TWO WEEKS' NOTICE FOR A PILOT TO GET A DRUG TEST?

I read with interest the recent series in The Times-Picayune regarding the
river pilots' associations and their self-perpetuating kingdom on the river.

I was hopeful the public would finally rise up and demand greater scrutiny
and fiscal accountability and finally put an end to what has become a local
disgrace and a national joke.

However, as the time since the series' publication grows, I find the issue
is moving back into the shadows, exactly where it has lived for years and
exactly where I would guess the pilots would like it to stay.

I wonder how many readers noticed in the article Dec. 20, "Four pilots
return to river," exactly how the recent "extraordinary drug sweep" was
carried out?

I'm sure it was intended to provide evidence of responsible
self-regulation, evidence that the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots
Association can police itself without outside scrutiny.

But I find little comfort or reassurance in a "drug sweep" in which the
participants are given two weeks' advance notice!

No one could conclude anything from this article except that NOBRA feels
pretty comfortable in the stupidity of the citizens of New Orleans.

Let's show them they are mistaken and not let this issue die.

James Theis, New Orleans