DRUG DOGS WALK HALLWAYS OF E-G SCHOOL

17-Year-Old Arrested In What Officials Say Was Random Search

EVELETH -- Lockers and parking lots at the Eveleth-Gilbert High School
were searched with drug-sniffing dogs Thursday in a combined law
enforcement effort to locate illegal contraband.

The search netted a 17-year-old Eveleth-Gilbert student, who was taken
into custody Thursday for allegedly possessing a small amount of
marijuana and dangerous weapons in his vehicle.

Formal charges are pending against the rural Aurora boy after
authorities from Eveleth, Gilbert, Virginia and Hibbing found the
items in their search around 1 p.m., said Eveleth Police Chief Brian
Lillis. The boy's name is not being released because he is a juvenile.

After being taken into custody, the boy was interviewed and later
released to his parents.

The dangerous weapons were a folding knife and a box cutter, he said.
While those items were found, he added, there was no reason to believe
he intended to use them.

Lillis said that it is prohibited by law to have any dangerous weapons
on school grounds. The law has been on the books for quite some time,
he said, but safety is being looked at closer with recent crimes
happening at schools across the country.

The search of the school facilities was part of a joint effort between
Eveleth, Gilbert, Virginia and Hibbing police, he said, which included
three drug-sniffing dogs.

Lillis said students were in class at the time and were not
interrupted. The dogs sniffed out no other contraband inside the
school or elsewhere in the parking lots, he said.

The search was random and unannounced, he said, adding that there was
no particular incident that led up to it. It is a service that is now
available, he added.

"We may very well do it again in the future,'' Lillis said, depending
on the circumstances.

Principal Terry Bizal requested the search, Lillis said, and it has
been in the works for less than one month. "We wanted to cooperate,''
he said, after the school decided it was something they wanted to do.

The case will be submitted to the county attorney's office next week
and include a delinquency petition, Lillis said, which is the
equivalent to a criminal charge for an adult.

The school may sanction the student, as well, he said, but that
decision has yet to be made.

A message left at Bizal's home Thursday night was not returned.