I heard today that the first parenting class for the FLDS mothers begins Friday. I still have not seen a curriculum. Have you?

I did receive an email from a reader who suggested that since Bruce D. Perry helped shape the classes, the content might look something like this (information taken from Perry's Web site):


"Understanding Traumatized and Maltreated Children" is a seven-part series featuring Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. and hosted by Art Linkletter. Comprehensive information is presented by Dr. Perry on the primary problems facing maltreated children and dynamic approaches for effective caregiving for professionals and lay people alike.

"The Six Core Strengths for Healthy Childhood Development" is also a seven-part series featuring Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. Each program focuses on a key skill and ways to help children acquire that skill, critical to healthy child development: Attachment, Self Regulation, Affiliation, Attunement, Tolerance and Respect.

I say the ''FLDS Five'' because what happens to Warren Jeffs is less of a question at the moment. So let's consider the Five.

Now that we know the names of the men indicted earlier this month by the Schleicher County grand jury it is possible to add more pieces to the prosecution puzzle.

Two men, Michael Emack and Allen Keate, were identified back in April as having fathered children with underage girls.

Remember the chaotic two-day hearing in San Angelo? A Texas Ranger was asked to read aloud from a Bishop’s Record names, dates and ages that connected older men to girls who gave conceived children when they were minors.

Several of those young mothers were among the witnesses called before the Schleicher County Grand Jury in June and again in July. But it is likely that the state relied on evidence other than witness testimony to get the panel to issue indictments.

That evidence would include photographs, marriage records, Bishop’s Records, birth certificates and DNA tests.

Why do I think that?

Because during the July grand jury hearing, each witness spent 10 to 20 minutes meeting with the panel in the morning session -- not long enough to answer more than the most basic questions. I am guessing they had little to say. Walther arrived at the courthouse at noon and some women were called before the judge again, this time accompanied by attorneys, later in the afternoon.

My take at the time was that some of the women were about to be charged with contempt. That did not happen.

All of the witnesses have been given summons to return in August. Why? Would that be necessary if the women had provided information used in this round of indictments? Are they linked to other men or information? Or is contempt lurking as a possibility?

What do you think about this? WWJD posted it over on AG's statement but curious to hear your thoughts on it:


There's this thing nagging at the back of my brain that keeps me from jumping in and judging the organization as a whole rather than thinking it's a few bad apples within the organization.

This group is as conformist as they come. They conform down to the nitty gritty details like braiding their hair a certain way and wearing a precise style of dress. Obedience to the teaching of their religion and obedience to Jeffs is not questioned by those in the group. Those outside the group are outside because they did not obey or conform in some way.

When Jeffs told men to leave their families they packed up and left their families. When he told women to pack up their children and be reassigned to another man they did just that. Pack up and move to the Texas scrub to toil at hard labor in the hot Texas sun and they did it.

The reason I'm hesitant to believe it is a mandate of the church to marry girls at 13, 14, or 15 rather than the independent act of some of the members is that if it were a mandate of the religion there would be no 'single' girls in that age group. The obedience is so rigid that all these girls would be married. That is not the case . . . there are some but the numbers seem to point to it being the exception rather than the rule.

I just think if it were a commandment from Jeffs or a teaching of their church they would obey just like they obey everything else and it would be the rule rather than the exception.

That's a major sticking point for me.

Now, for something different . . . this was in my email this morning.


Biological Fathers Not Necessarily the Best, Social Dads Parent Well too
Men who marry a child’s mother parent just as well, if not better than biological fathers

Madison, WI, July 30, 2008: A large number of U.S. children live or will live with a ''social father,'' a man who is married to or cohabiting with the child's mother, but is not the biological father. A new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family examined differences in the parenting practices of four groups of fathers according to whether they were biologically related to a child and whether they were married to the child's mother. Researchers found that married social fathers exhibited equivalent or higher quality parenting behaviors than married and cohabiting biological fathers.

Furthermore, whereas married and cohabiting biological fathers displayed relatively similar quality parenting, the parenting practices of married social fathers were of higher quality than those of cohabiting social fathers. Married social fathers were more engaged with children, took on more shared responsibility in parenting, and were more trusted by mothers to take care of children.

Led by Lawrence M. Berger, PhD, MSW, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, participants were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal study of children born in 20 large U.S. cities in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Sample children were mostly born to unmarried parents and had been followed from birth to approximately age five.

Analyses and regression results from interviews with mothers revealed that they perceived married social fathers to be engaged in relatively high quality parenting practices with the five-year-old children. Most notably, social fathers exhibited significantly higher levels of cooperation in parenting than biological fathers.

''On the whole, our findings suggest that marriage is a better predictor of parenting quality with regard to social fathers than biological fathers,'' the authors conclude. ''Our study is relevant to understanding the quality of parental care that children receive from resident fathers across a range of family configurations that are now commonly experienced by children.''

These questions were posted by Silver under the Texas AG's statement thread and I thought I would pull them out over here:

I've had a few questions on my mind for awhile about polygamy, and I'd like to know what those on this blog who think these questions are worth thinking about have to say. Naturally, I am most interested in hearing from those who believe that polygamy should be legalized, since the answers from those who don't are not complicated.

1.Should there be any legal limit to the number of wives that a man may be married to simultaneously?

2. Say, if he wants to be married to 75 wives, should that be legal?

3. Should legal access to multiple spouses be permitted to both genders?

4. Should a woman be permitted to marry 75 husbands if she wants?

5. And, if 75 women, and 75 men want to marry each other in 1 union, should it be permitted?

6. In states with 50/50 property divide during divorce, does property that 1 person earned after marriage get divided up 150 ways if that 1 person divorces the above union?

7. And in that case, do 150 people have legal access to judicial review to dispute property divide?

Here is the press release sent out by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announcing that five FLDS men indicted last week had turned themselves into authorities.

That is exactly what FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said the men would do, once the sect learned their identities.

''Today the five defendants who were indicted last week in Eldorado, Texas, are under arrest and in custody after surrendering to authorities Monday afternoon at the Schleicher County Sheriff's Office:

--Raymond Merrill Jessop, 36, is charged with one count of sexually assaulting a child, a first-degree felony. He faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison.

--Allan Eugene Keate, 56, is charged with one count of sexually assaulting a child, a first-degree felony. He faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison.

--Michael George Emack, 57, is charged with one count of sexually assaulting a child, a first-degree felony. He faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison.

--Merrill Leroy Jessop, 33, is charged with one count of sexually assaulting a child and bigamy, both first-degree felonies. He faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison on each count.

--Lloyd Hammon Barlow, 38, is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse, a class B misdemeanor. He faces a sentence of up to six months in prison and a fine of $2,000 per count.

