By Shawntaye Hopkins
shopkins@herald-leader.com
A Lexington bridal consultant has been charged with endangering the welfare of minors because, police said, she allowed her teenage son and daughter to grow marijuana at their home, according to court records.
Michele Hall Landers has pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana and three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor.
Michele Hall Landers, an accredited bridal consultant who runs Bridal Potpourri on Clays Mill Road, has pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana and three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor. She was arrested last Thursday at her home on Ashebrooke Drive.
Landers’ teenage son and daughter have been charged with cultivation and possession of marijuana and trafficking marijuana, court records say. Police also say Landers knew about what was going on and did not intervene. According to court documents, one of the daughter’s friends, a 15-year-old, was also involved.
Landers, 49, was also charged with possession after police found her with 5 grams of marijuana cigarettes.
Landers did not return calls seeking comment.
Bridal Potpourri, 3306 Clays Mill Road, offers brides help in designing wedding invitations, programs, map cards and event itineraries, according to the business Web site.
Her business has been featured in the Herald-Leader, Bluegrass Style and other publications. According to the Web site, Landers’ staff hosts two bridal shows each year and sometimes teaches a wedding planning class at Bluegrass Community and Technical College.
Landers is expected to appear in court for a pretrial conference at 10 a.m. Oct. 15.
- Click here to see what moms are saying.
It’s time to quit wasting our time on cases like this. Who is she hurting when she smokes pot? No one. I don’t understand this country’s obsession with harsh drug laws. Why don’t we focus our time and money on more important issues.
This woman is an example of why our youth is going to hell in a hand basket. I hope they lock her away for a long time. I hope that the children also have harsh penalties because too many know that they will get off or a light sentence because they are minors and take full advantage. Ashbrooke Dr is a terrible neighborhood, tucked in between half a million dollar homes is a stretch of homes, mostly rentals now, that contain juvenile theives, a rapist, and several drug users and…well, dealers of all ages. Maybe law enforcement will pay closer attention to the so-called “good” neighborhoods.
Stop the persecution of those brave and wise enough to grow this beneficial herb. The laws against cannabis are the result of 30s-era racism and junk science and those imprisoned for its use are political prisoners. Free the people–overgrow the government!
Haha, I love the first comment. Remember! She let her teenage son and daughter grow and sell pot from her home…It doesn’t matter what you think about marijuna, it’s still illegal and only leads to jail time for juveniles in the future…HELLO!
This is absurd. Whats the big deal? What a waste of resources, why don’t they go after the rapists, murderer’s, and violent offenders. Why harass someone for smoking and growing weed. That’s like arresting someone for brewing and drinking their own beer.
Man, if you’re 49 and still have that monkey on your back, you should get some help. Your kids are saddled with the obligation of caring for someone that should be caring for them.
al- she’s hurting her kids.
Ginny, while industrial hemp could be a viable cash crop for many KY farmers, smoking cannabis isn’t helping anybody. I’m sure it helps you dull the pain and make it through another day, but you’re just passing time until it’s your time to die.
You can tell the ones on here that smoke the gonga.
You can’t let children grow and sell. Geeez. Once there 18 out of the house, they can do it on their own terms. Not much of an example this lady is offering as a mother. I wonder is she offers hemp wedding dresses?
Many on this site have acted like it’s not a big deal.
What happens when one of those kids drives a car after
getting high and runs over your child.
Will you hold the same view then ?
Jay,
the big deal is that she was in possession of an illegal substance.
Plain and simple, it’s against the law, no matter how absurd the law may seem.
On top of that, her kids were charged with trafficking of marijuana, which is a violation of FEDERAL LAW.
Sorry, but the law is the law. If you don’t like it, contact your representative in Washington and express your disgust.
What is absurd in this case is her behavior as a mother.
Blotto: Man, if you’re 49 and still have that monkey on your back, you should get some help.
She had 5 joints, how do you know her use is habitual? I guess that six pack in my fridge makes me an alcoholic.
Did any of you free thinkers think about the amount of traffic involved getting to the drugs? The amount of toddlers living next door, down the street that are endangered because they are all high on something? The fact that there was a serious accident on said street caused by someone most likely under the influence? Buy a clue. The hemp wedding dress is a great idea. She can sell it to the above people that think it’s their God-given right to smoke pot. Dude.
