Free Republic

Folks, I'm so mad I can't see straight and I hope the smarter(than me) people here at FR can advise us on this. At school registration we got a handout informing us about a change to school policy. Starting this school year, any student who wishes to participate in any extra curricular or co-curricular activities must consent to random drug testing! Needless to say I was 'stuned' and speechless. We're not a big metropolitan school district, we're a very small, rural school. This was apparently done during a closed session of the school board's meeting over the summer. As far...

Went into Kmart yesterday. Purchased my item. Walked to the door and a clerk wanted to go through my bag. Her position is called 'loss prevention' Is This Illegal Search and seizure??? When I have purchased something, it is paid for put in a bag, is it not considered then my personal property? Then why am I subject to having that purchase inspected upon leaving the store??? this practice is expanding. It started at Costco, many years ago, and now it is at many discount stores. Is this actually illegal search and seizure? Do I have a right to refuse...

The Supreme Court gave police broader search powers Monday during traffic stops, ruling that drug-sniffing dogs can be used to check out motorists even if officers have no reason to suspect they may be carrying narcotics. In a 6-2 decision, the court sided with Illinois police who stopped Roy Caballes in 1998 along Interstate 80 for driving 6 miles over the speed limit. Although Caballes lawfully produced his driver's license, troopers brought over a drug dog after Caballes seemed nervous. Caballes argued the Fourth Amendment protects motorists from searches such as dog sniffing, but Justice John Paul Stevens disagreed, reasoning...

SANTA ANA -- A state appeals court has reversed the conviction of a Long Beach man who authorities said was an anarchist who planned to use gas bombs to disrupt an Aryan Nation celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday nearly three years ago. A three-member panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal found that an Orange County trial court should have allowed Matthew Gordon Lamont to challenge the search of the car in which he was a passenger during the arrest. In the ruling issued Tuesday, the panel found that a passenger -- not just the driver -- has the...

7-29-04                          TYRANNY UPDATE!  Oshkosh police say 'Sorry' for trampling citizens' rights in door-to-door gun confiscations.     Oshkosh, Wis. -- In what appears to be an admission of wrong-doing by the Oshkosh Police Department, Fox 11 WLUK (Green Bay) has reported that area resident Terry Wesner was offered an apology by the department.     Police evacuated citizens from their homes within a quarantined area near Smith Elementary School Saturday night (July 17, 2004) to conduct a broad gun sweep of the neighborhood following the shooting of Oshkosh police officer Nate Gallagher.    Residents reported returning home from area shelters -- where...

First, air travelers had to submit to an electronic wand waved over the body. Then they were asked to remove their shoes. After that, their checked luggage was opened and searched. Now, with the nation under a Code Orange alert, police are pulling over drivers as they approach airport terminals for random searches of their vehicles. The searches at airports across the nation have met resistance in some cities as airport managers assess their legality. The measures, ordered by the federal agency in charge of airport security, have drawn criticism from civil-liberties groups and prompted legal scholars to question whether...

Need for a search warrant trips social workers Ohio authorities not aware of Fourth Amendment protections Erie County, OH – A home schooling family has settled its case against Erie County social workers and Vermilion police for the coerced entry into the family’s home on Feb. 21, 2001. “Courts have settled this key issue in other jurisdictions, and now it’s settled in this jurisdiction. Social workers cannot enter a home, willy-nilly, without a warrant,” said Gary McCaleb, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, the national legal organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that supported the case. Paul and Linda Walsh...

Given that Drug Enforcement Administration officials already have said 14-year-old Ashley Villarreal caused her own death, we shouldn't hold our breath for that agency's investigation into the tragedy. Can't police agencies learn to at least pretend they are conducting a thorough investigation before declaring their agents free of blame? The problem is, when juries get to examine all the facts, they often disagree: Take the case of David Aguilar of Three Points, Ariz., a small town outside Tucson. Aguilar wasn't 14, but 44. He had moved with his family from Tucson to get his children away from drugs and gangs....

COVER STORY: RUBBISH! ....... [This Report is a LOL Scream !] Portland's top brass said it was OK to swipe your garbage--so we grabbed theirs.by CHRIS LYDGATE AND NICK BUDNICK It's past midnight. Over the whump of the wipers and the screech of the fan belt, we lurch through the side streets of Southeast Portland in a battered white van, double-checking our toolkit: flashlight, binoculars, duct tape, scissors, watch caps, rawhide gloves, vinyl gloves, latex gloves, trash bags, 30-gallon can, tarpaulins, Sharpie, notebook--notebook? Well, yes. Technically, this is a journalistic exercise--at least, that's what we keep telling ourselves. We're upholding...

Recently I was stopped on my way out of KMart by an employee asking to see my receipt and contents of my bags. I asked if I was suspected of doing something illegal to which he replied, "No, it's just our policy to match purchases against your receipt." I told him that unless he had reasonable cause to believe that I'd done something illegal there was no way I was going to let him inspect either one. To his credit, he did not press the issue and allowed me to leave. The practice of door-checking seems to have started at...

Diana Baird took a taxi home because she had been drinking, but she wound up spending the night in jail anyway. Baird, of Littleton, sued Denver in federal court Wednesday, contending that she was wrongly nabbed by police officers, hauled to the city's detox center, assaulted and then jailed. Denver Assistant City Attorney Stan Sharoff said he could not comment because the city had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit. The trouble started on the night in September 2000 when two Denver cops stopped a taxi driver for speeding and careless driving. Baird was a passenger in the...