OPINION - THE REGISTER'S READERS SAY

DRUG TESTS: PRESUMED GUILTY

0ur Republican governor and his Legislature have seen fit to strip us of
the legal right of "presumed innocence." In their headlong rush to pass new
and tough anti-drug legislation, they have passed a law that will require
each working person to be forced to prove that we are not guilty.

We now will have the right to be presumed guilty until proven innocent."

- -- Dennis R. Eldridge, 1123 Val Kay Ct., Hampton.

I am a nurse, and personally have no problem with being tested at anytime.
I'm sure many other public servants feel the same way, as this ensures we
care for our clients with clear minds and physical competence.

My concern is that our legislators exempted themselves and administrators
from random testing. The majority of these representatives all had jobs in
the work force prior to election, and are no better than the rest of us
"common folk." We elected them to represent us, and as representatives they
should be expected to abide by the same laws and regulations that we follow.

I know I wondered what they were all on when they spent so much time and
effort discussing the official state language, and so little time and
effort on what the state can do to help the schools.

- -- Peg Froehle, 2000 E. King Ave., Des Moines.

What's good for the goose ...

I listened as the news announcer described the new employer drug-testing
legislation. It all sounded fairly reasonable, until the last sentence of
the report. That is when the announcer said that the new law will apply to
everyone in Iowa, except government employees.

Why would the agencies that make and enforce the rules all citizens have to
live by be exempt from those very rules? Government employees turn what the
law says into what the law means every day to you and me. Should not the
people who are doing that have to live with the result?

- -- David Havenridge, 2313 Sixth St. S.W., Altoona.