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Randall Jeppesen reportingThe search of an Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound by Texas police has ended, but there's still no word of what will happen with the hundreds of women and children still living in temporary state shelters.
It's hard to go anywhere in San Angelo, Texas, without noticing the effects of all the new temporary residents. There are the news crews, of course, but there also are more than 700 state workers who were brought in. Police cars dot hotel parking lots, and the city is spending $60,000 a day to care for the FLDS evacuees who basically remain isolated at an old fort and a convention center.
"I would hope desperately that they could get out of this situation," said Barbara Arendt. She was one of a handful of local volunteers from Eldorado who spent several days caring for the FLDS children and women.
"I could not tell what baby or small child belonged to what mother. Several times they would gather together in one room and you'd hear them singing. They'd be singing hymns, and they'd have their meeting together," Arendt said.
At first, she says the FLDS members wouldn't even look at them, but that's slowly changed. "When the tension finally eased and they realized that they would have to be here for a while, they would come and ask for a yogurt for their child or for a baby bottle," Arendt said.
State officials say every day the children play more and the women talk with officials more. But now there's the problem of keeping everyone healthy. They live in dorm-room-like conditions, and a dozen kids have the chicken pox.
But back outside the shelters, past the Texas Highway Patrol officers that constantly watch the shelter perimeters, you'll find residents like Mike Kindred. He's amazed by the attention given to his town. "Could be good for business, never know," he said.
There is some debate among locals of the background of the FLDS Church and what, if any, relation it has to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Salt Lake City.
"So probably this group left from the main group over a hundred years ago," one person said.
Undoubtedly the local LDS wards here will have their hands full explaining to their neighbors the differences between the two distinct groups.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
