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Parents face kidnapping trial today in Roseburg Woman who took in Ruth Christine believes overzealous state workers were at fault By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune "What's being done to them is absolutely criminal," said Sallie Vandagrift, 28, who sent letters and supplies to the couple in jail and opened her home to Ruth Christine when she was released on bail April 7. "Yeah, they're a little bit different, but last time I checked, that wasn't a crime in America." Like the Christines, Vandagrift and her husband, Jim, are rural Christians who homeschool their four children. They sent letters to the couple after hearing media accounts of the August 2000 kidnapping in which Brian Christine allegedly took three of his daughters at gunpoint from state social workers. "It piqued my interest," said Sallie Vandagrift. "We were the same age. We had kids the same ages. I thought, 'Whoa. We have a lot in common.' I got a real sense that there was more to this story than meets the eye.'" After attending court hearings and talking with Ruth Christine, Vandagrift said she came to believe overzealous state workers falsely accused the Christines of abusing three of their daughters, now 7, 5, and 3. "They may be people who made some mistakes, but I don't know a parent alive who hasn't," said Vandagrift. The Christines are scheduled to stand trial today on kidnapping and robbery charges alleging Brian Christine took the girls at gunpoint from state social workers pulled over at an Interstate 5 rest stop following a supervised visit with their parents. Days later, Brian Christine was arrested speeding across Montana, apparently on his way to Indiana, where his mother was caring for a fourth daughter. Ruth Christine and the girls were found staying in a rural house outside Missoula, Mont. Ruth Christine was indicted last week on charges she did not seek medical treatment for her second-oldest daughter in July 2000. The three oldest girls, Bethany, Lydia and Miriam, were taken into custody after an anonymous complaint that they appeared malnourished, a contention supported by doctors. Brian Christine also faces an assault charge for allegedly hitting Lydia in the head for wetting the bed. Vandagrift said she believed abuse reports were inaccurate or exaggerated. She said photographs indicated the girls were not malnourished but instead were simply naturally thin children born of thin parents. "My son is built like his daddy; he's not chubby," said Vandagrift, who said she worked with children's protective services agencies in California. "I've seen how very easily something can be blown out of proportion," she said. Indeed, Vandagrift was reluctant to speak publicly about her support for the Christines, for fear that her own family would be targeted. She said she has heard from dozens of local people who feel the same way. "I've seen families ripped apart," she said. Vandagrift's fear has been echoed by "hundreds" of worried listeners to Roger Fredinburg's Washington, D.C., call-in radio show, the Ashland-based host said in an interview Monday. They believe the state has overstepped its bounds in the Christine case, he said. "I've decided that the Christines are maybe not the brightest, maybe not the best parents, but they ended up in something they had no idea existed," he said. "The system is geared so the state can never lose." Patricia Feeny, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said Monday that a system of checks and balances monitors the rights of the parents and the rights of children. "It was well documented that these girls weren't safe. The parents couldn't provide a safe environment for the Christine children. That is why they're no longer with their children," she said. "If anything, we work really hard to keep families together. It's not the opposite that we're trying to tear them apart." From Sallie Vandagrift's vantage, the Christines are simply fellow parents who lost their kids. Ruth Christine has continued to minister to others during this difficult time, said Vandagrift, who plans to monitor the trial. "I watched her with my own kids. You can pick up those things," Vandagrift said. "So far, there's nothing weird, where you go, 'Hmm, that's kind of kooky.'" Instead, Ruth Christine has struck Vandagrift as a quiet, pious woman who cares deeply for her daughters, including two born after the older girls were taken into state custody. "It's just monstrous what they're doing to her," Vandagrift said. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.