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By Kent Larsen
Teen Girls Fleeing Polygamous FLDS Church While Green Children Seek Leniency for Father
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- An associated press article appearing in
newspapers around the nation today tells the story of a 15-year-old
girl who has walked away from the largest polygamous group, the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the
same time that a Reuters article reports that polygamist Tom Green's
wife and children are pleading for his return to the family ahead of
his sentencing Friday. Caroline Cooke says she now feels free living
on her uncle's Colorado farm, and the anti-polygamy groups supporting
her are calling for a 14-year-old, Ruby Jessop, to be released by the
Hilldale, Utah-based FLDS Church because she is being held against
her will.
Cooke left the FLDS Church about four months ago and soon made
changes prohibited by the group. She cut her hair from knee-length to
an above-the-shoulder bob and traded her full-length dresses for
sleeveless shirts and shorts. "I just feel free. I get to listen to
music, to watch TV, to look on the Internet. For the first time in my
life I get my own room," said Cooke.
She says that life within the FLDS community was strict, and that
community leaders planned to marry her to a man three times her age
who already had more than a dozen wives. The leaders had learned
about her secret 18-year-old boyfriend, who was then kicked out of
the FLDS Church. But, she says, girls have a much more difficult time
leaving the Church, "They want as many girls as they can get," she
said.
Now, Cooke will return to school for the first time since sixth
grade, and she will have a very different experience, since she was
only educated in schools run by polygamists. While her decision to
leave means that she is estranged from her parents and 26 brothers
and sisters, she has no regrets.
Cooke isn't the only girl to leave. Flora Jessop is trying to save
her 14-year-old sister, Ruby Jessop, from a forced marriage to her
stepbrother. Flora says her sister is being held against her will
after Ruby was caught in an innocent kiss with a childhood
sweetheart. The FLDS Church then married her to the stepbrother
against her will and kept her from contacting her sister.
Anti-polygamy activists are now circulating a petition, based at a
website Flora has set up, seeking 11 million signatures asking for
Ruby to be freed. The website, located at
http://www.geocities.com/rubysite/helpruby.htm, gives Flora's
version of Ruby's story.
Meanwhile, the wives and children of polygamist Tom Green have asked
Judge Guy Burningham, who will sentence Green on Friday, to let him
off without jail time. The family sent letters, including poignant
letters from some of Green's young children, asking for leniency in
his case. "Please don't put our father in prison," wrote 10-year-old
Lorin Green. "We really need him. We love him very much. He needs to
take care of us." Wife Linda Green echoed the sentiment, "Tom's
children are very close to him. I believe they would suffer
emotionally and mentally by his being taken away. I worry that our
children will learn to disrespect government for generations to come
because of having their father sent to prison for his religious
beliefs."
Another wife, Cari Bjorkman Green, asked the judge to "search your
heart" and asked if society is really better off "with this father,
husband and teacher locked away?" Also included were letters from the
family doctor, school officials and a scout leader.
Sources:
Teen girls fleeing Utah sect to avoid polygamy
(Phoenix) AZ Republic (AP) 22Aug01 N5
Associated Press
Utah Bigamist's Wives, Kids Ask Judge for Leniency
Yahoo!News (Reuters) 21Aug01 N5
By James Nelson
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