MAN SAYS SON SUSPENDED FROM LAWRENCE COUNTY FOR NOT JOINING DRUG STING

MOULTON -- The father of a Lawrence County High School student said the
school's principal suspended his son because he refused to participate in a
Drug Task Force sting.

Officials are mum about the issue because the student is a 17-year-old
juvenile. Principal Ricky Nichols did say that it is "a very good
possibility" that he found what he thinks is marijuana in a student's vehicle.

Jim McAbee, chief of the Lawrence County Drug Task Force, said his agents
questioned students at the school last week.

He said the questioning is in connection with an ongoing operation at the
school.

Dwaine Loosier, the parent who is making the accusation, said school system
administrators assigned his son to the system's alternative school Friday
morning.

"The principal said someone had written a statement that said my son was
involved in drug activity," he said. "He never showed us the statement."
Loosier said Nichols claims to have found a marijuana seed in his son's
vehicle.

Law enforcement officers have not sent the seed to the state's forensic
laboratory, but school administrators can act without test results if they
suspect a substance is an illegal drug.

Loosier said Nichols is retaliating against his son for defying a ban on
rebel-flag clothing items.

The drug operation that McAbeereferred to began in March, when a Drug Task
Force agent posed as a student for six weeks at Lawrence County High
School. The operation culminated in the arrests of four students. Three of
the arrests resulted in illegal substance charges; the other was for
possessing fake identification.

Loosier's son, Jason Loosier, said a female student was caught selling
pills recently.