Clipmarks | Flds Clips

Bond limit eased on 4 FLDS Members

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:48:20 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: The state took more than 400 sect children into custody in the early April raid on suspicion of widespread sexual abuse and forced marriage. Appellate courts forced the return of the children to their parents, but civil and criminal investigations are ongoing.

Clip Source: www.gosanangelo.com

Judge Barbara Walther presided over hearings Monday morning at the Schleicher County courthouse in Eldorado

The men, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, were indicted by a Schleicher County grand jury July 22 on charges of sexual abuse of a child and turned themselves in shortly after. They have been free on $100,000 bond since Aug. 6.

Walther approved amendments to each man's bond conditions that will allow them to travel outside Schleicher County but within Texas. On a motion of defense attorney Randy Wilson, Emack, a resident of Utah, received permission to go to his home state to bring a truck and tools back to Texas so he can work while awaiting trial.

"That's reasonable," Walther said during the hearing. "We want him to be able to work."

The Mormon splinter sect practices a form of polygamy involving "spiritual unions"

However, authorities have said that being married to more than one person - or purporting to do so - is against state law.

Tags: flds, polygamy

naylor

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:34:12 GMT

clipped by: hazel78

Clip Source: principlevoices.org

Nielsen/Naylor group: approx. 300 members, mostly in the Salt Lake valley.

Winston Blackmore group: separated from FLDS in 2002, 400 members, Bountiful, B.C., Canada. Have recently reunited with Nielsen/Naylor people.

Alleged FLDS Teen Bride Removed; Back in Foster Care

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:37:57 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.ksat.com

A 14-year-old girl allegedly married to jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs with her parents' blessing at age 12 was removed from her family's home in Converse on Tuesday after a judge ordered her back into foster care.

District Judge Barbara Walther said that there was "uncontroverted evidence of the underage marriage" and that the girl's mother, Barbara Jessop, refused to guarantee the girl's safety. The girl, shown in photographs submitted to the court kissing Jeffs, was taken into custody by Child Protective Services.

In the case of the 14-year-old allegedly married to Jeffs, Walther said she felt she had to place the girl in foster care because Jessop "was unable to provide assurances that she'd be able to protect the child in the future."

On Monday, Jessop, 55, refused to answer roughly 50 questions asked by attorneys for Child Protective Services, including the names of her children, what constituted abuse and whether a parent had an obligation to protect her children.

Tags: flds, polygamy, minor, marriage, religion, belief, teens

Book|Susana Barlow's blog

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:46:02 GMT

clipped by: polygamymemoir
clipper's remarks: A belief is an idea or a concept of the mind that one holds to for various reasons while faith on the other hand, is entirely outside the boundaries of the mind.

Clip Source: susannabarlow.com

The most frustrating thing I experience in listening to the media talk about polygamy is how they reference the lifestyle according to mainstream society. If a man has more than one wife it has to be for the sex, if women all wear similar looking clothes they see it as a fashion, albeit an out-dated fashion. I read one article recently that called the FLDS women’s hairstyles Elvis prairie up-do. I understand that we can only comprehend the unfamiliar against the backdrop of our own familiar lives. But for the women of the FLDS to be compared to a heathen like Elvis is enough to send them all running to their mirrors to make alterations.

Clip Source: susannabarlow.com

Polygamists offer prairie clothing for sale

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:36:11 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com

Just in time for back-to-school shopping: authentic polygamist prairie dresses.

Apparently, all the publicity surrounding the ongoing investigation into alleged underage marriage among members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) on a Texas ranch has created some serious demand for prairie dresses.

So much so that the FLDS has launched an online store where members of the general public can purchase the dresses, long underwear, and other ranch-wear "as seen on TV."

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the Web site FLDSdress.com, was initially created to give Texas authorities a place to purchase the clothing, so children in state custody could maintain their traditional clothing.

The Web site said the clothes are made to meet the "FLDS standards for modesty and neatness." And all of the clothes are hand-made "with joy and care" by the FLDS women.

In the meantime, FLDS women are sewing and selling their way to financial independence.

Tags: flds, polygamy, clothing, religion, online

Ex-polygamist Dan Fischer is a thorn in the side of FLDS

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:16:40 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: When I grow up I want to have his courage and commitment.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

The Utah dental magnate uses his fortune to fight the sect and to help fellow outcasts.

