Sore Toes and a Bleeding Heart

hmm

2011-11-16T19:21:00.000-05:00

i dunno. my mind keeps going back to the legislative hearing in texas with harvey hilderbrand. witnesses giving testimony against the flds were mark shurtleff, jon krakauer, randy mankin. one of them complained hysterically, "Why, he could be at that ranch right now, molesting a little boy," or something very much like that.

well, i guess they were about 1300 miles off.

will jon's next book will be "Under the Banner of Football"?

Been Away

2011-09-26T23:07:00.000-04:00

Fighting a more personal battle against schoolyard-type bullies.

Game over.

I won.

(Maybe I'll comment about other current events later. Maybe not.)

(Allegedly) Stealing from the Children's Advocacy Center, oh my

2011-05-20T20:06:00.002-04:00

In a followup to a previous post , The San Angelo Standard-Times is reporting on the findings of an audit of the Tom Green County Children's Advocacy Center: Potential losses could be $66,000.

Jennifer Rios reports:

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Tom Green County potentially incurred losses of about $66,000 in the form of improper or fabricated expense reimbursements paid to the center’s former executive director, Debra Brown, according to documents obtained by the Standard-Times.
. . .

The audit questions airfare reimbursements for trips taken by Brown, furniture purchases that did not appear valid and expense claims for clothing and gift cards.

The article also provides links to the audit documents, listed below, which were provided to the newspaper following a Freedom of Information Act request.

Executive Summary
This report states that on page 18 (pdf-22): "The Center has incurred a potential financial loss from Ms. Brown's activities that, to date, totals over $81,000.00."   (Why does the newspaper article say only $66,000?)

CAC Audit, Exhibit C
I haven't perused all of the documents yet, but I did note that one of the first items examined in "Exhibit C" concerned a trip to Las Vegas.   How interesting. Now, where have I read about a trip to Las Vegas before. Oh yeah, over there at that Bill whatchamacallits's blog. Waddyaknow.

CAC Cover Letter (which I think is included in the Executive Summary)

Debra Brown probably didn't realize that using agency money for personal wants and needs would get her in trouble. After all, "everybody does it", don't they? Don't you know anyone who owns their own company, or manages a small firm, who just runs things through on the "expense account"?

Anyway, finish reading the whole article: Potential losses could be $66,000. The comments are real interesting, too.

Oh, I almost forgot. The audit findings have been turned over to the FBI .   (That could be real serious, couldn't it? )   "Dallas FBI spokesman Mark White said the agency cannot confirm or deny an active investigation. He said a federal indictment is usually the point in an investigation when information becomes public."   Funny, I think I've seen that name before, too.

The Jon-ald is Back!

2011-05-14T23:35:00.000-04:00

Oh, look, speaking of old friends, The Jon-ald has been busy. In an effort to kick off his latest commercial endeavor (on Byliner ), Jon Krakauer has started another witch-hunt, and this time the results could dearly hurt poor uneducated girls in central Asia. His new target is Greg Mortenson, founder of Central Asia Institute, a charity which builds schools in several Asian countries. The Jon-ald apparently hounded his friends at 60 Minutes until they ran with the story.

Krakauer accuses Mr. Mortenson of, shall we say, expanding the truth in order make a more interesting story in Three Cups of Tea. Mortenson concedes some literary techniques were used by his co-author. The Jon-ald has certainly never taken literary license himself, in order to sell a book (see Jon Krakauer's Credibility Problem by Guy Montag)

Krakauer also accuses Mr. Mortenson of misappropriating the charity's funds for his book-related travel. I seem to recall a 2005 trip that Krakauer made to Texas in order to give "expert" testimony on the FLDS to a legislative committee. Who paid for his travel expenses? Was it a 501(3)(c) charitable organization that paid the way?

Krakauer is using the same playbook as in his anti-FLDS campaign - now two Montana legislators are filing suit against Mortenson that include claims of RICO violations.

The next step will be claims of child abuse.

-------
Reactions to the attack:

Daniel Glick - (read the comments, too)
60 Minutes expose on Three Cups of Tea is weak – and wrong -
What's the Big Problem?
A Visit to Conspiristan

Mortenson -
Mediabistro

Outside magazine

Response to 60 Minutes

Mortenson has recently undergone heart surgery and reportedly has been prohibited by his doctor from the stress of electronic media; Krakauer is refusing interview requests.

Guess we'll have to see how it all settles out. Hopefully with a lawsuit against Krakauer and 60 Minutes. And maybe 60 Minutes will eventually investigate Krakauer's activities.

The President's hectic schedule

2011-05-04T22:02:00.002-04:00

Looking over the past several days:

Monday, April 25: Soaring gasoline prices, the war in Afghanistan, and The Donald's noise about the long-form birth certificate, cause The President's  popularity to drop to unprecedented levels.

The President has to do something. He can't control the price of oil (without somehow bringing instant peace and stability to the Middle East; and allowing more domestic drilling both on land and offshore; and/or reducing federal gas taxes). He can't abruptly end the war in Afghanistan (without somehow bringing instant peace and stability to the Middle East). He can't release his birth certificate (because it's apparently somehow against the laws of the State of Hawaii to release the long form, even to the President, and he's already spent about $2 million in legal fees in order to prevent its release). What's a guy to do?

Wednesday, April 27: The President releases a copy of his long form birth certificate, while lecturing everyone about the silliness of the whole thing, and advising us all that he has much more important matters to attend to. Like fly to Chicago to tape an episode of Oprah!, then to New York for appearances at two Democratic fundraisers, and then back to the White House, for his next important meeting in the morning.

Thursday, April 28: The President  names a new CIA Director and Defense Secretary. General David Petraeus, "the American chief of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan" will be the new CIA Director.   Leon Panetta, the current CIA Director, will become Defense Secretary. And Robert Gates, the current Defense Secretary, will retire in June. Lt Gen John Allen will take over in ISAF, and we'll have a new ambassador to Afghanistan as well, "veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker".

These official position placements occurred either before or after the hiding place of OBL was discussed. The same hiding place that the Pakistan government shared information about in 2009 . The same hiding place that had been discussed for a mission in March.    Another mission was now discussed, and the President took 16 hours to "sleep on it".

Friday, April 29: "Obama summoned four top aides to the White House Diplomatic Room. Before they could speak, the president put his fist on the table and declared 'It's a go' .

Rehearsed Saturday's dinner speech.

Saturday, April 30: The mission is put on hold, due to heavy cloud cover.

The President channeled both Don Rickles and "Mean Girls" at the White House Correspondents' Dinner , and wowed everyone with his routine. His comedic, as well as political, timing appears to be impeccable.

Sunday, May 1: Called in from his golf game, the mission is underway, and the President stays updated in a room with his military staff and security council.   Mission is accomplished. A live speech is announced for 10:30 pm, pre-empting Trump's Celebrity Apprentice show. The President is not ready to speak until about 11:30.   Crowds cheer outside the White House.

Monday, May 2:   The President has dinner at the White House with a few friends. Photo caption:   "Relief: With the mission a success and his popularity restored, Obama enjoys dinner with John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and other White House colleagues last night."

And just exactly which mission was that?

(or, two out of three ain't bad.)

The Astronomer - from Aesop's Fables

2011-04-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

An astronomer used to go out at night to observe the stars.

One evening, as he wandered through the suburbs with his whole attention fixed on the sky, he fell accidentally into a deep well.

While he lamented and bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor ran to the well, and learning what had happened said:

"Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?"

The Televangelist

2011-04-23T09:14:00.000-04:00

The televangelist was holding a meeting in a packed, sweltering auditorium. At the end of his sermon, he encouraged audience members to come forward, so that he could personally pray for their troubles and ailments.

A young man stood from his seat, and made his way to the aisle, wending his way down to the stage.

The evangelist asked, "What can I help you with, young man?"

"My hearing," came the response. "I want you to pray for my hearing."

The evangelist cried in a louder voice, "Yes, son, certainly!", and looking out to the audience, declared, "This man needs prayers for his hearing!"

He cupped his hands over the young man's ears, and fervently prayed, "This boy needs help with his hearing, and I am praying for his hearing. I am praying, I am praying over him now so that he receives the help he needs!"

The prayer ended, and the evangelist took his hands away from the ears and looked at the young man, eye-to-eye. He asked in a very quiet voice, "Did my prayers help your hearing?"

The young man replied in a whisper,

"I won't know until Thursday. That's when my hearing is scheduled."

Maryanne Goldboldo and other nightmares

2011-04-13T01:25:00.003-04:00

SWAT teams and children.

Pro Libertate has it.

Success - at what price?

2011-04-03T12:53:00.002-04:00

On April 3, 2008, the roads leading to a ranch in Texas were blocked off by law enforcement vehicles. A "special response team" including an armored personnel carrier was at the ready. Specially trained sharp-shooters were stationed at various vantage points in case there was "trouble".

All of this, in order to accompany CPS workers into the premises, armed with an order to investigate the reported abuse of an imaginary child, named "Sarah". (This was considered an emergency action. It took 5 days for the state of Texas to respond to an "emergency". )

Children were roused from their sleep and taken from their homes in order to be interviewed for hours on end at the school room. Soon, they were forced to board vans and buses and taken to an "emergency shelter" at a local Baptist church.

In the end, over 450 children were taken into custody by the state of Texas, and housed in unhygenic conditions at Fort Concho. Some mothers accompanied their children, but soon, the children were separated from them and placed in temporary foster care, many separated by hundreds of miles from their siblings as well.   Eventually, the children were returned to their families by the Court of Appeals.

Aside from the despicable treatment of these families concerning their children, law enforcement agencies of both state and federal levels searched all of the various households on the ranch, seized personal property and religious records, and damaged buildings. These actions were performed under the watch of other quasi-military armed comrades of the various law enforcement agencies. There was no "trouble". The people living on the ranch responded peacefully, with some discussion, and the singing of hymns and prayer.   All this, in an effort to procure evidence of actions which violated various laws. A "fishing expedition".

Seven men are incarcerated because of the evidence so collected. More are scheduled to be tried for alleged crimes. And so, Texas considers this effort to be a "Success".

Among them, Warren Jeffs is considered to be the most important. He was already incarcerated in another state at the time of the raid. I daresay he will never spend another day of his life outside of confinement. I would venture to guess that this circumstance would not be different, had there not been a raid at that ranch. The concerted efforts of several individuals and multiple law enforcement agencies would have seen to that.   He's the guy with the target painted on his back.

So was it worth it, Texas? The millions of dollars it cost, and the millions it continues to cost? The time spent? The trauma inflicted? Was it really worth it?

There are those who say, "If we saved one girl from abuse, yes, it was worth it." This while thousands of underage Texas girls who have nothing to do with Warren Jeffs are impregnated every year. "That is different," those same people say.

And I ask, How is it different? Thousands upon thousands of underage girls have intimate relations with their older (sometimes much older) boyfriends, and some of them become pregant. Some of them do so because they want to. Some of them do so because of peer pressure. Some of them do so because their boyfriends pressure them into it.   It is all rape, because they are underage and are not legally capable of making such decisions on their own.

When they become pregnant, some of them are told to have abortions by their boyfriends who don't want responsibility, or their families who don't want to experience shame or embarrassment of their daughter's actions, or counselors in family planning clinics who believe they know what is best for society and the individual girl, secretly, without the consent or advice of their parents. And they then commit murder, when they are underage and not legally capable of making such decisions on their own.

Some others are told, "If you have an abortion, you will go to hell." And so, they are forced by their loving and caring families to deliver their babies, while they are underage and not legally capable of making such decisions on their own.

Some are told by their loving and caring families, "You have to marry the boy/man. Your child needs a father and a name. You will go to hell if you do not get married." And so, they are married, while they are underage and not legally capable of making such decisions on their own.

What makes those circumstances "right" - after all, these areas are concerns of families, and parents have the right to make decisions for their underage children, don't they? -- and the other circumstances "abuse"?

The only difference seems to be the religious beliefs of the group at the ranch in Texas.

It's the one with the target painted on it.

Rozeeta Tells All!

2011-04-01T17:57:00.001-04:00

At a press conference suddenly called at 5:45 pm today in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the truth was finally revealed about the "hoax" calls which provided the impetus for the FBI and Texas Rangers to enter the YFZ Ranch three years ago. Stepping up the microphone, Ms. Rozi
[We apologize for technical difficulties. We hope to resume internet connectivity soon.]

The Smack-Down of Texas CPS - With Homework!

2011-03-28T13:09:00.004-04:00

Terri Langford at the Houston Chronicle reports: Judge comes down on Texas CPS in twins case.
[I don't usually copy articles in their entirety; snippets here are not in the same order as in the original, with emphasis added. Please go to the link to read!]

Rushed casework by Texas Child Protective Services resulted in a rare if not unprecedented legal sanction against the agency Friday for trying to take premature infant twins from their parents without proving it was justified.

Not only did state District Judge Michael Schneider rule against CPS for what he termed a "groundless cause of action," he ordered that $32,000 of the Spring family's attorney fees be paid by the agency.

And as if to drive his point home, he ordered the caseworker and her supervisor to write the court a report proving they understand the state's child removal statutes within 30 days.

Homework!

The article continues:

"The offensive conduct by (CPS) has significantly interfered with the legitimate exercise of the traditional core functions of this court," Schneider wrote in a 13-page order filed on Friday.

. . . The Millers cooperated [with the CPS investigation], but also contacted an attorney to advise them of the process. Five days later, they were notified that CPS had requested — and been granted — legal custody of all three children on an emergency basis.

Neither the Millers nor their attorney, Dennis Slate, were notified of the custody hearing. Nor was Judge Schneider informed that the agency made a voluntary agreement with the family, which could have changed his mind about granting legal custody to CPS so quickly.

. . . Schneider also declined to discuss the case. In his order, however, the judge zeroed in on a lack of disclosure by CPS' parent agency, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

"TDFPS has acted in bad faith based on the following … waiting hours after illegally obtaining the temporary emergency order before informing the Millers that the order had been obtained," Schneider wrote. "The court finds it especially egregious and indicative of bad faith that TDFPS waited until 5 p.m. … after the close of business of the courts and the District Clerk's office."

You mean CPS withholds information from parents, attorneys and the court? No kidding? And they are sneaky, too?

Here's the story:

Darcy and Tye Miller had been taking their twin girls, born last December, almost weekly to their pediatrician because of concerns about their weight. At birth, one weighed less than 5 pounds and the other 6 pounds.

When their older child's bronchitis was passed to one of the girls, Darcy Miller brought her to Methodist Willowbrook. When the baby didn't get better, the hospital referred the family to Texas Children's Hospital.

After a Jan. 27 chest X-ray at Texas Children's revealed several healing rib fractures, doctors confronted Darcy Miller and asked if she knew how they got there.

When she said she didn't, doctors asked the family to bring in the infant's twin sister and the older brother. Before their father arrived with the other children, CPS had been called.

"To me, it wasn't until they called CPS that a red flag went up in my head," said Darcy Miller, a teacher. "They made it sound like they wanted to do the other X-rays to make sure they (other children) were OK."
. . .
After finding fractures in the same place as the other twin, CPS asked the Millers to voluntarily place all three of their children with in-laws while the investigation was conducted.

But the Millers fought back. And the attorney appointed by the court to represent the girls, Evan Glick, sided with the family.

"I completely agree with what Judge Schneider did," said Glick. "I think CPS … just rushed this. They breached their own agreement (with the Millers)."

The children's parents also hired an expert witness, Dr. Charles Hyman.

Glick said "reasonable medical evidence" offered to the court by Hyman showed the fractures could have been caused by lifting the children.

He surmised that because there was no evidence of internal bleeding or bruising and it could not be determined when the micro-fractures occurred, there had been no abuse.

And has anyone considered that these fractures may have occurred during birth? I've heard of hips and shoulders being displaced - what about ribs? I, a mere layman, found two sources ( Here and here ) discussing "Birth-related mid-posterior rib fractures" with a quick Google action. In fact, the second one, a letter to the editor by P W Barry and M D Hocking in Archives of Disease in Childhood, dating back to 1993, clearly states "Fractures heal at variable rates and timing injuries from the radiographic appearances can be difficult. . . When healing rib fractures are found unexpectedly in infancy, inquiries into the birth history should be made. They are not all due to NAI [NonAccidental Injury, otherwise known as "abuse". ]

It should be noted that Texas Children's Hospital seems to have its own in-house office of CPS. (And isn't that the same hospital that housed Landon Weber and took him away from his family? Isn't this the same hospital that treated Emma Routh? Is the same caseworker from CPS involved in all three of these horrendous cases?)

h/t: the vile Bill Medvecky (who probably saw it first at the Legally Kidnapped blog)

The 15th annual UNT Higher Education Law Conference

2011-03-19T15:02:00.001-04:00

(crossposted at Ye Olde Journalist blog)

This looks really interesting.

UNT Higher Education Law Conference to feature presentations on online bullying and guns on campus

What: The 15th annual UNT Higher Education Law Conference - the premier law conference for Texas higher education professionals in the public and private sector and attorneys practicing in the area of education law

When: March 28-29 (Monday-Tuesday)

Where: Gateway Center, located at 801 North Texas Blvd

Registration: Registration is required. For information about conference fees and to register, go to the Texas Higher Education Law Conference website. Registration also will be available onsite on the days of the conference.

Contact: Dr. Richard Fossey [see link for contact information ]

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Two of the most critical topics in higher education are the discussion of legalizing handguns on Texas campuses and the impact of online bullying and harassment. Legal experts will discuss these topics and many more at the University of North Texas'15th annual Texas Higher Education Law Conference.

(This is strictly an informational post for those interested in cyber-bullying, harassment and packing heat on Texas campuses.)

Are you Screamin' KIDDING ME??????

2011-03-08T18:55:00.001-05:00

Saw this at The Agitator blog: Tennessee cops posed as a defense attorney to get suspect to incriminate himself .

Go read.
I've heard of cops who want to be lawyers, and I've heard of cops who want to make other people think they are lawyers, and I've heard of people (including cops) pretending to be lawyers on their blogs, but gee whiz. This just shows how low a cop will go to show he has no respect for the law, the Constitution, the rights of citizens, and people in general. It's "putting the guy away" that is the justification, and the ends justify the means.

(Someone in Texas is probably mad they didn't think of this tactic first.)

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

2011-02-25T21:36:00.001-05:00

(Adidas Jeremy Scott Wings Rainbow)

I never saw a pair of empty shoes just walking (or flying) down the road.
You want others to "walk a mile" in your shoes before they judge you? 'Cause nobody knows what it's like to be you? And "you gotta walk in my shoes so you can be compassionate towards me"?
How about, if you don't like the street your mile is on, you put on your shoes, put one foot in front of the other, and start walking down another street? Or at least in the other direction!

My Fave Pic of the Gov

2011-02-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

Yee-haw!

("stock photo" found here, and explained more in depth here. )

NOT taken on April 3, 2008, by the way.

A Give-Away at another blog

2011-02-23T00:43:00.000-05:00

The Life in a Shoe blog is hosting a give-away.

For those who don't know, Life in a Shoe is a blog by a Christian family of 12. They home-school. They live in Texas. And contrary to the beliefs of those readers who might think I am entirely focused on those fundamentalist polygamist mormons, all 10 children of the Life in a Shoe family have been birthed by the same mother. The father doesn't have any other wives. They aren't Mormon.

And, if any of my readers happen to have or want large families, home-school or want to home-school, or simply have a desire to learn more about building a better family life, you might be interested in hopping over there to Life in a Shoe and learn how to qualify for the give-away. The featured product is from Vision Forum, and is called "Family Strategies", a series of 20 weekly lessons/"conversations" by Doug and Beall Philips.

Some of the topics include:

1.How to Organize Your Home to Promote Family Unity

2.How to Cultivate a Love of Reading with Your Children

3.How to Make Mealtime Meaningful

4.How to Prepare for a Year of Home Education

5.How to Take Children Safely Through an Airport

6.How to Involve the Whole Family in Family Worship

7.How to Address the Plague of “Jive Talk” in Your Home

8.How to Encourage Masculinity in Sons

9.How to Encourage Femininity in Daughters

Sounds practical and inspiring.

Especially this one:

10.How to Handle a Social Worker Visit

Wow.

This leaves me with the impression that if you have a large family and/or home-educate your children, you can EXPECT a visit from your friendly neighborhood Social Worker from CPS at some point in time.

Is this true? I suspect it is, but would like to hear from readers with experience.

As a side note, I think this would tickle pink those Texas Totalitarians over at that anti-FLDS blog who have suggested massive government involvement and testing on home-schooled children to insure that the education they are receiving is "up to par"; (and at least one of them has suggested legally prohibiting from marriage anyone who does not hold a government-approved high school diploma!)

And I hope Life in a Shoe doesn't mind my linking to her blog, given the usual topics here. "Family Strategies" looks like a wonderful product, and I'm a big fan of the blog.

Camreta v Greene

2011-02-20T11:21:00.000-05:00

Here's a new website from the NCCPR devoted to the Camreta v. Greene case, which will be heard by the US Supreme Court on March 1st.

Supreme Court to hear arguments on whether "children's rights" include freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

“Children’s Rights” must include the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, according to a broad coalition of child advocacy groups supporting a family seeking to have those rights upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

The advocates are supporting a child known as “S.G.,” her sister, and their mother Sarah Greene. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on March 1 in their case, known as Camreta v. Greene. It is the first major case concerning child protective services systems to reach the high court in more than 21 years.

The child was only nine years old when she was called out of her classroom and forced to endure a two-hour interrogation by a male caseworker for the Oregon Department of Human Services because DHS had received a false allegation of sexual abuse. Sitting silently in the room during the entire interrogation was another man - an armed deputy sheriff.

The child repeatedly denied any abuse, only to be browbeaten by the caseworker, who kept insisting she was giving the wrong answers while questioning the little girl about the most intimate details of her life.

And doesn't this sound awfully familiar?

"You're not giving the answer I want to hear, so I'll ask you again."

Reminds me of how the FLDS daughters were retrieved from their homes late at night, some from their sleep, to endure hours-long overnight interviews by CPS workers at the YFZ ranch.

"You're not giving me the answers I want to hear, so I'll ask you again."

It was hardly a "reasonable" way to conduct an investigation.

I personally don't have much hope that the Supremes will end bad practices by CPS folks, any more than Miranda ended bad practices by LE.

