You Have the Right... (Part 1)

Recently our local High School was involved in a drug bust during school hours. 11 students were arrested; ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old. The drugs involved were marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, and a variety of prescription medications which were purchased by an undercover Redmond Police officer. This investigation had been ongoing since September of 2009.


Another arrest was made November of 2003 of 5 teens – 16 through 18 years old. Again, from sales made during an undercover operation for marijuana and cocaine.

I could research and find several more instances of drug busts at Redmond High alone. I know there was one during each of my adult daughters’ time at RHS; my husband knew there were drugs during his high school years as well (he graduated in 1972).

In reading the high school newspaper my son brought home, the comments and articles written by students ranged from defending the school and other students to absolute disgust at the lack of rights shown to the students arrested. There were also several comments made on the arrogance of the police force and the obvious distrust students should now feel towards the police; the absolute shock that it was lawful for them to pretend to be a student and “trap” students into selling drugs.

I expect this attitude from teenagers. Adults, after all, are the enemy and we’re just too stupid to really know what it’s like to be a teenager. We’re bossy, nosey and nagging – is it any wonder they keep secrets from us?

I made the poor choice of voicing my opinion about the bust. I felt (and still feel, actually) that these students were not innocent by-standers that were trapped into trusting a student and selling drugs. I feel these kids come from homes that have little parental involvement (regardless of the reason) and have had even less consequential reactions throughout their short, young lives. I would guess over half of them come from families that have higher-than-average income for our area, and are not members of a local church or youth organization. Some of them are in sports; some of them may even get good grades. Of the 11 arrested, I know the names of three; two I know by reputation – and it’s not a good one, trust me. All 11 were arrested on Friday morning and released through bail process by Friday night.

I was frankly very shocked at the local ADULT reaction to the drug bust. Parents were horrified that the local (Seattle) news was alerted to the bust (probably by Redmond Police), that names of the *victims* were released (through Twitter and Face book by about 1200 students) and that they were “taken out of classes in handcuffs like common criminals”. It was also mentioned how traumatic it was to all the other students to have fully uniformed police officers burst into the rooms with drug dogs and watch as their friends were treated like criminals.

The comments continued about the violation of rights these *kids* were subjected to; the drug use/sales were off-campus; it certainly didn’t represent the whole of students at RHS; that it was “only” marijuana; that they were “only” kids; that it’s certainly not the first or last arrest at a high school for drugs. Let’s see, there were comments about legalizing drugs to staunch the flow of drug dealers in schools, what kids do in their private time is their own business, blah, blah, blah.

Parents were notified of the bust via an email from the Principal within about 30 minutes of the drug bust and it was on all three local news stations on the 11 o’clock news. As the kids are at this time considered minors, their names have not been released through the media. As I mentioned above, the students were publically humiliated by their fellow students through “Tweets” and Face Book status updates (via mobile phones). The school was under lockdown until the bust completed and the students removed from the premises. The media interviewed a few students – most of whom echoed the sentiments of the high school newspaper articles mentioned above.

I’ve been reading about the constitution, amendments and the founding of our country. Our government, constitution and even judicial system were based upon Christian principles (America’s Godly Heritage, David Barton; WallBuilder Press, 1993). These principles were used as curriculum for many years to teach values, problem solving and citizenship to school-age children. Prayer and the pledge of allegiance were part of that curriculum.

However, as our country grows, it acts more and more like the rebellious teenager – don’t take the advice of those experienced folks, resist authority; change the rules if you don’t like them. With several court decisions, prayer and the Pledge are out of our schools. And don’t even think about bringing a Bible to class or starting an after-school club about religion.