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Tonk

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 1:56 pm

Bound By Fear: Polygamy in Arizona by John Dougherty

First published in Arizona New Times, March 2003

Bound by Fear: Polygamy in Arizona

For decades the state has let a feudal colony of fundamentalist Mormons force underage girls into illegal polygamous marriages
BY JOHN DOUGHERTY

Located on the Arizona Strip, Colorado City is cut off from the rest of Arizona by the Grand Canyon to the south and the Colorado River to the east.

Sixteen-year-old Ruth Stubbs wanted to marry the boy down the street.
So she revealed her desire to a religious leader, a man held in the highest esteem in her rural, isolated community straddling the Arizona-Utah border.

On a December morning four years ago, Ruth sought the advice of the Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 88-year-old Rulon Jeffs.

Ruth asked the stroke-ridden Jeffs for permission to marry Carl Cooke, a young man she had been seeing secretly for several months.

Jeffs pondered the question for a moment and then delivered a startling pronouncement.

"Well," Jeffs said, gesturing toward Rodney Holm, a police officer who had escorted Ruth to the meeting, "I feel she belongs to you."

Ruth was stunned, but not surprised. She barely knew Holm, but what she did know was disturbing.

At 32, Holm was twice her age.

And Rodney was already married – to two women, one of whom (his first wife) is Ruth's sister, Suzie.

"Shocked, I was," Ruth told investigators from the Arizona Attorney General's Office, after relating the story of her meeting with Jeffs.

But Ruth knew such marriages were common among fundamentalist Mormons, particularly in the towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

In the dusty, unkempt hamlets north of the Grand Canyon and south of Zion National Park along the boundless Arizona Strip, life is controlled by a theocracy seemingly as impenetrable as the jagged El Capitan Peak that provides a dramatic backdrop for roughly 6,000 inhabitants.

The fundamentalists in control believe that their patriarchal society embracing polygamy ensures the people in their realm of reaching heaven's highest echelon. As incredible as it may seem to outsiders, they believe that men faithful to the religious doctrine will become gods and rule over a multitude of planets for eternity. Their wives – if the husbands deem them worthy – will join them in heaven as goddesses.

This fundamentalist theology is similar to that of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The difference is that the Mormon Church publicly moved away from polygamy in 1890, although some of its leaders continued the practice into the 20th century. The mainstream church does, however, still believe in polygamy in the afterlife.

With only a sixth-grade education and little experience beyond her rural upbringing, Ruth already was deeply entrenched in polygamy. Her father had three wives, and she is one of 42 children.

Ruth also knew that most of the people in town believed the old man sitting in front of her was the most powerful man on Earth. The fundamentalist Mormons hold that their Prophet is God's only true representative.

No one dared question the decisions of the Prophet in Colorado City. To do so would bring swift ruin and eternal damnation.

Ruth quickly agreed to the sudden change in grooms.

"I just said, 'kay, you know, I'll, I'll do it," she told state investigators in January 2002 according to a 56-page transcript of the interview obtained by New Times. Ruth Stubbs declined to be interviewed for this article.

There was little time for Ruth to ponder the decision. Her wedding to a man she had never kissed, let alone dated, was scheduled for the next day, December 11, 1998.

"They didn't want me to think it over," she told state investigators.

This is not to say she didn't have second thoughts. She tried to postpone the wedding for several weeks, but her sister – who wanted Ruth to join the family to help her in a power struggle with the other wife – pressured Ruth to move forward.

"Suzie told me I was an asshole" for wanting to delay the marriage, Ruth said. "Suzie told me that the town, the whole town, already knew I was supposed to marry Rod."

To back out now would bring unbearable social repercussions in a community where the women are raised to obey men without question

"I was afraid of the town," Ruth admitted.

The next day, with Carl sequestered by his family, Ruth went to the Prophet's massive home, which sheltered at least a dozen – some say upward of 70 – of his own wives. She was joined by Holm and his two wives.

Rodney Holm had already secured permission to marry Ruth from her polygamous father – although her mother hated the idea. Neither parent was allowed at the wedding.

If they had been there, they would have seen their daughter in a delusional state.

"I felt when I got up there that it was going to be Carl instead of Rod," Ruth recounted to investigators. "'Cause I've watched movies like that. I was really dreamy."

But Carl never appeared, and 16-year-old Ruth Stubbs was "sealed" to her 32-year-old brother-in-law by the Prophet in a "spiritual" ceremony. No marriage certificate was issued. Ruth had no right to community property. Even death was not to part them. Ruth was to be Rodney's possession for eternity.

Her marriage wasn't the only one conducted that day by the Prophet.

"At the time, [he was] marrying four or five couples a day," Ruth told the Attorney General's Office.

That evening, Rodney Holm took Ruth to the area's only motel – the Mark Twain Inn in Hildale – where his marriage to the virgin bride was consummated.

It was the beginning of a journey of physical, spiritual and mental abuse that took Ruth Stubbs to the brink of suicide.

At the time, the outlook was far brighter for Holm. He was on his way toward becoming a god in fundamentalist Mormon heaven, having acquired the crucial third wife.

He had had sexual intercourse with a girl half his age who was not his legal wife – a felony in Arizona and Utah – but that fact made no difference to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).

State Inaction

Ruth Stubbs is among scores of teenage girls, many of whom are underage, who have been married by fundamentalist Mormon prophets into polygamy in recent years. The tally reaches hundreds of girls over the last seven decades.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office has compiled a list of more than 40 teenage girls it suspects have been coerced into polygamy by the FLDS in the last decade, state records obtained by New Times through the Arizona Public Records Law show.

A few decades ago, the FLDS routinely married girls as young as 13 into polygamy. The practice still occurs from time to time, but the girls tend to be at least 15 these days.

The state has been conducting a broad grand jury investigation into polygamy in Colorado City since at least December 2000, but no arrests have been made. One reason is that state investigators have been unable to persuade polygamous wives to testify against their husbands.

Such wives, even if they wanted to cooperate with authorities, know that assisting the government would bring retaliation from their community.

In Colorado City, women, and men, risk losing their children, their homes, their livelihoods and – most terrifying to fundamentalist Mormons – their salvation for uttering a single negative statement about their religion.

Underage, polygamous marriages are merely a symptom of a greater problem.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado City is a virtual medieval fiefdom overseen by an omnipotent Prophet who is accountable to no one but presumably God.

The FLDS is subverting a wide range of civil liberties with taxpayer assistance.Cloaked in the legitimacy of town government and public schools, FLDS polygamists receive more than $6 million a year in public funds to support these institutions.

Through his proxies, the FLDS Prophet controls all levels of local government and the Colorado City public school board. He controls ownership of virtually all the land in town – and most of the businesses. He controls local law enforcement.

But, most important, the Prophet controls the minds of the faithful, convincing them that, if necessary, they must forgo happiness in this life for eternal bliss after death.

"We don't have minds of our own," former FLDS member and Colorado City High School science teacher DeLoy Bateman told New Times. "We are taught to follow."

Nowhere else in the United States is there a state-sanctioned town that is overwhelmingly controlled by a religion whose current leader performs polygamous marriages and who himself has anywhere from a dozen to 70 wives.

The unchecked power of the leaders of this dictatorial society over the past 70 years has led to a number of illegal or unconstitutional abuses that have allowed an often cruel and demeaning culture to flourish.

A five-month New Times investigation has revealed:

• Women and children are considered property of the religious leadership, called the Priesthood, which, in turn, is controlled by the Prophet.

• More than 50 families have been ripped apart and "reassigned" to new husbands on the Prophet's command. New husbands sometimes marry the daughters of their reassigned wives.

• Many young men deemed unworthy of the Priesthood are driven out of town with police assistance so that they cannot compete with men in polygamous marriages.

• Many followers of the Prophet would kill to defend him from arrest, leading Arizona authorities to fear another Waco.

• The Colorado City town government has never had a contested election, or even a political campaign.

• The Colorado City marshal, the chief law enforcement officer in town, is a polygamist, and police routinely ignore cases where teenagers are having sex with much older men who purport to be their husbands.

• Child molestation by fathers and older brothers is common.

• The religion has created an economic collective called the United Effort Plan that controls land ownership and ruthlessly evicts women and men (and their families) accused of violating FLDS tenets.

Polygamy violates the Arizona Constitution and has been held illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court for 124 years, but that hasn't stopped the fundamentalist Mormon culture from thriving on the Arizona-Utah border.

Although Congress required Arizona to include an anti-polygamy clause in its Constitution as a condition for gaining statehood, the Legislature has never enacted a corresponding law making polygamy a crime. The glaring loophole has frustrated efforts to prosecute sexual-abuse crimes against teenage women in polygamous unions.

That there is no state statute banning polygamy may result from the Legislature's dominance by mainstream Mormons, whose founder, Joseph Smith, introduced polygamy to the Salt Lake City-based church in the 1840s. The mainstream Mormon Church officially eased away from polygamy in 1890, and now excommunicates polygamists.

Criminalizing the practice today could rekindle harsh family memories of persecution of polygamous Mormons for many Arizona families, including some of the state's most powerful political clans such as the Udalls, the Tenneys, the Farnsworths and the Flakes.

William J. Flake, co-founder of the town of Snowflake, is the great-grandfather of Arizona Speaker of the House Jake Flake, and the great-great-grandfather of U.S. Representative Jeff Flake. In 1884, William Flake was convicted and sentenced to the Yuma Territorial Prison on polygamy-related charges. After serving his sentence, he continued to live with his two wives.

House Majority Leader Eddie Farnsworth also hails from a prominent polygamist forefather. Flake and Farnsworth are joined in the Legislature's leadership by fellow Mormons Senate President Ken Bennett, Senate Majority Whip Marilyn Jarrett, Senate Minority Whip Jack Brown, and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Russell Pearce.

The Legislature isn't the only branch of government that has avoided the issue. Governor Janet Napolitano initiated the grand jury investigation of Colorado City when she was attorney general, but her office never filed charges. The inaction by Napolitano – known as a middle-of-the-road careerist politician – became a campaign issue last fall after New Times published a story based on what appeared to be an AG's special-investigations memo describing serious abuses in Colorado City and efforts by the AG's Office to keep the information from the public.

Napolitano declared the memo a fake, and called for a criminal investigation into how the document – which appears to be on office stationery – was generated. No arrests have been made in the memo probe.

Subsequently, New Times began its investigation into Colorado City – which has included examination of AG's files that show the state has long had substantial evidence of illegal activity in the fundamentalist Mormon community.

Governor Napolitano declined to comment for this story.

New Times has found that the state's failure to criminalize polygamy has allowed the fundamentalist Mormon church unfettered access to public funds without fear of criminal prosecution or, in the case of elected officials in Colorado City, removal from public office.

This subsidy is destined to rapidly expand. With each passing year, as the FLDS population grows, the cost to state taxpayers rises. In addition to the $6 million going to FLDS-controlled governments, Arizona is footing the bill for health care in Colorado City. Nearly everyone in the area receives state-managed health-care benefits, costing taxpayers another $8 million annually.

Taxpayers are also feeding the huge families resulting from polygamous marriages. More than half the population on the Arizona side of the area receives food stamps, worth more than $2 million a year. Another $500,000 a year goes to help pay for child care.

The public funds are directed toward maintaining a community rooted in an unconstitutional practice where the ultimate power rests not with citizens, but with the FLDS Prophet.

"We treat our Prophet as God himself," says former FLDS member Pamela Black, who recently left the church after a lifetime of turmoil. "That's how much respect he has."

The Prophet controls the culture and economy in the Colorado City area for an overriding reason – he is the only person under fundamentalist Mormon doctrine who can conduct plural marriages.

"The power in this operation comes from the person who decides who marries who," says DeLoy Bateman, who quit the church after it tried to take away four of his kids by his second wife.

The Prophet decides which men get which wives, and how many. The addition of each wife to a man's family is called a "blessing."

The more blessings a man has, the greater his prestige and power in the community. A minimum of three wives is required to enter the highest levels of the complex heaven called the Celestial Kingdom.

Women, according to the religion, can't reach the Celestial Kingdom unless their husband first achieves the lofty height and then agrees to bring his concubines into paradise. The chase for plural wives dominates earthly pursuits.

"If the men don't do what the Prophet says, then [they don't] get more wives," affirmed town historian Benjamin Bistline, who has self-published a book about the town titled The Polygamists, A History of Colorado City. "It's extortion."

Warren Jeffs, the 46-year-old current Prophet and son of Rulon Jeffs (who died in September 2002), rarely makes a public appearance other than to preach Sunday sermons at the massive Leroy S. Johnson Meeting Hall. Jeffs did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The fundamentalist religion holds that the end of the world is near, while at the same time warning young girls who rarely finish high school that they won't get to heaven without the Prophet sealing them into a cohabitation.

Outsiders are considered wicked, and anyone who leaves the religion after learning its gospel is branded an "apostate" and consigned to hellfire.

The FLDS practices racism against black people that was first espoused by the early Mormon Church. They believe blacks are an inferior race descended from Cain, who was cursed by God for killing his brother.

Religious indoctrination begins at birth and never stops. Those who manage to break away from the community often do so with little or no financial support. Few are emotionally capable of living outside of the community, and many who do leave – particularly the women – soon return.

"It's a shitty place to come from," says Pennie Peterson, Ruth Stubbs' older sister who fled 15 years ago fearing for her life. "It messes with your mind."
Domestic War

Ruth Stubbs soon found herself trapped in Rodney Holm's spacious home at the mouth of Maxwell Canyon in Hildale.

The two-story, barn-styled house appears to be well above the financial means of a man who earns $29,000 a year as a Colorado City cop.

Mortgages, however, aren't something Colorado City residents worry about. Their homes are built piecemeal and paid for with cash. The land is owned by the church-controlled United Effort Plan. Residents pay only property taxes and utility bills.

But the cost of living cheap is extracted in other ways.

Soon after Ruth moved in, whatever limited freedoms she had as a single teenager were revoked. Ruth had to ask her husband for permission to leave the house, to spend money, to even eat some sugar or drink a cup of coffee.

"I couldn't do anything without asking," Ruth told AG's investigators.

Any money she earned working a $6-an-hour job at the gas station/mini-mart had to be turned over to her husband, right down to the last dime.

Her living quarters were little more than a jail cell. Ruth was consigned to a bedroom that was a converted office.

"I just had a little bed on the floor and, and [the room] had a bathroom hooked to it," she said.

It was the only place she could find respite from the ongoing power struggle between her sister, Suzie, and the second wife, Wendy Holm.

