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(TX) Senate Panel Suggests Taking FLDS Sect's Assets to Cover Costs
Star-Telegram ^ | May. 21, 2008 | JOHN MORITZ

Posted on 05/24/2008 4:50:41 PM PDT by anymouse

With the price tag of providing care for more than 400 children seized last month from a polygamist ranch in West Texas expected to reach the tens of millions of dollars, a legislative panel suggested Tuesday that the state explore garnisheeing the religious organization's assets to recoup the costs.

"That compound didn't grow out of fairy dust," Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, said after a Senate Finance Committee hearing in which he urged state health officials to determine whether members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or even the sect as a whole, should be held responsible for the cost of care. "Why should we be footing the bill when they've got assets?"

The remarks came after the panel heard testimony that providing foster care, Medicaid coverage and casework for the children from the YFZ (Yearning For Zion) Ranch will likely cost taxpayers more than $1.7 million a month for as long as they are in state custody. The figure does not include the $5.3 million for the first six weeks of the operation or the cost of providing the required legal representation for each of the children, which is likely to cost at least $2.2 million.

The committee, which plays a lead role in drafting and overseeing the state budget, is exploring ways to cover the near-term costs even though no money was appropriated last year for such an event.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Rick Perry's office expect an emergency appropriation will be necessary when lawmakers return to Austin in January to ensure that the state's bills for the operation are paid.

"We basically need to pay what it's going to cost to do the job right, and we need to know, to the best of your ability, what that cost is so we can factor that in when we're making decisions about other worthwhile costs and needs in this state," Sen. Steve Ogden, a Bryan Republican who heads the finance panel, told Albert Hawkins, the state's executive commissioner for health and human services.

Law enforcement officers and officials from Child Protective Services rounded up the children from the ranch near Eldorado after an anonymous caller claimed to be a pregnant and abused 16-year-old forced into a marriage with a 50-year-old.

Officials now believe that the call may have been a hoax.

But CPS workers have said that the children were in imminent danger of abuse. In court hearings that began Monday in San Angelo, many parents are seeking to regain custody.

Deuell said efforts should be made to determine whether any of the children placed in foster care are covered by the parents' private insurance. If so, he said, the state would not have to enroll them in the taxpayer-supported Medicaid program.

Hawkins said it is unclear whether sect members have private insurance. He also said that officials have found no evidence that anyone from the sect is receiving public assistance.

Even if the adults do have private insurance, the children would still likely require Medicaid coverage, Hawkins said, because DNA testing to determine parentage is expected to take up to two months to complete.

Rod Parker, a spokesman for the FLDS, said any effort to seize assets would be an overreach by the state.

"I think my response is to ask the state on what legal grounds it believes it would be entitled to take FLDS assets," Parker said in an e-mail to the Star-Telegram. "This is a country of laws; they cannot simply go after assets without legal basis."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: deathof1stamentment; extortion; flds; govtabuse; govwatch; jeffs; lds; mormonism; shakedown; yfzranch
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To: kittymyrib

Wow! Glad we don’t get mired in petty things like due process. You go girl!


121 posted on 05/25/2008 8:09:07 AM PDT by starlifter
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To: kittymyrib

I think the earlier poster was asking for facts, not opinions. So far, all unproven allegations. In fact, some of the more lurid ones are demonstrably false.

The fact that something is documented in books or television and thus sufficient “proof” for state action is laughable.

But, to your point, we’d better start rounding up the Jews, because there are thousands of books and documentaries “proving” they rule the world. Can’t have any of that!


122 posted on 05/25/2008 8:15:19 AM PDT by starlifter
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To: Jet Jaguar

Thanks.


123 posted on 05/25/2008 8:22:22 AM PDT by starlifter
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To: starlifter

“Could you provide a citation for the FLDS convictions?”

Unnecessary. Do you have evidence that the State is not providing food, shelter and clothing for the children?


124 posted on 05/25/2008 8:41:36 AM PDT by greatvikingone
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To: org.whodat
You file and you get to take the witness chair, and then all bets are off.

The government can 'settle', or pay the plaintiff and STILL not admit wrongdoing. This payment is usually smaller than what they would pay should they lose a case that went to trial.

