After that little detour/side trip-Back to the News "facts of the day":
Texas begins DNA tests on polygamist sect children
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - State authorities on Monday began running DNA tests on over 400 children removed from a polygamist compound in west Texas to determine if some were born to underage mothers.
Such evidence could be key in an investigation of possible abuse at the secretive compound linked to a break-away Mormon sect run by followers of jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs.
"It is a cheek swab and it is very non-invasive," said Patrick Crimmins of the Texas Department of Children and Family Services of the tests.
A judge on Friday ordered the tests to determine parentage and relationships within the community. Meanwhile, the children must remain in the department's custody.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...e=domesticNews
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- Lab workers began taking DNA samples Monday from the more than 400 children in state custody since a raid on a polygamist compound more than two weeks ago.
Officials hope the samples, to be taken by cheek swabs from the children and their parents, will help sort out the confusing family relationships in a convoluted custody case that has strained the resources of the child welfare system and the courts.
The testing is being conducted in the San Angelo Coliseum, where most of the children have been held since last week.
Judge Barbara Walther ordered the tests at the request of state officials, who have complained that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have continually changed their names, possibly lied about their ages and sometimes had difficulty naming their relatives.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/21/....ap/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351921,00.html
Polygamous sect unleashes PR campaign
Previously silent group mobilizes after state removes 416 children
SAN ANGELO, Texas - Before authorities raided their west Texas retreat, members of a secretive polygamous church spent decades holding as tightly to their intense privacy as the Scriptures guiding their way of life.
Contact with outsiders was limited. Media inquiries were rejected with either stone-faced silence or a polite "no comment."
But after Texas officials removed 416 children belonging to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect fired up the public relations machine.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24234987/
Polygamists make their own fashion statement
The puff-sleeved, pastel dresses are a blast from the 19th century
For a society accustomed to the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, the images of the women from the polygamist compound in Texas are almost shocking in their understatement: Ankle-length dresses, makeup-less faces, hauntingly uniform hair.
And while no one would accuse the women of making a fashion statement, the pioneer-style outfits are a rare of example of how in an age of overexposure, modesty, too, can give pause.
The puff-sleeved, pastel dresses worn by the women in the sect are a combination of original 19th-century wear and 1950s clothing that was adopted when the church took a conservative turn, according to Janet Bennion, an anthropologist who studies polygamist women
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24245576/