Posted on 05/05/2008 6:44:40 AM PDT by MizSterious
ROBERT MATAS
From Monday's Globe and Mail
May 5, 2008 at 4:32 AM EDT
SAN ANGELO, TEX. — The federal government should intervene to speed up the return to Canada of a 17-year-old girl who was apprehended during a raid of the Yearning For Zion polygamist compound in Texas, the parents' lawyer says.
The Canadian teenager was among 463 children under 18 years old who were taken into custody during a raid of the isolated compound run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 523 kilometres southwest of Dallas.
Texas authorities said they found underaged children who were pregnant and some who already had their own children. They alleged that the evidence indicated sexual abuse and a pervasive pattern of grooming young girls for underage sex.
The girl's parents told their lawyer that their daughter had come to the YFZ compound from the Canadian FLDS community of Bountiful, B.C., a few weeks before the April 3 raid, to visit her grandmother. Former FLDS members say young FLDS girls are brought as child brides from Canada to the U.S. and assigned to be "celestial wives" of older men. They accuse the church of trafficking women across the Canada-U.S. border for sexual purposes.
A member the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stands outside the Tom Green County Courthouse during a short break from the second day of a custody hearing in San Angelo, Tex., on April 18. (Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)
Stephanie Goodman, a Texas lawyer retained by the parents who lived in Bountiful, said she had expected the Canadian consul would try to expedite the girl's return to Canada.
The Canadian girl was placed by court order in a foster care facility for abused children. Ms. Goodman said the parents had not been allowed access to their daughter. Also, child protection officials and the child's lawyer were not returning Ms. Goodman's phone calls.
She hoped Canadian officials would contact Texas Attorney-General Greg Abbott or possibly Texas Governor Rick Perry in order to "open up the process," she said.
But the Canadian girl did not receive any special consideration because she was a foreigner.
The Globe and Mail is not publishing the girl's name in order to protect the identity of a minor who is in foster care.
Eugenie Cormier-Lassonde, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, said in an interview the government, for privacy reasons, could not release any information about a specific case.
The federal government announced on April 25 that a Canadian was among those found at the YFZ ranch, but did not release any further details.
The announcement stated that consular officials were "actively monitoring the situation" and were "in constant contact" with Texas child protection officials to offer assistance to Canadians.
Consular officials had made contact with the lawyer representing the Canadian and assistance was being provided, the government announcement said.
However, the well-being of Canadian children in the U.S. would be the responsibility of the Texas agency, with the Foreign Affairs Department working with the agency to provide assistance.
The girl's lawyer did not respond to a phone message from The Globe and Mail requesting an interview.
Rod Parker, a lawyer for the FLDS, has questioned whether Texas authorities could substantiate their allegations. He has disputed the ages of the children stated by Texas child protection officials.
The teenager's parents say their daughter was not married or pregnant and did not have any children, Ms. Goodman said.
Texas authorities have not mentioned that the girl was at the Yearning For Zion ranch for an assigned marriage, she added in a later interview.
"But they really haven't said very much to me or any other lawyer representing the parents," Ms. Goodman said. "I am having difficulty just getting a CPS representative to call me back and give me accurate [file] numbers for my cases."
She questioned whether a former FLDS member would know whether the girl was at the ranch for an arranged marriage unless they had left the ranch shortly before the raid. "It all sounds very speculative to me," she said.
The children were placed in temporary foster care during a two-day hearing on April 17 and 18 at the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, Tex., about an hour's drive from the FLDS compound. Under Texas law, authorities have 60 days to decide what will happen to the children.
The court also ordered DNA testing for all children to identify their parents.
Ms. Goodman said the girl's parents were willing to provide DNA samples at their own expense to compare to their daughter's.
The parents came from Bountiful to the San Angelo courthouse for the April hearing. However, they were not allowed to speak to their daughter. Ms. Goodman said that she has been told the mother spoke to her daughter on the phone from Bountiful for the first time late last week, more than three weeks after the girl had been apprehended.
Child Protective Services indicated they may be willing to let the Canadian go home if they could obtain a valid copy of the girl's birth certificate, the lawyer also said.
Good for Carolyn Jessop!!! Number five on the NYT bestsellers list and no doubt climbing. Her success must make for interesting ‘discussions’ amongst the remaining Jessop wives...what is the old addage ‘living well is the best revenge?’
I think shipping a child to another country as a sex slave is abuse.
