The first lady of hemp has been given the heaveho.

In a fivepage letter dated yesterday, Shelby County Schools
Superintendent Leon Mooneyhan informed Donna Cockrel that she had been fired.
Cockrel, who taught fifth grade at Simpsonville Elementary School, has
been immersed in controversy since actor Woody Harrelson visited her
classroom twice in May 1996 and January of this year to talk with
students about hemp.
Mooneyhan's letter, a copy of which was obtained by the HeraldLeader,
says Cockrel was fired for alleged insubordination, conduct unbecoming a
teacher, inefficiency, incompetency and neglect of duty.
Mooneyhan alleges in the letter that Cockrel used profanity when
referring to Simpsonville Principal Bruce Slate; encouraged or permitted
students to cheat on fieldday events; called students derogatory names;
failed to participate in teachers' meetings; didn't prepare lesson plans
or teach required subjects; and told an aide to fill out Pizza Hut
reading program coupons although no students had read the required number
of books to qualify for free pizzas.
Cockrel declined to comment yesterday, but said she intends to
appeal her dismissal and to seek a public hearing on it. She has earlier
said that she was being persecuted because of her stand on hemp and
because she is an AfricanAmerican.
Mooneyhan said yesterday that most of the 17 allegations against
Cockrel were backed up by multiple witnesses. Some of those witnesses are
minorities, he said, and some of the alleged mistreatment of students
involved minority students.
"This is not something I have done with pleasure and it is not a witch
hunt," he said. "It is based on facts, concrete facts."
Mooneyhan also said that none of the allegations dealt with hemp, and
only three relate even indirectly to Harrelson’s visits. The letter says:
* That Cockrel lied to Slate on May 30, 1996, when she told him she just
learned that morning that Harrelson would be visiting her classroom that day.
* That Cockrel lied to Slate again on Jan. 22, 1997, when she told
him she did not know if Harrelson would be visiting that day.
The letter says Cockrel knew the night before that Harrelson would
not be there. Twentyone students were kept home by parents who thought
Harrelson would be at the school. Harrelson did visit the school a week
later.
* That Cockrel failed to keep a student away from media cameras while
Harrelson was there, despite a written request from the student's parents
that the child not appear in the media.
Cockrel has been widely associated with the hemp issue since Harrelson's
1996 visit.
She administered a hemp essay contest sponsored by Harrelson, filed
for a 1998 state senate race promising to run on a prohemp platform and
rode atop a hemp float in Lexington's Independence Day parade. The actor
introduced her as "the first lady of hemp" at the Cincinnati premier of
The People vs. Larry Flynt.
Hemp is a relative of marijuana, but has only a tiny amount of THC, the
chemical that causes a high when marijuana is smoked.
Harrelson and other hemp advocates say it should be legalized as an
environmentally friendly crop for Kentucky farmers. Hemp grown in other
countries is used to make paper, clothing, horse bedding and even automobile
parts.
Cockrel has 10 days to appeal the firing. State Education Commissioner
Wilmer Cody appoints a threemember tribunals to hear such appeals.
Yesterday's letter to Cockrel comes two weeks after a letter
informing her that she had been assigned to Simpsonville Elementary for
the 199798 school year.
In that form letter, Mooneyhan wrote: "I trust you are having a nice
summer and I look forward to seeing you again soon."

CONTACT:
Donna Cockrel
Post Office Box 191
Simpsonville, KY 40067
(502) 2232881