Newspaper Article: Four more FLDS 'disputed minors' declared adults

"Four more FLDS 'disputed minors' declared adults"

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: May 20, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Four FLDS women whom Texas officials believed were minors have now been declared adults.

While holding hearings to determine plans that could eventually reunite many of the more than 450 children with their parents, judges here have also been wading into the cases of 26 young women called "disputed minors." The state believes they are underage, but Fundamentalist LDS Church members have insisted they are adults.

Judge Jay Weatherby has been overseeing a full docket involving the young women. On Tuesday morning, Natalia Jessop, 18, was declared an adult.

"Ms. Jessop, is that your belief as well? That you are an adult?" the judge asked her.

"Yes," she replied over the phone from a shelter where she has been staying.

The judge postponed a decision on Mildred "Millie" Jessop until Thursday, when a hearing will be held for her children.

After reviewing testimony, Weatherby declared three other "disputed minors" adults Tuesday afternoon: Evelyn Allred, Rebecca Allred and Monica Jessop.

"Do I have the right to act like an adult?" Evelyn Allred asked the judge by telephone during her hearing.

Weatherby assured her that new accommodations would be made for her "adult status," including increased access to a telephone. She will remain in a foster facility because she has an infant son and he remains in state custody.

Texas Child Protective Services has allowed mothers of children 12 months and younger to remain with them, largely because the mothers have wanted to breastfeed their children.

In another courtroom, Dan and Louisa Jessop's lawyers tried to get Judge Barbara Walther to recuse herself from the massive child custody case. It was Walther who gave the order placing all of the children in state custody. In this case, she was asked to step away from the Jessop's case because of an order she issued putting Louisa Jessop's baby in state custody. The motion was denied.

"That was a very uphill battle, but it did expose some issues with the way the hearings have been handled," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS people.

Jessop, 22, was recently declared an adult just after she gave birth to a baby. She did not appear in court on Tuesday for a hearing involving her children.

"She's with her baby in San Antonio," her husband said.

Five judges are simultaneously hearing case after case in a schedule that's set to last three weeks. Parents are being pushed to sign family service plans that include allegations about child abuse within the polygamous sect and what mothers and fathers must do to ensure their children are safe and can be reunited with them.

During today's hearings, there was more confusion over names, birthdates and identities of children.

Attorney Deborah Keenun appeared in court for a hearing involving a baby — alongside the parents and attorneys for three other children with the same name. It happened again in another courtroom.

"I had parents who drove in from San Antonio," she said.

There was more confusion here as well about a case involving people that many believe do not even exist.

Texas Child Protective Services attorneys have now dismissed the custody action involving a child alleged to belong to Sarah Jessop and Dale Evans Barlow.

"To our knowledge, we don't have that baby in custody," said Texas CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.

"Sarah" is the name of the girl who called in to a family crisis shelter here, claiming she was 16, pregnant and in an abusive, polygamous marriage to a man named Dale Evans Barlow. That call prompted the raid on the YFZ Ranch and the removal of all of the Fundamentalist LDS children.

Authorities continue to investigate if the call was a hoax; a Colorado woman has been named as a "person of interest" in the investigation and was arrested on similar charges. A warrant for Barlow, who lives in Arizona, has been dropped.

A custody action involving "Sarah" herself has yet to hit court, but it will likely result in a dismissal.

"To our knowledge, we can't identify that we have her," Meisner said Tuesday.

Interestingly enough, ex-FLDS members have appeared in court to offer custody solutions. Arthur L. Barlow appeared in court alongside his estranged wife, Esther, to plead for the children to be returned.

Barlow said he was excommunicated from the FLDS Church four years ago, but his wives remained. He learned that his children were in Texas custody when a brother-in-law called him, asking if he could help.

He hasn't seen Esther, or the five children he had with her, since then. He recently visited his 6-year-old daughter, whom he said didn't recognize him at first.

"I chose to stay away and let them have a life," he said Tuesday.

Barlow said he adamantly disagreed with the allegations of abuse on the YFZ Ranch, even though he has never been there himself.

