| OCR Text |
Show UGUULIS, Special Report ColoradoCity: A polygamist colony bloomsin the desert @ Attitude adjustment The Attitude! page and “R.S.V.P.” column will return to this space next week. ately broke their promise to the government The welfare problem did not go away. Jesse Faulkner, @ superior-court judge in Kingman, complained to officials in Phoenix about the “taxpayer emergen- @ Continued from J-1 cy” the polygamists werecausing by demanding new schoolfacilities without paying propertytaxes. Cattle men in thearea also were upset at paying grazing a “loyalty oath” renouncing polygamy fees allegedly used for polygamist schools, according Some of the men of Short Creek had to come to Salt Lake City to find work during the Great Depres. tohistorian Richard Van Wagoner. sion. A radio manufacturer named Nathanial Baldwin private detective agency from Los Angeles to snoop was sympathetic to their belief in plural marriage andhiredseveral polygamists to work in his Salt LakeCity assembly plant Arizona Gov. Howard Pyle respondedby hiring a around the community, looking for abuses of taxpay er money, The detectives reportedly posed as Holly- It was in the Baldwinfactory that the Short Creek polygamists met several of the members of the future Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headed by John Y. Barlow, and his associate. magazineeditor Joseph White Musser. The FLDS Church decided Short Creek was sufficiently far from civilization to be an ideal homeland for believers of thetrue gospel. The Grand Canyon and a hundred miles of desert separated it from the MohaveCounty Sheriff at Kingman It was said that the Salt Lake polygamists saw a strategic advantagein Short Creek's stateline setting. Residents trying to avoid lawmenoneitherside of the border couldslip easily out of their jurisdiction This would later giverise to apocryphal stories about polygamist houses built on wheels to be rolled back and forth between Utah and Arizona, depending on which county's sheriffs were on the prowl. A young convert named Leroy Johnson, who would later become prophet of the FLDS Church, remarked about Short Creek: Theevil powerstried to destroy that which God hadset up, but before he allowed this condition to transpire, he provided an escape for this revelation to continue. The new church bought a red pickup truck andfer- ried men andtheir wives to the desert town, whichit wood scouts looking for @ goodlocation for a West- ern movie andtook photographsof everyresident Pyle then sneaked a $50,000appropriation through thelegislature under the labelof “grasshopper con trol,” to pay for a massivepolice raid on the town At 4 a.m. on July 26, 1953 — two days after Mor. mons all over Utah celebrated Pioneer Day — a cara van of highwaypatrolmen, social-service worke deputy sheriffs, photographers and journalists rolled into Short Creek to find most of the townstanding in front of the schoolhouse singing hymns. They hoisted the American flag upthe flagpole as the raiders drew near, andstarted into “God Bless America Pyle, meanwhile,sat in front of a microphoneat a Phoenix radio station and brought official news of the raidto the rest of the state. “Hereis a communi ty. . unalterably dedicated to the wicked theory that every maturing girl child should be forced into the bondageof multiple wifehood with menofall ages for the sole purpose of producing morechildren to be reared to become merechattels of this totally law- less enterprise,” he said. The husbands of Short Creek were taken almost immediately to the Mohave County Jail at Kingman, while the women and children stayed behind. It took Arizona social workers nearly a weekto sort out the called The First City of the Millennium. It also set up interwoven familylines and figure out which children belonged to which parents. Effort Plan to holdall the land in common. Short Creek became an immediate challengeto its the raid. Therest of the nation, meanwhile, saw a “charitable philanthropic trust” called the United neighbors, not just becauseofits polygamy, but also becauseof the burden all the wives and children placed onthe welfare system in Mohave County. “Re- lief authorities, receiving blanks which listed one father as the head of three or four families, began to scratch their heads,” wrote historian Wallace Stegner. ‘The Mohave Countyattorney and the sheriff pressed charges against twoof the leading polygamists, who served twoyearsin thepenitentiary. The FBI raided the town again in 1944, and 15 men went to the Sugar Houseprison in Salt LakeCity. Ninelater wonreleasebysigning a “manifesto” pledging to forever renouncethe teaching or practice of plural marriage. Most returned to Short Creek and immedi- The LDS Church-owned Deseret News was almost alone among newspapersin proclaiming support for newsreel images of children being separated from their mothers, and criticism came heaping down on Pyle from almost every