Quick Hits (page 4)
If Drugs are Found -- Go to Jail
By: Fresno Bee
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court issued a traffic warning: If drugs are found in a vehicle, all occupants can be arrested.
The justices' unanimous decision was a victory for Maryland and 20 other states that argued police frequently find drugs in traffic stops, but no one in the vehicle claims them. The court gave officers the go-ahead to arrest everyone.
In a small space such as a car, an officer could reasonably infer "a common enterprise" among a driver and passengers, the justices ruled.
The case stemmed from an incident in 1999, when police in the Baltimore suburbs pulled over a speeding car. A search revealed a roll of cash in the glove compartment and cocaine in an armrest in the back seat.
The driver and the two passengers denied having anything to do with the contraband, so all three men were arrested.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, writing for the court, said police had probable cause to suspect that the drugs belonged to any of the three, or all of them.
Lisa Kemler, a criminal defense attorney from Alexandria, Va., said the court seems to be saying: "Know who your company is."
"How many times have you gotten a ride with a friend? Are you going to peer around in their glove compartment?" asked Kemler, who fears the ruling will lead to a police dragnet. "You could find probable cause to arrest everybody."
Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro-law enforcement group, said police can't be expected to sort out ownership of drugs or guns in the middle of a traffic stop.
"You certainly wouldn't let three people with Uzis in their car leave because no one would admit the Uzis were theirs," he said.
Maryland's highest court had thrown out the conviction of a passenger in the car, Joseph Jermaine Pringle, on grounds that his arrest violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches or seizures. The Supreme Court reversed that decision.
"Pringle's attempt to characterize this case as a guilt-by-association case is unavailing," Rehnquist wrote in the brief decision.
Pringle told police later that the drugs were his and that he had planned to swap them for sex or money at a party. His 10-year prison sentence will be reinstated.
The American Civil Liberties Union and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed a brief supporting Pringle. Their lawyer said the ruling will sweep innocent passengers into criminal cases.
"There's nothing in this opinion to prevent a police officer from arresting a graduate student who is offered a ride home late at night from a party that she has attended with some fellow students," said Tracey Maclin, a Boston University law professor.
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Tan 'n' Trends
Growin' Our Own (page 4)
URGENT ... Red Alert ... Red Alert ...
By: Rodger Beasley
Part I of II.
No living intelligent individuals are represented in this writing (other than the obviously guilty)
0013 hrs communique posted from the front lines by..... General Lee Doofy........
A meeting with Field Majors Mal Function and McDope prompts me to elevate our status to the highest level.
What follows is a brief summary of the meetings with the respective divisions.
At 0900 hrs 01/14/04 I began the inspection of the mechanized division under Major Mal's command. (You might remember Major Mal from the three part seminar on the urination test; the pros the cons and everyone in between.)
I found Major Mal in his office. The place was a mess; titty calendars adorned the office and shop walls. Biker and over the road trucker magazines littered the desks. It looked pretty comforting to me, until Mal looked up and I saw the ashen color of his face and the fear in his eyes. " What is going on here major? You look as if you have seen a ghost."
"I have General. I have just viewed the ghost of marijuana. It is doomed to the reaper."
"What in the hell are you talking about? Snap out of it and tell me what is going on in this sector. And I mean now!" Mal slipped the daily war news under my chin and averted my steely eyed gaze. The headline bore down on my senses as the gravity of the situation began to sink in.
Government plans more intensive drug testing
We had been outflanked. While many combat hardened troops had been occupying the enemy on the medical marijuana front we had been surrounded. The tactical error was going to cost us our marijuana use and take a big bite into our privacy rights.
The federal government is overhauling its employee drug testing program to include scrutiny of a worker's hair, saliva and sweat. The shift will spur more businesses to revise screening for millions of their own workers.
One comment by Robert Stephenson II, an official with the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), at first toke appeared to be a plus.
"The new testing procedures, in situations like investigations of on the job accidents, will determine not just whether an employee uses drugs but if usage occurred recently enough to be a cause."
