Pringle compound is in the news again
 
By Charley Najacht
Custer County Chronicle
 
Before going out to the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound near Pringle Saturday, Aug. 25, Jane Blackmore and her entourage stopped at the newspaper to visit with us. Author ("Under the Banner of Heaven" and others) and adventurer John Krakauer had put her in touch with us several days earlier.

He also wanted CNN to accompany her to the compound, but apparently they couldn’t react on such short notice. CNN was supposed to air a segment involving an interview with Jane this Thursday evening during the Anderson Cooper 360º segment. She recently declined to be on the show, however.

Jane had called us several times before arriving on our doorstep with a van full of family members from British Columbia, Canada. We offered to accompany them to the compound in their van, since they really didn’t know the way. During the course of our 30-minute trip out to the FLDS compound, I had the opportunity to visit with two of Jane Blackmore’s well-groomed sons, Peter and Hyrum.

They aked if we had ever heard of them before the compound was discovered here in the county. They said it must be strange for us to be in their company because a lot of people drove through their town just to look at them. I found out they both engage in logging for their father, Winston Blackmore, an outcast FLDS member who has his own enclave in Creston, B.C.

Their mother, Jane, the first wife of Winston, has renounced polygamy and moved to nearby Cranston, B.C. Both communities are located just north of Idaho.

Both the boys are around 30 years of age and like to hunt. Hyrum shoots a 7mm mag rifle and Peter, like me, prefers a more versatile 30-06. They both like to hunt elk. I didn’t inquire if these were licensed hunts or otherwise. Some things are best left unsaid. They were surprised at the openness of some of the countryside we were passing through. I guess they are more used to tall pine trees growing all around them.

Norma talked with Jane all the way down to the compound. That’s where she got most of the information for her stories about the feisty mother and grandmother who was determined to see her daughter, Susie, and four grandchildren she knows are at the compound. I could tell Jane was a little apprehensive about what was going to happen, or not happen.

One internet reader of our stories said it was nice of Norma to accompany Jane down there for moral support. The truth is, Jane didn’t need any moral support from us. Her steely resolve is what sent her bolting down the trail on foot looking for her daughter as soon as she exited the van. Her son, Hyrum, and other family members ran after her and caught up with her a short time later while Peter stuck with us at the van. We had driven a few yards inside the compound through a downed fence at the south end of the compound.

Some of the young men buzzed around us on ATVs while others took photos of the van and its license plates. I didn’t think it was a secret about who the family members were in the van. I think Ben Edward Johnson, the compound commander, was well aware that Jane was on her way to see her daughter, who also happens to be one of Johnson’s wives. The message we got was that Susie and Ben were not available. That’s probably because Ben was on the phone every five minutes to Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler.

As we sat in the van waiting to see what would happen, it was fascinating to listen to Peter as he rattled off the names of the people he recognized, and he knew all the men. That’s probably because they inter-married and visited each other regularly before Warren Jeffs took over control of the FLDS. I asked Peter why he and his family members had left the Jeffs clan and he gestured with his hands in front of him, "Because of this!," meaning the fenced compound we were sitting in and observing.

Members of his group in Creston are free to move about, watch television, listen to the radio and read books other than those authorized by Jeffs, who still wields power over the FLDS even though he is in prison in Utah awaiting trial on several sex-related charges. None of the people at the Pringle compound are allowed to have any contact with the outside world for fear they will be “corrupted.” Peter also said he didn’t agree with having to send $1,000 a month to the "prophet" Jeffs to keep the FLDS on solid financial ground.

I can’t imagine what it is like living in the 140-acre fenced compound near Pringle. The women and younger men are kept under tight control by the older males who are in charge of the operation. They cannot leave except for the trusted ones who have to fetch water and groceries on a regular basis. From a young age, girls are taught that their only chance to go to the planet their husband rules over in the afterlife is by pleasing their husbands. According to their religion, the only way for a man to rule over a planet in the afterlife is to have at least three wives.

The women are taught to serve their husbands and do anything they request, including putting up with his many other wives. They must always wear long dresses with long sleeves when outside, no matter how hot the weather. The women are never seen in public, inside or outside the compound. They are not even free to express any thoughts or wishes of their own. The same can be said for the men regarding the thought process.

They do what they are told by their leaders without question.

This thought control process and lack of freedom goes against everything that our great country represents. We stand as a beacon of hope for less fortunate people around the world. It is ironic that these same freedoms are not enjoyed by some people living right here in Custer County.
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, September 5, 2007
 
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