The Tulia Herald (Tulia, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000 Page: 3 of 14
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7,2000
THE TULIA (Swisher County) HERALD
PAGE THREE A
COURT.
deductible that covers both trial and
appeal. Vinyard said the insurance
company has not expressed concern
over the appeal.
Hollister Gardner's complaints in-
cluded charges of retaliation, inclu-
sion of unfavorable information in
Iris student record relating to the sub-
ject of the lawsuit, improper lowering
of his grades, and a charge that the
school board had not followed the
open meeting law.
Robinson decided all of those
charges were unfounded.
Outside the legal brief, Molly
Gardner's complaints were that the
testing was done without regard to
the educational schedule, as well as
her complaint to the court that the
drug tests were random, suspicionlcss
and compulsory, making them un-
constitutional.
"The testing was done solely with
respect to tire surprise nature of the
drug testing program," shesaid. "That
means students were sometimes in-
terrupted in the middle of a test or
other important activity. Sometimes
students were marked absent because
of the testing program, and that cre-
ated the burden of having another
thing to correct. It was an inconve-
nience that students should not have
had to undergo. Several students have
expressed dissatisfaction with the
inconvenience."
Gardner said the school district did
not interpret the law correctly, and as
a result the program was unconstitu-
tional, in her opinion.
"The school board decided to drug
test students after the Supreme Court
ruled in Vcronia," she said. "Our
situation here is not like Vcronia.
Veronia had a huge drug problem.
Tulia provided no proof that we have
a drug problem that would warrant
random, suspicionless, compulsory
drug testing."
"The suit is based on whether the
school has the right to drug test stu-
dents. I believe this is an invasion of
the students privacy. Students should
not have to prove they are innocent
when there is no evidence that they
are doing drugs. Athletes liave a lower
expectation of privacy because of the
communal undressing. Other extra
curricular organizations do not have
this lowered expectation of privacy. I
believe the non-athlete's privacy is
being invaded during the sample col-
lection process."
Gardner felt that other arrange-
ments would be more acceptable to
her.
"I believe a suspicion based drug
testing program would be better be-
cause it would be more legally sound."
Gardner said that she will be glad to
have the suit behind her.
"I am ready to quit having people
inflict judgement on me because of
my beliefs," she said. "I would like for
people to get to know me before they
decide I am a horrible person because
of what I believe in and what I stand
up for."
For the school district's part,
Vinyard said reasons to move for-
ward with an appeal includethc state-
wide implications of the decision.
"ISD's all over the state are waiting
for this to be resolved. A number of
ISD's have contacted us, wanting to
establish programs, but they are wait-
ing to see how our situation is re-
solved."
The reason for the drug testing
policy is deterrence, Vinyard said.
The policy provides students with the
ability to resist peer pressure.
"They know they are subject to
testing and that a positive test risks
their loss of participation," Vinyard
said. "Testing gives them an out.
They say 'No,' because they might
have to take a drug test."
Vinyard said lie knows the pro-
gram is working because of the docu-
mented results. When the program
began in January, 1997, there were
143 tests done during the second se- '
mester, with no positive tests.
During the 1997-98 school year
there were 385 tests with 2.6 percent
positive results. In 1998-99 therewere
954 tests with less than 1.5 percent
positive results. In 1999-00 there were
928 tests with 0.65 percent positive
results, and in 2000-01 so far there
have been 258 tests with two posi-
tives, for less than 1 percent positive
results.
"To me, that shows the effect of the
program," Vinyard said. "Tliisissome
of the best money we spend. It is a
worthwhile program that is helping
our students, and the board has ex-
pressed agreement with that view in
the past."
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147 E. Broadway Tulia, Texas
THANKSGIVING DINNER atTulia Health and Rehab was made even
more special by families and guests. Sharon Thompson in
foreground, and Jeannie Todd, across the table, added a sparkle to
the day for residents.
mmm'?
EDDIE GAGE (L), Janet Wright, Ann Thompson, Cindy Hurt (F ),
Amanda Cruz and Harriett Burleson completely filled a pickup bed
during the Tulia Rotary Club annual food drive for Good Shepherd
Outreach Saturday in 28 degree weather. —Courtesy photo
Out At The Farm
by John Herring
—Courtesy photo
•~r “'•rrrrj
! 'yy:r:;:ri
' VO V j
Farmers in this part of Texas are
blessed with fertile soils and a long
enough growing season that there is a
wide variety of crops that we can
grow. Over the past 70 years we have
had various government farm pro-
grams that most of the time limited
the fanner to growing crops that his-
torically had been grown on his farm.
These “allotment” programs limited
production and held price fluctua-
tions in check so that the farmer could
survive economically.
During the past few years, allot-
ments have been abandoned under a
new program called “Freedom to
Farm.” The farmer can change from
crop to crop as he seeks the best mix
of crops for his farm. A lot can be said
pro and con about the success or
failure of this program, but as a whole,
the idea of crop flexibility is popular
among farmers.
The recent elections resulted in no
mandate for a change away from the
“Freedom to Farm” concept. As farm
policy is debated, efforts will be made
to fine tunc existing farm policy to
give the fanner a better safety net, but
I doubt we will go back to rigid allot-
ments in the near future.
Our area is a little imiquc in that we
have higher variable costs and lower
fixed costs than many areas. Our big
fields allow us to farm more areas
with the same equipment and labor
than in many areas. Our land costs
are lower, but with irrigation, we
have high fuel costs per acre. These
high variable costs make the planting
freedom of the current farm program
an important provision for our area.
Over the past few years we’ve seen
a big shift from grain to cotton in our
area because of the drop in our water
supplies. Now that we are seeing en-
ergy costs for pumping soar, the farms
that still had adequate water for grain
are now going to cotton.
We who suffered through this
summer’s poor growing season and
had lots of cotton acres may not be too
proud of our crop, but it was and is
still the best option. With soaring
energy costs and fertilizer costs we
can no longer afford to grow a crop
that takes lots of water mid fertilizer,
like com or irrigated milo.
This week local irrigators who use
natural gas got a notice that gas cost
will be $7.41 per mef for the quarter
ending in February. This is up from
about $2.60 at this time a year ago.
This means that irrigation fuel costs
for growing com will soar from about
$100 per acre to $300 per acre next
season. The result: anotherbig switch
from irrigated corn to cotton next
year thanks to the flexibility of free-
dom to farm.
The talk and rumors of lots of cot-
ton plans in the northern Texas pan-
handle was confirmed in Sunday’s
Amarillo News Globe article about
how far north cotton can go. A grower
meeting devoted solely to cotton pro-
duction topics will be held in Dumas
on Dec. 14.
With continued farm policy absent
of any acreage allotments, one can
only imagine the possible shift in
cropping patterns we will see over the
next several years. The “average”
farmer is going to survive due to
changing markets and government
intervention, but the “average”
farmer may not be growing the same
crops in 10 years that he is today.
We Believe
In Tulia
i • < i. .
.A -v.t j
CINDY HURT, Chairman of Tulia United Community Fund accepts “jj
check from Eddie Lick, president of Wells Fargo Bank. —Staff photo
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The Tulia Herald (Tulia, Tex.), Vol. 92, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 2000, newspaper, December 7, 2000; Tulia, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth635577/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Swisher County Library.