Texas CPS red ink: Schleicher County Judge Griffin whines
Schleicher County — some of whose residents and officials were once wagging their tails to invade the FLDS YFZ Ranch in Eldorado — now wants the rest of Texas to pay the price. Fun to see the pain pendulum swinging back at the real perps in this sordid mess.
Judge Johnny Griffin — who according to reports refused to sign the now notorious fraudulent search warrant request later signed by the less scrupulous Judge Barbara Walther — doesn’t think it fair that Schleicher County end up holding the bag:
“We’re asking the state to indemnify our county,” said Schleicher County judge Johnny Griffin. “Not one person from my county was involved, other than the sheriff who received the initial call from the CPS hotline.”
Excuse me?!
Let’s see . . . unless I’m much mistaken, a certain Schleicher County colleague of Johnny Griffin, Judge Barbara — who is listed on Schleicher’s website as a Schleicher County judge — is one person who could have stopped this entire debacle from happening in the first place. And Walther chose to make a bigger case — by expanding the scope of the fraudulent warrant — than even CPS had imagined it.
Yes, Judge Walther is technically from Tom Green County. But she serves Schleicher County and never (I think) would have got involved in this mess if it hadn’t been for the sensationalistic anti-FLDS reportage by The Eldorado Success, “The Voice of Eldorado and Schleicher County Since 1901,” whose home page this week still features this come-hither banner:
So how is it, Judge Griffin, that “not one person from Schleicher County” was involved? I have a feeling that some of the vendors who made a killing from out-of-town guests outside Walther’s court, on April 17-18, were from Schleicher County. Maybe there’s gold in them thar sage brush. Given Judge Walther’s klepto propensities, you could get her to sign one of those flakey warrants to grab some local assets.
Now, CPS’s costly procedure has been placed on Schleicher County, with a population of less than 2,800, and Griffin says his county has no way of paying for it.
“We started getting these monstrous bills,” he said. “People were charging things to the county that weren’t approved.
I guess we should all shed a tear. Imagine the audacity of those monsters — “charging things to the county that werent’ approved.” Kinda makes illegally busting into people’s homes in the night, running off with their kids for 60 days, and telling them “deal with” their nursing problem seem trivial, doesn’t it?
Where’s a waaaaambulance when you need one?
More at Kerrville Daily Times. ht: kbp
40 comments
Forgive me, but I suspect lots of us are smirking at the pain of Scheicher County. They are getting what they asked for. They are asking for the disaster THEY created to be funded by people in Texas who had nothing to do with this mess.
And it wasn’t just the sheriff or Judge Walther. Where, for instance, did all those First Baptist buses pull up from? Austin? Dallas? Don’t think so. Send the bill to the good “Christians” In San Angelo.
Oops, sorry — Schleicher County. Shyster County. Whatever.
Not so fast on WHO created this mess!
I think Sheriff “not too bright” Doran was led through this by the Rangers AND the CPS. He was a willing participant no doubt, but I am not too sure he was a guiding force in this mess, more of a the “he did it” idiot.
To his “four year planning”, it is something I think the Rangers said “thanks, but no thanks, we have a plan. The DA, State AG, Governor and our other various departments have decided you will do THIS, THIS, and THIS as we direct you to…”.
I think we do have to give Judge Johnny a pass on walthers, as she is the State judge and I do not think she lives in his county.
His county is just subject to her conduct when she’s there in a capacity for the state.
Kurt’s point is still valid on that “waaaaambulance”! That is as far as I’ll pass up on any in that county crew.
When we look at the numbers in the cost records CPS had in May, Schleicher County had yet turned in invoices, but they were listed as active participants.
We certainly did NOT see all the local yocals there trying to protect the rights of their temporary guests held in custody.
And, for the record, it looks like Judge Johnny is the Chief-In-Charge at that county. That means to me he could have stepped forward lonnnng before the invoices started to come in.
