I just got a chance to speak with a family that was reunited yesterday and returned to the ranch here in Eldorado today. Their children were the sweetest, cutest little kids and the couple seemed really nice. It’s so different to read books that say one thing about FLDS members and then see them in person. I’ve been told the children have no toys, but the parents’ truck was filled with toys and bicycles. The little 9 year old boy, Russell, had braces with green rubber bands. They certainly look like happy kids but I guess you can never be sure unless you know what happens behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, we are on our last leg out here in windy, dusty West Texas. I’ve slept in every hotel and taken every road….they all seem to lead right back to the ranch. With our farmers tans, red noses and dust covered boots, I think we’re all ready to greet Austin once again.
If you want to see the stories we’ve done out here, you can always check out www.kxan.com
My life has been so entrenched in covering the FLDS case that I’m starting to get confused as to what relates to politics and what doesn’t. My conclusion is: it is all politics. CPS is a state agency that reports to the governor. The governor also established a committee to oversee parental complaints about CPS. And, despite the “Department” (that’s how they refer to CPS in all of the status hearings) now being involved in the biggest child custody case in U.S. history, that committee hasn’t met in more than 6 months.
If you want to learn more about FLDS, I encourage you to check out some of the books written about the sect. Remember to take everything with a grain of a salt and many of the sources in these books may have extreme or sensational stories that aren’t applicable to all members. However, as this is all happening here in Texas and will most likely be a subject in the upcoming legislative session, you may be interested in getting some background information.
Stay tuned. There is a lot more to happen in this investigation.
Not to steal Klum’s trademark phrase, but that pretty much sums up what Randi Shade is telling Jennifer Kim this morning. Shade beat Kim by a 2 to 1 margin in last night’s city council race and will take over place three at good ole’ city hall. Is this good news for Austin? It depends on how you look at it. Burnt Orange Report says Shade is pro-development, pro toll-road all the way… but many people I’ve spoken with say Shade is more approachable than Kim. From personal experience, I can say Shade tends to remember names a little better than Kim. When they were both here for the KXAN debate, Kim asked my name as if she had never met me (I’ve interviewed her several times and spoke with her for about 20 minutes at a party once). Shade, on the other hand, had never met me but not only knew my name but also the work I’ve done and important stories I have covered. That certainly doesn’t play a part in my opinions of the candidates, but it did assuage my bruised ego a bit.
We now have some of the documents DPS collected while on the Yearning for Zion ranch. When I called DPS for a response, they told me they didn’t know why the court released these documents since they had barely been reviewed.
Well, I reviewed them and here are some quick stats.
Wendell Nielsen has the most: 21 wives ( he is 67 years old and wives range from 21-79 years old)
12 have just one wife…many of them are young (in their 20’s). In some cases, the wives are 16—which is the legal age to marry in Texas with parental consent
In addition, the church’s lawyer tells me many women are looking for apartments close to the shelters so they have their visitation rights with the children. Preliminary hearings will start May 16th and last until June 5th. We still do not have the results from the DNA tests.
We are finally back from Eldorado! The FLDS sect was an incredibly interesting experience for viewers and reporters alike. As I said in my previous entries, Larry King Live asked me to be on their show for commentary a few nights and here are a couple of clips!
This clip is from the first night I went on and was caught a little off guard–
According to Mindy Montford’s campaign finance reports, ex-hubby city councilman Brewster McCracken apparently holds no post-marital grudge. Though he didn’t put up the big bucks like ex (not husband but governor) Dolph Briscoe, who donated $75,000 to her campaign… Brewster did spot her a cool $250.
This time, however, no funny Hardball clips. Apparently, Cornyn didn’t have any entertaining slip-ups but here are the “highlights” (according to his pr folks) of his intervew with Wolf Blitzer today.
On progress in Iraq
BLITZER: How worried are you about the current situation in Iraq unraveling?
CORNYN: Well, I’m very concerned. And that’s why I think we need to continue to make sure that we leave Iraq in a condition that it can govern and defend itself.
I was last there in January, and very encouraged by the progress on the military front. The Iraqis are stepping up, taking more responsibility, paying more of the bills. And about two-thirds of the benchmarks, on the political side, that Congress set in 2007 have now been met.
And finally, I would say the initiative that the prime minister — that President Maliki took in Basra, recently, without American support, except in follow-up, the initiative he took against the Shiite militias, criminals and gangs, I thought was encouraging.
So we need to see more of that, and need the Iraqis to stand up so we can stand down and bring our folks home….
On the economic Stimulus Package
BLITZER: How important is a second economic stimulus package, Senator Cornyn?
CORNYN: Well, I think we need to be careful here. We need to do what we can. And of course, contrary to what Senator Schumer has said, we just passed a stimulus package on a bipartisan basis.
What concerns me is that it resulted in $150 billion added to the national deficit. And we need to be careful and make sure what we do is targeted in a way that will actually help people who need it the most.
I’m glad to hear Senator Durbin talk about the cost of gasoline and the cost of health care. We have frankly done nothing in Congress recently to deal with either of those issues which, even in places where the economy is doing relatively well, like here in Texas, those are areas where people are really feeling the pinch. And I think we would do well to target some of our efforts on bringing down the price of gasoline and making health care more affordable.
BLITZER: What about extended unemployment benefits, Senator Cornyn?
CORNYN: Well, you know, unemployment in Texas is about 4.1 percent. It’s almost a full employment economy, it’s 5.1 percent nationally. We need to help I think people with job training and help them get back into the economy if they’re having a hard time.
But I don’t think spending a lot of extra money and adding to the debt — I mean, everything I hear coming from my friends on the other side of the aisle is let’s have the federal government spend more money. And that money comes from your pocket and mine. And I think we ought to be careful.
I’ve been checking out some of the moola raised for our congressional candidates who will be up for re-election in November and there are some tight, unexpected money races. There are, of course, also some landslides.
$526,854