Polygamy police state in Colorado City, Hildale: When dialing 911 brings trouble

COLORADO CITY, Arizona – Workers replaced the window glass in the office of a Mohave County victims advocate in Colorado City last Monday – a window that was shot on Sept. 4.

Kim Nuttall was attending court the day the shooting occurred; if she had been in her office, the shot that broke the window could have killed her.

A bullet hole shot through the window of a Mohave County victims advocate, Colorado City, Arizona, Sept. 4, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Kim Nuttall, St. George News
A bullet hole shot through the window of a Mohave County victims advocate, Colorado City, Arizona, Sept. 4, 2014 | Photo courtesy of Kim Nuttall, St. George News

“If I had been sitting at my desk it would’ve hit the back of my head,” Nuttall said.

An investigator from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, who routinely travels to Colorado City, told Nuttall the shot appeared to have come from a .22-caliber rifle, a B.B. gun or a pellet gun.

“He said, ‘This is not a rock (that broke the window). You need to pack your stuff and get out of the office,’” Nuttall said.

Retaliation against government workers is nothing new in the border towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah – communities commonly known to locals as “Short Creek” and primarily founded and governed by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

“When you’re raised to believe the government is evil and the government is the problem, anybody that works for the government is going to be suspect,” Nuttall said.

The shot into Nuttall’s office was fired from a spot that was out of view of the security cameras that monitor the building; whoever fired the shot not only knew where the cameras were, Nuttall said, but took great pains to avoid being recorded by them.

In her nearly 10 years as a victims advocate in the Short Creek area, Nuttall said, she’s had her phones tapped and her office broken into multiple times – particularly when she’s working on a case that strikes a nerve in the community. But having shots fired into her office has taken the retaliation to a whole new level.

“Even though it’s disconcerting to me, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop doing my job,” Nuttall said. “I’m not going to give in to terrorism.”

Who is policing the police?

A longstanding and ongoing problem for residents of the Short Creek community is when an incident occurs, such as shots being fired or some sort of discriminatory action taking place, calling the local marshals for intervention can create more problems than it solves.

The town marshals have been nothing more or less than the executioners of the (FLDS) church,” Hildale resident Willie Jessop said.

“A hundred percent of their loyalties are pledged to the church leaders,” he added.

Jessop said he knows firsthand about corruption within the local law enforcement; he once served as now-imprisoned FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs’ bodyguard and was part of the FLDS church’s protective detail for many years before Jeffs became a leader over the church. (See ed. note)

“I understood the loyalty conflict between an officer choosing his religion and choosing his job,” Jessop said.

Jessop said the retaliatory action committed against excommunicated and disenfranchised FLDS members didn’t begin until the child sexual abuse perpetrated by Jeffs started coming to light. The marshals then became a tool for hiding Jeffs’ illegal and immoral acts, Jessop said; families didn’t even know Jeffs had raped their daughters.

“We realized this isn’t about religious persecution – this is about the rape of little girls,” Jessop said.

“Since it became known that Warren (Jeffs) was guilty of having sex with 12-year-olds, that’s what drove the desperation of why we’re having this crisis,” he added.

Jessop said he and others began taking a stand against the corruption when they realized what Jeffs was doing. Subsequently, Jessop resigned from the FLDS church.

Now that Jessop is no longer loyal to the FLDS religion, he said he and his family members have become victims of the discrimination and retaliation themselves – from their vehicles and properties being vandalized to individual family members being targeted for their non-FLDS stance.

“We constantly face the retaliation of other church members against us,” Jessop said.

And the Jessops aren’t the only ones who feel the heat of falling out of faith with the FLDS church.

In July, a historic event took place in Short Creek as a class reunion was hosted for members of the last classes to graduate from the former Colorado City Academy. Hundreds of people who, for years, were not welcome in the FLDS community were invited back to their hometown and traveled from as far away as Missouri and North Dakota to come home – many of them for the first time since they left.

During one reunion event, as friends and relatives met for the first time in decades, the local marshals crashed the party on an alleged noise complaint. Local resident Harvey Dockstader, one of the organizers of the reunion, became the brunt of police brutality, having his arm twisted behind his back so forcibly that it badly injured his shoulder  –  allegedly because he helped orchestrate an event that brought shunned FLDS members back to the community.

“They tore him up very bad,” Jessop said. “It was in total retaliation of the church.”

