[wpvideo QzTQ5BcS]
Update: Associated Press updates its story with a correction.
Update: LOR's Web site has posted video of child's return to Strong City.
Update: Here is a link to an Associated Press article published in The Las Cruces Sun-News.

(June 17, 10:41am PST) From the Web site of The Lord Our Righteousness church leader Wayne Bent:

At 10:32 A.M. today, Tuesday June 17th, the case for Willow Dawn Travesser was dismissed by the State of New Mexico, and Willow was released out of State custody back to her parents. She is on her way home now, and will come to Strong City for a meal with the family. My fast will end today when I see her face.

Update (June 13, 12:22pm PST): I have decided to keep the comment sections on the Wayne Bent stories closed. If you'd like an explanation, you may read one here.

Commentary

With the hit-counter on this blog soaring (by its humble standards) this afternoon, one might wonder why I've just snuffed a primary source of its fuel supply.

For the unacquainted, allow me to first explain that two sides of a controversial story making national headlines recently converged in the comment sections of this blog (*as they have on several other blogs). I'm referring to the Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser) story. Bent is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church in northeastern New Mexico. A grand jury indicted Bent last month, charging him with crimes against children. Bent's son posted his bond (a reader of this blog, "Terry," reports that the bond money has been returned to the Bents).

You can learn more about the case in stories written on this blog (and the comments from readers). A Google search will also yield many other useful links, to include two Web sites with opposing viewpoints: Wayne Bent's site strongcity.info and former church member Prudence Welch's site, travesser.info.

Both Bent and Welch have left comments here. Welch also agreed to an interview.

On June 8th, I suspended the comments on all of the Wayne Bent stories. Simply put, personal attacks were appearing with increasing frequency.

A few readers from both sides of the debate wrote to me, asking that I re-open the comment sections. I agreed to do so. I do value input from readers, and I have appreciated that members of two sides of a controversial--and important--story felt comfortable coming to the same blog.

I have also noted that many of your comments have provided new insights into the story at hand. Much of what readers have written here has also been skillfully and thoughtfully crafted.

Today, the comments were coming in so quickly I found it challenging to keep up with them and the e-mails from readers expressing their disapproval that certain comments had already survived 15-minutes on this blog without my having extinguished the unwelcome verbiage. "Inappropriate," some argued, as well as, "crosses the line," etc.

I just know I couldn't be an effective referee while the comments were pouring in at such a fast rate; thus, my decision--once again--to suspend the comments on these threads. A "time out," if you will.

As for the standard I have set for your comments (no personal attacks), some have suggested that I have set an unobtainable goal. Perhaps they're right.

However, I would like to read how you feel about this topic. Should the comments remain open or closed? Why? Why not?

(Deep breath) Okay, here we go...

(*edit: information about two-sides appearing on several other blogs added after original version of this story appeared)

One day after The Lord Our Righteousness church leader Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser) announced that he is fasting until a girl is returned to her parents, some interesting responses have arrived at Beyond90Seconds.com.

Dean Cline (former husband of Amana Travesser and stepfather of former church member Prudence Welch) sent me the following e-mail (published here--unedited--with Cline's permission):

Dear Mark,

Thank you for giving us, at strong city, a forum that has not tried to spin what has transpired.
Perhaps I should identify myself first. My legal name is Dean Cline and I am the ex husband of Amana Travesser, mother of Prudence Welch. I to am a member of the LOR church but have not been actively participating on the church site so am now unable to contribute my support for Michael, in his fast, on that site. I do want to let it be publicly acknowledged that I am in full agreement with Michael and will not eat until there is resolution.
Thank you for posting this on your site.
Seth
aka Dean Cline

Other members of Bent's church have reportedly pledged to join him in fasting, too.

Last month, a New Mexico grand jury indicted Wayne Bent on four charges: Two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree, unclothed. And two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

One of the alleged victims is believed to be the girl whom Bent says should be returned to her parents; thus, prompting his decision to fast.

In a comment posted overnight on Beyond90Seconds.com, Bent writes:

I am protesting the illegal imprisonment of a young lady who did nothing wrong.

Bent's entire comment can be read here.

Strong City leader Wayne Bent says he is now fasting and will continue to do so until a girl taken by the state from his church's property is returned to her parents.

Here is an excerpt from Wayne Bent's post published on his Web site around 4:15pm today:

Today, I began a fast, as I did when I was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. I will now abstain from eating until the child Willow is returned with no strings attached, or until God brings the deliverance that I seek from the present evil, or the answer to my inquiry of justice is clearly manifested, or I am gone from this life altogether.

On May 20th, 2008, a New Mexico grand jury indicted Bent on four crimes: Two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree, unclothed. And two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

New Mexico State Police arrested Bent May 6th.

