Colorado Woman Makes Plea To Sisters In Polygamist Compound (YFZ/fLDS Daily Thread - 5/3/08)

The Denver Channel ^ | May 2, 2008 | Lane Lyon,

[MizSterious]

Colorado Woman Makes Plea To Sisters In Polygamist Compound

Story Of Arranged Marriages, Abuse Chronicled In New Book

Lane Lyon, 7NEWS Reporter

POSTED: 9:23 pm MDT May 2, 2008

UPDATED: 9:29 pm MDT May 2, 2008

DENVER -- When Texas authorities raided a polygamist compound last month, Laura Chapman took special interest.

"I thought about when I was little and thought about how I wanted to be adopted, and I wanted out of my family," Chapman said Friday.

Now living in Durango, Chapman was born into a polygamist family in Utah.

Chapman said she grew up on 6 acres in Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City.

"My father had four wives and I have 31 brothers and sisters," Chapman said.

During an interview with 7NEWS, Chapman spoke to several sisters she believes may be living in the compound in Texas.

"Carol, Andrea, Camille, Charlotte, if you're watching, your sisters out here love you and you can make that leap," Chapman said encouraging them to leave the polygamous sect.

Since escaping the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints religion in 1991, Chapman said she's been trying to blow the whistle in Utah about abuse and forced marriage to underage girls.

Chapman said doing so has put her at risk with devout FLDS members.

"If you become someone they see as a threat to the work of God, then they can spill your blood. They can kill you," Chapman said.

Chapman's story is now part of a book by local author Stephen Singular titled, “When Men Became Gods.”

[MizSterious]

5/2 thread, with articles on:

Utah officials don't want federal help, feds claim they're stymied in probes of fLDS, residents of UT and AZ want crackdowns, home schooling for sect children, burden of proof high in such cases, kids' religious needs, older boys, not adults may be source of abuse of boys, Bishop's Record (pdf) list of YFZ families, Dr. Phil opines, warrant canceled for AZ man originally charged with molesting "Sarah," protesters supporting fLDS mothers show up at NBA game, letter from fLDS mothers claims rights violated, law professor says state correct to remove children from ranch, excerpt from "On the Lam with Warren Jeffs."

5/1 thread, with articles on:

FLDS doctor denies abuse, fLDS petitions court for return of children, denial of abuse of boys, commentary by Marci Hamilton (constitutional law expert), TX senator wants more info on YFZ, LDS response to situation, new evidence on abuse, NY Voodoo sex abuse case

4/30 thread, with articles on:

Investigations into fLDS government contracts, new compound built at 4 Corners area, strains on CPS capacity, Shurtleff & Reid agree to work together, interview with mothers in Amarillo, Colorado City fLDS watching events in Texas, NM removes 4 children from non-fLDS cult compound, sexual and physical injuries listed, proposed AZ bill would shield children of polygamists, Canadians want action on polygamists, fLDS denies child abuse, fLDS claims children have brittle bone disease, articles on brittle bone disease

4/29 thread with articles on:

"Lost" boys found, cult children statistics, more on WE documentary, sect doctors silent on abuse question, legal news and details, woman recalls life in sect, children's diet, Texans chip in to help, children at one shleter think they're all siblings, sect placement marriages "diabolical," sect threatens lawsuit, questions DNA tests might answer, teen mother gives birth (it's a boy)

4/28 thread with articles on:

Criminal charges urged for YFZ, new "prophet" film, debate over legalities of raid, Bountiful, BC fLDS group, reason in religious beliefs, former fLDS member shares insights, more on the Short Creek raid, documentary about group on WE TV.

4/27 thread with articles on:

Gene disorders in group, child custody processes, appeal to Gov. Perry, unusual way of life in YFZ, possibility of children held at YFZ whose parents were forced out, sheriff says authorities had spy inside sect.

