For more information email:   Polygamists Canada-bound?
  By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News   Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs continues to urge his followers to abandon the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., and may now be creating a new colony in the Saskatchewan province of Canada.

The disclosure came Thursday in 3rd District Court from the man appointed to oversee the FLDS Church's financial arm, known as the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust.

"There's talk about maybe moving there and building a community," court-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan said after the hearing. He did not know where in Saskatchewan the FLDS Church may be going. The polygamous group already has a community known as Bountiful, in British Columbia, and enclaves have been discovered in Pringle, S.D.; Pioche, Nev.; Eldorado, Texas; and Mancos, Colo.

During the hearing, Wisan said he had been told as many as 40 percent of the FLDS communities may be moving to "a very remote, pristine area to start over again." Church members would move to the new communities by invitation only.

"It's the very righteous, the cream of the crop," he said.

The problem is, many more will be left in the dying communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.

"Warren Jeffs started this crisis," said Roger Hoole, a lawyer representing former FLDS members who were kicked out and have filed several lawsuits against the UEP Trust. "He is literally bleeding this town dry."

Jeffs is facing criminal charges in Arizona related to arranging child-bride marriages. He is currently a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted List. A $60,000 reward is being offered by Utah and Arizona authorities for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

A "siege mentality" appears to be setting in among the FLDS faithful who remain. They have been instructed by Jeffs not to pay property taxes on UEP land, even at the risk of eviction.

Wisan told the judge Thursday that some people have removed the street numbers from their homes, and others have begun building 9-foot-tall fences to keep prying eyes out.

"Maybe a few fences will have to come down," Judge Denise Lindberg replied.

Lindberg on Thursday approved using about $218,000 from the trust to pay the special fiduciary and attorneys involved in the case.

Officers in the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office have refused to cooperate with Wisan, thwarting his attempts to investigate properties or enforce court orders. Last week, letters from Utah and Arizona law-enforcement brass were sent to police officers in the marshal's office, threatening them with decertification if they did not follow court orders.

"Basically it is not to be argued, debated — just followed," Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said Thursday. "We want to give them the benefit until they prove otherwise."

A motion to compel the officers in the marshal's office to answer lawyers' questions about their selective enforcement of the UEP court orders was filed Thursday in Arizona, said Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for Wisan.

Despite the struggles, the polygamous border towns are seeing some good news. Wisan told the court that some people had begun paying property taxes. He also had people interested in purchasing property outside of the twin cities for business development. One potential buyer is a hi-tech firm that wants to employ 115 people in the area, Wisan said.

A public meeting to discuss the latest with the UEP is planned for April 19 in southern Utah.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com   deseretnews.com
Originally published Friday, March 31, 2006
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