European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes monday january 26,1987 . Stands firm on drug test plan rail aviation Union challenges Likely Washington Al l plans in push Tor random drug testing in the Railroad and aviation industries arc Sun in face stiff court challenges from 111110115, but the Reagan administration Hopes a lives Are at stack argument will win i in1 Day. Only hours after transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole announced plans last week to impose a Broad drug testing or pram at the airlines railroads and in her own department labor unions vowed in Block the attempt in court. Administration officials acknowledge thai court challenges arc Likely since they i. To surfaced in virtually All drug testing cases including some involving the . Customs service local police depart ments and private Industry. Ii Tii Dole nays she s convinced hat in transportation she might have a stronger Case even though her proposal Calls for an array of less that include periodic and random tests thai would cover hundreds of thousands of workers even where Here is no suspicion of drug use. Ii seems to me thai where you be got the safety and so eerily responsibilities that we have in transportation you have a cry Clear and Strong Case in court she said in an interview you look at the balance Between the safety and Security needs of the Public and lit constitutional rights of the Indi Dole continued. There s no other area where a person s decision to use drugs would have a More disastrous Impact than in Dole said she had contemplated foursome time a requirement for random drug testing among aviation and rail workers As Welt As for transportation department employees involved in safely or Security jobs. But until recently department officials have shied away from the random idling option preferring instead to. Focus on a requirement for testing Only when Here is probable drug use. Such tests especially when there is a safety ques Tion have been upheld in courts while random tests so far have not even the rail unions which have challenged probable cause testing and still have some cases under Appeal have begun to indicate they might go along with tests in probable drug use cases. Within airline circles the pilots Union was ready to suggest a drug testing plan based on probable cause. Before Dole s announcement. Both rail and aviation labor unions however remain adamantly opposed to random testing. They Call in an invasion of privacy Ana a tool that has the Poten tial to rum a person s career with an erroneous test according to Henry Duffy president of the air line pilots association. Whether a Federal requirement for 3 hawaiian beaches cleaned of spilled Oil Honolulu a three popular beaches were declared Safe sunday by 111? coast guard after Crews cleaned up after an Oil spill. Stale health officials said however that warning signs would remain in place at least until monday. About 1,000 Gallons of fuel Oil spilled from an inter Island Barge tuesday when it wait buffeted by a storm Multi cast of Oahu. The Oil drifted across the Molokai Channel to the Eastern Shore of Oahu. Hawaii s most populated Island. Honolulu and the resort area of Wai Kiki arc on the Western Side of the Island and no Oil is reported there. Black gobs floated ashore Friday and the state s health department advised swimmers to slay out of the water at six beaches the popular body surfing beaches of Maka Puu and Sandy Beach the tropical fish preserve of Hanajima Bay and Kaiona. Waimanalo and Lanikai beaches. The air Force closed Bellows Beach next to Bellows air Force station. The coast guard said Maka Puu Wai Manalo and Bellows were Safe enough sunday for swimming. Ninety paid workers and about 30 volunteers worked through the weekend to clean up the Oil and Oil soaked Sand. On sunday much of the Oil still at sea appeared to be heading North and away from Oahu but some floated ashore at some Rural northerly beaches on the is land. It s going North on the wind and cur rents. We re chasing it said Ken Blair of Pacific environmental corp., which was hired to assist in the cleanup. State health department spokesman Don Horio said signs warning of polluted water would remain at the beaches at least until monday. Those signs Are not the Law " Horio said. They re just there to advise the Sause Bros. Ocean towing co., which owns the Barge from which the Oil spilled is paying for the cleanup and faces a $5,000 Fine. Snowfall cancels flight reagans return by car Washington apr president Reagan and his wife Nancy Rode by car Back to the while House from Camp do id my sunday after in was decided that it would be unsafe to Fly them by helicopter through a snowfall just about when they were ready to leave from the he pud. The Pill said the weather was changing that it was too treacherous to Fly while House spokes Man Dale Petroskey said. The coup to who had not yet entered the aircraft were instead driven Back from the Maryland Camp with a Fleet of about in vehicles pc Roskey said. They arrived at about 11 30 . After driving the 70 Miles in about an hour and 45 minutes. Snow already was falling in the Washington area which was hit by about a fool of Snow thursday. The National weather service predicted that sunday s snowfall would total four to eight inches in the capital and nearby Maryland areas. About 15 people made the trip Sun Day including a personal assistant the president s doctor a press officer and secret service agents. Also present As always was a military officer carrying the football the suitcase containing military codes that the president would need in Case of a military emergency. Random drug testing Wilt pass Muster in the courts is still unknown. A court Case in Boston might be one barometer of the Success of Dole s safety argument. In that Case a policeman s Union is challenging a Boston police department regulation that would require patrolmen picked at random by a com Puter to take drug ests. Even within the transportation department there is considerable Skepi cism Aslo whether a random testing requirement will survive Legal Challenge. The Federal Railroad administration according to senior officials of the Agency considered a random testing require ment when it debated the drug Regula Tion that a Cal into effect a year ago but ii rejected the idea because it might not survive Legal Challenge although department officials concede that the Railroad administration already May have the right to impose such test ing they now want Congress to provide new legislation for testing of Railroad workers to make a court Challenge More difficult. The rail unions have fought tooth and Nail against drug testing require ments for years said John Riley Federal Railroad administrator elaborating on inc need for new legislation. The apparent involvement of drugs in the recent fatal collision of an Amtrak passenger train and a Conrail locomotive has produced new support for random drug testing since both Conrail crewmen were found with marijuana in their sys tems at of the Accident. While representatives of rail labor unions have tried 10 distance themselves from the action of the two Conrail train operators the unions argue there Are no great safety gains from random testing that could not be achieved otherwise. We oppose it on constitutional grounds said Lawrence Mann an attorney for the railway labor executive association. He and other Union officials suggest the Safe operation of a train can be accomplished through other Means including putting pressure on rail management to better schedule work hours for train operators and take actions to ease stress on the Job. Aviation Tabor is even More Adamant. Unions representing both the pilots and flight attendants reject the argument that random drug testing would increase safety. Duffy president of the Union that represents 34,000 commercial pilots accused Dole of overreacting and at tempting a grab headlines there has never been an air Carrier Accident or fatality that has been attributed to drug use by pilots. I honestly wish Dole would put the same priority on the air traffic control system or wind Shear or things that Are really killing peo ple out there Duffy said. A splashing thrashing a photo a on the share of Lake on Tario Al Sodus Point , receives the full Force of Winter s fury in a storm sat urday. The size of the Waves Tan be Esti mated Fay the fact that the Lighthouse they ire battering is so feet High