''Last week, the district court set bond for each of the felony suspects at $100,000 per charge. The misdemeanor charge carries a $5,000 bond.

''The Schleicher County grand jury also returned a first-degree felony charge against Warren Jeffs, who was indicted for sexually assaulting a child. Jeffs is currently incarcerated in Arizona.

''Today's arrests reflect a nearly week-long effort by the Texas Rangers and the Texas Attorney General's Office to arrange for the defendants' arrest.

''The charges against these defendants resulted from a cooperative effort between the Texas Attorney General's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, the Schleicher County Sheriff’s Department, 51st Judicial District Attorney Steve Lupton, and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Richard B. Roper.''

Here is an article I came across some time ago about the early practice of polygamy within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that is, the BIG church. It focuses on Joseph Smith and his some of his plural marriages.

It seems relevant to bring up right now given the testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the little breakaway sect.

Fifty-three years ago, the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency traveled to Arizona to hold hearings on the ''polygamist community impact on children.'' It was part of a multi-year look at the possible causes of juvenile delinquency; other hearings focused on comic books and television.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, will again consider polygamy though with a broader lens this time: women and children.

The focus of the 1955 hearings was the polygamous sect now known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Today's hearing zeroes in on the same group.

In 1955, the sect was based at the Utah-Arizona stateline in a community known as Short Creek. The hearings were triggered by the 1953 raid on the community staged by Arizona authorities, who took all the women and children into custody and kept them for two years.

Hearings were held in Phoenix on April 28 and May 2, 1955.

The panel heard from the following witnesses:

Mrs. A., an 18-year-old housewife from Short Creek, Ariz.

Former judge David F. Anderson of Utah’s Sixth District.

Bernard T. Caine, Mohave City attorney.

Mrs. F., a housewife from Short Creek, Ariz.

Mrs. F2, a 17-year-old plural wife from Short Creek, Ariz.

J.W. Faulkner, former judge from Mohave City, Ariz., and the judge who presided over the legal proceedings that followed the1953 raid.

Mr. JJ of Short Creek, Ariz.

Milton E. Moody, superintendent of schools for Washington County, Utah.

Mrs. Alphonso Nyborg, wife of the deputy sheriff, Short Creek, Ariz.

Alphonso Nyborg, deputy sheriff of Short Creek, Ariz.

Frank L. Porter, Mohave County sheriff.

Mrs. W., postmistress of Short Creek, Ariz.

Today, the FLDS are upset about not being invited to participate in the senate hearing. In the 1950s, they were upset about being made to participate.

Historian Ken Driggs says the sect members who testified were ''unwilling participants'' who suffered from a ''massive loss of memory.''

I have tried to locate a transcript online but can not find one. I know I have one at home (in Utah) and will share any interesting exchanges I find.

A polygamy advocacy group has denounced Sen. Harry Reid's proposed ''Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act of 2008'' bill. Here is what Principle Voices, based in Salt Lake City, said in a statement released today:


PRINCIPLE VOICES DENOUNCES SEN. REID'S ''Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act of 2008'' bill, because it will not and cannot serve our families in any healthy or meaningful way, but will injure them. While we welcome efforts to raise funds for service providers to provide help and resources to abuse victims (and support the rights of women who desire to leave abusive marriages/situations), we're very concerned about this bill for a number of reasons:

1) Where will the funds come from? Will federal dollars be taken from successful programs already in place, or will it be added to those dollars? If it will add federal dollars to VAWA (Violence Against Women Act), rather than draw from it, for example, we support that.

We do not believe the funds should be specifically targeted to polygamy, since abuse and domestic violence crosses all socio-economic lines. Victims from all parts of society are equally deserving of resources and assistance; many barriers faced by women leaving polygamous marriages or communities are the same barriers women face leaving abusive monogamous marriages or when changing their religious faith .

2) Reid's bill presupposes there are large numbers of women and children waiting to be rescued from polygamy. Not true.

Where there are cases of abuse, or where there are women who may wish to leave a particular family or community, there are already organizations in place to provide assistance and resources. Some victims of abuse do not wish to leave their families, communities, or faith, and services and resources should not be held hostage or made dependent upon a woman's abandonment of her faith or family.

3) There are already organizations in place that have experience working with members of the polygamous culture, and who have striven to build relationships of trust with victims of abuse.

Those organizations, such as the Domestic Violence Hotline, the Family Support Center, the Dove Center (based in St. George), and others, should be supported financially and otherwise; their services are available to all victims throughout society, not specific to polygamy. These organizations have sponsored and organized therapy groups for women involved in polygamy, or women who have left polygamy, and have partnered with Principle Voices to provide culturally-sensitive services and assistance.

4) Reid's bill and his anti-polygamy efforts are not focused on crimes but on a FAMILY ARRANGEMENT. He wants our families/communities treated like organized crime families. Utah and Arizona have both recognized that this type of aggressive prosecution of the practice of polygamy itself is ineffective and creates more harm than it proposes to fix.

Utah and Arizona have pledged to focus their investigative resources on welfare fraud, sex crimes against minors and abuse, NOT on consenting adult relationships and healthy polygamous families where no such crimes exist. Reid is threatening a way of life for all families in the culture, since all families will be targeted regardless of whether or not those families are guilty of anything but a belief in or practice of polygamy. Such aggressive state and federal action in the past served only to send these families underground, which cuts them off from larger society and the benefits of societal interaction, public/private education, social services, etc.

5) If Reid truly cares about women and children in polygamy, then he should HELP them, not hurt them. Driving them underground, casting them out of society and dismantling their families is NOT HELP.

Societal acceptance, openness and interaction is the only way to cultivate healthy families, and reach victims where abuse occurs.

Principle Voices strenuously objects to any effort to characterize our families as anything but what they are: FAMILIES. When Senator Reid, and others, are willing to acknowledge that fact, then and only then, can they truly help anyone from our culture.

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop was apparently handed a subpoena this morning calling him to appear before the Schleicher County Grand Jury.

Jessop was pulled over in Eldorado and handed the summons. He approached media waiting outside the courthouse but would not confirm he has been called as a witness or why he was stopped.

Jessop is in the courthouse now with defense attorneys Richard Wright of Las Vegas and Bob Switzer of San Antonio.

A handful of FLDS women also have been called to testify today.

I am sitting outside the Schleicher County Courthouse once again, trying to piece together what is going on from afar. The word is that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott will be here today. If so, he has not yet arrived.

The panel entered a smaller building a few minutes ago. Apparently, the proceedings will take place in an auxillary building that has air conditioned. Good idea, since it is supposed to be about 100 degrees today.

Alan Futrell, a defense attorney representing Teresa Jeffs is here. So is Richard Wright, the Las Vegas attorney who has assisted with Warren Jeffs' cases in three states.