SANDY, UTAH -- The polygamist sect preached that Dan Fischer was a heretic who had turned his back on God's chosen children.

But for Enos Deloy Steed, who was banished at age 17 for kissing a girl, Fischer was like a guardian angel, the kindest man he had ever met.

Steed's father disowned him and left him wandering southern Utah in search of menial work. Fischer gave him a place to live -- and volunteered to put him through college.

"He gives us a fair shot in the world, a chance to have a life, because he can relate," said Steed, now 22 and set to graduate in November. "It's really great that someone is willing."

Former FLDS members can count on loving support from Fischer, a onetime polygamist who invented a popular tooth-whitening formula in his barn and uses his resulting fortune to fight the sect and help fellow outcasts.

Tags: fdls, courage, polygamy, children, helped

Polygamy, child brides coming to U.S.?

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:09:27 GMT

clipped by: carlgma

Clip Source: wnd.com

Polygamy, child brides coming to U.S.?

Editor of Islam book says recent court rulings pave the way

WASHINGTON – Polygamy and child brides may make a comeback in the U.S. as a result of recent court rulings and the simultaneous rise of Islam, says the editor of a book of stories about Muslims leaving the faith.

"In light of the recent California court ruling and the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints) legal fiasco in Texas, is the time coming when we in the U.S will be forced to tolerate child brides and multiple wives?" asks Joel Richardson, editor of the provocative new book "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out," published by WND Books.

1st Reunions Begin for Sect Families

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:18:12 GMT

clipped by: spherepet

Clip Source: www.time.com

1st Reunions Begin for Sect Families

Monday, Jun. 02, 2008

By AP

FLDS members won a major battle in the ongoing case of their children who live in their polygamist sect

Tony Gutierrez / AP

A judge on Monday ordered the immediate return of more than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch, bringing an abrupt end to one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther, responding to a state Supreme Court ruling last week, signed an order filed by attorneys for the parents and Child Protective Services, allowing the parents to begin picking their children up from foster care facilities around the state

The first emotion-filled reunions came Monday afternoon, as parents trickled into foster care facilities to pick up their children.

"It's just a great day," said Nancy Dockstader, whose chin quivered and eyes filled with tears as she embraced her daughter, Amy, 9, outside the Baptist Children's Home Ministries Youth Ranch near San Antonio.

Texas Appellant Court ruling appalling

Sat, 24 May 2008 02:29:28 GMT

clipped by: Eaglewings
clipper's remarks: In the world of the FLDS, "spiritual marriage" between older men and underage girls — what the law defines as rape — is given the stamp of religious approval. Of 53 girls believed to be between 14 and 17, more than 30 have children or are pregnant, including one who gave birth to her second child in custody. Among the boys, too, there is suspicion of widespread physical abuse. Indeed, many teenage boys are routinely banished to preserve the odds of polygamy.

Nevertheless, what do we make of an entire sect that has sexual abuse at its very heart? That believes plural "marriages" between older men and underage women are not an aberration but a pathway to heaven?

Nobody can prosecute the FLDS for what they believe, says Marci Hamilton, author of God vs. the Gavel. "They can stay together and believe what they want into eternity. What they can't do is illegal action."

In the end, what we have on that ranch in Eldorado is not a lifestyle. It's a pedophile ring.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Morning Edition, May 23, 2008 · A Texas appeals court ruled Thursday that the state had no right to take more than 400 children from a polygamist ranch. The court conceded that some underage teens may have been sexually abused, but that the state did not prove that all the removals of children from their parents were justified.

Child welfare officials said they were mystified by the appeals court's ruling, saying that the department had "removed children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch after finding a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse."

Child welfare officials who visited the ranch "revealed a pattern of underage girls being 'spiritually united' with older men and having children with the men," the agency said.

Tags: flds, pedophilia, child abuse, sex, sexual abuse, texas, religion, sects, cults

Court: Texas wrongly seized sect children

Thu, 22 May 2008 23:52:41 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group's ranch last month.

It was unclear how many children were affected by the ruling. The state took 464 children into custody in April, but Thursday's ruling directly applied to the children of 48 sect mothers represented by the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide, said Cynthia Martinez of the agency. About 200 parents are involved in the polygamy case.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the state offered "legally and factually insufficient" grounds for the "extreme" measure of removing all children from the ranch, from babies to teenagers.

