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On June 11, 2008, we posted a set of excerpts from letters to the governor after reviewing several hundred pages of documents we obtained from the governor’s office under freedom of information laws. We present below excerpts from additional letters covering the time period from April 27, 2008, to May 13, 2008. 

 

The overwhelming majority of these letters, as was the case with the earlier set, condemned the actions of the Texas authorities in separating the YFZ children from their mothers and demanded their immediate return. Since many of the letters said essentially the same thing, we have tried to include only those that treated the topic from a fresh perspective.

 

 

Salt Lake City, Utah

 

I have taught court-ordered parenting classes for the State of Utah off and on for over fifteen years, and have also served on the State Foster Care Review Board.

 

I am very concerned about the treatment of the FLDS children. In social work, it is a truism that a “bad” mother is generally better than a good foster mother. There are many reasons why this tends to be true, but I can give you some examples from my personal life.

 

When I was 5 years old, my parents divorced and my father got custody for the summer. He had nowhere to keep us, so he boarded me and my sister with a local farm family. They were very good, honest, kind people, but I still remember staying awake all night crying for my mother. I am pretty sure that some life-long anxieties and insecurities date from this experience. 

 

No one can take care of over 400 children en masse as well as individual parents can. I was startled and disturbed, for example, when the judge dismissed weaning children so lightly. My own daughter died of anaphylaxis, of a food allergy, at age 16. Our doctors agreed that her initial allergy was probably triggered by being given cow’s milk when she was in a hospital at 9 days old. I had no allergies and no family history of allergies—we had no way of knowing in advance that our children would be so allergic. Once we knew, we were very, very careful not to give our other children anything but breast milk until they were at least 6 to 9 months old. Such a decision is very personal and has extremely long-ranging effects—no judge can possibly do it justice for dozens of children at a time.

 

I have 5 grandchildren 12 years old and younger. I have known and cared for them since birth, but they still need all the individual reassurance I can give them when they are separated from their parents for even a few hours, let alone weeks at a time….

 

Please try to look beyond the stereotypes here and truly act in the children’s best interests. You would never dream of assuming that all of a group of black people or Jews, or inner city dwellers were exactly the same in the crimes they were at risk of committing or the way they should be handled. To little children, these “temporary” separations seem like a lifetime, and they can create a lifetime’s worth of insecurities, abandonment issues, anger and hurt.

 

 

South Jordan, Utah

 

If Texas wants to go after polygamists who mistreat their wives and children, then why does it not go after ghetto dwellers whose young men impregnate and abandon many women in a crime ridden, drug ridden, welfare situation? Or why not go after Moslems, who also have several wives who are dominated and mistreated most often? I think we both know the answer to this: the FLDS are peaceful folk, an easy target, unlikely to fight back.

 

No, I’m not an FLDS member and have never met one, and neither am I a polygamist or even a Mormon. However, I do recognize religious persecution when I see it.

 

 

Vidor, Texas

 

I must write again and urge you to do something to change policy concerning Child Protective Services. Clearly, they overestimate their capacity to judge who should be taken from their parents and who should not. The system in Texas should not be set up to reward this agency with funds when they take children away from their parents. Contrarily, they should be rewarded for finding solutions to the problems that parents have and returning children to their homes.

 

The courts should not be able to remove children from their homes because they “might be abused in the future.” Clearly this puts all parents at risk of losing their children based on an “opinion” from a judge or social worker.

 

 

Salt Lake City, Utah

 

There is a religious group in Texas that should be separated from their children. These people clearly are breaking the law every day. I know it sounds strange, but thousands of children born right there in Texas are being controlled by unlawful adults that want to exploit them for financial gain. You can stop this practice just by showing up at almost any Catholic church on Sunday and deporting the illegal alien adults in attendance.

 

How about taking all the children away from the religions that do not believe in medication? Are those children not in grave danger in case of any childhood breakout that is now thought to be in remission? Mumps, measles, chicken pox, and polio—these diseases are NOT gone; they are waiting in the wings to strike at any time. When is Texas going after these child abusers and murderers to be? Let’s invade the Kingdom Hall.

 

What about those religions that may be teaching their children to strap a bomb to their chest or make a car bomb to drive into a crowded mall? Texas should raid all the mosques and remove all the children, because they may be taught a tenet of their faith that could cause them to attack the rest of us on a moment’s notice.

