It was recently brought to our attention that the FLDS met with the polygamy coalition. Here is some information about it.
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June 26, 2008 by merrywives
It was recently brought to our attention that the FLDS met with the polygamy coalition. Here is some information about it.
Merrywives' Blog 
I do hope that they are not looking to us to perpetuate or participate in a “rift” between Centennial Park and the FLDS. It seems an odd accusation since from the beginning we have “sat at the same table” with the FLDS…..even before Paul Murphy and Mark Shurtleff made the Safety Net their own. Remember back in the days when Laurie White was the Northern AZ DES Director, and LeAnne asked if Centennial Park could come to the monthly meeting held in CC between officials in Ut and Az? Lawrence Barlow has attended most meetings, esp. in Colorado City, and we have had no problem sitting down with him or anyone else from that group. We have many conversations with him, and he has always treated us cordially, and we treated him the same. When we invited Ut AG and AZ AG to come to our community to speak with us , after the infamous ‘Polygamy Summit’ that we were not invited to attend, but did anyway, with the idea that if they were going to speak to our culture, we wanted a voice ourselves; we invited mayor Dan Barlow and School Administrator Alvin Barlow, and others to come to that occasion. They declined. They had their own meeting earlier that day with the AG’s and staff members. I cannot tell the many times we have reached out to include and work with the FLDS where we could. We have been trying to work with them with a first responders program if there were to be an emergency: bird flu, etc., and it has been difficult.
For that matter, the reason we were not at the meeting with Willie Jessop and PV Coatition, was simply that we were not invited.
To make a big to do over a split that happened over 30 years ago, is to say we have issues with the AUB, Kingstons, Independants, Ivan Neilson, Foster group, which we do not. We are willing to be part of the PAC Coalition, Safety Net, Diversity groups that meet once a yr. in St. George and talk together, Clergy Trainings, CPS Trainings. As I understood it, we are all working to the same goal. Right?
Excellent observation. I have to wonder why so many want to tear down those trying to do good works instead of being a support behind them and building them up.
Hi everyone. I would just like to clarify something about the way this meeting was presented in the press. I apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding. Some FLDS representatives, i.e. Willie, met with some members of the coalition; they met with a few members, not with the entire coalition, after we had been trying to pull something together for a long time, and which came about very suddenly. Our initial goal was simply to meet them and explain what the coalition was about, and offer them an opportunity to join the coalition, and we thought that could be accomplished without insisting the entire coalition be present. Most of the coalition was absent from this initial meeting due to the fact that the meeting came together so quickly. The offer to the FLDS to have their representatives join the coalition could only be made because of support from all coalition representatives, including Centennial Park. Everyone involved in the coalition is supportive of the FLDS coming on board.
Also, when this meeting was being planned, the majority of the Coalition was present, including a representative from Centennial Park, and it was generally agreed upon that only a limited number of us would try to meet with Willie at first, in order to keep things simple and confine the discussion to some very narrow topics such as immediate travel to Texas to assist. Now, if the FLDS agree to meet at all with the Coalition, it will be with the entire Coalition, since that has always been our objective.
Having reviewed the media/articles, etc. about the meeting with Willie, I regret my choice of words in the first sentence of comment #3. I didn’t mean to suggest the press misrepresented our meeting; I don’t think that is the case. I just wanted to clarify what happened, and apologize for any misunderstandings or confusion. Thank you. (It would be nice if this blog had a delete option available so that author’s could at least delete their own posts or edit them after they post.)
Mary,
Thank you for your comments. I will look into your suggestion for a delete/edit option for replies to posts on this blog.
My response to “FLDS meets with the Coalition” was because of what Brooke Adams said on her Polygamy blog, and not an article published in the paper. It is now quite a ways down the page, and is what triggered my response. Click on the ‘Here is more information’.
Thanks
Susie
Correction: This article is now in her Blog archive. June, 2008 (Brooke Adams)