Blackmore declines to be on CNN
 
By Norma Najacht
Custer County Chronicle
 
Jane Blackmore, who was in Custer Aug. 25 seeking to visit her daughter, Susie, who is in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound near Pringle, recently declined to be on Anderson Cooper 360° on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Blackmore, a resident of Cranbrook, B.C., Canada, was denied visitation rights by her son-in-law, Ben Johnson, the man in charge of the compound here.

Blackmore entered the property through a downed fence on the south side of the property. She was met by six men, two of whom were wearing wigs and all wore sunglasses. They each had a radio. One man, Wayne Fischer, carried a video camera.

Thomas Roundy, was the spokesperson, according to Blackmore. Two of the others were Melvin Steed and Davied Neilson. Blackmore was told that both Ben and Susie were unavailable and that they were calling the sheriff.

"Go ahead," she said. "I want to talk to the sheriff myself."

Blackmore walked to several homes, knocking on doors and windows and calling out Susie’s name, all the while followed closely by these men. The men were conversing with someone via two-way radio every few minutes.

While waiting on a rock pile in an excavation area, Blackmore asked the men if any of them had had an original thought in the last five years. There was no reply. She then asked for water. Thomas replied that she could probably get some in Custer.

"That is not how I treated you when you were at my home," Blackmore said.

Blackmore spoke with Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler by phone Aug. 30, asking if Ben had called him the previous Saturday. He replied that Ben had called every five minutes from the time Blackmore arrived until she left. He also said he had tried to reason with Ben to just let her visit with Susie and see the children. The sheriff also told Blackmore than Ben seemed very agitated and insistent.
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published September 5, 2007
 
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