Mortons 5: Terrible News from the Smith Home: Sitara Killed while Helping Bret Cut Down a Tree

[hoipolloi]

10 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

They my not seem that tall but when they fall, you can see how long they are.

Also, the direction in which a tree falls is not as easily predicted as many think. 

If you're not a professional tree-trimmer, chances are you have about zero to very little control over the way a tree or even a large branch will fall.

[fundiefan]

She didn't die in a vacuum. There was a series of events that led up to it. 

Who was involved in those events? Who made the decisions? What were they doing at the moment she lost her life - or was struck with the fatal force that led to her losing her life at some other point after being life flighted 50 miles to Emory? Like, were Bret & Jacquie done patting themselves on the back for successfully brainwashing their daughter to comply after 11 years or were they still basking in the glow of their success in the house?  Who found her? Who called 911? What did they say to the 911 operator? If she was working on soffits, who cut the tree that killed her? What shoes was she wearing? Did you send your 18 year old up onto the roof in flip flops again? I mean, you were just praising yourself for successfully creating the teenager you wanted, so she surely didn't decide on her own to wear flip flops on the roof or while felling trees, so you must have told her it was fine; or more likely not even given it a thought because you were too busy being blinded by your own light. If she wasn't working on soffits and died while felling trees with her father (as was stated in the first news blurbs about the situation) why did you lie Bret? Do you think your god doesn't know when you lie? Why were you, an inexperienced old man with a heart condition felling trees with an untrained 18 year old daughter? Was she cutting or were you? Do you now anything about shimming on one side after partially cutting, then moving to the other to give the tree a little guidance in which way to fall? Do you know that even if you do that, the tree is not guaranteed to fall where you want it to because it's a big, heavy thing with it's own center of gravity? Why didn't you have some sort of netting or rope strung up for the tree to fall into to help break its fall? Did anyone pay any attention to the felling zone? Did you plan safe routes? Was anyone serving as look out? How much preparation did you put into cutting down trees or working of soffit that doing so ultimate killed your 18 year old daughter? Did you even bother to watch a YouTube video or do you know all about tree trimming like you do your god? Are you too smart & gifted to learn something from someone? 

Now that one of your 12 children is dead, another in prison for CSA and 3 refusing to have anything to do with you - what are you going to do to fuck up the lives of the remaining 7? I shouldn't ask that question because you scare the living shit out of me and I'm terrified of what you are capable of. 

 

 

 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

1 hour ago, Bassett Lady said:

This last year we needed tree work done. He and the kids trimmed all the small trees and bushes. However, my hubby decided the large trees were outside of his abilities and safety window. We hired the work out to licensed arborists. The bill was $700. 
 

I am so thankful we paid that $700.
 

A $700 check Is much more emotionally satisfying than a funeral. Paying a bit of money to professionals with years of training, thousands of dollars in specialized equipment, and proper licensing seems like one of the best investments we have made in recent years. 

For the men like Bret Smith,  perhaps knowing that a tree service is cheaper than a funeral might tug at their wallet. It seems their patriarchal hearts and minds can’t be moved by any other issue. 

Yeah, I was going to say that 700 bucks would be cheap for a funeral. Heck, pardon the pun it's dirt cheap.

Funerals are very expensive and there are too many of them due to the Pandemic, so the price went up.

I am incredibly upset about the loss of the young woman, who was worth more than the $700 to trim the tree and the cost of her funeral. I don't follow this family, so I had never really heard of her before. It's incredibly sad and upsetting.

The Blues were not perfect parents, but sticklers about the safety of their kids. 

[pupper]

15 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

Bethel??

Yall, Bethel gets into some fucked up stuff. She would have traded one cult for another. Their supernatural school? It's supposed to teach folx how to do faith healing and actual resurrections. I am really surprised the Cap'n would allow this, or maybe I just don't know enough about the Smith belief system. 

The whole thing is just incredibly sad and entirely preventable.

Fucking Smiths

 

I checked the Bethel website. It looks like classes were two evenings per week. There is no campus housing.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

So she was home alone? And she was working on the roof, not cutting a tree? I don't understand what he's saying.

[Bassett Lady]

1 hour ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

I don't understand what he's saying.

That is on purpose. He is prevaricating! He is pontificating as only a pompous blow hard can manage in an effort to obfuscate and play a game of verbal prestidigitation. 
 

The more he yammers the surer I am he was the one wielding the chainsaw, and the one who should shoulder all the responsibility and guilt. 

[thoughtful]

That poor young woman. There had damned well better be an investigation, because the various stories all sound shady.

