Is there a rift brewing between court-appointed fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan and some of the advisory board members now overseeing the United Effort Plan Trust?

You might draw that conclusion from Thursday's court hearing before 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg.

Lindberg appointed Wisan last May to manage the trust, which holds virtually all property in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Most residents of the cities belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect led by federal fugitive Warren Jeffs.

In December, Lindberg named six advisory board members to assist Wisan, with the intention they could go on to serve as new trustees for the UEP after it is reformed. Those advisors are: Margaret Cooke; Robert Huddleston; Carolyn Jessop; Rayo Spencer Johnson; John Nielsen; and Don Timpson.

With that in mind, Wisan asked Lindberg Thursday if he could file a report on each board member under seal -- which means it would not be available publicly as part of the court record.

Wisan told Lindberg that the advisory board members she appointed in December are providing valuable insight into the community. At the same time, he said, they offer a wide range of views and agendas.

"Those agendas can sometimes be a conflict," he said.

Wisan also has had some difficulty getting them to comment on matters that come before him. And so far, none have been willing to sign off on proposed occupancy agreements he has drafted.

"It need some adjusting," Wisan said of that document.

Among the dilemmas: How to word a section that says residents agree they won't engage in illegal activities -- a problem since most residents are practicing polygamists.

Jeff Shields, Wisan's attorney, said the same wording problem is cropping up in a proposal for how to reform the trust.

Some fans of "Big Love," HBO's new series about a polygamous family in the Salt Lake valley, may be scratching their heads over terms used by some characters on the show — from "celestial marriage" to "united order."

Here's help: Visit the Utah Attorney General's Web site at http://www.attygen.state.ut.us/polygamy.html and check out "The Primer."

The Primer offers a glossary of terms and descriptions of Utah's various polygamous groups.

There is even a direct reference to the document on an upcoming episode of "Big Love." You'll know exactly what they're talking about.

Jon Dewey of Salt Lake City suggested in a recent letter to The Salt Lake Tribune that Utah's new slogan "Life Elevated" be scrapped in favor of "The Big Love State."
Hmmm. He may want to get together with the women of Centennial Park, who are handing out badges that fit in perfectly with his suggestion.

The following excerpt is from a three-hour deposition taken Feb. 17 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a grain elevator from the Four Square Mill in Colorado City, Ariz., in January. A court-appointed fiduciary maintains the elevator belongs to a community property trust created by residents of Colorado City and the adjoining city of Hildale, Utah. The cities are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect. After losing control of the trust to civil authorities, FLDS church leaders allegedly told members to "answer them nothing" regarding the trust's operation.

These exchanges are between Attorney Zachary Shields, representing fiduciary Bruce Wisan, and Fred Barlow, Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal. Barlow, a lifelong resident of the community, maintained the elevator was personal property and the dispute over its ownership was a civil matter, not criminal theft.



Attorney Zachary Shields: Do you recognize Bruce Wisan as the one who has the authority to control the UEP land, to manage the UEP land?

(No response)

A second attorney then states: Let the record show it's been about two minutes since that question was first asked.)

--------



Shields: Did you tell 'Wisan", I will send an officer to check it out?

Barlow: Yes, I did.

Shields: And you told him you would call him back with a report?

Barlow: Yes, I did.

Shields: Who did you send?

Barlow: I don't remember the officer. It will come on the incident log. I don't remember who it was.

Shields: How many officers do you have?

Barlow: Five besides myself.

-----

Shields: So you sent an officer. And what happened next?

Barlow: A few minutes later the officer called me and said that he had gone over there and asked the workers to stop and they agreed to stop.

Shields: He acknowledged there were workers?

Barlow: Yeah. There was somebody there.

Shields: There was somebody there. What did he tell you?

Barlow: He just said that they were there working.

Shields: Who is 'they?' Who was there?

Barlow: I don't know. I didn't go.

Shields: He didn't tell you the they?

Barlow: He did not.

Shields: He just there's people there?

Barlow: (Nodding.)

-----

Shields: He said what?

Barlow: They agreed to stop. He just said I talked to this person, and they agreed to stop doing what they were doing. I don't know what they were doing. I didn't go over there. I really didn't.