After an ambulance responded to the Union County jail, Bent was released from custody May 9th. His son, Jeff Bent, posted the $55,000 bond.

Bent's story has been featured on several American television programs, including Larry King Live and FOX News. But the story first found an audience in a British documentary last December. A re-edited version of that documentary appeared on the National Geographic Channel earlier this year.

In an e-mail received at 4:17pm today, Jeff Bent tells Beyond90Seconds.com:

The court declined an emergency hearing today regarding the conditions Willow is having to endure at the hands of CYFD. The initial ten day hearing was never completed and we are going on six weeks now since she was taken. The new post gives all the details.

You can read the remainder of Wayne Bent's pledge to fast here.

###

UPDATE: Here is the story as it appeared on kob.com in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 7, 2008.

[wpvideo d8pCQFzU]

But the interview never appeared on GMA. More on that in a moment.

The recording that appears here (please hover pointer over photo at left for player) is used with Jeff Bent's permission.

Jeff Bent is the son of the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser).

In a story Beyond90Seconds.com broke May 20th, a New Mexico grand jury indicted Wayne Bent on four charges: Two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree, unclothed. And two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

This morning, I sent an e-mail to Wayne Bent and requested permission to publish the recording on this blog. My e-mail also included the following questions:

1) Did GMA ever broadcast the interview w/Jeff? If not, do you know why?
2) Was it an on-camera interview (as it would appear to have been)?
3) Was the producer (if that is the correct title) who is heard questioning Jeff aware that a representative of your church was also recording the interview?
4) Did your church record the interview as a safeguard to ensure that any presentation of a GMA/ABC story based on this interview was accurately presented?

Wayne Bent referred me to his son.

I received an e-mail from Jeff Bent a bit later this morning. He gave me permission to use the recording.

In his e-mail, Jeff Bent also answered the questions I had first posed to his father. I asked Jeff Bent for his permission to share excerpts of that e-mail here. He has obliged.

Here is most of what Jeff Bent wrote to me this morning:

GMA never broadcasted the interview. The interview took place at 4:20 AM and was initially to be broadcast live on GMA. There was a satellite truck parked outside my house with a live uplink to GMA. Inside my house was a camera crew from Denver, who operated the camera, lighting, and sound equipment. The producer sat across from me. GMA cut away to the story of tornadoes in the midwest, and so the producer said she would ask the questions and the interview would be used later in the broadcast. At the end of the interview, the producer told me she would be taking the video tape back to New York with her and it would be used at a later time.

On Saturday, May 10, the producer emailed me and said my interview would be broadcast the following Monday on GMA. It wasn't broadcast. The producer explained a couple of weeks later that since I had bailed my father out of jail, the interview had become dated.

This article was posted on the ABC News website and was based upon the interview I gave to GMA...

After the interview we informed the producer that the interview was recorded (Producer is her title, she said she is not a reporter). She did not object or express any reservations about it. The digital recorder was sitting on the counter-top next to where she was seated and in plain site.

Our motives for recording were simply to provide a record of the event, and to provide an opportunity for others in the land to listen to what was said. All news outlets spin the story in a way that will get ratings, and if we didn't want that to happen, we wouldn't speak to them at all.

*editor's note: It's my hope that Beyond90Seconds.com hasn't "spun" this story to get ratings (more accurately, readers). The intent here is to be fair. Perhaps the slogan should be, "So fair, I'm boring!")

In his 30-paragraph-long post, titled Modern Day Witch's Brew, Bent gives his side of the story and reveals the circumstances which he purports to have unfolded in the commission of the alleged crimes. Clearly, he is maintaining his innocence.

Here are excerpts from Bent's post:

Will a father be indicted now for incest because his little naked girl runs and jumps into his bed on Sunday morning? Will all massage therapists who only use a sheet to cover the private parts, now be arrested for touching the naked body of the minor who is being massaged? Will a mother be indicted because her naked baby is sucking on her breast, which would be the “intentional causing of a minor to touch one’s intimate parts,” and the mother is enjoying it? Will a mother and father now be indicted because their underaged child is being bathed by them in the nude? Will nurses now be indicted for criminal sexual contact because they are taking care of young naked boys in a hospital room or taking their temperature with a rectal thermometer ("rape including sodomy, any sexual penetration with an object?") Will mothers now be indicted because a baby is allowed to come through her sexual parts, and spend time there? Will all free women need to have a cesarean operation or be guilty of criminal sexual contact with a minor when the child is born? Will the doctor be indicted who sticks his finger into a minor who is having a baby, in order to check her? I doubt that there will be indictments against most people, because they are not the Sons of God. It will be only the anointed ones, who feel the wrath of the dragon.

