Affidavit #1 ofC.

Deignan
made July 15, 2010
No. S-097767
Vancouver Registry

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

IN THE MATTER OF:

THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION ACT, R.S.B.C. 1996, C.68

AND IN THE MATTER OF:

THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

AND IN THE MATTER OF:

A REFERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL

SET OUT IN ORDER IN COUNCIL NO. 533 DATED OCTOBER 22,2009
CONCERNING THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF
s. 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46

AFFIDAVIT

I, Catherine Deignan, paralegal, of of 1301 - 865 Hornby Street, in the City of Vancouver, in the
Province of British Columbia, SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT:

1. I am a paralegal and have been assigned to work with Craig Jones, counsel for the
Attorney General of BC, on this matter. As such, I have personal knowledge of the
matters deposed to in this affidavit, save and except where stated to be based upon
information and belief, and where so stated, I believe the same to be true.

2. In June and July 2010, I conducted a search for and reviewed newspaper articles,
magazine articles, blog and newsletter entries, video clips, and audio clips available on
the internet relating to the following individuals:
 -2-

(a) Winston Kaye Blackmore ("Blackmore");

(b) Warren Jeffs;

(c) Rulon Jeffs;

(d) Owen Allred;

(e) Randy Maudsley; and

(f) John Harper.

3. From my research I learned that the individuals listed in paragraph 2 of this affidavit, are
or were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the
"FLDS"), who follow or who have followed the practice of plural marriage or polygamy.

4. I reviewed newspaper articles, interviews, and blog entries either available on the Internet
or accessed through the Vancouver Public Library, in which Blackmore talked about the
practice of polygamy:

(a) Attached and marked Exhibit "A" to this affidavit is of the following article: F.
Dawson, "Polygamy Unveiled: Group defends plural marriage" The [Vancouver]
Province (16 September, 1990) online: ProQuest.

(b) Attached and marked Exhibit "B" to this affidavit is a copy of the following
article: R. Matjasic, "Blackmore holds press conference to set the record straight"
Daily Bulletin, (11 October, 2000), online: ProQuest].

(c) Attached and marked Exhibit "C" to this affidavit is a copy of the following
article: "Polygamists deny young girls forced to marry: B.C. church awash in
wives: Mother claims her daughter, 16, to wed illegally" R. Remington, National
Post (13 October, 2000), online: ProQuest.

(d) Attached and marked Exhibit "D" to this affidavit is a copy of the transcript from
an interview of Blackmore by Hana Gartner, journalist and co-host of the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's the fifth estate on January 15, 2003, taken
 ,
- j -

from the fifth estate website at

http://Vvww.cbc.calfifthibustupinbountiful/interviews winston.html.

(e) Attached and marked Exhibit "E" to this affidavit is a copy of the "Home Page"
of the website, Share the Light I The North Star, at http://www.sharethelight.cal.
Winston Blackmore is credited as the "Publisher".

(f) Attached and marked Exhibit "F" to this affidavit is a copy of The North Star,
Volume 2 - Issue 13, dated November 6, 2004, which I located on the "Share the
Light I The North Star" website at:
http://www.sharethelight.calnorth%20star22.pdf.

(g) Attached and marked Exhibit "G" to this affidavit is a copy of North Star
Chronicles, Volume 3 - Issue 2, dated February 27,2005, which I located on the
"Share the Light I The North Star" website at:
http://www.sharethelight.calnorth% ? Ostar26. pdf

(h) Attached and marked Exhibit "H" to this affidavit is a copy of the following
article: G. Warner, "Blackmore puts Bountiful on display: Group's polygamous
practices defended at Creston "summit'''' Daily Bulletin (21 April 2005), online:
ProQuest.

(i) Attached and marked Exhibit "I" to this affidavit is a copy of the transcript from
an interview of Blackmore by CNN anchor Larry King on Larry King Live,
December 8, 2006, taken from the CNN website at
http://guiz.cnn.comlTRANSCRIPTS/0612/08/1kl.01.html.

G) On July 15, I viewed a video clip on the CTV News website at:
http://www.ctv.calservlet/AliicleNews/story/CTVNews/20090 I 07/blackmore liT

est 090107/20090107?hub=TopStories. The video clip states that Blackmore was

interviewed in April 2008. In the clip, Blackmore admits to having relationships
with girls under sixteen years old. He also states that it is a fundamental tenet of
his faith, that a man can have 2 or more companions. Attached and marked
Exhibit" J" to this affidavit is a copy ofthe web page at which I located the CTV
interview.
 -4 -

(k) I have reviewed several entries from Blackmore's blog, entitled "Share the
Light", which states, "Winston Blackmore will share some of his light and answer
your questions here. admin(iV,sharethelif!ht.ca". Attached and marked Exhibit
"K" to this affidavit is a screen print of the home page of the "Share the Light"
blog.

(1) Attached and marked Exhibit "L" to this affidavit is a print of an article posted
on the "Share the Light" blog December 10, 2008, entitled, "Where did the idea
come from that required a man to have three wives before he could make it to the
Celestial Kingdom? Also, I heard that a person must have three wives to be a
member of the Twelve Apostles. What is really so?" and located at
http://sharethelif!ht.ca!b2I?p=80.

(m) Attached and marked Exhibit "M" to this affidavit is a print of an article posted
on the "Share the Light" blog November 29, 2009, entitled, "I started learning
about the LDS Church several years ago and joined with them a couple years
later. One thing I have learned about the restored Gospel is that it makes sense.
Unfortunately, it makes sense for everything except the issue of plural marriage. It
is not the commandment in D&C 132 but rather the Manifesto of 1890 that
doesn't make sense. The revelation of 132 is very plain, but I can't make the
Manifesto jive with anything Heavenly Father has said elsewhere in the
scriptures. If someone knows that the practice is ordained of God and that it is
needed for exaltation, how do they get started practicing it?" and located at
http://sharethelight.calb2I?p=238.

5. Attached and marked Exhibit "N" to this affidavit is a copy of the following article: K.
McQueen, "The battle for Bountiful: Religion; Polygamy, radicalism and a fight for
hearts and minds: a Mormon sect's power struggle" Macleans (13 December 2004),
online: http://www.macleans.calarticle.jsp?content=20041213 94591 94591.
 -5-

6. Attached and marked Exhibit "0" to this affidavit is a copy of the following article: S.
Andersen, "The Polygamists: An Exclusive Look inside the FLDS" National
Geographic" (February 20 I 0).

SWORN (OR AFFIRMED) BEFORE )

ME at Vancouver, British Columbia )
on July 15, 2010. )
) Catherine Deign
)
A commissioner for taking )
affidavits for British Columbia )

EvaL. Ross
Barrister and SolIcitOr
Ministry of Attorney General
1301 - 865 Hornby Street
vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2G3
(604} 660·3093
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POLYGAMY UNVEILED:Group defends plural Other available formats:
marriage; [1 * Edition] ICll Abstract
Fabian Dawson. The Province. Vancouver, B.C.: Sep 16, 1990. pg. 10

Abstract (Summary) Find more documents like this:

Polygamists who say they live according to God's law are on a collision Author(s):
course with man's law in a tiny Kootenay town. A breakaway Mormon II1II Fabian Dawson
group, the United Order Effort, has been thrust into the public eye as
the Mounties prepare polygamy charges against a member who Document types:
allegedly has six wives. At the same time, publicity during a sexual 1/111 FEATURE
abuse trial has shaken the group's reclusive lifestyle. Fabian Dawson
talks to its leaders and members who fled. 0111 CRIME
Publication title:
Debbie Palmer, who fled the [Lister] community two years ago, said Ulfi The Province
Lister's problems don't stem from the practice of plural marriage.
Search
[Winston Blackmore], standing in front of the United Order Effort's
Bountiful School in southeastern B.C., says his breakaway Mormon
group's problems stem from outsiders 'not under- standing the
uniqueness of our society.' ;

Full Text (857 words)

(Copyright The Province (Vancouver) 1990)

Polygamists who say they live according to God's law are on a collision
course with man's law in a tiny Kootenay town. A breakaway Mormon
group, the United Order Effort, has been thrust into the public eye as the
Mounties prepare polygamy charges against a member who allegedly has
six wives. At the same time, publicity during a sexual abuse trial has
shaken the group's reclusive lifestyle. Fabian Dawson talks to its leaders
and members who fled.

For close to a half-century, a B.C. community has lived a quasi-

underground life, freely practising what it firmly believes.

Last week, the lifestyles of 350 men, women and children, members of the
polygamist United Order Effort, were at centre stage in a sexual assault
trial.

And in the coming months the community in Lister, near Creston, will
remain in the public eye as the Mounties probe allegations of child abuse,
sexual assault, arms smuggling and income tax evasion.

mln017m n
Document View - ProQuest Page 2 of4 2
The group's leader refers to the genesis of the problems as "plural" or
"celestial" marriage. But the law calls it polygamy, a crime with a five-year
maximum jail term.

The United Order Effort is a North America-wide breakaway group from

the Mormons, who renounced polygamy 100 years ago this month.

The Lister group was established in the late 1940s. "Bishop" Winston
Blackmore blames his woes on outsiders "not understanding the
uniqueness of our society."

There are about 35 men in his community, some with as many as six
wives.

Blackmore cites divine revelation in matching girls as young as 15 to men

as old as 60.

"Plural marriage is an eternal, unchangeable and inalienable part of the

Mormons," said Blackmore, 34, who has three wives.

Rulon Jeffs, who heads 4,500 United Effort Order members across North
America, told The Province in a telephone interview from Colorado City,
Colo., that Canada is doing now whatlhe U.S. has done for 15 decades.

"The authorities are persecuting us for our beliefs," Jeffs said.

"I have no problems with reprobates being taken to court for sexual
offences (but) do not go after someone who practises what he believes
truly for his salvation."

Jeffs cited a Creston RCMP recommendation that a co-founder of the

Lister community, in his late 50s, be charged with polygamy.

Creston RCMP Staff Sgt. Tom Earl confirmed the recommendation and
said other allegations are being looked into.

U.S. lawyers, experienced in polygamy cases, will be hired to defend the

man, who allegedly has six wives, he said.

"We will do everything to defend our beliefs," said the self- styled prophet,
who has 15 wives.

John Dixon of the B.C. Civil Liberties Union said the state shouldn't
impose legal penalties to add to the troubles of a polygamous society.

"We will be watching the case closely," Dixon said; there is no reason to
believe that polygamy leads to increased sexual assaults.

Debbie Palmer, who fled the Lister community two years ago, said Lister's
problems don't stem from the practice of plural marriage.

"It is caused by a few power-hungry men who run the place like their
kingdom," said the 34-year-old mother of seven.

"I still believe polygamy can work if the man is wise and sensitive .... But,
in Lister, they are increasingly abandoning the fundamental doctrines and
treat women like property."

Palmer said children are taught unquestioning obedience to leaders, who

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also tell them that man has never been to the moon.

Palmer also said the United Order Effort is a multi-million- dollar

corporation that plays havoc with people's lives because its trustees insist
on donations and tithes.

"People are forced to work in businesses that are purportedly owned by

the leaders for embarrasing wages, n she said.

Aloha Boehmer, 68, who was once a third wife in a Lister family, said she
was deceived by the group.

"I hate to think I was so damned stupid to join them," said the Creston
grandmother.

"Sometimes my children went with nothing because they took all our
money."

Kayla Barton of Creston, another ex-member, said: "It's a dangerous place

when someone else tells you how to think."

Blackmore and his followers call such remarks ridiculous.

"These people are trying to be accepted in their new society by criticizing

where they come from," Blackmore said.

"Free agency is a very important part of our religion and we have no

restrictions here."

During a tour of his 162-hectare (400-acre) community, Blackmore said

the United Order Effort is basically a land trust to help members establish
homes without having to pay high mortgage rates.

"There is no compulsion on anyone to give any money but you should ask
these people whether they played their part: he said.

Blackmore runs a company that makes posts and poles and said the
community also has cattle and a small trucking firm, where average wages
are $9 an hour.

"We are just like everybody else but God's laws are more important to us
than man's laws."

[Illustration]
Winston Blackmore, standing in front of the United Order Effort's Bountiful
School in southeastern B.C., says his breakaway Mormon group's problems
stem from outsiders 'not under- standing the uniqueness of our society.' ;

Indexing (document details)

Author(s): Fabian Dawson
Document types: FEATURE, CRIME
Publication title: The Provio,,,. Vancouver, B.C : Sgp.J.B~J-'l9.Q. pg.
10
Source type: Newspaper
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Blackmore holds press conference to set Other available formats:

record straight; [Final Edition]
[l> Abstract
Rose Matiasic. Daily Bulletin. Kimberley, B.C.: Oct 11 2000. pg. 5

Abstract (Summary) Find more documents like this:

A man sitting in a truck was waiting at the gates of Lister's Bountiful Author(s):
community last Wednesday, directing traffic to the elementary school
• Rose Matjasic
where Winston Blackmore was preparing for his first press conference
in 10 years. Document types:
• Sports
"It's the same practice, the same charter, that protects the gay and
lesbian community and the same one that protects the common-law Publication title:
relationships and the same one that protects unfaithful husbands and • Daily Bulletin
the same one that protects unfaithful wives and the same one that
protects unfaithful everybodies ... " he said. "The Canadian Charter of search_~I"a.':J
Rights and Freedoms is a wonderful piece which protects all people
everywhere and their right to live their religion because this is what we
are,

What can you tell us about your relationship with Lorraine Johnson?
(According to the Province, Johnson was brought from the United States
in 1999 to marry Blackmore at the age of 16.)

» Jump to indexing (doGumen.Ld,.gtailsl

Full Text (1035 words)

(Copyright THE DAIL Y BULLETIN (KIMBERLEY) 2000)

A man sitting in a truck was waiting at the gates of Lister's Bountiful

community last Wednesday, directing traffic to the elementary school
where Winston Blackmore was preparing for his first press conference in This is Exhibit. ll. • -'--~ .
10 years. ,...L{.." ·.&'''''''U to In the
affidavitof /' ,)". .
'''·'·\..,;.II.'';'''1·1.l~
Sparked by a news story in the Vancouver Province, the head of the local ~wom before me at .. \li!¥.l~;' ~~';.:."-.
polygamous sect granted an open interview in order to comment on the
story which made reference to him and other local members olthe In ts Province of British ~V_'"
day of ...~\-A..\.~
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). .. ·J. ........
~ ~ j ............ 20..."
I0
The story, which declared there was a U.S. probe into the arranged ..·.. ·'· .. ~·~n,i-·;;;;·iikiiC'Aiiiiiiiiii" .. ,,··..·
marriages of under-age American girls to FLDS members in Arizona, Utah Within the Pmvinea 0/ Briilsh CalumIIIa
and the Creston Valley, was later confirmed false by Utah Attorney
General Jan Graham.

Assorted media gathered in the school's Grade 2 classroom for the hour-
and-a-half interview. Four Bountiful women, school principal Merrill Palmer
and one other man were present.

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"First of all you might find it hard to believe that we're surprised about why
anyone would pay any attention to us at all," the 44-year-old Blackmore
began. "And I can't imagine why anyone would come from New York to
have an interview with me. I don't consider that I'm any more strange than
people are in New York and no more strange than they are in the world in
general. We don't feel like we're any better or any worse off.

"However, as for the history of our place here ... I think when my father
moved into the community we already had a member or two here and they
were members of the (FLDS) which I'm sure as you all know has as one of
its principals the principal in practice of having more wives than one - has
had since 1832 and it has continued ever since then. I was born a
member of that church, I have never known anything else, have never
known why we would be so interesting to anybody else."

Although the composed Blackmore did not address the contents of the
Province story directly, he did say that the practices of his community are
protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"It's the same practice, the same charter, that protects the gay and lesbian
community and the same one that protects the common-law relationships
and the same one that protects unfaithful husbands and the same one that
protects unfaithful wives and the same one that protects unfaithful
everybodies ... " he said. "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
is a wonderful piece which protects all people everywhere and their right
to live their religion because this is what we are.

"I would not expect anyone in Creston to be less private about their private
life than I am mine. It diminishes a person to discuss their private life ...
We're just a bunch of people living our religion."

A summation of the Bountiful community and its leader as shared by

Blackmore during the conference. The following is only a portion of the
interview:

On stories written by the Province and other papers about the Bountiful
community:

"If you take the Criminal Code of Canada and turn two pages over, you
will discover that any media outlet that publishes a story designed in its
nature to create public hatred against an identifiable group or people is
guilty under the law of a criminal offense."

What can you tell us about your relationship with Lorraine Johnson?
(According to the Province, Johnson was brought from the United States
in 1999 to marry Blackmore at the age of 16.)

"I don't have any 15-year-old wives and I don't have any 16-year- old
wives ... I'm not going to comment on my family life and I'm not going to
comment on Lorraine Johnson because you should probably have a
discussion with her.

How many wives do you have?

"I have more than one."

How do you deal with the concerns that the outside community has with
the marriage of young girls to men old enough to be their grandfather?

"I already said, you can go down to the government agent -- any 16-year-
old can with parental consent -- and get married. So can any 16-year-old

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1
in our sOciety. If their parents consent they can get married."

How do these girls come to the community from the United States?

"... They present themselves to the Canadian customs and then at

Canadian customs there are customs and immigration officers and those
people let them into Canada -- not me. And they don't sneak across the
boarder. One way or another they are required ... that every underage
person that comes across here has a letter from their parents giving them
permission to cross an international boundary and certainly has upon
them photo identification."

On choosing a husband for Bountiful women:

''The very first question that is asked to every woman is, 'Do you have
someone in mind?'" Can they marry whomever the want?

"In many many cases - probably 90 per cen!. And in the other cases if
they need to wait a little while ... there's different reasons why people
don't even get married."

So nobody here would push any young girl to marry against their will?

"No they wouldn'!. I certainly wouldn'!."

Is the arrangement of one man to many women fair to the women in the
community?

"Don't you think that anyone has a right to a companion of their choice?"

(Reporter)Yes.

"Then can't you possibly conceive that two women choose to have the
same companion?" To the four Bountiful women in the room: "Do you
have want you want?"

Bountiful woman - "I know I have what I wan!."

Would it be acceptable if one woman wanted to have more than one

husband?

"F or people who are polyandrists, that's just fine and I happen to know a
couple of them. But for Mormon fundamentalists, it certainly is not a part of
our religion as neither is people just living together without any common
commitment.

How do you address the misconceptions people have about the Bountiful
community?

"We're quite puzzled. If you quiz the people around Creston you'll find out
that a lot of those people have know about us for a long, long time."

Credit: Creston Valley Advance

Indexing (document details)

Author(s): Rose Mat;as;c
Document types: Sports

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Polygamists deny young girls forced to Other available formats:

marry: B.C. church awash in wives: Mother ~ Abstract
claims her daughter, 16, to wed illegally;
[National Edition]
Find more documents like this:
Robert Bernington. National Post. Don Mills, Ont.: Oct 13, 2000. pg.
A.11 People:
• Blackmore, Winston
Abstract (Summary) • Holm, Nichole
In an interview with the National Post, Mr. [Winston Blackmore] denied
reports a 16-year-old American girl, Nichole Holm, was married without
Mor'iLQption~ !
parental consent to a church member in Utah and taken to his rural
Search
community near Lister, B.C., on the Idaho border.

Members usually marry their first wife under provincial or state law and
marry their other wives "in the eyes of God." ''You can have only one
marriage licence in the country," said Mr. Blackmore, who is reported to
have up to 30 wives and 80 children.

Black & White Photo: Nick Procaylo, The Province I Winston

Blackmore, whose compound near Lister, B.C., is seen in this aerial
photo, is reported to have as many as 30 wives and 80 children. ; Black &
White Photo: John Denniston, The Province I Winston Blackmore;

» Jump to indexing (document details)

Full Text (537 words)

(Copyright National Post 2000)

CALGARY - The spiritual leader of a polygamist community in British

Columbia says underage girls marry members of his church, but do so
legally with parental consent.

"In none of these cases are these people being forced to marry anybody,"
says Winston Blackmore, 44, the Canadian leader of the Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Marriages of youths as young as 16 are allowed in Canada and the United

States with parental consent, and as young as 15 with parental consent
and the approval of a juvenile court judge.

In an interview with the National Post, Mr. Blackmore denied reports a 16-
year-old American girl, Nichole Holm, was married without parental
consent to a church member in Utah and taken to his rural community
near Lister, B.C., on the Idaho border.
Document View - ProQuest Page 2 of3 lD

The Utah Attorney-General's Department also denies reports it is

investigating arranged marriages of underage girls to members of the
Church -- a breakaway sect of the Mormon church -- that openly practises
polygamy.

The fundamentalist sect has two main communities, one in Lister and
another in Colorado City, Ariz., on the Utah border.

"She [Nichole Holm] is not here in Canada," Mr. Blackmore said. "She
came as a visitor and she's back in Arizona and she has a job there."

The girl's mother, Lenore Holm, a disaffected church member, confirms

her daughter is living in Colorado City as the promised wife of a 38-year-
old fundamentalist who is already married.

"I don~ know whether she's married to him or not. She won't speak to me,"
Ms. Holm said.

She said the Church has excommunicated her and her husband, Milton,
for refusing permission for Nichola, her daughter by a previous marriage,
to marry.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes it

is the true keeper of the founding principles of the Mormon faith. The
Mormons formally disavowed multiple marriages in 1890 and
strengthened the ban in 1904 under pressure from the U.S. Congress and
the courts.

Fundamentalists kept the practice alive and believe John Taylor, the
Church's president, had an all-night conversation with God about plural
marriage in 1886.

They were excommunicated by the mainstream Latter-day Saints in 1935

after they refused to sign a loyalty oath renouncing polygamy.

Members usually marry their first wife under provincial or state law and
marry their other wives "in the eyes of God." "You can have only one
marriage licence in the country," said Mr. Blackmore, who is reported to
have up to 30 wives and 80 children.

Mr. Blackmore admits to having more than one wife but says he will not
discuss his personal life in detail. "We view our relationships as no more
strange than other kinds of relationships that are accepted in the world
today that seem strange to us," he said.

