Huckleberries Online

NIdaho Polygamists Draw Attention

Feb. 16, 2009 1:34 p.m. • 17 comments

In the scenic international border region where Idaho’s Panhandle meets British Columbia, polygamy is a way of life for hundreds – the open secret that’s gone untouched by authorities until now. The arrests in Canada last month of two fundamentalist Mormon leaders are bringing renewed interest to their polygamous communities near Creston, B.C., and loyal followers living just across the border in Idaho’s Boundary County/Bill Morlin, SR. More info.

Question: Are you concerned that a polygamist community of hundreds spills over the British Columbia border into Boundary County, Idaho? Or do you believe that polygamist communities are OK, unless they cause their neighbors trouble?

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Me on February 16 at 3:35 p.m.
There is a town south of Missoula in the Bitterroot Valley that is a polygamist town. The surrounding towns don’t bother them and they don’t bother anyone else. The state and county don’t seem to care - since their “marriages” aren’t recorded, it is just basically bunches of people living together. The are fairly self sufficient, but do a lot of their shopping and medical, dental etc in Hamilton or Missoula.

There have been a few stories about them, but basically no one really cared that they were there. The LDS church may have been bothered, but I belonged to it for quite a few years and never heard anything.
Cis on February 16 at 3:39 p.m.
to repeat my comment from the other post with the picture…

I just feel another Randy Weaver situation coming this summer..
Me on February 16 at 4:22 p.m.
Why do you feel that way Cis? I’m curious.
Cis on February 16 at 4:40 p.m.
Me….look at the past… see how Texas or where ever did it. When the government starts in, it usually isn’t pretty… just like with the Weaver situation…
hhuseland on February 16 at 7:40 p.m.
I tend to be ambivalent about this. First, We have well established freedom of religion. When the LDS church was bullied into suddenly disavowing multiple marriages, it wasn’t a revelation, it was the US government that forced them into quitting the practice.

While I never could figure out how to get along with just one wife, my personal feelings are why would anyone want to allow two or three wives to team up against them. But, hey, that’s just me.

First and foremost, we must separate human rights from government tradition. Child molestation is not religion. If these people can guarantee that underage arranged marriages won’t happen, then jusa leave them alone.
Bob on February 16 at 7:47 p.m.
Well, these nutcakes marry nasty old men to teenaged girls, raise genetically damaged inbred little kids, probably mostly live off state welfare benefits in their horrid trailerparks. In their crazed LDS fundamentalist religious beliefs they protest gay marriage and fund anti-gay marriage initiatives.

Personally, I hope they all get raided by jackbooted federal agents armed with fully automatic submachine guns supported by FBI snipers in black choppers.

Society should not have to put up with lawbreaking perverts who hate other races and sexual orientations.

Send in the feds. Clean this blight up.
JohnA on February 16 at 8:40 p.m.
I heard when Winstone said the reason he had nineteen wives was because there weren’t enough men to go around, he bragged “I share myself. Isn’t that big of me?”

To which someone replied “Bigamy? Actually boss, with that many it’s called polygamy”.
Joker on February 16 at 8:45 p.m.
I’ve never understood the polygamy game. Why would you want to piss a bunch of ladies off when it’s impossible to keep one happy?

Of course, I don’t get why Republicans are so in love with that guy Ann Coulter. Just another mystery of the universe.
thomg57 on February 16 at 9:06 p.m.
First and foremost, we must separate human rights from government tradition—Herb

I take it you support gay marriage, right?

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.