Deseret News | Reader comments: Utah Attorney General's Office wants more meetings with FLDS

Reader comments
Utah Attorney General's Office wants more meetings with FLDS

Missing Jeffs | 2:54 p.m. June 16, 2008

[At last week's meeting, FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop said a considerable amount of time was devoted to the issue of underage marriages. In a statement issued at the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch, the faith recently announced that it will no longer condone or encourage those type of unions.

"Not only did I say this publicly, but the FLDS have lived it privately for more than a year," Jessop said...]

Sounds like the FLDS leadership has quietly dumped Warren Jeffs and his child bride teachings and practices.

If they'd only announced this decision publicly a year ago, instead privately adopting it, the FLDS and Texas might have avoided the YFZ raid fiasco.

kbp | 2:56 p.m. June 16, 2008

Sounds like an "I'll send my assistant to meet your assistant" type meeting. No concrete progress will be achieved, but maybe the finer points will come to the table.

Bruce | 3:03 p.m. June 16, 2008

You mean that adults are going to talk things out like adults instead of snatching children and destroying families? What a concept.

Comments continue below

Anonymous | 3:15 p.m. June 16, 2008

Does our AG do anything other than meet on polygamy? There muts be many other important legal matters. It seems like he is obsessed with one and only one issue.

Anonymous | 3:23 p.m. June 16, 2008

Last time I checked, polygamy itself was illegal. Why have meetings? Arrest them and throw them in prison.

Think!!!!! | 3:27 p.m. June 16, 2008

Isn't it interesting how Mark Shurtleff has told the public all these years how the FLDS are not or do not cooperate. Now it is he who refuses to go to any meetings. HMMMMM!!!!!

Bubba | 3:36 p.m. June 16, 2008

Leave the polygamists alone...

Most of us around here exist today because somebody in our family tree also had similar beliefs.

Anon | 3:37 p.m. June 16, 2008

Who and how has authority to say that a woman who has gone through puberty may not be married? Do you have any authority beyond "might makes right?"

Utah Resident | 3:52 p.m. June 16, 2008

What Shurtleff says to the FLDS will depend on who shows up.. and which vote pool he is pandering to that given day.

Re: Anon | 3:55 p.m. June 16, 2008

The same authority that says a child who has gone through puberty cannot simply be raped by any man who decides to breed with her.

The morals of our society are sometimes the only things that separate us from the animals.

c.l.nelson | 4:00 p.m. June 16, 2008

Satsn is surely in the hearts of mankind in this day and age! Children subjected to marriage as a child bride could NEVER understand a marriage relationship! Mankind has used immoral powers to destroy the emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of children for centuries! The innocent children suffer the rest of their lives inner conflict no one could possibly understand but they! Stop this atrocity in its tracks now! Give children a firm foundation and childhood they deserve without suffering fear of being raped by older sexist hungry men!

Ya think. | 4:03 p.m. June 16, 2008

The FLDS will never give up their child brides. Send them all to prison, since plural marriage and welfare fraud is illegal.

Wild Bill | 4:05 p.m. June 16, 2008

Hey Shurtleff, good idea. It is such an important issue that you may want to show up. As you have been
on the guilty untill proven innocent side of this coin.

And while you at it, maybe meet with all the gays and lesbos before you start a unlawfull seizure of human beings.

Why does the state of Utah even care who marrys who?
If they are of age what business is it of the State
Goverment.

Oh now I remember, arrest and inprison all people
who want to smoke weed rather than drink or smoke
tabacco.

Again a prime example of how goverments try to eliminate freedoms.

Why does the Goverment have any right to tell me what
I can or cannot do in my home. Marry whom I want and as many times as I want. Teach my children what I feel is right and wrong.

