TO PRESERVE LIBERTY, RIGHTS MUST APPLY TO YOUNG, TOO

To the editor:

For us to come to a justifiable opinion in the case of mandatory drug
testing of students, it would seem to me we must resolve two questions.
First, are minors protected under the Constitution, and second, are these
policies a violation of that Constitution?

The words used in the Bill of Rights to describe those protected are always
"the people" or "person." Article I, "...the right of the people..."
Article II, "No person shall..." The Founders never used phrases so often
used today to infer that these rights apply only to certain people, such as
"law-abiding, responsible, adult citizens." Are students not persons or
people? Are they not citizens? In this age of liberal "civil rights," don't
rulings like these seem perverse? Even allowing that they are minors, are
they not the legal charges of their parents?

Article III states, "The right of the people to be secure in their
persons...against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be
violated...but upon probable cause..." If students are "people," the
policies and court rulings are clearly in violation of the Constitution.

These young people are our future. If we are to preserve the principles of
liberty, we must apply them equally and teach our children by example.

If our administrators and courts will not uphold our rights, we must.

If I had children, to whom policies like these would apply, they would not
participate.

How long do you think these policies would remain if only half the kids
refused to participate?

The issue of drug use is cultural. We must not sacrifice our rights. We
need only restore our moral character.

Thomas Ransom

Boonville, Ind.

FOURTH AMENDMENT PROTECTS STUDENTS

To the editor:

I believe that drug testing our students is a severe violation of their
Constitutional rights. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
states: "The right of the people to be secure in their person's, houses,
papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Forcible seizure of urine, blood, hair follicle or saliva for the sole
purpose of testing for any legal or illegal drug is in complete violation
of everyone's Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment states that
persons or things to be seized shall be accompanied by a warrant. Urine,
blood, and hair are things and are a part of our person.

If a student is suspected of being under the influence of drugs while at
school or at a school function, that would constitute as probable cause.
Without probable cause, that is a violation of the rights of all Americans.

We, as Americans, cannot keep allowing our elected officials and government
to strip us of our rights under the U.S. Constitution. If we, as free
Americans, keep allowing our elected officials to take our Constitutional
rights away from us, we will eventually end up living under the same
tyranny that our ancestors had to deal with under the rule of England in
the 1700s.

Jeffrey A. Holstlaw

Evansville