Posted 7/01/2004 05:54:00 PM by Douglas

So it's come to this: The war on drugs has found a new front line in rural, small farming communities in the Texas Panhandle.

Childress Independent School District students have another reason to say no to drugs.

The district's board of trustees voted June 22 to start random drug testing for all seventh- through 12th-grade students involved in extracurricular activities.

Childress, a Class 3A district located about 100 miles southeast of Amarillo, typically has 70 to 75 percent of its students participating in extracurricular activities, Wilson said. That includes band, FFA and University Interscholastic League academics - not just sports, he said.

This raises some very interesting question. So 75% of the student body is going to be tested, and the community is whole-heatedly behind this initiative (according to the board) but who is going to pay for it? The "random" testing, the enforcement? Are the same Childress County tax payers that support this plan the same parents that can't get a straight answer from their kids as to their whereabouts on an average Saturday night? If the parents were really concerned with their kids saying no to drugs, then they would do something about it as opposed to waiting for the Childress ISD to step in and save them from themselves. But it gets better:

"Testing positive is not a legal offense," he said.

Why? It's illegal, isn't it? The precedent that's being laid down is that drugs are unacceptable, right? Why not turn them over to the CPD as soon as they test positive? Is missing a year of band too much of a penalty? What about the other illegal substances commonly found in high school students? Are there going to be road blocks set up between Childress and Estelline to make sure none of the demon alcohol makes it into a Childress High pep rally?

Doesn't Childress have more important things to worry about, like say, synchronizing the stop lights on U.S. 287? Geez, it takes ten minutes to get through that one horse town.