PROTECTION OVER PRIVACY

For a reader from Santa Cruz, Calif., to respond to a letter from Hartford,
Conn., in a local newspaper in the middle of the Bible Belt is indeed a
modern-day miracle. I do hope you can find the space to continue this
dialogue as I have a rebuttal to his comments.

No, Mr. Lane, I am not a fascist. I am simply a grandmother who happens to
love her grandchildren (and yes, your children as well) more than my
privacy. And I do not believe that our privacy rights were meant to shield
criminal behavior. And the last I knew, using and selling illegal,
mind-altering drugs fell into the category of crime. Why is a drug test more
an infringement on the student's privacy than a school nurse checking for
head lice, pink eye, scoliosis and any number of contagions? We all know
that peer pressure is the greatest of all contagions and certainly we know
how insidious addiction is. Is it the "sin" thing again? How sinful of us to
care more about our embarrassment and pride than our children.