Things were already complicated in the household before Ruth arrived. Wendy had been married to Rodney Holm's brother. When that marriage ended in divorce, the Prophet gave Wendy to Rodney. Consequently, all three of Rodney's wives were sisters-in-law.

Yet this entanglement is nothing by Colorado City standards. One young woman who left the area several years ago said she figured out her family tree and found she was related to more than 1,000 people in the Colorado City area.

The Holm household was anything but content.

Wendy and Suzie had hated each other from the moment Wendy entered the home eight years earlier. Naive Ruth soon found herself a foot solider in Suzie's war.

"Suzie pitted me against Wendy," Ruth said.

The bitterness extended to the children.

"I know Suzie hits Wendy's kids sometimes, you know, when she feels like it or whatever," Ruth said to investigators. She said babies and toddlers among the 20 children in the home were sometimes left in the care of 6-year-old kids.

Ruth said Rodney Holm, meanwhile, stayed aloof from the fray, telling her to "love" her sister wives.

He spent much of his time in a laundry- and bathroom-equipped shop behind the house. He often slept in the out building, summoning whichever wife he chose to the quarters to spend the night. The wives generally followed a three-night rotation and would get hugely upset if Rodney favored one of the others on an assigned evening.

Ruth said her sister would get vicious toward her even on her assigned nights with Rodney.

"She'd call me a bitch, you know. She'd call me names and get pissed every time I was with Rod," Ruth said. "It made it miserable to live there."

Spontaneous sex was rare, but it did occur. Ruth said she sometimes had sex with Rodney at his brother Greg's Colorado City office while her husband was on police duty. This would happen on nights when Rodney was supposed to be with one of the other wives.

A month into the marriage, Ruth discovered she was pregnant.

"I cried," she said. "I felt if I wanted to leave, now . . . I couldn't."

Her daughter Maranda was born on October 5, 1999. Just more than a year later, her son Winston was born. Ruth found herself on the typical fundamentalist Mormon track that could lead to a dozen children before the age of 30.

Two years into the marriage, Ruth said, she began discussing with her sister the possibility of leaving. Suzie strongly objected.

"If you leave right now, it's going to make Wendy so happy," Ruth said her sister told her. "Don't leave! Don't leave!"

Rodney soon discovered her desire to get out and began haranguing her. "That's what the devil wants you to do," Ruth said he told her.

Rodney took Ruth to see Prophet Rulon Jeffs' son, Warren, who had become the "mouthpiece" for his ailing father.

Ruth said Warren Jeffs spat out a frightening warning: "You can either live here and live in hell, and then when you die have eternal happiness. Or else, you can go out into the world and live in hell and die and even have more eternal hell."

With each passing day after that, the now 18-year-old Ruth – pregnant with her third child – became more and more depressed.

"I thought a lot about, you know, maybe, you know, the Lord will love me enough to take my life, you know, and get me out of here."

Girls Brainwashed

The Arizona grand jury investigation into Colorado City begun under former attorney general and now governor Janet Napolitano has continued under her successor, Terry Goddard.

The probe so far has only confirmed the obvious. Polygamous marriages like Ruth Stubbses are routine in Colorado City.

"We've got quite a few names of young girls who have . . . turned 15, and they're gone. So they have been married," attorney general's investigator Ron Gibson said in a transcript obtained by New Times.

"Poofer" is the Colorado City slang for a girl who has vanished from her parents' home into a husband's abode.

"One day they would be there, and the next day they were gone – poof," explains Mary Mackert, a former plural wife who left Colorado City after 16 years in a polygamous marriage as the sixth of seven wives. "When they are married is a secret [to the overall community]."

The grand jury investigation has netted no indictments because "we need a victim," maintained former assistant attorney general Leesa Morrison, who oversaw the inquiry until Governor Napolitano appointed her director of the state Department of Liquor Licenses and Control in January

The search for an underage plural wife willing to take the stand against her fundamentalist Mormon husband has been complicated by the fact that many teenage girls want to be part of the system. In fact, many have lobbied the Prophet to pick a husband for them.

"They are champing at the bit to get married," says Craig Chatwin, a 30-year-old ex-fundamentalist who is one of the few men to leave Colorado City and pursue a college education.

The teenage girls' eagerness to "turn themselves in" to the Prophet shows how deeply ingrained the religious beliefs and customs are in the rapidly growing community.

"They know no other way," Chatwin says. "For [many], it's the most exciting thing in the world to participate in this system. Outside of it, they would crash and burn."

As a young girl, Mackert said, she remembers sitting under the kitchen table during quilting bees listening to women talk about marriage.

"The old women would talk about a poor girl who was a first wife, and how much she needed to have a sister wife," Mackert recalls. "It was talked about like it was such an awful thing to be the only wife."
Such discussions have powerful influence on young minds, particularly in a town with strict censorship of publications and where watching television is strongly discouraged.

Moreover, there is no way in and out of town for a teenage girl who has no money and no access to a car. There is no bus service, and the church will send out a posse to round up any young female trying to flee Few girls even think about leaving.

Girls typically begin discussing marriage when they are about 12.

"That's just what you talk about. Who you're going to marry," says Jenny Kesselring, an ex-fundamentalist who left Colorado City when she was 17 and moved in with cousins in Salt Lake City.

This is even though the girls know they have no control over who becomes their mate.

"We were just scared to death it was going to be an old guy, or an ugly one," Kesselring, now 24, says. "Everybody worries about that."

In many cases, marriage is seen as a way to quell teenage rebellion. If a teenage girl is seen so much as talking to a boy, her father is likely to ask the Prophet to find her a husband.

"If she's good-looking, the Prophet might marry her [himself]," says local historian Ben Bistline.

By turning in his daughter for marriage, the father not only takes care of the problem teen, he gains favor with the Prophet, increasing his chances for future wives.

Naturally, fathers in town marry each other's daughters. The Prophet is the broker in these swaps. "They are chattel," Bistline says of the girls.

Frequently, the girls are shipped out of town, to a sister FLDS town in Creston, British Columbia. In turn, that town ships girls to the Colorado City area.

Chatwin says seven of his sisters were married to members of the Canadian FLDS congregation.

Two of Chatwin's sisters were married to the same man on the same day. The groom was Winston Blackmore, the bishop of the FLDS' Canadian church. Blackmore already had a dozen wives.

Chatwin recounted what his sisters told him about their wedding night:

Blackmore approached Zelpha, 21, and Marsha, 17, asking which one wanted to have sex with him first. He said, "We are in the business of making babies."

Zelpha pushed Marsha forward.

Chatwin said, "The next night it was Zelpha's turn. That was the extent of their romance."

Before the marriage, Chatwin had told Zelpha she would be lucky to total three years of the rest of her life with Blackmore because he was spread between so many women and also had extensive church duties

A few months later, Zelpha wrote in a letter: "Craig, you were so wrong about what you said. I spend far less time with him. In reality, I'm married to the other women."

With arranged polygamous marriages a given, it's not surprising that nearly every aspect of life, particularly that of women, is dictated by the church and its Prophet.

The clothing women are mandated to wear is the most visible example of this control.

FLDS women look as if they just staggered off an 1850s wagon train after a month of bouncing across the Mormon Trail. They typically wear long-sleeve, neck-high, loose-fitting blouses with full-length skirts often adorned with faded floral patterns. Their feet are usually clad in ankle-high, black-leather, laced boots – although the younger women and girls seem to prefer running shoes.

Women are forbidden to wear makeup or cut their hair, which is generally swept up high above their foreheads before it is pulled into elaborate braids that extend far down their backs. And many are bloated from too many pregnancies.

The fundamentalist Mormon idea is to minimize feminine beauty so it's clear that sex is a sacred duty men and women have to bring "waiting spirits" to Earth.

Mark Twain issued this snippet of sarcasm about the unfortunate appearance of fundamentalist Mormon women in a screed attacking polygamy:

"My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically homely' creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, No' – the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure – and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence."

Working-class men in the community almost always wear plaid, long-sleeved shirts and jeans. The handful of professionals wear conservative suits. Hair is trimmed short above the ears, and facial hair is forbidden.

Beneath their clothes, fundamentalist men and women must wear an undergarment that extends to the ankles and wrists. Except when bathing, the sacred long johns are to be worn at all times after baptism at age 8.

Once married, women seldom leave town, except for occasional forays into nearby St. George. A wife who does not submit to her husband's will risks punishment, including beatings, and possible eternal damnation.

In conformance to what the men are told, wives are taught that they must have at least two sister wives to gain admittance to the highest level of heaven.

"[This] has been drilled into them since they were babies," says Annie Bistline, who raised more than a dozen children during her monogamous marriage to Benjamin.

The pressure to accept additional wives is enormous. "I used to pray for another one," says 51-year-old Pamela Black, a former fundamentalist who raised 14 children before breaking away after the church threatened to take away some of her kids.

Spirit Murdered

Growing up, Pamela Black had only one goal.

"I just wanted to get married and have babies because that is all I thought I could do."

Her biggest fear was that she was going to be damned.

"I thought that God would destroy me if I did not do what I was told," she tells New Times.

God has a very real face in Colorado City. At the time, Pamela was a comely teenager. God was embodied in FLDS Prophet Leroy Johnson, or Uncle Leroy.

Typically, girls turned over their name to the Prophet when they wanted to be married. In Pamela's case, the Prophet came to her.

Uncle Leroy showed up at school while Pamela was singing in the choir.

"Wow, he sure seems to be looking at me," Pamela recalls. "Sure enough, he was."

Later that day, 17-year-old Pamela was summoned to a meeting with the Prophet. It is a major event in a young girl's life.

"We have someone for you," Pamela says Uncle Leroy let on

The official line is that girls can refuse a marriage.
"They give us a choice, but there's really no choice," Pamela says. "You either do what they say because [the Prophet is considered] God, or face damnation.

"So, I got married."

Her groom was 27-year-old Martin Black, a man she barely knew.

After a brief courtship of holding hands and kissing, but rarely talking, the couple were married by Uncle Leroy.

The night before the wedding, Pamela's mother told her about sex.

Pamela spent her wedding night hiding in the bathroom, hoping to avoid the matrimonial bed.

"I was brushing my teeth for an hour," she says. "Eventually, it had to happen."

She got into bed.

"Take off your nightgown," Pamela says her new husband told her. "I said, No.'"

Her new husband ignored her plea.

"And thus the sex act was performed against my will," Pamela says. "I was completely traumatized. I was raped."

The night set the tone for their marriage.

"He literally spent the night alone in the living room while I stayed in the bathroom crying," Pamela says.

That such events transpired should not be a condemnation of Martin Black, Pamela says. Martin is a kind, gentle man of high integrity who raised a huge family on $12 an hour working for the school district.

Martin, Pamela says, was as much a victim of FLDS doctrine as she was.

There is nothing more important in the fundamentalist Mormon world than obedience.

Martin had to obey the religious doctrine that he dominate his wife.

"He told me he did it because he wanted to own me," Pamela says. "He wanted to prove that I belonged to him."

Her husband expressed some backhanded regret for his hard-line stance.

"He told me later that he would never do that – to his next wife," Pamela says.

From that moment on, Pamela says, she put on a "mask" in public as the happy, dutiful wife. She adopted the "keep-sweet" mantra that the religion pounds into women's heads.

Privately, with nowhere to turn, her emotions burst forth in uncontrollable fits. Her children suffered immensely.

"The children witnessed a very angry mother," she says.

Eventually, the outbursts became known to religious leaders, and pressure was directed toward Martin to divorce her.

"I knew I was in trouble," she says. "They were taking my kids away. They were taking everything from me because I would not submit.

"I was reading books that were not allowed. I've been taught all my life that Buddha was the devil. I really wanted to learn about other cultures."

The more she rebelled, the more the system ground on her at every turn. The FLDS assault on her free will, she says, constituted "soul murder."

Pamela's rebellion was costing Martin his shot at the highest levels of heaven. He wasn't going to get another wife if he couldn't control the one he had.

The couple traveled to Laughlin, Nevada, on a trip arranged by town officials to finalize the divorce. But something strange happened On a walk along the banks of the Colorado River, they talked, and after a passionate night, they reconciled.

"It was one of our best moments," she recalls, saying they felt as if they were rebelling against decades of repression. "We felt like kids again."

Once the elders discovered Pamela and Martin were not divorcing, they were evicted from the home they had built on United Effort Plan property.

Now free from the church and living separately on privately owned land in a beautiful canyon perched above Colorado City, the couple is trying to piece their lives together.

Even though he was diagnosed with cancer and recently underwent brain surgery, Martin is upbeat.

"I'm too busy to die," he said, standing waist deep in a ditch he had just finished digging for a sewer line with his backhoe.

With no need to go through the Prophet anymore, Pamela and Martin say they are dealing with God directly.

"I think for myself," Pam says.

Recalling the FLDS' strong discouragement of television watching, Martin laughs.

"I've got dish," he says.

Get Tough

Few Colorado City women have Pamela Black's courage and stamina.

Most don't even want to consider the option she took – which, according to the religion, will turn them into apostates fated to burn in hell.

In the FLDS world, there is nothing lower than an apostate.

"An apostate is the most dark person on earth," says science teacher DeLoy Bateman, himself among the damned.

Bateman says the FLDS considers apostates to be "liars from the beginning, who have made covenants to abide by the laws of God, and have turned traitor to the priesthood, and their own existence. They are led by their master, Lucifer."
Few in Colorado City will risk such a branding.

Particularly women involved in plural marriages. An outspoken female threatens not only her future in the Celestial Kingdom but also that of her sister wives and husband.

With such pressure, it is not surprising that few women are willing to testify in court about the intricacies of fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. Late last winter, several plural wives were brought before a state grand jury convened in Phoenix.

The subpoenaed women included Marsha Barlow, Linda Johnson and Louisa Johnson, who sources said are married to Dale Barlow; and Alison Fischer, LuJean Fischer and her daughter, Jenny Steed, who are reportedly married to Kelly Fischer. The sources in Colorado City said Louisa Johnson and Jenny Steed were married as young teens.

In addition to being labeled apostates, testifying would mean the church could toss them out of their homes and take away their children.

Refusing to testify, however, could lead to contempt of court charges and jail time.

The women didn't testify, their lawyers challenging the legality of the subpoenas.

On February 11, the state Supreme Court rejected their legal argument for refusing to testify, clearing the way for the grand jury to once again subpoena them.

The Colorado City plural wives' defense is being coordinated by Tom Henze, one of Arizona's top defense attorneys, according to sources in the AG's Office. Henze did not respond to telephone messages asking if he was involved in the case.

Tapping top-shelf lawyers is nothing new for the FLDS.

