BishopAccountability.org
	ND Sect Compared to Jeffs Associated Press, carried in KTAR October 1, 2007 http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=608041 PRINGLE, S.D. — Former members of a religious sect that has built a large fenced-in compound in the southern Black Hills believe some who live there are practicing polygamy and may be conducting underage marriages. Just last week, Warren Jeffs, 51, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted in Utah of two counts of rape by accomplice. Jeffs was a fugitive for several years and was suspected to have hidden for a time at the compound about 12 miles southwest of Pringle. Rich Wheeler, Custer County sheriff, said he hasn't received any complaints about polygamy being practiced there or any other criminal activities. But a former church member, Isaac Wyler, told the Rapid City Journal that he's certain members of the compound, established about five years ago, are breaking the law. "That's a no-brainer," he said. "I know they're practicing illegal, underage marriages in there because they can get away with it. Warren has received revelations from God that he's supposed to be marrying these girls at young ages. He would have to have a completely new revelation for that to change." Polygamy is a central tenet of the FLDS church, Wyler said. Wyler said Jeffs excommunicated him in 2004 and likely took refuge at the Pringle compound at some point during the years he was a fugitive. Former FLDS member Jane Blackmore, of Creston, British Columbia, and other family members visited the compound Aug. 25 to try to see her daughter and grandchildren. Several FLDS men refused her entrance, she said. Blackmore said some of the men were FLDS leaders from Colorado City, Ariz. Jeffs' FLDS church is headquartered in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City. Blackmore said that she, too, thinks the Pringle compound members are practicing polygamy. Wheeler said the compound is growing. It has 15-20 structures on about 140 acres and is drilling a well, he said. The sheriff estimates the compound could hold 75-100 people. Another FLDS compound, near Eldorado, Texas, also has grown rapidly. "It looks like to me they're taking people out of Hildale and Colorado City and putting them into these two areas," Wheeler said. The only complaints are about noise from constant construction work, he said. Neighbors Bob and Deb Hadlock said they're fed up with construction noise at night and have complained to the compound leaders and local authorities. "They wake me up all hours of the night," Bob Hadlock said. "It's just finally gone too far." Hadlock said he thinks compound members are building something underground. "You look at the dirt that they got piled above ground. You tell me where it comes from, if they're not going under." A watchtower guards the entrance. Sheriff Wheeler said he doesn't know whether the men he has seen in the tower are armed. Blackmore has been told her daughter is living at the compound by choice. "I said, you know, the fence and the watchtower, they give me a different message." Tim Creal, Custer school superintendent, said six children at the compound have been registered this year for home schooling. The children took tests last year, but Creal said he has not seen the results.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.