On the other are ex-believers who want democracy—and the right to believe (or not believe) as they want. They settled on the remote ranching town of Short Creek, which formed part of the Arizona Strip. In the FLDS, women and young girls were often assigned to their “family.” Polly Dockstader, the principal of Centennial’s junior high school, explains that the way family roles in the community are constructed, asking who the women want to marry is really asking which man they think will be the best leader for her family’s future. There was a surprise raid on the town by the Arizona government in 1953, during which all the women and children were taken into state custody and the men were prosecuted. Short Creek Bakery. On the other, those who put up diminutive for-sale signs on property in a town where homes had never been purchased before—only assigned along with wives and entire families. Jeffs liked to hear himself speak, and his voice on those recordings is low and foreboding, like he’s telling scary stories around a campfire. Shirlee says that after she joined the board, she “saw the changes and what was possible under a local board that understood the community, it made me realize social services should be done inside the community. Publicly, many polygamous groups like Centennial Park now require girls to wait until 18 to get married—with rare exceptions for pregnancy—but given how secretive these communities are, it’s hard to confirm this fact. “I’m not a fan of the patriarchal structure in any configuration,” she says. Now you’re damned forever,’” he recalls in an even tone. Sort by options. Short Creek was a modern-day fiefdom. (Colorado City government didn’t respond to The Ringer’s requests for comment.) As the FLDS prophet, Jeffs decreed that sons be left by the side of the road to fend for themselves; their 12-year-old girls were to be married off to men old enough to be their grandfathers. People catch him in the lobby, at lunch, or while he’s on a call, and some tell them of abuse that occurred years earlier. He was arrested a few months later in Nevada when he was pulled over in a red Escalade that contained 14 cellphones, two wigs—one blond, one brunette—and 27 stacks of cash, totaling $67,500. “Trying to support a family with special-needs kids and preschoolers, you can’t even imagine.” All four of her children were under 10 at the time. “It’s been going on for so long in that community because that community has kind of had its own laws,” the shelter’s director told the The Salt Lake Tribune. Shirlee isn’t “a fan of polygamy” but she doesn’t think there’s any reason why plural marriage can’t coexist with modern society. His department doesn’t prosecute polygamy. They all have a story to tell,” he says. Hildale has been making efforts to welcome tourists, and the B&B, like the rest of the town, seems to be on the upswing. For example, many don’t like to be called “polygamists,” preferring to say they’re in a “plural marriage.” Developing community relations has been a major aspect of policing in the past few years, and it’s important in the Creek as well. With strong divisions between the FLDS and ex-believers remaining, stopping family members from even speaking to each other at the grocery store, it’s not surprising that residents don’t want the town to be synonymous with polygamy anymore. Children have been denied an education outside the church or freedom of choice; underage girls have been forced into marriage. A few doors down, there’s a recording studio where Jeffs would record his teachings for posterity. Short-sleeve shirts are put over long sleeves to cover up a shirt that might have shown some cleavage; brightly colored summer dresses are worn with cotton long-sleeved shirts underneath. To stamp out plural marriage in Short Creek is to go against the very thing the town was founded on, what many residents’ living relatives fought to uphold their right to do. Reviewers on TripAdvisor talk about the big beds and walk-in closets, the wealth of parking spaces, and the friendly staff. In one, he can be heard raping his 12-year-old bride while other sister-wives are present in the same room—what he refers to as “heavenly sessions.” Of the 20-minute, 29-second tape transcript, more than eight minutes are described as “heavy breathing.” In another, he orders that the wives of the prophet must follow “the ordinance of heavenly comfort.” Jeffs says, “You have to know how to excite sexually and be excited. “Banks don’t want to give us loans,” she told me. 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