Former Colorado City town attorney David Nuffer, a graduate of Brigham Young University law school, is a past president of the Utah Bar Association.

Earlier this year, Nuffer was named a full-time federal magistrate judge in Utah, where he will oversee pretrial civil and criminal matters. Nuffer's jurisdiction includes Hildale, which merges seamlessly into Colorado City with the state line bisecting the towns along Uzona Avenue. Hildale has many of the community's largest and newest homes, including a fenced, one-block compound for the Prophet and his horde of wives

The fundamentalist church has long retained Salt Lake City's Snow, Christensen & Martineau, one of Utah's oldest and most politically connected law firms. The firm represents the church in an array of issues mostly focused on defending its steadfast belief that the First Amendment protects its right to practice polygamy.

The FLDS' professed entitlement collides head-on with the Arizona Constitution and United States Supreme Court opinions.

Article XX of the Arizona Constitution explicitly forbids polygamy. It states: "Polygamous or plural marriages, or polygamous co-habitation, are forever prohibited within this State."

Likewise, the United States Supreme Court has held fast in its prohibition of polygamy since its landmark case on religious freedom in the 1879 decision of Reynolds v. United States.

The Supreme Court concluded that to excuse Reynolds' practice of polygamy on the basis of religion would be to "make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could only exist in name under such circumstance."

While the Arizona Legislature has never enacted a criminal statute that provides for penalties for practicing polygamy, it does have a bigamy statute. Bigamy is defined as having two civil marriages that appear to be legal. The Colorado City polygamists typically only have a civil marriage for the first wife. The subsequent marriages are "spiritual" unions.

Utah, however, defines bigamy to include cohabitation while either person is legally married to somebody else. The broader definition has helped Utah successfully prosecute polygamy.

In May 2001, a Utah jury convicted polygamist Tom Green on four counts of bigamy and one count of criminal nonsupport. Green was sentenced to up to five years in prison. Last year, Green – who is not associated with the FLDS in Colorado City – was found guilty of child rape and sentenced from five years to life in prison.

Utah stepped up the pressure on polygamists last fall, when the state filed felony charges against Colorado City cop Rodney Holm, accusing him of bigamy and unlawful sex with a minor stemming from his spiritual marriage to Ruth Stubbs. The case is awaiting trial.

And last month, the Utah House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that makes marrying a second wife who is under 18 a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Arizona, meanwhile, has taken no legislative steps to address problems in Colorado City, the largest openly polygamous enclave in the United States. Though it would be naive to think that criminalizing polygamy in Arizona would eradicate the practice among fundamentalists, enforcement of such a statute would have a profound effect on life in Colorado City.

If polygamous living were criminalized, the state would have more leverage to break the religion's grip on the town council, the school board and the police – which are all controlled by polygamists.

State Senator Linda Binder (R-Lake Havasu) has been leading a lonely effort to enact tougher laws to address abuses in Colorado City. She says she has found no support from the Legislature to criminalize polygamy, much less tighten bigamy laws.

"The Legislature is not interested in the least," she says flatly.

Its reluctance may be partially rooted in fear.

"I don't think they want another Waco," she says.

Attorney General Goddard says his office is working with the Utah attorney general's office to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the problem, continuing an effort begun under Napolitano.

Goddard, however, says he has been forced to lay off several key employees who were investigating the Colorado City case because of budget reductions imposed by the Legislature. Despite the layoffs, sources say the attorney general's investigation is continuing and an arrest appears imminent of a prominent polygamist who allegedly impregnated underage "spiritual wives."

Ultimately, Binder says, she would like to find ways to get tough with the fundamentalists by cutting off state funding to Colorado City government and police.

"Maybe we can dis-incorporate the town," she speculated.

That is exactly the tack the federal government took toward the Mormon Church 120 years ago. Historian Bistline says federal laws passed in the 1880s finally forced the mainstream church in Salt Lake City to abandon polygamy in 1890. The laws, which applied only to U.S. territories, stripped the church of property, banned polygamists from holding public office and threatened the same kind of forced dis-incorporation that Binder suggested would work today.

But beyond legalizing that kind of action in Arizona, Bistline says, legislators could "enact some laws to put [fundamentalist] leaders in prison."

Colorado City Mayor Daniel Barlow pulled out a tape recorder, pressed the record button and set the machine on the conference table inside the Colorado City Town Hall.

A distinguished-looking man with a salesman's smile, he's the perfect front man to glad-hand politicians across the state while promoting Colorado City's carefully crafted, family-values image.

Emerging from his late-model Cadillac dressed in a well-tailored gray suit, Barlow looks like Hollywood's version of the earnest, small-town mayor.

Behind the veneer is a man who knows how to get down and dirty

Fifty years ago, Barlow was among a posse who set off dynamite charges before dawn to alert the town of Governor Howard Pyle's ill-fated attempt to dislodge polygamists by sending in the state police and national guard to arrest most of the men in town.

The then-21-year-old Barlow already had three wives – including 15-year-old Edith Black.

Barlow takes very seriously his job of protecting fundamentalist Mormons from intruders who might be prying into the town's secrets. As an interview with New Times began, he leaned across the table and said matter-of-factly:

"I want to have a tape of it because the liability of what you do is going to come back on you. I want to have the city in the position that we have some protection against the libelous and scurrilous writing."

After laying down the gauntlet, Barlow moved toward denial.
Ignoring even his personal experience, Barlow claimed he knows nothing about the scores of teenage girls married into polygamous relationships that the Attorney General's Office has discovered.

"The people you are listening to are not credible people," he said, referring to anti-polygamist activists. "I'm just amazed that you can't tell the difference between a neurotic person and a person who has real genuine information."

Pressed to comment about Utah's filing felony sexual abuse charges against Rodney Holm stemming from his plural marriage to teenager Ruth Stubbs, Barlow ducked.

"I'm not going to speak to it because it is in the courts," he said.

Setting teenage marriages aside, Barlow acknowledged that most of the town practices polygamy.

"It is part of the basis of the fundamentalist church that they believe in patriarchal marriage," he said.

Barlow's nonchalant tone suggested the unconstitutional practice is merely a footnote, rather than the cornerstone of his community. He launched into his public relations spiel that apparently has won over political leaders across the state.

"We feel like this is small-town America. It's a wonderful opportunity for young people as well as [for] everyone else," he said. "You may not understand our lifestyle, but it really isn't important to us that you understand."

What is important, Barlow said, is that the town simply be left alone to do as it sees fit.

"Our priority is to live according to our own functions and our own guidance," he said.

In other words, town leaders expect the state of Arizona to let Colorado City set its own regulations – whether they are legal or not.

Barlow's statement cuts to the heart of the 1879 U.S. Supreme Court Reynolds warning of religious freedoms becoming superior to the law of the land: "Government could only exist in name under such circumstances."

In Colorado City, all the mechanisms of government are in place. There's the town council, which appoints various committees that report their actions during regularly scheduled and posted public meetings.

Lacking, however, is vibrant political debate – or, for that matter, any debate.

The town council has the same seven members it had when the body was appointed in 1985, when the town was formed.

Six of the council members, including the mayor, are polygamists. Every member of the council swore to uphold the state constitution when he or she took office – an oath each polygamist is violating.

Though there are elections every two years, none has ever been contested.

Barlow has never been challenged as mayor. He is routinely reappointed to the post by other members of the council.

The political vacuum, Barlow said, is a reflection of widespread satisfaction with the council.

"You don't have to quarrel in America," he said. "If people are satisfied with the town leadership, that's good."

Anyone can take out a petition to get on the ballot, he said, even though no one has in 18 years.

The reality is, hardly anyone bothers to vote – at least in town council elections. In the May 2002 election, there were 86 votes for each of the four incumbents.

Minutes from the last two years show that not once did anyone raise an issue during the public-comment period at a council meeting.

To hear Mayor Barlow tell it, Colorado City is a Garden of Eden where every problem is solved.

But, in fact, the town is practically in rack and ruin financially and otherwise.

Most of its streets are unpaved and become a quagmire when it rains. There are few sidewalks, and streetlights are rare.

Lax building codes create a bizarre landscape of occupied, yet unfinished, mostly plywood houses in various stages of completion A Phoenix building inspector would quickly drain a ballpoint pen writing citations for blatant and dangerous violations (such as second-floor doors opening onto unfenced balconies).

Landscaping around homes and businesses is rare. Junk is piled up everywhere – everything from busted cranes to airplanes to rusting trucks and tractors to discarded appliances.

A couple of feedlots packed with cows are in the center of town. The lots are adjacent to Short Creek and appear to be polluting the stream. Illegal dumps litter the creek's embankments. An asphalt plant where young children are sometimes operating heavy machinery belches thick black smoke into the sky.

The town struggles to provide basic services. Water is limited, probably because Colorado City's distribution system loses so much of it from leaky pipes. Drinking water is laced with high levels of radon. No wonder that 40 percent of the town's residents are delinquent in paying water bills.

There's a brown cloud over the town from smoke from wood-burning stoves.

The town's finances are threatened by an unwise investment in a $20 million gas-fired power plant in default on its construction bonds. The plant was built in neighboring Hildale, but Colorado City is a co-owner. It is frequently shut down because of equipment problems and because it is cheaper to purchase electricity from other sources.

There is lax enforcement of an array of public safety laws. Police ignore the widespread failure to use car seats in a population dominated by children. Police also allow kids without helmets to roar up and down the town's streets on unlicensed, all-terrain vehicles.

The town does operate a library and manages to get garbage picked up regularly.

And it has paved runways at the 1992 Arizona Airport of the Year, which is testament to the town's skill at securing state and federal grants rather than any indication of bustling activity. There are only a couple of planes parked at the airstrip that many believe was built to allow a former Prophet to fly in a Lear jet back and forth from a home in Salt Lake City.

A Colorado City resident most of his life, Ben Bistline, 72, says town residents are resigned rather than content. Bistline says anyone who challenges council authority – even by simply raising questions in a public setting – risks getting evicted from United Effort Plan land and losing family, home and job.

Seventeen-year-old Robert Williams had a crush on a high school classmate named Jamie Holm.

They had chatted for a couple of months but never went on a date. That's forbidden in Colorado City. Jamie's father, Con Holm, soon learned that his daughter was flirting with a young man, and met Williams one day at the public school.

Con Holm told Williams he could see his daughter, as long as other people were around. A couple of months later, Jamie Holm gave Williams a ride home in her vehicle. Con Holm saw the couple driving down the street and pulled his daughter over, reached into the car and yanked Williams out.

"He grabbed me by the shirt and slammed me up against the car and hit me a couple of times," Robert Williams told attorney general's investigators in a May 29, 2001, taped interview obtained by New Times.

Williams said Con Holm threatened him with a more severe beating if he ever caught him with his daughter again.

A couple of months later, Williams drove by Jaime Holm's house, hoping to see her. Williams didn't see her, but Con Holm saw Williams.

A few minutes later, Con Holm rammed an all-terrain vehicle into Williams' truck, bringing the vehicle to a stop.
Con, Williams said, opened the truck door and an octopus of arms reached in and pulled him from the vehicle. Holm had gathered a group of a dozen men to help in the ambush.

"Six hands came in after me and hit me quite a few times," Williams related.

The beating continued until one of Williams' friends showed up with a baseball bat. Con Holm got control of the bat and struck Williams' ally across his shoulder, leaving a deep bruise, Williams told investigators.

Among the dozen men involved in the attack, Williams said, was Holm's brother, Colorado City policeman Rodney Holm.

Williams eventually got home and called the Washington County Sheriff's Office, not trusting the Colorado City Police Department to handle the matter, especially since Rodney Holm had been involved in the attack.

Washington County later filed charges against Con Holm, who pleaded no contest to simple assault in February 1996 and was sentenced to three months in jail.

Williams said he later learned that Rodney Holm and another officer, Clark Cooke, knew about the ambush ahead of time.

Rodney Holm later apologized for the beating, Williams said, reportedly telling his brother, Jason Williams, that the ambush got out of hand.

Ruth Stubbs told state investigators during her January 14, 2002, interview that she asked her husband if he was involved in the Williams beating and Rodney confirmed he had been there.

"He said, I might have kicked his butt once or something,'" Ruth Stubbs told state investigators.

The Colorado City police did not return phone calls from New Times seeking comment. Rodney Holm declined to comment on the Williams matter.

Robert Williams is among many young men who have been harassed after showing interest in teenage girls. The harassment has included not only beatings, but illegal searches of vehicles and orders to stay out of town, according to state records and numerous sources in Colorado City.

In fact, the primary purpose of local police, historian Bistline and others say, is to get rid of troublesome young men to ensure a surplus of teenage girls for polygamous marriages. In other words, the polygamists, many of them middle-age and elderly, want to keep the young girls for themselves.

"I've known 13-year-old boys who have been driven off and end up sleeping in the rafters of a barn," Craig Chatwin says.

Families routinely drive their penniless young sons from home on the command of the Prophet.

The teenage boys often spiral downward into drugs, alcohol and homelessness – exactly the hell that the religion predicted would befall them if they failed to subscribe to its teachings.

"I bid thee farewell," is what Ladell Pipkin, 26, said the late Prophet Rulon Jeffs told him when he was ordered to leave town a few years ago.

Pipkin is one of 37 children. His father was 54 when he married Pipkin's mother at age 19. She was one of five wives.

New Times found Pipkin living out of his decrepit SUV on an empty lot in north Phoenix. Covered with scabs and pulling hair from his face, he appeared strung out on crystal meth.

Pipkin could barely put together a sentence. But paperwork in his possession showed he had graduated from Colorado City High School in 1995, before being sent on his way.

Anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop assisted Pipkin, getting him enrolled at Teen Challenge, a youth treatment center. The young man disappeared January 5, after leaving a disturbing, handwritten letter on his bed.

"Please help me," the letter begins. "It's just to [sic] darn late, Ladell. You have messed up everybody's life. You are a mass murderer. You are just like a Hitler. Just what in the world were you thinking when you tried to challenge God? You have killed so darn many people."

He then expresses regret at how many chances he had to pull his life together, including a second baptism. "I should just commit suicide right on the spot. I am damned for all eternity for ever and ever."

Phoenix police found Pipkin six weeks later wandering downtown streets, disheveled and disoriented. Pennie Peterson said she picked him up from police and arranged to have him sent to St. George, Utah, to live with an uncle.

"He stunk so bad I had to put a blanket down over the seat of the car," Peterson said. "His brain was gone."

Dissenters Evicted

Julia Thomas had a beautiful herb and flower garden around her Colorado City home.

