Polygamous Mormon Sect's Borrowing Drives Bank Under

[hatrack]

Ephraim, Utah — "For more than a decade, a 9,000-member polygamist sect that believed civilization was about to end was borrowing money like there was no tomorrow. Members of the sect -- a renegade Mormon splinter group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- took out one loan after another from the small-town Bank of Ephraim for business ventures that would prove highly speculative, even half-baked.

Among them:

• A watermelon farm where not a single melon was planted, forcing the bank to foreclose on the farm.

• A business with plans to convert military barracks into motels and housing; the business collapsed when the buildings were found to contain lead paint, asbestos and other hazards.

• A construction company that so underbid municipal sewer and street contracts that it was unable to pay for materials, let alone labor; the bank wrote off that loan, too.

Ultimately, the bad loans -- along with the embezzlement of nearly $5 million by the bank's head cashier -- would lead to the collapse of the 99-year-old bank. Regulators shut it down in June at a cost of millions of dollars to shareholders and ordinary depositors who had nothing to do with the sect.

EDIT

Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are a jumble of unfinished houses on dirt streets, where residents follow a strict pioneer-style dress code. The men take multiple wives, producing dozens of children who supply cheap labor for business. The insular sect is run by the reclusive Warren Jeffs, who lives in a compound surrounded by a 10-foot wall. Jeffs, 48, demands total obedience from his flock, and his church takes a share of business profits from members. Jeffs is buying ranches in Colorado and Texas for what authorities believe may be an exodus. Jeffs does not grant interviews, and an attorney for the church, Rodney Parker, did not return calls for comment."

EDIT

http://ljworld.com/section/business/story/189698

[yardwork]

1. Maybe the bank's former shareholders will do something

This is child abuse. I've read accounts by women raised in these sects. It's nothing but prostitution, and child prostitution at that.

These polygamous groups divorce each wife sequentially so that they can collect welfare. It's nothing but a fraud.

[aquart]

2. Bet they voted for Bush.

[XOKCowboy]

3. John Krakauer

has a new novel named Under The Banner Of Heaven in which he details the fundamentalist Mormon sects as well as the history of the Mormon Church. It's a very chilling book but considering the size and power of the Mormon Church one everyone should check out.

[Mist]

9. Apparently it's NON-fiction

Just called my library and had them hold it for me. I don't know if I'll enjoy it, but could be an informative read.

[Johonny]

10. Good book

I second that.

[superconnected]

4. big time mismagment of bank assets(loan money)

They should be FDIC so people who lost money can get their money back.

[raggedcompany]

5. ugh...Mormons. Can't stand them.

I used to work in a State Archives. Worst part of the job was dealing with the wacko mormons who were literally jostling for microfiche as they pursued their weirdo soul saving research. It was all I could do to keep from smacking their greedy little hands away from the cabinet I was using.

Then there's the dickheads who come to my door, ties and backpacks, dumb, open cornfed faces. I just tell them I'm not interested and shut the door..takes to much energy to be mean. Someday maybe I'll go on a door to door mission in SLC, preaching the gospel of ass sex, handing out "oh, you don't like to be bothered at home, WELL NEITHER DO WE!!!" pamphlets.

Love the grafitti on the bridge on 495 just before the Temple outside of D.C. Just as the temple pops into view as you come around the corner, so does a bridge with the letters SURRENDER DOROTHY written on it.

well, those are my scattered thoughts. don't care if you don't like 'em.

[elehhhhna]

8. a friends husband became a Mormon. For about 3 days.

She let him go to his worship thing, she was busy with their three young kids. He came home one night and told her they weren't REALLY married until they married in the Mormon Church. She quietly went upstairs, packed him a suitcase, and threw it down. Told him if they weren't REALLY married he couldn't REALLY live there.

No more Mormonism for him.

[Aristus]

6. Does Neil Bush have an alibi?

Just asking.

[skypilot]

7. Probably not a good idea...

...to lend money to people who think that civilization is coming to an end. I mean, what's their incentive to pay it back?