help
bring public awareness toward my goal, which is to test all students."

Tillman said his department could not afford to pay for testing
thousands of students, but he challenged the school board to do so.

Locally, private schools like McGill-Toolen Catholic School and
Daphne's Bayside Academy test students for drugs. Baldwin County
public school officials are considering launching a drug-testing
program for students, although officials have said that many questions
- -- about costs, privacy issues and test parameters, for example --
remain to be resolved.

Statewide, drug testing is becoming more common, not just for
athletes, but for all students involved in extra-curricular
activities, according to educators and law-enforcement officials.

Federal courts have addressed some of the privacy concerns by ruling
that it is legal to give drug tests to students participating in any
extra-curricular activities.

Tests not mandatory:

Although Tillman's program is voluntary -- meaning that athletes who
do not want to be tested won't be -- those who decline could still
receive counseling about the dangers of drugs.

Any students whose tests reflected traces of drugs would not be
prosecuted in the courts or kicked out of school, Tillman said, but
they could be removed from the baseball team.

Tillman said he chose baseball as a pilot for the program because its
season is under way.

Mary Montgomery principal, George Romano, said he hopes other schools
will follow his school's lead.

"For once, an athlete won't be glorified for doing this or that,"
Romano said. "If we discover students who are doing drugs, we're not
going to throw them out. We might actually turn some kids', some
future adults' lives around."

Parent Darrell Allen, president of Mary Montgomery's football booster
club, said he would like other sports to participate.

"For a football player, a baseball player or a cheerleader, this could
be their way out of a peer pressure situation," he said. "If they're
at a party and someone offers drugs, they can say, 'I can't because
our squad gets tested, and I don't want to get kicked off the team."