HONORED TEACHER FACING DRUG CHARGES

In more than 20 years at Hudson High, she has won accolades for
school and community service

A veteran Hudson High School teacher lauded for her work with the
brightest students and her dedication to public service was arrested
Wednesday on drug possession charges.

News of 52-year-old Alma L. Whitman's arrest shocked her peers, who
said the social studies teacher's reputation was on par with the
prestigious extracurricular activities she sponsored during her more
than 20 years at Hudson High. Recent yearbook photos show Whitman
mugging with student government and Teen Court participants.

"I've always known her as a fantastic teacher," said Robert Benjamin,
a United School Employees of Pasco union representative who used to
teach with Whitman. "Her whole life centers around teaching kids."

A Pasco County sheriff's report suggested a darker lifestyle but cast
little light on why Whitman might have chosen such a path.

The vice and narcotics unit began investigating Whitman on a tip from
an unnamed informant, the report said. On Monday, a detective
interviewed the teacher at her home on Lassen Avenue in New Port Richey.

Whitman allowed the detective to search her house. The officer found
drug paraphernalia and 0.6 grams of marijuana in Whitman's master
bedroom and bathroom. Tests from the drug paraphernalia showed trace
amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana.

Whitman admitted to using both drugs recently, the report stated, but
said the drug items found in her room weren't hers.

Pasco sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said Whitman also sold
methamphetamine to an informant in a recent "controlled buy."
However, she was charged with possession of methamphetamine,
marijuana and drug paraphernalia, but not with selling drugs.

"At this point, (with) the evidence that we had, we're able to make
the arrests on those three charges," Tobin said.

Authorities arrested Whitman at her home just before lunch on
Wednesday. Schools were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

A man who answered Whitman's phone on Wednesday hung up on a reporter
without commenting.

Not long ago, Whitman received accolades. She was named Employee of
the Month in January 2001 and the Florida Junior Achievement
Program's Volunteer of the Year for Central Florida in 2002.

Whitman had long served as a board member with the Hudson American
Legion Post 335. She collected canned goods from her students for the
legion's holiday food drives and served as a committee member for
Girls State, a program that teaches young women about government.

But something changed during the past year, said Gloria Fairclough, a
former legion post president.

"All of a sudden, she started not paying attention" to the group's
activities, Fairclough said. No one knew the reason. "She let me down
for Girls State last year because she didn't do her job.

"That's a shame because she was instrumental in doing a lot of things
around here for a lot of years. It's just a dirty shame."