(True/Slant) Because of Barry’s recent misdemeanor arrest over allegations of a false police report, Williamson County officers gained entry to the couple’s home and discovered a couple of marijuana cigarette butts during their search, for which both husband and wife were charged in Travis County. Police also took the Coopers’ electronics and digital media and managed to keep the former officer behind bars for over 48 hours.
In the document, an affidavit in support of ex parte relief filed with a court in Upshur County, Texas, Mr. Johnston contends that because of Barry and Candi’s standing as nationally-known marijuana activists and their high (no pun intended) level of comfort with the drug, they pose a danger to Zachary. He cites articles on the duo’s exploits published by Cannabis Culture and Maxim, noting in particular that when Barry and Candi met, she was his “pot dealer.”
“This recent [arrest] crosses the line from advocacy to illicit drug abuse,” Mr. Johnston concludes. “I have tried to tolerate the Coopers and their lifestyle as long as I can. My son, Zachary, does not deserve to be raised in a household that uses illicit drugs, abuses drugs, and where they derive the majority of their income on the advocacy of how to engage in illegal conduct.”
And he’s got every right to make that claim, which will absolutely be taken seriously considering standing law. However…
“I smoked pot with that motherfucker eight months ago!” Cooper jeered over the phone. “I have a witness, his ex-girlfriend. And she’s gonna testify. We do that shit away from our kids, and everything we’ve ever used for our shows is a prop.”
I’ve written about Barry Cooper before and have spoken in public and in the media of my disagreements with his notions of surrendering 5th Amendment rights during a police search and of filing false police reports in his “KopBusters” stings. I’ve also praised Cooper for the factual education he does provide in many other areas of his DVDs and for his important perspective as a former K-9 handler/trainer and narcotics officer.
But none of that controversy is relevant to the tragedy that is unfolding in this custodial dispute over his 7-year-old stepson, a matter further complicated by the boy’s cerebral palsy. Not everybody who smokes pot is a high-profile activist like Barry and Candi Cooper, but these cases of children being lost over parental marijuana use are not uncommon, even in the fourteen states that allow for medical marijuana.
Stephen C. Webster has been doing fantastic work covering this story over at True/Slant. His post from today includes an update that the Coopers were unsuccessful in getting Zachary back in the most recent hearing, where the Deputy District Attorney pronounced the couple to be fit parents, the children healthy, happy and “well cared for” and that there “is nothing to indicate that the kids are at risk.”
Also included is the entire CPS report released to the public, where the police are trying to paint a very different picture. It is so patently offensive that I can only respond to it in sarcasm font.
"The 14-year-old has drug posters in her room along with imitation marijuana items."
My god, a teenage girl with a pot leaf poster and a fake marijuana leaf lei?!? If that were grounds for losing your kids where I live now on the West Coast, we’d be deluged by orphans.
"Parents are unsuitable and create an environment where the children believe the government is out to harm them."
My god, teaching the kids that the government is out to harm them?!? If that were grounds for losing your kids where I used to live in Idaho, they’d be deluged by orphans.
7-year-old child with cerebral palsy was engaged in "outburst" of "Crying Excessively" for "no reason observed during the execution of a search warrant at the residence."
Clearly when your mentally-challenged stepson cries for no reason when armed strangers burst in to his home and take away his mommy and daddy in handcuffs, it’s evidence of your poor parenting. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so scared if he hadn’t been trained to think the government was out to harm him.
Barry Cooper "does not believe in church" and "hates his father"
Whew! I love my father… so guess I’d get to keep my kids, if I had any.
"The children are being mentally abused to believe drugs are good."
Does this mean the only good parents left are the ones who believe in “faith healing”?
"The family will not allow any government employee into the home without court orders."
Only the worst of parents teach their children to invoke their 4th Amendment rights!
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Barry and Candi……I am from Canada and this story breaks my heart. They are loving people i can hear it in their voices and see it in their eyes. When did the US turn into Nazi Germany where police can break in your home and steal your kids and arrest you??? Aren’t people INNOCENT UNTILL *PROVEN* GUILTY. Please everyone im not religous but please take 30 seconds to send positive and influential thoughts to the Cooper’s and try and help even if it is just prayer.
Nearly three-quarters-of-a-century after it was made illegal; half-a-century after it was proven to be practically harmless – why is it still a crime to possess and smoke marijuana?
Here is a list of ten famous people who died as a result of nicotine abuse:
Humphrey Bogart
Edward R. Murrow
Nat King Cole
George Harrison
John Huston
Noel Coward
Betty Grable
Walt Disney
Gary Cooper
Peter Jennings
Here is another list. Ten famous people who died from alcoholism:
Billie Holiday
Jack Kerouac
Truman Capote
Lorenz Hart
Veronica Lake
Bix Beiderbecke
Montgomery Clift
Dylan Thomas
John Barrymore
Errol Flynn
Now I’m going to ask you to name for me one celebrity who has died from too much grass.
Go on, I’m waiting….
Couldn’t do it, could you? Don’t feel bad. Neither could I. Not only am I not aware of anyone ever dying in that manner, I am not aware of it happening in all recorded human history. If someone can come up with one example I’ll shut up forever on the subject. Is it a “gateway drug” as they never tire of reminding us? An argument may be made that it is. But so is Pabst Blue Ribbon. Also, ciggies and booze have absolutely no medicinal value. Marijuana has. Think about it.
Do I advocate its use? I don’t. I haven’t smoked pot in over twenty years and have no intention of taking up the habit again any time soon. But at the dawn of the second decade of the twenty-first century the question is screaming to be asked: Why are we still having this stupid conversation?
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
We have a “justice” system which has nothing to do with justice an within THAT obcenity is an even darker obscenity. They have something they call(and I’m not making this up) family law. The function of family law is to determine how much money a family has and which buttons to push to extract the maximum amount before leaving them bloody, battered and penniless. I certainly hope that Mr. Cooper has more money than his adversary because, in the end,THAT will be the determining factor.
It’s not about the weed or anything else. It’s about a non custodial parent who saw a golden opportunity and grabbed it.
this is so so sad, I always said that the law officers in Texas was self serving but this must not be allowed to stand. We need to make major noise, let the world know whats going on. Bring light on these cockroaches that feed on the pain of others and use fear as a force to demand submission. Willie Nelson is from Texas, maybe he could help in publicizing this attack on Mr. Copper. All I really know is if they are allowed to do this to a family who among us will be next. Please dont just speak up, holler out loud, this is wrong
I think the children of anyone who worked on this case should be taken away because they obviously know nothing about being a parent. No wait, I take that back, because taking away somebody’s child is fu**ing sick and should not even be considered unless there are extreme cases, like not believing in god.
I am actively holding back the bile as I type…So, not being religious is a mark against you as a parent?! How much does that mark weigh? For instance, what if a parent hits a number of other “bad” marks, but not quite enough to take the kids. Could ALSO being non-religious be the “straw that breaks the camel’s back?”
Unbelievable
And the last bit about it being a bad mark to exert your f-ing rights as an AMERICAN.
The people currently running our govt are NOT interested in having an educated, civic minded, and motivated public. So it is in their interest to take down all the parents who may make trouble through their offspring a generation down the line. Its almost as if they are culling the herd…
So angry right now
Disgusted