Slow Day in the News?
2008-08-13 19:19:56
By Donald Richter
The August 12, 2008, headline in the Deseret News proclaimed: “Texas widens FLDS probe: Rangers investigating 20 cases of sex abuse, 50 bigamy counts.” The first paragraph of the article goes on to repeat the shocking discovery:
“Texas Rangers are investigating 20 cases of sexual assault and about 50 bigamy charges involving members of the FLDS Church, the Deseret News has learned.”
Other headlines quickly echoed the latest developments in the FLDS case:
NBC: “Polygamists investigated for abuse”
Houston Chronicle: “Texas Rangers investigating dozens in polygamist case”
The Deseret News indicates that Rod Parker, attorney for the FLDS, quite properly observed that the numbers seem too high and that there likely were not even 50 men practicing plural marriage at the YFZ ranch. “I think they would have a problem coming up with 50 bigamy charges without charging the women,” he is quoted as saying.
This remark immediately gave rise to speculation that Texas was about to file bigamy charges against the women so that CPS could have a fresh supply of children for the lucrative Texas baby-trafficking market.
Not so fast!
Before everyone makes a mass exodus to the nearest uninhabited desert island, it would be well to realize that all of this alarming news is really not “news” at all. The probe has not been widened as the Deseret News implies in its misleading headline. The number of cases reported in the news articles is same as that originally determined by Texas authorities in early April. Someone merely dredged up the old numbers and sounded the alarm. The Salt Lake Tribune of August 13, 2008, has a much more accurate headline: “Current number of cases against FLDS is unknown.”
The Tribune goes on to indicate that Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange has confirmed that the reported number of cases was accurate in April but that she could not say how many of these cases are still active.
Certainly constant vigilance is the order of the day, but there is no need suddenly to become Chicken Little either.
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