DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine — Six 13- and 14-year-old girls testified Tuesday that a friend’s mother provided them with marijuana and alcohol during a birthday party in Brownville last March.
Tanya Donnelly, 37, of Brownville is being tried on seven counts, including aggravated unlawful furnishing of marijuana, aggravated furnishing of a scheduled drug, furnishing of alcohol to minors, and endangering the welfare of a child.
The girls attended a birthday party at their friend’s house on March 24, 2011. Certain details varied among the witnesses, but they gave the same general account during their testimony in Piscataquis County Superior Court. The witnesses are not being named because they are minors.
The friends arrived at the Brownville home of Tanya Donnelly’s father, Al Donnelly, where the girls ate food and played games before several witnesses said Donnelly whispered to her daughter about having them smoke marijuana at her house two streets away.
Donnelly and all six girls walked from her father’s Lincoln Street home to her house on Van Horne Avenue near Route 11. Donnelly had been staying with her father because her home had flooded, said the witnesses.
“We all went downstairs [to the basement] where [Donnelly] went to a bookshelf,” said one of the girls who attended. “She had a bong and a bag with weed in it.”
The witness said Donnelly and three of the girls smoked marijuana while other girls who didn’t want to smoke waited at the top of the stairs.
One girl said Donnelly showed them how to use the bong.
“I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ What if someone comes in?” said the same witness. “I was scared.”
After they were done, Donnelly sprayed air freshener around the room and the girls who smoked were given gum to mask the scent, according to testimony. One witness said Donnelly sprayed the air freshener on the girls themselves.
Donnelly and the girls then left the house and walked back to the Lincoln Street residence, where the subject of alcohol came up. The witnesses’ stories didn’t agree on whose idea it was.
According to a clerk at the General Store and More, located near Lincoln Street, Donnelly purchased Mike’s Hard Lemonade at about 8 that night.
“She put on a lot of perfume [before entering],” said clerk Taylor Johnson, who said she remembered Donnelly that night. “It was really strong.”
The witnesses said Donnelly poured them drinks with the alcoholic lemonade and another mixer that one witness referred to as Kool-Aid.
All of the girls said they tried it, but one may have had too much.
“[One of the girls] drank more than anyone else and got a buzz from it,” said a witness.
When one of the girls went to her nearby home to return a laptop to her mother, the girl who witnesses said had too much to drink tried to kiss the brother of one of the girls.
“[She] was all over him and kissing him,” said a witness.
The same girl then wanted to fight a neighbor girl whom witnesses said she didn’t like.
“She threw a snowball at us and I flipped out,” said the girl who witnesses said had too much to drink.
The girl who drank too much “seemed hyper. She wanted to beat up [the neighbor girl],” said another witness.
To calm her down, witnesses said Donnelly gave her Klonopin, a drug typically provided for panic disorders.
“I got a pill that I thought was Tylenol. It made my headache worse. She gave me more and I went to sleep,” said the girl.
Several of the witnesses said the leftover alcohol was finished off the next day.
All the girls said they thought they were doing something wrong that evening, but didn’t tell anyone until a week later, when three of the girls told a teacher and a guidance counselor, who in turn contacted police.
“I felt bad that I did it,” said one witness. “[Donnelly] said we shouldn’t tell anybody because she could get in a lot of trouble for it.”
Brownville police Officer Chad Perkins said Donnelly was cooperative with police when contacted. She even let him search her house, he said.
At the Lincoln Street residence, Perkins said police found empty Mike’s Hard Lemonade bottles, and at the Van Horne Avenue home they found pieces of leaves and seeds that were consistent with marijuana.
During his cross-examination of Perkins, Dale Thistle, Donnelly’s attorney, pointed out that the prosecution presented no photos of the leaves and seeds and that no one at the Brownville Police Department was an expert in marijuana identification.
The jury trial will continue Wednesday morning.
Are the last 3 paragraphs really necessary
They DO flesh out the story……
I hope the court will give this lady some serious time in jail!
Great party, eh girls?
Klonopin and alcohol are a deadly mixture! why isn’t this lady up on attempted murder charge!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could not agree more…I lost a good friend to that same combo when he was only 15….he had been drinking and his dad of all people gave him a klonopin….he went to bed and never woke up…
I know of plenty of people – some young some a bit older- that have lost their lives to these two things being mixed.
