SIXTH-GRADER FACES SUSPENSION OVER REFUSAL TO TAKE DRUG TEST

LOCKNEY - Larry Tannahill has spent his life working the land in this rural
West Texas area where livestock and agriculture dominate the economy. He
says his roots are deep and so are his convictions.

That's why, Tannahill says, he won't allow the Lockney Independent School
District to give his 12-year-old son, Brady, the mandatory drug tests that
his 399 schoolmates in grades six through 12, and all teachers, took Thursday.

Brady faces the same punishment as someone who had a positive test: a
21-day suspension from extracurricular activities, at least three days'
in-school suspension and three sessions of substance abuse counseling. The
sixth-grader also will be required to take a monthly drug test for a year.
Each time he refuses, he will be considered a repeat offender, and the
punishment gets more strict.

"My son is an A and B student," Tannahill said, standing outside the rural
Lutheran church he attends, amid miles of farm land stretching as far as
the eye can see. "He's never been in trouble, and right now they are saying
he's guilty.

"I know everybody is wanting the best for their children, and I want the
best for mine. But I also feel like we are being violated and dictated to.
I've had a gut full of it, and I'm going to make a stand."

School Superintendent Raymond Lusk said the school has no choice but to
enforce its rules. The Tannahills would have 72 hours to request a hearing
with school administrators, he said, before any suspension is imposed.

"If the school determines this is what we think we need to do to provide an
optimum education, then that is what we need to do," he said.

Lusk said the community supports the policy, which had been discussed since
1997 when 13 people in the town of 2,243 were indicted for distributing and
using cocaine and marijuana. He said the school board decided after a
series of community meetings to require tests of everyone because it seemed
unfair to single out students enrolled in extracurricular activities.

Lockney, about an hour's drive northeast of Lubbock, is the second school
in the area to implement a mandatory drug testing policy. School officials
in Sundown, about 75 miles to the southwest, say their policy is effective
and supported in the community.

Graham Boyd, an American Civil Liberties Union national drug policy project
attorney, also said he knows of no other school districts in the nation
that require across-the-board drug testing.