K-9 UNITS SEARCH FM SCHOOLS; NO DRUGS FOUND

K-9 units searched the Fort Madison High and Fort Madison Middle
School for drugs on Wednesday.

According to Christine Niggemeyer, the liaison coordinator between
the Iowa State Penitentiary, the Fort Madison Police Department and
the Fort Madison school system, the dogs spent a half hour in the
morning at the high school before moving on to the middle school.

Search teams used the dogs to sniff lockers and the trunks of cars in
the parking lots.

However, no drugs were found according to Niggemeyer. Rather, the
dogs had several "hits," which she said indicated that drugs had been
present recently.

Niggemeyer said that usually there is one search per year, but that
she hopes to increase that number with the continued support of the
ISP and the school system.

She said that the walk-throughs, which occur at random and are kept
secret until the day of, are a good deterrent