I should add that I believe there must be a reason Judge Johnny did NOT give Texas Ranger Long a Search Warrant. I suspect he had heard about this raid before Long asked for the SW and decided he was not wanting to risk his bar license and career on the mess they told of in that affidavit.
I bet he was smart enough to point out it was a STATE operation, they should then go to a STATE judge (and leave him out of it!!).
To absolve Sherriff Doran of having much to do with causing the raid is very shortsighted. He gave his full confidence to Flora Jessop as his “expert”; and even though he had easy connection and access to the folks on the ranch he definately preferred Flora’s interpretation to theirs, he even spoke to Dale Barlow on the phone before the raid, but pushed for it anyway when he could have stopped it.
The tank, military arms, and snipers were all felt necessary because of baseless rumors by anti-FLDS people. And they were the only ones that Doran even desired to have confidence in. HE was wrong.
The sacred temple was completely desecrated not based on tangible anything, but on Flora’s suggestion to David Doran that it was a crematoriam or “sex bed” building. Cadaver dogs were brought in to snoop the flowerbeds for dead handicapped babies, I little wonder where that hellish idea came from, and she wasn’t an informant to the Texas Rangers.
I did not “absolve Sherriff Doran for having much to do with causing the raid”. I stated I believe he was led by the Rangers and that “I am not too sure he was a guiding force”.
He is guilty of being an influence and BS’er on this case, but I will not list him as the mastermind behind the raid planning. There were smarter minds that put together those CHILD SEX warrants, leaving out worries the child had for physical assaults for five days, than Doran could hope to take credit for.
*******
On another topic, I was just informed that Judge Johnny Griffin never did turn down a search warrant and that he would not have had authority to approve one if he had been asked.
I had relied on Scot Michels of ABCNews, sourced from SoreToes… and later posted at Truth Will Prevail, along with a couple other sources.
That old line, “print it enough times and it’s fact in the media” looks to have caught me by the short hairs here.
Flora’s mental stability has been under question for a long time. That information, had Doran sought for it, was available. If he had asked. He could have headed this obscene situation off. Judge Johnny Griffin’s refusal to sign the warrant should have been another clue.
But on the other hand, kbp has a point. Maybe the State of Texas SHOULD pay the bill. The Governor gave it the go-ahead, no doubt with a view toward the 1700 acres of FLDS real estate at the junction of the NAFTA highways. And other state entities were in it up to their boot-tops.
Number one: Judge Griffin is not a law judge, and doesn’t issue or approve search warrants. Johnny’s the chief administrator for the county’s operations and finances. The nearest equivalent in most other states is chairman of the county commissioners, county manager, or chief supervisor.
Don’t bash the guy for what he can or can’t do. If you’d take the time to look, especially in the past four years, Griffin’s been one of the area’s moderate voices.
Next point is that like any other administrator, he’s making noise to get more state funding into the county. It doesn’t matter whether the need is true or not, or whether the county or state is the cause. That’s his unwritten job.
Whether the raid was right or wrong (OK, it was way, way wrong) Judge Griffin is trying to make sure the county doesn’t go broke. He will never be able to get reimbursement for what the county actually spent, but any outside funding reduces the amount taxes will be raised.
For those supporting FLDS folks, this means Johnny Griffin is reducing their tax burden. As county residents, they have to pay for this crap too.
So yall go rag on Bobbly Walthers, Voss, Doran and company. But yall need to give attaboys to the folks like Griffin who are trying to keep a level head through all this.
Schleicher County isn’t too bad, but right now it’s seen by everyone as the armpit of the world. Crusading feminazis see us as Neanderthals who allowed ‘this’ to happen, so we’re complicit. Yall see us as Neanderthals who attacked the ranch for being weirdos. The state see us as Neanderthals for being west Texas.
Not saying the county didn’t play its sorry part in this, but ‘the county’ isn’t one person and there’s a split in how folks see it. If you all want a win, there has to be a place for Schleicher County folks to be applauded. Just my two cents, but Johnny Griffin’s been playing that part and needs some applause. He’s retiring this year, and you can do a lot worse.