( I think their is a legal term for this, but I don't recall it at the moment.)

In the case of a prepubescent child, the warrant looking for a 14 to 16 year old girl who may appear pregnant, would NOT be covered by the warrant.

There was no reasonable way that warrant could have covered that small a child.

If approached on those grounds, it is possible for the Plaintiff to 'win' without ever sitting on the witness stand.

125 posted on 05/25/2008 9:27:39 AM PDT by MamaTexan (* I am not a political, administrative or legal 'entity', nor am I a *person* as created by law *)
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To: Arkinsaw
I'll stick with thinking issues through in light of Constitution and Liberty and letting the chips fall where they may....even if the outcome of that thought leads to constitutional rights for people I find distasteful..

BRAVO!

Well said!

:-)

126 posted on 05/25/2008 9:43:50 AM PDT by MamaTexan (* I am not a political, administrative or legal 'entity', nor am I a *person* as created by law *)
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To: org.whodat
As to the children, they have the requirement under our laws to prove they are their children.

Which is done buy asking both the parent - "Is this your kid?", then asking the child, "Is this your parent?".

If the answer from both is "Yes", then that is considered prima-facie evidence.

If the State cannot PROVE anything to the contrary, tough beans.

127 posted on 05/25/2008 9:52:45 AM PDT by MamaTexan (* I am not a political, administrative or legal 'entity', nor am I a *person* as created by law *)
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To: heywoodubuzzoff

< snip >

The community may have the last laugh, said pilot J.D. Doyle.

West Texas is oil country. Allred and Jeffs may have missed one detail about the YFZ Ranch - other people own most of the mineral rights, the warranty deed shows.

If the majority of mineral rights owners want to drill on the land, the property owner can’t say no, said John Griffin, an attorney for the Texas Railroad Commission, which manages oil and gas operations in the state.

“From the air, there’s a line of oil wells leading right up to the temple,” said J.D. Doyle.

In the first week in June, a drilling exploration rig went up on a neighboring ranch, about 200 yards from the YFZ Ranch fenceline.

“There are enough rich oilmen out there who’d put a drilling rig next to the temple just to see the look on their faces,” J.D. Doyle said.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy360.html


128 posted on 05/25/2008 10:13:21 AM PDT by Alice in Wonderland (4-Hshootingsports.org)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

I think you have your Jessops mixed up. It’s not hard to do since many share a few last names.

The woman allegedly contacted Flora Jessop.

Carolyn Jessop is the one who wrote the book.


129 posted on 05/25/2008 10:22:51 AM PDT by Alice in Wonderland (4-Hshootingsports.org)
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To: MamaTexan
Which is done buy asking both the parent - "Is this your kid?", then asking the child, "Is this your parent?".

Wrong century!! You know how many missing children there are in this country. And you advocate going back to horse and buggy days.

Remember the little girl and her brother the pervert kidnapped, after he killed her family and then her brother. Her first answer, when found, was he was her father. You endorse this BS. Sick!

130 posted on 05/25/2008 10:43:26 AM PDT by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: anymouse

I’m sure FLDS hopes they do sieze the assets—just that much more base from which to calculate the inevitable treble damages.


131 posted on 05/25/2008 11:41:40 AM PDT by jammer
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To: All

"Burn her! Burn! Burn her! Burn her!"
"How do you know she is a witch?"
"She looks like one."
132 posted on 05/25/2008 11:44:05 AM PDT by abb (Organized Journalism: Marxist-style collectivism applied to information sharing)
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To: Arkinsaw

Well said - must read


133 posted on 05/25/2008 12:19:48 PM PDT by norton
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To: org.whodat
Wrong century!! You know how many missing children there are in this country. And you advocate going back to horse and buggy days.

LOL! It has nothing to do with advocation, that is the way it is and has been since the signing of the Magna Carta.

Follow the link. It proves my post valid.

Prima-facie is and has been in our legal system since the beginning OF our legal system.

-----

Remember the little girl and her brother the pervert kidnapped, after he killed her family and then her brother. Her first answer, when found, was he was her father. You endorse this BS. Sick!