That would have probably played for awhile but Mr. Stephenson, realizing he is on a roll with victory at hand, went on to say. "Alternative testing will really ramp up our ability to increase the deterrent value of our program, which is basically the whole bottom line."
The standards set up by SAMHSA are followed by regulatory agencies who conduct testing in industries they oversee. SAMHSA is responsible for about 6.5 million of the 40 million workplace drug tests done each year by U.S. employers.
The agency's testing standards are also widely followed by thousands of other employers, public and private. Those already using the new tests include casino operators and local police departments. Divisions of Kraft Foods Inc. and Anheuser- Busch Co. are also poised to use or are currently using the new tests.
"There's no doubt about the fact that SAMHSA's guidelines become the standard for the industry, whether you're a regulated employer or not. So what SAMHSA does will have wide ranging impact." said Kenneth Kunsman, a marketing executive with Ora Sure Technologies Inc. which makes a saliva test kit.
I can envision Mr. Kunsman going about his daily business of salivating all of the way to the bank and back.
So here they are, troops, the new tests:
Saliva testing, done using a swab that looks much like a tooth brush but with a pad instead of bristles. It is best at detecting drug use within the past one or two days.
Hair testing, in which a sample about the thickness of a shoe lace is clipped at the root from the back of the head. It allows detection of many drugs as far back as 3 months.
Sweat testing, in which workers are fitted with a patch that is worn for two weeks. It is used to screen people who have returned to work after drug treatment.
I had handed the paper back to Major Mal when MadMan Blade, some kind of nut although a dedicated and decorated soldier, walked in. I held the news paper article out toward him. "Blade have you seen this?"
"Yeah General, me and Mal read it this morning."
"How do you feel the mechanized division will look at this?"
"My guess is that it will be a rout."
"What the hell do you mean? Are you saying this will deteriorate to an every man for himself unorganized retreat?"
"Yeah General, that is what a rout is. It's like this. There are three distinctly separate and different squadrons in the two wheeled part of the mechanized division. The only thing that I have ever known them to agree on is that two wheels are better than four.
This is the break down. The 1% guys have their own society within and under the radar screen of accepted society. They have their own laws and rules of conduct; and they like it that way. Deviance from the accepted norm is their norm. I do not see them organizing to protest this type of action. The only time they ever stopped fighting with their brother 1% squadrons long enough to protest anything was when they came under fire with the RICO Act. That was not entirely successful or universal and was short lived. I would not count on them for any type of organized protest.
The IROs (independent riders organizations) figure you have to be able to ride it, party with it or have sex with it. They believe in gas, grass, ass or cash. There may be some limited support through their various ABATE organizations (American Bikers Aiming Toward Education). The problem is the ABATE organizations also have quite a few members from other groups, Christian riders, drug free riders, and manufacturers clubs.
HOG (Harley Owners Group) has a lot of flag waving patriots that feel they have rights. I do not think they will realize that their rights are being slowly eroded. I would not count on them for anything, other than to be well ensconced in the accessories of next years new line of boots, jackets and riders ware.
Don't get me wrong General there are some true two wheel activist groups, SOLR (Sons of Liberty Riders), that protest from within and outside of the system. The problem is that they seem to focus only on riders rights. When drug issues are mentioned they get a bit antsy and paranoid."
"Thank you for the report MadMan Blade. I am going over to meet with Major McDope. I want you, and Major Mal you as well, to accompany me."
There was some grumbling from Blade, as rank dictated that he would have to ride in the back. He made some racially and politically inappropriate remarks as he reluctantly settled into the back seat of the calumet cream, 76 Eldorado rag top. A staff car with rusty rear quarter panels.
We crossed the tracks and headed to McDope's.
To be continued next month at Major McDope's.
