Do Not Mess With Texas
April 7th, 2008401 children in custody in polygamist compound raid | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Utah and Arizona have so much baggage around this. On all sides.
Hopefully, there is a way forward out of this mess. o
Tags: polygamy, religious nutburgers
April 7th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
The polygamist community of Bountiful in British Columbia is reeling from the news as several of its members are implicated in crimes against children (along with Warren Jeffs). Apparently, Jeffs and some guy named Blackmore used to traffic girls and women across the border between Utah and BC for marriage to old farts. Ugh. One of the big problems up here (BC) is that the government subsidizes Bountiful in education and welfare…if that money dried up, these horrid men wouldn’t be able to afford their many slave wives and slave child-brides.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
nutburgers - clearly a technical term.
why is it that cults so frequently seem to result in some old dude getting to @#$% kids? seems to happen a lot. some deluded bastard turns the bible (or BoM) into an ice cream truck.
April 8th, 2008 at 6:10 am
It’s about damn time someone did something about those people. I used to live in Page, AZ and had to go through Colorado City to get to St. George and the Warren Jeff’s clan. It was creepy, grotesque and strange. I know people from my childhood in SLC that were polig’s (from the Kessler and Allred clans) that were so normal compared to those freaks on the border. My feeling is that if they want to have plural wifes and every one is adult and consenting, who gives a damn, but to force these young girls into marrying old men, usually relatives, is beyond comprehension.
I hope the writers of Big Love (one of my fav shows) are paying attention and will shed even more light on a subject that has been ignored forever.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I know this is a bit…um, “Texan”…of me? But I swell with pride hearing of this. I hope they get the hell out of our state, and it sure would be nice if the child marriage and rape would cease to exist, but I’m skeptical. Sickos.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I just want you to know that because of you, the word “nutburger” has become a favorite in my office.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Huh, we were planning on visiting Fort Concho during our vacation in May. Might be a bit crowded.
Glad this appears to be working out well. Our state doesn’t have a great track record for this sort of thing, but since Katrina and Rita we seem to be dealing with humanitarian crisis quite a bit better.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I actually work for CPS in the DFW area and was called Friday afternoon and told to ge in my car and start driving to Eldorado and i will be given more information later. So, a coworker and i packed a few things and headed to the middle of no where. When we got the the CPS headquarters the following morning around 100 women and children had already been taken from the ranch. We spent the entire afternoon interviewing women and children, and making sure they were as comfortable as possible. Most did not say anything and gave different names and dates of birth frequently. A lot of the children ages 4-10 just said they wanted their lawyer. It was even asked if the kids knew what a lawyer was and most did not. Sunday, we got the order from the judge to remove all children under the age of 18, male and female. So, we(CPS workers) got on buses and went to the YFZ Ranch and began to go house to house and loaded all of the children on buses along with many women.
I can tell you it was like nothing i had ever seen before. The people living on the ranch from what saw were cooperative. They did however constantly take pictures and video our every move. The ranch itself is huge, a city of it own. And the temple was HUGE and very cool looking.
Not sure what the outcome of all of this is, it has left most of us with more questions than before.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
I remember a few years back when you first wrote about this story and provided some links to the local paper that was keeping tabs on the compound. I have been following the story ever since, from Jeff’s arrest and conviction, and now this. Baggage? You bet.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:15 am
They tried this in Utah back in the 1950s. They rounded up hundreds of kids. It turned out to be the biggest clusterfuck ever. I’m not convinced anything good will come from this.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I have no problem with the Polygamy, probably against my church’s wishes, I just do not like when they force these woman to do things against their will.
I used to hustle (Pimp, whatever) woman across state lines for 4 years and I never did it against anyone’s will, except maybe the law’s. I just have a problem with doing things against someone’s will in any case.
As a man, you have the responsibility to reasonably tell if this person has the mental ability to make a decision and not force someone to do something against their will.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:56 am
The state of Texas messed up just a wee bit.Their is this troubling document called the Constitution Of The United States. You the CPS caseworkers seem to be under the understanding you are above the law. Unfortunately you have just cost the Taxpayers of Texas hundreds of billions dollars from the potential lawsuits from this case. Thank god you are not immune because you need to be checked. Just so everyone here does not think I am trying to start something their is a federal decision out of the ninth district court that is going to burn them badly.
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/2DA8C6954EA9C8A3882572EA00532815/file/0516071.pdf?openelement
As for my true personal opinion of this. A single Texas judge can save Texas those billions of dollars. He is going to have to ask each and every person theses simple questions.
1)Where you forced to have sex against your will?
2)Would you like to stay or leave?
Yes answers to the first one will result in those indiviual cases being turned over to The local level prosecutor. Those that said yes be put in immediate protective custody.
To those that wish to leave be also granted permission to leave the compound immediately. The Moromon church itself can be asked if it would help these individuals. Please note that the compound church is not a branch of the mormon church.
CPs would have to be told to leave the building until contacted by the local prosecutor on the individual charges if their are any. This way they do not pollute the process of justice. They should be held accountable for all CIVIL rights violations.
If the state of Texas handles it properly, the state judge can not be accused of civil rights violations. By asking those questions he performs his duty as a judge yet also sidesteps the question of civil rights violations and transfers it to the federal level.
I understand you may not like what you heard of how they live their lives. I always taught someone does in the privacy of their bedroom is thier business. If someone rapes someone then by all means do something. Do it through law enforcement and with the legally trained officers.