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| Excuses ! Excuses ! Excuses ! |
 Monument commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1953 raid on Short Creek. |
For many decades, the people living in Utah and Arizona have just turned a blind eye to the abuses occurring within the secrecy and isolation of polygamy. They don't want to acknowledge it; they don't want to take any responsibility for it; they don't want to be bothered with it; they claim they can't do anything about it; or they say it is someone else's problem. The US Government continues to turn a blind eye to the situation, too. This also seems to be the attitude taken by the Canadians regarding the "Sister-sects" in British Columbia. Nobody seems to want to help the victims of polygamy! Below are some prime examples of this situation. These news articles are listed in chronological order. |
| It's A Felony, But Polygamy Isn't Prosecuted In Arizona | |
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By Tim Molloy The Associated Press Originally published August 12, 1998 | |
| PHOENIX (AP) - Gov. Jane Hull says polygamy is illegal. So does the state constitution. But that doesn't mean Mrs. Hull is doing anything to stop men from taking multiple wives in Arizona - or that she can. None of Arizona's elected officials have done much of anything about polygamy laws since 1953, when a midnight raid on the tiny polygamist community of Short Creek turned voters against Governor Howard Pyle. Arizonans were shocked at the sight of hundreds of children being taken from their families in the night and dozens of men dragged off to Kingman on charges ranging from bigamy to statutory rape. Pyle said the raid cost him his 1954 bid for re-election. Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt reopened the polygamy debate last month when he said it might be legal under the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom. He quickly backtracked from that and said that polygamy was in fact illegal but that it would be as impossible to prosecute as sodomy or cohabitation, which are also crimes in Utah and Arizona. Read more | |
| Utah Paying a High Price for Polygamy | |
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By Julie Cart The Los Angeles Times Originally published September 9, 2001 | |
| Law: Child abuse and welfare fraud are part of plural marriage's toll. Still, there is a reluctance to pursue lawbreakers. Hildale, Utah -- A declaration of war it was not. But in Utah, where polygamy has been a persistent but submerged issue for generations, no governor had so much as whispered a public opinion on the topic before. So when Gov. Mike Leavitt asserted last May that "polygamy is against the law" and polygamist Tom Green was sentenced last month to five years in prison, it appeared to signal an unprecedented crackdown on multiple marriages. With the Winter Olympics only a few months off, image-conscious public officials are starting to talk tough about a crime that law enforcement officials have routinely ignored. But it remains to be seen if the tough talk will translate into action any time soon. Read more | |
| Canadian polygamists let off the hook — again | |
| Government says the polygamy law violates religious freedoms | |
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By Frank Stirk Christian Week Canada Originally published March 5, 2002 | |
| VICTORIA, BC—The British Columbia government will continue a decade-old policy of not prosecuting polygamists, at least until the law forbidding multiple marriages has been reworded. An internal review completed last month re-affirmed the stance taken by the previous NDP administration that the statute—Section 239 of the Criminal Code—violates Charter protections of freedom of religion. "Faced with these legal opinions we will be seeking an amendment to the Criminal Code," Attorney-General Geoff Plant told Vancouver's The Province. To Rowenna Erickson, however, this refusal to enforce the law is "very disappointing." A co-founder of the Utah-based group Tapestry Against Polygamy (TAP), she says the province is ignoring the reality that women trapped in a polygamous "marriage" suffer appalling abuse. "Polygamists are every bit as bad as the Taliban in the way that they treat women," said Erickson in an interview from Salt Lake City. "They use them as property, they barter and trade them and they force them into marriages at very young ages." Read more | |
| Groups Airing 'Utah's Dirty Little Secret' | |
| As activists gather, they say state's inaction on the issue allows sexual assaults, child abuse, welfare fraud to go unchecked. | |
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By Julie Cart The Los Angeles Times Originally published August 18, 2002 | |
| Zion National Park, Utah -- It's been two years since Utah's Legislature appointed a full-time investigator to root out crimes associated with polygamy. But, aside from last year's high-profile prosecution and imprisonment of polygamist Tom Green, no other cases have been brought to court. Anti-polygamy activists, who gathered here Saturday for an unprecedented meeting, charge that the state has not done enough to stamp out "Utah's dirty little secret." They say the inaction is allowing child abuse, welfare fraud and sexual assault to continue unchecked in polygamous communities. Groups from Utah, Arizona and Canada met for the first time to gather material for a report they intend to forward to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. They also have recruited former "sister wives" to help build a massive class-action suit to be filed against a polygamous religious group that arranges marriages of girls as young as 13. Activists called polygamous leaders "the American Taliban," saying women are subjugated by the practice of plural marriage. And over and over again, they said Utah's polygamy investigator has merely provided political cover for the state, which has little interest in delving into a highly sensitive issue. Read more | |
| 2 polygamous towns investigated | |
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By Dennis Wagner and Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Originally published October 2, 2002 | |
| Authorities from Arizona and Utah revealed Tuesday that they have spent the past two years investigating underage marriages and other crimes in the polygamous towns of Colorado City and Hildale, although no arrests have been made to date. Dennis Burke of the Arizona Attorney General's Office said agents began a "very broad criminal investigation" after the state's top prosecutor, Janet Napolitano, learned about allegations of child abuse and teen marriages in the towns along the Arizona Strip. Colorado City and Hildale are dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a sect that splintered from mainstream Mormonism after the mother church renounced polygamy more than a century ago. There are now an estimated 10,000 congregants in the fundamentalist group. Burke confirmed that agents from his office are working in concert with Ron Barton, a Utah investigator hired specifically to prosecute polygamists. Barton was responsible for the conviction of Tom Green, who was sentenced to prison in a highly publicized case, but has otherwise claimed no successes in a state with thousands of multiwife families. Leaders in Colorado City could not be reached for comment. Read more | |
| Polygamous Towns Investigated | |
| County attorney’s office to join in investigation of criminal activity | |
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By Brian Wedemeyer Today's News-Herald - Havasu City Originally published October 3, 2002 | |
| The Mohave County Attorney’s Office is involved in a joint investigation of alleged criminal activity in polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah, County Attorney Bill Ekstrom said Wednesday. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office recently confirmed that an investigation with Utah authorities has been ongoing for the past two years. "We are making some progress," Ekstrom said. "Multiple relationships between consenting adults is not prosecutable. However, when those relationships spill over and affect children, we are concerned about it. And we are interested in developing cases if they are there." Read more | |
| Public officials defend handling of complaints about Colorado City | |
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By Ken Hedlery Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Friday, December 20, 2002 | |
| Arizona officials from Mohave County supervisors to the attorney general have been criticized for not vigorously prosecuting criminal activity in Colorado City. Critics, led by Flora Jessop, a former resident of the polygamous community in the Arizona Strip, allege child abuse, rape, welfare fraud and other criminal activity occur there and go largely unpunished. Residents (population 3,332 according to the 2000 census) are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which split from the Mormon Church over the issue of polygamy during the 19th century. "What should be done?" District 1 Supervisor Pete Byers, whose district includes Colorado City, asked rhetorically. "It's not for me to figure out. It's up to the entities that are involved. It's up to the FBI and attorney general." Mohave County officials say they lack jurisdiction because Colorado City has its own city government and police department. Because Colorado City borders another state, they contend, investigation and prosecution are complicated. Read more | |
| Hatch pressed to take stand against polygamy | |
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Casper Star Tribune Originally published April 18, 2003 | |
| St. George, Utah -- Sen. Orrin Hatch, attending a town meeting in southern Utah, found himself pressed by anti-polygamy activists to take a stand against the practice. Bob Curran, director of the anti-polygamy group Help the Child Brides, asked the Utah Republican on Thursday, why, only an hour away, "thugs" rape children and nothing is being done to stop it. "No one should be raping a child ... we need to protect our children," Hatch said. Curran said girls as young as 13 and 14 were forced into plural marriages with older men in the nearby twin polygamous communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Another speaker, Sonya Blancke, said she was dismayed that polygamists were able to break the laws. Hatch said, "I wouldn't throw accusations around unless you know they're true." "I'm not here to justify polygamy," he said. "All I can say is, I know people in Hildale who are polygamists who are very fine people. Read more | |
| Ludlow's appointment before Senate | |