It will be worth watching, though. Camreta v Greene

More "Bad" Cops and Prosecutors: Rasmussen

2011-02-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

I encourage all readers to stay tuned to the William L. Anderson blog , as he exposes the wrongdoings of law enforcement and prosecution teams of Charles County, Maryland, in the upcoming Rasmussen case.

More Keeping of the Peace and Dignity . . .

2011-02-11T18:41:00.000-05:00

Grits had this post up the other day about that "Blue Wall of Silence" that exists when police officers go to extremes in the performance of their jobs.

There's a classic "Blue Wall of Silence" episode playing out at Houston PD after a officers beat up a 15-year old boy in front of several compatriots and all of them failed the report the incident until an employee of a nearby business came forward with video footage.

Scott later notes :

Seven officers were fired and four of them indicted, but as is often the case, firings in the incident so far haven't all stuck. In the 70 or so cities opted-in to the Texas civil service code, arbitrators routinely reinstate officers in such cases, making it terribly hard even for well-intentioned administrators to bust apart that Blue Wall of Silence. (Indeed, once they're reinstated, under the civil service code their past misconduct in most cases can't even be used to justify passing them over for a promotion.)

Apparently, it's not all that hard for even a "bad cop" to maintain employment in law enforcement in Texas.

Funding for the Tom Green County CAC

2011-02-09T23:16:00.000-05:00

Where does the money come from?

The 2009 annual report of the Tom Green County Children's Advocacy Center shows that 80% ($648,000) of its revenue comes from a category called "Grants and Contracts", 14% ($11,000) comes from "Contributions", and 6% ($50,000) from "Special Events". There is no further specificity offered in the report (or did I overlook it?)

The Texas Children's Advocacy website shows that funding for the Tom Green CAC comes from:

Foundations (?which ones?)
NCA - National Children's Alliance National Children's Alliance. ($ from the DOJ)
OVAG (Other Victim Assistance Grant, from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas)
Special Events (such as "Champagne and Diamonds" -- oops - the primary news article states that this Valentine's fundraiser is postponed due to Ms. Brown's administrative leave - bye bye $20,000)
United Way (of Concho Valley);
VOCA - Victims of Crimes Act (more $ from the DOJ)
Civic Organizations Corporations Individual Donors (vague, vague, vague)

If the CAC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, there are legal limitations on how these funds are used. And even if it's not, there are strings attached to the grant money, and how it may and may not be spent. Sure hope the funds were used wisely and appropriately.

Trouble Brewing at the Tom Green County CAC?

2011-02-05T14:24:00.002-05:00

Jennifer Rios at the San Angelo Standard-Times is reporting: Children's center chief put on leave

Debra Brown, the executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center, has been placed on administrative leave, according to the agency's board president.

Monty Stanley said Heather Ward, a senior staff member, was made acting executive director Jan. 24. Stanley declined to reveal the reason Brown was placed on paid leave. The CAC executive committee, he said, has begun "an internal personnel investigation."

"I'm not at liberty to discuss the particulars out of fairness to Debra and the center," said Stanley, who also is the human resources director for the Standard-Times

In other words, Jennifer needs to be mighty careful about what she includes in the article, especially in this age of high unemployment and newspaper lay-offs.

Would this be the same Debra Brown who appeared on the Larry King show shortly after the April, 2008 raid in which hundreds of FLDS children were ripped away from their families?

KING: Debra, what's the role of the Children's Advocacy Center?

DEBRA BROWN, PROVIDING HELP FOR KIDS FROM COMPOUND: We just got appointed as guardian ad litem for 330 of the children after that first petition was filed yesterday afternoon. So we'll be responsible for making sure that all of their educational, medical, emotional needs are being met
. . .
KING: What, if anything, Debra, is different about the children?

BROWN: I think that there are many differences. First, off the way they dress. The -- their ability to understand the outside world, their upbringing. They're home schooled. They're in a very secluded area, a small community in -- they're in the country. And I think that all of those things are going to make it very difficult to get to know them very quickly.

And, of course, we all know that being home-schooled out in the country while maintaining a modest dress code is a very dangerous thing for a child. Especially if the parents hold deep religious convictions.

Nonetheless, the article doesn't state whether this "internal personnel investigation" is a matter of financial mismanagement, or some kind of personal misbehavior. Guess we'll just have to wait to find out.

h/t: the vile Bill Medveky.

***updated here

Screenshot

2011-01-31T23:09:00.001-05:00

http://policelink.monster.com/member/GregJackP

How LA handles a HOAX

2011-01-29T10:24:00.006-05:00

L.A. school officer's story of being shot was inconsistent from the beginning (LA Times):

'The entire city was led down a path of misinformation,' LAPD chief says of the hoax that falsely triggered a massive dragnet that locked 9,000 students in their schools in the San Fernando Valley. . . .

While investigators scrambled to find out who shot the Los Angeles school police officer earlier this month in Woodland Hills, Stenroos told his tale haltingly, even grudgingly, officials said Friday, and, from the start, with unmistakable inconsistency. . . .

In the end, disheartened officials said Friday, it appears that Stenroos concocted the entire event — an event that prompted a massive dragnet that locked 9,000 students in their schools, left parents fretting and fuming and inconvenienced tens of thousands of residents in the San Fernando Valley.

"The entire city was led down a path of misinformation," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said a day after investigators arrested Stenroos, 30, and booked him on a felony charge of filing a false police report. Stenroos was released from custody Friday after posting $20,000 bail; he could not be reached for comment.

(emphasis added)

Why, just look what happened next: (Houston Chronicle/AP) LA chief apologizes for dragnet in shooting hoax

"A lot of people were inconvenienced that day, particularly given the fact that we now find out it was based on a fabrication," Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said. "I am extremely sorry about that."

The Jan. 19 incident had the hallmarks of a brazen attack on law enforcement, when Los Angeles Unified School District police Officer Jeff Stenroos claimed he had been shot by a man with a gray ponytail who had been breaking into cars.

Hundreds of officers were dispatched to scour cars and yards as part of a massive dragnet.

Turns out, police said, there never was a gunman.

I guess the apology displays one difference between Texas and California.

And, Los Angeles police officers did not detain those 9,000 students, interviewing each one for hours on end, asking if they had seen or knew of any white man who had a grey pony tail, as the alleged shooter had been described. They didn't board the students onto buses and take them to the LA Coliseum for eye examinations and psychological tests, holding them for weeks until it could be determined if they possessed acceptable visual acuity, or held overzealous attachment and feelings of bonding or protectiveness towards any white men with grey ponytails.

They also didn't detain the drivers of the cars or the residents of the houses whose yards had been "scoured". They didn't remove children from the cars, or the homes which occupied those yard sites; they didn't obtain further search warrants because a car or yard smelled suspiciously like marijuana; they didn't seize people's cell phones, computers, or other personal property, nor detain any person who looked like they might know a white man with a grey ponytail who was capable of shooting a gun.

How refreshing.

Remember Texas, 2008.

Nobody bothered to check the "inconsistencies" of her story?

The National Children's Advocacy Center and the National Child Protection Training Center

2011-01-26T20:15:00.003-05:00

There are non-profit Children's Advocacy Centers all across the country, and they are networked under the National Children's Advocacy Center headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.

This National Center is formed for a specific purpose: Who We Are and What We Do. The website summarizes the services they offer:

Education, Training and Professional Services
Prevention [of Child Abuse and Neglect]
Intervention
Therapy

Today, I'm focusing on just the first. In the "Education, Training and Professional Services" section of the website, several options are highlighted.

National Symposium on Child Abuse - About 1,700 participants attend this annual three-day conference in Huntsville, Alabama. An outstanding faculty, made up of experts from a variety of disciplines, conducts training and shares the latest knowledge and skills in child abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment. For more information, click here. ("Workshop tracks are designed specifically for Administration, Child Protective Services, Interviewing, Law Enforcement, Legal, Medical, Mental Health/Treatment, Prevention, Victim Advocates, and Wellness.")

This sounds a bit like the Dallas CAC Conference I previously highlighted, doesn't it?

National Training Center - Held in Huntsville throughout the year, this program offers training for child abuse professionals from throughout the nation. These weeklong training seminars focus on effective ways to communicate with victims, as well as team investigation and management. For more information, click here.

"[F]ocus on effective ways to communicate with victims", sounds like "Forensic Interviewing of Children."

Online Trainings - a series of presentations related to child maltreatment that are offered via the Internet. Academy Online is offered at no charge for participants. The sessions are designed to be viewed by either individuals or groups of child abuse professionals, at any time or day. Funding for Academy Online is provided by U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. For more information, click here.
Customized Training - The NCAC develops and delivers customized training sessions on a number of topics. These trainings can be delivered on-site at the NCAC Training Center in Huntsville, AL, or in the host community. For more information, click here.

The National Center provides Training for Child Protective Services; Law Enforcement; Prosecution ; Medical Care; Mental Health; Multidisciplinary Team; Prevention; and Victim Advocacy, on their campus, at their symposiums, at your location, or on line. (You can join them on Facebook )

The CAC is funded by the US Dept of Justice.

So why is THIS multi-million dollar facility funded by the US Dept of Health and Human Services?

Different government departments, doing the same job. Spending millions of our tax dollars.

If President Obama wants to eliminate duplication in the budget, this might be a good place to start.

Unless he'd rather concentrate on smoked salmon.

Got Two Bucks?

2010-12-18T11:40:00.003-05:00

Here's a better way to spend it.

Handel's Messiah

2010-12-15T20:32:00.000-05:00

For unto us
a Child is born,
unto us
a Son is given,
and the government
shall be upon His shoulder
and his name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counsellor,
the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6)

Separation of church and state, notwithstanding.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

2010-12-05T21:21:00.001-05:00

From San Angelo coverage of Warren Jeff's incarceration in Texas, awaiting trial:

The evidence against Jeffs for the Texas cases came from an April 2008 raid on the FLDS-owned Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado.

A woman made what has since been determined to be a hoax call claiming abuse at the ranch, and law enforcement and Child Protective Services removed more than 400 children from the ranch. An appeals court ordered the children returned.

Tainted Evidence. I've heard some say, oh the hoax call didn't have anything to do with the evidence collected. It was a separate warrant, or two. Right. That's why it was served and executed, say, in February of 2008. Nope. Didn't happen.

In a related story from the AP, Chuck Norris is now a real albeit honorary Texas Ranger . Governor Perry said ""People may whisper about his super powers but the greatest power of Chuck Norris is his integrity."

Maybe he can do this for the next raid:

or hang out with these dudes:

Nah.

More likely, he'll deliver a roundhouse on the unarmed men praying outside their temple.

But, he probably has too much integrity for that.

What's Allowed -UPDATED

2010-11-30T19:02:00.003-05:00

Let's see. What I can do because I have freedom of speech.

I can burn a flag.

Or

I can do a document dump onto the internet of confidential diplomatic correspondence, which may result in compromising the safety of some persons connected with the diplomatic corps.

Or

I can create a blog, pretending to be an attorney publishing opinions on current events.

Or

I can post a picture of the daughter of a blogger I disagree with, and refer to her as a less than virtuous woman, implying that something unfortunate may happen to her if the blogger doesn't do what I want. I can call that same blogger a "kiddie-diddler", a pervert and a pedophile, just because I disagree with him and/or dislike him.

Or

I can see people's constitutional rights violated, and become a blogger to speak out against heavy-handed government actions based on a "hoax" phone call.

I can call attention to the abuses of CPS agencies in various states, and decry the actions taken to tear apart entire families, putting children into stranger-foster care even when they have relatives willing and able to step in, all the while administering psychotropic drugs to these children in order to "help them cope". For Money.

I can call attention to child treatment facilities that seem to have made a habit of putting their residents in danger. I can write a series of blogposts about Governor Perry's pal Clay Dean Hill and Daystar Residential Treatment Center in Texas, and question the funding of Hill's businesses, and note that not four, but FIVE, children have died while in "treatment" at the center.

flds.ws (Free the FLDS Children) website

Oops. Guess not.

UPDATE :
I have been informed by a kind reader (thank you!) that the likely cause of the shutdown of the FLDS blog site is an unfortunate episode of server-hacking. Whether this is a deliberate act of vandalism targeting the FLDS blog specifically or the server in general is not known at this time. Repairs are being made, and we look forward to the return of FLDS.WS.

I do hope the report is true, rather than this being a free-speech issue.

A Man You Can Trust?

2010-11-19T22:08:00.001-05:00

Following celebrity gossip is not generally one of my pastimes. How people want to live their lives, meh {shrug}, could care less. However (there is always a "but" or a "however" following those kinds of statements, isn't there?) . . . over the past few weeks I've seen a lot of blurbs on my internet home page regarding singer-actor LeAnn Rimes and her new pal actor Eddie Cibrian.

Even though LeAnn has been quoted as saying "I take responsibility" I'm not too sure she realizes the full weight of the situation. Both were married to other people when they met, and Eddie has two children whose lives will be affected forever by this turn of events. Both divorces are now final, and LeAnn Rimes recently refuted gossipy statements that she and Eddie had become engaged, and then joked on her Twitter account that "I'M PREGNANT TOO!!! LOL."

I suppose it's only time that will tell if she was really joking or not, and if she wasn't, there will be a reverse countdown upon the birth to determine when conception occurred. And if Eddie had a legal wife at the time of conception, wouldn't that make him a polygamist under some definitions in the law - treating a second woman like she is his wife (purporting), when legally married to another?

At this site is a discussion of cheaters, and one commenter noted that Dallas billionaire and former presidential candidate Ross Perot once said that he would "fire any of his employees who cheat on their spouse. When asked about this and how it's any of his business, he replied, 'A man who cannot be trusted by his family cannot be trusted by anyone, and I will not trust such a man with my money or my business.' " Another commenter said "because they are not trustworthy or honest people."

In other words, they lack integrity.

And I question how a second wife whose husband left his first wife in order to marry her, especially if she is pregnant (already been with as though they were married), could ever really trust her husband. Seems like she should always be on the lookout for signs of his wandering eye. And vice versa. How could the husband trust his second wife, knowing she had been with an already married man?

Yes, I know lots of people have affairs, and some of those second marriages work out splendiforously. And people say, "Everybody does it these days. It's no big deal." Just look at all the politicians and lawyers and actors and bankers and pastors and policemen and just about every occupation you could name who have had mistresses, affairs, divorces and remarriages. People stray. They break promises, and they make new promises.

But there's always that little nagging doubt about the night one of them has to work late. Or go to an out of town business conference for a few days. Or gets a new co-worker of the opposite gender who is more handsome/pretty/intelligent/conversational/friendly/sympathetic/needful.

And they have already proved they lack integrity.

It's reported that Eddie even lost his job over it.

Maybe Ross had something there.

Houston, We Have a Problem

2010-11-14T17:40:00.013-05:00

What happens when a child dies at home, because of abuse? I don't know the answer to that question by personal experience. But from what I have read in the news and on the internet, and heard on television and other media reports, the answer is: CPS agencies and LE investigate, and any other children in the home are removed from the custody of the perpetrators. Because That Is the Safe Thing to Do.

Four children have been killed at the Daystar Residential Treatment Facility in Houston. And yet, children remain in the care and custody of Daystar.

These children did not wander off the premises and get struck by passing cars. They didn't run away and buy bad drugs from street dealers.

They were all "restrained" to death.

As Bill puts it :

"Try physical restraints" That’s CPS talk for "We slapped the kid in a choke hold and stopped him from breathing"
"There was a struggle inside a closet," Falks said.

Sounds very therapeutic huh? Let’s put on our thinking caps folks.
When a kid ends up in a closet, he’s doing one of two things:
trying to protect himself, or hiding.
Why not take the smart route and shut the god damned door until the kid cools off?
I know the answer, and so does every cop who ever started to chase someone in a car: This little bastard was going to be "Taught a lesson"; He learned to die.

and

A "Restraint" is a CPS word for a choke hold. You do NOT stop a person from breathing by hog tying them. You wrapped your arm around their necks and you squeeze.

Bill has a series of posts on Daystar: Death
Govt spin
More Govt spin
"Investigations?"
The "evidence?"
Someone gets rich
Daystar's Legacy
Someone's richer
Someone's even richer yet.

So why is Daystar still allowed to have custody of any children?   Why hasn't Daystar been shut down? Is it because all the residents don't have another place to go?

Well, gee, Ms. Heiligenstein and Gov. Perry. Since apparently there's a place in Texas where children under the age of 18 are actually in DANGER of being KILLED, why don't you just call in the buses from the Baptist Church and ship them all over to Fort Concho? That seems to be your standard Emergency Response Plan.

CONTACT NUMBERS.

ADDED:
CONTACT THE GOVERNOR! http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact/

(Not that he will stop combing his hair long enough to actually DO anything.)

Bill keeps updating us:
A resident's review
Way-Back Machine

Updated Again:

Just LOOK at the MONEY that goes in circles, ending up in the same pocket:

   NAH IT AINT ABOUT THE MONEY

.

My Favorite Quotes from TxBluesMan

2010-11-05T23:08:00.000-04:00

You either know what integrity and honesty is, or you don’t

"if I lie or cheat, I destroy my integrity.” - Apr 19 '08.

The End.

The Texas Rangers

2010-11-02T22:28:00.000-04:00

L O S T

at home.

4 - 1.

aaaaaw.

Keeping Up Appearances

2010-10-29T23:20:00.005-04:00

Hello, the Pri-KAY residence, lady of the house speaking.

You wish to speak to whom? No, no, there's no one here by that name. I would appreciate it in the future if you would be courteous enough to verify your information before telephoning up perfect strangers and tying up the lines of better neighbourhoods of Irving, although it does allow me the opportunity to use my pearl-white slim line digital I-phone with internet access and automatic last number redial.

Good day.
* * *

Hello, the Pri-KAY residence, lady of the house speaking.

Yes, this is Hyacinth. Oh, E-LIZ-a-beth! How nice to hear from you! I was just preparing the seating arrangements for my next candelight supper. My theme for this month will be "Law and Order". Our guests will include some officers of the court, and some of my husband's staff. Counsellor Glowers of the University has already indicated he may be attending, as well as a high-profile local member of the bar, Notaliar Amongus. (She went to Vassar, you know.) Our centerpieces will be comprised of oak gavels and gold badges, entertwined with various flora and vinery, such as the walking fern, creeping thyme, and perhaps some blazing star lilies.

Oh, dear, you won't be able to attend? I am so sorry to hear that (but of course, my hand-painted Royal Doulton will be safer this way.) I do hope your brother feels better.

Good day.
* * *

Hello, the Pri-KAY residence, lady of the house speaking.

You are calling from New York? How nice of you. Yes, we received my husband's diploma in the mail, although I did have to remind the postman to remove his shoes when calling. I must say, it is printed on very high quality vellum and looks exceedingly prestigious. We have had it framed in a highly-polished ebony with non-glare glass and very tasteful burgundy matting. It certainly adds to the esteem with which his fellow staff members at the University regard him. Thank you so much for phoning.

Good day.
* * *

Hello, the Pri-KAY residence, lady of the house speaking.

The name is not PRICKitt. It is Pri-KAY. If you wish to communicate with me further, I insist upon your using the correct pronunciation.

Good day.
* * *

Hello, the Pri-KAY residence, lady of the house speaking.

Oh, hello, it is so nice of you to call again. You are the District Court Accounts Division? How much money? I'm afraid I don't have any idea of the subject to which you are referring. Why, what do you mean? It is clear that you are quite mistaken. While he is often at court regarding his rather important duties with the University, he is no way responsible for the fees incurred, as you are suggesting. I might add that I personally know several people who personally know the Mayor.

Good day.
* * *

Hello, University? Officer Pri-KAY, please. Pri-KAY. P-R-I-C-K-E-T. Pri-KAY.

Hello, Dear. No, it is not about Sheridan. He is visiting with Rose and Onslow at the old double-wide in Grand Prairie.

I am most upset. I have received a telephone call from a most horrid person at the District Court office demanding money for some sort of case file. Something about a worthless check fee. Dear, this is not something Respectable People Do. And who is this Hugo McBridge person they were referring to? Never mind, dear.

I know you will take care of it, Dear. Now, I must get back to the plans for my candlelight supper.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You might also like:
Insufficient Funds
Natalie Writes a Hot Check
Law(?) and Order(?!?!?!?)

The Rest of the Story (Not)

2010-10-26T20:07:00.002-04:00

Jury selection begins in FLDS member trial , regarding the upcoming trial of Dutson.

The following comment appeared on Twitter, under the name of Rozita Swinton, referring to the above article.

P.S. The last sentence of the story is incorrect!

And the last sentence in that article is:

The raid was triggered by what later was determined to be a hoax phone call from a woman claim to be suffering abuse at the ranch.

Where's Paul Harvey when you really need him? Gone.

.

Higher Standards?

2010-10-25T14:04:00.003-04:00

Arizona's Own Espresso Pundit speaks to standards of Sports Writing:

Arizona Republic Sports Columnist Scott Bordow receives a lot of heat from readers who send him tips that don't end up in the paper. Bordow responds that journalism has high standards.

We are not going to use an anonymous text message to accuse a coach of malfeasance. We will not suggest a school is recruiting simply because we received several e-mails telling us that's the case.
We need facts. Names. Documented evidence. Can we gather that on our own? Absolutely. But to do so we need someplace to start, rather than general accusations from an anonymous text message.

Maybe LE and CPS should be required to attend journalism school..

Happy Birthday!

2010-10-23T00:02:00.011-04:00

It's someone's birthday today. Can you guess? Here's an open letter to the birthday girl:

You've had a very busy year, and you've been able to actually have some fun, and travel. What was that you said on your blog, 11 states in the past 3 months?

You went to the Trekfest, in Riverside, Iowa, "future birthplace" of the fictional Captain Kirk, and I am SO jealous. In the picture you posted on your blog, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself, and I would have enjoyed it, too, had I attended.

You got to go to Mexico on your vacation, stopping to make footprints in the sand in San Diego first. Ziplines at Cabo are SO fun. The Costa Azul Canyon, just awesome. That rock wall looked very intimidating, but glad you enjoyed rappelling down, while I enjoyed looking at the pictures you posted on your blogs. Thanks for sharing them on the internet.

It is purely a coincidence that the Huntsville CAC 4-day training conference on Child Forensic Interviews had been scheduled for that very week, but was cancelled. Lots of people had to change their plans, I suppose.