Although polygamy is illegal under the Criminal Code, British Columbia

has not prosecuted the Lister polygamists due to potential constitutional
challenges relating to religious freedoms.

[Illustration]
Black & White Photo: Nick Procaylo, The Province I Winston Blackmore, whose
compound near Lister, B.C., is seen in this aerial photo, is reported to have as
many as 30 wives and 80 children. ; Black & White Photo: John Denniston, The
Province I Winston Blackmore;

Indexing (document details)

People: Blackmore. Winston, Holm Nichole
Author{s): Robert Remington
Document types: News; Crime

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Dateline: CALGARY
Column Name: Extended Families in British Columbia
Section: Canada

Publication title: National Post. Don Mills, Ont.: Oct 13 2000. pg.
A.11
Source type: Newspaper
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Tex! Word Count 537
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 \1

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In the Province of British Columbia this
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CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful - Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 1 of7
I>

Aired January 25,

WINSTON BLACKMORE INTERVIEW 2006 at 9pm
on CBC-TV
Updated April 12,
2008 on
Hana Gartner: CLEARLY THIS IS NOT THE SAME PLACE IT WAS WHEN CBC Newsworld
WE SAT DOWN AND SPOKE THREE YEARS AGO. IT'S CHANGED A LOT.
WATCH the fifth
Winston Blackmore: Has it already been three years? estate ONLINE

Hana Gartner: IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS.

Winston Blackmore: Three years since we sat down. Well, you know,
to my thinking, I don't, I don't know how I - feeling different than I did
three years ago.

Hana Gartner: WELL IN THIS ENVIRONMENT? I MEAN HOW WOULD Watch this story online, ir'it
YOU - HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE CHANGES THAT REPORTER: Hana Gartner
HAPPENED HERE IN BOUNTIFUL IN THE LAST THREE YEARS? PRODUCER: Oleh Rumak

Winston Blackmore: You know, being here, you don't really look at the WEB EXCLUSIVE
changes. I don't really look at the changes, other than if you're referring Former Bishop of Bountiful,
to the community structure, like it's a different environment as far as we Winston Blackmore is
rumoured to have 26 wives
don't have any involvement with the other people that have gone a and 80 children. Download the
different way. But as far as our own structure goes, we still have the Bountiful family tree. (.pdf
same, you know, we're strange people doing strange - the same strange file)
things.

Hana Gartner: WHAT DOES THE PROPHET HAVE AGAINST YOU?

Winston Blackmore: In the first place, Warren's not a prophet in my view. If he was, then his
predictions would have come to pass. And, but as far as - as far as - I just do not -

Hana Gartner: SO YOU DON'T THINK HE IS GOD'S REPRESENTATIVE ON EARTH, HE IS NOT

THE PROPHET?

Winston Blackmore: He certainly isn't, in my view, and I have never,

ever felt that way.

Hana Gartner: BUT HIS FATHER WAS A PROPHET. YOU BELIEVED HE

WAS THE PROPHET.

the most powerful man

Winston Blackmore: I certainly do. His father was the head of our
in Bountiful, Winston church and he was the person that we upheld as being a, the most
Blackmore is rumoured to inspired person among us.
have 26 wives and some 80
children. He sat down for anHana Gartner: SO HE, IN HIS WISDOM, PASSED THE TORCH TO, TO
exclusive interview with the
fifth estate's Hana Gartner HIS SON, WHO -
three years ago. At the time
he portrayed Bountiful as anWinston Blackmore: At least that's what Warren claims. But yOu
idyllic, peaceful community.know, his father had a debilitating stroke in 1998 and I was there on
Since then much has
several occasions when Warren said to all of us, Father has been
changed. Blackmore sees reduced to the capacity of a child. And we do not need to take
Warren Jeffs, head of the advantage of him and we need to make sure that we are not going to
FLDS in the u.s. and wanted take advantage of his mental capacity, and he basically went from
by the FBI for sexual
misconduct, as a false
there and decided to take our people, our church and our people, down
prophet who is giving a road that we have not gone before. And that became a problem to a
polygamy a bad name. For lot of us, not just me. Lots of people.

'1nln {n 1,
CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful - Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 2 of7
I~

hiS lack of devotion, Hana Gartner: SO YOU THINK HE STOLE THE TITLE? IS A SELF-
Blackmore was APPOINTED PROPHET?
excommunicated and
stripped of his title of the
Winston Blackmore: I think that he would probably like that
Bishop of Bountiful. Two of
statement because he, you know, he definitely took possession of his
his wives who were loyal to
Jeffs left him. father. He only allowed a handful of us to even get close to his father in
' -_ _ _ _ _ _ _---1 his diminished capacity. I was one of them and everyone else, he has

literally cut off and disposed of as well. So there was myself, there was
Alan Steed, there was Ron Roebuck. There was Leroy Jeffs, Warren's older brother.

And these other people, Warren has totally disposed of them because they all saw the same
thing I saw. Oh and of myself of course. We saw that his father was not making the decisions.
He was.
And it would be fine, you know my - I don't know whether you're interested in this, in my views
on that, but inasmuch as we're just having a conversation, what I witnessed him, him do is y{)U
know, he was definitely interested in, in - he held grudges.

Hana Gartner: AND HE EXCOMMUNICATED YOU.

Oh yes.

Hana Gartner: BUTTHIS IS SERIOUS, ISN'T IT, IN THIS COMMUNITY? THAT MEANS, THAT
MEANS YOU'RE DAMNED IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY?

Winston Blackmore:Not when somebody like he, he does it. You know, I'll tell you the
advantage that I had, if I had any advantage. And that is, is that not only was I seeing what was
happening, I was telling my own family.

My family baSically, I mean I struggled, trying to figure out how to explain to my family and a
few other people that this is what is happening here. And very soon, those who started to see
the signs of it, who could recognize that there really was something going on that didn't have
anything at all to do with religious.

You know, let me tell you something about Mormonism. Mormonism baSically, fundamentally is
supposed to be Christian, and if you have someone who pretends to be the president of a
Mormon fundamentalist believing people who is neither Christian nor Mormon in the things that
he does, then everyone should be able to spot that.

Hana Gartner: BUT TELL ME, IF YOU ARE 100% SURE THIS MAN IS NOT THE PROPHET,
WARREN JEFFS IS NOT THE PROPHET, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO IS?

Winston Blackmore: Well, one thing that I know of and that's who isn't. You know, by their
fruits ye shall know them. And he certainly had no indication. I mean you can go look in the
book of Matthew in the Bible and he basically points out, you know, by their fruits ye shall know
them. And, and this guy, if he's going to make predictions that don't happen, well then you
know, if you're going to have a prophet, you should at least have one with predictions that do
happen.

Hana Gartner: SO WHY ARE PEOPLE FOLLOWING HIM?

Winston Blackmore: And one of the biggest reasons is - the reasons why a lot of the men are
is their wives would leave them in a second. You know, if, if they didn't follow Warren.

Hana Gartner: WHY, WHAT KIND OF POWER DOES HE HAVE OVER THE LADIES?

Winston Blackmore: A good question, but he does. If he told those - if he told, told the
CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful - Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 3 of 7
15
women to leave their husband, they do, and they don't even ask any questions why.

Hana Gartner: HE THREW A LOT OF MEN OUT, RIGHT?

Winston Blackmore: Yeah, he did. He told their wives to leave them and they left. And in one
week's time, they were someone else's wives.

Hana Gartner: WHAT A MESS.

Winston Blackmore: Yeah, it is a mess.

ON CULT

Hana Gartner: YOU HAVE DENIED THAT BOUNTIFUL IS A CULT, BUT DO YOU THINK WARREN
JEFFS IS RUNNING A CULT?

Winston Blackmore: Well, I looked at the definition of a cult and I think there's 9 points that
you could actually - that you do a little acid test of these 9 points. And if you decide you're a cult
if, if you're - if you, if you can say yes to all these things, then you're dealing with a cult. And in
his situation, I mean I wish, I wish that from what I know of the way that he runs and outfit
that, that he didn't have so many of those things that they did.

Hana Gartner: BUT ARE YOU AFRAID? I MEAN YOU INTRODUCED THIS WHOLE NOTION OF
VIOLENCE, THREATS AGAINST YOUR LIFE. PEOPLE ARE WORRIED THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE
SOME KIND OF A SHOWDOWN IN TEXAS AT WARREN JEFF'S COMPOUND. WHEN IT COMES TO
DEEP-HELD RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND DIVISION, WE JUST LOOK AROUND THE WORLD WHAT
PEOPLE CAN BE REDUCED TO.

Winston Blackmore: Oh, yeah.

Hana Gartner: DON'T YOU WORRY - WHY COULDN'T THAT HAPPEN HERE?

Winston Blackmore: If you looked at what - again I'll come back to the my answer. If you look
to what we have been reduced to, I don't know whether you've ever been to Colorado City? I
mean if you were in Colorado City a few years ago, you would find a place that was just a-buzz
with things happening. You go there now and it's, it's a lonely place.

Hana Gartner: SO WHAT ARE YOUR WORST FEARS?

Winston Blackmore: Mine? Um ... I don't know. I'm still really concerned about the families, the
family units that are together there and then the disruption of those families will quit. My, I
guess my worst fear and why I would not want to even be seen talking to some of my relatives
is that they would immediately lose their family. And it can happen so fast.

Hana Gartner: BUT THEY LOSE THEIR FAMILY WHICHEVER WAY THEY CHOOSE.

Winston Blackmore: Well, lots of them still can hang on there and there's many that are
hanging on and I would, I'd go out of my way not to be seen with them just to protect them.
Because one day, this has got to come to an end. I mean in this country, in the United States
and Canada, I mean it's, this guy's time has got to be running out before more people realize
that: hey, you know we do not have - We don't have a prophet here in the first place because I
think a prophet should have some predictions that come true. And if he's going to make
predictions, they should ought to happen.

Hana Gartner: DO YOU HAVE A PREDICTION?

Winston Blackmore: Yeah, I have. I used to make this annual prediction and I did it for years
and years on my, in my newsletter. And then the next year, we would look and see if these

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CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful- Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 4 of7 1b

predictions came true.

Hana Gartner: SO WHAT'S YOUR PREDICTION -

Winston Blackmore: But my, but I, I mean I predicted that this will, was going to happen in
our church back in the days. And so I've quit making those predictions. [laughs] And I did
because it was so heart-wrenching to actually - I mean it wasn't anything prophetic really. It
was just seeing you know I had a different view of things than everybody else did.
And when you actually are dealing with a person who is elevating himself to the control position
of our people, who actually has no compassion for people, no interest in anything other than
himself, it's not hard to tell that something is going to run amok here.

Hana Gartner: SO HOW DOES SOMEBODY LIKE THIS HAVE SO MUCH POWER?

Winston Blackmore: He rose through fear. He -

Hana Gartner: IT'S NOT ABOUT GOD? IT'S NOT ABOUT RELIGION?

Winston Blackmore: No, it's about fear. People are afraid. They're afraid not to do what he
says. You know I can tell you, knowing thousands and thousands and thousands of people -
thousands that are still with him - those people are giving their thousand dollars and privately
they don't want to. There's people who are there and complying and standing and bowing and
scraping because if they don't, their family will turn them in. They have sons and they have
daughters that would turn them in and there's parents that'll turn their children in.

Hana Gartner: WELL, BUT YOU KNOW PEOPLE ARE LISTENING AND LOOKING IN AND WHAT
IT'S SHOWING THAT THIS SYSTEM IS, HAS BECOME CORRUPT, IS BREAKING DOWN, IS NOT
WORKING.

Winston Blackmore: Oh, certainly it is not working. But it's not working not because of
polygamy. It's not working because the ministry has forsaken the fundamentals of our faith.
They're not working - don't blame polygamy on that. And that's what too many stories are all
about. But the story isn't about that. The story is basically we literally betrayed the trust of our
people.

And we - I'll include myself in as one of the signers of 1998 and changing our most sacred trust
as trustees of the United Effort Plan, taking that thing and turning it into an instrument that was,
belonged to one person so that that one person could arbitrarily decide who could be there and
who couldn't.

Hana Gartner: YOU HAVE GUILT FOR THAT? YOU CARRY THAT?

Winston Blackmore: I think you could probably call it that. I wish for all the world that my
name was not on there. I didn't want it to be on there to begin with and I Wish it wasn't on
there. And yet at the end of the day, I am so thankful -

Hana Gartner: SO IN PART YOU WERE A CREATOR OF WARREN JEFFS?

Winston Blackmore: No, I wasn't a creator, I was a witness to Warren Jeffs. I never created
him because he was orchestrating that probably for his you know the next chess move up the
road, which is himself, eh?

He was thinking ahead for himself, I'm sure. But at the end of the day, what's done is done and
all I can do is conscientiously and physically object to what I you know to what I do not believe
in and that's just what I've done. I've objected to it and I have to let people decide to be
themselves.

ON THE GROWTH OF HIS MINISTRY

'h+tn·Jlnrn:rnl .... hf" f'~/fift-hlhllQhm;i1h()1ll1tlfilllintpnJ1Pwc;: windon htm 1 2010-07-15

CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful - Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 5 of7
11
Winston Blackmore: My ministry is still big. In fact, it's bigger than it was before because now
it's global. It includes -

Hana Gartner: YOUR PULPIT IS ON THE COMPUTER.

Winston Blackmore: It includes people -

Hana Gartner: A VIRTUAL PULPIT.

Winston Blackmore: In Kenya and it includes people in old Mexico and you know it's includes
people all over the place. -

Hana Gartner: SO YOU'RE SPREADING YOUR WORD, YOUR BRAND OF THE WORD AROUND -

Winston Blackmore: No. Actually, my brand of the word is basically, why it appeals to anyone
is because it has to do still with the fundamentals. Like I don't reinterpret the scriptures. I just
basically, what was valuable to us in the beginning. And it's amazing how many people and
where they are. They're all over the place.

There's far more fundamentalists than I ever knew existed. [laughs] So it's true. You know
there's 100,000 polygamists living in Paris.

Hana Gartner: I HAD NO IDEA.

Winston Blackmore: Yeah there is. And of the 1,125 cultures in the world, identified cultures,
875 of them are polygamists. That's they're fundamentally polygamists. And yet there's
considered four million practicing polygamists in Europe, four million. In the United Kingdom,
including France and but Paris itself has 100,000. It's still, polygamy is still legal in Mexico. It's
you know and that's not very far away. And so there's you know it is as a culture, I mean the
people in Kenya, they're a, you know their old roots are polygamous and dated in antiquity.

You know and so it's been really fun to communicate with them and see how their struggles are
and all they need is a word of encouragement. So I'm enjoying that part of it. So I really you
know I found a different niche for myself and it's just in that part. I'd like to full-time do that. If I
could figure out how to get funded, then that's what I'd do. [laughs]

Hana Gartner: BUT .. IS THERE NOT A FEAR IN SOME PEOPLE'S MINDS THAT IT WILL CHANGE
THE FACE OF THIS POLYGAMOUS COMMUNITY? WARREN JEFFS HAS CHANGED YOU AND HOW
YOU WORK. THE TIMES, THE FACT THAT YOU'RE ON THE COMPUTER. THERE WAS A TIME YOU
WERE A VERY CLOSED SOCIETY. THE MORE OUTSIDE INFLUENCES, AREN'T YOU WORRIED
THAT -

Winston Blackmore: I don't have the same things pressuring me that pressured polygamists in
you know at the turn of the century. They were still being hunted and put in jail all the way up
through the 44s. Utah had a raid on our people in 1944. They had another aid in 1953. They
arrested the mothers and the men, they hauled off the women and the children.

In you know in our country, I remember a time when we had the RCMP sitting up there on the
hill trying to count how many kids there were down there. And to us, to children, it was still
somewhat of a game. I mean we let them count us five times you know and there was always
five times more than there really was because to us we weren't afraid of that.

I wasn't afraid of that. I wasn't afraid of it now and I wasn't afraid of it then. And today you
know the openness that I live in my family and you know apart from the details - Some of the
details that I obviously don't even know, you know apart from that, then I don't have the same
kind of fear. There's not the same kind of curtain and we have got - We have dismissed

7010-07-1 ~
CBC News: the fifth estate - Bust-up in Bountiful - Interview Profiles - Winston Blackmore Page 6 of7 I~)

Warren's fear from our society and so maybe that's why we're more relaxed. But he has no
control over -

Hana Gartner: HE STILL FEELS PERSECUTED.

Winston Blackmore: Oh, I imagine he does but I think he likes that. He kind of thrives on
persecution and spying and that somewhat. But you're talking about our openness - we don't
have to hide like we had to hide. And sure, in 1991 the attorney general you know they went to
great lengths to try to decide whether or not they were going to prosecute us. In 2004 they
launched some sort of an investigation into our life which is still ongoing.

And that I don't know what they're really going to find. But if they can prosecute somebody
who's born into our faith, who lives their faith, who's open about it, who's not interested in you
know damaging people - Then I suppose (sounds like) they better. So because at the end of the
day, I'm not going to hide from them and I'm you know I live my life open and in public and I
come and go and I just literally, that's the way I'm going to live my life. So I'm not hiding from
them. And you know if that presents a softer side of life, maybe it presents a more real side of
the way that some of us have lived our lives.

ON JIMMY OLER (Warren's Jeffs representative in Bountiful)

Hana Gartner: TELL ME ABOUT JIMMY OLER.

Winston Blackmore: He's my oldest sister's - my oldest sibling's son, oldest son. And he's a
really decent person. So -

Hana Gartner: BUT HE REPRESENTS NOW EVERYTHING THAT YOU'RE AGAINST.

Winston Blackmore: But still he has every right in the world to do that. He's committed to
Warren and his program. Jim's just the perfect, perfect person for Warren's program.

Hana Gartner: BUT HE'S TAKING PEOPLE IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, YOU FEEL.

Winston Blackmore: No, no, he's not taking people anywhere. He's just doing what he's told.
So I don't think that he can make any decisions. I think Warren has to make all his decisions for
him. So I, Jim's just a guy who's willing to do what he's told.

Hana Gartner: IT'S SO HARD TO GET YOUR MIND AROUND THIS COMMUNITY. I MEAN YOU
HAVE AN EX-WIFE WHO WAS MARRIED TO YOU, YOU WERE THE BISHOP OF BOUNTIFUL, HER
BROTHER IS NOW THE BISHOP OF BOUNTIFUL FOR WARREN JEFFS. IT'S -

Winston Blackmore: Yeah, it is hard. [laughs] I mean Jimmy's sister Jane is you know I knew
her - she didn't wantto take sides in this issue against her family. Her family was split right in
two. And she didn't want to take any sides, sides against her family and you know to do one or
the other. And I respect that. She hopefully you know has gained herself some access to some of
her family members that she never would have had if she would have stayed with me.

And you know that's understandable to me. But you know I will say about Jimmy that you know
his, he's a really decent person. But the kind who is perfectly willing to perform his duties as he's
directed to do. I was never that way. I could have never fit into that program, not in any way.
So it, I didn't like it, it wasn't to my liking. I couldn't make myself feel like that there was
anything good about it.

BACK TO INTERVIEW PROFILES

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Horne Page Page 1 of5

Since I am not going to take your questions upon advice of legal counsel,
and since you all know that whether I have liked it or not I have always
tri~d to accommodate the media, I will try to anticipate your questions in
thIS statement.

Almost nineteen years ago we were discovered by the media We didn't

even know that we were lost. It has taken three AG's, many special
prosecutors, and millions and millions of tax payers dollars, almost
nineteen years to arrive at the conclusion that Fundamentalist Mormons
want to practice the fundamentals of their faith.

Canada has a law against polygamy, It was made in or around 1892 and
was made specifically against the Mormons. Canada also has a Charter of
:;C;:;;;C;;;C:; Rights and Freedoms that guarantees every person the right to live their
religion, and I guess now, every person except those of us who are
Fundamentalist believing and practicing Mormons.

This is not about the police. They kindly waited until my children would
be all at school before they came to arrest me. They certainly did not
;;:;;;:::;;''''';;;''',;:;,",;:;:;,,;;:;,;;;;'' expect that school would be delayed for two hours because a foot of
heavy snow had fallen in the night and all my school children were still
home. They also did not know that my three children that want to be
police officers when they grow up, a 16 year old girl, a 12 year old boy,
and an eleven year old boy got to witness the process. My children hated
c;;,;:;;";;:c~:; the police all day long and were still hating them when I got home. I have
met dozens of police officers over the years and made many good friends
among them. I was treated very kindly by the arresting officers but can
. honestly say to them, you have some pr work to do with some of my
family members, and perhaps since Canada has chosen to disregard our
basic charter rights then you should at least work in some sensitivity
when it comes to dealing with our children.

This is not about Polygamy. Tens of thousands of polygamists among

many different cultures are hiding in plain sight all across Canada. They
are known by their neighbors, policemen, legislators and media just as
we are. I am sure that they are an active valued part of the economic
structure of the communities in which they live just as we are. But they
are not fundamentalist Mormons! To us this is about religious
persecution. Persecution has always been about politics. Whatever else is
involved with it, it is still about politics. It is therefore no surprise to us
that this spectacular grandstanding event has happened in the face of an
up and coming provinCial election. I hope this government has calculated
all the risks. Time will tell.

My family reaction was negative and yesterday was a hard day for them.
There was no way that we could talk. They listened to the news,
collectively fielded hundreds of phone calls and waited. My little
children couldn't do their school work, and were emotional and
traumatized by the uncertainty of the event. My college children couldn't
focus. I didn't know about it all day but a number of my dear family
members waited outside to see me when I was released. We had a
wonderful reunion and as I stood there if: Cranbrook with a dozen grown
up sons and daughters, all struggling in their own way to understand this
religious persecution, not to mention the inevitable question of why a
government presiding over this economy, would target them as
employers, students, workers, taxpayers, all the while wasting enonnous
amounts of their hard earned dollars waging a political religious
campaign. One quipped, "wouldn't it be nice if this government focused
their political and fmancial energy on creating jobs"? I had this huge
feeling of gratitude that these fine men and woman are what my life is
really all about. My family will be just fine.

Where do we go from here? I have to make an appearance on January 21.