A week after the reunion, during an interview about Jessop’s new bed and breakfast – built inside a compound originally constructed for the imprisoned Warren Jeffs – Dockstader’s arm was still in a sling and he was speaking with Jessop about medical bills related to the officer-caused injury.

We become subject to some of the most horrific crimes of corrupt law enforcement that you would find in any Third World country,” Jessop said.

Jessop said the local marshals not only retaliate against those who are seen as oppositional to the FLDS church, but they have a history of trumping up false charges against people, as well. A high percentage of the false charges are ultimately dismissed, Jessop said, but the ordeals nonetheless leave their intended mark.

“The family still goes through the drama of being arrested or harassed by the officers,” Jessop said.

“It’s become such a crisis in the community,” he added.

The assertion that corruption abounds in the local Marshal’s Office was validated by former Chief Marshal Helaman Barlow earlier this year when he detailed wrongdoing in the Marshal’s Office and local city governments during court proceedings in a discrimination case against the cities.

No more discrimination?

Sept. 4, the day Nuttall’s office was shot at, was also the day an Arizona judge denied a motion filed in June by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office that sought to disband the Colorado City/Hildale Marshal’s Office altogether and turn the towns’ law enforcement entirely over to the Mohave County and Washington County sheriffs’ offices. Instead of disbanding the marshals, the judge ordered that, concerning housing and utilities matters, the twin city governments must not discriminate, intimidate, threaten or retaliate against anyone based on religion for a period of 10 years; the towns must also not discriminate or retaliate against anyone who was involved in Cooke v. Colorado City – a lawsuit filed against the cities for refusing to provide utility services to local residents Ronald and Jinjer Cooke, allegedly because they were not FLDS church members and because Ronald Cooke had a disability.

In an ironic twist, Sept. 4 was additionally the day – just as the judge was ordering the towns not to discriminate based on religion or involvement in the Cooke case – that longstanding local law enforcement officer Barlow was fired from his post by the cities.

Barlow, who has openly left the FLDS church, became a whistleblower of sorts in April when, in exchange for limited immunity, he detailed corruption in the Marshal’s Office and local city government in a deposition and also admitted under oath that, as chief marshal, he had lied multiple times when giving testimony in the Cookes’ discrimination case.

Jessop said those working in the Marshal’s Office must constantly choose between loyalty to the FLDS church and properly carrying out their jobs – and loyalty to the church predominantly wins out. Those who take action contrary to the church’s wishes can find themselves, like Barlow, out of a job no matter how many years they’ve served in law enforcement.

“When (Barlow) tried to make corrective measures … he was just another victim of how systemically the department is evil,” Jessop said.

“He wouldn’t declare his loyalties to Warren Jeffs, and it got him fired,” he added.

At the time this report is published, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has not responded to multiple phone calls seeking comment about the judge’s dismissal of the motion to disband the Marshal’s Office.

Though having the Marshals remain in force for the present is viewed by many in the community as a devastating step backward, Jessop said he’s confident the battle has only begun and the government will continue making strides forward to end religious discrimination in the Short Creek community.

“The government can’t sit and let Warren Jeffs run his vendetta against the people using our local marshals,” Jessop said. “The people are left in a destitute situation, where they call 911 to get help only to face retaliation over and over and over again from the local marshals.”

“(The government) has had hundreds of complaints on it,” he added. “They know these boys are corrupt.”

Jessop said it’s a sad irony that FLDS members, who have experienced firsthand the pain of religious persecution, would commit atrocities against others in the name of religion.

“I think that’s been my greatest personal heartbreak,” Jessop said, “that this society of all societies knew what it was like to be persecuted and discriminated against, only to turn around and do that to its own people.”

Ed. note: Updated 12:45 p.m. per further comment from Willie Jessop

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66 Comments

  • SSfreeze September 22, 2014 at 10:45 am

    This should be an embarrassment to both states. The fact that neither state wants to fix this mess only let’s it fester. Sooner or later all He** is going to break out and someone is going to get seriously hurt. I would like to see a large motorcycle club ride into town and spend a few weeks there enjoying the new bed and breakfast. I wonder if the Marshals would pick on people that could defend themselves?

  • Lance September 22, 2014 at 11:11 am

    Did you write this story as chum for Koolaid or Bobber?

    • JAR September 22, 2014 at 12:08 pm

      That was a low blow Lance

  • SWEET ICE TEA September 22, 2014 at 11:52 am

    LANCE, they will be along in a few minutes to post their stupid and ridiculous drivel.

