Wary Texans Keep Their Eyes on the Compound of a Polygamous Sect -NYT

[Rose Siding]

The 1,700-acre ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Eldorado, Tex.

ELDORADO, Tex. - David Doran, the Schleicher County sheriff, drives his truck almost every week to the outskirts of town and gazes at the 1,700-acre compound through a pair of binoculars. On most of his stakeouts, Sheriff Doran receives a call on his cellphone from a guard in the compound's watchtower asking if anything is amiss.

"I just tell him I'm on business, just checking things out," Sheriff Doran said recently. "I tell them they have a right to be here and that their rights will be respected, but that doesn't mean I won't be vigilant."

Eldorado's vigilance regarding its new neighbors, however, is bordering on obsession these days. Nearly everyone in this town of 1,900 people on the arid West Texas plains 125 miles southeast of Odessa is wondering about the community that has been established by the members of an Arizona-based offshoot of the Mormon Church, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
.............
The interest in more information about Yearning for Zion has made it the lead article in nearly every issue since March of The Eldorado Success, a weekly newspaper owned by Randy Mankin, a former city administrator for Eldorado. Mr. Mankin said he was concerned about the impact the ranch might have on Eldorado's politics if its residents began registering to vote in local elections.

"Can you imagine 500 or 1,000 new voters in a county with an electorate of only 1,300 or so?" Mr. Mankin said, adding, "They could run things around here if they chose to."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/national/14texas.html

[givemebackmycountry]

1. 1700 acre ranch...

Where I ask, do these freakin' people get their money?
1700 acres ANYWHERE has got to cost a bundle, right?

[Rose Siding]

3. And they have a lawyer

The sect's lawyer and spokesman in Salt Lake City, Rodney Parker, warned against a "hysterical reaction" to developments within the church or at the settlement in Eldorado.

I'm really enjoying that TX has to deal with this. They are already warning against comparing it to Waco and a lib is quoted about granting religious freedom to everyone. There's a bit of a problem with that. I've read of sects like this in Utah that make it very difficult for members to leave and some of the "wives" end up being very young and related in convoluted familial ways.

[fleabert]

4. Not necessarily...

It is not that unusual to find land for $200.00 an acre in some areas. Not great land, but land nonetheless. that would be $340,000 for this land, more than I have under my mattress, but not a lot for a big church. (tax free income you know!)

Texas has so much land that if you aren't picky, you can get a lot for a little. From what I remember of Odessa, it's not the greatest land in the world, from a cattle or crop perspective.

[Ilsa]

19. Water is the biggest problem with respect to land in TX right now.

Also, ownership of water rights.

[UpInArms]

12. they are "bleeding the beast"

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9084-.html

excerpt:

Soon, the informal policy known as Bleeding the Beast took on a life of its own. According to the Aug. 11, 2003, edition of the Prescott Daily Courier, the policy's ominous name was a reference to a similar practice implemented by LDS founding prophet Joseph Smith and his successor Brigham Young during the height of Mormon persecution,

The practice reportedly spread quickly as it gained acceptance among the FLDS faithful, which happened to coincide with the explosive growth of state and federal assistance programs. Multiple wives, who were married in church, but not in the eyes of the law, began applying for state assistance. Food Stamps and federal programs like WIC, which provide nutritional assistance to low-income women and children, were also tapped. So were healthcare dollars through Arizona's AHCCCS program, which provides most of the medical insurance for residents in Colorado City AZ. Last year over 4,000 residents were enrolled, reportedly costing the state about $8 million a year.

An in-depth report published in the Daily Courier notes that about half of the fundamentalists in Colorado City receive food stamps, compared to five percent statewide, costing just over $3 million a year.

The report continues, noting that a mere five years ago there were no Colorado City children getting child care assistance, but last year the number stood at about 200 - which cost the state another $600,000. These benefits can reportedly be paid to care-providers who are related to the children, so sometimes one wife can get paid for taking care of another wife's kids. In all, Colorado City gets back about eight dollars in benefits for every dollar the residents pay in state taxes, while for the rest of Mohave County, Arizona the ration is near one-to-one.

...more...

[hlthe2b]

2. Ahh, don't you love it when fundies get freaked by even more extreme

Texans, you better brace for the battle of all battles among religious extremists... It is surely coming.

[rainbow4321]

14. Texas and religion....lots of battles

Not too long ago, the state comptroller tried to deny tax exempt status to a Texas UU church..it was resolved, I believe, and the church got it's tax exempt status back:

http://tinyurl.com/6plwz

Carolyn Strayhorn, State Comptroller, has denied tax-exempt status to a Fort Worth congregation on the basis that it will not proclaim that all members must believe in God; this in spite of the fact that in prior challenges the Texas courts have agreed with the UU's.

Unitarian Universalists have for decades presided over births, marriages and memorials. The church operates in every state, with more than 5,000 members in Texas alone.