Matt: She had 5 joints, how do you know her use is habitual?
uhhh…..the fact that SHE WAS GROWING WEED IN HER HOUSE. I think you and your six-pack are perfectly fine. But if you and your kids decide to throw a kegger, then I’d say there’s room for concern.
To everyone that thinks this is no big deal: It is documented
that most drug use starts with pot. Most of the offenses people are charged with, then incarcerated with, are drug-related. What if you
or your child were hurt/killed either driving or in a drug deal/bust
gone wrong? “Easy money” doesn’t always come cheap.
What about all the kids growing up on farms and helping their parents to grow and harvest tobacco? It may be an economic reason, but after all is said and done, tobacco is a far deadlier and addictive drug.
I think that the women allowing her kids to grow pot is ridiculous, did she not have any control over her kids or is she just clinically insane?
Chrissy,
Maybe you should get your facts straight. 2800 Ashbrooke Dr is located I’m the Firebrook neighborhood. I like to think an expert with your knowledge of all the crimes around there would know that. Every neighborhood, despite location, has it’s bad apples.
blotto: you took the leap to say “she had a monkey on her back” I was merely pointing out the article did not state she was a drug addict or even had a history of drug related offenses. I am in no way condoning her actions, but you are discrediting your argument by making things up.
Cricket: After mother’s milk it all went down hill (props to George Carlin sp?)
Ditto Nick. There are labels on cigarette packs that clearly state tobacco KILLS! My wife’s 4-H group grew a hydroponic addictive killer drug regulated by it’s the ATF, tobacco! These young entrepreneurs could interact with violent criminals, but they chose to grow and sell local products. On the degree of harm, if they would have stolen beer from mom’s fridge and given it to their friends to drive drunk and kill my family, I much prefer they sit in a park and smoke a little (or lot) pot, which they will in turn patronize one of our struggling eating establishments, thus further enriching our economy. These kids are supplying their friends, not their friends getting God knows what from some stranger on the street who may knife them if they see money.
I hope public outcry doesn’t ruin their lifes.
Most drug use now stems from the first doctors prescription narcotics for any mind altering drugs that the doctors are prescribing so freely to make people feel better and do better, they are in so many homes now that any child that wants to get high or sell drugs can do so. This is a way to make it look like the police are stopping drug abuse when this drug isn’t any better or worse then the ones gotten by prescription now a days and marijuanna although I find no use or need for it is probably actually better since it is in its natural form in most instances. When is our society going to wake up to the fact that just because one can call something legal by prescription even if pushed on children or adult, doesn’t make it better than any illegal drug on the market? We can waste time with stupid little stuff like this all we want to, all the while there are prescripton mind altering mood altering drugs being flooded into our wanter systems and leeching into the soils. When are we ever going to tell the drug companies and doctors or other advocates getting kick backs and funding from all of this, NO! The recent speal on less treatment and more drug use in Eastern Kentucky is directly related to the drug manufacturing companay E Li Lilly, you can check it out for yourself if you want to, that is a conflict of interest, Lilly is the maker of methadone a synthetic replacement for cocain and heroin. What are we doing people, what are we doing to the people of our world? Children can be prescribed and made to take, at the refusal of allowing them to go to public schools or being put in a system if they dont, uppers that adults want and the adults can be told no because they have an addiction problem. Wake up!
It’s obvious the kids were involved for financial gain or to fit into a sub group. How many other kids including our own in Firebrook and surrounding areas were being supplied by this source? The mom could be smoking for medical reasons but not likely. This is an issue that has to be dealt with on a case basis but it’s as serious as all the other crimes and criminals and persistent felons that live next door to you. Society has labled this an illegal drug. People that smoke will continue to smoke no matter the circumstances that follow. Google felons in Fayette County and map who lives near you. I am certainly more afraid of them than a modern day episode of the sitcom like “Weeds” we have in Firebrook. Wake up parents…ALL of your kids are getting high at some point. Most of you could not suspect your own of this but I would bet you all suspect and should take a look at your own family before casting stones at these people. Mistakes were made. Pray this family can overcome.
