Jeffs’ convictions won’t change compound situation
 
Opinion
Custer County Chronicle - Custer, South Dakota
 
The convictions of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs last week in Utah was good news, but it won’t change what is going on at the FLDS fenced compound near Pringle in Custer County.

The former federal fugitive was found guilty on both counts of being an accomplice to rape for a marriage he conducted in 2001 between Elissa Wall and Allen Steed. Wall was 14 years old at the time and did not consent to the so-called marriage. These are felonies punishable by five years to life in prison for each count.

As long as the money keeps flowing in, day and night construction will continue at the 140-acre secured compound near Pringle. And the money will keep flowing in, despite the fact that Jeffs is in prison and is now a convicted felon. To his followers, he is a martyr who is being persecuted for following his religious beliefs. Basic to those beliefs is the original Mormon practice of polygamy as revealed by founder Joseph Smith. The mainstream Mormon church disavowed polygamy in 1890 so Utah could be admitted to the Union as a state. However, factions like the FLDS broke away and continued the practice of polygamy.

There can be little doubt, even among law enforcement officials, that polygamy is being practiced at the Pringle compound. The inhabitants of the compound came here from the neighboring ploygamist communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., in order to escape scrutiny from the outside. Both communities are open to the traveling public, but their residents are tight-lipped and told not to talk to outsiders. Local businesses are owned by FLDS members. Law enforcement is FLDS.

As the old saying goes, if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it probably is a duck. From what we have observed personally and from photos taken at the compound, there certainly is some secret activity taking place there. Why else would anyone purchase 100 acres in remote southern Custer County in the Black Hills and then construct a fence around it with an observation tower? FLDS members have since purchased another 40 acres of adjacent property from an owner who didn’t want to live next to the compound.

We have talked with other adjacent property owners who are getting fed up with the around the clock construction noise in the compound. They didn’t purchase their little piece of paradise to put up with constant noise from their neighbors. One resident just down the road from the compound is tired of all the day and night traffic going by their place and has put it up for sale. We feel sorry for these neighbors because there is nothing they can do but complain to county officials. The FLDS has taken over.

Polygamy is against the law in every state. Except for the infamous raid at Short Creek, now Colorado City, in 1953, the state of Utah has chosen to look the other way when it comes to polygamy. Will the same thing happen in South Dakota?
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, October 3, 2007
 
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