It was a home she had built with her own hands, much to the dismay of religious leaders who don't like women displaying such independence.

She loved her little spot on Earth as much as she cherished the fundamentalist Mormon creed.

"I made a covenant a long time ago that I would give my life to the gospel," Thomas said. "I'm doing it."

The 70-something Thomas has more than 70 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. During her lifetime in Colorado City, she has seen tumultuous events in her religion. But nothing like the split that occurred 20 years ago.

At that time, a battle emerged over whether a council of seven men should lead the FLDS, or whether all power should rest with one.

Thomas opted for the council of seven, but her side lost the battle when former Prophet Leroy Johnson assumed control of the FLDS in 1984.

The congregation in Colorado City has been ruled by a single man ever since. After Uncle Leroy came the Jeffses, Rulon and then Warren. Those who had opposed one-man rule soon found themselves in trouble, even if they were still faithful to the religious doctrine.

Like many FLDS faithful, Thomas had built her home on United Effort Plan property under the assumption that she could remain as long as she wished. But soon after Rulon Jeffs assumed power in 1986, the religion notified everyone living on UEP land that they were "tenants at will" and could be evicted.

Many in the community were shocked. Eventually, 21 people filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to retain title to the homes they had paid for and built on the land.

Led by a handful of activists, including Ben Bistline, the suit cost plaintiffs more than a million dollars and dragged on for more than a decade. A Utah state court judge finally ruled that the UEP could not evict plaintiffs from their homes, unless they paid fair market value for them. Once the homeowner died, the judge ruled, the land and home would revert to the UEP.

After the suit was settled, the UEP tightened language in its charter and resumed evictions against anyone who was not in "harmony" with the Prophet.

Lenore Holm quickly found herself out of favor in August 2000, when she protested the planned spiritual marriage of her 16-year-old daughter, Nicole, to a 39-year-old man as his second wife.

The UEP immediately sought to evict Holm and her children from the Colorado City home that she and her husband, Milton, were building. The 39-year-old Lenore has 14 children – nine were still in the parents' care.

Rather than turning over the property, which most people do when it is demanded by the UEP, Lenore Holm chose to fight the eviction in Mohave County Superior Court. The case is pending, and the Holms remain in the house. But Lenore's 16-year-old moved in with the man, and the couple were married soon after she turned 18.

As for the elderly Thomas, who is divorced and was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, she wound up getting evicted from the home she had paid for and built.

"They gave me three days' notice to leave," she said.

The UEP then bulldozed her house, and the property was given to a member of the powerful Barlow family.
"I've been a good girl, and they abused me," Thomas said.

But unlike many who have had to leave town upon eviction, the elderly Thomas was lucky. She didn't have to move far. She converted an old garage on a relative's private land into a small home for less than $1,000. There, she's replanted her herb garden and counsels young FLDS women who call on her for advice – despite her status as an apostate.

For a while after she was driven out, she wondered if the FLDS would come looking for her. "I was afraid for my life," she said. "But God was with me."

At the same time the United Effort Plan was kicking what it considers homeowner dissidents – including elderly women and widows – off its property, church leaders were encouraging the faithful to tap welfare programs to support huge FLDS families.

Like nearly every family in Colorado City, the Rodney Holm household relied heavily on food stamps to purchase groceries.

By late 2001, the Rodney Holm clan included 20 children along with the three wives. The family's food stamp benefit was worth about $2,016 a month – based on the Arizona Department of Economic Security food stamp rate of $84 a person.

According to DES, more than half the roughly 4,000 people living in the Colorado City area in Arizona are receiving food stamps worth about $172,000 a month – or $2.1 million a year.

Federal and state welfare regulations do not prohibit families in polygamous marriages from receiving welfare benefits.

Food stamp eligibility is determined by income and the number of people living together in a household – which is defined as a group of people who purchase food and eat meals together.

"It doesn't matter whether you are blood-related or not," says Vincent Wood, state DES director for benefits and medical eligibility.

So it's very easy to qualify for benefits. So easy that Ruth Stubbs said she never directly applied for food stamps or medical insurance through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state agency that administers Medicare benefits. Stubbs said she and her children were enrolled by her sister, Suzie. That, too, is legal, as long as the person submitting the application has the authorization of the person receiving the benefits.

Taxpayer-supported AHCCCS provides the bulk of the medical insurance for residents in Colorado City and the surrounding area.

The state reports that 4,138 Colorado City-area residents are enrolled in the program, costing the state about $8 million a year in premium payments.

AHCCCS eligibility is determined by combining the income of husband and wife and considering how much money is necessary to pay for the medical care of the children produced by that relationship. The process is repeated for each of the husband's wives and children.

As might be expected, Colorado City AHCCCS medical expenses are far above the state average in pediatric care. However, expenses for other health-care categories are below the average.

Colorado City residents are increasingly tapping state child-care assistance programs.

In mid-1998, there were no children receiving child-care benefits in Colorado City. By the end of last September, 46 families with 182 children were receiving state benefits. The average monthly payment per child was $247 – or about $540,000 a year.

The benefits typically are paid to state-certified day-care centers. DES officials said the benefits also can be paid to relatives of the parents, such as aunts.

In many cases, men in Colorado City are married to sisters, such as Rodney Holm's marriage to Ruth and Suzie Stubbs.

An aunt, who is also a wife, could be eligible to receive child-care benefits by taking care of the children of a sister while the mother and father are working or enrolled in school. It is unknown if this is occurring in Colorado City, DES officials said.

While Colorado City police respected fellow cop Rodney Holm's spiritual marriage to Ruth Stubbs and winked at his apparently breaking the law by sleeping with the 16-year-old girl, Utah authorities didn't see it the same way and leveled felony charges against Holm.

Colorado City Marshal Sam Roundy, a polygamist, did not return a phone call seeking comment about Rodney Holm, who has since been transferred to the town's public works department at the same salary pending the outcome of his Utah criminal trial.

All along, Ruth and Rodney had kept their marriage secret when police from outside the area came to town. The couple would ignore each other if Rodney happened to bring outsider cops to the gas station-deli where Ruth worked.

"He says that he could get into trouble for him being a cop because he was married to somebody younger than 18," Ruth told attorney general's investigators.

He was so worried, Ruth said, that he told her "not to come outside and kiss him goodbye" because he was afraid someone might be taking photographs.

For that reason and others, the pressure of the polygamous marriage on Ruth Stubbs finally reached a breaking point. On December 9, 2001, Ruth gathered up her children and fled Colorado City. She moved into her sister's house in Phoenix.

Ten days later,

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

tulsad

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:06 pm

Chap. 7: Revelations

Even though some FLDS community members began to fear and cast doubt on Warren's extreme fundamentalist views and actions, most refused to confront him out of a literal dread of going to Hell. He was, after all, the manifestation of God on earth, according to his followers and they believed he knew best. Thus, members of the sect continued to do what their "prophet" ordered, without overt objection. In essence, most adhered to the polygamist motto to "Keep Sweet," which means to be obedient and to keep quiet, Hana Gartner reported for Canada's CBC-TV. Yet, not all could keep secret or remain in a world that demanded complete and utter submission.

One of a handful of women who courageously broke out of the sect and who was one of the first to expose the secretive world of the FDLS church to the media in February, 2002, was Ruth Stubbs, 23, of Colorado City, Arizona. Ruth, at age 16, was forced by Warren to marry Colorado City police officer and polygamist Rodney Holm, who already had two wives and at least twenty children. Ruth had four children by Holm but was desperately unhappy in the marriage because she was in love with another area boy. Unable to cope with her marriage, she fled to her sister's home in Phoenix with two of her children and a third on the way.

Ruth's story, which sent shockwaves across the country, caught the attention of Arizona's Attorney General Janet Napolitano and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who immediately launched a wide-scale investigation into the FLDS church's practices. Holm's offenses fell under Utah jurisdiction because he allegedly had sexual relations with Ruth while in the state.

Holm was eventually arrested for bigamy and having sexual relations with an under-aged girl. However, the latter charges were dropped when prosecutors learned that Ruth tried to sell her testimony to FLDS church members, Ben Winslow reported in the Desert Morning News.

Ruth Stubbs' story also had a significant impact on Warren, who became the primary focus of the investigation after Holm was imprisoned. To avoid inevitable prosecution for bigamy, marrying off under-aged girls, as well as marrying them himself, Warren went underground. In the meantime, several more audacious former FLDS members revealed to the world their devastating experiences of life within the sect.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/sexual_assault/warren_jeffs/7.html

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

Tonk

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:18 pm

continued ...

Ten days later, she filed a remarkable affidavit in Maricopa County Superior Court seeking emergency child custody. The notarized document describes horrific living conditions for herself and the 20 children in the household:

"At the age of sixteen I was pressured to marry Rodney H. Holm, under the rule of the [FLDS] church. Since that time, I have lived in a controlling and abusive environment common in the community. The sister-wives' were physically and emotionally abusive to both myself and my children. I have scars on my face from one beating. Children were beaten and locked in rooms. On several occasions, younger children would be smothered by one of the mothers until they choked or gasped for air. . . . I was required to work and leave my children with the other 18 in the care of the other two mothers."

Ruth Stubbs continued describing general conditions in the community: "Incest is common. Marriages are arranged between close relatives including stepsiblings. Wives are required to submit fully to the husband, to the extent that permission had to be granted for every move, including trips to the grocery store and doctor.

"Punishment is severe for all who are disobedient, including beating, shunning and expulsion to a community in Canada for retraining. All children were removed from the public schools by Rulon Jeffs and placed in a church school for training. Children are not permitted to have education beyond the 8th grade.

"My husband' has threatened to take my children back to be raised with the other 18 children by his two other wives. He has also suggested that we give the children to the Prophet,' Warren Jeffs, to raise.

"It is not uncommon for children to be taken from their mothers by a Prophet' and transported to Salt Lake City for placement with more deserving' families.

"I fear that should my husband' be given custody or unsupervised parenting time with the children, they will be injured or otherwise harmed or that he will abscond with them and I will never see them again"

A month later, Ruth met with state AG's investigators, telling them she would cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Rodney Holm if criminal charges were filed.

But her main goal, she said, was to gain custody of her children.

She anxiously told investigators, "I do not want my kids to go back there."

Blood Atonement

Craig Chatwin has had a ringside seat in Colorado City. He was raised in a polygamous family; he is one of 30 children from three mothers. He is the third child of the second mother and the seventh child overall.

Articulate and outspoken, Chatwin parted with the church a few years ago after his first marriage ended. He has since carefully analyzed the political, economic and religious forces that keep the community together.

The religion teaches that righteous men will become gods and rule over many planets. The gods will have many, many women to use for bringing spirits forth to populate the planets.

"The woman's greatest achievement is if she can become a goddess and help her husband with the preparation of these worlds," says Chatwin, who attended many church sessions for men, called Priesthood meetings, while growing up in Colorado City.

"The only way a woman can get there is to be perfectly obedient to her husband," Chatwin says. "The only way a man get there is to be perfectly obedient to the next layer of organization in the priesthood, which in Colorado City is the Prophet."

If doubt creeps in to a fundamentalist's mind, he is taught to believe that the devil is at play and to ignore the thoughts. "Put it on the shelf," is the way the church puts it.

Time and time again, various Prophets have declared that the end of the world is certain.

Leaders claim that the righteous will be "lifted up" to the sky to hover above the town as the Lord comes through and destroys the wicked. They will then return to Earth and resume the "work" of building the kingdom of God.

When the liftoff fails to happen on schedule, the leaders explain that God has given followers more time to achieve righteousness.
Predictions of the end of the world trigger widespread fear in the community -- particularly among the young, unmarried women.

"The fear of death made me want to stay," says Jenny Kesselring, who remembers the end of the world predictions in 1997. At the time, Kesselring was a teenager struggling to decide whether to move to Salt Lake City to live with a cousin.

Many of the faithful are convinced their leaders have supernatural powers. It is generally believed that Prophets will live forever. Even as Rulon Jeffs was clearly fading from a series of strokes, religious leaders kept telling the congregation that he would soon rebound. When Jeffs finally died at 92, there was widespread shock in town.

Because he believed himself immortal, Rulon never bothered to anoint a successor Prophet. Though outwardly stunned that his father had died, Warren Jeffs kept a clear enough head to issue an edict of utmost importance:

"Don't put your hands on any of my father's women," Warren is said to have ordered in a prayer meeting before Rulon's body was cold. According to local lore, the about 70 wives were later divided among FLDS hierarchy, with Warren getting first pick as the new Prophet. Supporting Warren -- who refused to be interviewed for this story -- is said to be powerful FLDS bishop Fred Jessop, 95, who himself has about 30 wives.

Though Warren has assumed the mantle of power, he apparently isn't ready to let go of his father's coattails. During sermons, the faithful report, he sometimes pauses, acting as if he is listening to his father speak from the great beyond. Perhaps the younger Jeffs is keeping in such close touch with his father's ghost to quell a growing rebellion in town to his strict leadership style.

Though it may seem to the outside world like comparing prison to jail, a number of previously stalwart families in Colorado City have bolted to Canada in the last few months to join Prophet Winston Blackmore's less restrictive polygamous program.

"Warren Jeffs' philosophy of family doesn't exist," Chatwin claims. "He believes in a group commune."

Chatwin says Jeffs has told the community, "These children that you are having don't belong to you, they belong to me.' That's verbatim."

Several sources have independently recounted stories where men have confessed to Jeffs a relationship prior to marriage, or some other infraction, that has resulted in the Prophet stripping the husbands and fathers of their wives and children. In fact, more than 50 families have been busted apart, with wives and children reassigned to other men, in the last few years, records compiled by former FLDS members and turned over to the AG's Office show.

"The men are shattered," science teacher DeLoy Bateman says. Some have threatened suicide and others have suffered mental breakdowns.

It is no wonder, given that the Prophet has even been known to remarry women while they are still legally betrothed to someone else.

Unlike the spiritual marriages conducted by the FLDS, Jason Williams, 18, and Suzanne Jessop, 16, were civilly married after eloping in 1994. The couple left Colorado City after Suzanne learned that church leaders were planning to "marry her up" to someone else. They stayed out of the community for about eight months before returning as outcasts.

"Her parents wouldn't have anything to do with her because she had apostatized," Jason Williams told state investigators.

Meanwhile, two of Suzanne's sisters, 18-year-old Velva and 21-year-old Kathy, were required to marry Prophet Rulon Jeffs, who was then more than 80. Suzanne's parents soon began pressuring her to divorce Jason.

