Thursday, June 16, 2005
Wandering Into Polygamy
I love going where few ever go. The Colorado River basin, in places, affords such opportunities. It is rugged country and not readily accessible. There is a small town in southern Utah, just over the border from Arizona, that gives unprecedented access to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce National Parks, and other exciting river destinations like one of my personal favorites, Marble Canyon and the Lee's Ferry area. These later places are the only place one can get down to the Colorado River without falling off a cliff for many hundreds of miles and has, as such, had significant historic value. The town is Kanab.
Lee's Ferry is where all Grand Canyon rafting adventures start and can be kind of crowded, but not overwhelmingly so, in the summer. But in the off season, you can have the place to yourself.
To get to Kanab, which we have used more than once as a home base from which to explore the river basin, we travel through a town called Colorado City, Arizona. The first time I travelled through it, I could not for the life of me figure out what a town was doing so far out in the middle of nowhere on a high desert plateau.
On a later trip, I found out why. We were visiting Lee's Ferry in the off season and got to have an extended visit with the ranger that managed the area. The area had had Mormon settlers for a good long time. They moved on when highways went through and bridges were built and the river ferry was no longer needed. He was telling us the story of the dispersal of the family that settled the property and told us about Colorado City, where some of them went. That town is a small haven for a sect of Mormons that still practice polygamy - which of course explained its isolation. I still; however, wondered how they supported themselves in that isolated and desolate place.
A series of articles that have appeared in recent days are beginning to explain. First there was this in the LATimes. And there was also something in the Guardian of London. And now I am learning there is a blogger that follows the stories out of the community from the local area.
The stories answer my questions about support -- the "church" owns the towns, people there are essentially supported, they do not support.
The MSM stories are, predictably, about the exile of the even slightly defiant -- something to be expected in such a cultic setting.
What I find deplorable is the lack of law enforcement when the polygamist practices are so well know. From the LA Times piece
The bottom line is this, regardless of how these people are caled to account legally, their very foundational belief systems will be yanked from under them and much pain and suffering will ensue. Get the job done.
Lee's Ferry is where all Grand Canyon rafting adventures start and can be kind of crowded, but not overwhelmingly so, in the summer. But in the off season, you can have the place to yourself.
To get to Kanab, which we have used more than once as a home base from which to explore the river basin, we travel through a town called Colorado City, Arizona. The first time I travelled through it, I could not for the life of me figure out what a town was doing so far out in the middle of nowhere on a high desert plateau.
On a later trip, I found out why. We were visiting Lee's Ferry in the off season and got to have an extended visit with the ranger that managed the area. The area had had Mormon settlers for a good long time. They moved on when highways went through and bridges were built and the river ferry was no longer needed. He was telling us the story of the dispersal of the family that settled the property and told us about Colorado City, where some of them went. That town is a small haven for a sect of Mormons that still practice polygamy - which of course explained its isolation. I still; however, wondered how they supported themselves in that isolated and desolate place.
A series of articles that have appeared in recent days are beginning to explain. First there was this in the LATimes. And there was also something in the Guardian of London. And now I am learning there is a blogger that follows the stories out of the community from the local area.
The stories answer my questions about support -- the "church" owns the towns, people there are essentially supported, they do not support.
The MSM stories are, predictably, about the exile of the even slightly defiant -- something to be expected in such a cultic setting.
What I find deplorable is the lack of law enforcement when the polygamist practices are so well know. From the LA Times piece
In 1953, Arizona state police swarmed into Short Creek, now Colorado City. They arrested the men and transported crying women and children to detention camps. The result was a public outpouring of sympathy for the families ? and scorn for state political leaders. The governor, Howard Pyle, lost the next election.Somehow, I think the detention camps, and not the arrests were the problem. When you read the articles about what is happening to the exiled, this is simply atrocious, and it is shameful that politicians cannot find a way through this.
Today, law enforcement officials are going after the FLDS by targeting child sexual abuse, welfare fraud and tax evasion rather than polygamy. The Arizona attorney general's office has opened a branch in Colorado City, where an investigator looks into alleged illegalities.
The bottom line is this, regardless of how these people are caled to account legally, their very foundational belief systems will be yanked from under them and much pain and suffering will ensue. Get the job done.
