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In an interview with attorneys for Warren Jeffs, Ranger Brooks Long reported his impressions of the FLDS people when he visited the YFZ Ranch for the first time in 2005:

 

 

In 2003 the FLDS purchased an old hunting ranch that was dotted with rusty oil rigs, cactus, and mesquite trees. Bedrock was so close to the surface that in order to utilize the land for agricultural purposes it was necessary to haul in top soil or to slice out the rock, grind it up, and mix it with other soil and humus. In 2005 Ranger Long saw the result of about a year’s work. By the time of the raid in April 2008, the FLDS had been in Texas just over four years. Working around the clock, they had turned waste land into orchards and gardens and built a well-planned community of massive log homes, a school house, a Bishop’s storehouse, a cement plant, sewage treatment plant, grain silos, a modern dairy, cheese factory, machine shop, cabinet shop, and furniture factory. By far their most impressive structure was the beautiful four-story temple faced in native white limestone quarried on the ranch.

 

These accomplishments were not produced by a group of indolent, lecherous, immoral men. They bear eloquent testimony of the hard work and sacrifice of sincere and dedicated pioneers working under an inspired leadership.

 

The Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Workers who assisted in the shelters after the raid gave glowing reports of both the mothers and the children. “These lovely women and children were gracious and kind always,” one worker stated. “They tried to cooperate with every request, even when terrified that they were going to be separated from their children. The mothers are incredibly loving and patient with the children. The children were well-socialized and well-behaved and interacted willingly and happily with us.” Another worker wrote, “They obeyed their mothers and appeared to be healthy and well-nourished. They had none of the traditional withdrawal common in abused children.” (See Mental Health Workers Report FLDS Women Good Mothers)

 

A whole community of beautiful mothers and children does not in the least support the idea of a group of abusive husbands and fathers. In all of the raids that have taken place against the Fundamentalist Mormons from 1935 to 2008, women and children have had ample opportunity to “escape” from their lifestyle if they had had any disposition to leave. Especially was this the case following the raid on Short Creek in 1953 and the raid on the YFZ Ranch in 2008 when mothers and children had to live for a time among mainstream society and exercise their independence and resourcefulness. The only desire any of them ever manifested was to return to the love and security of their homes. 

 

The FLDS Prophets I have known in my lifetime—Leroy S. Johnson, Rulon T. Jeffs, and Warren S. Jeffs—have consistently made reference to the following verses from Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants as the pattern for men to follow in teaching their families:

 

 

Commenting on this passage of scripture, the Prophet Rulon T. Jeffs said, “I am sure, brothers and sisters, that we would do away with all the problems and troubles in our families…if we would rule with love and kindness and long-suffering…”[2] Explaining the verse on “reproving betimes with sharpness,” he further stated:

 

 

The Prophet Warren S. Jeffs spoke as follows in a sermon delivered November 17, 2002:

 

 

 

 

Families of the sort found almost universally among the FLDS people are not held together by force or fear—they are held together by gentleness and love. The same thing is true regarding the FLDS leadership. The Prophet Warren Jeffs has been falsely maligned just as the Savior was in His day. If only a fraction of the things alleged against him actually were true, he would not have the following that he does, being loved and revered by those who know him.

 

At the trial of Raymond Jessop, four non-FLDS residents of the surrounding community voluntarily testified:

Cody Engedahl of Eldorado told the jury he trusted Jessop "more than I do some of the people in this community."[4]

In similar trials of FLDS men in Arizona during 2007, several of the wives of the men being charged wrote letters to Judge Stephen Conn in defense of their chosen lifestyle. One first wife wrote that she and her husband had been married for twenty-five years. “Myself,” she said, “as well as the other women, who have become a part of his family, requested to enter into his family before any attempts were made on his part, to solicit our attentions. We are NOT VICTIMS!!![5]

 

A plural wife wrote to the Judge as follows:

 

 

As the trials continue, the FLDS men indicted in Texas may be branded with any number of unsavory epithets that in no way describe their actual characters, but this does not change the reality that they have not abused either their wives or their children but have raised beautiful and honorable families and have trained them through kindness and love.

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