WHY BOTHER?

Regarding David Stevens' March 29 column, it is certainly reassuring
to know there are still a few honorable people, like Larry Tannahill,
who are willing to stand up for basic principles in the face of
overwhelming opposition. And as for those pathetic fools in Lockney
who actually believe they are "protecting" their children by chipping
away at the Bill of Rights, Benjamin Franklin said it best: "They that
can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The government's War on (some) Drugs is nothing more than the modern
equivalent of 17th-century Salem witch-hunts and 1950s McCarthyism.
And the greatest irony in this particular case is that student drug
testing encourages children to use the most dangerous, fast-acting
drugs that metabolize quickly and therefore escape detection. And
testing of adults turns them to legal drugs like alcohol and nicotine,
which are far more dangerous than some of the illegal drugs.

In Arthur Miller's famous McCarthy-era play, "The Crucible," he describes
the atmosphere in Salem, and apparently in Lockney: ". . . (P)olitical
policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical
malevolence."

I was thinking of sending a copy of "The Crucible," and perhaps a copy
of the U.S. Constitution, to Lockney school board members to put in
their school library - but I suppose they would just burn them.

JOHN WALLACE