POLICE SEARCH LORAIN SCHOOLS

LORAIN -- Police conducted drug searches at both Lorain Admiral King and
Southview high schools yesterday and found small amounts of marijuana in two
lockers at Admiral King.

Small amounts of marijuana were found in the lockers of two Admiral King
students and a trace amount was detected in another student's car. Nothing
was found in the lockers at Southview, according to schools spokesman Dean
Schnurr.

School officials suspended the Admiral King students for 10 days and will
recommend expulsion, Schnurr said. The students may also face a criminal
charge from Lorain police.

Police Lt. Jim Rohner said yesterday he was not familiar with the results of
the search or if any criminal charges were filed.

School officials identified the owner of the vehicle with a trace amount of
marijuana and are still investigating that case. Six drug-sniffing dogs,
three at each school, searched the lockers and parking lot at Admiral King
and lockers at Southview.

''We like to do both schools at the same time,'' Schnurr said.

This prevents students at one school from calling friends at the other
school to warn of the drug search. The searches were completed in
approximately two hours. Six dogs were used because school officials didn't
want the searches to take all day, Schnurr said.

Results of the search show drugs are not as problematic in the high schools
as the public may perceive, Schnurr said.

''Due to high profile-incidents, the perception is that Lorain City Schools
has more of a problem than exists,'' Schnurr said. ''Surprise searches like
these which yield almost no offenses go a long way to show we have good kids
at Lorain City Schools.''

Rohner said since the Lorain Police Department does not have its own
drug-searching dogs, the school resource office brought them in from other
areas. Two dogs were brought in from the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, and
one each from the Office of Veterans Affairs, as well as Amherst, Oberlin
and Richland police departments, Schurr said.

Schnurr said the dogs were brought in at no cost to the school district
because the search provided training for the officers from the respective
departments.