Teens flee polygamist towns

[rodbarnett]

Jan. 19, 2004 12:00 AM


The anticipated exodus of teenage girls from the strife-torn, polygamist communities of Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, began in earnest this weekend as about 10 fanned out to towns in southern Utah seeking protection, anti-polygamy activists said Sunday.

The movement followed a ruling by a Maricopa County juvenile court judge late Friday that two 16-year-old teens from Colorado City, who had fled to the Valley last week, would be allowed to stay in foster homes rather than remain in state custody.

"We've got eight runners now, including two with children, and got a bunch more coming," said Flora Jessop of Phoenix, a former Colorado City resident who has been active in opposing multiple marriages since she escaped from the polygamist enclave as a teenager in the mid-1980s.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0119coloradocity19.html

[Bill McBlueState]

1. thanks for the info

It's good to be reminded that creepy stuff like this still goes on in some parts of the west. geez.

[ParanoidPat]

19. NO, in one part of the west, UTAH / ARIZONA area!

Please leave California out of this, thanks. :evilgrin:

On Edit; OOPS! Just read post 16.

[xray s]

2. And Utah is one of the most right wing R states in the country

go figure :shrug:

[0007]

16. Colorado City is in Arizona - Been there and been run out

'Tis close very close to the Utah state line.

[slappypan]

3. I recall driving past those towns on the way to the Grand Canyon

Very isolated, w/ large rambling half-constructed houses and dilapidated trailers. Looked like a rough place to live.

[Kellanved]

4. strange

I watched a documentary about those towns yesterday - the interviews with the mayors were especially interesting.

[Hamlette]

5. I hope they continue to help them. . .

we (I'm in Utah) don't have a good history of helping people get out of that lifestyle. They always scream "freedom of religion" and the judges and prosecutors back down.

For more information read Under the Banner of Heaven by Krakauer.

The Utah AG seems to be willing to prosecute and go after them. It's not just the misuse of women and children, it is misuse of the whole system. I work for the welfare agency. I can tell you that Tom Green who was prosecuted for polygamy a couple of years ago and went to jail got an average of $60,000 per year of your tax dollars to support his family.

It is not an economically viable lifestyle and many who live there are captive.

[bleedingheart]

6. yeah the freedom to screw nubile teenage girls...

that's the freedom they want...

[zbdent]

7. Quick, someone alert Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe!

The editorial in today's Akron Beacon Journal (likely yesterday's Boston Globe) was doing the normal "neocon" mantra that the fact of allowing gay unions would create a sudden influx of legalized polygamy.

Guess he forgets that the only people who really are advocating polygamy are usually based in Utah, and probably would set fire to gays, lesbians, and liberals.

[wuushew]

10. I have no problem with polygamy among consenting adults

however that is not the case in much of Utah. Wasn't Utah essentially blackmailed into outlawing polygamy as a condition of statehood?

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. I don't think that polygamists are interested in adults

Every story I have seen involves mostly underaged girls and some rather ratty and careworn older women. These are simply cases of sexual abuse taken to the extreme.

[wuushew]

12. What is the Mormon church's position on age of consent?

would not legalizing and regulating the process result in fewer abuses of underage girls?

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. I don't think that the Mormon Church accepts the practice

of polygamy at all. So, there isn't any rules that apply.

[Skittles]

14. these are not consenting adults

they are brainwashed and abused children

[maggrwaggr]

17. yes, that is true

It was pretty much "either give up polygamy and become a state or we just might invade you."

[wuushew]

8. What is this, Logan's run?

"We've got a runner!"

[Tracer]

9. I just read an interesting book on this subject.

"Under the Banner of Heaven: The Story of a Violent Faith" by Jon Krakauer.

Pretty strange stuff goes on in Colorado City!

[TolstoyAndy]

18. "Under the Banner of Heaven": a must-read

It raises serious issues about how far freedom of religion should be allowed to go.

I'm not saying Mormonism is a cult, but many of the small sects engage in all the usual behaviors of intimitdation and domination.

Very good history of the early days, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young et. al.

[demnan]

15. The Mormon Church

has a responsibility to condemn these acts publicly. They don't condone it, but they turn a blind eye on all the craziness of the old sects of their religion. Their more enlightened members should speak out.

[DiverDave]

20. joseph smith

Was a LIAR and a megalomaniac.
To think it still goes on today.
Those kids deserve better, those men (I use the term very lightly) should be in JAIL.
Mormonism IS a CULT.