From Deseret News archives:
Power shift for FLDS may be under way
But communities seem unaware of Jeffs' note
It comes as FLDS leader Warren Jeffs apparently abdicated his role as a "prophet" in both a jailhouse conversation with one of his brothers and a note he tried to give to a judge in court last week. Both instances were corroborated by law enforcement sources who spoke to the Deseret Morning News on condition of anonymity.
Questions swirl around Jeffs' health and mental state. In a court appearance last week, he appeared skeletal and lethargic. Defense attorneys would only say that he is "very frail."
"I think his conscience is working on him," said ex-FLDS member Richard Holm.
Jeffs, 51, is facing charges in St. George's 5th District Court of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. In Arizona, he is facing charges related to performing child-bride marriages. He was also recently indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Here in the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., on Thursday, shopping continued at the local grocery store, children were seen happily playing outside their homes, and the sound of a dog barking drifted through the air.
Residents of both towns appeared oblivious to the news that Jeffs had apparently penned a note seen in court with the words, "I am not a prophet." Several residents declined to speak to a reporter.
"People here do not take the paper, because they don't believe what is being said about them in it," said Hazel Zitting, who lives in the neighboring community of Centennial Park, Ariz., a separate fundamentalist community.
Faithful FLDS members are also told to shun media — including TV, radio and the Internet. But some of the community's restrictions appear to be loosening.
FLDS members who once wouldn't acknowledge the presence of family members and friends who had left the church are beginning to soften.
"Some people are even waving at us," said Susie Timpson, who is with a pro-polygamy group in Centennial Park. "I've noticed a friendlier environment lately."
Some observers say a change in power may be going on within the FLDS Church.
"I'm sure he (Jeffs) still has influence on the community," Mohave County Attorney's investigator Gary Engels told reporters outside of court last week.
Indeed, Holm said that Jeffs has not been abandoned by the faithful.