Shields: And you didn't even ask what they were doing?

Barlow: I didn't.

-----

The night he sent a deputy to investigate what was going on at the mill, Barlow spoke briefly by telephone with Dowayne Barlow, owner of Meadowayne Dairy and one of four men who initially set up the mill.

Shields: Do you know Dowayne?

(No response)

Shields: Let the record show it's been some time with no answer.

Shields: Do you understand the consequences of refusing to answer a question at a deposition? (No response)

Shields: Let the record show no answer.

Shields: Why are you unwilling to answer a question of whether you know Dowayne Barlow?

Shields: Let the record show no answer.

Shields: I'm entitled to know that when you were on the phone with Mr. Barlow as Chief of Police whether this was a complete stranger on the phone or whether it was somebody you knew. Was this a complete stranger on the phone when you spoke to him that night?

Shields: Again let the record show there's been no answer to any of the last several questions.

-----

Shields: So what have you done to investigate this theft after Bruce Wisan called two or three days later and said it's gone? What have you done to investigate?

Barlow: You would have to talk to Jonathan 'Roundy, the deputy who investigated the missing equipment."

Shields: So you've done nothing?

Barlow: I personally have not.

Shields: You asked Jonathan to look into it?

Barlow: Yes. I'm busy.

Shields: You haven't even asked him for a report of his findings?

Barlow: I did not ask him for a report. I know he did one, but I don't know. I did not do it.

-----

Shields: Isn't it true that as an officer that you favored Dowayne Barlow over Bruce Wisan?

Barlow: (No response)

Shields: Isn't it true that if there's a dispute between Bruce and Dowayne, you're going to take Dowayne's side?

Barlow: (No response)

Shields: Isn't it true that any person you deem to be an active follower of 'FLDS president" Warren Jeffs will receive favorable treatment from you as a police officer?

Barlow: (No response)

Shields: Isn't it true you knew it was some type of an FLDS work crew dissembling the elevator system on December 31st?

Barlow: (No response)

Shields: Isn't it true that you will take their side of the story no matter how preposterous?

Barlow: (No response)

------

Shields asks Barlow about the dismantling of the Cozy Log Home business building within a day of Wisan's appointment as fiduciary over the UEP Trust.

Shields: Did you inquire as to why it was being dismantled?

Barlow: I did not.

Shields: Did you already know why it was being dismantled?

Barlow: No, I did not.

Shields: Do you know who was dismantling it?

Barlow: I do not.

Shields: Did you see any of the people dismantling it?

Barlow: Just a lot of people. I don't recall who was all there.

Shields: I want to know the names of everyone you can remember.

Barlow: I can't even think of one person that I can say I remember being there.

Shields: But you recognized people there?

Barlow: Well, yeah. I recognize most everybody in town as people.

Shields: And yet you can't remember one person who was there dismantling this building?

Barlow: Not right off the top of my head.

The following excerpt is from a deposition taken Feb. 17 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a grain elevator from the Four Square Mill in Colorado City, Ariz. A court-appointed fiduciary maintains the elevator belongs to a community property trust created by residents of Colorado City and the adjoining city of Hildale, Utah. The cities are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect. After losing control of the trust to civil authorities, FLDS church leaders allegedly told members to "answer them nothing" regarding the trust's operation.

This exchange is between Attorney Zachary Shields, representing fiduciary Bruce Wisan, and Sam Johnson, a Hildale/Colorado City deputy town marshal:

Attorney Zachary Shields: So your testimony is church leaders have said on several occasions don't acknowledge the suspension of the former 'FLDS church" trustees?

Sam Johnson: (Nodding.)

Shields: And you will not tell me who your church leaders are?

(silence)

Shields: First question, they have said on several occasions, isn't that correct?

Johnson: Yes.

Shields: And you refuse to tell me who they are?

Johnson: Yes.

Shields: Do they also tell you to not acknowledge Bruce Wisan's appointment?

Johnson: Yes.

Shields: Have they told you don't acknowledge that he has any authority over the UEP?

Johnson: Yes.

Shields: If you as a police officer have an issue arise as to something to do with the UEP, would you obey the instructions of Bruce, the court-appointed manager, or would you obey the instructions of your church leaders?

