“We’re just going to swarm the schools,” said Owensville Police Chief Robert Rickerd following a meeting at the station with K-9 officers from Warren County, Salem, Potosi, Eureka, Waynesville, Gasconade County and his own department. “This is because of all the drug activity over the past several months.”
Rickerd said the action came about after discussions last week with Superintendent Dr. Russ Brock in response to recent incidents involving drugs being found in schools, and on school property in private vehicles, earlier this school year.
Last week, Rickerd said police were called to both schools after drugs were found in a student’s possession on school grounds. Rickerd said a middle school boy was caught with marijuana and prescription medication. “Quite a bit actually,” said Rickerd of the several grams of marijuana recovered.
A high school boy was caught with marijuana in the same incident. Brock said a report of drug activity to faculty and administrators by fellow students lead to the discovery last week. “It was basically reported,” said Brock. “If that is the case, that’s a sign some students are really concerned about it as well and are willing to help the best they can.”
Both schools were placed on “lock-down status” during the sweeps conducted by three dog handlers at the middle school and four K-9 units at the high school. K-9 teams concentrated on the lockers at both schools. Students at OHS remained in their first hour classes throughout the search. Middle school students moved from their first to second hour classes before the dog teams began their search.
Brock said the decision to keep students in their classrooms was for theirs and the dogs’ safety and to avoid distracting the dogs as they worked.
When a dog hit on a locker, school officials searched its contents. No drugs were found in the middle school but dogs hit on lockers in both the seventh and eighth-grade wings.
Larry Sanderson from the Potosi Police Department said it is not uncommon for drug dogs to detect the odor of marijuana, or other drugs, on clothing or backpacks long after drugs are used.
Later, they swept the student parking lots in front of the high school and south of the large gym. Drug dogs hit on at least six cars. Students were called out to the parking lot and watched while police and school officials conducted searches of the interiors. Again, police did not find any drugs. “That sends a message,” said Brock. “There was a reason the dogs hit on some of the cars. Seeing their administrators search their cars sends a message.”
Working in near-freezing conditions, with sustained gusting wind, several of the handlers noted their dog detected an odor at a different location on one car. They then began using up to three different dogs to check each car. Each of the dogs detected the odor of marijuana on each of the vehicles originally alerted on. In several incidents, the subsequent handler would work their dog starting from a different direction and worked toward the suspected vehicle after first checking vehicles beside that one.
“Someone’s been smoking up recently in that one,” said one of the lawmen pointing at a car.
K-9 officers involved in the searches included Owensville’s Billly Coello and “Kilo,” Gasconade County’s Kelly Heather and “Rita,” Potosi’s Larry Sanderson, Eureka’s Mike Werges, Salem’s Joe Chase, and Sgt. Ed McCormick and “Bronto” from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.
Both the OMS and OHS students suspected of drug possession were released into the custody of their parents. A report will be turned over to the county juvenile officer. The OMS student faces two counts of drug possession, said Rickerd. The high school boy faces one count of drug possession.
“We keep fighting the demons and see where we get,” said Prosecutor Ada Brehe-Krueger about the county’s efforts to combat teenage drug use. She noted prosecution of teen drug use had dropped off slightly in recent years but appears to be on the increase again.
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2010-02-05 03:46:18 | pigmynation
Whether or not you want to believe it is on you.Marijuana is the gateway drug, not however necesarily the gateway to other drugs,but in alot of cases the gateway to crime.It has gotten to the point at the High School that when the seniors graduate this year. I believe they should walk off the stage onto a 70 passenger prisoner bus and taken to Montgomery county jail.
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2010-02-05 09:46:59 | backoffbigbrother - The "consequence" of the war on drugs
This is what the "war on drugs" brings to our children and us. We have the police running dogs through the schools like Nazis. They instill fear and paranoia in the kids as they are locked in their rooms while the dogs sniff out lockers and cars. This is acceptable behavior to most parents because of conditioning. The government has marijuana listed as being as dangerous as methamphetamine and heroin. You wanna know why kids might move from marijuana to something else? It's because of lies from their government. People have got to get to the point where they see that a war on drugs will never be won because they don't want it to be. Why you might ask? Because the same ones who fight the war make too much money off of it. Remember the Iran-Contra scandal? The CIA smuggled in 2 tons of cocaine and sold it on the streets of this country to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. So who are the real criminals? Those who use drugs or the officials who bring them in.
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2010-02-05 13:05:02 | smalltownmom
In response "PIGMYNATION" 's commets "It has gotten to the point at the High School that when the
seniors graduate this year. I believe they should walk off the stage onto a 70
passenger prisoner bus and taken to Montgomery county jail."I'll have you know that not all of those kids have been in trouble. Most of this years Seniors are great kids. My son and several of his friends have never been in any kind of trouble !!!!!!! And they have also been on the honor role since the 6th grade !!!!!!! how dare you judge whole group of young adults by the actions of a few !!!!! do you even know any of these young people ???? HOW DARE YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!! the dogs hit on 6 cars ???? have you seen how many cars are in the parking lot at one time ??? and who said anything about them belonging to seniors????? I have never been more proud of my son and his friends, in spite of everything that has gone on this year they has been able to maintain their grades, ge...
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2010-02-09 03:41:15 | pigmynation
From just that little blurp of nonsensical babble
i can tell what kind of person you are. you believe that because your child or children has good grades and has never been in trouble before that they are angels. i was in highschool not that long ago and i can tell you that even the children of administrators of the school and the city were the worst offenders because of the tight reigns that parents like you held on them. they unlike the well known "career criminals" as i like to call them just never got caught. i am willing to place a hefty wager that these kids that you say do no wrong have done way more that you would want to imagine, again they just dont get caught. i will be the first to admit i have done things that i should have at least been fined for, but i fell in the group that never got caught, had good grades, and people thought i was one of the good ones. HA
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So we just swarm the school with 7 dogs and only find a few cars and lockers that smell like marijuana. That's some good police work there. Schools seem more and more like places where children are treated like criminals. I'm deeply troubled that we have a culture of locking people that smoke a plant in cages, "for their own good" and locks kids in classrooms while armed men swarm the schools like gestapo agents looking for contraband. Sure it looks good, fighting the war on drugs is a good campaign slogan, but 70+ years of prohibition has resulted in a burgeoning police state without any real results except law enforcement entities, penitentiaries, and judiciaries that feed off of fees, fines and seizures. Prohibition of Alcohol failed miserably, so why do we keep trying to make that failure work with other intoxicating substances?