This isn’t just about her having drugs, the biggest issue is her allowing her children to grow and use pot. No matter what you think of her choice as an adult, allowing her children to use drugs is reprehensible and I hope she’s locked up for a long time.
Go into an AA or NA meeting and ask how many people there starting their addiction with “harmless” pot use and you’ll see most with their hands raised.
Marijuana has been cultivated and consumed for thousands of years. There is no evidence to support the assertion that its a “gateway” drug. There is no evidence to support the assertion that those who smoke marijuana are more likely to commit crime than a non smoker. There is no evidence to suggest that smoking marijuana leads to serious traffic accidents (unlike alcohol). These are all myths perpetrated by the alcohol and tobacco monopoly who are simply attempting to quash any competitive choice that might reduce or elmiminate their products. Ask yourself why, after all the years of study about tobacco as a hugely harmful and addictive drug, why its still sold as openly as it is, or why alcohol, after all of the alcoholism, and death caused by it, still occupies a massive amount of space in our family supermarkets?
Marijuana is no more dangerous then a glass of wine.
Spending time and money arresting and prosecuting people for posession or cultivation is a ridiculous waste of state resources.
The ignorance on here is startling.. and to the comment about one of the kids driving while after getting high? That’s way more safe than a college kid who has a beer and does the same. Pot doesn’t hurt anybody. Do the research before you go off and/or try to instill your two cents of christian value about how they need Jesus. This woman is a saint. Now that our prisons are maintained by private contractors, and since the stock for those contractors is on wall street, it pays to put people in jail for non-violent crimes that are the reason our jails are at 180% capacity and resort to housing prisoners in tents. Are you people serious? Get real. Look at SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, not at your superstitions that you baby boomer parents’ generation taught. If you want to go after something try cigarettes. That alone kills more than alcohol and weed and ANY OTHER illicit drug combined.
Brandon,
I used to live there and if you go according to the real estate sites you will see that Ashbrooke is Ashbrooke and that is how they are listed. I am assuming that you may be one of the little criminals that lives on that street by your tone towards my entry. I had to live across the street from a 14 year old rapist, his brother that steals along with 2 others that also steal whatever they can get their hands on…like my son\’s pocket bike right out from my garage, a pressure washer from Lowe\’s and several other items. I have witnessed 2 drug busts and a girl getting beat by her boyfriend on her front lawn while her \”pot\” addicted father watched. I have had illegal immigrants drunk and throwing bricks at my treehouse and lazy non-working bums race their cars up and down the cul de sac all hours of the night and more craziness that I care not to mention. I understand things go on everywhere but that neighborhood is complete trash minus a handful of great people. If you had kids I think that you may have a different outlook. I sat in an emergency room for 5 hours with the 7 year old girl that was raped and 2 years later her attacker is out, living across the street from me and my children and my husband catches him smoking pot behind a house. I know where the pot came from now. I believe the kid goes by the name of Lightning. I have been gone from there for months and have not had 1 incident in our new neighborhood.
Just for the record, Michele’s oldest son was involved in a serious car accident last year, while under the influence.
Matt - where did you get the info that she only have 5 joints? just interested in knowing your sources.
Brenda: From the article…
“Landers, 49, was also charged with possession after police found her with 5 grams of marijuana cigarettes.”
Sorry, she was charged with possession of 5 GRAMS of marijuana. My point was only that just because someone is found with a small amount of Marijuana doesn’t make him or her a drug addict or someone with “a monkey on their back”.
Thanks Matt. 5 grams is a tiny amount. I agree that it doesn’t make her a drug addict.
Leave it alone! There are many other crimes out there that are way worse then a little family drug bust. Every neighborhoods going to have their problems, and thats how everyone has to live.
I live in this neighborhood. Yes there is smaller neighborhood called ashebrook in firebrook but that is not where the Lander’s lived. They live in a half a million dollar house in firebrook. They name of the street is just ashbrook dr. and it covers a big stretch of road in firebrook.Make sure you know what you are talking about before you make a comment This is not a big deal at all compared to what else goes on in this neighborhood. You all do not even know the half of it.
Landers had some amazing parties at his house! I’m gunna miss them!
I live in the “good” part of the neighborhood. My mom was friends with michelle landers i knew both of th kids.
