Revelations, Punishment and Radio

By Lindsay Whitehurst
Salt Lake Tribune
January 10, 2012

www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogspolygblog/53265304-191/jeffs-radio-church-attorney.html.csp

Yet another Warren Jeffs revelation from God came into the Utah Attorney General's Office today. Read it here.

It's dated Dec. 24, the day before Jeffs made two 15-minute phone addresses to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints congregation. He reportedly told the members that they had until the end of the year to be "re-baptized" by following increasingly strict new rules and paying tithings of thousands of dollars.

Those who didn't ended up being told they were no longer worthy to attend church.

Those Christmas Day telephonic sermons earned Jeffs a 90-day suspension from his phone privileges this weekend. A Texas prison spokesman said he was punished for breaking a clearly posted rule to only call the 10 people on his approved visitor list. The five days he's already been on suspension pending the investigation don't count.

Read the story here.

(Jeffs is serving a life-plus-20-year sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 12 and 15, who he took as plural wives).

Also today, Jeffs got a May pretrial hearing date on his bigamy charges in Texas. The court also set a Jan. 30 hearing to decide where to hold former FLDS church elder Wendell Nielsen's bigamy trial. Read the San Angelo Standard Times story here.

Last but not least, I joined Modern Polygamy author Cardell Jacobson, Holding Out Help executive Director Tonia Tewell and attorney/historian Ken Driggs today on Radio West, a public radio program based here in Salt Lake City, to discuss the FLDS state of affairs.

I listen to and enjoy Radio West, (the variety of topics they cover is amazing) so it was great to be a guest.

Check out the show's page and listen to the episode here.