Ozark woods hold commune’s secrets

[Judi Lynn]

Ozark woods hold commune’s secrets
Sex scandal erupts at remote church.

Published Wednesday, September 6, 2006
WASHBURN (AP) - Turning their backs on the isolated religious commune in the rugged Ozarks where many had grown up, a group of members fled with only the clothes on their backs, trudging several miles down a gravel road to the nearest phone to call friends or family for help.

A woman in the group soon told a sheriff’s deputy horrific stories of how the compound’s leaders had molested girls as part of religious ceremonies during which they were told their bodies were being prepared for "service to God."

That was the beginning of a child sex scandal that has ensnared five leaders from two affiliated churches and cast a spotlight on a remote corner of the Ozarks that has long been home to spiritual communes, sheltered by deep oak woods, steep hills and a culture in which people keep to themselves.

"It’s a shock, a sickening kind of shock. It’s not the kind of thing you want to wake up in the morning and hear about," said Linda Hopping, who lives a few miles from one of the backwoods churches but said she had never heard of it before now.
(snip/...)

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Sep/20060906News014.asp

[xmas74]

1. That's just sick.

But now I'm worried about a few other communes down in the Ozarks that are not affiliated w/ any religion. There are a few still running that were started in the 60's and 70's-classic "hippy" style communes that some have been wanting to get rid of for years.

I suspect they will be under fire shortly.

[gorbal]

5. It sounds like a facinating area.

I didn't even know much about the Ozarks until I saw this headline. I though it might be in another country. I do remember some communes I have read about being in that area.

According to this article the people in the commune are ticked off as well

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-6-2006-107853.asp

[eccles12]

2. This is just the tip of a nasty iceberg. What is done in the name of

religion in this country and all over the world is what turns folks against religion.

[olddad56]

3. What were these people thinking?

it is only the big organized religions like the Catholics and the Mormons that can get away with this type of abuse.

[raising2moredems]

4. They are just being persecuted for their religious beliefs

So says an "interviewee" on Faux News when asked about Jeffs. Given the vast number of wingnuts in the sad state of MO, they'll probably get 10 hours of community service.