You will all be welcome to stay home from that event. I plan on doing
what I have always done. I will get up ar,d get my children up for school.
We will live each day as we have done for the last nineteen years. We
will teach our children the best we can, help them get a good education,
~d I \~ill try an~ en~ourag~ my c~i1?t:en th.a~ wru:t t~ be po!ice officers to

httn://www.sharethelight.ca/ 2010-07-15
Home Page Page 2 of 5 'L \

do so, because Canada needs good, trur, unbiased otticers, from coast to
coast that will honestly deal with the diverse multicultural society that it
has become, without discriminating against those visible or invisible
minorities, whether racial, religious or simply cultural. I want my
children to respect the First Nations People of QUi great country, to stand
in honor with them and recognize according to our Book ofMonnon
teachin£s that they were preserved by the hand of God upon this land. I
want mychildren to grow up, get a good education, go to work and do a
good job for the business that hires them, and a better job for the people
that they employ. Naturally, I want them to cherish my faith, but if they
do not, they are growing up knowing that their dad will always till ~he
day he dies be there to joy in their joys, sorrow in their sorrows, and
encourage them to do right along the way, I am what I am, we are what
we are. We are descended from a long line of Mormon believing people.
My family did not make up our faith nor did we establish the
fundamental teachings of Mormonism. Jesus Christ is our Lord and
Savior. He has taught us, and I have taught my children that they should
pray for their enemies as well as their friends. That is what we will
continue to do.

I want to thank the hundreds, if not by now thousands who have called in
their support. You guys are the best.

Winston Blackmore

admin@sharethelight.ca

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,j Q/
sworn before me at '" ..CiA,.u>..~I.J...... .
in the Province of Britis Columbia this
... .\5. daY of .....~Y<.l~ ....... 20U?,
...........:&-~ .............................
A Commissioner taki~g Affidavits
for
within the Province of British Columbia
 Letter to my Lost Daughter-her fatherWimton Blarkmoce
I hope you will search the
!My Darling Susie.
Scriptures to see whether
Since dle odler day was your anniversary and it has been six years since you said "1
these things are not also
0" to dlat fIne boy, my heart has gone a long way in searching for you. No, 1 haven't
consistent with those things
which the ancient Prophets
riven around in an effort to calch a glimpse of you, but 1 have sent my prayers to dle
and Apostles have written.
adler of us all, that He would keep His eye on you, and hold you in His hallC!. Eve-
- Joseph Smith
)'time 1 look at dle picture 1 have of you alld dle boys, alld as 1 go about my day dlere
's always somedling in it dlat reminds me of how precious you are to me. I just know
lat God will be wilh you.
I do not Wallt you to leave your husband. 1 Wallt you to stay with him, to love him,
The Mormon Creed o help him raise his family. 1 want you to be kind alld sweet to dle odler girl alld to
ive so that it may be said of you that you have lived dle fullness of dle everlasting gos-
I wish to say that e! alld lasted to dle very end. That malters to me more dlall you would ever know.
the Mormon When dley took Uncle Allen Steed's family from him I was physically sick for
!fee days. He is one of dle finest people 1 have ever knovm, alld 1 know how much
creed is to mind Ben dlOUght of him. If Allen could possibly lose favor then so could Ben, alld if he
your own busi- ver does dlen 1 want you to stay widl him, to love him alld keep your covenants widl
ness, pay your lim. Let your children have dle only fadler dlat "ill ever be for dlem what he Call be.
. ven if he protests, I Wallt you to stand faidlful to dle COVenallt you made widl him. If
debts, pray and en won't keep you, dlen alld only dlen do you have my permission to come home.
do all the good )0 not let yourself be passed around like some trade item, for you Calmot maintain
you can, take no our purity in dlat malmer. Purity in dle New alld Everlasting COVenallt is keeping
our COVenallts alld staying with it to dle end of your life. It is that determination in
unlawful liberties 18 mind alld life of a person which takes their commitment beyond this life alld into
with anyone, lO- le etemal world. It does not matter how mallY scom you, or ridicule you, or dlink
fringe upon no 11at you have not done right. You made a good choice when you made your vow, alld
God will bless you in it.
man, act upon vir-
Your brodlers alld sisters are doing well. They remain a great joy to me. Your
tuous principles, odler is struggling along widl her worry of you. Please give her a call alld let her
fear and honor lOW dlat you are alright It is not your place to judge her, but it is a commalldment
God, rise up in f God dlat you love her, alld honor her. By so doing you w~1I be doing yourself one
f the greatest favors you Call do, because your children are growing up, alld they will
the dignity of the o widl you as a modler, as you do widl your modler.
prophets of God We have been so busy. The crops are all harvested, our schools are fm.ished, alld
and inact such dlOUgh the economy is not good, we are still working. They still haven't opened dle
laws as shall be a aorder to cattle e""ports alld the Calladiall dollar is strengdlening, so we live from day
day by dle grace of God. May dle God of our father's bless alld keep you my love,
good pattern for lcl if perhaps you dlink of us, remember kindly dle fadler who loves you as he loves
the whole world.- Ius life. You are my love forever, Father
Brigham Young
 Page 2 Volume 2 . Issue 13

They said it- Harvest and History -2004

Our session on Harvest and History went very well. We
If Warren is still around
.... h ad a social
. on Frtday
. . h t, a barbeque an d
nlg '
skating party
when Enoeh comes bael-<
with his city, Enoch will
sure be surprised when
Warren tries to ta~e all
From the Daily Mail-July 2nd 1934(On the Night of the Long Knives','
their wives away for be- Herr Adolf Hitler, the German Chancellor, has saved his country, Swiftly
ing gone so long. - and with exorable severity, he has delivered Germany from men who had
Chrome Palmer become a danger to the unity of the German people and to the order of
the state, With lightening rapidity he has caused them to be removed
A lie isda blae~ dhodle that from high office, to be arrested, and put to death, The names of the men
grows eeper an eeper,
getting blae~er and who have been shot by his orders are already known, Hitler's love of
blae~er, swallowing up Germany has triumphed over private friendships and fidelity to com-
everyone who happens to rades who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the fight for Ger-
stumble into it. and when many's future,
all are consumed by it.
, friends, loved ones, family, Media Advice
all; do you ~now what
happens? It tums into a Be very careful what you say to the media. They do not want to hear
great blac~ beast, which the truth or they would have tried to print some of it.
turns on its creator and
devours him or her.- I used to subscribe to one news magazine until they did a story on us.
Rigoletto It was so far from the truth that I cancelled my subscription, noting that if
everything else was that accurate, then I was wasting my time in reading
Gather the Saints, but do it. When a reporter for the same magazine contacted me a couple of
not flatter; invite, but do weeks ago I just laughed.
not urge, ani d by no I also received an email from a U.S. Television station and the reporter
means compe anyone.-
Brigham Young said, "1 just yearn to tell your side of the story". The only problem was
that the last story that she broadcast was so ridiculous that it would have
It seems Ii~e to me that if done the rags proud. But, they were here last week and 1 would suggest
we honored the Sabbath that the Inland Empire could do better for their news.
as the Lord has com- The last laugh goes to the fact checker. One fact checker sent me a note
manded that we do, t h e n . 'f , . f . f thin th
He would favor us with wanting to know I 1 did m act say a whole hst a gs that ey got
better circumstances.- from someone else. My corrections didn't make a bit of difference to their
Sterling Har~er ugly story. In my opinion that program is in the same league as the jack
ass who sends you a computer virus.
Those people who are not
governed by God will be Some Advice to the Sisters
ruled by Tyrants.- 1 applaud you sisters in your statement to the Human Rights Commis-
William Penn
sion, and the Attorney General. Select from your number three women to
be spokespersons. One can do in most cases, but if someone is gone then
Happy is that people-
whose God is the Lord. let one of the others speak for you. Don't all speak at once. Be honest and
Psalm 144:15 forthright. You have every right to be as you are. God will bless you,
THE NORTH STAR

Milestones aptism by Immersion

Aunt Rhoda Harker, wife of Uncle Parley Harker of Beryl, Utah, e believe that the first prin-
passed away on October 18, 2004. She was predeceased by her iples and ordinances of the
husband Parley Harker, and four infant children. She is survived by
gospel are; first; faith in the
sons Merrill, Sterling, Stephen and William; daughters Aiice, Elaine,
Lord Jesus Christ, second; re-
and Gloria. She was a great and faithful woman. entance, third; baptism by
'mmersion for the remission of
Uncle Eldon Palmer passed away on October 25, 2004. He was pre- sins, and fourth; the laying on
deceased by his wife Jane, sons Bruce and Wayne, and daughter f hands for the gift of the
Marian. He is survived by a host of children and grandchildren. oly Ghost.-Joseph Smith

n the first place, I want to say

Final Inspection the Elders who go forth to
Our two school buildings passed Final Inspection on Thursday.
Many thanks to all who helped in the task of having them ready for
school. We need to build for next year as well. We anticipate 165
students next year, 190 the following year, and beyond 200 in the
t reach the Gospel-no matter
ho may apply to you for bap-
ism, even if you have good
eason to believe they are un-
year following that. We presently have 5 teachers in training. Two orthy, if they require it, far-
will be finished by school time next year. Two will be finished the
id them not, but perform that
year after that. Anyone interested in going to college to train as a
uty and administer the ordi-
teacher, now is the time, and this is your call. Just do it.
ranee for them; it clears the
Iskirts of your garments, and
Va nessa-continued the responsibility is upon
them.-Brigham Young
Ron continued to tell me a little of her history. He told me that she
was married to a fine man who was a close dear friend of his. She
was his third wife, but it just did not work out. She tried to run away Brother Woodruff is making
to her sisters place, but her sister told her to go back home to her Methodist preachers scarce.
father, so she did. When she was at home she began sneaking out He baptized thirty two persons
at night with one of her friends who happened to be a young man of in one week-thirteen of them
18 or 19 years of age. He would drive in with his lights off and she were Methodist preachers.-
would sneak out and jump in with him. They would go out for pizza. John Taylor
One night they were followed and when they returned they were
hauled into church court where it was determined that since she
was the married one then she was the one who was totally to Then cometh Jesus from Gali-
blame. I said, "excuse me Ron, but if this case was brought to my lee to Jordan unto John, to be
court and I heard that an eighteen year old man was picking up a baptized of him. But John
sixteen year old girl in his trUCk, buying her pizza and drink, then forbad him saying, "I have
coming in late at night with the lights off, I would at least award him need to be baptized of thee,
half of the blame." Ron forcefully told me that "father was the one and comest thou to me?" And
that said she was totally to blame". I informed him that I was just a Jesus answering said unto
Canadian backwoods Bishop and I didn't understand that kind of him, "suffer it to be so now:
reasoning. He continued by telling me that in their court session for thus it becometh us to ful-
she was about to get the same verdict that her older sister got, fill all righteousness." Then
which was to go away and never come back, when he asked Uncle he suffered him.
Rulon if she could go to Canada. After some consideration she was
permitted to go. - Next time I will give her account of this event
Matthew 3:13,14,15
 www.sharethelight.ca
Free Agency
Primal)' Business Address
Box 1980 Nothing is more precious than the freedom that we have and enjoy in this land. We have the free-
Creston, Be
V081GO dom to worship God as we choose, to live as we choose, where we choose, and to raise our fami-
lies in the promised land. We do not have any right to infringe upon any other people's rights, or to
Phone: 250-428-5757 restrict them in their own freedoms. We have a sacred charter which guarantee's that all Canadi-
Fax: 250-428·0039
Email: jrb@kootenay.com ans have equality rights, mobility rights, assembly rights, and rights of association. We have been
criticized for being born children of polygamous family structures. Yea right dad and mothers, you
should not have born us. That sounds great doesn't it. The question is, who can show us a beller
way? Not one single, miserable, promiscuous or fault finding citizen can show us a system that is
superior to our way of life. Show us. Show us the society that has no errors, no infidelity, no prob-
lems, no vices, no moral problems, no social problems, no divorces, and we will join it when you
do. Until then, mind your own business and we will mind ours.
Yea, wo be unto
you because of that great Marriage
abomination which has
come among you; and From the beginning of Mormon time, we were the people who stayed married. Marriage was for
you have united time and all eternity. Mormons built sacred temples in which to solemnize the happy lasting event.
yourselves unto it, yea to It was a thoughtful, careful and prayerful process, and a divorce was very hard to come by. We
that secret band which
bragged that we did not believe in divorce. Oh sure, there was the odd occasion that just did not
was established by
Gadianton! work out, and in any thinking persons mind the best thing to do was to part ways. In the history of
Yea, wo shall come the Priesthood work, decades of marriages lasted the test of time and I am sure that they will also
unto you because of that last the test of eternity. There is nothing magic about marriage. It is a binding contract between
pride which ye have two parties made before witnesses and must be done without compulsion to be binding before
suffered to enter your God. No lie can make it into Heaven.
hearts, which has lifted
you up beyond that Divorce
which is good because of
your exceedingly great Last week, all week long, the CSC did a talk show on divorce. It was stated that every other mar-
riches!
riage will soon end in divorce. That is a staggering statistic. Now, I know that marriages do break
Yea, wo be unto you
because of your down and people go their own way. The kind of divorce that makes me sick are the ones that are
wickedness and church directed ones. I know of dozens of divorces where the wives were told to leave their hus-
abominations! bands and they did. At the present rate of divorce in the FLDS Church, the divorce rate will ex-
And except ye repent ceed the quoted ratio of every other one. The heartache and sorrow caused by divorce will shape
ye shall perish; yea, even
society into a non believing, unforgiving and unprincipled culture with no moral standards at all.
your lands shall be taken
from you, and ye shall be
destroyed from off the
One Mad Cow
face of the earth.
One mad cow shut down the Canadian beef industry because there was potential for some one to
Behold now, I do not
say that these things get sick if they ate it. They may even die. Listen to this. A couple of weeks ago there was a morn-
shall be, of myself, ing radio show that stated that 20,000 deaths a year in our country are linked to medical malprac-
because it is not of tice. Without so much as a gasp we heard that four communities the size of the town of Creston
myself that I know these are killed off each year by doctors prescribing the wrong medicine, or pharmacists who can't read
things; **1 know because the doctors writing, putting the wrong stuff in the bollies. We had better not let President Bush
the Lord God has made
hear that or he may shut down the border to the flow of medical people heading southward.
them known to unto me.
This is Exhibit ".G.:t." referred to in the
affidavit Of ......C.d)e.i.~.~~ ........
sworl1 before meat .. \)..0.0..~!?Y.>.V.~
in the j'rovince of British ealumbia this
. . . .I. 2. daY Of. .....::s.si. . J. . . . 2~..D
.....•....~ .....; ..........................
. A Ccimmissioner for taki~g Affid.avits
within the Province of British CoI.umbra

I hope you will search the
Scriptures to see Whether
these things are not also
consistent with those things
which the ancient Prophets
and Apostles have written.
- Joseph Smith
Now let me ask you, if
you trust to my faid,. to
my words and teachings,
counsel and advice, and
do not seek after the Lord
to have His spilit to guide
and direct you, can I not
deceive you, can I not
lead you into error? Look
at all this and see to what
mischief it would lead,
and what an amount of
evil could be done to a
people if tiley did not live
so that the spirit of the
Lord would dwell widl
them that they might
k.now these things for
themselves.- Brigham
Young
Beyond the Mark
vVhen Sat:lll can no longer
prevent the Saints [rom com~
ing directly up to the line
which God has marked out
for them, he is ever ready to
step behind, and push dIem
beyond the mark, thus caus4
ing them to err in spirit; and
in this situation they are li4
able to do those things \\'hich
they themselves know are
not true. Mill. Star, 1: 127
Bountiful Women go to Winnipeg
A group of women traveled to Winnipeg to attend a conference, that had
concerns about "Bountiful women". Debbie Palmer was to be guest speaker,
and another group from Creston, as well as the B.C. Teachers Federation, par·
ticipated in a rOlmd table discussion. The media coverage was typical.
I have a suggestion. Why don't you WOmen create a web page? I would have
Joe make a link to your page from this newsletter. That would give you an im·
mediate audience of over sixty thousand readers. Then you could take your web
address and put it on the grain elevator in Creston. Put it on three sides and
make it big enough so that everyone could see it. Everyone in Creston and area
that has internet service could read your page. You could thoughtfully update
it on a regular basis, and refute the media claims, the activist claims, and the
just plain printed bias.. Give it some thought. You could talk about the school,
tell about our claim to the Human Rights Commission, critique Deb and Dave's
book, or write your own stories. Next you could take the address to Cranbrook
and post it there, to Nelson and Trail, and spread it around where the public
could see and read it. Post it in Calgary, leave cards with it on in Doctors of·
fices, at the gym, library, or anywhere else you go. You could make some noise
and you would not have some backroom editor clip out what you really said.
Think about it.
Reality TV Looking to Film in Bountiful
I have been contacted by a filming group looking to create an 8· 12 segment se·
ries on a real live Polygamist family. They are from Los Angeles and they have
a very lucrative offer for the right family. They are just looking to film the way
the family is, catch it in everyday life circumstances, and document it in a way
that all the world could see how such a family functions. The down side is that
the family would be instant TV personalities, the upside, they would be rich. If
anyone has any interest in being on TV with your family, then let me know and
I will put you in touch with these folks.
Happiness Comes From Faith
True happiness comes from faith. Faith comes from looking ahead with a
hope in the saving grace of God. Doubt, on the other hand, is most often caused
by looking backwards and wondering: what if I had done that differently?, what
if I had married someone else?, why didn't I make that move?, and why, why,
why? Don't look backwards. Look forward all the way to the throne of God. If
there are things in your past life that bother you, leave them behind with this
resolve; I am going to do the best that is possible for me to do in the future.
Confessing your sins is required only once. Confess them to God in your
quiet corner. After you have done it, confess them no more, Open your heart,
your life, your soul to the happiness that will then shine in upon you.
 Page 2
The End-Jesus Christ never did reveal to any man the precise
They said it- time that He would come. Go and read the Scriptures, and you
Problems cannot be cannot find anything that specifies the exact hour He would come;
solved at the same level and all that say so are false teachers.-History of the Church, VA!.
of awareness that created
them. -Albert Einstein
A real friend is one who
wal!?s in when the rest of
the world wal!?s out.-
Walter Winchell
None but fools will trifle
with the souls of men.-
Joseph Smith
If we have the truth. it
cannot be harmed by in-
vestigation. If we have
not the truth. it ought to
be harmed. -J. Rueben
Clar!?
He's not a prophet! Just a
minute. He is so. He has
been profiting off those
guys for a long time now.-
Sheldon Palmer
How could a man possibly
consider himself an apos-
tle, and not ta!?e one mo-
ment to help his own son.
-John Nielsen
For I!?now that God is not
a partial God. neither a
changeable being; but He
is unchangeable from all
etemity to all etemity.-
Mormon
To pretend to obey and
yet carry in your heart the
spirit of revolt. is to do
half hearted and slipshod
war!? -Elbert Hubbard
Volume 3 . Issue 2
As Far As It Is Translated Correctly-overheard
When people of religion want to get rid of some of their friends, then is when
they need to re-interpret the scriptures. It is then that the interpretation of the
Prophets is not good enough. Others must claim prophetic callings in order to
shift the scriptures in a way that satisfies their bias, and allows them to perform
their wrongs in the face of a stunned and amazed congregation.
Statistics Canada
In a study released on Wednesday in Toronto, under Health issues, it was re-
ported that young people who have a close relationship with their fathers have a
lower instance of depression than those who have a distant relationship. The
study, which examined the changes in young peoples relationships with their
parents, showed that the more positive the relationship, the more positive their
mental well being.
Serial Monogamy
Last week in a CBC interview. author Joy Fielding gave her definition of multi-
ple ongoing sexual relationships as being "serial monogamy". "I prefer to call
them that", she said, "so that they are not called by the other word." (Could that
word be Polygamy?) After some laughter the noted author went on to tell her
listening audience that although she has been married for 31 years, she still re-
calls with some delight her past experiences with serial monogamy. She told of
her own daughter who began a relationship at seventeen years old. " After some
four years into her relationship I said to my daughter, good God daughter, you
shouldn't be in a closed relationship, you should be sleeping around". Yikes!
Call the Cops! Call the Cops!
Joseph informs me that he is tired of having people call the cops on him. He has had the cops
corne when he was taking pictures, riding his scooter, clipping weeds, going into the school, and
just being Joseph. He is one person that has married an under aged girl; Warren performed the
ceremony in Nevada, telling them that "we have to go to Nevada because they have made a law to
try and stop the prophet from doing the Lord's work, and we aren't going to let them do that". The
States would give him immunity if he would come and tell of the experience. Joe doesn't want to
be any bother to anyone but has said that if one more person "calls the cops on me then I am going
to go make an appointment with some Attorney Generals" .
Conference 2005
Our Conference this year shall be on April 8th, 9th, and 10th. We will begin
with a social on Friday the 8th starting at 8:00 or thereabouts. On Saturday we
will do some projects in the morning, have a barbeque at around 1:00, do some
games at the ball field and basketball court, and then finish the day with a come
as you are program. Sunday we will have two meetings. Everyone is welcome.
 30
North Star Chronicles

