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This is post # 294 from Thread #18

Tom Smart makes all the decisions for the family. He overruled the parents on at least 4 occasions (MSNBC

Does anyone know why it is that Brother Ed has this authority? Does anyone from the Mormon faith have the answer to this?

I'm not Mormon, so I don't know the answer. But, what business is it of ours how they decide to run their family? They are going through the worst possible nightmare, and the last thing they need is strangers making judgements on how their family is run (and that this is somehow strange because they are Mormons). Give these people a break!

No, there is nothing in the LDS religion that the oldest son has the say for the rest of the family. As far as Tom Smart overruling the rest of the family on four separate occasions, that is not fact, that is info from Marc Klaas, and I don't know who else.

I assume you meant brother Tom. What makes you think it has anything to do with their religion? It has been discussed several times that Tom is employed as a photographer for the Deseret News, and that his media conenctions and savvy made him a sensible choice for the family, when choosing someone to help handle the onslaught of press inquiries, conferences, etc. Once he assumed this role, he no doubt was the recipient of a lot of advice and information that didn't get to the parents as fast as it got to him (the parents were distraught, busy with other aspects of the investigation and impact on their other children, and confident that a trusted family member was handling a lot of the information flow). He probably made decisions based on his knowledge, and the parents chose to go with his decision as to what was best even when it contradicted their first instinct.

Tom took a lot of heat on these threads last week for deciding not allow a Mark Klaas-selected sketch artist to meet with Mary Katherine, even though the parents had been heard earlier to support the idea on the grounds that "we need all the help we can get". It subsequently came to light that Mark Klaas' involvement in the case was due his being paid by Fox news, the artist was to be paid by Fox News, and that SLC police did not want any sketch distributed. Most likely, Tom knew these facts before the parents, because the parents had asked him to act a spokesman and he was having more regular contact with various sources than they were. When they heard why he didn't think the Klaas-selected artist should be brought in, they probably just said, "oh, we didn't know that; okay you're right, let's not get her involved".

From this type of thing, some freepers have decided that there is some secret Mormon system for empowering certain male family members to control the lives of others, and are determined to get the low-down on the secret system. Get a grip, folks!