WHERE'S PROBABLE CAUSE IN DRUG TESTING?

If the ACLU has an agenda, it is that of the Founding Fathers, who
fought a revolution to secure the very rights Ben Clinger (Letter,
Nov. 20) would so eagerly relinquish. If that's to be characterized as
progressive, so be it. I actually think it's quite
conservative.

What the ACLU is doing is fighting to preserve one of our fundamental
rights from further government encroachment and circumscription, an
all-too-present danger in this post 9/11 world.

Mr. Clinger claims to have read the Constitution, but he must have
skipped over the Bill of Rights, in particular the Fourth Amendment,
which states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause." Where's the
probable cause, Mr. Clinger, in random drug testing? There is none. It
paints all teachers with the same ignominious brush of suspicion.

I, a proud and drug-free teacher, applaud the ACLU for taking up this
cause, especially after the quislings who make up the HSTA leadership
abdicated their responsibility in this most critical of issues.

Mr. Clinger can surrender his basic liberties if he likes, but as for
me, I stand with Ben Franklin who once wrote, "They that can give up
essential liberty to obtain temporary safety deserve neither liberty
nor safety."

Michael D. Clark

Honolulu