"How does this involve me?" he asked CPS caseworker Ashley Kennedy.

"Your children were on the ranch. We found reason to believe there was a pervasive pattern of sex abuse. Your children were at risk," she replied.

"You have no proof I'm guilty of those. If I'm not guilty, why can't I have my children?"

Barlow said he wants his children to be returned to their mother, but offered to take them himself as a "plan B." CPS workers conceded that Esther Barlow was on the "fast track" for reunification. She had already completed a psychological evaluation and had signed a lease on a three-bedroom home.

Arthur Barlow was not the only father who is here to offer support for reunification. Frank Johnson traveled from his home in Utah to offer support. He said that he left the FLDS faith.

"Texas is mixed up," he said of the custody situation.

Texas child welfare authorities maintain that children on the ranch were abused or at risk of abuse. During one hearing for a 1-year-old boy, it was revealed that the child's mother is 17, and theoretically, it makes her 15 when her son was conceived.

The child's father did not show up in court. The hearing was continued because the mother is eight months pregnant now.

"We've always known that there are one or two or three examples of that out there," Parker told the Deseret News. "What I've always been denying is there are 26 or 31 examples, which is what CPS has claimed."

The hearings in the largest custody case in U.S. history are the first step for FLDS parents to be reunited with their children seized in the raid on the YFZ Ranch — or see their parental rights taken away.


http://deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/1,5620,700227609,00.html

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company All rights reserved

Newspaper Article: Attorneys want FLDS children treated as individuals in court

Hearings begin Monday

Attorneys want FLDS children treated as individuals in court

Texas officials claim sect supports systemic abuse

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Cases for seven children from one family, five from another and at least two fathered by polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs are among those set for court Monday as the next phase begins in the largest child welfare action in United States history.

In all, attorneys for at least 35 children or their parents will converge on the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, Texas, for the first day of mandatory status hearings that continue through June 4.

Judge Barbara Walther, who in mid-April ordered the state to take custody of some 463 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has enlisted four other judges to help handle what are supposed to be routine updates.

However, attorneys frustrated by Walther's decision to treat the children as a group in April and later refusal to hear individual motions for their clients say they will make those arguments now at the status hearings.

"If individual children were wrongfully swept up in this raid because they have been neither abused nor neglected, the ongoing injustice to them is an unnecessary and indescribable tragedy," said Polly R. O'Toole, a Dallas attorney who represents one child.


"Systemic abuse."

Some attorneys are outraged by identical family service plans crafted by Texas Child Protective Services for each child.

"They are still relying on the 'one household' theory," objects Laura Shockley, a Dallas attorney who represents a minor of disputed age and several other children.

The plans describe physical, sexual and emotional abuse the state says children taken from the sect's YFZ Ranch experienced.

That evidence: a "large number" of girls ages 14 to 17 who have children or are pregnant; "several" instances of broken bones that are suspicious for physical abuse or neglect; "possible" sexual abuse of young boys; apparent exclusion of older boys from the ranch; a "pattern of deception" in disclosing family relationships; and concerns about the children's homeschooling.

The department has said that 31 of 53 girls ages 14 to 17 are pregnant or mothers but has not released specifics. The group includes five teenagers and 26 women whose ages are in dispute -- two of whom the state now agrees are adults.

Pamela Jessop, who gave birth April 29 to her second child, was listed as "15 or 16" in a May filing related to taking custody of her newborn. A different document, filed in April, had said she was 18, as officials now acknowledge.

They also agree Louisa Jessop, who gave birth last Monday to her third child, is 22 years old.

Both women are in monogamous marriages and their attorneys say none of the state's allegations fit their situations.

But the state, as laid out in the service plans, maintains that the couples and other FLDS parents "have chosen to be members of a community that appears to support systemic abuse of children." And CPS workers have the backing of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who praised them last week for handling the complex case "professionally and compassionately."


Fighting for individual treatment.

The plans lay out a year-long process for being reunited with their children, identifying dozens of issues the parents must address. The plans warn that failure to cooperate could result in their children being placed in permanent state custody or put up for adoption.

