LOCKNEY ISD DRUG-TEST SUIT GOES TO JUDGE

LUBBOCK - Both sides of a lawsuit involving drug tests of students in
Lockney have asked U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings of Lubbock to rule on
the case without a jury.

Larry Tannahill, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union,
sued the Lockney Independent School District for implementing a mandatory
drug-testing policy in February for students in grades 7-12.

Tannahill's son, now a seventh-grader, is the only student who was not
allowed by his parents to be tested.

In documents filed Friday and made available to the public Monday, the
school district claims that a prevalent drug problem in Lockney prompted
the policy.

In a sworn statement, school district Superintendent Raymond Lusk said:
"There were enough rumors, enough talk and enough input and even enough
kids being detained by police and these kind of things that it was a
concern to us, that we felt fairly certain that there was a serious drug
problem."

The school district claims that the policy acts as a deterrent to drug use,
helps ensure the health and safety of the students, and helps promote
education.

Tannahill and the ACLU disagree, however. Tannahill claims that the
drug-testing policy violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans
against unreasonable searches and seizures.

It is indicated in the court documents that Lockney has a lower rate of
drug use than most places in Texas or the nation.

"Before depriving an entire group of the presumption of innocence, some
evidence should at least point to a drug problem within the group," court
documents filed by the plaintiffs said.