4/26 thread with articles on:

Cost of care for the children of the sect, charges that two kids might be missing, how members of the sect dress, court rejects requests of mothers to stay with children, appeals court cancels hearing, Canadian involved in sect, culture shock for kids, oil drillers last laugh, possible involvement in human trafficking and drugs at Colorado City, Rep. Kay Granger's request to investigate financial ties to USG

4/25 thread with aritcles on:

Courts allowing state to place children in foster homes, legal challenges to the raid, beliefs on polygamy, protests against the raid and removal of children, Warren Jeff's appeal, portions of the Texas Family Code

4/24 thread with articles on:

Seized polygamous sect kids face tough adjustment, articles on how and where the children were placed, Carolyn Jessup on Canadian children possibly at the ranch, legal aid group challenges judge, interview with Benjamin Bistline, 40 women choose to go to safe house instead of back to cult, 25 girls claimed to be adults, now found to be minors.

---

As always, for the sake of orderliness (and to prevent the pulling of threads and/or messages), let's do try to stay on topic and polite. You can't have a flame war if you don't take the bait.

____________________

If certain frequently posted graphics are causing problems on your computer, FireFox browser (and possibly others) can actually block them entirely. Just right-click your mouse, and click on the "block image from..." option.

____________________

I do not run a pinglist, but you can freepmail Politicalmom and request that you be added to her FLDS Eldorado Legal Case Ping List.

[MizSterious]

Daily thread ping!

[Enosh]

IBT(f)M!

[MizSterious]

Letter: Utahns 'held hostage'

FLDS appeal to Huntsman

Governor asked to help Utahns whose identities are in dispute in Texas

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated:05/03/2008 01:34:37 AM MDT

Spurned by Texas, a spokesman for a polygamous sect is now reaching out to the governor of Utah for help.
    FLDS member Willie Jessop this week sent Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. a letter extending an invitation to visit the YFZ Ranch in western Texas. He also asks Huntsman to intervene on behalf of Utah residents whose identities are disputed and whose children were taken during an April 3 raid at the ranch.
    Lisa Roskelley, spokeswoman for Huntsman, on Friday confirmed his office received the letter.
    "Our office has been in communication with Mr. Jessop, and we are reviewing the requests of the letter," she said.
    Texas authorities removed 463 children from the ranch, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, after finding evidence of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. A baby born last Tuesday upped the total in custody to 464.
    Jessop said at least 10 children in Texas custody are residents of Utah and were visiting the ranch with their parents.
    The letter also asks the governor for help getting Utah birth certificates and driver licenses recognized as official documents.
    The FLDS are "being told that the birth certificates and Utah driver licenses are 'faked documents' and they are lying about their legal name, age and residency," Jessop's letter states.
    Jessop sent a similar letter and invitation to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but was referred to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Three FLDS mothers also sent a letter to Perry, to no avail.
    The appeal to Huntsman says Texas has "torn apart functional, productive, self-sustaining and loving families - children purposely never exposed to the constant mind-numbing diet of violence, promiscuity, alcohol and drugs found on prime-time television.
    "Our children are taught to honor and respect their mother and father, and to have a love for God and nature," it said. "The community of the YFZ Ranch has incorporated the core issues of good citizenship through family values, home-based education and honest work ethics."
    Utah residents, the letter said, are "currently being held hostage by the state of Texas. . . . Without your leadership and personal intervention in this matter, the parental rights of every Utah family is at risk."

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune.

[greyfoxx39]

Flying Inman Ping

[MizSterious]

Looks like they're back to fashion news again--

---

Published: May 3, 2008 8:09 a.m.

Polygamist fashion purposely lacking flair

By Hillary Rhodes

Associated Press

Associated Press

Women on polygamist compounds wear pastel colors as a sign of femininity, though the dresses are designed to cover every inch of skin possible.

For a society accustomed to the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, the images of the women from the polygamist compound in Texas are almost shocking in their understatement: Ankle-length dresses, makeup-less faces, hauntingly uniform hair.

And while no one would accuse the women of making a fashion statement, the pioneer-style outfits are a rare example of how in an age of overexposure, modesty, too, can give pause.

