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Letter to the Editor of St Pete Times

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MommaDebi:
In  today's paper 7/5, there is a letter to the editor written by a Calvina L Fox, exectutive director of Drug Free America.



The letter was in response to an editorial written concerning the "Erosion of rights" that comes with mandatory drug testing within our schools.



The tone of the letter, as I am sure we can guess, was of the standard Seed/Straight line. "Deadly drug epidemic",""Ask any responsible parent...","this is simply a report card on whether kids are doing drugs"!!



As both a parent and a former inmate of the Seed I was totally dismayed to see this and one other letter written in the same vein. "We shouldn't treat these kids like they have the same rights as adults-they're kids for heavens sakes and should do what they are told"



Doulble AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!
I must have missed the original editorial that got this response, but I am sure it was another instance of the St PeteTimes standing up for the rights of those needing help. I remember all the articles questioning the Seed, bringing attention to abuse alegations,  the safety of the Seed,and the activities  occrung within the Foster homes and the warehouse.


Any clear ideas of what we should do as citizens (adults too) to help this from becoming a new wave of destructive behavior for these kids---perpetrated by "loving parents" again???

There are so many articulate wrtiers here...perhaps we can remind them about what happens emotionally to these kids?

_________________
"...every five years I look back on my life and have a good laugh..."

[ This Message was edited by: MommaDebi on 2002-07-05 19:51 ]

MommaDebi:
FOUND THE LETTER I WAS REFERING TO:

Letters to the Editors
Student testing helps parents to fight drugs

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 5, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your July 1 editorial, An erosion of rights, totally ignores the reality of the deadly drug epidemic that we have today in our country. It also ignores what the majority of America's parents support: the health and safety of their children.

According to a recent poll conducted by CNN, 70 percent of our nation's parents support student drug testing. Have you wondered why? Have you stopped to consider how many parents have lost their children to drugs but might have been able to save them if only they could have been forewarned through student drug testing?

As a drug prevention professional and expert on drug testing, I can tell you it is an excellent tool for detecting and deterring drug use, preventing addiction and for saving lives. The Supreme Court decision supporting student drug testing is a real boost for the young people who want to stay safe and drug-free. Now, when the drug users and pushers at their schools (and they are in every school) try to get them to use drugs, they can say no and still look cool.

You cite an invasion of privacy as a reason not to use this valuable tool. Privacy in public schools? Anyone who has ever taken a shower after physical education class knows there is no privacy in a public school. What we have now is a much better chance that our kids will graduate from school safe and drug-free, and that is a great thing!

The tone of your editorial indicates that you think there is something un-American about random searches, even when it is for the health and well-being of the public. I suppose you never fly because of these deep-seated feelings?

Why is there any question about this issue? Ask any responsible parent if he or she wants their children to use drugs. Ask those same parents if they would want to know if their child was doing drugs so they could find help for the child. This is simply a report card on whether kids are doing drugs. Parents want all the help they can get in the fight against drugs.

This decision by the Supreme Court is great for everyone, except, of course, for the drug dealers. With student drug testing, parents can now send their kids to safe schools where the emphasis will be on learning, not on peer pressure and drug use. Students will enjoy a safer environment where they can learn. It is my hope that parents and teachers in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will encourage their school districts to tap into the federal funds available through the No Child Left Behind Act and implement student drug testing in all of our local schools.
-- Calvina L. Fay, executive director, Drug Free America Foundation Inc., St. Petersburg

Kids don't have adult rights
Your editorial about drug testing in schools (An erosion of rights, July 1) was a lot of hogwash. It may be an erosion of rights in schools and colleges where students are of age. Younger children in lower-level schools should be treated differently. I'm sure most parents would want to know if their child tested positive for drugs.

We shouldn't treat these kids like they have the same rights as adults -- they're kids, for heaven's sake and should do what they are told. We don't need to negotiate with them regarding their curricula, we don't want their opinions on world matters -- we want them to learn math and English. Learn your times tables, learn to write and speak appropriately, then we'll talk about privacy and rights.
-- Chandler D. Mapes, Valrico

MommaDebi:
WELL I THOUGH I MIGHT AS WELL PASTE IN THE "Offensive" editorial: I guess I am just on a rant tonight  LOL
 Times Editorial


An erosion of rights
In ruling that random drug testing in schools is constitutional, the Supreme Court is encouraging the indiscriminate violation of student privacy.

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 1, 2002


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What lesson should our children learn from the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision upholding the constitutionality of widespread, random drug tests in our schools? That Americans should be happy to be subjected to demeaning searches even when they have done nothing to warrant suspicion of criminal behavior? That our schools have no better uses for their limited time and money? Or that a majority of our current justices have even less appreciation for our Fourth Amendment than the average sixth-grader picks up in civics class?

Everyone knows that illegal drugs are a serious problem in our schools, and in the rest of society. However, the problem does not justify, on either practical or constitutional grounds, the indiscriminate violation of people's privacy.

Schools have long had the authority to test students who exhibit suspicious or disruptive behavior, but the court has been steadily chipping away at the rights of students (and adults) who have done nothing to provoke such intrusive searches.

In his majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas expanded on the court's strained argument that students who elect to participate in football, cheerleading, chess club and other extracurricular activities implicitly give up rights that apply to those students who somehow manage to avoid such activities.

As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in her dissenting opinion, the ruling has the perverse effect of discouraging students from participating in activities that can enrich their educations. Nor can indiscriminate testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities be justified on the public safety grounds that allow for the random testing of pilots, chauffeurs and people in similar professions. What clear and present danger is this ruling designed to prevent? Flying pompoms? Runaway rooks?

A narrow court majority has deemed random drug tests constitutional, but that doesn't mean school districts are obliged to start lining up their students. Pinellas County schools spokesman Ron Stone had the appropriate response to the ruling. "It's really a question of trust," he said. "It's a very expensive proposition, and unless there's been some cause for suspicion, I don't see us doing it."

Pinellas County and most other area school districts have zero-tolerance policies that deal harshly -- sometimes too harshly -- with students who drink or use drugs. Still, they are likely to avoid the treacherous path the court has opened for them. There are less expensive and less demeaning ways of dealing with the problem of drugs in our schools, but some of our current justices won't be satisfied until they leave the Fourth Amendment reduced to a puddle that would fit in a small cup.

GregFL:
Our country is in big trouble. we are like the lemmings being led to see by the pied piper, to stupid to care, to ambivalent to be stirred to action.

Did you know that calvina Fay has roots tied to the Straight, and by assocation the Seed. Its True, and the great organization she heads, the DFAF, is nothing more than the same corporation formerly called Straight, Inc. These same bastards are helping to set drug policy thruout the united states and are also in bed with the drug testing industry. It's no wonder they approve of piss testing the population, it furthers their Nazi like dream of a drug free america and lines their already fat pockets with the money earned off young lives. To Hell with the constitutin, with individual rights, with individual accountability and the rights of Parents.

And what do you suppose will happen when the kid tests positive for Marijuana? Off to treatment he/she will go or face suspension/expulsion. Talk about coercive treatment.
next step, more propagation of Straight/seed/safe  like treatment centers to meet the increased demand for treatment.
Not my kid...

MommaDebi:
Not my kid either!!!!

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