As you stated on your blog, you got to spend time in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington state and Oregon.(I was truly sad to hear about the death of your Godson, my sincere condolences to the family, although "Godchildren" are not something I hear of often, in the LDS church.) Loved that picture you posted on the internet, from the clothing-optional beach, with a view of Mount Hood. Somewhere around Sauvie Island, maybe Collins Beach. Spectacular! What a great opportunity for some rest and relaxation.

It is purely a coincidence that the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) Child Forensic Interview Clinic was held in Burien, Washington during that same week.

And then, you went to Texas, although you tweeted that you did not like the bugs, the smells, or the humidity.

Funny, that was the same week as the Dallas CAC Crimes Against Children Conference. Ah, just another coincidence.

Well, those are four of the 11 states, plus a foreign country. I thought I read somewhere that one of the terms of your 2-year probation was that you could not leave the state of Colorado without a judge's permission. So how does that work? Do you have a blanket permission slip, or do you have to take in your travel itineraries and have each one signed off individually? Just wondering, that seems like a real drag, having to do all that paperwork.

And with all the driving around you blogged and tweeted about, it sure is a good thing you don't have to worry about pesky things like traffic tickets. After all, you did state on your blog a while back:

"I don't get tickets I get business cards LOL they always bring my DL, registration, Insurance card back to me with a business card."

Why is that?

Nonetheless, it is always good to get back home and settle into your familiar surroundings. Except when maybe they aren't so familiar. Also from your one of your blogs:

"Ok, I'm moving to another Safehouse this one is not working out (and I'm not talking about a shelter) I so hate moving, but this is the consequence for being high profile/famous/witness. The good thing is I don't have to keep moving all my things it's all safe in storage(Cold and lonely or hot at times.) Now I take things I need or want with me and everything else stays in storage where it is nice and safe."

I thought that was a pretty interesting blogpost. Raises all kinds of questions in my mind. But those questions will just have to wait for another day.

Because, after all, it's your birthday. Relax, kick back, chill out; have a great day. Go eat some cakes. These look yummy.

UPDATE 10/25/10:

Gee, nobody guessed.

Answer: Rozita Swinton.

The Yellow Roze of Texas

2010-10-20T17:18:00.001-04:00

1) She said her name was Sara, and we never really knew

that all what she was sayin', not one bit of it was true.

She said she had a baby, and lived at the YFZ,

But the Yellow Roze of Texas was a belle from Tennessee.

(Chorus)

There's a Yellow Roze in Texas, that we are going to free,

No one has ever seen her, but she keeps calling me,

She cried so when she phoned me, it like to broke my heart,

And now we're going to find her, if we have to tear the place apart.

2) The Rangers did assemble, on that long and fateful night,

And the Judge, she signed the orders, and the snipers set their sights.

The social workers followed, and inside they did go,

and looked for little Sara, who married a Barlow.

(repeat chorus)

3) We took out all the children, left the families full of woe,

And arrested all the menfolk; Yes, Rozie's our hero,

We put them all in prison for a hundred years or more.

and the Yellow Roze of Texas shall be known forevermore.

Yes, the Yellow Roze of Texas, shall be known forevermore.

Natalie* Lied

2010-10-12T23:17:00.005-04:00

Funding changes send some adopted children back to state care (Brooke Adams at the Salt Lake Trib)

State budget cuts and a change in Medicaid coverage have saddled some families who have adopted special-needs foster children with unexpected expenses and difficult choices.

Like whether to keep or turn back in your child?

As of July 1, Medicaid no longer covers “therapeutic supervision” costs for in-patient mental health treatment. At the same time, state budget cuts reduced a supplemental subsidy fund that the Division of Child and Family Services used to help parents with such expenses.
“Now the state is going back to adoptive parents and asking them to make up the difference in cost,” said Jennifer Gardner, president of the Utah Foster/Adoptive Families Association. “It is just hard when these were the state’s kids to begin with.”.

No, they weren't the "state's kids". They had parents, and they likely had grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings. They had families. They might not have been urban, white, upper-middle-class families with shiny new houses. Maybe their families lived in dingey apartment houses or single-wide trailers instead.

The funding changes impacted an estimated 40 to 50 children statewide who receive adoption subsidies, said Staci Ghneim, deputy director for DCFS. At least 12 were returned to state custody because their families could not afford the added expense.
One of Natalie’s* three adopted children is among them.
She and her husband adopted two brothers as infants; both were exposed to methamphetamine during their mother’s pregnancy. At the time they adopted the second boy, the couple also adopted an older sibling.
The couple had a simple motive when they adopted three children from state foster care: They wanted to help.

The one good thing I can say here is, trying to keep siblings together is a noble goal. One baby is adopted from a druggie mom. Next year, she is pregnant again, and along with the new baby taken by the state at birth, comes an older brother. Well, gee. Where was he the first time around? Mom didn't take drugs while she was pregnant with him? Hadn't the TPR gone through? Maybe he was living with his grandparents? And where's bio-dad?

The state “so desperately wants you to take them,” said Natalie*, who The Salt Lake Tribune has agreed not to identify by her real name because she feared repercussions for speaking out. “They knew we were up against it and promised we would get whatever help we needed — treatment this and treatment that — and that they were not going to leave us alone with these kids.”

Yeah, the state is "desperate" for federal funding that comes with adopting out those kids. And they wouldn't dream of leaving families alone, even when that's what the families want.

This summer, as the situation reached a crisis, the family sought mental health treatment for the older child and were told they would have to pay up to $1,500 a month for that care.

Unable to afford that option, they were given two choices: Accept in-home services for the child or return the child to state custody and pay child support. They chose the second option.

“There is no doubt [the child] can never be back in our home,” said Natalie*. “What is so hard for me is never have they considered the other therapy I have had to provide for our biological children who had been threatened with death from this child.”

The state garnishes her husband’s wages to collect the child support; the family still receives an adoption subsidy — which matches the amount collected in child support — that they use to help cover the child’s foster care. “Here we are five years after saying we wanted to be foster parents with three very special-needs kids and four others who are resentful of all we have to do to keep this family afloat,” she said. “I don’t know how this happened.”

You don't know how this happened? You became foster parents. FOSTER is a TEMPORARY situation. Then you became adoptive parents. ADOPTION means a PERMANENT commitment, just as though the child is natural-born, with all the rights thereto. Remember? All those Public Service Ads with "Adopt Tuesday's Child", displaying children like they were puppies in a shop window, wistfully wishing for a "Forever Family"?

Right.

Natalie*, YOU are a liar. You lied to 3 kids when you signed those adoption papers.

I'm sure your life has not been a bed of roses since bringing those three children into your home. But Nobody Forced You To Do It. I'm sure this has made the two other adopted brothers feel all snug and secure. "Oh, that one didn't quite work out, but we'll keep the other two, thank you."

And how does it make your four bio-kids feel? Will you sell them down the river if they get sick and need $1500 a month in medicine that your insurance won't cover?

This is but one reason I am against the speedy adoptions that take place due to federally legislated funding for state CPS agencies. According to one study I have read (not recently, and I don't have a link to it, sorry), it takes about five years for a "blended" family (due to remarriages), to fully bond and feel like a cohesive family unit. That's with a lot of hard work, for the ones who are really committed and don't end up with a second or third divorce.

TPR's are usually pushed through the family courts in a year's time, and adoptions take place as soon as possible thereafter. I'm thinking an adoptive family should be required to foster the child for at least three years before adoption is allowed. I think it would help prevent situations like Natalie's*.

*Not her real name.

What?! Shut Out of Another Blog!

2010-09-21T18:41:00.000-04:00

Aw, P.

I like the Geeky side.

"Who's Greg?" She Asks -UPDATED

2010-09-17T21:19:00.004-04:00

UPDATED: A very kind reader (thanks!) has emailed me information which shows that I am not totally correct here, so I have edited my blogpost (italics) to reflect that.

It was good to see TBM posting this comment on my last blog entry:

I only get about 12 readers a day if I don't feature a particular stolen child, so it was a little flattering to find that Blues browsed. Well, I guess that proved I hadn't banned TxBluesMan from making comments, after all. And "TBM" has been posting comments at other blogs denying that Greg is Blues.

But, a good question was raised. "Who's Greg?"

According to the Wikipedia User Page for GregJackP , who undoubtedly is Greg J. Prickett of the UNT Dallas Security Staff, Greg describes himself as :

Userboxes:
This user assumes good faith.
This user rides a Harley-Davidson
Beware! This user's talk page is patrolled by talk page stalkers.
Menominee blood flows through this user's veins.
This user knows the Black Hills were illegally stolen from the Sioux and believes they are not for sale.
TxEn-n This person is a native speaker of Texian (Howdy y'all)
Military :
This wikipedian is/was a member of the United States Air Force.
This user is a Captain in the United States Air Force.
This user is or was a member of The United States Army. USA
This user is proud to be a: U.S. Infantryman.
This user was a member of the 36th Airborne Brigade
This user was a member of the 49th Armored Division
This user was a member of the 136th Airlift Wing
This user has been awarded the Basic Parachutist Badge.
Education:
BS This user has a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Sociology.
ΔΣΦ This user is a member of Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity.
Personal / Heritage:
This user is from Oklahoma.
This user lives in Texas.
This user is of English ancestry.
This user is of Frankish ancestry.
This user is of Native American ancestry.
This user is of Scottish ancestry.
Personal / Misc.:
right-minded This user believes that only left-handed users are in their right minds.
According to the Political Compass this user is:
Economic Right (4.38) and
Social Neutral (0.51)
This user uses a Shaving brush.
This user is skeptical of anthropogenic global warming.
This user supports Scottish independence.
WikiProjects :
This user is a member of the Military history WikiProject.
This user is a member of WikiProject Texas.
This user is a member of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America.
This user is a member of the WikiProject U.S. Supreme Court cases
This user is a member of WikiProject Law.

And, a great many of these descriptors correspond to what TxBluesMan has publicly stated about himself, although I don't remember reading about the Shaving Brush, or being a veteran of the Armed Forces.

Hugh posted yesterday. My opinion? Yes: GregJackP = UNT Sgt Greg Prickett = TxBluesMan of "Coram Non Judice"

I called Greg today. He denied everything, but didn't threaten me like cops do when they have the high ground. That's probably because he can't afford to do so. Then he hung up. GOTCHA!!

Well, I'm not so sure. He didn't threaten, because he just might be protecting someone else.

**UPDATED. Greg has a daughter with the same name as a legal assistant listed on this website (legal assistant). That website may not be current. Someone who searches case law for a living. She (Greg's daughter) may have worked for a Denton lawyer and legal commentator for local media, Tim Powers, or it could have been another person with the same name. Tim's a "former Assistant District Attorney and Chief Misdemeanor Prosecutor, Powers was voted 1997 Denton County Prosecutor of the Year."

He is currently the managing attorney of the Law Offices of Tim Powers and an adjunct faculty member of the University of North Texas Criminal Justice Department, teaching criminal law and criminal procedure.

(emphasis added)

So Greg might not be lying when he denys he is "TxBluesMan". He might be only 1/3 of "TxBluesMan". Or, 1/2. A father-daughter team, if the daughter is the same person as the legal assistant, or Prickett & Powers. Or "TxBluesMan" might really be "TxBluesMa'am", acting on her own. Tim Powers might not know anything about "TxBluesMan" at all. (Greg's daughter is currently employed in education, and is probably much too busy to keep up with any TxBluesMan activity.)

And I probably wouldn't care who "TxBluesMan" is, if it weren't for the criminal background checks that have been performed on certain bloggers, publicized, and possibly even modified, likely using official resources for personal motives. Remember Joe the Plumber. That might cause a problem for "TxBluesMan".

I don't wish ill health on anyone. But the "Who's Greg?" question -- that's really disingenuous.

Is Coram Non Judice Kaput?

2010-09-14T12:13:00.000-04:00

Gee, I heard TxBluesMan wasn't feeling too well, so I thought I'd pop over there with some sympathy and good wishes. But when I went to check in at my favorite blog, this is what I found.

Well, i wasn't invited, so I'll just say it here. Get well soon, Greg.

Landon Weber Update

2010-09-12T12:03:00.000-04:00

Landon Weber's Family Story has been updated at Attorney Branson's website.

Has anyone heard from Jerry ?

Didn't think so.

Updated: Take a Stand for Landon Weber. It's Labor Day weekend!

2010-09-03T22:23:00.009-04:00

And y'all know what that means!   It's time for the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

So, I'm interrupting my series of posts on the Advocacy Centers and in-one-week-you-too-can-be-an-expert-child-forensic-interviewer workshops, in order to divert some attention to the Texas CPS-sponsored kidnapping of Landon Weber.

I stole a blog post from another blog for my original mention of Landon and his family back in May. At that time, his mother had been escorted from Landon's room by a police officer, and the state of Texas was seeking to Terminate Parental Rights. I have been unable to obtain more recent news regarding their hearing which had been scheduled for sometime in August, so if any of you dear readers have information, please let me know. I rather suspect that the family has been prohibted from speaking out.

Landon's parents followed doctor's instructions regarding his care. Once he had been diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder, they moved from Missouri to Texas in order that he might receive the best medical care for his condition, at a hospital in Houston.    Do you get that? They MOVED in order to provide him with the BEST care.

CPS doctors apparently testified that Landon does not have a mitochondrial disorder. It is a difference in medical opinion. So, Landon's parents are automatically guilty of child abuse.   When parents have a sick child, they rely on DOCTORS to tell them what is wrong, and how it is best treated. It is not like the Webers woke up one morning and said, "Oh, let's do surgery on this baby today." They LISTENED to their DOCTORS, who are supposed to be the well-educated EXPERTS. And they have lost their son to the State of Texas.

Do you remember Mattie Stepanek ? He was the chronically ill boy who was featured on Oprah, and he passed away in 2004.   He suffered from mytochondrial disease. His siblings also have the same illness.   And I haven't heard about his parents being accused of "Munchausen by proxy", or any other form of "child medical abuse". Are you kidding me? Oprah would be on her show lambasting the CPS authorities if that happened.

The Weber's have no such advocate. Landon's too young to write poetry. And I doubt they have even been able to pay their lawyer's fees.

Here is MDA's page on mitochondrial disease. MDA. That's Muscular Dystrophy Association. That's Jerry Lewis.

The 2010 Telethon starts the evening of Sunday, September 5th, and runs all day on Labor Day.

Call the National Pledge Number (not your local affiliate). That would be the 800 number that goes to the celebrity operators at the ~~Sand~~ South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa, in Las Vegas. (I don't have that number now, but once the Telethon starts, they will have it on-screen.)

Instead of making a pledge, ask about Landon Weber.

Ask if MDA has established a Legal Defense Fund for parents of sick children, who have been accused of child abuse.

Ask if Jerry thinks parents should follow the advice of their children's doctors when the doctors say the child is sick and what the best course of action is.

ASK what Jerry thinks about CPS stealing HIS sick children from their parents.

And don't make a pledge to donate any money until Jerry sticks up for HIS Kids on national television.

Take a Stand for Landon.

Well, Jerry, what do YOU think?

1-800-Fight MD

(1-800-344-4863)

Also see: Branson Legal - Landon Weber

The DOJ and the CAC Conference

2010-08-29T15:58:00.004-04:00

Someone took issue with what I said in my first post concerning the Dallas CAC Crimes Against Children Conference , particularly this statement: "That's the US Dept of Justice's Dallas Children's Advocacy Center Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas" .

They said the conference was not presented by the US Department of Justice . It was presented by the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center and the Dallas Police Department .

Well, that's the way it's printed in the brochure. But, technically, hmm.

The Dallas Children's Advocacy Center is described as a non-profit agency. There is no mention in the Frequently Asked Questions page about how it is funded. The history page shows that the original building purchase was funded by a federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). But nothing about how current operating expenses are met. They ask for donations here. They host fund-raising events here .

The Center is a member of the National Children's Alliance . This page shows that both the CAC and NCA are programs of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, US Department of Justice.

There were a lot of "sponsors and partners" for the conference, who helped pick up the costs associated with putting on an event like this. A partial list:

(Just in case you get lost, here's an organizational chart for the Department of Justice.)

The US Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Investigation

The United States Marshal Service -- a division of the US Department of Justice

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Their homepage, which looks like a private or charitable agency's website, doesn't say so, but at the bottom left, thanks is given to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention -- a component of the Office of Justice Program. Yes, it's listed.

US Department of Justice: Project Safe Childhood . which seems to expand upon the efforts of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It works with the National Drug Intelligence Center, another division of the US DOJ, under the PROTECT Act. Boy, read that synopsis. It can make an innocent person feel paranoid.

US Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs. I suppose, All of them?

The US Attorney's Office - Northern District of Texas . The US Attorney is a division of the US Department of Justice.

COPS - Community Oriented Policing Services - another office of the US Department of Justice. "COPS does its work principally by sharing information and making grants to police departments around the United States" Grants to pay expenses for Conference attendees? or for the Dallas Police Department to help put on the Conference?

Fox Valley Technical College - which has received millions in US Department of Justice - Office of Juvenile Justice grant money. About $10 million in Child Protection Division Grants , if I'm counting right. (*added: That's just for ONE Year.)

National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University (MN), which is currently operating under $20 million federal grant, although funding for this one appears to come from the Department of Health and Human Services. (Why? )

HarpO, Inc. - isn't this Oprah? I don't think she's a DOJ employee. Really.

So, not counting the couple of professional organizations such as APSAC, and several internet/social sites, such as Facebook, AOL, GoDaddy.com, Disney's Club Penquin, SafeSearch, SafetyWeb, MySpace, Google, Yahoo, I'd say "Yes, this was a DOJ Conference", just by looking at the sponsorships.

That's not counting the registration fees, hotel rooms, and per diems for all those federal employees who attended.

The CAC Tweeter Email

2010-08-28T20:29:00.003-04:00

Well, I've been home several days now, and ran out of notes, so I thought I'd just share my email home to my BFF:

Boy, there are a lot of rules at these Conferences. Wait patiently in line for your turn at registration. Don't run in the Skywalks. Don't be late for your workshop, and don't leave early. No cellphones turned on. No tweets. No cameras. Do what the FBI agents say.

And the Schedule, just horrendous. So Hectic. Classes starting at 8 (missing my *$!) and running until 11:30, 1:00 to 4:30 since Monday. And, the mandatory meetings in the late afternoons and evening for particular groups, like FBI agents or US Attorneys. Finally, today, it ends at lunchtime.    But, I shouldn't complain, there was entertainment as well, such as the Texas Stampede Party on Wednesday night. And we're all here for the same reason, to protect the children, so it's 14AA41, right?

So there I was, making my way down the hall to yet another class. People all over the place. Which room is my next workshop in? Then, of course, I GTP. Where the heck is the LGR? I find it, and natch, there's a line. Sometimes I just SMH, you know?   I'm gonna be L8 for the next workshop!

So I'm patiently waiting my turn and listening to bits of Other People's Conversations.

Some were talking about the nightlife in Dallas, and enjoying real genuine soul and r&b music. Others were talking about the mosquitos and bugs at night, and the humidity. LMSO. Everyone knows about the humidity in Dallas.  Talk about a BHD.   TG for cornrows and braids! And then one said "I am not going to another barn dance, OMG!", I mean she said it just like that too, saying the letters instead of the words. I was so totally ROFL. She must not have liked that Texas Stampede Party! (I thought it was fun.)

Then the door in front of me opened, and it was finally my turn. The woman coming out bumped into me and dropped her sunglasses. They were so cool. I'm going to buy me some like that.  She said they were just great for Paparazzi days.   Like I have to worry about Photogs following me around all the time! GBG. I sure am glad I didn't step on those sunglasses, though, they really looked expensive.

Anyway, it turns out I wasn't late for class, because the Teacher was stuck in the LGR too! Isn't that a hoot? GGFN, will be home 2moro!

So, I've been online shopping and can't find 'em. I did find one picture, and thought, almost, but not quite.

But, I'm persistent. Bingo!

and I'm just tickled pink. Now, those would make me feel like a real princess.

(non-Tweeters guide:
BFF = Best Friend Forever
*$ = Starbucks
14AA41 = One for all, all for one
GTP = Got To Pee
LGR = Little Girls Room
SMH = Shaking My Head
L8 = Late
LMSO = Laughing My Socks Off
BHD = Bad Hair Day
TG = Thank Goodness
OMG = Oh My Goodness
ROFL = Rolling On the Floor Laughing
GBG = Great Big Grin
GGFN = Gotta Go For Now
2moro = Tomorrow)

Continuing my CAC Education

2010-08-20T02:36:00.004-04:00

The Workshop was called "Cracking the Really Tough Case, (or, when the going in gets tough)"

It was co-anchored by an unnamed FBI agent,  a Child Advocate from an unknown Region, and a CPS social worker from an unnamed state. It went something like this:

(There may be a few errors in here -- forgive me, I've been home a few days, and the notes are getting hard to decipher, and I'm not real sure exactly who said what.)

Good afternoon, people! We hope you are enjoying your stay here in lovely Dallas, with its high humidity and mosquitos.   Thank goodness for indoor spaces with air conditioning, right?

Today we are focusing on the cases that you just can't seem to get a real firm grasp on, because of any number of factors. It could be a lack of evidence; it could be the victim of abuse or crime simply will not come forward; but certainly when we just know in our guts that a crime is being committed, we have to follow through on our instincts and persevere.

Maybe it's at the house you pass by every day on your way to work; you know, the one with the unkempt yard, with toys strewn by the walkway and on the porch, and the grass just growing to new heights every week. You know there is something going on there, but the kids that live there don't ever complain to their teachers, and they have reasonable looking clothes to wear to school, and they don't have broken bones and massive bruising going on. (You know this, because you have already checked at the school, to see how they are doing.)   Or worse, this family's children don't go to school at all. They home-school! So, there's really no way for you to check on their condition.

Nonetheless, you have the feeling that there is something terribly wrong at this house. After all, the dad who doesn't keep his yard neat and trim is likely neglecting his kids, as well as doing something evil to his daughters.

We have developed some new tactics for successfully dealing with this kind of scenario, and share them with you today.

First, and most importantly, utilize a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary network for the case. At CPS and law enforcement, we are working hand-in-hand on a local level already. Be aware that many agencies and programs exist with the Department of Justice that allow expansion of this concept to include Federal involvement. The Children's Advocacy Centers are here to help you.