    • Lance September 22, 2014 at 12:39 pm

      Yes, I will ask koolaid again, why do you mock people who follow a religious moral code? He/she declined to answer previously. Would they prefer a world without moral codes? Are they insecure in their own beliefs? Perhaps one of them might explain why they hate Mormonism exclusively here.

      • Open mind December 10, 2014 at 7:03 am

        You don’t need religion to find out about morals. The most imoral people I have ever met in my life are the religious ones. This article is a great example of how screwy religion is. Just plain stupid.

        • Koolaid December 10, 2014 at 8:01 am

          The presence of religion, especially a dominant presence you have in Utah, opens the eyes of everyone to the abuse of power, the corruption and the immoral ways of those drinking from the church’s koolaid well. I think that same koolaid makes the other members oblivious to the scandalous ways of their fellow koolaid drinkers.

  • My Evil Twin September 22, 2014 at 11:54 am

    I believe it shows just how powerful this FLDS “religion” is. They have been able to get to judges and legislatures to get the law bent to their way.
    Cops who are not faithful to the Peace Officers Code Of Ethics need to be removed from the job, and apparently these Short Creek Cops are some of the worst there are.
    This is one story that New Mexico Native SHOULD take a stand on. We will see if she comes forward or not. . .

    • Lance September 22, 2014 at 12:44 pm

      Can you cite a case where the law was bent due to Mormonism? In what sense do you mean this? Legislators write laws, should they not do so in accordance with their constituents?

      • DAVE RABBITT September 22, 2014 at 7:18 pm

        Yes. – Joseph Smith, the American religious leader and founder of Mormonism, bent the law of God, by breaking the 7th Commandment: Thous shalt not commit adultery:

        “Smith had by some accounts been teaching a polygamy doctrine as early as 1831, and there is evidence that Smith was a polygamist by 1835. Although the church had publicly repudiated polygamy, in 1837 there was a rift between Smith and Oliver Cowdery over the issue. Cowdery suspected that Smith had engaged in a relationship with his serving girl Fanny Alger. Smith never denied a relationship, but insisted it was not adulterous, presumably because he had taken Alger as a plural wife.

        In April 1841, Smith wed Louisa Beaman; and during the next two-and-a-half years he married or was sealed to about 30 additional women,[279] ten of whom were already married to other men (though this was generally done with the knowledge and consent of their husbands). Ten of Smith’s plural wives were under the age of twenty, while others were widows over fifty. The practice of plural marriage was kept secret.

        Polygamy (or plural marriage) caused a breach between Smith and his first wife, Emma. Although Emma knew of some of her husband’s marriages, she almost certainly did not know the extent of his polygamous activities. In 1843, Emma temporarily accepted Smith’s marriage to four women boarded in the Smith household, but she soon regretted her decision and demanded that the other wives leave. In July, Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept plural marriage, but the two were not reconciled until September, after Emma began participating in temple ordinances and received an endowment”.

        “It’s still against the law in Utah to get legally married to multiple people, which is bigamy. The reason this case legalized polygamy is because most polygamists in Utah aren’t actually trying to get legally married to each other; after their first marriage, they merely have a “spiritual” or religious ceremony. That used to be illegal because it was cohabitation, but now it is not”.

        Bigamy / Polygamy (in this era) is nothing more than a way for a household to receive government assistance (Food stamps / WIC / Medicaid). They abuse the welfare system, treat their women as subservient, treat their young men as rivals and are basically nothing more than a tyrant. (Definition: any person in a position of authority who exercises power oppressively or despotically).

        And although the LDS church officially abandoned the practice of polygamy, their “founding father” believed it to be “a revelation”, he received.

        • Lance September 24, 2014 at 9:38 pm

          Wow, that’s quite the diatribe. Thanks for the history lesson. So basically, your grievance is 2 centuries old? Let me know when you want to join up with the modern world.

