Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Polygamous Community Defies State Crackdown
NY Times ^ | 10/25/5 | Timothy Egan

Posted on 10/25/2005 12:03:53 AM PDT by Crackingham

One year ago, Arizona authorities set up shop in a double-wide trailer here at the edge of the nation's largest polygamous community, trying to bring at least a semblance of secular law to an American small town like no other.

Theirs was the first independent government presence in half a century at this settlement straddling the Arizona-Utah border, a place frozen in a 19th-century frontier theocracy inspired by the early Mormon Church.

But the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, continue to defy the law, the authorities and dissidents say: under the direction of leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, women are still being removed from their husbands and assigned to other men, and girls under 18 are ordered to become brides of older men on a day's notice, all despite the presence of full-time outside law enforcement.

SNIP

The Arizona attorney general, Terry Goddard, whose own office is already active here, has asked the Justice Department to investigate the local police, saying they "seem to be aiding and abetting" criminal behavior by discouraging witnesses in sexual abuse cases from testifying; a third of the force has been decertified by Utah and Arizona for criminal conduct.

In a recent letter to the United States attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, Mr. Goddard wrote, "I believe that the officers of the Colorado City Police Department have engaged in a pattern of conduct that deprives individuals of their constitutional and civil rights."

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Arizona; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: marriage; mormonchurch; mormonism; polygamy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last
To: AlaninSA

These people have been excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so technically not part of the church. However, they get their doctrine and practices from the writings and scripture of the LDS namely the "Book of Mormon", "Doctrine and Covenants" and "Pearl of Great Price." They also will claim priesthood authority through the lineage of the Mormons.

(sitting back quietly now, waiting for the denial from the FReep Mormons......)


21 posted on 10/25/2005 7:12:30 AM PDT by colorcountry (Proud Parent of a Soldier (and Parent-in-law of a Soldier))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Saundra Duffy
American women are STUPID if they take up with any man who has another family somewhere.

American women are stupid if they take up with any man who is a foreigner (That is, one who has not denounced his former nation and become a legal citizen here)

22 posted on 10/25/2005 7:17:58 AM PDT by John O (God Save America (Please))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: JRochelle
I posted this on another thread. Some people will agree with this assesment.

Then there is Islam Mormonism. Its followers believe that its sacred text, the Koran Book of Mormon, is the word of Allah God as dictated to his prophet Muhammad Joseph Smith. Non-MuslimsMormons might regard Muhammad Smith as a deluded and bellicose man who had far too many wives than was good for him.

23 posted on 10/25/2005 7:19:09 AM PDT by colorcountry (Proud Parent of a Soldier (and Parent-in-law of a Soldier))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: freeplancer
Read better. These are not Mormons. Now you are educated and not ignorant. Your welcome

If there is any ignorance, it is on your side of the table. I suggest you read further, sport.

"Now you are educated and not ignorant..." Good Lord...listen to yourself sometime. You sound like a fool's walking caricature.

24 posted on 10/25/2005 7:58:02 AM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: television is just wrong

Yikes. What you describe gives me a really bad vibe, too. Sounds like said girlfriend was nothing but an anchor for those folks to get a foothold...and now she's expendable. Yeesh.


25 posted on 10/25/2005 8:00:08 AM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: JRochelle
I'm sure this comment will be removed...

Nope. Still there.

26 posted on 10/25/2005 8:00:51 AM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: counterpunch; freeplancer
Thanks for pointing that out, counterpunch.

I'm not sure what freeplancer's objection is, but it certainly wasn't researched or logically approached.

27 posted on 10/25/2005 8:02:38 AM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Prime Choice

Not only that, but her father in law was arrested for cocaine trafficking, and the son still does his 'emerald' business from Columbia to the US.


28 posted on 10/25/2005 9:11:51 AM PDT by television is just wrong (http://hehttp://print.google.com/print/doc?articleidisblogs.blogspot.com/ (visit blogs, visit ads).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: counterpunch

I suggest that you go to www.lds.org rather than the other site. It is a disguised anti LDS site. For the4 record, I am not a member of the LDS Church. The official, as opposed to the revisionist and outlawed polygamous Revised LDS Church, has outlawed polygamy for at least a century.


29 posted on 11/10/2005 7:16:29 AM PST by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson