Posted by
Steve on Saturday, April 19, 2008 12:53:45 PM
The government raided the compound of the FLDS church in Texas last week. They received a tip from a “Sarah” who claimed she was 16 and made pregnant by her spiritual husband. Acting on that tip, the Texas police raided the ranch and took over 400 children. The police still have not located “Sarah”.
Yesterday, the police in Colorado Springs, Colorado arrested a woman for making false phone calls to police. Many people think that this may be the person that made the phone call as “Sarah”. She has been known to use that name in making calls and likes to pretend that she is under age. The calls to the Texas police fit the MO of the woman arrested in Colorado Springs. The Mojave County, Arizona Sheriff’s Department also received calls from a “Sarah” that made the same claims as in Texas. In Arizona, they did not act directly on the phone call while in Texas they did.
The 400 children are being held in foster care until it is determined what to do. The authorities have to find out if there has been abuse and other alleged crimes. The children are not used to 21st century technology or lifestyle. The foster care will be a culture shock of the first magnitude. If no crimes are discovered and the children are returned to their homes, they will never be the same for their parents. This will be especially true for the girls.
I do have some experience with the FLDS church members. For two years I worked along the Colorado River as an RC&D Coordinator. Part of my job was to work on projects that member cities and counties submitted. I helped the cities/counties prepare the plan for submission and then follow it through to completion. Colorado City was part of my area. At the time, it was the primary location for the FLDS church. I had to work with city leaders to develop their projects and then design and complete them.
When I would drive into town, all of the women would disappear. But, after working with the men on the project, I would find a box of food in my truck at the end of the day. I also was shown around the community and was amazed at the fact that the roads would be finished for a couple of blocks then it would be dirt. They explained it like this, when the city got a pool of money for roads, they would build as much road as the money they had. That way the city was never in debt. The houses in town were in much the same condition. They were all in some stage of construction. The same explanation was given for that building oddity. They also explained that with more than one wife, you had to add space when you added a wife. You might not have enough money to complete all the added building at once, so you built what you could.
They also showed me their meeting house in the center of town. The building was fantastic. They built it large enough that they could have a full-size basketball court in the middle of the building. They also had a stage at one end and a podium at the other end. They explained that oddity like this: they would face the chairs one way for church meetings and the other way for plays and other cultural activities. When I saw the building it was unfinished. They had special rooms for funerals. Someone had given a lot of thought into what uses the building could have.
We had a representative from Colorado City on our Board of Directors. When we would meet in state wide meetings, he always brought his first wife. In our local meetings, he would bring his other wives, one at a time. His first wife was close to his age. His other wives were younger. All that I met were over the age of 40. Our representative was supposed to be one of the top three or four men in Colorado City. I am not really up on the politics of Colorado City at that time or now.
My experiences with the FLDS have been positive. I did not meet a single one of them that was not nice to me. Of course, none of them knew that I am LDS. From what I understand, they do not like members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I do not know that for a fact, just something that I was told in St. George, Utah.