| Mayor resigns in Colorado City After ouster of about 20 men from polygamous church, city power changes | |||
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By Jane Zhang jzhang@thespectrum.com | |||
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Entrenched in the starlit canyons, motel-like houses stood silently along unpaved roads. Dim light penetrated through curtained windows, but the town was largely shrouded in darkness. No noises. No pedestrians. No moving vehicles. And, no mayor. Dan Barlow, the town's first and only mayor in its 19-year history, turned in his single-sentence resignation letter Monday morning, which, around 7:40 p.m., was read dryly by a councilman to enter the official Town Council record. "This is to inform, as of Jan. 10, 2004, I (Dan Barlow) resign from the city and city council," read Terrill Johnson, who, like the majority of the six-member council, has occupied the office since the town's incorporation in 1985. No one stirred -- not one person among the 15 men and one women sitting in the town office's downstairs council chamber. Kevin Barlow, the town clerk, announced that a new mayor will be selected by the council. Until then, he told The Spectrum earlier, the town is in the hands of "Vice Mayor" Edson Jessop, who's also a councilman. The former mayor didn't attend the regularly scheduled council meeting. In fact, it was rumored that he was hiding in a hotel in St. George. At an early Saturday meeting at the Leroy S. Johnson Meeting House, he and about 20 men were ousted from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Reading from what he said was a revelation from God, the prophet, Warren Jeffs, stripped the men -- including six Barlows and four Jeffs -- of their priesthood, their wives and children and their right to live in town, according to a source who attended the meeting. The house cleaning, coming after months of an intensified power struggle between Jeffs and Colorado City's Barlow dynasty, has set anti-polygamists and law enforcement officers on guard. "All I knew was people were scared as hell," said Flora Jessop, an anti-polygamy activist who drove to Colorado City from Phoenix on Sunday and removed two 16-year-old girls from the community. "I have a feeling it will turn into a bloodshed." On Sunday morning, Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan deployed a squad, including four deputies and a canine unit, from Kingman to Colorado City. For as long as needed, Sheahan said, the armed, uniformed officers will patrol the town 24 hours a day as "a prevention measure." Since Saturday morning, a deputy from Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith's office has also been patrolling the neighboring town of Hildale. With about 6,000 residents, the two towns are dominated by the FLDS church, an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The FLDS church still teaches polygamy as a central tenet. Both Sheahan and Smith said they were relieved that the Barlows seem to be obeying the prophet and that no violence has erupted. But law enforcement officers haven't dropped their guard. "It's been very, very quiet," Smith said. "It's a community so different than we are used to dealing with, I really don't know what to expect. We're just waiting to see how everything goes." Jessop, who fled Colorado City after being jailed and abused in the 1990s, said she didn't expect Dan Barlow to go away quietly. The town was teeming with rumors and apprehensions of another turn in the power struggle. "Driving through Colorado City, it felt like walking through somebody's grave,' she said. "It was eerie. It was a weird feeling." As in previous excommunication cases, women and children fear that they would be "assigned" to other men. After her father was ousted from the FLDS church at the Saturday meeting, one of the girls Jessop picked up told The Spectrum in a telephone interview, she was worried she would soon be ordered to marry an older man. Her father, she said, told the family to read the Bible and the Book of Mormon every two hours on Saturday. Some of the family members became scared and cried, she said. "It's freaky," said the girl, whose name hasn't been disclosed to ensure her safety. "They were just, I don't know, kind of emotional." For those who want to flee the polygamous enclave, said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the state will establish a hotline, where help will be sent to pick up the victims. For now, he said, victims can call the Utah Domestic Violence Hotline toll free at (888) 421-1100. Shurtleff said he will "do anything within my power" to ensure that no runaways are returned to their families against their will. One of his deputies, he said, is now discussing this topic with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. "If the situation becomes tense, We do want people to know that we are watching this," Shurtleff said. "There are people outside that care, that are concerned about them." Given the rumors of "dissension and disagreement" in the past, he said he wasn't surprised about the power split inside the FLDS church. He remained cautious about the situation, but hoped some residents might come out and testify against abusers inside the FLDS culture. "There's a chance," he said. "Maybe now is the time." | |||
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published Tuesday, January 13, 2004 | |||
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