DRUG DOSE DISABLES FREMONT TEACHER

A respected Fremont high school teacher who suffers from a rare hereditary
disorder is recovering at home after a near-fatal heart problems triggered
when he snorted methamphetamine allegedly purchased from a former student.

The 19-year-old student, a Union City resident, was arrested on suspicion
of possessing and selling methamphetamine. Both the student and the
teacher confessed to police, according to court documents.

Fremont police and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and
continuing to investigate the case and would not comment. The teacher, a
respected six-year veteran at Kennedy High School, has been on sick leave
since the incident last month.

The Mercury News is not naming the teacher because he has not been arrested
or charged with a crime. It's precisely for that reason that the Fremont
Unified School District has not initiated action against the teacher.

The Mercury News also is not naming the former student because the status
of criminal charges against him was unclear Thursday.

A man identifying himself as the teacher's brother answered the door at the
family home Thursday and said no one had any comment. His brother, the man
said, is not physically up to speaking.

Court documents indicate the teacher is not only a former drug user who
missed the rush that "crank" would give him, but a man haunted by him
imminent mortality because of his rare hereditary disorder.

The teacher suffers from Marfan syndrome, according to a letter from his
lawyer, Byron C. Thompson, contained in the court file. Marfan syndrome is
a sometimes fatal disorder of the connective tissue that can produce heart,
skeletal and eye abnormalities.

When he was diagnosed with Marfan at age 27, the teacher was told his life
expectancy was 45 years, Thompson said in the letter. The diagnosis
touched periods of depression.

Thompson called his client a "dedicated teacher" who single-handedly put
together the technology program at the school by soliciting corportate
donations.