I just had tree work done, and there is more to come. I'm only the second owner of this house, and think the previous owners  just let some saplings grow with no plan, and left up some trees that were here before it was built, almost 70 years ago. When I moved in, there was a totally random assortment of mature, huge trees, and some younger ones, all over the property. A few are lovely, healthy, and without any dangerous split trunks or dead wood.

But, in the years I've lived here, I've had to have seven (IIRC) taken down, due to illness, storm damage, and the danger they presented to our property and the neighbors' yards.

It is actually an amazing process to watch, done right by arborists. There is a lot of equipment (helmets, eye protection, boots, climbing equipment, a cherry picker or crane, etc.) and a crew of several workers involved. There is also a high level of careful planning. Branches, then sections of tree, are gently brought down with rope and pulleys, not just dropped.

Depending on the age and size of the tree, whether it was part of a larger job and other factors, each one has cost between $800 and $2500 to take down. Not a penny wasted, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, as it happens, I also just had my roof replaced - by a crew who does that for a living, and never leaves one person alone on a job, because they know that's not safe.

I know that lots of people, of all persuasions, take DIY too far, and get themselves, or worse, their children, into things they can't handle. It's not limited to fundies, or the Smiths.

But it's hard not to think that the combination of thinking God favors you, being accustomed to using children for labor, avoiding "official" help of any kind, whether from the government or people who are properly trained for certain work, and just flat-out Bret Smith arrogance is what killed Sitara.

Edited August 28, 2021 by thoughtful
clarity

[Granwych]

Parents who would let their child do whatever work the Smiths say Sitara was doing…I just can’t understand.  I don’t care how old Sitara was; she should have not been left to work on a roof by herself no matter how insistent her miserable excuse of a father said she was.  And I fervently hope she was not involved in any way, shape, or form in cutting down a tree.

 

10 minutes ago, thoughtful said:

That poor young woman. There had damned well better be an investigation, because the various stories all sound shady.

I just had tree work done, and there is more to come. I'm only the second owner of this house, and think the previous owners  just let some saplings grow with no plan, and left up some trees that were here before it was built, almost 70 years ago. When I moved in, there was a totally random assortment of mature, huge trees, and some younger ones, all over the property. A few are lovely, healthy, and without any dangerous split trunks or dead wood.

But, in the years I've lived here, I've had to have seven (IIRC) taken down, due to illness, storm damage, and the danger they presented to our property and the neighbors' yards.

It is actually an amazing process to watch, done right by arborists. There is a lot of equipment (helmets, eye protection, boots, climbing equipment, a cherry picker or crane, etc.) and a crew of several workers involved. There is also a high level of careful planning. Branches, then sections of tree, are gently brought down with rope and pulleys, not just dropped.

Depending on the age and size of the tree, whether it was part of a larger job and other factors, each one has cost between $800 and $2500 to take down. Not a penny wasted, as far as I'm concerned.

Oh, as it happens, I also just had my roof replaced - by a crew who does that for a living, and never leaves one person alone on a job, because they know that's not safe.

I know that lots of people, of all persuasions, take DIY too far, and get themselves, or worse, their children, into things they can't handle. It's not limited to fundies, or the Smiths.

But it's hard not to think that the combination of thinking God favors you, being accustomed to using children for labor, avoiding "official" help of any kind, whether from the government or people who are properly trained for certain work, and just flat-out Bret Smith arrogance is what killed Sitara.

My father worked for many years cutting trees, and everything everyone has posted so far about safety measures is exactly how he operated.

[Nikedagain?]

3 hours ago, fundiefan said:

She didn't die in a vacuum. There was a series of events that led up to it. 

Who was involved in those events? Who made the decisions? What were they doing at the moment she lost her life - or was struck with the fatal force that led to her losing her life at some other point after being life flighted 50 miles to Emory? Like, were Bret & Jacquie done patting themselves on the back for successfully brainwashing their daughter to comply after 11 years or were they still basking in the glow of their success in the house?  Who found her? Who called 911? What did they say to the 911 operator? If she was working on soffits, who cut the tree that killed her? What shoes was she wearing? Did you send your 18 year old up onto the roof in flip flops again? I mean, you were just praising yourself for successfully creating the teenager you wanted, so she surely didn't decide on her own to wear flip flops on the roof or while felling trees, so you must have told her it was fine; or more likely not even given it a thought because you were too busy being blinded by your own light. If she wasn't working on soffits and died while felling trees with her father (as was stated in the first news blurbs about the situation) why did you lie Bret? Do you think your god doesn't know when you lie? Why were you, an inexperienced old man with a heart condition felling trees with an untrained 18 year old daughter? Was she cutting or were you? Do you now anything about shimming on one side after partially cutting, then moving to the other to give the tree a little guidance in which way to fall? Do you know that even if you do that, the tree is not guaranteed to fall where you want it to because it's a big, heavy thing with it's own center of gravity? Why didn't you have some sort of netting or rope strung up for the tree to fall into to help break its fall? Did anyone pay any attention to the felling zone? Did you plan safe routes? Was anyone serving as look out? How much preparation did you put into cutting down trees or working of soffit that doing so ultimate killed your 18 year old daughter? Did you even bother to watch a YouTube video or do you know all about tree trimming like you do your god? Are you too smart & gifted to learn something from someone? 