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By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published Thursday, May 1, 2003 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY -- Members of the Senate Judiciary Confirmation Committee upheld their original motion to support Washington County Attorney Eric Ludlow's appointment as judge for the 5th District Court. The committee asked Ludlow additional questions Wednesday to clarify some confusion regarding the issue of polygamy, which had been brought up in the previous committee hearing April 9. People opposed to Ludlow's nomination accused him of turning a blind eye to polygamy and ignoring cases that had come across his desk alleging abuse of young women. "As a father of four daughters and a prosecutor, that is a horrible charge," Ludlow said. When directly questioned about polygamy issues, Ludlow said that never, to his knowledge, had a case come into his office that was not acted upon. Ludlow mainly referred to the case against Rodney Holm, a Hildale-area police officer charged with two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and one count of bigamy -- charges related to his relationship with Holm's third wife, Ruth Stubbs. Ludlow said that case was being handled by the Utah Attorney General's Office -- not because his office was turning a blind eye, but because there were conflicts of interest in having Washington County prosecute the case. Other than that case, Ludlow said he knew of no case presented to his office. During the hearing, Bob Curran of Help the Child Brides said that Ludlow either had to have known about abuses in polygamist marriages and done nothing, or he didn't know, making him a "terribly inept choice." Read more | |
| Get a Grip: Polygamy again | |
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News Column by Abbie Gripman Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Friday, May 16, 2003 | |
| Finally. The heat is rising in Colorado City and at last it’s not just due to summer. At last, the public has proof of fraud of abuse in the polygamous northern Mohave County city. Colorado City is a tiny, scenic community divided from the rest of the county by the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. The town’s isolation is deliberate. When mainstream Mormons were forced to renounce polygamy in 1890 in exchange for Utah statehood, many refused to give up the practice of taking multiple wives. Early Mormon doctrine taught that taking many wives was the only way for a man to attaint the highest reaches of heaven. In addition, women were taught that only by submitting to their husbands as multiple wives would they be eligible for salvation on their husband’s coattails. So when the church suddenly reversed itself, many fundamentalists felt abandoned. Those who continued the practice of polygamy were excommunicated. It is a handful of these outcasts who dug in at the community north of the Grand Canyon. Colorado City and adjacent Hildale, Utah, straddle the Arizona/Utah border. The confused jurisdiction is another complication for authorities trying to crack down on abuses in the community. Read more | |
| Eyes Wide Shut | |
| From Governor Janet Napolitano down, Arizona authorities have protected polygamous sexual predators with their indifference | |
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By John Dougherty Phoenix New Times Originally published August 7, 2003 | |
| "This is laughable," scoffs Cindi Nannetti, Maricopa County's sex-crimes bureau chief, as she finishes reading a three-page report prepared by the Colorado City Police Department -- an agency controlled by fundamentalist Mormon polygamists along the Arizona-Utah border. The report briefly summarizes more than a decade of sex crimes by Dan Barlow Jr., 52, whose father, Dan Barlow Sr., is the longtime mayor and fire chief of Colorado City, a small town on the desolate Arizona Strip north of the Grand Canyon. Nannetti certainly isn't laughing over the criminal acts. One of the top sex-crimes prosecutors in the country, she has been directing Maricopa County's investigation into sexual misconduct by Catholic priests for years. She knows good police work, and the Colorado City police report misses the mark. Nannetti says cases with similar accusations in Maricopa County would result in stacks of evidence two feet high. Read more | |
| AZ Legislature needs to speak out on polygamy | |
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By Al Herron Prescott Daily Courier Originally published Wednesday, September 3, 2003 | |
| We’ve shown how the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (up on the Arizona – Utah border) marries teen-age girls against their will to older men with several wives already. Also, we’ve seen how they use public assistance programs to support their huge families, and how the school district is defrauding the state’s taxpayers. They excel at "bleeding the beast." Three years ago, the Arizona Attorney General’s office began an investigation into charges of illegal marriage with underage girls, sexual assault, statutory rape, incest and other such pleasantries up in Colorado City, but so far nothing has come of it. It’s difficult to get witnesses because the Fundamentalist Mormon Church tells them it will shun them for life, and they will spend eternity in hell if they talk. Also, the Arizona Auditor General’s office has begun an investigation into the practices of the Colorado City School Board. Members routinely use the schools’ credit cards and vehicles for personal use. They spend funds extravagantly, such as buying an airplane, and then make the students raise money to go see "The Wizard of Oz." The students and teachers (none of whom are FLDS any longer) claim that the board members (who are all FLDS) are running the district primarily to benefit the private FLDS schools instead of its public schools. County school officials told state officials that the district is spending state funds improperly, but nothing more has happened. It’s an "ongoing investigation." I sure hope it gets there someday. Read more | |
| Politics Over Principle | |
| Napolitano and Goddard exhibit cowardly conduct in the polygamy probe | |
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By Rick Barrs Phoenix New Times Originally published October 9, 2003 | |
| Imagine my shock the other Sunday when I picked up the Arizona Republic and there it was on the front page (above the fold, even): "Polygamist sect target of Arizona-Utah inquiry." Arizona's largest daily newspaper was following John Dougherty's groundbreaking New Times stories on a Mormon polygamist sect in northern Arizona and southern Utah that has forced underage girls into sexual slavery for generations (this is Islam with an X rating). The subhead read: "For decades, allegations of child abuse, forced marriage, incest and misuse of public money fell on deaf ears." Read more | |
| Polygamy? I’m awaiting answers, senator | |
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By Al Herron Prescott Daily Courier Originally published Sunday, December 21, 2003 | |
| Thanks to Sen. Ken Bennett for replying to my requests for information about the polygamy problem in Northern Arizona. It wasn’t what I hoped to hear, but at least it was a reply. I had asked why polygamy is growing so rapidly in Colorado City (probably 10,000 polygamists in that area) while our state Constitution says "polygamy shall be forever prohibited within this state." And what is the Legislature contemplating about the welfare fraud and school fraud in Colorado City? And what about the old rumor that Mormon legislators in Arizona have ignored all this because they’re basically sympathetic to polygamist doctrine and lifestyle? (Some legislators are descendants of polygamists, so perhaps that’s understandable.) But instead of answering these questions, Sen. Bennett attacked me for being a bigot, "morally outrageous," and "the pride of Archie Bunker." This type of response seems to be standard. Read more | |
| Goddard calls for patience in polygamy case | |
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By Robbie Sherwood The Arizona Republic Originally published February 5, 2004 | |
| Authorities are making progress in "unprecedented" efforts to crack down on child abuse and other crimes in the reclusive polygamist enclave of Colorado City, Attorney General Terry Goddard said Wednesday. Goddard wouldn't talk about any ongoing criminal investigations, but he urged patience from lawmakers and other critics who have said it's time to see results. A group of 22 House members sent Goddard a letter on Monday urging him to take action in Colorado City. "Patience pays off," Goddard said. "We learned this lesson recently after watching the safe return of the state corrections officer after 15 days being held hostage by two prisoners. We are practicing the same patience with regard to Colorado City because we can't change 50 years of mistrust overnight." Read more | |
| Handling of enclave defended | |
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By Paul Davenport The Associated Press Originally published Thursday, February 5, 2004 | |
| PHOENIX — Attorney General Terry Goddard is defending his office's handling of allegations of child abuse and other wrongdoing in the northern Arizona polygamist enclave of Colorado City. "We're doing everything we can. It's a No. 1 priority for this office," Goddard said Wednesday during a news conference. The state's top prosecutor declined to discuss any criminal investigations and child-dependency cases now under way, but he said it remains difficult to get people to testify about "extremely disturbing" allegations. "We need facts." Goddard said state authorities nonetheless are moving quietly and diligently on many fronts to protect children from abuse. "It's probably not going to result in a big explosion today or tomorrow but I believe the truth is coming out and in fact the inquiry is at a much higher and much (more) diligent level than it's ever been," said Goddard, a Democrat who took office 13 months ago. He said he simultaneously is trying to build bridges with community members who remain deeply suspicious after a controversial state raid five decades ago. Twenty-seven Arizona state legislators — 26 Republicans and one Democrat — on Tuesday released a letter calling on Goddard to ensure the safety of young people in Colorado City and to prosecute cases of criminal activity such as bigamy, rape and incest. Read more | |
| Colorado City runaway returned home | |
| DCFS: not enough reason to withold custody | |
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By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published Saturday, February 7, 2004 | |
| ST. GEORGE -- A Colorado City girl who ran away to St. George in the aftermath of a split in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was returned home last week after two weeks in Utah and Arizona state custody. The 17-year-old girl, who left in a Chevy truck with a man on Jan. 17, was returned home on Jan. 30 after 5th District Court Judge James L. Shumate dismissed a protective order she obtained against her father. The St. George court, Shumate said, didn't have jurisdiction over an Arizona case. The Arizona Child Protective Services and Utah State Division of Child and Family Services, both of which sent representatives to Shumate's court, said they found no abuses at the girl's home. The Utah DCFS, after keeping the girl as a possible runaway for 10 days at the Youth Crisis Center at the Youth Corrections Facility, turned her over to Arizona CPS on Jan. 27. "Living in a polygamist home -- by that reason is not enough to remove a child," said Carol Sisco, spokeswoman for Utah DCFS. "That doesn't constitute abuse or neglect." Read more | |
| Lack of polygamy prosecutions explained | |