The son will be 18 in a few weeks so we will probably be tried as an adult
the daughter is a sophomore in h.s and is a big smoker
i saw michelle landers being taken away in a paddywaggon
For starters the media blows everything out of proportion. The alligations brought upon this family are ridiculously bloated and mostly false. To be charged with cultivation can be one or two plants an inch long in a tiny soup bowl the young daughter was probably growing secretly in her closet. Coming from a friendly neighbor, Ashbrooke is not a bad neighborhood; These kids and their mother are not bad people either. Their son is a hard working baseball player and the mother is a hardworking bridal consultant. The unharmful activities in which occurred within the family did not harm anyone, and there is no proof of trafficking except nosy neighbors with bad relations because of an earlier robery event which ocurred a year ago by one of the children’s friend. Only thing that is going to come out of all this is ruining the lives of this whole family. Both children now have to live with this the rest of there lives and the son will probably never be able to succeed in his baseball dream. The government is just taking advantage of the situation and financial status of this family because the children disobeyed a unreasonable law. I just ask you to turn and look at your teenage son or daughter and tell me a 100% that you know they dont smoke marijuan either occasionally or quite often because I am here to tell you Marijuana is extremely popular in our youth and anyone of these highschool parents could be caught in this same situation with just the right circumstances. Most the time you can talk to your children until your face turns blue and yet they still will continue. Im sorry but if everyone would open their eyes and notice 80% of teenagers in lexington do or have smoked marijuana and do on the regular keeping a stash hidden somewhere…
I’m Michele’s friend and I was called to come to her house on the night she was arrested, I can’t beleive the way the media has sensationalized this whole event. First NO one was growing pot they found a box of dirt under a lamp with nothing growing in it and they didn’t even take it with them. Next, they totally destroyed the house dumping every possible drawer, basket, cabinet and removed ceiling tiles from the basement and did not find what they were looking for. They did find a very small amount of pot in the house that Michele did not know about. Teenagers are fearless and don’t always listen to their parents, she had reduced her work schedule and changed her hours to be home with them after school. They have already started to amend the charges. When this is has all been sorted out the media will be no where to be found. Her family is not destroyed and I believe it has drawn them closer together. It is shameful how WKYT has stalked her and her family.
The entire situation has been overexposed and is now out of control thanks to the Media. I also know Michele; my mother (the post above) did go to her house the evening the police roared through.
The charges against Michele are being amended as we speak. Why? The Lexington Police Department (as “great” a bunch a crew as they are…) HAVE no evidence that Michele was in possession, and that’s because she wasn’t, nor was she cultivating or distributing. I strongly advise each and everyone reading this to keep your children under lock and key. Because that is all Michele is guilty of, is a working mother who did not keep her teenagers under lock and key. Are you? Have you searched every hair of your child’s space? I strongly advise you do so because if not your name will be slenderized just as Michele’s has.
I can honestly say, as a 25 year old woman: YOUR KIDS ARE SMOKING POT. So climb down from your ivory towers and open your eyes. I smoked pot, my friends smoked pot, the people they know in their churches, sports teams, sororities, fraternities, high schools - even their teachers smoke pot. Now, I don’t smoke pot today, but as a minor and even in college - yes we smoked pot.
Sadly, had this story happened off Ohio Street or in Woodhill you all would be saying how “they” are unfit parents to begin with. “They” don’t watch their children and that is a bad part of town. The outrage from all of you isn’t over WEED it’s over the fact that you ASSUME a well to do mother would allow this to take place, and in all places, Firebrook? (GASP!) Climb down off you’re snotty high horses Lexington. How about we crack down on the Pill problem running through these streets? I don’t see much happening there, but again it’s much easier to say you’re making drug busts when you’re busting a Mother and her teenagers for pot then actually getting the Pill/Cocaine dealers off the streets of Lexington.
And to question her as a mother? I didn’t know you all actually had that power. Michele Landers is an excellent mother, her husband; daughter and son are all joys. They take care of their kids, and never let them go without. They work hard for what they have and expect their children to follow suit, but as we all know, children get off track. Or, maybe only Michele’s children have done irresponsible things. I’m sure we all know they answer to that.
