Distant mountains are a beautiful backdrop to a row of clean prairie dresses on a clothesline, blowing in the gentle breeze and tended by a fresh-scrubbed woman in braids and long, plain frock.
No, this is not a scene from HBO’s “Big Love,” the award-winning fictional drama about polygamists in Utah.
This is the start of a compelling three-part news story, airing over three nights this week, about self-described “fundamentalist” Mormon practitioners of polygamy here in Colorado.
KCNC-Channel 4’s Rick Salinger spent several months gaining the trust of members of the group who have made a home in Westcliffe, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains west of Pueblo.
Over time, Salinger persuaded the group to allow cameras into the properties, where members claim they have come “for refuge, not to set up a kingdom.”
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints became a fixture on the nation’s TV screens this year when Texas authorities raided a 1,700-acre compound in April and removed 462 children deemed at risk of abuse. (The mainstream LDS Church disavows polygamy and seeks to distance itself from the FLDS.)
In May, The Post reported that the FLDS was gaining ground in Colorado, having purchased several properties in Fremont and Custer counties.
Salinger’s series, “CBS4 Investigates: Polygamy in Colorado,” is the first TV venture inside that world. It will air Monday-Wednesday within the 10 p.m. newscast.
The demeanor of the women interviewed is striking. While they sit canning pears in a low-tech kitchen under pictures of the group’s prophet Warren Steed Jeffs, the women uniformly use soft, high-pitched voices to describe the rewards of plural marriage. It’s part of their directive to “keep sweet.”
Jeffs, meanwhile, is in Utah State Prison on a rape conviction, for his role in arranging a marriage between a 14-year- old girl and her 19-year-old first cousin. The adoring women in Westcliffe view his incarceration as persecution. Jeffs is the son of Rulon T. Jeffs, who had been the group’s prophet for 15 years. He died at the age of 92, leaving 75 widows and 65 children.
Lee Steed, leader of the group near Westcliffe, agreed to talk to KCNC on condition his face not be shown. The camera zeroes in on his hands by his side as he speaks of the properties as “a place of safety” away from the troubles of Utah and Arizona.
Laura Chapman, a former FLDS member who fled in 1991, testifies on camera to the dark side of the group’s story. Equally intriguing, the local citizenry has organized a group, Step Up, to educate themselves about the FLDS. In particular, they want to know how to respond if someone flees the compound.
Steven Singular, author of “When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and the Women Who Fought Back,” is shown explaining his research into the history and criminal practices of the group. (In his book, Singular draws parallels between the FLDS and other fundamentalist religions’ fear of treating women as equals.)
Viewers will judge: The Step Up organizer says the group opposes illegal acts but respects religious differences. Steed says the properties are merely homes for widows and grandmothers.
Salinger said visiting the group was like “entering another world.” The folks he met were “anxious to let people know they’re not evil.”
Presumably they just agree with the tagline for the HBO drama — “Polygamy loves company.”
Meanwhile, law enforcement personnel are on record saying they are actively searching for new ways to prosecute polygamy in Colorado.
There are no TVs on the premises, Salinger said, but Steed has requested a DVD of Channel 4’s report.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
