Tweet
I'm just going to upload the bulk of this. It's too lenthy to post and Playful just copied and pasted to Word, so if you want it as "documented, this is the best I can do. Google it.
This place, to any of you who might have the slightest knowledge of Texas geography, is about halfway between Abilene and Del Rio near the Mexico border.
Some south of San Angelo. Desolate and rough country.
Edit: Well, I forgot to upload it. Big deal.
Title:
THE BATTLE FOR BOUNTIFUL. By: MacQueen, Ken, Maclean's, 00249262, 12/13/2004, Vol. 117, Issue 50
Database:
Academic Search Premier
THE BATTLE FOR BOUNTIFUL
Contents
1. TROUBLE IN TEXAS
2. SONS AND DAUGHTER
3. WORLDS APART
Section: Religion
Jeffs exerts godlike control over his followers. His increasingly erratic message is laced with blatant racism and apocalyptic visions -- all the more disturbing since he now runs Bountiful's provincially funded school. Blackmore, meanwhile, who also claims the loyalty of a growing number of disaffected U.S. fundamentalists, says, "There is a very real potential for violence, and not on our part." Those under Jeffs's sway, he told Maclean's, "could do anything, and would do anything -- and I mean anything -- they thought they were supposed to do."
TROUBLE IN TEXAS
Since the arrival late last winter of the "marrying people," as one of Eldorado's more eccentric citizens calls them, there's plenty to talk about in this tiny west Texas town, if not much to see. The polygamous enclave of the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch is marked by nothing more than a "No Trespassing" sign on a locked gate off a country road. A long lane undulates over rocky rangeland, past stunted mesquite and juniper trees and ubiquitous prickly pear cactus. There may be 50 fundamentalists in there, says the local sheriff; or 200, says the local newspaper editor. They were chosen by the prophet -- Jeffs -- from the enclave on the Arizona-Utah border and likely also from Bountiful, where believers have contributed truckloads of lumber and prefabricated buildings to the cause.
Jeffs never gives interviews, leaving others to speculate. Is he building a refuge from legal troubles, or preparing the most faithful for the fiery apocalypse he has long predicted? The church's lawyer, Rod Parker of Salt Lake City, says the group hasn't offered a reason for moving into Texas (there is also a second new enclave near Mancos, Colo.). He speculates the leadership is seeking more freedom and privacy. "I think they were looking for a place where they had more control over the comings and goings of people, especially from the outside," Parker says. He adds that public concerns whipped up by recent church activities are "over the top." Still, the goings-on, beyond a guard hut barely visible on the horizon, are the stuff of worry and fear.
Texas law enforcement officials are watching, too. There's talk of a kidnapped Canadian woman and her three sons out there, of forced marriages amounting to child rape, of obedience unto death to the prophet. Jeffs is under investigation by the Utah attorney general's office and faces civil suits in the state, including one that alleges he and two brothers repeatedly sodomized a nephew -- allegations Jeffs has denied. Jeffs has avoided being served with a summons by shuttling among his enclaves, says Sam Brower, a private investigator who has tracked Jeffs for months on behalf of the law firm mounting the civil cases.
Brower isn't alone in fearing that attempts to apprehend Jeffs may trigger a dangerous reaction. "Backed into a corner, there is the potential for all kinds of violence on the magnitude of Jonestown," he says, evoking the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana where 900 American cult members died on the orders of leader Jim Jones. Brower spends several days each week in the fundamentalist enclave of Hildale-Colorado City, and has extensively interviewed current and former followers of Jeffs. "I know there's people who will die for him, lie for him, steal for him," he says. "I've heard people say they'd kill their family if Jeffs asked them to, that's how strongly they believe."
His fears are shared by child victim advocate Flora Jessop, 34, who fled the Arizona-Utah enclave as a 16-year-old bride. The only thing more dangerous than arresting Jeffs is leaving him be, she says from Phoenix, where she works to rescue children from the sect. "It's not a matter of if there's going to be violence, it's a matter of when," she says. "Things are going to continue to deteriorate to the point where there's going to be a lot more innocents hurt."
