HOUSE PAGES DISMISSED OVER MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON - Eleven teen-age House pages have been dismissed from the
program after at least one of them brought marijuana to their Capitol Hill
dormitory, congressional sources said Wednesday.

None of those involved were identified.

The incident, first reported Wednesday by the online version of the Capitol
Hill newspaper Roll Call, occurred after a female page who has family in
the Washington, D.C., invited fellow pages to the residence, where
marijuana was used and the teen-agers were unsupervised.

That page later brought drugs to the dormitory and was turned in to
authorities by someone else, said the sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity. It was unclear if any other disciplinary action would be taken.

"We don't comment on personnel matters," said John Feehery, spokesman for
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

The House normally has 72 pages, all 16 to 18 years old, serving as
messengers and performing other duties when not attending education
programs. They are appointed by House members of both parties from their
home districts and must sign a code of conduct.

Scandal has rocked the program periodically, most seriously in the early
1980s when former Reps. Gerry Studds, D-Mass, and Daniel Crane, R-Ill.,
were censured for sexual misconduct with pages. In 1996, five pages were
dismissed for underage drinking.