Patti’s
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(group member since Mar 26, 2008)
Patti’s
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from the True Crime and everything else in between group.
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A couple of links that I thought some of you might like to check out regarding Amy Latus~the woman that is the victim in the book we are reading about this month.If you are reading this book,feel free to let me/us know how you feel about the book here.
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http://epilot2.hamptonroads.com/Defau...
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http://www.jlcdesigns.com/links.htm
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The latest from my local paper online:Polygamous-sect children ordered to stay in Texas custody
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer
Court Hearing Lasts 11 Hours
Judge: All Polygamist Kids to Stay in Custody
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- A chaotic two-day hearing ended with dropped heads and silence when a judge ordered that the 416 children taken from a ranch run by a polygamous sect will stay in state custody for the time being.
State District Judge Barbara Walther heard 21 hours of testimony over two days before ruling Friday that the children would be kept in custody while the state continues to investigate allegations of abuse stemming from the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
"This is but the beginning," Walther said.
She also ordered genetic testing to sort out family relationships that have confounded welfare authorities.
Individual hearings will be set for the children over the next several weeks, and the judge will determine whether they are moved into permanent foster care or can be returned to their parents. All of the hearings must be held by June 5.
Walther ordered all 416 children and parents be given genetic tests. Child welfare officials say they've had difficulty determining how the children and adults are related because of evasive or changing answers.
A mobile genetic lab will take samples Monday at the main shelter where children are being kept; parents will be able to submit samples Tuesday in Eldorado, closer to the ranch.
The custody case is one of the largest and most convoluted in U.S. history. The ruling on Friday capped two days of marathon testimony that sometimes descended into chaos as hundreds of lawyers for the children and parents competed to defend their clients in two large rooms linked by a video feed.
Attorneys popped up with objections in a courtroom and nearby auditorium, then queued up and down the aisle to cross-examine witnesses in a mass hearing that frustrated attorneys and stretched the small-town court system.
The April 3 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch was prompted by a call made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. That girl has never been identified.
The state argued it should be allowed to keep the children because the sect's teaching encourages girls younger than 18 to enter spiritual marriages with older men and produce as many children as possible. Its attorneys argued that the culture put all the girls at risk and potentially turned the boys into future predators.
A witness for the parents who was presented by defense lawyers as an expert on the FLDS disputed that the girls have no say in who they marry.
"I believe the girls are given a real choice," said W. John Walsh. "Girls have successfully said, 'No, this is not a good match for me,' and they remained in good standing."
But Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist who has studied children in cults, testified that the girls will not refuse marriages because they are indoctrinated to believe disobedience will lead to their damnation.
The renegade Mormon sect's belief system "is abusive. The culture is very authoritarian," he said.
Perry acknowledged that many adults at the ranch are loving parents and that the boys seemed emotionally healthy. When asked whether the belief system really endangered the older boys or young children, Perry said, "I have lost sleep over that question."
He also conceded that the children, taught from birth to believe that contact with the outside world will lead to eternal damnation, would suffer if placed in traditional foster care.
"If these children are kept in the custody of the state, there would have to be exceptional and innovative programmatic elements for these children and their families," he said. "The traditional foster care system would be destructive for these children."
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the department was pleased with the judge's ruling and believes that the children will now be safe.
It's not clear how quickly the children might be moved from the coliseum and fairgrounds where they are staying on cots into foster homes or other temporary housing, but they could be placed with family members if CPS determines the children will be safe, Meisner said.
Four women testified Friday, and all said they were free to make their own choices. They also said they would do whatever it took to get their children returned to them.
"We're a peaceful people," Lucille Nielson said. Life on their 1,700-acre gated ranch "is very peaceful. You can feel the peace when you are there. Very loving. We raise our children in a loving environment."
But the women also acknowledged that girls get married at ages younger than the state allows.
Some of the women bowed their heads when the judge issued her order to keep the children in state custody. They left the columned courthouse stoically, ignoring questions shouted by reporters.
They'll face more hearings, and some could be required to take steps to prove to Child Protective Services that they should be allowed to regain custody.
