| How I Got That Story: FLDS | ||||||
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Written by Rick Sallinger CBS 4 - Denver | ||||||
WESTCLIFFE, Colo. (CBS4) -- It was several months ago a friend of mine first told me about the polygamist religious group the F.L.D.S. presence in southern Colorado. He said the Fundamentalist Later Day Saints were buying up lots of properties around Westcliffe. Weighing the difficulties in doing such a story I never figured we'd be able to get inside. We learned from the Wet Mountain Tribune in Westcliffe that a man by the name of Lee Steed had purchased at least five properties in Custer and Fremont counties. This information had first been made public by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery Alabama. It had conducted research on this after receiving a tip. The Wet Mountain Tribune also reported that a group had formed in Westcliffe called "Step Up." They were bringing in speakers from Utah and Denver to educate the people about the FLDS. "Step Up" also wanted to learn what to do should an F.L.D.S. member come into the community wanting to flee. My next task was to try to make contact with "Step Up" and the FLDS. Through intermediaries I was able to get word to each group that I was interested in doing a story. I heard back from "Step Up" which was curious to see how educated I was on the subject. After extensive emailing a personal meeting was arranged. As for the FLDS I was given a phone number to call for Lee Steed -- the man who had purchased the properties. I also arranged a personal meeting. It was a pefect fall day when my photographer and I arrived in this picturesque small town framed between the Sangre de Cristo and Wet Mountains 2 1/2 hours from Denver. The off camera meeting with Steed was set up for a coffee shop. I did not have any idea what to expect. When he arrived his first question came quickly, "Are you LDS?" That was a reference to the Mormon Church. "No" was my reply adding, "My religion should not be a factor in the stories that I do." Relations between the Mormon Church and FLDS are apparently not good. We then sat down and talked for over an hour. He explained that after the Texas raid this past April the FLDS had allowed some journalists inside the compound with mixed results. Some of the reports, they felt, were unfair and now were screeing those who want inside. The best I could do is explain that we wanted to do a story on their presence in Colorado and we wanted to hear from them. This group been quite closed and secretive in the past. In 2006 their prophet Warren Jeffs was sentenced to prison for assisting in the rape of a teenage girl who testified she was forced into marriage. Law enforcement authrorities in Texas, Utah and Arizona have conducted actions that have generated a huge amount of negative publicity about the FLDS. I hoped that they would believe letting us in would be in their best interest. At the end of our conversation Steed asked me if I would like to meet his wife. (I should add he said this is his only wife). My reply was "sure." My photographer and I were then escorted to one of the properties Steed had purchased. There we got our first taste of the FLDS life. The men and boys were working in the fields harvesting hay. They wore neat long sleeve shirts buttoned at the wrists and shook our hands. We also were introduced to Steed's wife Debbie. She was attractive and wore a traditional ankle length "prairie dress." In a way I felt like I had slipped into another world. Should I shake her hand? I'm used to dealing in foreign cultures, but here I was in my own country, in my home state. "Just be yourself," I told myself. "Would you like to tour the property?" I was asked. I was then directed to an ATV and told Debbie would give me the tour. We drove for a few minutes to a pond where she stopped the vehicle and turned off the motor. What we did next was talk, and talk, and talk some more. She told me she had three mothers, her birth mother plus two others. She said called them all "mother" and grew up in a loving home. All of them were equal in her eyes. She could not understand why the people around Westcliffe loved the Amish, but were not so welcoming to them. She was concerned why "Step Up" formed and was only asking those "apostate" (against) them to speak. I explained because their church had been so secretive the world was seeing primarily negative information about them. She strongly denied that women were forced into marriages and lives they did not want. Likewise Debbie said that children were not abused. She said they are taught to "use persuasion through love and sweet invitation." They are to "keep sweet, the full spirit of God." "Why do you engage in plural marriage?" I asked. She replied that they are living their lives as dicated by the bible. I should note here that the F.L.D.S. is a breakaway group from the Morman Church. They followed the founder Joseph Smith to Illinois in the 1800s and then Brigham Young to Utah. When Utah was becoming a state the Mormons banned the practice of polygamy. Not everyone agreed and some went their own way, including those that became Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. Their base became "Short Creek" in southern Utah and northern Arizona. In 1953 authorities acting against the practice of polygamy raided their homes and took their children. The children were eventually returned. This year the national spotlight was on the FLDS when Texas authorities raided their "Yearning for Zion" ranch in El Dorado. The courts ordered the children returned. During the past several years FLDS members have been purchasing properties in remote areas of Colorado including Mancos and Crawford in addition to near Westcliffe and Florence. Debbie and Lee Steed told me some of the properties were for FLDS widows and grandmothers who had been married to high ranking church leaders. Other properties in this area were for investment, a friend, and themselves. Apparently our conversations went alright. After a tour of another property Lee Steed said he would ask the "ladies" how they would feel about having us for a visit. Later, while in town we met with one of the organizers of "Step Up." It was quite apparent this person had done a tremendous amount of research on their new neighbors the FLDS. I was told "Step Up" had about 250 people at their initial meeting, less at subsequent ones. That's a lot considering Westcliffe and nearby Silvercliffe measure their populations in the hundreds. They brought in speakers like Laura Chapman. She fled the FLDS at age 19 and now teaches officials and others about what she says are the many abuses by the church, its leaders and members. While the "Step Up" organizer we met declined to be interviewed on camera she said they would find someone who would appear. A few days later I placed another call to Steed. The decision had been made. We were invited to come down again the following week with our camera. There was only one precondition -- that we not show his face. He explained he wanted to be able to go into town without being recognized by everyone. We would be the first televison journalists to be allowed onto an FLDS property in Colorado, he said. The Wet Mountain Tribune and the Salt Lake Tribune preceeded us and helped pave our way. Before entering the compound we were hearing claims that what we would be seeing was nothing more than a staged photo opportunity with FLDS women brought in shortly ahead of times as props. Steed assured us that was not the case. He and the women said they had been there 2-3 years. The women answered all of our questions. The stories they told of their lives in polygamy was obviously quite opposite from the chilling abuses Laura Chapman described. Nevertheless, the ladies said they came to Colorado from Utah and Arizona for refuge from "persecution" and now wonder if that is what they have found. | ||||||
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CBS4Denver.com Originally broadcast November 11, 2008 | ||||||
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