As to what his response will be on Sept. 11, when the groups all meet and two of them are expected to ask the church for private control of the property, he said, "I think that day is to honor and remember the people who were slain there rather than debate the merits of whether the government or the church or someone else ought to own that property. But I'm sure we'll face that issue again in the future."

A request earlier this summer for federal stewardship of the site was rejected by the church, as was a similar request in 1999. But among the activities planned by the Mountain Meadows Monument Foundation during its meetings in Cedar City next weekend is a further discussion about stewardship of the site and another request that the church allow it.

The group, known as MMMF, has circulated a petition asking that the site "be under the custody and care of all the people of the United States of America. It is our strong belief that the current stewardship is not appropriate for the care and preservation of this battleground and the bodies interred there."

Another group, Mountain Meadows Massacre Descendants, also will discuss oversight for the area during meetings in Cedar City and ask members to vote on whether they would like to see the site placed in federal hands or governed by descendants of those who were either killed or survived the massacre.

MMMD president Patty Norris said she will then convey the feeling of the group to the LDS Church during a joint meeting on the morning of Sept. 11 of all the groups involved at Mountain Meadows. As to how the church will respond, she said there are "no LDS members buried there. I can't imagine why they would object to that, given the circumstance."

Norris' group is open only to descendants of massacre victims or survivors, and in a poll of members earlier this year regarding stewardship of the site, "the feedback from nearly 100 percent of the membership is that they would vote for one or the other (federal oversight or a trusteeship)."

She said while funding for a private trusteeship hasn't been discussed in detail, she anticipates the group would seek grant money, among other sources. She said the group has yet to decide whether to invite an LDS representative to share with the group what they would envision such an arrangement to be.

Though Mountain Meadows was designated by the National Register of Historic Places as a "historic site" in 1975, in order to secure federal oversight, the LDS Church, as the property owner, would have to cooperate in the move. The government has not expressed interest in taking over the site at this point.

This year will mark 150 years since Sept. 11, 1857, when 120 unarmed men, women and children — wagon train emigrants on their way from Arkansas to California — were murdered in the remote meadow by Latter-day Saint militiamen on orders from their superiors, who were local leaders of the LDS Church in the Cedar City area.