Speaking of Teresa Jeffs, I stopped by the Tom Green County Courthouse yesterday. Apparently, publicly filed documents are only public if Judge Barbara Walther decides they are. I asked a clerk whether there had been any filings in the FLDS case. Nope, she said. None that Walther has authorized for release.

Actually, a number of motions were filed last week in preparation for a hearing that was supposed to take place Monday involving Teresa and her now well-known attorney Natalie Malonis. Among the documents were responses from two attorneys that Malonis asked to be barred from contact with Teresa, including Futrell. The filings also include the CASA report that detailed three marriages involving underage girls at the YFZ Ranch in 2006.

When I asked specifically about that report, the clerk said that Walther had not authorized its release. Maybe not, but that has not kept it from making its way into the public forum.

Since you brought it up, let's talk about birth ratios and have a little fun with math.

Last summer I asked Pam Perlich, an economist at the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, to help me take a look at population counts in Hildale and Colorado City.

She produced this graphic for me, which shows age ranges and male/female counts based on 2000 Census data. You can click on the graphic to make it more readable.

Why did I want to look at this information? To help me gauge estimates of the numbers of so-called Lost Boys, the teens who have left or been kicked out of the FLDS community. The teens hate the label, by the way.

The estimates have varied widely. The following tallies have all been touted: 200, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1,000 and even 2,000.

Perhaps you see why I find the numbers so confusing.

The time frame over which these teens have left home varies, too. Sometimes there is no time frame at all, leaving the impression they have been freshly turned loose on society. Other times the bracket is ''the past six years'' or since Warren Jeffs took over'' or ''a decade.''

In an Arizona Republic story in 2003, David Bateman, then 19, said he figured 150 young men in his age group were forced out over the previous four years.

In a New York Times story published last year, Shannon Price of the Diversity Foundation, set up by ex-FLDS member Dan Fischer to assist the teens, said 500 to 1,000 teens or young men have left in the past six years.

Does the number matter?

Yes, because government resources (tax dollars) are being directed to legislation, social programs and prosecution on behalf of the teens. The Lost Boys will, no doubt, come up at Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing.

And yes because there are repeated calls for the public to help the teens, such as the ''I Need A Dad'' campaign Fischer and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tried to launch a few years ago on the steps of the Utah Capitol.

And yes because critics attribute the Lost Boy phenomenon to a need to drive out males to reduce the competition for wives. Here is Lauri Allen on that point, from a post she made on my blog:

''Math doesn't lie. Male to female birthrates are 50-50, that's why we have the Lost Boys. In my family's cult, the older patriarchs told the younger men to...''go out in the world and find your wives because we the leaders need to marry the females in our community...'' And the females the older patriarchs married were very, very young.''

The news out of Texas in the past week lends support to that argument.

Here is what Pam Perlich had to say about her analysis: Assuming the ages at which the teens leave is 14-18 and using the time frame April 1, 2000 through Oct. 1, 2007, the maximum possible number of ''evacuees'' would be 902 and the estimated outflow of 400 to 1,000 is too high. She also made these observations.

1. Males outnumber females significantly in the preschool age group, slightly in the 10 to 14 age group and somewhat in the 15 to 19 age group.

2. The age distribution is one of the ''strangest'' population pyramids she has ever seen, more like the 1870 pyramid for Utah.

3. While sex ratio at birth always favors males, the male:female ratio in Hildale/Colorado City is exceptionally high in the 0-5 age range, a result that could simply be a statistical ''outlier'' due to a small population or the result of a higher probability of male births in younger women.

As far as I can tell, there has always been an outflow of boys and some girls from the FLDS community.

Michelle Benward of New Frontiers for Families told me last summer that the No. 1 reason she is given for why the teens have left the community is they do not want to follow the religion or support Warren Jeffs. Reason No. 2 is that they got pressured or kicked out for trivial misdeeds, such as watching unapproved movies.

I have interviewed a dozen or more of these teens and heard similar stories: They left or were asked to leave home after disputes with their parents over clothing, music, movies, girlfriends/boyfriends, money, religion or substance abuse problems.

These are the same reasons teens leave home everywhere else in America, although the tolerance level for nonconforming behavior is far lower and the expectations for conformity much higher in the FLDS community.

Another factor seems to be the decreased emphasis the FLDS place on education, at least in recent years. Many of the teens are working by the time they reach junior high and their families expect them to help out financially. Some teens say that became a point of contention.

In her book focused on the Canadian branch of the FLDS, Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham writes about one teen who left in part because he feared being placed in a marriage with a girl he did not like. I, too, have heard that one.

Elsewhere in society when children are rebellious parents are supposed to deal with it the best they can and not just turn them out on the street. But FLDS parents have been told to cut off their wayward children by their leaders.

There are abandonment and neglect laws that might apply but authorities in Utah and Arizona have not seen fit to use them in the case of Lost Boys because, as Shurtleff has told me, the teens do not want to see their parents hauled into court.

Instead, there are endless appeals to the public to help the teens. And again: How many are we talking about?

It is likely the Census undercounts the population in the twin towns given the FLDS community's reluctance to share household information with the government. But it provides the best numbers we have.

According to the 2000 Census there were 399 boys ages 10 to 14 in the twin towns in 2000. That is the age group most likely to have left over the past eight years.

Assume every single one of those boys, all 399, left. That puts the Lost Boys count in the range of the lowest tally.

But no one claims that every single boy has left town. So how about half? That's 199 teens dribbling out into surrounding communities over the past eight years.

Let's look at one age group, those boys who were 10 in 2000 and who would be 18 today. According to the 2000 Census, there were 78 boys in that age group in the twin towns.

To match some advocates counts, every single one of them would have had to leave home.

I asked a former FLDS member about this mathematical conundrum. He told me that 1,500 men and boys ages 12 and older were at the last priesthood meeting he attended before leaving in 2001. Figure the boys make up two-thirds of that total and you get 1,000 boys of all ages. Cut that figure in half and you are back in the low range of the estimates, spread out over years.

He also suggested I go through a community phone book and count two boys lost from each family listed. I have an old phone book but I have not tried that one yet.

What's your calculation?

Here's the witness list for Thursday's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on "Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response."

The hearing, which falls on Utah's Pioneer Day holiday, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room 226.

Panel I

The Honorable Harry Reid
United States Senator [D-NV]

Panel II

Gregory Brower
United States Attorney
District of Nevada
Las Vegas, NV

Brett Tolman
United States Attorney
District of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

The Honorable Terry Goddard
Attorney General
State of Arizona
Phoenix, AZ

The Honorable Greg Abbott
Attorney General
State of Texas
Austin, TX


Panel III

Stephen Singular, author of "When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back."
Denver, CO

Dr. Daniel Fischer
Sandy, UT

Carolyn Jessop, author of the memoir, "Escape."
West Jordan, UT

Connie Gauwain, guardian ad litem for Teresa Jeffs, has ensured that all the world now knows at least some of the evidence being presented to the Schleicher County Grand Jury, which meets again on Tuesday.