“Don’t bash the guy for what he can or can’t do. If you’d take the time to look, especially in the past four years, Griffin’s been one of the area’s moderate voices.”
I am absent record of what he did do. At this point, doing nothing is not good IMO.
“For those supporting FLDS folks, this means Johnny Griffin is reducing their tax burden.”
If the YFZ Ranch would file the papers, they’d get some tax exemption as a church I read. Settlement will cover it anyway!!
“,,,a place for Schleicher County folks to be applauded”
When those that stepped forward to protect the rights of the innocent are identified, I’ll restrain from putting the entire county in the same category for convenience.
We’ll have a bit more to read in what’s reported on Johnny real soon.
That should be refrain, not “restrain”.
Sorry for the false lead, kbp; I should not have relied on a mainstream media report. (yikes - where IS a good journalist today?)
However, in an effort to ease some of the county’s financial woes, I propose a Schleicher County special sales and use tax on newspapers, which includes taxes on internet sales and usage (per click) on websites owned by Schleicher County newspapers, retroactive to January 1.
It wouldn’t pay for everything, but it might help.
(said taxes due and payable by the newspaper owners, of course)
“(yikes - where IS a good journalist today?)”
There are a couple good ones following this case. I wish they could investigate deeper and more, but they’re good at what they report.
And, I did not blame anyone but myself for believing what Scot Michels reported. I actually credit you for pointing out what he had reported. After considering that the 4/3 & 4/6 affidavits were so similar, and what the delay of 2-3 hours at the gate indicated, I had assumed all reported and discussed about Doran NOT having a SW made sense.
Now I wonder why he held back from just coming in immediately. The call came late in the gate delay episode.
Whatever the answer is, I have the 4/3 SW I will share by email. It looks official as far as I can tell.
kbp: “I am absent record of what he did do. At this point, doing nothing is not good IMO.”
OK. I was writing on Schulzke’s site cause he was A) on the right side and B) wasn’t an extremist. Seems like the last part isn’t true about his commenters. The “your with us or against us” is BS.
If your name isn’t out there helping make the situation better (like Schulzke’s is) then kiss off because YOU are part of the problem. No different than the haters who bashing the FLDS dress store. They all said they were for the women, but in the end prove they’re just the same old haters hating most everything FLDS including the women.
You don’t have a clue on how Schleicher County runs, the idea of Johnny signing warrants is proof.
You don’t understand how any country runs, the administrators position is pretty fixed.
You surely never looked at local politics. Lord-o-lord. A county isn’t one ‘thing’.
You don’t understand how county and states work, counties can’t run off their own taxes, they must get state funds.
Long run more will get done if the state is punished by their own counties. A lawsuit will take 5 yrs, federal case 5 to 10. Counties have to be reimbursed within one fiscal yr (two real yrs) maximum. If Griffin gets traction, the state pays $20M to its own, and another $5M to Schleicher County out of their current budgets. It’ll be a rude wakeup to DFPS.
kbp: “When those that stepped forward to protect the rights of the innocent are identified, I’ll restrain from putting the entire county in the same category for convenience.”
I just left a small list of ringleaders, you just hate everybody. Another bigoted piganus no different than the FLDS-haters. Anyone who smears a whole group of people based on the actions of a few, the actions of half, or even most of them is a BIGOT. In America every person has freedom and responsibility, not groups. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the FLDS who have some bad eggs or Schleicher County which has some bad eggs. Repeat after me: B_I_G_O_T
Jeez, a person tries to do some good and runs into this. Shaking my head.
Sheriff Doorknob was the one at the gate on the night of April 3rd. He was the one that talked to the people at the gate, and was told that there was no girl of that name (sarah) who was 16 with a child there. He was the one who talked to Dale Barlow on the phone and knew of the falsehood of the warrant! He was the one (in one of the videos on the FLDS website) coming down the stairs talking on his cell phone to someone saying that they were going to take the children.
