FLDS decries 'terrorist acts'

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FLDS elder decries 'terrorist acts' in letter to Bush (CNN)

The Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, was raided last month by authorities acting on tips alleging physical and sexual abuse. The ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.

Child welfare officials took more than 460 children and teens into state custody, where they remain.

Members of the sect deny allegations of abuse and say the raid was based on a hoax.

The letter says the April 3 raid on the compound was an "intrusive invasion" by "a heavily armed militant force."

 "We are talking about homes being broken into without search warrants, unarmed fathers being forced to the ground with M16 rifles pointed at their heads, screaming children being torn from the arms of their grief-stricken mothers -- all upon American soil and within your own home state of Texas," the letter states.

The letter, dated May 10, says YFZ residents "submitted peacefully" when the April raid began. But the raid "quickly escalated into a systematic terrorization of every man, woman, and child, seemingly designed to provoke a confrontation justifying deadly force, as was used in Waco, Texas."

"The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services interrogated young ladies, using techniques that showed an appalling disregard for human rights as the young ladies were mocked, vulgarly cursed, and threatened.

"Some were repeatedly and unmercifully interrogated the entire night about issues, subjects, and persons of which they had no knowledge."

When mothers were ordered separated from their children, the letter adds, it represented "the ultimate deception."

"That vast Sports Arena burst into cries and wails of heartsick mothers and screams of terrified children as a vast cortege of attendants swarmed the arena, tearing screaming children from their weeping mothers and physically carrying them away," the letter states.

"Some of these children, who remain in state custody to this day, still have no legal representation. The legal professionals that were appointed to assist stood in shock and amazement at the gross violation of constitutional rights and due process.

"This is the most unprecedented 'kangaroo court' custody case in United States history, and judicial responsibility has been fumbled in a most outrageous way."

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Texas CPS Ready to Snatch More “Polygamist Sect” Kids?

MSNBC reports Texas officials may raid the House of Yahweh, a “compound” in a rural area between Clyde and Eula, Texas, about 170 miles west of Dallas. The House of Yahweh “is not the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ ranch, which authorities raided last month in Eldorado after receiving reports that underage girls were being forced to marry much older men….

Although members deny they practice polygamy, former members say Yisrayl Hawkins has at least two dozen wives — and state records show he fathered two babies last year with women ages 19 and 22.”

Nothing illegal about that. LOL

If this case unfolds the same way the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints case did in Eldorado, heavily armed cops with military equipment will descend on the “compound” and kidnap all the children and feed them into Texas’ CPS system, not only traumatizing them for life but also subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse.

In order to fan the flames of hysteria, the corporate media portrays Yisrayl Hawkins as an apocalyptic nut job and compare him to David Koresh. “Some authorities fear Hawkins will lead his group to a tragic end like David Koresh, who the government said urged his Branch Davidian followers to set their compound on fire and kill themselves in 1993, when federal authorities tried to end a 51-day

“Waco still matters,” writes Anthony Gregory. “Not just because it has become the paradigmatic symbol for federal police power gone out of control. Not just because it starkly demonstrates the American government’s militarism unleashed against its own people. Not just because it showcases the propensity of politicians and law enforcers to deceitfully cover and obscure their wrongful actions. No, Waco’s still important mostly because it shows exactly what happens when people resist the unjust incursions of their own government, including under democracy.”

Consider, in contrast, what has happened quite recently in Texas. This time, state and local officials seized 416 children from the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints (FLDS) Church. The supposed justification was the abuse of minors, but there is in any event no reason to assume these children would be less abused in the custody of the Texas government, whose foster system has been rife with child rape, poisonings and murder.

This mass seizure of children featured officials “wearing body armor and carrying automatic weapons, backed by an armored personnel carrier.” The militarization of domestic police has infected every level of American government, down to the local. The Texas police were ready to conduct a warlike raid of the Fundamentalist Mormon home, and the particular justification for it has shifted from a specific report of abuse (still unconfirmed, and possibly a prank) to a more general one, just as the rationale behind Waco shifted (from a methamphetamine lab, to illegal guns, to child abuse).

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Court Rules Texas CPS “Acted Improperly” in Kidnapping FLDS Children
(Salt Lake Tribune)

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Child welfare authorities are defending their seizure of more than 400 children from a polygamous sect's ranch near here and deciding their next move, following an appeal courts' sharp rejection Thursday of the removal.

In a statement on its Web site, the Department of Family and Protective Services recounts the evidence it felt showed the children were in danger. But it concludes: "While our only duty is to the children, we respect that the court's responsibility and view is much broader. We will work with the Office of Attorney General to determine the state's next steps in this case."

 The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled earlier Thursday the state did not have sufficient evidence that more than 400 children on the ranch were at immediate risk of abuse.

