After attending the Kentucky Industrial Fiber Hemp Conference in May
'96, Woody and several industrial hemp colleages were invited to give a
talk in Donna Cockrel's fifth grade class at Simpsonville Elementary as part of the school's "Agriculture and Environment in
the Classroom" program. This visit coincided with the graduation day of
the school's D.A.R.E. program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). Shelby
County D.A.R.E. officer Deputy Audry Yaeger criticised that the visit sent
a confusing message to the students and contradicted her anti-drug message.
A storm erupted over this, leading to complaints by irate parents, the
investigation and eventual dismissal of Cockrel. Here's a complete follow-up
of articles from the Lexington Herald-Leader on the Cockrel controversy.
I remember when I first met Donna Cockrel and saw her rapport with the
children in her class, her passion for teaching and the respect and interest
they showed for her. I wished I had a teacher like her when I was in the
fifth grade.
The first lady of hemp has been given the heave-ho.
In a five-page letter dated yesterday, Shelby County Schools Superintendent
Leon Mooneyhan informed Donna Cockrel that she had been fired.
SIMPSONVILLE - A parents' group at Simpsonville Elementary last night
called for the dismissal of a controversial fifth-grade teacher for teaching
students about industrial hemp.
About 150 people filled the gymnasium bleachers, and a steady stream
of parents took turns criticizing Donna Cockrel and her classroom conduct.
SIMPSONVILLE - Parents of Simpsonville Elementary pupils will vote this
week whether to support a teacher who has attracted controversy for her
support of legalizing industrial hemp.
The parents will discuss fifth-grade teacher Donna Cockrel at the school's
Parent Teacher Association meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday.
PTA president Carol Luken said the purpose of the meeting is for members
to vote on whether to support Cockrel. Depending on the majority view,
the group could vote to call for her to
Notes from a long day on the hemp trail:
Parents at Simpsonville Elementary School in Shelby County show that
hemp is very much a four-letter word to them. Thirty-eight of the school's
480 students were kept home yesterday because actor Woody Harrelson was
in the building talking about the cousin of marijuana that won't make you
high. It's illegal to cultivate hemp in Kentucky; Harrelson wants to change
that.
SIMPSONVILLE - Parents of 21 students pulled their children out of a
Shelby County school this week to protest a scheduled visit by Woody Harrelson.
Some said the actor, who has portrayed a killer and a pornographer, is
not a proper role model.
The actor did not show up for the visit scheduled for Wednesday at Simpsonville
Elementary School. Harrelson had been invited by teacher Donna Cockrel.
She said he did not attend because he was making a movie, and that she
expected him later this month.
CINCINNATI - Just like the character he plays in The People vs. Larry
Flynt, Woody Harrelson knows how to draw attention to his cause.
He arrived at the Cincinnati premiere earlier this week in a Kentucky
Hemp Museum van, wearing a tuxedo, a "100% hemp Kentucky" cap and a big
grin. On his arm: none other than "the first lady of hemp," fur-clad Simpsonville
schoolteacher Donna Cockrel, who brought Harrelson to her classroom for
a talk on hemp last May. Not even a glitzy premiere could keep Harrelson
Before last spring, eighth-grader Jenny Kinchen didn't know much about
industrial hemp.
She also didn't know a lot about actor Woody Harrelson - "I've heard
that he's not always in very good movies," she said.
Published on 09/22/96.--Commentary Page--by Woody Harrelson.
On May 30, I and several of my industrial hemp colleagues visited Donna
Cockrel's fifth-grade class at Simpsonville Elementary as part of the school's
"Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom" program. The purpose of
this visit was to educate her class on industrial hemp, a promising alternative
crop for Kentucky farmers.
Shelby County school officials have asked a state board to consider
revoking the certification of a fifth-grade teacher for allowing hemp seeds
to be passed around a classroom.
Any good teacher is going to give a child both sides of an issue. Donna
Cockrel of Simpsonville Elementary was doing just that when she invited
actor Woody Harrelson to speak on the value of hemp as a crop. I wonder
how many of the naysayers had relatives who raised hemp during World War
II as a cash crop to help the war effort? Hemp was used at that time for
rope and many of the large farms, including Calumet, had large fields of
hemp. Today, we import our hemp to use for clothing, shoes and many other
SIMPSONVILLE - Teachers will have to give the principal two days' warning
before bringing visitors to a school where actor Woody Harrelson showed
up on short notice to talk about hemp.
