Polygamy Judge Under Guard After Reported Threats { Barbara Walther }

AP via CBS-11 Dallas/Fort Worth ^ | 6/11/8

[SmithL]

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ― The home of the San Angelo judge who ordered the removal of 440 children from a polygamist ranch is under guard after Utah and Arizona authorities warned of "enforcers" from the sect, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Police assigned to Judge Barbara Walther's San Angelo house were provided dossiers and photos of 16 men and women deemed a threat, the Deseret News said.

"There are many individuals who are willing to give up their life for the cause and you can never underestimate what a religious fanatic is capable of," said e-mails obtained from the Washington County sheriff's office through state public records law.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City-based attorney for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said law enforcement has nothing to worry about.

"Have they ever seen an act of intimidation or violence against law enforcement from the FLDS community at all, ever?" he told the newspaper. "Before they start spreading those kinds of rumors, they ought to be able to ID an example of them ever doing that in the past."

Willie Jessop, a group member who was a spokesman during the Texas case, agreed.

"Washington County officials do not let the facts get in the way of a good story," Jessop said. "These are the types of paranoid allegations that can hurt a lot of innocent people if they are allowed to go unchecked."

Texas officials removed the children in April because of concerns they were being abused. The Texas Supreme Court, however, said the children should be returned.

The newspaper reported that law enforcement has been on alert since an FLDS-related Web site published Walther's home address and telephone numbers.

Walther signed the original order to remove all of the FLDS children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch and place them in state custody.

A Web site that talks of a threat to "pay Ms. Walther's home a visit" is not sanctioned by the FLDS Church, Parker said. The site is run by Bill Medvecky, a Fort Myers, Fla., man who has donated to the fund for captive FLDS children, Parker said.

Parker told church leaders the post could be construed as a threat, according to the newspaper. They contacted Medvecky and had him remove the judge's address, he said. But her telephone numbers remain on the site, which describes Walther as the "leader of the Gestapo" and includes a link to a petition to impeach the judge.

Medvecky noted Walther's address is in the phone book.

"They are not confrontational whatsoever. I am," Medvecky told the Deseret News. "They are not me, and they have nothing to do with the site. We support them 100 percent."

The FLDS is concentrated in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

[SmithL]

- Judge Barbara Walther arrives at Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo in this file photo.

[Will88]

The judge should not be the target of threats, but she also shouldn’t be a judge if her FLDS ruling was any example of her judgment in cases concerning children.

[hinckley buzzard]

The judge is not a "target of threats." The local cops are just the same kind of idiot bedwetter that used to "warn" us about widespread "satanic cults." They need to go back to directing parking at the county fairgrounds for the Saturday night stock car races.

[festus]

Well standing up to evil will make you the focus of evils response.

And marrying off little girls the moment they hit puberty to dirty old men and convincing them they’ll suffer eternal hell fire if they don’t *is* evil.

The local auxiliary of FLDS (the heterosexual branch of NAMBLA) will be along momentarily to chastise me.

[isrul]

This vile looking creature would turn anyone to stone if they got to close.

[Leo Farnsworth]

Wow. I guess I have a new name for my Walther P22: Barbara!

[patton]

Who do you mean?

[nkycincinnatikid]

You are WAY TO HIP for this crowd. And I’ve noticed that the traffic at the fairgrounds is moving much better without them, thank you.

[D-fendr]

“Have they ever seen an act of intimidation or violence against law enforcement from the FLDS community at all, ever?”

http://www.courttv.com/news/hildale/072106_engels_ctv.html

[Peter Libra]

Someone is overplaying their hand.

They lose much of the media and the tide will turn. The game is not over yet.

[Saundra Duffy]

She blew it and now they’re trying to take some of the sting out of it, like when a football player screws up and then tries to act like he’s hurt so people will forget how he screwed up. People can see right through it.

[Marysecretary]

Whoa. That sounds like intimidation to me. Thanks.

[Flo Nightengale]

Thanks for the link—interesting info in the article.

[dcwusmc]

Bump

[Saundra Duffy]

Oh, the high drama!! The poor “polygamy judge” - she orders a raid, sends swat teams, a tank-looking vehicle, surrounds all the pathetic FLDS folks, scares the bejeebers out of all of them, including babies, and now she’s the one who is in the spotlight. It’s all about her and her law enforcement thugs trying to divert attention away from their huge blunders. Barf.

[dcwusmc]

Roger that very much. I am so NOT sorry for her petty little personal problem...

[Saundra Duffy]

Get a load of this:

Law enforcement summit discusses FLDS
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 8:22 p.m. MDT

LAS VEGAS — The top law enforcement authorities from Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Texas gathered in a closed-door summit here, mapping out a cooperative plan to go after crimes within polygamous sects.

Just blocks from the glitzy Las Vegas Strip, federal, state and local authorities met all day Wednesday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nevada. Those who attended told the Deseret News they exchanged information and pledged to work together. They mostly discussed the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

“We met a lot of people, exchanged a lot of cards, got a lot of contacts,” said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. “I think it’ll facilitate communications in the future.”

Asked if the FLDS Church should be concerned about the four states joining forces to investigate any crimes within the group, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard smiled.

“You could draw that conclusion,” he said.

This was not the joint federal-state task force that the Utah and Arizona attorneys general have sought. The meeting did come out of their very public spat with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who accused the two states of “doing nothing” about polygamy.

“We’re just here to talk with one another about the issues we have in common,” said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

Here’s the link if you want to read the whole story:

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700233898,00.html

[Saundra Duffy]

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700233898,00.html?pg=1

It appears that law enforcement is not going to rest until they get revenge on what the FLDS have done to them - exposed their incompetence, greed and unconstitutional acts. And my husband says someone wants the ranch property real bad!

And I still say it was a TANK!!!

[muawiyah]

Or, have their “enforcers” track you down. I am sure they have such a group ~ else they’d not have lasted more than a couple of years in this particular business.