Salt Lake City, USA - A judge has ordered that the property trust of a polygamist sect on the Utah-Arizona border be operated as a charitable endeavor. She appointed an advisory board to make recommendations on how to achieve that goal.
The choices include a former university president and five former members of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), including a few who still live in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where the religious group is based. None of the former trustees of the church's United Effort Plan - who were members of the FLDS priesthood and stripped of power in June - was among the new appointees.
In naming six members to the panel, 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg said she chose not to consider nominees "who are perceived as 'lightening rods' for controversy" or whose appointment might create a fiscal risk to the trust assets.
"The Court is mindful that current active FLDS church members have chosen not to participate in these proceedings or to nominate individuals to serve on the advisory board," Lindberg also noted in her order, made public Wednesday. She left open the possibility of adding more representatives to the panel if the FLDS community decides to get involved in issues related to the UEP, which controls almost all the homes and property in the twin cities, home to some 10,000 FLDS followers.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, whose office spearheaded an effort to get new trust management in place, praised the judge's order as protection for people who have donated time and money to the UEP.
However, Salt Lake City lawyer Karra Porter expressed concern that most of the advisory board members are former FLDS members. She represents Mike Pipkin, who lives on UEP trust land.
Although Pipkin has left the church, he is not anti-FLDS and his "number one concern is that the active members gain trust in the proceedings and understand it's in their interest to participate," Porter said.
The board members, who will serve for a year, are:
* Margaret Cooke, ousted from the community because she no longer followed the faith.
* Robert Huddleston, former president of Dixie State College in St. George.
* Carolyn Jessop, a plural wife who fled from Colorado City two years ago.
* Rayo Spencer Johnson, a founder of the polygamous community who was told by FLDS leaders to leave but refused.
* John Nielsen of Salt Lake City, who was expelled from the church.
* Don Timpson of Colorado City, who was part of a group that sued the UEP in the 1980s over their right to remain in homes controlled by the trust.
The panel will meet 12 to 16 times and advise Bruce Wisan, an accountant appointed in May as a special fiduciary to oversee trust assets. Members will be paid $175 for each meeting and be reimbursed for travel expenses.
Lindberg said she will evaluate the administration of the trust at the end of the yearlong term and consider additional changes, including the appointment of permanent trustees. She emphasized that the trust cannot sanction or benefit illegal practices, including polygamy, bigamy and sexual activity between adults and minors.
The system is a drastic change for the FLDS, which established the UEP in 1942 to manage properties consecrated to the church. A series of Utah lawsuits filed against the FLDS and its president Warren Jeffs set off a chain of events that prompted the change.
Since Jeffs and the FLDS church were not defending themselves and could lose by default, officials feared that residents could be forced to give up their homes to pay off any awards. They filed a court petition successfully requesting that a special fiduciary be appointed.
Jeffs, a former UEP trustee, faces Arizona charges that he arranged a marriage between a 28-year-old man who already was married and a 16-year-old girl. He is considered a fugitive.