Gauwain filed a report with 51st District Judge Barbara Walther that showed Teresa Jeffs was married by her father to a 34-year-old man a day after the girl turned 15.

Gauwain included photographs, diaries, a dictation by Jeffs, and a marriage record in her report to bolster her view that any attempt by Teresa to have Natalie Malonis removed as her attorney is ill-advised.

The report is dated July 17, but according to news reports was not filed in the Tom Green County Court until late Friday, in preparation for a hearing that was supposed to take place Monday.

Malonis had asked for the hearing so that Teresa could speak directly with Walther about why she wants a new attorney.

That hearing was postponed on Thursday, for reasons no one seems to know.

Nevertheless, a day later Gauwain's report was filed and obviously leaked to the media. The Houston Chronicle, which broke this story, said a court clerk contacted midafternoon on Friday did not know whether the report had been filed.

The newspaper said Malonis confirmed it had been filed.

The Houston Chronicle quotes Malonis as saying: ''I hate that it's come to this but hopefully now my client and I can get our relationship away from public scrutiny and back on track and start going forward.''

Adding to the intrigue about the hearing: According to a court document filed by a defense attorney representing Teresa in the grand jury proceedings, the girl did sent Walther a letter in June asking that Malonis be replaced. Teresa did not, however, ask Malonis to set up a private meeting with the judge, which was the primary purpose of Monday's hearing. Her letter ''should suffice,'' her attorney said in this filing.

The filing also states that any private meeting between the judge and Teresa is riddled with land mines for Teresa, given that she is a witness in the grand jury proceedings and the judge may later preside over any criminal trial that results from those proceedings.

All of that aside, the new revelations show why the criminal and child welfare investigations of the FLDS are ongoing.

A ''dictation'' by Warren Jeffs submitted in Gauwain's report provides astonishing details about Teresa's marriage as well as two others.

Gauwain's report and documents included with it imply that Teresa had an intimate relationship with her ''husband.'' Teresa has publicly denied that.

Even if the marriage was never consummated, Texas authorities appear to have solid evidence that a number of FLDS members participated in her illegal marriage.

Warren Jeffs, of course, heads the list. He presided over the marriage, which took place July 27, 2006, at the YFZ Ranch. That is the same day Warren Jeffs was married to a 13-year-old daughter of Merril Jessop. Leroy Jessop, Merril's son, also was apparently married that day to a minor daughter of Wendell Nielsen and his wife Sally.

Others who would now fall in the scope of the investigation because they were present at these ceremonies or consented to having minor girls married: Annette Jeffs, Teresa's mother; Raymond Jessop, the man who was married to Teresa; Merril Jessop, who also conducted Warren's marriage; Wendell Nielsen; Barbara Jessop and Sally Nielsen, who consented to their minor daughters' marriages.

At the time these marriages took place it was a third degree felony for a parent to consent to a marriage involving a child under the age of 16. Other laws make it a crime to participate in an unlawful marriage.

Here is the applicable section of one law, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2005:

(h) A parent or judicially designated managing conservator or guardian of an applicant commits an offense if the parent, managing conservator, or guardian knowingly provides parental consent under this section for an applicant who is younger than 16 years of age or who is presently married to a person other than the
person the applicant desires to marry. An offense under this subsection is a felony of the third degree.

I learned today that classes for the FLDS parents will start next week. Here is a list of those providing the training:

CFAC Management Co. of San Antonio

Brenda Wilbanks, psychotherapist, of Lubbock

Family & Child Guidance Center of Dallas/Arlington

Family Service Association of San Antonio

Alamo Children's Advocacy Center

Copeland Counseling & Family Services Inc. of Abilene

NEW PROVIDERS ADDED HERE

Tania Green, Austin/Round Rock

Cathy King, Houston Galveston Institute

Joe Mac Jeffers, San Angelo

Yvonne Denise Garcia, San Angelo

Janel M. Voss, San Angelo

I have been told that parents are being given assigned times for classes, but am not sure that is happening for all parents or just some. I have not seen a curriculum yet, either, but have heard one will be available next week.

Here is how the classes were described in May during a status hearing:

''The purpose of the parenting classes are to help educate the parents about the legality of some of the parenting practices that they have had at the YFZ Ranch. And it also is to educate them on appropriate parenting techniques.'' That statement was made by Sandra Hanson, a caseworker for Joseph and William Barlow, who are being raised by Annette Jeffs.

More later.

I spoke today with Custer County Sheriff Fred Jobe and he said he met yesterday with Lee Steed, the main FLDS person at the Westcliffe property, and FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop. There are about 20 people living at the property in Westcliffe, the sheriff said.

Jobe described it as a productive meeting during which both sides shared concerns and fears.

''There are a few people that figure if they are not bothering anybody then fine let them be, but the majority of the citizens seem uncomfortable having them here because of their association with Warren Jeffs,'' the sheriff said.

''We're going to try and work with them,'' Jobe said, describing a mutual sense of fear.

He explained ''some of the fears of the county . . . and fears of what might be coming and they also have fears because they believe there are people in the community that might try to do them harm, and the feeling is mutual.''

Filmmaker Laurie Allen went to Westcliffe, Colo., last week at the invitation of a woman named ''Maura'' who is concerned about the FLDS who have settled there in the small town.

About 250 people came to the local middle school to see Allen's film ''Banking on Heaven.'' A question-and-answer session followed the screening.
Susan Greene, a Denver Post columnist, was there and quoted one man who attend the screening as saying: ''If what happened with these folks in other communities happens here, you can bet we're gonna have a witch hunt, and you can bet it's gonna be big.''
Greene wrote that Allen mocked the sect and purposefully set about agitating her audience. Some who were there said the columnist dramatized what Allen said.
I tried to reach Greene but she did not return my call. I did speak with Allen, so keep reading.

I also spoke with another person who heard about Allen's presentation: Ruth Cooke, an FLDS member who is a key figure in Allen's film. This is the first time that I know of that Cooke has spoken publicly about her role in the film.
Cooke has had a difficult life that includes being abused by her father and, she says, by a husband; she has struggled with mental health problems for years.
In the film, Cooke visits a campsite where she lived for a short while, does cartwheels in front of a grocery story and expresses her outrage at losing custody of her children and the abuse she and other siblings experienced. Her father spent five years in prison on sexual assault charges.

I exchanged emails with Cooke and she told me that Allen had been quite nice to her at first. But Cooke says she was dismayed in the end when she figured out the film's point of view.

