Visiting Colorado City

Thank you for this story, Richard. Sad indeed...

extraordinary story- thankyou for writing it. absolutely unbelievable in this day and age the authorities haven't been in there to check the child abuse- even if nothing physical , kids shouldn't be "abandoned " to play in filth and mud. - and shouldn't the authorities be insisting on pproper ghrade education standards. This is a wicked indictment on state government and the juvenile authorities. I hope your story reaches the highest level of state, local officials and law enforcement so out of public outrage they are forced to change this for the better. - rl

It's interesting to contrast the mainstream LDS church, which has built Brigham Young University into a very respectable institution with a number of top-tier programs, with the way that FLDS denies even secondary--let alone postsecondary--education to its members so that they are completely unable to make a living outside of the group.

It's debatable whether or not a sheltered life is worse than a foray into a modern decadent one. some in Hildale and CC are protected from the onslaught, but then again, how traumatic can it be to kick a boy, aged 10-13, out on the highway with absolutely no navigation into the world the rest of us know: drugs, gangs, rampant sex, gender issues, no moral compass, the cycle of hate for 'different' humans from different countries?
There was a time that the world (according to the state of Arizona) was beginning to take hold in the lifestyles of Hildale, but the paranoia of one Jeffs or another came to the forefront and finished that; no mind that none of the patriarchy took their selves off the state and county payrolls. For all of their slander against the blacks, many in the same community are taking their instruction concerning welfare fraud (making babies without any real tangible means of support) into the realms of the plague of other cultures- in this case- white trash, blacks, hispanics, and others.
How is it that warren (warring) jeffs can preach salvation all while tied to the economy of the devil (cash money). Here you have another dictator that robs his own people to live a lavish lifestyle that his own flock dare not pursue if they want to be saved.
Dictators, no matter what their color or creed, have a secret body guard that filters out or intimidates any outsider of the ruling clique simply attempting to find the 'truth' whether such action is on a personal level or higher.
I thought I was in a unique position after selling textbooks on ebay to a number of people in hildale and CC; they, like the rest of us, thirst for knowledge and advance.
The best thing that could happen would be to confiscate the power and wealth of Warren Jeff and his secret SS participants, and establish a public trust with elected officials (and terms) to administrate and serve the women and children of bondage; whether they live in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Mexico, Canada, or wherever.
Though the mormons have washed their hands of this fiasco, the fact is, they made a proclamation against polygamy only so they could achieve statehood, while plural marriages, with the sanction of the first presidency of the church, continued to be consumated in Canada, Mexico, and in many cases, Arizona and Utah up into the 1920's.
All churches, taking refuge as a tax shelter and non-profit, should be required to relinquish such and be treated as any other private entity under IRS tax code. Why in the mormon church of today, one cannot gain entry into salvation or into a temple via a temple recommend unless they are in good standing with the IRS. So whom do they serve: and all powerful Creator of the Universe, for whom nothing is impossible; or the Mammon of the Earth- Satan and the banking system with interest that does not reflect God's true economy? It means also that baptism into the kingdom is a sale, for unless your taxes are paid up to a non-deity political regime, you cannot enter a house of higher learning where supposedly God resides and visits on earth.
Mormons or Fundamentalist Mormons; which one represents the greater perversion of TRUTH?

It is always so interesting to hear "facts" about the Mormon church, such as the requirement to be in good standing with the IRS before you can get a temple recommend. I am a Mormon with a temple recommend which I obtained without any mention of the IRS. Perhaps there is some confusion because Mormons are asked to obey the "law of the land" no matter what country they live in. Therefore, to be the kind of person to receive a temple recommend then, yes, you probably ought to pay your taxes. Because Mormons obey the law of the land, you don't have to worry about us building a commune, stockpiling weapons and refusing to pay taxes whereas with the Fundamentalists, you do.

Let me preface my comment by stating that I've actually been to Colorado City and Hilldale. My guess is that the reason why you observe so many large, incomplete residential structures in the Colorado City area (many also dilapidated) is because the FLDS church through some type of trust arrangement owns most of the land. It's probably safe to assume that those who are granted homesites bend over backwards not to upset the elders and the church which still owns the land. Residents cannot get mortgages or residential construction loans because they don't have any or sufficient collateral. So, you see all these incomplete structures, looking almost like apartment buildings, that are being built over years, not months, in a kind of pay-as-you-go construction process that basically hinges on how much people can save. When someone falls on hard times the project gets abandoned. The whole place is very spooky.

Excellent article. I've been to Colorado City more times than I can count for the making of the new film "BANKING ON HEAVEN". As shown in the film, Vegas' description of the town is right on. It's an unbelievably spooky place. The local police and thugs harassed me & my film crew relentlessly every time we entered the place, even to the extent of following us out of town & trying to run us off the road. Those people need help, and the authorities are doing nothing.