Second, be creative. Think outside the box. Oftentimes, child neglect and abuse are merely the tip of the iceberg, and many other crimes are taking place.

For example, don't just think about child neglect. What else might this family be doing?

Do they have lots of company on the weekends, and cookouts on Friday nights? That could be an indication that they are growing marijuana in their basement, or swapping out prescription drugs amongst their guests. So, you could call in your local multi-agency, federally sponsored Drug Task Force. In this way, you could not only manage the arrest of dangerous criminals, but you facilitate the somewhat safe removal of the children from the household, and the Task Force gets to seize all of the family's assets and sell them at public auction. While this leaves the now non-family destitute, the local government's coffers are replenished a bit, easing the burdens of local law-abiding taxpayers. It's a win-win situation.   (Except for the children, who are placed in separate foster homes miles away from each other, and who won't see each other again until they are over 18. But, at least they are safe, and that's our goal, isn't it?)

Or, perhaps there's a gun rack in the back of dad's pick up truck. Does he take off every Saturday morning bright and early with his sons and his buddies for a day of hunting? Are his firearms properly licensed? Does he have a criminal record that would preclude his possession of a firearm? Or perhaps they have Guatemalan* gun-running friends who are helping them make some extra money You would need to call in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms , who with the FBI, could attempt to serve a warrant, get shot at, have agents killed, and then have a 50 day stand off, ending in a blaze of glor -- oh wait, that one didn't work out so well. Ok, well, that's what happens when you get religious kooky cults involved, right?

But that's all to show, there are lots of federal agencies out there, waiting to help you.    Of course, to prepare for their involvement, you need to gather some information first. Here are some possible sources for you to seek out. (These work well with those religious cults, too, not just your non-lawn-mowing dad.)

Ex-spouses.   These are great, because there is generally a feeling of hatred and bitterness towards the person you are interested in. They are known to exaggerate the truth in order to vindicate their feelings.   It is best to find an ex-spouse who has not been an ex for very long, as the fresher the divorce, the harsher the feelings. If years have gone by, the ex-spouse may have mellowed a bit and found some measure of forgiveness for some of the wrongs that have been done. Note that this is not always the case, however, particularly if the ex-spouse has been fortunate enough to make a living from these feelings, such as from writing a hit country song, appearing on Oprah! or the Nancy Grace Show, or publishing a best-selling book.

Other children who have left the household, particularly 15-to-17 year olds who have run away or worse yet, have been kicked out, and gone to live with friends.   They are generally angry at their parents for wanting them to follow the rules of the household, and are living with friends instead of in foster-care placement, because their friends who are old enough to have apartments don't have any rules. The angrier the teen is, the better the information you will get as to how abusive the parents were. And probably still are, toward the younger children still in the home.

Their neighbors. Talking with the neighbors can be tricky. You might approach a casual conversation with them about the messy yard next door, and then ask about the children that live there. If the neighbor seems uncooperative, bring up the subject of discipline and ask the neighbor if they believe in spanking their own children, and ask them if they ever lose their temper. Then switch the subject back to the messy-yard dad. You would be surprised how this opens up the conversation.

Now, some cases are so tough that you can take all of these suggestions, and still not come up with a reason to visit the location and check on the safety of those children. You have rumors, but that is all. You've had other agencies looking at them, and still nothing. You just don't have the documentation to make any charges stick, and you don't have a legal reason to go in.   That's when you can access our new Centralized OPerations System for Operatives Networking to Act as a Child in Danger, or, you could just call us, COPS ON ACID.

This program frees you from the requirements of having to base an investigation on an abuse complaint, or a search warrant on probable cause, because it provides you with the complaint or probable cause.

How do we do this? It's simple. We merely assign one our operatives to make a complaint by phone to an assistance line, pretending to be an endangered minor. These calls are not placed directly to a law enforcement location or state agency, but to an outreach organization or helpline, many of which are affiliated with non-profit agencies, and some of which are mandated reporters to law enforcement or CPS.

Because of our initial success in using this tactic, funding has been provided to expand this program. We now have an entire network of professionals with pre-paid cell phones purchased under false names.   From Norwalk to Steubenville, from Des Moines to Denver, from Snohomish County to Phoenix, we are here to help you.

One of the favorable attributes of this program is, once you have forwarded a file to our operations center, you won't know when the call will come in, or who will be making it, or what location it will be coming from. So you can be as surprised as anyone else, and go into action.

So for that non-lawn-mowing dad who is abusing his children, a "child" can call the local abuse, suicide prevention, or teen pregnancy hotline and describe the horrific conditions he or she is living under, and ask for help to be sent. (Rest assured that our operatives are very talented individuals who can cry and scream on a moment's notice and believably sound like an 8 or 14 year old. ) Voila. The help center contacts the appropriate agencies, and you get to enter the premises.

As soon as you have determined that your tough case needs our assistance, make public statements about how dangerous the people are who live at that house with the unkempt yard, or publicly criticize them or question their integrity. Then send us your file.

Once the investigation is underway, hold a press conference and mention the horrible conditions you find at the house, and the pitiful condition of the children, especially if they have had any broken bones, or if they are shy. When the children have been removed and placed in foster care, indicate that they are so abused that they do not know how to read or write, or use crayons, and that they cannot get through the night without wetting their beds. Deny that you are collecting evidence of any unrelated crimes that may have been committed at the residence, while simultaneously removing truckoads of personal papers, computers,  and journals, as well as any other private property that will fit on the truck.    Disseminate the collected information in as many public areas as you can manage. Leaking them to the press or to bloggers on the internet works very well. Criticize any citizens who come to the defense of these worthless parents, by calling them names or accusing them of being child-abusers themselves.

We are very excited about our COPS ON ACID program, and we know that with your help, we will be able to take action against all manner of abuse and crime. Just imagine, we don't need to limit the use of this tactic to child abuse investigations. We can now arrange to enter the homes of suspected counterfeiters and smugglers, cult leaders, drug dealers and gamblers, embezzlers, bank robbers, kidnappers, murderers, and politicians,-- or anyone at all -- based on the single call for help from an endangered "child".

Our time is up here today. Be sure and take one of our brochures with you, and tell your co-workers about our program. We look forward to receiving your files. Thanks for attending.

(The parenthetical disclaimers at the beginning of this post apply hereto.)
(*I in no way infer disparagement upon honorable persons of Guatemalan nativity or descent.)

The Workshop on Intake Calls/Victim Complaints

2010-08-15T00:37:00.002-04:00

Discerning True Outcries for Help

Much has been said about how many false charges of Crimes Against Children are filed. (See William L. Anderson's excellent four part series on The Accusation and Conviction Machine.) Our goal is to minimize false charges, which only waste our time and the public's tax dollars. Besides, if our departments get sued for false arrest and have to pay out large damage settlements, we might not get a raise next year.

Complaints are made both by telephone and in person, but this workshop will only deal with the telephone calls.

1. Determine who the complaining caller is -- the victim, the victim's mother or other relative/caregiver, a witness, or a representative of the victim such as a CPS worker filing a report, a school social worker, a domestic violence shelter, or hospital/medical center.

2. Determine whether the caller is in immediate danger, and if so, dispatch emergency personnel.

3. If no emergency appears to exist, determine the level of response, and assign to investigative personnel. Refer out to other agencies if necessary, especially for gang violence or special multi-agency investigations.

Following are examples of criminal complaints filed.

Scenario 1: The Medical Center:

Caller: I'd like to report assault and battery of a child.

Officer: I need your name, please, for the report.

Caller: Yes, my name is -(redacted for privacy)-; I work at - (redacted for privacy)- Medical Center. We have a 15 year old female presenting with several broken ribs, and believe she has been assaulted.

Officer: Did she say how she was injured?

Caller: She reports that she fell down some stairs at home, while chasing after her baby that was crawling in front of the steps. She also reports a current pregnancy.

Officer: What makes you think she was assaulted?

Caller: Well, she appeared hesitant in her narration. We suspect domestic violence.

Officer: Ok, well, unless she says someone assaulted her, we can't follow up with investigating officers.

Caller: Oh, well you know, she is wearing this long dress. She probably just tripped on it. Thanks, anyway. Didn't mean to bother you.

Officer: No problem, ma'am, that's what we're here for.

Notice that the alleged "victim" here was not actually reporting that someone assaulted her. In this case, it was misrepresentation of the facts by the medical worker. This call was appropriately handled.

Scenario 2:

Caller: Hello? Hello? Are you there? He's hurt my BABY!

Officer: Hello, yes ma'am, who's hurt your baby?

Caller: My ex-husband, his name is -(redacted for privacy)-. Oh, hurry, he's hurt my BABY!

Officer: Ma'am, do you need an ambulance? Is he there with you now, trying to hurt her or you?

Caller: Oh, no, she is here with me now. He is not here. (sound of a child crying in background)

Officer: Ok, ma'am, is the child injured or bleeding? Do you need an ambulance?

Caller: No, we don't need for an ambulance to come. I just want to report that he hurt her.

Officer: And how old is the baby?

Caller: She is 6 years old, and he just brought her back from visitation with her.
(sound of a child saying "mommy, mommy" in background. ) Just a minute.
(whispers Not now hunny, your daddy didn't leave the child support check, and I'm gonna make sure he doesn't think he can get away with that.)

Officer: Ma'am, are you there?

Caller: Yes, sir, sorry, you know how distracting children can be.

Officer: Yes ma'am. Now, about the child, how is she hurt?

Caller: Well, she came home and said she had a bad dream last night, and she called for him and he came to her room and laid down with her and hugged her real tight. He has molested my daughter!

Officer:  Ma'am, I need you to take her right now to the hospital, and we will have two officers and a child forensic interviewer meet you there.

Again, this call was handled appropriately. This dead-beat scum-bag dad is going to be in prison for a long, long time.

Scenario 3:

Caller: (very quiet voice) Hullo?

Officer: Hello? Ma'am are you there?

Caller: Yes, yes I'm here. I'm sorry I have to be quiet, I'm in a closet. Is this the Sheriff's Office?

Officer: Yes, ma'am, it is. Can I ask why you are in a closet?

Caller: I'm hiding from my husband, and his other wives.

Officer: Ma'am, why you are hiding? Wait, did you say "other wives"?

Caller: Yes, yes I did. He has 7 other wives besides me. I'm hiding in a closet.

Officer: Can you give me your location?

Caller: Yeah, let's see, I'm at this ranch in Texas. . . let me get the map out here.

Officer: Are you at the YFZ Ranch?

Caller: Why, YES, yes, THAT's the name of the place!

Officer: And why are you hiding in the closet?

Caller: Because my husband beats me up.

Officer: I see. Well, I tell you what, I'm going to go ahead and call the FBI and the Texas Rangers, since you are at the YFZ, but what I really need you to do is to call the domestic violence shelter over there in San Angelo. Ok?

Caller: The domestic violence shelter? Oh, yeah. They gave me that number, where did I write it down? Yep, it's right here on my paper. Sorry about the mixup. (click. line goes dead.)

In this case, the officer did an exceedingly fine job of following the contingency plan for special multi-agency investigations and referred the call out.

Any questions? Good.

Hope you enjoyed today's workshop. And remember, people. The more we convict, the more money we get from the Government.

Now, let's get to that reception area for some refreshments!

(The parenthetical disclaimers at the beginning of this post apply hereto.)

The New Internet Child Protection Project

2010-08-12T22:40:00.006-04:00

(Curiously, this presentation did not appear on the Dallas CAC program for the Conference.)
(Seriously, this is only an exercise in creative writing. There was no such workshop.)

Using the Internet to Catch a Predator

Well first of all, there was a problem with the PA system, and this song kept playing over the intercom:

dum, de-dum dum dum,

If you like Pina Coladas,

Or gettin' caught in the rain

dum, de-dum dum dum.

So the presenter had someone find the speaker volume control and got that turned way down.

The rest of the presentation went something like this:

This workshop is for Law Enforcement Personnel in Cyber Crimes units.

Law Enforcement by itself simply cannot catch all the people out there on the internet who are trying to lure our children into sexual activities. They outnumber us by the hundreds of thousands. Young people are just not smart enough to realize that nobody tells the truth about who they are on the internet.

So we are starting a new program that we would like your help with.

Today we are formally introducing a Project called Enforcement Navigating Toward Rapid Arrest of Pedophiles.

Now, what this involves is recruiting civilian helpers to monitor chat rooms and participate in conversations with others. We just don't have enough police personnel to go around.

Consider your circle of friends, it is highly likely that you know someone who could be recruited into our team.

We'd like to have people who are already involved with children, or exhibit traits that show they care about the welfare and safety of children.

Perhaps your neighborhood stay-at-home mom, or a parent who volunteers at your child's school. Or, an elderly lady who lives down the block. Or, maybe even your own nanny.

Someone who'd like to make a little extra money, because our program is fully funded at this point, under the DOJ, and if the DOJ runs out of money, we could tap into other federal funding under the Economic Stimulus legislation.

Payment is made based on the number of hours the person spends on their computer, and is not based on the actual conviction of a predator. So, it's a good way for private citizens to supplement their income.

Training is provided; some of the guidelines that we will be teaching are:

You must be able to appear to be a minor, preferably about the age of 14. It doesn't matter whether you are male or female, gay, lesbian or straight. There are predators hanging out on the internet for every variety of appetite.

You don't need to be friendly and outgoing in real life in order to do this. In fact, most predators are socially inept. Remember, you can never believe what someone writes about himself or herself on the internet.

While a basic knowledge of using the internet is good, it is not necessary to be proficient at building complicated web pages in order to attract predators. It is not even necessary to go to a chat room named something like Date Night, or SwingTime, or Pick Up Artists. We will show you how to join regular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, make new "Friends", and strike up conversations with them.

Sometimes, the conversations will start with regular social type of chit-chat, but others will want to get right to the point. Just let the conversation flow. You should not actually tell your chat-partner that you are underage until the chat has turned to areas of intimacy.   You should have the ability to discern when the time is right.

Once you have stated you are a minor, the predator may refuse to talk to you anymore. If this happens, be persistent. Contact him or her every day. Explain that you mistyped your age as 14 when you are really 18, because the 4 is really close to the 8 on the number keypad, or because the the keyboard on your I-phone is really really small.   Emphasize that you are 18 or 19, have graduated from high school, but that you still live at home with your parents and you hate it, because you are in college and can't afford to move out. Emphasize that you need their friendship, because without having contact with them, you just aren't sure what you might do. If the person still refuses to chat with you, don't worry about that. We will have their screen name and the IP address by then, and we will just assign another chatter to be their friend.

In pretending to be under-age, you should be cautious in the subjects you talk about. For instance, political discussions are to be avoided. You can't say things like "I voted for Al Gore" without giving your age away. You should be alert to such signs from your chat friend, especially if he or she is saying that they are also 14 or 16 years old. Remember, you can never believe what a person writes on the internet.

Ultimately the goal is to set up a place where the two of you can meet and physically explore your relationship. We have places already reserved for such getaways, through several motel chains. But you don't have to worry, you don't have to go there yourself. You do not put yourself in any danger at all. This is where Law Enforcement personnel take over.

Applications are currently being taken, so please keep our program in mind in your local units.

Law enforcement personnel should remember the following:

At the meeting place, it is important to make sure the predator actually goes inside the doorway of the motel room.   The identify of the person should be confirmed, by referring to them as their screen name.

Once inside the room, the arrest can be executed. Be sure to show your badge, identify yourself, and produce the handcuffs simultaneously.

In the event that the predator/perp also produces a badge and identifies him or herself as an officer, the standing rule is that whoever gets the handcuffs fastened and the Miranda rights spoken first wins. The arrest is then, of course, nullified.

Thanks for attending our workshop today on Project ENTRAP. We are sure it will be a great success.

(apologies to Rupert)

And later, the Texas Stampede was GREAT!

Dallas CAC Workshops

2010-08-12T13:04:00.002-04:00

My favorite workshop was on Wednesday:

Plumbing the Depths of Desperation: a Fourth Amendment Game Show and Musical Review

presented by Steve DeBrota, Tom Keith, Damon King, Michelle Morgan-Kelly

The presenters will use a competitive game show format with musical interludes to discuss search and seizure issues in child exploitation cases. Topics will include the legal and tactical issue surrounding consent searches, staleness, investigative strategies, interviewing, Miranda rights, and other search issues. The presenters are three senior ASUA’s, one of whom possesses musical talent. The other two are guys. The audience members will be forced to participate in the hope of winning “valuable” prizes. This presentation is not for the faint of heart or those with no sense of humor.

Because, you know, there's no reason not to have a sense of humor when you are talking about citizens' basic Constitutional rights.

It's Conference Time

2010-08-09T21:34:00.005-04:00

Having fun at the Dallas CAC CACC today. That's not baby-talk. That's the US Dept of Justice's Dallas Children's Advocacy Center Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas .

"The conference is conducted for the sole purpose of providing training to only those people employed by governmental agencies or nonprofit agencies in the fields of law enforcement, prosecution, child protective services, social work, children’s advocacy, therapy, probation and medicine who work directly with child victims of crime."

So, if you don't work in one of those agencies, you can't go. (Why would you want to? Perhaps it would be enlightening for a family defense lawyer to attend.)

The program shows a busy schedule with workshops and computer labs and case studies dealing with capturing a child abuser. Some of the case studies outlined are horrendous, and investigating such cases is not a job that I would want.

Many of the workshops have interesting titles, like
"How is the Recession Effecting Child Abuse?"
and
"How Not To Help the Defense Attorney in Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Or How to Make Friends with the Fox in the Hen House (When You Are The Hen)".

Many others involve using the internet and social networking sites to trap the perpetrator:
"Facebook: Working with Law Enforcement"
"Google: Working with Law Enforcement"
"Working with Yahoo! on Child Exploitation Investigations"
and
"GoDaddy.com: Unlocking the Information Available through Registrars"

So, all you predators out there, don't think you are not being watched.   (And probably a lot of non-predatory people too, no doubt.)

There are some workshops on interviewing child victims:
"They’re Just Not That Into You: How to Connect with and Interview Hard to Reach Children"
and
"When Faith Hurts: Overcoming Spirituality Based Blocks and Problems Before, During and After the Forensic Interview" (Will the topic of the FLDS raid be brought up here?)

There are none that list a practicum, and none of the descriptions state that "adult actors will portray child victims", as is the case in a lot of the forensic interview workshops given by the National Children's Advocacy Center or the National Child Protection Training Center. These are the types of workshops attended by expert forensic interviewers at regional CAC's, people like Suzi Thorne of the Tonya Craft case (see William L Anderson's blog).

However, there is one called "Mock Trial of a Child Sexual Abuse Case".

I only am curious as to who might be among the potential cast of adult actors portraying children, if any, and if I might recognize one of them. After all, one woman we know mentioned on a messaging service today that she was "Hitting the road again!" and the timing is especially notable, but perhaps merely coincidental.

And, while staying true to its intent of protecting children in the vast majority of its subjects, there are some workships that are directed toward the investigating professional, in order to prevent job fatigue and burn-out. That is totally understandable, and I would think, necessary, for mental health and law enforcement personnel who focus solely on these types of crimes.

But the one I'd really like to attend? It's not about protecting children, or presenting your best prosecutorial case.   It's the one about protecting the policeman's career. It's called

"Facebook, MySpace and My Police Job".
Christopher Livingston

This workshop should be attended by every law enforcement officer who uses social networking sites. It will provide a brief overview of recent cases and laws concerning the use, and potential pitfalls, of social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace; how plaintiff's lawyers and defense counsel are using the posted information; and finally, the potential impact on an officer's career.

Christopher Livingston is a member of the Lyon, Gorsky, Haring & Gilbert law firm of Dallas. Their prime clientele are the various Police Associations of Texas cities, and the Texas Rangers. They represent policemen in labor disputes, civil actions - say when a citizen includes them personally in a lawsuit claiming brutality, or maybe even in their own personal divorces, or when a fellow in blue is investigated by Internal Affairs.

I wonder if he will discuss blogging as well as social networking? After all, since I have a blog, I'd be interested in that.

See y'all! (Wave!) Look for me! I'll be the one with the leopard printed briefcase and a big smile, shaking everybody's hands at the Sheraton. Wearing Sandals, of course.

Where's my Monk-sized bottle of hand sanitzer?

Into Spin Air

2010-07-31T22:37:00.005-04:00

Rush Transcript. Subject to Revision.

Scooper Vander's son:   Welcome to 180! Good evening, I'm Scooper Vander's son, and I have dazzling blue eyes. Tonight's guest is award winning author John Krackore. We're discussing Warren Jeffs' conviction reversal. Hi, John, how are you tonight?

John Krackore:   Scooper, it's good to be back with you! I still have a hard time believing that the Utah Supreme Court reversed Jeffs' conviction on such a flimsy technicality. Hold on, just a minute, while I get my oxygen tank hooked up. The altitude's really high here in Boulder.

Scooper:   That's all right John, you get yourself set up there with that tank, and we'll talk more about Jeffs. We've covered him for years, this self-proclaimed prophet who likes to run the lives of his followers, down to the clothes they wear. A regular theocrat, this fellow.

John Krackore:   Yes, his followers are all hypnotized by him, and simply are unable to think for themselves. Especially about important things like marriage. Jeffs forced this 14-year old girl to marry her cousin, and he should be in prison for the rest of his life because of that.

Scooper:   Now, John, we know you are somewhat of an expert on these people, right?

John Krackore:   Oh, yes, I have studied them for years. Back when I was working on my book, Into the Wild (holds up a copy of book), I traveled to Mexico and Colorado and Arizona and Canada and Alaska, retracing McCandless' steps. I was out in the Arizona desert burning my cash, and ran out of water, and this girl in a prairie dress saved me by leading me to her house. Her family had been ex-communicated by Warren Jeffs. Hold on, I need to change the oxygen tank again.

Scooper:   Ok, John. So these people are in Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Canada and Alaska?

John Krackore:   No, no, they are not in Alaska -- that I know of. And I have been studying these fundamentalists ever since. But then, I got an assignment from Outside magazine, to climb Mt. Everest. I sure am glad I was assigned, because it was a $70,000 trip. Then of course, the climb went very badly. When I got disoriented and confused due to lack of oxygen, I almost fell off the side of the mountain. After I left Beck Weathers out in the cold to die, I was making my way down to safety, and I stopped. I heard a voice that said "You Must Stop Warren Jeffs." Of course, I left that part out of my book, Into Thin Air (holds up copy of book). And I still need supplemental oxygen every day. I get disoriented real easy.

