FIRST-GRADER BRINGS MARIJUANA TO SCHOOL

YUCCA VALLEY: A 6-Year-Old Shows Pot to Students; His Father and His
Father's Girlfriend Are Jailed.

A 6-year-old boy surprised teachers and landed his dad in jail by
bringing pot to his elementary school in the desert town of Yucca Valley.

"He brought a baggie of marijuana, a pipe to smoke it in, and a
lighter," San Bernardino County sheriff's Sgt. Fred Gonzalez said
Wednesday. "We are talking about maybe a tenth of an ounce. . . . He
knew what people did with that and he wanted to show
classmates."

A teacher noticed Tuesday's informal show-and-tell session at Yucca
Valley Elementary School, Gonzalez said. From there, it was
by-the-book: The contraband was confiscated. Administrators were
notified. Sheriff's deputies were summoned.

A judge signed a search warrant, allowing deputies to inspect the
family's home along the 7100 block of Sioux Avenue. Officers reported
finding other smoking pipes, cigarette wrapping papers and marijuana
residue.

That same day, the boy's father and the father's live-in girlfriend
went to jail. The boy is with his mother, said Deputy District
Attorney Laura Ozols.

Douglas Evan Ballard, 41, and Heather Peterson, 32, were booked into
Morongo Basin Jail for investigation of child endangerment. Bail was
set at $100,000 apiece.

Ballard also is accused of being a felon in possession of ammunition
and was out on bail, facing other charges, including failure to
appear. He previously was convicted of child endangerment.

"We've never had a case like this before," said Patricia Jensen, child
welfare coordinator for Morongo Unified School District. "I've never
had a . . . child in first-grade bring marijuana to school before."

In accordance with district policy, the child has been suspended from
school for five days, pending an investigation by the principal, said
Jensen.

Where it goes from here apparently is anyone's guess.

"That's something we're doing right now," said Jensen. "Investigating
our options."

Several school authorities emphasized they've never encountered a
child so young who has been caught with pot. But a former teacher now
on the district's school board said she remembers older kids --
usually teenagers -- creating a stir with some of the things they haul
to school.

"Parents would die if they knew what their children brought to
show-and-tell," said Phyllis Swinnerton, who spent 50 years as a
teacher and school counselor in San Bernardino Mountains schools
before she retired and joined the Morongo school board.

"Usually it is pot or alcohol," she said. "They get into the alcohol
cabinet at home and put it in a Coke bottle and bring it to school
that way."