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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2002)
Page A4 o r tlu iiò (Dbwnirr April 03, 2002 O pinion Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views o f (0bseruer The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1996 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN W HOLE O R IN PART W ITHOUT PERM ISSION IS PROHIBITED. 5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 3 3 • FAX5 0 3 -2 8 8 -0 0 1 5 • EMAIL: news@Dortlandobserver.com subscnption@Dortlanclobserver.com , The Portland Observer-Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication-is a member of the National Newspaper Association—Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Repre sentative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving Portland and Vancouver. STOP TREATING STUDENTS LIKE CRIMINALS There are good reasons to say ‘no’ to mass drug testing of students What do convicted criminals have in common with American public high school students? Each can be forced to urinate into a paper cup at any time — to “prove” they’re drug free. Even if there’s no evidence that they’ve ever used illegal drugs. 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NCUA hi TcuJjii'rt/t Ydtf • Free Checking Accounts •Savings Accounts •T erm Investment Accounts • Individual Retirement Accounts • Holiday/Tax Club Accounts •Youth Club Accounts • Low cost loans: - Signature Loans - Auto and Truck Loans - RV, Motorcycle and A T V Loans Boat and Personal Watercraft Loans - Home loans, firsts and seconds - Home Equity Lines o f Credit • A ll deposits insured by an agency o f the Federal WILLAMETTE Federal Credit Union FOUAI nous NO 2151 N. W. Front Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209 LENDER (503)299-4539 • (888)900-8559 Now the Supreme Court will decide, in a case heard on March 19, the constitutionality of subjecting public school students to random, warrantless drug tests as a prerequisite to participating in extracurricu lar activities. The case, Board of Education v. Earls, concerns an Oklahoma school district drug-testing policy. The school requires drug tests for students in grades 7- 12 who want to participate in after-school events such as the chess club or the school band. The plaintiff, Lindsay Earls, was a high school sophomore trying out for the girls choir when she was asked to urinate into a paper cup as a teacher listened outside the bathroom stall. The experience was “humiliating,” said Lindsay, who passed her test. Then she and two other stu dents filed a lawsuit against the district because the search wasn’t based on “individualized suspicion.” A ruling is expected in July. But it gets worse. If the Bush administration has its way, soon every student in the U SA ’s 14,700 public school systems — not just those involved in extracurricular activities— could be subject to drug searches. T hat's because the administration argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that every school should “have the flexibility to adopt reasonable measures, like the policy in this case.” Note the word “reason able.” It means that schools should have the power to test any student, as long as school officials claim it is “reasonable.” But there are good reasons for Americans to stand up and “just say no” to mass drug testing o f students. It’s unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, clearly states that “no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.” The Constitution contains no exception for students. by R on C rickenberger It w on’t work. A drug test can be circumvented just as easily by high school students as by any other American who is compelled to take one. If extracur ricular activities require a drug test, kids using drugs may simply avoid those activities, and avoid the test as well. Or simply find a way to falsify the test, as many American adults already do. It’s an attack on parental rights. Coercive student drug testing is based on the assumption that stu dents are in effect government “property” while attending government schools. It’s hypocritical. “I didn’t inhale,” said former president Bill Clinton. “W hen I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible,” said President George W. Bush. Even high schoolers are smart enough to recognize hypocrisy, whether the source is a parent or a politician. Interestingly,in 1998theU .S.H ouseofRepresen- ’ tatives quietly torpedoed a drug-testing proposal for themselves and their staffs because lawmakers pro tested that it was “insulting and undignified.” So why should we subject our own children to this insulting and undignified policy? Clearly, demands for student drug testing have far more to do with political posturing than with public safety — and students know it. Mandatory student drug testing will only em power politicians and public school bureaucrats; harass millions o f innocent schoolchildren in the hope of catching a few drug users; and teach kids to have no respect for the authority figures who have so little respect