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When local attorney John Quinn got an e-mail last week asking for volunteers in an enormous child abuse case unfolding in West Texas, he didn't hesitate to respond.
The e-mail sought any available attorneys to help represent the hundreds of children removed from a polygamist compound in San Angelo earlier this month.
Although it required Quinn taking time off work, he felt like he had to go, he said.
"This is a chance to protect some kids who need protecting," he said Friday from San Angelo.
Quinn is one of at least seven area residents who have traveled to San Angelo to offer help in one of the largest Child Protective Services cases in the agency's history.
Six staff members from the local CPS office have also been in San Angelo to help, according to the department's spokesman in Austin.
The seven local residents join hundreds of lawyers, case workers and volunteers who have filtered through the city since 416 children were taken by Child Protective Services from the 1,700-acre Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, home of a polygamous group that calls itself the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The children were removed from the compound two weeks ago after police said they received a call from a 16-year-old girl reporting her 49-year-old husband had abused her.
Since then, Child Protective Service workers from across the state have been called in to help, said Chris Dandeusen, a spokesman for the Department of Family and Protective Services.
From Bryan-College Station, Dandeusen said, investigators, staff members and even the local director have taken turns in San Angelo this week for three to four days at a time.
It's because of people willing to help that the agency has been able to meet the demands of the San Angelo case.
"This is certainly a big job, but we have the number of people we need to do it," he said. "The plan is just to keep rotating people through there."
Officials said many of the more than 350 lawyers in San Angelo -- including Quinn -- are working on a volunteer basis.
Because of the number of people involved, a live two-way video feed was set up outside the courthouse in the nearby city hall.
That's where Quinn said he spent the two days of the hearing last week as District Judge Barbara Walther heard arguments before deciding that the children would remain in state custody and undergo genetic testing to sort out family relationships.
Quinn said the atmosphere in San Angelo has been chaotic, with cumbersome courtroom proceedings and lawyers unable to see their clients.
The process has been slow, he said, as multiple attorneys object to each question posed by the other side.
"It's laughable," he said of the proceedings Friday. "It takes forever because there are so many lawyers."
When Quinn arrived Wednesday, he said, the nearest vacant hotel room was more than 75 miles away.
Since then, he said, he's been staying with a San Angelo attorney who welcomed Quinn at his family's home.
As to how long Quinn will remain in San Angelo or how often he'll have to return, he's not sure.
"It's unbelievably burdensome," he said of the hearing. "It's a nightmare."
• Janet Phelps' e-mail address is janet.phelps@theeagle.com.
