LAWSUIT ABOUT ALLEGED ILLEGAL SEARCH OF BOTETOURT 4TH-GRADER WILL PROCEED

The case of a Botetourt County elementary school student whose bag may
have been illegally searched for a gun can go forward, a federal judge
ruled Tuesday.

Senior U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser wrote in an opinion that
Meghan Dickson, who was a fourth-grader when her bag was searched and
she was questioned by school officials and a deputy sheriff in
November and December 2001, may have a claim partly because the U.S.
Supreme Court has ruled that students should be protected by the
Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure even in school.

Dickson had not taken a gun to Colonial Elementary, in Blue
Ridge.

Dickson and her mother, Jennifer Wofford, filed a lawsuit in June with
that claim among others against principal Rita Evans; assistant
principal Erika Rosa; the Botetourt County School Board; and Jason
Markham, a deputy with the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office.

But Kiser dismissed several other claims made by Dickson and Wofford
against the defendants. Kiser wrote that Wofford's due process rights
as a parent were not violated. He also dismissed a Sixth Amendment
claim that Dickson was questioned without having an attorney present.

Kiser also found that the school officials were not negligent in not
contacting Wofford before Dickson was questioned by police.