Feds Sue Polygamous Towns
The U.S. Justice Department is filing a lawsuit against authorities in a pair of polygamous Utah-Arizona border towns, alleging that they have ignored the rights and intimidated residents who aren't followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the group run by the jailed leader Warren Jeffs. The feds said city leaders and law enforcement had denied people housing and municipal services and allowing members of the dominant religious sect to destroy residents' crops and property in the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas after being convicted on child sex and bigamy charges.
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According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Arizona, city leaders and law enforcement in the two towns have for decades served at Jeffs' pleasure while ignoring the constitutional rights of residents who aren't FLDS followers.
"The cities' governments, including the Marshal's Office, have been deployed to carry out the will and dictates of FLDS leaders, particularly Warren Jeffs and the officials to whom he delegates authority," the lawsuit states. "The Marshal's Office has inappropriately used its state-granted law enforcement authority to enforce the edicts of the FLDS, to the detriment of non-FLDS members."
In one case of law enforcement misconduct, according to the suit, officers rounded up all dogs and shot them in a "slaughter pit" outside town on specific orders from Jeffs.
The suit also says officers regularly allow sect members to victimize non-members by destroying their crops, vandalizing property and trespassing.
Federal officials also say officers have made traffic stops and arrests without cause, kept underage brides from running away and prevented children of non-FLDS members from using a public playground.
The lawsuit accuses city departments of refusing to provide electricity or water service to non-members.
"There's nothing to support the allegation that non-FLDS members are treated differently," attorney Blake Hamilton told The Associated on Thursday. Hamilton represents Hildale and the Marshal's Office that serves both towns.
Hamilton said the towns ran out of water for new users, but the federal lawsuit insists "there is no water shortage."
He said Justice Department lawyers threatened a lawsuit in December when they met with him and another attorney representing Colorado City.
more:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/justice-dept-sues-arizona-utah-polygamous-towns-16625718#.T-RGiByPzMM
Read it at Associated Press
June 22, 2012 6:57 AM
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