**this doc was on HBO back in the day-
about a father 40 who never did drugs or drank alcohol and the son of a pastor
his wife divorced him and he fell apart
his kids introduced him to drugs and raves and he goes crazy
This documentary follows a family in Calaveras, Northern California. A bleached-blond dad,40, his ex-wife, and their 4 children from 13 to army age, for a period of over half a year. The dad uses ecstasy, and goes to the raves. Discovering this had been to much for his wife, thus they were separated on the point where they started to make this documentary. "There is not much to do in this city, so we might as well drug ourselves" is a comment that tried to be light in the beginning - if in California they find "nothing to do" one might ask how many young people do ecstasy then in the states where there really isn't much to do, such as Montana or Utah. 1 of 8 teenagers in USA has tried ecstasy. It can cause a lot of negative things - dependency, problems for health, problems in family, society etc. But numbers and government's educative brochures are onlly numbers and warnings - so following one family where there are users of it, for a certain period of time, can probably show a lot better what it can really cause, to real people and not just numbers. The documentary feels a bit long (over 90 minutes) but a lot of 'slower' material feels appropriate - the looks on people's face in certain moments, some shoots of rave life, and of course things such as the family members explaining why they use(d) ecstasy.
HBO's `Small Town Ecstasy' documentary leads to dad's arrest
HBO's `Small Town Ecstasy' documentary leads to dad's arrest
HBO's `Small Town Ecstasy' documentary leads to dad's arrest
- Jun 18, 2002
- 0
Zap2it.com
LOS ANGELES - A man was arrested after an HBO documentary showed him encouraging his teenage children to take drugs.
Scott Meyers, 43, who was featured on the April 28 program "Small Town Ecstasy," using drugs with his children and going to raves, was scheduled to be arraigned Friday on child-endangerment charges, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"It's pretty poor parenting," says Calaveras County District Attorney Jeffrey Tuttle.
Calaveras County Sheriff's Capt. Michael Walker agreed, saying the community was outraged by what it saw in the HBO special.
"The community can't understand how a father could become involved in that," he says.
Meyers was arrested on a warrant signed by a Sacramento County judge and appeared before Superior Court Judge Jane Ure Friday on two charges of felony child endangerment. He is being held at Sacramento County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Meyers could also face additional charges for allegedly furnishing alcohol to minors, say authorities.
Footage in the documentary of a drug party at the Sacramento home of Meyers' grown son launched a joint investigation by Sacramento police and Calaveras County sheriff's officials after it aired on HBO. Investigators had tried to obtain raw footage (taped two years ago) before the program aired, Walker adds, but were unsuccessful, so they watched the program like everybody else.
At the party, Meyers is seen with his children and their school-age friends drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine and "rolling" and "chilling" on ecstasy pills. At one point, Meyers gives his 13-year-old son, Sam, cash to buy drugs, prompting the 18-year-old son to tell his father, "That was a dumb idea." Meyers' 15-year-old daughter, Heather, is also shown using drugs.
Meyers, the son of a retired Calaveras County minister, is featured at the beginning of the documentary going through a midlife crisis after divorcing his wife. He takes ecstasy for the first time and then begins using it frequently, later he starts dying his hair, giving wild kisses to strangers and saying "Whaddup, dog?" to people half his age. Before turning 40, he had never even tasted hard liquor. Near the end of the film, Meyers is shown laughing and saying, "I'm not going to get in trouble for this, am I?"
Calaveras officials believe HBO acted inappropriately by failing to contact police when they saw footage of Meyers' children using drugs.
"I think, pretty clearly, that what happened was not right, and basically they were filming it to make money. That sticks in my craw," says District Attorney Tuttle.
Meyers' ex-wife, Sheryl Mettler, now has custody of the underage children.
