This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. - For months, Patrick Pipkin churned inside but kept silent as families, including his own, were ripped apart without explanation by leaders of a polygamous sect he has belonged to all his life.
That silence - and his allegiance to those leaders - ended Thursday when a bishop with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints tried to kick Pipkin out of his home, triggering a 4 1/2 -hour standoff between Pipkin and Taylor Bistline, his uncle, at the gray brick house they have shared.
The showdown ended only after Salt Lake City attorney Jeffrey Shields showed Bist- line that Pipkin had signed an occupancy agreement, committing to pay taxes and giving him the right to live there. Shields represents fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan, appointed by a judge to oversee an FLDS trust that owns most property in town.
Shields asked Bistline to sign the document, too. "Anybody in this town is welcome to sign one of these, we'd love you to," Shields told him.
Bistline refused.
Moments later, after using a butter knife to pop open the locked front door, Pipkin and a handful of supporters began carrying his belongings - piled on the front lawn and in a pickup truck bed - back into the home.
"I'm here to help justice," Pipkin, 23, said later.
It is the fourth dispute over a home in this community in recent months, and like those it involves a painful family divide that is commonplace in Colorado City and Hildale, home of the FLDS church.
Wisan was appointed as fiduciary after church leaders failed to defend the FLDS trust against lawsuits. Fugitive prophet Warren S. Jeffs faces several charges for his alleged role in arranging underage marriages.
Until Thursday's dispute, Pipkin and Bistline were close as could be. Pipkin said he promised his father, who died in 2002, that he would do all he could to provide for and keep together the family - his own mother, three other plural wives and the youngest of his 31 full and half siblings.
After his father's death, the women and their children were placed with another man, of whom Pipkin speaks lovingly. But his stepfather was ousted from the faith eight months ago and leaders ordered the four families split apart.
Pipkin, his mother and five younger siblings were moved to the gray brick home on the corner of Edison and Central streets, where Bistline, his wife and their five children also lived. Church leaders told them to no longer associate with the other families, a pronouncement Pipkin said confused him. But he kept his feelings to himself.
Pipkin, who buys and sells construction equipment, supported his mother and siblings while also tithing and making $1,000 a month mandatory church donations.
Two weeks ago, FLDS church leaders, apparently aware Pipkin was wavering, met with Bistline and put him in charge of the household.
"They didn't even tell me," Pipkin said. But he figured it out quickly enough and last week confronted one church official.
The response? Pipkin said he was told, "You can't ask questions" and to "keep the faith."
Pipkin, who said he believes in the church but not in Jeffs, had had it. He publicly signaled his change of heart Wednesday night by attending a town meeting at the Hildale City Office, where Wisan explained how he is managing the community's property trust.
By the time the meeting was over, word was out. When Pipkin returned home just after midnight, Bistline blocked him from entering the house. FLDS Bishop Lyle Jeffs contacted him by cell phone and asked a series of questions, including, "Are you for Warren?"
"No," Pipkin said he answered, which he said prompted Lyle Jeffs to ask if he was a traitor.
Again he said, no, that he still believed in the faith. Lyle Jeffs told him to leave the property, at one point even offering money and help finding a place to stay, Pipkin said.
Pipkin spent the night at a friend's home and returned Thursday at 9:30 a.m. with supporters and ex-FLDS members Isaac Wyler, Merrill Stubbs, Andrew Chatwin and Ross Chatwin. He found most of his personal belongings piled in the bed of a truck.
Two letters from Pipkin's mother were taped to one box, each telling him he would be damned because of his actions. Pipkin attempted to enter the home and Bistline again blocked him.
At that point, the men contacted the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office, Mohave County Sheriff and Wisan, who was holding a UEP advisory board meeting in Hurricane.
Stubbs said Helaman Barlow, a marshal's deputy, offered only to help Pipkin gather his things from the home, saying it now belonged to Bistline - which Shields, Wisan's attorney, refuted.
As they waited for the occupancy agreement to arrive, Bistline leaned against the home or sat on the stoop of the back door, refusing an offer to talk. "It's not your guys' business," he said.
After Bistline reviewed the occupancy agreement, he and Pipkin had a private chat. Pipkin offered to let Bistline remain and hoped his mother and siblings would, too. But he acknowledged that is unlikely.
"He's got to get permission," Pipkin said. "He can't make his own decision."
Later, Pipkin and his supporters shared pizza and calzones at Andrew Chatwin's home. Stubbs called it a "sweet victory."
Pipkin seemed dazed by the speedy turn of events but also steeled to keep going. He believes at least three or four other young men also are poised to bolt the faith, tired of the turmoil.
"I've got a lot more to do to put a cog in Warren's plans," he said. "I can just see what's going on. It's not right."