SCOTT COUNTY RESUMES DRUG SEARCHES IN SCHOOLS

GATE CITY - Commonwealth's Attorney Marcus McClung says the fight against
drugs in Scott County schools is about to become more visible - in a
four-legged way.

McClung and officials with the Scott County Sheriff's Department are just
one month removed from having random visits by the department's police dog,
Ajax, (pronounced I-ax) and Officer Terry Sivert at two of the county's
high schools.

"I am pleased to report that those searches at Gate City and Rye Cove high
schools in December did not produce any discovery of drugs," McClung said.

"We stated our intentions to try and restart these types of visits by the
police dog to (Sheriff Jerry Broadwater) and to officials at the school
board office, and both were in favor of the searches.

"I think parents need to keep in mind that our schools are still a safe
place to send our kids. But we also realize that our school system is like
any other system in this region or the country - that they are not immune
from problems with drugs."

McClung said the amount of drug cases being tried in Scott County Juvenile
and Domestic Relations Court involving school-age children has remained
steady since he has been in office.

There was no pressing matter that instigated the return of the drug
searches, but reports that McClung had been receiving from school
administrators on certain incidents made him decide to request the searches
begin again.

"A lot of kids are taking prescription drugs, maybe from their parents or
grandparents or another family member, and taking them to school and
selling them," he said.

"In other cases, the kids think they look cool if they've got a pill and
they show it off at school, but they don't realize how serious and
dangerous a matter this is.

"We had one instance where a student brought a blood thinner medication to
school and tried to sell it. The truth of the matter was he didn't even
know what the drug was. If a young child had taken that drug, the results
would have probably been deadly."

McClung hopes the presence of a uniformed officer and his police dog inside
the schools will send a message.

"One thing is the kids will hopefully realize that 'I can't bring the stuff
to school,"' he said.

"It is something that we can do as maybe one part of a deterrent. Our goal
is to try to get into the schools on a monthly basis, but the visits will
be random, and we could decide to visit a particular school on more than
one occasion.

"We certainly want to be as less intrusive as possible, so we don't want to
mess up the daily routine of the school day, but the school administrators
have agreed to work with us to make sure that doesn't happen."

Sivert noted that the potential for Officer Ajax to "hit" on something that
could be in a locker may not be an actual container or bag of drugs.

"If a person, for instance, has been around someone who has been smoking
marijuana, and the scent is still on a ball cap or a jacket they were
wearing, (Ajax) is going to alert me," said Sivert.

"In that situation, we will talk to the student and ask questions. It may
lead to another case or an arrest, so we have to check. I just hope it
sends the message to the kids that even though they may not be involved in
drugs, if they are hanging around people who do, they are putting
themselves at risk."

McClung also touched on the fact that the visits will not fall into a
regular pattern in the system, which will include trips to intermediate and
elementary schools as well as high schools.

"We also know that if we do (the drug searches) on certain days, kids will
catch on. They're smart, and they will eventually try to figure out the
when and where of things," he noted. "We will mix things up to keep the
routines fresh, and sometimes, not predictable."

With Scott County only having one police dog on duty, McClung noted that
the Bristol, Va., Police Department has agreed to help in the searches if
opportunities arise.