Johnson: I've never had that occasion arise.

Shields: What would you do if it did arise?

Johnson: First, my duty is to protect and serve and if there's something that is not, does not fit in that, I can't do it.

Shields: Explain that.

Johnson: You're not a police officer. I don't expect you to understand.

The following excerpt is from a deposition taken Feb. 17 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a grain elevator from the Four Square Mill in Colorado City, Ariz. A court-appointed fiduciary maintains the elevator belongs to a community property trust created by residents of Colorado City and the adjoining city of Hildale, Utah. The cities are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect. After losing control of the trust to civil authorities, FLDS church leaders allegedly told members to "answer them nothing" regarding the trust's operation.

Exchange between Attorney Zachary Shields, representing fiduciary Bruce Wisan; Attorney Greg Hoole, representing plaintiffs who've sued the trust, and Terrill Johnson, interim Colorado City mayor and registered agent for Four Square Mill:

Johnson answered questions about his name, place of residence and occupation, which he described as farming and dairy work.

Attorney Zachary Shields: Are you affiliated with any farming operations here?
Terrill Johnson: As far as my own knowledge of our dear nation of the United States of America, I have as much right to remain silent as you do to speak, and so I choose to remain silent.
Shields: You refuse to answer that question? Why?
Johnson: (No response)

Johnson then refused to answer any other questions - about his relation to the mill, his willingness to recognize Wisan's authority, his understanding of contempt of court - and remained silent for the rest of the 10-minute deposition.

The following excerpt is from a deposition taken Feb. 16 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a grain elevator from the Four Square Mill in Colorado City, Ariz. A court-appointed fiduciary maintains the elevator belongs to a community property trust created by residents of Colorado City and the adjoining city of Hildale, Utah. The cities are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect. After losing control of the trust to civil authorities, FLDS church leaders allegedly told members to "answer them nothing" regarding the trust's operation.

Exchange between Attorney Zachary Shields, representing fiduciary Bruce Wisan; Attorney Greg Hoole, representing plaintiffs who've sued the trust, and Joseph Johnson of Four Square Mill, who claimed the elevator was moveable personal property and did not belong to the trust:

Attorney Zachary Shields: Are you affiliated with an operation or a company known as Four Square Mill?
Joseph Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: You decline to answer whether you're affiliated with Four Square Mill?
Johnson: Yes.
Shields: Why do you decline to answer that?
Johnson: What's your next question?
Shields: Why do you decline to answer that question?
Johnson: I have a right to remain silent, don't I?
Shields: Are you invoking the Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent?
Johnson: Yes.
Shields: Now, you are aware the Fifth Amendment privilege is - applies to statements that would make your subject to criminal liability? Is it your testimony that your answering that question could pose criminal liability?
Johnson: Now, what? 'Off the record discussion takes place about proper use of Fifth Amendment privilege."
Shields: Mr. Johnson, are you affiliated with a company or a facility known as the Four Square Mill?
Johnson: Still want to exercise my Fifth Amendment.

------

Shields: What is your position at Four Square Milling?
Johnson: Why do you need to know that?
Shields: I'm entitled to ask any questions. It's very relevant to your testimony here today.
Johnson: I decline to answer that.

----

Johnson produces a receipt he argues shows the grain elevator belongs to the mill.
Shields: How can you prove ownership on behalf of Four Square Milling? And until and unless I have testimony that you have any authority on behalf of Four Square Milling, how do I know that you can prove ownership? How do I know you're not just a stranger off the street to Four Square Milling?
Johnson: Why did you serve me a subpoena?
Shields: Because I understand that you have information about the Four Square Milling. Do you?
Johnson: Okay. I'm the owner of Four Square Milling.
Shields: Okay. How long have you been the owner?
Johnson: I don't know.
Shields: Were you the owner in 1996?
Johnson: No.
Shields: Who was?
Johnson: I'm not going to answer that.

