THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995            TAG: 9502160327
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: STERLING                           LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

TEEN SUSPENDED FOR POSSESSING MOUTHWASH AT HIS HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS SAY THEY GOT WIND OF THE STUDENT BRAGGING OF ITS ALCOHOL CONTENT.

Carter Loar thought fresh breath would help get the attention of a girl in his English class. Instead, it got him a suspension.

Just as third period was about to begin last week, the 17-year-old Park View High School senior pulled a small bottle of mouthwash from his jacket and swished some of the liquid between his teeth.

The next day, he got a date - with Park View's assistant principal, who suspended him for 10 days for violating the school system's alcohol policy.

School officials said Loar broke a rule that prohibits students from bringing to school any liquid that contains alcohol. Any infraction results in a suspension and three days in a substance abuse treatment program, which Loar is scheduled to attend next week.

The teen's parents have appealed the suspension.

``This is just crazy,'' the boy's mother, LeJuan Loar, said in an interview. ``It's not like he took a gun to school. It was an oral hygiene product.''

Ms. Loar said she bought the bottle of Cool Mint Listerine for her son two weeks ago after he expressed concern about his breath. Carter said he used the mouthwash to gargle a couple of times a day, frequently at school. ``I didn't want to bring mints or gum because some teachers don't allow that stuff in their classes,'' he said. ``I thought I was playing it safe.''

School officials don't see it that way. In a letter to Loar's parents, Park View Principal James E. Person said the youth admitted drinking the Listerine and bragged to classmates about its nearly 22 percent alcohol content. Person said teachers had seen Loar using the mouthwash at least once before ``in a way that made others think he was drinking it.''

Terrence W. Hill, director of secondary education for Loudoun County schools, said when a student is found with an alcohol product, administrators first consider how the student was using it.

``The bottom line is abuse. If you're using a substance in a way it was intended to be used, there's no problem,'' Hill said.

Loar concedes he may have swallowed a little of the mouthwash, but he said he wasn't drinking it to get high. by CNB