DRUG TESTS ARE URGED FOR SCHOOLS IN GILBERT

Gilbert School Superintendent Walter Delecki pushed Friday for random drug
testing in his district, saying steroids could be behind the off-campus
violence of a White supremacist gang called the Devil Dogs.

"My major issue is the violence," Delecki said. "You flip on the TV, and
there's the Wide World of Wrestling. What do we expect kids to think is
normal anymore?"

Delecki wants the random testing in the district's three high schools to
screen for steroids and other drugs, but doesn't know yet whether he will
recommend it only for athletes or for all students.

The recommendation, which requires School Board approval, would make
Gilbert's only the second district in the Valley to have random drug
testing. The Paradise Valley School District has a policy that affects only
student athletes and has been in effect since 1991.

Delecki said he has been troubled since reports of violence began emerging
last year from the Devil Dogs gang, which started at Gilbert's Highland High
School. Two reputed members already have been sentenced in a beating attack
last March on two unsuspecting Taco Bell patrons.

The superintendent's own son, Jacob, was named in a police report as having
driven some of the gang members to the Taco Bell on the night of the attack.
Jacob Delecki was not charged in the case, but the report did mention the
name of the television show he watched with gang members earlier that night:
Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Walter Delecki has said his son is a law-abiding youth whose only offense is
being kind to the assailants.

The superintendent's proposal came just hours before police released a
series of photographs seized from the home of a reputed Devil Dog member.
Some showed groups of teens brandishing high-powered weapons, and others
showed them in front of Highland High flashing what police say is the gang's
"White power" hand signal.

Recent gang activities are also prompting the Gilbert superintendent to
forbid district employees from voluntarily testifying in court as
representatives of the schools.

The limitation is a direct result of some embarrassing testimony in November
by Highland High Athletic Director Kevin Fagan. Fagan took the witness stand
without Delecki's knowledge to vouch for the character of gang member Glenn
Cribbin.

Fagan characterized Cribbin, a former state wrestling champion, as a "good
student."

Cribbin, 19, pleaded guilty to joining seven other Devil Dogs in the Taco
Bell attack, which left a victim bloodied and bruised. Cribbin was sentenced
to a year in jail.

Delecki said he recently told all school employees that they are forbidden
from testifying unless subpoenaed.

Besides Cribbin, two other current and former Gilbert School District
students are in jail; several others have pleaded guilty and are awaiting
sentencing.

Delecki said there is only so much schools can do to control students'
behavior, and they can't legally punish those who commit crimes who use
illegal drugs on their own time off campus.

Mesquite High School student Barry Nutter, 17, told police last March that
"about 50" Gilbert students he knows are taking steroids costing "$25 a
shot."

Nutter, who is serving six months in jail in connection with two assaults,
was asked by police if the Devil Dogs were against Blacks and Hispanics.

"Pretty much. The whole school is," Nutter told police. "I just hate 'em. I
hate the way they dress and talk."