European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 20, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Their tribe is increasing by Molly wins new York times n a big old House on a quiet Street in a Small town South of Salt Lake City lives a Sweet faced Silver haired school teacher. Rhea a. Kunz 71, proudly shows off the pictures of her grandchildren on the Wall of her cozy untidy study in Draper Utah. There Are More than 70 of them since Kunz is a believer in polygamy and so Are her eight children. Rhea Kunz now has a second family " six Young men and their plural wives All live with her in the big old House on the quiet Street in an informal commune. They have so Many children mrs. Kunz has come out of retire ment and is running a state chartered non profit Nursery school for them. Polygamy Long considered a dying ves Tige of an abandoned mormon Tenet is actually on the in crease in the american West. There is no accurate count of american polygamists but from what is known of organized polygamous groups and the More numerous in dependents like mrs. Kunz 20,000 to 30,000 is a realistic figure. Most polygamists Lead quiet lives and Are publicity shy but the rampage of Ervil Lebaron has focused Atten Tion on their growing numbers. Lebaron is the Leader of a polygamous sect the Church of the Lamb of god which Law men believe is responsible for the murder or disappearance of at least nine people. Lebaron believes that he has been anointed to run the world and according to his writings that he has the right to execute anyone who disagrees with him. Among polygamists and non polygamists alike in Utah and especially among the Law enforcement officials who have been trying to locate Lebaron on a murder charge there is agreement that the practice of maintaining plural wives has been growing for at least 10 years. Polygamists who prefer to Call themselves Funda mentalists Are sometimes scornfully referred to As  Man wearing a Cowboy hat said last week at the bar of an establishment known As Diamond Lils them plugs is comin up like  More common reaction was expressed by a mormon sales clerk. Of we have some who live just Down the Street from us she said. They Are the nicest people. Very clean and quiet and  the largest single group of polygamists is generally agreed to be in and around Colorado City formerly known As Short Creek near the Utah Arizona Border. Three thousand to five thousand polygamists live in that area according to Law enforcement officials familiar with the fundamentalist movement. Another Large group was led by Rulon c. Allred until his murder last May. Ervil Lebaron and members of his group have been charged in the slaying. The 2,000 to 4,000 Allred followers live in pin Esfield mont., and in three settlements in Mexico. There Are approximately 1,000 members of a Sec founded by Joel Lebaron who also was allegedly Mur dered by his brother s group. This sect the Church of the firstborn of the Furness of times is established Only in Mexico. There Are also an unknown number of independents still practising polygamy in Mexico descendants of mormons who settled there before the turn of the Cen Tury. The Kingston group led by Merlin Kingston has be tween 300 and 1,000 members and is based in Davis new York times polygamist Kunz absolute  up Ervil Lebaron charged in sect clash. County Utah. The group is an economic cooperative As Well As a religious sect and indications Are that it is extremely prosperous. According to the society s 1977 report the cooperative employs 400 people in More than 30 businesses its estimated Worth is Between $20 million and $30 million. Mormons took the concept of plural marriage from old testament accounts of the Kings and patriarchs such As Abraham Isaac Jacob and David who had Many wives. The Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day saints outlawed the practice in 1890, in part because it brought so much persecution on the Church. The fundamentalists be Lieve the mormon Church is guilty of apostasy for having renounced polygamy. They regard themselves As the True latter Day saints. Kunz is one of the spun Kier advocates of the practice. Her own family has been polygamous for several Genera polygamy Long considered a dying vestige of an abandoned mormon Tenet is actually on the increase in the american West thursday october 20, 1977 Doil Magazine tons on both sides. As first of four wives of her first Hus band she placed the hand of each new sister wife in the hand of her husband at three successive weddings. Advocates of women s liberation who tend to think of plural wives As benighted creatures would Likely be astonished by Kunz who has divorced two husbands be cause they did t please her. As she herself said i was pretty darn  those who imagine polygamy to be a Handy cover for promiscuity Are apparently off the Mark. If polygamists share one Quality it is that polygamy aside they Are extraordinarily Strait laced. They do not indulge in smok ing drinking drugs cursing Cri miney is Kunz s strongest expletive infidelity or premarital sex and they place a Strong emphasis on cleanliness and hard work. Brigham Young the second president of the mormons once said of polygamy we must gird up our loins and fulfil this just As we would any other  Kunz is remarkably Frank in discussing the sexual practices of her Small group. We do not permit Intercourse during pregnancy lactation or menses she said. The first principle of purity the strictest Law is one that Many women who enter into plural marriage do not understand. A Man shall not even approach his wife for sex unless she invites him and then Only when it is time to have another child. A lot of people won t believe this even if you Tell them but each Young Man in this House lives by this Rule the Law of absolute purity. I practice it myself. Every Man in this House has a separate bedroom. They cohabit Only when she desires another child. Of course they kiss and hug As husband and wife Are wont to do. The Hus band tells each wife goodnight at night and then goes to his own  Kunz also believes that Jesus was married and polygamous. She said that in her youth she knew four of those who were present when John Taylor the third president of the mormon Church supposedly received a revelation re endorsing the practice of polygamy. He Rose and stood in the air awhile she quotes the witnesses As saying. Harold Blackmore 61, another Independent lives on a farm 25 Miles from Colorado City and runs a construction business. He has two wives 18 children and 72 descendants not All of them living with him. Nine years ago he and his family left a Large tightly controlled polygamous group and his recollections of that experience indicate there is a Darker Side to polygamy. It was a total dictatorship. We were in absolute Bond age. They were a rough Bunch. I was there a year in full Captivity and it took us four and a half years to pull out. I will no longer have anything to do with any of them i am an Independent. Many of them think you can t be a Christian outside an organization but if you can t Lead a Good life As an in dependent an organization won t help. I claim that group is a holy mafia. They Are profiteers and gangsters. Ill Tell you what it is it s like the Days of prohibition. If a Man got Gyp Ped or mistreated by some Bootleg gang Ster he could t go to the Law about it because the Law said he was t supposed t be having anything to do with bootleggers. The people who become involved in these fundamentalist groups Are fearful to go to the authorities. If they would just come out and say polygamy is not illegal people would be free to complain of the terrible abuses and oppression. You would be amazed. People s lives Are in Clanger. They use the old techniques of Brigham Young a refer ence to the Yanites a secret group of mormon terrorists who operated in the Early Days of the Church. Despite Laws against polygamy the practice has not been prosecuted for about 15 years. Putting polygamous men in jail just filled up jails and put their families on welfare said David Yocum a Salt Lake county prosecutor who thinks it would be almost impossible to prosecute polygamists these Days. If we prosecuted All tie people in this state who Are living in sin the jails would t hold  and some Law enforcement officials believe that such prosecution today might be held unconstitutional on grounds of Freedom of religion. Since fundamentalists tend to have huge families and Many of their children in turn engage in plural marriage the practice seems Likely to continue to grow. Those polygamists who were not raised As fundamentalists or even As mormons Are harder to explain but some of the younger people who have joined the polygamist move ment seem to want both the strict rules of such communities and the sense of family. The stars and stripes Page 13