Scooper:   So do you believe that God spoke to you on that mountain?

John Krackore:   Well Scooper, I don’t know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact I don’t know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of unexpected beauty.
But then I wrote my book "Under the Banner of Heaven" (holds up copy of book). This book really isn't about Warren Jeffs himself, but it does talk a lot about the Lafferty brothers, murders, and religious fundamentalists. And you know, Faith is the very antithesis of reason. So reasonable people cannot exhibit faith. And of course, I'm a very reasonable person. Hold on, Scooper, I need to change out the oxygen tank. It's empty. Oh. No, it's not, look at that, it's still half full. My mistake.

Scooper:   So John, you continue to study these fundamentalists?

John Krackore:   Oh yes, I am constantly in Utah and Arizona helping the victims of this sick, sick man, Warren Jeffs. On one of my visits to Colorado City, Arizona, I broke a tooth, and was sent to Dr. Fischer's office up in Utah. He did a magnificent job on the crown, and whitened my teeth, too. (flashes a sparkly grin) See how white they are? I go to him for all my dental work.

And he told me all kinds of history on Warren Jeffs. You know, Jeffs is responsible for the death of Dr. Fischer's father. And there have been a lot of babies killed down there in Colorado City/Hildale, because of birth defects due to marrying close relatives. And they routinely abuse their children to the extent that many bones are broken, at unusually high numbers. And they make their little children work at hard labor, in the gardens, and then when they get older they have to learn construction jobs and operate heavy machinery by age 8.

I even went to Texas to testify before a Subcommittee about how dangerous Jeffs is, in order to change the marriage age in Texas from 14 to 16, because we figured that's why they were establishing a community in Texas. So they could get married at a young age.

And he forces these little girls to get married, like this poor Elissa, who was brutally raped by her teenaged husband. Jeffs is responsible for that, and he should be in prison for life. So I just don't understand it when the Utah Supreme Court says that he should get a new trial, based on a little technicality of the law. Even if her husband was never charged with the crime of rape until after Warren Jeffs was convicted, Jeffs was his accomplice. This man is a really, really dangerous person.

Scooper:   And John, you and Dr. Fischer help victims?

John Krackore:   Oh, yes, through the Diversity Foundation, we have helped many Lost Boys, who get kicked out of their homes for "not following the rules", but really only because Warren Jeffs said they had to leave, and they have no place to go. I serve as a mentor to some of them, and I even adopted one. I don't guess it's an "official" adoption or anything like that, there weren't any legal papers. I just took this teenaged boy from Utah to Colorado to come live with me.

And there's a new documentary, called "Sons of Perdition" that talks about some of these Lost Boys, and I'm in it. (holds up DVD) Ok, now I need to change that tank.

Scooper:   John, then you are appalled by this recent legal decision?

John Krackore:    Of course I am. You just have no idea how evil this Warren Jeffs man is. They have ceremonies in their church buildings and temples, and we even have recordings of them. Crying babies, praying, singing. Remember, from the raid of the ranch in Texas, there was truckloads of property taken from all those people, and lots and lots of evidence of just how evil they all are. We even have a tape recording of when the water backed up into the baptismal font after a wedding ceremony, and they had to use a plunger to get the drain clear. There is all this praying and singing going on, and you can hear every movement and grunt of the workers.  It is disgusting. We have sex tapes too, but they don't even take off all their clothes. I have another tape, oh, wait -- that's my copy of Paris Hilton, sorry.

Scooper:   Well, John, our time is up. Thanks so much for being here, you seem to be doing very well with the chronic oxygen deprivation.

John Krackore: Thanks for having me, Scooper. Oh, and don't forget, my friend Sean Penn made my book into a movie. Into the Wild (holds up DVD). And remember, the FLDS are evil, evil people.

Scooper:   and Thanks, America, for watching me, Scooper Vander's son, and 180 - all the news I'm passionate about, for the world I think should exist.

Stale Breadcrumbs

2010-07-18T19:13:00.001-04:00

I was doing some spring cleaning (yes, I know it is summer already), and ran across some notes I had made in April, 2008, shortly after the YFZ Ranch raid occurred. This came from a Texas attorney's blog post.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Law and Religion

Maybe it's something in the water down here in Texas, but there's another major conflict between law and religion brewing. It involves the children from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) temple in Eldorado, Texas. In an act that any good fascist would be proud of, Texas child protective services (CPS) swooped in an took all 400 or so children away from their homes.

The FLDS are polygamists which isn't really the source of the blow up. The problem is that they marry girls just entering puberty to older men who then proceed to have sex with them as part of a marital relationship. It has all the makings of two competing state interests. On one hand, society has this problem with older men having sex with minors. On the other hand, this is their religion, the parents of the minors are obviously on board with the situation and view it as standard religious practice.

Now it turns out that the Texas legislature upped the age at which parents can consent for minors to marry (from 14 to 16) specifically targeting this group . If it could be proven in a court of law, the acts of the Texas legislature would be considered a major constitutional violation.

(emphasis added).

Normally, when I quote someone, I give full credit with a link to the originating page and the author. However, in this case, the link goes to a blog that has now been made private. So, I will respect that privacy.

But that's one attorney's perspective.

An Example for the FLDS

2010-07-01T22:53:00.000-04:00

From Colorado Springs, Colorado

Colorado Springs Fellowship Church Files $75M Claim Against Federal Government, Citing Grand Jury Abuse Related to Religious Discimination, Freedom of Association

The Colorado Springs Fellowship Church's claim cites specific incidents where Assistant United States Attorney Matthew T. Kirsch, and FBI Agents John Smith and Robert Moen used the power of the grand jury process to selectively and maliciously pursue the Colorado Springs Fellowship Church, its Pastor and its members during the course of a criminal investigation of a local business. The Church and its members claim that 1st and 4th Amendment rights were violated.

About Lifestyles

2010-06-29T01:01:00.001-04:00

Mostly about polygamy. (A somewhat rambly post.)

I found a couple of interesting articles on the subject recently, the first one by "Markham" at Life On My Terms:Polygamy Abolished Federally (Mormons Abolished in Missouri).

Markham asks, "If marriage is administered by the states, how could the federal government outlaw it?"

I recall a protest sign reading, “I don’t object to YOUR seven wives. Don’t object to MY marriage!” held aloft by homosexuals in favour of loosening up the rules on marriage. No, today’s focus is not on Prop. 8 but rather on polygamy—specifically, why was the abolishment of polygamy a federal affair, when under all other circumstances, states are allowed to administer marriage for themselves? . . .

Yeah, we’ve had this talk: administrating marriage doesn’t fall within the purview of the federal government, according to our Constitution. However, we’ve also already pointed out a place where the U.S. Constitution isn’t worth beans… Washington D.C. (Okay, so that’s a bit of hyperbole.)

Congress passed a number of anti-polygamy laws, and the Supreme Court upheld them (e.g. the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862[1] and Reynolds v. United States[2]). The result of such laws included the denial of Utah’s statehood, escheat of church property, dis-incorporation of the church, and imprisonment of LDS church members.[3]

Why did Congress pass these laws? Doing a little research, it looks to me as though they were actually intended as persecution.

(emphasis added, and you'll have to go to the blog to look at the footnotes)

Markham apparently isn't a Mormon, although he says there are Mormons in his family. It's good to know that someone who isn't a Mormon can logically come to that conclusion. Yes, I say it was persecution, and yes, I do realize these laws have been upheld by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has therefore approved of religious persecution.

The other article is by Alan Rock Waterman, at his Pure Mormonism blog: Why I'm Abandoning Polygamy. Mr. Waterman IS a Mormon, of the LDS Salt Lake City variety. He states, "As for me, I’ve had a real paradigm shift in my thinking, and it came to me after reading a book by Richard and Pamela Price entitled Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy: How Men Nearest the Prophet Attached Polygamy to His Name in Order to Justify Their Own Polygamous Crimes." I may have to order that book, it looks very interesting and thought-provoking. I have no idea as to the accuracy of the book, but it certainly seems to be worth consideration.

As an LDS Salt Lake City variety Mormon, I've never really had a problem with polygamy, I accepted the concept according to the doctrines of the Church, and since I joined at some point after the 1890 Manifesto was issued, I've never really had to deal with the prospect of adding a sister-wife to our household.

And I am pretty much a "To each his own" kind of person.

Markham referred to a bumper sticker regarding gay marriage. I know a lesbian couple who refer to each other as "wives"; they were "married" in a "ceremony" and have a framed "marriage certificate" on their living room wall. The state in which they live does not recognize same-sex marriages, but that is where the ceremony took place. They have minor children (biological children of one wife, from a previous heterosexual marriage.) They run a day-care center, and the children they watch during the day are from same-sex households. I suppose this is good for the children, because it removes any confusion from seeing other children from families with a mommy and a daddy as opposed to two mommies or two daddies. They haven't been arrested for "purporting to be married." Their children haven't been taken away from them for "purporting to be married" or for their children being "groomed" for same-sex marriages. The person who performed their "wedding" has not been arrested for "performing an illegal ceremony". Their day care license has not been revoked for providing an unwholesome or immoral environment for minors.

If someone wants to live a gay lifestyle, I respect their choice to live as they wish, although nobody had better tell me that I must send my 14 year old son (if I had one) to Boy Scout overnight camp with a known homosexual camp leader, because he won't be going. Although I do know that being a homosexual does not necessarily mean that one is a predatory pedophile. We are talking about intellectual knowledge and emotional responses and a mother's protectiveness. Not all things are equal. (And neither would I send a 14 year old daughter to babysit at anyone's house where I perceived there to be a threat to her safety, regardless of their sexual orientation.)

If someone wants to live the plural lifestyle, I respect their choice to live as they wish.

If they want to live a plural lifestyle based on their religious beliefs, I respect that even more, because they are conforming their life to a set of beliefs to which they have committed themselves.

But, it's only okay to be tolerant of some people. Being a same-sex couple is OK. Being a FLDS polygamist is not.

Links and Thinks

2010-05-21T13:56:00.000-04:00

William L. Anderson, who has done an outstanding job of following the Tonya Craft railroading in Georgia, and deserves a Blogger of the Year award by whatever organization gives out those types of laudatory titles, posts today on "The Tonya Craft Trial and the Evisceration of the Rights of the Accused".

He quotes from Judge Andrew Napolitano: How the Government Breaks the Law.

Go Read.

Texas is Fooled Again - Updated

2010-05-14T00:14:00.004-04:00

What is it with Texans and older people claiming to be a 15 year old child - and them not being able to tell the difference?

From the Odessa American: Permian player is imposter.

Guerdwich Montimere, a 22-year-old naturalized citizen from Haiti, was arrested Tuesday for posing as a 16-year-old sophomore named Jerry Joseph and attending Permian High School. . . .

Montimere graduated from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 2007 after leading Dillard to the Class 5A state semifinal basketball game. Montimere then moved to Freeport, Ill., where he had signed a scholarship to play basketball at Highland Community College.

After a few months, he dropped out and moved back to Florida, Highland basketball coach Pete Norman told USA Today last week.

No one heard from Montimere until he moved to Odessa under the name Jerry Joseph in February 2009. He enrolled at Nimitz Junior High as a 15-year-old, claiming he was living with his half-brother Jabari Caldwell. Caldwell — who is not actually related to Montimere — was enrolled at UTPB on a basketball scholarship. Caldwell and Montimere were teammates at Dillard High School.

Caldwell moved back to Florida in the summer of 2009, and Montimere moved in with Permian basketball coach Danny Wright.

“He was a family member and that is devastating to my family,” Wright said. “This affected a lot of people. The whole school of Permian embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on everyone involved’s emotions.

“He has been lying to everyone, my God, what is up with that?” Wright said.

As a parent who has registered children for attendance in public schools, my first thought is, didn't the school require a birth certificate, custodial papers for the boy to show his "half-brother" was his legal guardian, and a vaccination record before they would enroll him?

And if the man pretending to be a 15-year-old boy didn't have those documents, why wasn't he reported to social services as an abandoned child, and thrown into foster care?

And how was the coach able to have this man, by then pretending to be 16 years old, move into his house, without becoming his legal guardian or foster parent? Didn't the coach have just a little inkling that maybe there was something fishy about this entire scenario?

It is a real shame that Montimere has hurt so many people by his actions. I mean, really. Permian High just might have to forfeit its season . (Although, there is a somewhat unbelievable explanation of a forged Haitian birth certificate and Montimere being able to enroll as a "homeless student" in that linked article from Austin. Maybe the coach just needed a good player.)

It's not like he caused over 460 people to be taken out of their homes and families separated, have their personal possessions stolen, er, seized, by government agents, and then have their personal documents strewn all over the internet.

And yet, in two weeks time, more is publicly known about Montimere than about Rozita Swinton, who also pretended to be a teenager in Texas. Montimere has been arrested. Rozita has not. She deceived and played on everyone's emotions. Her actions affected a lot of people. She lied to everyone, without one person in Texas saying "My God, what is up with that?" {OK, that's hyperbolic. I personally know of three.} But then, The Standard-Times reveals the shocking news yesterday that a mere 2 years later, "The call is now believed to have been a hoax."

And if Texas would use their available foster parents to provide homes for these apparently homeless and parentless kids they enroll in their schools, they could leave real families alone.

**UPDATE** (Saw this coming.)

Arrested Again.

This time for sexual assault. Seems like when he was pretending to be a 15 year old, he had a 15 year old girl friend.

She says, she and Montimer had sexual relations last August at her father's home in east Odessa.

Hope the coach doesn't have teen-aged daughters.

Help Bring Landon Weber Home

2010-05-06T21:13:00.004-04:00

Texas Takes Sick Children From their Parents.

CPS has found a new target segment of the children's population. Hospitalized Children. Those with serious illnesses, who NEED the interaction of their parents as often as possible.

Landon Weber has not had the privilege of seeing his parents since FEBRUARY of this year. This is the sixth day of MAY. His family's "Day in Court" is not scheduled until AUGUST. It's another example of how CPS tries to break family bonds - by not allowing contact during these horrendously long periods of time between court actions.

The story is lifted straight from flds.ws: ONLY MONEY WILL KEEP THE PREDATORS AWAY FROM THIS CHILD .

Friends and Family

HELP BRING HOME LANDON WEBER

Landon was born at 31 weeks, weighed 3 lbs., 1 oz. His lungs were undeveloped, had reflux problems, and had NEC (infections) several times that almost ended his life. He came home two months later. As he grew, it became apparent that he wasn’t developing normally. He continued to have infections and spent between several days and a week in hospitals.

Throughout, he saw Pulmonologists, Neurologists, Gastroenterologists. Because he didn’t sit up until he was fourteen months and crawl until he was eighteen months, doctors eventually suspected Cerebral Palsy. Through therapy three times a week, he walked with a walker. Because of his reflux, his gastroenterologist requested a G/J tube for supplemental feeding; he was also put on oxygen. Despite his limitations, Landon was a very active energetic boy playing.

He went through numerous tests and it was finally suspected he had a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy called Mitochondrial Disease.

His parents were given a list of 6 specialist around the country in that disease and they chose a doctor in Houston, Texas. She confirmed Mitochondrial Myopathy Complex III. It is a rare disease that most doctors could not diagnose under normal circumstances.

The family moved to Houston to be treated at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital on July 4, 2008. Between then and July, 2009, Landon and mom Jennifer spent a total of 30 days at home. He had numerous central line infections most happened while inpatient at the hospital, which resulted in surgery to replace them; he was on life support several times when he had sepsis infections. The doctor explained that the disease affects his organs to the point that his body needs oxygen to keep the organs healthy. The parents took turns staying at the hospital with Landon while the other parent stayed at home with their other two boys.

There was always conflict between the specialists and the other staff at the hospital treating him. Several of the Pediatricians and Nurses at the hospital disagreed with Dr. Koenig’s treatment plan. Many times the other Dr.s felt that Dr. Koenig would overstep her boundaries. To make a long story short, someone at the hospital made an anonymous phone call to Child Protective Services saying that Jennifer was causing the line infections and making her son sick (Munchausens by proxy).Despite having all the documents and Physicians backing her up, They removed her from the hospital at the end of September and took her to court. After a three-day hearing, the judge said he wanted grandparents to be foster parents and live with Dad(James)and Mom(Jennifer) while they investigated. The parents were supposed to get a two hour visitation each week, Psychological evaluations (which indicated neither had any disorders); CPS said if the tests were clear, Landon could come home. Landon did come home, for a single full day. They changed their mind the next day and moved him to Texas Children’s Hospital for a complete "re-evaluation" of his condition. Doctors there took him off all medicine and oxygen and ran tests and said they proved he was perfectly healthy - despite not being specialists in the disease he was diagnosed with. At the last court hearing CPS then accused the grandparents of a new term the DA thought up, Medical Child Abuse and removed the grandparents from Landon’s care. In order to reduce the cost of Living, and to help pay for the Legal costs, the family has been living with family and friends . There will be a jury trial in August to remove permanent custody of Landon from his family. As of April, the parents have not seen Landon for more than a day since February.

Fox News Houston has been following this case since September and has uncovered an identical case; there are now 3 identical cases in Houston.

Lobbyists in Austin have been following CPS procedures for several years and it is well known in Houston that CPS removes innocent mothers from chronically ill children so they can place them in foster homes that do not know how to care for the child. The lobbyists have involved the Federal Liberation Defense Society and we now have added Criminal Lawyers and medical experts who will help defend the parents and grandparents.

It will cost $15,000, for the medical expert to testify in August and about $50,000 to take this to the federal courts.

PLEASE, if you can spare just $5.00, $10.00, $20.00 or more, it will help us to get the Expert witness and the Attorneys the help they need to bring our precious son home! You can donate through the paypal account or you can send it directly to our Legal Defense Account. Thank you so much in anything that anyone can do to help us bring home our Little Boy!

Below is the link directly to paypal.
PAYPAL DONATION FOR LAND WEBER

To send Money directly to the Account:
Landon Weber Fund
c/o Chris Branson
5380 West 34th Street #221
Houston, Texas 77092

PEOPLE,
The ONLY way we’re going to stop this wholesale racket that CPS and CASA have going is to take on worthy cases and financially support these innocent parents. A jury is going to decide if he goes home or not, but if the parents can’t level the playing field with the weight of the State of Texas on them, this boy will be in the care and protection of a CPS "Team" that has already buried 4 of the children in their "Care" in less than 2 years.

This effort goes beyond Landon, there are two more boys waiting on the auction block, and with an un-ending supply of new children with this disease being supplied to them by Texas Children’s Hospital on demand, there are going to be more and more deaths until the medical profession at TCH wakes up to its incompetence and failure to protect its patients.

By saving Bryson from the predators, we can save untold numbers of children with this disease, not only in Texas, but around the Nation.

If you have a blog, feel free to post this plea. These folks need our help, and we simply can’t wait for somebody else to have to undergo this abuse by a group of people who wouldn’t know a child, even when they step on them.

Pay pal is convenient, but they charge a fee. If you can, mail your donation to Chris in Houston, and 100% of your donation will go directly into Landon’s Legal Fund.

(Read more about Landon's story by going to the flds.ws blog and type "Landon" in the search box. Landon's parents and grandparents have left comments that I encourage all to consider.)

Website for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.

And, since this has been described as a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy, I found this reference page on the Muscular Dystrophy Association site: Mitochondrial myopathies . There's a link on that page that says "MDA is Here to Help You"

We all know that Jerry Lewis is the MDA National Chairman, and hosts their annual telethon.

Well, JERRY, TEXAS IS TRYING TO STEAL "YOUR" KIDS. WHERE ARE YOU?

(picture from http://www.mda.org/media/photos_logos.html)

How Texas "Protects" Its 15-Year-Olds

2010-05-02T23:41:00.003-04:00

From Grits: A viral video event waiting to happen: Alleged beating of 15-year-old by 8 Houston cops caught on video;

From the Houston Chronicle: FBI wants copy of HPD teen arrest video

The FBI has asked for a copy of a surveillance videotape that allegedly shows Houston police officers beating and kicking a handcuffed, then-15-year-old boy lying on the ground and not resisting arrest — footage that Mayor Annise Parker called disturbing Thursday.

Yes, I can hear some of you out there saying, well he was a burglary suspect and if he hadn't been out there stealing, he wouldn't have got beat up.

He ran, he surrendered, they handcuffed him, they had him on the ground, not resisting, and they beat him up. Eight police officers. One kid. He was 15 years old. (He has turned 16 since this March 24 event.) I am not saying "allegedly" beat him up. The Mayor has seen the video and called it "disturbing". And maybe there were some of the eight officers who never touched the boy, but there is no mention of them interceding on his behalf, either.

The eight police officers have been suspended pending the investigation. With Pay. And the Houston Police Officer's Union will provide them with legal counsel, as needed - in their words "A highly competent and responsive staff of legal professionals", on call 24/7 for emergencies.

And so, the investigation will go on. And indeed, that video will be "viral", as Scott at Grits put it, when it is released.

What bothers me the most about all of this is not that the officers might have been a little more careful if they had known security video cameras were rolling.

Of course, that the incident even occurred bothers me greatly.

What particularly bothers me is that they didn't get this kid medical treatment. His mother took him to the hospital when she came to pick him up. Continuing from the Chronicle article:

. . . but his mother, Joyce Holley, said she was shocked by his injuries when she picked him up from the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center. She said he underwent 12 hours of treatment at West Houston Medical Center. Joyce Holley said she wants the video made public. “I wouldn't mind letting everybody see what they did to my son,” she said Thursday.

She said her son's nose was fractured, he had multiple bruises and was limping after the beating. She began screaming when she saw her son's injuries at the detention center, she said, and staff asked what the problem was.
“I said, ‘My son comes out of this place looking like this and y'all didn't call me? Y'all didn't tell me anything?'

The article doesn't say how long the suspect was in police custody. It might have been an hour, it might have been overnight. Why didn't they get him medical treatment for his injuries? And, what's the problem, ma'am - doesn't he look okay to you?

Yep, Texas knows what's "in the best interest" of its 15-year-olds.