But according to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Denison Unitarian church isn't really a religious organization -- at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: the organization "does not have one system of belief."

Never before -- not in this state or any other -- has a government agency denied Unitarians tax-exempt status because of the group's religious philosophy, church officials say. Strayhorn's ruling clearly infringes upon religious liberties, said Dan Althoff, board president for the Denison congregation that was rejected for tax exemption by the comptroller's office. "I was surprised -- surprised and shocked -- because the Unitarian church in the United States has a very long history," said Althoff, who notes that father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians.

[hlthe2b]

15. I remember that... God, what morons... To not recognize Unitarians..

They clearly know no history... Guess that is Bush* education system at work.

[WCGreen]

20. Thoreau, Emerson, John Adams....

and many more of our founding fathers were Unitarians......

I guess they only mean true Christians in their mode...

Really, UU's are based on the ever popular congregational form of organizing a church.....

That's about as American and Christian as you can get...

But a lot of UU churches also subscribe to that greatest of all Christian ideal, tolerance......

[rainbow4321]

22. You wouldn't know it by Texan standards...

I'm a Texan UU...the look I get when I try to explain UU to non-UU's down here is always the same. By the time I get to "tolerance" and everything UU that goes with it, they are looking at me like "what the hell does THAT have to do with anything?" Acceptance, understanding, and tolerance don't seem to be in the Texan Christian dictionary. The bible thumpers down here threw a friggin' fit when they found out that one of the election day voting stations was going to be at a local mosque!

[WCGreen]

24. My old UU church had a political rally

for all the candidates who wanted to come and about 350 people showed up....

[wicket]

5. creepy!!!!

[Gman]

6. Bush Country

Election Night Returns

for SCHLEICHER COUNTY
11/8/2004 10:02:33 AM
Our election night returns are updated every ten minutes.
This page refreshes every five minutes, or you may click on the "Refresh" or "Reload" button in order to get the current results.

* Turnout is based on the percentage of total votes cast to total registered voters and does not include numbers reported provisionally.

RACE NAME PARTY EARLY VOTES PERCENT TOTAL VOTES PERCENT
President/Vice-President
George W. Bush/ Dick Cheney - Incumbent REP 539 77.33% 1,011 76.12%
John F. Kerry/ John Edwards DEM 155 22.23% 312 23.49%
Michael Badnarik/ Richard V. Campagna LIB 3 0.43% 4 0.30%

So the Sheriff's worried more about how they will vote. Of course, he's also worrying about all the fornication going on there too.

[fugue]

7. I'm confused

Polygamy is illegal in the US. Since Reynolds v. United States, a US Supreme Court case in 1878: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=98&invol=145

It established the limits for religious tolerance in the US: the state may abridge religious beliefs in matters in which it has an overriding interest. Specifically mentioned overriding interests are homicide, suicide, and marriage. (I read an article that argued that Rapture theologists are not protected under American law because they support endless war in the Middle East, which is murder for religious reasons. It cited the case, and I looked it up on FindLaw.) The case was that of a Mormon who wanted to practice polygamy, in accordance with his religious beliefs.

[MuseRider]

8. Under The Banner Of Heaven

by Jon Krakauer. Great book about this issue. My question is why do fundies want to go after gays who actually love each other but mostly let these people, who abuse young girls, go free? Isn't polygamy an actual crime?

[morcatknits]

9. Interesting...

There are a lot of rich Mormons in Plano, TX, just north of Dallas. They love to fund stuff. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
morcatknits

[MuseRider]

10. If they are

Mormons then they are most certainly not funding these people. LDS run from these groups.

[dbt]

11. Kick!

[bluedonkey]

13. Somebody help me

with ome info,please.
My fundie niece and her husband are moving to Greenville,TX(dallas area) to be with 'like-minded' people.
Anybody got any info on what kind of a group lives there.My sister said a bunch of people moved into that area to establish a religious community.

[Rose Siding]

17. I don't see anything about a specific sect...

on Google but there are 17 Baptist churches listed

http://www.churchangel.com/WEBTX/greenvl.htm

This article gives some information about religious activism there-

http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0022843.cfm

[Horse with no Name]

23. I live near Greenville

and I am not aware of any groups such as that.
Although, there are alot of rural areas in and around there that could possibly be housing them. After all, David Koresh started in Palestine before he moved to Waco and very few were aware he was there. One of my friends was a nurse midwife and Koresh wanted her to deliver one of the children on that compound in the back of an old bus, but she insisted they rent a motel room instead. Generally in this part of Texas where there are communities such as this nobody really bothers them unless they become a problem--you would simply just have to understand the (903)mentality that occurs behind the pine curtain.

[VegasWolf]

16. I thought at first it was Crawford. n/t

[barb162]

18. fundie A versus fundie B? This could get interesting

when religious types start going after each other. Sort of like the wars of the Reformation in Europe a few hundred years ago.

[VegasWolf]

21. snake kissers versus polygamists, give me a front row seat.