Walking a Tightrope-In Civil War days a man named Blondin crossed the
Niagara River on a tightrope. President Lincoln spoke of it to a group of critics.
i100 WiveS-Truth Vol. 16-[1950-1951)
Gentlemen, suppose that all the property you possessed were in gold, and you The United Nations was coun-
had placed it in the hands of B[ondin to carry across the Niagara on a tightrope. seled to leave the 81 year old Fon
With slow cautious steps he walks to the rope, bearing your a[1. Would you shake of Bikom alone with his troubles,
the cable and keep shouting at him, "B[ondin, stand up a little straighter; B[ondin, aintaining that a man has his
stoop a little more; go a little faster; lean more to the south; now lean a little more
hands full handling a hundred
to the north." Would that be your behavior in such an emergency?
omen at one time.
No, you would hold your breath, every one of you, as well as your tongues. You
would keep your hands off until he was safe on the other side. This admonition came in a
The government, gentlemen, is carrying an immense weight. Untold treasures ommittee of the General Assem-
are in its hands. The persons managing the ship of state in this storm are doing ly while discussing a petition
the best they can. Don't worry them with needless warnings and comp[alnts. concerned with the household of
Keep silence; be patient, and we will get you safe across. - John Wesley Hill he Fon of Bikom. Awni Khalidy,
[.. elegate of Iraq, said there had
Some Thoughts on Marriage -WB
[been much misunderstanding on
Marriage is legal in the sight of God. It is legal for a man to have a wife. We believe that
~his matter. He maintained that
it is lega! for a man to have more than one wife, if it is done under the direction of God.
The controversy surrounding the taking of wives has divided and re-divided our people for ['multiple marriages in Africa are
generations. Since I am just as married as anyone, I am offering my opinion on this inter- a form of social security."
estingtopic, Changes should come as a result
Fundamentally, no one should be married against their wlilo I don't care if they are 16 or f education, he said, adding,
60, if they are not able to say ~I do" and mean it. they should deCline. They should not be
We should leave the man alone;
pressured into doing it either. Nothing is more sickening than being married to a person
that wants to be married to someone else. Why do you suppose that our marriage cere- ·t is enough to handle 100
mony asks the question, ~Do you do this of your own free will and choice?" ! don't believe omen at one time-may God
for one small moment that at that sacred I~vel it is better to tel! a lie. 've him strength in his arduous
What about the statement that everyone has to live plural marriage? Nonsense. Every- ask."
one that can be married, when they come of age, should find a partner that they could love
forever, raise a family with, grow old with, and enjoy aiongthe way. Will they not go to The United Nations debate
heaven? Of course they will. The highest degree in the Celestial Kingdom is a place that started because a British Catho- .
has multiple marriages, The amount of wives that a man has in no way determines that lic organization complained he I
he is better than anyone else. I suppose that you can all remember the dream that the
Prophet Joseph had wherein he saw his brother Alvin sitting on the right hand of God. He
had 600 wives. The British gov-
asked how that could possibly be, since Alvin was never baptized, married, endowed, nor ernment said he had only 110.
was even a member of the church. Remember the response from God? So go get married,
mind your own business, raise a family, and stay faithful to your covenants. Be mentally
and morally faithful in your marriage. If you stay faithful you wlll have all the opportunity
that you need to live the fullness of the gospel.
Revenge
After you are married, don't go courting. It is not your business to court your way into You cannot go through this
the Celestial Kingdom. If God put the no courting law on the prophets, He must certainly life without meeting people who
expect that the Elders honor it as well. Uncle Roy told me that President Barlovi told him injure you. There are those that
that the lord would not allow the man who represented Him to place any woman by his
own side in plural marriage. They must wait until the inspiration of God impresses the
snub you, those that betray you,
mind of a select companion, working upon her heart until she makes the thought known. those that cheat you, those that
Even after she has made her heart known, the lord still requires a qualification before the envy you, besides all the swarm
endowment can be done. That is the law which governs the Prophets. of spiteful, malicious, weak, and
O,K., now what about chastity. Intimacy within the confines of a marriage relationship is venomous human mosquitoes,
chastity. Go read Section 132 and you wil! see what the lord says about it. Uncle Roy told
me that that is all the Lord has ever said about the relationship of a man and his wife.
worms and wasps.
There are hundreds of things written about proper marriage relationships, If you search If you stop and chase each of
those things out you wi!! find that they are mostly preached by old, tired, Mormon polyga- these to punish them, you will
mists, who are either unwilling or unable to be what they have covenanted to be. Can peo-
ple be stupid and excessive and unnatural in their intimate relationships? Of course they
have no time for anything else.
can, and they shouldn't be, but no married people should ever consider themselves un- When a man wrongs us, let
clean or immoral for doing the very thing that they covenanted to do, to be one. That is like
us simply drop him. He is out of
calling a man a thief for taking money from his own piggy bank.
our life. Good-bye! As far as we
Last of all. stay married. Don't think that jumping from one marriage to another will
make you a Saint. You wil! be judged by what you have done. If you have honored your are concerned he is an undesir-
vows throughout the length and breadth of all time, then you will be given a chance to see able citizen.- The Family Circle
jf you can endure for eternity. For Utime and all eternity" they say, so do it.
 www.sharethelight.e
Primary Business Address
Box 1980
Creston, BC
VOB 1GO
Phone: 250-428-5757
Fax: 250-428-0039
Email: jrb@kootenay.com
Jesus how often he should
forgive a brother? Jesus
answered by te11ing this story.
2S. The kingdom of heaven is
likened unto a certain king.*"*
24. **One was brought unto
him, which owed him ten
thousand talents.
25. **Inasmuch as he had not
to pay, his lord commanded
him to be sold, and his wife,
and children, and all that he
had, and payment to be made.
26. The servant fell down,
**saying, Lord have patience
with me, and I win pay thee
all.
27. Then the lord of that
servant was moved with
compassion, and loosed him,
and forgave the debt.
28. But the same servant went
out, and found one of his
fellow servants, which owed
him and hundred pence: and
he laid hands on him, and took
him by the throat, saying, Pay
me what thou owest.
29. And his fellow servant fell
down at his feet, saying, have
patience with me and I will
repay thee all
so. And he would not: but
went and cast him into prison, measure their men by a criterion based on the inspiration that they get by listening to
till he should pay the debt.
S 1. *W.hen his fellow servants both husbands and wives. Some folks are just not compatible. Some run away leaving
saw what was done, they told
their lord all that was done.** cumstances something must be done to help those left belUnd, become whole_
32.34. Then the lord called his
wicked servant and delivered
him to the tormentors, who kindest tlUng that can be done is to help all those that you can help have some meaning
made him repay.
Ivan Daniel Johnson- April 8, 1958-February 18,2005 (Son of Patriarch Elmer Johnson)
Ivan Johnson died of cancer on February 18, 2005. He was a resident af the LeBaron
Colony in Mexico. He had a large young family consisting of two wives, hventy one
children, and five grandchildren. In his community he was the man who did everything.
He lived an exemplary life, was known far helping all who needed help, was honest,
I decent, and determined to live the best that he knew how to live. It was the greatest de-
sire of his heart to have an association with his father's family_ He tried many times with
very little success. In a tribute to Ivan, his brother Elmer Johnson from Colorado City,
Arizona said these words at his funeral service. First I want to corrunend Aunt Janine for
never turning her children's hearts away from Pa. She had them maintain their fathers
name and always encouraged them to get to know their family in Colorado City. That is
the reason that Ivan spent so much time in trying to unite his brothers and sisters, so that
he could have that association. Ivan tried many times to get the brothers to come down
and visit, but there is no other v"ay this could have happened but to corne to his funeraL
There has been so many differences between the people down here in Mexico and the
people in Colorado City. We need to put aside our differences and remember the first
great commandment that God gave us, to love the Lord thy God with all our heart,
might, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as our self. Ivan truly lived his life
this way; to the very best ability that he knew how.
Heavenly Hush-wB
A heavenly hush is when no one can talk about what everyone is thinking. If they could talk about
it, it wouldn't take very long before the decency in thinking people would rationalize that all that
is going to come of this is that instead of being raised as calves in the stall, they are calves waiting
to be slaughtered, soon to be devoured by the very beast that they are following.
Some Thoughts on Divorce-
We used to think that we didn't believe in divorce. Once we were married, we were
married forever. Jesus has some very specific things to say about divorce.
There are some tlUngs that just don't work. The kindest thing that any minister can
do for people that are locked in a situation that just won't work, is to help them go do
sometlUng else. I am not talking about a couple that are just tired of each other and want
to do a trade in, but those who are hopelessly locked in a situation that just won't work.
You know the kind. We have all seen them.
Some men have so much Priesthood authority that they can't tell a weed from a vege-
table. Others are so full of "holy spirits" that one spark would explode them. Then there
are women who claim to be so holy themselves that no man could please them. Others
divine teachings and readings. There are the whisperers, the scoiders, the abusers in
their marriage vacant. Others would forsake their vows in a second. Under trying cir-
No one should ever plan on having a divorce, but when natlUng else is left to do, the
in what is left of their lives.
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Blackmore puts Bountiful on display: Group's Other available formats:
polygamous practices defended at Creston
"" Abstract
"summit"; [Final Edition]
Gernd1'acner. Daily Bulletin. Kimberley, B.C.: Apr 21 ,200£2. pg. 1.Front
Find more documents like this:
Abstract (Summary) People:
Winston Blackmore, sometimes called the "Bishop of Bountiful," 11\ Blackmore, Winston
addressed the meeting near the end, but seemed clearly determined 11\ Palmer, Marlene
not to upstage the Bountiful wives.
More options I
A consensus was also reached recently within the Bountiful church that
girls shouldn't get married until at least 18 even though under Canadian
law they can legally marry at 16 with the permission of their parents,
she said. There's only two wives in the average polygamous marriage,
she said "We're not locked in harems," said Ruth Lane, a College of the
Rockies student in Cranbrook with six children. "I just want to be seen as
an individual in a diverse society."

He said the grade one to seven school has received several

unannounced visits by Ministry of Education inspectors and has passed
with flying colours. On the Ministry's Foundation Skills Assessment tests,
Bountiful students regularly score higher than their fellow students in
Creston elementary schools, he said.

» Jump to indexing (document details)

Full Text (813 words)

(Copyright THE DAIL Y BULLETiN (KIMBERLEY) 2005)

The women of Bountiful turned the tables on their tormentors Tuesday

This is Exhibit '..i:.i.... referred to in the
striking back at critics of their community in a packed three-hour affidavit of ........ LDtl.y\\?:.:l...............
presentation in the Creston Recreation Centre.
~nwomthe_ Prbefo•re moteat ......VCJ.ll.C,Q.v..\(.e.('
OVIOce British Columbia this
In a high-tech PowerPoint presentation, close to a dozen plural wives of
the polygamous commune told more than 300 sympathetic onlookers they
have been victimized by "myths and misconceptions."
. . J.~.....day ot .....,-:s.ML\....... 2O.J.~
···· .. ····A·com~ntA_ii·· ......·,·
"We are women that have chosen the Bountiful life style. We love it and WlII"n the Province 01 British Columbia
we believe in it. We know better than any of you what our culture is like ...
It's not for everyone, but for us it's the right choice and we wouldn't
change it for anything in the world," said Leah Barlow, a registered nurse
and midwife.

Winston Blackmore, sometimes called the "Bishop of BountifUl,"

addressed the meeting near the end, but seemed clearly determined not

httn:llnroauest.umi.com/nodweb?index=541 &did=844183 091 &SrchMode= 1&sid=2&Fm... 07/09/2010

Document View - ProQuest Page 2 of3 33

to upstage the Bountiful wives.

The Bountiful leader refused to say how many wives or children he had,
commenting only, "I have married several young wives in my life."

Prior to Blackmore speaking, the Bountiful women took the podium one-
by-one to defend their fundamentalist faith, their polygamous lifestyle and
their community of nearly 1,000 that has attracted a barrage of critical
media comment in recent years.

Often only giving their first names, they said they were the victims of
defamatory libel, community prejudice and discrimination for their beliefs.

''We the women of our community will not be silent anymore," said Zelpha.
"Bountiful is not a closed community. It used to be somewhat but that was
because of persecution."

Marlene Palmer, a celestial wife, mother of 12 children and an active

member of the Creston Emergency Services organization, told of the time
a bank clerk turned on her.

" She said our bank doesn't want to be embarrassed by you people
anymore. Palmer said she closed her account and went to another bank
N

across the street and was welcomed with open arms.

Last Christmas, feelings were running high again because of a "very

negative book" ("Keep Sweet" by Debbie Palmer and Dave Perrin) that
came out about the community, she said.

On this occasion, Palmer said she was accosted by someone who told
her, "you are the scum of the earth. If I were you, I'd never show my face
in town again."

Commented Palmer, "In Emergency Services, we help people in need and

when I'm out there at trying to help someone at 2 a.m. they don't say to
me, are you a polygamist?"

During their PowerPoint presentation entitled "Misconceptions vs Facts,"

the Bountiful women denied allegations of trafficking in child brides,
underage marriage, sexual abuse and welfare fraud in their community.

Christina, a registered nurse and midwife, said two 16 year-aids have had
babies in the polygamous commune and none younger. The youngest
"celestial marriage" was a 15-year-old girl who turned 16 the next day, she
said.

A consensus was also reached recently within the Bountiful church that
girls shouldn't get married until at least 18 even though under Canadian
law they can legally marry at 16 with the permission of their parents, she
said. There's only two wives in the average polygamous marriage, she
said "We're not locked in harems," said Ruth Lane, a College of the
Rockies student in Cranbrook with six children. "I just want to be seen as
an individual in a diverse society."

No one in the friendly crowd disputed the Bountiful wives claims although
a Cranbrook woman that attended the meeting said she found it one-
sided. "It was very controlled and I think the men are hiding behind their
plural wives," said Nora Minnie.

Richard Blackmore, principal of Mormon Hills School, the independent

school founded by Winston Blackmore, the former "Bishop of Bountiful"

httn:llnroauest.umi.comluadweb?index=541 &did=844183091 &SrchMode= 1&sid=2&Fm... 07/0912010

Document View - ProQuest Page 3 of3 3~

now locked in a power struggle with Warren Jeffs, leader of the American
Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), also addressed the
meeting.

He said the grade one to seven school has received severa! unannounced
visits by Ministry of Education inspectors and has passed with flying
colours. On the Ministry's Foundation Skills Assessment tests, Bountiful
students regularly score higher than their fellow students in Creston
elementary schools, he said.

Blackmore even welcomed reporters, who swarmed the school Tuesday

and interviewed many of the students. The school is completely open to
the public, he said. "Don't stay uninformed unless you want to. We're not
afraid to expose what we're doing."

Creston Mayor Joe Snopek shook his head after the three-hour meeting
and said little of it really surprised him. "They said a lot of things and
cleared a few issues up and hopefully it will lead to some more dialogue."

But Snopek said he hopes one thing will change after the meeting. "I take
offence to Creston being calied the 'Polygamy capital of Canada: I've
requested to talk to Winston and I'm sure Polygamy Capital of Canada will
come off that web site."

Credit: The Daily Bulletin

Indexing (document details)

People: Blackmore, Winst9D, Palmer Marlene
Author(s): Gerry Warner
Document types: News
Section: News
Publication title: Daily Bulletin. Kimberley, B.C.: APL2.1,2DD". pg.
1.Front
Source type: Newspaper

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CNN.com - Transcripts Page 1 of16 35

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Analysis
Politics CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Law
Technology Interview With Polygamist Winston Blackmore
Science & Space
Health Aired December 8, 2006 - 21 :00 ET
Entertainment
Offbeat THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY
NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE
Travel UPDATED.
Education
Special Reports
Video LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, he is one of
the most powerful polygamist leaders in North
Autos America, reported to have more than 20 wives, more
I-Reports than 80 children. In fact, he says half the kids you see here are his. And now that polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is in
jail, could Winston Blackmore be the next prophet of a controversial religious sect that practices something that's
illegal?
A rare one-an-one with a man who claims he and his many wives are following god's law. Winston Blackmore is next
on LARRY KING LIVE.

We welcome Winston Blackmore to LARRY KING LIVE, fanner member of Warren Jeffs' church, the church that later
became the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, or FLOS.
SERVlCES He lives in the polygamist community of Bountiful, British Columbia and joins us here in Los Angeles.
E-mails
RS8 By the way, we had a crew spend some time with VVinston this week in and around his home in Bountiful. He gave us a

i;
rare guided tour of his community and invited our photographer to shoot a lot of video, including video of some of his
Podcasts
many children. : : (}

~l ~ dN
Mobile
CNN Pipeline Throughout the night's broadcast, you'll be seeing that video, along With other shots of hfe there . .J.E : . ..7. . :- : 1\1

It's a great pleasure to welcome Winston to LARRY KING LIVE g . j:a r ..J:1- :sE
:

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We have shots of your kids but not your wIves

Any reason we couldn't shoot them or?

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WINSTON BLACKMORE, POLYGAMIST LEADER: Well, they weren't around there ..

KING: Oh. \ilris:'-'-i.! : =t:V'Ji

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BLACKMORE: When we showed up in the community, the kids were playing off.

KING: But you don't have a problem with us seeing the wives?

BLACKMORE: No, I don't. There's also some footage of that, too, isn't there?

KING: Why are you a polygamist?

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BLACKMORE: I was born, you know, I was born in our belief structure and, you know, I have 30 brothers and sisters.
My father was a polygamist and I grew up that way. And I don't know any other life than that.

KING: In British Columbia? You grew up in British Columbia?

BLACKMORE: Yes, in British Columbia.

KING: Are there many polygamists in Canada?

BLACKMORE: I, you know, it depends on whose definition, the Canadian definition of polygamy or, you know, which

1" /I __ r r n A "XTC1r-1TlTn'T'l"Iff\r1'-"/f\O/lL1 Ai 1--<-___ 1

CNN.com - Transcripts Page 2 of 16 31:,
definition you're looking at.

KING: What's the two definitions?

BLACKMORE: Well, Canada's definiHon of polygamy that is illegal is that if you have more than t>.. . . o relationships
ongoing at the same time, which makes for tens of thousands of polygamists in Canada.

KING: Are you a polygamisUn the sense that you !"'·ave many wives or do you have one wife and a lot of relationships?

BLACKMORE: Actually, right now I h ~ my relationships are church sanctioned and church blessed unions. So - but as
far as having marriage licenses, you know, as far the definition of marriage, well, I don't even have any of those at
present.

KING: So, do you consider yourself an original Mormon?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: And do you consider the Mormons of today The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, that they're the
breakaway church?

BLACKMORE: Well, they certainly departed from the original tenets of the Mormon faith in 1890.

KING: Why are there so many more of them?

BLACKMORE: Well, you know, they have a good organization. I have some of my family members, brothers and
sisters, that are a part of that organization and, you know, they do, you know, I'm envious of them in a lot of ways, you
know, what they're able to do - structure for their young people and you know they have a - they just have a good
organization.

But, you know, as far as the basic fundamental tenets, they have a really nice book called "The Doctrine and
Covenants" and ...

KING: That's not your book?

BLACKMORE: Well, it's my book, but it came from the LDS Church. And it, you know, it establishes the fundamentals
of our faith.

KING: Is the essential difference, then, polygamy? BLACKMORE: Probably. You know, polygamy was - was one of
the founding principles and there's a lot of people that argue that. But, you know, there are so many historians who
documented so many things about it that, you know, they can argue it, not me.

KING: What's the comfort of it? Why would you want - why would anyone want so many wives, so many relationships?

It seems a burden.

BLACKMORE: Well, you've got to understand, our faith structure system. It isn't how many that a person wants, it's just
what ends up to be in your life. Like I never courted any of my wives.

KING: How did you wind up with them?

BLACKMORE: Well, that's a good question in lots of ways. But they, you know, the program in our faith is if there was
someone who wanted to get married and they had their parents' consent and they went and saw their bishop or their
president or whoever their religious authority was, we were directed. And I was directed.

KING: So, in other words, you were told marry Jane?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: What if you didn't like that?

BLACKMORE: Jane literally was my first wife and it was easy for me to marry Jane.

KING: All right, what if you didn't like Jane?

BLACKMORE: Well, I did.

KING: What if you didn't?

BLACKMORE: Well, you know, I can honestly say for myself - I can't answer for everybody else - but! gave it my best
effort to do the very best I could for my family.

KING: How, Wnston, do you bounce all of the balls? I mean how do you know who you're going to be with at 4:00 and
who you're going to be with at 8:00 and who's having dinner? And how do you ...

BLACKMORE: We're all busy. You know, we just - we have such an entirely different family structure.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 3 ofl6 '3 1

KING; Explain it to me. Give me a day.

Vv'hat happens at dinnertime?

BLACKMORE: Well, most dinner days I'm not there. 1 mean, but r can have breakfast with my children then I go to work
and my family goes to work about their various things and we have, you know, when our children go to school, they go
to school. When they come home, there's people that tend them and we struggle along with a multi- parented family
group just as hard as anybody else to try to get...

KING: How do you support them all?

BLACKMORE: Well, we all help in that support.

KING: It's like a - it takes a village.

BLACKMORE: Well, it takes - yes. OUf family is practically a village. So, it takes a group effort for all of us to do what
we can to support our family.

KING: You can't know all your children.

BLACKMORE: Ohm, I certainly do.

KING: You do?

BLACKMORE: I don't know all of their birth dates. They keep me posted. So it's like, you know, I don't do long division
in my head, either.

KING: But if someone comes running up, you k.now that that's Johnny?

BLACKMORE: Oh, I certainly do.

KING: And you k.now all the names of your wives?

BLACKMORE: Oh, I certainly do.

KING: What do you do for a living?

BLACKMORE: Well, 1 have been very involved in business, in the forest industry and in farming, the trucking business
and what I presently do right now is I farm and I have a wood processing treating plant.

KING: 00 you go to church?

BLACKMORE: 00 I go to church?

I certainly do. And I preach.

KING: Oh, you preach.

Are you a prophet?

BLACKMORE: (LAUGHTER) You know, I've got to - I've got to say this to you, and that is that on the news I watched
the Iranians display their missile, this 2,000 mile missile. And they had it affectionately named ''The Prophet," you
know? And! could - and then there was a magician who claimed to be a prophet and there's - prophets are at a
premium.

KING: And the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter- Day Saints, whoever .. BLACKMORE: He's those
people's prophet.

KING: ... not reverend, doctor - Gordon Hinckley is called Prophet.

BLACKMORE: Yes. And he's a prophet to those people. But, you know ...

KING: Are you a prophet to your people?

BLACKMORE: Well, you know, that is a very undesirable title, as far as I'm concemed.

KING: You don't want it?

BLACKMORE: No, I don'! want that title. And - and yet, fundamental to our faith is the fact that every person who is
trying to - trying to develop the attributes of god in their life, you know, should have enough inspiration to listen - listen
to the inspiration.

KING: We'll be right back with VVinston Blackmore and more on his life as one of the leaders, and maybe the westem
leader, of the polygamist aspect of the FUndamentalist Latter Day Saints, FLDS.

