Concerned | 10:14 a.m. April 24, 2008
I am terrified that the State of Texas is abusing thier power like they are. This is all based on a bogus search warrant and none of the evidence will be permitted in court.

How can then take these 2 and 3 year olds away from thier mothers and think that it is good for the kids?

This situation should scare everyone in America!
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Buses to Freedom | 10:25 a.m. April 24, 2008
Hopefully, this will be the first step to freedom for these kids. Either the FLDS will reform their ways and stop abusing their kids through forced marriages, or the kids will be given an opportunity to see the outside world and, for the first time in their lives, be able to make an informed decision on whether to return to the FLDS lifestyle.
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Jeff | 10:54 a.m. April 24, 2008
A government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything that you have.

Thomas Jefferson
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HD | 10:55 a.m. April 24, 2008
We all understand that this situation is difficult at best to understand and manage. There is a very simple solution to this mess and it requires the adults of the FLDS to come forward and honestly answer questions that the State of Texas has regarding family relationships. They (FLDS)are the reason this situation keeps getting worse. If the welfare of the children is their most important issue then why don't they do the right thing and help to clarify the issues of which kids belong to which set of parents. The DNA tests will shortly clarify this.
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Anyone find it weird | 11:01 a.m. April 24, 2008
That these women are smiling as they yell and hold up signs? Guess that "keep sweet" still rings true.
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This is messed up | 11:01 a.m. April 24, 2008
bless the beast and the children because in this world...they have no choice!
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Chris McLeod in Texas | 11:05 a.m. April 24, 2008
Its funny that the best "The Desert News" is the only reliable place to keep informed of this story. The Texas papers are selective in their reporting. The biggest problem here in texas is that The FLDS believers are both different and White. Humans have always attacted those who they felt were different, and the only group that is politically correct to discriminate is the caucasians. I do think that arranged marriages between adults and children is abhorant, but I am not too slow to understand that this is not the case for all 400+ kids. The first goal should be to safely reunite the eldorado 400 with their mothers, then perform a fair investigation and charge aleged law breakers. This is so very shameful.
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What Justice? | 11:17 a.m. April 24, 2008
What good are all the lawyers if the Judge refuses to listen to any of them or to process their legal pleas?
Forget the children for a minute as they will come through this. Heaven help America.
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Fredd | 11:28 a.m. April 24, 2008
This is exactly the right thing to do. Join a cult that ivoluntarily marries the youth into polygamous relationships and lose your children. I have a hard time seeing why anyone objects.
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masked_data | 11:29 a.m. April 24, 2008
I wonder how many Lost Boys have seen their loving family members on TV?
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avengeance | 11:34 a.m. April 24, 2008
Adolf Hitler (I think he needs no introduction to the reader) said it very well, in this quote:

"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side.' I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already� What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.'"

How many times must history repeat itself?
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Where are the boys? | 11:34 a.m. April 24, 2008
It's interesting that with over 400 kids in protective custody, there were less than 50 boys sent to the boys ranch.

The FLDS Church recently excommunicated over 400 teenage boys, some as young as 13, for offenses such as dating and listening to rock music. The real reason for these excommunications is that there are not enough women for each FLDS male to receive three or more wives.

The boys were just as at risk of abuse as the girls, it was just a different type of abuse, being abandoned simply because they were competition for the older men.
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Anonymous | 11:41 a.m. April 24, 2008
Enter comment.
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Anonymous | 11:42 a.m. April 24, 2008
Add your comment
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transplant | 11:43 a.m. April 24, 2008
Again and again and again. This "case" is not based on a call, a bogus call, or any other type call. It's based on what the officers discovered when arriving on the ranch plus the refusal of the parents to identify their own children. Sex trafficing and 'white' slavery trafficking,child trafficing all go on because of the lack of intervention by the authorities. These children could have been kidnapped for all the above. The officers had no way of knowing whose children they were. DNA will tell us that.
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Raymond Takashi Swenson | 11:44 a.m. April 24, 2008
The judge admits she is overwhelmed, that she cannot do her job properly because of the number of children and parents involved. Yet she has done the very worst thing, defaulting to taking babies away from mothers, something that can cause permanent emotional and psychological damage to young children. Nothing that was going to happen to those children in the first twelve years of their lives would be as abusive as being ripped from their mothers and being manhandled by a bunch of hostile strangers who are telling them their parents are criminals. How is this in the best interest of these children?

There was in fact NO imminent harm to any of the children, except possibly to the actual child brides and other girls in the same age range. Only those should have been taken into state custody. The rest of the children are being punished just for association with the real criminals, the men. The authorities claim the mothers and children are helpless victims, yet they are victimizing them even further. They are teaching the children that the T in Texas stands for Tyranny.
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Sandy & Family | 11:44 a.m. April 24, 2008
This is just WRONG!!!!!Those people are trying to stay the way they claim(loving & peaceful)!!!!!!Maybe we who claim to be christians ought to take a hint.This is such an injustice to those families.I am not in a plural marriage family with more than one mom and dad,but my children have a step-dad & step-mom so I guess that means they can take our children because they will be confused of their identity.This truck needs to get backed up now!!!!Wake up America because this could happen to you over your beliefs and customs!!!Texas has torn these childrens and their parents lives apart.Our hearts and prayers go out to them everyday.As far as the abuse allegation it has not been proven and they can do the same to you and your family!!!Look past your judgemental walls and look at the reality of all of this.God did say "Do unto others as you would have done unto you."
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Appeal | 11:44 a.m. April 24, 2008
At least it will be heard by tuesday by the appeals court why they can not rule on the motions sooner is to bad.
Lets hope they rule in the mothers favor on Tuesday or all parents in Txas are in danger. Teenage mothers all over Texas look out we will take you from your parents and after your children are 12 months old we will put them in foster care.
After that we will go into every home in America and make sure all parents are raising the children the way the CPS sees fit
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Sugar Momma | 11:52 a.m. April 24, 2008
I was objective before, but the more I learn about Warren Jeffs and Merril Jessop, the more I'm feeling that Texas is doing the right thing, considering that YFZ is their followers.

A lot of those children might not have either biological parent even at YFZ. Remember that Jeffs was filling the compound with hand-picked children ages 6 and under.

According to those who have escaped, a lot of those women have been separated from their initial husbands and been reassigned to other men. I believe the reason they don't ever mention the fathers in these interviews is that the biological fathers are off somewhere in St. George "repenting from afar," because they were kicked out.

YFZ is the US Taliban. They still follow Warren Jeffs. They are anti-education. How much do you think you could learn from any of the women who have been interviewed? Have you heard them speak? They're like simpletons with no sense of self or independent thought. I'm still convinced that when the educational assessments of the children come back, it will show that the children are far behind where they should be.

And yes, Deseret News gives the best coverage on this.
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CD | 11:52 a.m. April 24, 2008
"A spokesman for the FLDS Church told the Deseret News he fears that authorities are using the DNA to build criminal cases against members."
What do you FLDS people have to fear?! Maybe the proven guilty part??!!!
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In News Across Site

No. Utah sees a major earthquake every 350 years. Last one? 350 years ago.