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Letters to the Governor

2008-06-11 19:28:37

By Donald Richter

 

On June 6, 2008, under freedom of information laws, we obtained from the governor’s office a collection of over 3,000 pages of documents, mostly e-mail correspondence, pertaining to the raid on the YFZ community in April. We shared this collection with the Salt Lake Tribune, and on June 10, reporter Brooke Adams published an article making a preliminary analysis of some of the material. We are still in the process of studying this collection but feel to share with our readers several excerpts from letters written to the governor after the raid. 
The majority of these letters were e-mails to the governor’s office, although many were conventional typewritten letters, and some were handwritten. Almost all of them include complete names and addresses. To date we have reviewed about 600 letters. The total number available is uncertain at this time since many letters are interspersed with other communications. There would appear to be at least 1,000 letters in all, possibly more.
The earlier version of the Tribunearticle reported 449 letters opposed to the removal of the children and 32 in favor. This ratio is fairly consistent for those letters we have examined. These numbers have been removed from the updated version of the article, possibly because further examination of the collection showed a total number of letters greater than 481.
We are grateful for the many fair-minded and thoughtful citizens throughout the nation who feel strongly about this issue and had the courage to convey their concerns to the governor. Most of the writers disavowed any affiliation with the FLDS or even sympathy for our religious beliefs. What these people saw, however, was a group of American citizens singled out for persecution and being denied their constitutional rights.
The volume of letters reached its peak immediately after the forced separation of the children from their mothers at the Coliseum in San Angelo on April 24. At this time the general tone of the communications rose from concern to outrage. No amount of public support can undo the damage that has been done to children and parents during the past two months; however, it is comforting to know that in the battle to preserve constitutional rights, we are not alone.
 
Excerpts from the Letters
 
Richwood, Texas
As a nurse, I have attempted to contact “child protective services” when I have witnessed blatant neglect and abuse. I was told that the case workers’ loads were too heavy to deal with anything except a “potential for immediate life threatening situations.” Somehow though, this same system can immediately mount adequate resources to swiftly remove over four hundred children without even a substantial suggestion of risk. This smacks of personal agenda supported and sanctioned by state government. Media outlets ridicule the FLDS people for their modest dress and conservative habits. We hear about the evil of taking underage brides from the same sources that glamorize gangster rap, profanity, and pornography as freedom of expression and the pregnancies of single teen stars as exemplary leadership. Where is the outrage that every day our junior high schools are full of single, pregnant teens?
 
Alton, Utah
Witnesses inside the FLDS compound report that the young women, ages 12 to 17 were separated from their loved ones and interrogated all night without legal counsel, and that mothers were separated from their children on the pretext of helping them to learn how they could keep their children, and then were locked away from the children and have not been able to see them since. It is reminiscent of the concentration camps of the holocaust.
 
Humble, Texas
Texas officials and lawyers have said that even if the call that prompted the raid turned out to be a hoax it would not affect their custody case because the state acted in good faith. Mr. Governor, PLEASE! Good faith justifies CPS kidnapping children and isolating them from their parents? What have you guys been smoking?
 
Cape May Court House, New Jersey
In twenty-five years of practicing before the bar in Civil Rights and criminal defense, I have never seen an abuse of both people AND the Constitution of the United States as in the raid on and removal of 416 children and their mothers from their Texas ranch home by your Child Protective Services.
 
Greenville, South Carolina
I am a Baptist pastor, and I am appalled that you are not defending the children and loving parents of the YFZ ranch in Eldorado…  There has been no crime worthy of breaking up these families. Texas has presumed guilt instead of innocence. Texas has violated due process.
 
Lehi, Utah
I dare say that if you were to round up 400 children from any group or community in America and then questioned each child for examples of possible abuse that you would easily find just as many, if not more.
I do not support abuse in any manner. What I do support is the rule of law. And the rule of law and due process of law has been totally squelched in this case. And it is a shame that good leaders such as Governor Perry are remaining sheepishly silent about such an obvious outrage.
 
Concord, California
It appears that what the State of Texas really wants is the destruction of this religious group. Those are not the ideals or law that our country was founded on!
 
Las Vegas, Nevada
Please know that of all the issues I have seen in my life this is the only one I have ever written to anyone about. I would move to Texas tomorrow if I thought that it would help resolve this situation in any way. I pray for these children and their families every day. I also pray that the people working in the government in the state of Texas do the right thing and put these families back together.
 
Eldorado, Texas
Last October we bought Carolyn Jessop’s book “Escape,” the day it was released in San Angelo. There was only one copy in the store….  We don’t understand why something wasn’t done before the facility and its population got so LARGE….
It is a terminal cancer growing large enough to ruin our county….  If this thing isn’t killed, they will keep doing the same except they will grow even BIGGER than the indigenous population. They will become capable of taking control of the county offices, just as they have done in other places. Some families in our county have owned the ranch and farm lands for over 100 years, being descendants of families who settled here around the end of the 1800s. The value of their heritage and investment in the county is at risk. We are a part of one of those families.
 
Alvin, Texas
I’m a physician at a small Emergency Room. Tonight I saw one of the children from the FLDS compound who was recently bused to a nearby community. I want to express to you my extreme concern about this baby and all of the very young children in this current situation. The child I saw was under two years old, has been separated from her mother and all familiar adults, taken away from familiar surroundings, and been the subject of intense scrutiny which the child can’t understand. Now the child is ill. I have never seen such a listless, subdued, sad toddler in my life. She doesn’t eat well and her caretaker thinks she may have been breastfed at home as she is so much trouble with bottles. She is losing weight. She doesn’t play with things. She is almost non-responsive to the strange adults around her. This is a child in profound mourning for the loss of her mother, who is sick and by all appearances is going to get sicker.
Why on earth can this mother not be here to comfort this baby? I am not exaggerating in the least when I say this child looks like she wants to die….
Please do something to reunite at least these small infants with their mothers. This is so wrong.
 
Bloomington, Indiana
If the state is so concerned about the welfare of children residing in Texas what is it doing to protect children born into a culture of illegitimacy? How many 12 through 16 year old Texas girls are having children out of wedlock? How many of these girls get pregnant by males over 18? How many of these girls were coerced into having sex? Even if the pregnancy resulted from a “consensual” act, are 12 to 16 year olds who were born into a culture of illegitimacy really capable of such a decision in Texas? Or has the environment in which they are living virtually eliminated any other option for them?
If so, why hasn’t CPS moved in to protect these girls and their children from an upbringing that allows and/or encourages them to get pregnant at such a young age? By not doing so is not Texas promoting a culture that has been shown to result in poverty, lack of education, substance abuse, abuse, and crime? Isn’t it time that Texas have the courage to protect all of its children?
 
Lehi, Utah
Despite a person’s religion, race, or lifestyle, all should be entitled to the basic liberties and protections guaranteed by law. Removing children from their families on the basis of some alleged future abuse is illegal, since Texas statutes indicate that there must be an immediate need based on present abuse. Your state has failed to demonstrate such evidence in justification of the removal of 437 children.
 
Van Nuys, California
As to Polygamy. While I find it most demeaning and distasteful, if they rounded up all the children from adulterous affairs from men having both a wife and a mistress or two, there would be many of you in government that would be highly embarrassed.
 
Goldsboro, Maine
What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? These people live cleaner lives than the vast majority of Americans, whose morals have sunk to the gutter. Underage sex? I taught middle/junior high children and it was going on all the time.
The concept of prostitutes is totally accepted, and highly desired, yet the country goes after these people?
 
Lowellville, Ohio
As individuals are innocent until proven guilty, I call upon the Texas Governor to intervene in this matter and allow the women and children to return to their homes peacefully. I also demand an apology, most especially from the Texas CPS, for the heinous acts of aggression displayed in these recent events. There is a man on his way to TX to present a petition to have authorities set this matter right in view of the fact that the state used a warrant obtained by deception to invade the ranch. The American people are tired of officials who break or bend the laws and the Constitution.
 
Sweet Home, Oregon
I’m not connected to the F.L.D.S. church and do not believe in a lot of what they still practice and encourage their youth to do. Although I do think it is very important to remember that this religion is based on a religious characteristic from the 19th century. In that time period it was more than common to be married at a very young age. It is also important to note that these women are not raised to dilute their pure minds with junk from a society they do not agree with the standards of. They are taught family, religion, hard work and are a lot more prepared at a much younger age to become mothers and wives. I know sometimes it can be hard to understand what others can believe when you don’t understand their beliefs. I ask you to look back just a few generations in your own family and look at the ages of your own ancestors when they were married and the age differences….  I have heard quotes from your state employees such as “We have to De-Program these kids” and that is exactly what you and no one else has the right to do.
 
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
There is obviously no respect for freedom or individual rights in your state, not to mention respect for the bond between a child and his or her mother. Your actions are despicable and un-American.
 
Oxford, Maryland
You know what this whole herding and ‘fencing in’ and false imprisonment, and busing of masses of parents and children reminds me of? It reminds me of Jews being lied to, herded into train cars and shipped off in masses to concentration camps. That’s the image it conjures for me. Your actions are disgusting and are a violation of basic civil rights. I hope they sue you. I hope they win. I feel sorry for those poor people being held against their will by a tyrannical government.
 
