New polygamist trust Web site aims for transparency
 
By Jennifer Dobner
The Associated Press
Tucson Citizen
 
SALT LAKE CITY — Beneficiaries of a polygamist church trust who object to dealing with its court-appointed accountant have a new way to get information — a Web site that details activity related to the United Effort Plan Trust.

The site, www.ueptrust.com, went on line May 22, accountant Bruce Wisan said.

For now the site is fairly simple, just one page with some stated goals and links to court documents. But, Wisan said, "it’s a start."

The site is another step in Wisan’s attempt to communicate with trust beneficiaries, most of whom are current or former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Formed in the 1940s as the charitable arm of the church, the UEP trust holds an estimated $100 million in property, including nearly every land parcel and residence in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, where most church members live.

There’s also some land and homes in Bountiful, British Columbia, where a small outpost of members settled.

Wisan’s trust guardianship began in June 2005, when a Utah judge ruled that church leaders had negligently left assets vulnerable to liquidation through lawsuits and agreed with state attorneys who said some property had been sold for the personal benefit of fugitive polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs.

Since then, Wisan has been working to catalog the trust assets and get millions in taxes paid in Utah and Arizona. But the job has been stymied by uncooperative church members, who shun contact with outsiders and who reportedly have been told by Jeffs to "answer them nothing."

Wisan has held town meetings, sent letters — which the Hildale postmaster told him get tossed on the floor — and posted tax notices on some doors. The Web site is just another tool to ensure the message is getting out.

"I just wanted to be transparent," Wisan said. "And I want (beneficiaries) to be making decisions from a position of knowledge, not from a position of heard rumors or guessing what’s happening."

Wisan said information he gets from some close to the FLDS church indicates that many insiders have access to the Internet, despite directives from leaders to avoid it, and the site could provide a mechanism for the curious to get information privately.

"I would hope that a few of them would do that," Wisan said.

Seeking information from Wisan in public ways has proved detrimental for some.

In April, FLDS member Patrick Pipkin, 23, attended Wisan’s community meeting to get information about his property taxes, which the church told him not to pay. Within hours of the meeting, Pipkin was informed by church leaders to leave his trust-owned home and ordered not to have contact with his family.

Pipkin’s fate is not uncommon. Known as a heavy-handed and controlling leader, Jeffs, 50, is wanted in Arizona and Utah on criminal charges related to arranging underage marriages. Named to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in April, he has often excommunicated disloyal followers, taking their homes and families.

With Wisan in control of the trust, it’s illegal for Jeffs or his agents to kick people out of their homes. But the new trust leadership does require residents to sign occupancy agreements and pay their taxes to continue living there. Wisan said he has no plans, however, to post information about who is and isn’t making tax payments. He said he’s promised to keep those details private.

But Wisan is hoping the site will become a forum for questions. He also said he plans to add a calendar of important dates or events and information about plans for economic development.

Margaret Cooke, a former FLDS plural wife, said church leaders have never provided information about the trust to members and hopes the site will help people begin to understand how the management change has stopped the depletion of its assets by Jeffs.

"I’m not sure they will trust what’s on (the site) because they are told not too," said Cooke, who sits on Wisan’s court-appointed advisory board. "They need to learn that not all people or media are deceiving them."
 
tucsoncitizen.com
Originally published May 31, 2006
 
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