cannabisnews.com: Drug Raid on Principal's Home Produces Questions





Drug Raid on Principal's Home Produces Questions
Posted by FoM on December 09, 2000 at 18:27:25 PT
By Barbara Shelly - Columnist
Source: Kansas City Star
Kansas City police say they are certain an undercover detective bought crack cocaine at a house on Brooklyn Avenue before other police officers raided the residence Tuesday. Belinda Goolsby is just as adamant that no one she knows has ever taken drugs into her home. It's not unusual for people to plead innocence when their house is raided.
Some of them insist that police have hit the wrong house, even as officers are pulling illegal substances out of dresser drawers. But Goolsby is an elementary school principal. She lives in the house with her 12-year-old son. The only person besides herself who has a key to the residence, she said, is her father, who is in his 70s. "My life consists of work, the church and home," Goolsby said Friday. "I don't date. I don't have a boyfriend. No one comes into my house." Goolsby's colleagues know her as a hard-working principal at a Kansas City School District elementary school. Her pastor, the Rev. William F. Snorgrass of Progressive Baptist Church, knows her as the chairwoman of the pastor's aid committee and director of the inspirational choir. "I know that family well, and I can assure you there's no activity going on in that house," Snorgrass said. "That had to be a mistake." Not so, said Capt. Patty Conway of the Police Department's Street Narcotics Unit. "It's very clear that drugs were sold from that residence," she said. "It's all been verified and checked and double-checked." Neither Goolsby nor her son were suspects in a drug case, Conway said. But she said police are certain that a man who is a suspect sold drugs from inside Goolsby's house to an undercover officer. On Tuesday police kicked in the front door of Goolsby's house and searched the residence. They found nothing illegal. Officers left the search warrant on the living room sofa and departed. Goolsby was attending a conference in Atlanta that day. Her son attended school and spent the night with his grandparents. Goolsby returned home Wednesday. The first thing she noticed was the basement door was open and a light was on. She thought her father might have been in the house while she was gone. Then she saw cabinets open and articles strewn around. The front door was splintered, and she suspected a burglary. But the television, the VCR and her son's keyboard were untouched. Items were dumped out of drawers in Goolsby's bedroom. Her son's room was left intact. "To me, this is an invasion of privacy," Goolsby said. "I would just like to know who was allegedly in my house and how did they get in the house." But that information will be hard to come by. To protect the identity of the undercover officer, police will not disclose the date or time of the alleged drug buy, Conway said. Because nothing illegal was found in the raid, authorities will not make an arrest or identify the suspect. Only if the suspect is arrested and charged at some point might Goolsby's questions be answered. Since her return from Atlanta, Goolsby and her son have stayed at her parents' house. She is photographing the rooms, looking for a lawyer and filling out forms from the Office of Citizen Complaints. As a principal, Goolsby says, she is very involved in the war on drugs. She just never thought her living room would become the battle front. To leave a comment for Barbara Shelly, call (816) 889-7827 and enter 1017, or send e-mail to: bshelly kcstar.com Source: Kansas City Star (MO)Published: December 8, 2000Author: Barbara Shelly - ColumnistCopyright: 2000 The Kansas City StarAddress: 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108Contact: letters kcstar.comWebsite: http://www.kcstar.com/Feedback: http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/Related Article:DA's Office Apologizes for Getting Address Wrong http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7759.shtmlCannabisNews Police Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/police.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on December 10, 2000 at 10:05:22 PT:
"Us" and "Them"
Many of us here have often been been branded by people who've either read our comments or heard our opinions being expressed in public as being both 'cynical' and radical. That the proposition that there might even be a conspiracy afoot regarding the true nature of the DrugWar (that it might be 'merely' the continuation of good ol' fashioned Establishmentarian racial bigotry cloaked in the righteousness of 'saving the [predominantly Anglo] children') is grade-A BS.To those who think this 'good people'/'bad people' dichotomy I bring up from time to time is a product of imagination, I invite you to read the following articleTO HAVE AND HAVE NOThttp://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/006.htmland see if you don't spot some familair mindsets.
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Comment #6 posted by Lehder on December 10, 2000 at 07:21:24 PT
overdue karma
People like us ranted and debated and were persecuted for years, but the Vietnam war didn't end until enough kids' bodies were dumped on their families' front steps. I have little sympathy for the nice church lady who has, intentionally or not, been a part of this country's very big dope problem. Maybe this experience will transform her into a part of the solution.
