STUDENTS ARRESTED IN DRUG STING

BURLINGTON -- Authorities arrested 50 Alamance County high school
students Wednesday on charges of peddling drugs after police officers
posed as students and bought marijuana, cocaine and other drugs.

A basketball player who has signed a letter of intent to play for
UNC-Chapel Hill next year was among those arrested.

Youthful-looking officers, some borrowed from law enforcement agencies
in other counties, enrolled in all six Alamance County high schools
and the Sellars-Gunn Education Center in August. They spent five
months posing as students and bought marijuana and other drugs from
students in school classrooms, hallways and restrooms, as well as off
campus.

"Some transactions were conducted in the classroom with the teacher's
back to the class," said Sheriff Terry Johnson, who had undercover
officers in three high schools. The Burlington and Graham police
departments also placed officers in schools.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Safe Schools, began last spring
after Alamance-Burlington School System Superintendent James Merrill
sought help from local authorities. Since 2000, parents, teachers and
principals had shown increasing concern about drug and alcohol use at
the high schools, school officials said. Officials were also concerned
about an increase in violence.

"It is sad that our schools should be such a reflection of our
community," Merrill said at a hastily-called school board meeting
Wednesday morning.

Undercover officers made drug buys at Eastern Alamance, Williams,
Cummings, Graham and Southern high schools, and at Sellars-Gunn
Education Center. An undercover operation at Western Alamance High
School didn't net any arrests. Though Cummings had the most students
arrested, 19, and Sellars-Gunn the least, three, officials cautioned
the arrest numbers didn't necessarily indicate different levels of
drug use at those schools.

School and law enforcement officials agreed last summer to focus only
on people selling drugs. Principals weren't aware of the investigation
until they were told in a meeting Tuesday evening, said school board
attorney Ann Majestic.

Among those arrested was a star basketball player at Eastern Alamance High
School.

He was charged with two counts each of possession with intent to sell and
deliver marijuana, selling and delivering marijuana and possession of
controlled substances on school grounds. He was released Wednesday on a
$40,000 bond.

The charges stem from two incidents last fall, on Oct. 13 and Nov. 3,
when he sold 12.2 grams and 7.5 grams of marijuana to an undercover
officer, according to sheriff's department records.

Most of the charges against other students involved marijuana sales.
Several students were charged with selling OxyContin, Valium and other
prescription drugs. At least some of those drugs were stolen during
five break-ins at doctor's offices, Johnson said.

News of the arrests spread quickly inside schools and in the
community.

"It's unfortunate that it had to happen," Joyce Montague, parent of a
student at Williams High School, said Wednesday night about the
arrests. "But I hope that it has a positive impact, that it becomes a
positive thing to help our youth realize there are boundaries for
adults, students and children. No one is above the law."

Whitney Robertson, a junior at Williams, hoped the incident would
encourage students to be smarter in their choices and not bring drugs
to school.

"I didn't think it was serious," Robertson said about drug use at her
school. "But I guess it was serious enough for them to get involved in
that (an undercover operation) and have an investigation that deep."

Vickie Bradley, waiting to pick up her twin daughters outside Eastern
Alamance High School, said she was "not surprised" about the arrests.
Her children probably know some of those arrested, she said.

"I know they'll know the kids," Bradley said.

Cindy and Rex Waters, who are the parents of four students at Williams
and co-presidents of the school's PTA, used the incident to talk to
their kids and stress the importance of making good decisions. Cindy
Waters said she would like for the arrests to create positive pressure
for students to make wise decisions.

"You make decisions every day and all your decisions have
consequences; they may open doors or close doors," Rex Waters said.

The arrests began Wednesday morning.

During a 6 a.m. meeting, the principals at each of the schools were
told which students were sought. When the students arrived, principals
ushered those sought by police out of class and gathered them so
officers could arrest them.

School officials called parents and told them to come to the county
jail or the police departments in Burlington or Graham. There, parents
had the opportunity to bail their children out and meet with school
officials, who told them their children had been suspended.

All those arrested face, at minimum, a long-term suspension -- more
than 10 days out of school, officials said. Some students may be
offered "modified educational alternatives" provided they and their
parents or guardians participate in drug counseling programs.

Students who have a record of drug offenses or already receive
alternative education because of prior suspensions will face long-term
suspensions without education alternatives. Those students may also be
recommended for expulsion, a decision only the school board can make.

The students' first court appearances are scheduled for this
morning.

Staff writers Ellica Church and Amy Wolfford contributed to this
report.