The New Book - Surviving the FLDS

2010-04-30T22:51:00.003-04:00

Neatly tucked away between her book giveaways, Brooke Adams has this item posted on her blog: "Speaking of Books". Carolyn Jessop's new book will be released on May 4, entitled Triumph: Life After the Cult -- A Survivor's Lessons. Hurry and buy your copy now, as Carolyn and co-writer Laura Palmer have proved they know how to move a best-seller. Amazon has the list price already slashed from $25.99 to $17.15, so it's a real bargain - get it while it's hot.

Brooke quotes the jacket blurb at her site, and it includes the following:

[O]n April 3, 2008, . . . the state of Texas, acting on a tip from a young girl who’d called a hotline alleging abuse, staged a surprise raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a sprawling, 1700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas, to which the jailed FLDS “prophet” Warren Jeffs had relocated his sect’s most “worthy” members three years earlier.

And I just wanted to remind Carolyn's readers that THERE WAS NO "tip from a young girl who’d called a hotline alleging abuse".

THERE WAS NO "young girl who’d called a hotline alleging abuse".

THERE WAS NO young girl who alleged abuse.

THERE WAS a "tip" from a 33 year old woman in Colorado Springs, Colorado who was not a resident of the YFZ Ranch and who was not a member of the FLDS sect, who'd called a hotline alleging abuse happening to her hundreds of miles away from where she was located when she placed the calls, and she couldn't even remember the name of her alleged husband in order to report the abuse.

If you can't find facts in the jacket blurb, why would you expect to find facts within the book?

But, happy reading.

Journalism

2010-04-05T13:10:00.001-04:00

From the Plural Life's Weekly Twitter Updates:

•This was not an April Fool’s joke. Shurtleff on City Weekly: "http://utahag.blogspot.com/2010/03/salt-lake-city-weekly-tabloid.html"

A link to Utah AG Mark Shurtleff's blog. I am not believing what I am reading. Poor Mr. Shurtleff is appalled at the quality of journalism in today's America, and complains about The City Weekly.

He states:

The weekly tabloid should dust off a copy of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics and take a look at its own practices before throwing stones. Two of the main standards in the SPJ Code are “Seek truth and report it” and “Be Accountable.”

Apparently, journalists should only hold to these standards when reporting about Mr. Shurtleff. For, I don't recall Mr. Shurtleff objecting to the many misrepresentations made in the media regarding the FLDS membership, or the raid of the YFZ Ranch two years ago. Broken bones, child abuse, sex abuse, ritual abuse, child slavery, deprivation of education, whatever kind of abuse you want to think of, go ahead and say it out loud and report it as fact.

And I don't recall Mr. Shurtleff being too concerned about the consistently negative reporting of the The Eldorado Success which highlighted gossip and rumors, hearsay and speculation, concerning the FLDS, either. But of course, that newspaper had praise for Mr. Shurtleff in his efforts to help Texas drive the FLDS out of the area.

Seek truth and report it.

Right.

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh

2010-02-17T00:53:00.002-05:00

From scroom.com:

A truck driver would amuse himself by running over lawyers. Whenever he saw a lawyer walking down the side of the road he would swerve to hit him, enjoy the loud, satisfying "THUMP", and then swerve back onto the road.

(at this point some of you are probably wondering how the trucker could distinguish the lawyers from the humans. Obviously he saw the trail of slime they left!)

One day, as the truck driver was driving along he saw a priest hitchhiking. He thought he would do a good turn and pulled the truck over.

He asked the priest, "Where are you going, Father?"

"I'm going to the church 5 miles down the road," replied the priest.

"No problem, Father! I'll give you a lift. Climb in the truck." The happy priest climbed into the passenger seat and the truck driver continued down the road.

Suddenly the truck driver saw a lawyer walking down the road and instinctively he swerved to hit him. But then he remembered there was a priest in the truck with him, so at the last minute he swerved back away, narrowly missing the lawyer. However even though he was certain he missed the lawyer, he still heard a loud "THUD". Not understanding where the noise came from he glanced in his mirrors and when he didn't see anything, he turned to the priest and said, "I'm sorry Father. I almost hit that lawyer."

"That's okay", replied the priest. "I got him with the door!"

The Texas Rangers have been Sold!

2010-01-24T14:21:00.001-05:00

Ryan group agrees deal to buy Texas Rangers

Who would have thought this was even possible?

(Granted, it would be much, much funnier if the headline had read "Hilderbran group agrees deal to buy Texas Rangers". )

It's a JOKE, people.

Conspiracy Theories and the FLDS raid (updated)

2010-01-20T01:41:00.002-05:00

There are theories, and then there are theories.

First, there's syndicated radio talker Mike Malloy on the attempted bombing of the Detroit flight:

Now, the inquiry, the questions are being raised as to whether or not this is not a deliberate attempt to embarrass... ah, that's not quite a strong enough word, but let's start there, embarrass the Obama Administration - that there are forces at work in this country, and I believe this as surely as I put on my right shoe before my left - that there are forces alive who are very active, very wealthy in this country, at work in this country that want Obama to fail no matter what and the idea of killing 200 to 300 people on a jetliner in order to make the point is nothing. It means nothing.

We kill that many in a week in our adventures around the world in places where we're bombing where we shouldn't even be. So, apparently, there's some investigation, I don't know who's going to do the investigating, lot of questions to be answered.

My gut feeling is this was deliberate, this was deliberately done in order to put the Obama Administration in such a vice grip, that it's impossible to get anything done, to raise so much fear, this is what Republicans do, this is what they do...

and then, there's Ronnie Lee Owens:

Fraud suspect in Miss. claims he can stop Obama overthrow plot, Mormon uprising if he's freed

Associated Press Writer
10:52 AM EST, January 8, 2010

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — If Ronnie Lee Owen is telling the truth, he can save President Barack Obama from a racist plot and stop a Mormon revolution, if police would let him out of jail.

The 41-year-old was arrested in March 2009 after a traffic stop in Biloxi, Miss.

Authorities haven't freed him. He goes on trial this week on federal fraud charges.

Pretty far out.

And then, there are people who say that I myself am a "conspiracy theorist", concerning the raid on the FLDS ranch near Eldorado, Texas.

Now, really. I have never outlined a conspiracy theory of who did what when in order to set up the raid.

However, there are known facts that have been reported concerning the raid that cause me to question its legitimacy.

There is the reported fact that it took five full days to pull together a law enforcement team to investigate a complaint of domestic violence in Texas, what should have been a fairly routine procedure. From March 29th to April 3rd, 2008, law enforcement put into action their "contingency plan" they had been developing for months and years. Armored Personnel Carrier. Guns. Protected Air Space. And then they took custody of hundreds of children and tried unsuccessfully to keep them. And they took all kinds of personal property, none of which has been returned to the owners.

There is the reported fact that Rozita Swinton has a long established relationship with at least two police officers in the Colorado Springs Police Department. (Hugh McBryde: Cry for Help and IA investigation concluded ) That when arrested in Castle Rock, Colorado in 2005 for false reporting of a crime, she was extraordinarily chauffered by a Castle Rock police officer back to the Colorado Springs substation located across the parking lot from her reported employment address, at the request of the Colorado Springs Police Department . Part of the CSPD is the special Sex Crimes Against Children unit. The unit partners with Safe Passages , which provides needed services to abused children. Safe Passages is the Western Regional Children's Advocacy Center , a federally funded agency under the Department of Justice , which provides professional training for advocates in thirteen western states. (Advocates are specially trained professionals who work with children and adolescents at organizations such as Dawson Place in Everett, Snohomish Co, Washington. and Sarah's House , in Kingman, Arizona.)

There is the reported fact that Rozita Swinton was in contact with anti-FLDS activist Flora Jessop and anti-FLDS private detective Sam Brower prior to the raid, and that subsequent contact was made with Texas law enforcement by ~~both~~ Jessop ~~and Brower~~. ****UPDATE: An anonymous commenter questions my source on this statement. From a Mohave Court filing stored at Brooke Adam's Plural Life blog:

On March 31, 2008, Flora Jessop, . . . called Investigator Sam Brower and hooked up a three-way telephone conversation with Rozita Swinton (claiming to be "Sarah Barlow"). Brower promptly took the telephone number of Swinton's phone and provided it to Gary Engels, the Mohave County, Arizona District Attorney investigator. In that telephone conversation, Ms. Swinton was telling Brower and Flora Jessop that she was being taken to Texas. Again, both Brower and Engels were in regular contact with Texas authorities.

Indeed, it does not specify that Brower contacted Texas authorities after this call, only that he was in "regular contact" with them. Comment therefore stricken.

Flora Jessop first told reporters that she was contacted by Rozita only after the raid began. However, the raid commenced on April 3, 2008, and the document quoted above reveals a March 31st date. From The Deseret News, Ben Winslow's article:

Jessop spoke to the woman pretending to be the teenage girl in numerous phone calls, but when her story started having holes in it, she went to Texas authorities with recordings of the calls.

Flora that says here that in "working with the Texas authorities, it was the result of her calls with that woman that they were able to trace and find out who it was." -- (which Mr. Brower and Mr. Engels could very well have accomplished on March 31st.)
END OF UPDATE****
.
Additionally, that a search was made of what is reported to be Rozita Swinton's apartment in Colorado Springs, at an address which is not listed to be her residence in the Colorado Springs Search Warrant. That cell phones and computers and peripherals which are reported to belong to Rozita Swinton were seized and transported out of the state of Colorado to the state of Texas, at which place they are still held, as far as is known by the general public. These items were taken from that apartment which is not listed as her residence on the search warrant.

Rozita's cases have been in Colorado courts recently, and pending is a probation revocation hearing . Now, what happens to Rozita, I don't care much about, except that Texas has no plans on charging her with anything for making a hoax phone call that caused hundreds of children to be taken away from the families and homes abruptly and traumatically and for no good reason. She's going to get away with it, and there is a reason for it.

I am more interested in that reason. Unfortunately, I am not the one who will ultimately discover it. It is up to some interested investigative journalist to tackle, or for the FLDS to hire a tenacious private detective of their own. I don't think we have any good and interested investigative journalists in this generation. So I hope the FLDS has hired more than one investigator.

If it is a conspiracy theory to think that Law Enforcement in Texas knew before they entered the YFZ ranch that the complaint calls were a prank, a hoax, or not true, then yes. It is my opinion that at least one of them knew. It might have been a full-fledged "set up" between a couple of different agencies. Or it might have been an effort by anti-FLDS activists working outside of any official agency. At the very least, it is my opinion that Rozita did not act alone. Nonetheless, I expect Law Enforcement to perform due diligence, and to obey the same laws everyone else is expected to follow, and to uphold our Constitution. (And yes, I expect followers of religions to obey their local civil laws, too, civil disobedience aside.)

As far as conspiracy theories go, I think I've got a firmer footing than the first two mentioned in this post.
It is not because I believe in a grand conspiracy that I want the facts known. It is because if the facts are not uncovered, any "different" group of people in this country is in jeopardy.

And then, you don't even have to be "different".

Quote of the Day

2010-01-07T23:42:00.000-05:00

(a bit late, as it's from Dec. 29, 2009.)

Attorney Michael Piccarreta:

"The stink of Texas is not just the stink of the evidence; it's once you get the stink on you, what else does it taint?" Piccarreta said. "The Texas authorities are going to have to come to Arizona and answer for their behavior before a neutral judge."

from Dave Hawkins, Special to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: Jeffs attorney slowly following the money

Happy Harvey and the FLDS

2009-12-30T21:25:00.000-05:00

I saw this article the other day (Dec 26): Wichita Falls Times Record: Lawmaker not fazed

Trish Choate reported:

Hate mail from a polygamist sect makes West Texas lawmaker Harvey Hilderbran happy and proud.

The state representative is probably in for more feedback from members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He authored new laws in 2005 to send a message to those who built and inhabit a small FLDS city in his district: Don’t mess with Texas.

The trials of 10 men from the Yearning for Zion Ranch compound near Eldorado are putting to test Hilderbran’s laws. But the Kerrville Republican already knew he wasn’t a favorite of the usually reclusive sect members who seek, for purity’s sake, to keep themselves separate from the world.

“They pray against me all the time,” Hilderbran said with a chuckle. “I just couldn’t be more prouder of being their enemy. I’m going to protect girls.”

Chuckle, chuckle.

So communication regarding prayer is now considered "hate mail."

And Hilderbran couldn't be "more prouder" of his totally unnecessary legislation. The article states that because of Hilderbran's legislation, Allan Keates was sentenced to 13 more years in prison that he would have received under the old laws. The twenty years allowed under the old laws would have been quite sufficient, thank you. (The article also states that the new laws allow for a life sentence for bigamy. How ludicrous is that?)

Hilderbran is happy and proud, and he is going to protect little girls. That's why, during the committee hearing on his legislation, he emphasized how harmful it was for 14 year olds to be married, and how good it would be for Texas society in general if the marriage age was raised.

Oh, but that's not what he said. He said it was a bad thing for 14 year old FLDS girls to be married. It was harmful for virtuous FLDS girls to be "forced" into marriage, but he didn't mention all those pregnant 14 year old Texas girls whose parents "forced" them to marry the baby's father, regardless of the father's age. And occasionally, he claims it's not about religion.

Be Happy, Harvey. You make us all proud.

Chuckle. Chuckle.

The Status of Marriage in Texas

2009-11-19T13:34:00.000-05:00

It's currently banned. Period.

It has been since the adoption of a Texas Constitutional Amendment in 2005. Texas has put itself out of the marriage business.

Texas Constitution.

Sec. 32. MARRIAGE. . . .

(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.

See Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages at the Ft Worth Star-Telegram.

Expert Witnesses and such

2009-11-18T23:09:00.003-05:00

Modern Pharisee points to a new filing in the Arizona courts, regarding Expert Witnesses.

The Motion To Determine Nature, Scope and Extent of Proposed Expert Testimony, in the State of Arizona vs Warren Steed Jeffs, brings to the attention of the court the legal principles involved in what constitutes an expert witness, and requests an Evidentiary Hearing. The State wants to call several witnesses as "experts" on the FLDS religion, mainly Becky Musser, Carolyn Jessop and Richard Holm.

I found interesting these statements regarding Becky Musser on page 3.

The State apparently wishes to use her an "expert" in matters FLDS. However, from her witness interview, it appears that the bulk of her "expert" testimony revolves around the bitterness that members of her family share about the removal of her mother and her sisters from their father, after the mother's claims of abuse against the father.

I (we, the general public) have been led to believe, through various media reports, books and blogs, that the FLDS women are totally subjugated and oppressed -- that FLDS women are repeatedly abused by their husbands, and that they have no recourse within the religion -- that if they go to their religious leaders (all men) to complain, that they are just told to "keep sweet".

I do not know Becky Musser's story.

But, apparently from the court-ordered interview(s) of Ms. Musser by the defense counsel, the source of her family's bitterness is that her mother complained to the FLDS leadership regarding abuse by her husband. Subsequently, the husband/father was removed from the family.

The mother complained. She felt empowered and free enough to do this.

Action was taken. The abusive person was removed from the family.

Doesn't sound much like "Keep sweet," to me.

Protestors at the Courthouse

2009-11-09T23:58:00.002-05:00

Two brave Texans stand up against a judicial travesty.

Trish Choate, at the San Angelo Standard-Times reports on the sentencing hearing today:

Monday morning, two men stood outside the courtroom, holding up protest signs underneath clouds threatening rain.

Dr. Stephen H. Smith of San Angelo and his nurse said they were protesting in support of the FLDS.

This is not big news to Trish Choate. Those sentences are buried way down into the article.

But it is big news to me.

Matthew Waller, of the same newspaper, followd up later with this report:

On Monday, however, the day of the sentencing, two protesters added to the mix, holding two poster board signs on wooden stakes, demonstrating the mix of strong opinions that the trial has caused throughout West Texas.

One sign carried a piece of a verse from Luke 6:37 of the Bible: “Judge not, lest you be not judged.”

The other said, “I wish Jesus hadn’t said that!”

The holder of the Bible verse sign, Stephen Smith, said he is a doctor from San Angelo who had examined some of the children taken from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints community called the Yearning for Zion Ranch in April of 2008.

“They were some of the happiest kids I’ve seen,” Smith said.

Smith said his protest was about freedom of religion for the FLDS members, saying that the laws governing sexual relationships should be subservient to religious and cultural teaching.

“God designed us to have children at that age,” Smith said of the age of certain minors. “Our Congress knows better than God,” he added sarcastically.

With regard to laws prohibiting adults from having sex with minors, Smith said, “Perhaps the law should be changed.”

Smith said the FLDS had been unfairly treated in light of other religious sexual controversies.

“How many Catholic priests do you think they have had in there?” he said, motioning to the nearby county jail.

Smith’s acquaintance Albert Myers, who was holding the other sign, said that passing judgment on Jessop was hypocritical.

“I think until we clean up our own mess, we shouldn’t be telling other cultures what they’re doing wrong,” Myers said. “You think our 16-year-olds aren’t having sex?”

Three cheers for Dr. Smith, and Mr. Myers.

Now that a real ~~Texan~~ American or two has shown up, maybe tomorrow there will be FOUR protestors in front of the Memorial Building in Eldorado.

It's Not About Religion?

2009-11-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

The HeadMistress, with her usual clarity: The Common Room

And another problem is that, though the state keeps insisting this isn't about religion, it's about breaking the law; in fact, the state keeps putting the religion on trial and the judge lets the state's attorneys do that. Brooke reports:
The state used Musser, who was married at age 19 to former FLDS prophet Rulon T. Jeffs when he was 83,to explain the importance of family records in the FLDS faith and how the prophet is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of those records.
But, of course, she talked about much more. Defense attorney Mark Stevens objected to much of Musser had to say as irrelevant to the state’s case against Jessop, but was overruled.
Musser, 33, told the jury about her parents — Lloyd and Sharon Wall (who are no longer married). She spoke about attending Alta Academy, the private FLDS school once operated in Salt Lake County, and then becoming a teacher there while Warren Jeffs was principal.
She described the school’s curriculum as “the basics” of math, English, reading, spelling and writing “but primarily a lot of focus was given on religious training.”
Prosecutor Eric Nichols started to ask Musser to explain “priesthood history training” when Steven asked to halt the hearing so he could question the witness.
When the jury returned the state again asked her to testify about the Priesthood training, and she talked about how the priest dictated every detail of their lives, including clothing and hairstyle. This may be repugnant to you, but it is not illegal, and it has little to do with proving whether or not Jessop impregnated a 16 year old girl. The DNA evidence proved that conclusively, making this other rabbit trail stand out as clearly being about putting religious views on trial as much as law-breaking.

The Current State of the Union

2009-11-06T20:17:00.004-05:00

Read it: Hugh McBryde - Reflections on the Verdict

Re-read it.

Think.

A Curious Statement by the Judge

2009-11-04T00:41:00.003-05:00

From Brooke Adam's Blog today: RMJ Trial: Day 7

I found this statement to be very curious.

"Judge Barbara Walther observed that that would also show that the alleged victim could not legally have married Raymond Jessop since she was married to someone else — a comment that seemed to make defense attorney Mark Stevens freeze up."

Apparently, Judge Walther is willing to recognize the previous marital status of the "child" "victim".

According to DFPS legal definitions the "victim" would then be an Emancipated Minor, according the DFPS definitions :

Emancipated Minor - A person under age 18 who has the power and capacity of an adult. This includes . . . a minor who, with or without parental consent, has been married.

Texas Family Code, Chapter 5, Sec. 101.003 defines a child:

CHILD OR MINOR; ADULT. (a) "Child" or "minor" means a person under 18 years of age who is not and has not been married or who has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes.

If the Judge (State) recognizes the previous marriage performed under the auspices of the FLDS church in a religious ceremony, the Judge (State) must also recognize the termination of that marriage under the auspices of the FLDS church and the subsequent remarriage under the auspices of the FLDS church to the Defendant.

The law regarding sexual assault of a child: Texas Statutes, Penal Code 22.011,

(c)(1) "Child" means a person younger than 17 years of age who is not the spouse of the actor[perpetrator].
(2) "Spouse" means a person who is legally married to another.

This throws the whole case out the window, as 1) the "victim" was not a child by legal definition; and 2) the "victim" was a spouse of the accused.

And, where did you say she works?

2009-10-05T13:21:00.003-04:00

Or, Fun With InterActive Mapping.

More questions about the information contained in the 2008 Arrest and Search Warrant, regarding Rozita Swinton.

Repeating from my last post Whose Apartment?:

At the bottom of page 4 and top of page 5 of "Attachment A", is this narrative:
A utility check through the Colorado Springs Utilities on April 15, 2008 showed a current address for Ms. Swinton of 4826 Templeton Park Circle, Apartment 125, with home telephone (719) 243-5744. This same home telephone number has been provided by Ms. Swinton in the past in numerous CSPD police reports dating back to 2005. Ms. Swinton is currently employed with State Farm Insurance located at 1390 Kelly Johnson Boulevard.
So this kind of gives me the impression that Rozita Swinton has lived in the same location, or at least has maintained the same home telephone number for a few years. Her name has also been mentioned in CSPD police reports dating back to 2005, although it is not clear here whether these reports mentioned her as a victim, a witness, or a perpetrator. And, finally, the paragraph lets us know that Ms. Swinton is gainfully employed, and where.

. . . And then on the very last page of the 2008 warrant, is a Warrant Information Form (p13 of the pfd file), filled in by hand. Rozita Swinton's information:

Hm Address: 4826 Templeton Park #125, Hm Phone: 243-5700;
Employer: State Farm; Wk Address: 401 N. Union Blvd.; Wk Phone: [blank]

That's kind of interesting, two different work addresses given, within the same warrant.   I just don't know what to make of that. So, let's look at 401 N. Union Blvd first. It's the corner of E. Boulder St, and N. Union Blvd. There doesn't seem to be a State Farm office there.

View Larger Map

I typed in "insurance" in that "search nearby" thingy. There is Item F.  State Farm Insurance: Bradd Grogg State Farm Insurance Agency, 405 N. Union Blvd, Ste D.   Maybe that's what they meant. It is close. Are we playing horseshoes?    But, here is Mr. Grogg's website , and that map must be a little outdated because the website says his office address is 421 S Tejon Street, Suite 101. Maybe he just recently relocated.   I'm not sure about this, the addresses don't match. Does or did Mr. Grogg employ Ms. Swinton? Maybe I can find out over the next couple of days. It would be easier if the officer would have included put something in the "Wk. Phone" blank on the Information form. I really hate to bother Mr. Grogg if he has no connection to Ms. Swinton. And, he really doesn't have to answer any questions, either way.

