GIRL'S PRINCIPLES FORFEIT PLAY

OAKRIDGE -- The Oregon Court of Appeals will hear arguments Monday in the
case of a teen who is barred from playing competitive sports because she
opposes Oakridge High School's mandatory drug-testing program for student
athletes.

Ginelle Weber, 17, showed great athletic promise her freshman year, making
it to state competitions in both track and basketball. But Weber has been
sidelined for two years because of her contention that the school has no
right to subject her to a drug test unless it has reason to suspect she may
be using drugs or alcohol.

Sticking to her guns is proving rougher than any challenge she could have
faced on the playing field.

"Before all this happened, people knew I was a good athlete," Weber said.
"People cared about me; my coaches cared about me. So did the people in my
community. Now it's like having a life crisis when you're 16. Everything I
had fell apart. They don't even call me an athlete anymore. The newspaper
used to write good articles about me. Now people are telling me I'm wasting
tax dollars."

Oakridge is one of several Oregon school districts participating in a $3.6
million Oregon Health & Science University study investigating whether
random drug testing of student athletes is a deterrent to drug and alcohol
use. Some of the schools are test sites; others are control sites. Oakridge
is a test site.

The study's guidelines specify that students at test sites who don't sign
the drug-testing consent form cannot participate in athletics.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that random drug testing of student
athletes is constitutional. But Weber says, and the ACLU of Oregon agrees,
that the Oregon Constitution gives the state's residents greater protection
from random searches than does the federal Constitution.

The ACLU, on Weber's behalf, sued the Oakridge School District over its
mandatory testing policy. In February 2001, Lane County Circuit Court Judge
Lyle Velure upheld the district's policy, with the stipulation that the
district could not require students to divulge to testers the medications
they were taking unless a test turned up positive.

Velure also turned down Weber's request to allow her to continue playing
sports while the case went through the appeals process.

Weber's brother, a sophomore in the high school, also is not competing in
sports this year, said their mother, Shannon Weber. But he has found some
release in such noncompetitive sports as snowboarding.

"Ginelle has been the one who has suffered," she said. "She's very mature
for her age, but deep down inside she's still 17. And it hurts. It's really
hard to see your child in pain like that."

Interpreting Constitution

On Monday, Tom Christ, a Portland lawyer affiliated with the ACLU, will
answer questions posed by a panel of three appeals court judges.

Christ said the case rests largely on how the judges interpret the state's
constitution. He contends the original drafters sought to protect Oregon
residents from unreasonable searches and did not indicate they would be
amenable to any exceptions.

The school has no reason to suspect that Weber is using drugs, he said, but
it wants to be able to search her nonetheless. If such searches are
considered lawful, "then there is nothing that protects people from
intrusions into their privacy."

The drafters "would be spinning in their graves" at the prospect of random
urinalysis of high school athletes, Christ said.

In a statement, Larry Horton, superintendent of Oakridge School District,
said: "With the support of the community, the school board adopted a drug
testing policy to protect the health and safety of student athletes. The
district is hopeful that the Court of Appeals will affirm the trial court's
decision to uphold the policy."

The court might take three months to a year to issue its decision, Christ said.

On the sidelines Weber, who had been on the honor roll, participated in
many extracurricular activities and was named to Who's Who Among American
High School Students while at the high school, now is being home-schooled.
She takes two physical education courses a term at the high school, which
would make her eligible to play competitive sports if she agreed to the
drug-testing program.

Track practice began a few weeks ago, and watching her former teammates
sprint around the track was incredibly painful, Weber said. So is the fact
that colleges and universities are scouting for possible athletic
scholarship recipients, and she's not on any of their lists.

Still, she has no intention of backing down.

"I can't quit," she said. "Think of all the other little towns where people
are going to say, 'We're going to do whatever we want with your kids
because it's a study.' Somebody's got to say, 'You can't do this. It's not
right.'

"I didn't do anything wrong. I stuck to the rules. I valued and respected
my coaches and my team, so I didn't use drugs or alcohol. Here I am. I'm
the one not getting to play."