SWEET HOME -- Members of the Sweet Home School Board will spend part of Monday's board meeting discussing whether to join other mid-valley districts in random student athlete drug testing. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the district office and is open to the public. Superintendent Keith Winslow said no decision is expected immediately; the issue is up for discussion only at this point. Winslow said he received a request from the board to look into possible drug tests and is bringing a policy from Junction City as an example. [continues 365 words]
Want to be a midnight toker? Better wait till next summer, because anyone caught with recreational marijuana before then can expect to get busted as usual. That's the word from Oregon State Police, the Corvallis Police Department and the Linn County Sheriff's Office, all of which say they'll enforce existing marijuana laws until Oregon's new law allowing recreational marijuana use takes effect July 1, 2015. "We understand the voters have passed this," Corvallis Chief John Sassaman said. "But currently, today, as it stands, marijuana is still illegal. We don't fudge the lines." [continues 332 words]
BROWNSVILLE - The state has approved the application from a Brownsville couple to open a medical marijuana dispensary. Now, say Randy and Gayle Simpson, all they have to do is wait for the city's moratorium to expire. State approval of seven applications as of May 9 brings the total number of approved dispensaries to 86. They may open for business as soon as they receive their registration certificates in the mail, which the Simpsons have. However, Brownsville city councilors voted March 25 to impose a one-year moratorium on the opening of any medical marijuana dispensaries. So for now, Randy said, Gayle will just continue to use the former bank building at 333 N. Main St. for her eBay sales business. [continues 316 words]
BROWNSVILLE - While Scio students sign up for the first time for random drug testing, the Central Linn School District is continuing its own student testing policy, now in its 13th year. A Democrat-Herald story last week incorrectly named Scio as the first district in Linn County to start randomly testing student athletes and other extracurricular activity participants for drug use. Central Linn holds that distinction, having begun its program in 1997. Central Linn's policy applies to all sports and extracurricular activities in grades 7-12, including cheerleading, dance team and student government. [continues 359 words]
SCIO - Justin Guest is fine with being in a pool for random drug tests this fall at Scio High School. The way he sees it, tests will prove the Logger football team doesn't do drugs. But it irks the 17-year-old linebacker that the pool will include only students who participate in sports or physical extracurricular activities, such as forestry competitions. "I think they should have to test everyone," said Guest, a senior. "I just kind of think it's unfair, almost like we're getting punished." [continues 1826 words]
Expulsions, Depression, Underage Drinking And Drug Use: How Administrators Plan To Turn The Tide LEBANON - Seventeen students have been expelled so far this year from Lebanon High School, which administrators say underscores the need for change in the way the school is organized. School officials said 15 of the 17 expulsions involved drug use, and the other two involved bringing knives onto campus. All of the drug offenses were committed during the school day, involving either a student under the influence or drugs found in a student's possession. All but one were committed by a freshman or a sophomore. Four pending expulsion hearings also involved drugs. [continues 643 words]
Expulsions, Depression, Underage Drinking And Drug Use: How Administrators Plan To Turn The Tide LEBANON - Seventeen students have been expelled so far this year from Lebanon High School, which administrators say underscores the need for change in the way the school is organized. School officials said 15 of the 17 expulsions involved drug use, and the other two involved bringing knives onto campus. All of the drug offenses were committed during the school day, involving either a student under the influence or drugs found in a student's possession. All but one were committed by a freshman or a sophomore. Four pending expulsion hearings also involved drugs. [continues 638 words]
He wears the hat, the bandanna, the jingling spurs. He rides a horse and carries a gun. He's even from Texas. But Howard Wooldridge, 52, doesn't think of himself as a cowboy. Instead, he sees himself as Paul Revere, riding across the country on his noble steed to call a country to action. Like Revere and other early American patriots, Wooldridge has revolution on his mind. He wants to throw an occupying force out of the country: drug dealers. But instead of taking up arms, Wooldridge believes the only way to rid the streets of pushers is to legalize - for adult use only - the very thing they're pushing. [continues 687 words]
Public support of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, DARE, convinced the Albany School District to reverse its recommendation on funding it next year. DARE is a 17-week program taught by uniformed police officers to fifth-graders at 11 of Albany's 14 elementary schools. Two of the other schools, Clover Ridge and Tangent, are outside the city limits and receive DARE from the Linn County Sheriff's Office. The 14th school, Lafayette, prefers to use its own program. Superintendent Tim Carman's original budget recommendation did not include the $10,000 the district had been paying to subsidize DARE. [continues 521 words]