Sorry to hear about your friend. That is so young, and lucky this 13 year old even woke up.
In Brownville murder and thievery is okay unless you’re a flatlander (from away). Smoking pot, marijuana now that is a different story the old biddies call up Nick and drive him crazy so he has to do something about it. That’s how all this came to be. Can’t be corrupting kids smoking marigeewana ya know.
You mean that it’s not a dirty old dude this time?
It happens this way once in a while, sadly.
There is no perfect mother, however, parents don’t furnish children with drugs and or alchohol period. They can find it easy enough themselves. That said, giving a child that young Klonopin, on top of alchohol and weed, pure ABUSE! You don’t share prescription drugs or Give them to children, even most mentally challenged individuals have been taught that.
Given the age of the children, more then likely, if there are any suitable family members (could pass a home study), they would be placed with them first. Normally DHHS wouldn’t want to uproot the girls out of their school and from their friends and place them in foster care.
Hopefully, these girls will grow into mature women and become real mothers if they choose to have children. Let’s hope they learned the right lesson from this even if they learned it the wrong way.
SHE WAS JUST PASSING ON A TRADITION ! SOME PEOPLE DONT KNOW WHY THE GOOD LORD PUT A BRAIN IN THEIR MELLON , INCLUDE THIS LADY IN THAT LIST !
I’m nearly 39 years old. My folks were hard working, do it yourself people. They owned land and paid taxes, but most importantly, as I have said, worked hard. On the week-end, they would get together with the people in this small town, and they would party. All of them had a child or two my age or alittle younger or older. We played and had fun. Our folks partied. They smoked pot. They are good people
I work hard. Building houses. I party. I don’t consider Cannabis a drug any more than coffee or Mountain Dew. Now, I have children, aged 2-12, and they are doing great in school. My 10 year old I think might test genius. I teach them all I know, I play with them, I smoke pot. Not with my girls.
I don’t smoke at work, rarely in front of my girls, but I do smoke. I am the guy standing beside you at the store buying 4 ice creams, pumping gas from the pump right there in front of you, and I am the guy behind you waiting in line as you buy your liquor on your way to camp.
This story kills me with the legal drugs. I hang this woman when it turns to pills. She gave a child pills!! Anti-pot folks say…”you can get pot-in-a-pill, why not pop that…?” I am highly against any drug our government promotes.
My girls will never pop a pill, snort a line, shoot a dose, because this burned out, pot head, is here for my girls day in and out, through thick and thin, (except the strange girl problems that Mom is here for), and all 4 know they are loved and have a feeling of belonging.
Sorry, my little rant…
You THINK your kids won’t do any of those things–a lot of parents are there for their kids night and day but sometimes kids just do those crazy things just because it’s there. That is great that you are proud to be a pothead–but it is illegal and this woman needs to be prosecuted for endangering children. Can’t believe how stupid she was.
Out of my rant, the message you got was that I was “proud to be a pothead”. Well how high and mighty are thee? I’ve got news for ya… I may be a more well to do citizen than you may expect a pothead to be. I don’t sell Cannabis. I don’t do your doctors prescribed pills…..I don’t do drugs..(except coffee, chocolate, love tea!, asprin, tums,some beer, did a 5 hour energy once..).This woman crossed the line alot, but in my mind, mostly with your good doctors prescription meds. Take your zanax and a drink of merlot, and have a pleasant evening.
Please pardon my poor, burned out, pothead spelling. Silly slow ol’ me.
Yes–that is exactly what your rant sounded like, that just shows where you are coming from with your name calling–“high and mighty?’ You seem to be cutting down people who do abide by the laws. I have 15 years more on you–I have certainly smoked my share of pot in my lifetime, I also don’t think it is worse then alcohol and some of the prescribed drugs out there. My point is that it IS an illegal drug and to smoke it in front of your kids gives them the message that it is ok to break the law because YOU don’t think it is a bad thing. I grew up in the “hippy” generation and have friends who had the same beliefs that you are stating and pot flowed freely in their homes as their kids grew up, they were also good parents who spent time with their kids and talked with them. Well a lot of those kids are now grown and I can’t even begin to tell you what a mess some of these kids turned out to be–lot’s of legal troubles as well. So my point is that you are the one sounding “high and mighty” if you think your kids will never get into trouble with drugs just because you are there for them, I hope for their sakes that they will live good and productive lives but you never know! This takes away from the whole point, this mother had no right to expose these children to pot, prescription drugs, alcohol or anything else–so I hope the judge throws the book at her!
