Regarding the March 2 article, "6 children taken from filthy home," these deplorable conditions could not have developed overnight. Why did the state take so long to discover this situation, need a court order, and when they finally stormed the house, weren't even looking for the kids?
Did any of these smelly, filthy children attend school? Utah sends officials into the schools to teach our children how to turn in their parents for making them "feel bad." The medical professionals, psychologists and family counselors are required by law to report "suspicious" behavior. Even the clergy has to consult their legal departments should they hear "confessions."
Everybody is on the lookout for child abusers. We are given telephone numbers to report children not wearing seat belts. We don't have swings in our schoolyards and parks so our little darlings can't hurt themselves. A screaming kid in a shopping cart draws a crowd.
We have 23 private, nonprofit organizations dedicated to stamping out child abuse with more on the way. The feds pay the state of Utah a bounty of $25,000 per head to place abused kids in foster care. So how did such a blatantly abusive situation escape Big Brother?
Where was Utah's equivalent of the old East German Stassi: DCFS? They only sent in a SWAT team? Since that's what we do when deporting 6-year-olds to Castro's Cuba, I'm surprised we didn't send in the National Guard. Oops. I forgot. They weren't looking for the kids. They found them by accident.
The public and private expenditures of Utah's child-abuse industry exceed $600 million annually. Just what are our licensed, mandated child protectors doing with all that money? I think something smells besides that house, the kids and the 100 cats living there.
Steve Wheaton
Murray