SCHOOL FIRES CUSTODIAN WHO PLEADED GUILTY IN '98

BEARDEN -- The Bearden School District recently dismissed a convicted drug
user from its employment, ending an apparent two-year violation of state
law.

Ouachita County Sheriff Ben Garner said Friday that school officials fired
custodian John Wayne Berry, 44, after Garner told them of the district's
potential liability.

Garner said Berry pleaded guilty Feb. 23, 1998, to a reduced charge of
conspiracy to deliver cocaine and received five years' probation. He was
allowed to remain as a school employee in Bearden, which is a small town
northeast of Camden in south Arkansas.

However, the sheriff said, Berry repeatedly violated terms of his probation,
including testing positive for cocaine use, during the ensuing months.

As a result, he said, he felt an obligation to inform school Superintendent
Jim Garrett and the five members of the Bearden School Board a few weeks ago
of the potential problem of keeping Berry on staff.

"I was concerned about him being around the children," Garner said.

The sheriff said school officials knew of Berry's conviction but ignored it.

"The school, at the time, took the position that they would allow him to
continue to work," he said, explaining that officials there described Berry
as "a good worker, loyal."

Arkansas law states that "no person shall be eligible for employment by a
local school district ... if that person has pleaded guilty or nolo
contendere to or has been found guilty of any of the following offenses:
..."

"The manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to manufacture or
deliver any controlled substance ... [or] criminal attempt, criminal
solicitation, or criminal conspiracy ... to commit any of the offenses
listed in this subsection."

The law does not provide a penalty clause, however.

Garrett declined to comment on the apparent violation of law or about
Berry's retention and dismissal.

He did, however, confirm that Berry was employed from February 1998 until
recently.

"While he was working for us, he was a fine young man," Garrett said of
Berry. None of the five School Board members could be reached for comment
Friday at their homes.

Someone claiming to be a parent in the district mailed a letter to the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette expressing concern about Berry's presence on
campus. "The possible dangers the students of Bearden have experienced or to
which they have been exposed as well as the potential impact are
incalculable," the writer stated.

Meanwhile, state officials began the process earlier this year to send Berry
to prison. On Sept. 12, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney R. Steve Laney of Camden
filed a petition to revoke his probation, stating that Berry tested positive
for cocaine use Sept. 11, 1998, on April 9, 1999, and on Oct. 7, 1999; and
tested positive for cocaine and marijuana Sept. 22, 1999.

In addition, the court record stated, Berry failed to pay court costs of $50
per month, owed probation fees of $285, and had not performed community
service that had been ordered by the court.

Laney said Friday that a bench warrant was issued last month for Berry's
arrest, adding, "He failed to appear in court Nov. 27 on a hearing for
revocation." And, he said, "To my knowledge, he has not been picked up."