Men From Polygamy Sect Speak

Early Show Co-Anchor Maggie Rodriguez Lands Exclusive Interview With 3 From Texas Compound

(CBS)  Many of the men in the polygamist sect in Eldorado, Texas didn't know it is illegal to marry someone under 18, one of them tells Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez in an exclusive interview.

Rodriguez conducted the interview Sunday night with three men whose children were among more than 400 removed by authorities from the sect's compound in a raid earlier this month.

It was the first time since the raid that any male members of the sect spoke with a member of the media.

In the wide-ranging interview, Rodriguez asked, “After all this, can you see why society looks upon you and says, ‘A girl who's younger than 18 shouldn't be married and having sex?’ Has this forced you to reconsider?”

One of the men, who identified himself as Rulon (none of the three offered a last name) responded, "Yes, many of us perhaps were not even aware of such a law, but yes, we have been made very aware in the last two weeks and we do reconsider -- yes.” Rulon says he has six children, ranging in age from a year to nine.

All three said they would submit to DNA testing, as ordered by a Texas judge who wanted to help authorities determine who the parents of the children in custory are.

A man who gave his name as Edson and told Rodriguez he has four children, from almost four-years-old to 11, took issue with the view that youngsters are abused in the compound.

"I think they have a very false perception of the way we live because we're closed mouthed," Edson said. "They assume a lot of things that aren't there."

To see all of Part One, click on the arrow in the image below.



Asked by Rodriguez if he was saying older men don't marry adolescent girls in the compound, Edson replied, "I didn't say that at all, but I think that people have a false concept of what our religion is all about. To say that they're sexually abused and that people here are -- they haven't found anything to my knowledge that proves that. ... But I think that, overall, they look at us as if we're immoral people and, in our own makeup, that is the very most important part of our religion, is to be morally clean. I have a hard time standing here being a criminal, when I had no idea that I'm a criminal. I've always strived to be an upright man and my children and my family, everyone that I know, love me and I love them."

If an adolescent had sex with an older man, should that be considered abuse?

Ruloln answered, "The state of Texas has defined it as that. I would simply say, if you had a teenage girl that chose to go that way, could you force her to do otherwise? No, you could not. We are not a people of force. We are people of free agency and peace. We do not teach our children to have sexual conduct before they are of age. We do not teach them that; we teach them the contrary."

"But gentlemen," Rodriguez asked, "do you think that a teenage girl has the maturity to make that kind of decision, especially if she sees other girls doing it and maybe might believe that it's OK? Isn't it your responsibility to tell them no it's not OK?"

A mah who said his name is Jake and said he has a two-and-a-half-year-old child, responded, "You can tell your child, 'Go through the courts to do it right and proper."

"So," Rodriguez followed-uop, "are you saying that, that's what you tell girls who are young and want to marry these older men?"

"Well, it's not my -- it's not my child. That's what I'll tell my children -- it's definitely -- after they're 18, it's their choice. If they want to go that route, they can."

Earlier, Jake said it's been very difficult not having his child with him. His voice cracking, he said, "I miss my child, my heart's broken. But, I know that we'll see him sometime soon, if we stay at it and be faithful."

The interview will be broadcast in two parts, Monday and Tuesday on The Early Show.

[homespunlady]

"WITCH HUNT" ALERT!!!!

Who''s next?

The AMISH - THEY dress "funny", have "different beliefs" and DON''T send their children to GOVERNMENT RUN SCHOOLS.

The Japanese? OH, we ALREADY DID THAT during WWII and after DEMONIZING, CONFISCATING EVERYTHING THEY HAD AND KILLING bunches of them - DECADES later we "paid reparations".

The NATIVE AMERICANS?? OOPS WE did DO THAT TO THEM - and EVEN MORE! Taking their CHILDREN, their Culture and their lands and GUESS what our BUREAUCRATS ARE STILL DOING THAT to them with RELOCATION, TOXIC DUMPING and JACK ABRAMOFF''S kind of "deals".

The "witches" we KILLED took HUNDREDS of YEARS of DEMONIZATION and some are STILL not "cleared".

Maybe the "high and Mighty" so-called ELITE that manipulate ASSUMPTIONS, NEED a TASTE of their OWN PRESUMPTIVE ACTIONS.

There are a LOT of "SCARY DANGEROUS things" going on in those ELITE "gated communities" and McMansions too - let''s go in and CONFISCATE ALL THOSE KIDS "on suspicion" ALSO so they can be "PROTECTED" by our so VERY much "BETTER" military-industrial, human warehouse, processing complex!

Besides, DFS NEEDS to JUSTIFY MORE MONEY AND STAFFING.

KID CONFISCATION will cut out those pesky rules that REAL PARENTS might use to stand in the way of TOTAL POPULATION CONTROL and more CANNON FODDER FOR THE NEXT WAR.