Eventually, under direct pressure from the elderly Jeffs, Suzanne filed for divorce in December 1998. The Prophet, Jason Williams later reported to AG's investigators, told him that the only way he could get back into the church would be to sign over custody of both of his children, and be rebaptized.

That Suzanne had decided she wanted to reconcile by March 1999 had no bearing on events that had already been set in motion, Jason said "Two weeks later, they marry her to another man [as a second wife] while we were still legally married. Exactly nine months after that, she has her first child [with the new husband]."

Jason Williams has since filed a $20 million lawsuit against the FLDS in federal court after a Utah state court dismissed his case last year.

Devotion to the "principle," as polygamy is often called, inevitably leads to fanaticism.

There is a hard-core FLDS fringe, estimated by several different sources at about 10 percent of the men, who would be willing kill to protect the Prophet and the religion.

"There was a time I would have killed if asked to by the Prophet," says historian Bistline.

During their interviews with witnesses, state investigators expressed serious concern about the potential for violence in Colorado City if authorities tried to make arrests under sexual abuse laws.

"That's one thing we've been concerned about . . . Waco-effect," state investigator Ron Gibson said during the interviews with Jason Williams.

For several years, Warren Jeffs has been preaching the doctrine of "blood atonement" -- where it is the righteous person's obligation to kill a sinner to gain salvation. While rumors abound concerning the practice, there is no evidence that blood atonement has been carried out.

But there is fear that it will be applied, particularly to apostates.

"I've personally heard Warren in priesthood meeting speaking of blood atonement," Jason Williams told investigators. "That's the next step."

Jason Williams said the FLDS operates a group called Sons of Heilman that uses songs and rituals to train young combatants. Rumors of stockpiled weapons have circulated through the community for years. Jason Williams said he's been very nervous since filing his lawsuit against the FLDS.

"You're looking over your shoulder because you wonder if somebody is gonna bump you off," he said.

Stories about the Sons of Heilman and weapons caches may be apocryphal, but they are enough to terrify Lenora Spencer, who grew up in another fundamentalist Mormon group in Mexico led by Ervil Lebaron.

Blood atonement became a way of life for Lebaron and his followers. Lebaron, who died in a Utah state prison in 1981, and his followers committed 28 murders in Mexico and the United States over 20 years. The killings stemmed from a conflict between rival Mormon polygamous groups. In addition to Lebaron, 15 of his family members were sent to prison for murder, theft, racketeering and/or conspiracy.

Spencer, who has close ties to Colorado City, said the Sons of Heilman remind her of when she was a young girl, and Lebaron was training children to handle firearms. She told state investigators that if Warren Jeffs and his followers are embracing blood atonement, armed violence is a possibility.

"Every child in that town is danger, every person is," Spencer warned.

Ruth's Destination

Despite the beatings, shunnings and jealousy, despite the dark thoughts that pushed her to wishing she were dead, Ruth Stubbs has moved back to Colorado City.

"She got [to Phoenix], and it scared the hell out of her," said her sister, Pennie Peterson, who tried to convince Ruth that she should not return.

Peterson knows well the difficulties faced by young girls trying to flee the town, having experienced the same turmoil 15 years ago when she fled initially to Las Vegas.

"To come out . . . is like going into the twilight zone," she says. "It's scary."

Just weeks before her child-custody case in Maricopa County was to be settled late last year, Ruth moved in with another sister back in Colorado City. She had left the town 10 months earlier with two children, and returned with three -- the last also Rodney Holm's child.

A lifetime of religious indoctrination that demands strict obedience is not easily shaken.

"They still have control and power over her and can still talk her into whatever," Peterson says.

Her child-custody case has been moved to Washington County, Utah -- wh

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

tulsad

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:03 pm

FLDS Children's Rally

I had been wanting to get some pictures of the Farmer's Market in Pioneer Park. I had heard that there would be a FLDS Children's Rally at the City County Building on the same day. So I decided to get pictures of both events.

The FLDS rally was a lot smaller than I had anticipated. Polygamous groups are noteworthy for the rate at which they can breed. This rally had only 40 or so people. At top breeding speed, a polygamist group can quickly balloon into the thousands.

The primary goal of this rally was to show that the women and children in FLDS families are not monsters. For that matter, this group of children appeared well educated and was quite articulate. Personally, I have met women from polygamous families who had received essentially no education.

FLDS Children

2006-08-19
FLDS Children This rally had several young members of the FLDS church speak.

Children at Rally

2006-08-19
Children at Rally Children at the FLDS Children's Rally. The signs say "I love all my moms" and advocate freedom of choice.

I Love All My Moms

2006-08-19
I Love All My Moms A sign on display at the FLDS Childrens' Rally

FLDS Children's Rally

2006-08-19
FLDS Children's Rally Children at the 2006 FLDS Children's Rally. The signs say things like: "Prejudice Hurts Kids," "Our Families Our Choice," "Liberty and Justice for All" and "I Love All My Moms."

FLDS Children

2006-08-19
FLDS Children Children at the 2006 FLDS rally.

http://protophoto.com/subject.html?subject_id=549

shocked

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 12:49 am

Teens Defend Polygamy at Utah Rally

August 19th, 2006 @ 9:49pm
By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Calling their lives blessed, more than a dozen children and young adults from polygamist families in Utah spoke at a rally Saturday, calling for a change in state laws and the right to live the life and religion they choose.

"Because of our beliefs, many of our people have been incarcerated and had their basic human rights stripped of them, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said a 19-year-old identified only as Tyler. "I didn't come here today to ask for your permission to live my beliefs. I shouldn't have to."

Polygamy is banned in the Utah Constitution and is a felony offense. The rally was unusual because those who practice polygamy typically try to live under the radar.

It drew about 250 supporters to City Hall, said Mary Batchelor, co-founder of Principle Voices of Polygamy, which helped organize the event.

The youths, ages 10 to 20, belong to various religious sects, as well as families that practice polygamy independent of religious affiliation. They said they spoke voluntarily. They gave only their first names, saying they were protecting the privacy of their parents.

Dressed in flip-flops and blue jeans, bangs drooping over their eyes, the teens at Saturday's rally talked on cell phones and played rock music, singing lyrics written to defend their family life.

All of the speakers praised their parents and families and said their lives were absent of the abuse, neglect, forced marriages and other "horror stories" sometimes associated with polygamist communities.

Speakers said that with "dozens of siblings" and multiple "moms" they are well supported, encouraged to be educated, and can make their own choices about marriage.

"We are not brainwashed, mistreated, neglected, malnourished, illiterate, defective or dysfunctional," 17-year-old Jessica said. "My brothers and sisters are freethinking, independent people; some who have chosen this lifestyle, while others have branched out to a diversity of religions."

First brought to Utah by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1846, polygamy was abandoned by Mormons as a condition of statehood in 1890. The church now excommunicates members found to be practicing plural marriage. It also disavows those who call themselves "fundamentalist Mormons," although most Utah-based polygamists identify themselves with those terms.

Fundamentalists split with the Mormon church in the 19th century and continue to believe plural marriage is the key to eternal salvation.

http://www.principlevoices.org/article.php?story=20060819215054260

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 1:20 am

The Attack on Marriage

December 10, 2007
By Steven Alderman

Polygamy is to marriage what the free market is to the economy. Which can only mean one thing: If you oppose legalizing polygamy, well, you are a Communist.

Polygamy -- a topic you can't avoid these days (e.g., Warren Jeffs, Big Love, Mitt Romney) -- is easy to disparage. But frankly the antipolygamy arguments just don't seem convincing. Let's run through them:

Polygamists marry underage women. True, some do. But these are the fundamentalist megalomaniacs. Polygamy isn't any more inherently oppressive to women than monogamous male-female marriage. Should we abolish booze because Lindsay Lohan can't hold her Jack Daniel's?

If you legalize polygamy, it's a slippery slope, and next you'll have to legalize men marrying goats. Not really. Two adult women who are capable of saying yes or no do not equal one mute goat.

Polygamy is an affront to God and the Bible. Perhaps. But depends which part of the Bible. In the Old Testament, polygamy is accepted without judgment. David has eight wives. And Solomon holds the record with 700.

It's bad for the kids. The studies are vague. And actually, anthropologist Philip Kilbride says that polygamy would reduce the divorce rate and be better for kids.

There would be a single-man surplus. This is actually the most realistic and severe problem. The math is simple: The rich men will snap up several women. Sergey Brin will rack up Solomon-like numbers, leaving the rest of us schmucks with our peckers in our hands. (This will be true even if polygamy is a two-way street, as it should be. Women should be allowed to marry multiple men. But most won't. DNA and testosterone say that men will be the ones who do most of the spouse collecting.)

And yet...so what? Isn't that the point of the free market? Why should love be any different from business? It'd be good incentive for us other guys to start our own damn search engine.

If the government legally required that all men earn the same salary, that system would be described in a book called Das Kapital. And that's the marital system we're living under.

Polygamists of the world, throw off your chains.

http://www.esquire.com/features/man-at-his-best/polygamy1207

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:12 am

1. What is a Fundamentalist Mormon?

In general, Fundamentalist Mormons base their belief in and practice of polygamy on the Bible, and early teachings and doctrines of the LDS Church. (LDS Church founder Joseph Smith, and many of his contemporaries and successors, taught and practiced plural marriage.)

2. When and how did Fundamentalist Mormonism begin?

After polygamy was renounced by the LDS Church in 1890, a few Church members refused to "adjust" to new policies. Over time, the Church made increased efforts to identify and excommunicate such individuals. Separated from the LDS Church, Fundamentalist Mormons gradually coalesced into an on-going movement that has endured to the present.

3. Why do Fundamentalist Mormons practice plural marriage?

They believe that plural marriage is essential to achieving the highest degree of heaven (exaltation). Contrary to popular belief, they do not believe the practice of polygamy is a requirement for salvation.

4. Do all Fundamentalist Mormons have the same beliefs and practices?

No. Fundamentalist Mormons are a diverse people who espouse many different views and philosophies, but are generally rooted in LDS theology.

5. How many polygamists are there in the United States?

With regard to Fundamentalist Mormon polygamists, the figures often reported by the media range from 20,000 to 100,000.

Based upon a recent casual survey, we believe a figure of 37,000 refers more accurately to the number of Fundamentalist Mormons in the western United States rather than to the number of practicing polygamists. More than half of Fundamentalist Mormon families profess a belief in polygamy but are not currently practicing it.

6. Isn't polygamy against the law?

The simple answer: Yes, polygamy is generally considered equivalent to bigamy ('bi' means 'two,' and 'poly' means 'multiple'), but bigamy has generally been applied to people who obtain multiple marriage licenses with some intent to commit fraud (either upon the state or upon the individual). Polygamists do not obtain multiple marriage licenses for their “spiritual” marriages, and therefore, do not fall into the common definition of bigamy (where fraud is committed when multiple legal licenses are procured).

In Utah, it is not necessary to have more than one legal marriage license to be prosecuted for bigamy. In the last five years, polygamists Tom Green and Rodney Holm were successfully prosecuted for bigamy, neither of whom had obtained multiple marriage licenses. In the case of Tom Green, the state found him to be "common-law" married in order to prosecute him for bigamy because he was not legally married to any woman at the time he was charged. Both men had apparently "married" underage girls as plural wives in spiritual ceremonies.

The Utah Attorney General has said that he is concentrating his state's limited resources on the prosecution of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, welfare fraud, and other related abuses, enhancing the charges with a bigamy charge where the offender is also a polygamist.

The bigamy conviction of Rodney Holm was upheld by the Utah Supreme Court in May, 2006. The decision basically declared religious, non-legal marriage commitments equivalent to legal marriages, but only for the purposes of prosecution. Chief Justice Christine Durham strenuously objected to this interpretation in a scathing 37-page dissent (http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/Holm051606.pdf).

* In some states, bigamy is a misdemeanor, in others, it is a felony. In the state of Utah, the act of a married person merely “cohabiting” with someone other than the legal spouse, or “purporting” to be married to someone other than the legal spouse, is felony bigamy. However, only Fundamentalist Mormons are singled out for prosecution under the cohabitation clause, while married individuals who cohabit for non-religious reasons are ignored.

* Fornication, adultery and unlawful cohabitation are also crimes in the state of Utah.

* Additionally, Utah's constitution (and a handful of others) contains a prohibition against polygamous marriages.

Last Updated Monday, June 05 2006

http://www.principlevoices.org/staticpages/index.php?page=20050830074625545

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:46 am

Children of 'plural families' to rally

Purpose of Aug. 19 rally in S.L. is to defend their lifestyle
Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006

They're making banners that say things like "Justice and Liberty For All," "Intolerance Hurts Kids" and "I Love ALL My Moms."
Hundreds of children from polygamous families plan to stage a rally next week to stand up for their families, their communities and their faiths.

"I hope that they'll see there's good people in happy families," said Maranda, an 18-year-old who lives in a plural family in the Salt Lake Valley. Like most of the teenagers involved in the rally, she declined to give her last name to protect her family.

The pro-polygamy group Principle Voices is organizing the Aug. 19 rally at the Salt Lake City-County building. It will feature mostly youth speakers.

"Our teenagers wanted to defend their lifestyle," rally organizer Anne Wilde told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "Often they're perceived as the victims. They want to say no, they don't consider themselves the victims. They feel like this should be a free choice."

Members of the Apostolic United Brethren, The Davis Co-operative Society, Centennial Park and independent fundamentalist groups are expected to be in attendance. Organizers said the Fundamentalist LDS Church was also invited to participate, but there has been no response.

The rally is also in response to the heat that's been put on polygamous communities since fugitive FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Jeffs, 50, is charged in Utah and Arizona with sex crimes accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Federal prosecutors have charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. There is a $100,000 bounty out for his arrest.

Maranda said the publicity surrounding Jeffs has given other polygamous communities a bad image.

"I feel that there's an image where all the children who are in polygamist families are held down and don't think for themselves and have no choice in the matter," she told the Deseret Morning News. "I want to change that."

Many children in polygamy say they have been harassed at public school and called derogatory names like "plyg." Some children have declined to participate out of fear of being publicly identified.

"I'd like to see us not have to feel like we're hiding something," Maranda said. "We're really doing what we believe is right. We're not hurting anyone."

Such a public statement is expected to draw attention, but Wilde said she hopes the youth rally leads to positive change for future generations of plural families.

"They do not want to be perceived as victims, as unhappy and controlled," she said. "They have their free choice as to whether or not they want to live it as adults. Many say 'I'll wait and see,' some say 'I hope to.' Maybe they'll say, 'It's not for me.' The important thing is they can choose for themselves."