-----

Shields: Isn't it true that everything Four Square Milling owns is actually an asset of the 'United Effort Plan Trust, a charitable trust set up for FLDS members"?
Johnson: I decline to answer that question.
Shields: What's the status of the mill now? Is it operating?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: How is that question relevant to the Fifth Amendment? Do you decline to answer that question, too?
Johnson: Yes.
Shields: Is there any grain in the silos at the Four Square Mill at this time? Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: Did the mill shut down in recent months? Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: Do you decline to answer anything to do with the present status of the mill?
Johnson: Yes.
Shields: What about the intended future of the mill? Johnson: I decline to answer that too.
Shields: How about the grain elevator system? Where is it today?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.

-----

Johnson: Do you understand anything about feed mill equipment?
Shields: Not a lot. Why don't you tell me about it.
Johnson: I don't either.
Shields: But you're the owner of the company?
Johnson: We're talking about the elevator here. Isn't that the issue?
Shields: 'We're" talking about everything that was removed from the building. Has anything else been removed from the Four Square Mill in the last two years?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: But your testimony is the value of the elevator that was removed - what is your best estimate of the value of the elevator that was removed?
Johnson: I don't think it's worth a thousand bucks.
Shields: Why was it removed, then?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: Was it sold to somebody?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: Were you paid any money for it? Johnson: I decline to answer that.

----

Shields: So what facts do you have to support your assertion that this was moveable?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: So your purpose in coming here today is to try to justify the removal of the grain elevator system?
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Shields: Isn't it true that the FLDS church asked you or were involved in the removal of the grain elevator system?
Johnson: I decline to answer that again.

-----

Attorney Greg Hoole: So my question is, I'd like you to explain to me what your understanding is of Mr. Shields' warning to you regarding improperly invoking the Fifth Amendment.
Johnson: I decline to answer that.
Hoole: On what basis?
Johnson: Fifth Amendment.

Fences and "No trespassing" signs have proliferated in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., as residents have moved to block out meddlesome media and gawky sightseers in recent years.

Now there is a new kind of warning in this polygamous community at the Utah/Arizona state line — Beware of Pit Bull.

Yep, pit bull, not just any dog, but one with a reputation for having a bad attitude and mean bite.

Salt Lake Tribune photographer Trent Nelson and I spotted this particular sign last week in Hildale. And we laughed.

Here's why.

There are no dogs in Hildale or Colorado City. FLDS leaders banned them a few years ago after the tragic death of a 2-year-old boy who was killed by his family's dog, which some say was a pit bull.

A day later, an order went out that there were to be no dogs in town. If families couldn't bear putting their own dogs to death, a crew headed by Dee Jessop would do it for them.

"They killed every dog in town," says Isaac Wyler, an ex-FLDS member who still lives in the community.

As for the sign spotted on Paul Holm's house?

"That's for the reporters," Wyler said. "That got put up about six months ago."

Every one in town gets a chuckle out of it, he said.

But don't take his word for it. Or mine. Just ask yourself this, if for some reason you want to knock on that particular home's door: Do I feel lucky or don't I?

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." The edited comments below are excerpted from a panel comprised of activists who want the state to take a harder line against polygamy and ex-members of several polygamous groups.

The third episode of "Big Love" airs Sunday.

On the ties that bind


Vicky Prunty, co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy who was part of two plural marriages: It's not the love bond, it's the religious bond. That's the cohesive, the glue of the marriage that keeps these families together.

It's not that these people aren't human. There is love, there are emotions. There is hate, envy, strife. There's goodness, unselfishness, all those those things are included in polygamy. It's just the coercive nature that nearly every one Tapestry works with [has experienced]. It is founded on religious coerciveness.

John Llewellyn, a former member of the Apostolic United Brethren and author of the critical book Polygamy Under Attack: If a guy is going to keep his family together, he has to keep reminding them of the covenants they took and of the Doctrine and Convenants [LDS scripture] because it is the priesthood that is the bonding.

When that guy went up to the prophet and said, "You're not going to get all that money, right there and then he would have taken those wives away from him.

[On free agency] The first wife reminded the second wife and the third wife, "Hey, we chose this," implying free agency. Would you like to explain what free agency is among the fundamentalists? Free agency implies absolute freedom, but the fundamentalist concept of free agency implies punishment if you don't make the correct choice. Now, that is not free agency in my mind.

Christy Tucker, a former member of the Kingston group: [On free agency] You get to choose if you want to go to heaven or not. They should have addressed that, when they said, "We've chosen to be here together." We've chosen to go to the celestial kingdom and this is the only way that we can get there.

