I am excited to watch the show this Monday. Does Oprah find out what happens to the boys of the community? Since there are several wives for one man, what happens to the men who are left out? Are they sent away from the community? Or do they just hang out as de facto eunichs since there are no women available for them?

Thanks,

Mark

To me- the biggest story here is the abuse of Child Protective
Services. They removed over 400 children from their parents,
community, and their homes because they were deemed "in danger", as a
result of a lie. The removal of the children was determined by the
courts two months later as "legally and factually insufficient". My
heartbreak with this case is with the children that were forcibly and
illegally removed from their homes.

The issues that let to the removal of hundreds of children at this
compound one year ago were unsubstantiated allegations of forced
underage polygamous marriages and a false report of physical child
abuse. The real crime was the illegal removal of children from their
homes.

The Lie Discovered- A woman living in Colorado and not
belonging to this community called the police and pretended to be a
"Sarah" a teen at the YFZ compound that was sexually assaulted. When
the "raid" (April 4-7) took place, this girl "Sarah" was never found,
because the caller was a hoax and did not live in the compound. It was
not until April 10th that the state officially announced why they
searched the compound. On April 14, the mothers who did not have
children under 4 were ordered to leave the shelter. 17 days after the
raid, on 4/20/08 a woman, Rozita Swinton of Colorado was taken into
custody for making the false call. Ms. Swinton had a history of false
reports to the authorities.

After the Lie, The Children were not Returned- The biggest child
service seizure and the largest child custody case in US history was
based on a lie. Upon discovering the lie, did the children immediately
go home because the allegations that were brought against the ranch
were false? NO. An abusive Texas judge, Barbara Walther thought that
the children should not be returned until genetic testing was done to
determine parenthood. Then the case had to be tried in several Texas
courts. This is an unbelievable point of abuse of Child protective
services. After the allegations were false, the children remained in
custody another 6 weeks! The welfare of the children to be returned to
their homes and mothers seem to be the lowest concern to the courts.
When the allegation was found to be false and the false caller suspect
was taken into custody on
April 20, it took Texas a whole month to hear this case. In the
meantime, over 400 children were still without their homes, families
and have
entered into another civilization.

More Children Taken- On May 12, more than a month after the raid
and after the false nature of the raid call was discovered, a mother at
YFZ gave birth to a child. Both were taken into custody!!! On May 13
an Austin judge granted a temporary restraining order from taking the
newborn away from its mother, but on May 15th the judge ordered that
the newborn infant is returned to state custody. Does anyone see a
problem with this? More horrific abuse by Child Protective services.
Where are the children's rights attorneys?

Finally on May 19 the courts heard the case and on May 29 (after
being heard at several Texas courts) the Texas Supreme court ruled that
the families could be reunited, which occurred on June 2, two months
after the raid. Why were they returned? because finally the courts
ruled that the removal of the children were "legally and factually
insufficient". How could over 400 children be permitted to be removed
from their homes for 2 months based on shoddy evidence?

Should All Children Be Removed if Situations are not Ideal?- If
someone at Child Services thought that people needed to be removed
because of underage forced marriages, who would you remove- maybe all
the girls 14 and up, 12 and up? No, they took every child including
all the boys, the children, the toddlers, the babies, the nursing
infants, and the child that was born after the false caller was
identified.

Why did they need to take the very young girls, newborn infants and all
boys when this issue of forced marriages did not concern them? They
were worried that in this environment they would grow up and "do the
same thing" That is like taking a kid away from his parents who live
in the ghetto because this is a neighborhood where crack is sold and
removing him from his home is necessary because it is possible that in
that environment that the child might become addicted to crack. Even
after the false claim was identified as false, the children were not
returned immediately. The legal issues in question were with the men,
not the children. In biblical terms, "the children were punished for
the sins of the fathers." These children will never forget their "false
imprisonment". This is the true crime, the crime of child services
removing children from their homes without reasonable evidence.

State Laws vary for Marriage- I do not agree with children being
married at young ages, but many states permit young marriage if
parental consent is given. If you look at the marriage laws by state,
many states permit 16 year olds to marry with their parent's
permission. Many states allow 14 year olds to marry and in Florida,
if you are pregnant, you do not have an age requirement or have to
have parental permission. Which is morally worse, a 14 year old
pregnant teen in Florida who marries without parental consent or a 14 year old FLDS girl
who is married with parental consent to a man with several other wives
and knows each of them?

The Constitution- Just think of our laws to protect unlawful search and seizure. You
have to have a court order to enter someone's house and even look in
their car trunk. Think of these protective laws, then think of this
raid with a false claim removing over 400 children from their homes for
2 months. 139 women voluntarily went with them, but many had to return after a few days.

