Bountiful women strike back

By GERRY WARNER
Staff Writer
Cranbrook Daily Townsman
A bravo performance! That's the only way to describe the presentation
put on in Creston Tuesday by the women of Bountiful who basically
told the rest of the world to butt out of their polygamous life style
and stop trying to save or criticize them.
The performance was all the more remarkable because it wasn't all
that long ago that the sight of Bountiful women in public defending
their controversial beliefs in front of 300 people would have been
unthinkable, a hallucination instead of reality.
But times have obviously changed and at least one part of the
infamous polygamous sect near Creston has changed too. That part, of
course, is the group led by Winston Blackmore, the so-called "Bishop
of Bountiful," who is locked in a power struggle with Warren Jeffs,
the reclusive leader of the American branch of the church which is
formally known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints (FLDS).
Jeffs and his followers give no interviews to the media and are
currently building a new colony on a ranch they purchased in West
Texas. In less than a year, they've constructed a gigantic, fenced
compound complete with a huge limestone temple and numerous
apartment-style buildings for their members to move into. This could
include the Jeffs followers in Bountiful, roughly half the community,
but no one knows for sure.
But one thing is known for sure. Jeffs, and his more extreme FLDS
members, are totally retreating from public life to the extent of
hiding behind a fenced bunker while Blackmore and his group are
moving in the exact opposite direction, opening their community to
the public, appearing at public meetings and publicly rebuking their
critics.
Cynics may argue that polygamy is polygamy no matter what way you cut
it and that there's no real difference between the two groups. But
after attending the "Polygamy Summit" in Creston Tuesday, I beg to
differ.
The Blackmore group, if they can be called that, have obviously
decided to take their critics head-on while the Jeffs followers don't
even acknowledge their critics and appear to be in a head-long
retreat from the world itself in what some critics fear could be a
Jonestown or Waco-like ending. One can only hope or pray not.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how Blackmore's bold
move to embrace public dialogue will work out for his followers at
Bountiful. Personally, I think it's a very strategic move on his
part. He's obviously decided his controversial community has more to
gain than to lose by his unexpected action and he may quite possibly
be right. Hiding from public view breeds suspicion, distrust and
antipathy while openness does exactly the opposite.
Such a move could be good for Bountiful. It might also be good for
Winston Blackmore's future career in the church.
But the move is not without its dangers. Once the floodgates are
open, there's no going back. If the world is going to see Bountiful
-- or at least the Blackmore part of Bountiful -- it means Bountiful
is going to see the world. And having seen the world, will Bountiful
members remain loyal to their church, their leader and their
lifestyle?
Already there are reports in the media about the allegedly "lost
boys" of Bountiful leaving the polygamous commune and settling in
nearby communities including Cranbrook. The critics say they are
forced out in order to ensure an ample supply of "celestial wives"
for the older polygamous men of the colony. This was denied at the
Creston summit and I'm not in a position to say one way or the other.
But it's not only Bountiful boys that are leaving the bucolic
community on the Lister Flats. Several young women from Bountiful are
students at the College of the Rockies, taking up teaching, nursing
and other professions. The ones I talked to were still very loyal to
their church and their community. But as more do the same will they
also remain loyal?
Then there are those who have fled and roundly denounced the
community like Debbie Palmer, author of "Keep Sweet," a searing
indictment of the polygamous lifestyle as practiced at Bountiful.
Jane Blackmore, Winston Blackmore's first and only legal wife, also
fled the community three years ago and has spoken out against
"assigned marriages," teenage pregnancies and teachings at the
Bountiful School.
Openness is a desirable trait because sooner or later it will lead to
the truth, and nothing is more needed about Bountiful now than a
strong dose of the truth to counter the rumour, innuendo and
speculation -- most of it unattributed -- sweeping around the
community.
And when the truth does get out, what will it reveal? A loving,
supportive, community with religious views different from the
mainstream or a cult-like, group of religious fanatics being
exploited by a bunch of dirty old men?
The final chapter of the Bountiful saga has yet to be written.
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