Texans adjust to FLDS presence

ELDORADO, Texas — Fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs' driver's license picture hangs in post offices across the nation — but not the one in this little west Texas outpost.

"Distributing the FBI fliers is not really a priority," said Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran. "Everyone here already knows what he looks like."

Even before Jeffs landed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in May, the 1,900 people in this two-stoplight town were familiar with the Utah native purported to have 70 wives. After all, they're neighbors.

Long before the nation awoke to the saga of plural marriages, racism, child brides and other accusations against Jeffs' breakaway fundamentalist sect, the folks in this town south of San Angelo had already been introduced to the self-proclaimed prophet of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Two years after the sect's construction of a giant, reclusive compound just outside of town turned Eldorado upside down with scary stories and a flood of reporters and investigators, the isolated Yearning for Zion ranch is neither novelty nor nightmare for the people of Eldorado — in spite of the fact that only a handful of them have ever been inside its gates.

Residents no longer worry about the safety of their children. They're educated on the religion enough to know that believers don't try to convert outsiders. They admire members' skills and work ethic, even as they abhor the polygamist way of life.

They pray earnestly for the compound's children. And they carry a nagging fear of a possible violent showdown should Jeffs make a stand here.

Eldoradoans have also been reassured by the fact that — so far, at least — charges of welfare fraud and tax evasion that drain county resources in other states have not accompanied the sect's arrival in Texas.

In fact, it's quite the opposite, according to Schleicher County appraisals: Last year, the members paid about $116,000 in property taxes on about $8 million worth of property. This year, appraiser Scott Sutton doubled the value after the temple was built. This year's tax bill is estimated at more than $400,000.

The church members have asked for information about possibly designating a tax-exempt religious status on the temple for next year.

Sutton said that the temple, appraised at $8 million by itself, is far and away the most valuable piece of property in the county.