Reader Responses

On the anniversary of the April 19 burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, it appears governments never learn and are destined to repeat the same mistakes.

Several things are disturbing about the latest raid on the Mormon complex in West Texas. First, where is the due process necessary to justify amassing an arrest of this magnitude? The allegations may or may not be true.

Also, these 416 kids are separated from their birth mothers and will be kept separated indefinitely. This brings up another lesson that should have been learned from Waco. Governments and government agencies will almost never admit they were wrong or made a mistake. Indeed, they will go to great lengths to justify their actions.

The third lesson from Waco is, when the media does not hold these federal or state agencies accountable and even praises them for their actions there will continue to be abuse of power. They have no one or no thing willing and able to hold them accountable for their actions.

Now the state is going to bring in psychologists to examine and re-examine these kids to justify there was abuse, etc. Does not anyone remember the day care arrests of the 1970s where day care workers were arrested and some falsely imprisoned for over 30 years for allegations of child abuse, which were later proved to be unfounded? Yet the government would never admit it erred.

These day care kids were coached (brainwashed) by "state paid psychologists" to testify for the prosecution. What is the cost to the state for all the "psychologists" who will be needed for 416 children and the court and attorney costs, etc.?

Besides the financial burden, will these kids truly be better off than with their mothers being held by some state agency? I doubt it. The press should hold the state government and federal government accountable for abuse of power and failure to act with due process of the law for anyone regardless of how we feel about their lifestyle.

Otherwise we are headed for a totalitarian state.

Jerry King
Longview