      • Koolaid December 10, 2014 at 8:02 am

        Amendment 3

    • Native born New Mexican September 22, 2014 at 7:49 pm

      I have tried hard to expose the corrupt North Canyon court and it’s judge Barbara Brown, evil twin. By the way the people there refer to her as the “Kanab Judge” because they say she lives in Kanab Ut. AZ code says she should domicile in AZ but there is no evidence that she does and a load of evidence that she does not. Mohave County is one corrupt place through and through. Their county board, their prosecutor’s office and their sheriff all know about this stuff and protect it and her. There is lots of money being made off of the roads in the AZ strip. Mohave County likes things just like they are. Washington County courts and law enforcement know it too. Don’t think they don’t. When you mention that court to local LEO they say, “You don’t need to say anything more.” By the way I was taking a nap in my truck while in NV. The other day a very nice woman NV law enforcement officer looked in my window to be sure I was alright. I told her thank you very much. That does happen sometimes. I realize that also.

  • Doug Bringhurst September 22, 2014 at 12:02 pm

    Washington County and Mojave County need to take it over and not hire any creekers as police. And cut off the free welfare so the fraud stops and maybe they will move.

    • Lance September 22, 2014 at 12:41 pm

      If you want to stop welfare fraud Hildale is small potatos. Pick any major city. Where would you have them move to?

    • PLYGHIPSTER September 22, 2014 at 1:40 pm

      Mojave County has already said that liberty cost too much so they can’t do anything about it. Utah up this point has been looking the other way like there’s a unicorn running the opposite direction. Both sides clearly have distanced themselves from the situation as best they can. What they should do and what they will do are very different things unfortunately.

      The people out there are going to have to fix this themselves. Personally I would like to see a non FLDS mayor in each of those towns, then mix in a police force from all the faiths. I personally feel that what that town lacks in its government is diversity.

      • Lance September 22, 2014 at 4:11 pm

        Can you clarify your first 2 sentences? Sounds like you support imposition of an unrepresentative govt. Is democracy inconvenient to you in this situation?

        • PLYGHIPSTER September 23, 2014 at 10:33 am

          The first 2 sentence are what has already happened. I never said or even implied that I support them. It is just the reality of the situation. This is a problem that our state governments are clearly not going to help out with.

    • ONLY IN UTAH September 23, 2014 at 9:39 am

      WHAT ABOUT THE ILLEGAL ALIENS GETTING WELFARE? THEY COMPRISE 1/3 OF THE US ….THEY R A FAR BIGGER PROBLEM IF WE ARE TO TALK ABOUT WELFARE FRAUD.

      • Lance September 24, 2014 at 9:40 pm

        ,PST ESTIMATES OF ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE IN THE 20-30 MILLIOM RANGE, NOT 1/3RD. NOT TO DIMINISH THE PROBLEM BUT GET YOUR FACTS CORRECT.

      • Koolaid December 10, 2014 at 8:03 am

        47% of the populace on welfare vote Republican.

  • cranky September 22, 2014 at 12:07 pm

    I would personally ban any of those child abuser from doing business anywhere in
    Washington County . Especially Costco and Walmart . The adults should all be in
    jail and the children deprogrammed. period

    • Olga Man September 22, 2014 at 1:41 pm

      Sound a lot like Germany in 1930’s to 1945.
      If you don’t learn from history your doom to repeat it.

  • Koolaid September 22, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    Don’t expect your Utah Attorney General office to get deeply involved here. Never did and probably never will.

    • Lance September 22, 2014 at 4:14 pm

      Koolaid, don’t dodge my questions. Do you mock Catholics and Moslems too? Be fair. Do you wish for a world without morals? Consider the possibilities.

      • Koolaid September 22, 2014 at 5:03 pm

        Only the ones who are obviously phony in their so-called claims of equality and morality by show of their double-standards. The problems with polygamy is a prime example, especially with the practice of child brides and tax evasion. Yet, let’s focus on denying rights to consenting adults (gay marriages).

        • Lance September 23, 2014 at 6:51 am

          Polygamy is practiced world-wide, and has been since the beginning of history. It was only outlawed here as a political act to oppress the Mormons. Similarly the age of consent varies world-wide as well. And sexual deviants like homos are abhored world-wide for that matter, except in Western govt. systems. Tax evasion is an American hobby. So how does your anti-Mormon bigotry translate into “Only the ones who are obviously phony in their so-called claims of equality and morality by show of their double-standards.”

          It looks like it is you with a double standard in fact.

          • Koolaid September 23, 2014 at 9:14 am

            Who voted for the AG who wouldn’t act against them?