In another excerpt, Bent writes:

I would rather die than live any longer in this wicked world of lying, prejudice, persecution, and dark vile sensuality.

And a bit later:

I am ready to be offered, and ready to go. I am so homesick for the songs of the angels and the consciousness of only my Father and those who are in love with Him, and I want to take all of my children with me. We must leave this world behind, or we would spiritually die as the wicked are spiritually dead.

Wayne Bent's post can be read in its entirety here.

(Clayton, New Mexico) Union County District Court Clerk Karen Vieites tells Beyond90Seconds.com that a Grand Jury indicted Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser) today on four counts.

"Two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree, unclothed. And two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor," Vieites told Beyond90Second.com shortly after 5pm.

According to Vieites, the Grand Jury began to hear the State's case against Wayne Bent at 10am today and finished around 5pm. Vieites said that jurors only recessed for a 30-minute lunch

New Mexico State Police arrested Bent the morning of May 6 at The Lord Our Righteousness Church. The LOR is located in a remote area known as "Strong City" in the northeast corner of the state.

On May 8th, Bent's son, Jeff Bent, appeared on CNN's Larry King Live. King's panel included former LOR member Prudence Welch. During the program, Jeff Bent said his father would not post bond.

Jeff Bent posted his father's bond the following day, after an ambulance was sent to the jail. A judge had reduced Wayne Bent's bond from $500,000 to $55,000.

On May 10th, Wayne Bent wrote about his experiences in jail and the charges he faced.

Just yesterday, a new post on the church's Web site included 22 letters written in defense of Wayne Bent's character and conduct. According to that post, the church delivered the letters to the District Attorney yesterday and requested that the letters be read to the Grand Jury.

No word yet on whether the letters were presented to the Grand Jury.

The Union County Courthouse is one of several courthouses in New Mexico's 8th Judicial District.

###

Update: Read the Associated Press story here (May 21)

District Attorney Donald Gallegos said he made the decision to pursue indictments — shifting the case to district court — to avoid an open preliminary hearing in magistrate court in which the girls could have been subjected to cross-examination by Bent's attorney. -Associated Press

23 carefully thought-out letters were reportedly handed over to a New Mexico District Attorney Monday along with a request that they all be read to a Grand Jury Tuesday.

The letters were written by members of The Lord Our Righteousness Church defending the character--and proclaiming the innocence-- of their leader, Wayne Bent (aka Michael Travesser).

Bent is charged with three counts of sexual contact of a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to The LOR's Web site Monday:

...(the letters) were delivered to the district attorney today, along with a request that he read them before the grand jury tomorrow, in accordance with Wayne Bent / Michael Travesser’s Constitutional right to present a defense on his behalf.

Yes, Wayne Bent is certainly entitled to "a defense on his behalf." However, that typically comes at trial (if there is to be one).

A Grand Jury's mission is to consider whether the State has presented sufficient evidence for a trial.

That's it.

It's often argued that the Grand Jury process severely favors the prosecution (thus, the ol' "ham sandwich" line).

Doesn't seem to be in the State's interest to be reading letters defending their suspect.

Please stay tuned...

In the May 9, 2008 entry titled, Letter From Michael To His Family, Bent says he was well-treated while in jail but that the "bitter" part of the experience came when he "learned the name of the person who reported" that he had "sexually molested" her.

Here is an excerpt from Bent's May 9, 2008 post:

The bitter part of jail came in the form of information. I learned the name of the person who reported that I had sexually molested her. This broke my heart entirely. She is a young person who joined the family of those who hate me with a very deep and personal hate. I have to say that I never expected that this little person would concoct an outright lie about me. I have not spoken to her personally, but I was told that her lie is the basis for all of the charges against me. This one lie has caused those in authority to disbelieve all of the other testimonies counter to her lie. This was my heartbreak. And I wept in great sorrow over it. How does one fight a liar, and one who has confessed at being one? I doubt that a court will solve this problem. It is not unusual for a soul to make up a complete falsehood just to crucify an enemy, but it does show just what happened to Jesus. People who said they heard him say it, declared that he said that he was going to destroy the temple in three days. They killed him over the lies that were told. His offense was larger than mine, for the temple was much more regarded as an offense than sex with a girl. He was falsely charged with blasphemy, but I have only been falsely charged with molestation of a minor. Even so, it is a deep sore to my soul, how utterly dark one can finally become. The charges against me were utterly contrived, but I am not quite ready to blame it all on this person, for I have witnessed first hand the utter depravity of those who manipulate people to get them to say things a certain way. This happened with CYFD, the state police, and other particular souls involved in the “investigation,” which is no investigation at all, but merely a form of witchcraft against the Son of God.

Bent's brief, but apparently profound jail experience, also includes empathy for some prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I felt for Saddam Hussein, who was hung for lesser crimes than George Bush has committed. I felt for the President of Iran who is also falsely accused.

