AGs talk UEP trust plans at meeting
 Approximately 80 people gather in Colorado City
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
COLORADO CITY - About 80 people showed up for a meeting Friday between the Utah and Arizona attorney general's offices, along with child protection agencies and community members.

While the meeting, held monthly in various locations, went well, those who attended said the real action came after the meeting when six Mohave County Sheriff's Office vehicles and a helicopter from the Arizona Department of Public Safety showed up in town.

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith and Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan were not available Friday afternoon for comment, but a woman at the sheriff's office did say that an investigation was under way.

She said the office would not be more specific until next week.

The monthly meetings are closed to the media, and those attending Friday's meeting declined to speak to reporters afterward, but officials at the meeting said they were pleased with the turnout and the questions asked by those in attendance.

Tim Bodily, Utah assistant attorney general, attended the meeting to explain about the United Effort Plan trust and pending legal action.

"There's a lot of confusion," Bodily said of the trust issue. "New trustees will be appointed in less than a month, but it will take longer to fully resolve the issues."

Bodily said he expected the process to take as long as a year to resolve some court issues surrounding the UEP trust.

A Salt Lake City judge recently removed the trustees, including Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches polygamy as doctrine and whose members dominate the border towns of Hildale and Colorado City.

New trustees are expected to be appointed July 21.

Bodily said two of the common questions asked during the two-hour meeting at the Colorado City municipal offices was how officials will determined who will benefit from the trust when it is a collective group and collective effort that has contributed to the trust, along with how the new trustees will be chosen.

One of the biggest issues is determining who should benefit from the trust - whether it is people who currently resident in Hildale and Colorado City or if beneficiaries include those who contributed at some point but are no longer living in those areas. Bodily said, answering who are beneficiaries of the trust is a difficult question - one he has no answer for at this time.

Jane Irvine, policy adviser for Child, Youth and Family issues with the Arizona Attorney General's Office, said the monthly meetings are a collaborative effort between the two states' agencies to better assist victims from closed societies.

Also attending the meeting was Andrea Esquer, press secretary at the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

Esquer said Friday was her first visit to Colorado City and said it helped her understand the area better.

One issue the Arizona Attorney General's office is dealing with is the review of documents and computers taken from the Colorado City School District No. 14 administration offices in May as part of the execution of a search warrant. Esquer said documents and computers are still being reviewed, and the attorney general's office is working to get the computers returned to the school before school resumes next month.

Esquer said although a plane owned by the school district, a Cessna 210, was not included in the search, she was told that the plane is in a hanger at the Colorado City airport.

"I meet with a person from Centennial Park last night, and they told me the plane is in a hanger, and there is no reason to doubt that," Esquer said.

On Friday, an independent witness stated the plane was sighted at the airport and confirmed that it was the airplane owned by the Colorado City Unified School District.

Esquer said the Arizona Attorney General's Office is actively addressing issues of child abuse and sexual abuse in the community, along with allegations of misuse of public monies. She said the office's representatives are ensuring that people who live in the community are able to continue to live in their homes, drive their vehicles and work at the businesses if the FLDS leadership leaves the area. The church has built a compound in Eldorado, Texas.

Esquer said her office wants to provide those living in Colorado City with a safety net, but she said that isn't an easy task.

"Change has to come slow," Esquer said. "You have 100 years of mistrust here, and you have to take small steps. Nothing is resolved overnight."
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published July 9, 2005
 
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