          • Koolaid September 23, 2014 at 12:47 pm

            Your “practiced worldwide” comment is typical of Utards making their excuses for doing nothing. Ask a Utard why they allow a problem to exist and taking no action about it, and the Utard quickly points to another geographical area and comments about that place. Really? Are you really that utarded to think that answer is an acceptable excuse why you do nothing? Utah has a prescription drug abuse problem, a domestic violence against women problem, the polygamist child abuse problem, the area issues concerning sexual inappropriate behaviors with animals… who are you going to continue to point your fingers at and say well looky over there? Are you that loaded up with the utard koolaid?

          • Lance September 24, 2014 at 9:47 pm

            Seems the reply button is gone after too many turns koolaid so I’ll reply to myself to stay in the thread. I’m just pointing out your double standard. If you want to make comments against polygamy then be sure to include Muslims world-wide, in the UK and Dearborn even, and don’t just abuse Mormons. Cast that bigotry wide, don’t hold back.

  • burn baby burn September 22, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    Somebody needs to take a flamethrower to that pedophile’s paradise.

  • Dana September 22, 2014 at 2:45 pm

    The Attorney General is too busy fighting same sex marriage to be concerned with Short Creek.The past two AG’s were too busy playing ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ and ‘Pay To Play’ to be bothered with anything else.. The LEO’s in those towns are a joke and need to be stripped of their police powers and replaced by outsiders…not more FLDS.

    • Lance September 23, 2014 at 6:55 am

      I’d rather start imposing the police state in your neighborhood first, and then let it spread once the kinks are worked out. What an idiot, if you want to write your own laws you’ll have to pass the bar and get elected first. Since you sound like some blowhard that thinks you know better than people who have accomplished that, I doubt you have such ability.

      • Chris September 23, 2014 at 8:52 am

        You don’t need to be a member of the bar to write a law. Many, if not most, Utah state legislators are not lawyers.

      • Koolaid September 24, 2014 at 9:25 am

        Have you been following the St George Code Enforcement lawsuit? Read about how persons were appointed to positions, their qualifications, the perceived bias and made up laws and how they are applied and enforced

        • Lance September 24, 2014 at 9:49 pm

          Not surprising, welcome to your police state. It hasn’t happened overnight. Every time some do-gooder mutters, “there oughta be a law” freedom takes a hit.

  • POLYG September 22, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    What a bunch of …. Let see the governments need to worry about the pligs right. Last I checked nobody has been beheaded. Women can still talk, give their opinion( no one may listen) but the women aren’t killed in the streets. The children are taught right from wrong( ya it’s strange) you can walk around the plig cities without getting rapped murdered mugged or deal with the drug carel. Can anyone say OLe. They all work hard, don’t sit around on the porch and blame people for their on laziness, (Can anyone say what’s up …, they do understand the welfare) So before we all get stupid and wanna clean up this country. Lets start with all the less likely to succeed that have ruined the place we call the USA. And let’s quit worrying about the lost boys, I’ve never met one lost boy that wasn’t a druck a drug addict or a sick pervert. Ya don’t blame how they were raised. The pligs may want to marry the young girls(with the parents consent) but at least they don’t go out teach all their women to be … their boys to be deadbeat dads, or say 7 p aday in hopes of receiving underage virgi in the next life from a deity that doesn’t exist except in the world below that can’t deliver on what they promise(sounds like the government)Ya can’t blame all the pligs for being bad like w. Jeff’s any more than you can blame the deadbeats of the world on oh bum ya. Are can we ?????
    Ed. ellipses.

    • Russ September 23, 2014 at 8:14 am

      You may want to rethink your little rant. I spent 35 years growing up 30 miles from the twin cities. Many of the “lost boys” have most of their problems due to the fact that they were abused in many ways, including sexually. And as far as the young girls that are married with parents consent, the parents don’t give consent, they just don’t dare say no to the “prophet”. As far as the belief that they will have a better life after death, that is actually what they DO believe. They are trained to believe that they will be rulers of their own world if they have a certain number of wives, and children while they are alive. Also the women out there would never dare to speak up, because they are programmed from birth not to.

      • ONLY IN UTAH September 23, 2014 at 9:33 am

        This is just another UTAH CULT. These people are brain washed from birth or are banished when they disagree. The women are on welfare as they refuse to tell who the father is to avoid prosecution. Now UTAH GETS TO PAY THE BILL FOR ALLOWING THIS TO GO ON. GOOD JOB UTAH. I GUESS THE OFFICIALS HAD BETTER THINGS TO DO .

        • Simone September 23, 2014 at 7:24 pm

          Utah and Arizona actually.