As the elected Sheriff of the county he is answerable to the people of the county and technically out ranks any other law enforcement officer there including the FBI, ATF, etc. and could have (if he wasn’t such a bigot and a spinless pipsqueek ) exercised his authority , and even if necessary deputize every able bodied man over the age of 18 in the county to help him. The problem is that he bought the package and was a ringleader in bringing about this dastardly deed, and should be held accountible!!
Livonias —
You make some good points and I appreciate your speaking up. I have previously mentioned Judge Griffin in a positive light for having refused to sign the search warrant that J. Walthers’ signed. I think there are many good people in West Texas.
Perhaps a lesson we all need to learn is that when good people just sit back and let the bad ones run the government, everyone gets hurt. I think that J. Griffin is probably a good person. He may be legally or ethically barred from speaking out about his efforts to derail the search warrant.
What surprises me is that the Ranger — Leslie whatever — went warrant shopping after he couldn’t get Griffin to sign it. That smells pretty strongly.
Another surprise is that no prominent member of the Edorado or San Angelo community that I am aware of has come forward to publicly apologize for the grief inflicted on the FLDS people. Maybe they’ve said it privately. But it should, I think, be published. The people of the United States need a good example from the people of West Texas. We ALL have this same problem — a willingness to just stand aside and let the “authorities” do whatever they want.
Hang in there! There’s a lot that a few good people can accomplish if the pray hard and put their heart into it.
But I hope that the good people of Schleicher County will do what they can to remedy the wrongs even if they were not the *only* ones involved in perpetrating them. I have in my mind’s eye a vision of a certain Russian — Boris Yeltsin — who had the courage to climb up on a Russian Army tank to defy people like CPS. You can see the picture here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ca/1991_coup_yeltsin.jpg/250px-1991_coup_yeltsin.jpg.
I know that there are people like Yeltsin in West Texas and elsewhere. They need to stand up and be counted.
Kurt, not knowing all the people, I can’t say what happened for sure. I do know that Boris made president though!
Not many like that.
So I’m going to ‘just suppose’ a little bit.
Ranger Long warrant shopped. Well, the Rangers have to help in a situation like this, same as state police in other places. We do know the Sheriff was gungho, had all this “information from informants” that we know Flora fed to him while he was panting.
So the Ranger looks at what he’s got: CPS says they’re going in. Doran says the FLDS are suicidal maniacs, kill and eat babies, armed to the teeth and similar BS. As chief LE in the county, he can take the lead.
There are two sides to every story. Long could be a SOB. He could also be the SOB that saved hundreds of lives by telling Doran there was no authority for entry unless they got a warrant.
Long goes with Doran to the Judge, a prominent local who’s been mouthy against the FLDS. They ask him to sign the warrant and he backs out. Not going to be his name on the warrant, no siree bob. Doran is disappointed, and Long says it wasn’t fair, says that Judge wasn’t reasonable. It was mostly the affidavit sucked, everybody knows the Sherif was p*whipped into spouting the crap.
So Long takes Doran to Bobbly Walthers. She sides with Doran but doesn’t trust him either (she also knows how he got his ‘info’) and says she won’t sign it unless Long affirms it. That’s exactly what Long wants, so he does. If you read the thing, Long says he’s got information blah blah blah. The Sheriff sat there and told him. But the warrant’s issued to Long.
That act transfers all control of law enforcement actions to the Rangers. Doran convinced-the-FLDS-eats-babies is just along for the ride, and (here’s the important part) nobody gets hurt under Ranger control.
No tear gas, no confrontations. Could Ranger Long have stopped this? Stopped CPS from going in? Stopped local LE from going in? No, absolutely not. But the Rangers took control of those parts they could and from a LE standpoint did a decent job.
Don’t like it? Then do this.
