PARTIES IN LOCKNEY LAWSUIT ASK JUDGE FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Both sides of a lawsuit involving drug testing 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 on Monday, the
school district claims that a prevalent drug problem in Lockney prompted
the policy.

In a sworn statement, Supt. 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 y4 xha wf fflt fajrly
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's 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," the
court documents said.