Canadian polygamist sect under pressure

Church doctrine touting plural marriage and a communal lifestyle stems from early Mormon theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That church, however, abandoned polygamy in 1890 and rejects any link to fundamentalists who continue the practice.

Then came the second divide. While Jeffs' followers stick to fundamentalist practices, Blackmore has liberalized his family and followers, discouraging forced marriages and young brides; he no longer requires women to wear specific dresses but urges them, instead, to dress conservatively. Some of his children even attend schools outside Bountiful, in the nearby community.

Public funds for elementary schools
Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School is for Jeffs' followers; about 200 yards down a grassy hill, Mormon Hills School is for Blackmore's people. Together, the schools receive about $600,000 in public funds each year.

Residents receive fire, paramedic and police support from Creston, a city of 5,000 about 10 miles to the north. Health care is provided under the government's national program. Residents see doctors at nearby hospitals; babies are often born in an onsite midwife clinic.

Creston Mayor Joe Snopek said Bountiful's residents rarely call for help because "they want to take care of their own problems."

As taxpayers, Kettle said, residents deserve the services they receive. "I don't have the time or the inclination to look in people's windows. As long as they're following the law, I don't give a rat's patootie," he said.

Kettle bristled at what he sees as an unending assault on Bountiful's way of life. "No one is sticking up for the polygamous Mormons. They're an easy target."

But some women who have left the sect, including Debbie Palmer, say girls as young as 14 have been forced to marry older men. Palmer, whose father had six wives, is the oldest of 47 children. She said that many residents know of no other life. She left in 1988.

"The fear we were brought up with, that the evil outside world was going to do us in and destroy us, made us more vulnerable to someone if they were inclined to be abusive," she said.

Palmer, who describes decades of personal cruelty, rape and suicide attempts, said she hopes police will arrest the male perpetrators, and not take children away from their mothers.

Several women who have left describe a flow of underage females across the border, through Idaho, sent from Bountiful to the Texas compound for arranged marriages. Canadian officials say at least one of their citizens was seized by Texas authorities in last month's raid; Bountiful residents said there were at least several more.

No sanctuary in Idaho
Some Bountiful community members have been buying property and settling down in Idaho, which is just a 30-minute hike through the woods, or a 10-minute drive past a tiny border station.

Authorities in Idaho and FBI agents, who recently met with leaders in Bountiful, say the new residents will not find sanctuary if they want to practice polygamy there.

Bountiful residents say they realize there are plenty of people who don't admire their way of life.

"You should try dressing up like one of us, put on one of these dresses, do your hair up, and see how terribly people look at you, how cruel they can be, for no good reason," said Rosalyn Blackmore.

The raid in Texas, and the fear of a raid here, is deja vu for Blackmore, who was an infant in the FLDS community of Short Creek, Ariz., in 1953 when it was raided by state and federal authorities.

Standing with Principal Palmer in his school's hallway, Blackmore said she wondered how people in the United States could look at these "loving parents" and assume there is abuse.

"We're losing the public relations battle here big time," said Palmer.

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