Richmond, Texas
Fumarase Deficiency has been passed down for a number of generations, And if these people listen to this “false prophet” it could turn into another Jonestown, if they have such a hold on these people and they are told to drink the poison drink to be able to go to heaven.
The wives seemed to be in a trance or programmed to do what ever they are told. I don’t see where this FLDS group should be allow to have more than one ‘wife’ Children should not be raising children.
If they men are allowed to practice this sick life style than maybe they should have an operation where they can’t produce more birth defected children.
 
Cedar City, Utah
I have no association with the FLDS faith. Although I do not know any of these children personally, I have had close association with many of the children of the FLDS community here in Utah. Several FLDS families lived on a large mountain subdivision project over which I acted as supervisor. They stayed in this picturesque setting during the summers as the men worked with their construction equipment to build the roads and install the infrastructure for the subdivision. I ate lunch with them daily. I observed the interaction of the men with the women and children on a daily basis. Men and women were respectful and kind to each other and to their children. In three years of almost daily contact with these good people I have never seen any kind of abuse. To the contrary I have seen loving parents teaching enduring values of industry, honesty, respect for family and nation.
 
Collinwood, Tennessee
Are there not enough honest-to-goodness bad people (robbers, rapists and murders) to keep your law enforcers busy without raiding a group of peaceful people and disrupting their lives?
 
Address not given
As this unfolds more and more, anyone can see it was methodically planned and prepared for and is a horrible act by the state of Texas. Years back there was also in the news that little boys were being sexually abused by Catholic priests. Why didn’t the state of Texas round up all the Catholic children to “Protect them from future harm”? Why... Because it is not popular to do that against Catholics. It is popular to do that against the FLDS. Interpretation…. DISCRIMINATION. But you may say in your minds that, “We are justified because they are breaking the law” I hope this is not so. You are NEVER justified in taking an innocent child away from an innocent mother.
 
Chesapeake, Virginia
Of course I do disagree with marrying more than one wife. But that is my belief not theirs. Who are we to place judgment upon them for their religious choices.
 
Memphis, Tennessee
I don’t believe that the state of Texas, the federal government or any government for that matter is better for these children than their mothers, like their ideology or not. The state has yet to make a case against these people in court, you do still have those in Texas don’t you? ... America has been somewhat silent on this issue, but don’t think that we aren’t watching and very disturbed by what we see….
 
San Antonio, Texas
The State of TX authorized police with body armor and automatic weapons riding in armored vehicles to enter a peaceful community. Over 400 children have been taken from their parents, forced to submit to DNA testing and placed into foster care. NONE of the parents (mothers or fathers) have been charged with a crime or negligence in the care of the children. This was almost 3 weeks ago and no end is in sight.
I feel ashamed that this happened not 4 hours from where I live. Are we not Americans? What has happened to this great nation where we stand by and watch such human rights violations go unchecked?
 
Kansas City, Missouri
You stormed the FLDS home with tanks, storm trooper swats, huge guns. You raided them and seized their mothers and their children. Then you threw them all into a warehouse. You have destroyed their families. Now you have bureaucrats and police thugs watching their every move. What in the world crime did these mothers and children commit????? Look out America, you are next!
 
Savanna, Illinois
When I saw on T.V. the line up of so called Christians in front of their 1st Baptist Church Bus, policemen, the CPS workers holding up sheets so viewers couldn’t see the women & children until one photographer got a good picture of them & I saw women, & children dressed neat, clean & modestly. Not like trash dressing so many I see of the world today with everything hanging out! The children were neat & did not look abused to me at all! The area they lived looked neat and clean as if they were hard workers & lived decently! It was said this so-called compound had fundamentalist Latter Day Saints living there. A fundamentalist is a person that believes wholeheartedly what they believe. Since when does government agencies of USA persecute religious people whether you agree with them or not??
 
Conroe, Texas
For the first time in my life I am ashamed of my home state…. These people have done nothing to warrant this kind of treatment. I thought that in Texas we still believed in innocent until proven guilty. The authorities went in on a report they did not check out or verify. They took children that were not part of this report, they have taken children from families that have not been implicated in any wrong doing. While I do not approve of their lifestyle it is not my place nor should it be the place of the state of Texas to dictate how we should live. These children are being harmed by the state of Texas and I hold you and the Legislature responsible.
 
Independence, Oregon
What a shame to put these families through such terrible times with no regard to their rights. These children need to be home.
 
Austin, Texas

I am ashamed of you and the administration. I don’t agree with the FLDS way of life. But I do agree with the constitution of the United States. I served in combat for that constitution and I want it fairly enforced by my government for all citizens.


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