What IS IT with you people who cannot understand a simple rational fact- explanations do not equate 'endorsement'.

At least you are all easily identifiable by your disgusting little habit of coming up with the most horrific scenario imaginable in order to try to justify your adhominin attack.

And, IMHO, what is SICK are people who think we can pass enough laws and punish enough people we will all eventually be 'safe'

(PSST- We call that Socialism)

134 posted on 05/25/2008 1:02:29 PM PDT by MamaTexan (* I am not a political, administrative or legal 'entity', nor am I a *person* as created by law *)
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To: MamaTexan
At least you are all easily identifiable by your disgusting little habit of coming up with the most horrific scenario imaginable in order to try to justify your adhominin attack.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, when those two planes hit the world trade buildings I decided that the country need to know who was here, whatever the means. I have no obligation to believe anyone that refuses to comply with simple things like birth certificates and social security numbers and an honest to god ID. Now if you don't like it get enough Ron paul supporters to change it. By the way I have had a full FBI background check run on me and was approve for a top secret security clearance. You know it never hurt one bit. But then I was proud of my uniform also.

135 posted on 05/25/2008 1:16:57 PM PDT by org.whodat (What's the difference between a Democrat and a republican????)
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To: Arkinsaw
Thats not strange...its situational ethics.

Situational ethics?

I'd say it's a lack of ethics of any sort, but flex-ethics (think flex-fuel vehicles for morality) lets you weasel around just about anything and not have to "feel" like you're being two-faced.

I'll stick with thinking issues through in light of Constitution and Liberty and letting the chips fall where they may....even if the outcome of that thought leads to constitutional rights for people I find distasteful.

Are you crazy, why that kind of thinking will lead to anarchy, to dancing and other unsavory behaviors!

We simply can't allow that...
136 posted on 05/25/2008 1:26:14 PM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg ("Shut the hell up, New York Times, you sanctimonious whining jerks!" - Craig Ferguson)
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To: org.whodat
I have no obligation to believe anyone that refuses to comply with simple things like birth certificates and social security numbers and an honest to god ID.

Odd phraseology. Particularly since a social security number is the 'number of your name'. Revelation 13:18. So it isn't an 'honest to god ID'..... it's totally against Biblical teachings AND contrary to a REPUBLICAN form of government.

The last thing I would call it is 'honest'.

-----

Now if you don't like it get enough Ron paul supporters to change it.

Oh yes, discussing political candidates just makes one person's opinion so much more important than anothers.

(rolls eyes)

-----

By the way I have had a full FBI background check run on me and was approve for a top secret security clearance. You know it never hurt one bit. But then I was proud of my uniform also.

Since you obviously did it voluntarily...goody for you.

-----

All the ranting and non sequitur remarks in the world won't change the facts that have existed LONG before either of us were born.

Get over yourself.

137 posted on 05/25/2008 1:36:42 PM PDT by MamaTexan (* I am not a political, administrative or legal 'entity', nor am I a *person* as created by law *)
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To: hocndoc

DO you have links to court records or other official documents backing your claims?

DO you have a link to the warrant for these “5 named girls”?

For example, do you have and documentation proving that the person who got any of these 5 named girls pregnant were more than 3 years older?


138 posted on 05/25/2008 3:07:39 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: org.whodat
Lose use of the term parents

Others here seem to think "parents" means "FLDS", and argue that FLDS should be sued for child support. IN this case I'm talking about the two people, one male and one female, that it takes under most ordinary circumstances to conceive a child.

It seems like a normal use of the term to me.

While i have no trouble with this keeping them from suing the state, I have a problem with the government using their power to take action in a way that requires people to give up their 5th amendment rights in order to exercise other rights they have under the constitution.

I feel I'm on relatively solid ground in the theory. Many courts have ruled that students should not have to sign away their rights to free speech in order to exercise what has been determined to be their right to a public education (that right is another issue for another time).

I have a problem with government using it's police powers to put citizens in a position where they must accept the seizure of their property, or in this case their children, in order not to give up other rights they have.

139 posted on 05/25/2008 3:12:50 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Alice in Wonderland

Thanks. I do get confused by all same names.


140 posted on 05/25/2008 3:14:29 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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