Another Dimension

There is a meme in science fiction B-movies where the village or town or nation has been taken over by aliens or zombies who look just like us.  Outsiders coming into town can't tell the difference between the aliens and the townsfolk, and the law is definitely NOT on their side.   It's fiction, right?

In the desert twin town of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, with a shared police department, most of the 9,000 population are followers of Warren Jeff's polygamous and legally-challenged Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  These followers consider Jeffs to be a prophet and a tenet of their faith is total obedience to his commands.  Fred Barlow, police chief of the twin towns, recently wrote to Jeffs -- facing trial for rape in a case that centres on a forced marriage he ordered on a teenaged girl -- to confirm his allegiance:

"I would first like to acknowledge you as the one man that was and is called of God to stand at the head of his priesthood and the Kingdom of God on the earth in this day and time ... I love you ... and know you have the right to rule in all aspects of my life.  Without priesthood I am nothing ... I am praying for you to be protected and yearn to be with you again.  I and all of the officers have expressed our desire to stand with you and the priesthood."

This is the Chief of Police writing to a man who was recently featured on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitive List.   Can you imagine life in these places if you are not a Fundamentalist Mormon?  I'm sure it really would be like living a B-movie.