Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 114
Woman’s Life in Polygamous Community
Flora Jessop, an anti-polygamy activist who grew up in the polygamous Arizona community
of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was 13
when, having told child-welfare workers her father had sexually abused her, she was placed
in the custody of her uncle, Fred Jessup, in whose home she says she remained a virtual
prisoner for three years. There, isolated from other children, and finishing high school
through a mail-order GED course, she changed beds and cared for babies at the in-home
birthing clinic run by her aunt.
Jessop says she was told at 14 she would be married to Sam Barlow, a man who taunted
her at church, saying he would ―tame‖ her. ―Touch me,‖ she recalls replying, ―and you‘re
dead.‖ So the marriage did not take place. But when her father gave her the choice of going
to a mental hospital or getting married, she chose the latter course because it promised
potential freedom. Shortly after her marriage to Philip LeGrande, in Las Vegas, she ran.
―Poor Phil, says Ben Bistline, a former FLDS member. ―He loved her. He kept sending her
money. Of course, she was not coming back.‖ (Brook Adams, Salt Lake Tribune, Internet,
4/12/04)
Doomsday Failure Leads to Bankruptcy
Some members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(FLDS) in Utah and Arizona have declared bankruptcy, and others remain deeply in debt
because the church‘s prophecy that the end of the world was at hand did not come to pass.
Says former church member Ezra Draper: ―People were counseled in their business
decisions that the end was tomorrow. They would use cash on hand to progress the needs
of the church, whatever request [FLDS leader Warren Jeffs] was making of them, because
the big one was going to drop sooner or later. Instead of making 30-year plans, they were
making three-month plans.‖ (Brooke Adams, Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 5/5/04)
Texas Sheriff Tours Polygamous Town
Schleicher County, TX, Sheriff David Dolan recently toured the polygamous town of
Colorado City, AZ, in order to get a feel for the kind of settlement he might expect back in
his home state if, as it is speculated, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints leader Warren Jeffs relocates there.
After his tour, guided by the Colorado City chief of police, Doran said: ―There wasn‘t
anything we didn‘t see — very hospitable, very open. It was very eye-opening. I was
humbled by what I‘ve seen. I got to see a community that works.‖
Anti-polygamy activists, as well as some in Schleicher County, fear another Waco disaster
may result from the proposed settlement of a church suffering severe internal conflict over
the dictatorial controls exercised by its leader. (Jane Zhang, The Spectrum, South Utah,
Internet, 5/18/04)
Lawsuits versus Bountiful Branch
Nine women who have escaped the Bountiful, British Columbia, settlement of the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints led by millionaire
businessman-farmer Winston Blackmore have filed a complaint with the Attorney General
alleging polygamy, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation of girls as young as 15. Another
group of women, including Blackmore‘s first wife, have filed a complaint with the British
Columbia Human Rights Tribunal saying FLDS teaches that those who do not believe in
polygamy will burn in hell and that women‘s sole roles are to obey men and bear children.
Both complaints say women and girls are traded between Bountiful and FLDS towns in
Colorado and Utah in order to improve breeding stock.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 115
Attorney General Geoff Plant has not moved against Bountiful because he believes that
Canada‘s polygamy law would be struck down in the name of religious freedom if tested,
even though a succession of federal justice ministers have believed that the law would
withstand a Charter of Rights challenge.
But even assuming that a case against a polygamist is doomed to failure, and leaving aside
sexual abuse and human rights violations, how realistic is Plant‘s advice to Bountiful‘s
women to bring their complaints to the police when they have been raised to believe
outsiders are evil, that monogamy is a sin, and that church leaders speak directly to God?
He admits that coordinated aid to those who have left Bountiful might help, but he has
expressed no interest in doing anything. (Daphne Bramham, Canwest News Service,
Vancouver Sun, Internet, 6/2/04)
Texas Town Anxious about Polygamist Newcomers
Many people in Eldorado, TX, are worried about plans for a settlement in their midst by
followers of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (FLDS) who come from the polygamous communities of Hilldale, UT, and Colorado
City, AZ, where the FLDS is being investigated on charges of underage marriages, child
abuse, and welfare fraud. Residents are bothered by the secrecy of FLDS plans and the
group‘s practice of multiple marriages.
People here have been reading a book by former FLDS member Flora Jessup, who says that
living in remote areas is one of the ways FLDS leader Warren Jeffs controls church
followers. FLDS lawyer Rod Parker says: ―I see the Texas thing as more of a place to retreat
from some of the pressure they‘re now under.‖
The local sheriff, although aware that the FLDS is allegedly stockpiling weapons, says it is
not considered a violent group. (Jean Marbella, Baltimore Sun, Internet, 6/3/04)
Probe into Polygamous Police
The Utah State Police Academy is reviewing the ―lifestyles‖ of more than half of the Hilldale,
UT, police force partly because it questions whether 13 officers, all practicing FLDS
polygamists, can police one another. Bigamy is a crime in Utah, but like adultery, also a
crime, it is rarely prosecuted.
The Attorney General says he can‘t afford to prosecute every bigamy case but that he will
act against polygamists who also commit welfare fraud or sexual crimes against minors.
(Matt Canham and Matthew D. LaPlante, Salt Lake Tribune, Internet, 6/16/04)
Church Can’t Take His House
Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez has ruled that the polygamous
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints cannot evict church critic
and member Ross Chatwin from a home on land it owns in Colorado City, AZ. Chavez ruled
that Chatwin has ―possessory‖ interest in the property because the church promised he
could live there for life. The judge also said the FLDS cannot evict Chatwin without
compensation for improvements he‘s made. (AP, Internet, 6/3/04)
Public School Teaches Polygamy Is Good
Schools run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS)
have for nearly two decades received public grants — some $460,000 last year — while
teaching that polygamy is a sacred commandment from God, that women can enter heaven
only if their husbands invite them, and that brown-skinned people are descendants of
Satan. There are two such schools in Bountiful. One, Mormon Hills, is controlled by
Winston Blackmore, who now leads a break-away faction of the church following his
excommunication two years ago by church prophet Warren Jeffs. The other school is