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Show | Lo ould the Courier Deliver? principles. We people of Wasatch to hear censor news been believe the papers it would alienate Oo; o : ay ald hepbeddcclicli Unfortunately, our commitment to Lye “9 0 Send your comments “ Wasatch County Courier ~ BO. Box 1030 Midway, UT 84049 Or |. Email us “at dhs@shadowlink.net Please include your name, address, telephone number (optional) and e-mail address (if you have one) so we can get back to you after we study the response and decide our next step. Thanks for your We seem to have a couple of possi- bilities. First go subscription, which could help pay the bills and keep us free from “advertiser censorship.” We entertain the thought WLLL will be distributed in the future so support. This is a wonderful communi- give us an idea where to go next (we already know the answer from the “party faithful” so please don’t reply just to tell us to go to hell.) might require a subscription, but much smaller, say $10 to $15 per year for some decent content. ty and despite the ups and downs of the paper we still love the place. In the words of The Grateful Dead, “what a long strange trip it’s been.” | LLU oJ i maybe we can test that water. The cost and which option you support to: | We can’t really blame them. paper has always but we have to be is go to an Internet is the way papers have to Se cover controversial subjects and our Opinions about them has cut deeply into our advertiser base. And for a free paper supported only by advertising that spells the kiss of death: Aside from realtors (God bless you) and a few other courageous long-term adver_tisers, most advertisers have opted for the easy, non-controversial way out. since being a free been our hallmark, pragmatic. Second, based paper. This 1 because we would mail First Class and the postage alone would be around $19 per year. Option 4. When you shop ask the storeowner why he doesn’t advertise. in the Courier, But please shop locally whether the store supports the Courier or not. Supporting the local economy has always been a core principle of ours. | : would their advertisers. hate to even $30 per year. The price is higher than Option Option 2. Go Internet only. This too County deserve other because has é he about money—it _ A been about a printed version in a newsletter format for a subscription price of around ri Be sense to play. The Courier has never printed newspaper. Subscription price would probably range from $20 to $30 per year and be mailed second class. - 32s 2 pate: RE make Option 3. Go Internet with a “newsletter” option. We would mail out GPT RE it doesn’t Option 1. Go subscription and staya Rae Pea it pay AS a make of printing and mailing the paper isa huge bite every week. If we go Internet we might supplement our Internet version with a subscription newsletter for our readers that don’t have Internet service. So if you are a Courier reader we need your input to © BS Sere Tae n the final analysis if you can’t have 1] i some polygamy in their genealogy. Polygamy has also had a checkered - past since it was revealed as church doctrine by Joseph Smith in 1830. Many, even among church membership took offense at the practice when it was first made public. Many left the 1 bas le inline oR SIL church because of the policy. However many more openly embraced it or reluctantly accepted it. _ The practice had been a contentious issue between the federal government and the Mormons since the presidential election of 1856 with the Republican platform’s condemnation of the “twin relics of barbarism’— southern slavery and Mormon polygamy. It was against federal law and in 1857 contributed to U.S. President James Buchanan’s extraor- intense pressure from the federal government to end the practice, including the threatened seizure of all church property including the Salt Lake Temple. i Funny how little religious tolerance there was then. A nation that boasted of its tolerance boldly declared its mother. What a shame to rob these girls of any chance to experience a normal life. And that, at its root is the problem with polygamy: it doesn’t offer a choice. The girls are married off at a very young age, often in forced marriages. They never have a chance to make an informed opinion of their intention to exterminate a people who’s only vice was a religious practice occurring at the far corners of its territory. Which isn’t to say polygamy is options. By the time they might real_ right or legal. But in Utah we have recize there is another world out there, ognized for years that it was most often they are married and stuck in the sysbenign. To most polygamists it was a —_ tem. Even the men are held captive by divine commandment. They were just . the system of polygamy. In a closed doing what they saw as God’s will. It society there is no room for dissent or was, in most people’s eyes a victim-less discussion. You go along to get along. crime. 7 By outlawing. polygamy we have However, in more recent times forced polygamists to become a there has been a disturbing trend closed society. The problem is of our own making. | towards violence and abuse. The Ervil Lebaron family and their murderous Maybe the answer is to legalize killing sprees showed the dark underpolygamy. A strong argument can and one wife, but it must bea legal mar- riage with a girl of legal age. Before a marriage certificate is issued a judge and social service professional could make sure that the woman was truly aware of her options and entering into Tapaeas SRE OES Ne myself, The church at that time was under was the marriage of her own accord. Does the man desiring a plural marriage have the means to support an additional wife and the resultant children? No Reber: ENA ar fae NESTE including native Church President Wilford Woodruff in sometimes religious. tolerance used as a shield for sexual abuse. I still remember being in the St. George Wal-Mart and seeing two teenage polygamous girls discreetly trying on makeup. One would look in the mirror and test various products, while the other would keep an eye out for their means of support, no second wife. At least if the practice were legal it could be somewhat controlled. And if legal-_ ized, those who practice polygamy could return to mainstream society. © My guess is that if polygamous women could see and interact in the real world with real non-polygamous people, polygamy, with few exceptions would ante if not most part of Ss. Utahns, Many, a eee) state. been is made by polygamists that polygamy is, at its.core, a religious practice that should be tolerated. By legalizing polygamy we take the moral high ground away from those that abuse the | practice. Yes, you can have more than NR the Woodruff Manifesto terminated it. has riages of underage girls to older men, often their relatives, showed ‘that aT ning of Mormon settlement in the olygamy belly of polygamy. The forced mar- 5, Salah Utah’s culture since the begin- dinary decision, on the basis of vague and unsubstantiated reports, to send an army to Utah to quell the “Mormon Rebellion.” It was part of church theology until September 24th 1890, when die of natural causes in short order. But keep it illegal and in closed soci- Nt OPINION BY°DAN STEPHENS sl AL f Polygamy, Utah’s Open Secret. eties and it will continue for decades and become stranger and stranger. Remember Prohibition? It didn’t work either. Maybe we need to look outside of the box. = semanas |