(AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)
According to recent interviews that Greg Szymanski had with Phillip Kuhn, attorney for Tony Alamo Ministries, and with Don Thorne, a 36 year member of Tony Alamo's church who spent 200 days in jail for contempt of court, the Arkansas Department of Human Services is still holding 30-40 children whose parents were members of Tony Alamo's church. The State of Arkansas is also continuing to search for another 100 children who were part of Tony Alamo's church.
Judge Joe Griffin issued a gag order so neither Thorne, Kuhn or other people connected with the case are able to discuss what is going on in any detail. Now that a jury has sentenced Tony Alamo to prison, the media has lost interest in the story, not that they were very interested in the fate of the children in the first place. As far as I know, no major columnist has come to the defense of these children.
But the gag order does not apply to me, and I will not be gagged anyway. So over the next few weeks, I will be writing several articles about the unlawful seizure of children whose only crime was that they had an association with Tony Alamo's church and the unlawful and evil manhunt for one hundred other children, a manhunt not unlike Herod's manhunt in the little town of Bethlehem 2000 years ago.
The unconstitutional seizure of children from Tony Alamo's church and the unconstitutional manhunt for additional children is just the last of many illegal government raids on, and seizures of children from, non mainstream religious and political groups that began 25 years ago.
If you are not familiar with them all, here are some of the ones I know about:
June 1984. 140 Vermont Child Protective Services investigators and state police raid homes of Twelve Tribes church members in Island Pond, Vermont, seizing 112 children. Judge Frank Mahady, the only judge who has ever dealt with one of these raids in a constitutional way, returned all of the children to their homes and chastised the state for going on a fishing expedition.
1985 Police raid African-American group MOVE in Philadelphia. They drop an incendiary device on one of MOVE's buildings, killing five children.
1993 The ATF and FBI raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas. In the final assault on the church, the FBI killed anywhere from 17 to 20+ children, most of whom were suffocated by gas pumped into the building or were burned to death in the resulting fire.
April 2008 416 children removed from the FLDS community in Texas by police and child protective workers.
September 2008 Raid on Tony Alamo's church.
It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, I have no connection to any of the above groups. Indeed, I have no sympathy with them. I will go further and say that they are all strange, and in my opinion, cultic.
But what does that have to do with the price of cotton in Texarkana?
In all of the above raids, the children and their parents were seized and or jailed simply because of their association with the group, not because the parents had abused or neglected their children.
As Judge Mahady said in his decision to release the 112 children seized illegally in the Island Pond, Vermont raid
"Adlai Stevenson once quoted that "guilt is personal", and I might add "not communal". Our Court has held many times that mere presence at a particular place is not sufficient to establish participation in a particular act. See, e.g., State v. Wood, 143 Vt. 408, 411 (1983); State v. Carter, 138 Vt. 264, 269 (1980); State v. Orlandi, 106 Vt. 165, 171 (1934)."
I have spent hours researching the seizure of children and jailing of parents who were associated with Tony Alamo Ministries. The more I read and research, the more incensed I become. Child Protective Services and the police have overstepped their bounds, and continue to do so, in Arkansas.
You don't have to like Tony Alamo to see that what has gone on and what continues to go on in Arkansas is unconstitutional. The nicest thing that I can say about Tony Alamo is that he is a charlatan. But parents and children who attend Tony Alamo's church are not guilty of child abuse or neglect simply by their association with the church.
If you have never read Judge Frank Mahady's decision in the Island Pond, Vermont raid, you should read it. It is one of the most important judicial decisions in the past quarter century. Print it out and pass it on. Mail it to judges and officials in Arkansas.
Stayed tuned for more.
Copyright 2009 Daniel T. Weaver. Reposting this article in its entirety on any website, including blogs, is illegal and unethical. Permission is granted to repost the first two paragraphs of this article, providing they are linked to this page.
You can contact me about this article or any of my articles at danieltweaver@gmail.com
For more info: Read more articles about Child Protective Services by this writer
Comments
"..............the State admits that there is not a single piece of evidence in the material submitted that documents a single act of abuse or neglect with regard to any of the 112 children."
This case is so far removed from the Alamo Cult case in every way, it is laughable that you didn't investigate the FACTS first.
1) The State had evidence that every adult's 'religious belief' support: a) physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse. b) severely neglected educational, medical, dental needs as well as starvation and beatings with a board as corporal punishment. c) children SHOULD be 'married to older men' at the minimal age of 'puberty' which they contend begins as young as EIGHT (8) years of age.
You sir, are an alarmist AFTER the fact. Your report is not only antiquated, but proven by a court of FEDERAL law to be ERRONEOUS.
Don't you think that if Judge Mahady's decision in *1984* applied to this case in the least it would have been thrown out?
The Federal Laws concerning a child's welfare have evolved THROUGH the Supreme Court in the past 25 years. Update your files.
Daniel, You are wrong to assume this as religious persecution. As someone who has been closely associated with Tony Alamo and his ministries for about 40 years, I know of what I speak.
The court order came down because of undeniable evidence of both child abuse and rape of children. These were proven with the conviction of Tony Alamo on all 10 counts of bringing children across state lines for sex.
The requirement the judge put on the parents was simply to break the financial hold Tony Alamo has over the parents. This was due to the fact that Tony would have parents give him their daughters, (some as young as 9 years old), so he could claim them as wives. This was done with knowledge that if they said no the family would be in the street with absolutely nothing.
There were many other abuses including beatings with 2 by 4's.
I am no fan of Child Welfare Services in general, but if ever there was a need for protection, it was justified in this case.
Tom, I am disappointed at your ability to read. I've never mentioned religious persecution in relation to Tony Alamo Ministries. I am primarily interested in civil rights in this case. Secondly, if Tony Alamo did what the jury found him guilty of, then he is where he belongs. Thirdly, you make general allegations about parents in the group, but you do not present one direct allegation against any of the parents whose children were taken. If there is evidence that any of these particular parents were abusive, why after nearly a year have they not been arrested for abuse? Children should only be taken if there is concrete evidence that they were abused, not because some other child in the church was abused. Would you like to name names and tell us what each person is guilty of? Would you send me concrete evidence showing that the children who were seized were abused? If not then you should hush up and sign up for remedial reading
Tom has NOT been closely associate with Tony Alamo ministries except to work for the the FBI/Government to destroy the church. Including fueling the fire in the lies that kicked off this raid where 6 girls were kidnapped at gun point during the raid and later more were stolen by the roadside and in court before they could even testify!
These people know NOTHING about the ministry at all except what they hear. There is no evidence of any abuse of any children whatsoever. Hitler once said if you tell a lie long enough and strong enough people will believe. And they do! and because of that these innocent children's lives are being destroyed! This is very very sad and these people are so hateful they are rejoicing...It's truly disgusting! I hope you will continue to expose this crime against the children and families at the Alamo ministries. Thank you Dan for bringing this gross injustice to light.
www.alamoministries.com
Read about Tom and many others on this link.
http: //www. cultawarenessnetwork.blogspot.com/
Not to mention the raid in Short Creek, Arizona on July 26, 1953
Angel, people know much more than you or any of the wives of Tony Alamo. You all thought that I didnt know much, or I was some stupid little girls who was staying in tony alamos house, but not exactly understanding anyting;but yes all the girls saw and heard things that we knew were not right, and I know for sure that you have seen things that were not right, but you always had some lame excuse to justify it. Would you like me to go into details of everything that has taken place there? lol I dont think so. I have had more than enogh with this whole mess. Its time to branch off into the world my friends.....
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