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The Tri-State News Network Originally published Monday, February 23, 2004 | |
| KINGMAN, Ariz Why has there been little prosecution in Colorado City? TSN talked with Former Mohave County Attorney Bill Ekstrom to get his answer. "We were very concerned about allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual abuse of young women. We investigated those with the resources we had and I know the Attorney General's office has done the same thing. And those cases just didn't happen. Essentially you have individuals who don't perceive themselves to be victims and who are unwilling to cooperate with any kind of prosecution and hence the facts never came out," he said. "Well essentially you have to have a good case and investigation, before you can prosecute. So it is very difficult, particularly in a community where there is not a lot of law enforcement resources and a lot of information coming out. Read more | |
| County presence in Colorado City delayed | |
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e-Press The Tri-State News Network Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published Wednesday, April 7, 2004 | |
| KINGMAN, Ariz. - The completion date of a modular facility in Colorado City has been pushed back some. "It was my opinion that the building could be completed within 90 days after purchasing the place and the estimated completion date at the beginning of May. This estimate was based on my belief that there was a modular building available under state contract that could be purchased within budget. Unfortunately, this assumption was not correct forcing the county into bidding out the project," said county public works director Mike Hendrix. Director Hendrix said they have advertised the bid and a tentative completion date has been delayed until the middle of July. | |
| AG: Hildale arrests not in the cards | |
| Shurtleff says report won't lead to polygamous policemen's prosecution | |
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Staff and wire reports The Spectrum Originally published Thursday, June 10, 2004 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY -- Attorney General Mark Shurtleff doesn't plan to prosecute the polygamist policemen in Hildale, but he would like the state to take away their law-enforcement certification. Hildale and adjacent Colorado City, Ariz., are home to the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Officers are cross-certified in the two states. Following an eight-month investigation, Shurtleff's office concluded that seven of Hildale's 13 officers were practicing polygamists, some officers turned a blind eye to crimes by fellow officers and some officers lied about completing required training hours. Shurtleff is not pursuing criminal charges on any of the accusations. "We just don't have the resources to start charging bigamy," he said. Read more | |
| Wavering on polygamy law | |
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IN OUR VIEW Provo Daily Herald Originally published June 13, 2004 | |
| When Tom Green was tried and convicted on bigamy charges, it marked the first successful prosecution of a polygamist in Utah in a half-century. Green's case was seen as a novel attempt to prosecute a crime that has been illegal -- technically -- since Utah obtained statehood in 1896 but which has gone largely unenforced. Instead of using the anti-polygamy statutes that had proven unworkable in the past, Juab County Attorney David Leavitt, with help from BYU law professor Monte N. Stewart and the attorney general's office, used the common-law marriage statute to prosecute Green for bigamy. Anti-polygamy advocates saw his trial as opening the door for more prosecutions, while Green maintained that it was strictly a show trial to demonstrate that Utah doesn't tolerate polygamists on the eve of the 2002 Winter Olympics. "I think the reason I'm being prosecuted is because I talk to the media," Green said in a 2001 interview. It appears Green may be right. His conviction didn't throw open a floodgate of polygamy prosecutions. A drip may be more like it. Rodney Holm, a police officer in the polygamist towns of Hilldale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was convicted of bigamy and recently completed his sentence on that crime. But Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is apparently not unleashing the prosecutorial dogs on some of Holm's fellow polygamists on the police force. Read more | |
| Cult fears ignored | |
| Decade-old polygamy warnings not acted upon | |
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By Mike D'Amour Calgary Sun Originally published August 1, 2004 | |
| Creston, B.C. -- B.C. legislators were warned about the "serious" situation at a polygamous commune more than a decade ago, but so far have not acted on the recommendations of a top secret report obtained by the Sun. The multi-page document was compiled by the Committee on Polygamous Issues, a group comprised of former members of the polygamous community of Bountiful and other interested parties, in the early 1990s and then given to the provincial government. In it, the report stated: "The situation in the Bountiful group is becoming increasingly serious." One reason for concern was a rapidly growing population -- at the time there were only about 400 members in the commune but that number has risen to almost 1,000. The report expressed other concerns including the increasing move by sect members to become even more insulated and isolated from the outside world and patterns of abuse which were becoming more entrenched because social services were not used. Read more | |
| Attacking a cult | |
| Group of polygamists has hidden behind religion too long | |
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By Patty Henetz The Associated Press Originally published August 4, 2004 | |
| Fall into this rabbit hole and the ordinary rules don't apply. A cult is called a church, women are chattel, children are denied education, little girls are assigned as second and third "wives" to older men, and teen boys are driven away because they represent competition for girls. That's the way things are in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Here, in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a tyrant is called prophet. He runs everybody's life and owns everything, including the keys to heaven. In his corner of Earth, he's the law. When people first learn that the Arizona-Utah line hosts the nation's largest polygamous community, they are enraged. Why doesn't the law sweep in and stop this perversion of faith and family? Read more | |
| Allegations Abound: Colorado City's polygamous community comes under increasing scrutiny | |
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By Mark Hall Today's News-Herald - Havasu City Originally published Saturday, September 25, 2004 | |
| As allegations of abuse and fraud in the polygamist community of Colorado City become more prominent, at least one long-time critic believes federal, state and local governments haven't done enough to address the situation. What's more, he charges that officials aren't addressing the issues at hand and have no practical solutions and, at some point, should be held accountable. For seven years, District 3 Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson of Lake Havasu City has alleged abuses in the community of about 10,000, which is dominated by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is among a handful of elected officials who have tried to expose unlawful activities in the city - which sits on the Utah-Arizona border - and has specifically identified fraud and widespread child sexual abuse as the two critical issues of concern. Many of the allegations are old news to him, Johnson said. "It's just new to the media. There are so many things that were exposed when we first came out with it. There is still more stuff that we have not brought to the public, but they just won't believe it," Johnson said. Read more | |
| UTAH SHERIFF WON’T INVESTIGATE CALL FOR HELP FROM UNDERAGE BRIDE OF POLYGAMIST LEADER WARREN JEFFS | |
| Warren Jeffs, who continues to marry young girls with impunity, seems to be the beneficiary of a lack of awareness on the part of both the public and local law enforcement officers. Perhaps there would be a greater outcry over the tremendous harm Jeffs has done if instead of being characterized as a "mere" polygamist, he were more correctly described as the head of a vast criminal organization that has long engaged in widespread sexual slavery and financial fraud, and advocates hatred for non-white races. | |
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Jon Krakauer Press Release November 14, 2004 | |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sheriff Kirk Smith of Washington County (Utah) called a halt on Friday to his department’s investigation of 17-year-old Janetta Jessop, reported missing by her sister, Suzanne Jessop Johnson. A week earlier Janetta had phoned Suzanne and begged for help from an undisclosed location in Hildale-Colorado City—the secretive polygamist stronghold, straddling the Utah-Arizona border, which is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). The FLDS Church is led by self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who is married to some 70 women and girls, and demands absolute, unquestioning obedience from his estimated 10,000 followers. Janetta abruptly vanished from her family home in Colorado City in August 2003, immediately after her 16th birthday. At that time, Suzanne believes, her sister was "taken as a plural wife" by Warren Jeffs, who was 47 at the time. At least two (and possibly three) of Janetta’s older sisters had already been taken as wives by Jeffs. The parents of Janetta and Suzanne are fervent members of the FLDS Church. Two years ago Suzanne, 26, and her husband were "cut off" from the church, after which Jeffs forbid her family from having further contact with her. Read more | |
| Police Look for Missing Polygamist Girl | |
| The Mohave County Attorney's Office in Arizona is investigating a claim that a 17-year-old girl is missing. | |
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The Associated Press KSL NewsRadio 1160 Originally broadcast November 16, 2004 | |
| ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- The Mohave County Attorney's Office in Arizona is investigating a claim that a 17-year-old girl is missing. The girl's parents live on the Arizona side of the twin polygamist communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., but the report that she was missing occurred on the Utah side. An attorney with the Mohave County Attorney's Office said he had been authorized to look into the report. Suzanne Johnson, the sister of 17-year-old Janetta Jessop, told Washington County sheriff's officers in Utah on Thursday that her sister called Nov. 5 asking to be picked up and was never heard from again. Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said Friday that the girl's parents told a deputy that she was fine and at home with them. Johnson said her mother came over after the Nov. 5 call and said Jessop had called her to say "never mind." "I could tell something was wrong (when Jessop called)," Johnson said. "I had a bad feeling." Sam Brower, an investigator for some disaffected members of the sect, said the sheriff should not have taken the parents' word without checking. "I don't know what everyone wants me to do.... We deal with fact, we don't deal with innuendo and I'm not (going to) allow this group to push their agenda," Smith said. Read more | |