Search and Seizure laws- Here is the Fourth Amendment to the United
States Constitution. Do you think it was violated in this process?

"
The right of the people to
be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized."

No "oath or affirmation" was gained before over 400 children were removed from their homes.

Our culture and sexual promiscuity
- Sexually promiscuous teens are the norm in our high schools today
and
are viewed with some level of tolerance. Almost half of teens in high
school are sexually active. According to Kaiser Perminente's US Teen
Sexual Activity, in 2003 14 % of high school students have had more
than
4 sexual partners. Somehow this is type of sexual promiscuity is
perceived as better then the teen girls at YFZ ranch that commit
themselves to one spouse with parental support. I do not agree with
these polygamous marriages, but I think it is helpful to compare them
with our country's own cultural norms.

This FLDS group and their previous
generations have practiced polygamy (which is against US law) since the
1930's when they seperate themselves from the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints stopped practicing polygamy in 1890. By
the way, the Yearning For Zion community cannot legally be referred to
to as "mormons" because another church, The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints has the legal rights to that name.

Just
like illegal aliens, the "don't ask, don't tell" polygamy policy has
permitted their un-orthodox and illegal marriage practices to go on for
generations. If you do not allow open polygamous marriages and jail
people for having multiple wives, than everyone who has had an affair
should be jailed too. In my mind, having an affair is morally worse
because it is with deceit, violating your marriage vows.

I think it is interesting that this FLDS group is letting the media
in. They are also on the cover of People Magazine. I think their
simplistic and wholesome lifestyle of a religious community is also
interesting. I do not agree with polygamy or the suspicion of forced
marriage. I look at this group in a similar fashion to the Amish- they
want to live their religious lives away from others. If I had to pick
between a 60's style open-sex commune and YFZ compound, I would be more
comfortable with the religious group.

Because lawmakers have not been involved in these polygamist
communities, other crimes within these polygamist groups have often
gone without outside intervention, crimes that happen in every other
section of our country- sexual abuse, welfare abuse, dumping unwanted children. (That is another story)

The real story here is not the simplistic religious group that
practice a form of marriage practiced in many countries and throughout
the Old Testament, but it is the abuse of Child Protective Services
being permitted to yank innocent and unharmed children from their homes
based on lies and kept the children away from their families for
months.

I have been following this story of the Yearning for Zion Ranch since it broke. There are many weird & creepy aspects to their lifestyle, polygamy being just one of them. When the children were taken away, toys were donated to them. Crayons & coloring books were given, & THE CHILDREN DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. THEY DIDN'T DRAW AT ALL. Now, think about this: they want to be their own society & not mix with the rest of us, & there is not an artist among them! That is creepy, repressive & frankly boring. Farming & other hard work is encouraged, but the arts are not, & that doesn't make for a healthy society! Also, why is the government going easy on their polygamist lifestyle? Polygamy is supposed to be illegal. Why doesn't the government do something? The extent to which the males brainwash the females into this lifestyle is truly astounding. Women! Take your power back!

What Oprah sees is a carefully scripted presentation. I hope she will let the caseworkers spend as much time showing their evidence. Statements by Warren Jeffs like not allowing a girl who had been in labor for 3 days go to the hospital because it was sexual abuse. Wedding pictures of him with his 12 year old bride and other VERY young girls holding their babies. Instructions to men on how to get intimate with girl too young to give birth so that she will cling unto him but not impregnate her. For years, the FLDS had been trafficking teenaged girls to Canada. I have letters from the DOJ on that subject from 2001. Also I reported over 10 cases to the National Center for Missing and Abused Children - two of those cases were charged 6 years later when the girls had already been impregnated 3 times one by her stepfather/husband and one by her brother-in-law/husband. The men were found guilty, but don't fear, when polygamist men are found guilty of sexual abuse they usually get much lighter sentences. Kelly Fischer, the step father who "married" his 15 year old step daughter - 45 days in jail. Dan Barlow Jr. found guilty of incestuous abuse 3 days in Mohave County jail. Rod Holm, the police officer who impregnated Ruth Stubbs,his wife's sister, 3 times in 3 years starting when she was 16 and he was 32, 1 year in jail but to be served only at night. Winston Blackmore (when he was the FLDS Bishop) admits marrying a number of girls trafficked from America to Canada under 16. and other Canadian girls under 16 and 15. He also hits the talk show circuit. These were all FLDS. The members of the community knew very well about all the abuses but did not report them. In fact, the FLDS police force in Colorado City admitted that they failed to report to the state over 25 cases of abuse. Tom Sliwinski in Montana was fined $100. for marrying two step daughters when they were 14. There has been discrimination but it has been for not against polygamists. How many men outside of polygamy would get a 3 day sentence for incest with five daughters? Alex Joseph, who married a nine year old was never charged and her sister-wife, Elizabeth Joseph did the publicity telling NOW and other organizations that polgyamy was a woman's choice but failing to say that one woman in her household was a nine year old wife. Many polygamists believe that once a girl has her first period she is ready for marriage. Oh there are plenty to cute kids, that does not mean that institutionalized rape and abuse is not taking place. Someone should ask these women why in all the cases that have come to court not one active member of the FLDS reported the crimes. Now Texas has at least 12 more cases of such abuse which they are bringing to court. Abuse is a crime not a religion.