''She told me that she was going to do a documentary film,'' Cooke wrote in one email. ''She did tell me that she was not targeting religion. I did make up a lot of poems and songs for her.
''This is what I did think she was going to do her film on,'' Cooke said. ''I also did make beautiful quilts.
''My father was arrested when I was seventeen and I did not see him since that day. Only one day did I talk about him. Laurie Allen did follow me around for about a year, before I did talk about my father.
''When I [saw] a copy of her film, I did tell her that I did not want to be a part of this. She did begin calling me names. She screamed a lot at me. She told me that I was brainwashed and stupid and would never know the difference.
''She told me that she was doing me a favor, because I was brainwashed. . . .

''She wanted me to go on tour with her. I did refuse. I am disgusted with her film. It is the greatest of all embarrassments to me. I do not believe in, nor do I support, abuse in any way. I hope that there are enough people out there that can stop this horrible film woman. What she did to me was abuse . . . Her film is a complete sham and a lie.''

In a separate email, Cooke told me she asked Allen many times to cut her out of the film but Allen refused.
''I was doing OK until she came,'' Cooke said. ''There was people helping me, and when she put the film out they thought I was angry at them. I do not like being blamed for other people's lies.

''I never wanted to be in a film of that nature, and do not feel that it is good for anyone to attack religion.. . . I would be glad if everyone in the world did know I do not agree with what she done to me. I was also ill at that time. I was also being abused but that man is not here any longer and is not a member of my church . . .
''Most of the time when people are abusive, it is taken care of. My father is not alive any more. I wish that I could just put all that behind me, and Laurie Allen is keeping a hurt on top of a hurt.''

When I spoke to this week to Allen, who grew up in the LeBaron group, she acknowledged Cooke's unhappiness with her portrayal but defended the decision to use her in the film.


In our conversation, Allen defended her decision to use an obviously troubled woman in her film.
She described Cooke as an ''epic'' character who was initially very willing to be in the film.
Allen said that when they first met, Cooke was living in Fredonia and later returned to the FLDS community. That is when she asked to be released from the film, Allen said.
''She wants me to take her out of the film and of course it is too late,'' Allen said. ''I did not try to portray her in any bad way, but as a hero.''

Allen said she considers Cooke a ''wonderful woman'' who is ''part of the human wreckage'' of abuse in the FLDS community, someone who is conflicted between what is right and what is wrong, what is real and what is not.
''We did everything we could to help Ruth'' while working with her, Allen said.

Allen also said that her remarks in Westcliffe were mischaracterized by Greene.
She said it was people in her film, not her, who spoke of deformed babies being killed, threats of a government takeover or Jonestown-like mass suicides, incinerators and blood atonement. The film features Elaine Jeffs, a sibling of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs; Carolyn Jessop, who left the sect in 2003 and is on the UEP Trust board; Pam Black, who exited the faith but still lives in the community; Seth Cooke, Ruth's brother and also a UEP Trust board member; and best-selling author Jon Krakauer.

''I didn't say the FLDS were going to do anything bad, it is just that when [people] are not in control of their own lives . . . there is that potential for patriarchs to bark out orders and have them do stupid things,'' she told me.

The film was made in 2006 and the passage of time and current events have provided new perspective on some statements made in the film.
There has been no government takeover, not in Colorado or Texas or Mesquite or wherever else the FLDS have moved. There was no mass suicide. No blood atonement. No incinerator in the temple. There was no violence when Warren Jeffs was arrested or when Texas authorities raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch. The only guns found were at the ranch: five or so hunting rifles, locked in a safe.

But Allen thinks the potential is still there. Greene quoted the filmmaker as making the following remark about the FLDS:
''They have no regard for their life. If their prophet tells them to kill your children, they'll do it. Don't underestimate them.''
That's the sort of comment that leads Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney who has represented the sect, to say Allen is engaged in ''the same kind of hate speech that led to the raid in Texas.
''It's outrageous to the point of being slanderous,'' he said.

Allen is undaunted in her campaign to fight polygamy. She later posted several comments responding to Greene's column about her appearance in Colorado. Here is an excerpt:
''Unlike the residents of Eldorado who profiteered when the FLDS moved in, the residents of Westcliffe are taking a stand against the Taliban in America.
''After the screening of my film, I spoke about my personal experiences and observations growing up in polygamy. I talked about why polygamy doesn't work, and discussed the inherent abuses. I spoke about the Old Testament, and why I don't believe polygamy is a Christian practice.''

I have heard from several readers who said I incorrectly stated in a story about a lawsuit filed against the UEP Trust that advisory board member Don Timpson has never been a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Technically, that is true but I could have made it more clear that he does have ties to what was known as ''The Priesthood Work,'' or simply ''The Work,'' before a split in the 1980s that led part of the community to settle in nearby Centennial Park, Ariz.

The FLDS church was officially incorporated in 1991, so Don never belonged to that church.

What I should have said was that with the exception of board member Robert Huddleston, all of the board members currently or formerly lived in the community and have ties to the FLDS.

I have posted this overview of the board before, but it is worth repeating given the renewed focus on the trust. Here is a list of the advisory board members:

Katie Cox is the owner of Southwest Nursery in Hildale and former plural wife whose late husband Don was among those who sued the UEP Trust in the 1980s.

Seth Cooke is a contractor who lives in Cane Beds, Ariz., a nearby community, but grew up in Short Creek and was part of the community until he participated in the 1980s lawsuit against the UEP.

Carolyn Jessop, a former plural wife of Merril Jessop (bishop at the YFZ Ranch) who left the sect in 2003 and has written about her experiences in her memoir ''Escape.'' She lives in the Salt Lake Valley.

Don Timpson, an educator who works at Mohave Community College, lives in Colorado City and was also a plaintiff in the first UEP Trust fight. He is now a member of the fundamentalist Mormon group based in Centennial Park, Ariz., known as ''The Work of Jesus Christ.''

Deloy Bateman, a science teacher who works at El Capitan School in Colorado City, ex-FLDS member and brother-in-law of Dan Fischer, who has funded lawsuits against the FLDS. He lives in Colorado City, Ariz.

Margaret Cooke, an ex-FLDS member who left in 1994 with seven of her eight children.

Robert Huddleston, a former president of Dixie State College who lives in St. George.

The official notice of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on polygamy was issued yesterday. Here it is:

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on ''Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response'' for Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Senator Whitehouse will preside.

By order of the Chairman

Sixteen FLDS members who once lived and/or worked at the Harker Farm in Beryl, Utah, have filed a lawsuit objecting to Bruce R. Wisan's plan to sell the farm.

The lawsuit, quietly filed July 10 in 5th District Court in Iron County, claims the plaintiffs contributed labor, built homes and worked at the farm under the belief they would be able to do so for the rest of their lives.