Interesting article. From a mid-Atlantic resident, there are many areas in Appalachia and the South that are poor, ignorant, secluded, backward, etc. I don't even want to comment on what kind of moral behavior goes on in some of these communities, and others, but before we blast the FLDS exclusively, we probably don't have to look far to find repressive and irresponsible behavior, even in the most "progressive" of world cities. For the record, the Mormons did not invent polygamy. It has been on the earth in one form or another for most of recorded history. In some cases, the Bible gives us examples where God sanctioned the practice. Abraham, the father of Christians, Jews, Muslims was no stranger to plural marriage. Jacob (later called Israel) had at least 12 sons and one daughter from four women. King David had many many wives and concubines. The list goes on and on. Why God would allow it in some cases and not in others is a mystery. The real tragedy in all of this is that thousands of men, women and children are being denied an opportunity to live in the real world and make real choices. Having zealots, well meaning or not, make all of your decisions for you, including breaking the law of the land, is immoral. Yes, we all live in a world with great opportunities to commit evil as well as good. If my parents tell me that touching a hot stove is not in my best interests, I am probably smart to listen to them. However, if they tie my hands behind my back for my entire life, never let me even see a stove, and tell me that a will lose my salvation if a don't listen to them, then they have done me a huge injustice.

"Of the graves in Colorado City, many are marked as stillborn or very young. There has been a lot made of all the dead children here. I don't know how much credit to give those suspicions, but considering the extraordinary adult-to-child ratio I saw last Friday (kids wandering about unattended or kids, with no adult in sight, playing in the filth) the authorities should spend some time checking in on the kids who are still alive there."

I was a reporter with the Tri-State News Network last year when I broke the story on the grossly elevated numbers of "accidental" children's deaths up there in Colorado City. Their city's cemetery is approximately 50% children's graves. What sort of "lifestyle" choice can be so dangerous for children? What other city in America has a cemetery like that? What exactly is going on up there? Does no one here even have the courage to go look at it for themselves? Again, nobody seemed to care. One Mohave County supervisor actually had the nerve to tell me that more children died of accidents up there simply because they have more children. Like I told the supervisor, "I can see if you're raising chickens how you might run over a few here and there, sir, but not children. Just because you have a lot of children doesn't mean you run over more of them."

Each of the following children has supposedly died from being "accidentally run over by a car" in Colorado City within the last 20 years: Anthony Barlow 2, Aulene Barlow 2, Johanna Rea Barlow 2, Moronison Arthur William Barlow 2, Rose M. Barrett 6, Moroni Alvin Fischer 2, Isaiah Leroy Jeffs 7, Lydia Rose Johnson 1, Seth Bateman Roundy 1. That's nine dead children, mostly toddlers. Believe it or not there are more.

As I pointed out last year around this same time, to no avail, "Child deaths between the years of 1996 and 2001[in Colorado City] never dipped below 50 percent of the total death rate, and while the numbers are small, which may be why they have gone unnoticed by officials for so long, they are disproportionate. In 2000 there were 7 reported deaths in Colorado City and 4 of those were children. To put it in perspective, 585 total deaths were reported for Havasu in 2000, which has a population more than ten times the size of Colorado City, yet only 7 of its 585 deaths were of children. If Havasu's death rate were 57 percent children that year [like Colorado City's], over 333 children would have died and authorities would have definitely noticed that." You think someone would be asking for some autopsies? There is obviously something about this "lifestyle" choice that is dangerous to the children of Colorado City and they are paying for it with their very lives.

to wendy: a lot of Utahns and Nevadans have been kicked out of the church due to 'differences of opinion' in relation to IRS policies.
FYI: all missionaries, domestic and abroad, now have to fill out and sign a W-2 as part of their service to God, for whatever term they serve, and all money sent to, donated, or gifts and goods, are now taxed as part of that service and duty.

To Wendy:

What say you of your founder, dear Joseph's mandate that to enter heaven one had to marry 3 women. To see the LDS persecute the FLDS kind of reminds me of the last one kicking the dog...so entertaining to watch.

Dear CajunMan:

Where does it say that one man needs to marry three women to get into heaven? I have never seen that. If so, Father Adam must still be waiting unless he married his daughters. I am sure that Eve would have had something to say about that.

By the way, the LDS are not persecuting the FLDS. The FLDS are being held accountable to the laws of the land by civil authorities, not Church authorities. End of story.

Finally, you may be interested in knowing that Osama Bin Laden is reported to be married to 4 women (maximum number under Islamic Law???) and have upwards of 15 children. If plural marriage is "required" to get into heaven, then Osama will certainly be knocking at heaven's door when his days are finally numbered. I wonder if anyone will let him in?

About the grave yard in colarado city. It's supost to be a kids grave yard. Moast of the people that live their get sent to Salt Lake City when they die becuse thats where all the old people grew up, or that's were thier famly came from. If thier is 6,000 people in the city there is about 3,000 more that live and work in salt lake. The kids go to the colarado city grave becuse thay have to ties to salt lake city.
to cajunman, the alred group, a diffrent cult in norther utah, marry 3 wives to get into heaven.
Don't mix up your cults, the two don't even talk to each other.