Now for the 3rd time Willie Jessop is keeping family members from burying their dead. Once in Texas, where the mother and child had been taken from the father under orders from Warren and re-assigned. to a new father. Willie kept the father from attending his baby's funeral because he was considered an upstanding member of the cult. Now in Colorado City, AZ , Willie has tried to keep a man from burying his 8 month old baby in the community cemetery and this man's family plot because the father is not a member of the polygamous organization. Isn't that discrimination of the worst kind. So all the time stating they are discriminated against, they have taken children from their natural fathers, denied men the right to see their baby's buried or attend the funerals and Willie even bent a man's arm back and threw him out of Fred Jessop's funeral because he belonged to a rival polygamist group. Maybe Oprah should talk to Mr. Stubbs who had to get the state to intervene so that he could bury his baby as the FLDS were preventing it.

Please do not be taken in by carefully scripted interviews. Read the Warren Jeffs dictations and look at the pictures of young brides. Find out why on the rolls of FYZ the boys seemed to disappear at 13 years old as very few were listed after that.

With Oprah having been so open in regards to being sexually abused as a child and all she has done for vicims of abuse, I just cannot understand how she can be part of hiding and sweeping the abuse by this cult under the rug. Oprah I am begging you to please do your homework, please investigate this cult and become a part of stopping the abuse by this cult.

I do hope you have read Warren Jeffs dictations before taping this show and get the facts out, and it''s not another "dog and pony" show put on by the flds.

As a REAL (mainstream) Mormon this type of lifestyle just makes me ill. These poor Women need help to escape their horrible circumstances.

I agree with the "dog and pony" show. How could these Woman do anything but talk about how wonderful their life is? If they told the truth who knows what kind of horrible punnishment they would get.

Western civilization frowns on polygamy. Rape as a criminal offense and adultery are commonplace in western society. In many African cultures, according to historians (George Williams, 19th Century; Lerone Bennett Jr and Joh Hope Franklin, 20th Century) polygamy was a common practice. Rape was nonexistent and adultery was severly punished. The state of polygamy had strict rules of engagement. African men could only have as many wives as the man could financially support. Wayne Rudolph Davidson, DM

Thank you Oprah for doing this show! my heart was broken to see these children taken away from their parents, it amazes me how we have the right to free speech and religion and these people were prosecuted because of their choice. If at any time during an investigation child abuse has been discovered, then by all means address each case on an individual basis, but do not punish the community for their life style and beliefs. Their way of life and how they choose to raise their children in this environment is totally up to these parent, except in the case of child abuse. Look at the American society and the children, we are a country that are producing a bunch of dummies, children graduating high school are illiterate, parents uses video games, television, and computers as baby sitters! I do hope with you doing this show it will bring more clarity and understanding to other people's way of life and not every one has to live the "American way"

Oprah,

You are so complex! You have to be one the most exposed and experienced people in the world, but yet your approach to this interview seemed like you are so shocked and almost judgemental.

This lifestyle of polygamy is at least honest. The truth is, while American women like to pretend that their relationships are monogamous, we ALL know that children are born out of extra marital relationships all the time, and not taken care of properly, away from family members, rejected, etc.

I don't understand why it is so difficult understand the concept of that people are different and it is o.k, not to judge them by our pityful , pretend American standards. Teenage pregnancies, drugs, violence, oh, I could go on... but you get the point.

I would be challenged to try to say that the church I grew up in was not a cult. (BTW, I am a 39 year old, African American, Chicago South side, public schooled, Master degreed musician, married with children) How is their religion so different from Catholic nuns, Islam or Pentacostal churches' requirments on their members.