Didn''t HITLER USE THAT REASONING??

[homespunlady]

b-easy63 NOPE NOT a "Hillary supporter" at all.

DO like Ron Paul''s ECONOMIC ideas, McCain''s MILITARY SERVICE, OBAMA''s DIVERSITY and Hillary''s pantsuits though.

The part you copied is SATIRE so have a GOOD LAUGH.

Probably treading on thin ice with it but what the heck - THIS NATION ALREADY HAS 25 PERCENT of the WORLD''S INMATES with only 5 percent of the world''s population.

One more sick old VET won''t matter. I''ve been to the VA and have the "Survivor T-Shirt" to show for it..

[b-easy63]

They%u2019re given huge amounts of money to dole out to their cronies and their favorite foster homes cronies, which are just props for their child protection charade. Anyone who has ever had a single dealing with CPS knows what I mean.


Posted by pattynottoli at 11:07 AM : Apr 21, 2008


Well... YOU certainly appear to have had dealings with them and they appear to NOT have gone in your favor. The foster care systems and other apparatus are faulty, but they are better than simply letting children suffer and die at the hands of their parents or others. So....while you may have a point--it gets lost because no where do you address the real possibility that girls may be abused on that ranch and that children may have to subject themselves to old men against their will--and if we really are paying their welfare bills and even if we are not, society has an obligation to investigate and try to do something. Inconviencing the families in the matter is far better than leaving children hostage to horrendous situations. Sorry that you view it all so differently--makes one wonder what CPS caught and punished YOU for doing.

[b-easy63]

While I don''''t agree with the teaching of this sect, I haven''''t heard any of the gossip which seem to be liebled against these women in regaurds to welfare fraud any where else but on this cite.Are we starting to throw mud to see what sticks? This all started over alledged child abuse,Let me remind everyone that this so called girl who is to have made this phone call ,hasn''''t been found nor come forward,the alleged father has been in Oklahoma and can prove he has been there when this abuse is to have been taking place.So where is the evidence to take childern from their mothers and place them in foster care where we know child abuse HAS TAKEN place in the past?!!! I smell more of the makings of Ruby Ridge,Wacco ,AntiSemetisim,and antiGod!

Posted by yahsuports at 09:53 AM : Apr 21, 2008


In earlier articles, it was reported that at least half the women are on Welfare.

[b-easy63]

If we view the women and children as "victims".....why are they being apart?? Why not remove the perpetrators...the men? I cannot for the life of me understand why children are being separated from their mothers. What did the mothers do? What did the children do to deserve this?

Posted by blazercoach1 at 08:48 AM : Apr 21, 2008


Because if the women got welfare and were living with the father, they committed welfare fraud. (Welfare is for single mothers who get no support from the child''s father or from others). So the mommies would have to be tried. Also, after all this time, the women are aiders and abettors. Unfortunately, this means the best leverage to get to the bottom of the abuse and charges is to take all in. The women have been release since then, right? (though not with the kids) They should all be tried for welfare fraud.

[b-easy63]

hey can''''t even figure out who the children belong to. How then are they getting government money to support them? I sure hope somebody is looking into the information they used to get government assistance. And as to who actually got that money.


Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 08:46 AM : Apr 21, 2008

Many women who get welfare do not know the father of their child or claim not to know. That is because if they know, the gov will go after their lover to recoup the money they got in welfare. So many say that they do not know to keep their boyfriends, lovers or husbands from having to get in trouble. I have no doubt these people did the same. But the fact is, if they got welfare and had a husband in the household, they committed welfare fraud, which means the mommas should be going to jail as well as the daddies.

[b-easy63]

I have read the message from ...myopinion... and wonder where he/she gets the info. the photos alone show a well dressed person in excellent health housed in superior living quarters (until the govt. stuck them in the coliseum) In Texas the legal age for a girl to marry is 16. I am wondering if any younger then that are. Further, everyone appears to be happy and if they so choose to live a life which appears to be very healthy who are we to stop them?

Posted by JackKnows at 08:32 AM : Apr 21, 2008


Are you on drugs? Ted Bundy was well dressed and came from a good home---they say he was nice too. Your point?

[b-easy63]

David Koresh had supporters too until the babies and children burned to DEATH.

Posted by MyOpinion1 at 08:38 AM : Apr 21, 2008


so did Jim Jones and he fvcked many of his followers and their children--regardless of race. Then he forced them to take cyanide laced koolaide some of them at gun point. It is from that incident that we get the term "drinking the koolaide" to denote people who blindly follow others. Jim Jones led or forced over 900 people to their deaths. He was a great believer in free sexxx, polygamy and child rape also.

