Warren Jeffs chooses 15 to father future FLDS children, sources say

HILDALE, Washington County — Rumors are flying about a new edict that sources say was issued from a Texas prison by polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs.

He has reportedly chosen 15 men to father all future children born to faithful members of his church.

Reports of Jeffs' new rules are second and third hand and remain unconfirmed by leaders of the Fundamentalist LDS Church. The reports are coming from outside sources who, in the past, have generally provided reliable information on the inner-workings of the FLDS Church. They acknowledge, however, that they have received only sketchy, unverified accounts.

Former FLDS member Isaac Wyler said he heard that the new rules were explained to lower ranking church members at a Sunday meeting two weeks ago. "They said there had been 15 men delegated or designated by God to sire the new, special children," Wyler said.

If the reports are true, it's one of the most bizarre twists yet as Jeffs attempts to maintain control over nearly 10,000 followers, most of whom live in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Late last year, Jeffs reportedly instructed his followers that sex was forbidden, even between married people, at least temporarily. That's because existing marriages in the group were considered invalid and needed to be re-solemnized by Jeffs himself.

Jeffs, however, is serving a life prison sentence in Texas for child sexual assault stemming from two young followers he took as brides. He won't be eligible for parole until he is at least 100 years old.

Now the faithful are apparently being asked to accept the resumption of sex, but only by a select few.

Private investigator Sam Brower, who wrote a best-selling book called "Prophet's Prey," said relatives of faithful members also told him about the 15-men edict. "These men are now breeding stock, essentially," Brower said, "and it's their assignment to breed with the women in town."

The new practices seem to reflect a sharp push toward hard work and rigid social rules in the group.

Last year, Jeffs banned most toys and recreational equipment. In Hildale and Colorado City, there are vivid reminders of that strict policy. Church leaders blockaded one set of basketball courts with huge bales of cardboard. At another court, they blocked it with fences and took down the basketball hoops.

"They did that because Warren doesn't want people playing ball any more, of any kind," said Wyler, who still lives in the community even though he left Jeffs' church several years ago.

According to the second- and third-hand reports circulating among outside critics, most men in the group will remain under the no-sex ban. Their wives, though, will be made available to the 15 chosen men.

Brower said husbands will become "caretakers" for their families, earning a living for their wives and for children fathered by others.

"The sex act itself is going to be a priesthood ordinance," Brower explained, "which is witnessed and carried out by these 15 men."

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Write Flora Jessop
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(Courtesy of Desert News, Written by John Hollenhorst, clip: Ch 4SLC:)  

U.S. could become defendant in ‘Sister Wives’ case

According to the Salt Lake Tribune,The United States government may become a defendant in a reality-show family’s lawsuit challenging Utah’s law banning polygamy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints renounced polygamy as a condition of statehood, required by the Utah Enabling Act of 1894. With that in mind, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups has asked attorneys for the Brown family, stars of the TLC show “Sister Wives,” and the state of Utah to show why the U.S. should not also be added as a defendant in the case.

The attorneys will present their arguments in a hearing scheduled for Dec. 16.

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Polygamy won’t ever be legal . "Sister Wives"

Polygamist Cody Brown’s PR stunt this past week was brilliant for the ratings of “Sister Wives” because the federal courts will never legalize polygamy. Brown purports to take advantage of the changing legal landscape over gay marriage and also the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court gave a nod of approval to two adult men who enjoy sex in the privacy of their own home.

Despite the legal changes to contemporary sex relations among adult partners, the practice of polygamy does not fall within this scope of progressive social change.

I noted in my book Sexual Deviance and the Law: Legal Regulation of Human Sexuality that polygamy is not merely a liberty interest in living with multiple partners. If that were the case, the state should not, and likely would not, interfere.

Rather, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada states, polygamy is criminogenic and spawns numerous forms of secondary criminal activity. Reid, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wants polygamist communities to be federally indicted as racketeers like the mafia or Hells Angels, organizations and entities which engage in a chronic, systematic pattern of criminal offending.

Cody Brown, et al., will claim innocence, but history tells us that polygamist households inevitably run terribly afoul of the law, where the same cannot be said of gay marriage or homosexual sodomy. Marriage to one spouse, but having sex with someone else, is legally and morally referred to as adultery and a precursor to domestic strife.

Infamously, some polygamists take underage brides and engage in statutory rape or actual rape. When cousins are involved, incest statutes apply. These are only the obvious manifestations of harm. Other forms of criminality include conspiracy to engage in child abuse, rape as an accomplice, and attempted sexual abuse. Non-sex-related offenses include welfare fraud, income tax evasion, and child neglect and abandonment.

With this litany of trouble, it is little wonder why very few reasonable people empathize with Cody Brown’s argument that sex by consenting adults in the privacy of their own home should be legal. The courts aren’t quite so gullible as to frame the issue so compactly.

For example, the Texas court system is not representative, but the polygamists on trial for sex-related crimes at the YFZ Ranch have been convicted effortlessly and received stunningly long sentences. (In 2010, polygamist Merrill Jessop was sentenced to 75 years in prison for consensual sex in a spiritual marriage with a minor.)

In sum, the idea that adults should be able to do what they want in the bedroom without intrusive state interference is attractive and comports with recent legal changes in sex law and politics.

However, the dynamics of a polygamist household extend well beyond the surface appeal of liberty and privacy interests. Polygamist communities are notoriously criminogenic, and if the U.S. Supreme Court ever takes a case like Cody Brown’s, it will be to soundly uphold the current prohibitions rather than to make any change in support of plural marriage.

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Scott R. Senjo is a professor of criminal justice at Weber State University in Ogden. Email: ssenjo@weber.edu 

(Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune)

Salt Lake Tribune - The Polygamy Blog

The Polygamy Blog - Lindsay Whitehurst

 Seems like Hollywood likes polygamy.

Yesterday, I got a call from a TLC producer looking to contact another polygamous family about a new possible TV show. And at last month's Safety Net committee meeting, a filmmaker who developed the reality show "Sister Wives" dropped by to see if there were any other families who would want to "show their lifestyle publicly," according to the meeting minutes. Calling the Browns a "gateway family," Salt Lake City filmmaker Tim Gibbons suggested there is room for more TV shows.

The show has been a hit, becoming five highest-rated premieres in the network's history, though at the cost of one wife, Meri, losing her job and the family coming under investigation by Lehi police.

So are we likely to see plural families dominating the airwaves? Maybe not anytime soon, Principal Voices co-founder Anne Wilde told me. Another show might be "overkill," she said, but maybe something else.

Gibbons did also say he's interested in a documentary ...

I would like "Annonymous" *my S friend, to explain to our readers what the Principal Voices and the Safety Net Community are in comments.
More of them?????

Courtesy:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogspolygblog/52150261-185/family-families-filmmaker-gibbons.html.csp