The other work location given in the warrant is 1390 Kelly Johnson Blvd. That must be a mistake, for the building located at 1390 Kelly Johnson Blvd has nothing to do with State Farm Insurance. It is the office of a Colorado Radiologist's Group. and according to this old article, has been since April 2003, when State Farm moved its "consolidated headquarters to Prime Center at Briargate. This will allow the company to combine its area claims and field offices into a single location."

Well, that's interesting -- so now we know there IS a claims and field office in Colorado Springs. I don't know where, but I seem to have gotten the impression that Rozita Swinton worked not as an agent, but in claims or other type of call center work.   That Prime Center location seems more conducive to that idea; however, the center is apparently located near the intersection of Briargate Parkway and Chapel Hills Drive, and nowhere near either 401 N. Union Blvd, or 1390 Kelly Johnson Blvd, being careful not to confuse Briargate Parkway with Briargate Boulevard.

Remember that  2005 incident at Castle Rock , Colorado? In that file, there was some confusion as to what to do with Rozita Swinton after she was released from custody. On Page 8 of the.pdf file, where much information seems to have been white-redacted, there is a conversation with the Colorado Springs Police Department regarding a request for Rozita Swinton to respond to their location. Apparently, transportation was an issue.

"Sgt KERN requested us to drive SWINTON to there [sic] substation at 7850 Goddard St."

And so, the Castle Rock Police Department drove, as a special courtesy, Ms. Swinton to the substation, per Sgt Kern's request. It is not known WHY Colorado Springs had requested a meeting Ms. Swinton, following her arrest in Castle Rock.

Here's a map for 1390 Kelly Johnson Blvd.

View Larger Map

Go ahead. Type "7850 Goddard St" in the above "search nearby".

Got it located?

The Colorado Springs Police Department Falcon/North Substation sits across the parking lot from 1390 Kelly Johnson Blvd.

Maybe we ARE playing horseshoes.

Whose Apartment was that?

2009-10-04T15:25:00.001-04:00

I like neat little packages of facts. The 2008 Arrest and Search Warrant for Rozita Swinton is NOT a neat little package of facts.

The warrant is for the arrest of Rozita and a search of "4625 Templeton Park Circle #125, an apartment located in the Sterling Point Apartment Complex," as described in the first paragraph of "Attachment A".

At the bottom of page 4 and top of page 5 of "Attachment A", is this narrative:

A utility check through the Colorado Springs Utilities on April 15, 2008 showed a current address for Ms. Swinton of 4826 Templeton Park Circle, Apartment 125, with home telephone (719) 243-5744. This same home telephone number has been provided by Ms. Swinton in the past in numerous CSPD police reports dating back to 2005. Ms. Swinton is currently employed with State Farm Insurance located at 1390 Kelly Johnson Boulevard.

So this kind of gives me the impression that Rozita Swinton has lived in the same location, or at least has maintained the same home telephone number for a few years. Her name has also been mentioned in CSPD police reports dating back to 2005, although it is not clear here whether these reports mentioned her as a victim, a witness, or a perpetrator. And, finally, the paragraph lets us know that Ms. Swinton is gainfully employed, and where.

Delving further into the warrant, skipping to page 7 of "Attachment A":

Contact was made with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) requesting telephone records for the Nextel telephone number 719-243-2866. The results indicated that the cell phone was registered to Courtney Lamont Swinton, black male, date of birth 07-03-1976. Swinton had an address of 4660 Hinsdale Way Apt #242, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80917. The FBI confirmed through Colorado Springs, Colorado utility records that there was another person with the last name Swinton at the same apartment complex. Rozita Swinton, black female, date of birth 10-23-1974. Rozita Swinton resides in Apt. #125 at the same apartment complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

That Hinsdale Road address is the one used in the 2005 incident at Castle Rock , Colorado, by the way.

And then on the very last page of the 2008 warrant, is a Warrant Information Form (p13 of the pfd file), filled in by hand. Rozita Swinton's information:

Hm Address: 4826 Templeton Park #125, Hm Phone: 243-5700;
Employer: State Farm; Wk Address: 401 N. Union Blvd.; Wk Phone: [blank]

Further, a check of the El Paso County, Colorado government websites show that of the addresses assigned to approximately 50 buildings within the Sterling Point Apartments, NONE of them are given the numbered address of 4826 Templeton Park Circle. NONE of them are given the numbered address of 4660 Hinsdale Road. I wonder where those utility bills get delivered?

And where does Rozita Swinton actually live? As of May 14, 2007, she was included in a list of Colorado's Obama State Delegates , for precinct #269. That site has precinct maps linked on the sidebar, so of course, I looked up precinct #269. I found it on this map; it took some zooming in, but it is in the lower right-central area. Its area is bounded by Vickers Drive, Rangewood Dr, Dublin Blvd, Montarbor Dr, Mountainside Dr, and Northwind Dr. It is not near Templeton Park Circle. Instead, Templeton Park Circle and the entire Sterling Point apartment complex is located within the bounds of precinct #234, found on the map of District 15 . Is Ms. Swinton registered to vote in El Paso County, Colorado? And yes, it's possible that Ms. Swinton simply changed her residence sometime in the period between May '07 and April '08.

Still, her address is listed in the warrant as 4826 Templeton Park.

So who rented that apartment at 4625 Templeton Park #125, and why was it searched? And why are we being led to believe that Ms. Swinton resided there?

Get Stabbed, Have Your Babies Kidnapped - Twice

2009-10-04T12:17:00.001-04:00

When I read the original report of a newborn baby kidnapped at knife point in Nashville, I thought about NCCPR's No English - No Child , and the fact that the mother in this case is an immigrant (legal status not reported).

From the Fox report:

The infant was taken from his home Tuesday, just four days after he was born. His mother told police a heavyset white woman with blonde hair arrived at her home posing as an immigration agent, attacked her with a knife, then took the boy. . .

Cathy Nahirny, a senior analyst for infant abduction cases at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said there have been at least two other recent cases where an abductor used a ploy similar to the one used in this case.

"We need to get the word out to our immigrant communities," Nahirny said. "Anybody that claims they are from federal law enforcement agencies, you have the right and you should ask for photo identification."

Abductions of infants by strangers are rare, with only nine reported cases so far this year and five last year, according to the missing child center.

Nahirny said immigrant families have been targets of child abductions because of the assumption they will not tell police.

Gurrolla is Latina but her immigration status isn't clear. She was stabbed several times in the neck and chest and was released from the hospital Thursday

So how awful is it to have someone come to your door, stab you several times, and take your newborn baby from your house?

Thankfully, the baby was found unharmed, and a woman has been arrested for the kidnapping and assault.

However. What comes next is just as traumatic for the Gurrolla family. Baby Is Safer in State Custody

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A newborn boy abducted by a woman posing as an immigration agent was again taken from his mother after a brief reunion, this time by state officials who said the baby and his three siblings would be safest with foster parents.

Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, said the children were taken from their mother, Maria Gurrolla, "purely for safety reasons," though he would not detail why they were in danger.

Johnson said officials made arrangements for Gurrolla to see her baby Saturday afternoon and hold him, four days after he was abducted. She brought her three other children — ages 3, 9 and 11 — to the reunion and all of the children were then taken into custody. Johnson, who said he could not discuss details of the situation for privacy reasons, said a judge would review the case next week to determine when the children can go home.

And they wonder why immigrant families who have been targets of crimes will not tell police about the crimes.

And, shh, don't say it too loudly, but the legal citizens aren't so safe from this kind of government action, either.

The US Marshal's Service

2009-10-04T00:18:00.001-04:00

In a previous post, I asked why the U.S. Marshal Service was the source for certain telephone records and information, when other telephone records were investigated through the FBI.

I looked at the U.S. Marshal Service website, and found a good description of their duties:
1.  Apprehend federal fugitives.
2.  Protect federal judges, courts and juries.
3. Manage and sell assests seized by federal law.
4.  Transport federal prisoners and criminal aliens.
5. Manage the custody of federal prisoners from indictment to acquittal or incarceration.
6.  Protect federal witnesses.
7. Serve federal documents.

And I wonder, where in all those categories does Rozita Swinton fit? And why would the U.S. Marshals access the records for just one of the phones used in the NewBridge calls?

I can speculate that the FBI ran the phone numbers from the NewBridge records, and that when trying to identify this one number, 615-268-1232, it was flagged for one reason or another, and the inquiry was directed to the U.S. Marshal Service.   But I'm more interested in facts than speculation. So, I'll keep questioning before forming conclusions.

It is worth noting that at least one news report stated that when Texas Rangers Philip Kemp and Jess Malone arrived in Colorado on April 16, they were briefed by two U.S. Marshals, prior to their search of Rozita Swinton's apartment and questioning of her at the Colorado Springs Police Department. So it appears that the involvement of the U.S. Marshal Service was more than just one of cell phone records.

What was the Response to Flora's Call from "Sarah"?

2009-09-30T20:09:00.002-04:00

The answer to my past question, "Were they waiting for Sarah to get to Texas?" , is of course, "No."

The exchange of information regarding "Sarah" being taken to Texas took place, apparently, on March 31. By that time, the NewBridge Shelter had been called by "Sarah", claiming to be on the YFZ Ranch.

Engels was notified on March 31, 2008 that a girl named "Sarah" was being held against her will in Colorado City, physically beaten and drugged, and that she was going to be transported to Texas. What did Engels do? What should he have done?

Or, did he know it was not a credible report? And if that was the case, how did he know?

Tracking Down a Cell Phone or Two

2009-09-29T01:34:00.001-04:00

I'm curious about something (again). I know, I wish I weren't so curious sometimes.

The 2008 Arrest Warrant (Page 7 of 8 of Attachment 'A', or page 10 of the file, last paragraph.)

Contact was made with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) requesting telephone records for the Nextel Telephone number 719-243-2866. The results indicated . . . . . .

This doesn't say when contact was made, or by whom, but those details are not the basis of my curiosity, for the moment. On the very next page, first paragraph:

Texas Ranger Long made contact with the United States Marshals, who had provided an additional telephone number of 615-268-1232.

This doesn't say when Ranger Long made this contact. He wasn't one of the two Texas Rangers who went to Colorado. Texas Rangers Philip Kemp and Jess Malone went to Colorado. So this contact with the United States Marshals must have taken place sometime prior, since the information resulting from the contact was shared with the Colorado Springs Police Officer Terry E. Thrumston, who subsequently wrote up the Affidavit for the Arrest Warrant. Again, these details are not the basis of my curiosity.

What I am wondering is why in one instance of seeking cell phone information, the FBI was contacted; and in the other instance, the U.S. Marshal Service was contacted?

Flora's on the phone with . . .

2009-09-27T00:04:00.004-04:00

It has been reported that Flora Jessop received calls from the desperate "Laura" of Colorado City, twin sister of "Sarah" of the YFZ Ranch. In this May 16, 2009 article (Michael Kelly/San Angelo Standard-Times), Ranger Philip Kemp's testimony is reported:

Kemp acknowledged in brief answers to Schaffer's lengthy questions that cell phone records obtained after the raid showed an array of calls from four cell phone numbers traced to Swinton, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., including calls to NewBridge Family Shelter in San Angelo, a shelter in Everett, Wash., and former sect member Flora Jessop in the days before the raid.

Kemp also testified that Texas law enforcement authorities learned that Swinton had an extensive record of such vexatious calls. She posed as Sarah Barlow, a 16-year-old girl living on the YFZ Ranch, mother to one child and pregnant with another, who claimed to have been abused by her husband, Dale Barlow, in calls to both the San Angelo and Everett shelters, Kemp testified. Swinton, Kemp said he was told by Colorado authorities, had posed variously as persons named Erica, April and Jennifer in calls reporting she had been raped, forced into incest, forced to have multiple abortions, and held against her will in a basement by drug dealers.

In the call to Flora Jessop, Swinton pretended to be Sarah Barlow's sister, Laura, Kemp said.

The information came out after the raid, Kemp said, and he learned about it when he was sent to Colorado on April 16, 2008, to consult with authorities there.

It was only in the days after the raid that authorities determined that no such person as Sarah Barlow existed, the state has said.

This is testimony. In Court. Under oath.

A commenter named "First Amendment" at the Plural Life blog pointed me to this transcript of the Nancy Grace show on April 23, 2008.

Video clips featuring Flora Jessop and a recorded conversation with the then-revealed-as-hoax-caller regarding the FLDS were played during the show, comprised of the following, as transcribed by CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas authorities raided the polygamists` compound in Eldorado after they received frantic calls from a 16-year-old girl named Sarah, who they still haven`t found. She said she was being abused and held against her will. Three days before the raid, Flora Jessop, a former member of the FLDS, who now works to rescue children of the sect, received a frantic call, too.

FLORA JESSOP, FORMER FLDS CHILD BRIDE: She told me her name was Sarah. She told me that she was beaten all the time, she was on medication, she was locked away in a basement.

. . .

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORA JESSOP, FMR. POLYGAMIST & CHILD BRIDE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CHILD PROTECTION PROJECT: Well, how old are you now?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: 16.

F. JESSOP: 16?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Am I going to get in trouble?

F. JESSOP: No, you`re not going to get in trouble. Oh, well, if you get caught by your dad, you will, but we`ll just have to make sure you don`t get caught. You`re never going to have to have sex with your dad again because that`s not right. You are going to be safe.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Don`t trick me.

F. JESSOP: I`m not going to trick you, baby. I promise I`m not going to trick you. I`m going to protect you. Remember how you told me that your dad hurt your mom, too, sometimes?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes. Did I say too much?

F. JESSOP: You didn`t say too much, baby. I know you`re scared. I know you`re scared, and I`m not going to trick you. I`m not going to trick you. OK?

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Will anybody else know about me?

F. JESSOP: No, baby. Nobody will know. Just me and Jessica.

UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: What about the picture?

F. JESSOP: Nobody has to even see the picture. We`ll just give it to the people at the shelter.

I found this exchange interesting, first, because of the reference to a picture. What picture is that? What picture would Flora have that the caller would be concerned about someone else seeing? Where did the picture come from?  Did Flora give the picture "to the people at the shelter?" And which shelter is she referring to?

Second, because the statements don't match - there has been no allegation of father/daughter incest at the YFZ Ranch. And Flora states "You`re never going to have to have sex with your dad again."   If something this salacious had been alleged, it would have been all over the media, and they would not have let it go.

Third, it is recorded in the 2005 Colorado Arrest Warrant that Rozita had portrayed herself to be someone named Jessica. But here, Flora is not talking to "Jessica". Flora is talking to "Sarah".  Flora is referring to another Jessica.

Wasn't the intake caller at the NewBridge Shelter named "Jessica"?

Were Flora and "Sarah" talking to Jessica at NewBridge in a 3-way call? Is that why the call was "blocked", or might take up to "40 days" to determine its origin?

The Tribune's coverage of the same day in court included this:

Kemp said he began reviewing Swinton's phone records in May 2008. He said Swinton's phone records showed numerous calls to and from the New Bridge Family Center beginning on March 29 and, beginning on March 30, to anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop. Jessop arranged three-way calls with the family center and Swinton, who told Jessop she was the sister of "Sarah Jessop Barlow," who is now believed to be fictitious.

Oh, but wait. The document referenced here states:

On March 31, 2008, Flora Jessop, . . . called Investigator Sam Brower and hooked up a three-way telephone conversation with Rozita Swinton (claiming to be "Sarah Barlow"). Brower promptly took the telephone number of Swinton's phone and provided it to Gary Engels, the Mohave County, Arizona District Attorney investigator. In that telephone conversation, Ms. Swinton was telling Brower and Flora Jessop that she was being taken to Texas. Again, both Brower and Engels were in regular contact with Texas authorities.

So if Brower could get the phone number on a three-way call, what's the problem with Texas? They lack the technical expertise?

And we have TWO references to "SARAH" talking to Flora. Not "Laura", Sarah's sister in Colorado City. "SARAH".

And is this why it took until April 3rd to execute the raid, after the first call allegedly came in to NewBridge on March 29? Were they waiting for "Sarah" to get to Texas?

Rozita's Cell Phone Records and the FLDS Raid

2009-09-24T23:41:00.002-04:00

Two posts at Modern Pharisee have created a bit of curiosity for me.

Update on Rozita, she did work as a nanny for CSPD officers and

CSPD Internal Affairs. .; .

It apparently was "common knowledge" in the Colorado Springs Police Department that a Colorado Springs police officer had some kind of relationship with Rozita Swinton. Now, whether that relationship was simply as a former employer/employee, close friends, LE/informant, mere acquaintances, I don't know. Unless it is legally important, I don't even care.

Given the information in Rozita's April 2008 Arrest Warrant in Colorado, it appears that she was well known in the department, by more than one officer, for making false claims in telephone calls to various agencies.

And what I am curious about is the reaction of these officers when they heard the news on April 3rd about a raid in Texas based on a telephone call making claims of abuse.   Maybe they thought nothing out of the ordinary. But they were aware that Rozita had made calls out of state, to Washington.

Did "red flags" go up, as more information was released to the media? Did any of them call Texas to alert them to the possibility that the calls might be fake? Did any of them call Rozita to see if she had been busy making calls again?

The Texas Rangers obtained Rozita's cell phone records.   Do phone numbers of any CSPD employees show up in the days surrounding the raid?

Rozita Swinton, hoax caller for the FLDS Raid: Innocent Until Proven Guilty

2009-09-23T22:54:00.007-04:00

Some people read blogs, but not the comments that accompany posted articles. Among recent comments here has been the assertion that Rozita Swinton has been denied the presumption of innocence, and that she has not been charged with any crime relating to the FLDS raid in Texas.

And just why is it that she hasn't been criminally charged in Texas? It appears that, at the very least, this Texas law applies.

TEXAS PENAL CODE

Sec. 37.08. FALSE REPORT TO PEACE OFFICER OR LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYEE.

(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to deceive, he knowingly makes a false statement that is material to a criminal investigation and makes the statement to:
(1) a peace officer conducting the investigation; or
(2) any employee of a law enforcement agency that is authorized by the agency to conduct the investigation and that the actor knows is conducting the investigation.
(b) In this section, "law enforcement agency" has the meaning assigned by Article 59.01, Code of Criminal Procedure.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.

Oh, I can hear you. She didn't call the police, she called the NewBridge Shelter. I will remind you that according to her Colorado Arrest Warrant , she spoke directly to Schleicher County (Texas) Deputy Sheriff John Conner on April 10, 2008, and gave him false information regarding who she was, her whereabouts, and her child on more than one occasion.

And even if those conversations didn't take place, there's this:

Sec. 42.06. FALSE ALARM OR REPORT.

(a) A person commits an offense if he knowingly initiates, communicates or circulates a report of a present, past, or future bombing, fire, offense, or other emergency that he knows is false or baseless and that would ordinarily:
(1) cause action by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies;
(2) place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; or
(3) prevent or interrupt the occupation of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, or aircraft, automobile, or other mode of conveyance.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor unless the false report is of an emergency involving a public primary or secondary school, public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service, in which event the offense is a state jail felony.

And, the NewBridge Shelter would qualify as a "volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies."
Further, since the phone calls on April 10 had the effect of disrupting the occupation of a building, room or place of assembly, in which the FLDS captives were being held, and there was public service at a state owned property involved, I might stretch that one into a felonious matter, if I were being really creative.

Doing so would invalidate the claim that Texas could not (or would not) extradite on a simple misdemeanor charge. But you really don't have to be too awfully creative.

TEXAS FAMILY CODE provides

Sec. 261.107. FALSE REPORT; CRIMINAL PENALTY; CIVIL PENALTY.

(a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to deceive, the person knowingly makes a report as provided in this chapter that is false. An offense under this subsection is a state jail felony unless it is shown on the trial of the offense that the person has previously been convicted under this section, in which case the offense is a felony of the third degree.

Texas would have the authority to bring charges in either Tom Green County or Schleicher County, it appears, or perhaps in any county in which the children were placed in foster care.

Chapter 13. VENUE

Title 1. Art. 13.01. OFFENSES COMMITTED OUTSIDE THIS STATE. Offenses committed wholly or in part outside this State, under circumstances that give this State jurisdiction to prosecute the offender, may be prosecuted in any county in which the offender is found or in any county in which an element of the offense occurs.

Nah, I don't guess anyone in Texas is going to be quite that creative.

It has been noted by a commenter, that "Rozita has had her life and apartment turned upside down and no Texas charges have been the result to date. Her computer was taken to Texas for forensic technological analysis and she's a resident of Colorado? She was subjected to questioning by Texas Rangers but not charged or arrested for anything by the Rangers."

Yes, she has been through quite a lot. Texas is involved, Colorado is involved. That rather indicates that the FBI is involved, doesn't it? I read somewhere that FBI was at her apartment with Texas LE, performing a search, but now, when I need the information, I don't see it actually published in a newspaper archives. That's just like me, to misplace a reference. Now, that's really strange. Everywhere I look, any reference to the FBI is mysteriously missing, in regards to Colorado and Rozita Swinton. It certainly seems like an interstate investigation would involve the FBI in some capacity -- perhaps in conjunction with some division called the Critical Incident Response Group. (We know from the Governor's PIA document dump that Homeland Security was involved, as well.)

Rozita must be grateful if the FBI or Homeland Security officials did not question her, for it is in fact a federal crime to lie to a federal investigator. Not that she would lie, but the temptation to do so might be there. Yes, she must think herself lucky, indeed.

Remember seeing this headline, earlier in the week?
Colorado man, father arrested in terror probe

FBI agents arrested Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Colorado resident and Afghan national questioned in an alleged terrorist plot in the United States.
FBI agents raided Najibullah Zazi's home on Saturday and took him into custody.
Zazi and his father, Mohammed Zazi, were handcuffed without incident late Saturday as authorities raided Zazi's home in the Denver suburb of Aurora, according to CNN's Jim Spellman.
FBI agents in New York arrested Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, a resident of Flushing, New York. Officials said Afzali is a legal permanent resident from Afghanistan.
All three men are charged with knowingly and willingly making false statements to the FBI.

What law is that? Maybe it's this one.

Title 18 U.S.C. § 1001 provides:
"Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States, knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

Isn't this how Martha Stewart ended up at prison? Yes.