We were always taught that if you don't live polygamy, you aren't a polygamist, when you get to heaven you'll only be a ministering angel.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." The edited comments below are excerpted from a panel comprised of activists who want the state to take a harder line against polygamy and ex-members of several
polygamous groups.

The second episode of "Big Love" airs tonight.

On relationships in plural marriages

Ronald Tucker, a former member of the Kingston group and son of former leader John Ortell Kingston: There were some real contrasts with the way things are in The Order, the Kingston group. They have a real tight rein on money.

The wife, with her check, she would have had to have gone to her husband to ask if she could spend that money because she would never have seen that check. It would have gone to the main account and she would have had to ask him for money.

You've got one gal who wants more and he's taking from the other one, if you were in the middle of that, can you imagine how stressful and awful that would be?

I never knew a family where a man didn't develop a favorite. There are a lot of them that would really try to be fair and equal, but they all picked up on it.

Even with me, there were times I drove one direction 50 m.p.h. and 70 m.p.h. the other direction. You had to build walls up around you because you couldn't share your whole life at any one place.

John Llewellyn, a former member of the Apostolic United Brethern and author of the critique Polygamy Under Attack: I lived it for 20 years and had three wives. There is competition between wives and a woman is not above using her sexuality if she is a cute girl to gain favor with the husband. There is always going to be competition to see who is going to be the dominate wife and who is going to be the favored
wife.

There is always contention or problems going on. I know from experience that much of the man's time is keeping peace. No matter how fair and equal in every respect [you try to be,] you're going to be accused of not being fair. That's just human nature.

Your personality changed when you were alone with each woman. We had three different locations at one time and then two. I was one guy here and another guy there. You crave some privacy of your own because you're always in demand. Not sexually, like [HBO shows] but your attention. It's not an easy life.

Fawn Broadbent, a teenager who several years ago left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: My whole life, I have never seen a happy family where I came from. Never.

Vicky Prunty, co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy who lived in two plural marriages: Looking into my families and the way we lived polygamy, we were shut down and we weren't expressive. Our emotions were very fictitious.

Whether you take polygamy in an isolated community or you take it into the mainstream, you're going to deal with the same issues, the same jealousies, the same whining, complaining wives and the husband who tries to stretch it so thin he becomes impotent.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." The edited comments below are excerpted from a panel comprised of activists who want the state to take a harder line against polygamy, and ex-members of several polygamous groups.

The second episode of "Big Love" airs tonight.

On "Big Love" vs reality

Andrea Moore-Emmett, author of God's Brothel: This is a series that is geared for the 18 to 35 year old male fantasy.

It's hilarious. The Mormon Church and the state of Utah are never going to get away from polygamy and that is what this was. The three are so intertwined. And I'm laughing, laughing because it is what they deserve. They haven't done anything about it and now they have a national television show that brings it home. Ha. ha.

Vicky Prunty, co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy who lived in two plural marriages : If [the nation] saw what really compels these individuals to go into polygamy, it would look that much worse. And it's the religion that is really the basis. They wouldn't be together if it weren't for that.

There is not an independent, beautiful, powerful woman out there who would share her husband with other women.

The unfortunate thing is this series may minimize the coercive effects of polygamy today.

Some of the gestures and looks are accurate. It reminded me of [one of her former husbands.]. We were all getting out of the car together and he was watching us and it reminded us of a rooster. Just the look in his eyes. We were kind of sickened by it. We knew what he was doing and what he was thinking, "This is my brood here, my harem."

Joni Holm, whose husband Carl is an ex-member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: I don't think everybody will catch the young bride. We knew exactly what that was supposed to be representing. Showing her with power is not factual. The women don't have that kind of power.

Ronald Tucker, a former member of the Kingston group and son of leader John Ortell Kingston: I've seen that happen. A young girl will be asked by the leader and she thinks she is going to have that position of power and influence. He pays a lot of attention at first and then she is stuck with no financial help, raising kids. And she is pushed off to the side.

John Llewellyn, a former member of the Apostolic United Brethren and author of the critique Polygamy Under Attack: I know polygamous families where the men and the women really try to live it right, by the book, they really give it a good try.

