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POLYGAMY UNDER ATTACK – FROM TOM GREEN TO BRIAN DAVID MITCHELL
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Interviewed by telephone: April 15, 2000.
©John R. Llewellyn
Tom said, "The difference between me and a drug
dealer or car burglar is that I am not a threat to society. If I'm incarcerated,
nothing will change in Snake Valley. The people living in that end of Juab
County will be no safer."
There are two categories of laws: Malum prohibitum—the act is criminal because the legislature says so. And
Malum en se, the act
is bad in and of itself. Tom Green is being prosecuted because the legislature
said polygamy should be a crime, not because the act of polygamy is bad in and
of itself. The State of Utah enacted the Bigamy statute and permits the various
counties to enforce the statute. The prosecutor in each county apparently has
discretionary powers regarding the enforcement of the bigamy statute. Juab
County has chosen to enforce the statute.
In Salt Lake County, Owen Allred, a
confessed polygamist who is revered as a prophet, seer and revelator of over six
thousand polygamists, like Tom Green, has gone on national television defending
the practice of plural marriage, but Allred is not being prosecuted. James D. Harmston, leader of the True & Living Church in Manti, Utah has gone on
television many times just like Owen Allred, confessing to be a polygamist. He
has not been charged.
What is the difference between Owen Allred, Jim Harmston
and Tom Green? Owen is the leader of the second largest polygamist cult in Utah.
He presides as president of the priesthood over the theocracy of two
incorporated polygamist cities, Pinesdale, Montana and the Town of Rocky Ridge,
Juab County. Allred purports to be the one and only mouthpiece of God and
collect tithing in God's name. Allred and Harmston accept donations and
consecrations of any value—land, gold, real estate. Each believes he has the
exclusive authority claimed by the LDS Church. Allred and Harmston give and take
plural wives with impunity. In both groups there are men who are anti-Semite,
racist, militant and anti-government. Allred takes tithing money and launders it
into privately owned corporations. Both Allred and Harmston provide certain
rituals (temple endowment etc.) purported to be indispensable to a celestial
exaltation. They claim no other man on earth has that authority. Allred is the
leader of a pseudo religious organization worth many millions of dollars.
Harmston is a neophyte compared to
Allred but is making headway merchandising his own brand of religion.
What about
Tom Green? Does he make the same claims as Allred and Harmston? No! Tom presides
only over his family and claims no prophetic authority. He is what is known in
the polygamist subculture as an independent, he does not submit to any man
claiming priesthood authority. He does not collect tithing, does not give or
take wives. He
has not organized a cult following. Although he and his family are struggling
economically they have sufficient for their needs.
He claims that he has not
exploited the welfare system like many other polygamists. The only time his
family applied for welfare was after a fire when they lost their home, personal
possessions and the life of an infant son. They were destitute, states Tom and
his wives. They had no other choice but to apply for state assistance. Since
then, and long before Mr. Leavitt charged Tom Green with felony criminal non
support, Tom said in the company of an attorney and acting on his own volition,
he had made arrangements to repay the welfare received.
Read first chapter of fact-based fictions Murder
of A Prophet: Dark Side of Utah Polygamy, and A
Teenager's Tears: When Parents Convert to Polygamy.
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I was raised in the small town of Short
Creek Utah. My Father had several wives and many children. We were brought up in
a staunch polygamist group and a girl grew up to know that she would have her
husband chosen for her at the proper time. I, on the other hand, knew I would
have a struggle ahead of me because I always felt that I had the
right to choose and make my own decisions. I wanted to choose who I would spend
the rest of my life with.
I don't believe in sex before marriage, it is immoral and ungodly. I grew up
with a great love and respect for Plural Marriage and I carry a strong
heart-filled
testimony of it. I was just sixteen when I married Tom Green. I spent time in
his home and fell in love with him. My family and community were against my
decision and told me that if I married Tom I would go straight to HELL. I decided if my happiness was someone else's hell then
they were not concerned about me and what I wanted. I was more capable of making
the choice than they were.
My parents finally gave consent when they realized I was serious and was going to
marry Tom with or without their blessing. We were married with a religious
ceremony. I have never once regretted the choice I made fourteen
years ago. I have had seven children and have been a mother to twenty-five.
Over the years Tom and I have gone through a lot together. We have traveled the
world over. Our struggles have been plenty and our joy and happiness has been
more. I am the second wife and I help with the everyday mothering of the
children. I am in charge of making sure the family laundry is done, and I
take my turn at cleaning and fixing the
meals. We all share in everything there is to do. I have a disabled child who
requires more of my attention. I have a close relationship with each of my
sister-wives and we get along remarkably well. We always workout our differences
in a civil manner.
Mr. Leavitt says that I am brainwashed into my lifestyle. Well I say, "Father,
forgive him for he knows not what he speaks." He doesn't even know me or
how I feel. Mr. Leavitt has caused me and my family more pain and suffering in
the last year than Tom would ever dream of in the fourteen years we have been
married. Tom is a good man and I will stand
by his side 'till death do us part. My marriage covenants mean everything to me
and no one can or should want to change that.
I fought to get Tom and I will fight to keep him.
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