A custody hearing for Michael Jackson’s case has been delayed three times, and is now scheduled to take place August 3 at 8:30. It is unknown whether Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, will challenge grandmother Katherine Jackson for custody. Debbie herself seems undecided and while she once told a radio station “I want my children” and “I’m stepping up,” she may have been motivated to keep grandfather Joe away from the kids and also said she would seek a restraining order against him. Rowe’s lawyer later backtracked on his client’s claims, stating she “has not reached a final decision concerning the pending custody proceeding.” (A series of “leaked e-mails” in which Rowe claims she’ll seek custody in exchange for cash are allegedly fabricated.)

While the press waits to see if Debbie will seek custody next month, The National Enquirer has a new story from a “friend” who claims she’s an unfit mother. According to a guy who hung around her starting in 2002, she’s an alcoholic and starts drinking Coronas around 11am. Debbie can easily polish off a 1/2 a case of beer a day, claims this guy who passed a polygraph, and in no way does she want the responsibility of raising her kids with Michael. Debbie herself seemed to indicate this in a 2008 interview with The Daily Mail, in which she called her animals her “babies.” The friend, Luka Cambio, met Debbie in 2002 while he was working at an aquarium store in North Hollywood. She hired him to come out to her place twice a month and service her four exotic fish tanks, ranging from 12 to 40 gallons. They soon became friends and he would sometimes stay over her house after the hour and a half drive.

“Debbie never spoke ill of her children, but she often said, I ******* hate kids!” revealed Cambio, 32…

Drank a 1/2 case of beer a day and margaritas at dinner
Cambio claims Debbie often started drinking beer before noon and swigged down as many as 12 bottles a day.

“She’d start at 11 in the morning and drink all day,” he said.

“She drank up to a dozen bottles of Corona a day, and she’d have two to three margaritas when we went out to dinner. In my opinion, she’d be a dangerous, irresponsible mother…”

Debbie visited Neverland once a month
Debbie secretly visited Prince Michael and Paris at Jackson’s Neverland ranch, said Cambio.

But she privately slammed the pop superstar – who gave her an $8.5 million divorce settlement – after hose visits.

“Once a month, Debbie would drive to Neverland by herself and spend the day there…

“When she came back, she’d say, ‘He’s stupid. Michael’s such an *******, such a user.’ I knew he’d given her millions, and I was shocked at her ingratitude. But she was bitter as hell about him…

Said Michael was a good dad
“She often said what a good dad Michael was to the children, and she’d add ‘They are better off where they are. Michael knows what he’s doing,'” said Cambio.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 3, 2009, subheaders added]

The Enquirer even has a photo of Debbie posing with the guy, and another in which it looks like she’s trying to get a parrot to drink from a bottle of Corona. If Debbie’s still boozing like that it could explain why she’s such a grumpy person and why she had trouble holding her tongue around photographers harassing her. I wouldn’t say that the paparazzi didn’t deserve her harsh words, just that alcoholics often have hair trigger tempers. In pictures from last week, Debbie was seen holding a tumbler of something while talking to police outside her Palmdale ranch. She called the cops on photographers who were double parked and trying to climb her fence. Radar Online had Debbie’s 911 call and she sounded perfectly reasonable and not drunk at all. You wonder what’s in that glass, though.

Whether Debbie still has a drinking problem or not, most people would agree that the kids are better off with their grandmother and their aunt, Rebbie. We’ll have to wait and see if Debbie tries to assert her rights, either for the kids or the cash that she may think she’s entitled to.

Photo credit: INFPhoto.com. Photo is from 7/13/09