The women in general really try to live it. It is the men who are the more corrupt, and it's because of this Y chromosome. Face it. I have noticed that where most of the corruption and where most of the physical abuse takes place is in the hierarchy.

These folks aren't the typical polygamists. They are a bit too affluent and too worldly. But other than that, they hit on the problems a family would be confronted with.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." This is an excerpt from a conversation that included members of Centennial Park, a fundamentalist Mormon community at the Utah/Arizona border.
The second episode of "Big Love" airs Sunday.

What Will the Public Think?

Joyce Steed: They didn't develop this to try and bring out the truth or foster understanding, they developed this to entertain and cash in on current media hype. We have to be realistic about it. It wasn't created to show our lifestyle or promote our lifestyle.

Priscilla Hammon: They are almost adding to the sensationalism we've already suffered under. And a lot of people who have no connection with us at all, no background and don't search it out, will go away saying that is pretty low down, groveling in the dirt kind of living.
Maybe we need a chance to have a disclaimer: This is not all polygamy.

Joyce: My only concern is that the culture already is on the defensive. They are just trying to reach out a little bit and help people understand without having these kind of stereotypes affect our lives negatively, more than they have for the last 150 years. Because it has been difficult.

We have been undermined socially, and economically so it's been a difficult thing any way. And the heightened media has caused them to be more on the defensive. So I'm concerned about having it be a national broadcast, it makes me a little tired to think 'Oh man, what might we have to [endure]?

Mark Timpson: If HBO comes out with early episodes and shows some of these challenges and focuses on sexual aspect, jealousies, human emotions . . . If they show people transforming their lives and becoming a family and rising above their flesh, I would give the series a pretty good score.

If they wallow in it, and muck in it, and just make it worse, I don't know what to say.

HBO from my perspective could do some pretty good things, if they can show some positive transformations. There is an opportunity, but I don't know if that's what they want to accomplish.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." This is an excerpt from a conversation that included members of Centennial Park, a fundamentalist Mormon community at the Utah/Arizona border.
The second episode of "Big Love" airs Sunday.

At the compound

Priscilla Hammon: I've never seen that place and I don't care to go there [referring to the fictional town of Juniper Creek.] Cleanliness is a part of our lives, so the portrayal of the compound and the backwoodsy life and the ignorance was almost offensive to me... To refuse medial help? That is not what we're about.

Mark Timpson: One of the things I really liked about this program: HBO is attempting to show the challenge of interfacing with mainstream society. They've created a conflict; a good series will create a conflict. And what they've done is created this protagonist/antagonist thing. They've set up the compound and created this conflict of someone who has pulled away, and they've got a rubber band effect. I think they've done that to engage people in the challenge of what it means to be a polygamist.

.......

Priscilla: The prophet [in Juniper Creek,] that was also embarrassing and insulting.

Joyce Steed: I didn't even compare that to our clergy at all.

Ann Wright: There is a gap in comparing to our community because this isn't realistic of our lives at all.

Joyce: [On the child bride in Juniper Creek] I don't like to see that kind of thing portrayed in a positive light at all. I don't think that is something to take lightly. It implies that you have a child predator and it makes light of it and both of those are terribly damaging and dangerous. We need to be real about what a child predator is to start with and not take it lightly. And we also need to not have it blamed on our culture.

And Fine Details.

Ann: There were some subleties I don't know if that general public would pick up on, like when he was standing out in front of his new store and trying to make eye contact with each one [of his wives] without being too out there about it. That is something we can appreciate.

Priscilla: I appreciate the scene where they had the children and family all around one table. It portrayed a little more reality to it. Because in our family groups the children definitely love one another and family time is superior. It is not something they begrudge.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." This is an excerpt from a conversation that included members of Centennial Park, a fundamentalist Mormon community at the Utah/Arizona border.
The second episode of "Big Love" airs Sunday.

On Relationships: The women

Marlyne Hammon: As women choose this lifestyle they become more like that first wife, more understanding, more willing to work with people and include them in their lives and giving of them. That is part of our goal, to become more like that.

People do suffer jealousies, we're all human, but when we buy into this you work with that with yourself. So you become more loving and kind and understanding of people around you.

