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Colorado City Polygamy tour


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There are three eleven minute videos to this set, apparently filmed by a young man who fled. It is interesting footage, I thought most of the FLDS homes in CC were ramshackle amalgams of trailers linked together. The compounds with the unfinished McMansions were a shock to me. From what the young man relates, homes are not taxed until 'finished', ergo the unfinished exteriors even on the largest of homes.

 

I'll link to the first video rather than imbedding and you can follow with the rest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTv4zVyT ... ure=relmfu

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Interesting mindset revealed when talking about women- i.e. who they belong to. Women are very much seen as possessions.

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I am suprised that they are even able to start building McMansions. While I know there are some pologamy communities where the families are well off and live in big homes up in Utah, I always throught Colorado City was on the poorer side.

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I've been by the city on the way to another town quite a few times in the last few years, and I could never understand why the same houses were always so close to being finished, and every time I would go by they were the same. Then a local explained the whole tax thing. There are a ton of large homes out there.

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There are three eleven minute videos to this set, apparently filmed by a young man who fled. It is interesting footage, I thought most of the FLDS homes in CC were ramshackle amalgams of trailers linked together. The compounds with the unfinished McMansions were a shock to me. From what the young man relates, homes are not taxed until 'finished', ergo the unfinished exteriors even on the largest of homes.

I'll link to the first video rather than imbedding and you can follow with the rest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTv4zVyT ... ure=relmfu

Yes, they dont finish the homes because then they would be taxed. Its one way they try to bleed the beast. Its a sad town to drive through or by. People run from you like you have the plague. They will never trust outsiders. They dont trust each other. What kind of life is that?

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I think Oprah did a segment on these folks. Of course the mansion they showed her show was completely finished.

I don't understand why they are allowed to flout the tax laws. You'd think the state officials would try to change the laws to say that they'd inspect the interior to see if its finished or something.

I don't care what adults do with other consenting adults in the bedroom but these people are outright criminals who are taking advantage of the system. I'm sorta sick of these fundies in general taking advantage of the system. Whether its the breeders who leave with their 17th child from a hospital but don't bother to pay the hospital bill or get medical insurance or real jobs. They all have this feeling like they are owed for being so holy, far holier than us heathens who pay our taxes and our bills and live by the rules.

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I think Oprah did a segment on these folks. Of course the mansion they showed her show was completely finished.

I don't understand why they are allowed to flout the tax laws. You'd think the state officials would try to change the laws to say that they'd inspect the interior to see if its finished or something.

I don't care what adults do with other consenting adults in the bedroom but these people are outright criminals who are taking advantage of the system. I'm sorta sick of these fundies in general taking advantage of the system. Whether its the breeders who leave with their 17th child from a hospital but don't bother to pay the hospital bill or get medical insurance or real jobs. They all have this feeling like they are owed for being so holy, far holier than us heathens who pay our taxes and our bills and live by the rules.

That wasn't Colorado City. The community with the big finish houses that looked like it could be any other neighborhood in the US was up in Utah. Oprah sent Lisa Ling to both places to show the differences. They showed how Colorado city is more isolated and rundown while up in the Utah community, you saw a typical affluent suburb where there is far less isolation from the outside world for the polygamous families that live there. The houses have the big screen tv's. Kids go to the local public schools and not homeschooled like they are in Colorado city. One guy in Utah even let Lisa into his house but I don't think she was allowed to talk to his wives while in Colorado City, she didn't get anywhere with no one.

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Here, there is a time limit on construction before either the plug is pulled or the work must be done. You can't live in an unfinished home. Every new construction needs an occupancy permit on file before anyone can live in the house, and that permit is granted by regional inspectors. I don't know what the time limit is, but as the housing bubble burst, I saw a lot of unfinished homes in my formerly booming community just sit and rot because there was no money to move forward and there was obviously no going back.

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I'm super obsessed with the FLDS. If there was ever a person who left a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon cult and wrote a book about it, I've read it. I haven't seen this video, but I'm going to watch it now. Exciting times tonight! :banana-skier:

From what I understand, the houses and property in Colorado City / Hildale aren't technically owned by individuals; they have something called the united effort plan which is entirely communal. I can't really figure the system out, but it seems to be somewhat based on status and age in that the VIPs (who tend to be older businessmen who bring wealth into the church) get the bigger houses. Although the members may work for an income to use for food and clothing (prairie dresses and super-hold hairspray don't come cheap!) it's not the same with the houses. That's part of the control mechanism, because if a man "loses the priesthood" he also loses his home (he can't sell it because it belongs to the church) and his will and children will be reassigned.

From what I've seen on google maps streetview (I had way too much time on my hands that day), some of the houses in Colorado City / Hildale are large, but I think this is purely for function. They aren't terribly fancy.

The Mcmansions are probably in nearby Centennial Park. The people who live there don't follow Warren Jeffs because they split from that group back in the 80s (I think). They seem to be less crazy and more affluent. I suspect that Robyn from Sister Wives grew up there because it's pretty much the only polygamous community in Utah where she would have been allowed to dress normally.

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Here, there is a time limit on construction before either the plug is pulled or the work must be done. You can't live in an unfinished home. Every new construction needs an occupancy permit on file before anyone can live in the house, and that permit is granted by regional inspectors. I don't know what the time limit is, but as the housing bubble burst, I saw a lot of unfinished homes in my formerly booming community just sit and rot because there was no money to move forward and there was obviously no going back.

It's a bit different since the FLDS runs the town and physically owns the property (things are only now changing). More than likely the houses of the observant FLDS all have certificates of occupancy.

I viewed another video last night about CC as well, and don't recall the name, but apparently a gentile couple some how gained legal occupancy of one of the properties. Since the church couldn't get them off the land the building inspector condemned the residence.

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Wow, I didn't think there would be a Google Street view of the town. I've seen the Google Street view cars, they are pretty well marked. You'd think that anyone driving slowly through town photographing it would have been threatened. Whoever did drive through their either had no clue what the town was about or has some cohones. If I had to guess I'd say its the best record of what that place looks like.

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What I really do not understand is WHY if these people are so dedicated to polygamy and old school Mormonism, why don't they leave crazy Jeff Warrens and hook back up with the splinter group run by his BROTHER--the one who was supposed to be in charge when their father died.

I've seen interviews of the other Jeff brother and he's pretty hardcore polygamist, but he's not what Warren is. He's gone on camera staunchly opposed to underaged girls getting married and this concept of reposessing wives and children and reassigning them to other men. That's the group that splintered from the FLDS in the 80s and they are based out of Canada now.

The other group is the sect that the Sister Wives family belongs to. I think they are the ones who were featured on Oprah. They haven't been part of the same group as the FLDS since turn of the 20th century, iirc.

The same guy who did that tour did another one this year trying to find his mother and sisters. He mentioned that he spoke to his father on the phone and told him to go get his family back and the man didn't. Warren Jeffs keeps going deeper and deeper off the deep end. I suspect it isn't today like it was even in that video because of the stunts Jeffs has been pulling this year where he's excommunicataed a good portion of the sect especially the men and removed women and children from being findable.

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Thanks for the link to the video. Watched all three and it was fascinating.

Mr. Nokidsmom and I drove through Hildale/Colorado City back in '08 on our way from St. George, UT (where my sister as well as the young man who did the video, live) to Flagstaff. Only passed through on the main highway. Was certainly curious about the town but didn't have the time or the nerve to driving around.

My sister works in downtown St. George about a block away from the courthouse where the Elissa Wall rape trial was held. Tons of security due to the death threats on the day she testified, so they can be nasty, didn't want to go cruising through their neighborhood.

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