Posted on 07/15/2008 9:01:49 PM PDT by UCANSEE2
On Tuesday, attorneys representing sect members filed a request for a temporary restraining order to bar fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan from evicting hundreds of residents from homes in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
...
Until Wisan took over, property taxes were always paid promptly, Stirba said. As of June, past due taxes totalled $384,000, according to Wisan. And within the past few weeks, he has also sent notices giving residents until the end of the month to catch up.
...
Wisan has spent more than $3 million in fees and expenses since becoming the trust's manager. The trust is out of money and neither he nor his attorneys have been paid in a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
“families now are on the verge of being forced out of their homes. “
They are out to “get” these people and take over their land. Isn’t that obvious?
” The United Effort Plan Trust was officially organized in 1942 by a fundamentalist Mormon group known at the time as The Work - now the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
I bet they do want to remove Bruce R. Wisan ..
He’s doing a good job and stop the rapid drain on the coffers...
“Isn’t that obvious?”
No. Not at all.
What is obvious, is that one must read the whole article, and include all the pertinent facts before going off on one ‘turn of a phrase’ in an article.
Notice that the UEP was bankrupt a year ago.
Notice that the FLDS members quit paying the fees to the UEP that were to pay for the property taxes, since all the real estate and personal property, and homes were owned by the UEP.
The UEP fund was for all the sect locations, including Canada, and Warren tried to hog it all to himself.
There are reportedly many ex FLDS members who have, or are suing the UEP to get their homes back.
I imagine trying to keep the fund afloat, when the income is drying up, is very difficult.
All these people. Good people. Well known and respected people.
Bruce Wisan.
Dr. Fischer.
Sheriff Shurtleff
All, with the most intimate contact with the FLDS population, and yet they are called liars, and looters.
Who would have knowledge of the occurrence, and exact descriptions of the activity of ‘child brides’, but the man who opens his home to lost boys and child brides, and abused women from the FLDS?
He was an FLDS himself.
Those trying to ‘help’ the FLDS people, the innocent and misled FLDS people, are condemned without even a trial.
All the evidence points to them telling the truth.
Yet, they are not believed.
There was a post or something about Wisan and the UEP a while back
I’m trying to find it..
The UEP was in a mess and the fLDS had turned the members out of the houses not paid taxes etc...
Wisan got the families back into the homes and made them pay taxes...
The money had been stolen by the Jeffs etc...
Probably to pay for the TX compound...
The Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 5, 2005
A judge on Thursday gave a special fiduciary more authority over a polygamous community’s trust, including the power to defend the fund against lawsuits and to collect money from residents to pay taxes on the group’s property on the Arizona Strip.
Third District Judge Denise Lindberg granted the increased power to manage the assets of the United Effort Plan (UEP) to Bruce Wisan, who has warned of the possibility of property sales and evictions of residents in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., if the trust is unable to cover an upcoming $1.2 million tax bill.
The judge also granted a request made by Wisan and the Utah and Arizona attorneys general to hold off on appointing new trustees to the UEP, an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Lindberg agreed that she needed more information on nominees before deciding who and how many to appoint.
......
Nearly all the land, homes and buildings in the twin cities are held in the UEP trust set up by the FLDS, which considers plural marriage a central tenet of the faith. About 8,000 followers in the community are considered at-will tenants by the church, which thought of improvements such as new construction and remodels as donations. In the past, the church sought cash donations from members to pay tax bills.
Wisan has valued the Hildale-Colorado City property at $91.6 million. The FLDS also has established outposts in Texas and Colorado.
Wisan was appointed on May 27 to inventory and protect UEP property after Utah and Arizona officials became alarmed by the FLDS’ purported attempt to transfer two pieces of property without receiving any compensation for the trust.
Wisan filed suit in May to stop the transfers. His attorney, Jeffrey Shields, said Thursday he is close to finalizing a deal to sell the land, which could bring about $1.5 million to the trust.
Authorities also were alarmed by the failure of UEP trustees and FLDS President Warren Jeffs to defend against three lawsuits, two in state and one in federal court.
The defendants could lose by default, which means the plaintiffs could get damages that would deplete the trust and potentially cost residents their homes.
The trustees, including Jeffs, were stripped of their power in June. Jeffs, who also faces sex charges in Arizona, has not been seen publicly in the past year and a half and his whereabouts are unknown. He is wanted on state and federal warrants and there is a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/11927/judge-expands-power-of-flds-trust-fiduciary
Yeah. I think Alice posted the thread.
And you summed it up pretty good.
I think this article is just a rehash of that old article, along with one or two new pieces of information.
Thanks.
Good job!
That’s not the article I was looking for but it’s a start...
So, the root cause of the UEP bankruptcy is Warren Jeffs and the previous UEP trustees.
April, 2008...
Subpoenas to see whether sect’s $100M trust was drained to fund YFZ Ranch, improvements
Wisan said he suspects imprisoned FLDS prophet Jeffs was draining the trust, which is owned by the sect membership, to fund the building and operation of the 1,700-acre compound in Schleicher County.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/apr/23/subpoenas-to-see-whether-sects-100m-trust-was-to/
Judge expands power of FLDS trust fiduciary
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/11927/judge-expands-power-of-flds-trust-fiduciary
UEP Trust waiting on FLDS probe
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20080605/ai_n25485473
Religious divide stalls UEP reforms
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20071020/ai_n21064051
UEP land may be sold next month
http://www.childbrides.org/UEP_spec_UEP_land_may_be_sold.html
This is what I always think about whenever the FLDS apologists say that those at the YFZ Ranch were purely self-sufficient and didn't participate in welfare fraud, etc. Much of the YFZ money came from this trust, the coffers of which were enriched by the practice of "bleeding the beast" in other states like Colorado and Arizona. Perhaps those in Texas didn't abuse the Texas welfare system, but they were indirectly benefiting from the abuse of other states' welfare benefits.
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