Feds Grabbing Power Prosecuting 'The Creek' - Colorado City & Hildale

Freep | 1/25/2016 | Charles O'Connell

[CharlesOConnell]

You don't have to be a supporter of Warren Jeffs to object to the Federal Government prosecuting "The Creek" - Colorado City and Hildale, for denying basic municipal services to non-believers of the Fundamentalist LDS. Their personal crimes will be punished eventually. Why don't the feds go after the criminal governments of Flint and Chicago?

[CharlesOConnell]

Trial begins against polygamous towns in discrimination case

• 

Hildale, Utah mayor Phillip Barlow, center, arrives at the Sandra Day O'Connor United States...

PHOENIX (AP) — Two polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah are corrupt communities where people are spied on and routinely denied basic services as a way to root out non-believers, federal lawyers said Wednesday during opening statements in a discrimination trial.

An attorney for one of the towns, Colorado City, Arizona, countered that the case was filed because the government finds the dominant religion in the towns to be distasteful and wants it eradicated.

"Who is discriminating against who?" attorney Jeff Matura asked jurors.

The case marks one of the boldest efforts by the government to confront what critics have said is a corrupt regime in Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, where the dominant religion is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The sect broke away from mainstream Mormonism when the religion disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

The trial will focus on allegations that the towns systematically denied housing, water services and police protection to people who do not adhere to polygamous-driven beliefs.

U.S. Justice Department lawyers contended in their opening statement that both towns remain beholden to sect leader Warren Jeffs, even as he serves a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered wives.

The lawyers also depicted the church's security operation and local police as paranoid entities that work in lockstep and violate the civil rights of non-believers.

Attorney Jessica Clark described how security officers have spied on people with cameras placed around Colorado City and Hildale, and staff members have been positioned on the outskirts of the towns to keep an eye on people arriving.

She said the city cites a water shortage while denying building permits to non-believers but allows other buildings to be constructed for believers.

"All the entities work together seemingly for the benefits of FLDS and its leaders," Clark said of the church.

The communities deny the allegations and say religion isn't a motivating factor in decisions.

Lawyers for the towns tried unsuccessfully to get a judge to bar evidence of polygamy, underage marriage and church teachings.

Jeffs is not in the courtroom, but his presence loomed over the proceedings. The government says city officials assisted him while he was a fugitive and still follow his directives. A judge has said the Justice Department has evidence suggesting officers dropped off packages, letters and other items for Jeffs while he was a fugitive.

"His control of the cities and police continues today," Clark said.

Matura told jurors the U.S. Justice Department case was based on the false assumptions that religious people can't function properly in government jobs and that everyone who works for the towns is a member of the sect.

Experts believe the trial will provide a rare glimpse into towns that for decades have been shrouded in secrecy and are distrustful of government and outsiders.

Some witnesses are expected to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as they did during depositions.

The federal government wants a ruling that the towns have violated a fair housing law, and it seeks unspecified changes to prevent discrimination.

[driftdiver]

Seems there’d be a lot of places to hide bodies around there. Those ‘leaders’ should be careful.

[Don Corleone]

Why don't the feds go after the criminal governments of Flint and Chicago?

Because they are linked to them like blood brothers. Its in the Governments DNA to oppress the plebeians.

[Dana1960]

I don’t think this is the hill you want to die on. Perhaps you’ll want to think about this a bit further.

This bunch is as close to living under some version of Sharia-type law as exists in the US. Problem is, there are people who live in this community who, not being members of the dominant cult, are forced to live as 3rd class citizens. This, despite the fact that they are full taxpayers. Like practitioners of Sharia law, these cats are taking the tax dollars of these people and they are lucky if they only get nothing in return. Forget any municipal services, they get enormous harassment & hostility from those whose bills they are paying!

No self respecting conservative should stand up for this arrangement, IMO.

It’s criminal.

[exnavy]

The “criminal” gubmints in Flint and Chicago are all democrat.

[x_plus_one]

Sounds like moslem world out west. Maybe the same laws can be applied to the polygamous strongholds in Michigan and Bury Park in Luton, England.

[frankenMonkey]

They’re part of Utah’s thriving industry - raising girls to be distributed as sex slaves (or as we like to say in Utah, “married”) at 13 or 14. It’s in every county in the state.

[Fiji Hill]

I stopped at a grocery store in Colorado City while passing through in 2008. The scene was unreal. Most of the customers were young women dressed in nineteenth-century-style long dresses, and all had long hair. I only saw a few men in the area, all wearing Western-style shirts and all well over 30. Most of the homes in the community are quite large, which is unusual for a small town in the middle of the desert.

[Cen-Tejas]

Good post! Saved me the trouble.

[Tarasaramozart]

The enterprise at Hilsdale and Colorado City are criminal enterprises. The taxpayers help support their multiple wives and numerous children. Their welfare payments range between 3 to 4.5 million per year during the three years we lived in Utah.

