Posted on 04/20/2008 5:32:24 PM PDT by Chief Engineer
BOUNTIFUL, B.C. - B.C. Morman polygamist leader Winston Blackmore says the people of Bountiful are praying for the children in Texas being held in custody by U.S. authorities.
The spiritual leader of Bountiful called the Texas children family, but says he doesn't know if any are from his commune, located near Creston in B.C.'s Kootenay region.
"It's been six years since I have had any contact those people," Blackmore told The Canadian Press on Sunday.
More than 400 children apprehended April 3 at the Morman sect's Texas enclave may be subject to genetic testing to sort out family relationships that have confounded welfare authorities
"It just doesn't seem right," Blackmore said of the apprehensions.
"I imagine that in Creston there's different cases of abuse, but I don't think they'd go arrest everyone in Creston," he said.
"I don't think it's Canadian. It shouldn't even happen in Texas."
Blackmore said he doesn't believe any of the Texas children are from Bountiful, but he called them family.
B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal has said federal government officials told him at least 15 Canadian children in Texas are likely linked to Bountiful.
Department of Foreign Affairs officials declined comment on the situation on the weekend.
Oppal said he wants to prosecute members of Blackmore's community on charges of polygamy and sex assault.
Texas district Judge Barbara Walther said the children would be kept in custody while the state investigates allegations of abuse stemming from the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Individual hearings will be set for the children over the next several weeks, and the judge will determine whether they are moved into permanent foster care or can be returned to their parents.
All hearings must be held by June 5.
Officials said they've had difficulty determining how the children and adults are related because of evasive or changing answers.
A mobile genetic lab was to begin taking samples Monday at the main shelter where children are being kept. Parents will be able to submit samples Tuesday in Eldorado, closer to the ranch.
The custody case is one of the largest and most convoluted in U.S. history.
The ruling capped two days of marathon testimony that sometimes descended into chaos as hundreds of lawyers for the children and parents competed to defend their clients in two large rooms linked by a video feed.
Attorneys popped up with objections in a courtroom and nearby auditorium, then queued up and down the aisle to cross-examine witnesses in a mass hearing that frustrated attorneys and stretched the small-town court system.
The raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch was prompted by a call made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her.
That girl has never been identified.
The state of Texas has argued it should be allowed to keep the children because the sect's teaching encourages girls younger than 18 to enter spiritual marriages with older men and produce as many children as possible.
State attorneys argued the culture put all the girls at risk and potentially turned the boys into future predators.
“More than 400 children apprehended April 3 at the Morman sect’s Texas enclave may be subject to genetic testing to sort out family relationships that have confounded welfare authorities
“It just doesn’t seem right,” Blackmore said of the apprehensions.”
Okay I’ll say it: it don’t seem right.
I thought she was a 33 year old from Colorado....
/johnnny/
The welfare fraud is probably a valid investigation. The “they’re getting teenagers pregnant” isn’t.
I would be more inclined to pray that someone would stake blackmore out on an fire ant hill with honey poured on his head.
Just cult supports posting misleading information.
Flying Inman fpr cult supporters ping.
Ain’t no Moron, er, ah, Mormon, but what’s next: “raiding” this place?
http://www.lofthouse.com/design/photo/temple.gif
So you think the rape of little girls is OK ??
You thought wrong.
/johnny/
Shouldn't take long to verify.
Good grief.
There were TWO sets of calls. She is NOT suspected of being the original caller at this time, she is suspected of calling Flora Jessop at another shelter. The whole thing took place outside of Texas.
But I do smell a lot of Bravo Sierra around these parts.
/johnny/
I know such differentiation is difficult for some folks, but there you have it.
Time to learn to live with it.
BTW, once you're out of there somebody will tell you how to get a wife ~ it's not through supplication to the Prophet. He's in jail anyway. Got his own unbidden sexual relationships to worry about no doubt.
NPR may have gotten it right, but apparently you are unable to comprehend the details.
The original calls were to a shelter in Texas. They were not recorded. The girl said her name was Sarah.
The Colorado calls came well after all this was publicized. She claimed to be the twin sister of “Sarah”. These calls were recorded.
Texas officials still believe the original call was genuine.
Yep. One cannot bring up pertinent facts or question the state’s action or Constitutional issues lest you be accused of being a member of said cult or a supporter of child abuse.
416 children are without parents tonight, by the weight of Texas executive branch. I'm the power that enables them. I'd like to make sure I keep proper oversight on my civil servants.
They work for me. I don't work for them. If they forget it, I can explain it. I'm a bitter old man, clinging to my guns and Bible.
/johnny/
The cops and CPS better be right on this one.
Or there will be a backlash.
Really, really.
/johnny/
Sounds fine to me, since most of them were being supported at the expense of the Federal Government and the State of Texas. Maybe Daddy should step in and pay a few bucks on his 60 kids.
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