Pubdate: Sat, 07 Oct 2006
Source: Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright: 2006 The Gainesville Sun
Contact:  http://www.sunone.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/163
Author: Karen Voyles, Sun staff writer

LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS JUST SAY NO TO DRUG TESTING

Levy County's public libraries are struggling to get books checked 
out or reshelved because retirees who usually handle many of those 
chores have balked at a requirement that they "pee in a cup" as part 
of a mandatory drug test for all county volunteers.

"It's not like we are a high-risk group for coming in drunk or high 
or stoned or whatever," said one volunteer. "This is just a 
common-sense issue - why are we spending tax money to test 
75-year-old grandmothers for marijuana? We should be using that money 
to buy more books and computers."

The situation has gotten to the point where the pool of 55 volunteers 
has dwindled to two and the number of hours worked by volunteers in 
the county's five libraries plunged from 330 in September 2005 to 11 
this September, according to county library records. None of the 
former volunteers contacted by The Sun wanted to be publicly 
identified in a story about drug-testing.

"A large part of the problem is how the test is administered - it is 
an affront to some people's dignity, especially people who grew up in 
another generation," said the county's library director, Bonnie Tollefson.

Most of the volunteers are between the ages of 60 and 85. Under the 
county's year-old contract with First Lab, all drug tests are done on 
urine samples that are collected in plastic cups while a lab employee 
stands within hearing distance of the person providing the sample.

County officials said they realize that some people may find the test 
intrusive.

"But our public risk management insurance says we should treat 
volunteers no differently that any other employees," said Levy County 
Coordinator Fred Moody. "This is just the days that we are in and we 
know that there are some people who aren't happy about this, but it 
is something we are requiring if anyone wants to volunteer."

Moody said the drug-testing as well as background checks required for 
library volunteers are identical to what is required of all county 
employees and volunteers, including dozens of unpaid firefighters and 
hundreds of Community Emergency Response Team members from among the 
36,000 county residents.

In Alachua County, where the library district has more than 250 
employees who donate 17,500 hours a year, adult volunteers undergo a 
background check, but no volunteers, adults or teens, undergo drug tests.

Levy County pays the $33 cost of testing and background checks for 
all its volunteers. The process began about a year ago on an 
agency-by-agency basis for current volunteers and just recently got 
around to the libraries.

Tollefson, who said that as a county employee she supports the 
policy, understands that a large part of the resistance is the test 
the county contracted to use.

"We have a number of volunteers who are older, and I think about how 
my mother - who is 83 - would react to a test like this," Tollefson 
said. "She would find it degrading, be totally offended and find it 
an affront to her dignity. Many of our volunteers feel the same way."

Additionally, the volunteers were initially told they needed to drive 
to Gainesville to provide a urine sample at a specific medical laboratory.

"And I told them that the only way I am going to be driven into 
Gainesville these days is in an ambulance," said a former volunteer. 
"When you get to be my age, driving in that much traffic is a hazard 
to me and everybody around me."

To overcome the transportation concerns, the county arranged for the 
testing to be done at each of the county's five public libraries 
later this month.

Moody said that when the county signed the contract with First Lab to 
provide drug-testing a year ago, urine samples were the only means considered.

"We didn't know that there were other options," Moody said.

On Friday morning, he told The Sun he would begin looking into 
alternative, less-intrusive tests, such as the mouth swabs now used 
by the Florida Department of Corrections and other government agencies.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine