BUTLER CO. CANDIDATE CALLS FOR DRUG TESTS

HAMILTON -- Robin Piper, the Republican candidate for Butler County
prosecutor who admitted using illegal drugs in his youth, is
advocating random testing for prosecutor's office employees.

He said Tuesday he thinks the public deserves assurances that all
public employees are drug-free.

"You see a guy in a trench hooking up gas lines, you want to know he
is a safe person to be doing that," Mr. Piper said.

The same is true for white-collar public employees such as
prosecutors, he said.

"It just gives the taxpayers a little more confidence in what we're
doing and what we're about," he said. "I would be willing to be the
first in line for drug tests to let my employees know they have a
leader who's willing to do what he's asking them to do."

He called on Prosecutor Dan Gattermeyer, a Democrat, to immediately
adopt a drug-testing program for his employees.

Mr. Gattermeyer blasted the idea and said instituting such a program
would be extremely insulting to his staff.

"Piper's campaign has been one of vicious personal attacks, and for
him to affront my employees in this way is a continuation of that
policy," he said.

Mr. Gattermeyer was appointed prosecutor last week. He replaced John
F. Holcomb, who was running for re-election when he died of a heart
attack July 22. Mr. Gattermeyer will take Mr. Holcomb's place on the
Nov. 7 ballot in the prosecutor's race.

He said he has an excellent staff that has stood strong while grieving
Mr. Holcomb's death.

"To have him say we need drug tests is not fair to my employees," Mr.
Gattermeyer said. "My staff doesn't deserve that, and I'm not going to
stand for that."

Mr. Piper said his position on drug testing for prosecutor's office
employees has no connection to the criticism he received from his
political opponents for his past drug use.

Earlier this year, Mr. Holcomb revealed that Mr. Piper had been
convicted of a minor misdemeanor offense in 1981 for possession of
marijuana. Mr. Piper then publicly admitted he had used drugs
extensively in his youth.

"Those who know me and who have watched me in court know that I earned
my redemption a long, long time ago," he said.

Mr. Piper criticized Mr. Gattermeyer's recent drug-education radio ads
that are funded with money seized from drug offenders.

Mr. Piper said the ads mention Mr. Gattermeyer's name and are thinly
disguised political campaign promotions. "I really think it's playing
politics with public money," Mr. Piper said.

Mr. Gattermeyer said there's nothing political about the
ads.

The ads promote a pamphlet issued by the prosecutor's office that
instructs parents how to communicate with their children about the
dangers of drugs.

Mr. Holcomb, who paid for the ads with the drug-seizure money, had
spoken in the ads. After his death, the ads were redone with Mr.
Gattermeyer's voice.