Sender: To: X-Original-Message-ID: <1bb701bf4c69$196f8800$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> From: "Peter McWilliams" Subject: Make up! Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 02:41:26 -0800 X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM) Copyright: 1999 Albuquerque Journal Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com Address: P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103 Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/ Author: Associated Press Links: For Gov. Johnson articles: http://www.mapinc.org/johnson.htm For New Mexico articles: http://www.mapinc.org/states/nm NO SCHOOL DRUG TALK FOR GOVERNOR JOHNSON The Santa Fe school district has just said no to Gov. Gary Johnson's message about drug legalization. Johnson is meeting Monday with students at DeVargas Middle School, and some parents have complained that 12- and 13-year-old students are too young to hear his message that heroin and marijuana should be legalized. DeVargas officials said Thursday that students' questions to Johnson will revolve around his job, schools and space aliens rather than drugs. The governor's spokeswoman, Diane Kinderwater, confirmed that and said he would stick to questions asked by the students -- and that the students aren't being allowed to ask about drugs. Johnson, who contends the nation's war on drugs is a failure, pledged to his fellow Republicans that he'd tone down his drug message. But during a talk with Santa Fe High School students on Monday, he spent an hour talking about his drug views. DeVargas principal Debra Carden said the kids will ask Johnson what it's like to be governor, why women make less money than men, why Johnson wants vouchers for private schools and whether he believes in aliens. She said every minute of his hour at the school will be accounted for and none will include a discussion of drugs. The 200 students attending the meeting were asked to develop questions, and only one originally concerned drugs, Carden said. She said that after a complaint, she told students they wouldn't be allowed to ask that. She said they didn't mind. "They're in junior high," she said. "They're more worried about their make-up."