FLDS ask Utah Supreme Court to halt land sale

Lawsuits and appeals are being filed in Utah and Arizona, challenging the pending sale of a swath of farmland that members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church claim is a future temple site.

An emergency appeal filed Monday afternoon asks the Utah Supreme Court to block a Friday hearing in a St. George court on the proposed sale of Berry Knoll.

"This case has strayed so far from its original purpose — to ensure that the trust is properly administered 'to preserve and advance the religious doctrines and goals of the (FLDS Church)' — that the trust has now become a vehicle to accomplish exactly the opposite — to ensure that the trust is administered to destroy and thwart the religious doctrines and goals of the FLDS Church," attorney Troy Booher wrote.

Last week, the judge overseeing the UEP Trust refused to halt Friday's hearing on whether to sell the land to pay outstanding debts.

FLDS members have sued to stop it, claiming the 711-acre plot of land was prophesied to be a future temple site and feeds FLDS faithful in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. They also accuse the court-appointed special fiduciary, Bruce Wisan, of selling the land to a "rival polygamous religious group" in nearby Centennial Park, Ariz.

Lawyers for the fiduciary dispute those claims. Contacted Monday, Wisan's attorney, Jeffrey L. Shields, declined to immediately comment without having reviewed the appeal. He said a lawsuit had also been filed against the fiduciary in Arizona by FLDS member Willie Jessop.

Lawyers for FLDS members have also gone to federal court to block the sale. A hearing on a request for a temporary restraining order has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

A series of legal challenges come after years of silence from FLDS faithful. In 2005, the courts took control of the $110 million UEP Trust over allegations that FLDS leadership mismanaged it. Judge Denise Lindberg enacted reforms that do away with the communal nature of the trust and pave the way for private property ownership.

The UEP Trust controls homes and property in the FLDS communities of Hildale, Colorado City, and in British Columbia, in Canada.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com