          • Simone September 23, 2014 at 7:25 pm

            a more correct screen name is this case would be:
            “Only in Mormonville”

    • PLYGHIPSTER September 23, 2014 at 9:43 am

      WOW. You realize your rant pretty much just confirms everyone’s concerns about the FLDS right?

      ” I’ve never met one lost boy that wasn’t a druck a drug addict or a sick pervert. Ya don’t blame how they were raised.”

      Are you implying parents are no longer responsible for their children?

      “you can walk around the plig cities without getting rapped murdered mugged or deal with the drug carel.”

      I can agree with the murder part. But rape does happen. Just because you label it with a religion and declare it from god doesn’t magically make it not rape. It makes it more heinous.

      “The pligs may want to marry the young girls(with the parents consent)” sounds like grade A parents to me. How about the rest of you?

      “Ya can’t blame all the pligs for being bad like w. Jeff’s any more ”
      I will stop thinking of the plygs as crappy human beings whey they stop acting like crappy human beings. This post itself suggest you are unfit (IMO) to have children let alone be around them. You are evidence that the people of the short creek area are incapable of governing yourselves.

      You also imply because something is worse than you that means you are in the right. I cant remember where they were but maybe you should go read your scriptures more until you find the part about the dangers of comparing yourself to others.

  • KKARIN September 22, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    The power, behind the deceptions at the core of FLDS, is satan. It’s like the apple the Queen brought to Snow White. It looks so pretty on the outside, and is pure poison within. If this was based in truth, the fruits of the faith would be delightful. Shame on Utah and Arizona to let their crimes against children to be swept under the rug. The consequences will be severe. God’s mercy is preceded by His judgment. They’d be better off to have a millstone hung around their necks and flung into the depths of the waters.

  • Real Life September 22, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    To Lance: Why do you and others stick up for these people? Why do you and others turn a blind eye when it has been PROVEN that these sick … are GUILTY of sexually molesting CHILDREN????? WHY? Can’t wait for your reply.

    • cranky September 23, 2014 at 7:53 am

      Yeah I don’t get Lance’s twisted logic either. Polygamy ‘isn’t practiced ‘worldwide” And it was against the law in Europe and USA long before J.Smith had his little walk in the woods. Polygamy the way it’s practiced at Hildale is child abuse, child brainwashing, adult brainwashing, that the group must preform to the twisted sick convoluted laws in the name of a christian based religion.Its no different than what the twisted Emons of Islam are doing to recruit young suicide bombers. Mormonism is a cult , the
      Hildale version a very sick one.

      • Lance September 23, 2014 at 8:30 am

        Sorry but polygamy is practiced world-wide, in most Muslim countries and across Africa. And the proper word is Imam btw. Funny how the Mormon bashers on this site promote homosexual deviancy, and are against polygamy. Why do they hate love?

      • Native born New Mexican September 23, 2014 at 10:19 am

        Cranky it is only too obvious that you don’t like Christians and you don’t like Mormons. (It sounds like out right hatred to me.) It is interesting that people like you want their rights, their reputation, their beliefs etc. respected and allowed to exist but they are almost never willing to allow the same to others who inhabit the same world and breath the same air they do. You have the right to dislike anything or anyone you want to. I will not call you names, say ugly things about you, or insult you. Will you show me, other Christians and even Mormons the same respect? I think the answer to that is no but you could prove me wrong. I don’t expect you to because the place you learn about charity for others and not doing to others what you would not have done to you is in the Christian Bible and in the Book of Mormon. I don’t think you have any desire to read and study either one of those books. Sadly.

      • FYI September 23, 2014 at 10:30 am

        In much of the Middle East women can be married off by their parents at very young ages and without consent. In most Middle East nations, it is exceedingly difficult for a woman to file for divorce, polygamy is often legal and socially acceptable, and there are even laws that condone “honor killings” for transgressions of perceived improper conduct.

      • FYI September 23, 2014 at 12:50 pm

        In the global context, acceptance of polygamy is common. According to the Ethnographic Atlas, of 1,231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygamy; and 4 had polygamy. At the same time, even within societies that allow polygamy, the actual practice of polygamy occurs unevenly. There are exceptions: in Senegal, for example, nearly 47 percent of marriages are multiple. Within polygamy societies, multiple wives often become a status symbol denoting wealth, power, and fame. Polyandry is less rare than the figure commonly cited in the Ethnographic Atlas (1980), which listed only those examples found in the Himalayan Mountains. More recent studies have found 53 societies outside of the 28 found in the Himalayas, which practice polyandry

        • Koolaid September 24, 2014 at 9:27 am

          So you are justifying the atrocities in the Utah polygamist communities?

