Dallas / Ft. Worth NORML

I am OUTRAGED at this and EVERY TEXAN SHOULD BE AS WELL. Williamson County DA is trying to use the concept that 'teaching kids to mistrust government' creates a situation in which the children are placed at risk and custody should be terminated. The warrant and arrests over misdemeanor marijuana possession are not solely enough to target the Cooper family's parental rights, so the affadavit signed by the officers includes things like "the Coopers are “unsuitable” parents because they create an environment in which the children learn their “government is out to harm them”" and reports of the children “crying for no reason” as armed officers invaded their home.

I'd be crying for no reason if the Gestapo kicked in MY door and came to arrest MY dad, too, if I was a seven year old boy with cerebral palsy. This is just another example of the 'we can do anything we want' mentality of Texas law enforcement and won't ever end until we have a sympathetic judge who orders harsh penalties on officers and public officials who misuse the law in a punitive fashion for their own ends.

Excerpted from: http://trueslant.com/stephenwebster/2010/03/30/tx-county-teaching-kids-g...

Texans, beware: If you teach your kids that the “government is out to harm them,” police in Williamson County might just deem you an “unsuitable” parent.

That startling claim, leveled by officers in Child Protective Services documents detailing an investigation into an Austin-area activist couple, should be enough to give reason for pause to any staunch conservative in the state.

The allegation was made against drug reform activist filmmakers Barry and Candi Cooper, whose home was recently raided and searched after the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department claimed Barry’s voice was heard in the background audio of an allegedly false police report.