School Sued for Drug Sniffing Dog

By Associated Press

July 26, 2002, 4:31 AM EDT

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Officials at a South Dakota school confined students to their classrooms for several hours while a police dog toured the rooms, sniffing children as young as 6 to check for drugs, according to a lawsuit filed against the school.

The German shepherd got off its leash in a kindergarten classroom at the Wagner Community School and chased students during the May search, the court papers allege. They claim some students started crying and at least one urinated involuntarily.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls by the parents of 17 elementary and high school students, wants such activity declared a violation of the constitutional right against unreasonable searches. It also seeks unspecified damages and an order stopping the practice.

Repeated attempts by The Associated Press to reach Wagner Principal Neil Goter and school board officials were unsuccessful Thursday. Kenneth Cotton, the school district's lawyer, told The New York Times he could not comment on the allegations specifically, but he said he had talked to two students who told him the dog visited their classrooms only briefly and "in an orderly way."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in the class-action lawsuit, alleged that the Wagner School Board approved the search. The school board is named as a defendant, along with former Wagner Police Chief Richard Volk and Neil McCaleb, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department.

The lawsuit alleges that a similar drug-dog search was conducted a few days after the first one.

Some students experienced physical discomfort when they were not allowed to go to the bathroom for several hours during the searches, according to the lawsuit. It says students were told not to pet the dog, not to look at it or make any sudden movements, and some students feared the dog would bite them.

In a news release, Jennifer Ring, executive director of the Dakotas chapter of the ACLU, said, "The very notion of there being a drug problem in kindergarten is ridiculous."

The lawsuit is the latest episode in a dispute between the ACLU and the school board in Wagner, 85 miles southwest of Sioux Falls. In March, the ACLU sued the board, alleging the school system's method of selecting board members discriminates against American Indians.

The 17 students filing the latest lawsuit are Indian, the ACLU said.

Link

How screwed up do things have to get before people re-think the nutso drug war? Drug sniffing dogs in a KINDERGARTEN class? 6 year old kids pissing themselves in fear? Jesus!

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 02, 2002

Answers

Unk:

How outraged do you expect us to get if you can't spell "terrorized" correctly?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), August 02, 2002.

It's the Queen's English doncha know?

-- heehee (Flint@is.on spelling patrol), August 02, 2002.

That's sad Flint, funny, yes indeedy, heehee, but sad.

Ya know...being God around here and all I MIGHT be tempted to correct my spelling and thus moot your point. But I shan't. (did I spell shan't correctly?)

( ;)

Anyhow, if that's the best commentary we get for answers this country is screwed.

I hear that there is a move among certain Libertarian minded people to take over the state of New Hampshire. Bunch of us like minded people are supposed to move there and use our voting power to thumb our collective noses at the federal government over taxes and so forth. Walter Williams mentioned a website for the movement in a speach he gave on C-Span last week. Saw the speach but trusted the website he mentioned to memory, big mistake on my part. Good choice in my opinion, the license plate already has "Live Free or Die" as it's official motto.

How about it? You ready?

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 02, 2002.

Golly Flint, we're really honored to have you enlighten us with your profound commentary on the subject of the this thread. Now I can see that you really are far too superior to frequent this forum! Besides, over at Olson's they spell every word perfectly.

-- Wayne and Garth (we're not worthy! @ we're. not worthy!), August 02, 2002.

Jack-booted dogs? Is this part of Dumbya's "anti-terrorist" Nazi SS goon squad?

-- Clint Eastwood (try to sniff me and catch a bullet @ go ahead. make my day), August 03, 2002.

Take the Wagner School Board, Richard Volk and Neil McCaleb. Put them on their knees and shackle them hand and foot. (On their knees for a matter of size perspective for a 6-year-old. Shackled so they know what it's like not to be able to physically defend themselves) Lock 'em in a room with a few police trained German Shepherds on a mission. (If you've spent any time watching a police dog in action, you understand that these are not normal dogs). Don't let 'em out for at least 8 hours, which might be the equivalent of a 6-year- old not allowed to use the toilet for several hours.

What's winter like in New Hampshire?