The puff-sleeved, pastel dresses worn by the women in the sect are a combination of original 19th-century wear and 1950s clothing that was adopted when the church took a conservative turn, according to Janet Bennion, an anthropologist who studies polygamist women.

The dresses are meant to show modesty and conformity: They go down to the ankles and wrists, and are often worn over garments or pants, making sure every possibly provocative inch of skin is covered.

John Llewellyn, a polygamy expert and retired Salt Lake County sheriff’s lieutenant, says the women cover themselves “so that they’re unattractive to the outside world or other men.”

The appearance of unity through uniform dress, however, can belie the jealousy that often arises when the women – who might all look alike to an outsider – find themselves in competition with one another over the affections of the same man, Llewellyn says.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: The Journal/Gazette.

[MizSterious]

Few answers in Texas

A month after raid on FLDS ranch, authorities have not achieved much resolution

By Nate Carlisle
and Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated:05/03/2008 08:03:04 AM MDT

SAN ANGELO, Texas - On the one-month anniversary of a massive raid at a polygamous sect's ranch, here are the numbers:
    * 599 DNA samples collected;
    * 464 children in state custody;
    * 16 group shelters caring for the children;
    * One warrant canceled;
    * No charges issued.
    As of Friday, Texas authorities were no longer actively pursuing an Arizona man named in a search and arrest warrant that triggered the April 3 raid at the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado.
    From the start, Dale Evans Barlow said - and his probation officer vouched for him - that he knew nothing about the 16-year-old girl whose phone calls claiming abuse led authorities to the ranch. The calls, to a San Angelo family violence shelter, now are being investigated as a possible hoax.
    But Texas Child Protective Services said they found other evidence of underage marriage and polygamous marriages at the ranch, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that justified removing all 463 children living there. A baby born this week added to the total.
    As events unfolded in Texas, Barlow remained at his home in Colorado City, Ariz. Texas Rangers traveled to St. George to interview Barlow but did not arrest him.
    The Texas Department of Public Safety canceled the arrest warrant for Barlow with little explanation.
    "The bottom line is the warrant is no longer active," said spokesman Tom Vinger.
    Vinger said he did not know when the warrant was canceled. He would not comment on whether the cancellation confirms the girl's calls for help were a hoax.
    "We're still investigating that," he said.
    The April 3 warrant alleged a 16-year-old girl called the shelter to report she was married to Barlow, 50, and that he was abusing her.
    Two weeks later, Texas authorities announced they were investigating Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs, Colo., who is suspected of making the calls. She has no known connection to the FLDS but does have a documented history of prank calls falsely claiming abuse.
    Vinger said detectives have sent evidence regarding the calls to a crime laboratory and may wait for the results before taking a case to prosecutors. "We're known for being extremely thorough," he said.
    Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney representing the FLDS, said, "The cancellation of this warrant is just one more piece of evidence that this call was a hoax and the state of Texas did not properly check this out before they raided the ranch."
    But Parker acknowledged the development has little legal bearing on the children's pending custody cases.
    The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said that even if the call was phony, investigators found a "pervasive pattern" of abuse that centered on young girls being groomed for marriages to older men. That evidence showed all children at risk on the ranch, the agency concluded.
    There also have been no formal charges filed against Levi Barlow Jeffs, 19, who was arrested during the raid for interfering with law enforcement. Schleicher County Attorney Raymond Loomis on Thursday said he was still waiting for the police reports on the case. Jeffs is the oldest son of FLDS leader Warren S. Jeffs, who is in jail in Arizona.
    No formal charges have been filed against LeRoy Johnson Steed, either. Steed was arrested April 7 for tampering with evidence during the investigation at the ranch. The Tom Green County District Attorney's office Wednesday said the grand jury that will consider the charge may not convene until June.

Emphasis is mine. Source: The Salt Lake Tribune.

[greyfoxx39]

Governor asked to help Utahns whose identities are in dispute in Texas

" The letter also asks the governor for help getting Utah birth certificates and driver licenses recognized as official documents.