| Little Girl, Lost | |
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God & Consequences StoryHunters.com Originally published November 16, 2004 | |
| There's another Mormon girl gone missing, and the police don't seem to care. Janetta Jessop, 17, allegedly called her sister to come rescue her from the FLDS, a splinter Mormon sect run by Warren Jeffs, the prophet who keeps kicking members out of his tight little community for questioning him - or just because he wants their wives or property. (The FLDS is a polygamous church.) Jessop's sister, Suzanne Johnson, has been disfellowshipped by the church, which means that she's basically persona non grata as far as FLDS members are concerned. Johnson thinks that perhaps Jessop has been "given" to Warren Jeffs as another one of his brides - and she's worried, because the FLDS won't give her the time of day. And the cops? Well, they called Jessop's parents, who claimed she was "fine" - and that was apparently that. "I could tell something was wrong (when Jessop called)," Johnson said. "I had a bad feeling." Now Sam Brower, a private investigator hired to find Jeffs and who has also been helping Johnson with this incident, is upset, saying the Washington County Sheriff has failed in his oath to protect the innocent and the public because he has taken the parents' word on Jessop's whereabouts without checking. Read more | |
| The Polygamy Cults of Southern Utah | |
| Time to Rescind Utah's Statehood? | |
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By Suzan Mazur Out of Bounds Magazine Originally published March 2, 2005 | |
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Polygamy is illegal in Utah and forbidden by the Arizona constitution. However, law enforcement agencies in both states have decided to focus on crimes within polygamous communities that involve child abuse, domestic violence and fraud [emphasis added]. The Utah Attorney General's Office and the Arizona Attorney General's Office also worked together [with polygamy advocates] to produce "The Primer -- Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities." This manual provides basic information about various communities that will assist human services professionals, law enforcement officers and others in helping victims from these communities. The Primer will be updated regularly to reflect modifications in the law and changes in each organization's beliefs and practices . . . Office of Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General, State of Utah | |
| No General Shurtleff, polygamy cults are not okay. As Utah's Attorney General and a boy scout leader for over 20 years, you should know better than to post a statement like this, whose language serves to institutionalize crimes against humanity. These cults should not be given another day of sunlight to breathe. Beyond the Wasaatch mountains lies the real world where almost 200 countries have declared polygamy a human rights violation, including the United States, which is morally bound to the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, since the US has signed (though not yet ratified) the convention. Wellesley political science professor Katharine H.S. Moon has told me she sees CEDAW as a historic penetration of the walls of national sovereignty, making it possible for women for the first time to "bypass their governments and complain directly to the UN" about discrimination, sexual exploitation and other violations. Moreover, she says that "nationalism, national security and economic competition are not faith acts ordained by God". Utah was given an ultimatum in 1890 to abandon polygamy or lose US statehood. Utah has not held up its end of the bargain. Neither has Arizona, Montana (where the fine for polygamy is $600) and Idaho. And so it is time to seriously consider the case for rescinding statehood for perpetuating the cockroach-like infestation of such cults, which devastate lives from cradle to grave and siphon the country's treasury to do it. Read more | |
| Town hall focuses on polygamy allegations | |
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By Joseph A. Reaves The Arizona Republic Originally published March 4, 2005 | |
| ST. GEORGE, Utah - A half century of fear and suspicion, and a world of doubt, spilled out Thursday night as the top two law enforcement officers of Arizona and Utah tried to explain to a crowded town hall meeting what they could and couldn't do about the nation's largest polygamous community. More than 300 people, at least half of them practicing polygamists, jammed a hotel ballroom for the calm, but highly charged two-hour session presided over by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and his Utah counterpart, Mark Shurtleff. The attorneys general called the meeting to discuss their handling of ongoing allegations of domestic violence and child abuse in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah - home to a breakaway religious sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Unlike the mainstream Mormon religion, which abandoned polygamy 115 years ago, the FLDS continues to practice plural marriage. The sect is dominated by one man, self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who has been in hiding since he was accused in two lawsuits of sexually abusing his nephew and covering up decades of molestation by fellow church leaders. Goddard and Shurtleff sought to keep the focus of the meeting off polygamy and on the safety of children. "We will not target any group because of their beliefs," Shurtleff said. "This is not about religion, but we certainly won't sit back and allow people to commit crimes in the name of religion." Read more | |
| An Open Letter To The Attorneys General Of Utah And Arizona | |
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From Suzan Mazur "Scoop" Independent News - New Zealand Originally published Friday, 11 March 2005 | |
| Last week you were cited in these pages Scoop: Rescind Utah's Statehood? for refusing to dismantle the polygamy cults in your respective states, flouting federal law as well as the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which has declared polygamy a human rights violation. On closer scrutiny it now appears that your ease in embracing such sexism and a disdain for human rights may be your way of fitting neatly into the Bush fascist agenda for America. Please advise otherwise. According to reports, two-thirds of those responding at the polygamy summit you convened March 3 in St. George, Utah were opposed to your position to keep the cults alive despite the fact that about half the people in the audience were from the polygamy sects (the wives are told to "keep sweet" and silent): the Allreds, Kingstons, Jeffs (FLDS) (KSL.com News Story), Blackmores (FLDS-Canada), Harmstons. Emails I received following the March 2 story were also overwhelmingly opposed to your position. A few of the emails offer further insight into the problem: Read more | |
| Pushing for Polygamy | |
| Multiple marriage isn’t such a distant step away from gay marriage as many pretend. | |
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By Megan Basham National Review Online Originally published April 18, 2005 | |
| Los Angeles Daily News guest editorialist Jonathan Drober recently echoed the view popular among gay-marriage proponents that polygamy is a canard of anti-gay-marriage family groups and that legal recognition of same-sex unions in no way promotes acceptance of plural matrimony. "No one is seriously posing simultaneous multiple marriages. We plan on keeping them traditionally serial — one spouse at a time," Drober wrote. Perhaps he should have mentioned that to the Arizona and Utah residents who attended a town-hall meeting concerning two communities in those states a few days later. On March 3, Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff and Arizona attorney general Terry Goddard held a joint summit in St. George, Utah, to deal with allegations of abuse, molestation, incest, and fraud coming from within the twin border cities of Hildale and Colorado City. Approximately 10,000 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) reside in the country's largest polygamist communities and for decades (thanks to a disastrous police raid in 1953) have remained largely beyond the short appendages of local law. The government offensive on the area that was then called Short Creek turned out to be a public-relations nightmare in which the press depicted the state as a malicious invader that ripped screaming children from the arms of their parents and separated loving husbands from their devoted wives. The event was defining enough that even 52 years later Goddard made a point of opening the conference by calling the Short Creek raid a "shameful mistake" and asking polygamists present to "let the past be the past." From that time on, both Utah and Arizona's tacit polygamy policy remained "don't ask, don't tell." Recently though, reports of child brides giving birth in county hospitals, absconders seeking legal restitution, high rates of deformity resulting from incest, and rampant welfare and tax fraud have become too great for authorities to ignore. Now, as the attorneys general's offices seek to "build bridges" that will provide victims of the polygamist system the means to report abuse, they are making it clear they have no intention of indicting an "alternative lifestyle choice" even if it is the breeding ground for all manner of crime. Read more | |
| 'Regime change' is needed in Colorado City | |
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Opinions The Arizona Republic Originally published April 23, 2005 | |
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I have been reading about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since I moved to Arizona more than three years ago. While it is encouraging to see some momentum developing in the effort to deal appropriately with this sect, I am astounded at the hypocrisy that surrounds the issue, the delicate dance of legislators in Arizona and Utah, and the "hands-off" attitude of the federal government despite the interstate activities of this cult. The Bush administration is a staunch advocate of family values and proper moral fiber, and a vociferous opponent of a legal union between loving partners who happen not to be heterosexual. So where is their voice when it comes to dealing with the depraved and utterly blasphemous activities taking place every day within the confines of these cult communities? We embark on a crusade to bring democracy to Iraq, yet we turn a blind eye to our own citizens being held hostage in a religious dictatorship. If there were oil deposits under the compounds in Colorado City and Hilsdale, perhaps the U.S. government would think more strongly about supporting a "regime change" to restore some basic human rights to the victims of this morally impoverished sect.
