Town wary of polygamists
The Rocky
Published May 15, 2008 at 2:51 p.m.
Updated May 15, 2008 at 2:51 p.m.
Neighbors in the small Custer County town of Westcliffe are fretting about property purchased there by a man connected to the leadership of the polygamous sect that was raided in Texas last month.
Custer County Assessor J.D. Henrich this morning confirmed that Lee A. Steed bought a 5,800-square-foot house, on 35 acres of land, for $350,000 on Nov. 20, 2006; and had bought 42-acre and 43-acre vacant parcels last Dec. 17 for a combined $428,900.
Steed last year also purchased a six-bedroom home on 35 acres valued at $359,000 and a 2,600-square-foot three-bedroom house on 40 acres in neighboring Fremont County, according to assessor records. The larger home is in Cotopaxi and the smaller one in Florence.
Last month, federal authorities raided a Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints ranch in Eldorado, Texas, taking custody of 462 children to see how many may have been abused or forced to marry.
Steed is a top aide to convicted FLDS leader Warren Steed Jeffs, according to HateWatch, a non-profit that bills itself as the organization "Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right."
Steed helped Jeffs elude a nationwide manhunt in 2005 and 2006 when Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, according to HateWatch.
The Southern Poverty Law Center put the FLDS on its hate group list in 2005 on grounds its beliefs that black people have been cursed by the devil and are an inferior race.
FLDS has been practicing polygamy openly since 1930, more than 30 years after Mormon leaders renounced polygamy as a way of winning statehood for Utah.
Squeezed between the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the west and the Wet Mountains to the east, Custer County's population of about 3,900 recently has been augmented by professional people, blue collar workers and retirees.
Kathleen Kerr, owner of the home next door to the house bought by Steed in Westcliffe in Custer County, told HateWatch that ATVs patrol the property and that she hears occasional gunfire.
"It's just not quiet and peaceful there anymore," Kerr said.
Neighbors say that the men at the house sometimes talk to them, but that the women dressed in pioneer dresses retreat from view.
Custer County Commissioner Dick Downey said his county has a culture of farming and ranching and the people there are interested in preserving traditional values — values that include only one wife per husband.
"We're monitoring the situation," Downey said. "It's a concern. The main thing for us is that we want to make sure all the zoning rules and laws are obeyed.
"If anything is happening there that is illegal, that would be turned over to the sheriff."
Custer County sheriff's officials say the people who live there have broken no laws, so they have taken no action.
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Suggest removal
jlstaud writes:
Huh??? What does left or right have to do with any of this? Right and left are outraged at the situation in TX. As for this thing in CO there is nothing that can be done right now. Thankfully we live in America and the police just cant walk in and accuse anyone of anything.