Citing 'eroded' respect for the court, judge issues restraining order in FLDS school dispute

SALT LAKE CITY — Fearing that respect for the court has "eroded" among those belonging to the FLDS Church, a 3rd District judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday that will require members of the polygamous sect and law enforcement to follow its dictates in a property occupancy issue.

The ruling came as tensions are reportedly rising in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., because of a deadline church leader Warren Jeffs has reportedly set for church members to prove their loyalty to him.

Judge John Paul Kennedy issued the ruling following a hearing in an effort to keep members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church out of a Hildale-area school that was leased to a former sect member. According to a complaint filed Thursday, a number of FLDS members have been occupying the school buildings even though the former member of their faith still holds a valid occupancy agreement.

Richard Holm filed the complaint in 3rd District Court Thursday alleging that Jeffs, Lyle Jeffs, the FLDS Church itself and a number of its members have attempted to take over the school, which he runs with his brother, after his brother fell out of favor with those in the church.

"Thomas Holm's standing among the FLDS has been placed in question to the point that it no longer appears that he is considered a member of the FLDS Church, and, as a result, a contest has arisen over the use and control the Holm School by Richard Holm and Thomas Holm on the one hand and the FLDS on the other," the complaint states. "As a result, the Holm brothers and the FLDS Church are asserting competing rights to the use and occupancy the Holm School."

Richard Holm was "expelled" from the church in 2003, but was issued a lease to the school, located at 1055 Carling Street in Hildale, Washington County, per a leasing agreement issued by state-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan in 2006. According to the complaint, he and his brother have used the Holm School "as a school for their respective non-FLDS and FLDS children, as well as for the education of the children of dozens of other FLDS parents."

But after Thomas Holm's membership status was called into question, the complaint states, locks to the building were changed. They said they noticed several male FLDS Church members in the main building who would not allow Richard Holms inside.