I am outraged at the lack of incompetence the media (WKTY) and the Herald Leader have put into this “story” I completely understand you’re going off a police report, but are you going to update this BREAKING NEWS when the charges against Michele Landers are dropped? Are you going to give her free advertising space so she can continue running her business? Are you going to write a huge article and report on the 6:00 news that she was innocent the entire time? Highly doubtful.
Most of everyone on here are idots. Weed aint a drug, and for the dumb person that said what if one of the kids get in a car and try to drive while their high,your very dumb. how many times do you hear of some one getting in a car wreck because they were stoned. NONE!!!!. how many people die because of drunk drivers and actual alcohol poision. the only reason it aint legal is because the government cant tax us because we know how to grow it. im tired of all this bullshit and everyone not knowing what they are talking
good luck to the whole landers family
Chris, you are a fine example of the effects pot has on someone’s ability to think logically and rationally. Weed most certainly is a drug, tetrahydrocanabinal is the active ingredient.
How embarrassing for you to post that everyone else is dumb and doesn’t know what they are talking about when it’s obvious that YOU are the one without sufficient research to back up your claims.
First off, all of you that are against marijuana, have obviously never tried it, and experienced being high. It’s nothing like being drunk and out of control.
For all of you going on and on about the LAW, has it never occurred to you that it might be the dumbest law ever invented ??? It’s obvious that many of you are hardcore republicans attempting to be so perfect and Christian. Well, pot grows out of our ground beneath our feet. It’s completely natural. Which I’m assuming would mean that GOD put it here. Right, that dude/chick you love. He WANTS us to smoke. Alcohol and any pill out there is man made. Cocaine and meth and all of those drugs are man made, and they kill people alllll the time! Yet people are wasting their time on ruining a stoners life.
We never hurt anyone. We enjoy time on back porches, we eat some food, and we have some fun. Since when was that a crime ? In 5 thousand years it hasn’t been the cause of a death. It’s simply an amazing herb that has the ability to make you happy and add an extra enjoyment to every aspect of life.
You’d all be utterly shocked if you took a closer look at your children, they’re friends, and what they do when your not looking.
they are the real criminals, not the kids that come home from working hard at school getting good grades that wanna smoke a few blunts every now and then. Not the kids who have more emotional problems then you, as “upstanding, law abiding people” could even fathom. Not the kids that have dealt with Losses of family members, and too many loved ones to count. Not the kids who just want to enjoy being a kid, and have fun. I’d much rather these kids smoke on their back porch listening to great music, and enjoying the love of their friends, than them getting of age people to buy them alcohol and run around your streets doing god knows what. If they want to get stoned, and listen to Bob Marley and Lil Wayne, (who both smoke/smoked pot, and were famous because of it..hinthinthint!) and go sit in the privacy of the home that they all have worked hard to aquire, then what really is the problem. Cause i don’t see one.
Mrs. Landers did everything but condone smoking pot. She’s grounded them, and kicked they’re friends out when she caught them. It’s not at all her fault that this happened, the pot they found, the “five marijuana cigarettes”, was the daughters, it was in her purse when the police arrived to demolish her house, neither kid was smoking, the daughter took full responsibility for it being hers. The “grow operation” was a complete joke, it wasn’t growing, there wasn’t one single sprout in that poor attempt to grow pot. It was just a stupid teenager trying to get around dealing with scary drug dealers, and at least someone with some class was trying to help supply it, instead of the dealers that live in places known nicely as ” the ghetto ” who rob people at gunpoint for drugs. I know people personally that have dealt with situations like that. So why don’t we focus on getting people that kill innocent bystanders, drunk drivers, rapists, Coke Heads, Thieves, and terrorists
Michele worked harder to get where she is in life than probably any other woman in Firebrook. Stop looking down on people, who should be looking down on you for being such cold hearted people toward her and her family,. She has far too much class and compassion for that. Her kids now have to go to the biggest high school in Kentucky, with people staring and pointing at them because of the way the media has blown this beyond out of proportion. But I’ve seen them, and they still are walking through the school with their heads held high as a kite, because they know that the people who brought this stress upon them, will get what they deserve when the time comes. Karma. It’s a great thing, Believe in it, and watch out.