They want the right to continue to live and work there or to be compensated for their contributions if Wisan goes ahead with plans to sell the farm, which has been operated by members of the polygamous sect since the 1950s.

Wisan forced a sheriff's sale of the farm last year and then successfully bid $4.3 million for it to satisfy an $8.8 million judgment against former UEP Trustees. He planned to sell it for $5.5 million to two grandsons of the farm's founder.

Plaintiffs named in the new lawsuit include:

Ammon Parley Harker
Benjamin Harker
Brigham Zitting Jeffs
Craig D. Roundy
Ephraim Carl Holm
Fred Christopher Peine
Ivan Michael Harker
James Jessop Harker
Joseph Elmo Carlisle
Leroy Dale Holm
Leroy John Harker
Nathan Jessop
Robert Harker Jeffs
Stanley Robert Harker
Frank Tilton Johnson Jr.
William Cook Ream

Notably missing: Joseph and Stephen Harker, who were running the farm right before Wisan seized it last year.

Third District Judge Denise Lindberg refused to hold a hearing on a request for temporary restraining order that would have block any effort to evict FLDS members from homes in the twin cities.

The judge said that any such proceedings will be taken up in 5th District Court, which covers Hildale, Utah, and by association Colorado City, Ariz.

But another item in the filing yesterday on behalf of the FLDS caught my eye. It has to do with the crime rate in the twin cities. Here it is:

''Another item of grave concern to the Twin Cities and Twin Citizens is the dramatic increase in the violent crime rate in the community since the appointment of the fiduciary. It has been reported by the Marshal's Office that since the appointment of the fiduciary violent crimes have increased dramatically.

Sex crimes are up 80 percent, assaults are up 85 percent, burglaries are up 57 percent, disorderly conduct is up 62 percent and trespassing is up 73 percent.''

Hmmm. I bet you could attribute some of that, trespassing and disorderly conduct at least, to the media invasion in the twin towns since 2005.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid is organizing a hearing July 24 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to gather evidence for a federal crime investigation into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hearing does not show up on the committee's schedule, but I hear it is definitely on.

Reid hopes to show the FLDS are an organized crime syndicate that has engaged in bribery, extortion, fraud, embezzlement, witness tampering, labor violations, etc.

He wants the Department of Justice to go after the FLDS for such crimes as part of a RICO investigation.

I have been told that witnesses being lined up by Reid include:

Stephen Singular, author of ''When Men Become Gods,'' about the FLDS.

Pennie Peterson, a former FLDS member who says she ran away from her home in Short Creek in 1983 at age 14 because she was about to be married to an older man.

Dan Fischer, a former FLDS member and Utah businessman who has funded lawsuits against the sect.

Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General.

Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General.

I asked Stephen Singular about the hearing.

He told me he first spoke with Reid in mid-May and the senator ''indicated a very strong intention to get something started and that is why he asked me to write a 10-page letter about potential FLDS crimes, essentially allegations at this time.''

Singular said Reid gave that document to certain people in Congress, including Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, and John Conyers, D-Michigan, both members of the Judiciary Committee.

Texas officials are still trying to get parenting classes for FLDS parents off the ground.

I corresponded with Marleigh Meisner over the past day and learned some new information. Bruce Perry and Christine Dobson of The ChildTrauma Academy in Houston are doing the orientation and training the parenting class providers.

Bruce Perry, you may remember, testified during the two-day hearing in April, in which 51st District Judge Barbara Walther decided there was enough evidence of abuse to keep 440 FLDS children in custody. (The number of children was higher then because the state considered 24 adults to be children.)

Two higher courts later found she was wrong in that assessment.

During his testimony, Perry said it was inadvisable to separate children 5 or younger from their mothers.

He praised FLDS mothers as loving and respectful of their children but said they had created an unhealthy, ''authoritarian'' environment at the ranch. That environment puts the children at risk of impeded brain development, he said.

He focused on underage marriages as a problem, saying ''young girls who are 14, 15 or 16 are not emotionally mature enough to enter into healthy sexual relationships'' and said FLDS children are allowed only limited choices.

Perry has worked with children from the Branch Davidian sect, which was decimated in a 1993 FBI raid that killed 76 people, 21 of them children.

She said the department still does not have specifics about when the classes will begin or who will teach them but a confirmed list of providers will be available soon.

Meisner initially told me that the classes were going to be individualized, that is, one on one. She clarified that later and said that ''there is no actual requirement that the parenting classes be one-on-one. There may be some instances where there are only one or two families living in a given area so in specific instances there may only be a small number of parents attending.''

That makes sense, since there are about 150 parents waiting to complete the classes that consist of two separate four-hour sessions.

Since fundamentalist Mormons are, well, all about the fundamentals, perhaps this will be of interest.

The Smith-Pettit Foundation has just published The Parallel Book of Mormon: the 1830, 1837 and 1840 Editions by Joseph Smith, author, proprietor and translator.

Curt Bench of Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City wrote the introduction to the book, which includes the three editions of the Book of Mormon introduced during Joseph Smith's lifetime.

Curt will talk about the book next Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the bookstore, 3269 S. Main St., Ste. 250, in Salt Lake City.

A press release issued by the store says the early editions are reproduced unchanged from the original texts. The volume is pricey: $67.50, and only 750 are being printed.

Bruce Wisan, overseer of the United Effort Plan Trust, is having trouble collecting taxes again.

It has been a perennial problem in Short Creek, the old and still well-used name for the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Most residents are FLDS members.

Jessop was the long-time bishop of the community. He was much loved and had his hand in everything, from the zoo to the health clinic.

Jessop talked about tax collections in a deposition he gave in 1989 as part of a lawsuit filed by residents who had been kicked out of their homes on trust land. The deposition is included in Elissa Wall's civil lawsuit against the UEP, in which she is seeking damages for her 2001 marriage at age 14.

Here is Jessop explaining tax collections:

Attorney Jeff Swinton: How often does Truman Barlow give you money for the payment of taxes?

Fred Jessop: Three times a year.

Swinton: You tell him how much you need?

Jessop: Yes.

Swinton: And he gives you that much?

Jessop: He gives me what he has. I don't recall that it has ever been enough.

Swinton: Where have you gotten the rest of the money if it hasn't been enough?

Jessop: From church funds.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a four-point statement today in response to Principle Voices:

1. This story once again illustrates the need for transparency and clarity on this issue.  The general public associates the word ''Mormon'' with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as in Mormon missionaries, Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Mormon temple.
They become confused, as our research clearly demonstrates, when they see media reports about so-called ''Mormon fundamentalists'' or ''Mormon polygamous groups.''

2. In particular, the FLDS group adopted the name Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as recently as 1991, having been known by various other names after it originated in 1930, a full century after Joseph Smith established the first church to carry the name Latter-day Saint and the unofficial nickname, ''Mormon.''

