| Mounting legal pressure fails to derail work on FLDS temple | |||
| The Eldorado Success | |||
Workers at the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado don’t seem to have noticed that their Prophet and leader, Warren Jeffs, suffered a series of legal and legislative setbacks last week. Instead, they appear to have redoubled their efforts to complete construction on the FLDS temple, located in the middle of the sprawling 1,672 acre complex some four miles north-northeast of Eldorado. Freshly cut limestone blocks are being applied to the exterior of the mammoth building with at least one carved decorative block being installed beneath a window on the building’s south side. Work is also underway on the construction of a sweeping stairway leading up to the temple’s front door. Despite the intense building activity, FLDS leaders were dealt a series of stinging defeats last week, beginning when Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard seized the records of the Colorado City Unified School District — a district hounded by allegations of mismanagement and whose board of trustees and administration is comprised entirely of FLDS members. The unexpected raid came after a search warrant was issued by Arizona Superior Court Judge Kathleen Mead. UEP assets frozen ... Utah AG takes action The dust from the school district raid had not settled last Thursday when Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff launched an attack of his own, challenging Jeffs’ control of the United Effort Plan Trust, a charitable trust operated ostensibly on behalf of Jeffs’ FLDS members. But Shurtleff’s assistant Tim Bodily argued before a Utah State Judge that the UEP assets were being fraudulently transferred out of the trust. He went on to note that in recent months UEP trustees had failed to respond to a series of lawsuits brought against the trust, greatly jeopardizing the standing of church members living on UEP property whose homes would be put at risk if the trust defaulted. Judge Adkins agreed with Bodily’s assertions and ruled Friday that the UEP trustees, including Warren Jeffs, were not serving the best interest of the trust. He issued a temporary restraining order, freezing trust assets and appointing a certified public accountant, Bruce Wisan, to act as a “special fiduciary” or substitute trustee. Wisan will oversee the UEP until next Monday when a second hearing is scheduled. At that time Judge Adkins will decide whether or not to leave the temporary restraining order in place. A third hearing has been scheduled for June 22 at which time persons will have the opportunity to contest the judge’s decision. If anyone comes forward the judge will likely schedule an evidentiary hearing for a later date. 
Texas weighs in ... Hilderbran wins with SB 6 Here in Texas, State Representative Harvey Hilderban (R-Kerrville) celebrated a victory this week with the passage of Senate Bill 6, commonly known as the Child Protective Services Bill. Originally authored by State Senator Jane Nelson of Grapevine, the bill was amended several times when it reached the House floor. One of those amendments, offered by Hilderbran, included almost all the language contained in H.B. 3006, a bill the Kerrville legislator tried unsuccessfully to push through the state house. The language includes a rewrite of Texas marriage laws, raises the age of consent from 14 to 16, and otherwise targets the polygamous lifestyle practiced by FLDS members who recently moved from the Utah/Arizona border to Schleicher County. Hilderbran’s amendment passed easily in the House, and was one of the few that survived the House/Senate Conference Committee before the entire bill was sent back to both chambers for a straight up or down vote. Even before the SB 6 came to a final vote, Governor Rick Perry announced his support and the legislation easily passed in both houses. The bill now awaits Perry’s signature. “The legislative process is full of obstacles and is designed to kill bills, not pass them,” Hilderbran said after SB 6 passed. “Thankfully, we had the foresight to add my bill’s language as an amendment to SB 6 as a safeguard, and it paid off.” Most of SB 6 has little to do with polygamy, but reinforces the state’s child protective services and is welcomed by activists who claim FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs forces under aged girls into polygamous marriages with much older men. The new law also raises the ante on bigamy and polygamy by elevating them from a misdemeanor to a felony offenses. SB 6 also prescribes penalties for any person who officiates over an unlawful marriage, a provision aimed directly at the FLDS Prophet who is said to arrange almost all the marriages within his community and who reportedly officiates in person over most of the wedding ceremonies. “There has been concern that the FLDS moved to Texas because our laws were weak,” said Hilderbran. “Well, now we have not only updated our laws to make them consistent with Arizona and Utah, but we have added innovative and thoughtful language that the Utah Attorney General hopes to duplicate.” Wheels continue to turn In the Beehive State ... Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who testified on behalf of Hilderbran’s bill before the House Juvenile Justice Committee, told the Success on Tuesday that he was pleased to hear Texas lawmakers had found a way to adopt the legislation. When asked about his office’s move against the UEP, and how it might impact other criminal investigations Shurtleff replied, “People need to understand that my office has criminal and civil departments. Right now my attorneys in the civil branch are working to assure that the United Effort Plan Trust is preserved for the people it was intended to serve.” “However, if during the course of the investigation it is learned that there has been wrongdoing of a criminal nature, that information will be referred to the criminal prosecutors,” Shurtleff added. One thing that has already raised Shurtleff’s eyebrows came Saturday when workers in Hildale, Utah dismantled a building once occupied by a company named Cozy Log Homes. Shurtleff said the building was located on and attached to property owned by the UEP Trust and was removed in direct violation of Judge Adkins’ order. “If that’s not contempt of court, I don’t know what is,” Shurtleff stated. He concluded by saying that his investigators will be looking into the case. Search warrant details ... The Eldorado Success last Friday obtained a copy of the search warrant served on the CCUSD administration building earlier in the week. A close reading of the document sheds some light on the areas that Arizona officials are targeting. Of particular interest to the investigators were documents that could indicate if school district funds were being diverted for non-school purposes and if people holding non-existent jobs were drawing a paycheck from the district. Among the people under close scrutiny are CCUSD Superintendent Alvin Barlow, the school’s business manager Jeffrey P. Jessop and his assistant, Oliver Barlow. The three men were reportedly detained for several hours last week as investigators served the search warrant at the school offices. According to a sworn affidavit signed by Special Agent Meg Pollard of the Arizona Attorney General’s office, it is common knowledge that several individuals directly related to the administrators hold positions at the school but are rarely seen there. Also noted in the affidavit was Jeffrey Barlow’s ownership of a surveying business. The affidavit indicated that he had been seen conducting his survey business from his school-supplied vehicle, a Ford F-350 4x4 4-door pickup. Agent Pollard states that, in her experience as a school fraud investigator, she has not encountered another school administrator requiring such a vehicle. Other things noted in Pollard’s affidavit were payments made to former Colorado City Police Chief Sam Roundy and lease payments made on a Cessna P210 airplane. Documents filed by investigators after the raid reveal that the officers seized dozens of computers, several file cabinets and boxes of school records, in addition to survey equipment and beer taken from a Ford 4x4 vehicle with a camper. View the final version of Texas State Bill No. 6 | |||
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MyEldorado.net Originally published June 2, 2005 | |||
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