What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history. -- some dead philosopher
link...
Quote:
Life Magazine Article, Sept 14, 1953
"THE LONELY MEN OF SHORT CREEK"
THEY AWAIT TRIAL AS RESULT OF POLYGAMY UPROAR
For men used to having as many as five women and 21 children around the house it was a lonely situation for the men of Short Creek, Ariz. Stolidly they ate a breakfast of oatmeal and fried eggs, (above). They were still too stunned to comprehend what had happened.
The Short Creekers are a “fundamentalist” heretical splinter of the Mormon church, who live underneath vaulting red cliffs – the Towers of Tumurru – in one of the most inaccessible parts of the U.S., 150 miles from the nearest railroad. They believe “in all the doctrines and covenants of Joseph Smith,” including communal living and the famous 132nd section sanctioning polygamy, which the orthodox Mormon Church renounced in 1890. But last July the sovereign state of Arizona in the person of 200 state troopers ---five troopers per Short Creek man---descended on the colony.
Without making a direct charge of polygamy, the troopers arrested the men on charges of conspiriacy to violate a host of laws from statutory rape to misappropriation of school funds. Governor Howard Pyle accused the community of being “unalterably dedicated to the wicked theory that every maturing girl child (usually before she reached the age of 16) should be forced into multiple wifehood with men of all ages.” While the Short Creek men were in jail, the stated packed nearly all of the town’s 85 women and 250 children 450 miles away to Phoenix. Then the 36 men were release on bail pending hearings on Sept. 28. The men walked from behind bars into their lonely town. Heaviest of their burdens was the state’s disclosure of its intention not merely to wipe out the community but to place the children as state welfare charges in suitable Mormon homes. The men’s religion forbids them to show anger, but one finally burst out, “What we are worried about is that we are never going to see our children again.”
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In proceeding against the rest of the men of Short Creek, Arizona forced a tricky legal problem. Since the Short Creekers avoid civil marriage ceremonies, it is difficult to convict them of polygamy. The state therefore devised the plan of charging the Short Creekers with numerous other violations, for which the prosecution will demand heavy fines with the design of bankrupting the colony. Its investigators are collecting evidence, they say, to prove many women were reluctant participants in plural unions--- for example, that one girl of 17 was almost forced to marry a 70-year-old. But the Short Creekers deny these charges and are preparing to defend themselves on constitutional grounds. One of them, a University of Utah graduate, says, “The Bill of Rights says we can worship God as we plese. My religion is not abridging the rights of others….Whose is the next religion that is going to become unpopular?”
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ultimately, public opinion turned against the State of Arizona in favor of religious freedom and due process of law, the State authorities looked like a bunch of asses who were acting on a religious agenda, and all of the short creek families were re-united, only to become far more insulated and distrustful of outside agencies.
we're not quite the same country today -- arguments for due process are often met with "due process? who cares, they're raping kids...."
.......so who knows how it will turn out, but like the dude said, what we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.