Rene Haas, a Corpus Christi attorney and former district judge, said nothing in the en masse hearing before Walther or in the allegations laid out in the service plans pertains to her clients, Joseph and Lori Jessop, ages 27 and 25. They are the monogamous parents of three children ages 1 to 4.

"In this situation we don't have any immediate harm to the little children but they were taken anyway," Haas said, criticizing the mass removal of children.

"There were ways to effect change in this organization that did not include harming these children," Haas said.

Haas is among the attorneys who have had success getting some concessions from judges outside of Tom Green County. She was able, for example, to get daily visits for the couple with their children and to bar the state from separating Lori from her youngest son, who turned 1 on Thursday and is still nursing.

Walther had ordered that mothers could stay with nursing children only if they were younger than 12 months.

No quick homecoming.

While some attorneys plan to mount challenges during the status hearings, they concede chances any children now in group homes and shelters across Texas will be returned to their parents is unlikely.

"Anybody that has that hope is dreaming a good dream," Shockley said.

She said some disputed minors have been questioned during the past week by CPS and Texas Rangers without approval of their attorneys. The questions appeared aimed at building criminal cases and centered on ages and relationships among household members, she said.

"It is an absolute constitutional atrocity," she said.

She also believes the questioning is perhaps as a prelude to classifying more of the girls as adults or "aged out" foster care placements.

brooke@sltrib.com

http://origin.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=9295315&siteId=297

John McCain, My Candidate

I have long admired Senator John McCain for many reasons. And, I am convinced that he is the best candidate for President of the United States. I urge my fellow citizens to support his candidacy with their time, their money, and their vote.

True, I first endorsed Mitt Romney. But, like Mitt Romney, I now fully and without reservation throw all my support behind the senior senator from Arizona. We live in perilous times; we need the experience, integrity, and wisdom of John McCain. (Not to mention his humor. Please see the following.)








Thanks to SNL and Senator McCain for the belly laughs. I loved it.

Sincerely,
A.W.

Newspaper Article: FLDS mother wins victory in court

"FLDS mother wins victory in court"

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: May 16, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Pamela Jeffs Jessop's eyes sparkled and she smiled as she walked out of the courthouse Friday.

"I love to be with my children," she said meekly.

The 18-year-old has secured a few more rights over her newborn baby than other members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church have over their children, her attorneys said Friday.

Jessop was in court for a hearing over the custody of her baby boy, born April 29. It was to be an adversarial hearing, where Texas child welfare officials entered evidence of abuse and sought to retain sole custody of her baby.

"We have reached an agreement," said Eric Tai, a lawyer for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. He announced in court. "The department will be a temporary conservator of baby boy Jeffs. Since the mom is under 21, she will be placed with both of her children in a place to be determined."

Jessop was also named a possessor and a conservator over her child, said her attorney, Natalie Malonis.

"It's a rather large victory," Malonis said Friday. "A possessor and a conservator under the family code has certain rights that, as far as I know, none of the other parents are enjoying right now. She has rights to information, and rights to participate in the child's life — and those are enforceable rights."

But Jessop's battle to win custody of her two children is just beginning. As she sat in court, she was served with papers by a constable, notifying her of the upcoming status hearings for her children.

Texas Child Protective Services workers were expected to file family service plans in court late Friday, outlining what parents must do to be reunited with their children.

"The judges will be looking at the plans of service. There will be discussion regarding what the agency and parents are trying to do together in an attempt to have the children safely returned to the parents' care at some point," said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the government agency.

The hearings, which will involve five judges and nearly all of the time for Tom Green County Courthouse's employees, are scheduled to begin Monday. Texas child welfare authorities have 464 children in state custody from the raid on the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch. The children currently are being housed in foster care facilities scattered across the state.

The raid began April 3 when someone claiming to be a 16-year-old girl called a family crisis shelter hotline here, saying she was pregnant and in an abusive polygamous marriage to a 49-year-old man. When authorities responded, they said they found evidence of other abuse, although the person who made the call was not identified.

That led a judge to order the removal of all of the children from the ranch. Authorities are still investigating if the original call was a hoax.