Now that one of your 12 children is dead, another in prison for CSA and 3 refusing to have anything to do with you - what are you going to do to fuck up the lives of the remaining 7? I shouldn't ask that question because you scare the living shit out of me and I'm terrified of what you are capable of. 

 

 

 

This.

all of this.

 

[hoipolloi]

 

5 hours ago, Bassett Lady said:

He is prevaricating! He is pontificating as only a pompous blow hard can manage in an effort to obfuscate and play a game of verbal prestidigitation. 

I agree. Craptain Bret reminds me of a squid, emitting clouds of ink to fill its surroundings while obscuring its escape.

My hope is probably misplaced, but am crossing fingers that the Spalding County coroner does a thorough job of investigating the circumstances of Sitara's death.

I hope they do right by Sitara.

[usedbicycle]

6 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

So she was home alone? And she was working on the roof, not cutting a tree? I don't understand what he's saying.

From my understanding, she was working alone on replacing the roof of their house the morning of her death, but it's not how she died. Brett left that part out intentionally, certainly because the accident was his fault. That morning, she was told to keep working on the roof instead of going to her usual prayer meeting because Brett needed her to finish this huge project before moving away. Why is an 18-year old replacing a roof instead of a licensed roofer? Fuck you, Brett.

When Brett got back from church, he held a family prayer meeting to share his revelations on ancient greek drivel, and Sitara was present. She must have died that afternoon doing more tree work with Brett, perhaps unrelated to the roof.

It sounds like Sitara's life revolved around servitude to her parents. Hard labor, construction, serving their church, serving their music ministry, cutting their hair... those are just a few things mentioned by Brett, I'm sure there were many more. I want to cry and punch something because this "broken" little girl (Brett's words) did not deserve to be adopted by cultish pedo-apologists. They killed her spirit and literally killed her by forcing her to perform dangerous labor. I really, really hope her death is thoroughly investigated.

 

[ophelia]

18 hours ago, fundiefan said:

Now that one of your 12 children is dead, another in prison for CSA and 3 refusing to have anything to do with you - what are you going to do to fuck up the lives of the remaining 7? I shouldn't ask that question because you scare the living shit out of me and I'm terrified of what you are capable of. 

And yet Jackie and the Craptain will keep on pretending they are holier and better than anybody else and that it is Satan attacking them, their family and their faith. 

[fundiefan]

10 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

From my understanding, she was working alone on replacing the roof of their house the morning of her death, but it's not how she died. Brett left that part out intentionally, certainly because the accident was his fault. That morning, she was told to keep working on the roof instead of going to her usual prayer meeting because Brett needed her to finish this huge project before moving away. Why is an 18-year old replacing a roof instead of a licensed roofer? Fuck you, Brett.

When Brett got back from church, he held a family prayer meeting to share his revelations on ancient greek drivel, and Sitara was present. She must have died that afternoon doing more tree work with Brett, perhaps unrelated to the roof.

It sounds like Sitara's life revolved around servitude to her parents. Hard labor, construction, serving their church, serving their music ministry, cutting their hair... those are just a few things mentioned by Brett, I'm sure there were many more. I want to cry and punch something because this "broken" little girl (Brett's words) did not deserve to be adopted by cultish pedo-apologists. They killed her spirit and literally killed her by forcing her to perform dangerous labor. I really, really hope her death is thoroughly investigated.

 

For as long as FJ has been discussing these monsters, there has been concern for Sitara. Even the limited public information about her made it clear she was always "in trouble" or something. She was left out of travels & adventures. There were not so thinly veiled remarks from the shit monsters about obedience and bad attitudes and honor - even before they became obsessed with their 3 bio daughters not "honoring" them as their parents after their son was arrested. 

