06:08 PM EDT on Friday, May 12, 2006

It started as just talk at North Bullitt High School but it ended with a student being suspended for selling drugs -- something called “zannies.” But the investigation doesn't stop there.

The arrest report in this case tells just part of the story. Bullitt County authorities believe a student was pushing pills in school for two days before she was caught. Now, she and another person are charged, and school officials are trying to figure out just how many students were involved.

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“It makes you wonder what's going to happen to your young ones coming up here.” George Roderer has two grandkids at North Bullitt High School. So he's worried by news that a 17-year-old junior has been accused of dealing pills during school.

“She was selling ‘em for $5 a pill and the best we can determine 70 pills were sold -- there could be more,” says Detective Scotty McGaha of the Bullitt County Sheriff's Department.

What kind of pills? “She identified the pills as ‘zannies,’ which is slang for Xanax,” McGaha says. "She did in fact admit to selling the pills and when asked where she received the pills she said a 22-year-old male from Bullitt County."

Casey Shewmaker was arrested Thursday afternoon and is charged with two felonies.

All this after a teacher overheard some talk at the school.

"This teacher learned there was a transfer -- or a discussion of a transfer of some drugs," says Bullitt County School sattorney Eric Farris.

Farris says the 17 year old has been suspended and others may also face disciplinary action.

The principal and the school's drug counselor are conducting an investigation into who transferred those pills. Parents are being involved.

George Roderer hopes the system goes hard on those already charged. “I think they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The pills are being tested to see if they really are Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. The Bullitt County sheriffs department is telling parents to be on the lookout for the un-marked pills that look like aspirin, and call the sheriff’s department if they find any.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.