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.
A Colorado Springs woman was arrested on charges of false reporting to authorities and is being investigated for her alleged involvement in the call that tipped authorities off to possible abuse at the Texas polygamist compound.
Police say they arrested 33-year-old Rozita Swinton at her home on Wednesday. The Texas Rangers were in Colorado Springs apparently as part of their investigation involving the compound in Texas.
They left and have not filed any charges on Swinton and the Colorado Springs Police spokesman said he could not discuss any aspects of the Texas case.
Our sister station KMGH in Denver found out that this is not the first time Swinton has been arrested on charges of making false reports to authorities. According to records the charge against Swinton was made in connection to calls received by police in February indicating she was 13 years old and trapped in a basement-- all a lie.
New story 4/18 Colorado Springs Gazette
“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.”
“Allegations of sexual abuse in Bountiful haven’t just come from people who have left the community or outsiders tired of seeing very young girls with their babies and shocked by teen pregnancy rates that are at least seven times higher than elsewhere in the province.
Last year at the so-called polygamy summit his wives organized in Creston, Blackmore admitted, “I have married several very young girls in my life.”
He has more than 20 wives and 100-plus children.
Jane Blackmore — Winston’s ex-wife and the former midwife for all of Bountiful — says that the youngest girl she knows of was 14.
“There weren’t many 14-year-olds,” she said in an interview. “But there were lots who were married at 15.”
At a conference in Winnipeg in early 2005, another of Blackmore’s wives, Zelpha Chatwin, said Blackmore had married at least one girl who was 15.
/johnny/
Personally, I suspect the caller was either too scared to identify herself - or she's already dead. This group is already known to have killed one adult female escapee who tried to report on them.
My only question is why the various states they were in didn't intervene long before now. This cult has places in Texas and Arizona; I think they were kicked out of Colorado. Utah Mormons didn't want the bad publicity and have basically excluded them, and I'm not sure what the situation is in Canada.
Remember, these are the Mormons who think they were actually loyal to their founder's first vision, and they regard the other Mormons as heretics.
The Rangers wanted to know if the anonymous caller was the young girl whose outcry by phone on March 29, to a San Angelo crisis center triggered a massive raid two weeks ago on the breakaway Mormon sect's ranch outside Eldorado.
The recorded calls you reference did NOT include the call that triggered the raid. The woman made the recorded calls prior to the March 29th call.
Read your linked article.
They are acting in my name, and under the ageis of the power that I give them.
/johnny/
Agreed.
‘__7__
(_____)>!
There are recordings of the woman’s voice. I have no doubt the Rangers will play this for those that DID receive the calls and as I said, we should find out shortly.
If you don't like your government, fricking change it. It can't operate without you, and you are responsible for it, morally.
Back to our regularly scheduled freep-a-thon...
/johnny/
Was the original call that triggered the raid recorded? I seem to remember it was a 911 call. I would like this cleared up too, and almost wish it WAS Swinton who called...otherwise, where is Sarah? Is she even alive?
The Sarah calls were NOT recorded.
The shelter which took them uses written notes only.
Thanks, PM...we do not know what happened to her ;(
I'm trying to keep it clean bro, it should always be watched.
What IS that?
This is what I was referring to would be played to those at the center. It may or may not clear things up all depending on whether the women can identify the caller or not and will they or not. (I'm not implying anything.)
If it is the same caller, it will open up another can of worms. If it isn't, as you said, where is Sarah?
Which call came first, if there were two calls.
Audio of either call.
What set the Rangers off for Colorado, since Colorado outlawed prostituion in the late 1800s (I think)
Lots of facts are missing.
Lots of facts are available. The State actions are what I'm most interested in observing.
/johnny
Even if there wasn’t a raid, many of those children would be without their parents tonight. Warren Jeffs commanded his followers to send their children to the YFZ ranch. Canadian authorities said at least 15 are from Bountiful. I’m assuming mostly girls were sent. Of the 416 children, only a few dozen are boys.
I do care about the kids. But I trust "official" reports about 1.2 meters.
I'm tired, I can't throw very far...
/johnny/
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