Posted on 07/28/2006 9:14:42 PM PDT by Niuhuru
"It's a shame that there's no law that can give Russell Yates his due," writes syndicated columnist Debra Saunders. "Russell Yates ought to be locked up instead of his wife," says writer Cindy Hasz. Creators Syndicate's Froma Harrop sneers that he probably "misses the obedient drudge who bore and raised his five children more than the five children." Harsh words for Russell Yates have come from many others, particularly former O. J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark.
What these and others forget is that it's hard to make the right decision when you don't have a lot of options. According to Andrea Yates' brother, Andrew Kennedy, Russell Yates "did his best....He trusted the doctors and he did everything they said to do. He made sure she took her medication."
Psychiatrist Mohammed Saeed took Yates off the drug Haldol on June 4. Russell Yates, worried about his wife, brought her back to Dr. Saeed on June 18. The doctor said he saw no sign of psychosis and sent her home.
Two days later, she killed their five children.
Instead of using 20-20 hindsight, let's look at the situation as it must have appeared to Russell Yates before June 20. Mental illness is difficult for untrained people to cope with and to comprehend. Dr. Saeed had indicated that he believed that Andrea Yates was getting better, and Andrea herself has testified that she told nobody, not even her husband, about the "voices in her head." While Russell surely had doubts about leaving the kids with her, he didn't have a lot of choices. He couldn't quit his job to care for the kids--somebody had to put food on the table. Ending the home-schooling, a violation of both of their beliefs, might have been a severe blow to his fragile wife's self-esteem, perhaps pushing her over the edge.
Instead, Russell made the one move he needed to make--he brought his mother in from Tennessee to watch the kids every day. He generally left for work at 9 am and his mother arrived at 10 am, and he thought he had the situation under control.
He also probably believed that the best thing to do was to try to keep their family life stable, to try to be cheerful and to make the kids happy, and to hope that the medications would work and that his wife would get better. He may have believed that much of what Andrea was going through was simply post-pregnancy mood swings, and that the best thing to do is to be patient and to wait them out. He also attributed much of his wife's distress to the death of her father early last year. And he no doubt was in some denial, as people who are trapped in difficult situations often are. But should he really have expected that his troubled wife would kill their children?
The genuine mistakes Russell Yates made came earlier, when both he and Andrea decided to have a fifth child (perhaps because one or both of them wanted to have a girl), and when they decided upon home-schooling. Yet these decisions, which are now used against Russell, were mutual and were based upon the religious and moral beliefs of both Russell and Andrea. In fact, the testimony of Terry Arnold, a local merchant, indicates that Andrea Yates may have wanted a sixth child. Arnold testified that when he asked Andrea last year if they planned to have another child, a sudden wave of sadness washed over her.
"I felt like I had hit a sore subject," Arnold said. "There was a change in her demeanor...I thought she was going to cry."
Andrea's best friend claims that Russell didn't help out much around the house. It's hard to know how true this is, but we do know that Russell Yates was involved with his kids--he coached their sports teams, played basketball with them in the driveway regularly, selected and purchased some of their school materials, and was often seen around the neighborhood in the evenings as he walked with his family and pushed his youngest daughter in a stroller. He and his kids made lists of things they could do to cheer mommy up. And Russell alone shouldered the burden of supporting a wife and five children--a task certainly equal to the strain of being a housewife if home schooling is not in the equation.
Andrea Yates' defenders claim that she is not guilty of her crimes due to mental illness, and they may be correct. But the husband who has stood by his wife from the day of the tragedy, who has testified in her defense, and who has fought the public perception of her as a monster, deserves better than to be blamed for the murders and to be vilified as a cruel, domineering patriarch. Russell Yates is a flawed yet decent human being who tried to do what he could in a difficult and cloudy situation. Whether sane or insane, it is Andrea Yates, not Russell Yates, who killed their five children.
Good post. Hope your flame suit's handy.
My favorite character on Rawhide...
VASECTOMY!!!
Wasn't that cousin Rowdy? Rusty & Rowdy?
Prior to the murders, there isn't much that he could have done. Who would suspect the mother of your kids would do such a thing? After the murders, in his shoes, I'd have made sure she didn't live to go on trial...no jury would have convicted him for killing her.
Rowdy's evil twin was Russell. Clint played both roles. The only way to tell them apart was Russell wore ballet slippers and woe to the man who commented on them...
The same people who believe Andrea is and was clearly non compos mentis then try to argue that making mutual decisions when one half of the equation is not playing with a full deck is an acceptable form of reasoning.
This guy is the most selfish bastard I've ever seen, and he has the nerve to criticize others?
Frankly, I don't think he gave one damn about his wife, especially after he brought that goofy street preacher into his house, and let him convince a psychotic woman that she had to watch out for Satan!
Dude, he just posted the article. That doesn't mean he/she agrees with the contents.
Thank you for reminding us that sex is something that men do... to women. That was very helpful.
Important to remember, that were these kids, still alive, the Libs, the Fed/Guv and many States would be busting their a$$ to push queers on them and other kids in the public schools. Too true, ain't it? Sleep well.
He was saying and doing some very bizarre things from the day of the murders onward.
I kept thinking "Mr Yates is going to wake up one day soon and realize he was in shock when he said and did these things, then he'll change his tune." But he never did!
They were homeschooled, by Andrea.
Haldol? What was she taking Haldol for? That is an old anti-psychotic. I took it once, when I was a kid (they mis-diagnosed me - I was just depressed, but I had a reaction to it). I know MANY people who are not psychotic, but take many anti-psyotics... They seem worse than they were before. I know some who are truly crazy (schizophrenic) who need the meds just to function. I still wouldn't trust them with more than a hamster... I should read up on her case. I'm afraid it's easy to think she was insane, cause she took Haldol, but that doesn't mean much anymore. Instead of shrinks, they just pump people full of drugs now, even if all they need is an ear. I question the sanity of the jury.
He was not a stupid man, and didn't he have them living in a "bus". More than that I personally would have wanted the head of anyone including my spouse had they done this to my children. They would have to sedate me.
Brave poster. You're about to get flamed, I'm sure.
This is a sad and disturbing case on many levels. As I have listened this week to the hysterical know-it-alls, I have wondered how many of them have coped with a relative who is profoundly mentally ill.
I have. Twice. Two gentlemen, good providers and good citizens, both crazy as loons when not under medication. Close kin to each other. You have to wonder about genetics.
I would never have left my children alone with either of them.
Supervised care for the mentally ill is hard to come by and expensive. As soon as the medication takes effect and they can think clearly, they must be turned loose. Feeling better, feeling no need for meds, the cycle starts again, and they're on the road to being a danger once again to themselves and to others.
I hurt for everyone involved in the Yates case.
*My true love will be waitin', be waitin' at the end of my ride ... Move 'em on, head 'em up, Head 'em up, move 'em out, Move 'em on, head 'em out ... Raaawww-hiiide!*
Aw, what the hell:
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Rawhide!
Rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them dogies rollin'
Rawhide!
Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin' my gal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Good vittles, love, and kissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride
Chorus:
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Head 'em up, move 'em on
Move 'em on, head 'em up
Rawhide
Count 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, count 'em out,
Count 'em out, ride 'em in
Rawhide!
Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them dogies movin'
Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em
Just rope, throw, and brand 'em
Soon we'll be living high and wide.
My hearts calculatin'
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.
Rawhide!
Rawhide!
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