(Speaking of which - their entire issue with the 3 adult daughters is that they do not do their parents bidding; they do not fully support their brother who is a pedophile; they believe he needed to be punished here on earth and that, to their parents, is shun worthy because the monsters think he should go on his merry way as the golden child and only be punished in heaven. What passes for logic in that house is fucked up beyond reason.)

Anyway - you are right. They killed that girl. Even before Bret killed her with labor she was incapable of performing. Her spirit was beat out of her. Her emotions were no doubt ridiculed and god-ified. 

All anyone needs to do is read this drivel written right after they brought Sitara into their home. This is what they think of adopting kids with troubles. 

http://smithfamilia2.blogspot.com/2010/05/response-to-failure-of-adoption-from.html

They use their own homeschool torture to teach their adopted kids to recite/memorize the bible. THAT is their measure of their success. They took the kids to church & they were so well behaved you'd never guess they had problems. The clearly vilify psychological issues & support. The children are to obey him with proper respect. 

So much more. and it comes down to what they are unwilling to put into print because at that time, people they knew directly were battling CPS & abuse charges & in hiding - so they knew better than to tell the world they made their adopted kids obedient, emotionless robots by abusing them. 

Sitara was particularly abused and I think there are several reasons for that. She was the only American adoption; there was no language barrier so the great & powerful Bret & Jacque thought she should immediately see life their way since she understood their words. As an American, Bret & Jacque didn't get to have their white savior complex with saving the poor foreigners from the devil - Sitara never saw them as their savior as some of the non English speaking children may have, to some degree; enough of a degree to make them adopt more & see themselves as the best adoptive parents to ever adopt a child.  Who knows what Sitara's first 7 years were like, but is she was an angry kid - as some mentioned in the ass kissing comments on Bret's self praise post - it was because she had something to be angry about. Kids don't end up being adopted because life is great and they are happy and well adjusted. Bret & Jacquie Smith refused - they didn't just fail to, they refused to - recognize that Sitara was already a fully formed human being by the time she was snatched up by them; she's already lived an entire life and established coping mechanisms, self protection, thoughts, ideas...everything that comes with being a human being. In order to make he into the person they wanted/demanded she be - they first had to entirely remove the person she already was. 

Just that alone is too disgusting to even think of. 

You are absolutely right - they killed her spirit then they killed her. 

And I am still so freaking angry  I could scream. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by fundiefan

[hoipolloi]

14 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

From my understanding, she was working alone on replacing the roof of their house the morning of her death, but it's not how she died. Brett left that part out intentionally, certainly because the accident was his fault.

Due to the paywall, I can't read the entire news story but in the previous thread @Nikedagain? said that one preview stated that Sitara was helping Bret cut down a tree and it fell on her.

If true, it's not surprising that the Craptain would lie about what happened and his responsibility for it.

Man, I hope they nail his fucking ass after a death investigation but I'm not optimistic. It's Georgia, it's the lying Smiths, and they've gotten away with so much abuse for so long.

[fundiefan]

17 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Due to the paywall, I can't read the entire news story but in the previous thread @Nikedagain? said that one preview stated that Sitara was helping Bret cut down a tree and it fell on her.

If true, it's not surprising that the Craptain would lie about what happened and his responsibility for it.

Man, I hope they nail his fucking ass after a death investigation but I'm not optimistic. It's Georgia, it's the lying Smiths, and they've gotten away with so much abuse for so long.

There were a few sources with that story - including the Griffin Newspaper Facebook page. They didn't have the whole article either because of paywalls, but they had a bit more. They also had the Police notice that flight for life would be landing at the school across the street for an accident - not for anything going on at the school. 

I'm confident Bret is lying. This is one of the blurbs on paywall pieces

An 18-year-old Griffin resident was killed in an accident Tuesday morning at her Birdie Road residence. “It’s a tragic accident and a heartbreaking situation for sure,” Spalding County Michael Pryor said Wednesday. Sitara Smith was helping her father cut down a tree in their yard when the tree fell on her as she...

Bret has posted pictures of smiling people in their crap filled home after his ego fest pretending to be a service for Sitara. Nothing like inviting people over the scene of the crime. 

Bret Smith is a liar and a monster. 

 

[Bethy]

On 8/25/2021 at 11:31 PM, ophelia said:

I‘m also quite irritated that Kressant is back at posting her usual everyday life posts on IG. I know that grief is an individual process, but this just seems odd to me.