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645191989,00.html

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 3:17 am

Our Mission

Principle Voices is committed to education, empowerment and service of individuals and families in the Fundamentalist Mormon culture, many of whom are polygamous.

Principle Voices believes that we can effect meaningful change only when people themselves actively participate in the process and choose for themselves their own change in course.

To that end, Principle Voices:

* Facilitates communication between polygamous families/communities and government agencies and non-government organizations (NGO's).

* Coordinates advocacy training for individuals and communities from the polygamous culture, helping them to participate effectively in political, legal and public discussions.

* Evaluates, compiles and disseminates useful information affecting plural families, especially legal issues and public policies.

* Provides formal and informal presentations, training and education pertinent to the polygamous culture, and government agencies and non-government organizations.

* Encourages research, studies, literary and historical works of this culture.

~Do Nothing About Us, Without Us~

http://www.principlevoices.org/index.php?topic=1AboutPV

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:14 am

Appropriate Terminology when Interacting with Polygamous Families
Friday, September 02 2005 @ 11:17 PM MDT
Contributed by: Admin Use:

Fundamentalist group or community instead of the more offensive "clan"

Neighborhood; enclosed community instead of "compound"

Residents of Hildale/Colorado City (formerly Short Creek) instead of "Creekers"

"Culture" instead of the highly offensive term "cult"

"Left the polygamous lifestyle" or "escaped an abusive situation" instead of "escaped from polygamy"

Davis County co-op instead of "Kingston clan"

Fundamentalist Mormons or Fundamentalist groups instead of "polygamist groups"

Plural marriage (used more frequently within the culture) instead of polygamy (considered derogatory by some)

Residents of Centennial Park instead of "Second Ward(ers)"

Plural wife instead of "spiritual wife"

Highly offensive expressions to avoid:

Destructive of the human rights of women
Inequality and exploitation of women
Plyg
Polygamy breeds child abuse
Sexual exploitation
Slavery
Subjugation of women

Compiled by
Principle Voices, 2005

http://www.principlevoices.org/article.php?story=20050902231755552

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:31 am

Book ~ Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage

Authors and Compilers:
Mary Batchelor * Marianne Watson * Anne Wilde

About the Book

This book is a unique collection of original essays written by plural wives in their own words.

Some of the plural wives who submitted essays for inclusion in this book are speaking publicly for the first time. In the past many of these women have chosen to remain silent rather than risk revealing their identities. This publication has provided them with a medium wherein they could feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions. Along with their stories, the reader will find important and enlightening background material discussing events and doctrines leading up to contemporary polygamy.

This book meets the authors' four aims: (1) to present a positive voice for plural marriage, (2) to demonstrate that a significant number of women have freely chosen to accept this lifestyle, (3) to help dispel false stereotypes, and (4) to allow plural wives to speak and be heard.

This book reveals that plural wives are diverse, independent and balanced and have found meaning and fulfillment in their chosen lifestyle. Voices in Harmony will surely take its place among other significant historical and scholarly works.

~ Excerpts from the Preface, by Carolyn Campbell

Endorsements

D. Michael Quinn
Affiliated Scholar in the Center for Feminist Research, University of Southern California. Author of "LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890-1904," Dialogue 18, Spring 1985 & Mormon Hierarchy, Signature Books.

"This is a book without parallel for those interested in studying modern American family life. Even the most casual reader will be interested in its statistical profiles of 100 women who have lived as wives in polygamous households. These women's personal essays do not fit the outsider's stereotypes. From 19-year-olds to women of retirement age, these plural wives are intelligent, articulate, and integrated within modern society. An outsider may regard their faith as odd and their devotion to plural marriage as even stranger, but this book reveals these plural wives as diverse, devout, intelligent, and interesting women."

Professor Martha Sonntag Bradley University of Utah.
Author, Kidnapped from That Land: The Government raids on the Short Creek Polygamists

"This collection of testimonials from women living plural marriage adds a missing link in our efforts to better understand the principle. With poignancy, a sense of the spirit, and a deep respect for plurality, these women speak to their own experience and tell us how plurality feels to them. As such, it is an important contribution to the growing body of literature about the practice of plural marriage. For them an affirmation of their chosen lifestyle, for us a window into the fascinating private world of plurality."

Ken Driggs
Attorney at Law
Author of several articles on Mormon History and the law. Ken has also written about Fundamentalist Mormon polygamists. (see www.kendriggs.com)

"Fundamentalist Mormons have rarely been allowed to tell their own story, especially the women who elect to enter plural relationships. This book listens respectfully to these women who write about their lives based upon belief and tradition, and they should be taken seriously. These plural wives explain their unorthodox choices--choices made in religious faith and in a commitment to a Mormon way of life left behind over 100 years ago by the largely successful LDS Church. There simply is nothing else available with gives the reader these insights."

Professors Irwin Altman & Joseph Ginat Co-authors, Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society. Dr. Altman is a Distinguished Professor of psychology, University of Utah. Dr. Ginat is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Haifa, Israel.

"An excellent review of theological, historical and legal underpinnings of fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. Of special interest are the 100 essays by women who describe their marriages and relationships with co-wives in contemporary plural families. Specifically designed to counteract public statements by those opposed to plural marriage, the volume in general, and the personal accounts in particular, offer a unique perspective on modern plural family life. The volume is well worth reading; it can contribute to informed, constructive, and rational discussions and policy making regarding this unusual American family lifestyle."

Professor B. Carmon Hardy History Professor, California State University at Fullerton. Author, Solemn Covenant; The Mormon Polygamous Passage

"Historians always value firsthand accounts. This gathering of personal observations by contemporary polygamous women is, therefore, especially significant. It is a most timely project, important to everyone interested in this fascinating topic."

How to Order

To order your copy or copies of Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage, please send your check or money order for $20 per book (plus $3 shipping), payable to PRINCIPLE VOICES at the following address-

Principle Voices
c/o 3332 E. Fort Union Blvd.
Salt Lake City, UT 84121

For any questions, please email us at mary@principlevoices.org. Voices in Harmony is also available through Amazon at www.amazon.com.

http://www.principlevoices.org/index.php?topic=VoicesinHarmony

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:05 am

The following is part of an article on fundamentalist Mormon origins and definitions as published in the Summer 1998 issue of Dialogue A Journal of Mormon Thought. It is "an independent quarterly established to express Mormon culture and to examine the relavance of religion to secular life..."

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/dialogue&CISOPTR=10335&CISOSHOW=10149

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

Guest

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 8:12 am

Re: FLDS Children's Rally

tulsad wrote:

2006-08-19
FLDS Children This rally had several young members of the FLDS church speak.

Children at Rally

2006-08-19
Children at Rally Children at the FLDS Children's Rally. The signs say "I love all my moms" and advocate freedom of choice.

I Love All My Moms

2006-08-19
I Love All My Moms A sign on display at the FLDS Childrens' Rally

FLDS Children's Rally

2006-08-19
FLDS Children Children at the 2006 FLDS rally.

http://protophoto.com/subject.html?subject_id=549

shocked

I thought FLDS all wore certain clothes? Question

These teens look the same as every other teen in the world ............Strange.......

Tonk

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:39 am

The FLDS argument will not hold up
BY MARCI HAMILTON
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM

Associated Press/Tony Gutierrez
A member of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints at the Yearning for Zion Ranch last month.
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HOME, GREEN HOME

When Texas authorities entered the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, one of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compounds, on April 3, they did so using a warrant based on calls from a person who alleged that she was an underage girl being subjected to physical and sexual abuse, including rape, at the ranch.

Once the authorities entered, they discovered pregnant underage girls, girls with more than one child, papers indicating that rampant polygamy was occurring at YFZ, and even a document involving cyanide poisoning. The authorities then intelligently decided to remove all of the children from a situation that posed obvious and serious danger to them.

Lawyers for the FLDS members have been arguing in the press that the entry and removal of the children constituted a "massive" violation of due process. Others have argued that the authorities' actions represent the unfair targeting of one religion.

Each of these arguments is singularly misguided.

The due-process argument

Whether or not the caller was legitimate, the important point is the lack of any government misconduct and the serious evidence of crimes to children.

There are now allegations that the calls to the authorities spurring the raid were placed by a woman who was not within the YFZ compound. Even if proven, however, this claim would not affect the validity of the authorities' actions.

Absent clear evidence that the state fabricated the call or misled the judge who granted the initial search warrant, neither of which seems remotely plausible, the entry cannot be faulted on constitutional grounds. Once the authorities were inside, the evidence of criminal behavior was so plainly apparent that further investigation was more than warranted.

No self-respecting child protective agency could have departed from that compound without taking all of the children away. The authorities revealed last week that 31 out of the 53 underage YFZ girls have been pregnant and/or are pregnant. Imminent risk of harm -- the legal standard that bound the authorities -- was apparent; indeed, a decision to leave the children in that setting would have opened up the state to liability.

The key point here is that children were being abused and were very likely to be abused in the future. And, worse, this was occurring in an atmosphere in which the adults seemed incapable of apprehending the depth of the criminal behavior in question.

It is just as though the state had entered a drug den on the basis of reports about one child's abuse and discovered a bevy of children in a position likely to lead to neglect and mistreatment. In such a hypothetical, surely no one would contest the appropriateness of removing the children. The religious cloak does not forestall the proper operation of the child protective authorities.

Despite the large number of children who were taken, what happened in Eldorado is no different from any other situation in which the state investigates alleged abuse, substantiates a risk of harm and takes action to protect all those children who might be subject to such harm. Arguments that children should not be separated from their mothers simply have no purchase when it is apparent that the mothers are incapable of protecting their children from sexual or other abuse, or unwilling to do so.

Before criticizing the Texas authorities who have witnessed the operation of the FLDS firsthand, one must stop to think about what was going on in this compound. This is a conspiracy of adults to commit systematic child sex abuse, where the men and the women force their girls to be "married" to much older men in order to have many children, and where they groom their boys to be the next generation of abusers, and then abandon some of their own boys in order to keep the numbers favorable for the abusing men.

What is most striking is that not a single adult from the ranch or the sect has been willing to admit to the obvious cycle of severe child sexual abuse. One of the most chilling statements I have ever heard -- and I have focused upon organizational child abuse, including within the Roman Catholic Church -- was that of the mother who would not answer a reporter's question about whether girls were married off to much older men, but rather asserted that whatever happened there happened out of "love."

Widespread knowledge exists about the practices of the FLDS Church, which has been practicing polygamy and child sex abuse for more than a century. This organization traces its roots to the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, who mandated polygamy in the mid-19th century. (The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, publicly renounced the practice at the end of the 19th century.)

FLDS members reside not only at YFZ but also at compounds in Arizona, Utah, South Dakota and British Columbia. The recent Utah trial of FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs documented the practice of elders arranging and encouraging the sexual abuse of underage girls. (Jeffs was ultimately apprehended for his brazen Mann Act violations, consisting of transporting girls across state and international boundaries to be delivered to FLDS men, after the FBI finally placed him on its 10-most-wanted list.) So did the earlier trial of Tom Green in Utah.

Moreover, numerous well-documented publications have detailed terrifying and illegal behaviors, including Carolyn Jessops' Escape, her account of escaping the sect; Andrea Emmitt Moore's account of 10 fundamentalist polygamist sects, God's Brothel; and Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven. I wrote about the FLDS in my book God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law and have been writing columns on the FLDS for years.

If the already-disseminated knowledge about the FLDS is not enough, there were reports last week alleging an FLDS baby graveyard with 200 graves between the Arizona and Utah compounds. Advocates are telling us that these graves are the result of brutal abuse of young children to obtain their obedience, and probably medical neglect and the genetic deformities that result from generations of inbreeding.

Yet many have asserted a violation of due process, as though the authorities are required to be intentionally ignorant about communities within their jurisdiction.

FLDS lawyers have been floating to the media and public the bizarre notion that authorities were required to enter the compound with a mental blank slate, as though they knew absolutely nothing about the FLDS. It is a position that defies common sense.

Although authorities need probable cause for a particular raid, they do not have to act stupid once they are inside a criminal organization, whether it is a religious group, the mob or a drug cartel. It is law enforcement's obligation to be informed about likely criminal conduct in their jurisdiction. That includes orchestrated child abuse.

One must give the Texas authorities credit for putting the interests of the children first. Utah and the FBI have focused on one man at a time, an approach that appears to have done next to nothing to stop the entrenched cycle of abuse within the system. Authorities in Arizona, Utah and South Dakota, where other FLDS compounds are situated, have made it very clear that they would never follow the Texas authorities' lead of taking all of the children away from obvious danger.

Indeed, the Utah attorney general was peeved that Texas would make such a bold move, because it could undermine his increasingly friendly relations with the FLDS in Utah. Arizona's attorney general sent out a news release essentially telling Arizonans not to expect any dramatic rescue of children obviously at high risk of abuse, because Arizona law just does not permit it.

The latter has yet to explain precisely why he believes that children at imminent risk of harm cannot be brought to safety in that state. (And if he believes that is the law, surely he should call for a change in it!) In South Dakota, the authorities say they are awaiting some triggering event that will permit them to check on the girls and women.

It really is remarkable: American law enforcement routinely infiltrates criminal organizations in which the issues are drugs and money, but when the issue is widespread child abuse, they "have to" sit on their hands until somehow, some way one of those on the inside of a cult invites them inside.

If any court finds that the rescue of the FLDS children -- in light of the evidence gathered on the basis of a good-faith warrant during the raid and the evidence now piling up -- is a due process violation, it will be a giant step backward for the civil rights of children everywhere. Let's hope that erroneous ruling will never be made.

Predictably, the American Civil Liberties Union has chosen to take the side in opposition to the children, publicly wringing its hands over the process as it applies to the adults. It is one of the most underexamined phenomena in the American civil rights movement that the organization that has considered itself such a champion of individual rights has had such a consistently insensitive attitude toward the bodily suffering of children.

We are in the midst of a civil rights movement for children, yet the ACLU is woefully lagging behind.

The free exercise argument

The even weaker argument circulating, once again encouraged by the FLDS lawyers, is that the rescue somehow violated the FLDS' freedom of religion. There are two underlying theories, neither of which has much traction -- for good reason, because both should be quickly dismissed as totally unconvincing.

First, the FLDS argue that they have been "targeted" in violation of the First Amendment. The argument takes a First Amendment concept and grossly misapplies it.

The government cannot choose a particular religion to be treated differently from other religious (or similarly situated secular) organizations, but the government is not prohibited from stopping criminal conduct even if the only ones engaging in the behavior are religious or if the conduct is restricted to a religious organization's property. In short, a government may not discriminate against a group, but the Constitution does not force authorities to willfully close their eyes to criminal conduct.