Be the cop, be the Ranger. Sit down with some coffee and donuts, put yer feet up and read the comics. Now have the phone ring and tell you that CPS is going into that ranch ‘to rescue those children’. Two days, and you have no influence, sayso or control over CPS actions.
They tell you the local Sheriff has a plan to control all 100 people there, and you know he’s a buffoon plus there’s more like 1,000 people there. You know activists have been feeding hate into the community, especially local CPS, local shelter and counselors and they are all worked up. A couple of the bastards are already talking about a Waco BBQ. For the children of course.
Layout a plan in 47 hours.
WOW! I leave for a ball game and come back to an azz chewin’ and a “just suppose” tale.
I need to re-read all of this to see where the train went while I watched the ball game.!
In terms of standing up and being counted, try the Lithuanians on for size, in January 1991. They had not one gun among them. Thirteen of them died, crushed under Soviet tanks, when they linked arms to prevent the Soviets from taking back their television tower. But their heroic actions saved the Lithuanian independence movement — along with help from CNN (sorry about that, but they were the precursor of today’s blogs) which had broadcast the atrocity against the unarmed Lithuanians around the globe. The tanks turned, after crushing the people at the television tower and headed for the Lithuanian legislature. But someone at the top–Gorbachev?– was made to understand the world was watching.
For that reason, and no other, the tanks backed off, and Lithuania, for the last seventeen years, has been free of Soviet domination.
The parallels to the coverage of CPS abuse of the FLDS on this and other blogs is, I hope, obvious. The world is watching: watching Texas, CPS, Schleicher Country, the Governor, the courts. And they know it. They may want to back off the tanks.
I’m waiting for the expressions of regret — otherwise known as an apology — to the FLDS from decent residents of El Dorado and San Angelo. There surely are some good people out there, even in that dusty location. And while we are at it, let’s hear one from the First Baptist Church. And the Methodists, et al. Let us know you are alive to common decency.
Based on April’s comments above — just went Google-shopping for any possible apologies that might be out there for this horrible situation. Found one demand for same, on behalf of the FLDS, but found not one word of apology FROM anyone it should be coming from. How embarrassing, for them. Real men, real women, of any character would be speaking up by now. Are they entirely absent?
What surprises me is how biased you “ unbiased “ people are!
This is the real truth about the cast and characters you know nothing about.
Judge Johnny Griffin: Moderate Democrat, Graduate of Texas Tech, outspoken, opinionated, loves his county only and could care less if the rest of Texas or the world goes to hell. He has highly educated children that have law, financial, agricultural and genetic degrees along with a wife that has been the middle school principal. All in his family has Masters or above in education. You could say he has a great cabinet going for him.
James C. Doyle: Justice of the Peace. Retired engineer from Texas High way dept. Ex mayor and city councilman. He is also a pilot and one of the first to document the FLDS in Schleicher county. Democrat with moderate beliefs in politics. Very knowledgeable in FLDS and YFZ activities. Friendly relations with YFZ.
David Doran: Sheriff of Schleicher County. Conservative Republican. Strays from political beliefs because he is actually a moderate. He is considered fair by all parties and ethnic groups in Eldorado. Thousands of hours of training and considered very knowledgeable of FLDS. Personally responsible for keeping “ a lid” on locals calling for FLDS ousting. Probably responsible for “no bloodshed”in raid. Actually had nothing to do with raid on YFZ other than intelligence and historical perspective.
George Arispe: Chief Deputy: Bi-lingual, smart ,shrewd and the side-kick of Doran. Highly respected deputy that is the go-between for everyone including FLDS. Considered the best at tracking leads and closing cases for locals. YFZ is now only talking to Arispe because they feel Doran has betrayed them. Ironic , considering Doran was the one that has saved them for so many years.