THE BATTLE FOR BOUNTIFUL. By: MacQueen, Ken, Maclean's, 00249262, 12/13/2004, Vol. 117, Issue 50
Database:
Academic Search Premier
THE BATTLE FOR BOUNTIFUL
Contents
1. TROUBLE IN TEXAS
2. SONS AND DAUGHTER
3. WORLDS APART
Section: Religion
Jeffs exerts godlike control over his followers. His increasingly erratic message is laced with blatant racism and apocalyptic visions -- all the more disturbing since he now runs Bountiful's provincially funded school. Blackmore, meanwhile, who also claims the loyalty of a growing number of disaffected U.S. fundamentalists, says, "There is a very real potential for violence, and not on our part." Those under Jeffs's sway, he told Maclean's, "could do anything, and would do anything -- and I mean anything -- they thought they were supposed to do."
TROUBLE IN TEXAS
Since the arrival late last winter of the "marrying people," as one of Eldorado's more eccentric citizens calls them, there's plenty to talk about in this tiny west Texas town, if not much to see. The polygamous enclave of the YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch is marked by nothing more than a "No Trespassing" sign on a locked gate off a country road. A long lane undulates over rocky rangeland, past stunted mesquite and juniper trees and ubiquitous prickly pear cactus. There may be 50 fundamentalists in there, says the local sheriff; or 200, says the local newspaper editor. They were chosen by the prophet -- Jeffs -- from the enclave on the Arizona-Utah border and likely also from Bountiful, where believers have contributed truckloads of lumber and prefabricated buildings to the cause.
Jeffs never gives interviews, leaving others to speculate. Is he building a refuge from legal troubles, or preparing the most faithful for the fiery apocalypse he has long predicted? The church's lawyer, Rod Parker of Salt Lake City, says the group hasn't offered a reason for moving into Texas (there is also a second new enclave near Mancos, Colo.). He speculates the leadership is seeking more freedom and privacy. "I think they were looking for a place where they had more control over the comings and goings of people, especially from the outside," Parker says. He adds that public concerns whipped up by recent church activities are "over the top." Still, the goings-on, beyond a guard hut barely visible on the horizon, are the stuff of worry and fear.
Texas law enforcement officials are watching, too. There's talk of a kidnapped Canadian woman and her three sons out there, of forced marriages amounting to child rape, of obedience unto death to the prophet. Jeffs is under investigation by the Utah attorney general's office and faces civil suits in the state, including one that alleges he and two brothers repeatedly sodomized a nephew -- allegations Jeffs has denied. Jeffs has avoided being served with a summons by shuttling among his enclaves, says Sam Brower, a private investigator who has tracked Jeffs for months on behalf of the law firm mounting the civil cases.
Brower isn't alone in fearing that attempts to apprehend Jeffs may trigger a dangerous reaction. "Backed into a corner, there is the potential for all kinds of violence on the magnitude of Jonestown," he says, evoking the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana where 900 American cult members died on the orders of leader Jim Jones. Brower spends several days each week in the fundamentalist enclave of Hildale-Colorado City, and has extensively interviewed current and former followers of Jeffs. "I know there's people who will die for him, lie for him, steal for him," he says. "I've heard people say they'd kill their family if Jeffs asked them to, that's how strongly they believe."
His fears are shared by child victim advocate Flora Jessop, 34, who fled the Arizona-Utah enclave as a 16-year-old bride. The only thing more dangerous than arresting Jeffs is leaving him be, she says from Phoenix, where she works to rescue children from the sect. "It's not a matter of if there's going to be violence, it's a matter of when," she says. "Things are going to continue to deteriorate to the point where there's going to be a lot more innocents hurt."
Some south of San Angelo. Desolate and rough country.
Edit: Well, I forgot to upload it. Big deal.
Comment