Why do you like to do drugs – whats in it for you?
I have Crohns Disease, and it relieves my twisted, bubbling guts. On the recreational side, it is very relaxing after a long days work. Music is better, I can eat!, sex is better, over all, the mundane becomes extraordinary!
You know what. I have had three stomach surgeries, 1 back surgery. I live in chronic pain, and and sick on a daily basis. IF I drive in a car past 30 minutes I vomiting and sometimes choke on my vomit. I need to be near a washroom at all times.
I still work a 40 hour week, many a day not knowing if I will actually be begining my day when I head out the door to go to work. In my past 22 years of working I have missed maybe 5 days of work – outside of being in the hospital for surgeries or close to my death bed.
You know what – I still abide by the law and refuse to do illegal drugs. I have a example to set to my three children and my wife. The law is the law.
Their is more to relaxing after work, listening and playing music, having sex – there is the example I am setting to the people that are watching me and looking up to me.
When your kids look back on you, and look over your life – they want to look at a person of integrity – not illegal activity.
I’m real proud of ya, but i’m not breaking any state laws. I don’t participate in any illegal activies. I don’t lie cheat, or steal. My prescription for Cannabis is no different then your prescription for oxi, except my medicine didn’t come from the hands of a chemist.
But the thing is, people are not proud of what you are doing. You are: lieing – think about it, you are cheating – think about it, you are stealing – just think about it. And yes your “medication” has come from the hand of an illegal drug distributer and you know it! So you are a thief, you are lieing, and you are stealing. And when your kids see you for who you are, and when they go down this road I hope and pray that they don’t have to do a drug test and potentially loose their job becasue the test comes back pos’t.
Youch. You’ve stung me alittle. I feel real bad that you dispise me so. And I really do. But your not going to convert me to the church, and i’m not going to convince you that this plant is not what our good government says it is. So we should agree to disagree, and shake hands.
My concern is that although you may be old enough to see what might happen if you get busted and are willing to brave the odds, your kids are not. Think about if they have an attitude that it isn’t much to worry about and tell some of their friends about it.
I have a good friend whose life was ruined that way. His 12 year old told her friend who told her parents who teamed up with the local rednecks to bust him. No more overnight fishing with the kids, no more trips out of state to visit grandma with dad, etc. Please think about those consequences. If you want to smoke in front of them when they are adults, go for it. But until your kids are grown up, you really can’t know who they discuss it with. There might be somebody who wants to cause trouble for you just because they can.
I live with crohns disease, and have my card. Unless the fed bust down the door, i’ll be fine. Look, I don’t flaunt it in from of them, it’s not all over the house. A stranger entering my house would never suspect a thing.
I do thank you for your concern, though.
My goodness, this could be a Lou Reed song ! Please quit smoking before you do any more damage .
Did you know Lou was subject to shock therapy in the ’50s to “cure” his bisexuality? Anyway, day off, too early to smoke, so I will quit for the next few hours.
Are you going to be the parent that will sit down with their child when they turn 18 and if they desire to, smoke a jibba with them after supper? I’m just wondering. I know of a guy that did this and bragged about it at work. Would you sell a bag of weed to your adult child and say that you’d rather have them buy it from you? These are both realistic scenarios that I personally have known to have happened. Since then, these kids have made poor decision after poor decision after poor decision. These are just four or five different families in a world of billions of people, but I’m sure they are not alone. I’m hoping that if your kids desire to ‘partake’, they will be wicked smart and responsible about it. Personally, if my kids abused any drug, I’d be hoping it was cannabis. I wouldn’t be doing anything to help them though and I had never smoked in front of my kids but once. My oldest daughter was 4 at the time(22 now) and I was ‘young and dumb’. A week or so later, she put a piece of paper on top of a wooden block, attempted to hand it to me asking if I wanted some. I pray she doesn’t remember that. I wish you the best of luck and hope things work out the best for you.