Randy Mankin: Editor/Publisher of Eldorado Success. Conservative Republican that uses paper for political as well as informational means. Graduate of Texas Tech and a thorn in Judge Griffin’s , Democrats, and the YFZ’s side. Community oriented, knowledgeable, Baptist that has garnered much community respect from positions that he has held and considered a local FLDS/YFZ authority.
J.D. Doyle: Technology Director of SCISD. Multiple degrees and pilot that operates the local YFZ website that keeps us informed. He has tracked FLDS activities from the beginning. Considered a left wing, very liberal democrat and also known as a local FLDS/YFZ authority. Outspoken, smart and whacky. Not conventional by any means. Known for loyalty to the school district, intellect, and pictures of YFZ on his website. His dad is the JP.
Raymond Loomis: County attorney: Democrat. Smart , quiet and is known for being so frugal that he is almost a Scrooge. An expert in geology and land deeds, he has resigned and purses a private practice.
Curtis Griffin: Griffin Fuels: Friendly relationships with YFZ. Provides all the fuel for the county and YFZ ranch. Outspoken democrat with vast community connections. Degree in chemical engineering specializing in petroleum products. My be under more community scrutiny due to FLDS fuel affiliations but very much loved anyway.
David Creek : oil king/multi millionaire : Philanthropist that donates thousands of dollars to the Sonora and Eldorado communities. Paid for all the food that YFZ children ate while in Eldorado . Baptist church deacon, college educated, wife teaches in SCISD. Money person for most notable charities and school functions in Eldorado. Extremely powerful individual that is very quiet and humble. You would really like David.
Me, housewife, widow: Eldorado local for 18 years. College educated, loves music. I think it is a travesty for children to be removed from their parents but at the same time, glad that the state is now actually documenting who is where and whom they belong to.
I love this town and people in it. You know nothing of them. I just listed a few that I knew were news worthy. Truth is, no one here has ever seen a YFZ women. Not because we were mean., but because they never entered our town, and still don’t. I really get tired of some know it all from nowhere thinking they know Texas and even Eldorado. To be honest, West Texas is a totally different country than Austin or east Texas. Different morals, traditions, ethnic groups and even values. Most of you live is such small states the you do not realize that is it closer from El Paso to Los Angeles that Houston to El Paso. We are one state that covers more area the 3-4 states. You people see us and hill-billy rednecks and I can assure you ( just look at the list above) that we are highly educated. We live in a place where cowboys fly airplanes, and women can rope a steer, or shoot the eyes out of a snake at 50 yards and considered completely independent. We have to be or we don’t survive here. Many times its 20 miles to the nearest human; something you probably can’t relate to.
Eldorado had nothing to do with the raid. Doran was a officer of the court who has to take orders from a superior ( judge Walther). To do less would be not only dis honorable but against everything west Texas stand for. You think you know us, you don’t. Neither does the FLDS because if they did, they would not be here to begin with…
El Paso to Houston 750 From El Paso to Los Angeles 800 (I do hope the rest of your claims are more accurate than the claim that ElPaso is closer to LA than Houston.
Pretending Texas is the only place where you can have twenty miles between people indicates your lack of undertstanding of anywhere else. Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, NMexico, can make similar boasts, and therefore it is easy for residents there to relate to it. (so what?) When a Texan claims they can get in their car and drive all day and not get to the other side of their “spread”…I can make only one response. I had a piece of junk car like that once myself !
The only guy in all that list I would care to spend the time meeting would be Mr Creek, to see if he possesses the humility you assign him. Its nice to know you LIKE where you live ‘just me” I think a lot of folks can make that claim. Your last sentence is somewhat troubling. What about you would make you someone who once known, would be people that the Flds wouldnt want to be around to begin with? I agree tho…even after the rosey picture you tried to paint, we still apparently dont REALLY know you.
The wonderful thing about this blog is you deal with all kinds. The reason I say FLDS would not be welcome here is that WOMEN are independent. We do make decisions for ourselves. The ranch that I am living on now is 5.3 sections. Almost twice what the entire YFZ is on and I am running it by myself with only one hired hand. I need no man to go to heaven. I need no permission from anyone to do anything I want to. I carry a Winchester model 12 that was made in the 1940’s ( about the time I was born) and still works well today.
