State facility set to open in polygamous community
 
The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Sun
 
PHOENIX (AP) -- An unassuming doublewide trailer is bringing a state presence to the polygamous town of Colorado City.

The trailer is set to house a long-delayed, multi-use facility that will provide space for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, Child Protective Services, the Mohave County sheriff, Mohave County Victim Witness Program and the county attorney.

The offices are the first semi-permanent, independent governmental presence in this remote area since National Guard troops and state police staged a highly criticized raid to rout out polygamy 51 years ago.

"The intent of the facility is really to bring the state and the county into Colorado City," said Richard Travis, special assistant attorney general, who visited the new offices this week.

Polygamy is practiced openly in Colorado City.

The remote enclave is on the state line with Utah and is dominated by Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members -- a religious sect that split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy.

Critics claim the church uses polygamy to justify a wide range of evils, from child rape and underage marriage to bilking public payrolls. The isolation of Colorado City only helps perpetuate those suspicions.

That's why some consider the new facility could be significant.

"There is a way and a means to create change if there is a desire," said Mohave County Supervisor Pete Byers, whose district includes Colorado City, a five-hour drive from his office in Kingman.

"If you constantly pay lip service and never move forward, nothing is going to change. At least now we are moving forward."
 
azdailysun.com
Originally published November 29, 2004
 
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