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on December 10, 2000 at 07:10:32 PT:
Ahem...you're missing the main point, here
Ever heard the phrase, "Hoist by their own petard"? That's exactly what's happened here."My life consists of work, the church and home," Goolsby said Friday. "I don't date. I don't have a boyfriend. No one comes into my house." Goolsby's colleagues know her as a hard-working principal at a Kansas City School District elementary school. Her pastor, the Rev. William F. Snorgrass of Progressive Baptist Church, knows her as the chairwoman of the pastor's aid committee and director of the inspirational choir."Yes, a stellar citizen. A pillar of her community. A righteous, God-fearing woman described as being 'very involved in the war on drugs'.But did it save her from the monster she and others have created with their complacency when it comes to DrugWar excesses?I've mentioned before the very obvious mindset that many benighted people have regarding their support of the DrugWar:you see their DARE bumpersticker-adorned minivans everywhere, as if it were a talisman to ward off the evil spirits. Their Neighborhood Watch signs, their pseudo-vigilante groups walking around with flashlights at night, the whole nine yards. In their heart oif hearts, they really believe that this DrugWar is directed only at the 'bad people', not at 'good people' like themselves. (Of course, it should come as no surprise to anyone that many of the 'bad people' have a high melannin content in their skins.) The entire armoire that has been carelessly granted to the police to pursue those 'bad people' was never intended to be used on the suburbs, only the run-down inner cities where the vast majority of the 'bad people' live.But now these people who were oh-so-supportive of granting all this power to the police are finding out how dangerous that realy is. Because, now it is they that have become targets.Friends, a fledgling DrugWar collaborationist...has received a taste of what happens when the sheep become the targets of power-drunk sheepdogs. The reality is, they never, ever had to fear the wolves; they were too few in number and knew better than to try anything. But because they were scared into vouchsafing so much power to the sheepdogs, and there's no leash on them now, the sheepdogs have *become* wolves.Ms. Goolsby has learned a lesson that many politically apathetic people have learned throughout history: when no one is 'guarding the guardians', the guardians tend to devolve into thugs.
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Comment #4 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 10, 2000 at 00:41:07 PT
She's lucky!
  She's lucky the police didn't find a couple sprouts of ditchweed growing along her property line, or she wouldn't have the house to photograph - it would have been seized as a "drug growing operation" under zero-tolerance rules! I'm sad to hear about this, as always, but it is a slight silver lining when these kinds of things happen to the people who "fight the drug war". Wouldn't it be nice to find out one of the vandalizing officers was a former pupil?
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Comment #3 posted by dddd on December 09, 2000 at 21:17:41 PT
Protecting the identity
 One of the most ridiculous items in these type of legalized home invasions,is the absurd loophole that allows the cops to conceal the identity of the person who narced,and is responsible for the whole thing.This is as bad,or worse than the fact that our Constitutional rights have been voided,allowing them to bust down our doors.Busting into ones home with a SWAT team is bad enough.It becomes much worse,when the person responsible for instigating the incident,can hide under the cover of law. I hope the "undercover" informant in this case will be exposed.Even if they are though,it will probably be handled the same as the Tulia incident,where the scumbag who falsly informed on everyone,was somehow immune to being prosecuted.....dddd
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Comment #2 posted by Phyro_the_Dragon on December 09, 2000 at 20:17:59 PT
What did you think...?
I guss since she was one of the suporters of thr war on drugs She thought this tipe of thing never would happen to her. Well well well what did you think......... That they wouldntkick in your door since your a principal of the School.!BOOYAAA They do what they want to whom ever they want Whenever they want. Thats why there POLICE officers and notPEACE Officers.     Rember hitler had peace officers until they were given more power to do what was necery to keep the peace hence they called them selfs POLICE OFFICERS.   
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Comment #1 posted by defenderoffreeworld on December 09, 2000 at 20:09:45 PT:
let me get this straight
they brutally burst into her house, tear the place up, come up with nothing, and decide they will just keep quiet and hide like little rats because they didn't find anything? on top of this, they won't admit that there is a slim posibility (just a very very slim one) that they might have broken into the wrong house (it happens all the time) because they are too incompetent to do things right. the system has to be thoroughly reconsidered if we want attrocities such as this to be put to a halt. talk about a stubborn and arrogant attitude! when i hear about stuff like this, i get so enraged i don't know what to do. and i'm sure you all feel the same way. 
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