[b-easy63]

Marrying 12-year-olds is certainly not new. Puberty was the sign for marriage in the days of yore. They are simply carrying on a very old tradition. They are absolutely moral people. At least they only have *** with the people they are married to and no one else. Think about it people. Are they really so off base? Look around! We do all of this and worse here in main-stream world, it''''s just hush-hush and hidden. People who rant about these good people are hypocrites and liars. I would trust ANY of these people with my daughter long before anybody I know.

Posted by klyinaz at 02:35 PM : Apr 22, 2008


your poor daughter. Hate to think what her life must already be like with your mindset. Many girls start menstruating at ages younger than 12 (like 9 or 10) I remember my first time --I was over 18. It hurt like he11, Imagine the pain of even younger girls--the idea is barbaric as is your desire to excuse it.

[b-easy63]

I''''m still puzzeled as to how it came to be denounced via Christianity.
Posted by CKROFLITE at 03:48 PM : Apr 22, 2008

Obviously you have not read the Bible. (it''s the book that most "Christians" go by. God mandates not only monogamy but that women must cling unto their husbands and that to take another''s wife or go outside the marriage is fornication as well as adultery. God specifically says he gives to a husband a helpmate (singular) not helpmates (plural) and in the few times that polygamy is brought to the fore in scripture--it is castigated as adultery. That''s why. If you don''t understand something READ about it, most of the time the answer is right there.

[b-easy63]

pt 2
OVER 400 with YOUR CHOICE of age (they have over 100 of those HEALTHY RARE WHITE BABIES!!) No NEED to GO OVER SEAS TO PURCHASE your "STATUS SYMBOL ADOPTION" these are HIGH PROFILE "... to "RE-EDUCATE" your NEW "MISGUIDED" attention-getter!!!!

EXPERIMENTAL LABS - DRUG FREE teenage SUBJECTS under STATE CONTROL and free of SOCIETAL TOXINS AND REBELLIOUS ATTITUDES!!!!
FULL DNA BACKGROUNDS to INSURE the MOST ACCURATE and CLEAR EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS!!!!
A BONANZA of UNTAINTED tissue and blood!!

CHILDREN''''S "RANCHES" - Running low on "profitable" kids of your CHOSEN GENDER???? NEW SUPPLY AVAILABLE!! UNDER STATE CONTROL and easily "LOST" in the system due to expected DECADES of Bureaucracy.

EXPECTED DELAYS SHOULD take them well into a profitable ADULTHOOD in the "specialized areas" you''''re FAMOUS for ( see Boystown SCANDAL info on the web). NO REBELLION and "tattle-tails" here. OBEDIENT, HEALTHY, UN-DRUGGED and a PRIME ASSET for those that like to be "in control"!!!! Shipping prior to processing into LOST STATUS out of State or COUNTRY is extra.

This type of "raid" has only happened 3 times before and is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" due to the need to RESTOCK THESE PEOPLE before HARVESTING THEM!!

Posted by homespunlady at 09:33 AM : Apr 23, 2008
********************************

Uhmmm.... I believe this is a Hillary Clinton supporter--just in case you posters never read the posts of one up close and personal. lmao

[b-easy63]

Our country is rampant with unmarried promiscuity of girls under 18 who are swamping the welfare rolls with their babies.
I don''''t abide by the polygamy that this group practices, but I feel like these people are being persecuted for their religion by applying a double standard.

Posted by juliamp at 08:30 AM : Apr 21, 2008


There is NO double standard. We are not as upset about underage girls getting pregnant. You really missed the boat on this one.

We are UPSET that GROWN MEN are having sexxxx with children and getting them pregnant. Show us any case in America where Americans tolerate or speak kindly of pedophiles. The fact is not the sexxxx it is the age of the girl victims and the age of the men who "DO "them. It i s also the fact that in a closed community, young girls would not have either the intellect, moral upbringing or social backing to resist the cult''s pedophilic practices. Get a clue, they are selling them for .05 cents on the next blog.

[b-easy63]

"Many of the men in the polygamist sect in Eldorado, Texas didn''t know it is illegal to marry someone under 18, one of them tells Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez in an exclusive interview. "

some more bad news for the sect from the real world then: "ignorance of the law is no excuse" LOL

[b-easy63]

OMG!!! Imagine how the little 12 or 13 year old must have cried when she realized she pulled "Edson" in the child puberty rape lottery!!!

[homespunlady]

Posted by reedtaz73 at 09:33 AM : Apr 23, 2008

Are you a BOT that keyed in on the word "harvest"?

Your comment otherwise is unconnected and makes no sense concerning the SUBJECT of this article.