The FLDS are "being told that the birth certificates and Utah driver licenses are 'faked documents' and they are lying about their legal name, age and residency," Jessop's letter states.

Huntsman's reaction will be interesting. The official LDS mormon church's position is to deny any connection with the FLDS, but the state of Utah is being forced to weigh in on the case...or not.

Authenticity of the documents will be interesting, also. What does the state of Utah provide on the documents that is useful for proving identity? Footprints for the babies, fingerprints? Anything to prove a child belongs to a certain women? How about on the driver's licenses? Anything other than a photograph?

[MizSterious]

Families torn apart

ROBERT MATAS

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

May 3, 2008 at 12:54 AM EDT

The FLDS congregations in Canada and the United States fractured during a fight over the succession to FLDS prophet Rulon Jeffs, who died on Sept. 8, 2002.

Winston Blackmore, the bishop of Bountiful, B.C., from 1984, lost the battle to Mr. Jeffs's son, Warren, and was eventually expelled from the church. Several members in Bountiful stuck with Mr. Blackmore, who continues to uphold the religious practices, while many remain with Warren Jeffs.

Mr. Jeffs consolidated his power by reassigning celestial wives and their children to new husbands, saying their current ones were not worthy. Many of the men had challenged Mr. Jeffs's authority.

In January, 2004, a newsletter published by Mr. Blackmore said that Dan Barlow, mayor of Colorado City, Ariz., for 19 years, and 20 others were excommunicated from the FLDS church. Local FLDS members were told not to have anything more to do with their unbelieving family members.

The newsletter, called the North Star, listed several other prominent FLDS members who were now castoffs. Ross Chatwin held a news conference in an effort to not get kicked out of his house. Richard Holm's wives were taken away from him and married to his brother Ed, their seven children going with them.

The shuffling of families continued the following month. “Many more excommunications happening in the South. Ethnic cleansing. If someone wants your family, you get cleansed,” the newsletter stated.

The religious sect also continued to believe the apocalypse was imminent. The newsletter stated in March, 2004, that “another deadline for the end of the world has come and gone, being in excess of some 15 deadlines that have passed.”

A FLDS member named Albert Counsil was the latest to lose his family, the newsletter stated in June, 2004. Mr. Counsil was told to leave because it was decided that he did not support the “most holy prophet.” Mr. Counsil did not choose to go. “So they gathered up his family and took them from him,” the newsletter said.

Source: Globe andMail.com

[UCANSEE2]

Thanks for posting this article.

[MizSterious]

Utah officials give Texas caseworkers input on kids from YFZ Ranch

By BILL HANNA and JOHN MORITZ
Star-Telegram staff writers

Texas appears to be in it for the long haul with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

As state officials await DNA results to help identify the parents of many of the 464 children in state custody, a Utah official said Friday that it will take time to sort out the complex web of relationships within the polygamist sect in Eldorado.

Patricia Sheffield, director of Washington County Children's Justice Center in St. George, Utah, who has dealt with abuse cases involving polygamist families, was one of several out-of-state advisers brought to Texas this week to give guidance to caseworkers overseeing the children removed from the YFZ Ranch after allegations of child abuse prompted a raid on the compound.

"I believe it will probably go into months," Sheffield said. "I don't see how it could not."

And the strain on state agencies will likely last even longer.

"We will be talking about Eldorado for years to come," state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, said Friday.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

"If you become someone they see as a threat to the work of God, then they can spill your blood. They can kill you," Chapman said.

Not doubting her, but not swallowing either. When you make a statement like that you should back it up with examples.

[TXnMA]

What a bunch of happy, smiling faces...

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

"If you become someone they see as a threat to the work of God, then they can spill your blood. They can kill you," Chapman said.

I bet FLDS also fields modern day Danites, just like in the days of olde with Joe Smith and Brigham Young.

