| FLDS to raise marriage age - |
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PerryPeabody
 Posted:
Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:51 pm |
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FLDS to raise marriage age
FLDS spokesman says church will not consent to underage marriage
SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) -- A polygamist sect under fire over allegations of underage marriage will now allow women to wed only when they are old enough to give consent under state law, a spokesman said Monday.
In Austin, Texas, last week, Martha Emack seemed optimistic about a reunion with her children.
The legal age in Texas to marry without parental consent is 18.
"The church is clarifying its policy on marriage," said Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He told reporters the church would advise FLDS families "neither request nor consent" to the marriage of underage girls, though he stopped short of saying the church ever violated the law.
"In the FLDS church, all marriages are consensual. The church insists on appropriate consent," he said.
The change in policy comes after a Texas judge issued an order Monday allowing parents of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist sect to begin picking up their kids.
With one exception, Judge Barbara Walther told the Department of Family and Protective Services to allow parents to pick up the 440 children starting 10 a.m. Monday.
The exception involved a 16-year-old girl who the girl's attorney said was an "identified victim of sexual abuse."
The attorney said the child's release might cause her to come into contact with her alleged sexual abuser.
"The court has now signed an order applying to all children," the motion said. "But there are no restrictions or provisions which take into account the immediate risk of her alleged perpetrator having access."
The logistics of retrieving the remaining children may not be so simple, though, since some parents have children at different facilities across the state.
Under the judge's order, the Department of Family and Protective Services will still have the right to visit and interview the children.
These unannounced visits could entail medical, psychological and psychiatric examinations, and the parents must not intervene. Watch what the judge's order says »
Also under the order, the parents must attend and complete parenting classes. The families must remain in the state of Texas and notify the department within 48 hours of any trips more than 100 miles from their homes.
The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday let stand a lower court's ruling that the state had no right to remove the children in April from the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado.
The ranch is run by the the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.
The FLDS is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
The state of Texas maintained it removed the children because interviews at the ranch uncovered a "pervasive pattern" of sexual abuse through forced marriages between underage girls and older men. The state alleged that young boys on the ranch were groomed to be perpetrators because of those beliefs.
FLDS members deny any sexual abuse occurred and say they are being persecuted because of their religion.
In May, the 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled that officials erred in removing the children from the ranch, effectively overturning Walther's ruling that the children remain in state custody.
The state Supreme Court agreed with the appellate decision last week. See a timeline of the FLDS case »
DFPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said her department supports Walther's order, which "allows for our investigation to continue."
"Our goal is always to try to reunite families," Meisner said. "We hope they can be safe there."
The children are being housed at seven facilities across the state, near Amarillo, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Abilene, Fort Worth and Corpus Christi.
"The kids have been terrorized and put in the custody of the state for weeks and weeks," FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said Friday after a hearing to determine how to return the children.
"Every effort has been made to bring relief," Jessop said. "It doesn't need to be a problem to go pick up the kids. It doesn't need to be any more difficult than picking them up after school."
Also on Monday British Columbia's attorney general ordered an investigation into alleged misconduct at a Canadian community believed to be a polygamous sect with possible connections to FLDS.
Attorney General Wally Opal called for a special prosecutor to look into allegations of misconduct in the community in Bountiful, British Columbia.
Two earlier prosecutors concluded it would be difficult to pursue criminal charges, with one recently saying it would be unfair to do so, according to Opal's office.
No legal action followed the investigations because of questions about whether polygamy is illegal in Canada.
It was not clear if Bountiful's community had any connections to the FLDS or any other polygamous group in the United States.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/02/texas.polygamists/index.html
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1083
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| Tonk
Posted:
Mon Jun 02, 2008 9:08 pm |
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Where's Merrill these days?
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Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 723
Location: pray for rain
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| woebedamned
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 1:13 pm |
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| Tonk wrote: | | Where's Merrill these days? |
Out of state
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Damn it All!!!!