Jeffrey Luth, Scottsdale | |
| Not enough resources to fight polygamy | |
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By Jennifer Toomer-Cook Deseret Morning News Originally published May 25, 2005 | |
| Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff believes crimes are being committed in polygamous communities on the Utah-Arizona border, but he told a national TV audience Tuesday he hasn't the resources or enough evidence to prosecute. With 30,000 to 40,000 polygamists in Utah, the state doesn't have the resources to jail so many parents and then take some 20,000 children into state custody, Shurtleff said on the "Dr. Phil" show. He also said prosecution for crimes, which he believes may range from domestic violence to child sexual abuse and forcing teenage girls to marry older men, would require someone to leave the Hildale-Colorado City community and testify against family. "It's always been very difficult with the closed nature of these groups in order to get people to come forward," Shurtleff said in an interview after the show aired. "Even with people we feel are criminals, we're not going to arrest them . . . unless we have a case we can prove without a reasonable doubt." Read more | |
| Chief cop copping out | |
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Editorial The Spectrum Originally published Sunday, June 5, 2005 | |
| When it comes to polygamy, it appears that Utah's chief cop is copping out. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff found time in his schedule last week to appear on the "Dr. Phil" show on an episode about polygamy. He declared to a nationwide audience, "There's no way we have the resources" to prosecute polygamy in the state of Utah. Shurtleff reasoned that there are 30-40,000 polygamists in Utah, too many for him to prosecute and jail. He also claimed that 20,000 polygamist children would be left without parents. One could carry Shurtleff's reasoning further and claim that if too many people are committing any crime in Utah, the AG should just quit seeking to put them in jail. If there were 30,000 people committing robbery in Utah, Shurtleff could supposedly decide that he simply didn't have the resources to go after them. How many drug dealers would there have to be before the AG decided to call off the dogs? What's the tipping point on the number of murderers that would cause Shurtleff to throw in the towel? While Shurtleff's office deserves credit for investigating the financial dealings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and having a trustee appointed to oversee the FLDS trust, there is still much work to be done in terms of polygamy. Illegal activity is illegal activity and Shurtleff is being paid by the taxpayers to enforce the laws. Read more | |
| Sheriff won't raid polygamist compound to arrest leader | |
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By Erin Quinn San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published June 13, 2005 | |
| Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said Sunday that he has no plans to raid the Eldorado compound of a polygamist sect to arrest the group's leader, Warren Jeffs, who has been indicted on sex-crime charges by Arizona police. In fact, he says he has no immediate plans to set foot on the property. "If we see the guy on a traffic stop, we'll arrest him," Doran said. "We're not going to blow this out of proportion." Doran said there's no way he can be certain that Jeffs is even on the ranch. Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has not been seen in public for months, and officials don't know for sure where he lives. "We have a lot of out-of-state warrants issued," Doran said. "We're not going to treat this one any different." The church has been under close scrutiny amid allegations of welfare fraud, sexual abuse and forced marriages. On Friday, an Arizona grand jury indicted Jeffs, 49, on charges of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. If convicted, he would face a prison sentence ranging from four months to two years. The reclusive church leader is accused of arranging the marriage of a 16-year-old girl to a 28-year-old married man, said Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith. Officials in Utah also are looking for Jeffs so they can serve him papers related to lawsuits filed against him in that state. Read more | |
| Thy unlawful wife | |
| State must close polygamy loopholes | |
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Opinions The Arizona Republic Originally published October 26, 2005 | |
| If you think the nest of polygamy on Arizona's northern border is a remote and self-contained problem, think again. Think of Brian David Mitchell and Stanley Rimer. Both demonstrate the very real dangers posed by those who justify their lusts by saying God commands them to take plural wives - the younger the better. Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, allegedly kidnapped 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart in 2002. She was found with the pair nine months later. Mitchell was moved by a "revelation from God" to take the child as his second wife, according to court documents reviewed by the Associated Press. He was deemed incompetent to stand trial, and he and Barzee are now in a mental hospital. The couple embraced a version of Mormon fundamentalism that calls for a return to plural marriage. The mainstream Mormon Church has forbidden polygamy since 1890, but it is part of the original teachings of church founder Joseph Smith. Read more | |
| Utah Supreme Court hears case against Steed | |
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By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published November 3, 2005 | |
| ST. GEORGE - Justice Court Judge Walter Steed has served the town of Hildale for the past 24 years. That may all change once the Utah Supreme Court reaches a decision - expected within the next 90 days - on whether Steed should be removed. By his own admission, Steed has three wives and 32 children. Serving the community since 1981, Steed's duties on the bench largely revolve around traffic violations and misdemeanor charges. Yet Colin Winchester, executive director of the Judicial Conduct Commission, argued during a court hearing on Wednesday that, as a judge, Steed is expected to live his life to higher standards, both personally and professionally, and multiple wives goes against the state bigamy statute. If the Supreme Court rules that Steed must be removed from the bench, it will be up to the mayor and city council of Hildale to appoint another judge. Mayor David Zitting said the council has discussed the issue and said several names have come up if Steed must be replaced. Read more | |
| Polygamous Utah judge with 32 kids fired | |
| Part-time rural justice is wed to three women, who are sisters | |
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The Associated Press Toronto Star Originally published February 24, 2006 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY — A small-town judge with three wives was ordered removed from the bench by the Utah Supreme Court today. The court unanimously agreed with the findings of the state's Judicial Conduct Commission, which recommended the removal of Judge Walter K. Steed for violating the state's bigamy law. Steed said he was disappointed with the decision. "I had hoped that the court would see my case as an opportunity to correct the injustices that are caused by the criminalization of my religious beliefs and lifestyle," Steed said in a statement. Steed has served for 25 years on the Justice Court in the polygamist community of Hildale in southern Utah, where he ruled on misdemeanor crimes such as drunken driving and domestic violence cases. The commission last year sought his removal from the bench after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and had violated Utah's bigamy law. Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Utah punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines. "When the law is violated or ignored by those charged by society with the fair and impartial enforcement of the law, the stability of our society is placed at undue risk," the court's ruling said. Read more | |
| Polygamist sect might be living in Black Hills | |
| Leader of group is wanted by FBI | |
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By Nestor Ramos Argus Leader - Sioux Falls, South Dakota Originally published March 10, 2006 | |
| A 100-acre property in Pringle appears to be home to followers of Warren Jeffs, a fugitive and the leader of a polygamist sect, the FBI said Thursday. Considered a prophet by his thousands of followers, Jeffs, 51, is wanted in Arizona on charges of sexual assault against a minor. He also is wanted on a federal unlawful flight charge for fleeing prosecution. Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, according to the FBI. The church teaches that a man must marry at least three women to enter heaven and has been labeled a hate group because of racist teachings. It has been linked to land purchases in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and British Columbia. "There hasn't been any report of criminal activity," said Robert Perry, FBI supervisor for the western part of the state, adding that he had not received reports that Jeffs was in South Dakota. "Right now, we're just aware that this organization owns property." Is the property under FBI surveillance? "I wouldn't tell you if it was," Perry said. Read more | |
| Putting polygamy in the spotlight | |
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By Suzan Mazur The Philadelphia Inquirer Originally published April 2, 2006 | |
| Polygamy, American style. That's the theme of the new HBO series Big Love, all about a polygamist family in Utah. Big Love's executive producer is Tom Hanks, who spent a couple of his childhood years in the Mormon church. The show passes very lightly over issues of rape, child abuse and drug addiction arising in polygamist enclaves. Despite serious, front-page media coverage for most of the last decade, such human-rights abuses are going on right now in polygamist settlements throughout the country. The Department of Homeland Security knows about it. So does the FBI and the Bush administration. Polygamy continues, if not with the active assistance of government and law enforcement, then certainly with their indolence and incompetence. The U.S. Department of Justice has failed to dismantle the best-documented polygamy cults. The epicenter is well-known: the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., both dominated by the extremist and secretive branch of Mormon known as the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS. These towns are satirized in the encampment named "Jupiter Creek" in Big Love. Read more | |
| Media get a big 'F' for stories on FLDS | |
| Many confuse splinter groups with S.L. church | |
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By Carrie A. Moore Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, May 12, 2006 | |