This raid was about child abuse. It is no different from authorities entering a drug den or a private home where there are credible accounts of abuse. The child protective services universe is sufficiently stable by now that whoever is sexually abusing a child can be made to stop.

The best interest of the child determines government action. That is obviously what is happening in this case, and the attempts to misleadingly shift the focus to the perpetrators' religious identity is not justified by law or basic decency. There is simply no religious defense to criminal behavior. That this behavior was so heinous makes using the cover of religion all the more appalling.

Second, the FLDS argues that the government simply cannot interfere with a religious enclave and that it should have autonomy from the government's interference.

This latter theory has been touted by more mainstream religious organizations in recent years, especially those battling clergy abuse, but courts have not had much patience with the notion that autonomy includes a right to abuse children. I would hope that the mainstream religious organizations that have been pushing "church autonomy" are having second thoughts as they watch this particular group embrace their vision to justify systemic and systematic child sexual abuse.

Finally, some would argue that the age of sex and marriage is merely "cultural," and therefore the government has no business interfering with this sort of religious group. That argument is hopelessly behind the times, as it treats children as property rather than persons. It was not long ago that they were, in essence, nothing but property.

The Texas authorities give one hope that children are moving surely and steadily into the category of persons -- persons who have civil rights that protect their bodily integrity against adults who would use their position of power to take what these children cannot freely give.

http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/620718.html

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

Tonk

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:40 am

Jail takes its toll on polygamist leader's authority
BY JACK DOUGLAS JR.
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

STAR-TELEGRAM/KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH
Women and children from the YFZ Ranch are taken from the compound early last month.

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HOME, GREEN HOME

As his polygamist followers in Texas undergo one of the most intensive child abuse investigations in the nation's history, sect prophet Warren Jeffs sits in a small jail cell in Arizona, emaciated and under a suicide watch, as he awaits trial on charges of criminal incest and sexual assault in a desert town that was once the home of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Jeffs, 52, is alone in his cell 23 hours each day, allowed out only to shower and use the telephone. He is given two 30-minute visitation periods a week. Those who come to see him are usually his wives from Texas who, one sect expert said, have a "vested interest in his retaining his leadership."

But Jeffs' rule over the estimated 10,000 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is believed to be eroding, observers and former sect members say.

"From a theological standpoint, Warren Jeffs would still be considered the prophet, even though he is behind bars," said Shannon Price, director of the Salt Lake City-based Diversity Foundation, which helps victims of polygamy.

But Jeffs' continued control relies on the information he gets from the outside world, said Price, who grew up in a monogamous family but has relatives who are polygamists, including three uncles who were "prophets" of the sect. Based on his visitors' log at the Mohave County Jail, she said, Jeffs is getting his news from women who have little sway in the male-only hierarchy of the FLDS and its sprawling compound near Eldorado, in West Texas.

'He was a creep'

Carolyn Jessop, who was married to a top lieutenant of Jeffs' before she and her eight children escaped in April 2003, said Jeffs is losing control over the sect, mainly because he is cut off from his handpicked followers, considered his favorites, at the 1,691-acre YFZ (Yearning For Zion) Ranch, 45 miles south of San Angelo.

"He's not doing well in prison at all. If he continues to starve himself ... he'll eventually kill himself," said Jessop, author of the book Escape, which chronicles her life in and out of polygamy.

As a "plural wife" to Merril Jessop, a top confidant of Jeffs who leads the compound in Eldorado, Carolyn Jessop was around Jeffs more than she wanted.

"I have no respect for the man. I thought he was a creep the first day that I met him. There was something wrong with the man. If you look at the things he's done to people, they're criminal," she said.

Jeffs inherited the leadership of the breakaway Mormon sect from his father, Rulon Jeffs, who at the time of his death in 2002 had 19 or 20 wives and about 60 children. The new leader reportedly told his flock, "Hands off my father's wives." He married most of them.

The only person in the FLDS with the authority to do so, Jeffs "assigned" girls and women to marry older men in the sect, and he continued to take more wives. It is unknown how many he had before his arrest.

"I don't think even Warren Jeffs knows how many wives he has," Price said.

He was one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives when he was arrested in 2006 for arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin in Utah. When police caught up with him during a traffic stop in Nevada, he was traveling in a red Cadillac Escalade that was packed with luggage, 15 cellphones, laptop computers, three wigs and $54,000 in cash. A large duffel bag was stuffed with letters containing more money from loyal sect members who supported him while he was on the run, authorities said after the arrest.

Jeffs was subsequently convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to child rape and was sentenced to between 10 years and life in prison.

He has been in the county jail in Kingman, Ariz., since February, charged with sexual conduct with a child and incest after accusations of arranging the marriage of another young girl to a blood relative.

The incest defense

Jeffs' legal defense has at times raised eyebrows in the courtroom, including when his lawyers argued that incest could not be prosecuted as a crime because the case involved a child. "In addition, the participants to these alleged acts are not full first cousins ... but rather first cousins of the half-blood, and therefore do not fall within the reach of the incest statute," defense lawyers argued in court records.

Baffled prosecutors called the argument "absurd" and said it was crazy "to punish incest involving adults more harshly than incest involving minors," according to the records.

Jeffs' lead defense lawyer, Michael Piccarreta of Tucson, Ariz., was out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

Since being jailed in Arizona, Jeffs has been "very quiet, keeping to himself," Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said.

Jeffs is under a suicide watch because of his reported attempts to commit suicide in Utah jails, and he is kept alone in a cell with no television or any other electrical device, Sheahan said.

A jail log shows that on April 2, a day before the Texas compound was raided by state police, Jeffs received two visitors -- believed to be among his many wives from the YFZ Ranch -- who communicated with him by phone through thick bulletproof glass.

Now, before Jeffs is allowed into a court hearing on his pending case, the courtroom is swept for explosives and the number of guards is increased. "His followers can be very fanatical," Sheahan said.

Jeffs' presence in Kingman has drawn a crowd of reporters, but not nearly as many as 13 years ago.

Timothy James McVeigh lived in the town, working part time at a hardware store, shortly before he and accomplice Terry Nichols blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.

After the bombing, 250 federal agents and an equal number of reporters swarmed Kingman, said Dave Hawkins, a 24-year veteran reporter for the town's KGMN-FM radio station.

When Jeffs was moved to Kingman early this year, two months before his favorite followers were besieged by law officers in Texas, only about a dozen reporters attended his first court appearance, Hawkins said.

jld@star-telegram.com
JACK DOUGLAS JR., 817-390-7700

http://www.star-telegram.com/189/story/621541.html

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:16 pm

A Call To Action Re: FLDS Polygamist Sect in Colorado City,

A Call To Action Re: FLDS Polygamist Sect in Colorado City, Arizona

View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard
In Colorado City, Utah there is a polygamist sect known as the "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (FLDS). A self proclaimed prophet, Jeff Warren is the totalitarian leader of this sect making ALL decisions regarding the it's members welfare such as who they shall marry, where they live, what they do, he demands his followers have limited to no contact with non-members, he determines who will be on the Colorado City School Board and the Colorado Town Council, he is in complete control of this community. What is even worse is that the sect has been accused with allegations of welfare fraud, sexual abuse, and exploitation of minors as "child brides." Girls can be forced into marriages with older men and expected to bear as many children as possible. In fact, it is not unusual for a woman to have had as many as 12 children by the time she reaches forty years of age. In this sect girls are denied an education in an attempt to keep them dependent and free of the knowledge that they actually do have choices. When I came to learn of this CULT I was absolutely appalled. How is it possible that such heinous crimes are being committed and allowed to continue? The purpose of this petition is to ask the Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano and the states Attorney General, Terry Goddard how this has been possible and to demand that they step up and take the necessary action to dismantle this cult or take whatever steps necessary to ensure protection to the innocent children being abused within this community. What has been tolerated due to low priority concern or bureaucratic red tape is no longer acceptable.

You are paid to do be of service to the citizens of your state Governor Napolitano and Attorney General Goddard, we simply ask that you do your job.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.petitiononline.com/5470302/petition.html

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 2:53 pm

Eyes Wide Shut

From Governor Janet Napolitano down, Arizona authorities have protected polygamous sexual predators with their indifference
Published on August 07, 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.

Despite its brevity, the Colorado City report, nevertheless, raises some alarming issues.

A two-page synopsis outlines how Barlow molested five of his daughters from the time they were as young as 12 until they were about 19 years old. Barlow would go into their bedrooms, remove their clothing and rub their breasts. With three of the victims, he touched their vaginas. He repeatedly had several of the daughters massage his penis. The events occurred "many, many times," according to the victims' statements in the report.

In a community where underage girls are frequently coerced into polygamous, so-called "spiritual" marriages by religious leaders and where women are taught to obey men without question, the police report notes in a knowing, yet offhand, manner that Barlow used his authority as the girls' father to his advantage.

"Most of the girls told me he used the I am father, trust me' [line] on them to get his way with them," Colorado City Police Chief Sam Roundy wrote in the report.

Unlike more prominent men in town, such as Dan's father -- who are often granted "blessings" of additional young wives by the area's fundamentalist religious leader, or Prophet -- the younger Barlow only had one wife.

He says in court interviews that he preyed on his daughters because he was curious about girls. He relates that he had no contact with teenage girls when he was a young man because of religious sanctions against dating. After he began molesting them, Barlow started considering his daughters surrogate wives.

"I could see them like my wife," he told a court-appointed sex therapist months after a single police interview in December 2001.

Barlow told the therapist he didn't think he was doing anything wrong because he never had sexual intercourse with his daughters.

"He struggled in admitting that there was a sexual intent to his behaviors," the therapist, DeLynn Lamb, stated in her report.

Despite Barlow's admission that he viewed his daughters as "wives," along with his inability to connect his behavior with sexual perversion, there is no indication in the report that the therapist discussed, or even knew, that he grew up in a polygamist community where teenage girls are prized by older men.

The Colorado City police report, Nannetti says, fails to identify the dates of the sexual assaults, which greatly inhibits prosecution. Even more important, she says, is the lack of a videotaped interview of the victims describing their ordeal -- a crucial tool in prosecuting sex crimes, particularly when the perpetrator is related to the victims.

In many cases, victims will recant or seek leniency for their abuser if he is a family member. Four of the five victims and Barlow's wife asked in letters to Mohave County Superior Court that he not be sentenced to state prison. Unlike in jurisdictions where public officials are not overwhelmingly influenced by religious leaders, such sentiment carries great weight.

Barlow was indicted by a grand jury in January 2002 on four felony counts of sexual abuse and one felony count of molestation of a child. If he had been convicted on all four sexual-abuse counts, he could have faced more than 20 years in prison.

The child-molestation charge was even more serious, with the possibility of a 10- to 24-year sentence.

Rather than vigorously pursuing the case to send a signal to Colorado City polygamists that sexual assaults of underage girls will not be tolerated, Mohave County Attorney Bill Ekstrom offered Dan Barlow Jr. a very favorable plea bargain of one felony count of sexual abuse, which the defendant accepted.

State sentencing guidelines suggest a five-year prison sentence. Ekstrom -- despite describing Barlow's crimes as "pretty depraved" -- recommended a sentence of 120 days in county jail, plus probation. He admits that the wishes of the community, including the victims, played a significant role in the sweetheart deal.

Yet even that sentence was too harsh for the Mohave County Superior Court.

Judge Richard Weiss sentenced Dan Barlow Jr. -- a sex offender who had molested his daughters repeatedly over a 10-year period while fantasizing that they were the additional spouses he could not attain in his fundamentalist Mormon society -- to time served plus seven years' probation.

Total county jail time for the son of the polygamous Colorado City mayor: 13 days.

Limp-Wristed Enforcement

The shoddy police work and lenient prosecution in the Dan Barlow Jr. case are typical of how Colorado City and Mohave County have long addressed sex crimes against minors that permeate life in the fundamentalist Mormon stronghold.

Arizona leaders -- from Governor Janet Napolitano down -- have also given the polygamists a virtual free pass by refusing to enforce state laws to protect children when local officials fail to do so. Instead, Arizona's political leaders have mostly ignored the abuses in the remote town while emphasizing instead the clean-cut image promoted by Colorado City's leaders.

The last time the state took a concrete step to stop rampant sexual abuse of minors in Colorado City was in 1953, when former governor Howard Pyle launched a police raid on the community and arrested all the men. That effort wound up going nowhere, and only in the last three years has the state Attorney General's Office feigned slight interest in the issue. When she was attorney general, Napolitano opened a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, welfare abuse, school fraud and weapons violations. But the timid probe has been conducted primarily from Phoenix, with very little on-the-ground work in Colorado City, and has resulted in no arrests.

The polygamists -- so far -- have been successful at thwarting AG's investigators. Last winter, several plural wives refused to testify before a grand jury, and the state elected not to exercise its legal right to toss them in jail on contempt charges. In another instance, a polygamist indicted on sexual-misconduct-with-a-minor charges fled to Mexico with his wives and children before he could be arrested.

The governor, meanwhile, has done nothing to address the crisis in Colorado City since taking office in January, despite years of pressure from prominent women's groups dating back to when she was AG. In an interview with New Times recently, Napolitano expressed frustration with the Colorado City situation, but continued to offer no solution. So far, she has ruled out another state raid to stop the wholesale sexual abuse of young girls -- which, sources say, she fears might result in a violent confrontation. She told New Times she fears for the safety of any state workers sent in to investigate the Mormon fundamentalists' apparent misuse of public money for schools and welfare.

An ongoing New Times investigation of polygamy in Arizona has uncovered the following additional significant law enforcement failures at the city, county and state levels:

• The Colorado City Police Department ignores sexual-misconduct crimes stemming from the widespread community practice of coercing underage girls into non-civil, polygamous marriages with much older men.

• Evidence presented in Mohave County Superior Court strongly suggests that molestation of girls by fathers and brothers is endemic in the repressed community, which supports claims made by women who have left that incest is rampant.

• None of the dozen sexual-molestation cases filed against Colorado City fathers and brothers in the last 10 years by Mohave County Attorney Ekstrom has resulted in a county jail sentence of more than one year.

• The Colorado City Police Department is poorly equipped and lacks trained personnel to properly gather evidence in sexual-assault cases. The department does not have a written criminal-procedures manual -- a standard tool in most police departments -- to guide its investigations.

• The Colorado City police force also serves the adjacent polygamous community of Hildale, Utah. None of the police department's officers, however, is certified to act as a peace officer in Utah.