[homespunlady]

When THE DAY AFTER this "RAID" occurred I HEAR ON National Public Radio some PUBLIC OFFICIAL ANNOUNCING that TEXAS DFS HAS OVER 400 children TO ADOPT OUT -before even getting to the bottom of the FALSE ACCUSATIONS that SUPPOSEDLY WERE PHONED in to some OBSCURE SHELTER the following is probably a MORE accurate prediction of what is going on:

HEALTHY UNTAINTED BY PSYCHOMEDS CHILDREN FOR SALE!!!!

Contact the Texas Department of Social Services.

[reedtaz73]

Veteran72, can you destroy light? How ''bout static energy or just plain old water? Have you heard of any scientist that has destroyed energy??? No. It can be harvested and changed into something else but not destroyed. Smashing atoms will only cause more atoms to be released...Energy can not be created or destroyed, at least by human hands. How about learning something else besides what your illiterate grand pops forced you to learn. Even your comment about me getting a GED is a basic reply from those that question their own intellegence. The million dollar question is this...when your dead body is under ground, who or what will harvest your energy?

[homespunlady]

pt 2
OVER 400 with YOUR CHOICE of age (they have over 100 of those HEALTHY RARE WHITE BABIES!!) No NEED to GO OVER SEAS TO PURCHASE your "STATUS SYMBOL ADOPTION" these are HIGH PROFILE "RESCUES" AND WITH THE right incentives CAN BE played up to have been in A HORRENDOUS situation that WILL guarantee a slot on the TALK SHOW CIRCUIT and PLENTY OF SYMPATHY and CHARITY to "RE-EDUCATE" your NEW "MISGUIDED" attention-getter!!!!

EXPERIMENTAL LABS - DRUG FREE teenage SUBJECTS under STATE CONTROL and free of SOCIETAL TOXINS AND REBELLIOUS ATTITUDES!!!!
FULL DNA BACKGROUNDS to INSURE the MOST ACCURATE and CLEAR EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS!!!!
A BONANZA of UNTAINTED tissue and blood!!

CHILDREN''S "RANCHES" - Running low on "profitable" kids of your CHOSEN GENDER???? NEW SUPPLY AVAILABLE!! UNDER STATE CONTROL and easily "LOST" in the system due to expected DECADES of Bureaucracy.

EXPECTED DELAYS SHOULD take them well into a profitable ADULTHOOD in the "specialized areas" you''re FAMOUS for ( see Boystown SCANDAL info on the web). NO REBELLION and "tattle-tails" here. OBEDIENT, HEALTHY, UN-DRUGGED and a PRIME ASSET for those that like to be "in control"!!!! Shipping prior to processing into LOST STATUS out of State or COUNTRY is extra.

This type of "raid" has only happened 3 times before and is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" due to the need to RESTOCK THESE PEOPLE before HARVESTING THEM!!

[adanc3rsmom]

I believe that polygamy is illegal because of two reasons: One... in the past, polygamy has been a way and means of abusing women. You hear the term "Poligamy" and you think of a nasty old man surrounded by young girl wives, being forced to be his sexual playmates, his breeding mares, housekeepers, cooks, and often times... his providers by means of welfare fraud, etc... Of course, this is not always how things are -- but it is often the PERCEPTION of how things are.
Reason Number Two: Our country''s laws are based on Biblical law and the Bible does not condone polygamy; therefore, most Christians do not condone it either. It is the moral majority. There really doesn''t have to be a sound reason behind it other than the majority are just not comfortable with the idea of it so it has not been accepted by enough people in this country to make it a legal activity.

Personally, I feel that polygamy should be a choice between consenting adults. It is not a choice that I would make for myself. But... it could be a valid choice under the law. Regardless of it being a man with several wives or a woman with several husbands -- as long as they treat each other with respect under the law and they can support each other without abusing the welfare system. Laws should still be followed in regard to a proper age to marry, physical and mental abuse and fraud.

[pilihp234]

What a mess! No one has the facts straight.

Where is the 16-year-old girl? Can we hear just one of these 911 phone calls? Isn''t this the main reason the Texas Judge ordered the removal of these children? Do most of you know this is the 3rd or 4th removal of children from this group since 1948? This tactic does not seem to be working?

Why are FBI agents entering the FLDS Temple? Change the name on the front door to Catholic or Baptist and how many of us have issues with that?

But how about these facts:
FLDS compound occupants: 1000. Approximately 300 could register to vote but have not.
Eldorado, TX. Population: 1950 people. None of who are FLDS members registered to vote.
Schleicher County population 2935, of which 1000 are FLDS members but no FLDS members are registered voters.

These FLDS members could vote if they ever registered to do so. That could certainly upset the city and County politics!!!!!! Maybe some politicians were getting worried about their jobs? Like Judges, the County Commissioners, the Sheriff, City Council and any elected or appointed officials!!!!!!

Should our governments have so much power over people that elected officials can take children from families, search churches and not tell us what they are doing?