In family service plans obtained by the Deseret News, Texas CPS officials allege there is a culture on the YFZ Ranch where girls grow up to become child brides, and boys grow up to become sexual perpetrators.

Friday, Judge Barbara Walther presented a new concern for attorneys to wrangle over as they prepare for the hearings. She worried about lawyers representing children — even those no longer deemed to be children — and adults within the FLDS community at the same time, which could potentially raise conflict of interest issues.

"If you have one, you can't have the other," the judge said, citing Texas court rulings about attorney conflicts.

With such deeply intertwined families coming from a communal-style living environment, the attorneys realized the potential problems as the custody case moves forward. One attorney told the judge it could pose a significant problem for the entire case.

Mary Golder, appointed to represent five FLDS children in state custody, said she has worked hard to build relationships with her clients.

"These people do not trust us on a good day and to have to find somebody else ... ," she told the judge. "I'm the evil gentile. I'm used to being called that."

At the same time she presented the problem, Judge Walther seemed to have found the solution. She left the bench while attorneys huddled over the proposed solution.

"The guardian ad litems are willing to waive a conflict with the understanding that if problems arise, they will be addressed," said Debra Brown, the court-appointed Special Advocate in the case. "We will ask attorneys not to represent mothers and their children or adults and their sister-wives in one family unit."

Hundreds of lawyers have volunteered their time to represent the FLDS mothers and children.

"Ideally in any case, you want a different lawyer for everybody," said Golder. "This is just such a unique case all the way around."

http://deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/1,5620,700226667,00.html

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Newspaper Article: Chairman says Texas CPS workers mistreated FLDS

Chairman says Texas CPS workers mistreated FLDS

By Brian West
Deseret News
Published: May 14, 2008

John Kight is determined to get the word out that Child Protective Services in Texas is out of control. As chairman of an organization that provided mental health workers to assist FLDS children and mothers taken from the YFZ Ranch, he spoke with the Texas governor's office Tuesday and has already spoken with state legislators.

"We don't condone what they say went on out there (at the ranch), but we're just aghast at the methods they used to go out there and take the kids away from their mothers," Kight said. "We want him (Texas Gov. Rick Perry) to hear first hand what went on, ... how abusive CPS was and how they've trampled all over their rights."

Eleven employees of the Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center recently provided written reports of their experiences at the request of the regional governing board. Each expressed frustration — and some anger — at how CPS treated the children.

After hearing about their experiences at the makeshift shelters last month in San Angelo, Kight said he and the board felt the need to do something.

"We can't just stand by and let this happen as Americans," he said. "Hopefully, (Gov. Perry) will take some sort of action to get these parents back with their kids."

Two workers reported witnessing some CPS workers being compassionate and friendly at the shelters. Most comments, however, described witnessing CPS workers mistreating the mothers and children, including lying to them, being rude, uncaring and abusing authority. Several said they were told by CPS workers that the mothers and children would be uncooperative and hostile, but instead found them to be friendly, pleasant and sincere.

"Some of these CPS workers were bent on humiliating and just being hateful," Kight said. "They get their minds made up that they have unlimited power to do what they want and it's not right."

When asked over the past few weeks about similar allegations, CPS officials have strongly denied such accusations. The FLDS women and children have been described as uncooperative and have purposefully provided misinformation to CPS employees. They say they tried to make the women and children as comfortable as possible in the shelters, but it was difficult to create an environment for so many people.

Texas officials say the new Hill Country Community MHMR accusations are serious, and CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner confirmed that an investigation into the allegations is being conducted.

Here are some of the observations from the nine unsigned letters written by the mental health professionals:

• "At least five mothers reported that at night CPS circled their beds, held flashlights in their faces and then would sit inches away from them as they tried to sleep. Mothers reported they were scared CPS would take their children during the night, thus leaving them and their children exhausted."

• "I have worked in domestic violence/sexual abuse programming for over 20 years and have never seen women and children treated this poorly, not to mention their civil rights being disregarded in this manner. It makes us all wonder how safe anyone is who has children."