The entirety of Wayne Bent's Letter From Michael To His Family can be read here.

]]> http://hornerscorner.wordpress.com/?p=178 Sat, 10 May 2008 01:46:45 +0000 hornerscorner http://hornerscorner.wordpress.com/?p=178 Ambulance called prior to Bent's release

VIDEO: KOB-TV
[wpvideo BhZHAkAx]

From the Assocated Press:

SANTA FE, N.M. - Authorities say the leader of an apocalyptic sect in northeastern New Mexico has been released from jail after his son posted his bond.

The clerk of the magistrate court in Clayton said a $55,000 bond was posted for Wayne Bent. He was released Friday afternoon.

Bent is accused of sex crimes against young female followers. His sect lives on a compound called Strong City in a remote area near the New Mexico-Colorado line.

At first court appearance on Thursday, his bond was lowered from $500,000.

Le 27 février 2008 (LPAC) — Au cours de la troisième semaine de février, en raison d’investissements spéculatifs dans les matières premières de base, et les banques centrales aidant, l’hyperinflation a reçu un coup de pouce significatif. L’or avoisinant les 1000 dollars l’once et le pétrole ayant refranchi le seuil des 100 dollars le baril, le prix du minerai de fer négocié le 19 février par le géant brésilien VALE a augmenté de 65% ! Or le prix payé par les trois grands producteurs asiatiques d’acier — Nippon Steel, JFE et Posco — est généralement considéré comme la référence pour le marché mondial. Les producteurs de fer et d’acier vont répercuter cette augmentation sur les consommateurs, qui payeront plus cher leurs voitures et biens de consommation durables, tandis que les prix dans le bâtiment, etc. ne pourront qu’augmenter.

Ce n’est un secret pour personne que les banques utilisent les injections constantes de liquidités que leur octroient les banques centrales pour spéculer frénétiquement sur les matières premières. Standard Poor’s s’attend à une augmentation cette année de plus de 20% de son indice de matières premières (SP GSCI), par rapport à son niveau de 80-85 milliards de dollars fin 2007. Par exemple, les 50 milliards de dollars mis à disposition par la Réserve fédérale lors de sa récente Term Auction Facility (un nouvel instrument de refinancement à court terme) ont été investis dans les marchés à terme des produits de base.

Entre-temps, avec les obligations municipales et publiques aux Etats-Unis, c’est un autre pan du système financier qui s’effondre. Tous les 7, 28 ou 35 jours, ces obligations sont mises aux enchères. Or le marché se trouve désormais « gelé », acculant les municipalités soit à offrir des taux d’intérêt astronomiques sur leurs obligations, soit à mettre une croix sur des programmes sociaux et d’investissement. Autrefois, les banques achetaient ces obligations puis en faisaient des « paquets » de titres qu’elles revendaient. Mais depuis la dégradation des assureurs d’obligations (monolines), le coût des assurances en cas de défaillance a tellement augmenté que du point de vue des banques, elles ne sont plus rentables.

Pour ne citer qu’un exemple : le taux offert par le Centre médical de l’université de Pittsburgh sur l’une de ses émissions d’obligations est passé de 3,5% à 17%, et il paie un surcoût de 500 000 dollars par semaine rien qu’en intérêts sur ses obligations ! Le Trésorier du centre, Tal Heppenstall, a déclaré à l’agence Bloomberg que son institution allait tenter de racheter 430 millions de dollars d’obligations afin de diminuer les pertes. « C’est scandaleux ! Notre notation de crédit est à AA. Nous n’avons pas besoin d’être financés par des usuriers. »

source : http://www.solidariteetprogres.org/article3878.html

References tend to be required

1) prior to the final interview and are used as evidence in the selection decision- or

2) after the interview, and are used as final clearance of a person to whom it has already been decided to offer a job. A referee will be expected to provide different types of information – depending on at what stage the information is requested.

Guidelines and Tips-

• Always ask a person(s) if they will act as a referee for you – never use their name without prior approval.
• Give the person(s) details of the job you are applying for – or outline the types of jobs and the types of organisation you will be applying to.
• Give the person(s) a copy of the Resume/CV you are using.
• Choose three or four people with different backgrounds and different relationships with you. Don’t just choose personal friends. Always have at least one business referee – and if you have limited business experience - one academic one.
• Tell them if they are to wait until they are contacted – or if you want them to write to someone now - if the latter give them full details.
• If you know at what stage the reference is being taken up – tell the referees.
• Try to choose people who know you, like you, and who will give adequate time to the task ( a very short reference may give a poor impression of you – irrespective of what it says).
• Write to each referee afterwards – thank them and tell them what happened.