headline of the week

The one and half inch headline on the front page of the Deseret News is the winner: "Texas can't hold'em" 'Em refers to the FLDS children, which Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services had taken away from their mothers (and fathers) because of one phone call from a woman in Colorado claiming she and her children had been abused by a man who was known to be out on warrants in Arizona. Oh and this woman was not only not FLDS, but she had previously been convicted for filing false reports with the police.

The 3rd Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court ruled that Texas couldn't ferret away children as a group and put them in foster homes around the state without individual allegations of abuse by their parents (polygamist or not). To treat the children as endangered because they are raised in FLDS households in my view violates not only Due Process but the First Amendment.

If Texas has evidence that a particular man or woman in that community is abusing children or adults, get those victims out of that household and arrest the alleged abusers. But seizing the woman and children (and boxes of documents) while leaving the men makes absolutely no sense to me. Also, this victory on appeal for the FLDS makes it more likely that FLDS women and children will tell the truth about whatever abuse might be going on inside the YFZ Ranch. Trust in government authorities is necessary for the effective prosecution of crimes, whether it be in inner-city Detriot or miles outside of San Angelo, Texas.