PRESCRIPTION DRUG INCIDENT COULD BE FACTOR IN CHIEF'S JOB

NATCHEZ - Interim Fire Chief Paul Johnson's failure of two drug tests
several years ago could be considered by a commission when it reviews
candidates for the permanent fire chief's position.

That is according to George Robinson, chairman of the Civil Service
Commission, which will review the applications later this year.

However, it would only be one factor. "We would look at their total
records. As to whether it would play into that decision, there's a
possibility it might," Robinson said.

In September 1996, the Natchez Board of Aldermen suspended Johnson for a
year and imposed nine other conditions after a drug test revealed barbiturates.

In that case, said Johnson, he asked a friend for headache medicine and was
given the barbiturate instead.

"It was not an illegal substance, but I took it illegally," Johnson said.
"I didn't think anything of it. When I tested positive, that's when I found
out.

"It's not a drug people use to get high. You'd have to take a handful to do
that. It was a mistake, not intentional," Johnson added. People that know
him, he said, know the facts.

Johnson once failed a drug test before that incident, but in that case a
doctor had prescribed the medication to Johnson for high blood pressure.

For his part, Robinson said he only heard about the failed drug tests
"through the grapevine," since the commission never reviewed the cases.

That is because Johnson did not appeal the Board of Aldermen's action to
the commission, Robinson said.