Attempt to get all family members out unsuccessful
Abilene Reporter-News
By BRIAN BETHEL
A Maryland man's attempts to extract family members from the House of Yahweh's
compound near Eula Saturday ended in a stalemate.
David Richardson, seeking to retrieve his wife and 14-year-old daughter, approached
the gates of the compound in the early afternoon but eventually left without
seeing either family member.
A series of tense moments erupted when Richardson and news media arrived outside
the gates with House of Yahweh members refusing to offer any comment about the
compound, a Passover feast going on inside, Richardson's wife, Bonnie, or his
daughter.
In an earlier foray into the compound, Richardson retrieved his two sons, ages
12 and 6, from the complex's interior.
Video camera-wielding members of the sect took photographs of everything from
news vehicles to Richardson arguing with other members of the group.
A Callahan County sheriff's deputy arrived on the scene shortly after the initial
confrontation, speaking briefly to both sect members and Richardson before ushering
Richardson into his patrol vehicle.
After a brief consultation with the deputy, Richardson planned to enter the
compound to see his wife and daughter. Later in the day, he said his attempt
had met with failure.
"They wouldn't let me on the grounds," he said. "I'm taking this
pretty hard."
Attempts to contact the deputy through the Callahan County Sheriff's Department
were unsuccessful.
Richardson, a former member of the sect, said he didn't attempt to obtain a
court order before trying to retrieve his family because he didn't think he
"would have to go to that extreme."
"I don't want to divorce my wife" or sunder his family, he said. "Not
at this point."
Richardson said his next step was to contact the FBI with information about
the sect, including the unsolved murder of a reported one-time Yahweh follower
four years ago in South Carolina.
He said he planned to take things "day by day," possibly staying in
Abilene or returning to his home in Maryland.
Richardson expressed great concern for his wife and daughter, telling guards
at the gate and others assembled that he wanted them "out of here"
before they could be "used" any more.
Richardson, 38, railed against Yisrayl Hawkins, a former Abilene policeman who
became the spiritual father of the House of Yahweh, saying he forced sect members
into lives of poverty and dependence.
"I have a 14-year-old daughter, and I don't know if they're going to have
her married off before long," Richardson said. "I want her out of
here before he comes up with another law" that could potentially harm her.
Bonnie Richardson recently changed her name to Biynyah Hawkins to match that
of the sect's leader. More than 100 followers have requested similar name changes
in recent months.
"My wife isn't aware of what they're doing to her mind," Richardson
said. "(Hawkins) just uses them, and they don't see what they're doing.
... She thinks if she leaves, she'll burn in hellfire."
Yisrayl Hawkins has not yet responded to requests for interviews with the Abilene
Reporter-News, despite repeated attempts. Followers at the scene refused to
comment.
In the past, blanket denials of all allegations against the sect have been the
rule for its members.
Tensions ran high on occasion between Richardson and guards outside the gate
Saturday, with the guards attempting to maintain a calm, cool veneer.
"What type of religion does things like this?" he asked one of the
guards, identified as Charlie Wilder. "You have to worship with barbed
wire, guards and walkie-talkies, looking like a Gestapo unit?"
Wilder replied, "Do I look like a Gestapo?"
"Wise up, Charlie," Richardson retorted. "This place is going
down."
Richardson said he didn't plan to end the quest for his family any time soon,
citing his original beliefs, which he still holds, as the force that keeps him
going.
"Yahweh doesn't create wimps - he creates men," he said. "The
wimps are the ones in there who are hiding behind the gates."
(Senior Staff Writer Richard Horn contributed to this report.)
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