Reader comments
Letter asks Bush to help FLDS kids

Now all Americans hold their Breaths and wait, we will see if our President has a Spine?

Child abusers and statutory rapists do not deserve sympathy. They should be in prison and their children hustled off to safety.

I can't imaginae any Deseret News readers being in favor of 14-olds being impregnated by older men. But when are the Texas Rangers going to raid the Dallas inner-city homes of pregnant 14-year-olds and cart off the other children, who might be subject to similar abuse? And when will they shutter the Planned Parenthood locations which refuse to report statutory rape of 14-year-olds by men in their twenties? Why isn't there equal treatment under Texas' law?



The locals in Eldorado were worried about the FLDS taking over the county, so State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran sponsored a bill in 2005 that raised the legal age of consent to marry in Texas from 14 to 16. This was specifically targeted against the FLDS. When the FLDS moved to Texas the legal age was 14.

Prosecute any individuals who fathered children with girls below the legal age (at the time) - but let the Mothers (on Mother's Day) have their children returned to them.

I remember the last appeal to the president his reply was your cause is just but I can do nothing for you. I do not expect any more from this president. he is not going to embarase the state of texass.

For people who shun the outside world because we are all evil, they seem to have no problem asking for help from the government when they think that they have been "done wrong". I read somewhere where they have a saying "Bleed the Beast until You Need the Beast". These people have such double standards in many ways of their lifestyles, such as "Lying for the Lord" or"Stealing for the Lord". I guess that if you tack on some kind of reference to "The Lord" that they can justify why they do what they do. To me, a con artist is a con artist.

I read the letter at the website.

I am so very glad to know it was delivered and received in respect.

Hopefully, since the official flds website is mentioned in this article I can mention this.

It truly does apply as a "comment" from me - concerning all this.

If you haven't already done this - please do.

At captivefldschildren.org website - click on "Music".
Then pick "Meant To Be Together"(the first one - as the second is just the music).

This song is so very very beautiful. (The others are good also.)

Perhaps - what with this being Mother's Day - we could all listen - really listen - to this beautiful song.

Maybe. . .say some special prayers for these mothers and children who are in such pain today...
(as well as the innocent fathers).

Remembering. That the state is - NOT NOW - nor will it ever be - a "parent".
It will never even come remotely close.

How dare these people draw attention to themselves and away from the bride and groom and their parents. It is one thing to send a letter to the President asking for help to the Whitehouse, which is where this should have gone, but it is completely another to go to the residence on a very private occassion and "crash" it to make a point. Do they think that the letter got read by the President last night as he was dancing with his daughter? No, it will more than likely be read when he returns to work on Monday morning. I would hope that the staff who took the letter would not disturb the family.

Also, the custody case is not about "terrorism on the US soil" it is about child abuse.

Hoe terrible these Mothers have to spend this day without the children they love.

Thank you Texas for taking the children from the parents that love them.
How could you do this check your own back yard first.

***Now all Americans hold their Breaths and wait, we will see if our President has a Spine?***

They shoulda handed the note to the US Supreme court. This involves violations of Constitutionally guaranteed human rights. And where's Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson when you need them? Oh, wait. This is not a black issue. 'Sides, Sharpton is busy battling the IRS over unpaid taxes.

a true mother would have not let the men in this cult treat their children the way they have. they are not mothers, just baby machines for pedofiles.

Ever since this charade began, I have wondered when Texas would be willing to go into every inner-city in Texas and remove the children born to "unwed" mothers who were underage. But rather than protect those children, they allow the young mothers to have live-in boy friends who frequently abuse the young children and some even end up killing them because they don't have the love or self-discipline to control themselves.

I whole heartedly agree witn Anonymous on this issue. But then, the inner-city problem isn't religious, so Texas will ignore it, even when the situation is a blight on the community.

Who in the world is Willie Jessop? Where the heck is Merril Jessop? Isn't he the acting FLDS prophet? He finally got the job he coveted so much, but has been a mushroom ever since. That's quality leadership...

I too agree with your comments. Just one more example of how these people try to redirect the attention away from the sickening beliefs that they are taught by their prophets. My heart does not bleed for these people. They bought the ranch by using deception from the start. If they were truly what they claim to be, they would have been upfront from the start. They brought all of this on themselves by their blatent lying, sneaking around etc. People on here keep posting about how vindictive the people are who were thrown out of this cult. Seems to me that there are an awful lot of them telling their stories. Too many of them for me to not believe that most of what they are telling is true. The fact that there prophet is in jail does not help their cause any.

To Observer and Anonymous,
What you are doing is deflecting the issues of the FLDS by presenting an argument about something unrelated, teenage girls having consensual sex with other teens and giving birth to children.

The FLDS situation is much more dire, with young girls brainwashed from birth to believe they are to be given as 'virgins' to a much older man as his 'spiritual wife'. I would much rather see people deal with breaking up the practices of this religion, as they violate the laws of the land in many ways (verbal, mental, physical and sexual abuse, among others) than to worry about teenage girls in inner cities who likely have a choice whether to have sexual relations, get pregnant, and have children.

Let's keep the focus on the matter at hand, which is determining if the children of the FLDS were at risk of the types of abuse mentioned above, and the FLDS making a statement or going on record that they will not promote marrying young girls off to much older men, in violation of the law, would help them in court when trying to regain custody of their children.

If CPS justifies their mass round up because children live in a dangerous believe system. Then why didn�t they use this argue in the first place? Why use a hoax phone call then say evidence found afterward justifies the raid. With all the FLDS news over the past years, surely this �believe system� was known well before the raid and not discovered during. Texas constitution bill of rights states �no human authority ought, in any case whatever, to control or interfere with the rights of conscience in matters of religion�. Ones �belief system� remains just as unjustifiable before a child round up as it does after a child round up. If CPS had a badge I�m sure it would be very shinny. CPS needs to focus their efforts on the alleged perpetrators - not mass round ups.

Yours was one of the best comments I have read to date. I think you really hit the nail on the head.

Can't blame Willie for trying. At this point they have to be advocates for their side of things.

Since a state gov't entity has already responded to the situation and the courts are pursuing the matter, the Prez needs to stay away. The CPS has facts that point to abuse so the FLDS is stuck with the eventual decision of the court.

Shunning the outside world is now haunting them. Little or no public support.

Willie is afraid they'll mootball the compound. Can't see the court sending the young girls back to that enclosed communial living.

I'm very glad that Texas found these children and carried them off to safe places. That FLDS "religion" -- a community where everyone adheres to the same rules handed down by their "prophet"-- and are completely loyal to him, so much that they will permit their underage girls be "married" to older men, is not a religion that upholds marriage of one man to one woman. I'm very sorry that the FLDS "religion" exists in the first place, but those folks must conform to Texas law like everyone else in that state.
Different from the underage unwed mothers in Dallas and other cities, these FLDS folks were flagrant in their abuse of young boys and girls.
More power to the Texas authorities in protecting children.

Hopefully this won't mean that Bush will say something about the FLDS which ties it to the LDS church.

Our president tends to have a very interesting vocabulary and way of forming sentences.

He has made fun of Utah not having any 'Blacks' before. This was upsetting enough.