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 6287
Location: pathetic joke of an American, bitter, gun clinging, God loving, racist cracker
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| tulsad
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:40 pm |
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| woebedamned wrote: |
Out of state |
Do you know why, Woe? Or where he is, specifically?
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Sparkly Tree
Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10139
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| SavannahStar
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:42 pm |
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I wouldn't answer that question.
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**SuperStar**
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 20782
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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| woebedamned
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:43 pm |
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| SavannahStar wrote: | | I wouldn't answer that question. |
LOL I wouldnt either
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Damn it All!!!!
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 6287
Location: pathetic joke of an American, bitter, gun clinging, God loving, racist cracker
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| SavannahStar
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:46 pm |
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| woebedamned wrote: |
LOL I wouldnt either |
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**SuperStar**
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 20782
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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| woebedamned
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:19 pm |
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I better clarify my response before I have Texas Rangers at my door with Swat teams standing at the ready. I have no idea where the man is, wouldnt have any reason to know. The sheriff was quoted on Fox as saying Jessops had left the state.
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Damn it All!!!!
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 6287
Location: pathetic joke of an American, bitter, gun clinging, God loving, racist cracker
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| SavannahStar
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:20 pm |
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| woebedamned wrote: | | I better clarify my response before I have Texas Rangers at my door with Swat teams standing at the ready. I have no idea where the man is, wouldnt have any reason to know. The sheriff was quoted on Fox as saying Jessops had left the state. |
I wondered why you were being interrogated.
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**SuperStar**
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 20782
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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| tulsad
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:29 pm |
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| woebedamned wrote: | | I better clarify my response before I have Texas Rangers at my door with Swat teams standing at the ready. I have no idea where the man is, wouldnt have any reason to know. The sheriff was quoted on Fox as saying Jessops had left the state. |
Thanks, Woe - I didn't hear that and simply wondered how you knew.
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Sparkly Tree
Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10139
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| Katie
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:51 pm |
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| SavannahStar wrote: |
I wondered why you were being interrogated. |
she asked a question , geez 
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Joined: 25 Mar 2006
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| Topsider
Posted:
Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:53 pm |
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| SavannahStar wrote: | | I wouldn't answer that question. |
Why?
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Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 1972
Location: On Hiatus Beach
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| Schmerty
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:25 am |
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Would you please tell me if its California??? I would want to protect all underaged living things. Thank You !!! You are a real sport!!!
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Skipping along my own path.
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 3260
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| tulsad
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:59 am |
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| Schmerty wrote: | | Would you please tell me if its California??? I would want to protect all underaged living things. Thank You !!! You are a real sport!!! |
Schmerty - the FLDS hide in large, unpopulated areas; Utah, Arizona, Texas, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, and Bountiful, BC are some. California is too densely populated for them; they would never be able to get away with what they do.
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Sparkly Tree
Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10139
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| Schmerty
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:06 am |
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| tulsad wrote: |
Schmerty - the FLDS hide in large, unpopulated areas; Utah, Arizona, Texas, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, and Bountiful, BC are some. California is too densely populated for them; they would never be able to get away with what they do. |
T
Thank you Tulsad! . Because if they come here they are going to get a really UNPLEASANT SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Skipping along my own path.
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 3260
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| Myra Manes
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:32 am |
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| SavannahStar wrote: |
I wondered why you were being interrogated. |
Interrogated????
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** Banned **
Joined: 26 Aug 2007
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Location: Puckered Up AssHole
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| Topsider
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:47 am |
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http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4992011&affil=wftv
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Joined: 08 Dec 2007
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Location: On Hiatus Beach
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| Myra Manes
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:19 pm |
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Raise the marriage age??? Who cares? They aren't real marriages anyways! What a joke........Unreal......Are they going to raise the age in which the men start didling the younguns too ?
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** Banned **
Joined: 26 Aug 2007
Posts: 5742
Location: Puckered Up AssHole
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| diandra
Posted:
Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:31 pm |
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raising the age is smoke/mirrors/PR
haven't seen any mention that the change came
via divine revelation to the living prophet
no revelation = same/same behavior
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 83
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