FLDS Moving to Lockney

By Amanda Salem KAMC ABC 28 - Lubbock, Texas

A Fundamentalist group speaks out about their intentions on moving into Floyd County. We've been keeping you updated on a group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who recently bought a building in Lockney. Friday night, one of the people responsible for the move held a town hall meeting and our Amanda Salem was there. At the Lockney Community Center, the room was pretty much filled with local residents and plenty of questions. "I think it'll help out the community quite a bit actually, his got a building over there that`s huge and if he does what he says he's gonna do, he'll put a lot of people to work out here." Terry Glover was at the Lockney Community Center Friday evening along with his wife who sells homes in the Lockney area. Even though he says having the FLDS' business could be a win/win for Lockney, being a Mormon himself, he's thought about this a bit. "As far as I'm concerned, as a Mormon, I've taken far more abuse in my life because of their religion than any other people around. So, I for one should have a problem with him coming in and being a polygamist and everything but, hey, everyone's got a right to believe what they want" says Glover. The fundamentalist group has no affiliation with the modern Mormon Church. "I hope I can satisfy your minds of why I'm here." It seems what Samuel Fischer of the FLDS church wants is a welcome to Lockney, and perhaps that's how it'll end up. But Friday it meant lots of questions from residents who want to know just who the FLDS are. Especially after their former leader, Warren Jeffs, was arrested last August and faces charges of rape as an accomplice stemming from his group's belief in polygamy. "Yes, we have our problems, just like any other group of people do. You're gonna have the good ones and you're gonna have the bad ones" says Fischer. And Fischer says he does have two wives, the second of which he says he adopted along with her nine children when her husband left her. But he says they are a private group that upholds the sanctity of marriage. "Judge me by my works; judge me by my fruits, not for what you read in the paper, not for what runs around in the rumor mill. Judge me for who I am" he says. Who knows what judgment was passed Friday night, but for some, they're staying open minded hoping that this will work out. "This country was founded on freedom of choice and freedom of religion and I will defend his right for his beliefs to the death, even though I don't agree with it" says Glover. Fisher says he doesn't know how business will turn out in the end or how life will be here in Lockney, but he says they'll just have to take it one day at a time.

KAMC28.tv Originally broadcast May 11, 2007

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