Speedy Suspension For Alka Seltzer

BREMERTON - Fifteen middle-school students have been suspended for tasting Alka Seltzer on campus - it violated the school district's zero-tolerance policy on drugs, officials said.

The three-week suspensions should be a wake-up call for students and parents alike, Assistant Superintendent Mariwyn Tinsley said yesterday.

Austin Hicks, a sixth-grader at Mountain View Middle School, said his friend told him the broken antacid tablets were candy.

"And then after I tasted it, he said it was Alka Seltzer and `ha, ha . . . it's a joke,' " Hicks said. "After lunch I got called into the office" and was suspended.

His mother says the district needs to keep things in perspective. "This is not cocaine, this is not LSD or marijuana or anything like that" said Darla Hicks.