FLDS Aftermath
The children have finally been allowed to return home to their mothers and their fathers. The state Supreme Court determined that CPS had no basis for taking the children as they did. My current favorite CPS rumor is that everyone in-house is told to save everything for when, not if, they get sued.
This brightly shining light upon the woes and shortcomings of CPS may hopefully force the legislature to take steps to adequately fund and support CPS, even if they have to redirect the agency in some manner to avoid future constitutional breakdowns. Here’s to hoping that the entire fiasco with the YFZ ranch is at least remembered long enough to restrict CPS to a higher standard of proof.
When the Supreme Court shut down the Keystone Kops routine, it exposed some loyalties that may have exacerbated the civil rights violations. Judge Walther, for one, has made it clear that there was never any intention to give the YFZ families a fair deal or even an assumption of innocence. The county sheriff who marched into the ranch with his SWAT team after speaking to Dale Barlow on the phone in his Arizona prison, probably also knew at that point that the call from Rozita Swenson was a hoax. The same sheriff failed for two months to confirm this dismissive evidence to CPS, always claiming some ongoing investigation.
And of course, the whole stupid brigade might have been avoided if there had not been some pressure from certain state legislators to evict the Mormons from West Texas. These are the same congresscritters that passed laws specifically to torment the FLDS. Word is that these folks were concerned that the YFZ folks might laid down serious roots here. They might decide to enter into local politics and the school board or maybe a judge might soon come up Mormon. Thanks to the thick fists of state authorities, including CPS, what had been a largely insular, self-directed community has ordered a batch of 500 voter registration cards for what will surely be an FLDS-dominated slate of candidates come next November. Some speculate that they may be able to dominate all of the political offices in a three-county area within a decade.
An even larger blunder is that any hope the state conspirators may have had that the YFZ ranch might simply dissolve away from lack of interest is now gone. Every child who has gone through this experience, every mother, every father, is now bonded in a way their leaders could never have dreamed. There may be some small percentage who walk away, deciding that they’ve had their fill of Texas hospitality. But remember that the folks who settled YFZ were hand-picked as the most loyal members, so it’s more likely that this entire episode has simply reinforced their beliefs.The vast majority are going to stay on that land and it’s going to be their Holy Land for generations. Now that they’ve been persecuted by the authorities, they can be sure that they are the chosen ones.
