When a 12-year-old Buffalo boy told his school principal that his mother was using drugs, he brought along a ziptop bag of crystal meth to prove it, according to a criminal complaint filed at the Wright County District Court this week.
His mother, Sabina Marie Coolen, 32, of Buffalo, was subsequently arrested last week on Monday on the charge of allegedly storing drug paraphernalia accessible to children. According to the criminal complaint, she stored paraphernalia in a safe at home, and her son knew where the keys were.
The boy told his principal he found the bag of meth in a cigarette box at home.
Officers with the Wright County Sheriff's Office searched the home and, in the safe in an upstairs bedroom, found an expired driver's license in Coolen's name and a glass bulb pipe "with a burned white residue" that tested positive for methamphetamine.
The charges against Coolen allege that she knowingly stored the pipe where her son had access to it.
Coolen was booked into Wright County Jail and is free on a $3,000 bail.
Other arrests in the St. Michael, Albertville and Otsego areas last week include:
Nov. 19:
Mandel Tabor Dye, 28, of Albertville was arrested in Albertville on the charge of violation of conditional release.
Nov. 20:
Sean Brian Amy, 22, of St. Michael was arrested in St. Michael on a Wright County warrant for minor consumption.
James Andrew Downey, 18, of Zimmerman was arrested in Otsego on a Wright County warrant for minor consumption.
Nov. 22:
Joshua David Martin, 32, of St. Michael was arrested in St. Michael on the charge of violation of an order for protection.
Nov. 23:
Samuel Ralph Evenstad, 27, of St. Michael was arrested in Albertville on the charge of third-degree DWI.
Nov. 24:
Mitchell Kenneth Wang, 43, of Hanover was arrested in Albertville on the charge of third-degree DWI.
Derek Ross Lindquist, 40, of Otsego was arrested in Otsego on the charge of domestic assault.
Nov. 25:
Devin Charles Petersen, 45, of Otsego was arrested in Otsego on the charges of reckless discharge of a firearm, false information to police and convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Marvin Dale Kmetz, 57, of St. Michael was arrested in Hanover on a Wright County warrant for failure to appear.
There were seven property damage accidents, two personal injury accidents, three hit-and-run accidents and 21 car-deer accident last week.
There were five arrests for DWI, one underage consumption arrest, no school bus stop arm violations and 46 tickets for miscellaneous traffic violations issued last week.
One might assume from this that the case of the woman "allegedly" storing meth paraphenelia accessible to her child may not be storing it at all.....whereas....in the case of "multi-racial-couple-subject-to-harassment-from-otsego-neighbor", the headline states that the harassment certainly happened. Never used the word "allegedly" in the headline or the Schoemer article - not at all. After Wright County investigation - the racial incidents were a complete hoax and all the racist acts were perpetrated by those doing the accusing. How the Patch can get arrogant about people making comments about a situation that they have their own personal inside information about when Mike Schoemer committed the worst journalistic cardinal sin by pronouncing the accused as being guilty is beyond me. Why the hypocritical double standard -- Patch? http://stmichael.patch.com/articles/multi-racial-couple-subject-to-harassment-from-otsego-neighbor
In any journalistic piece reporting on charges, cases or investigations, it is a given that we do not yet know whether the allegations are true or not. I apologize if that headline was misleading to you. The article is intended to be informative, and some boundaries are crossed when we allow it to become a platform for sharing rumors. In our country's justice system, people are innocent until proven guilty. No matter how strongly you feel about the outcome of the case or the allegations, let's stick with that. Thank you.
You can rationalize all you want to about the hypocritical double standard - but the unequal treatment does not go away by your explanation. I happen to agree that the word "alleged" belongs in BOTH story headlines - as no one sided presentation of the "facts" constitutues the full story until the police have weighed in. (yet also note that by your own feature stories - there are more facts available about the methcase than there were about the harassment story) By saying in the headline that the multi racial couple was "subject to" harassment implies that this harassment was indeed happening. If journalistic standards were upheld to not mislead the reading audience into believing that harassment story was fact --- the headline would have read similar to "multi racial couple alleges harassment from otsego neighbor" and not use the phrase "subject to".
Besides the headline -- the harassment story also contains the following : "They have since installed cameras and a home security system. That didn't stop a burglary, or damage to property recently that included slashed tires." Don't even try to rationalize with me that this part of the story doesn't state that the burglary or damage to property as FACTS rather than being alleged. Those were Schoemers' words -- not the accusers. Lastly, there is unequal treatment form the Patch editors in "calming down" the posters. Both Liala/Mike get all over posters who comment in the "meth case" to not convict before the police weigh in. Was there one such Schoemer similar intervention in the "harassment" article asking for the same? Nada, Zero, Zilch.
Though I don't know them, we live in the same community. My son & I moved here after going through the roller coaster of my ex's addictions. I chose to move away from where my son was raised when he started thinking he could "babysit" his dad to keep him from drinking or using cocaine. Though kids usually want to "help" their parents, our job is to keep them safe. (His dad died of a heart attack a few years later; alcoholism was listed as a contributing factor & it would be surprising if the cocaine didn't contribute, also.) Nobody can "fix" another person. "The system" can't "fix" things either & usually misses more than it helps while trying to dot all their i's & cross all their t's & work through the misguided red tape in place. It's horrible when a parent seems to have more rights than their kids. Please remember that whatever the outcome is here, it should be whatever HELPS those kids. If someone knows them, maybe there is a way to reach out to her kids & do whatever is possible to support them through whatever happens. This must shake THEIR world. We have no control of the outcome legally (sometimes even as the other parent), though we can try to find a way to help beyond that. Maybe talk to the kids; even try reasoning w "mom" to give up some of her control & find help.