A common and pervasive thing going on out here in Orange County California is the use of dead or dying U.S. Soldiers. The people that do this are all Canadian and probably Mormons. I was reading Rep Duncan Hunters web page and discovered that he was in the 173 Airborne and the 75Th Regiment in Vietnam. After reading their Rangers Creed these people (they link up through their net.meet or a proxy server as far as I can ascertain. Some walk by and eyeball the page I am reading. At the Santa Ana library they begin to ridicule these American dead soldiers and it has continued unto this day. Much of this morning was spent threatening to write something up, to keep these people from expanding this behavior.

Brigham Young did something similar and of course he was a prophet, revelator in the Latter Day Saints religion. He visited the site of the killings and pulled down the crosses and rocks over the mass graves and said good.
His (Duncan Hunter) former or fallen colleges are "dead chicken shit soldiers" Often when I hear or read news about dead or dying U.S. soldiers they telepath gooood!.. This has become a common practice. One of the primary places where this occurs is Veteran first located at 16ll N. Broadway in Santa Ana, CA 92701 and the Santa Ana library located in the civic center area..

I would like to invite you to look up the following websites that reference Mormon belief and true history. The founders were deeply involved in occultism and there are many parallels to magic and natural magic. Mrs. Tanner from Utah Light House Ministries website is the great granddaughter of Brigham Young. She has documented the use of magic, divination and so forth in this website.

Their temples have pentagrams on them which are the official symbol of the Church of Satan. The websites to get a good understanding and a beginning into the real nature of the religion: Mormon curtain, Salt Lake City messenger, Utah Light House Ministry, SuzyMazur.com, www.lightplanet.com. and Mormon research ministries. Rethinking Mormonism, the Hope org.org.
Clearly it is fraud to say that they are Christian. I am worried that people have supported these people financially and that is fraud also.

LDS Mexico drug money connections is a good source of information regarding LDS in the Government from people like Buster Johnson a past Deputy Sheriff from Los Angeles California. Buster Johnson is a hero and should be supported by every police agency, woman and politician in this country. Lives have been jeopardized by Marshalls and the situation defused by a sheriff according letters that Buster Johnson has written. He can be contacted at: Mojave County District Three Supervisor, 2001 College Dr. Suite 90, Lake Haves City Arizona 866403. You may be able to e-mail him at customerservice@co,mojave.az.gov . He needs help as the Mayor and Police were all polygamist.

Santa Ana California is where they have complete control via the city Politicians and police. Police are chosen by the Mayor and all of the Police are Canadians
and most likely Mormons. I will surely be discredited by these people. I am hopeful for a paper trail on these people that would discredit me. I would greatly appreciate feed back if anyone is contacted in an effort to discredit me.
You will be able to put together actual Mormons in the high, middle and lower levels government by reading up on the schools that provide legal training at reduced tuition such as J Reuben Clark Law School. (Judge Alioto came from J. Reuben Clark---rubbing elbows is what you call it) Either they are Mormons or Mormons have some influence with these people. Mormons have been involved in writing the American Patriot Act, the FBI and other high offices in the Federal Government. LDS Mexican drug money connection by Suzan Mazur has articles that describe the LDS involvement in the government. Buster Johnson is clear about that and the results of those connections. The meridian magazine, famousmormons.net etc., tell you about politicians, judges, district attorneys etc. They are involved in NASA, Department of Health and Human Services. Look in the inner circle around Cheney for example. Look at Flannigan for example or Bybee; they are all Mormons.

One of the most important issues is the agreement with Canada between the executive branches of the Government, called the SPP agreement; found on the Internet. There are close to six million Mormons in the U.S. from Canada since Bush became president. Probably at least six million are here inin the U.S. with most of them being in California and particularly Southern California. California is the sixth largest economy in the world and all of the people came here from Canada and are in all the jobs. They are the Police, Fire departments, city workers. Essentially this part of California is run like a Canadian tribunal but perhaps it is more accurate to describe it as a theocracy with the Mormons running everything. Americans cannot get jobs if the Mormon Church is against them.

Terry Goddard wrote a letter to Alberto Gonzales regarding this type of governing. An article dated October 1, 2005 by the Associated Press, titled Arizona seeking federal probe of polygamist town’s police force. Terry Goddard states, "
I believe that the officers of the Colorado City Police Department have engaged in a pattern of practices of conduct that deprives the individual of the constitutional and civil rights" Police officers "seem to aiding and abetting criminal activity," Goddard said. "They seem to have under church direction, a very selective view to enforce the law. (There is more to this statement but, I can not remember at this moment and I might say it lessens the impact of the above statement slightly)

I started reading "Under The Banner Of Heaven"... so I Googled Colorado City... couldn't find anything at all about the place by the residents, it's like walking into a giant virtual pit.

I'm glad to have seen this article and read that the cult leader got arrested.