| Sheriff dismisses suicide predictions for YFZ Ranch | |
| The Eldorado Success | |
Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran, Texas Ranger Sergeant Brooks Long and Texas Ranger Captain Barry K. Caver, met with YFZ Ranch officials Wednesday morning, April 6, on the ranch property. The lawmen later appeared at the now famous ranch gate for an impromptu press conference. Doran told a throng of reporters who had gathered there that he attached no significance to the April 6th doomsday predictions attributed to FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs. He said the lawmen had met with ranch officials and were assured that nothing of significance would be happening on the ranch that day. Doran told the Success that the FLDS church does hold a yearly conference on April 6, but that the meeting was not being held on the YFZ. “I think they are meeting today, but they met somewhere else,” Doran said. The sheriff went on to note that construction continues on the ranch and that the residents there say they “just want to be left alone.” The story seemed to placate most of the reporters gathered at the YFZ gate, many of whom left quickly after snapping a few photos, or shooting a few minutes of video. Later in the day, however, Doran confirmed for the Success that while the media’s attention had been focused on the lawmen at the front gate, other law enforcement resources went largely unnoticed. “I cannot confirm the exact steps we took. Just know this, the situation was under control and we had an eye on things throughout the day.” Doran said. For months, anti-polygamy activists and former FLDS members have insisted that Warren Jeffs was predicting the end of the world for April 6. Many of them pointed to an secretly recorded audio tape in which Jeffs told a group gathered for a weekly “work day” that the church would be “lifted up” on that day. The lift-up was to be followed by world-wide “destructions.” It was the third such prediction since the beginning of the year. The fact that the date coincided with the 175 anniversary of the founding of the mainline Mormon church by Joseph Smith, Jr., had many speculating that Jeffs followers might attempt mass-suicide if their prayers for God’s return went unanswered. Doran explained that there are currently 80 to 150 people living on the ranch and that he hoped this would be the last round of media hysteria connected with the YFZ Ranch. “I know this story isn’t going to go away,” Doran said. “That would be too much to hope for. I just wish the media would try to put things in perspective and not buy into every doomsday scenario that comes along.” 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 7, 2005 | |
| Back | |
| For more information email: | |