To the neighbors that have called the police on the family, shame on YOU, i’m sorry that you think that what they were doing is harmful, cause it really was not. I’ll laugh when it’s your children who get busted next for drinking and smoking at that little prep school that you send them to. I’ve heard the anonymous neighbor is a lawyer, so of course he is going to be as mean about this as humanly possible. You’ve ruined all of their lives, and the jobs that they’ve been working so hard at for so many years you’ve successfully flushed them down the drain, for what? some pot?! honestly, you are the kind of people that are “clinically insane”. I hope you go pray to god for some forgiveness from ruining their family.
The Landers are some of the kindest people I know. They don’t do anything to harm or bother anyone. The mother and father weren’t involved in this. There was no growing. They simply are parents whose kids can actually be honest with them. Get over it everyone and move on with your life. Theirs is currently in such dissaray and everyone needs to leave them alone!!!! Mind your own business for a change, and attack the people who might actually deserve it next time.
I also personally know Michelle and her family and the parents would not condone this. Michelle is innocent. Teens will be teens and unfortunately, the mother is or having to take the fall. Michelle is a very hardworking woman who cares about the wedding industry and brides/grooms and vendor shows that she produces and makes very little money for these shows-she does these shows for the locally smaller businesses who are unable to afford the more expensive bridal shows. She is a wonderful, wonderful person and mother.
Unfortunately the media and police get the wrong information out or presume.
Stop the negative talks and get on with your life and leave them alone-this is a personal matter.
Thanks!
A lot of people on this board seem to think that smoking/growing/dealing pot is a fine activity that hurts noone and that other crimes should be dealt with instead of this one. This is a very shallow way of thinking. It is against the law. Period. It doesn’t matter how many teens are doing pot because it still won’t make it a legal activity.
If you don’t like the law, you may fight to change it, but because it is a law, you aren’t allowed to ignore it.
Unfortunately, Michele has been tried and convicted in the press. None of us really knows whats been going on. Even her close friends and neighbors. Seriously, why would she tell her good friends that she has a pot farm growing in her basement? I’m not saying she does, I’m just saying IF she does, she wouldn’t broadcast it.
If she has allowed drug activity to go on in her house and is involving her kids and other people’s kids, then it’s no longer just a personal matter within her family. It’s a concern of the community.
This will all blow over shortly and we’ll figure out something else to complain about.
Anyways members of Lexington, Kentucky [ if you don't live in Lexington and you read this your weird ] What these kids were doing..there is nothing wrong with it. Most likely 85 % of teens smoke pot. When have you ever heard of anyone dying from it? I don’t think you have. When your high you can still function, walk, think..so forth and so on. When you are on cocaine or are drinking or on xanax, oxycotton, acid, meth, heroine, PCP you most likely will have no clue whats going on. Those are the drugs we should be worried about in Lexington. You would really be surprised on how many people smoke that Mary Jane. I bet if half of you that are talking about it being bad and haven’t done it.. if you tried it you would realize. As Chloe said whats wrong with these children smoking on there back porch listening to music not loud or disturbing anyone? Besides the fact that it is illegal..forget that fact. We honestly need to work on getting it legalized It wasn’t de-legalized because it was harmful it was made illegal because the government cant tax it, Selfish people.. If you don’t want to smoke making it legal doesn’t me you have to. The police had the nerve to ask the daughter “Mam, do you know how many people you hurt a day smoking pot?” Her response was excuse me sir, how many people do you hurt a day and he said “Far to many for my share.” This has got to stop. We can’t be busting innocent people that just smoke pot. Concentrate on getting the real criminals. Rapist’s, Hardcore drug dealers, Sex offenders, Alcoholics, Prostitutes, Murders, Steroid users & abusers. Pay attention to the people like Henry Earl that have now been arrested over 1,000 times for alcoholism. Lets pay attention to the real stuff going on in Lexington and the whole United States. This has been blown way out of proportion. There was no need to throw in Mrs. Lander’s lovely well know business. I know everyone in this family. They are welcoming to anyone that wants to come in there home. They are not bad people at all. You don’t even understand how nice this family is. There are so many drugs out there that hurt everyone & pot doesn’t. LETS GET THIS SHIZZZZ LEAGALIZEDDDDDdDDDDDdDd!!%!#^!
http://www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/Marijuana/Marijuana4.html#school