PATRIOTIC AMERICANS SHOULD DEFEND THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS

Your editorial, "Principals build credibility by accepting random tests,"
(The Times-News, Aug. 18) misses the crucial point that random drug testing
of presumably innocent individuals is a repudiation of everything America
stands for.

We are currently engaged in a war against terrorism. A war to defend
"American Values." The Bill of Rights are, for all intents and purposes,
America's Ten Commandments of Freedom -- the bedrock of this nation's value
system.

At this critical time in our history, patriotic Americans have an
obligation to defend their rights -- not surrender them.

WALTER F. WOUK

Cobleskill, N.Y.

(Editor's note: Walter Wouk is the director of the Thomas Paine Project, a
nonprofit organization defending the Bill of Rights.)