Polygamy case: details from court documents. I fear for this girl.

[pnwmom]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/040908dntexpolygarrests.441d3545.html

SNIP

“According to the records, the girl called the shelter several times on March 29, saying she’d been moved to the YFZ Ranch by her parents three years ago. She said she was forced to marry a 49-year-old man a year ago, and that she was his seventh wife. She had his baby shortly after, and reported being pregnant again.

“The young woman alleged serious physical violence at the hands of her husband, identified as Dale Barlow. She said he hit her in the chest and choked her, and that other women in the home held her infant while he beat her. She also alleged Mr. Barlow forced himself on her sexually. The teenager, who spoke in hushed tones, said she was not allowed to leave the ranch, and that she was calling using someone else’s cell phone.

“In a phone call to the shelter a day later, she told an investigator that church members were holding her against her will, and that they’d told her if she left the ranch outsiders would “hurt her, force her to cut her hair, to wear make up and clothes and to have sex with lots of men.” She said her parents were preparing to send her 15-year-old sister to the compound as well.

“At the conclusion of the conversation, she began crying and then stated that she is happy and fine and does not want to get into trouble,” the court records read, “and that everything she had previously said should be forgotten.”

SNIP

[Beaverhausen]

1. I fear for her too

Those fundies probably moved to her a more secret location. They seem to have a lot of them all over the west.

[Cleita]

2. That's really awful. I fear for her too.

I hope they find her and her parents before her sister gets sent there.

[pnwmom]

5. It sounds like her parents are elsewhere -- they "moved her" to the compound,

and now they are going to "send" the sister. Maybe the parents are back in one of the communities in Arizona or Utah -- sending their daughters to Texas.

[Maddy McCall]

3. Thanks...I'm bookmarking all these threads to read later.

[blondeatlast]

4. Imagine being terrified INSIDE the compound,

and the terror she was indoctrinated to believe in facing her on the outside.

To those who see this as a Constitutional fumble, answer me this: Does the state have the right to protect it's citizens too young to protect themse;ves (as in sign contracts, consent to marriage and sex, etc)?

I say it surely does and absolutely must. That's why we have due process. If a violation of the Constitution happened here, let the courts find it--but PROTECT THOSE CHILDREN FIRST, including the teenage moms and the cast-out teenage males.

[pnwmom]

6. I agree. The safety of the children is paramount. They have the right to

the same protection under the law that we all have.

[kestrel91316]

7. I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

When it comes to religion, your rights end where somebody else's body begins.

IOW, NO ONE, not even a parent, can deny a child or woman their constitutional rights because of their OWN personal religious beliefs.

[pnwmom]

8. I agree. Too many people seem to think their right to practice their religion

means they have the right to deprive other people of their own rights.