A lawyer interprets: How to Avoid Going to Jail under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 for Lying to Government Agents By Solomon L. Wisenberg of Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

Ms. Stewart now stands convicted of intentionally misleading SEC and FBI officials who questioned her about insider trading . . .ensnared by Section 1001, a perennial favorite of federal prosecutors.

Mr. Wisenberg goes on to explain what an instance of "false or fictitious statements" might be:

For example, if you lie to your employer on your time and attendance records and, unbeknownst to you, he submits your records, along with those of other employees, to the federal government pursuant to some regulatory duty, you could be criminally liable.

The information conveyed in the hoax telephone calls to the NewBridge Shelter was likely turned over to and included in whatever investigation the FBI was involved in. Does that make anyone in prosecution sit up and think?

Now I can hear you saying, "Oh, those guys were involved in domestic terrorism, and Ms. Stewart was involved in insider trading. They deserve to be charged."

And Rozita does not? Here's the definition of "domestic terrorism", according to the
Federal Government .

(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; . . .
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

Those are criminal laws of Texas that she violated, with the apparent intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population. Acts dangerous to human life? Think "Mt. Carmel/Branch Davidians". Think "SWAT teams/snipers". Think one law enforcement officer firing off a shot (which did happen.) It WAS potentially a life-threatening situation.

And, I'm sure a good U.S. Attorney could find other federal laws that were infracted by her actions.

So why hasn't she been prosecuted?

And I promise, if she's charged with any crime, I'll do my best to consider her innocent until convicted, or acquitted. At the very least, I will listen to the Defense Team with an open mind. As long as those on the other side will grant the Texas FLDS defendants the same courtesy.

Spreading MisInformation?

2009-09-19T20:52:00.000-04:00

I have been accused of "Spreading Misinformation".

It is this post   "Texas Laws - Items that May Be Searched and Seized" that supposedly contains "misinformation".

I have re-read it, and I don't see any misinformation.   There is a portion of a Texas Law, and the text of the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution. Where is the misinformation? That I related the latter to the former?

First, I didn't mention Warren Jeffs and his dictations, and that seems to be what TxBluesMan is jumping up and down about. He/she is jumping to conclusions that are erroneous.

Second, he/she states that I approve of twelve year olds getting married. I do not. Doesn't matter to me how old the groom is.

Third, he/she implies something disparaging about my anonymity being acceptable to a third blogger, Modern Pharisee.. Why am I on his blogroll? I don't know, and I can't speak for him. Guess who you have to ask?

Fourth, he/she implies that my blogging had been sparse for a period due to intimidation via superior intellectual capacity of TxBluesMan and another blogger, RonInHouston.   No -- I just don't feel like blogging about what I had for dinner. If I have something to say, I'll blog.   Unless maybe I'm in the hospital or something.

Fifth, he/she accuses me of not allowing his/her voice through comment on the subject blogpost.  Again, he/she is jumping to conclusions. I had NOT received a comment from him/her, much less rejected one, until he/she commented that I would not let their previous comment go through.     I have NOT rejected a comment by TxBluesMan in the past week. In fact, I have not rejected anyone's comments for months.

It seems that in reality, it is TxBluesMan who is "spreading misinformation."

It is said that Law is Reason without Passion. Law is about Facts and Issues. If his/her blog is an example of how TxBluesMan practices law, if he/she is indeed a lawyer, I sure wouldn't want to hire him or her. Too much emotion, too few facts.

Jeffs' Appeal Hearing is Moved Off BYU Campus

2009-09-17T22:36:00.000-04:00

Brooke Adams reports in the Salt Lake Tribune: Jeffs' appeal hearing moved back to Salt Lake City

A week after announcing plans to hold the oral arguments in polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs' appeal at Brigham Young University, the Utah Supreme Court has reversed itself.
The court will now hear the case at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, a venue that will accommodate the high interest in the case, a court spokeswoman said Thursday. Nancy Volmer said a new date to hear the appeal will be set next week.

Why?

The article reports: it's not because of concerned FLDS leaders. And it's not because "The LDS Church [which owns BYU] abandoned the practice of plural marriage in 1890 and has distanced itself from sects such as the FLDS that continue to engage in it. " No, they say it's because the event will attract a lot of media. Like there's no auditorium at the BYU's J. Reuben Clark School of Law large enough to handle the media.

Nope.

Blog headline has its intended result: Jeffs' appeal allowed - under the auspices of LDS church?

Somebody reads my blog.

Texas Laws - Items that May Be Searched and Seized

2009-09-16T22:33:00.001-04:00

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 18.02 states:

A search warrant may be issued to search for and seize:
. . .
(10) property or items, except the personal writings by the accused, constituting evidence of an offense or constituting evidence tending to show that a particular person committed an offense;

I wonder why that is.

Maybe it has something to do with the United States Constitution. Remember that document?

In case you forgot, here it is:

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Yes, maybe that has something to do with it.

Jeffs' appeal allowed - under the auspices of the LDS Church?

2009-09-14T23:42:00.004-04:00

High Court to Hear Jeffs Appeal (Deseret News)

The Utah Supreme Court will hear oral arguments appealing the conviction of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted in 2007 of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in arranging a "spiritual marriage" between a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man.

So far, I'm happy with that news.

Reading further, I see WHAT?

The hearing will be Nov. 4 at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law on the BYU campus. The Supreme Court routinely visits BYU and the University of Utah so students can see how the high court operates, but the business that is conducted during these visits is not the mock-trial variety, but genuine appeals.

Let's see. The mainstream LDS or "Mormon" church owns BYU. The mainstream LDS or "Mormon" church has at the very least, a disharmonious relationship with the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church, (FLDS and also known as "Mormons") and its leaders. This doesn't seem like a venue that will promote entirely unbiased thought, the qualifications and fairness of the Utah judges notwithstanding.

If the appeal fails, could the location itself give reason for additional appeal to SCOTUS?

Some call me rather unflattering names for believing that Warren Jeffs' conviction should be overturned. Warren Jeffs did not personally rape a 14-year-old girl, nor was he convicted of doing so.
While the mainstream LDS church has come under criticism for its practice of baptising deceased persons in their temples by proxy, it seems that Utah Legislature has adopted the very same philosophy in making it possible to charge someone with a crime by proxy.

And that is what they did to Warren Jeffs.

The Foster Child's Song

2009-09-12T13:44:00.001-04:00

We didn't wash the dishes
or sweep the kitchen floor
We were playin' hide and seek with mama
When they knocked upon our door,

And now I don't live
with my mama anymore.

And I'm a Foster Child
In this land of the Free
And they say I'll have a good home
Until the day I turn Eighteen
Someday I'll get my mama back
Behind those Pearly Gates
Cause I'm a Foster Child
In these United Foster States

Now They pay someone to love me,
just like a prostitute
They tuck me into bed at night
buy me clothes and food,
They take me to the Courthouse
When the State is in the mood.
They dress me up and brush my hair
So the Judge will think it's good.

And I'm a Foster Child
In this land of the Free
And they say I'll have a good home
Until the day I turn Eighteen
Someday I'll get my mama back
Behind those Pearly Gates
Cause I'm a Foster Child
In these United Foster States

I get to see my mama
For an hour every week
She tells me not to worry, hon,
It's just like hide and seek
But I can see the fear behind
the words she's telling me
And I just saw my picture on
Adopt-A-Child this week.

And I'm a Foster Child
In this land of the Free
And they say I'll have a good home
Until the day I turn Eighteen
Someday I'll get my mama back
Behind those Pearly Gates
Cause I'm a Foster Child
In these United Foster States

----------------------
(c) 2009 All rights reserved.
Printed with Permission of the Author.

The Faulty FLDS Search Warrant, another look

2009-09-11T20:32:00.008-04:00

In response to my previous post Texas Law, and the FLDS, we have been honored by the presence of the apparently indefatigable TxBluesMan , who commented thusly:

"You may want to look at United States v. Butler which has been cited before in reference to the scope of the warrant and the size of the compound.
The ranch is one property, owned by one legal entity, with no separately identifiable residences.
Try that argument in court - the FLDS attorneys didn't because it is not a viable argument.
The warrant was executed properly."

The case he cites is United States v. Butler, 793 F.2d 951 (8th Cir. 1986).

The Butler case involved a religious group living in a "compound", and a search warrant was based on reports by "informants". I don't know whether these informants anonymously telephoned a community helpline for illegal weapons manufacturing addicts, and, if so, whether these reports were then forwarded to appropriate law enforcement agencies. The opinion, unfortunately, omits such data.

Quoting from Butler:

We agree with the District Court that in the present case the warrant was as specific as it could be under the circumstances. The entire CSA compound clearly was suspect. As set forth in the affidavit accompanying the application for the search warrant, the informants stated that most of the occupants of the compound were armed and were involved in making firearms or explosives. They also stated that caches of firearms and explosives were hidden throughout the compound, including the church and the living quarters; that the stolen jewelry was distributed to a number of CSA members, each living in a different residence; and that the buildings were used as common property, with the leaders regularly making and changing housing assignments. It was impossible for the law enforcement agents to know who lived in what dwellings within the compound because there were no individual property records or deeds, nor were there postal or utility records that would identify the occupants of the residences. Because everyone living in the compound was suspected of making or possessing illegal weapons and of storing them in their residences as well as in other places within the compound, the agents were justified in searching, as the warrant specified, all buildings and dwellings in which these items could be stored. Because everyone living in the compound was suspected of making or possessing illegal weapons and of storing them in their residences as well as in other places within the compound, the agents were justified in searching, as the warrant specified, all buildings and dwellings in which these items could be stored.

Sound like the YFZ? Yes, I can find some similarities.

Only there's a HUGE difference in the two cases that he seems to blithely overlook.

Because everyone living in the compound was suspected of making or possessing
illegal weapons and of storing them in their residences as well as in other places within the compound, the agents were justified in searching, as the warrant specified, all buildings and dwellings in which these items could be stored.

It was not reported that "Sarah" lived at more than one dwelling on the YFZ Ranch property. It was not reported that "Sarah" was moved around from house to house, living with different "husbands", or with different families, on the YFZ Ranch property. It was not every dwelling on the YFZ Ranch that was suspected of being the residence of "Sarah". It was only the residence or dwelling place of Dale Evans Barlow that was suspect.

Not everyone living at the YFZ Ranch was suspected of marrying, housing, impregnating, hitting, hiding, or restraining "Sarah".
There was only one suspect, and that was Dale Evans Barlow.

It deserves repeating:

Not everyone living at the YFZ Ranch was suspected of abusing "Sarah."
There was only one suspect, and that was Dale Evans Barlow.

Therefore, it is not the same circumstance as Butler.

Texas Law, and the FLDS

2009-09-09T23:46:00.005-04:00

About that search warrant . . .

Code of Criminal Procedure
Title 1. Code of Criminal Procedure (http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/)
Chapter 18. Search Warrants

Art. 18.06. EXECUTION OF WARRANTS. (a) A peace officer to whom a search warrant is delivered shall execute it without delay and forthwith return it to the proper magistrate. It must be executed with three days from the time of its issuance, and shall be executed within a shorter period if so directed in the warrant by the magistrate.
(b) On searching the place ordered to be searched, the officer executing the warrant shall present a copy of the warrant to the owner of the place, if he is present. If the owner of the place is not present but a person who is present is in possession of the place, the officer shall present a copy of the warrant to the person.

In reviewing this video , it seems the officer executing the search warrant REFUSED to show it to a person who was in possession (residing) at the building being searched. The person in possession ASKED to see the warrant. The Officer REFUSED to show the warrant.

An officers says there is a search warrant, and the woman asks "Can we see that?"

She is told the officer doesn't have it, and another officers says it was served already.

The woman says "Not to us."

The officer says, it was served to the main person.

The woman says, "It's a different residence."

She may not be the "owner" of the premises, but she is clearly "in possession" of it.

Seems the Texas officers don't know their own laws regarding The Execution of Warrants.

Maybe they do have knowledge of the law.

Maybe they just don't respect it.

The Sheriff's Press Release

2009-08-29T21:54:00.004-04:00

The El Dorado Sheriff issued the following press release on August 27, 2009.

1991 kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard has been located in good health in the greater Bay Area of California.

This is wonderful news.

The reports of CNN and the Fresno Bee include horrible details of isolation, sexual abuse, medical neglect, forced child-bearing, home schooling, religious fanaticism and robotic behavior of children.

Oh, that's the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department, in California.

Maybe Rozita Swinton was confused.

And the Good News Is . . .

2009-07-30T01:06:00.002-04:00

from the Deseret News: Hundreds of FLDS gather at courthouse.

Nothing about arrests taking place. No disordery conducts. No incites to riot.

Bill must have been on his best behavior.

Good job, Bill!

Keeping The Peace and Dignity of Texas

2009-07-29T02:12:00.013-04:00

Helping Citizens in Emergency Situations:

And showing Tolerance.

Following the Golden Rule

Giving Assistance to Ill Citizens

Showing Patience and Kindness to the Elderly

Caring for Juveniles In "Correctional Custody"

TYC Scandal:"Attorney General Gonzales among officials who allegedly ignored abuse of minor boys" by Correctional Center EMPLOYEES (While Gonzalez is no longer Attorney General of Texas, I note the following defense phrases: "Baumann's letter went so far as to suggest that the victims may have willingly participated in, or even enjoyed, the acts of pedophilia involved: "As you know, consent is frequently an issue in sexual assault cases. Although none of the victims admit that they consented to the sexual contact, none resisted or voiced any objection to the conduct. . . ."

And we can't forget how Texas Protects its Foster Children:

Court-appointed advocate molests up to 20 kids

Peace and Dignity.

Yep.

Texas is the place to go to get that.

Look Ma! The Emperor's Got No Clothes On!

2009-07-26T02:39:00.005-04:00

. . . or is that a Texas Ranger I see?

John T. Floyd exposes the bare facts with "The Unrelenting March Against FLDS"

~~Finally.~~

I have the feeling, without good cause, that the timing of this has to do with the goings-on in Walther's court last Thursday, which some pooh-poohed as being entirely non-news.

And Mr. Floyd, I'd suggest you travel in vehicles not registered in your own name, keep an eye in the rear view mirror, and take any other necessary steps to ensure your personal safety.

I wouldn't know anything about the availability of the notorious Willie "The Thug", but I'm sure there are reputable bodyguard services that don't hire former Texas Rangers.

h/t Hugh

p.s. Personally, I especially enjoyed the well-deserved swipe at Marci Hamilton. Meow.

Merrrianne's Good News

2009-07-23T22:13:00.006-04:00

What some papers consider newsworthy and not newsworthy, what a puzzle. There is news today of the scheduling of pre-trial hearings and trials for the FLDS men indicted in Texas. The San Angelo Standard-Times article by Matt Phinney gives the full schedule. Thus, the good Judge sets the schedule before she rules on the Submission of Evidence motions. What does that say?

Buried at the very bottom of the article are a full 4 sentences devoted to the end of court oversight for Merrianne.

In a separate matter, Walther on Thursday also approved the permanent custody transfer of a 15-year-old girl from Child Protective Services to a relative, according to CPS.
The girl, an alleged wife of Warren Jeffs, was placed with Naomi Carlisle, a distant relative, in May on a trial basis. The May decision came at the request of CPS, as well as from attorneys for the girl and her mother, Barbara Jessop.
That girl was the only remaining child in state custody who formerly lived at the ranch.

As though this isn't news. Not real news.

The biggest child kidnapping by the state in the history of the United States, and the final release from court oversight of the very last child in custody is not news.

It may not be good news for CPS. But it's good news for just about everybody else.

Gov. Perry VETOES SB 1440!

2009-06-19T23:26:00.002-04:00

A big THANK YOU to the Governor, and a greater THANK YOU to all those organizations and parents who pulled together and contacted the Governor's office.

The Governor's Press Release has the action tucked away as the third item, following the signing of another controversial bill, HB 4294, which takes away power from the State Board of Education in choosing textbooks, and the veto of HB 130, a pre-kindergarten funding bill.

Gov. Perry also vetoed SB 1440, which sought to clarify narrow and uncertain guidelines set by the Gates v. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DFPS) court case. However, the bill goes too far. It creates uncertainty about how DFPS would take children into custody which could potentially infringe on the rights of parents and guardians.
“This court-created uncertainty is real and must be addressed, however I’m concerned SB 1440 overreaches and may not give due consideration to the Fourth Amendment rights of a parent or guardian,” said Gov. Perry. “I am directing DFPS, to study the effect of the Gates decision on the ability of the department to appropriately enter a residence and, if necessary, to transport the child for interviews in a neutral location. I am also directing the department to develop and recommend statewide procedures to follow when seeking court orders without compromising the rights of parents and families.”
http://governor.state.tx.us/news/veto/12627/

Bill is reporting at flds.ws that the contact count was 17,000 asking for veto, and less than 500 for allowing the bill to stand as law.

Way to go, Texans!

A Paper about Conspiracies - FLDS and Island Pond

2009-06-17T22:09:00.005-04:00

From Modern Pharisee: How the raid happened, now proven. I'm still perusing the paper, entitled:

State-Sanctioned Raids and Goverment Violations of Religious
Freedom: Revealing Similarities of Constitutional Errors in Both the 1984
Island Pond Raid and the 2008 FLDS Raid
by Jean Swankto Wiseman (Attorney, Chattanooga, Tennessee)
A paper presented at The 2009 CESNUR Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, June
11-13, 2009

A noteworthy portion:

What children believe is in the exclusive domain of their parents.
-Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 232 (1972)

In 1962 the U.S. Supreme Court warned of “coercive pressure upon religious
minorities to conform to the prevailing officially approved religion.” By and large social workers do not understand such limits when working to protect children. For social workers to immediately and dramatically change the clothing style of the girls seized from the FLDS compound is telling. They somehow felt that they had the right and duty to do so. They did not and even worse, they did not know that they did not.

(emphasis added)

Texas Parents Need To Act Now - Protect Your Children!

2009-06-17T18:55:00.005-04:00

The NCCPR Blog highlights the TexProtects group:

A group called TexProtects, The Texas Association for the Protection of Children, has put out an "Advocacy Alert" urging people to write to the Governor to ask him to sign SB 1440, that bill discussed in previous posts to this Blog that would legalize CPS' illegal behavior in cases like the FLDS raid.

Who is TexProtects? They are social workers and CASA volunteers. From their "about us" page:

TexProtects grew out of the advocacy effort of the Child Abuse Prevention Advocacy Commission (CAPAC), a Dallas based umbrella group organized specifically to advocate for strengthening CPS, especially in the North Texas Region.

That's right -- they want to give CPS MORE power. And that's exactly what SB 1440 does.

For a group that advocates legislation, they aren't very aware of the legislative process. Their Advocacy Alert urges people to write the Governor and tell him to sign SB 1440.

They don't seem to be aware that the Governor isn't required to sign the bill -- if he does NOTHING, it is law.

THE ONLY WAY for this bill not to become an enacted LAW is for him to VETO the bill by June 23. And, since he broke his collarbone in a biking accident on June 9, he's probably under the influence of pain medication, and will have an easy time of "doing nothing" about SB 1440.

So, Texas parents, take action now. Prevent your children from being traumatized by having CPS come into your home and being taken away by CPS for "questioning" when there is not enough "good cause" to present you with a search warrant.

It's easy to do. You're already on your computer. Click this link to EMAIL Governor Perry. Tell Governor Perry you want him to veto SB 1440.

And email all your friends about it, too. Seriously. Time Is Running Out.

Another Perspective on Texas SB 1440 and Why It Deserves a VETO (Updated)

2009-06-14T14:30:00.000-04:00

One argument I have heard concerning CPS authority is that Constitutional protections are intended for criminal law purposes, and CPS investigations are a civil matter, so the protections in the Bill of Rights do not apply.

I disagree.

The Internal Revenue Service can initiate a civil investigation as to whether you have paid your taxes honestly. In its first phase, it is called an audit. The taxpayer receives a letter in the mail requesting a meeting at an IRS office, and "bring along your records that support your income and deductions". They can ask you to do that. It is up to you to decide what records you take with you, if any at all. It's up to you to decide whether or not to take your accountant or your attorney with you to the meeting.

They don't show up at your door, gain entry without your permission, and take away your financial records so that they can examine them as part of their investigation. They would have to get a search warrant to do that. They would have to have probable cause to believe that you have committed tax evasion or some other financial crime in order to get the search warrant. They couldn't base this action on an anonymous phone tip that you are not reporting all of your income. They couldn't base this action on a single affidavit from a lone IRS agent who doesn't have to report his suspicions to a judge. The action must be based on at least two people - the IRS agent, and the judge who has the authority to sign the search warrant.

Are your tax records more important than your children?

SO WHY WOULD YOU ALLOW CPS TO ENTER YOUR HOME WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT AND TAKE AWAY YOUR CHILD FOR QUESTIONING AND EXAMINATION (PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL) WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION?

This is exactly what Texas SB 1440 allows CPS to do.

Call or fax Governor Perry's office. Let him know you want him to VETO SB 1440.

Telephone to Governor Perry's offices:
Citizen's Opinion Hotline [for Texas callers] : (800) 252-9600
Office of the Governor Main Switchboard
office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST]:(512) 463-2000
Citizen's Assistance Telecommunications Device
If you are using a telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD), call 711 to reach Relay Texas
Office of the Governor Fax: (512) 463-1849
EMAIL VIA: governor.state.tx.us/contact/

Update: AFTER you contact the Governor's Office personally, sign this PETITION! -Ask Rick Perry to VETO SB 1440 . There are only 126 signatures as of this afternoon. Click the tab to send information about it to your friends. How many jokes have you forwarded to others in the past 30 days? THIS IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT! Time is running out!

Texas SB 1440 Press Conference

2009-06-09T21:41:00.004-04:00

ATTENTION TEXANS

Austin attorney Jerri Lynn Ward and

Tim Lambert of the Texas Home School Coalition

will hold a Press Conference

tomorrow, Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 1:00 PM

on the steps of the Texas Capitol

regarding Texas SB 1440

If you want Texas CPS to be coming in to your home without your permission, a search warrant or court order,

If you want Texas CPS to look at your personal records without your permission, a search warrant or court order,

If you want Texas CPS to be able to take your children away from your home, question them anywhere, and have them PHYSICALLY EXAMINED without your permission, a search warrant or court order.

then, stay at home.

On the other hand, if you value your civil liberties and believe in due process,

if you love your family and want to protect their rights,

MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO BE THERE

to show Governor Perry that you want him to VETO SB 1440!