Eldorado did not ask them to be here. They lied to us from the moment they arrived e and for the most part, we still think they are lying. I am not asking your permission. Your opinions do not count. All I am doing is stating mine and in Eldorado, my opinion DOES count!
Interesting report, thank you, Just Me. I am sure many who read this site will try to absorb it. I am relieved to hear someone there considers those children being ripped from their mothers was a travesty, but not that identifying which FLDS child belongs to whom somehow makes it o.k. I agree Judge Griffin deserves some credit for refusing to sign that warrant. Maybe Sheriff Doran deserves some credit for avoiding blood shed (like nothing was learned at Waco?)– but he should have been a lot less eager to believe Flaky Flora. He blew it. With lots of help from CPS, yes.
But all these goodhearted, God-fearing Baptists who contributed food and whatever, were basically subsidizing CPS so these children could be kidnapped. Contributing food is great and deserves credit, but cooling the ardor of the lynch mob before the harm was done would be still better. More charity beforehand, so less would be needed after the fact, would be a good thing.
El Dorado folks need to be less eager to believe ridiculous horror stories about a sect they obviously do NOT understand–despite their intrusive aerial photos. How would you feel if someone were flying over your backyard taking pictures of your every move? There is a disturbing willingness still evident here to believe the utter nonsense that circulated about these people. If I were one of the FLDS women, I would be none to eager to go into that town, either — not with heartless, judgmental eyes watching every step I take, imagining salacious things about me they have no right to imagine.
The size of the hearts of the people who live in West Texas matters vastly more than Texas’ scale on the map. The latter has little to do with what happened there.
While El Dorado locals plead for those of us elsewhere to avoid a rush to judgment on their community — it would be a good idea to recall that their rush to judgment against members of their own community is what brought all of this on.
There are still massive apologies due to the FLDS from the El Dorado community. Someone needs to speak up and say, “It was Wrong. It will never happen here again.”
Or would someone showing that kind of courage be “under more community scrutiny,” like hangs over the head of Curtis Griffin, “who is loved anyway” in spite of his being kind to the FLDS. That line speaks volumes about the mindset of the El Dorado community. That’s a shame.
Found time to read. Livonias seemed to conflict with himself and facts about as much as he called me names!
Hopefully there are good people in that county, and maybe someday we’ll see one step forward - I’m waiting!
Actually I do recall Curtis Griffin being decent in the news once, but I do not recall him disapproving of the raid.
testing tags here
As an LDS reader — what this brings to mind is the persecution we have experienced — in my children’s lifetime — from a variety of fundamentalists. A list of things we supposedly believed came to us in the hands of a teenage girl who attended one such church, the list being the topic of her pastor’s previous Sunday sermon. All of it was pegged on tidbits of truth turned into monstrosities, but none of it was true. Not even close!
There is a basic rule that should apply: if it seems unbelievable that anyone claiming to be Christian would believe such doctrines, they probably don’t.