BTW, Unk, it's spelled "speech". :-) The American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in the class- action lawsuit, alleged that the Wagner School Board approved the search. The school board is named as a defendant, along with former Wagner Police Chief Richard Volk and Neil McCaleb, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department.

-- (just an@anonymous.one), August 03, 2002.

Here ya go, Unk The Free State Project

-- (just an@anonymous.one), August 03, 2002.

Thank you.

Also, I have been aware for some time that my spelling sucks, but at least it isn't as bad as Cherri's, heehee.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 03, 2002.

From the Free State Project manifesto:

"We could repeal state taxes and wasteful state government programs. We could end the collaboration between state and federal law enforcement officials in enforcing unconstitutional federal laws. We could end asset forfeiture and abuses of eminent domain. We could privatize utilities and end inefficient regulations and monopolies."

Uh huh. We could also support applehood and mother pie, I guess. Now, how do we decide what's "wasteful"? Which laws are unconstitutional, and how do we decide? Which is an "abuse" of eminent domain -- taking your land, or taking mine? Which regulations are "inefficient"?

I mean, all of these sound like wonderful worthy goals, UNTIL we make any attempt to pin them down to specifics. As the libertarian party has repeatedly discovered, any such attempts quickly devolve into selfish squabbles. Raise issues like abortion or safety or pollution and libertarians are as equally divided and acrimonious as anyone else.

Anyway, until I see the details, I'm not willing to pull up stakes and join the devil I don't know. And New Hampshire's climate is forbidding.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), August 03, 2002.

Those are all good questions Flint. I would just like to see them debated and voted on in a state with a Libertarian voter base worth reckoning with. Libertarians should remember that there will never be utopia on Earth, but knowing that shouldn't stop us from trying to stem the tide of lefty socialism and righty fascism and discover if instituting Libertarian-ish ideas can make for a better life.

And you are correct, Libertarians sqaubble as much as any other political movement.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 03, 2002.

PS, I am sure as hell not ready to dump Florida in favor of New Hampshire! Of course, if in a few years down the road enough freedom minded people make this project start to look interesting, there is always that "snow-bird" thing that so many other Yanquis do!

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 03, 2002.

Flint, why don't you shift into your Already Done Happened troll mode and say something really stupid

-- Not (already@done.happened), August 04, 2002.

That alreadydone guy is a super-asshole.

hmmmmmmm

-- (things that make ya@go.hmmmm), August 04, 2002.

Two drug dogs alerted on something under the high school principal's desk while their handlers were chatting in the school office. I called their attention to the alert behavior. They shrugged it off and said it must be something that smelled like food.

If the dogs had done that on a kid's car out in the high school parking lot, they would have called the cops and ripped the kid's car all to hell.

-- helen (the@world.does.NOT.need.more.lerts), August 04, 2002.

I disagree, Unk. Liberarians are horribly inept at the game of politics. Sure, republicans and democrats squabble, but they never forget the raison d'etre of American politics... get your candidate elected.

Many of the libertarians I've known have been intelligent. The problem? Instead of battling conservatives or liberals, the libertarians engage in internecine warfare, attacking those who have a shade different interpretation of Ayn Rand. In my experience, libertarians tend to be idealists who usually reject compromise. This makes for interesting commentary and lousy campaign strategy.

Oh, my other observation... libertarians (as a political party) do not understand the notion of a "logical extreme." The majority of Americans are not ready for coin-operated vending machines dispensing crack cocaine. Libertarians have some good ideas and some that are out in left field. Apparently, it's more important for libertarians to be right than to be elected. Until they do, we'll see lots of commentary about the drug war from people sitting in the cheap seats of the American political arena.

-- Ken Decker (kcdecker@att.net), August 06, 2002.

Ken

You might disagree with me, however, nice guy that I am, I agree with you.

I've left the Libertarian Party after having been a member since the early 90s. They aren't good at compromise, nor are they terribly good at persuasion, and they are truly bad at getting elected. Ever the optimist I continue to hold out hope that one day manna will fall from heaven, and a serious and pragmatic LEADER will emerge in the LP.

Oh I'm not going to hold my breath mind you, but neither am I going to totally give up hope for those of us who, as you so well put it once, are a "Libertarian of sorts".

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeeD@yahoo.com), August 10, 2002.