Utah Judge Orders Fee Scofflaw Cultists Evicted
Someone alert the Oath Keepers and Tea Party! A judge is evicting cult crazies for not paying fees – though she did give them a cushion to comply or get thrown out:
A Utah judge said Friday that people living in Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border who have collectively failed to pay millions in occupancy fees for their houses should be evicted.
State Judge Denise Lindberg said that far too many have been ignoring the $100-a-month, per house fee for too long and that “enough is enough.” She suggested starting with a few homes, giving families notice that they must pay up or pack up. That will send a message ahead of expanding the action throughout the community, she said.
“We have had a free rider problem here for a long time,” Lindberg said. “There needs to be action, or otherwise the law means nothing.”
Lindberg’s strong and surprising remarks came Friday during a hearing in a Salt Lake City courtroom to address progress toward formation of a board that will oversee the redistribution of 750 homes in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah that have been in state control since 2005 due to allegations of mismanagement by Jeffs and other sect leaders.
Lindberg said she has chosen seven people, from 12 finalists, for the board but said she won’t announce their names or create the board until the fees are being paid and the trust will have a trusted revenue source.
No timetable was set for sending the eviction notices, but her emphatic directions means they could begin within months, said Jeffrey Shields, an attorney representing the accountant who has been managing the trust since Utah seized it. It was Shields who first raised the issues of evictions during Friday’s hearing.
“Until we get ground control,” Shields said. “We should not turn this whole thing over to the board.”