When just me states… They lied to us from the moment they arrived e and for the most part, we still think they are lying. (when a neighbor buys a place near mine and doesnt tell the world his plans to remodel it and make it into a day care, nobody goes around whining that they have been LIED to…frankly if its within the zoning nobody gives a damn, what are you texans a bunch of busybodies sticking your nose into everyone elses business??? I certainly dont see any of you complaining about the taxes they pay?…(which if I were a church would end in a heartbeat)…apparently its about YOU controlling what is not your right to control…get over it…
I am not asking your permission. (who cares what you are asking?… it doesnt take permission to ride around on a desert with a rifle in your pick up…) Your opinions do not count. (I donno, it may, without the many opinions by the people who care more about the constitution than your bigotted west Texas views, those flds kids might still be in the control of your state “protection” rackets and the flds bunch would be suffering at your hands.) All I am doing is stating mine and in Eldorado, my opinion DOES count! (joyfully el dorado is nothing but the armpit of the world for the rest of us…a place where you may call home and be happy as a clam, but which in the rest of the world is nothing more than a lot of hot worthless dirt, and people who are intent on imposing their “christian” values on their neighbors, with illegal force if necessary. Anyone in El Dorado who doesnt stand up and apologize for complicity in the direct attack on our basic constitutional liberties, should be ashamed. I imagine there are some good people living there, (maybe Mr Creek) but the rest of you who stood idly by while the laws were broken and innocent children were ripped from the arms of their mothers in what we now know was a state planned attack on that sect, is horrible… It should be Americans first… Texans, west Texans, El Doradoans etc somewhere after that….
This Curtis, the oil man, is noteworthy — and under a cloud of suspicion, yet — for having been friendly to the FLDS? So, it appears no one else in town was. He’s under a cloud for having been a real Christian. Weird. Then everyone else in town worthy of mention is complicit in their abuse. In Silent Schleicher, the complicit county.
“Just me” accuses the FLDS of lying to the townspeople since their arrival. From here, I’d say a whole lot of lying has gone down at the other end, both since the raid and before, when local do-gooders were concocting stories about deformed babies being planted in the temple flower beds.
It’s time for the FLDS to sell the YFZ Ranch — to Muslims. With all their independent women, they’d fit in better.
It is past time for outlying areas, wherever they are, to come to grips with the fact that, with the arrival of the internet, local abuses like this one–especially on a large scale–can’t be hidden any more. You are not tucked safely away in West Texas and the world is “not going to know” what y’all have done to these poor people — whether you were actively involved, or just listening to the gossip without comment. The world knows. To your great shame.
Doran is:
“Probably responsible for “no bloodshed”in raid. Actually had nothing to do with raid on YFZ other than intelligence and historical perspective.”
Got it.
So, per chance, where did he get that intelligence and prospecitive from, and how accurate has it proven to be?
Sure appreciate you wonderful people from Eldorado for not stringing up the gas station attendent for being nice to the FLDS.
Pligchild,
Anyone that knows Curtis also knows he only cares about money and FLDS. As long as they buy transports of fuel and pay in cash or trade it for a new pad, he will be all toasty. But if the money runs out, he will be the first to file a judgement against the YFZ.
“like the discriptions of the eldorado folks”. ” Just Me” was a bit kinder that I would have been. I am not particually fond of Democrats and most of county hiarchy is. Maybe why we are in so much trouble huh!
Why hasn’t the My Eldorado paper stepped forward yet?
or did I miss something there?
Just me, your comment #22 above sounds almost like defense attorney talk at the Nuremberg trials!
Cheese-y nasty comment. ‘Just me’ probably thinks she’s doing the right thing, just can’t see she’s wrong.
So you think you’ll get some folks to be all sorry and apologize and fawn over the FLDS by calling Schleicher residents Nazi leaders who need to be hung.
Prediction: that approach isn’t going to work.
I have not seen any ask the Schleicher residents to apologize, to step forward and condemn the raid, or ask for anything from them actually, nor have I seen the residents do such.
Comments 16, 20, 21, 25, and 28 have either asked for (or condemend for the lack of) apology.
Reading isn’t hard. Try it.
NONE ASKED:
16 - “Another surprise is that no prominent member of the Edorado or San Angelo community that I am aware of has come forward to publicly apologize”
20 - “I’m waiting for the expressions of regret — otherwise known as an apology”
21 - “just went Google-shopping for any possible apologies that might be out there for this horrible situation.”
25 - “Someone needs to speak up and say, “It was Wrong. It will never happen here again.”
28 - “Anyone in El Dorado who doesnt stand up and apologize for complicity in the direct attack on our basic constitutional liberties, should be ashamed.”
Can I ask now?
:o)
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