Simpsonville Elementary School's site-based council approved that change
to the teachers' handbook yesterday. It also asked the school's curriculum
committee to recommend a policy to ensure that visits from outsiders are
related to approved subject matter.
The two actions took less than a minute of the council'
Last month, fifth-graders at Simpsonville Elementary got a visit from
a celebrity, a lesson in agriculture and a look at the legal process, all
rolled into one.
Their teacher, Donna Cockrel, invited actor Woody Harrelson to come
and talk about industrial hemp, and why he thinks it should be legal to
grow it in Kentucky. Harrelson pointed out that unlike marijuana, hemp
doesn't create a high when smoked - but federal and state laws still don't
distinguish between the two.
Donna Cockrel has a reputation as a teacher who inspires students and
makes waves.
She did both last month when actor Woody Harrelson visited her fifth-grade
classroom at Simpsonville Elementary to talk about industrial hemp.
The ripples still are spreading.
Cockrel was notified last week that she is being investigated by her
school board because of complaints that followed the visit.
And "American Journal," a tabloid TV newsmagazine, has taped a segment
on the controversy that er
In a visit to a Simpsonville Elementary School, actor Woody Harrelson
advocated the growing of commercial hemp in Kentucky. Naturally, this outraged
all right-thinking, God-fearing, law-abiding, flag-waving, sin-hating citizens
and officials. School officials shuddered. Deputy Sheriff Audrey Yeager
was "very, very upset, " said State Trooper Jimmy Richardson, who flogs
drugs for the state, said that the incident sent children a confusing message.
If kiddie morals are to be protected, Harrelson must be, at the very least,
flogged on the public square,
LOUISVILLE - A Shelby County deputy sheriff says actor Woody Harrelson's
appearance at an elementary school to promote the legalization of industrial
hemp contradicted her anti-drug message to students.
"I was very, very upset," Deputy Sheriff Audrey Yeager said Tuesday.
"Here I am telling them hemp is marijuana, and marijuana's illegal, and
he's in there trying to promote the product to 10- and 11-year-olds. Who
is going to go in and talk to 10- and 11-year-olds about growing hemp anyway?
SIMPSONVILLE - The pupils in Donna Cockrel's fifth-grade class had already
been told marijuana is bad.
Yesterday they learned a different lesson: Hemp is good.
They heard it from Woody Harrelson, the actor they know not from R-rated
movies like Money Train or Natural Born Killers but from TV's "Cheers"
and the television version of White Men Can't Jump.
ACTOR SUPPORTS FIRED TEACHER WHO ADVOCATES HEMP
Published on 08/18/97.--Commentary Page --by Woody Harrelson.
PRO-HEMP TEACHER FIRED; SCHOOLS CHIEF CITES LIES, CHEATING
Published on 07/16/97.
PTA CRITICIZES TEACHER OVER HEMP LESSONS
Published on 02/21/97.
PARENTS TO VOTE ON TEACHER WHO HAD HARRELSON IN CLASS
Published on 02/16/97.
PARENTS OBJECT TO HARRELSON---ACTOR BACK RALLYING FOR HEMP
Published on 01/30/97.
21 KEPT FROM SCHOOL AS PARENTS PROTEST HARRELSON FILM ROLES
Published on 01/24/97.
HARRELSON: HEMP'S CAPPED CRUSADER
Published on 01/10/97.
HARRELSON PRESENTS HEMP ESSAY AWARDS
Published on 10/27/96.
HARRELSON ON HEMP
ACTOR TAKES HEMP SERIOUSLY
TEACHER FACES REVOCATION OVER HEMP IN CLASSROOM
Published on 08/25/96.
TEACHER WAS RIGHT TO GIVE BOTH SIDES OF HEMP STORY
Published on 07/26/96.--Commentary Page.
HARRELSON TALK PROMPTS SCHOOL TO CHANGE POLICY
Published on 07/16/96.
JUST HEMPENSTANCE? SCRUTINY OF INNOVATIVE TEACHER COMES AT AN ODD TIME
Published on 07/05/96.--Commentary Page.
TEACHER INVESTIGATED AFTER HARRELSON TALK ON HEMP
Published on 06/30/96.
IN DEFENSE OF HEMP AND REASON
Published on 06/23/96. ---- Editorial
SHELBY DEPUTY SHERIFF CRITICIZES HARRELSON'S PRO-HEMP MESSAGE
Published on 06/13/96.
HARRELSON HOLDS HEMP SHOW-AND-TELL
Published on 05/31/96.
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