LOOK AT THE RECORD OF DOG SEARCHES

Our company provides canine contraband detection services to schools in the
Bucks County area. I would like to applaud the Courier Times' approach to
this story and make a few comments in support of Neshaminy Superintendent
Gary Bowman.

Though this program may seem new in Pennsylvania, public- and
private-sector schools have been using private canine detection services
since the late 1970s, with measured success. We now provide the same
service to nearly 1,500 public school districts in 18 states.

This is not a program intended to "label" students, to "catch" anyone, or
to "clamp down" on anything other than drug trafficking in our schools.
What we offer students is an opportunity to participate in a user-friendly
program to help eliminate drugs, alcohol and weapons, and some of the
associated peer pressures from their campuses. During the 1999-2000 school
year, Interquest canines found 362 weapons and 4,874 instances of illicit
drugs in schools.

Though Mr. Bowman may be under fire for being proactive and instituting
such a program, I wonder if everyone would look back over the last few
years and recall from our national headlines the names and places of the
schools that weren't.

DEBBIE FARMER

Houston