Wolvie, thinking of you today -- are you in San Angelo in all that mess?

[crispini]

Sending you some good vibes. :hug:

[sonias]

1. Hearing for children at polygamist retreat grinds to a halt

crispini, I'm pretty sure she is there. She posted on the longer FLDS thread that she was heading that way. Good vibes and hugs to dg for sure.
:grouphug:

AAS 4/17/08
Hearing for children at polygamist retreat grinds to a halt

By MICHELLE ROBERTS
Associated Press Writer

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A court hearing to decide the fates of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist retreat ground to a halt almost as soon as it began Thursday as hundreds of lawyers demanded to study the first piece of evidence before it could be introduced.

State District Judge Barbara Walther called a recess 40 minutes after the hearing began in what could be the nation's largest child custody case. She wanted to allow the 350 lawyers spread out in two buildings to read the evidence and decide whether to object en masse or make individual objections.

The lawyers are representing the 416 children and dozens of parents from the Yearning For Zion ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect accused of forcing underage girls into polygamous marriages.

The 80-year-old Tom Green County courtroom and a satellite courtroom set up in a City Hall auditorium two blocks away were jammed with dozens of mothers from the retreat, dressed in their iconic pastel prairie dresses and braided upswept hair.

Sonia

[derby378]

2. 350. Count 'em. 350.

That should slow the entire legal process to the speed of, well, continental drift.

[WolverineDG]

3. Not sure what I can comment about publicly

other than my opinion based upon what I saw in court: the FLDS are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

dg