Republic researcher Joanne Dawson contributed to this story to the Arizona Republic.
It’s hard to see your way in polygamist country, always has been. The nights are dark, and street lamps rare or absent altogether. The people prefer to be guided by God’s light, leaning on the moon and stars to show the way.
The first time the children were taken, in the summer of 1953, police crept into town beneath an eclipsed moon. A trail of sedans bounced over the muddy road from Fredonia to Short Creek, Ariz., with headlights dimmed. Their mission hinged on surprising the polygamists before they could flee. Overhead, a full moon glowed with a ruddy red light then faded slowly into the Earth’s shadow.
The airwaves hummed in the dark. Ham-radio operators were carrying messages from Gov. Howard Pyle to the police and relaying news from Short Creek’s sheriff to the Arizona attorney general. Pyle had vowed to shatter the serenity of Short Creek, where nary a girl had reached age 15 “without having been forced into a shameful mockery of marriage,” he said.
To Continue Story, Click the Link.
It seems that the government never learned from history.
The more prosecution of polygamy, the stronger the following.
If the state wants to have a POSITIVE effect then they should DECRIMINALIZE polygamy and promote integration and communication between polygamists and with society as a whole.
For this to happen in Texas, the current government has to be voted out.