Plural wives defend lifestyle

ST. GEORGE — More than 55 women and their teenage daughters who are living in plural families showed up Friday at the state's first "polygamy summit" with one goal in mind: to plead for the right to live as they choose without fear of prosecution.

"We who live in that community out there do not want child abuse, uneducated children or welfare abuses," said Linda, a Centennial Park, Ariz., teacher in the Colorado City Unified School District who did not want to give her last name. "If this is honestly not about religion and you're not trying to squelch us off the earth, the best way to do that is to do away with the law that prohibits us from living our religion."

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who spearheaded the summit, said the packed four-hour agenda was just the beginning of a statewide effort to provide help for those who want out of abusive polygamous lifestyles.

"We want to know what is and isn't being provided, where it is, and what we need to do next," Shurtleff told several hundred people during the opening segment of the summit. "We want to build a safety net for children." Among the topics discussed at the two invitation-only breakout sessions attended by law enforcement, attorneys, social service workers, educators and elected officials were welfare fraud, lack of educational opportunities, public-safety concerns, domestic violence and underage brides.

"You say you don't want underage marriages performed or for them to occur," Shurtleff told Linda. "We need you to come forward and give us the evidence if you do see them occur. We just have a disagreement on what's lawful and unlawful. We're here to get your assistance and would like that."

Those in support of polygamy voiced a common fear that helping prosecutors from Utah and Arizona would only bring heartache and ruin to their families and communities.

"We just want to know that we feel safe in doing that," said Linda, as women around her nodded their heads. Polygamists living in Centennial Park do not belong to the more strict fundamentalist movement headed by Warren Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, although they believe many of the same doctrines, including polygamy.

Salt Lake City attorney Rod Parker, who has represented the FLDS Church for 12 years and defended recently convicted bigamist Rodney Holm, said the summit would do little to solve problems since it did not include representatives from the target population.

The fact that polygamists were not invited, although they were welcome as interested members of the public, jarred some people.