Joyce Steed: In terms of jealousy, the human race is the human race and within our culture and outside our culture it runs the full spectrum. You have situations where someone comes into a family, it doesn't work, it's horrible and they leave the family. And you have other situations where they wouldn't have it any other way. We have gray-haired ladies who wouldn't live any other way.

—————

Marlyne: Boss lady, that is not how it is.

Ann Wright: That would turn into a problem. She is having problems anyway and that is not going to help her.

Marlyne: It got me where the three ladies are sitting around talking like he's a toy, bartering. Like he didn't have any say.

Priscilla Hammon: You have to have something deeper in your family. I don't see this family as ever being able to make it if their only thing is where the husband sleeps at night.

Ann: The whole idea that sex is just for recreation — we don't think of sex along those terms. There probably are people out there who think along those terms but we think of it as procreation, what it was given for and it's not a light issue, and certainly not something to be made fun of.

Joyce: It is overemphasized. In any marriage or relationship, how much of your life and relationship and family do you spend thinking about and worrying about sex? In reality, when you have jobs and kids, you worry about family.

We gathered a few people together to see what they thought of the premiere episode of HBO's new series "Big Love." This is an excerpt from a conversation that included members of Centennial Park, a fundamentalist Mormon community at the Utah/Arizona border.
The second episode of "Big Love" airs Sunday.

On Relationships: The men

Joyce Steed: The men in our culture, I just have the greatest respect and appreciation for them because they absolutely have a huge job and they do well.

And they are able to love and be kind to people and try to bring them together. The little bit I saw [of that in the show,] I kind of appreciated that. He was obviously appreciative of his family, admiring his family and things like that.

Alma Hammon: ...I appreciated some of the main points of the problems in the family with the ladies and his side of it. I thought he did well. They portrayed that to a degree somewhat accurate because some of the men are pulled this way and that way and we are very busy with our jobs and our lives.

And trying to govern a family like that and trying to make it all work. When there is a problem with one lady or another or a child, it is a pull, a drain on the men to try help fix that and sometimes you can't fix it, sometimes you have to work it out and let time heal and go on.

They were pretty close in some of that there.

..........

Priscilla Hammon: We know for a fact that a man is absolutely capable — just like a mother can love more than one child in her life — a man can love more than one woman and he may even love them in different ways because they have different personalities.

And that is something as women, as you begin to mature in this principle, you start to understand that. He is never going to see you as someone else, because you're you.

But everyone brings so many talents to the family and lends in their own individual way that that's where the dynamics of the family become something so valued by us. Everyone is bringing to the table something that they personally can lend, and it may be something totally different than the woman sitting next to you.

Mark Timpson: It kind of centers around the man in a sense, that you can have hell on wheels with a certain man, or bring another man into the conversation with ladies and it will be heaven on earth. If men allow the natural man to dominate and rule and they encourage that among their ladies, they are going to have hell on wheels.

But if they engage the women in higher principles, in a higher way of living and thinking, and create a situation where they are not pitting one woman against another and not encouraging one woman to be jealous of another and engaging that women for her gifts and benefits and enrolling her in the greater family ideal. . . In my opinion, it kind of centers around the man and his ability to do that.

For years, outsiders whispered about what might be inside a cavern on a hillside overlooking the polygamous community of Hildale, Utah.

Of course, nobody in the town, home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was talking.

So rumor took over. Tucked away behind two fake silos, the cave was said to hold a cache of weapons. Assault rifles and such.

Bruce Wisan decided to find out.

Wisan is the court-appointed special fiduciary overseeing the United Effort Plan Trust, which holds virtually all property in Hildale and the adjoining town of Colorado City, Ariz.

Last week, Wisan visited the cavern and asked an officer with the Colorado City/Hildale town marshall's office to unlock the gate to the cave. He brought along several Washington County Sheriff's deputies, including a bomb expert.

Just in case.

Deputy Helaman Barlow believed Wisan needed a court order and refused to let him and the others enter the cavern.

A "conversation" ensued and went back and forth, on and on, for about an hour. Just as Wisan's bunch was about to bust the lock off the gate, Barlow relented.

So what was inside?

Some commercial grade dynamite, all properly stored and tagged by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A couple bathrooms with running water.

