June 14, 2002

11:05 AM

A whole new spin on "Home Schooling".Child-endangerment charges follow apparent sharing of Ecstasy with his kids on HBO show. I can think of a number of documentaries I've seen where illegal activity was taking place but never heard of the participant/s being arrested. Dangerous precedence? (via Obscure Store)
posted by KevinSkomsvold (10 comments total)

This is important:
Meyers' ex-wife, Sheryl Mettler, came forward with information for the sheriff's investigation about Meyers' "new lifestyle" out of concern for her children, said Calaveras Sheriff's Capt. Michael Walker. She was unavailable for comment Thursday.

My impression is that the cops didn't just watch the show, and decide to arrest the guy. This suggests that his ex-wife "came forward" with the evidence?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding?
posted by arielmeadow at 11:44 AM on June 14, 2002

dangerous PRECEDENT maybe?
posted by Irontom at 11:51 AM on June 14, 2002

Oh crap. That’s what I get for using only a spell check and not a thesaurus. *doh*
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:06 PM on June 14, 2002

I watched this show and it was really something awful to see. This dad is a complete and utter screwup. He did all these things on television, I saw it -- he also talked about deceiving the cops and the mother... on camera. Not such a bright guy. He is as far as I can see a complete borderline personality and as much as I love a toke and a party he ought not to have the children around unwatched.

The saddest thing in this program, though, wasn't the father -- it was watching his college age son screw up bigtime with drugs. These kids are just blowing their brains out with this stuff. I did more acid than *anyone* I've ever met and I didn't approach the drug experience with an attitude anywhere close to these kids. They were just looking to abuse themselves -- they didn't look like they were having fun. They were seeking oblivion with a kind of drive that left me stunned. It was very depressing.
posted by n9 at 12:31 PM on June 14, 2002

Yeah, looks like ex-wife revenge to me. Although, really...doing illegal drugs on a national broadcast...that's a special kind of stupid.

That being said, I would rather my kids come to me with drug questions than anyone else. Is my take on the drug culture the same as the "official party line"? Nope, I know the "just say no" thing is absurd. I don't think pot is some demonic weed that drags people into certain dementia. I don't think all people who take acid or shrooms are bound and determined to jump out of buildings because they think they can fly. (I think that story is an urban myth anyway...but I could be wrong.)

Harder drugs are a different story...and I don't know yet how to help a kid differentiate between drugs that aren't really addictive...and drugs that can kill you pretty fast.

But I think it's a given that kids are likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol...and isn't it safer for them to do that in the safety of their own homes? Or have I spent too many summers hanging out with the Rainbow Family? :)

(Of course, it's easy to get on a soapbox when the baby is still swimming around in the womb...it remains to be seen how conservative I get once Peanut is born. :)
posted by dejah420 at 12:34 PM on June 14, 2002

n9 and I have never met. ;)

I watched this show and marveled at this man's stupidity. He seemed like a shallow, selfish soul who nonetheless was basically good-intentioned. But he failed utterly to even notice that his pinhead "lifestyle choices" were fucking up his kids. I'm glad I was old and set in my ways by the time Ecstasy got really popular. Yuck. I took it a couple of times in the early 80s and while it was great and a fun time was had by all I can't IMAGINE what he was thinking letting his 12- or 13-year-old daughter take it. It ain't pot. (Or even shrooms, for that matter)

I think it's a given that kids are likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol...and isn't it safer for them to do that in the safety of their own homes?

I agree. But encouraging that experimentation is something else.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:32 PM on June 14, 2002

HBO isn't broadcast, its cable.
posted by delmoi at 3:51 PM on June 14, 2002

Well, HBO now occasionally attracts more viewers than the networks, so the classic distinction between broadcast and cable, in terms of number of viewers, is diminishing.

I think the point here is that this guy had no compunction about using Ecstasy - and bragging about it - in front of a potential audience of millions. Clearly, he isn't the sharpest crayon in the box.
posted by John Smallberries at 8:24 PM on June 14, 2002

Yeah, looks like ex-wife revenge to me.

You obviously did not see the show, or you'd definitely be singing a different tune.
posted by eas98 at 7:57 AM on June 15, 2002

HBO isn't broadcast, its cable.

Ok, completely off topic, but I have to ask this somewhere. We live in Oakland, CA, and have a TV but it isn't connected to either cable or an antenna. As a result we only get a few channels and they are fuzzy.

We get NBC on 11, Pax on 65, something on 36, an Asian-languages channel on 26, and on 3 we get HBO.

I have no idea why we have HBO, or how we have HBO. It is being broadcast by somebody. It is complete HBO, we've seen Real Sex and Taxicab Confessions (or whatever it is called). Nudity, language, etc. All there.

Anybody know what the source of this is?
posted by obfusciatrist at 12:28 PM on June 15, 2002