by Chad Carlton, Central Kentucky Bureau, Jun 5, 1998

A fired Shelby County teacher who promoted legalizing industrial hemp to her fifth-grade students filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the school system and her former bosses.

The lawsuit filed by Donna Cockrel of Frankfort claims she was fired for teaching and talking about hemp, a violation of her First Amendment rights of free speech.

"I was there to educate kids and yet my rights were (revoked) from me by them, leading to my firing," Cockrel said during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Lexington.

Cockrel was dubbed the "first lady of hemp" by actor and pro-hemp activist Woody Harrelson, who twice visited her classroom at Simpsonville Elementary School. Harrelson's visits, in May 1996 and January 1997, and Cockrel's teachings sparked criticism from parents and others.

Hemp, which is illegal in Kentucky, is related to marijuana. However, hemp has only a tiny amount of THC, the chemical that causes a high when marijuana is smoked.

School officials deny that Cockrel's pro-hemp teachings were the reason she was fired last July.

"She's using the hemp issue as a smoke screen to hide the true facts of the matter," said Shelby County Superintendent Leon Mooneyhan, who is named as a defendant in the suit.

Cockrel was fired on charges of insubordination, conduct unbecoming a teacher, inefficiency, incompetency and neglect of duty.

The 17 charges against her included allegations that she called her supervisor racially derogatory and profane names, encouraged students to cheat and failed to prepare lesson plans.

Cockrel denies the charges, saying yesterday they were "conjured up" by administrators and teachers.

The state Education Professional Standards Board is investigating the charges to determine whether Cockrel's teaching certificate should be revoked.

Cockrel said she has been unemployed since the firing. She ran for state Senate last month, but was handily defeated.

In her lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington, Cockrel isn't seeking reinstatement as a teacher in Shelby County, but she wants her disciplinary record cleared. She also asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from the school system, Mooneyhan and former Simpsonville Elementary Principal Bruce Slate.

"As that commercial says, 'Pay the lady,'" Cockrel said.

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