• "At one point I headed toward the public restroom and was immediately grabbed by the arm by a CPS worker who told me to use the port-a-potties outside the rock wall 'because we don't know what kind of diseases these people might have and we don't want to catch anything from them.' I was later told it had been determined that STDs were rampant among the women because of their promiscuous lifestyle. I did not believe that information since I knew none of the women had submitted to examination."

• "Unlike many of my colleagues, most of my interactions with CPS workers were pleasant and enlightening. Many of the ladies and gentlemen in San Angelo were genuinely confused as to why their agency was placing so much energy into the removal of these children. On a number of occasions, I saw CPS workers trying to build a healthy relationship with the children and mothers."

• "The picture had been painted of a large group of women and children that had been brainwashed and abused. To my surprise, when I entered the Fort Concho shelter the morning of April 9, I found a group of healthy, happy children and loving caring mothers."

• "For me, on a personal level, the most difficult aspect of the entire experience was the apparent lies being told to the mothers. I myself felt the inconsistency in information when we had been told that special needs children were to be allowed to stay with their mothers and, yet, by that afternoon, that was no longer the case. This left me in a strange position in which I felt compelled to voice the needs of these children and their mothers. This was met with less than enthusiastic response and after I spoke out for the children, I was asked to either leave the bus or be arrested."

• "Some who were previously sullen or reluctant to speak would brighten when they learned we were not CPS."

• "The children laughed easily and gave eye contact. They had none of the traditional withdrawal common in abused children."

• "On the last day of my stay at the coliseum (April 24), the mothers had been removed ... The children had cried bitterly on the removal of the mothers, and they were now with strangers. ... Children were grabbing toys from others and using the toys as play weapons against each other and their 'captors.' In my estimation they were acting out their fear and anger. One little boy of about 4 was frantically running from the CPS workers, avoiding capture in every way he could. Once caught, I held him firmly in my arms while he wept that he didn't want them to take his mother."

• "I did see some wonderful interactions with CPS and some of the children, as they read stories and played games. ... I also saw a woman I know personally (who) had been a prison principal now employed with CPS. She seemed to have retained an attitude that these people were inmates!"

• "CPS had as their primary focus the sexual abuse that was alleged, rather than the emotional abuse I felt they were creating."

• "CPS showed a disregard and disrespect for the mothers' culture in various ways. ... Tight, revealing clothes were worn daily by many of those in the pavilion, and bare arms, feet, and legs were standard, even though FLDS custom is to stay covered except for hands and face."

• "On the Thursday morning, April 24, I witnessed a young mother named Rosinith be required by CPS to board the bus back to the ranch, though her young child was in the hospital with 104 degree fever and even though the child's physician had personally requested the mother's presence at the hospital. This event haunts me still, and I cannot imagine such a heartless act."

• "I do not believe in polygamy and I see that as a proof that the men in this sect see women as property. ... However, I also know the research on long-term consequences of removing children from loving parents. I do not believe that the emotional abuse of all 460+ children must be weighed in the equation."

• "It was frightening to watch women and children being herded and separated like cattle with no regard for human rights or the needs of the group or individuals. ... If this had happened in another country, our government would have tried to prevent it! Old films of concentration camps came to mind."

• "These lovely women and children were gracious and kind always. They tried to cooperate with every request, even when terrified that they were going to be separated from their children. The mothers are incredibly loving and patient with the children."

• "On the awful day that they separated the mothers and children the level of cruelty and lack of respect for human rights was overwhelming. Crying, begging children were ripped away from their devastated mothers and the mothers were put on buses to either return to the ranch or to go to shelters. Most went to shelters because they were told they would be able to see their children if they did not return to the ranch. This, of course, was another lie. ... The floor was literally slick with tears in places. A baby was left in a stroller without food and water for 24 hours and ended up in the hospital. A 4-year-old boy was so terrified that he snuck away and hid and was only found after the coliseum (had) been emptied the next day."

