DRUG FIGHT HITS CAMPUS IN OAKHURST

OAKHURST - Bringing narcotics or alcohol onto the Yosemite High School
campus during the school year will be hazardous to more than the students'
health.

Classes begin Tuesday, after a two-week delay caused by construction projects.

For the first time, a full-time uniformed Madera County sheriff's deputy
will be on the 95-acre mountain campus that is home to about 1,300 students.
There will be random locker, backpack and classroom sweeps by drug-sniffing
dogs and undercover officers to ferret out student drug dealers.

"It's going to nip a lot of problems in the bud," Judy Luthy, parent of two
Yosemite students, said during student orientation Thursday.

The yearlong drug-suppression program on the Oakhurst campus is financed by
a $94,500 grant from the State Office of Criminal Justice Planning. Madera
County Sheriff John Anderson applied for the grant with school
administrators' approval.

In addition to a full-time deputy, county probation, mental health and Child
Protective Services workers will provide services as needed.

Sheriff's Deputy Roy Broomfield, a 16-year veteran of Madera County
Sheriff's Department, is no stranger on the Yosemite Joint Union High School
campus. For the past three years, Broomfield has spent more than seven hours
each week teaching classes on criminal justice.

The state grant also provides money for on-campus undercover drug buys and
for off-campus visits to the homes of students identified as "at risk." And
at least one underage alcohol sting purchase will be made at a local store,
Broomfield said.

The project classifies an at-risk student as anyone who is arrested for
possessing drugs, on probation, has diagnosed learning deficiencies, is a
runaway, has gang associates or has six unexcused absences.

Students tempted to slip out behind the school bus barns and light up
cigarettes will be sent to six tobacco-awareness and diversion programs.

"We want to try to stay ahead of things," Broomfield said. "We're in a
recreational area, and the kids need some guidance on what to do and where
to go."

But Broomfield, on-campus counselors and parents agreed Thursday that their
intent isn't to fill Madera County Juvenile Hall.

Locking anyone up will be a last resort, Broomfield said.

The exception will be when Broomfield takes students on two scheduled Scared
Straight tours of a real prison.

School board President Dave Hartesveldt has a son attending Yosemite High
School. He applauded the total program to deal with drugs on campus and in
the mountain communities including Oakhurst, Bass Lake, Ahwahnee and North
Fork, where students live.

"I'm under no illusions," Hartesveldt said. "We do have drugs on campus."

School district spokeswoman Earlene Ward said having Broomfield on campus in
uniform will give the students a positive image of law enforcement: "While
we don't have any significant problem, we want to keep it that way."

#25013