| The FBI's Ten Most Wanted listing for fugitive Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs late last week has not only turned up the heat for those pursuing him but has again created media confusion with the Salt Lake City-based LDS Church. In a news release Thursday, the LDS Church said increased media attention to polygamist groups, "particularly those living in southern Utah and Arizona," too often "refer to these groups as 'Mormons' or 'Mormon sects.' " Such references are "misleading and confusing to the vast majority of audiences who rightfully associate the term 'Mormon' with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," it said. Church spokesman Dale Bills said LDS Public Affairs has fielded "a number of questions" from media — presumably both national and international — following Jeffs' Ten Most Wanted listing along with Osama bin Laden and other high-profile fugitives. Reporters have called for the church's comment, though "there is no reason why the church would wish to comment about a legal action concerning a group with which it has no affiliation or connection," the release said. The statement cited two examples of media confusion, including a report by CNN on Tuesday that superimposed the face of Jeffs over an image of the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple. "Again, this implies a connection between the two," the statement said. "This is not just careless editing but highly offensive to members" of the LDS Church. Read more | |
| LDS Upset With Media's Reporting Of Mormonism | |
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Opinion: John R. Llewellyn "Scoop" Independent News - New Zealand Originally published May 15, 2006 | |
When Warren Jeffs surprisingly made the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list it galvanized a frenzy of national media attention about a man who is the leader of Utah's largest mind control cult. From Warren's point of view, he is merely doing what Mormon polygamist do - bootlegging plural marriages. On May 10th CNN's Anderson Cooper hosted a two hour special about Warren Jeffs and Mormon polygamy - one of the better documentaries. During the final minutes he conducted two important interviews with the Salt Lake LDS Temple clearly in the background. Using the LDS Temple as a backdrop caused the General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to protest. In a morning radio news report, May 12, 2006, the Church owned KSL radio station announced its objection to the use of the word "Mormon" and using the Temple as a backdrop when referring to Warren Jeffs and polygamy. The criticism that appeared in the Church owned Deseret Morning News, that same morning, was even more stern:
"Refer[ring] to these groups as 'Mormons' or 'Mormon sects' ... are "misleading and confusing to the vast majority of audiences who rightfully associate the term 'Mormon' with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."When CNN "superimposed the face of Jeffs over an image of the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple," the Church said it "is not just careless editing but highly offensive to members of the LDS Church." Read more | |
| Most Wanted In Polygamy Coverup | |
| What Did They Know And When Did They Know It? | |
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By Suzan Mazur "Scoop" Independent News - New Zealand Originally published May 15, 2006 | |
A voice Message from FBI in Idaho to me several weeks after contacting them regarding my front page piece just published in the Weekend Financial Times (10/28/2000), "Seven brides for one brother: Plural marriage is rife in the western United States", an article that for the first time tied together the various Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints polygamy groups, including the one in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho on the British Columbia border:
"Hello Suzan Mazur, this is Gail Gneckow with the FBI in Coeur 'd Alene, Idaho. My supervisor Bob Davis talked to you a few weeks ago and said that you had some information. . ."I returned the phone call describing my investigation for the FT. I also asked if Gneckow would be interested in hearing from others with knowledge of the problem and she indicated that she would be. However, activists told me that when they tried to inform agent Gneckow, they found the polygamy case was being closed. It will take more than Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's "mea culpa" to the Los Angeles Times to clear him and other officials who are responsible for allowing polygamy to flourish up and down the US Rocky Mountains, with Utah currently at the epicenter of sex cult activity. Why? Because America along with 182 other countries is signatory to the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recognizing that: POLYGAMY IS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION. Read more | |
| It Practices What They Preach | |
| Cast into the spotlight by fugitive polygamist Prophet Warren Jeffs, the mainstream Mormon Church's trying to distance itself from its infamous cousin | |
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By John Dougherty Phoenix New Times Originally published May 25, 2006 | |
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And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified. -- Joseph Smith's 1831 revelation on marriage and polygamy as currently published in the mainstream Mormon Church's Doctrine and Covenants, Section 132, Verse 62. The 12 million-strong Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is desperately seeking to disassociate itself from its uncomfortable polygamist underpinnings. The mainstream Mormon church has been thrust into the spotlight worldwide because of the unlawful flight from justice of polygamist leader Warren Steed Jeffs, and church leaders in Salt Lake City are emphasizing loud and long that they have no connection to the fugitive. Earlier this month, Jeffs, 50, was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for fleeing from Arizona and Utah prosecutors who have filed criminal charges related to his performing so-called spiritual marriages of underage girls to already-married men in his fanatical sect -- the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Colorado City, Arizona, and adjoining Hildale, Utah. The FBI's action has generated international interest in the practice of polygamy by the fundamentalist Mormons scattered across the Rocky Mountain West, from Canada to Mexico. In one cable news report, CNN superimposed Jeffs' face in front of the LDS temple in Salt Lake City, giving viewers the impression that Jeffs is a member of the mainstream Church. Read more | |
| 'Mormon' term often misused | |
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By Linda Thomson and Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, August 31, 2006 | |
| It seems like just when the mainstream LDS Church gets some accurate media attention, another "Mormon" story blasts onto the scene, spawning a flurry of sound bites that often confuse those who live outside Utah. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for years has waged a vigorous public relations battle to gets its message across with award-winning TV commercials and well-received interviews of President Gordon B. Hinckley by such television personalities as Mike Wallace, Tom Brokaw and Larry King. Then comes something like this week's arrest of Warren Jeffs, the leader of a secretive polygamist sect that in no way is connected to the LDS Church but considers itself the true standard bearer for the beliefs set forth by LDS Church founder Joseph Smith. Jeffs, who has been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, faces criminal charges in Utah and Arizona that center largely around his alleged insistence on presiding over "marriages" between underage girls and older men who practice polygamy. The LDS Church renounced polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members who practice it. But to hear some TV and radio news, one might think the two religions are the same. And the inaccuracies have spread worldwide with wire service reports reaching across the globe. ABC-TV referred to the Jeffs arrest this way: "Excommunicated Mormon polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is behind bars.... " Other ABC newscasts describe him as "the fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect." Read more | |
| US justice system tries to fight against polygamist sects | |
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By Tangi Quemener and Paula Bustamante Agence France Presse Originally published Monday, September 4, 2006 | |
| LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Despite last week's capture of the self-named prophet of a polygamist sect who had been one of the United States' most wanted men, authorities face stiff challenges in fighting the illegal practice which is deeply entrenched in certain parts of the American West. Warren Jeffs, who leads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), was arrested in Nevada and will be sent back in Utah, where he is facing a charge of complicity to rape. If he is found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Jeffs, 50, also faces charges of sexual assault on a minor in Arizona. The accusations against this tall, ascetic man stem from allegations that he helped arrange illegal marriages between underage girls and grown men from his sect that split from the mainstream Mormon church. Most of the 10,000 members of the FLDS live along the line between the states of Utah and Arizona. In the neighboring cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, the sect owns almost all the land and controls the local government, making it very difficult to crack down on the practice of "plural marriage", says Paul Murphy, a spokesman for the Utah attorney general. "Our concern is that they have been so secretive and so isolated, they have control over the city government and the police department, that victims in that community have not been getting the same help as other people," Murphy told AFP. Although polygamy is punishable by five years in prison, Utah has declined to prosecute it when it involves consenting adults. Read more | |
| Morning File: Going together like a horse and carriage | |
| The more the marry-er | |
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By Gary Rostein Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Originally published Tuesday, September 5, 2006 | |
| Ah, polygamy ... the very idea of it sounds like sweet nirvana for so many of us men. When one wife requests something done around the house on a Saturday, we can simply sneak the golf clubs into the car and fib: "Sorry, hon, Laura's got me booked this afternoon cleaning out the garage at her place, and after that Barb wants me taking our kids to Chuck E. Cheese. But I'll be sure and get next week to whatever it is you want me doing, don't you worry. By the way, we're still on for sex Tuesday night, right?" There is a downside to such a lifestyle, apparently, and the tensions have been explored in the HBO series "Big Love." The practice has also been in the news because last week law enforcement authorities arrested polygamist sect leader Warren Steed Jeffs of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mr. Jeffs' sect has no tie to the mainstream Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates any members who practice it. The criminal charges against Mr. Jeffs, a member of the FBI's Most Wanted list, include child sexual abuse, underage marriages and rape alleged to have occurred within his group of 10,000 members in Utah and Arizona. He has controlled whom and when women marry, with girls as young as 13 reportedly involved. Prosecutors are focusing on those charges rather than the polygamy practiced by Mr. Jeffs, who may have at least 40 wives and nearly 60 children. Read more | |
| Protect innocent polygamists | |
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Opinion Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, September 6, 2006 | |
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While it is apparent that Warren Jeffs needed to be arrested, his actual apprehension solves one problem, yet other problems will arise.