The state never provided evidence that the children were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court approval, the appeals court said.

Tags: texas, religion, belief, children, flds, polygamy, legal, parents

Age of pregnant FLDS 'girls' disputed

Sat, 17 May 2008 01:59:37 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- When Texas child welfare authorities released statistics showing nearly 60 percent of the teen girls taken from a polygamist sect's ranch were pregnant or had children, they seemed to prove what was alleged all along: The sect commonly pushed girls into marriage and sex.

But in the past week, the state has twice been forced to admit "girls" who gave birth while in state custody are actually adults. One was 22 and said she showed state officials a Utah birth certificate shortly after she and more than 400 minors were seized from the West Texas ranch in an April raid.

The state has in custody two dozen other young mothers and others whose ages are in dispute. If most of them also turn out to be adults, it would be a severe blow to the state's claim of widespread sexual abuse.

Parker said the state ignored evidence the young mothers presented, including birth certificates and Social Security cards.

Tags: flds, religion, belief, marriage, children, pregnancy, teen, girls, texas, abuse

Mental health workers blast CPS for separating polygamist families

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:10:57 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.dallasnews.com

SAN ANTONIO – Removing children from a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch was unnecessary and traumatizing, several mental health workers sent to aid the families wrote.

"The mothers are incredibly loving and patient with the children. The children were well-socialized and well-behaved and interacted willingly and happily with us," one wrote.

Another wrote: "The children were sweet and well-mannered upon our arrival. They obeyed their mothers and appeared to be healthy and well-nourished. They had none of the traditional withdrawal common in abused children."

The MHMR workers helped staff large shelters in San Angelo where mothers were at first allowed to stay with the children. Only mothers of younger children were allowed to remain after the first few days.

Many of the MHMR workers described child welfare workers as high-handed, rude and uncaring toward the mothers.

Tags: flds, family, sect, social, children, polygamist

Polygamy showdown: balancing child welfare, religious freedom

Sat, 03 May 2008 02:55:43 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.firstamendmentcenter.org

Texas officials are trying hard to keep the focus on child abuse — and away from religion — in the custody battle involving 437 children seized from a polygamist religious sect this month.

If only it were so simple.

Like it or not, this conflict is about far more than the issue of older men having sex with under-age girls in violation of Texas law. It’s also about religion — specifically the religious culture of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).

Defenders of the church argue that the raid was an overreaction to one telephone call (that may have been a hoax) and was motivated by long-standing animus toward the FLDS community. The state counters that dramatic measures are justified when evidence points to children trapped in a religious culture that promotes child abuse.

The only way to sort out the truth, and determine the fate of the children, will be to put the FLDS way of life on trial.

Tags: religion, belief, rights, children, polygamy, sect, texas, culture

CPS: Most Sect's Girls Have Been Pregnant

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:32:24 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cbsnews.com

31 Of 53 Teen Girls Taken From FLDS Polygamist Compound Have Children Or Are Pregnant, Officials Say

A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3½ weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. Two are pregnant now, CPS officials have said in court; it was unclear whether either of those two already have children.

"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," he said.

State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage "spiritual" marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect's children.

"I do have serious questions about how they are determining age in there," said Parker, who is trying to get a better count from FLDS families.

Tags: flds, polygamy, sect, religion, belief, children, abuse, pregnancy, teen

Home-Schooling in US is First Step to Polygamy?

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:37:39 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: Can this be true? And the local police are part of the corrupt system by returning runaways females?

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Men of the Cloth: The Vatican Isn't So Far From Fundamentalist Mormonism

When it comes to keeping women in their place, polygamous Mormon fundamentalists and the Pope have a lot in common

Child abuse. Sexual abuse. Women raised to be baby machines controlled by powerful older men in the name of God. These shockers -- and many more -- are flagrantly on offer in the spectacle unfolding around the 139 women and 437 children removed by Texas authorities

state and local authorities have looked the other way when girls are pulled out of school to be "home-schooled," i.e., prepared for marriage to their uncles, and teenage boys are kicked out of the community so as not to compete with the elder men

near FLDS communities, public services have been infiltrated by their members: the public schools teach their religious doctrines; the police are on the lookout for girls and women who try to escape

Everyone in the story is American, supposedly living under American law

living under American law

Tags: females, marriage, police, children, laws, usa