Although this lifestyle is not my choice, (and I did have the past experience of being able to choose not to participate in a polygamous community) I think we have a lot to learn from them in terms of intentionally creating a supportive community to raise children, food preparation, work ethics. love, sharing, and real Christian values.

Oh and last. Who made up the imaginary number of 18 as being the magic age that children have enough sense to make good choices? If one has ever hung around teenagers in our society, you know then that there is not much difference between a 14, 19, or even a 21 year old. Historically, even in this country girls have married and become married at various ages. I think 35 is a good age. Not so long ago, women were happy to get married and begin their families very early. We should examine why we believe what we believe, and how it came to be.

I have OFTEN wondered the same thing as Mark. Things being about equal, for every one man that has 4 wives, three men have NO wife. There either is a LOT of homosexuality there, or they kill off baby boys so the ones that survive can have more wives. Please explain. Also, every baby born is an Adam or an Eve. Look where the first 2 got us in supposedly 5,000 years. Anyone who don't think we don't have a population explosion, look at the ever expanding traffic tie-ups and pollutrion in CA, the melting glaciers, the increase in storms, srange diseases, increased violent crime. If we don't practioce birth control, Mother Nature will practice Population Control. And She is more brutal. God MAY have told Adam and Eve to " Go forth and multiply!" But there were only the 2 of them then. Since then, God has said, " A man who giveth in marraige doth good, but a man who giveth not, doth better!" These religeous cults don't recognise the Word of God if it goes against what they want to believe.

Merely by reading the majority of the posts so far, Oprah now knows what she is up against;

If she appears to be siding with the FLDS, even by listening to them, she will be labled "Brainwashed".

Naturally, she will be "Brilliant" if she bashes them.

Not one word has been heard yet, and yet the haters are lining up to condem her or to praise her, depending upon how she reacts to what she see's and hears.

The bottom line is that the State of Texas broke every law on it's books to kidnap the children, and try to sell them off for the Federal Adoption dollars they would bring in to the State's coffers.

I know the haters don't agree with the Appeals Court and Supreme Court of Texas's opinions in this case, but they are going to like even less the Federal Court's Opinions and damages awards against them in the very near future.

CPS across the Untied States is a rouge agancy, and until they start following the Constitution, this will not be the last time Oprah is interviewing children who have been brutilized far worse than anything anybody imagines occurred to them on the Ranch.

Bill Medvecky

If consenting adults want to be polygamists, that's fine; they're not hurting anyone. But after reading Elissa Wall's book, Stolen Innocence, I do not see the Yearning for Zion group as being a community of individuals with free will. It seems very clear that girls are raised in such a way that they really have no choice. With their limited knowledge of the outside world (and often factually incorrect understanding of it), it's no wonder none of them will say that they want to leave.

It's not just girls being used and taken advantage of. What happens to the boys? Obviously the population is skewed with many times more adult women than adult men. Where do the boys go? Elissa Wall's book sheds light on this as well. Boys who cause any trouble are banished from the community, and sent out into the world without the skills or education needed to really make it on their own.

Oprah, you are quite possibly the only black person these people have ever enteracted with ever! And the only reason they allowed YOU to come on that ranch, was because you are a celebrity and it became part of their propaganda. These people are taught racism from birth. The teachings they follow are that black people are sons of perdition, evil, and the seed of cain.

It wasn't warren jeffs only who taught this doctrine, but Leroy Johnson, John Y Barlow, also prophets of FLDS. These FLDS adults willingly give their daughters to men whom the prophet choses, most twice to three times the girls ages. I really hoped you would have researched FLDS and documents availabe before you had done your show. Child Abuse amoung this group is rampant.

Now all these children have been sent back to the very place where abuses were taking place, preditors of children , their parents, their leadership, and their prophet.

An exflds family's 8 month old baby died last thursday of RSV. The family has 16 burial plots in Colorado City Cemetary. Since the family is no longer FLDS, and live in Colorado City, they did the right thing by calling FLDS leadership for permission to bury their child in the family plot. Not only once did they call, but several times.. Finally One of the Stubbs family members called Bruce Wisan who is in charge of the UEPtrust. He gave the family persmission to bury their child.

But, the same willie Jessop you went riding with on the ranch, said this about it. Stubbs may have 16 burial plots in the cemetary, but NO one owns the plots except FLDS in good standing., You don't get buried in the cemetary unless your invited.

Now, Oprah Im wondering since you opened the school in africa for girls , Im sure you researched very well before you decided to build it.

These people put on a good front, especially the women and girls becuase their choices are limited, they speak out, poof they are taken away from family and taken to another place of refuge..