We'll be right back.

CNN.com - Transcripts Page 4 of 16 ,,?>g

(BEGIN VIDEO CUP)

BLACKMORE: Hi, sweetie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to go find a swim.

BLACKMORE: Hey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's her birthday.

BLACKMORE: Is it your birthday? How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I'm three.

(END VIDEO CUP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CUP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winston Blackmore is considered one of the. most powerful polygamist leaders in North
America. With Warren Jeffs seemingly out of the picture, some believe Blackmore might be the man to take charge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've heard some of the speculation, that some people think that you're poised to lake over
the church.

BLACKMORE: Well, you'd have to have a will to do that, which I, you know, I lack the will to do that. (END VIDEO
CUP)

KING: We just heard that clip.

Are you succeeding Warren Jeffs? How do you view the whole Jeffs story?

BLACKMORE: Boy, that's a big story:

Do we have time?

KING: Well, he's in jail awaiting trial.

BLACKMORE; Well, it - when I was flying down here, I got a copy of the United States constitution and read it on the
plane. And, do you know the first amendment right says it's not illegal to start your own church?

And that's, in my view, just exactly what Warren Jeffs did. His - the church that he is the second president of that has
his teachings and his new tenets, principles and ideas on just about everything, it's not illegal for him to do that
according to the term ...

KING: Are you a member of his church?

BLACKMORE: No, I have never been a member of his church.

KING: So you're not a Fundamentalist Latter Day - you're not FLDS?

BLACKMORE: I am LOS Fundamentalist, in parentheses.

KING: Just different wording, right?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: It's semantics, right?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: OK.

Do you expect to succeed him?

BLACKMORE: I don't know how anybody could succeed him. I have no -I have no foundation in the thought process
that he has taught to the group of people that are following him. And I don't think that - that in any way, size, shape or
form I would ever be positioned properly to be able to take those people. Many ofthose people don't even know
anything different other than what he has taught them.

KING: Do you know him?

BLACKMORE: Warren?

Oh, yes.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 5 of16 31

KING: Have you attended his services?

BLACKMORE: Yes, I have.

KING: Has he attended yours?

BLACKMORE: Oh, yes.

KING: Does he - what interest does he spark? What is his thing that so many people follow him?

BLACKMORE: Well, ! think the biggest reason that he has - that he was able to get the following of our people per se
with the fact that he took possession of his father after he had a major stroke in 1998 and was able to - I mean he
made the statement to me and others, I am my father's memory.

But the things that he was remembering for his father were something that was totally different than the man we knew
that was his father. And that's where, you know, that's the difference that I had with him.

The fundamental principles of OUf faith, which revolve around strong family values, which have to do with justice and
good judgment, which have to do with - with families ofwhalever cast, whether they're single families or two, three or
whatever amount of wives and children, were never meant to be shuffled and divided as he has done. And yet that has
become a tenet of his faith.

KING: Do you expect to rise to a position of prominence with him in jail?

BLACKMORE: With his church and his people?

KING: Yes.

Do you think they might come over to you?

BLACKMORE: Oh, I'm - !'m not trying to have anybody come over to me. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to just
simply be Winston Blackmore, the family that lives the fundamentals of our faith.

KING: Do your children become missionaries?

BLACKMORE: No. But I would like some of them to.

KING: Why not?

BLACKMORE: Well, fundamentally in our - in the group that we belong to, that I belong to, in 1886, their mandate was
not to form a shadow church of the LOS Church. The Church is doing a great missionary work. They're getting the Book
of Mannon message out there and they're, you know, they're doing, in my view, a very good missionary work.

Our mandate in 1886 was to see 10 it that the principle tenets of our faith were continued.

And you've got to remember that if you looked at any of that history, that around that time, the 1888, the 1889, '90s, it
was a real tough time for the Mormons. You know, they were ...

KING: Oh, yes.

BLACKMORE: They were in trouble.

KING: Are you going to support Mitt Romney?

BLACKMORE: How do I do that?

KING: Announce that you support his candidacy.

BLACKMORE: Well, I'm a Canadian.

KING: So what?

You give a viewpoint down.

BLACKMORE: I think he would probably be a good choice, then.

KING: You think he'd be a good choice, for America to choose him?

BLACKMORE: I think so. So long as he has those good, basic Mormon values. They're good ones for anybody to have.

KING: How do you - by the way, what do you think of gay marriage? If you have the right to marry many, shouldn't
gays have the right to marry each other?

BLACKMORE: Well, gay marriage is now legal in Canada. And it has no problem. ! have no problem with - we have
this fun-little charter and you guys have, you know, the first amendment rights, which every person is entitled. And ours,
! think, was made after yours.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 6 of16 4D

Every person is - has these basic rights, fundamental rights and freedoms. And one of those is they can worship how
they choose and they can associate how they choose. And so far as people associate how they choose, I'm not the
judge. And, you know, one of the - one of the commandments that god gave all mankind is judge not that you be not
judged. He'll be the final judge.

KING: Does Canada pressure you at aU?

BLACKMORE: Well - (LAUGHTER) ..

KING: 1 mean are you under govemmental pressure because of polygamy?

BLACKMORE: Well, I don't - I'm nol so sure that it's the government as much as it is the activist groups. And, you
know, they're - they're always anxious that the government do something to stamp Qut, you know, these wicked
polygamists. KING: Has the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints active in British
Columbia?

BLACKMORE: Oh. yes.

KING: And do they try to protest about you?

BLACKMORE: Not that I'm aware of.

KING: Up next, how do you raise dozens and dozens of children? And what if the kids don't want to follow in your
religious footsteps?

We'll get the answers, just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: Bountiful is just our community. And it's basically based on united effort, plan and property of our
church, the church landholding trust that I was a trustee of for many, many years and because it wasn't defended well,
very soon it was taken away and there's a fiduclarywho, you know, who manages the print (ph) of the church's
property.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: Becka (ph), be careful. You have two skates that are on the same foot, sweetheart. \l\lhere do get that?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Right there.

BLACKMORE: Let's see.

Can you open your eye?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes.

BLACKMORE: OK. Stand up. OK. You'll be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back with Winston Blackmore.

How many children do you have?

BLACKMORE: Lots.

KING: How many?

You must know.

BLACKMORE: Yes, I do, but that's - that's my generic answer. And there's a whole big explanation for it. Spare me the
explanation and let's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ...

KING: No, minimize it for me. Give me a brief explanation of why you need 70 children.

BLACKMORE: Well, actually, I'm really thankful for every one that I've got. And it's not like that I need 70 children, but
their mothers had a part to play in that, too.

KING: Oh, sure.

BLACKMORE: So ...
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 7 of 16 ~ \

KING: And you named them?

BLACKMORE: My children?

And I'm not going to list you a whole name of a whole list of children.

KING: But you could?

BLACKMORE: But I could.

KING: All right, how do you - how do you bounce thai ball?

BLACKMORE: What do you mean?

KING: What do you do? I've got trouble with two.

How do you - how do you - not trouble. They're great kids. But how do you deal with all of the you go here, you go
there, look it, he's screaming, he's yelling and watch this. Hold him. He was just born. He's got diapers. Hold it. He's
going to school. Heifo, this is the school calling, he didn't come in today. OK, what's the matter? He had a fight at
school today. OK, I'd beUer get down there.

How do you do that?

BLACKMORE: One day at a time. And! have a lot of good help that ..

KING: You have 4,000 nannies,

BLACKMORE: Yes, well, you know, every day in our country a schoolteacher is expected to go and teach 20 to 30
schoolchildren and give them all the basics of education. And our family, with - with as many parents as we have
there, you know, have far less than that.

. KING: Back to Warren Jeffs, did you know his father?

BLACKMORE: Very well.

KING: Did you like him?

BLACKMORE: Yes, I loved him dearly. KING: You did?

VVhal about Warren?

BLACKMORE: I knew him, I guess, as a schoolteacher. And, you know, up until the time that his - his father had his
stroke, I didn't really have that much to do with him. But then for a couple of years after that, I had quite a bit to do with
him.

KING: Do you think he's been harassed?

BLACKMORE: Warren?

KING: Umm-hmm.

BLACKMORE: Well, he's - he hasn't been convicted of anything.

KING: No, but he's in jail.

BLACKMORE: Yes, he's in jaiL I don't know. I think that he should have just faced - faced up and not tried hiding from
his problem, because those kind of problems don't go away.

KING: What's the essential difference between your church and his?

BLACKMORE: I don't have a church, for one thing. I am just one of a lot of people who believe in the basic, simple
fundamentals of our LOS faith and who are trying to live that way with our families. And Warren has a church. He
organized a church. He's its president. He created him some new scriptures. He does all those things for the people
that follow him.

KING: He calls himself a prophet, right?

BLACKMORE: Well, whether he does or not, a lot of people do.

KING: You don't have a church perse?

BLACKMORE: No.

KING: So when you go on Sunday, you go to a physical building, a church?

BLACKMORE: Yes, we go to a building and 200 or 300 people end up assembling there. And we - we conduct a
nonna! church service.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 8 of 16 4L
KING: But you don't have an organized church?

BLACKMORE: No. No. Our - our faith structure has never been organized, really, only loosely, from the late 18005.

KING: Do you lead the services?

BLACKMORE: Yes. That's only because I can't get anybody else to. KING: What book do you read from?

BLACKMORE: Well, we study the "Book of Mormon," but mostly, I mean, if you've gone to a Mormon church service,
there's lots of just free speaking and.

KING: There is no minister per se, is there?

BLACKMORE: No.

KING: There's no ..

BLACKMORE: No.

KING: .. priest, minister, rabbi?

BLACKMORE: No.

KING: Are you a bishop?

BLACKMORE: Yes. 1was commissioned a bishop by our president prior to President Jeffs, Warren's father. And I
never did join the FLDS Church when they called for our - us to fill in their membership forms. We never fiUed them in.

KING: Are the wives ever jealous?

BLACKMORE: Oh, of course they are. I mean they're people, too.

KING: How do you deal with that?

Myrna [s mad that you were with Elizabeth yesterday.

BLACKMORE: Hmmm, well, you should be talking to Myma and Elizabeth (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ..

KING: Well, how do you deal with it?

BLACKMORE: Oh, well, the best I can.

KING: I mean that..

BLACKMORE: How do you deal with jealousy?

KING: Jealousy is a difficult thing to deal with, because it usually is lack of faith in one's self...

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: ... if someone is jealous. But I don't have 43 wives walking around, you know what I mean?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: But if you've got that many and there's bickering going on, how do you handle it? BLACKMORE: Well

KING: Or do you just dismiss it and go to work and let them work it out?

BLACKMORE: I don't just dismiss it and go to work, but I don't try to referee anyone and, you know, in my family
structure, I'm the head wife. So - so we don't have anybody that has any...

KING: Are you a grandparent, too?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: Any underage wives?

BLACKMORE: Didn't - didn't we explain that already? The process where in anybody - I don't have any underage
wives now in my life, you know? But the process - our process is like this. In Canada and many other jurisdictions, that
if a 16-year-old person, a woman that's under 18 that has both parents' consent, can go into the goveming agent office
- not my office, not anybody else's office - and with the consent of their parents, they can get a maniage license and
many anybody that they choose to.

And not only that, they can many a same sex partner, as well. So they can take this marriage license if they're 16 years
old with both parents' consent, and they can go many a same sex partner or anybody else.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 9 of 16 y3
And so, in our - in our church, that could happen the same way.

KING: Winston, what are the rewards of polygamy, of a polygamist life? In other words, if you ask Catholics, they'l! give
you the rewards of the Catholic life; a Jew, the rewards of a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I'm sure the MOnTIons, the First. the
Church of Jesus Christ, they'll give you the rewards.

VVhat are the report rewards of a polygamist life?

BLACKMORE; [ think the rewards of a polygamist life should be the same as the rewards of any life. I mean, I get a
huge amount of satisfaction out of not only seeing my children do well, succeed at something, but everyone else's, as
well. You know, when they - when they accomplish something. \Nhen they go on and meet the targets that they set for
themselves, those - those rewards, you know, as a minister, they don't - you know, ! don't hold those precious just to
my own family.

KING: You have grandchildren, too?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: Any kids leave the church?

BLACKMORE: Yes. Yes, they do. But, you know, there's a - there's kind of an agreement that a father makes with his
children, just from them being his children, and that is, is that you try to be as supportive as you can with your family.
And I would hope that that's what you do, as well as everybody should.

KING: When we come back, more of our interview with Winston Blackmore about life as a polygamist.

Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were any of the women under 16 when you married them?

BLACKMORE: Yes. Just barely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just barely?

BLACKMORE: Just barely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blackmore didn't exactly say how many of his wives were under 16 when they married.

BLACKMORE: There was one that was and one that - that lied about her age. But that's not unusual for women, is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blackmore might be laughing now, but he knows there's a rea! possibility he could be thrown in
prison. He says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's equivalent of the FBI, has been intervieWing him and
his wives about their age when they married and first had sex. The agency dedi ned to confirm it's investigating
Blackwell and his wives. It did say: 'We do have an active investigation, but there's no firm time line."

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a town that's a lumber town. Has been for, oh, since the tum of the century, I think. But it's a
great town. Good people here. And I love working in this town. And Preston, as well. They're both - have been very,
very fortunate and blessed to be able to live our lives in companies where they're such good neighbors and good
people to work with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back with Winston Blackmore, arguably the most powerful polygamist leader in the United States and
Canada today, a fanner member of Warren Jeffs' church.

Wny did you leave Jeffs' church?

BLACKMORE: Actually, r didn't leave it. ! didn't join it. And when he organized, you know, the FLDS Church, which was
organized somewhere in the '90s, the mid-90s, and it was ~ it was registered several years before! even knew it was
registered.

But it wasn't until after his father, basically - you know, after he took possession of his father that the prominence of the
FLDS Church began to appear in our lives. And when there was a membership, you know, when they sent around for
people to fill in their membership forms ..

KING: You never did?

BLACKMORE: I never joined. I never fined mine in for me and my family.

CNN.com - Transcripts Page 100f16 L1y

KING: When you say took possession of his father, what do you mean?

BLACKMORE: His father had a stroke. And his father was a wonderful person, wanting, willing and able to visit with
anyone and everyone. He'd do 70 or 60 appointments a day, seven days a week. And he was - he was interested in
having a hands-on working relationship with the people. And, when he had his stroke, that all changed. No one could
get to him. No one could -I was fortunate."

KING: He took control of him?

BLACKMORE: Took control.

KING: We've had so many guests on during the height of the Warren Jeffs controversy. Young women, aU of whom
claim they had to escape from the church, that he had. That they went in the middle of the night and that they were
brutalized into coming back.

How do you explain that? Why would they have to do that?

BLACKMORE: I don't know if that was what their particular experience was, but I know that we have no borders or
walls around Bountiful. And no one has to really escape very far. You know?

KING: So somebody wants to leave, they can just leave?

BLACKMORE: And they can, and they do. They leave and they come back. Lots of them. And I'm glad that they do.

KING: And some don't, however?

BLACKMORE: And some don't.

KING: You were saying when you are raised in this culture, it's easier 10 handle?

BLACKMORE: Well ...

KING: Because it's all you know, right?

BLACKMORE: Yes, it certainly is easier. And I don't know how to explain it so that anyone can understand. Butifyou
have, like! was, raised in the same kind of family that I'm living in, and my - you know, my companions were raised in
the same kind of families as that. II's far easier than you would think. You know? We've - we have grown up knowing
what to expect

KING: How many followers do you have?

BLACKMORE: I hope I don't have any followers but my family. 1 hope that the people who - who do the same thing I
do are doing it because they have a belief in the fundamentals of our great faith.

And I don' want any followers. I - well, with the exception that lwant my family to know those basics and to make a
good choice themselves. And I certainly want my - my companions to follow that lead.

But I - I'm not interested in a big following. And yet there's a lot of people that fee! the same as 1do.

KING: You don't want to be a leader?

BLACKMORE: I'm a minister. And, in the service of our people. And I've tried to be that for all of my life. And so, so I
mean, a servant is not greater than the people.

KING: How about those critics who might say, ''Winston, you'ie getting a nice, free, sexual ride?" Got a whole bclnch of
women that you can have a relationship with, and a lot of men would like that scene.

BLACKMORE; Well, 1would say they're certainly entitled to their opinion.

KING: Wny is that not true?

BLACKMORE: Well, because our family structure is far more - is about far more than just sex. So, it's about..

KING: OK. It's about what else?

BLACKMORE: It's about families. The old basic MO!lllon fundamentals of - of, you know, having a family and raising
your family and having a family as diverse as we have. You know? History is full of old, big, successful families.

KING: Like the Old Testament has ..

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: .. many, does it not?

BLACKMORE: Yes,.it does.

KING: Does yourfailh in God ever waver?

CNN.com - Transcripts Page 11 of 16 ~ 5
BLACKMORE: I'm human. But I certainly -I certainly do have a - you know, a hope that my faith in God will not waver.

KING: We'll be taking phone calls. And when we come back, divorce in the polygamist community. Stick around

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: In this square is a cemetery just over the comer. And my father's buried in there, as well as many
others, you know. So, it's quite a versatile corner. You can be born here, you know. You can - you can be baptized up
there on the hill in the pond. And you can be buried. So you can kind of live your whole life in this comer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winston Blackmore is a man who says he has at least 10
wives and as many as 100 children. He was once a leader in Jeffs' church but was excommunicated and now lives in
British Columbia.

He's believed to be detested by Jeffs. And therefore, persona non grata among Jeffs' supporters.

BLACKMORE: Let me give you a Httle preamble of our histOlY in this place.

TUCHMAN: But amid a tense atmosphere, he came back to Colorado City, Arizona, to dedicale a monument to
families separated during a polygamy raid by police.

BLACKMORE: We've been robbed.

TUCHMAN: By his own account, Blackmore could find himself in legal hot water, 100. He admits he has married
underage girls and believe Canadian authorities may arrest him one day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: We're with Winston Blackmore.

How's that investigation going? Do you know?

BLACKMORE: In Canada? ! think it's complete.

KING: And you haven't heard anything?

BLACKMORE: No. They're sent off their boxes of information.

KING: Is there divorce in your church or whatever it is called?

BLACKMORE: Well, you know, for years and years, we never - divorce was never a part of our life and our lifestyle.
But you know, as a minister, as a bishop in our - in our faith I have actually presided over a couple of divorces that
needed to happen. And it - you know, in any society, when things are -I mean, it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

KING: Have you been divorced ever?

BLACKMORE: Yes. I have.

KING: You have? From how many?

BLACKMORE: Just - well, from my first wife. The only wife that I had a divorce.

KING: I see. You said to me during the break that you're not in favor of polygamy. Or that the - what do you mean?

BLACKMORE: I didn't say that. I said ..

KING: What did you say?

. BLACKMORE: I said that ''The Book of Mormon" actually denounces.

KING: 'The Book of Mormon" denounces ...

BLACKMORE: ''The Book of Jacob".

KING: So why then did they have polygamy?

BLACKMORE: Well, it - ''The Book of Mormon" basically -I mean, it's leg a! for a person to have one wife. And that's
basically what the old prophet Jacob in the "Book of Mormon" said, unless it's directed by God. And so - so for
someone to just go out and hunt them up a bunch of women just so that they can be a polygamist is not according to
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 12 of 16

the fundamentals.

KING: So why then do you practice polygamy?

BLACKMORE: Well, I already told you that I didn't go out courting me up a bunch of wives. I mean, Ihese people came
into my - into my life under the direction of OUL ..

KING: So what did Joseph Smith say, the founder? Did he say, don't court, be courted?

BLACKMORE: No. I think that things were quite a bit different for those guys. They were - the general authorities of
the church were and there's lots of evidence - I mean, in history, they. were instructed by not only Joseph Smith but
Brigham Young to actually enter into the principle and practice of plural marriage. And, you know, many of them did
and some of them didn't.

KING: To -let's take some calls.

Hirsh, Texas, hello.

CALLER: Hello.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Go ahead.

CALLER What would happen if one or more of your wives took other husbands?

BLACKMORE: Well, they wouldn't be my wives if they did. Like - you know, jf they wanted to go and ~ they'd have to
leave our society.

KING: Polygamy is only from the man's standpoint?

BLACKMORE: Yes, it is. I think that's biblically, you know, sound.

KING: A little unfair, isn't it?

BLACKMORE: Well...

KING: What if a woman wanted eight husbands?

BLACKMORE: I imagine they could have them. I think there's probably lots that have. Even an account in the Bible
where Jesus talks to this woman and he says, you know, you've had five husbands.

KING: But not in your church?

BLACKMORE: No. Not in our church.

KING: To Victoria, British Columbia, hello.

CALLER: Hello. Mr. Blackmore, do any of your wives work?

BLACKMORE: Just about all of them do.

KING: They all do?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: And while they're working, who's watching the kids?

BLACKMORE: Well, they take - they take turns. 1 mean, there's nurses; there's schoolteachers. There's some going to
school to become, you know...

KING: Do you ever gather with all of them?

BLACKMORE: As often as we can.

KING: With all the wives?

BLACKMORE: Yes.

KING: And all the kids together?

BLACKMORE: Yes. KING: Sequim, Washington, he!lo.

CALLER: Hello. I would like to ask Mr. Blackmore a question. When I see the pictures of all these beautiful children, I
see boys and I see girls. If all the boys grow up to be polygamists, how wi!! that work out mathematically or how does it
CNN.CDm - Transcripts Page 13 Df 16

work out for each boy to be able to be a polygamist?

BLACKMORE: I don't think that it was ever intended for everybody to be a polygamist, honestly. And you know, thanks
for that call, because I'm dealing with some of my teenage girls right now who basically are saying to me, "Dad, you
know, we don't even want to marry any of the guys we're growing up with." And, you know, we kind of need to think
about that.

So, so, you know, as far as our faith, the structure of our community, it was just about impossible to get some people
married off.

KING: So, all the men in your church are not polygamists?

BLACKMORE: Oh. no, no.

KING: Winston Blackmore is our guest. This is a fascinating program tonight.