The people of Hildale, Utah, Colorado Cty, Ariz., and the enclave at Eldorado, Texas, are not all accused of rape, conspiracy or financial improprieties. There will undoubtedly be a power shift in the FLDS leadership — but to whom ? I think the authorities would be well-served to leave the FLDS Church members alone — except for evaluating persons under scrutiny for actual crimes committed as individuals. There are millions of dollars at stake. I would hope that Utah and Arizona would seek to honorably protect the innocent FLDS faithful. I think innocent polygamists, who prove themselves to be no threat, should be allowed to breathe fresh air and live their lives in peace. James A. Marples Provo | |
| COLUMN: Polygamy should be a choice | |
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By Jon Cox The Utah Statesman - Utah State University Originally published September 8, 2006 | |
| Police arrested Warren Jeffs nearly two weeks ago in Las Vegas. Now he's in Utah awaiting prosecution, and many in the state are downright giddy. Here, Jeffs is charged with two felony counts of rape as an accomplice. In Arizona, he faces sexual misconduct charges. The charges stem from his performance of marriage ceremonies between underage girls and older men. If convicted, Jeffs could serve life in prison. Interestingly enough, they chose to ship him to Utah rather than prosecute him in Arizona. Supposedly, they wanted to try him in the state where the most charges had been levied. But in my opinion, they also wanted to try him in the location where they are most likely to get a conviction. Many Utahns are circling the wagons, ready with their 72-hour kits of tar and feathers for the Jeffs case. Those fundamentalists have been giving us a bad name and it's about time someone put an end to it. So, we hunt down their prophet and stick him in the Purgatory Jail (now that sounds like a pleasant place). In addition we arrest his younger brother, John Jeffs, also of Colorado City, this Wednesday on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Let the witch hunt begin. According to the 2004 count, Utah is now 62.4 percent LDS. One would think that LDS members would be more sympathetic to the cause of such polygamous sects. After all, their own ancestors were persecuted for practicing the same belief. Ironically though, LDS members tend to be the most aggressive condemners of plural marriage. Many Mormons seem unsure about their church's history with plural marriage. Some try to explain it as something that was done at the time solely for the purpose of economically taking care of many underprivileged Mormon women. But if that was the case, why does the church still believe in the practice of polygamy, even today? Read more | |
| Polygamy did not originate with FLDS | |
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Letters to the Editor The Spectrum Originally published September 11, 2006 | |
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The Spectrum's article, "About the FLDS Church," printed Friday is misleading in that it implies that the FLDS Church "is most famous for its doctrine of men marrying multiple wives." This doctrine originated with the mainstream LDS Church and is still canonized in its scripture as Doctrine & Covenants 132.
The mainstream LDS Church instructed its members to discontinue the practice via manifestos issued in 1890 and again in 1904. The FLDS Church has continued a practice and a belief - that exaltation requires plural marriage - that was originated, but later abandoned, by the mainstream LDS Church. The practice of plural marriage did not originate with the FLDS Church, which did not exist in the mid-1800s when members of the LDS Church began to practice plural marriage. The grandfather of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley practiced plural marriage, and the family clearly has no association with the FLDS Church. (Reference www.familysearch.org.) James Sperber San Juan Capistrano, Calif. | |
| MOHAVE COUNTY BOARD of SUPERVISORS | |
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2001 College Drive, Suite 90 Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403 Telephone (928) 453-0724 Fax (928) 453-0717 johnsbd@citlink.net 1-888-735-3711 www.mohavecountynews.com | |
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SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 3 I was saddened by the lenient sentence given in the Fischer case. This sentence set back the efforts to protect the women and children of Colorado City and Hilldale. Now with the decision to find Dan Barlow not guilty I am wondering what the level of commitment our legal system has to prosecute violent offenders. The defense that it cannot be proved where the offense occurred is ludicrous. The defense is not disputing that sex with a minor took place. The defense is that it could have taken place in any one of a few states. This defense seems to have worked once again in Mohave County. The question that needs to be answered is why our legal system is not pursuing the transportation of minors across state lines for immoral purposes. If Federal help is needed, why are we not asking for it? When the eyes of the world are on Mohave County, we are falling short on the will to end a century of abuses. | |
| A difficult situation | |
| Attorneys discuss how prosecuting polygamy differs in Utah, Arizona | |
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By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published September 18, 2006 | |
| HURRICANE - About three years ago, not long after he was elected into office, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith started looking into abuses in Colorado City. Since then, there have been successes and failures in prosecuting crimes out of Colorado City, Ariz., namely underage marriages and sexual practices with girls under the age of 18 - but not polygamy. "No one can prosecute polygamy because it is not a felony or a misdemeanor. It is something that is prohibited by Arizona's Constitution, but it is not a crime, so prosecutors do not have any jurisdiction and cannot do anything about the issue of polygamy," Smith said. "That would have to be a legislative change." The situation in Utah is different. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said prosecuting polygamy is difficult for three reasons. One, the numbers are formidable. Two, these crimes are extremely difficult to prosecute. And three, is the issue of fairness and past history - the Short Creek raid in 1953 - which Shurtleff said was a colossal failure. Shurtleff said if polygamy were prosecuted, the issue would become whether there were enough prison cells for the thousands of men and homes for the thousands of women and children. Read more | |
| Mormons dropped polygamy but image problem persists | |
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The Associated Press KVOA News 4 - Tucson Originally published September 28, 2006 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY -- Wilford Woodruff dropped to his knees in prayer. It was September 1890 and the federal government was threatening to seize church property and prosecute Mormons unless they stopped plural marriage. Woodruff, a polygamist and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had a revelation and declared a manifesto: The faithful were to obey federal law and cease the practice. It was read at the church's fall conference and approved unanimously. The vote, Woodruff noted in his diary, "created a sensation throughout the whole United States." No manifestos are on the agenda this weekend - it's unlikely polygamy will even be mentioned - when 100,000 Mormons gather for their twice-a-year General Conference in Salt Lake City and millions more worldwide watch broadcasts in 85 languages. But polygamy continues to make headlines, and the church can't seem to shake perceptions that it endorses the practice, no matter what happened 116 years ago. Since 2001, several self-described Mormon fundamentalists have been charged with crimes tied to polygamy. The latest and most prominent is Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who is jailed in southern Utah on charges of being an accomplice to rape by arranging the marriage of a minor to an older man. "Almost 10 years ago or so, literally, it was not a big deal," said Jan Shipps, professor emeritus of history and religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, who has written about Mormons. "Now it has suddenly emerged into the public domain and (the church) has to find a way to talk about it again," she said. The issue is "really aggravating" to the church, said D. Michael Quinn, former history professor at church-owned Brigham Young University. Read more | |
| Bashing of the LDS Church unfounded | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published September 28, 2006 | |
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In Mr. Reinert's letter, he asks if Joseph Smith came back and saw the LDS Church and Warren Jeffs, which would he recognize?
First, let me repeat a comment from my previous letter: Joseph Smith was not our only prophet, nor is this his church. It's God's church, which Smith helped restore to the earth. I find it funny how so many people can accuse the LDS Church of being racist when it was one of the few that didn't segregate. Anyone was welcome, regardless of race. The only thing that was different was the priesthood, which had a whole different reason for being withheld ... It wasn't about racism. It was about God expanding the priesthood not only to blacks, but any worthy male. In regards to polygamy, the church practiced it because many of the men were being killed for their beliefs, and there were lots of women with no one to care for them during the church's difficult formation. According to church history, even Joseph Smith was reluctant to do it. When the church was completely established, and there was no more need for polygamy, the Lord commanded that plural marriage no longer be practiced. Chris Bringhurst Santa Clara | |
| Mormons do still believe in polygamy | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published October 1, 2006 | |
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I read Chris Bringhurst's letter published Thursday supporting LDS church beliefs. In regards to his comment, "In regards to polygamy, the church practiced it to take care of lots of women:" Can't a man take care of a woman without breeding with her? Can't women take care of themselves?
Bringhurst also said, "When the church was established, there was no more need for polygamy." Isn't this the same as building up a herd of cattle? As long as Mormons are being sealed in their temple to multiple spouses, they still believe in polygamy whether in this life or the next. Good grief, give me a break! Kathy Munson Ivins | |
| Plural marriage will be in the spotlight | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published October 4, 2006 | |
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I read with interest the shoot-outs between adversarial Spectrum letter writers over the "true nature" of polygamy in Utah.
Adversarial sound bites are titillating, but they shoot blanks on the real life issues of plural marriage in Utah. But get ready for a shoot-out with live verbal ammunition with "Scopes Trial" consequences. The FLDS Prophet, Warren Jeffs, will take the stand to defend polygamy and its life style as an eternal religious and civil right. He'll claim his fundamentalist church is the only one obeying God's "everlasting" principle and covenant of plural marriage revealed to Joseph Smith, and codified in Doctrines and Covenants 132 of today's LDS scripture reflecting the principle of celestial marriage in heaven. The church manifesto ending polygamy to protect itself from the consequences of practicing it in a federal statehood will be presented as apostasy. The LDS Church is currently committed to monogamous marriage, but faces both the LDS scripture-based elaboration on Jeffs' religious rights, and the support-in-principle by the same-sex marriage civil rights crowd. I'm not Mormon, but I'm on their side if they help clarify for all time the defensible principle of marriage, one man to one woman. Stay tuned. Ken Lawson St. George | |
| File a lawsuit to stop confusion of churches | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published November 12, 2006 | |
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It seems to me that the tenets of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are cult oriented, and appear to bring great embarrassment to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Why then doesn't The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints file a lawsuit against the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to require they stop using the name. It appears that such action would completely separate the two and save The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints any further national embarrassment. Glen Larson Santa Clara | |
| Discrimination appears to benefit polygamists | |
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Letters to the Editor The Spectrum Originally published November 17, 2006 | |
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If polygamists had stopped crimes against women and children in polygamous groups, it is likely that the 1953 raid would never have occurred. The Supreme Court case, Cleveland vs. The United States, 1946, was based on the "marriage" of a 14-year-old mentally handicapped girl to a married Short Creek man. During the 1953 raid, in one house the wife was just a little girl. Hammond, a recent guest editorial writer,said that we, "keep our mouths shut in order to protect our families." History reveals that silence started before, not after, 1953.
