Cousin tried to save toddler

http://www.projo.com/news/content/BUNNELL_TRIAL_13_05-13-08_84A491A_v47.3577925....

01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, May 13, 2008

By John Castellucci

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE –– The night 3-year-old Thomas J. “T.J.” Wright was beaten to
death, a relative tried desperately to save him, only to have T.J.’s
foster mother snatch the child from his arms and curse him for dialing 911.

Jose A. Santiago said that, when he handed Katherine Bunnell the
cordless telephone, she hung up rather than stay on the line with the
911 operator and walk him through the procedure for CPR.

Instead of being grateful about the call, “it was more like she was
angry,” Santiago said.

“Why, why did I do that?” he said, describing her reaction.

“To me, it felt like disbelief.”

Santiago offered the testimony yesterday, at Bunnell’s trial on murder
charges in Superior Court.

Texas Shame
by BigJolly | 05/13/2008 3:56 pm

http://lonestartimes.com/2008/05/13/texas-shame/

Pregnant adult women held in captivity until childbirth so that the
state can take possession of the baby. Think this can’t happen in the
US? In Texas? Think again.

Texas Child Protective Services said today at a custody hearing for
a child born to one of the YFZ Ranch children that the agency no longer
believes the mother is a minor.

Today’s custody hearing was continued to Friday to allow attorneys
to prepare. The mother will need a new attorney because the attorneys
representing her also are representing other minors and were concerned
about conflicts of interest.

Knowing full well that this mother is an adult, what will the state
attempt to do when the hearing resumes?

When the hearing resumes, state officials said, they will continue
to seek custody of the infant.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/georgebush.lebanon

Washington pledges to support Lebanese army

[Zeppnote: Even as Putsch was yammering his usual idiotic bullshit,
the BBC reported that the Lebanese Army was taking the curious
position of neutrality between Hizbollah and it's own government (yes,
you read that right) on the interesting ground that they might be thus
seen as impartial mediators to the dispute. What does Putsch think he
is "beefing up", exactly?]

· Bush warns of Syria and Iran's influence on region
· Hizbullah 'turning against the people' says US leader

* Ian Black, Middle East editor
* The Guardian,
* Wednesday May 14 2008

About this article
Close
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday May 14 2008 on p20
of the International section. It was last updated at 00:11 on May 14
2008.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/india

Series of six bomb blasts kills dozens in centre of Jaipur

* Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
* The Guardian,
* Wednesday May 14 2008
* Article history

About this article
Close
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday May 14 2008 on p16
of the International section. It was last updated at 00:11 on May 14
2008.

Dozens of people were killed and more than 100 injured when six bombs
ripped through the centre of Jaipur, one of India's most popular
tourist destinations.

The explosions, which began at 7.30pm, took place in markets
surrounding the city's pink palace, the Hawa Mahal, and its main
temple complex.

Foster child death is 4th in 5 months
Investigators are awaiting results of tests to find out what killed
infant girl
By Tim Evans
Posted: May 10, 2008

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/LOCAL18/805100477

The Indiana Department of Child Services is investigating the death of a
Marion County infant who died in foster care.

Seven-week-old Destiny Linden, who died April 28 at Riley Hospital for
Children, is at least the fourth child under DCS supervision to die
within the past five months in Marion County.

Susan Tielking, spokeswoman for the department, said the agency has
opened an investigation into the death.

She also confirmed DCS had an open case involving Destiny at the time of
her death but said she could not provide any details of that case
because of state confidentiality requirements.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-politics-mississippi.html

["Ask not for whom the bell tolls", GOP "it tolls for thee"]

Democrats Win Mississippi Special Election

By REUTERS
Published: May 14, 2008

Filed at 1:07 a.m. ET
Skip to next paragraph Reuters

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Mississippi Democrat Travis Childers won a U.S.
House of Representatives seat in a special election on Tuesday that
analysts said should serve as a warning to Republicans gearing up for
November's congressional elections.

Childers defeated Greg Davis in a run-off to fill a vacant seat in
Mississippi's first congressional district, according to projections
reported by local media.

Vice President Dick Cheney and the state's Republican governor
campaigned against Childers in a district considered safe territory in
part because it voted heavily for U.S. President George W. Bush in
2004.

FLDS mom speaks out after giving birth in Austin

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8319273

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- A woman who gave birth in Austin Monday
described her living conditions after being removed from a West Texas
polygamist compound.

Louisa Jessop and her husband, Dan, describe their family as normal.
There is one husband, one wife and three children. They said what's
happening to them is egregious, because Louisa Jessop has been separated
from two of her children and must live with her newborn, alone and afraid.

The South Austin motel where Dan Jessop is staying is a far cry from his
former life on the secluded Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado.

"Everybody there has a strong interest in each other and everybody's
children," Dan Jessop said. "Out here nobody cares at all from one
family to the next."

Yet the father of three said he hopes he'll be proven wrong as he
appeals to judges in Austin to keep his family together.

His 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son are staying at a shelter in
Austin while his wife and newborn stay at another.

It's Plain Wrong
By:David J. Willmott Sr.
05/07/2008

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19669552&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=602485&rfi...

Texas is a long way from New York. We don't live there and we are not
ruled by the government but we are appalled by the obvious violation of
our Constitution.

There is a religious sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway sect from the Mormon Church.
The sect has been growing; it occupies a huge compound and is basically
a self-contained community. The sect is believed to allow men to have
multiple wives. Polygamy was outlawed during the 1800s.
In early April, a Texas social service agency received an anonymous
telephone call from a 16-year-old female who alleged she was being kept
against her will in the compound and had one child and was pregnant with
another.

Expert: Illinois' child protection system can be 'cruel'

http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/331568.html

Holbrook says he will research issue
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat

Illinois' child protection system "can be arbitrary, capricious and
cruel," even though it has made "significant progress," the executive
director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform said Monday.

Richard Wexler cited a story that appeared Sunday in the News-Democrat
about more than 3,000 cases of persons wrongly listed as child abusers
by the Department of Children and Family Services. He cited the
newspaper's 2006 series about the deaths of 53 children in the agency's
care.

Foster mom accused of severe neglect

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S443250.shtml?cat=300

TROY - A Lansingburgh woman is charged with child endangerment after
police say she spent years abusing her foster child.

The 11-year-old boy is now in protective custody, but only after what
police describe as a disturbing schedule of abuse and neglect that
included malnourishment and confinement. They say they have a report
that 51-year-old Sharmon Evans kept the child in a tiny upstairs room,
kept a calendar for a feeding schedule and even make the boy eat his own
filth. The report also says he would sleep on a hard floor, under a bed
frame without blankets.

Neighbors say they saw a lot of toys in Evans' yard, but rarely a child
and they barely knew anything about her.

Police and Child Protective Services want to hear more from Evans. She
didn't say anything as she brought bag after bag from her now condemned
house and loaded them into her new car.

Evans is facing charges after family friends and another child in her
care told police of rampant physical and mental abuse.