You can't legislate good taste, for sure, and I don't want to sound like I'm coming down on Kressant's side on this, but I think it's worth considering that if they adopted Sitara eleven years ago, I'm pretty sure Kressant was already married and gone by then. At the point when Sitara officially joined the family, Kressant "belonged" to the Mortons, not the Smiths. Though she hadn't cut ties yet (that came later, after Alan's 2016 arrest) I doubt she had much opportunity to really bond with Sitara. And since 2016 I doubt she's seen Sitara in person at all. I'm not saying the bond is less because Sitara is adopted, because it shouldn't be (though let's be honest, from everything we've seen, this isn't the healthiest adoptive family out there) but just saying that the time factor lessened their opportunity to bond - the same as if Sitara had been biologically born to the Smiths after Kressant's marriage and departure from her family of origin.

So while it's kind of tacky that she acknowledged Sitara's death and then just went on posting like usual, it probably doesn't FEEL like a sibling loss to her. Plus her emotions surrounding her family of origin are pretty screwed up by the fact that her parents sided with her child-abusing oldest brother and so she wisely cut ties with them and, by extension, their minor children. The whole bunch of them need a crap ton of therapy but you know they would refuse that and just say that they need to read the Bible more.

[Black Aliss]

Dear Capt. Bret: If your god spoke to your grandmother and told her that he would heal her husband from cancer but the deal was that the husband would go back to being an abusive drunk, your god is the biggest asshole in the universe!

[usedbicycle]

@lunaselene503 I'm curious about your downvotes on a lot of recent posts in this thread. Do you have some information that we don't?

[JermajestyDuggar]

I think my eyes just rolled out of my head.

[lunaselene503]

1 hour ago, usedbicycle said:

@lunaselene503 I'm curious about your downvotes on a lot of recent posts in this thread. Do you have some information that we don't?

Hello. No, I don’t have any additional information.

[Bethy]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think my eyes just rolled out of my head.

Ugh...there's another slide in the same batch of stories where it's just the four girls and she's gushing about Little Women and saying "Call me Marmie." Did you forget the part where one of the daughters dies as a teen? 😲 It's not all sewing projects and acting out plays in that book.

[CrazyCatLady]

There were a few sources with that story - including the Griffin Newspaper Facebook page. They didn't have the whole article either because of paywalls, but they had a bit more. They also had the Police notice that flight for life would be landing at the school across the street for an accident - not for anything going on at the school. 
I'm confident Bret is lying. This is one of the blurbs on paywall pieces
An 18-year-old Griffin resident was killed in an accident Tuesday morning at her Birdie Road residence. “It’s a tragic accident and a heartbreaking situation for sure,” Spalding County Michael Pryor said Wednesday. Sitara Smith was helping her father cut down a tree in their yard when the tree fell on her as she...
Bret has posted pictures of smiling people in their crap filled home after his ego fest pretending to be a service for Sitara. Nothing like inviting people over the scene of the crime. 
Bret Smith is a liar and a monster. 
 

Here's the article:

An 18-year-old Griffin resident was killed in an accident Tuesday morning at her Birdie Road residence.

“It’s a tragic accident and a heartbreaking situation for sure,” Spalding County Michael Pryor said Wednesday.

Sitara Smith was helping her father cut down a tree in their yard when the tree fell on her as she was picking up limbs, Pryor said.

An Emory air ambulance was initially called to transport the victim, but Pryor said its flight was cancelled because the patient’s condition was too critical.

Smith was transported to Wellstar Spalding Regional Hospital, where she passed away from her injuries.

“The parents are devastated,” Pryor said, adding that the victim’s church family arrived at Wellstar following the accident and “wrapped their arms” around family members.

“They do have tremendous support from their church family,” Pryor said. “We as a community need to be praying for them too.”

[fundiefan]

Thank Zeus I do not live in Griffin, GA. Even the notice in the paper of her death is wrapped in Jesus. You can't escape the religious excuses/justifications/blessings(gag). Makes me think Bret wrote it; "the family has tremendous support" because they are such great & godly people the entire community adores the. 

Barf. 

Their god is an ass, as someone said above. After taking the life of an 18 year old he/she/it wrapped Bret & Jacquie in the arms of so many wonderful people to make them feel good. Too bad said god couldn't protect the 18 year old from death. 

[lexiloumarie]

Mariah Campana Thomas, homeschooled and future homeschooler, is out protesting mask mandates at the local public schools as if it effects her children who would never be allowed near something so heathen. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

7 minutes ago, lexiloumarie said:

Mariah Campana Thomas, homeschooled and future homeschooler, is out protesting mask mandates at the local public schools as if it effects her children who would never be allowed near something so heathen. 

She must be bored with nothing to do. How pathetic.