Recent court cases have been due to efforts by former victims and outsiders. Who inside polygamy reported the abuse? Former Colorado City police admitted they hid more than 25 cases from the state. Reporting abuse is a responsibility; investigatingabuse is not a civil rights violation; failure to protect based on religion is. Kentucky has three times the convictions for bigamy in a year than Utah has in 10 years; so discrimination taking place looks like it benefits polygamists. Hammond said if someone chooses a different lifestyle they say, "Go and God Bless." It isn't tolerance to state that they must go. Why not "Stay and God Bless?" That would be tolerance. Lorna Craig Perry Point, Md. | |
| LDS Church must get tough on polygamy | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published November 22, 2006 | |
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There have been a lot of letters to the editor from LDS folks that think the world is bashing their religion; most of us are not, we really love you all. What we do not understand is how you have ignored what the FLDS Church has been getting away with for more than 100 years. As we all know polygamy is illegal, 12- and 13-year-old girls forced to marry men 30 to 40 years their age is illegal; homes being taken away because of a disagreement with some so-called prophet is illegal.
We, on the outside, compare what is happening within the Muslim religion with what is happening within the Mormon religion. Terrorism is running rampant in both situations and no one is standing up. You just can't sit back and say, "Shhh, maybe the problem will go away." Now, having said that, I know what your response will be: the FLDS Church is not now a Mormon religion. Problem is, most people the world over still think it is. Bottom line, since law enforcement and politicians continue to turn their backs, why then haven't you - members of the LDS Church - taken a much harder line on this problem? Lyle Stuart Cedar City | |
| Jeffs chose to follow his faith, not the law | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published November 29, 2006 | |
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When I heard on the news that most Mormons (LDS) believe that Warren Jeffs (FLDS) should spend his life in prison, it made me think that the LDS must then believe that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young should also have spent their lives in prison. How can the LDS, who idolize these same founders through their statues, books, and memorabilia, be so hateful toward Warren Jeffs?
Had the federal law not allowed Utah to become a recognized state unless the practice of polygamy ceased, they all may have indeed continued to follow the practices of these founders. Warren Jeffs is really just a "true" LDS who chose to follow the faith instead of the law. All the media focus seems to be on Warren Jeffs, not the cousin who actually committed the rape of the 14-year-old and the parents who knowingly did nothing to protect their child. L. Slane St. George | |
| PBS film likely to cause debate | |
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Douglas Daily Dispatch - Douglas, Arizona Originally published Sunday, April 8, 2007 | |
| PBS is keeping a tight lid on the forthcoming four hours of documentary television that it is calling "The Mormons" - due to air on April 30 and May 1 on the PBS network. Very few people outside of PBS itself have seen excerpts, and their reactions vary depending on what they have seen as well as their prior expectations. The documentaries - two hours on American Experience on April 30 and a further two hours the following evening on Frontline - constitute what is believed to be the most searching look at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in US television history. Award-winning television producer Helen Whitney describes it as "a complex film, a respectful film, but not an uncritical film." Among hundreds of people interviewed for the film were Church leaders, historians, academics, active members, former members and critics. They address a wide range of topics, from the foundation of the Church through to its worldwide operations today. Helen Whitney told the Deseret Morning News that one of her prime objectives was to remove stereotypes of the Church. "I hope that most of the stereotypes - ideally, all of them - will be blown away," she told the newspaper. "Because so many of them are just based on ignorance. Ignorance about Mormon history, ignorance about Mormon theology. Ignorance." Read more | |
| PBS's 'Mormons' is independent, church points out | |
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By Scott D. Pierce Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, April 10, 2007 | |
| PBS's two-part, four-hour documentary "The Mormons" doesn't air until the end of the month, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is already trying to make it clear that the church itself did not produce the film. "We simply want viewers to understand that the church is the subject of this film, not its producer," LDS Church spokesman Michael Purdy said. "This is an independent production." While the church cooperated with award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney, it exerted no editorial control over "The Mormons" and did not help fund the project. A posting on the church's Web site, www.lds.org, warns, "PBS film likely to cause debate," and goes on to say that "a few (unidentified) scholars, including some who appear in the documentary ... raise concern about what they feel is a disproportionate amount of time given to topics that are not central to the Church's faith." While rough cuts of Part 1 have been shown to a few people, no one has yet seen a completed version of "The Mormons," which is scheduled to air April 30 and May 1 on PBS. Whitney was unavailable for comment Monday because she is still busy editing Part 2 of the four-hour documentary. The major points of contention as outlined on the LDS Church Web site are polygamy — both as practiced early in the LDS Church's history and as practiced by "present day polygamous groups that have nothing to do with today's Church" — and the Mountain Meadows massacre. Read more | |
| Novel taps into fascination with Mormonism | |
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By Richard Helm The Edmonton Journal Originally published Wednesday, April 11, 2007 | |
| EDMONTON - In case you hadn't noticed, Mormons are very big these days. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, is a serious player down south in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Warren Jeffs, North America's best-known polygamist as the head of the offshoot Mormon sect, The Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, goes on trial in Utah April 23. HBO is set to roll out the second season of its topical TV drama, Big Love, about a modern-day suburban polygamist played by Bill Paxton, struggling to balance the needs of three wives, seven kids and three separate Mormon households. And opening in cinemas next month is September Dawn, a Jon Voight movie filmed last year in Alberta that re-examines one of the darkest chapters in Mormon history. The Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857 occurred in southwestern Utah on Sept. 11, of all days, when more than 100 Arkansas emigrants bound for California -- men, women and children -- were slain by Mormon militia, including some who posed as Indians. The shadow of that mass killing also haunts the pages of an impressive new novel by Toronto author Alissa York. Set in frontier Utah, Effigy (Random House, $32.95) blends fact with fiction in the story of a girl rescued from a wagon-train massacre who is now the teenaged fourth wife in a Mormon ranch household. In an interview, York said her novel had its beginnings in 2001, when she was seized by news coverage of the breakaway Mormon sect in Bountiful, just outside of Creston, B.C. She was shocked to find polygamy was occurring in Canada. Read more | |
| PBS Documentary Explores LDS Church | |
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By Nick Newman BYU NewsNet Originally published April 17, 2007 | |
| PBS has announced they will feature a four-hour, two-part documentary on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, produced by Emmy-winning producer Helen Whitney. The film is set to air on PBS stations April 30 and May 1 at 7 p.m., and will be the first-ever co-production of the Award-winning shows, "Frontline" and "American Experience". The documentary, which took Whitney three years to put together after interviewing hundreds of people, will explore the origins and history of the church as well as the role of the church in today's society. Whitney, who has done other memorable documentaries for "Frontline" like "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero" and "John Paul II: The Millennial Pope", said her main goal for the film is to make people think about the error of old stereotypes. "I hope that most of the stereotypes - ideally, all of them - will be blown away because so many of them are just based on ignorance," Whitney said in a press release. "Ignorance about Mormon history, ignorance about Mormon theology. Ignorance." Sally Atkinson, a former BYU journalism student who now works in New York City for Newsweek, worked for Whitney for a year and a half as a researcher on the project. Because Whitney is known for spending lots of time on whatever her subject is, Atkinson said she thinks Whitney is the right one for the large task of documenting the Church. Read more | |
| Viewpoing: "Mormons' to be Enjoyed, Not Feared" | |
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By Nick Newman BYU NewsNet Originally published April 17, 2007 | |
| Whenever a film comes out about the LDS church, it's as though someone just yelled, "FIRE!!!" in a crowded building. For members of the LDS faith, the church being in the media can be an uncomfortable occurrence. Just read the newspaper articles that have come out recently. The LDS Church has posted notices on its Web site and has basically given a disclaimer through the newspapers that they played no part in the making of the upcoming PBS documentary, "The Mormons." The article cites unnamed scholars who have seen the film. The article says 'The Mormons" will cause controversy because it focuses a disproportionate amount of time on polygamy and inaccurately portrays Brigham Young in the debacle at Mountain Meadows. Having seen the first two hours of the documentary, thanks to PBS, who allowed me to preview the film, there is nothing to fear. I don't understand what has people in Salt Lake - or wherever those unnamed scholars who saw the film are from - so nervous. Nobody needs to worry. This film exceeds expectations. | |