Let's check in with Anderson Cooper in New York. He's the host of "AC 360", coming up at the top of the hour.

l/IIhat's tonight, Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Larry, a developing story out of Oregon tonight. We are
seeing the first pictures from the actual site where James Kim and his family spent their horrific days before Mr. Kim
walked away to get help and, of course, later to die.

The video is truly chilling. You can only imagine what that family went through when you see these pictures.

We're also hearing tonight that the road they turned on was supposed to be locked. It seemed some vandals broke the
lock, and that sadly sealed Mr. Kim's fate. A lot of new developments in the story. We're going to bring them all to you,
Lany, at the top of the hour.

KING: That's Anderson, right on top of the scene at 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific. We'!! be right back. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: Tim, come over here. I'll help you do up your skate. You can't - you can't play hockey with a skate
undone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

BLACKMORE: Well, why are you doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because every time I tried doing it back up, it just comes undone.

BLACKMORE: OK. Does that feel better? OK. Go play hockey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: And over there is our ctinic. So, that's a well set up clinic"that we - the nurses patch up scratches and
cuts and bruises. The public health nurse comes and actually sets up - has an office in there. That's a delivery center
and kind of just a public place where people can come and meet, and they come and go. And we also take care of that
place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Those are wonderful pictures and shots were done by our production crew, which spent a couple days with
Winston up in Bountiful in British Columbia.

Let's take another call. Rochester, Minnesota, he!1o.

CALLER: Hello.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: How are you?

KING: Fine. What's the Question?

CALLER: ! have a question on how he pays the bills for the kids, you know?

KING: Good question.

BLACKMORE: What?

KING: How do you pay your bills?

...... " .. A ",.. .. r

CNN.com - Transcripts Page 14 of 16

BLACKMORE: Well, the whole effort of all of us do. We all pitch in, and we all earn our living. And we do the very best
that we can do,

KING: ! mean, the wives work, you work, you all pool it?

BLACKMORE: Yes, we do. Well, we take care of the needs of our children. And, you know, in our country, we live in a
kind of commune setting with the united effort planned property. We're not entitled to welfare. So, we don't - we don't
have that as an advantage, so we have to do the very best we can do.

KING: What about thoughts on the Lost Boys. These are young men who say they were kicked out of the
fundamentalist Mormon communities so that the male church leaders could have more wives?

BLACKMORE: Well, I don't think that a whole bunch of those guys were kicked out for that reason, And, you know, I
know a bunch of those boys, and I really feel bad that that experience happened to them, But the real lost boys, Larry,
are the ones that are still there.

KING: You got against intermarriage with family members?

BLACKMORE: That certainly should not happen.

KING: That should not. Should not and does not?

BLACKMORE: Well, I heard of one case that did. I think that was before the court

KING: Has the government hit you with a $1 million lax bill?

BLACKMORE: Yes, they have,

KING: For unpaid taxes?

BLACKMORE: No. It's for - see, we live in a commune, a community style living, And we are - our whole effort has
been to take care of the community, And for the years of my life, I have built- - built up the united effort plan, the
Bountiful school, the society and spent my efforts, as well as the efforts of everyone else.

We lived, We - we worked seven days a week, except for the time that we spent in church. And, we built that place up.
Well, an auditor come along and they - they are assessing me because we have lived in a community style living.

KING: You do realize, of course - you're a bright guy - that most Americans, most Canadians look at you askance.
They don't like this idea. Runs against the grain. You do realize that?

BLACKMORE: Oh, ! know. I know. I have lots of them -! get all kinds of strange e-mail. But at the end of the day, I try
to live my faith and my religion. It's not something that I invented. And try to do the best that I can with my lifestyle.

This is the way I was raised. It was what I was born into, way I was raised. Same with my family. We are trying to
continue on with our family, with the old fundamentals which had to do with good education and good advantages, and
the freedom of choice.

KING: What kind of schools do the kids go to?

BLACKMORE: We have two different schooling systems on our community. I'm just talking about the group that I'm a
part of. We have a one to nine, grade one to nine, and it's - it has certified staff. And it's under the - under the
umbrella of the independent schools.

KING: Church? BLACKMORE: No. It's sort of a church school but mostly, it's a community school.

KING: It's accredited?

BLACKMORE: Yes. And then we have kindergartens and 10, 11 and 12 are part of the Home Links public school
system.

KING: The other kids go and get report cards?

BlACKMORE: Yes.

KING: Go on to college?

BLACKMORE: Yes. Hopefully. More of them than in days gone by.

KING: Many of your children gone to college?

BLACKMORE: Well, some are. Bul not as many as ! want to have go. I have some that are interested in being
foresters. And, you know, we're trying to make a job not so easy for them to get.

KING: Because?

BLACKMORE: Because we want them to finish school and want them to go to school.
CNN.com - Transcripts Page 15 of 16 y1
KING: Back. with our remaining moments with Winston Blackmore on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Stay there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKMORE: Stand up. Push. Here. There's what was in your skate, three rocks. No wonder - no wonder why that
was hurting you. Does that feel better? Yes. I bet it does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with VVinston Blackmore.

It must be asked, how can you sexually please all these women?

BLACKMORE: We have - we have a whole totally different lifestyle.

KING: Explain.

BLACKMORE: Well, I mean, marriage is - to us marriage is about more than that.

KING: So you don't have to have someone every night or...

BLACKMORE: Oh my goodness, no. And that - and in our society and our lifestyle, that's been hugely frowned on over
the years. KING: That's frowned on?

BLACKMORE: Yes. That is usually frowned on. I mean, the idea of having a whole bunch of - you know, of an
extended famify like I've got is way more about that.

KING: You don't go orgies?

BLACKMORE: No.

KING: Salt Lake City, Utah, hello.

CALLER: Hi. I'd like to ask how he can - how he feels he can be a good father to 80 children.

BLACKMORE: Well, I have some very good mothers for my children, as well. And Hke --like anyone else that has -
that has a large family, it - it requires an effort from everybody.

And but, you know, !'m going to tell you, many times I don't think that I'm a great father. I'd like to do lots, lots more
things with my family and children than J do. And like every other father out there that's trying to make a living for his
family, you know, there's lots of things I could do way better.

KING: You celebrate Christmas?

BLACKMORE: We did up until my father died in 1974. And after that, we don't really do much for Christmas. But we
have a holiday and we have a good time.

KING: You have a tree?

BLACKMORE: No, well, we live in a forest. And, we don't...

KING: Don't chop down one?

BLACKMORE: Yes. We chop down too many.

KING: But you don't sing carols, exchange gifts, Santa Claus, the whole scene?

BLACKMORE: We do that all through our year. We sing carols. And we - you know, we just don't celebrate Christmas
in the same way. I don't think I can afford to do that.

KING: Doubt that you could.

Thanks so much. Winston Blackmore. Maybe the most important polygamist leader now in the west.

Before we go, a sad farewell to an exceptional American: Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who died yesterday. President Ronald
Reagan named her as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. As the first woman ever to selVe in that position, she shaped
history. As President Bush put it today, "Jeanne's powerful intellect helped America win the Cold War." A staunch
conservative but a Democrat, smart as a whip, she honored this program with her presence a lot more than once.

Jeanne Kirkpatrick, dead at age 80. And we shared the same birthday. And I will always honor the fact Ihat I jusl got to
know her.

Anderson Cooper is next with "AC 360". A lot more on that recovery starting right now - Anderson.

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Polygamy charges laid against Bountiful, B.C. leaders - CTV News Page I of 4
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CN Newsnel: Wally Oppal, B.C. Attorney General on
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eTV Newsnet: Steven Skurka, legal analyst on the

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SiiW
CrV..;a"NeWs staff
Date: Wed. Jan. 72009 10:50 PM ET NEVvS
Two leaders of a controversial religious sect in Bountiful, B.C. have been arrested and
charged with polygamy.
INTERNET EXPLORER S
Download the CTV News Internet explorer 8 and
stay up-te-date with all t~ top News stories
Winston Blackmore and James Oler were arrested Wednesday, B,C. Attomey General
Wally Oppal confirmed.
DOWNLOAD NO'm
Oppal said Blackmore is alleged to have committed polygamy with 20 women and Oler,

--~
with two women.

'This has been a ver; complex issue," he said. "It's been with us for well over 20 years.
The problem has aways been the defence of religion has always been raised." Internet
Explorer8
Two prevlous legal opinions have said that polygamy charges migr~ be thrown out under
a Charter of Rights challenge. Advertlsemenl

"I've alweys disagreed with Ihat," Oppal said of using freedom of religion 10 defend Ihe
practice of polygamy.
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'"l(\1('..{Y71C
Polygamy charges laid against Bountiful, B.C. leaders - CTV News Page 2 of 4 lJ ~

Oppal said that in 2005, when he was appointed attorney general he was concerned
about pofygamy in Bountiful "because of the exploitation of women and children" B.C. launches prooe irlto polygamous community
Polygamist Bountiful. S.C. thrives. despite the law
In June 2008, Oppal appointed a special prosecutor to in .... estigate allegations of abuse at
Bountiful.

About 800 to 1,000 people live in the community, all members of the Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) or an off·shoot sect based on the
teachings of 8lackmofe_ Both religions believe in the practice of polygamy

The FLDS broke off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the early
19005 INhen the Mermon church renounced pofygamy.
Contest
Blackmore is the defacto leader of Bountiful, evan though he was e:<:communicated from
the FlDS in 2002 following a power struggle with the sect's disgraced prophet Warren
Jeffs.

Jeffs is now jailed for liie on two counts for being an accomplice to rape for arranging the User Tools
maniage of a 14-year-01d girl to her 19--year-old cousin
About the tools
Blackmore's first wife has gone on the record to say thaI he has about 25 wives.
Need to get in louch with
Blackmore himsetf has made public statements admitting to have numerous wives and
doZens of children but has said the community does not sexualty abuse children. CTV? You can email the
C1V web team using the
'Feedback' button.
~ W Font-sQe

~PrintMicie
Oppal was under fire to investigate Bountiful by both politicians and activists and relented
after the community entered the national spollight after authorities in :exas raided a
similar polygamous Sect, because of suspicions of child abuse.

Blackmore has refused to comment on allegations that teenage girls are pushed into
9l~ Feedback
marriages with much-older men or Ihat other giri~ ate sent to other polygamous sects in
!he United States.

Share it with your network of friends

ReMP details investigation
According to a news release issued by the RCMP, an investigation inio allegations of
polygamy and sexual exploitation in Bountiful by "two separate individuals who hold
positions of authority" was initiated in the fall of 2005.
Shar'e 'iili;;-cT\i-artiCk or' ieaiurev/ith your frierids-.--Click on
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system, and follow the prompts.

The investigation was completed in September 2006 and a report to Crown Counsel IJ Sham ~';js artic;'e
re=i
~ Shaw ~'"1is ",rtlC.'a
recommended charges of pofygamy and sexual exploitation be laid with Facebook with TWitler

A follow-up investigation commenced in September 2008 with addiiio~al information

being supplied to the special proseCtltor on Nov. 25, 2008.
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On Dec. 9, 2008 the RCM? was no~lied by the special prosecutor that polygamy charges
were approved against both men. n Share tnis artide
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The pofygamy charges were officially laid on Jan. 6, 2009 and the two men were arrested
Wednesday morning. They are expected in court on Jan. 21, 2009. ~ w~h deliciOUS LQJ w,th
Yahoo! Buzz

Share this article.

The RCM? release does not identify the two men charged.
~SendEmaft

Charter vs. Criminal Code

eNs legal analyst Steve Skurtia $<lid on CTV Newsnet that the case will be a'1egal
minefield for the prosecution."

"On the face of it there appears to be clear contravention of the Criminal Code section,
but on the other hand you have this Charter protection," Skurka said.

"I think you are going 10 have a very firm, vigorous constituHonal challenge to this section
t'"mt will go all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. This case will not be over, in
my view, for at least fwe years. ~

Blackmore has said that he believes !he freedom of religion provisior: in the Charter
would trump any Criminal Code clause. It has been noted that he has a framed copy of
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms hanging on his office wall.

Blackmore has elso said that the investigation against him is a form of religious
persecution.

"It can't possibly be about polygamy," Blackmore wrote in an email te The Canadian
Press last June.

'1t must be about (Oppal's) own religious bias and now he wants the Liberal government
to persecute some of the cttizens that they have an obligation to serve and protect."

Activists say polygamy hurts women, children

In April 2008, Vancouver-area NO? Dawn Slack wrole to Federal Justice Minister Rob
Nicholson saying that the federal government needs to abandon its rands-off approach
to Bountiful.

"As an advocate of women's and children's rights, I strongly oppose the polygamy
practiced in Bountiful, and I share the concerns of many Canadians about the treatment
of young girls there," Black wrote.

Also in 2008, Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham released 3 book titled "The

,)(\1() A7 1,
Polygamy charges laid against Bountiful, B.C. leaders - CTV News Page 3 of4 53
Secret Uves of Saints; The Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon
Sect," detailing the world of Bountiful.

In an interview with CTV.ca in 2008, she said that BounHful has managed to thrive
because authorities were too worried about a Charier of Rights deais.on to actually lay
charges.

She also commented on the irony of Canada fighting for women's rights in Afghanistan
but then allowing a polygamist sect to run ur,checked within its own borders.

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.Exhibit ·.K,· ~ferred in

Th~'iS to the

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A Commissioner for taking Affidavits
within the Province of British Columbia
Share The Light Page I of 9 C)<.,

Share The Light

Winston Blackmore will share some of his light and answer your questions here.
admin@sharethelight.ca

Do you have a comment on the Governments refusal to fund your

position in the upcomin2 reference on polY2amy?
May 5th, 20 IO

I have a few thoughts on it. Let me take you back a bit. Jim and I were arrested and charged with
polygamy last year. It caused a huge amount of stress to our families, our community and ourselves. I
was represented by Mr. Joe Arvay. We brought an action against the Government and proved in court
that they broke the law. The process cost hundreds of thousands of dollars which we do not have and
which they refuse to pay. I think that this Government is afraid ofMr. Arvay, Maybe he should have
made a contribution to the Liberal campaign just before the last election. I am sure that the Government
has paid Mr. Robertsons billings, and if they wanted to show that they are something more than an
organization bent on discriminating, financially injuring and religiously cleansing our community, they
would at least re-imburse the financial damage they have caused us. Our families will live with the
emotional damage for the rest of their lives.

I have a better question. Why would anyone trust this government? It seems like to me that the first
thing that needs to happen is to see whether the appointed amicus has contributed cash to the Liberal
election campaign. The second thing the Government should do is make it a fair case and hire Mr. Arvay
to represent us. Other than that my family will not participate.

Posted in Uncategorized I No Comments»

Mother has moved!

March 26th, 2010

Mother has moved into her new home. It is beautiful! Thank you to all those who have helped in every
way. She was so excited that finally the rest of her children would come and see her that she did not
even sleep the first night. By the next day she was still expecting them. Finally she has decided that they
aren't coming.

Mother is a little old lady that had a stroke a few years ago. She requires constant care and is not able to
move around. She is also deaf. She can talk just fine but cannot hear. When you talk with her you have
to write down what you say so that she can read it. That's what I do. She has spent the better part of her
life being a Saint and so naturally her good life threatens others. When dad was cut off the church she
wouldn't leave him. Finally she got cut off again but that didn't matter to her. She has stayed true to the
faith that our parents have cherished, true to the truth for which martyrs have perished, true to Gods
command, and faithful and true she will ever stand!

Mother loves everybody! She just can't understand how a silly timid priesthood of some new church
would be so afraid of the simple faith of one old woman. Truly God said that two would put tens of
This is Exhibit;y,b.." referred to in the
affidavit of ......L:.t/.frS~ . . . ..
sworn before me at ....\J.Qt.\.CQ..I..lY..e--
in \h~ince of British Columbia this
... .l.~..dayof .....1..1.1.\\\. . .,20....(. 0
........~ ..............................
A Commi$ioner fur taking Affidavits
within the Province of British Columbia
Share The Light» Blog Archive» Where did the idea come from that required a man to h... Page 1 of2 C; 5'

Share The Light

Winston Blackmore will share some of his light and answer your questions here.
admin@sharethelight.ca

« You used to cut people off the church that went gambling. Is a trip to the casino a sin big enough to
lose your standing in a church?
Do you believe in divorce? »

Where did the idea come from that required a man to have three
wives before he could make it to the Celestial Kiugdom? Also, I
heard that a person must have three wives to be a member of the
Twelve Apostles. What is really so?
1ne idea probably came from someone who wanted another wife! A search of the Bible, Book of
Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, finds nothing of how many wives a man
must have. I don't know of any of the teachings of the Prophet Joseph that says so either.

I am sure that someone has said it somewhere in days gone by. The challenge of a fundamentalist is to
square what you hear with the fundamental teachings and revelations of God. Iknow, I canjust hear the
response of "present revelation, modem prophets" and so on. If all those past and present revelators
would have stayed with the teachings of our Lord Jesus, Mormonism wouldn't have taken the detour
that it has around things that are decent and fundamental to our faith.

If you go back to early Mormon history you will discover that many great men did not have three wives.
Where do you suppose that they are? Joseph saw in vision his brother Alvin sitting on the right hand of
God. He was never married. In our society there have been dozens of very fine people that have never
had an opportunity to live the "principle" as some call it. To think that salvation is simply a numbers
game is an insult to a host of good honorable people and should not be preached.

When the original twelve were called, none of them were polygamists. Some of the men set apart in
1886 were not polygamists. At a later date than that, some of the great men of our time were not
polygamists when they were called to be in the service of God and keep his fundamental principles
alive.

It is quite easy to make a set of new rules for people to live by. It is more difficult to try and get folks to
live by the ones that already exist. Once I went to see brother Jeffs and he said; "did you know that a
Patriarch must have five wives"? As I gave him a puzzled look he explained, "that is what a Patriarch
just told me". I rest my case on the wife thing and make this addition which is fundamental to our faith.
Marriage is ordained of God and it is the privilege of anyone who is not married to be married. If you go
and court someone else's wife then you are coveting your neighbors wife and breaking one of the Ten
Commandments. Do not commit adultery or you will be damned if you don't repent. If you are married
and minding your own business, looking after your family and the two of you are virtuous people,
should some other virtuous woman(I will add who is old enough to make her own choices in life)want to
join your family, and all are agreed, then whose business is that. No one is hurt, no society is hurt,no
family is broken, no vows are violated. Celestial implies virtuous.

)01 0-07 -1 '\

Share The Light» Blog Archive» Where did the idea come from that required a man to h." Page 2 of 2 c]\
If you get a chance, even if you are a single person, to take your valise in hand and wander to the ends of
the earth declaring repentance to the nations, then do it. Like Paul the Apostle, whether in or out of
chains, declare faith, repentance and baptism, spreading peace, honesty, decency and goodwill. You
don't need to be a polygamist to do right or earn you a place in heaven.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 6:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any
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2010-07-15
 bo

Thii> is Exhibit' CO· referred to in the

a~i~~· ..···;·L.~o.Ttr···~·~
Sworn before me at ..... ,......... ..CO.~ ...... ..
in the,PrOvince of BJitish COlumbia this
.... ...\.1...day of .....J~ ............ 20..lO
............ ~............ ,.............. ..
A Com.mlssioner for ta1<i~g Affid.i!Vits
within the Province of British C~l!Jmbia
Share The Light» Blog Archive» I started learning about the LDS Church several years a... Page 1 of 3

Share The Light

Winston Blackmore will share some of his light and answer your questions here.
admin@sharethelight.ca

« If you think you are so "fundamentally smart", why don't you have a temple and why are you not
doing work for the dead?
You make marriage sound so perfect, so nice. What about a widow? What about a woman who can't
stand the abusive husband? What about the wife married to an abusive alcoholic who is so holy on
Sunday, spends all week courting everything married or urunarried, watches pornography, oogles the
girls at the beach, and justifies his behavior by some magic love for the Priesthood? Sort that mess out
for me Winston! »

I started learning about the LDS Church several years ago and
joined with them a couple years later. One thing I have learned
about the restored Gospel is that it makes sense. Unfortunately, it
makes sense for everything except the issue of plural marriage. It
is not the commandment in D&C 132 but rather the Manifesto of
1890 that doesn't make sense. The revelation of 132 is very plain,
but I can't make the Manifesto jive with anything Heavenly
Father has said elsewhere in the scriptures. If someone knows
that the practice is ordained of God and that it is needed for
exaltation, how do they get started practicing it?
The section on plural marriage is very plain indeed and is a fundamental doctrine of our great faith. The
responsibility of entering into this eternal principle is shared between a husband and wife as paragraph
61 through 65 explain. The problem that the present LDS membership have to deal with is not so much
the Manifesto, which I can kind of understand, well sort of, considering the tumultuous times and the
age of the old brethren back then, but it is the attitude of the present leadership. When I was visiting
with Larry King once, he told me that President Hinckley had told him that Plural Marriage was never a
fundamental principle of our faith, I can't imagine that Brother Hinckley had forgotten to read the D&C
but maybe he had. I don't know why the present leadership are so ashamed of something that meant so
much to the early brethren that it must be discounted as never a fundamental principle. Oh well, that
doesn't matter to me because I am a Mormon fundamentalist and that is not what you asked,

I don't really know how to convey my answer in a short space but I can give you some advice on what is
not acceptable. Don't try and convert someone else's wife into joining you in a plural marriage
relationship. Adultery won't make your home more celestial. Teach your wife that plural marriage is a
fundamental principle of our faith and help her understand that she also has a responsibility to live the
fulness of the gospel. No matter how ready, willing and available some woman may be to join up with
you, use the same caution and wisdom that you used in the first place, A woman that will leave someone
else will also leave you. An unfaithful wife of someone elses will also be unfaithful to you. A person
that does not have faith in God won't automatically have faith because you do, The ultimate goal of any
plural family is to have a friendly happy relationship of sharing caring staying people who will joy in
each others joys, sorrow in each others sorrows, and love the faith that will glue them together forever.

)01 0-07 -1 'i

Share The Light» Blog Archive» I started learning about the LDS Church several years a... Page 2 of 3 b1
When you get that far you will know what I mean.

