This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A lot of people probably assume Hildale, Utah, and adjacent Colorado City, Ariz., is a dangerous place. After all, an "outlaw polygamous sect" inhabits the communities, to quote a phrase that has been used to describe the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the towns collectively known as Short Creek.
That phrase and description evokes a lot of fear. The reality is more complex. In my nine years of off-and-on coverage of Short Creek, I'm not aware of anyone shooting or beating a person in poor favor with the FLDS or a stranger in town, but there have been some acts of physical intimidation that can, probably, be classified as assaults.
Former FLDS-follower Ron Rohbock and his wife Geri were walking toward Maxwell Park in Short Creek on Monday. About 4 p.m., Ron Rohbock, says, they encountered what a lot of people in Short Creek call a "Plyg Rig," a white, four-door, oversized Dodge pickup truck with darkened windows.
Ron Rohbock says the truck almost hit them, missing Geri by a few inches. As the truck passed them, Ron Rohbock says, the driver accelerated, puffing black smoke from the tailpipe and spewing rocks from under the tires.
"We truly felt our lives had been threatened with this incident which is not the first time it has happened," Ron Rohbock wrote in an email to me. The couple reported the episode to the The Washington County Sheriff's Department.
They aren't the only ones who have described this kind of episode. Sam Brower, the private detective who has investigated the FLDS for about a decade, has said vehicles in the towns have spun tires and rocks at him multiple times, cracking his windshield at least once.
Twitter: @natecarlisle