It is not yet clear how soon children will return home, and the timeline depends in part on the next move by Child Protective Services.

The district judge who granted custody of the children to Texas child welfare officials has 10 days to comply, said Julia Balovich, an attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which filed the appeal.

As Balovich spoke to reporters in San Angelo, FLDS women stood behind her beaming and teary-eyed. Afterward, they declined to comment, but gathered in groups and hugged one another.

Critiquing the state's case

Texas officials raided the YFZ Ranch, home to the sect's members, to investigate a later-discounted abuse allegation. Once at the ranch, they found evidence of a pattern of abuse - such as sex with underage girls - that justified removal of all children, CPS said.

"The very first interviews at the ranch revealed a pattern of underage girls being "spiritually united" with older men and having children with the men," its Thursday statement said. "Investigators also observed a pattern of organized deception in those first interviews."

Records found at the ranch "further confirmed the pervasive pattern of sexual abuse," it added. They listed "13 girls who were ages 16 and 17, including nine living at the YFZ Ranch. All nine of the girls living at the ranch were listed as wives in the document."

But the appeals court ruled CPS failed to provide, as required by Texas law, "any evidence of danger to the physical health or safety" to children on the ranch who had not reached puberty.

The department also did not prove pubescent girls were in physical danger, the judges said.

CPS officials testified that five girls who became pregnant at ages 15 and 16 - coupled with an FLDS belief system condoning underage marriage and pregnancy - warranted immediate removal. But that simply wasn't enough, the judges said.

"The existence of the FLDS belief system as described by the department's witnesses, by itself, does not put children of FLDS parents in physical danger," the appeals court wrote. "It is the imposition of certain alleged tenets of that system on specific individuals that may put them in physical danger."

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When this story broke I predicted that the tip was made up by CPS.  That has yet to be leared but the dummies are sure in a lot of trouble for not having evidence of abuse.  Goddamn governemnt!!! This is costing Texas $$$millions!!!

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$$? Think about the parents. How would you feel if Texas took your kids for two months? That's bullshit. The gov't is overreaching it's bounds.

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Of course, the parents and the kids (who could be abused in foster care) are most important.

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Of course, the parents and the kids (who could be abused in foster care) are most important.

They have got more chance of being abused in foster care than in that compound. Texas has one of the worst foster care systems in the US.

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Texas judge orders return of polygamists' children

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A judge on Monday ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at a polygamist group's ranch because of suspected abuse, bringing an abrupt end to one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history.

In exchange for regaining custody, the parents are not allowed to leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes. They were also ordered not to interfere with any child abuse investigation and to allow the children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams if required.

However, it does not put restrictions on the children's fathers, or require parents to renounce polygamy or live away from the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas.

After the Texas Supreme Court ruled that CPS had no right to take all those kids, how can they put these restrictions on someone that did nothing wrong?

A spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, Marleigh Meisner, said the agency was pleased with the order but added that the investigation into possible abuse will continue.

"The safety of these children remains our only goal in this case," she said.

My god, how did WE make it without these fuckers protecting us?

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling ordering Walther to reverse her decision in April putting all children from the ranch into foster case. The Supreme Court and the appeals court rejected the state's argument that all the children were in immediate danger from what it said was a cycle of sexual abuse of teenage girls at the ranch.

Half the children sent to foster care were no older than 5.

Goddamn governemnt!!! This is costing Texas $$$millions!!!

...but added that the investigation into possible abuse will continue.

It looks like it's going to go on costing us $$$millions.

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Polygamist case price tag: $7 million

(CNN) -- Removing 460 children from a polygamist sect compound and then reuniting them with their families will cost Texas $7 million, according to the state Department of Family and Protective Services.

The $7 million does not include more than $500,000 in estimated costs incurred by local governments whose law enforcement agencies were involved in the April 3 ranch raid, according to a budgetary presentation given to Texas lawmakers last month.

For comparison, $7 million would pay for 137 police officers in the city of Mesquite, Texas, at a salary of $51,060, according to a figure from a job posting. It would also pay for 180 new teachers at the average statewide salary of $38,857 given by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification and would more than double resources available for a state program aimed at children of incarcerated parents, according to the state's budget for fiscal 2008-09. In that budget, the program receives $5 million.

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After happy reunions, FLDS faces criminal inquiry

The members of a polygamist sect raided by authorities two months ago have their children back, but with a criminal investigation looming, the sect's troubles may not be over.

"There have been criminal problems located out there," said Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran, who was with state troopers and child welfare authorities when they raided the Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas on April 3.

"It's going to take a while. With any criminal case we investigate, we do as much as we possibly can before turning the case over to the prosecutors," said public safety spokeswoman Tela Mange.