Utah official's word backed up with actions
 
IN OUR VIEW
The Spectrum
 
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff means business. And that's a positive stance for all who have a stake in the recent discord in Southern Utah's polygamist society.

Last year, Shurtleff made it clear that abuses of children and government programs would be investigated and prosecuted. The prosecution of former Colorado City-area police officer Rodney Holm on sexual misconduct charges provided the first example that the attorney general planned to back up his statement.

The latest example comes in the actions his office has taken to provide safe surroundings for girls who are fleeing the polygamist lifestyle. In the past week, at least 10 girls have fled the border towns of Hildale and Colorado City. Some have traveled south, but others sought sanctuary within Utah's borders. Some of those girls since are feared to have either fled or been taken from their safe houses. More information on them is likely to surface in the coming days.

Because of the secrecy in that area of the state, few details also are known right now as to why so many girls have chosen to flee in such a short amount of time. But their actions do coincide with the expulsion of 21 men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The men were ordered to leave the border towns and to give up their wives and children by the church's leader, Warren Jeffs.

Shurtleff's office has worked with law enforcement officers and others in the legal and social work fields to find these girls safe places to stay. Too often in the past, girls seeking to leave the polygamist lifestyle were sent back into bad situations. Now that word is getting out that they can find safe places to stay, more may seek to leave.

The attorney general has a fine line to walk, to be sure. Some girls may use this as an excuse to run away from nonabusive relationships, perhaps for some reason as trivial as not getting along with their parents. Not all polygamist homes abuse children. Girls simply looking to rebel should be sent back to their parents.

But children who say they are being abused should be examined, and an investigation should be conducted.

The Attorney General's Office has taken action. If abuse is occurring, girls must be given a safe place to turn for help.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published Tuesday, January 20, 2004
 
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