• "I witnessed a small boy, maybe 3 years old, walking along the rows of cots with a little pillow saying, 'I need someone to rock me, I just want to be rocked, I want to find a rocking chair.' Two CPS workers were following him and writing in their notebooks but not speaking to him or comforting him. Sally and I started toward him but his 8-year-old brother came and picked him up saying, 'I will take care of him.' ... That little boy will always be in my mind. How can a beautiful healthy child be taken from a healthy, loving home and forced into a situation like that, right here in America, right here in Texas?"

• "My observation of the mothers' interaction with their children was one of love, warmth and kindness. Not once did I hear an unkind word, yelling or negative response to a child's behavior. I really feel these women could teach us all a lot about positive parenting."

• "As I was talking to a mother, her child spilled water down his front; he stood up on the cot so that she could wipe him off. A CPS worker strode over and told the mother, 'You need to set him down, NOW.' The woman nodded and continued to wipe his shirt. The CPS worker then said, 'If you don't sit him down NOW, I will set him down for you.' At this point I mentioned to the worker that she was simply wiping him off, had a hold of him, and would sit him down as soon as this was done. The CPS worker glared at me and walked off. The mother whispered to me that 'this is the way they always treat us, as if we don't know how to care for our own children. They won't even let our babies sleep with us.'"

• "One of the women ... asked me if I knew of any underage mothers in (my) community. I told her yes. She asked me if I knew of any domestic violence or sexual abuse that had been reported in my community and I replied yes. 'Why then,' she asked, 'did no one hear of that community having all of the children taken from all of the mothers?' All I could respond was, 'That's a good question.'"

• "We were told to observe only and not to help. We were told we were surrounded by (Department of Public Safety) and there were snipers on the buildings for our protection."

• "Separated from older children (12 and up) and for days not even allowed to wave at them across the open field — told they would never see them again if they continued to wave — threatened with jail for waving at them."

• "The more uncomfortable they were the more CPS thought they would talk."

• "Never in all my life, and I am one of the older ladies, have I been so ashamed of being a Texan and seeing what and how our government agencies treat people. ... This must stop somewhere and somehow. This invasion of their property and the disruption of their lives could happen to anyone anytime if all power and authority is given to CPS."

• "The entire experience at Ft. Concho and the coliseum was surreal; at times it felt like these women and children were prisoners. I heard some people wonder out loud if this was Nazi Germany. The thought had struck me, too. Is this what it was like for the people in concentration camps in Germany? The women and children from Eldorado were basically lied to and deceived on several occasions. I often felt helpless; I also felt in awe of the grace, and self-confidence in which the women behaved. My culture, my society could learn from these women and children; they have my utmost respect."

• "My task ... was to comfort and offer support to the children ... separated from their mothers. Most of the children stayed united with each other. The older children comforted the younger children when they began to cry and ask for their mothers. The older female children took on the role of mothers. They hugged and consoled the smaller children. It was touching to watch the intense bond these children had, regardless of the fact that they were not all blood siblings, but difficult at the same time. I found it extremely difficult to do my task of consoling and offer comfort when I was an emotional wreck myself."

• "At one point, when the children were all separated, one male child who was about 9 years old, broke away from the rest of the children who were all hurtled together, being comforted by each other, and walked up to a police officer. I heard him say, 'You're the police, help us. Help me get my mother back. She has done nothing wrong.' The police officer could only respond by saying, 'I can't do that.'"

• "I am from a small Texas town with a population less than all the people that were forced from their homes ... I kept thinking to myself this is no different than if someone, which in most small towns there are, had gotten pregnant as a minor by an adult and rather than investigate and deal with that situation they arrested the entire town and treated them like criminals."

• "The women would sing songs to comfort themselves and their children. Some I had heard and had sung in my Methodist upbringing. Then they would gather and pray as well. Many of the CPS workers said they prayed in code, but I understood what they said and it was the same code I used to pray."

http://deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/1,5620,700225591,00.html

E-mail: bwest@desnews.com

© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company All rights reserved

The YFZ Children are Being Abused . . . by Texas

I posted the following comments today on the Wake Up America blog in response to their recent article:

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/04/documents-detail-abuse-at-yfz-ranch.html

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I think the following newspaper article should help some of us God Fearing (Loving) Christians to be a little bit more humble:

-------

Headline: "Former pastor charged with attempted rape may be close to resolving case"

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/16/2008 12:28:30 PM MDT

Posted: 12:29 PM- The former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City - charged with attempting to sexually assault a woman at his Midvale home - on Tuesday waived his right to a preliminary hearing in anticipation of resolving the case.