They need to be certain that isn’t what happened.
I noticed the same thing.
susie
“Her success must make for interesting ‘discussions’ amongst the remaining Jessop wives”
That is assuming they are even allowed access to any outside ‘news’ or ‘TV’, or ‘newspapers’, or books, or to leave the compound without an escort.
FLDS Prophet Jeffs under suicide watch in Arizona |
| The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune |
| Article Last Updated:05/05/2008 12:29:45 PM MDT |
| Posted: 12:25 PM- FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs has been placed under suicide watch in Arizona, where he awaits trial on charges of criminal incest and sexual assault. The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reports that Jeffs is described as emaciated as he waits, 23 hours a day and alone, in his cell. The 52-year-old Jeffs, head of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, earlier was convicted of rape-as-an-accomplice in Utah. |
|
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune. |
Nah, I don’t mind spelling corrections. Generally my spelling errors are because I’m typing too quickly and don’t review, but sometimes I just don’t know how to spell.
And I never know if that “spell” button is for checking spelling, or to cast a spell on whomever I’m responding too.
Generally people complain because I don’t use appropriate capitalization.
They've had one "hearing" where they took the kids away. Now the second "hearing" may not address allegations against the parents either, and sounds like it will deal with continuing "temporary custody".
I hope that at some point, people will agree that they actually have to present facts of the parent's guilt, before they take their kids away for good.
Next time, include the whole quote and not a half-quote, and read it more carefully. That will prevent you from mistakenly asserting that a post has it's facts "wrong" when the quote in question was about the future, and not about what is happening today.
It would be sad if someone posted "I hope we can get these kids some help before one of them is killed", and you responded "None of them are dead, get your facts straight".
Pray for his immortal soul...if anyone ever needed prayers, it's Warren Jeffs.
Always. But I also have to say that suicide, especially for someone who has made so many other lives a living h*ll, is a coward’s way out. If he has any character and courage at all, he’ll “man up” and face up to what he’s done, and what his punishment will be. Some lives that he’s tinkered with are still in ruins.
“I hope that at some point, people will agree that they actually have to present facts of the parent’s guilt, before they take their kids away for good.”
Oh, I think everyone agrees with that. It’s just that some show a lack of patience in letting the LAW run it’s course, and have demanded PROOF EVIDENCE ARRESTS CONVICTIONS, and all of it “RIGHT NOW”.
If all the EVIDENCE is made public, there is no reason to have a trial. A LEGAL one, anyway. We could just have a lynching then. If were going to violate the laws of Texas and divulge all the evidence to POSTERS on FR.
You are right. I said get your facts straight, and since you are talking about the future, they aren’t facts yet.
Do you think the COURT intends to keep the children away for good, and never present facts of the parent’s guilt?
When they do present the facts, and whatever evidence they have, will you continue to ‘put the cart in front of the horse’?
I have a problem with people who claim there is no crime, because they haven’t seen the evidence.
Since neither you nor I were there, our opinions are just that.
In any case, we must both wait to find out the truth.
In the meantime, the children are in temporary custody until the legal process follows it’s due course, and this mess can be straightened out.
Until then, you can’t say for sure that they will be ‘safe’ if they are just summarily returned.
Which is why the JUDGE decided to rule the way she has.
Surprising, isn’t it?
“Pray for his immortal soul...if anyone ever needed prayers, it’s Warren Jeffs.”
Ditto.
(and maybe some prayers for us heathens, as well)
(CNN) -- In the secretive, illegal world of American polygamy, life has been good to 67-year-old Wendell Loy Nielsen of Eldorado, Texas.
By his own account, Nielsen has 21 wives -- and 36 children.
His oldest wife is 13 years older than he is, and his youngest wife is 43 years younger -- she's just 24.
His oldest child is 21 years old, and his youngest is a 6-month-old baby.
That's one of the longer, single-family genealogies uncovered in a CNN review of the "Bishop's List" -- a series of documents listing the age, marital status, children and address of the members of the Yearning for Zion polygamist ranch in Eldorado, Texas.
The ranch is owned by the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.
The Bishop's List was found among nearly 1,000 boxes of paperwork taken from the ranch by investigators who are considering child-abuse charges against some of the sect members.
Investigators don't believe there is a "Bishop" on the ranch. Instead, they believe sect members take orders from the man they call their "Prophet"-- convicted polygamist Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is in prison for forcing a 13-year-old girl to marry her 17-year-old cousin.
