Years ago, he and his sons bought 80 acres north of the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., and gave the deed to his bishop to add to a communal property trust designed to support their polygamous church.

They did it, Barlow said, to share a sense of sacrifice with the community's original settlers - among them his father, John Y. Barlow.

"It was a religious experience," said Barlow, 76. "We wanted to be able to consecrate it."

But the United Effort Plan Trust is now in state hands and has been stripped of its original religious purpose, severing its intricate link to the leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Its holdings, which include virtually all property in the twin towns, are in the process of being subdivided and sold - most notably, a 711-acre farm known as Berry Knoll.

Sect members maintain the farmland, which includes a small hill, has historical, religious and economic significance and want the sale stopped. They also argue that the state's secularization of the trust violated their constitutional right to practice their religion.

Subdividing the land, Barlow said, is tantamount to requiring members to take back tithes, break spiritual commitments and give up a key tenet of their faith.

All of that is disputed by Bruce R. Wisan, the fiduciary appointed to manage the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement. There also were allegations the sect discriminated against members who fell out of favor with leaders.

"I'm not wanting to control how they run their religion," Wisan said. "We're just trying to run the trust in a nonreligious manner."

Wisan's attorneys argue the sect's claims are a "pretext" for starving the trust of needed money, a point they will make today during a hearing before 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg in St. George.

Wisan wants to sell the property because the trust is out of money; he and his attorneys have not been paid in 18 months and are owed more than $1 million. The potential buyer of the property is a member of a competing religious group, though Wisan and his attorneys have made it clear sect members are "welcome" to make a bid for the land, too.

That only rankles sect members, who point out they already paid for the land once.

"Why don't I buy my own property is equivalent to why don't we sell the Black Hills to the Indians," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS member who has grazed cattle on the land for years.

Most of the proceeds of the sale, if approved, will go to outstanding debt. Wisan has not laid out a plan to cover the trust's future expenses other than selling more land, though he is collecting a monthly fee from residents and has previously proposed selling property deeds to them.

Meantime, the lack of funds has hamstrung his ability to move forward with subdivision plans or fight numerous lawsuits filed by the sect.

"We are under a full scale of attack of litigation," attorney Zach Shields said Wednesday during a separate hearing related to the proposed sale.

Shields said the protests from Barlow and others come "too late" after years of hiding being a "wall of silence." They describe Jessop and two other men who requested the hearing as "conspirators."

Elmer Johnson is among those who kept silent until now. His father owned the Berry Knoll property when it was placed in the United Effort Plan Trust.

"I want to help preserve this land that our fathers consecrated to the UEP," he said.

Barlow, the former mayor of Colorado City and one of 21 men excommunicated by leader Warren S. Jeffs in 2004, also is breaking his silence. Berry Knoll has another special significance for him: as a young man, he was standing watch on the knoll when Arizona law officers raided the community, then known as Short Creek. Nearly 100 men and women and 263 children were swept up in the raid on the polygamous community.

From his vantage now, watching what he says is a new siege on the community has "not been easy for me."

"I am not a member of the church but I know the difference between truth and error," Barlow said.

brooke@sltrib.com

What's next

* A hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. today in St. George's 5th District Court before 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg, who will listen to arguments for and against the proposed sale of Berry Knoll Farm.