Plural Marriage has also lots of problems. For over 150 years the brethren have been battling with every
nasty old battle axe that had an ugly life and cannot see anyihing decent about two or more woman and
one man joined as a family unit. They will raise holy hell, make books, expose every ugly feeling that
they had along the way and try and make those feelings credible of every plural situation. They cannot
see virtue if they haven't any, co-operation if they are selfish, beauty when they feel so ugly, and they
refuse to believe that anyone could be bound by their faith, because they have no faith, and if they
pretend to they have forgotten the basic teachings of Christ. If they had remembered Christ they would
not carry on so. Then there is the LDS Church. Is it fair to say that if you started talking about Plural
Marriage at your church you would soon not be a member? They used to all say that it was not practiced
because it was against the law. It is not against the law for the lawmakers to intimately associate with
who and how many, male or female. Dozens of Presidents and Prime Ministers have openly exercised
the skeletons in their own closets, skeletons that were more than mere bones, all the while they planned
on making more laws against some ones basic fundamental religious principles, which by the way is
against the law. I wonder what the church will then say to their members when polygamy is no longer
illegal? But, I don't really care because the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is as old as eternity and the
Prophet Joseph said that it was never changing, for he reasoned, if God was always changing, then who
could ever really know if they were pleasing him? Faith in him then would no longer exist! The church
should study our fundamental principles instead of putting their trust in the arm of flesh. That's just my
opmIOn.

The best way to get started is get busy. Dozens oflazy men want to be polygamists and generally for all
the wrong reasons. Go to work and fall in love with your wife and then go help someone in need. Do
what Christ said and help those who you can help whether they like you or not. Keep yourself virtuous,
don't have wicked imaginations, be selective about what you read and watch and take great care to not
touch something either mentally or physically that you should not. Let virtue garnish your thoughts
unceasingly, then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God and the doctrine of the
Priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. Plural Marriage is a Doctrine of the
Priesthood so it stands to reason that a Priesthood that does not honor that Doctrine needs to re-Iook at
their authority. Clean up your yard, your shop, your house, your life. Go to your meetings, socials and
functions. Actually, you should go to somewhere where people have the same faith hopes and dreams as
you do, then go to meetings, socials and functions. Keep yourself clean physically and mentally. Pay
your tithing and help on the projects. It has been my experience that a man who helps and participates,
brushes his teeth and is clean is far more attractive than a filthy lazy man and far more desirable. You
don't have to be tall dark and handsome either. Be a man of God and let your light shine before men and
woman and they will see your goodworks and some will want to be a part of all that.

It has been my experience that the happiest plural marriage associations are not had in wealth or
mansions. They are had by people who make no compromise for their faith, no compromise in their
virtue, no compromise in their living habits, and take no chances with their salvation. If you have bad
habits then get over them. If you have a tarnished past then repent and don't look backward anymore.
Dispose of your sins and don't dig them up anymore. Be all that our faith expects you to be and you will
be well on the way. What's more! God will notice you first.

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CATEGORY: Macleans.ca
The battle for Bountiful

Religion; Polygamy, radicalism and afightfor hearts and minds: a Mormon sect's power struggle
KEN MacQUEEN I Dec 13, 2004

Trouble brews in Bountiful, a community of fundamentalist Mormons scattered about the rolling valley lands south of Creston, B.C., a town best known for its popular Kokanee beer.
The commune's founders moved almost 60 years ago from Alberta, seeking the splendid isolation of the Kootenay Mountains to live "the Principle" - the practice of polygamy. The
belief that men must accumulate "plural wives" to achieve salvation is a central tenet of their faith.

It estranged them and thousands more in the United States from the mainstream Mormon Church, which ended the practice in 1890. Polygamy also violates laws in both Canada and

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the U.S.

Still, the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of LaUer Day Saints(FLDS), to which all of Bountiful's estimated 1,000 fundamentalists once belonged, has grown into a
multi-million-dollar corporation, with about 10,000 members in the church-controlled twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., and mysterious new enclaves under
construction in Texas and Colorado. But the fundamentalists also inhabit a world of legal trouble. Allegations of child abuse, forced marriages of underage girls, and of trafficking
"wives" across the Canada-U.S. border have triggered investigations in B.C. and Utah. And Bountiful is also torn by a battle for spiritual and economic control between two powerful
men, each claiming the loyalty of about half of the commune's members. Warren Jeffs, 49, claimed the "prophesy" of the FLDS in 2002 after the death of his father and fanner leader,
Rulon Jeffs, who had been debilitated by a stroke. Insiders say Warren used his father's weakened state to position himselfas leader by deposing a popular potential rival: Winston
Blackmore, 48, a millionaire businessman who was bishop of Bountiful.

Jeffs exerts godlike control over hi!:; followers. His increasingly erratic message is laced with blatant racism and apocalyptic visions - all the more disturbing since he now runs
Bountiful's provincially funded schoo!. Blackmore, meanwhile, who also claims the loyalty of a growing number of disaffected U.S. fundamentalists, says, "There is a very real potential
for violence, and not on our part." Those under Jeffs's sway, he told Mac/ean's, "could do anything, and would do anything - and I mean anything - they thought they were supposed
to do."

TROUBLE IN TEXAS
Since the arrival late last winter of the "marrying people," as one of Eldorado's more eccentric citizens calls them, there's plenty to talk about in this tiny west Texas town, if not much
to see. The polygamous enclave of the YFZ(Yeaming for Zion)Ranch is marked by nothing more than a "No Trespassing" sign on a locked gate off a country road. A long lane
undulates over rocky rangeland, past stunted mesquite and juniper trees and ubiquitous prickly pear cactus. There may be 50, fundamentalists in there, says the local sheriff; or 200,
says the local newspaper editor. They were cliosen by the prophet - Jeffs - from the enclave on the Arizona-Utah border and likely also from Bountiful, where believers have
contributed truckloads of lumber and prefabricated buildings to the cause.

Jeffs never gives interviews, leaving others to speculate. Is he building a refuge from legal troubles, or preparing the most faithful for the fiery apocalypse he has long predicted? The
church's lawyer, Rod Parker of Salt Lake City, says the group hasn't offered a reason for moving into Texas(there is also a second new enclave near Mancos, Colo.). He speculates
the leadership is seeking more freedom and privacy. "I think they were looking for a place where they had more control over the comings and goings of people, especially from the
outside," Parker says. He adds that public concerns whipped up by recent church activities are "over the top." Still, the goings-on, beyond a guard hut barely visible on the horizon, are
the stuff of worry and fear.

The 1,900 folks of Eldorado are annoyed and offended that this group of polygamists - the women dressed in pioneer garb, as if they've stepped off a wagon train - won't make eye
contact, let alone acknowledge a "how y'aH doln?" They've certainly shown no need of flowers, jewellery or small talk, all available in abundance in Cathy Niblett's shop in the business
district. "Texas hospitality is worldwide known," she says. 'We're courteous and expect the same."

Texas law enforcement officials are watching, too. There's talk of a kidnapped Canadian woman and her three sons out there, of forced marriages amounting to child rape, of
obedience unto death to the prophet. Jeffs is under investigation by the Utah attorney general's office and faces civil suits in the state, including one that alleges he and two brothers
repeatedly sodomized a nephew - allegations Jeffs has denied. Jeffs has avoided being served with a summons by shuttling among his enclaves, says Sam Brower, a private

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investigator who has tracked Jeffs for months on behalf of the law firm mounting the civil cases.

Brower isn't alone in fearing that attempts to apprehend Jeffs may trigger a dangerous reaction. "Backed into a corner, there is the potential for all kinds of violence on the magnitude
of Jonestown," he says, evoking the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana where 900 American cult members died on the orders of leader Jim Jones. Brower spends several days each week
in the fundamentalist enclave of Hildale-Colorado City, and has extensively interviewed current and former followers of Jeffs. "I know there's people who will die for him, lie for him,
steal for him," he says. "I've heard people say they'd ki!! their family if Jeffs asked them to, that's how strongly they believe."

His fears are shared by child victim advocate Flora Jessop, 34, who fled the Arizona-Utah enclave as a 16-year-old bride. The only thing more dangerous than arresting Jeffs is
leaving him be, she says from Phoenix, where she works to rescue children from the sect. "It's not a matter of if there's going to be violence, it's a matter of when," she says. "Things
are going to continue to deteriorate to the point where there's going to be a lot more innocents hurt."

Folks in Eldorado, fluctuating between b,emusement and worry, are prone to black jokes about Waco, Texas, and the disastrous 1993 FBI raid that triggered the blazing end to David
Koresh's armed fortress. That's one subject that can turn Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran, an amiable man, as prickly as a cactus pear. HI-advised federal raids are no longer
likely, nor is there evidence to warrant police intervention, he says. "The dynamics of this are totally different than Waco." Doran's crash course on cults and fundamentalism began in
March, when news of the ranch was broken by his friend Randy Mankin, owner and editor of the Eldorado Success. Since then, Mankin and his photographer wife, Kathy, haven't
wanted for news. Trouble is, it isn't just a story, says Randy. "I'm concerned for my town."

The sheriff has had limited success building brjdges to the group. One member with whom he established some rapport was then excommunicated and his wives reassigned to other
men. Without jurisdiction to patrol private ranches, at least without probable cause, Doran makes regular overflights of t~e fundamentalists' 1 ,700-acre dusty domain. They're plenty
busy for a group expecting to soon be lifted to a better world as non-believers burn in the hellfire of Armageddon. He estimates they're spending, in the nearby city of San Angelo
alone, US$1 million a month on supplies,

Doran scrolls through dozens of aerial photos. They show the progress of a spreading road grid, hotel-style housing, huge storage and meeting rooms, and the foundation for a
structure so massive it proved a puzzlement until the Success reported speculation that it is to be a limestone temple. "They have lights set up, they work 24 hours a day," says Doran.
"They're just like ants."

SONS AND DAUGHTER

The battle for control of the fundamentalist church has torn a swath through Jane Blackmore's fragile new life. A slight, intense 4B~year~0Id with jet-black hair and sad, dark eyes, she
sits in her Cranbrook home -- 90 minutes and a world apart from her past as the first of an estimated 26 wives of Winston Blackmore. She is a nurse and, until her recent divorce from
Blackmore, slie served as midwife in Bountiful, a role she still fills on occasion. She has admitted in the past to aiding births for mothers as young as15. She's delivered many of her
ex-husband's estimated 80 children by other wives. These aren't subjects for today, she says firmly. If authorities do investigate Bountiful, she says, "j'lI be willing to do my part." Jane
left her husband, lost her faith and walked away from the cloistered world of Bountiful, but it is the disappearance of her 23-year-old daughter Susie and her young grandsons that
most troubles her.

SUSie, like most teen girls in Bountiful, and like Jane herself, married young to a man assigned by the church. Her appointed husband was Ben Johnson, a devout fundamentalist
whom Susie, then 17, hadn't met. "She flew with her father to Salt Lake City, met him and married him five minutes later," says Jane. They settled in Colorado Clty, where Johnson
later took a second wife. Trouble began when Jeffs gained contra! of the church. Johnson is an ardent follower.

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He limited Susie's contact with her parents. This spring, the family vanished altogether. Jane, and her sister Debbie Palmer, herself a former plural wife who fled Bountiful in 1988,
have reported Susie's disappearance to police and plied their contacts - to no avail. Sheriff Doran finally had a phone call from Susie this summer, after pressing people at the YFZ
Ranch for an explanation. She told Doran she was "on a mission," but refused to reveal her whereabouts. She phoned her mother at his urging but said little except that she wanted to
be left alone.

Jane and Debbie fear Susie is among the "chosen," whom Jeffs says will be lifted to a beUer world, and they suspect he is using SUSie to strike back at his rival, Winston Blackmore.
"She's truly in a lot of danger," says Palmer, co-author of Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy, a book due for release late this year about her own troubled childhood in Bountiful. Under
Jeffs, the church has veered in even more bizarre directions, she says. "The teachings of the group have deteriorated in such a radically extreme manner that it's almost
unrecognizable."

The sisters say Johnson is a leader of the Sons of Helaman, a church group for teen boys in the twin clties that has, under Jeffs, taken a sinister turn as a youth militia. The Sons have
authority to barge into homes, reporting to the hierarchy such "iniquities" as televisions, radios, novels, the wrong music, even the wearing of red, says Shem Fischer, one of dozens of
twin city churchmen who've lost homes, families and livelihoods after faHing out with Jeffs. "I've heard that now this young group of boys has been introduced to firearms; they learn
how to shoot, do weaponry and explosives," says Fischer. He now helps run a Utah-based group resettling some 400 so-called "lost boys" who were cast out of the church - in part,
he says, to ensure a supply of young brides for the FLDS leadership.

Jeffs's erratic actions have driven some U.S. members into a community of a few hundred fundamentalists in northern Idaho, across the border from Bountiful. Some, like Ezra Draper,
32, and his wife and four children, lost their homes in Utah for rejecting Jeffs's extremism. Draper considers Blackmore the legitimate leader of his church, one now twisted beyond
recognition. He stands in downtown Bonners Ferry, where he now works in retail, looking defiant and a bit lost. "The F in FLDS has switched," he says, "from fundamentalist to
fanaticism."

WORLDS APART
Trouble circles Winston Blackmore after years of running his world - and a lucrative array of Creston and area businesses - with absolute dominion. Bountiful, where "keep sweet"
has always been the guiding mantra, is bitterly split. Jeffs's followers attend a separate school and largely shun those loyal to Blackmore - neighbours who often are, quite literally,
their Mormon brothers and sisters. Nor is the larger Creston community as predisposed as it once was to accept polygamy as a victimless, if quirky, lifestyle. Creston Mayor Joe
Snopek, a long-time defender of Blackmore, concedes that the impact of the rift is manifesting itself in drug and alcohol use among some of the group's disaffected teens. "That," he
says, "was unheard of before." A recently formed Creston women's group - Altering Destiny Through EdUcation - is drawing attention to Bountiful's independent schools. They do
little, the group says, except prepare girls for early marriage and boys for stoop labour. "I don't give a damn about their religion," says member Deb Quesnel. "They need to educate
those children properly so when they grow up they can make an educated decision."

Then there are the investigations. The RCMP - at the urging of B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant - is reviewing its handling of former allegations of abuse in Bountiful before
deciding if a full investigation is warranted. Past cases went nowhere; then, as now, few stepped forward to say they were victimized, and legal opinions suggested polygamy laws
wouldn't survive a constitutional challenge based on freedom of religion. "We're looking at it with fresh eyes," says RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward. A B.C. human rights tribunal,
meanwhile, will hear a complaint of sexual discrimination by Debbie Palmer and a group of B.C. women. Among the allegations: that teenage girls are swapped across the border to
become wives, and that they're coerced by the threat of eternal damnation "to become concubines in harems and bear many children."

Blackmore proves an elusive interview, though he o~ers a few cautious email responses. The direction the church has gone under Jeffs, he says, "has no precedent in the history of

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Mormon fundamentalists." As for the RCMP: "If Canadian authorities were to investigate everyone that others considered were involved in illegal and ungodly activities" it would take
them 100 years to finally get around to us." Some of Bountiful's plural wives have spoken out in his defence. They placed an ad in the Creston paper in October, saying the only
violation of their rights comes from "the false accusations of a few self-serving activists," fanned by a media frenzy. "We have all the freedom in the world," says Cherene 'Palmer, 57, a
mother of 14 and one of Blackmore's wives. "Our religion is no more a cult than any ether." Nor, she insists, would the women of Bountiful tolerate abuse.

Marlene Palmer, 46, looks up from her computer in the Creston headquarters of J.R. Blackmore & Sons, Winston's family business. A smile belies an edge of frustration in her voice.
She is a mother of six, and a plural wife to a man she won't name. Like many Bountiful men, he is legally married to one woman, while subsequent wives are married only in the eyes
of the church, making polygamy tough to prove. And why should it be prosecuted if the women know and accept each other, she asks. "Men haven't been monogamous, truly, for
hundreds and hundreds of years, but usually the other women don't know about each other. There's a mistress here, there's a mistress there," she says, shrugging at the hypocrisy of
it all.

Unlike Eldorado, no gate blocks the road to Bountiful. But it remains a closed society, crowded by an uncomprehending world and backed against the unyielding mass of the
Skimmerhorn Mountains. Parked on a hilltop, a visitor wonders what to make of the place. Down the road, a little girl in a long pioneer dress plays alone under a tree in the yard of
Blackmore's motel-like compound. Scudding grey clouds and a weak, setting sun change the view moment by moment. Look, and the scene is suffused in a pastoral, golden glow.
Look again, the light has drained, the fields are cast in shadow, the mountain is a looming, malevolent force.

Two women of Bountiful stop their van to see jf anything is wrong. Just looking at the view, they're told. They smile because for them, at this moment, there is no doubt. "Oh, yes," the
driver says, "beautiful, isn't it?"

POWflleDIlY
Search Mac!eans.ca ~?:?,f.

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affidavit of ..... C. :!D.J1.~1\l(.l. ............-.
sworn before me at .....~~ ..LD.\.!.Y?I... .

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within the Province of British Colu'mbia
\L
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15

BY SCOTT ANOERSON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHANIE SINCLAIR
THE FIRST CHURCH MEMBERS
Meeting House in Colorado City, Arizona, at about 6 p.m. Within a half hour the line
extends out the front doors, down the side of the building, and out into the parking lot.
By seven, it stretches hundreds of yards and has grown to several thousand people-the
men and boys dressed in suits, the women and girls in Easter egg-hued prairie dresses.
The mourners have come for a viewing of
6S-year-old Foneta jessop, who died of a heart
attack a few days ago. In the cavernous hall
Foneta's sons form a receiving line at the foot
of her open casket, while her husband, Merril,
stands directly alongside. To the other side
stand Merrills numerous other wives, all wear-
ing matching white dresses.
Foneta was the first wife.
Colorado City is a town with special eignifi-
cance for those of Foneta's faith. Together with
its sister community of Hildale, Utah, if is the
birthplace of the Fundamentalist Church of
jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a poly-
gamous offshoot of the Mormon Church, or
LDS. Here in the 1920s and '30s, a handful of
polygamous families settled astr'ide the Utah-
Arizona border after the leadership of the Mor-
mon Church became increasingly determined to
shed its polygamous past and be accepted by the
American mainstream. In 1935 the church gave
settlement resid~p-lts an u1timatuI~V rell(?~I?-ce plu-
ral marriage orbe excommunicated. Practically
everyone refused and was cast out of the LDS.
At the memorial service for Foneta, her hus-
band and three sons give testimonials'praIs-
ing her commitment to the covenant of plural
marriage, but there is an undertone of fjf'mily
disharmony, with vague references by Merril
jessop to his troubled relationship with Foneta.
No one need mention that one oEMerri!,s wives
is missing. Carolyn jessop, his fourtn\vife, left
the household in 2003 with her eight children
and went on to write a best -selling book on her
life as an FLDS member. She describes a clois-
tered environment and tells of a deeply unhappy
Foneta, an overweight recluse who fen out of
favor with her husband and slept her days away,
l1
arrive at the LeroyS. Johnson
coming out of her room only at night to eat, do
laundry, and watch old Shirley Temple movies
on television.
At the conclusion of the service, most of the
congregation walk over to the Isaac Carling
cemetery for a graveside observance. I assume
the enormQus turnout~mourners have come in
from FLDS communities in Texas, Colorado, and
British Columbia-stems from the prominent
position Fonetas husband holds: Merril jessop is
an FLDS leader and the bishop of the large chap-
ter in West Texas. But Sam Steed, a soft-spoken,
37 -year-old accountant acting as my guide,
explains that elaborate funerals ar';'a regular
occurrence. "Probablybetween 15 and 20 times
a year;' he says. "This one is maybe a little bigger
than most, but even when a young child dies,
you can expect three or four thousand people
to attend, It's part of what keeps uS'together. It
reminds us we're members of this larger com-
munity. We drawstrength from each oth,r::
FEW AMERICANS HAD HEARD of the FLDS before
April200S, when law enforcement officials con-
ducted a raid on a remote compound in West
Texas known as the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
For days after, television viewers witnessed the
bizarre spectacle of hundreds of children and
women-all dressed in old-fashioned prairie
dresses, with elaborately coiffed hair-being
herded onto school buses by social workers and
police officers.
That raid had been spurred by phone calls to
a domestic violence shelter, purportedly from
a 16-year-old girrwlioclaimed she was being
sexually and physically abused on the ranch by
her middle-aged husband. What"lent credibility
to the calls was that the residents ofYFZ Ranch
THE POLYGAMISTS 45

·'_ ~ ~_ .Bountiful CAN A D A
Seattle_ . ._. "__ "
Spokane- - -
UNITED
STATES
MEXICO
were disciples of the FLDS and its "prophet;'
Warren Jeffs, who had been convicted in a Utah
court in 2007 for offiCiating at the marriage of a
14-year-old girl to a church member.
The raid made for gripping television, but it
soon became clear that the phone calls were a
hoax. And although authorities had eVidently
anticipated a violent confrontation like the 1993
shoot-out at the Branch Davidian compound in
Waco-SWAT teams were brought in, along with
an armored pe~sonnel carrier-the arsenal at the
YFZ Ranch consisted of only 33 legal firearms. A
Texas appeals court later found that authorities
had not met the burden of proof for the removal
of the more than 400 children, and most Were
returned to their families within two months.
Yet after interViewing teenagers W~? were
pregnant or had children, Texas autliorities
began investigating how many underage girls
might have been "sealed" to older men. (Plural
marriages are performed within the Church and
are not legal.) The result: Twelve church mem-
bers) including Warren Jeffs) were indicted on
charges ranging from bigamy to having sex with
a minor. The first defendant to stand trial, Ray-
mond Jessop, was convicted of one charge last
November. Trials of the other defendants are
scheduled to take place over the coming year.
46 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC· FEBRUARY 2010
An estimated 38,000
breakaway Mormon fun-
damentalists continue the
practice of plural marriage
i in North America today.
."' The FLDS, founded in
Hilda\e and Colorado City,
astride the Utah-Arizona
border, is the largest
organized group, with
about 10,000 members
across the western U.S.
and Canada.
_Large
FLDS communities
• Medium
- Sma\l
9ml ! 49°
61<m' 4~
NGMMAFS
FROM THE BLUFF BEHIND his Hildale home, Joe
Jessop has a commanding view of the Arizona
Strip~ an undulating expanse of sageprush and
pilion-juniper woodland that stretches south
of the Utah border all the way to the northern
rim of the Grand Canyon, some 50 miles away.
Below are the farm fields and walled com-
pounds of Hildale and Colorado City, which Joe
refers to collectively by their old name, Short
Creek. "When I first came to Short Creek as a
boy, there were just seven homes down there;'
says Joe, Ss:"It was like the frontier:'
Today, Short Creek is home to an estimated
6,000 FLDS members-the largest FLDS com-
munity. Joe Jessop, a brother of Merril, has con-
tributed to that explosive growth in two very
different ways. With the weathered features and
spindly gait of a man who has spent his life out-
doors and worked his body hard, he is the com-
munity's undisputed "water guy;' a self.taught
engineer who helped with the piping of water
out of Maxwell Canyon hack in the 1940s. He's
had a hand in building the intricate network
of waterlines,- can;;l.is, and reservoirs that has
irrigated the arid pi~teau in the decades since.
A highly respected member of the FLDS, Joe
is also the patriarch of a family of 46 children
and-at last count-239 grandchildren. "My
 ::l 38,000
iormon fun-
, continue the
plural marriage
~erica today.
)unded in
Colorado City,
IJtah-Arizona
:he largest
,roup, with
lO members
Nestern U.S.
ca.

