Miller's Grandparents Upset Over Governor's Comments Christies Blame DHS

"They have Evelyn's blood on their hands. Also, besides whoever killed her because they didn't follow through. They didn't do a good job. They could have prevented this if they did their job," she said.

The article in its entirety:

Miller's Grandparents Upset Over Governor's Comments

Christies Blame DHS

POSTED: 10:27 am CDT October 13, 2005

UPDATED: 10:46 am CDT October 13, 2005

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Investigators in northeast Iowa still don't know who killed 5-year-old Evelyn Miller.
After a six-day search, the body of the Floyd County girl was found in a river last July.
The girl's family said the Iowa Department of Human Services had been called to Evelyn Miller's house at least a dozen times before she died, based on welfare concerns, not for selfish motives.
At Monday's weekly news conference, a reporter asked Gov. Tom Vilsack if he was satisfied with the DHS' handling of Miller's case.
"I think it was accurate at the time," he said.
The governor said he's reviewed state reports dating back to the girl's birth.
"The reports that were submitted in the Evelyn Miller situation suggested concerns expressed by family members -- people who had an ax to grind. People whose credibility was a bit suspect," Vilsack said.
Linda and Richard Christie are Evelyn's paternal grandparents. They said their son, Evelyn's biological father, filed a half-dozen complaints against the girl's mother, who had custody of the child.
"For the governor of Iowa to say to me, 'You have an ax to grind. You have no credibility' -- I was just so saddened," Linda Christie said.
The Christies insist that the complaints were made out of a concern for the child.
"We did everything we could to get along with the Miller family," Linda Christie said.
Instead, they blame the DHS for not following up on the complaints.
"They have Evelyn's blood on their hands. Also, besides whoever killed her because they didn't follow through. They didn't do a good job. They could have prevented this if they did their job," she said.
"If we would have known the danger she was in, we would have broken whatever state and federal law was necessary to have her removed from that household," Richard Christie said.
Evelyn's grandparents said they haven't been allowed to see the DHS reports, so they're not sure what Vilsack is basing his comments on.

The governor said he's reviewed state reports dating back to the girl's birth.

Our Governor is basically saying "trust me".

Well I don't trust him.

I want to see those DHS reports in public. I don't believe these reports must be hidden to protect Evelyn's confidentially. Everybody knows what happened to her. These reports are being hidden to protect the incompetents at the DHS.

Our "Trial Lawyer" Governor is clearly more interested in protecting the DHS than the lives of our children.

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