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John Hollenhorst ReportingA Salt Lake high school girl was at the center of a media storm the last few days, but you might have missed it unless you live in Australia. She and her father did an international satellite interview to shoot down anti-Mormon allegations by her mother in Melbourne.
The story is "double bizarre", in the words of the girl's Salt Lake father. He says he can't understand how a custody battle with his ex-wife turned into a trans-Pacific attack on Mormons, who are not involved in any way.
At a time when Utah makes headlines around the world mostly because of polygamists, it's no surprise Utah's image is a bit stereotyped on the other side of the world. Consider the case of a student at East High who moved from Australia to live with her father and get away from her mother's temper and violence.
Lydia Karg, East High Student: "It wasn't how I wanted to live my life, so I chose to live in Utah."
But Lydia Karg's mother, Tracy Fonti, made a splash in Australian papers including the country's best selling daily, by claiming her daughter was "lost" in Utah to a powerful Mormon network. She said Lydia might be forced into an arranged marriage and a life of domestic servitude in a patriarchal tradition. She said Lydia has been brainwashed and indoctrinated by her father in Utah. That brought chuckles from both of them.
Lydia Karg: "Hah, hah. No it's not likely. I'm not Mormon."
In a satellite interview beamed from Salt Lake to Australian TV, Lydia's father said he was raised, not as a Mormon, but as a Catholic.
Gunter Karg, Lydia's father: "And so I'm more than anything, I'm perplexed by it."
Lydia Karg: "We're not involved in any kind of Mormon church. We know Mormons but we're not involved."
Lydia says her mother concocted the story for the Australian media just so she could get the last word after losing custody battles in court.
Lydia Karg: "Trying to get a whole country to feel sorry for her, and so I would say, 'look at her, oh poor her.' I just think it's about attention."
Lydia says life with her mother was always difficult, highly unpredictable and characterized by outbursts of temper. She says she's very happy in Utah and wants to remain here.
