Tapestry Against Polygamy - Mark Shurtleff calls "loudmouth" : State urged to scrap its law against polygamy
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635188693,00.html
State urged to scrap its law against polygamy
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
Sporting buttons saying "Bigger Love," members of Utah's polygamous communities gathered at the University of Utah for a special "town hall" meeting Wednesday night to discuss the problems within polygamy before an audience of government officials, sister-wives, lawyers and activists on both sides of the issue.
"We hoped not to be in your face about it, but we wanted to make a statement," said Joyce Steed, a member of the polygamous community of Centennial Park, Ariz.
The Utah attorney general's Safety Net Committee hosted the panel discussion to get public comment about how to end isolation and help victims of abuse in the state's many polygamous communities.
"I turned a blind eye to it," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said. "In Utah and Arizona for decades, we turned a blind eye."
Many of those in attendance suggested the best way to end the isolation and abuse is to decriminalize polygamy in Utah.
"Polygamy is as old as the world. It is here to stay," said Marlyne Hammon of Centennial Park, Ariz. One of the wives of polygamist John Daniel Kingston stood up to speak in agreement.
"The state of Utah won't let me get married," said Heidi Mattingly-Foster. "What makes them decide who I can and cannot love?"
Some suggested that by decriminalizing polygamy, deadbeat parents would pay child support and women would feel free to come forward and report abuse without fear of being cut off from their religious communities. Others objected.
"This sort of thing is coddling criminals," one person wrote in comments read before the audience.
Carolyn Jessop fled an abusive marriage as the fourth of seven wives to a man in the Fundamentalist LDS Church in Colorado City. She said because of the isolation, it is hard to leave domestic violence. "It was like jumping off a cliff," she said. "There's an enormous gap between the FLDS community and the real world."
Much of the anger surrounding problems within polygamy were directed at the FLDS Church, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, is a wanted fugitive. But the Utah attorney general defended his decision not to prosecute bigamy among consenting adults in plural marriage.
"Are you willing to pay for 10,000 new inmates?" Shurtleff said, directing some of his comments to members of Utah's leading anti-polygamy group, sitting in the audience. "We don't have the resources, so we go after the most heinous crimes against children and women."
Earlier in the day, the group Tapestry Against Polygamy held a news conference to criticize Shurtleff and the pro-polygamy group Principle Voices for their stance.
Kelli Cox said her husband left her after she refused to allow him to take a plural wife. He left her to care for their seven children while she said he moved in with a woman he is married to in a "spiritual" sense.
"I refused to go along," Cox said outside the Utah Capitol Wednesday, wiping tears from her face. "He said I was his enemy and I was going to hell."
Cox said she is pursuing a divorce against her husband and blamed so-called "Mormon fundamentalists" for the break-up of her marriage. She said they encouraged her husband to pursue polygamy as a lifestyle.
Tapestry Against Polygamy's Vicky Prunty said she was a first wife who was cast aside and accused Shurtleff of helping to push the decriminalization of polygamy by not prosecuting more cases of bigamy.
"Typical loudmouth stuff," Shurtleff told the Deseret Morning News after the news conference. "Vicky wants to make a difference — she can join the fray, not just make headlines."
Tapestry Against Polygamy has declined to participate in the Safety Net Committee, citing various reasons, including the difficulty of being in the same room as ex-family members.
The Safety Net Committee was founded three years ago after plural wives stormed a meeting of Utah and Arizona law enforcement officials in St. George protesting plans to crack down on abuses within polygamy. So far, the Safety Net Committee says it has used a $700,000 grant to do outreach in the isolated polygamous communities in Utah and Arizona, providing support services for women in abusive situations.
Editorial from Utah AG Mark Shurtleff on Flora Jessop
http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061008/OPINION02...
Let me begin by acknowledging Flora Jessop for sounding the alarm about the need for help for some people living in polygamous communities. She was one of the first to speak out and reach out to some of the victims who did not know where to turn for assistance. But in her zeal she is now demonizing the people she says she wants to help and ridiculing any effort to help besides her own.
In her Wednesday editorial to The Spectrum, Jessop claims that Utah and Arizona are not willing to prosecute cases involving victims from polygamous communities. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Prosecutors have and will continue to prosecute crimes within these communities like anywhere else. However, we can't bend the laws, change rules or alter the justice system because the perpetrators happen to be polygamists. No matter what they believe or where they live, victims of crime can be assured they will be heard and helped. Perpetrators can also be guaranteed that they will be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Jessop also belittles Utah and Arizona for creating the Safety Net Committee, calling it "misdirected and unproductive" and a platform for legalizing polygamy. She is both wrong and hypocritical. The Safety Net Committee was started three years ago to bring government agencies, non-profit groups and others together to open up communication, break down barriers and coordinate efforts so that people in polygamous communities have equal access to justice, safety and services. The Safety Net meetings have been very helpful to find out what was needed and to learn from the people we are trying to serve.
The committee is not trying to legalize polygamy and anyone who has attempted to discuss it has been admonished to take those discussions elsewhere. We have been meeting monthly for three years and Jessop has only attended a few meetings. At that time she did bring up some good issues but she has been mostly absent and has missed out on all the good work being done by numerous government agencies and concerned citizens. There are many issues and the "one size fits all" approach will not resolve all of them. We welcome her and others to come and point out problems but also offer ways to resolve them.
The Safety Net Committee was also instrumental in securing the Safe Passage Grant, a federal grant to help victims of domestic violence from polygamous communities. As of June 2006 nearly 500 victims have been helped, 119 people have received legal help, emergency shelters have provided 105 bed days and transitional housing has provided 2,456 bed days. The public awareness campaign has distributed 125 domestic violence brochures, 1,000 safety plans, 650 grant brochures, 5,000 abuse cards, 475 hard copies of the Primer, 12,000 quarterly domestic violence newsletters and placed the Domestic Violence Link Line number on 4 billboards. This does not include the work by other government agencies and non-profit groups who have educated thousands of people and helped numerous victims without fanfare. It is hard to understand why Jessop condemns the committee and the grant she herself has used to help victims.
Many of the people who have been working to help victims have been reluctant to enter into this public fray with Jessop because the debate doesn't help a single victim. Instead it confuses and angers those we are trying to help, destroys trust and puts up one more communication barrier that everyone is trying to break down. It also deters others from wanting to help because they could become the latest target of unjustified ridicule. The sad thing is that Jessop's distortions hurt her own credibility and make people less inclined to believe her the next time she cries "Wolf!"
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and the Safety Net Committee.