• Colorado City police rely almost exclusively on religious leaders to alert them to sexual-misconduct crimes. Mounting evidence indicates that the leaders hardly report all the crimes they know about to police.

• Although polygamy violates Arizona's Constitution, an effort to decertify polygamous Colorado City police officers has been stymied because the state Legislature has never passed a legal statute making polygamy a crime.

More here:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2003-08-07/news/eyes-wide-shut/

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 3:00 pm

Ariz. probes polygamy case, but laws differ from Texas'

Published: 04.12.2008
By AMANDA J. CRAWFORD
The Arizona Republic

Arizona child-welfare officials are investigating a call from a 16-year-old girl alleging sexual abuse in the polygamist stronghold of Colorado City, Ariz. - a call similar to one in Texas that led officials to raid a related polygamist compound last week and take more than 400 children into state custody.

The calls, within a week of each other, were reportedly made by girls of the same age and involved similar allegations of abuse. In both cases, the calls were made to outside organizations and referred to child-welfare authorities. In both cases, officials were unable to immediately find the girls who made the calls.

It is unclear whether the calls are related.

But the Arizona case prompted a significantly different response than in Texas, where police officers stormed the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, took all the children into state custody and confiscated evidence from the temple.

In Arizona, no children have been taken into state custody - in part, officials say, because of differences in state laws.

"I don't have the authority, and local officials don't have the authority, to go in and, based on an unverified phone call, sweep up 400 children," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who has targeted abuses in Colorado City. "If we found that girl (who made the allegations), we could take her into custody and perhaps her siblings in custody. There is no way in Arizona law we could reach any further."

Anti-polygamy activists have long criticized Arizona and Utah for failing to do more to protect girls in in such situations. In Arizona, a few men have been prosecuted for their relationships with underage girls, and Warren Jeffs, the sect's leader, awaits trial in Arizona. Jeffs was convicted in Utah last year of rape as an accomplice in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl.

"Arizona - even if they would have found the girl - has a track record of not protecting these kids," said Flora Jessop, a former FLDS member who leads the non-profit Child Protection Project. "So is it surprising that they found nothing? Absolutely not."

Meanwhile, in court papers unsealed Friday, Texas authorities said they found a "cyanide poisoning document" in their search of the compound in Eldorado. But the 80-page list of items seized gave no further explanation.

Child-welfare officials seized more than 400 children, most of them girls, in the raid on the compound last week, saying the youngsters were in danger of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/related/82408

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

tulsad

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 3:13 pm

Arizona does, however, have the authority to remove and protect children endangered by meth. It does have the ability to remove children in order to protect them.

State Legislative Actions
Thirty-five states and the District of
Columbia now have laws with specific
language addressing the endangerment
of children in or near
methamphetamine labs. Examples
of state laws include an Arizona
state law (A.R.S. 13-3623) passed in
2000 that creates liability when a
person places a child in a location
where a methamphetamine lab exists
and a North Dakota law (H.B.
1351) passed in 2003 that makes it a
felony to expose children or vulnerable
adults to a controlled substance,
precursor, or drug paraphernalia.
A number of states and localities
have also developed medical protocols
to inform law enforcement officials,
social service providers, and
medical service providers how to
respond to drug endangered children.
These protocols are critically
important to ensuring that service
providers properly respond to this
increasingly prevalent problem.

Children Endangered By Methamphetamine
http://www.carnevaleassociates.com/CAPolBrief-DEC.pdf

=========================

How Meth Endangers Children
How do meth labs endanger children?
Exposure to meth manufacturing can harm anyone, but it is particularly dangerous to children. Once a meth lab is discovered, children who live in meth labs need special and immediate attention from a variety of professionals, including medical, legal and child welfare. The dangers faced by children who live in and near meth labs include contamination, fire and explosion, child abuse and neglect, hazardous living conditions and other social problems.

One of the greatest dangers of a meth lab is contamination. Contamination can occur in a number of ways – through the skin, soiled clothing, household items used in the lab, second hand smoke and ingestion. Children are more likely than adults to absorb meth lab chemicals into their bodies because of their size and higher rates of metabolism and respiration. The chemicals used to produce meth are often stored in unlabeled food and drink containers on floors and countertops. This puts toddlers and infants at increased risk due to childhood behaviors such as putting hands and other objects into mouths and crawling and playing on floors. The poor ventilation that results from attempting to seal in smells and add privacy increases the likelihood of inhaling toxic fumes. Exposure to waste by-products that have been dumped in outside play areas is also common for children living in and near meth labs. While much remains to be learned about the long-term medical consequences of exposure to meth chemicals in childhood, potential damage from such exposure includes anemia, neurologic damage and respiratory problems.

http://www.azag.gov/DEC/about_meth.html#how_meth_endangers

Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

Tonk

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:12 pm

I'm glad they came to Texas.

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

Tonk

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:39 pm

Items seized in raid:

http://web.gosanangelo.com/pdf/TransferProperty.pdf

http://web.gosanangelo.com/pdf/TransferProperty2.pdf

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

tulsad

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:27 am

Child brides and polygamy in BC?

In this excerpt from her fascinating new book The Secret Lives of Saints, Daphne Bramham reveals that in a secret corner of British Columbia, polygamy is quietly allowed.

Polygamy has been illegal in Canada and the United States since 1890. But fundamentalist Mormonism is thriving in Utah, Arizona, Texas and British Columbia. There are dozens of different groups and thousands of so-called independents, which makes it impossible to know how many fundamentalists there are. Estimates range from thirty-seven thousand to one million across the continent, yet politicians have been loath to do anything about the people who call themselves Saints. Politicians have not just looked the other way, they have in many instances made it easier for the Saints' leaders to intimidate, control and abuse their followers. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Bountiful, British Columbia, and in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.

In 1992, the B.C. government refused to enforce Canada's law by charging the bishop of Bountiful, Winston Blackmore, with polygamy. Citing studies by several leading legal experts, the B.C. government said the law would not withstand a challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which, along with the national Constitution, guarantees freedom of religion and association.

Those rights, however, are not unlimited. Twice since its decision not to prosecute polygamy, the B.C. government has successfully gone to court to force children of Jehovah's Witnesses to submit to blood transfusions, even though that goes against their beliefs. The government's argument: religious belief cannot override a child's right to health.

There are other conflicting rights. In 1879, in a landmark case called Reynolds versus United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that governments can intervene where the religious practice of polygamy undermines the rights of others. "Suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship, would it be seriously contended that the civil government under which he lived could not interfere to prevent a sacrifice? Or if a wife religiously believed it was her duty to burn herself upon the funeral pile [sic] of her dead husband, would it be beyond the power of the civil government to prevent her carrying her belief into practice?" The justices unanimously answered, "No."

Yet in 1992, the B.C. government effectively legalized polygamy. Since then Bountiful's population has more than tripled. In Utah and Arizona also, politicians have been loath to prosecute polygamists after a failed attempt to do so in 1953. The FLDS population in both states has doubled every decade since. To say that the Saints place a high value on large families is something of an understatement.

Unlike Christians, who believe that the soul comes to the body at birth and leaves the body at death, the Saints believe in both a pre-mortal existence and the "lifting up" of the earthly body into heaven. They believe millions of spirits are waiting to be born into earthly bodies. And, as God's Chosen People, they believe they have a responsibility to bring as many of those spirits as possible into the world as Mormons-rather than as something less worthy. As Joseph Smith's friend and apostle Orson Pratt wrote, "The Lord has not kept them [the spirits] in store for five or six thousand years past and kept them waiting for their bodies all this time to send them among the Hottentots, the African negroes, the idolatrous Hindoos or any other fallen nations that dwell upon the face of the Earth."

Emboldened by the failure of governments to prosecute, Canadian polygamist Winston Blackmore no longer hides. A second-generation leader and one of North America's best-known and wealthiest polygamists, Blackmore makes no secret of the fact that he has many wives. How many, he won't say. But some of his wives, those who have left him, say that he has been married twenty-six times and has more than one hundred children.

On at least two occasions, Blackmore-a spiritual leader, superintendent of a government-supported school and respected businessman-has publicly confessed to having sex with girls who were only fifteen and sixteen years old. That's a criminal offence in Canada. His first admission was in 2005 at a "polygamy summit" organized by his wives in Creston, B.C. Nobody said or did anything when he said he'd married "very young girls" because God and the prophet had told him to. Blackmore has yet to be charged.

Sexual abuse and exploitation of children by teachers and church leaders of all faiths usually lands on the front page of newspapers across North America, but Blackmore's confession did not make the national media and wasn't even reported in the Creston newspaper. Blackmore repeated his confession in December 2006 during an interview on the Cable News Network (CNN) with Larry King. Blackmore said he hadn't realized that one of his wives was only fifteen when they'd married. She had lied about her age, Blackmore said. But all women do that, don't they? he asked King.

Girls may well lie about their age; middle-aged, balding men often do as well. But that's why there are laws to protect children. It's no defence for a predator such as a bishop or a school superintendent to say that he didn't know the girl was only fifteen. It's our society's shame that the laws are not always enforced.

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Sparkly Tree

Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10338

gwen

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 6:30 am

Look Past Polygamy
The 1953 Short Creek raid taught authorities a valuable lesson.

By Andrew Murr | NEWSWEEK
May 12, 2008 Issue

It was July 26, 1953. In the pre-dawn hours, 120 heavily armed Arizona lawmen prepared to descend upon the small polygamous community of Short Creek, home to the roughly 500 men, women and children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The governor, J. Howard Pyle, had ordered a two-year investigation into polygamy and the marriage of teen girls to older men, and the cops arrived ready to take almost the entire town into custody. But the plans hit a snag. FLDS lookouts spoiled the raid by setting off a dynamite charge when they spotted state troopers and National Guardsmen approaching. Fearing a shootout, the lawmen cranked their sirens and sped into town, guns drawn. "You are all under arrest!" shouted the sheriff over a loudspeaker. "Stay where you are." But no one was going anywhere: officers found the residents of Short Creek gathered in the schoolyard, unarmed and singing hymns.

Pyle told a radio audience that day that his men had broken up "the foulest conspiracy you could imagine," but that's not how the public saw it as details of the raid emerged. Thirty-six men were arrested and jailed 250 miles away in Kingman, Ariz.; mothers and children were shipped to foster homes even farther away. The incident turned into a PR nightmare, and within a few years nearly all the families had reunited and returned. For decades, the lessons of Short Creek have exerted great influence on law enforcement's attitudes toward FLDS. The philosophy guiding last month's raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, was at least partially shaped by the aftermath of that morning in 1953. The raid proved such a disaster that officials ignored polygamists for decades. It wasn't until notorious child-abuse cases in the late '90s showed the limitations of that approach that law enforcement settled on a new deal: accept, if not condone, the polygamy, but prosecute the abuses of young girls.

Though the mainstream Mormon church excommunicated polygamists in 1890, the practice has lived on among splinter groups in rural pockets. "The goal of that first raid was to eliminate the practice of plural marriage, and it absolutely failed," says University of Utah historian Martha Bradley, author of "Kidnapped From That Land," a book about the 1953 raid. In his rambling radio address, Pyle, a rising Republican who had delivered a rousing speech at the GOP convention a year earlier, blasted a "small handful of greedy and licentious men," who forced "every maturing girl … into a bondage of multiple wifehood."

Despite the harsh claims, the prosecutions fizzled. Six months after the raid, the men were home on probation. A photo spread in Life magazine showed the "Lonely Men of Short Creek" living forlornly without their missing wives and children, and the case seemed less about polygamy than the rights of parents to keep their kids. "I think the public didn't see them as hurting anybody," says Ken Driggs, who has studied the sect. Pyle was voted out of office the next election—a warning to lawmen and politicians to avoid more crackdowns.

But public sentiment has changed. It's been fueled by the recent prosecutions for sexual abuses—and by last year's conviction of the FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, now in prison for charges related to performing a marriage of a 15-year-old girl to her older cousin. Texas officials focused on child welfare—unlike at Short Creek, the men have been left in place pending criminal investigation. A judge ruled the threats of abuse to young girls were enough to remove all kids temporarily, and they're now in foster homes. The state says each child will get a full hearing within a year.

Still, could Eldorado also turn into a prosecutorial dry hole? "This isn't going to be like Short Creek," says state Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, a Republican who worked with the local sheriff and other officials in 2005 to revamp state marriage laws in response to the Eldorado community. Thirty-one of the 53 girls between 14 and 17 years old are either pregnant or mothers already, Texas officials say. But attorneys for the Texas families say many of the young moms are 18, and they complain that the FLDS parents are only practicing their faith. There has been media criticism, and civil libertarians are worried. Lisa Graybill, legal director of the ACLU's Texas office, says opposition is building: "We're concerned that the proceeding didn't meet the requirement in Texas law of imminent harm to a child. We have been inundated with concerns from the public." The lessons of Short Creek may not yet be fully absorbed.

Police Action: Women and children taken in for questioning in the 1953 Short Creek raid

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135386

AKA Gagal_05

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409

Tonk

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 11:05 pm

FLDS Prophet Jeffs under suicide watch in Arizona
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/05/2008 02:48:08 PM MDT

Posted: 12:25 PM- FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs has been placed under suicide watch in Arizona, where he awaits trial on charges of criminal incest and sexual assault.
The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reports that Jeffs is described as emaciated as he waits, 23 hours a day and alone, in his cell.
The 52-year-old Jeffs, head of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, earlier was convicted of rape-as-an-accomplice in Utah.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9159693

Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Posts: 984

gwen

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 11:33 pm

May 5th, 2008 12:17 PM Eastern

Cultural Guide Created to Help Kids Taken from Polygamist Compound

by Maggie Lineback

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has created a “cultural guide” aimed at helping the workers who are taking care of the 464 FLDS children now in state custody.

The guide makes for interesting reading. It covers all kinds of topics from what the children ate at the ranch (no pork or processed foods and snacks) to recreation (the kids are used to having simple toys like balls or jump ropes and no red toys are allowed.)

The guide also contains a glossary of terms that the children might use. Here are three examples that stuck out most to me…

Corrected or Handled: When an FLDS member is disciplined by being forced to leave his home or having his wives and children “reassigned” to another man.

Curse of Cain: Some fundamentalists believe African Americans are an inferior race. They also believe that black people are descendants of Cain and have been cursed by God and therefore ineligible to hold the priesthood.

Poofers: A slang term for girls who suddenly disappear from their community in order to take part in an arranged marriage. The girls are either kept hidden or moved to another state or country.

http://onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/05/05/cultural-guide-created-to-help-kids-taken-from-polygamist-compound/

AKA Gagal_05

Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409

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