    • Lance September 23, 2014 at 8:26 am

      Why do you spread untruths? Child abuse of all sorts is against the law and should be punished, and when found it is. No matter what religion the perps adhere to. I don’t stick up for that, so don’t imply I do.

    • My Evil Twin September 23, 2014 at 10:19 am

      Because he probably IS one of “these people.” So sick and twisted he doesn’t even know how sick and twisted he is.

  • whistleblower September 22, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    It’s could be worse than most know even at this point. I’ve been told by an excommunicated individual that handicapped children are ethanized and bodies disposed of in the reservoir and/or the desert. I have no first hand knowledge, but I grew up in the area and have known and worked with several lost boys and runaway girls. I’ve heard these stories.

    • Lance September 23, 2014 at 8:27 am

      Ha, good whacko conspiracy fabrication. Are you a truther also?

    • PLYGHIPSTER September 23, 2014 at 10:42 am

      I’m not fan of the plygs. I grew up out there but I like to keep it in reality land whenever possible. I have heard similar stories all my life with nothing to ever back them up. Crickers are notorious for telling tall tales.

  • JOSH DALTON (INCOGNEGRO) September 23, 2014 at 8:19 am

    that “bullet hole” looks more like it came from a BB gun.

  • FYI September 23, 2014 at 8:42 am

    After you correct the people of Hildale, then start on the rest of the world.
    Age of Consent Mexico PUBERTY, South America 13, Peru 14, Spain 13 rest of the world 16,
    DO WE become like Middle East with married at any age, but must be married no premarried sex. Then what seria Law. BE CAREFUL FOR WHAT YOU ASK FOR.

  • Red Rocker September 23, 2014 at 9:07 am

    This topic really stirs things up. Has the Department of Justice gotten involved in this yet? Seems like the local and state agencies aren’t capable due to politics and religious conflicts.
    An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

  • TooToo September 23, 2014 at 9:28 am

    First Willie Jessop is spokesman for pedophile prophet, Warren Jeffs, then he’s spokesman for the victims. What a bunch!!!

  • FYI September 23, 2014 at 10:40 am

    Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of having more than one spouse at the same time, conventionally referring to a situation where all spouses know about each other, in contrast to bigamy, where two or more spouses are usually unaware of each other.
    History of polygamy
    Polygamy in the United States has a long history.
    Scots-Irish settlers, and some Welsh emigrants, carried long-standing multiple partner traditions to the Americas from Europe. Utopian and communal groups established during the mid-19th century had varying marriage systems, including group marriage and polygamy. There is also some evidence in the American South for multiple marriage partners, particularly after the Civil War.
    Christian polygamy is a more modern development of a polygamist culture. They assert that the movement has no connection with Joseph Smith.

    • Herd September 23, 2014 at 2:01 pm

      So you say it’s always been okay for old men to diddle with little girls? Do you support this in 2014 and into the future?

      • FYI September 23, 2014 at 4:13 pm

        Check your family tree
        How old was your grandma when she got married.

        Times change both ways
        That’s life

        • Herd September 24, 2014 at 9:29 am

          Both grandmothers were of legal adult age and the decision of who and when to marry was their own.

  • LANCE LIAR September 25, 2014 at 10:10 am

    Lance Ive been to hilldale CO city
    Would love to have YOU come visit Detroit
    I would like to take you Fishing and show you the Detroit River.

  • Christopher Everspark September 27, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    It’s sad that government workers have something to fear in the servitude of their country.

  • Cheryl Hawker October 28, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    As far as what I would do to change things out in Hildale-

    I would first want to see what communication efforts have been established between Arizoba and Utah because this issue must be approached in a joint and unified effort.

    I would try to create legislation that would specify that under age children can not be forced into any sort of spiritual unions of any definition or under any religious blanket. Then cause enforcement of these laws. The previous proposed laws tried to make polygamy completely illegal. But, the religious umbrella for consenting adults to cohort and and cohabitate need to be left out of the proposed legislation and concentrate on protecting children who are not only too young to make these choices but also too afraid to fight the forced arranged marriages.

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