- Montezuma County commissioners reject a funding request for organization that helps get kids outdoors.
- Two fundamentalist Mormon communities on the Arizona-Utah border are found guilty of violating civil rights.
Saying it’s up to parents to get their children outdoors, the Montezuma County commissioners on Monday rejected a funding request for the Montezuma-Inspire Coalition. The nonprofit, which includes 18 groups dedicated to helping under-served kids access parks and natural areas, has received a $75,000 state planning grant. Jon Leibowitz and Gabi Morey asked the board for $4,000 toward a $16,000 cash match. Commissioner Keenan Ertel said their cause was noble but he wasn’t ready to fund yet another nonprofit.
Two fundamentalist Mormon communities on the Arizona-Utah border are guilty of violating civil rights. That was the verdict returned by a jury Monday in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. Former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, testified that the towns denied non-believers housing permits, police services, and utilities hookups. Federal authorities recently raided community businesses, seizing evidence they say implicates church leaders in massive food-stamp fraud. The events could mean the dissolution of the twin towns’ government, but Rolling Stone magazine reports the sect may simply move to other properties it owns, including one near Mancos, Colorado.