3. We will continue to try to bring some clarity to this issue so people will understand that those practicing polygamy are in no way affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as the Mormon Church.

4. More information on this topic can be found at www.newsroom.lds.org.

The Principle Voices Coalition is taking on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over its recently launched campaign to distinguish itself from fundamentalist Mormons.

The coalition issued a statement today that says:

''The Principle Voices Coalition has learned that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has sent a letter to media outlets asking that the term ''fundamentalist Mormon'' not be used. In the recent past, the Church has insisted that we instead be defined as ''polygamous sects,'' even though most of us are not (and do not refer to ourselves as) polygamists.

We strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing. Fundamentalist Mormons have been referred to by that name since the 1930s, often by the Church itself. We are proud of our Mormon heritage. Plural marriage is only one of the tenets of our religion, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith.

Ironically, the LDS Church has been justifiably uncomfortable with repeated assertions by members of some Christian denominations that Latter-day Saints are not Christians. In many ways, we consider ourselves to be adherents to Mormonism (and Christianity) no less than were Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor. What distinguishes us from the modern, mainstream Church is that we have endeavored to observe the original, fundamental precepts of the restored Gospel, while the Church itself has, since the early 1900s, repudiated several of them.''

The coalition's statment was signed by independent fundamentalist Mormons, the Apostolic United Brethren, the Davis County Cooperative Society and The Work of Jesus Christ (Centennial Park).

Two weeks ago, the LDS Church launched a campaign to distinguish itself from polygamous sects, particularly the FLDS. The LDS Church said the campaign was necessary because of public confusion over the relationship between the polygamous sect and the mainstream Mormon Church.

The church put it plainly: There is no connection.

But the various sects and independents who adhere to the original principles of Mormonism say they do share a common heritage and should be allowed to define themselves.

In late May as Texas Judge Barbara Walther struggled with how to reunite FLDS children and their parents, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff gave a deposition that explained why his office targeted the FLDS in the first place.

Shurtleff was subpoenaed in the M.J. case, the civil lawsuit brought by Elissa Wall against the United Effort Plan Trust for damages she claims from her 2001 marriage.

Brothers Roger and Greg Hoole have put together a massive memorandum as part of keeping the case alive in court. They collected statements from 24 people as part of the filing, including Carolyn Jessop, Winston Blackmore, Sam Brower, Elissa Wall and Louis Bistline. They also subpoenaed nine FLDS members but got little beyond ''I will take the Fifth on that.''

Shurtleff gave the deposition on May 30 at his office in the Utah State Capitol Complex.

Shurtleff, who is currently recovering from leg surgery, gets deposed a few times a year, according to a spokesman.

He explained that in late 2001 or early 2002, his office began looking at ''child bride marriages,'' related crimes against children, domestic violence and ''in time, welfare fraud and potential incest.''

Shurtleff said he met with an FLDS contigent on Aug. 21, 2002, at the state Capitol. The meeting was requested by Utah Sen. Tom Hatch, whose district includes Hildale. Others at the meeting included the town mayors (at the time, that would have been Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow and Hildale Mayor David Zitting); investigators Ron Barton and Jay Pusey; and FLDS attorneys Max Wheeler and Rod Parker.

The state was just getting ready to prosecute Rodney Holm for marrying Ruth Stubbs when she was 16 and he was 32.

Shurtleff said his office pursued the case after then-Washington County Attorney Eric Ludlow declined. Ludlow is now a judge in southern Utah.

He told the group his office did not plan to prosecute consenting adults for bigamy. Child marriages were another matter.

Shurtleff said he told the contigent that his office had gathered evidence that the sect was marrying girls as young as 13 to older men.

''And they interrupted me. And, again, I don't know which one it was, but I was — and it wasn't the lawyers, but it was those representatives of The Work (the FLDS) who jumped right in and said, that doesn't happen. They said, first of all, nobody is forced to marry anybody.''

Shurtleff said a discussion then ensued about the principle of free agency, a Mormon concept that holds each individual has the free will to make choices in life.

The attorney general said the FLDS man, whose name he couldn't remember, told him the sect strongly believes in free agency.

''Everybody has their free agency. Every girl has their free agency. They choose to marry,'' Shurtleff recounted.

Shurtleff said that did little to alleviate his concerns because a number of people who'd left the sect at that point said free choice really was not an option.

''And then they said: 'When it comes to anybody under 16, we will work with you. We will provide help to you if that occurs. If somebody underage marries . . . under 16 . . . we will be there to cooperate with you because that's not allowed.''

Shurtleff went on to say that he did not believe the denials of such marriages and told the FLDS so.

''I didn't think they were forthcoming or truthful at all,'' Shurtleff said.

The conversation then shifted to marriages involving girls 16 or older, such as Stubbs.

''When it came to the 16-year-old marriages, they were arguing that that was a gray area in the law, that because you could get married at 16 with parental consent in Utah, why would we be prosecuting unlawful sex with the husband in a marital relationship that was approved by the parents,'' he said.

''And I told them, that is not a gray area and we are going to prosecute those cases.''

Maybe you get what you wanted, maybe you stumble upon it, everything you ever wanted, in a permanent state. From ''White Shadows'' by Coldplay.

On this Fourth of July, as we celebrate Independence, I am also giving thanks for the First Amendment and all that it offers me as a journalist.

And I am giving thanks for a great working partnership, which is where Trent comes in.

He is the guy behind the camera on my polygamy stories, always watching for that one moment that shows you what happened and sometimes what doesn't happen, which you know if you've looked at his blog .

True partnerships are rare in journalism: Woodward & Bernstein. James Steele and Donald Bartlett. Dana Priest and Anne Hull. All writers, teaming up together to get the story. Even less frequent is the writer/photographer combo.

I asked one of my editors if she could think of any well-known reporter/photographer teams in journalism and she drew a blank. National Geographic? she suggested. Maybe. But we're talking about daily journalism. Sure, we team up all the time for projects and short-term stories, but on a beat?

And that is why I appreciate Trent so much.

We've been on the story together since the creation of the polygamy beat at the Tribune and it has been a pleasure. We have followed the story from Canada to Nevada to Arizona and Texas and yes, two weeks in St. George.

His stamina, curiosity and enthusiasm for the story matches mine.

Often, fundamentalists have directed their scriptural explanations at him, and I have taken up the listening role. There's a tip for all you young journalists out there: Be willing to trade roles with the photographer. Sometimes they hear what you don't when you are busy writing and thinking about your next question.

We have spent six weeks in Texas since April 4, enduring the wind, the scramble, the put-offs, the shut-downs, the bad hotels, the bad food, the good food (love the steak at Zentner's Daughter and everything at the River Cafe), the bad tips and, yes, every now and then, the breakthroughs and successes in getting the story.

