‘Business as usual’ on April 6
 
By Tom Vaughan
The Mancos Times
 
The earth didn’t end on April 6, nor did members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now based near Eldorado, Texas, engage in mass acts of self-immolation or other violence. According to Eldorado Success Editor Randy Mankin, it was quite a zoo in Eldorado, as media representatives came to Schleicher County from all over the United States and several foreign countries, including Sweden.

Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran entered the FLDS compound with two Texas rangers Wednesday and reported "It’s business as usual," according to Pamela Manson’s report in the Salt Lake Tribune.

The Success reported Doran’s estimate that 80-150 people were living in the compound. Regarding the anticipated convocation to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Mormon Church, Doran told the Times "there was speculation that it was being held elsewhere, but (the location was) never disclosed." Regarding the whereabouts of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, Doran added that there "has never been any evidence of him being here, other than hearsay and some of his family members are here."

Stories in The Spectrum, published in St. George, Utah, also described the media impact on the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, as well as in Eldorado. Patrice St. Germain quoted Hildale Mayor David Zitting’s description of it as a "circus," and Rachel Olsen, reporting from Eldorado, said the main economic impact of the FLDS there was the money spent in the town by the media representatives.

St. Germain also reported that power usage and sewage have remained constant in Hildale and Colorado City (known together as Short Creek), belying rumors that there is an exodus of FLDS members from that area to the Texas compound.

The FLDS annual conference was also not held in Bountiful, British Columbia, but Winston Blackmore, who was ousted by FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs as bishop of the Canadian group, has posted an online registration form for "The Truth About Bountiful — as told by the Women of Bountiful," a conference hosted by the Bountiful Women’s Society at 7 p.m. on April 19 (www.sharethelight.ca). According to Blackmore, this is a "Polygamy Summit," to be held in the Creston, B.C., Recreational Center. Invitees to this conference are reported to include the attorneys general of Utah, Arizona, Texas, Idaho and British Columbia, as well as representatives of organizations opposed to polygamy.

Daphne Bramham, writing in the Vancouver Sun on April 8, says Blackmore’s posted notification of the conference "only underscores just how unconcerned he and other fundamentalist Mormons are about the Criminal Code prohibition against polygamy." She reports that Creston, B.C., Mayor Joe Snopek "has urged both Solicitor-General Rich Coleman and Jim Abbott, the area’s Conservative MP, to do something about Bountiful and the allegations of sexual exploitation and trafficking in child brides between Bountiful and other polygamous communities in Utah and Arizona, and claims that children are being taught racism and discrimination in Bountiful’s two taxpayer-funded schools." Bramham told the Times she plans to attend the summit, but also says in her story that the alleged invitations to attorneys general had not been received by any but one B.C. official.

Polygamy has not escaped the notice of bloggers; readers can now read (and contribute to) the conversations on Share The Light Blog, hosted on Blackmore’s Web site (www.sharethelight.ca/b2/) and Texas Polygamy Blog (texaspolygamy.blogspot.com).

An anonymous poster sent in joke headlines to Share The Light Blog on April 5, including one that involved Mancos: "David Allred Buys ‘Hunting Retreat’ In Mexico After Mancos Prozac Drug Bust Forces Sale Of Nursing Home Hunting Retreat, Colorado." Presumably, Anonymous was alluding to the speculation that the Mancos Valley properties, purchased by David Allred as a "hunting retreat," were used to house former FLDS leader Fred Jessop, 94, who disappeared for a year before he died in a Denver-area hospital last month.
 
The Mancos Times
Originally published April 13, 2005
 
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