quarter. The raid was viewed as a politician's grab for headlines at the expense of innocentfamilies. Pyle wouldlater lamentthat “Op- eration Seagull” helpedfinish him in politics Twenty-three Short Creek men weresentenced to a year’s probation for conspiracy. But the negative publicity generated by the 1953 raid usheredin a new era of peace for Short Creek and ageneralrelaxation of polygamy enforcement across the West. The FLDS Church changed Short Creek’s nameto Colorado City on the Arizona side and Hildale on the Utah side to avoid unpleasant associations with the raid Galbraith The SaltLake Tribune residents is 12%, youngestin Arizona. Rulon Jeffs: Aging has not diminished produces perfect faith The principal of Alta Academy leadershipability of polygamy prophet @ Continued fromJ-1 to be the primary gatekeeperfor access to the prophet The most historic feature of the 4-acre spread is a cottagecalled The Carriage House, which used to be a bunkhouse for the eviction notices to dissidents living on church land. His power becameeven more apparent hadto spendhis touring money and even borrow more money fromthe mission presi- dent, wholater demanded repayment “That hada souring effect on him,” said Hodson. Jeffs came back to Salt Lake City to take a $185-per-month job with the Utah State Tax Commission, with his ownoffice in the state Capitol. Healso married Zola Brown, daugh- ter of renowned LDS Chureh Apostle Hugh B. Brown After the birth of the couple's first son. Jeffs cautiously beganto try a reconciliation with his father, who became a frequent guest at Sunday suppers. David Jeffs beganto talk about polygamy — andthis time, his sonlis tened. “Overtime, the old man’s powerful personality just captivated Rulon,” said Fir. mage. Jeffs beganto talk nonstopto his wife about the idea, and even equippedthe cou. ple's new homewith a basement to accom modatea second wife OnApril 14, 1941, two weeks after Zola divorced him, Jeffs was excommunicated from the LDS Church. He did not bother to attend his churchtrial and movedinto a house on Lincoln Street in Salt Lake City which was center for polygamist activity For the first time I say, I would put God's work beforeanything else in mylife,” Jeffs wrote at the time. “I know where I am and where I amgoing He was caught in one of the government roundupsof polygamists in 1944 and was held briefly in the Salt Lake County Jail whichhe called a “nasty place Thecriminal case against Jeffs was dis. missed. And his business savvy becameatre. mendous asset to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the polygamist communities of Colorado City Ariz, and Hildale, Utah Colorado City was poor and undeveloped until Rulon took leadership and financial management,” said Janet Johansen, a former member who usedto attend churehservices at Jeffs’ home. “He's the money man One-man rule: AlthoughJeffs did not have a permanent homeineither Colorado City or Hildale, he eventually became the anointed successor to longtime fundamental. ist prophet Leroy S. Johnson, who died in 1986. But this triggeredabitter fight over Jeffs’ insistence upon “one-man rule’ over the church. Several prominent members wanted power to reside with a seven-man priesthood council, which Jeffs’ loyalists derided as a 'seven-headed monster Jeffs and his supporters promptly sent PABBA quarrymen whotook graniteout of Little when the FLDS Churchformally incorporat- Cottonwood Canyon tobuild the Salt Lake ed in 1991. Only his name appears on docu ments, as agent, president andsoletrustee. Theidea of autocratic authority has been LDS Temple Rulon’s house was built in 1968 by the young men of the FLDS Church, who worked without pay, according to Gary Hil- important to Jeffs overhislife. “I want to tell youthat thegreatest freedom you can ton, oneof Jeffs’ sons who has left the church The kitchen features industrial-size refrig- enjoy is in obedience,” he preachedin December 1946, two yearsafterhis release fromjail. “I havefound I have enjoyed the erators and applicancesto feed all the wives. sons and dependents. Others who have been insidethe housesay eachwife has her own bedroom,but the samepicture of Rulon greatest freedom whenI have renderedstrict obedienceto those who are over me.’ His sermons over theyears often have plucked this theme: Access to God comes only through faith in the living priesthood The bottom line: Jeffs worked as anac. Rulon T. Jeffs is reportedly father of 60 children, as well as husband of 19 wives whokeep his photo bytheir bedsides. countant and remained so friendly with his ex-wife's familythat for years he did the bookkeeping for one of their businesses, In 1968 he founded Utah Tool & Die Co., which nowemploys about 70 people and generates $4.8 millionin sales annually, according to Dun and Bradstreet, an information-services corporation Everything he does has a reflection of red or black ink,” said John Williams, adis. sident from the FLDS Church who has known Jeffs since 1952. “He's very financial ly motivated Jeffs was oustedas president of Federated Security InsuranceCo. in 1958after the board of directors discovered he hadsolicit edproxies in his own nameina failed at tempt tofire all thedirectors. At the time. the Salt Lake City-based company had $41 million ofinsurancepolicies in force According to Hodson, Jeffs’ religion ulti matelyforced him to withdraw from the boards of several companies. Someof his partners have reportedly been squeamish about publicassociation with a knownpolyg amist Jeffs retired fromhis accounting business in 1983, turning it over to his son Leroy, a CPA. Leroy, 45, is an officer in four other hedeposited tithing and other contributions to the Rulon T. Jeffs Trust Account, a check ing accountin existencesince 1969, which he alonecontrolled The faithful on the border are not dis turbed by Jeffs’ distance from the mother church, nor his visible wealthin Salt Lake County. “His peoplelove and trust him com pletely,” said a former Colorado City man The faithful madeout tithing checks to Jeffs personally, never to the church, Jeffs acknowledgedin a 1989 deposition. Hesaid graces each nightstand Heliked the fine things in life, but not to excess — Cadillacs and good furniture,” said Hilton, who grew up in the Sandy compound Hewasvery meticulous about quality and doing quality work. If a job was worth doing it was worth doing well.” Jeffs currently ownstwoLincoln cars, four vans, a pickup truck and a motor home, according to the Utah Department of Motor Vehicle records Jeffs also was an officer, director and trusteein two corporations that eventually becamepart of Dynamic American Corp Unlikely newsmaker: Though Jeffs has a passion forprivacy, his namesurfacedin a few newsreports after the Jan. 15, 1986, Challenger space-shuttle explosion that killed seven astronauts. Jeffs was on the board of directors for Hy drapak. The West Jordan firm manufactured the O-ring, which allowed a plumeoffiery gas to escape, igniting the shuttle’s liquid fuel tank Eight monthsafter the explosion, his name was droppedfromincorporation papers Jeffs’ son Wallace, who bought Hydrapak in September 1986, insisted in a telephone in. terview that he never knew of his father's in: volvement with the firm Lloyd L. Wall, whois Hydrapak's former president, treasurer and director at the time of the Challenger explosion, lives in one of RulonJeffs’ five Salt Lake County homes. ax rolls as situated on 287,000 businesses in Salt Lake County and an elec trical company and retail store in Hildale. Unlike prophet Johnson, who lived and worked in the border towns of Colorado City and Hildale, Jeffs’ leadership emanated from Salt Lake County. At his headquarters in the mouthof Little Cottonwood Canyon, Jeffs also leads an estimated 1,000 devotees of the FLDS Churchalong the Wasatch Front is Warren Jeffs, one of Rulon’s many sons, who is said at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyonis even more impressive His big house(8,300 square feet) has 23 bed. rooms, two kitchens, 10 baths and four fire places. The smaller home next door has a to tal of 22 rooms, and a $200,000 mortgage taken in April of last year The compound's steel grain silos, plain concrete walls and hugehouses give it the appearanceof a feudal estate plunked down in the middle of a modern, upscale American neighborhood Inside the walls is a private, unaccredited school, Alta Academy, with 386 students and a literary magazine called the Student Star which bears the motto: 23S “Perfect obedience headquarteredin Hildale, that specializes in mining and farm equipment, TheSecurities and Exchange Commissionhas launched an investigation of Dynamic American Corp., ac: cording to documentsfiled in U.S. District Court for Utah. The SEC has subpoenaedre. cords of Jethro Barlow and Oliver Barlow thefirm's officers, to determine if the com: pany overvalued $40milliontin minein Bolivia to inflate the value of its stock ‘Would gladly die’: Today, Jeffs sits at the headof the FLDS Priesthood — the earthly manifestation of God — for the 6,000-member church. Believers “would gladly die for him,” said ex-member Joe Knudson Followers’ devotion to him is so great, said faithful member Karen Barlow, that the would unhesitatingly abandononeof the most cherishedtenets of their faith plural marriage — if he ever gave the word If our leader said there should be no more polygamy, there would be none,” she said. “Our foundationis obedience, accep. e of church authority andabelief in one rule Longaf ace among the leadership of the FLDS Church was secure, Jeffs looked back onhis broken marriagewith Zola 1 knew I had to go forward and do what ever the Lord required of me,” he said in a 1973 sermon. “The Lord has multiplied and blessed me hundredfold, for which | am grateful Salt Lake Tribune news editor Dawn House contributed to this story. =r |
