The YFZ Ranch

Peter Van Sant Reports On The April 2008 Raid Of The YFZ Ranch

(CBS)  It has been nearly eight weeks since law enforcement raided the "Yearning For Zion" ranch in Eldorado, Texas - eight weeks since more than 460 children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) were removed from their homes, separated from their parents, and scattered across the state’s foster care system.

"This is about children at imminent risk of harm we believe have been abused and neglected," an official from the state's Child Protective Services division told reporters.

But Willie Jessop, a member of the FLDS and the point man in the church's mess with Texas, says the state had it all wrong. "They were wrong when they kicked in the gate…. They were wrong when they brought in the guns and they ordered the children at gunpoint on the buses…. They were wrong when they raided it with a false and fake allegation to get into the place…. Where do you wanna stop saying it was wrong?" he asks.

"People are presumed innocent. Where's the presumption of innocence here?" Jessop asks correspondent Peter Van Sant.

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Escape
The Godfather
The Bold And The Beautiful
Broken Ties

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"So people who are tuning in and watching this show tonight who think they've got a pretty good handle on this story, that a group of middle aged men who are raising these young girls, having sexual relationships with them when they were 14, 15, 16 years old, you're telling me that that's a bunch of nonsense?" Van Sant asks.

"It's the biggest bunch of bull crap that's ever been sold to this nation," Jessop says.

But the standoff between the FLDS and the state of Texas didn't begin eight weeks ago. It really began five years ago, when a mysterious group bought almost 1,700 acres in Eldorado and started building what they said was a hunting retreat.

"I say, 'Hey. How ya doin’? I'm your neighbor.' And they said, 'Oh.' That's about it," remembers Chip Cole, who with his wife Kelly owns a ranch next door. “They weren’t very friendly,” says Kelly.

"And Chip called me and said, 'Somethin' weird is goin' on next door because all the women are wearing long dresses. There's some kinda cult goin' on,'" Kelly remembers.

Then word got out that the new neighbors were in fact members of the FLDS. The controversial religious group broke with the Mormon church decades ago and believes that polygamy is the path to heaven.


"They had one steely-eyed old religious fellow that wanted to talk about religion. He wanted to tell me that plural marriage was at the core of their religion. 'Course I said, 'Well that’s great. I guess a gal can have two or three husbands, huh?' You know, they don't have much sense of humor," Chip Cole recalls.

[sibbymom2]

If Louisa Jessop is 22, I am 30.

[nosugrof]

CBS apparently hasnt noticed the following fact. 25 of the CPS'' underage mothers are in fact adults. Yes, it is based on lies.

[mommakat64]

Have you ever had the "missionaries" come to your door? Ask them about the belief that each man, when he dies, becomes a "god" with his own heaven wherein his wife and children also live when they die. Then ask, if the children are supposed to inhabit their father''s heaven, where should the mother be...maybe in HER father''s heaven?? Or, if the sons marry and have children, where do the sons go...with their father? Or to heavens of their own? With wives that will go to the sons'' heavens, or to the wives'' fathers'' heavens???? Same questions should be asked about the daughters/wives. You can see how this whole mess can get out of hand real quick. I ask the first question and they hmm and haw...by the third question, they''re backing out the door. It''s like Joseph Smith didn''t think anything through, just made it up willy-nilly as he went. It doesn''t make sense. And, yes, the switching of wives and polygamy started right from the start, and is what started the fights in Missouri and Illinois. Some of the de-wifed husbands didn''t cotton to the idea and took their grievances to the local press, who published the accounts. The citizens of the towns were outraged, jailed Smith and his son for bigamy. Others raided the jail--I wonder how many of the displaced husbands were in that crowd--and hanged the Smiths. Thus started the long trip to Zion..otherwise know as Utah. Once a disease is started and let run for a while, it''s hard to stop.

[mommakat64]

Not just excuses, but playing a shell game with the facts. These men have their s**t together though. The women and children have never been outside of their community and have been taught to fear "the outsiders". Rest assured "the outsiders" are the subject of many "hell and brimstone" sermons and classes. It is so heartbreaking to any person who has been raised, and lives, without those confining, crippling fears. From what I''ve read, heard and know, these women CANNOT show any jealousy toward other wives...so they take it out on each others'' children. And what woman would EVER feel good about a younger woman sharing her husband, especially, if she''s 13, 14 years old.

[gal50]

Excuses, excuses, excuses. Nearly every response in this article is an excuse. The FLDS had every opportunity to practice its religion in Utah and Arizona. The crime of polygamy was hardly ever prosecuted.

Why in the world, would this group when engaged in illegal behavior, which it felt was necessary to get to heaven, risk everything by electing to engage in further illegal behavior that was unnecessary to get to heaven? It didn''t need to marry underage girls and it didn''t need to abandon underage boys. It didn''t need to engage in forced marriage or wife reassignment.

How did the FLDS not expect a backlash from unhappy FLDS members and the outside world over the increase in illegal and harsh behavior? It didn''t seem to understand the concept of consequences or to realize that people are motivated to fight injustices.

The tricks the FLDS has in its bag are to spread out among states, to isolate the sect members and to become fugitives. Fugitives have a high capture rate especially when the FBI is involved, isolation didn''t work in Texas and now the federal government has promised to get involved in this multi-state problem.