for their rights. The Supreme Court has the opportunity to remedy this wrong. It should strike down suspicionless searches of A m erica’s students. And it should do it for the children. Ron Crickenberger is political director of the Washington, DC-based Libertarian Party. Welfare Home Visits a Flop State effort was misguided, ill-designed and inefficient Family Is Family No Matter Where You Go. by C harles S heketofe O regon C enter for P ublic P olicy An Oregon Department o f Human Services report on the results o f its effort to conduct home visits of clients in the Portland and Salem regions shows the effort flopped and was mis guided, ill-designed, and inefficient. The department set a goal o f visiting 900 to 1,000 households to find out how the agency could help them become self-sufficient. They then managed to select only 782 households to visit and sent out a team of 166 staff who accomplished only 368 visits, less than half the homes on the list. And even at those homes, they found out from only 213 what help they needed to become employed. Getting that information from only 213 out o f 782 is an embarrassingly poor perfor mance. The agency staff talked with fewer than half the homes they were assigned, and then got answers to questions on their questionnaire from about only 60 percent o f the homes they actually visited. The program was doomed from the start because they chose not to treat the families with dignity and respect by first making appoint ments. Not only was it rude, the agency’s low success rate shows that the unscheduled visits were an inefficient use of central office staff time and were ill-designed. LETTER . TO In your hometown and all over the country families are concerned a b out the people they love. American Family Insurance is com m itted to providing Insurance coverage a t a competitive price for millions of families, just like yours. And. we're dedicated to handling your family's claims with im peccable speed and care. Call an American Family Insurance agent today or visit us a t www.amfam.com AMERICAN FAM ILY ■DEEEI3EEEGB» »sa All Your Protection Under One Roof O 2002 I American Family Mutual Insurance Company and its Subsidiaries. Madison. Wl 53783-001 wwwamtomcom The department should be embarrassed by the report. For example, questions such as “What can we do to help you become employed?” were answered by fewer than 220 o f the 782 house,- holds on the visitation list. If the department was truly focused on help ing people get jobs, why ask this of only 213 of the 368 households visited? The departm ent w ent to great lengths be fore the visits began to claim that their pur pose w as to help people and not to conduct eligibility checks. T heir own data contradicts those claim s. The department paid much more attention to looking for who is actually living in the house hold and for the role of absent parents, both eligibility issues. The department obtained answers to the “who is in the household” question from 320 house holds, and answers to the “absent parent role” question from 290 households. The focus was ‘are you eligible?’ not ‘how can we help you?’ Otherwise, they would have had answers from more o f the homes they actu ally visited. Instead, the report makes patently clear the visitors were focused on looking for who is in the household and whether absent parents are sup porting the child or children. Charles Sheketoffis the executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. THE E D IT O R . Police Are Not Always Right Once again, a mother and family are suffering tremendous pain and sorrow for the disrespect of human life by Portland Police. Once again, a murder has been deemed ju s tifiable in the murder of Byron Hammick Jr. I knew w hat the grand ju ry w ould say. Because I have never heard them (the grand jury) the m ayor or the ch ief o f police step up to the plate and adm it that the officers were w rong o r even that a better decision could have been m ade before the “cow boys started sh o o tin g .” There were several methods that could have been used besides shooting Byron. There were many lies that were told befofe they (authori ties) found one that was believable — that he was abusing a child - after first saying he had a gun and they were afraid of their lives. Police could have used tear gas, they could have called others infto negotiate, but they did none of these things. The murderers, with a license to kill, took matters into their own hands and a young man is dead. A mother and family members are broken hearted with no answers justifiable in the murder of Byron. This has happened too many times in Port land and all over the United States with the same outcome. No one is right all the time. There comes a time when we must say police made a great big mistake — the life cannot be restored. Only four people know the truth, first God, then Byron, who is not alive to tell the truth, and the two policemen who I believe have chosen to lie about the facts. God, who knows and holds all truths will be the judge. Vesia Lovint North Por