Hey don't worry I don't want to have sex with underage girls,boys or dogs.

zxcvbnm | 4:25 p.m. June 16, 2008

At least the barn door has been closed after the proverbial cow has escaped.
It looks like the only person that may have been "molested" was the 12 year old in the photo with Jeffs. The girl is now 16 and Jeffs is in prison.
So if the gossip is true and if girls were taken as brides and if the kiss was more than a kiss and if there are no more underage brides the whole rotten mess falls on the head of a man already in prison.
Super.....so now both sides can meet once a quarter over coffee and donuts and talk about the weather.
I bet Texas will continue to persue charges, rack up millions more in legal expenses and put Jeffs in a Texas prison just to show that they are "tough on crime".
In the meantime the FLDS will continue to practice their religion and wait till the girls consent to consumate their spiritual unions at 17....everyone goes away happy.
But just to spice things up, Hildrbrand has said that he has another series of laws targeting the FLDS ready for the next Texas legislative session in January.

transplant | 4:38 p.m. June 16, 2008

Wild Bill: "why does the government have any right to tell me..." Since your elected representatives do the job of ordering our society so that we may all live in peace. That's why you elect them. To sort all these things out and find solutions. You send them there. You are the Government. There is no 'wild' country in which you can do as you damm please. You belong to a species called humans. There is order even in the most primative of animal societies of which humans are not one. We are a higher order animal we have a higher order society. We do the best we can till we can do better. Let's keep working on it together.

Shurtleff | 4:43 p.m. June 16, 2008

He'll do anything to get in the news.

Re: Anon | 5:00 p.m. June 16, 2008

It's interesting to see the twisted ways in which the FLDS and their supporters justify their unethical lifestyle.

Re: Anonymous | 5:14 p.m. June 16, 2008

Do you know how many "illegal" things are being done in 50 states? Aside from the old laws still left on the books in many places, are we going to arrest all practicing gay people, how about illegal immigrants, folk commiting adultry?
We better get going, we're going to need to build a LOT more prisons.

Gal50 | 5:22 p.m. June 16, 2008

Watching the interaction between a mainstream culture and a small sect is interesting.

Certainly forced underage marriages are illegal and should be prosecuted. Given that Texas found 20 possible examples of underage marriage (five of the females were still children), one can only guess that maybe there are 300 FLDS cases involving statutory rape, most of them being in Utah and Arizona.

Even if this is reigned in by legal action or by the FLDS, it is still disturbing watching girls being raised in a culture that teaches them to accept forced marriage at 18 years-old, especially when it involves marriage to an old man.

One has to wonder what if anything is going on down in Texas. Has the opposition to the seizure of FLDS cowed law enforcement into not doing anything? Is Texas still deciding under what conditions to prosecute polygamy? Is the delay due to a decision to issue arrest warrants all at the same time, like arrest warrants for a drug ring?

Anonymous | 6:15 p.m. June 16, 2008

I would like to see our government enforce laws (i.e. polygamy and welfare fraud) than "talking with them". If we want to have a moral society we need to enforce laws rather than just talk about them.

Wild Bill lRe: Transplant | 6:47 p.m. June 16, 2008

Hey Mr. Transplant,

You call this mess a higher species. One that kills it self daily, eats all other animals it see's fit.

Uses biolodical weapons upon it self will incarceration of millions simply for consuming
a common weed/herb. Wow what a great species

You mean in a country that dropped a atomic bomb
on innocent people. That I should be proud when
even the own laws arent obeyed by the goverment.
Iran/Contra ring any bells.

If you think for one minute that I feel any remorse
at the fact that I will support any persons right to choose what they do in there own home, I do not.

The same reasons that the United States was founded apply today. Intolerance and the erosion of the financial freedoms will destroy our way of life.

Taxation to a point of theft is now at hand.
Goverment interferance into our daily life is
alive and well (CPS). All under the color of law.

I for one hope some extraterestials show up and tell
us all the Religon is just a myth and that we have to focus on making this world better.

Good luck on the Higher species idea.

Can you say Hypocritical? | 7:08 p.m. June 16, 2008

While we're talking about what's illegal, let's throw everyone guilty of sodomy in prison. Let's also throw everyone guilty of adultery in prison, and also everyone who has committed any type of deviant sexual behavior in prison.