Scott Weisser, 52, is charged with attempted rape, a first-degree felony, and class B misdemeanor assault in connection with the alleged March 16 attack.

Weisser could settle the case during a hearing scheduled for May 1, prosecutors said.

Also on Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Stephen Roth released Weisser to the supervision of Pre-Trial Services. Weisser had been held at the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Weisser - who resigned as pastor following his arrest - entered a bedroom in the home and attempted to have sex with an adult relative, who repeatedly told him no and fought him off, according to charges.

Weisser also dragged the woman into a door jamb, causing slight abrasions to her hip, court documents said. The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name alleged sexual-assault victims.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8946309

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Hey wannabe, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. When those cases are in the news we report it, READ THE RULES and stick to the topic or you won't be commenting for long.

Susan

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Dear Susan,

Please forgive me if I have broken a site rule. I promise that it was not my intention to do so. And, just so that I do not mess up in the future, could you please tell me what rule exactly that I have broken? Because, with all due respect, I sincerely believe that the newspaper article I quoted related very much to the issue we are currently discussing -- and was actually one of the more respectful comments I had read here.

You see, the Texas authorities tell us that they found three pregnant teenage girls on that YFZ Ranch. (Only 3 out of 416 kids) If that is true, and assuming that at least half the children on that ranch are girls, then the teenage pregnancy rate in that supposedly "crazy polygamist" community is actually much lower than the teenage pregnancy rate for girls in the rest of the state of Texas! To put it bluntly -- that ranch full of "nut jobs" is actually a much safer place for protecting the virtue of teenage girls than most other places in the state.

QUESTION: So, then, why did the Texas authorities raid the YFZ Ranch and not, let's say, Grand Prairie?

ANSWER: Because, it's okay to violate the Constitutional rights of people we don't like, people of another culture, people who practice a different religion than our own. Then, suddenly, due process can simply be ignored. Parental rights can be ignored. The natural bond between a parent and child can simply be thrown out the window.

Whatever very real abuse was suffered by SOME OF THE GIRLS on that ranch by certain tyrannical jerks, it can't be too much worse than the abuse -- THE VERY REAL ABUSE -- being inflicted upon ALL OF THE CHILDREN from that community by the tyranny of the state of Texas.

SUGGESTION: Find the actual men who married and impregnated those under-aged girls. Present the evidence in a court of law. And, then, throw the bums in jail. That is the American way. But, do not rip innocent children out of the arms of their mothers and kid yourself that you are doing anything but being EXTREMELY CRUEL. You are not helping the children. Rather, you are consigning them to foster care Hell, seemingly endless nights of crying themselves to sleep, and scarring them for the rest of their lives. If there is a just God in Heaven -- and I know that there is -- then the day will come when everyone involved in this massive tragedy (on both sides) will have to give an accounting. Until then, I pray that mercy and wisdom will prevail, but I have not seen too much of that so far.

SUMMARY: So, how does the recent newspaper article that I quoted relate to this issue? It relates in this way: When the police in Utah were alerted to the fact that a local Baptist minister had attempted to rape a relative, they did not use that as a provocation for raiding all of the Baptist homes within his congregation in order to remove all the Baptist children from their parents and put them in foster care. Why? Because it would been against the law, and more importantly, doing so would have been immoral. Hopefully, enough good folks in Texas will come to this realization too.

Love, Your Friend and Brother,
Alienated Wannabe

P.S. Please do not think that I am bashing Texans or Baptists. I have strong family ties to both the state of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention. I know of the goodness inherent in both, and I feel a love and loyalty toward both -- my mother was born in Texas and my great grand daddy was the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas. It is just that I also know all too well the bigotry and ignorance that exists in the region toward Mormons in general, not to mention toward this small group of polygamists that split off from the main Mormon body a century ago. Thus, someone has to remind certain folks in Texas that, as strange as these people may seem, they are not that different from you. They love their kids, and they are usually pretty good parents. The sins of a few misguided men leading them does not justify traumatizing the entire population. Officials in Utah and Arizona learned that a long time ago. (Recently, they arrested their leader Warren Jeffs, but left the families intact.) Their counterparts in Texas still need to figure it out.