A lot of bulk food storage.

And shelves of dusty jars of bottled fruit.

"It was pretty Plain Jane," Wisan said. "There is really nothing in the caverns."

The dynamite belongs to a local contractor and is perfectly proper, Wisan said.

"It got the 'Good Housekeeping' seal of approval," he said.

One mystery solved and one message sent about Wisan's right to see whatever he wants to see.

A New York company is offering tours of locations featured in HBO's hit series "The Sopranos."

(On Location Tours) charges $40 for the tour, which stops by Bada Bing (a strip club that is actually called Satin Dolls), the storefront of Satriale's and 38 other Sopranos locales, according to an Associated Press story. See Tony's pork store hangout! the company promises. Sit on the steps of the diner where Chris was shot!

About 20,000 people have gone for the ride over the past five years.

Let's see. This times that equals $800,000. Wow.

At a public forum a couple weeks ago in Salt Lake City, someone suggested Utah's polygamous communities set up a village in a southern Utah town with a plural family home, restaurant and other attractions. It's something to think about, now that HBO's new series "Big Love" is out and rolling along.

The reaction from one plural wife?

"Well, we can cook," she said.

The tour's hot spots also might include The Beehive House, where LDS Church president Brigham Young lived with some of his plural wives; the suburban neighborhood where the series was shot; a drive past the strip mall near Fort Union shown in the first episode and, of course, a trip to southern Utah to see the twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City, where tourists could see, among other things, the schoolhouse where residents gathered to pray and sing as Arizona authorities staged the infamous 1953 raid on polygamists.

One of the best parts of the Sunday New York Times is the style section - and in particular, the Vows page and its glorious write-ups of weddings and celebrations from around the country.

On this Sunday, it appeared on page 13 of Section 9. There was a story on Herman Atkins and Machara Hogue, chronicling how justice and true love prevailed after he was wrongly imprisoned for 12 years.

The Vows line-up included Caroline Wong and Brett McGurk; and Lauren Terrazzano and Al Baker; and Barbara Dutton and Bill Henrickson; Nicolette Grant and Bill Henrickson; and Margene Hoffman and Bill Henrickson.

Wait a second.

Ha ha ha. In one of the most clever ads I've ever seen, HBO pulled a quickie on readers of the wildly popular page by featuring fictitious Vows ads, complete with cutsie coupled-up photos, for the characters in its new series about a polygamous family, "Big Love."

There it was, just above the trio of announcements, in tiny print: advertisement.

A sample: "Barbara Dutton and Bill Henrickson are due to be married this evening in Sandy, Utah.

The bride and groom, both 43, graduated from Brigham Young University, where they met.

Miss Dutton is a substitute schoolteacher in the Sandy School District, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah."

It goes on, once, twice, three times, with each "Vows" write-up giving particulars about the bride and groom. Turns out Barb's dad works as a pagination manager for the Deseret Morning Star. Hmm. Which local newspaper is that?

Nikki's dad is head of the United Effort Brotherhood. And Margene's mom is a cashier at the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

During a press tour in January, the creators of the new HBO series "Big Love" revealed the sources they used for their story line.

Mark V. Olsen said they ''actually had the nerve to drive, very quickly, through Colorado City,'' the Arizona border town that is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.



Olsen went on to say it was ''scary, scary. We drove in, chickened out and drove right out again.''

The FLDS are the obvious prototype for the Juniper Creek community in the series.

Olsen also said they relied on a ''great magazine out there'' called Mormon Focus. ''The first cover issue shows, virtually, this family -- the suburban integrated polygamist family. So it's not a concoction.''

Actually, only a single issue of Mormon Focus was ever published. But I agree: It offered a fascinating look into the polygamous life.

So how does the family portrayed in that one-and-only issue feel about being the prototype for ''Big Love's'' Henricksons?

Great, the husband and one of his three wives said this week. Very proud.

----
From an entirely different perspective: Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General's Office, is as curious as everyone else about the approach ''Big Love'' will take, though he doesn't expect it to offer commentary on the state's approach to polygamy or influence its activities.

''My guess is 'The Sopranos' had no effect on the way the justice system investigated the Mafia,'' Murphy said.