 

Hopefully everyone who reads this will understand that is NOT what should happen anymore than what has already happened to the young children in Texas. What narrow minded, tunnel visioned, holier than thou bureaucrat decided that taking children away from their mothers was NOT child abuse? Now we have children in the hospital and other children emotionally scarred for life. HELLO Texas, wasn’t there a better way?

 

 

 

The Woodlands, Texas

 

As an FBI agent I had the burden of doing a proper investigation and filing of sufficient evidence to show that a violation had actually occurred and that the person who felt the wrath of the law had committed the offense. This entire process has been forgotten in this case.

 

 

St. George, Utah

 

I have been a former member [of the FLDS Church] since 02-2000 when I was asked to leave. While I didn’t understand all things about why I was asked to leave, let it suffice to say a cleaning up was needed for many years, and finally it was done.

 

I don’t agree with the former members…, some who have declared actual war on Warren Jeffs, and are now in the press. They do not speak out because of injustice, but out of vengeance. They hate what that religion is about and seek to destroy it because they can’t have things the way they want. There are others who will agree with me on this matter but don’t want to speak out because they don’t think it any of their business. These are also former members.

 

It is a well known fact when people thought they would gain power over the church but found out they would not…that these same people will try to undermine and destroy that church, aligning themselves with other apostates and evil men. They seek happiness by bringing hardship unto that people and will lie, steal, cheat, and even murder. I never have heard a member threaten a former member. I know the exact opposite to have occurred. They twist the truth…. I have never seen any sort of violence from him [Warren Jeffs], only great kindness.

 

 

Burley, Idaho

 

THE NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES OF ABUSE, (IF ANY), WILL NOT CHANGE MY OUTRAGE AT THE APRIL 17 AND 18 FLDS CUSTODY HEARING AND THE WRONGS AGAINST FREEDOM THEREIN COMMITTED BY IT! It is my understanding that the April 17 and 18 FLDS custody hearing ruled that teaching unconditional obedience (regardless of the method used) accompanied by specific beliefs (whether these beliefs were acted upon or not), constituted abuse. Further, the specific belief that I hold sacred, that the pinnacle of my existence is to bear children, was used as evidence that people (whether children or not) were incapable of making their own decisions.

 

The April 17 and 18 custody hearing has infringed on my most sacred human rights.

It has infringed on my human right to believe whatever I want (even if acting on that belief is against the law.)

It has infringed on the most basic and sacred form of free speech, my freedom to teach my own children regardless of whether public opinion, or the law, agrees with what I am teaching!

It has infringed on my most sacred role of MOTHERHOOD, claiming that motherhood is so unfit to be the pinnacle of one’s existence, that only those incapable of making decisions themselves would choose it as such!

 

 

St. George, Utah

 

Dear Honorable Governor:

 

I am an eye physician in the City of St. George, UT, which is located very near the twin cities of Hildale/Colorado City where the FLDS have traditionally been headquartered. I am not affiliated with their group, nor do I sympathize with their religious beliefs. I have taken care of their families in my clinic for over 10 years. I know them as intimately as any outsider can ever know them—and I personally know a great many of the people who have been taken into custody during the raid on the FLDS community.

 

I wish to state for the record that in my observation, the things they are being accused of are simply not true. The abuse that happens in the FLDS community is very isolated. They are a remarkably good people—guarded and shy perhaps, but rightly so considering their unusual culture and history. I have never ever seen signs of mind control or brainwashing. I have also never witnessed an underage girl who is pregnant from their community—which unfortunately I cannot say about my own community. It may happen, but it is uncommon.

 

All of this begs the question anyway. Even if they were guilty of the things so wildly reported of this community, why have we allowed the government (we the people) to trample their liberties and severely traumatize the mothers and children of this community with such cruel and unusual punishment? Is it because their lifestyle is strange? Still, weeks later, no one has been charged with a crime!

 

Sir, I implore you! Please act to protect these citizens of the United States. For the past several weeks I have struggled as this story has become increasingly worse. Is this America? Is this the land of Constitutionally protected liberty, with due process and a criminal justice system designed to protect the innocent? Is this America, with checks and balances to protect us against government abuse of power?

 

While the bureaucratic wheels slowly churn, an entire group of children has been transferred to the care of another group. I shudder when I think about how much this resembles the genocides of recent history. I shrink from the realization of what this could mean to me, or any group who falls on the down side of public opinion. Where is blind justice? Has she perished?

 

Sir, again I implore you to act in defense of the FLDS people of Texas.

 

With regards,