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Pipeline (page 4)
Student Expelled in Pot Case
By: Pablo Lopez (Fresno Bee)
Fresno [California] school officials have expelled a student for allegedly selling $10 worth of marijuana to another student at Duncan Polytechnical High, even though a criminal court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
Kevin Sitthi, 15, has been out of school since Nov. 7 and will enroll today [Jan. 26, 2004] in a continuation school run by the Fresno County Office of Education.
Kevin has had to defend himself against the marijuana charge because his parents are immigrants from Laos who don't know how to navigate the school's disciplinary system.
Fresno Unified School District officials contend that Kevin, his family and supporters had a fair opportunity to prove the boy's innocence.
On Dec. 23, Kevin appeared in Fresno Juvenile Court, where Judge Rosendo Pena found the charge of selling marijuana on a school campus untrue because of insufficient evidence, court records said. Later that month, Kevin was tried by a panel of school administrators but didn't learned of his expulsion until Jan. 15.
Kevin has been expelled from Fresno Unified for the rest of the school year. He said school district officials ordered him to take a drug rehabilitation course before he can be reinstated.
In Kevin's corner are longtime family friends: retired Fresno City College professor Don Larson; Mike Hodgins, president of the Southeast Fresno Boxing Club; and Fresno Unified administrator Sue Heth.
"The court says he is innocent, but the district says he is guilty. That bothers me," Larson said.
Hodgins put it bluntly: "He was railroaded."
School officials are prohibited from talking about Kevin's case because of confidentiality laws, but in general, criminal and expulsion hearings have two different sets of rules, district hearing officer Kevin Torosian said.
Finding someone guilty in criminal court requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt; to determine guilt in an expulsion hearing, proof must be clear and convincing, a slightly lower requirement.
In addition, the outcome of the criminal matter cannot be considered in the expulsion hearing, Torosian said.
Kevin admitted he had an uphill battle to prove his innocence, revealing that he was suspended for fighting in December 1998 and September 2003. In October 2001, he was suspended for possessing a bag of marijuana, school records show.
In the weeks before the incident that got him expelled, he was reprimanded three times; officials said he disrupted a class, left campus without permission and argued with a teacher.
But Kevin also has several honor roll certificates from Slater Elementary School and Fort Miller and Cooper middle schools. In addition, he earned a DARE medal for writing and reciting an anti-drug speech at a school assembly and a certificate for passing a U.S. Constitution exam.
He chose to attend Duncan Polytechnical in central-east Fresno because he someday wants to go to college and study automotive engineering. Those plans may change now that he has been expelled.
"I admitted to those things [in the past] and accepted my punishment," he said. "But I'm not going to admit to something I didn't do."
Larson, Hodgins and Heth say Kevin has always told the truth and that his decision to reveal his school record gives him credibility.
A Fresno police report states that Kevin, a 10th-grader, was suspended Nov. 7 after a another student was caught in possession of marijuana at school and told authorities he had purchased the drug from Kevin.
A third student told school officials he gave the marijuana to Kevin to sell, the report continues.
Kevin repeatedly has denied the charge, saying he and the boy found with the marijuana have a prior beef. He said the third boy recanted his statements to police.
Kevin believes he failed to prove his innocence because the panel of school administrators believed the boy with the marijuana and took into consideration two declarations from anonymous witnesses.
In one typewritten letter, the unidentified author described how he purchased $10 worth of marijuana from Kevin after a second-period class in November. Kevin then handed the money to another student, the letter says.
Kevin said the author appears to be the boy found with the marijuana.
The other letter stated: "I know Kevin sells drugs off campus because I have friends that tell me he does." Kevin said he doesn't know who wrote it.
Larson, who taught political science, said the anonymous letters violate an amendment in the U.S. Constitution: the right to confront your accusers.
"How do you teach students about the Constitution when the district uses a whole different system?" Larson asked. "I truly believe they [the panel members] had their minds made up before the hearing."
He and Hodgins have advised Kevin and his family to file an appeal and get a lawyer.
Torosian, in response, said the district follows guidelines established in the education code, which allows anonymous letters if the witnesses fear for their safety.
"We do everything by the book," he said.
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