Will Warren Jeffs Publicity Negatively Affect Utah?
 
Warren Jeffs

When people hear about southern Utah they think of golf, hiking, and soaking up the sun. But that is about to change as St. George becomes ground zero for the first trial of polygamous leader Warren Jeffs.

Now that Warren Jeffs is back in Utah to face charges, it will likely create what is commonly referred to as a media circus. There is no question that the practice of polygamy, though illegal is also very intriguing to the general public. Here is what some people in St. George had to say about the affects of the publicity of Warren Jeffs.

Lena Sullivan/Visits Utah Yearly: "I think it’s good it’ll show the country the negative stuff that’s going on in those two cities like incest and marrying 10 women and whatever."
Nany Berick/St. George Resident: "I don’t think it’ll be bad for Utah, maybe the world needs to see what’s going on to young ladies and make people more aware of some injustices."
Lena Sullivan/Visits Utah Yearly: “I think it’s a good thing in a way but it might disrupt some families there that are maybe afraid right now. Maybe they don’t know what to do because Warren Jeffs was considered a prophet and looked up to highly."
Dan Mcarthur/St. George Mayor: "We’re already the fastest growing city in the U.S. so any more attention to St. George can only cause more growth in my opinion because more people will be exposed to this beautiful area that we live in that we call home."
Lena Sullivan/Visits Utah Yearly: "I don’t think it’ll make Utah look bad to the other states. I live in Massachusetts and I come to Utah every year and people are like ‘you live among the polygamists’ and I’m like ‘No.’ the whole state is not like that at all."
Rick Orris/St. George Resident: "I think it’s a good thing he’s caught and I don’t think it’s affecting Utah in a poor fashion if anything it’s giving Utah good publicity because they’re not accepting the resources he was using to take advantage of his role as a so-called religious leader."
Corianne Norton/St. George Resident: "I think it makes Utah look bad because Warren Jeffs a lot of people associate him with the Mormon Church and he’s not even in the Mormon Church."
Deena Rees/St. George Resident: "I don’t think people can base that on Utah. That’s a part of what’s happening but it’s not what Utah is about so it’s probably bad publicity but that’s Warren Jeffs."

Whether it's good publicity or not is up in the air, but one thing is for sure, it definitely is major publicity for the state.
 
KCSG.com
Originally broadcast Tuesday, September 5, 2006
 
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