Cooperation, Nother Book, Adaptation & Opinion

May 7th: Legal experts say what FLDS can do now is cooperate
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695277064,00.html

Excerpt

During its investigation, Texas authorities have said they have uncovered evidence of physical and sexual abuse among children. Cassell said courts have upheld that if law enforcement sees evidence — even if it's evidence of a completely different crime than what the search warrant suspected — that evidence can still be used in court.

"They don't have to avert their eyes of evidence of other wrongdoing," Cassell said. "They have to show probable cause to be pulling up fish, but if they're looking for a bass and they find a salmon, they don't have to throw the salmon back."


May 7th: Former 'plural wife' details life in FLDS
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=102188

Excerpt

Spencer details her life in the FLDS in her book Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife. She says FLDS members are taught that man can attain God-like status based on the number of wives and children he possesses. The church, she says, is a cult that brainwashes its members.

"I myself grew up seeing girls 13, 14, 15, getting married -- and [FLDS leaders] justified it by saying that the Mother of Christ, Mary, was a 14-year-old when she gave birth to Christ. So that's what they say," she explains. "They also taught that Jesus Christ was a polygamist -- [that] he was married to Martha and Mary; and they say, 'Who do you think all those crying women were at the cross? They were His wives.'"


May 5th: FLDS children adapt old ways to new homes
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9148958

Excerpts

AMARILLO, Texas - Now living hundreds of miles away from their rural Texas homes, some children at the center of the largest child abuse case in U.S. history are asking to bake bread.

They want a wheat grinder and a place to plant a garden. They want to pray twice a day - sometimes with siblings, sometimes all together. And when the spirit moves them, they want to sing.

"They sing very beautifully," said Delma Trejo, executive director of The Ark Assessment Center and Emergency Shelter for Youth in Corpus Christi.

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Under Texas law, parents are allowed to visit their children in state custody. Mary Walker, a spokeswoman for the Department of Family and Protective Services, said supervised visitation is being arranged for mothers.

And fathers? "I believe that in some cases that is being allowed, if they have been identified as the fathers," she said.

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Accustomed to a natural, healthy diet, the children at The Ark in Corpus Christi prefer whole milk, pure vanilla and unsweetened cereal. They've asked to make smoothies of almonds, water, honey and olive oil.

"The children are beginning to eat more now that they are becoming more comfortable at the Home," said Bryan Mize, spokesman for Methodist Children's Home.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I love this next piece! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Opinion: Nevada senator need not apologize for polygamy statement
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080507/OPINION/805070302

Excerpt

Members of the FLDS church have been uncooperative. Children lack birth certificates, and "spouses" lack marriage certificates. Many of the children have the same first name, and DNA testing is being used to identify biological parents. There is a question whether the kids even know who their birth parents are because of the polygamist practice of referring to other "wives" in the household as sister moms.

Some experts have estimated the number of polygamists in Utah at 40,000; others suspect a figure as high as 70,000. In a Washington Post interview a couple of years ago, Shurtleff was quoted as saying, "The thinking is this: This is a big group of people. They are not going away. You can't prosecute them all. You can't drive them out of the state. So they are here. What do we do about it?"