Back in May, when we were in Texas for the FLDS hearings and then the court rulings, the frustration and long days just about overwhelmed us both, luckily at different moments. The story was mainly unfolding inside the Tom Green County Courthouse at that point. For a photographer, it was a nightmare.

There are only so many pictures you can take of Willie Jessop making statements in front of a court house and feel good about it. Trent took to taking pictures of dumpsters; strangers; whatever.

One day he told me had his bags packed and was ready to go home, now. Discouragement nagged at Trent, but he kept pace with the situation and a day later it was his turn to keep me from spiraling down as endured a two-hour wait at YFZ Ranch gate for an interview.

My children are grown, but Trent's are still young. It's a real sacrifice for him to be way from home so much. I have listened in more than once as he has helped his sons through a homework problem, a computer fix and celebrated from afar whatever is going on in their lives while he is on the road. His wife has spent much of the spring and summer as a solo parent, a long-distance booster and reality check.

The bonus: He is a superb, world-class photographer. But you already know that.

So Trent, here's to you: A public toast and hoping you get everything you want in a permanent state, which sounds perfect for a photographer and a human being.

With all the action in Texas, I have not had time to check in with Bruce Wisan and the latest goings-on with the United Effort Plan Trust.

The trust holds virtually all the property in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the traditional homebase of the FLDS. Wisan has been managing the trust since May 2005, after several lawsuits were filed against it and the FLDS failed to respond.

It has been a mostly silent standoff ever since, with the FLDS choosing to have as little to do with Wisan as possible. In April, just as Texas took off like a tornado, Wisan sent residents a letter saying that he would be collecting a $100 a month fee to cover city improvements and legal costs.

He said the raid helped scare a few more people into making the initial payments. But many have chosen to ignore the fee demand. On Saturday, Wisan had Andrew Chatwin, an ex-FLDS member who lives in Hildale, post 57 notices of homes throughout the community telling the delinquent residents to pay up or expect eviction. They have until July 15.

Wisan desperately needs the funds. The trust has no money, a mounting pile of unpaid bills and no money to get street, sewer and water upgrades done.

Wisan told me this afternoon that the trust is owed $384,000 in unpaid assessments. The first round of ''pay-up'' notices went to those who have made no payments. Many people have paid just one or two assessments.

''I think the people are hard-pressed for money,'' Wisan said. The economic in St. George, which is heavily weighted toward construction, is ailing.

And everything from gas to milk is costing a fortune these days. ''It is a stretch,'' he said.

Wisan also said he has been told that FLDS leaders have told members they will have to help cover millions in legal bills in Texas. He did not say what his source is for the information.

Most, if not all, of the attorneys assisting the sect women are working pro bono. But undoubtedly there are other legal costs.

A petition aimed at giving a pat on the back to Texas authorities who raided a polygamous sect in April has struggled to find supporters.

The ''Support Texas in Taking FLDS Children'' went up on April 22 and, as of Sunday, had collected 265 electronic signatures. The goal is 10,000, according to the petition.

The online petition also asks the FLDS church and its backers to ''stop participating in and supporting child abuse.''

''Honestly, all we wanted to do . . . was to show the people that were in charge there were people who supported them,'' said Annette Jessop, a former ex-FLDS member. ''A lot of it was just getting our voice out there. And then when the kids got sent back, it was like what good would it do now?

''We haven't done anything with it because it died on the vine, as it were,'' she said.

It was posted seven days after a ''Free The Innocent FLDS'' petition went up at the same public site. That petition, which gathered 1,000 signatures in five days, and 2,625 as of June 2, criticized the global removal of 440 FLDS children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in early April.

The pro-Texas petition was created by Jessop, her husband Bob, and Annette's brother, Darrel Blackmore. Annette and Darrel are siblings of Carolyn Jessop, who wrote about leaving the sect in her book ''Escape.''

Many comments were made before the children were returned to their parents in June. The reunifications came after two Texas courts ruled the state had insufficient evidence of abuse to keep them in custody.

Criminal and child welfare investigations into the sect continues, however.

The petition demands constitutional rights for the FLDS children and says that ''all children have the right to grow up in a safe environment'' and that signatories ''condemn anyone that uses religious freedom as a guise to perpetrate abuse on children.'' It challenges FLDS members to stop supporting Warren S. Jeffs, leader of the group. Jeffs is currently serving two five-to-life sentences for rape related to a marriage he conducted in 2001.

Elissa Wall, whose marriage led to Jeffs' conviction, is among those who signed the petition and left a comment.

On April 23, Wall wrote a lengthy comment that included this: ''No one wants to see children taken from their parents but sadly it had to be done to protect the children. I hope and pray for the FLDS that they can be honest and begin to work with Texas as they begin to fix something that has become a major problem.''

Flora Jessop, an ex-FLDS member and executive director of the Child Protection Project in Arizona, on April 22 praised Texas as being the ''first state with the guts to address the wide spread systemic abuses perpetrated against children within the FLDS.''

Utah and Arizona, Jessop wrote, ''have fostered a quiet political and religious protection of the FLDS for a hundred years and as a result Texas now has the burden of 437 abused children. God Bless Texas.''

Others who added their names include a who's who of those who have spoken out against polygamous sects: Elaine Tyler, director of The HOPE Organization in St. George; Victoria ''Vicky'' Prunty, a co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy who now lives in California; Sherri Michel-Singer, executive director of the St. George-based DOVE Center; Carolyn Jessop, an ex-FLDS member whose book about leaving the sect is a best-seller; and Laura Chapman, a former FLDS member who lives in Colorado.

''These children deserve equal protection from the state,'' Chapman wrote on April 24. ''A chance for a real education, and to fall in love and marry someone their own age.''

Texas Child Protective Services is conducting interviews with FLDS mothers and some attorneys say their clients are being told the questioning is a prelude to closing out some cases. And perhaps zeroing in on others.

What do investigators want to know? They are asking, of course, about specific allegations in each case -- broken bones, for instance.

They also are going through this uniform list of questions:

1. Who is currently living in your house? (names and ages)

2. Who lived in your building/house at the ranch? (names and ages)

3. How do you discipline your children?

4. How old to you think a child needs to be care for a younger child? Do other children in the family have responsibility for potty training or discipline?

5. What adjustment issues have you experienced since your children have been home? Have there been any specific behavior problems that have been difficult to deal with? How have you dealt with these?

6. What is your position on underage marriage? Do you think it is appropriate?

Julie Balovich and Amanda Chisholm of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid led the appeal that eventually ended up with the Texas Supreme Court sending the FLDS children back to their parents. Here is a story about the two from the Big Bend Gazette .