U.S. officials probe men who run Bountiful school
 
By Daphne Bramham
Vancouver Sun
 
The society that runs the government-funded school in Bountiful is controlled by the same polygamist church leaders who are being investigated by Arizona's auditor-general for misusing state education grants.

The investigation was prompted by newspaper reports that the school district had used state funds to purchase a $220,000 US Cessna 210 aircraft.

Arizona investigators are also trying to find out why there are 104 staff and only 289 students. That three-to-one ratio of students to staff is in contrast to other Arizona school districts where the ratios range from 10:1 to 25:1.

Because school officials have refused to file proper expense reports, the Arizona superintendent of education confirmed this week that it may withhold 10 per cent of the annual $4 million US it gives the district in grants.

Meanwhile, in B.C. it appears it is business as usual, with taxpayers' money continuing to flow into the polygamous community of Bountiful even though the government says it is investigating every aspect of the fundamentalist Mormons.

The investigation stems from complaints to Attorney-General Geoff Plant about the failure to prosecute polygamists and complaints to other ministers and to the human rights tribunal on a wide variety of issues, including denial of equal educational opportunities for boys and girls.

The quality of the education at Bountiful school is also an issue, stemming from former bishop Winston Blackmore's sworn affidavit to the B.C. Supreme Court that audio tapes played for students at Bountiful school children teach that "negros (sic) came from a war in heaven and they were turned into negros because they were fence-sitters and would not choose sides."

Other allegations include sexual exploitation of girls forced to become polygamous wives to much older men and unfair and unequitable treatment of boys cast out of Bountiful to re-balance the community's numbers, allowing older men to have multiple wives.

But since the investigation began, there has been no subsequent inspection of the school, its policies, procedures or even the society's board of directors. The last one was in spring 2003.

Even though allegations of misuse of public funds surfaced in a civil lawsuit filed earlier this summer, Education Minister Tom Christensen and James Beeke, the inspector of independent schools, don't seem concerned that -- with no strings attached -- they are handing nearly $500,000 of taxpayer money to the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School Society for the new school year.

The lawsuit, filed in B.C. Supreme Court, alleges the Bountiful school society has "not operated exclusively as a charitable organization for the advancement of education as required by its constitution."

The only thing the Education Ministry has managed to get the society to change is the school's abuse reporting policy. But, like all previous policies, it doesn't take into account the special circumstances of a polygamist community where almost all girls are married to much older men and are mothers by 18, or a community where part of the religious teaching is that outsiders, and especially government officials and police, are evil.

Teachers -- all of whom are church members -- are told to report complaints or suspicions of abuse to police or a social worker as well as to the principal, Merrill Palmer, who is a polygamist. That includes all suspicions about sexual exploitation, which is defined as a person in a position of trust or authority having sex with someone 18 or younger.

The Bountiful school society is controlled by the leadership of the U.S.-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway sect of the Mormon church. Key to the FLDS beliefs is that men must have at least three wives to get into heaven and those wives are assigned to them by the church's leader or prophet.

FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs' sermons, which often focus on the celestial principle of polygamy and assignment marriage, form part of the Bountiful school's approved religious curriculum.

This summer, Blaine Jeffs filed a civil lawsuit in Utah claiming that between the ages of five and six, he was repeatedly sodomized by his uncle, Warren Jeffs, and two of his other uncles in a church-run school's basement.

The suit also alleges that Jeffs was complicit in covering up years of serial child molestations by other sect leaders and included in the court filings are affidavits from dozens of boys supporting that claim. (Warren Jeffs' lawyer has denied all of the charges. Jeffs is in hiding and has yet to be served with the court documents.)

Among the Bountiful society's five directors are two Americans. One is Leroy Jeffs, a Utah-based chartered accountant and chief lieutenant to his brother, the prophet. The Jeffs brothers and their loyalists control the Colorado City Unified School District in Arizona.

Virtually all the residents of Colorado City and its twin, Hildale, Utah, are loyal to the prophet. They have to be. The property they live on is owned by an FLDS trust controlled by Jeffs and anyone who is disloyal is evicted and ex-communicated.

In Canada, the allegations of misuse of funds form part of a lawsuit filed by Winston Blackmore, the former bishop of Bountiful. Blackmore controlled the school society, its substantial land holdings and the Canadian holdings in the FLDS trust until Jeffs ex-communicated him two years ago.

In July, J.R. Blackmore & Sons Ltd. (of which Blackmore is president), Guy Blackmore (Winston's brother and the company's secretary) and Guy Blackmore's wife, Leona, filed a lawsuit trying to get it all back.

Blackmore retains the loyalty of the majority of Canadian FLDS members living in the East Kootenay community of Bountiful, while a minority have gone over to Jeffs, whose followers now control both the school, its non-profit society and 354 acres at the heart of the community that are held in trust by the society.

The Blackmores contend that Jeffs and his followers have "refused, failed or neglected" to provide schooling for all of the FLDS children, which breaches the society's constitution. They say the society has failed to operate exclusively as a charitable organization for the advancement of education and that the society has been unfairly enriched as a result. (The society has yet to file a statement of defence, even though the deadline was more than a month ago. James Oler, one of the other directors and the leader in Bountiful, did not return phone calls to his home.)

The Blackmores are seeking damages and a declaration that at least part of the lands held by the society be held in trust for them. They also want the judge to declare that the society has been unfairly enriched and award a portion of that money to the Blackmores.

At stake is more than $1.5-million worth of property spread over 354.06 acres at the very heart of the now-divided community. Not only is the school on that property, there are a number of houses there, including some that were built and are occupied by Blackmore's followers.

What is of concern to Blackmore and his followers is that anyone not loyal to Jeffs will be evicted, just as dozens of people not loyal to Jeffs have been evicted in the twin communities of Colorado City and Hildale.

But Blackmore has hedged his bets. He and his supporters have already set up another school, Mormon Hills, about 15 kilometres from Bountiful on land Blackmore owns. Mormon Hills has applied for funding under the Independent Schools Act and if it passes an inspection scheduled for this fall, it will be eligible for government funds -- possibly as much as $250,000.

And if all of this isn't enough to raise substantial alarms with the education minister and independent schools inspector, one might have thought this would have put the government on alert years ago.

The Bountiful school society's constitution states that its purposes are to establish, maintain and operate schools for the advancement of education for FLDS children; solicit, acquire and accept bequests; acquire, hold, purchase, convert, lease, mortgage, sell or dispose of any asset owned by the association and to invest any principal; disburse, distribute money and property in furtherance of the society's objectives; and, finally, "solicit, collect deal in and dispose of used and salvaged goods and articles of every kind for the purposes of the association."

Maybe it's just me, but I would have thought that a government-funded school society's sole purpose should be to educate children. And that the society would do that full-time, not in the spare moments between doing church fundraising, land development, making investments and dealing in junk.

But then, I would have thought that governments should take seriously any suggestion of misuse of public funds.

And I would have thought that no government would allow middle-aged men -- who believe there is nothing wrong with their marrying under-age girls or casting out young boys -- to run a school and be responsible for children's safety and protection from abuse.

If you want the government to hear what you think, the women's committee of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union has just started an Internet petition. Log on at http://ceiu.org/womens_committee.htm.
 
Vancouver Sun
Originally published Friday, August 27, 2004
 
Back