Hilderbran's 30-06 bill gathers momentum in Austin
 
The Eldorado Success
State Representative Harvey Hilderbran, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, private investigator Sam Brower, author Jon Krakauer and Success publisher Randy Mankin

Calm before the storm - State Representative Harvey Hilderbran posed last week with his group of witnesses before taking his H.B. 3006 before the Juvenile Justice Committee at the State Capitol in Austin. Pictured (L-R) are Hilderbran, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, private investigator Sam Brower, author Jon Krakauer and Success publisher Randy Mankin.

By all accounts, House Bill 3006 was supposed to die in committee last week, but it didn't.

State Representative Harvey Hilderbran authored the bill and likes to refer to it as H.B. Thirty Ought-Six, because he says it packs a serious punch. The bill targets polygamous marriages, as well as under-age marriages, and addresses several other aspects of Texas marriage law. The bill was prompted by developments on the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado where the openly polygamous FLDS church is currently building a new town.

Hilderban went to bat for his bill on Wednesday of last week, stretching a twenty-minute presentation into a little over two hours before the House Juvenile Justice Committee. The presentation included the testimony of best-selling author Jon Krakauer, private investigator Sam Brower and Eldorado Success publisher Randy Mankin.

Also on the witness list was Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff who advised stunned committee members that a polygamous sect of Fundamentalist Mormons was relocating from Utah to Texas where they are building a new town on the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County. Explaining that the group practices polygamy and under-age marriage, Shurtleff told the committee of his experience in trying to bring the group to justice.

"It embarrasses me to say that for fifty years the state of Utah did nothing," Shurtleff said. "I feel badly about exporting our problem to the state of Texas."

For several of the committee members the hearing on H.B. 3006 was their first exposure to the world of prophets and polygamy. Some of them sat in stunned silence as they heard phrases like "Bleeding the Beast" and "Blood Atonement" for the first time. Others were a bit more animated.

Committee Vice-Chairman Toby Goodman from Tarrant County wasn't nearly so passive. "We're not going to stand for that kind of thing here in Texas," Goodman said. "I'm telling you we won't stand for it."

Goodman's comment apparently struck a nerve with Shurtleff who quickly added that since he was elected as Utah's attorney general in 1998 the state has begun beefing up its laws. He then pointed to the recent trial and conviction of Hildale, UT police officer Rodney Holm on bigamy and unlawful sexual conduct charges.

Shurtleff went on to explain that Texas" lax marriage laws may be one of the reasons Prophet Warren Jeffs decided to relocate a part of his FLDS followers to the YFZ Ranch where the group is building a mammoth temple. He concluded by urging the committee to seriously consider Hilderbran's bill in hopes of keeping up the pressure on Warren Jeffs" group.

For his part, Jon Krakauer told the committee that the FLDS church represents a an evil culture. "It is like this Twilight Zone where everybody answers to Warren Jeffs," Krakauer said. "He's a freak. He's a sick guy. He is an evil, evil man."

Krakauer wrote the best-selling book Under the Banner of Heaven, a Story of Violent Faith, a book that investigates the world of fundamental Moromonism and features several fundamentalist groups, including the FLDS.

He warned the committee about the secretive nature of the FLDS and said that a Waco or Jonestown-like ending was not beyond the realm of possibility. Krakauer then urged the committee to take whatever steps necessary to pressure the FLDS to leave the state.

Sam Brower, a private detective from Cedar City, UT, then explained his experiences investigating the FLDS. He emphasized the hold that Warren Jeffs has over his people and spoke of the intimidation that is used against family members in order to keep women in the group from reporting abuse.

Success publisher Randy Mankin told the committee members that he had seen the disbelief in their eyes as Hilderbran, Shurtleff, Krakauer and Brower testified before him. "I understand, it's an incredible story, an almost unbelievable story," Mankin said. "But, it's true and it's happening four miles from my front door."

He then noted that Hilderbran had introduced H.B. 3006 ahead of the bill filing deadline so that the legislature wouldn't have to wait two more years to act. "The bill needs some work," Mankin said. "I know that, Representative Hilderbran knows that. We're just asking that you work with him to make the bill better and give our law enforcement officials another tool to work with."

Mankin summed up the presentation by saying, "I'm a native Texan. I grew up here and I never would have dreamed that Texas had more lenient marriage laws than Utah ... but it does. Now those laws are being used for other, more sinister purposes. I ask the committee to give favorable consideration to Rep. Hilderbran's bill."

Committee Chairman Harold Dutton of Houston advised Rep. Hilderbran at the end of the hearing that he would hold the bill as pending until the two of them could sit down and work through its language.

The Success learned late Tuesday that a compromise may have been reached on H.B. 3006, meaning that it could be sent to the House floor as early as next week.

The Eldorado Success has made repeated attempts to contact Warren Jeffs and the leaders of the FLDS church. It invites Jeffs to comment on this story as well as other aspects of the overall story surrounding the FLDS and the YFZ Ranch.
 
MyEldorado.net
Originally published April 21, 2005
 
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