For more on this topic, and more eloquently presented, please read the most recent article posted on the website of conservative radio talk show host, Bob Lonsberry, at http://www.lonsberry.com/.

Thank you, and God bless!

School Vouchers - Part 2

With regard to my previous post endorsing vouchers, please understand that just because I resent educational practices which undermine "traditional values" that does not mean I therefore want public schools to do a 180 degree turn and begin teaching Christian doctrine. That is not my position at all. I just want Secular Humanists to stop trying to impose their faith and their social agenda upon society by way of the public school system.

Please allow me to supply some examples so you can better understand where I am coming from:

While I attended public schools outside of Utah, I was forced to take numerous classes on Evolution where the ideas taught were presented as being fact instead of theory. Questioning this dogma was not tolerated, even though today many of the claims behind those theories have been revised or abandoned. So, do I now object to the teaching of the various theories of evolution? No, I just want them to be clearly taught as theories and no more.

Also, while growing up, I was forced to take more than one class on Sex Education. My personal experience was that the material covered, and the way it was presented, actually caused me more confusion and anxiety. Do I therefore object to educating children about sex? No, I just believe that parents need to play the primary role in deciding how that is to be done and what values are going to be shared during that instruction.

So, how does this relate to Utah schools?

Well, just within the past few weeks I have read a column by Rebecca Walsh in the Tribune, a column by Holly Mullen in City Weekly, a blog entry by Holly Mullen on Mullentown, a blog entry by Holly Mullen on City Weekly's website, an editorial by Planned Parenthood in the Tribune, and an editorial by the Salt Lake Tribune, itself, all calling for more sex education in Utah and/or its schools. I suspect such a call resonates with many other left leaning individuals within our state and its school system.

But, I am concerned that these individuals are so eager to instruct my children, because I have found that their beliefs are sometimes diametrically opposed to my own. I love my children more than I do my own life. I want what is best for them more than any of these good people could even come close to approaching. Thus, I want to be the one teaching my children about sex, not Planned Parenthood or its allies.

As long as I am alive, I will strive to ensure that my parental rights are preserved so that I am free to raise my children in the best way I know. I see my support of vouchers as being a way of creating options for me as a parent -- options which empower me as I perform my responsibilities.

School Vouchers

I support the concept of school vouchers because I believe they may help to bring accountability to a monopolistic system that has long been out of touch with traditional values.

In the turf battles of our current culture war, much of the media and educational establishment were captured early on by the Left. The backlash to its subsequent abuse of these institutions is found in the development of such things as conservative media and school vouchers. If the Left does not like these things — and there are many reasons why it should not — it has only itself to blame.

Diversity and freedom of speech is sacrosanct to the Left, as long as diversity means “different than traditional values” and freedom of speech means “speaking against traditional values.” But, the Extreme Left shows its true colors with its visceral opposition to diversity in educational options and freedom of speech by those opposed to their counter-culture agenda. This, I believe, is the textbook definition of hypocrisy.

I wish that such unworthy behavior were limited to the Left, but, sadly, such is not the case. The Right frequently disappoints me with the stunts pulled by its extremists as well. The key, I guess, is for each of us to learn how to think clearly for ourselves, to not just go along with the lemmings running on either side of us, and to not merely regurgitate the talking points handed down by the most extreme voices on either side.

In that spirit, I repeat that I support school vouchers in concept. There may be problems with Utah's current attempt to implement them, but the experiment is appropriate, and such problems can be addressed over time by corrective adjustments as needed.

Despite claims to the contrary, the Earth is not going to end if Utah pursues its limited trial of vouchers. Let's give them a fair shot, see what happens, and then go from there. Let's not let the fear mongers dissuade us from perusing this reasonable course.