Tim Edwards, a lawyer representing four mothers, said the women would comply with the judge's orders.
"We are going to comply with the orders of the court, we're going to cooperate with CPS and their requirements and do everything within our power to turn the situation around," he said.
Texas Rangers also are investigating a Colorado woman as a "person of interest" related to calls made to a family crisis center. Police arrested Rozita Swinton, 33, on Wednesday in Colorado Springs on a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities for a call she made in late February.
Authorities did not say whether a call by Swinton might be the one that triggered the raid.
But officers who searched her home found items suggesting a possible connection between Swinton and calls regarding a compound owned by FLDS in Arizona and one in Eldorado, the Texas Department of Public Safety said late Friday. The items weren't identified.
"The information, evidence and a statement obtained from Swinton by the Texas Rangers while they were in Colorado will be forwarded to state and federal prosecutors for their review and determination whether Swinton will be charged with a criminal offense," the statement said.
Swinton's whereabouts were unknown, and it wasn't known whether she had an attorney. A phone number for her in Colorado Springs was disconnected.
Authorities in Colorado confirmed Swinton has a history of making false reports.
The latest article from my local newspaper:FDLS members responded to raid with song, prayer
By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- When police officers armed with weapons and protective gear descended on a West Texas ranch owned by a polygamist church, its members responded by going to their knees in prayer.
Images released Tuesday show police entering the Yearning for Zion ranch on April 3 wearing body armor and carrying automatic weapons, backed by an armored personnel carrier.
"They responded by singing and praying," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney who serves as a spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He released four still photos and a slice of video to The Associated Press.
Sect members took the photos and video during the first few days of a seven-day raid that involved police agencies from six counties, the Texas Rangers, the state highway patrol and wildlife officers. Authorities were looking for a teenage girl who had reported being abused by her 50-year-old husband.
A sect member whose wife shot the video said ranch residents quickly got the impression that state officials "were doing something more than they said they were going to do." The man declined to give his name for fear that speaking out would cause problems for his children, who are in state custody.
Tela Mange, a state Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said officers are trained to protect themselves.
"Whenever we serve a search warrant, no matter where or when, we are always as prepared as possible so we can ensure the operational safety of the officers serving the warrant, as well as the safety of those who are on the property in question," Mange said.
The armored car was precautionary and designed to remove someone from the property, not to force entry onto the ranch, she said.
While there were hunting rifles at the ranch, search warrants filed in district court in Tom Green County don't show that police seized any weapons.
Eldorado is about 200 miles southeast of Waco, where federal authorities tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh for stockpiling guns and explosives in 1993. Four federal agents and six members of Koresh's sect died in the shootout that ensued. After a 51-day standoff, Koresh and nearly 80 followers died in an inferno that the government says was set by the Davidians but that survivors say started when authorities fired tear gas rounds into their compound.
Law enforcement surrounded the FLDS ranch, carrying a warrant seeking a 16-year-old girl who said she was trapped inside the church retreat and had been beaten and raped by her husband.
The search revealed that a soaring white limestone temple at the ranch held a bed where officials believe underage girls were required to consummate their spiritual marriages to much older men.
More than 400 children - all of whom lived in the large, dormitory-style log homes - were seized in the raid on suspicion they were being sexually and physically abused. They are being held in the San Angelo Coliseum and are awaiting a massive court hearing Thursday that will begin to determine their fate.
FLDS members carefully documented the raid in notes, video and still pictures of police and child protection workers talking with families, but much of that material was seized when police executed one of two search warrants on the ranch, Parker said.
The 416 children held by Texas authorities had been accompanied by 139 women until Monday, when officials ordered all the women away except for those whose children are under 5.
Texas Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said officials decided that children are more truthful in interviews about possible abuse if their parents are not around.
"I can tell you we believe the children who are victims of abuse or neglect, and particularly victims at the hands of their own parents, certainly are going to feel safer to tell their story when they don't have a parent there that's coaching them with how to respond," Meisner said.
The renegade Mormon sect is led by Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to rape and is awaiting trial in Arizona on similar charges.
Another update regarding the latest raid-from my local paper online-read about it here:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/...