Ilunities

:m

.:00

tale home, Joe

of the Arizona
sagebrush and
stretches south
.0 the northern
50 miles away.
1 walled com-
o City, which Joe
ld name, Short
hart Creek as a
Cles down there:'
lrrtier:'
to an estimated
. gest FLDS com-
f rvlerril) has con-
ivth in two very
:red features and
spent his life out-
cd, he is the com-
llY;' a self-taught
lO piping of water
in the 19;:10s. He's
\ltricate·'network
_.:>ervoirs that has
the decades since,
r of the FLDS, Joe
;ly of 46 children
mdchildren. "My
 family came to Short Creek for the same rea-
son as everyone else;' he says, "to obey the law
of plural marriage, to build up the Kingdom of
God. Despite everything that's been thrown our
way, I'd say we've done a pretty good job:'
Members of the faith describe the life that the
Jessops and other founding families have built
as idyllic, one in which old-fashioned devotion
and neighborly cooperation are emphasized and
children are raised in a wholesome environment
free of television and junk food and social pres-
sures. Critics, on the other hand, see the FLDS
as an isolated cblt whose members, worn down
by rigid social control, display a disturbing fealty
to one man, the prophet Warren Jeffs-who has
claimed to be God's mouthpiece on Earth.
To spend time in Hildale and Colorado City
is to come ,away vvith a more nuanced view. That
view is revealed gradually, however, due to the
insular nature of the community. Many of the
oversize homes are tucked behind high walls,
. both to give children a safe place to play and to
shield families from gawking Gentiles, as non-
Mormons are known. Most residents avoid
contact with strangers. National Geographic was
given access to the community only on thd ap-
proval of the church leadership, in consultation
with the imprisoned Warren Jeffs.
In keeping with original Mormon teachings,
mush of the property in Hildale and Colorado
City is held in trust for tlie church. Striving tq -
be as self-sufficient as possible, the community
grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables,
and everyone, including children, is expected
to help bring in the yield Church members also
own and operate a number oflarge businesses,
i 1 from hotels to tool and machine manufacturers.
Ea~hS'aturda)\ men gather at.the. meetinghouse
to go ov,r a roster of building and maintenance
projects around town in need of volimteers. In,
one display of solidarity, the men built a four-'
bedroom home, from foundation to roof shin-
gles, in a single day.
This communal spirit continues inside the
polygamous home. Although living arrange-
ments vary-wives may occupy different wings of
a house or have their own granny cottages-the

48 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. FEBRUARY 2010

 ,
Merril Jessop's son Raymqnd, 38, is escorted to jail after a Texas jury sentenced
him last November to ten years in prison for sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl,
who had been "sealed" to him in a polygamous-marriage, During sentencing the
defense argued the prosecution offered no eviden~;;'th'e'sex was not conse'n-
sual, but state law holds that unmarried girls under age 17 cannot give consent.

THE POLYGAMISTS 49
 Awoman's primary role in the FLDS is to bear as
many children as possible, to build up the "celestial
family" that will remain together for eternity.
women tend to carve out spheres of influence
according to preference or aptitude. Although
each has primary responsibility for her own
children, one wife might manage the kitchen,
a second act as schoolteacher (virtually all
FLDS children in Hildale and Colorado City
are homeschooled), and a third see to the sew-
ing. Along with instilling a sense of sorority, this
division of labor appears to mitigate jealousy.
"I know it must seem strange to outsiders:'
says Joyce Broadbent, a friendly woman of 44,
"but from my experience, sister wives usually get
along very well. Oh sure, you might be closer to
one than another, or someone might get on your
nerves occasionally, but that's true in any family.
I've never felt any rivalry or jealousy at all."
Joyce is a rather remarkable example of this
harmony. She not only accepted another wife,
Marcia, into the family, but was thrilled by the
addition. Marcia, who left an unhappy marriage
in the 1980s, is also Joyce's biological sister. "I
knew my husband was a good man;' Joyce
explains with a smile as she sits with Marcia and
their husband, Heber. "1 wanted my sister to have
a chance at the same kind ofhappiness 1 had:'
Not all FLDS women are quite so sanguine
about plural marriage. Dorothy Emma Jessop is
a spry. effervescertt od:ogena;rian who operates
a naturopathic dispensary in Hildale. Sitting in
her tiny shpp surrounded by jars qfherbal tinc-
tures she ground and miiedherself, Dorothy
admits she struggled when her husband began
i
. \r taking on other wives. "To be honest;' she says,
i "I think a lot of women have a hard time.\vith it,
because it's not an easy thing to share·the man
you love. But I came to realize thiq is another
test that God places before you-the"sin ofjeal-
ousy, ofpride"::'and that to be a godly woman, I
needed to overcome it."
What seems to help overcome-it is an aware-
ness that a woman's primary role in the FLDS is
to bear and raise as many children as possible,
to build up the "celestial family" that will remain
together for eternity. It is not uncommon to
meet FLDS women who have given birth to 10,
12, 16 children. (joyce Broadbent is the mother
of 11, and Dorothy Emma Jessop of 13.) As a
50 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC· FEBRUARY 2010
result, it's easy to see why this corner of the
American vVest is experiencing a population
explOSion. The 400 Or so babies delivered in the
Hildale health clinic every year have resulted
in a median age of just under 14, in contrast
with 36.6 for the entire U.S. With so many in the
community tracing their lineage to a handful
of the pioneering families, the same few names
crop up over and over in Hildale and Colorado
City, suggesting a murkier side to this fecundity:
Doctors in Arizona say a severe form of a debili-
tating disease called fumarase defiCiency, caused
by a recessive gene, has become more prevalent
in the community due to intermarriage.
The collision of tradition and modernity in
the community can be disorienting. Despite
their old-fashioned dress, most FLDS adults
have cell phones and favor late-model SUV s.
Although televisions are now banished, church
members tend to be highly computer literate and
sell a range of products, from so~ps to d~esses,
via the Internet. When I noticed how few con-
gregants wore glasses, I wondered aloud if per-
haps a genetic predisposition for good eyesight
was at work. Sam Steed laughed lightly. "No.
People here are just really into laser surgery:'
THE PRINCIPLE OF PLURAL MARRIAGE was revealed to
the Mormons amid much secrecy. Dark clouds
hovered over the church in the early 1840s, after
rumors spread that its founder, Joseph Smith,
had taken up the practice of polygamy. While
denying the charge in public, by 1843 Smith had
shared a revelation with his closest disciples. In
this "new and everlasting covenant" with God,
plural wives were to be taken so that the faithful
might "multiply and replenish the earth:'
After Smith was assassinated by an anti-
Mormon mob in Illinois, Brigham Young led
believers on an epic l,300-mile journey west to
the Salt Lake Basin of present-day Utah. There
the covenant was at last publicly revealed and
with it, the noti911 that a man's righteousness
before God would be measured by the size of
his family; Brigham Young himself took 55
wives, who bore him 57 children.
But in 1890, faced with the seizure of church

property under a federal antipolygamy law, the
LDS leadership issued a manifesto announc-
ing an end to plural marriage. That certainly
didn't end the practice, and the LDS's tortured
handling of the issue-some church leaders
remained in plural marriages or even took on
new wives after the manifesto's release-con-
tributed to the schism between the LDS and
the fundamentalists.
"The LDS issued that manifesto for political
purposes, then later claimed it was a revelation;'
says Willie jessop, the FLDS spokesman. "We
in the fundamentalist community believe cov-
enants are made with God and are not to be
manipulated for political reasons, so that pre-
sents an enormous obstacle between us and
those in the LDS mainstream:'
Upholding the covenant has come at a high
price. The 2008 raid on the YFZ Ranch was only
the latest in a long list of official actions against
. polygamists-persecutions for simply adhering
to their religious principles, in the eyes of church
members-that are integral to the FLDS story.
At various times both Utah and Arizona authori-
ties attempted to crack down on the Short Creek,
community: in 1935, in 1944, and most famously, .
in 1953. In that raid some 200 women and chil-
dren were hauled to detention centers, while 26
men were brought up on polygamy charges. In
1956 Utah authorities seized seven children of
Vera Blick, a Hildale plural wife, on grounds
that her polygamous beliefs made her an unlit
mother. Black was reunited with her children
only after agreeing to renounce polygamy.
MELINDA FISCHER JEFFS is an articulate, outgoing
womanof37, and she gives an incredulous laugh
when describing what she's read about the FLDS.
"Honestly, I can't even recognize it!" the mother
of three exclaims. "Most all of what appears
in the media, it makes us sound like we're some-
how being kept against our will:'
Melinda is in a unique position to understand
f the conflicting views of this community. She is
a plural wife to jim jeffs, one of the prophet's
nephews and an elder in the FLDS. But she is
[1 also the daughter of Dan Fischer, a former FLDS
33
member who has emerged as one of the church
leadership's most vociferous critics. In 2008
Fischer testified before a U.S. Senate committee
about alleged improprieties within the FLDS,
and he now heads an organization that works
with people who have been kicked out of the
church or who have "escaped:' When Fischer
broke with the church in the 1990s, his family
split apart too; today 13 of his children have left
the FLDS, while Melinda and two of her half
siblings have renounced their father.
"And that is not an' easy thing;' Melinda says
softly, "obviously, because I still love my father.
I pray all the time that he will see his errors-or
at least, stop his attacks on us:'
If there is one point on which FLDS defenders
and detractors might agree, it is that most of the
current troubles can be traced to whei1 its lead-
ership passed to the jeffs family, in 1986. Until
then, the FLDS had been a fairly loosely run
group led by an avuncular man named Leroy
johnson, who relied on a group of high priests
to guide the church. That ended when Rulon
jeffs took over following johnsons death. After
being declared the prophet by the community,
Rulon solidilied the policy of one-man rule.
Charges that a theocratic dictatorship was
taking root in the Arizona Strip grew louder
when, after Rulon's death in 2002, the FLDS
was taken over by his 46-year-old son, Warren.
Assuming the role of the prophet, Warren first
married several of his father's wives-and then
proceeded to wed many more women, includ-
ing, accOJ;ding to Carolyn jessop, eight of MerrU
jessop's goughters. Although many FLDS men
have multiple wives, the number of wives of
those'"losest to the prophet can reach into the
double digits. A church document called the
Bishop's Record, seized during the Texas raid,
shows that one of jeffs's lieutenants, Wendell
Ni€lsen, claims 21 wives. And although the
FLDS would not disclose how many plural
wives Warren Jeffs has taken (s91)1e - '-'..
estimate
Scott Anderson is a war correspondent and novelist.
Photographer Stephanie Sinclair spent more than a
year documenting the FLDS community.
THE POLYGAMISTS 51
"If you have men marrying 20, 30, up to 80 or more
women," Fischer says, it's "simple math that there
will be a lot of men who aren't going to get wives,"
more than 80), at least one was an underage girl,
according to a Texas indictment.
Although the issue of underage marriage
within the church has garnered the greatest
negative media attention, Dan Fischer has cham-
pioned another cause, the so-called Lost Boys,
who have left or been forced from the commu-
nity and wound up fending for themselves on
the streets of Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and SI.
George, Utah. Fischer's foundation has worked
with 300 such young men, a few as young as 13,
over the past seven years. Fischer concedes that
most of these boys were simply "discouraged
.ont;' but he cites cases where they were officially
expelled, a practice he says increased ur.der Jeffs.
Fischer attributes the exodus partly to a cold-
blooded calculation by church leaders to limit
male competition for the pool of marriageable
young women. "If you have men marrying 20,
30, up to 80 or more women;' he says, "then it
comes down to biology and simple math that
there will be a lot of other men who aren'tgoing
to get wives. The church says it's kicking these
boys out for being disruptive influences, but if
you'll notice, they rarely kick out girls:'
Equally contentious has b¢en the FLDS res-
toration of an early Mormon policy of transfer-
ring the wives and children of a church member
to another man. Traditionally, this was done
upon the death of a patriarch so that his wid-
ows migh.tl].e c.ared fOf, or.y).,rescp~ a woman
from an abusive relationship.'Bulci'itics argue
that under Jeffs this "reassignment" became one
more weapon to hold over the heads of those
who dared step out of line. . swayed by the ongoing controversy. "Warren
Determining who is unworthy has been the
exclusive province of the prophet.. When in
January 2004 Jeffs publicly ordered ihe expul-
sion of 21 men'"arid the-reassignment of their
families, the community acqUiesced. Jeffs's di-
ary, also seized during the Tex~s raid, reve,als a
man who micromanaged the community'ievery
decision, from chore assignments and housing
arrangements to who married whom and which
men were ousted-all directed by revelations
Jeffs received as he slept. He claimed that God
guided his every action,no matter how small.
56 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC· FEBRUARY 2010
One diary entry reads: "The Lord directed that
I go to the sun tanning salon and get sun tanned
more evenly on their suntanning beds:'
In 2005 a Utah court transferred control
of the trust that oversees much of the land in
Hildale and Colorado City from the FLDS lead-
ership to a state-appointed fiduciary; the church
is currently waging a campaign to recover con-
trol of the trust. As for Jeffs, after spending
over a year on the lam avoiding legal issues
in Utah-and earning a spot on the FBI's Ten
Most Wanted list-he was caught aIlcl is cur-
rently serving a ten-year-to-life sep.lence as an
accomplice to rape. He awaits trial on multiple
indictments in Arizona and Texas. The 11 other
church members awaiting trial in Texas include
Merril Jessop, who was indicted for performing
the marriage o£Jeffs to an underage girl.
Yet Jeffs's smiling portrait continues to adorn
the living room of almost every FLDS home.
In his absence, his lieutenants have launched a
fierce defense of his leadership. While conced-
ing thc~.t underage marriages did occur in -the
past, Donald Richter, contributor to one of the
official FLDS websites, says the practice has now
been stopped. As for the Lost Boys, he argues
that both the numbers involved and the reasons
for the expulsions have been greatly exagger-
ated by the churcns enemies. "This is only done
in the most e~treme.cases:' Richter says, "and
never for the trivial causes they're claiming. And
anyway, all religious groups have the right to
expel people who won't accept their rules:'
Certainly Melinda Fischer Jeffs hasn't been
is just the kindest, most loving man;' she says.
"The image that has been built up about him by
the media and his enemies is just unrecogniz-
able to who he really is:' Like other church mem-
bers, Melinda has ready answers for most of the
accusations leveled against Jeffs and is especially
spirited in defending the policy of reassignment.
According to her, it is almost always initiated at
the request 6[lf'Wife who has been abandoned
or a\lUsed. This is debatable. In his diary Jeffs
recounts reassigning the wives of three men,
including his brother David, because God had
directed that shown him that they "couldn't exalt their ladies, what she would do if she were reassigned.
t sun tanned had lost the confidence of God." One of his "I'm confident that wouldn't happen;' she re-
,eds:' brother's wives had difficulty accepting the newS plies uneasily.
rred control and could barely bring herself to kiss her new "But what ifit did?" 1 ask. "Would you obey?"
f the land i10 husband. "She showed a great spirit of resistance, For the only time during our interview, Me-
,FLDS lead- yet she went through with it;' Jeffs records. "She linda grows wary. Sitting back in her chair, she
V' the church needs to learn to submit to Priesthood:' gives her head a quarter turn to stare at me out
>' ,
recover con- Yet Melindas defense of Jeffs underscores one of the corner of one eye.
er spending of the most curious aspects of the polygamous
~ legal issues faith: the central role of women in defending it. ON ASUNNY AFTERNOON in March 2009, Bob Barlow,
the FBI's Ten This is not new. In Brigham Young's day a charity a friendly, middle-aged member oflhe FLDS,
t and is cur- rushed to Utah to establish a safe house for poly- gives me'a tour of the YFZ Ranch in West Texas.
:ntence as an gamous women seeking to escape this "white The compound consists of about 25 two'story
11 on multiple slavery"; that house sat virtually empty. Today log-cabin-style homes, and a number of work-
The 11 other FLDS women in the Hildale-Colorado City area shops and factories are scattered over 1,700 acres.
fexas include have ample opportunity to "escape" -they have At the center sits a gleaming white stone temple.
Jr performing cell phones, they drive cars, there are no armed It is remarkable what the residents have created
;ge girl. guards keeping them in-yet they don't. from the hardscrabble plain. With heavy machin-
lues to adorn Undoubtedly one reason is that, having been ery, they literally made earth out of the rock)' ter-
FLDS home. raised'in this culture, they know little else. Walk- rain, crushing stone and mixing it with the thin.
ve launched a ing away means leaving behind everything: the topsoil. They planted orchards and gardens and
Ihile conced- community, one's sense of security, even one's lawns and were on their way to creating a self-
occur in the own family. Carolyn Jessop, the plural wife of sufficient community amid the barren laridscape.
r to one of the Merril Jessop who did leave the FLDS, likens All that ground to a halt after the 2008 raid.
1Ctice has noW entering the outside world to "stepping out onto' "The families are slowly coming back now:'
)Y8, he argues another planet. 1 was completely unprepared, ' Barlow says. "We'll come out the other side of
nd the reasons because 1 had absolutely no life skills. Most this better and stronger than before,"
eatly exagger- women in the FLDS don't even know how to I suspect he's right. So many times in the his-
IS is only done balance a checkbook, let alone apply for a job, tory of Mormon polygamy the outside world
Lter says, "and so contemplating how you're going to navigate thought it had the tj10vement on the ropes only
, claiming. And in the outside wOl;jd is extremely <,l!lUnt!~g." to see it flourish anew. I'm reminded of this one
'e the right to It would seem there's another lure for women afternoon in Colorado City when I speak with
eir rules~' to stay: power. The FLDS women I spoke with Vera Black. Now 92 and in failing health, Vera is
ffs hasn't been tended to be far more articulate and confident the woman whose children were taken from her
Tersy. "Warren than the men, most of whom seemed paralfzed': by Utah authorities in 1956 and returned only
nan:' she says. by bashfulness. It makes sense when one begins after she agreed to renounce polygamy. Within
~ about him by to grasp that women are coveted to "multiPly days of making that promise, she was back in
lst UI].,r~:~ogniz­ and replenish the earth:; while men ard\n Short Creek vrith her children and had renewed
i church mem- extraordinary competition to be deemed wor- her commitment to the everlasting covenant.
for most of the thy of marriage by the prophet. One way to be Now living with her daughter Lillian, Vera
lild is especially deemed worthy, of course, is to not r06k the .' lies in a daybed as her children gather around.
f reassigi{ment. boat, to keep a low profile. As a result, what has Those children are now in their 50s and 60s,
'ays initiated at all the trappings of a patriarchal culture, aelu- and as they recount the story of their long-ago
een abandoned ally has many elements of a matriarchal one. separation-both from iheir mother and their
, his diary Jeffs There are limits to that power, of course, for faith-several weep, as if the pain were fresh.
of three men, it is subject to the dictates of the prophet. After "I had to make that promise;' Vera says, with a
_cause God had hearing Melinda's stout defense of Jeffs, I ask smile, "but I crossed my fingers while I did it:' 0

THE POLYGAMISTS 57
 Aflidavit# I of C. Deigr:an
made JiJly 15, 2010
No. S-097767
Vancouver Registry

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

TN THE MATTER OF:

mE CONST!TUTfONAL QUESTION ACT, R.S.B.C. 1996, C.68

:\ Tn) IN THEMA TTE:R OF:

THE CANA ])fAN CHARTER OF RIGH7:S' AND FREEDOJ'v!S

AND IN THE MATTER OF:

A REFERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL SET OUT IN

ORDER IN COUNCIL NO. 533 DATED OCTOBER 22, 2009 CONCERNING THE
CONSTITUTIONALITY OF S. 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA,
R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46

AFFIDAVIT

Ministry of Attorney General

Legal Services Branch
1301 -865 Hornby Street
Vancouver Be V6Z 2(;3
Telephone: 604660-5476
Facsimile: 604660-6797

Craig Jones
Barrister and Solicitor
 Aftidavitif1 ofC Deignan
made July 15, 2010
No. S-097767
Vancouver Registry r

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

TN THE MATTER OF:

rHE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION ACT, R.S.B.C 1996, C68

A~·'l) IN THE MATTER OF:

THE CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGH7~,) AND FREEDOlvIS

AND IN THE l\IATTER 0 F:

A REfERENCE BY THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL SET OUT IN

ORDER IN COUNCIL NO. 533 DATED OCTOBER 22, 2009 CONCERNING THE
CONSTITUTIONALITY OF S. 293 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA,
R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46

AFFIDAVIT

Ministry of Attorney General

Legal Services Branch
1301 -865 Hornby Street
Vancouver Be V6Z 2GJ
Telephone: 604660-5476
Facsimile: 604660-6797

Craig Jones
Barrister and Solicitor