Posted on 06/04/2008 11:21:26 AM PDT by abb
State officials, fearing a violent reaction from members of a West Texas polygamist sect, considered a secret plan to haul hundreds of children and their mothers to Midlothian to be separated, internal e-mails show. But a judge vetoed the plan.
They also worried that mothers would try to make a "run" from the shelter with their children, feared a rampage of infections among the families and fretted about the fear of violence and state resources being overwhelmed by events.
More than 1,500 pages of e-mails between the governor's office and Child Protective Services, obtained by The Dallas Morning News under state freedom of information laws, show top executives working day and night in early April to deal with a raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch that quickly mushroomed into a massive operation. In the first week, more than 1,000 personnel were deployed and costs reached $2.3 million.
Conspicuously absent in the e-mail strings was Gov. Rick Perry. While his executive staff was exchanging information and tracking events, Mr. Perry did not receive a full briefing from officials until five days after the raid – when more than 500 people were being held in state-run shelters.
Spokeswoman Krista Piferrer said that because the situation was highly charged and fluid, Mr. Perry used the phone and personal updates from his staff to stay informed. During his administration, he has avoided using e-mail because the content is subject to open-records requests. The governor's office and CPS withheld hundreds of pages of messages, citing state laws exempting confidential information.
Ms. Piferrer said the governor was engaged but deferred to the experts at Child Protective Services and the Department of Public Safety to conduct the investigation and do their work.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Well, at least they thought things through...
Well, this is all very comforting.
Guess my concerns, and the concerns of a few other Freepers about the legality of all this, and the potential of an out of control government were unfounded.
What we’ve been saying all along. The government jumped the gun.
And now we will pay for it.
And the Democrat funding lawyers will reap the rewards.
Way to go.
Public SERVANTS spending taxpayer money are apparently not accountable to their clients. See, we are merely peasants, open to having our children rounded up on the basis of a false report, with entire families subject essentially to a fishing expedition. For our own good. But heaven forbid we actually know what our representatives are up to. For our own good.
It’s For the Children©
It's a liberal thing, sort of like “IT TAKES A VILLAGE”
Doc was showing me a bulletin this morning about a couple who had their child taken away and put in a special group home for autistic children by the CPS.
The child's life ended when an upset home worker held the child down effectively choking him to death.
Under state law the parents have no recourse except to accept the fact that a child they loved and were taking good care of is now dead.
After the first ruling I remember a quote from a CPS hack (that we're paying for) to the effect that "our first mission is to the children".
Therein lies the problem. No, it's not. It's the first duty of every LEO, bureaucrat, etc. to observe the law. Not get their budget increased.
But they never see it that way. Such is the nature of what we have allowed.
Of course this would be "alleged polygamist mothers" if the story was about Muslims with many children sired by one male with multiple wives, some of whom were forced into pre-teen "marriage" by family deals.
Or, if we were talking about randy NBA Superstars, planting zygotes in every town with a basketball arena and platoons of willing Ho's, it would be "one parent families with mothers hoping to become Nuclear Physicists as soon as they can get back to school and finish the eighth grade." .
But those are protected classes who cannot be trifled with.
As opposed to religious white males and females who can be subjected to unlimited government harassment without proof of wrongdoing, due cause, application of due process or other constitutional protections.
Ok, I am all for stopping forced child marraiges and child rape, butttt...
This sounds awful Naziesque to me. Frighteningly so.
1. Can you imagine the outcry if LE had done nothing? The media feeding frenzy would have been much worse. Probably here as well.
2. The state should deduct the past welfare and other payments from any settlement.
Big Brother wants your children.
What commisar was behind this plan?
What a disaster.
That figure is 0 (zero), so even you should be able to do the math.
L
Ever.
L
So now they had plans in place at least two days before acting.
Now they were getting those calls before, during, and after they moved on the ranch,
(and still couldn't figure out where the calls came from?)
Boy, I'm really glad that I think precisely the same way all my neighbors do, vote the same, look the same, and have my certified DNA samples and birth certificate ready in the refrigerator in case anyone needs them.
good points in your post
That’s great for you. I dress funny and my kids are adopted. Ack!
The state had done nothing for years, and I don’t remember seing a huge outcry, just occasional complaints.
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