| POWER STRUGGLE: Trouble brewing in towns Polygamist community uneasy after church leader ousts mayor, others | |||||
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By Brian Haynes, Dave Berns and Dave Hawkins Las Vegas Review Journal | |||||
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Some residents fear trouble is brewing in this community that is home to one of the largest groups of avowed polygamists in the country. For years, the religious community of about 6,000 has fought accusations of child abuse and molestation because of its practice of marrying girls as young as 12 years old. Now the community and the church intertwined with it face a possible internal power struggle after the church's leader excommunicated some of the town's most influential members. "I think there's big trouble coming," said Pamela Black, a former church member who lives on the outskirts of nearby Hildale, Utah. At the center of the conflict is Warren Jeffs, known as the Prophet by his followers in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a Mormon sect that believes the only way into the upper reaches of heaven is to have at least three wives. The 47-year-old Jeffs on Saturday excommunicated about 20 men who held influential positions in Colorado City's government and history. One of the men was Mayor Dan Barlow, whose father founded the community in the early 20th century. Barlow resigned the post he had held for 19 years and joined the other men in exile, leaving their homes and families behind. But some observers believe the excommunicated Barlows and others will not go away quietly. "I don't think they're going to allow Warren Jeffs to get away with it," Black said. An unsigned letter that appeared in town Tuesday seems to support that. The writer describes a visionary dream in which previous church leaders pass the mantle of leadership to Louis Barlow, one of the excommunicated men. It was not clear who sent the letter or how many people received it, but Ben Bistline, a Colorado City historian who received the letter, said its message is clear. "They're just out there regrouping," he said, referring to the Barlows. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan deployed a canine unit and four deputies to the region Sunday and sent two more officers Wednesday. Sheahan said they are conducting high-profile patrols throughout the community to show their presence and be available for any situation that might develop. If people in Colorado City and Hildale are worried about the feud, they won't tell an outsider. Few will talk to a reporter. Those who do won't give names and say little. "It's a lot about nothing," said a man in suspenders sitting in C.J.'s restaurant. "As far as we're concerned, it's nobody's business." A mother chatting with a friend in a convenience store said the news media were blowing the events out of proportion. Her friend agreed. "I just think it's nothing big," she said. Deputy Marshal Mica Barlow, a nephew of the former mayor and member of the police force that patrols the twin towns, said townspeople might be taking sides, but any conflict will end peacefully. "It could go either way, but it's definitely not going to be violent," he said. Colorado City and Hildale form the community run by the FLDS, a fundamentalist brand of Mormonism that teaches that the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strayed from religious doctrine when it officially renounced polygamy in the 1890s in return for Utah's admission as a state. "I believe they have compromised their beliefs," Dan Barlow said in a September interview with the Review-Journal. "That's why we're called fundamentalists, because we try to hold to those fundamentals." Barlow has been unavailable for comment since resigning Monday from the mayoral job he had held since Colorado City incorporated 19 years ago. The FLDS owns the land and homes throughout the community, with church members living in the houses free of charge. The prophet has the power to determine who lives where and who marries whom. He can reassign wives and children from one church member to another and order members to vacate their houses. Satellite and cable TV access are forbidden, as is Internet use and the reading of newspapers. Jeffs, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, assumed control of the group in 2002 following the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs, who was the prophet for 16 years. At the time, people accepted him without much debate, Bistline said. "But then he just became such a tyrant," he said. Jeffs started taking other men's wives and excommunicating their husbands, he forced business owners to give him their businesses, and he aggressively used a band of teenagers to interrogate people and search homes to ensure they followed church doctrine, Bistline said. In the months that followed, more than 50 families abandoned their homes and moved out of the community, Bistline said. To stay and resist meant eviction from their church-owned property, excommunication and possibly having their families reassigned to other men, he said. The infighting came to a head in July, when Jeffs ordered the destruction of a monument to the 1953 Short Creek Raid, in which Arizona authorities arrested the town's men and separated them from their families in an attempt to stamp out polygamy. Dan Barlow, who witnessed the raid, held a ceremony and commemorated the monument. A short time later, Jeffs ordered its destruction. He apparently was angered because it was created without his permission, Bistline said. Some predicted the possible departure of an unknown number of people following the Saturday purge, although residents downplayed such talk. The isolated community is a drive of about 160 miles northeast from Las Vegas. Key players in the fight to end the community's decades-long practice of pushing high school-age brides into plural marriages say they are uncertain how events will play out. "People fear there's going to be a mass exodus. So far, we haven't seen it. We're getting ready, but so far it hasn't been needed," said Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Activist Bob Curran of St. George, Utah, said he has been seeking space in the area to temporarily house departing FLDS members, although he is having trouble finding adequate space. "There seems to be more young people, especially men in their 20s and early 30s, who are taking advantage of the confusion and are trying to leave Colorado City," said Curran, director of Help the Child Brides. "If there was to be a mass exodus of people from Colorado City, say if it turned violent out there, we wouldn't be equipped to take very many people." Arizona and Utah law enforcement officials are following developments closely. "Virtually every agency of state government that would be interested in what goes on up there is on alert and monitoring the situation very closely," Arizona's Goddard said Wednesday. In August, Shurtleff and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, held a day-long meeting in St. George, where police, social service workers and community activists discussed the plight of the young wives. More than 100 women from the Colorado City-Hildale area attended. Shurtleff says he is not opposed to polygamy, although it is forbidden by federal and state laws; but he is seeking to eliminate the pedophilia and emotional abuse that have been linked to many households throughout the community, a charge Barlow denied in his September Review-Journal interview. "I'd say that's the height of folly, absolutely the height of folly," Barlow said of the pedophilia allegations. "I think most people would say those people are good people. They take care of their families. Their crime rate is way down. Their family structure is up. They're teaching their family to do what's right. Area residents recall the 1953 raid in which Arizona law enforcement officials imprisoned polygamous husbands for as much as 18 months and shipped wives and children to the Phoenix area for institutional care. "Unfortunately, the people there perceive the government as the enemy," said Murphy, the Utah attorney general's spokesman. "What we want to offer is a helping hand. If they want to accept that helping hand is up to them." | |||||
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reviewjournal.com Originally published Thursday, January 15, 2004 | |||||
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