Leave what books you would like us as a group to read and if we haven't read it yet,it just might be the next month's book to read!
Ok...here's what I'm gonna do. Due to the fact that I just started reading another book today,and the fact that I belong to one of those book clubs where you buy 1 book a month for $9.99 (go to http://www.bomc2.com)and will be receiving the book that I picked for the month at the end of this month-I will post in the discussions the title of what book that will be. And we'll go from there. This way I thought we can all read what we are reading now,and hopefully be done with those books by the end of the month-and we can start fresh starting with the month of May. In the meantime though,should any of you read any of the books that I have listed here-feel free to post any thoughts you have about them here-which can start a discussion and can keep things going until we officially start,I guess you could say,in May. The book that I list as the one I'm currently reading will be the book that that as a group we can read together-starting in May. For now the book you see me currently reading is just that-what I'm currently reading. I will probably write notes/thoughts in the discussions here in case someone has either read the book or would like to and they would like to discuss it.I thought we could start by reading a book every month-that way you can still read other books either of your own choosing or any books that you would like to read from your other groups. Feel free then to suggest what books we can read for the next month. I'll start a "book suggestion" discussion-where those can be posted. And I'll maybe through the titles in a hat and whichever one comes up-will be that month's book that we will read.
How do you feel about the Courters? Were you surprised that Ashley was the good student that she turned out to be? That she was able to accomplish all that she did-even after all that she'd been through?
How do you feel about Ashley's relationship with her brother Luke? Or Ashley's relationship to her biological mother (before her adoption)? Do you understand why she feels about her mother as she does?
How do you feel about Dusty and the relationship he has with Luke?
Feel free to leave whatever ideas you might have in getting this group going or to make it a better one. Like I've said before~I'm new to this type of thing myself~so I welcome any thoughts/ideas or suggestions you might have.
I just want to take the time out to Welcome those of you that have decided to come join us here at the "True Crime and Everything Else in Between" group! I'm new to this group stuff and have never been a part of a book group myself before starting one of my own. So,for right now if you want to read a book that I or any of the other members have read-feel free to do so and either start posting discussions about them here or maybe the book you want to read is one of the books I've already posted in the discussions~feel free to post your thoughts about them. If you have any suggestions feel free to post them in the "Suggestion Box" discussion folder.
Thank you so much for joining us.
For those of you that have read or would like to read this book...this is a little blurb if you will about a recent news bit that came out about a day or 2 ago,there was a headline in the news that went something like this:52 girls removed from Texas Compound-you can read about it here: http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/...
Those girls were removed from the very compound/group that Carolyn Jessop (author of Escape) was from and her book tells you all about her life living on it. So,if you haven't read it yet,I suggest you do real soon! Feel free to read my review on that book as well and let me know what you think!
How do you feel about Ashley's biological Mother? Do you feel sorry for her? After all,she was just a child herself,when she gave birth to Ashley and her brother Luke.
Or are you angry at her? That even after having children,she still couldn't/wouldn't straighten herself up enough for them?
Or are you indifferent about her?
Or do you blame someone other than Ashley's biological Mother for why she chose a life that she did? Who do you blame and why?
Many twists and turns as it winds down. Did any of it surprise you? If so,which surprised you the most?
Well,it appears they've now figured out not only who did it,but that Danny was in fact,murdered. But for some reason the person they've determined did,in fact,murder Danny just doesn't sit well with me. It seems,by all appearances that this person did murder Danny. If this person really did,then I'd have to say, I'm not sure that's who I would've chosen to be the one,should I have been the one that wrote this book. Gots to go read more and find out if my hunch is right. In the meantime,let me know what you think.
We now have another suspect in Danny's possible murder. Slap Watkins. What do you think? Did HE do it? Or did Danny's own brother,Chris do it?
Now that some of Huff's past has come to light,how do you feel about him now?
Do you think Beck and Sayre will eventually get together as a couple? And if they do,how do you feel about that?
Chris is now a suspect in Danny's possible murder. What do you think? Think he's involved at all? Could a brother do something like that and if he did why?