1]If thats the path they choose, yes. I don’t believe they will, but we’ve got a few years to go. 2]I don’t sell weed. 3]Some kids will make poor decisions. We all do. I do my best to raise honost, smart, and polite little girls. ( 2 year old says please and thank you, and god bless you! when you sneeze) 4]Not always, I realize, but lots of kids who have parents that smoke cigarettes grow up despising them, and never touch them. My mom smokes, as do I, but my brothers and sister can’t stand the smell. 5]Thank you, and best wishes to you and yours.
“My girls will never pop a pill, snort a line, shoot a dose,”
Sorry for just pulling this one small statement out of your rant, ;) but you surely cannot say that and know that it is true. You can be there all you want for your kids, quality time and all. In the end, you seem to be instilling the illicit drug culture into their lives. Sorry to say, today, as in days past; it is simply not that much of a jump to harder drugs.
I agree. But I do educate my children to the dangers of drugs. We watch the show “intervention”. We know good people that got into pills, and became overnight thieves, and i have explained this to them.
I do have to disagree with your gateway theory, though.
I in no way intended to imply that cannabis is a gateway. I personally believe most kids are exposed to other substances that alter their perception of reality before cannabis is introduced. My gateway was a cigarette or two. Alcohol was next and then cannabis. Out of those three, cannabis was what I stuck with the longest, for a decade or so. Nope. No Reefer Madness for me thank you very much. ;)
We are mostly good, hard working family men, intelligent people, productive to society. But unfortunetly, our representatives sometimes appear crude, (though good folk), and the past propaganda was good stuff, and multiple generations bought in. I can imagine that before long, if it grows with your corn, plant it!
Pot and Mountain Dew for a comparison. Can’t argue with that logic. DUH
Let me see if I can bridge the gap in terms you might comprehend. Mountain Dew contains a high amount of caffeine, (90mg per 20 oz). Caffeine is, guess what, a DRUG. You consume this drug, so it is peachy keene. The withdrawals from caffeine are far worse than the withdrawals from Cannabis, as Cannabis offers no withdrawals. So, in closing, no, you can’t argue that logic. DUH
Substance abuse counselors may tend to disagree with you. Just sayin’. They are not alone by any means either. Even a lot of long time marijuana users will attest to the fact that they have felt a day or 3 of ‘withdrawal type’ symptoms including headache, irritability and various stomach problems, to name just a few. While these are not curl up in the fetal position while you sweat for 5 days type of withdrawal; this is what can happen to someone who has smoked marijuana, especially for a long period of time.
Studies aside, I can tell you i’ve smoking most everyday for a long, long time. I don’t smoke all day, never have. A few hits in the afternoon does me. I have seen dry spells in the past. I have seen times that all was around Mexican brown bud, (which to me is like going toWalMart), that I have done without. I consciously thought, “like to smoke a bowl..” but never any withdrawal symptoms. Just one individuals experience.
22 people liked your post, compared to the few that bagged on you. There are much worse things you could be doing, like being a drunk deadbeat father who beats on his kids. I’d take a pothead parent over a drunk abusive parent any day……
Like you said, it’s in your own privacy, your children don’t see or take part and you are living with a disease that pot helps you live with. I don’t see anything wrong with what you are doing or how you are raising your children!
ALSO- Alcohol is LEGAL… From the horror stories my parents have told me and the things I’ve seen with my own eyes… Alcohol ruins families 10x faster… Know from experience.
Perhaps a more thorough research of this woman by parents should have been done before allowing the girls to attend the party. Can’t be too careful these days.
Sodom and Gomorrah, Milo and Brownville, Jordan River, Pleasant River anyone see any parallels?
This woman was old enough to know better. My kids always thought I was such a prude not to let them drink in our house when they were under age even though they lived on their own or at college and had alcohol away from the house. Letting their under age friends drink in my home was never an option. This woman could have killed that child giving her Klonopin and booze. What a stupid, stupid thing to do. Did she really need to be known as the “cool” mom that badly that she put all these kids at risk?
They need to make an example out of this woman. This is a big problem in this state.
Brownville never changes.. except when it floods..