Freemen Use Power Generator Negotiations Continue; Gloria Ward Tells TV Show Girls ‘Wanted To Stay’

Bright lights shone from two ranch buildings on the isolated freemen compound over the weekend, a sign the anti-government group is generating its own power after the FBI cut off electricity last week.

Lights could be seen Saturday night and Sunday morning in two ranch buildings, one of them the home of freemen leader Ralph Clark. Last Monday, the FBI cut power to the ranch 30 miles northwest of Jordan, where members of the freemen have been holed up since March 25.

Neighbors had said before the electricity was disconnected that the freemen had a generator.

Also on Sunday, two of the freemen met with negotiators for the third consecutive day at the entrance to the ranch. Talks with the FBI resumed Friday, a day after a family of four agreed to leave the compound. Gloria Ward, her common-law husband, Elwin Ward, and her two daughters were the first people to leave the compound since April.

“The girls were excited about being there. They wanted to stay … go fishing,” Gloria Ward said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday.

“We had our own cabin … It was like camping,” she said.

Gloria Ward was wanted in Utah on a charge of felony custodial interference, but authorities there agreed to drop the charge if she left the ranch.

She told “60 Minutes” that she has been denied any contact with her children. A Salt Lake City judge Friday gave temporary custody to Robert Gunn, father of one of the girls. As part of the arrangement, Ward was allowed supervised visits.

Ward has said the child custody ruling cast doubt over the likelihood of a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

The FBI issued a statement Saturday saying it had honored the terms of its agreement with Ward, which was that she would not be arrested by federal authorities, and that all Utah charges against her would be dropped.

Custody of the children has always been up to the court, the FBI said.

Sunday’s negotiations, held around a card table, lasted for about 40 minutes in blistering 90-degree heat as the armed standoff entered its 77th day.

The freemen negotiators appeared to be Clark’s son, Edwin Clark, and Edwin’s son Casey, 21, both of whom met with the FBI on Saturday. Negotiations also took place Friday.

Specifics of the talks have not been disclosed.

Seventeen freemen remain on the ranch they call Justus Township. Federal charges against some of them include allegations they circulated millions of dollars in worthless checks, and threatened the life of a federal judge.

The FBI has taken a low-key approach to the standoff, hoping negotiations and some pressure tactics like cutting electricity would bring it to a peaceful end.