It is no more a religion than is Islam. They practice pedophilia through multiple marraiges. It is a power structure maintained by greedy, carnal, and unpricipled men.

Essentially they send the young men and youths out of town to work to support the community or run them out of town while the older men who wield power stay in town.

[drop 50 and fire for effect]

I concur, the issue is not this prosecution, the issue is that any local government that is discriminating against individuals exercising their individual liberties recognized by the U.S. or state constitutions should also be prosecuted.

The double standard is the issue, not the prosecution.

[Dana1960]

If you happen to be around at just the right time, you can see the 14 -16 year old teenage boys who have been ejected from their households, walking alone on I-15. They are carrying a small bookbag-type knapsack, containing all their worldly goods, plus the clothes on their backs.

No contacts from the outside world to help them, no cellphone (God forbid), no education, no....nothing.

But they are competition for the older men, thus they must be vanquished.

Truly diabolical people, this bunch.

[greyfoxx39]

Truly diabolical people, this bunch.

And, diabolical from the inception by Smith.

Joseph Smith's Polygamy Chronology

After 1 a.m. Smith tells his secretary, William Clayton to burn or bury the minutes of the Council of Fifty, and Joseph and Hyrum Smith flee Nauvoo. Word of the prophet's departure causes near panic among his devoted followers. Accused of cowardly abandoning Nauvoo, Smith returns about 6 p.m. He tells Stephen Markham that this is contrary to a revelation and commandment he had received. Joseph and Emma Smith burn the original manuscript of the 1843 polygamy revelation, presumably on this evening. William Clayton preserves a copy, which is later canonized as Section 132 of the D&C.

> SOURCE: Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 6, p.548-550, Manuscript fragment of Nauvoo Legion History for June 1844, LDS archives.

[Elsie]

"All the entities work together seemingly for the benefits of FLDS and its leaders," Clark said of the church.

Remember that REALLY big construction project in downtown SLC???

[Elsie]

They are part of Utah's thriving industry - raising girls to be distributed as sex slaves (or as we like to say in Utah, "married") at 13 or 14. It's in every county in the state.

Even in Orderville???

[Elsie]

Joseph and Emma Smith burn the original manuscript of the 1843 polygamy revelation, presumably on this evening. William Clayton preserves a copy, which is later canonized as Section 132 of the D&C.

The Doctrine and Covenants

Section 132

Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Nauvoo, Illinois, recorded 12 July 1843, relating to the new and everlasting covenant, including the eternity of the marriage covenant, and also the plurality of wives (see History of the Church, 5:501–7). Although the revelation was recorded in 1843, it is evident from the historical records that the doctrines and principles involved in this revelation had been known by the Prophet since 1831.

.

.

.

58–66, Laws governing the plurality of wives are set forth.

---

 

58 Now, as touching the law of the ^apriesthood, there are many things pertaining thereunto.

59 Verily, if a man be called of my Father, as was ^aAaron, by mine own voice, and by the voice of him that ^bsent me, and I have endowed him with the ^ckeys of the power of this priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and according to my law and by my word, he will not commit ^dsin, and I will justify him.

60 Let no one, therefore, set on my servant Joseph; for I will justify him; for he shall do the sacrifice which I require at his hands for his transgressions, saith the Lord your God.

61 And again, as pertaining to the law of the priesthood—if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse ^aanother, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no one else.

62 And if he have ^aten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they are given unto him; therefore is he justified.

63 But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is espoused, shall be with another man, she has committed adultery, and shall be destroyed; for they are given unto him to ^amultiply and replenish the earth, according to my commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given by my Father before the foundation of the world, and for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may bear the souls of men; for herein is the work of my Father continued, that he may be ^bglorified.

64 And again, verily, verily, I say unto you, if any man have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he teaches unto her the law of my priesthood, as pertaining to these things, then shall she believe and administer unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your God; for I will destroy her; for I will magnify my name upon all those who receive and abide in my law.

65 Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not this law, for him to receive all things whatsoever I, the Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not believe and administer unto him according to my word; and she then becomes the transgressor; and he is exempt from the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham according to the law when I commanded Abraham to take ^aHagar to wife.

66 And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more unto you, hereafter; therefore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen.

[frankenMonkey]

Well, I haven’t been to Kane County in years, so just look around for some really big houses! Seriously, I currently live just 10 minutes north of Salt Lake, and there are several large compounds here, with dilapidated houses reserved for the women on the outs with the leaders. And very scary “relationships” between siblings and cousins.

[SENTINEL]

FLDS are the JV Team compared to the breakaway Salt Lake Sect. They even have “seminary” buildings and classes on every Junior High and High school grounds in the state! Heck my “seminary” grades even showed up on my regular high school report cards! Classes were midday like just another regular high school course as well.

[Elsie]

...I currently live just 10 minutes north of Salt Lake...

Moving at what speed?

;^)

[frankenMonkey]

Mule.