JURY QUESTIONS DRUG-SCREENING SELECTION

By BOBBY ARDOIN Special to The Advocate OPELOUSAS -- Some St. Landry Parish
Police jurors want to know more about how a company the parish hired to
test parish employees for drugs and alcohol is selecting the employees it
screens.

"It seems like we're getting the same people tested over and over. Why have
(testing), if it's not being done all around? That's what is happening now.
Some are tested over and over, while some of our employees haven't been
called yet," said Parish Manager Ralph Nezat, who is also a police juror.

The Police Jury adopted a random drug- and alcohol-testing policy in 1998.

Personnel Committee members voted Tuesday to have representatives from Drug
Testing Consortium of Eunice appear at a committee meeting next month to
explain how workers are chosen for screening procedures.

Nezat said he and former Juror Allen Guillory were tested several times,
but none of the 11 other jurors has been tested since the policy was adopted.

Jurors had agreed to be tested along with the employees.

Nezat said he and Guillory, defeated in a bid for re-election, were the
only two jurors who signed up to be tested.

"Since we are the only ones who gave our Social Security numbers, we were
the only (jurors) being called," he said.

Frank said the Police Jury's substance-testing procedure is performed
monthly with those workers selected for testing identified by Social
Security numbers.

When testing is scheduled to be performed on a Monday, Treasurer Karen
Frank said Drug Testing Consortium representatives notify her on the Friday
afternoon prior to the tests.

At that time, the employees scheduled for the Monday testing are identified
by their Social Security numbers, Frank said.

Frank said she informs the workers' supervisors at 7 a.m. Monday who is
scheduled for testing.

It is up to the supervisors to notify the employees selected, she said.

Nezat said the early-morning testing hampers the job performances of the
employees chosen.

"By seven o'clock, our people are out there already in the field, and by
the time they get here an hour or two later and the testing is over, you've
pretty much killed a day," Nezat said.

Juror Pat Miller asked committee chairman Gary Courville to obtain a list
of employees who have already been tested, but Courville said that might be
illegal.

Miller said Nezat should choose the workers to be tested and keep a record
of those chosen.

Frank said that would defeat the purpose behind random screening.

She said employees who test positive for drugs or alcohol twice during a
five-year period are automatically fired.

Nezat said that happened last week when a heavy equipment operator was
terminated after he tested positive for cocaine.

Miller said jurors should have been notified about the man's termination
and the matter considered by the Personnel Committee.

Nezat said that wasn't necessary because the drug-testing policy indicates
clearly what happens to employees who test positive a second time.

"The man left (the Police Jury) on good terms. He really didn't have any
animosity toward me over this, although he regretted losing the job," Nezat
said.