[MizSterious]

What examples? It is, in fact, something that has been reported before, perhaps most notably in the the WE-Network documentary aired last week. Proof of THAT was when armed men tried to take Flora Jessup when she was visiting with an AZ congressman (Lujan), who was also threatened (and talked about it on the documentary). All that saved them was a lawman who had drawn his gun. These are violent people, never doubt it.

[TXnMA]

Pulling this all together was not a trivial task. Thank you for sharing your efforts with all of us!!

[MizSterious]

This is a re-post from yesterday, in case anyone missed it:

---

Law Professor Thinks State Correct in Removing Children from Polygamous Compound

Jennifer Heathcock

May 2, 2008 - 5:50PM

Some members of the polygamous sect in West Texas claim the state went too far in removing hundreds of children from the group's compound.

All 463 children were taken and placed in foster care. Investigators say more than half of the underage girls are pregnant.

But a law professor says there is no question the state was correct in removing the children.

Gerald Treece is an Associate Dean at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. His speech to lawyers and judges in Jefferson County touched on more than the legal system.

"Education done correctly solves many social problems," says Gerald Treece, a professor and Associate Dean at the South Texas College of Law.

Many family court judges and prosecutors say the mistreatment of children has become a growing social problem.

Child Protective Services says it removed hundreds of children from the polygamous sect's compound in West Texas because it had evidence children were sexually abused.

"Texans don't like government messing around with religion. But we drew the line when it comes to abuse of children, sexual abuse of children cannot be justified under anybody's religious beliefs," says Treece.

Some members of the sect deny their religious beliefs include sexual abuse of children.

But after the raid on the compound near San Angelo about one month ago, investigators say they've learned dozens of the children and young teenage girls are pregnant. One just gave birth.

"I've never heard anybody say you can have sex with a 12 or 13 year old girl under the name of religion. You almost have to build a compound around it to keep that kind of crazy idea in," says Treece.

Parents have lined up outside courthouses in Austin trying to fight to regain custody. But there are still more than 400 children the state is testing to determine their ages and whether they were abused.

"There's no free expression of religion argument that allows sexual abuse of teen girls," says Treece.

Treece says in 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled sexual abuse of children was not constitutional, and he says that is the guiding principal in the case involving the children from the compound

Source: KFDM News.

[MizSterious]

Thanks—love your tagline, but I think Satan might have a couple of aliases, one of which just might be Warren Jeffs—after reading all I have on the fLDS cult.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

What examples, indeed. When she says they can spill your blood or kill you, I’d like to know whose blood they spilled, or whom they killed, and when and where.
I’m not defending them, I just don’t like inflammatory charges without backup. Not everybody who reads those comments knows as much as you obviously do.
And threats are not spillings or killings, either.

[Colofornian]

Chapman's story is now part of a book by local author Stephen Singular titled, “When Men Became Gods.”

This is the crux problem of both Mormonism and polygamy in a one phrase: "When Men Became Gods."

No LDS "Scripture" ever mentions that their God was once a man. The Book of Mormon says absolutely nothing about men becoming gods. And that leaves the Mormon to scrape & scrounge around the Bible looking for "inheritance" verses to talk about becoming gods...or for Ps. 82 which reference "gods" but describes them as "unjust judges"--as if true gods were "unjust."

And it's when men are treated by fellow Mormons as "gods"--and when mere men expect to be treated by "womenfolk" & children as "gods," that this powertrip goes to their heads and they abuse & exploit those around them.

This is exactly why fundamentalism is both fLDS and LDS!...this is the capstone of their faith & their family arrangements. And since women are dependent upon their husbands to call them from the other side of the veil upon death, this spiritual threat of being shut out is always hanging over their heads in an unspoken way...to the point that in Mormonism...
...the husband replaces Jesus as Savior just like...
...LDS "prophet" John Taylor's "we are the saviours of the world" effectively replaces Jesus...
...and just like "Praise to the Man" worship of Smith by Mormons replaces Jesus-worship, as does the Brigham Young quote that folks need to "consent" of Smith to enter heaven.