Excerpt. Read the rest at source: CNN.Com.
And what does this fine, upstanding, hardworking citizen do to support his large brood?
Hmmmm?
Attorneys General Terry Goddard of Arizona and Mark Shurtleff of Utah will hold a town hall meeting in St. George, Utah, Thursday night to discuss relationships between law enforcement and the polygamist border communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
Arizona State Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix; Centennial Park resident Don Timpson and Utah Safety Net Coordinator Paul Murphy will join Goddard and Shurtleff in a panel discussion at the Town Hall. The event, at the Dixie Center in St. George, is open to the public.
"Previous Town Halls have all been productive, and this year's will be an important opportunity to strengthen relations between law enforcement and the Colorado City/Hildale community," Goddard said.
"We started this discussion five years ago, and this meeting will be a good chance to reflect on where we have gone and where we need to go," Shurtleff added.
The Town Hall will follow a half-day training session for members of polygamous communities, journalists, law enforcement officers and social service providers working with plural families. The training session has two goals: to help journalists report the truth and minimize harm and to help polygamists and people working with polygamists provide information that is accurate, fair and minimizes harm, especially to children.
Both events are being sponsored by the Utah-Arizona Safety Net Committee. This group brings together government agencies, non-profit organizations and interested individuals to "open up communication, break down barriers and coordinate efforts to give people associated with the practice of polygamy equal access to justice, safety and services." •
Source: KTAR.com.
It would be interesting to find out, wouldn’t it?
Bet he ain’t working at Burger King.
He is in solitary, no doubt for his own protection, due to his heinous racial teachings. How will this ‘play’ in the flds commmuity? Will he go from ‘prophet’ to martyr? I find it interesting that the term ‘emaciated’ was used...is he on a hunger strike? Is he physically ill? Or is this an insinuation of government mistreatment? Makes ya wonder...
1)I like the idea of the government having to show evidence in order to take action, and the default being that people are left alone. This leads to some people being hurt, but the alternative is worse in my opinion.
2) I didn’t think so, until I saw this article that the next hearing seemed to be for directing the further custody of the children, not for determining if the custody seizure was correct.
3)Except “temporary custody” is an action, and it has consequences. If i the end the children were not abused, they are being abused by the custody. It is abusive to remove children from their homes and families — we do so because of fear of greater harm, but the state is required to show that harm pretty quickly, 2 weeks in fact, because of the harm being caused. “temporary custody” is not some suspended animation where everything is held faultless until the outcome is reached. If it were, people wouldn’t mind it so much.
If you have assumed guilt, it’s easier to ignore this. But in the abstract, you just have to think about a 6-year-old, told their mom is going into the next room for a minute, and then the mom never comes back. A kid who has never been away from home and now is away from everybody the ever knew, and being told their parents are bad.
5) I can’t say they’d be safe with their mother, but you can’t say they are safe in foster care.
I think uni-brow, Merilyn, is one of his wives. When she was giving the tour of the home she pointed out her mother’s room, stating that her mother shared it with three of her daughters. I wonder if her mother is also her sister-wife.
Mr. Neilsen is 67 and eligible to collect social security. He has at least 31 minor children. I wonder if he’s claiming them as his dependents and collecting benefits for them also.
I know this story was intended to pull at my heartstrings; but for that reason I am leery of the facts as this man states them. Having said that, one of the biggest complaints that I have heard against CPS in their dealings with people everywhere is that they often tell parents one thing and do another. Some of this is “excused” as telling people what they want to hear to avoid violence- etc. It really does bother me though when officials seem to lie to folks. From what has been reported it does seem like CPS and other officials have said several things that they have not abided by; like keeping siblings together, etc. Why can’t the officials just tell the adults that what happens will be determined by state law, a thorough investigation, and or a judge. I don’t believe officials should lie to people for whatever reason- just doesn’t sit right with me.
I know when CPS visited our home, the investigator told us he found nothing to support the report they got on my daughter and we believed him. We were told later by people that worked with CPS that what they tell you isn’t always how it is and they have told people everything was all right and come back later and taken children. For a while after the visit from CPS I was very fearful of them, I found out they have a great deal of power, and I found out they aren’t always straight with those they take action against. I was paranoid about every scratch my grandson got, and didn’t want him to play and get dirty- it was crazy- I never want that kind of fear. Just don’t understand why the dishonesty- or at least the appearance of it.
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