Then, let's talk about everyone who has ever smoked marijuana or imbibed in any other controlled substance 'unlawfully'. They also should go to prison.

All of these acts are 'illegal'. Why stop at polygamy you bigots?

awarthurhu | 7:36 p.m. June 16, 2008

Gal50 - Of the "five that were children", only two women were pregnant, both gave birth at 18 and 22, both married. By any count that can be confirmed, that's ZERO "pregnant 13 year olds" that Nancy Grace keeps complaining about. CPS has NO individual cases to remove kids, and they can't prosecute, that's the AG's job. How many girls taken into custody took that opportunity to "tell the truth" and "escape"? None. The only escape was from CPS. You can't convict an entire religion on the basis of two women, Flora and Carolyn that have never been at the YFZ ranch (but you can convince Walther and the CPS) All of the justification for mistreatment of these people is on the basis of practices and acts that have not been proven.

awarthurhu | 7:39 p.m. June 16, 2008

If gay marriage is illegal in most states, why are these folks absolutely celebrating legalization of gay marriage in california instead of calling for prosecuting gay marriage since it's just as illegal as polygamy in most states? Two dads good, two moms good, but one dad and 3 moms.....

Yawning | 7:55 p.m. June 16, 2008

Another yawner.

Celia | 8:04 p.m. June 16, 2008

Decriminalize polygamy.

Get a grip boys! | 9:15 p.m. June 16, 2008

Polygamy is wrong, wrong, wrong! You men who practice this mistreatment of women need to find some serious help for your sick obsession on wanting to control others. It looks to me that you FLDS men are the ones who need to be controlled. And by the way, it was a good idea to imprison your false prophet Warren Jeffs. A good deed well done.

Its About Polygamy | 9:41 p.m. June 16, 2008

Most people say it isn't about polygamy, yet nobody is legalizing polygamy. I say this really is about polygamy. In Texas and Utah, a 50 year old monogamist can marry a 16 year old girl, with parental consent. If a polygamist takes on a 16 year old wife, with parental consent, it defaults to statutory rape, because he cannot legally be married to her. The only difference here is polygamy.

A few people say the government should prosecute these men for living polygamy, since polygamy is illegal. The only problem is nobody is living polygamy according to the law. These men have one wife. The rest are mistresses, or girl friends, or whatever they want to call them. Only the first woman has a marriage license. For it to be polygamy, all the women must have a marriage license, with the same man. Most people think that the government shouldn't interfere with cheating relationships, yet the only difference between cheating and polygamy, once again is polygamy!

So if society wants to put these men in jail for cheating on their wife, then society also need to put the rest of the cheaters in jail.

Shack Up | 11:00 p.m. June 16, 2008

I think it is called shack-up. Its not wise to use god for shacking up practices. I'm certain god is deeply offended as many of us are out here-- That his children FLDS here on earth would be using him (GOD) for such a vile betrayal of womanhood.

Alinusara10 | 11:03 p.m. June 16, 2008

It's not bigamy or polygamy. It's having a consensual affair with a set number of women. Sides under Lawrence vs. Texas the state cannot dictate what happens behind closed doors between consenting adults.

Underage? | 5:47 a.m. June 17, 2008

I'm not FLDS, I live in VA. Many people have told me of their older relatives who were married young (like 12-15). Forcing people to get married is wrong, but what's wrong with marrying young?
I read and hear of young girls getting pregnant outside of marriage and bringing children into the world only to become dependent on the taxpayer. I'd much rather they be married. If they are old enough to consent to sex then they are old enough to marry.
I am all for obeying the laws of the land and if there is a minimum age to marry it should be followed. Sometimes I question the effects of such laws, and I see them as undermining the institution of marriage.

Wild Bill | 10:38 a.m. June 17, 2008

Hey a great internet debate without all the rumor mill putting out lies and falsehoods.

Thanks to all of you for opening our minds.

VOTE

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