DiscussMormonism.com

The hue and cry coming from LDS Church members who profess that questions about the influence of the LDS Church on politics are unfounded and unfair are, at best, uninformed if not disingenuous.

David Taylor Johannesen writes that "the church wants nothing to do with politics in any form" (Forum, Dec. 13). Really? One does not have to look too far into the past to find examples.

The LDS Church actively fought against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s, officially stating that the "ERA as a blanket attempt to help women could indeed bring them far more restraints and repressions. We fear it will even stifle many God-given feminine instincts."

In the 1990s, the church fueled the fight against gay marriage in several states with money and other resources to the point that the church's tax-exempt status was called into question.

While it appears that it is OK for the church to work in the political forum to deny rights to segments of the population, when the LDS Church's impartiality is called into question, many members seem to develop an unusual form of amnesia.

April 5, 1977 The Salt Lake Tribune reported: "Mormon dissident Douglas A. Wallace charged Monday that a Salt Lake City police officer, shot early Sunday was keeping surveillance on him in a nearby residence. "Acting Police Chief Edgar A. Bryan Jr. denied it. "He said his men were not keeping surveillance on Mr. Wallace, a excommunicated member of the Church...but he would not say what the stakeout's purpose was. “Officer David W. Olson remained in critical condition Monday at St. Mark's Hospital, where personnel said he suffered a severed spinal cord from a single shot in the neck. The policeman was shot accidentally by his partner,... Wallace was staying at the home of a friend, Dr. John W. Fitzgerald, 2177 Carriage Lane. (4600 South). "He was in Salt Lake City to try to make an appearance at the LDS World Conference last weekend. Attorneys for the church, however, obtained a temporary restraining order...which prevented the dissident from visiting Temple Square. "'I have not committed any crime, and I don't intend to commit any crime. I have been raised in the Mormon faith and I am a man of peace...This is not Russia; this is not Nazi Germany; there is no reason why I should be under surveillance of the police,' Mr. Wallace said."

6 April 1977 Salt Lake Tribune related: "Ex-Mormon Douglas Wallace, who claims the wounding of an undercover police officer was done while police held surveillance on him, Tuesday afternoon said he will subpoena various high ranking police and sheriff's deputies to establish the fact.... "Mr. Wallace said also, 'It is clear from the evidence that we have uncovered that I was under surveillance. The police department's denial of that simply compounds the wrong. Is this going to be Salt Lake's sequel to the Watergate scandal?'" (Salt Lake Tribune, April 6, 1977)

8 April 1977 With Mr. Wallace and his attorney pressing them hard, the police were finally forced to admit the truth about the matter: "Salt Lake City police officers admitted Thursday that the accidental wounding of an undercover officer occurred during surveillance of Mormon dissident Douglas A. Wallace.... "Reports released Thursday by both the county sheriff's office and the county attorney show that six officers were on stakeout around the John W. Fitzgerald home...where Mr. Wallace was staying. "The lawmen were paired up in three police vehicles and two of those were parked close together in opposite directions..." (Salt Lake Tribune, April 8, 1977)

18 Jan 1978 Letter to Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, "I would also like to thank Spencer W. Kimball for his incorrect press release concerning the police involvement combined with the LDS church's efforts to restrict Douglas A. Wallace from the temple grounds, specifically the Tabernacle, on April 3, 1977. "His denial of these actions is wrong. Any man who can take such actions and still call himself a prophet deserves more than I to be confined to this wheelchair." David Olson (SLC Police officer who was accidentally shot and paralyzed while putting Douglas Wallace under surveillance by Mormon official pressure on the police force.

I Purposely Went To Dr. Fitzgerald's Funeral to see if he'd returned to the church. He hadn't, and his papers--some of which were on display at the service--can be found in a collection at Utah State University. You can access a description of the contents (and some of the writings) on-line (try Google; I've got the URL somewhere on another hard drive, as does et in Utah).

Douglas Wallace was there at the service, as was another dissident who was a little dismayed that his family played down his apostacy (Sandra Tanner spoke to me of knowing "Fitzy" well at an Exmo Conference, as did Gerald who was still alive at the time); there were several references to his penchance for naps when they would visit, and my friend said he was just ducking arguments about the church, that when he visited him in the past, he was lively and animated.

I last saw him about five years before he died (in his 90's), and I regret not bringing up the subject of religion (we did discuss our mutual "editorial writing" in general terms, and he remembered who I was). I was doing some maintenance work at the Carriage Lane condos, and I recognized his voice so I said hello. The second day I was there, he asked me if I would carry some mail out to his mailbox, and he accidentaly dropped them. He was embarrassed that they were some Publisher's Clearing House entries and things like that, but it only made him all the more human an loveable to me . . .

Doug Wallace was permitted to speak right at the end of the service and praised Fitzgerald's courage; immediately after, a member of the family (and an obvious PH holder) invited Wallace to leave (somewhat politely, but I was saddened although not entirely shocked) saying he'd been allowed to have his say . . .

I've collected several good second and third-hand accounts (from law enforcement sources; one was Robert Kirby) about the shooting, and apparently a defective safety was the cause of the accident when one officer passed the holstered 9mm automatic to the other and it discharged (I'd always been curious about how that happened). Not the best example of gun safety, but a tragic event with no malice involved . . .

Kirby noted he thought the officers were responding to a suggestion from above that "these two should be watched" and said if it happened today the policeman's union would've raised a huge stink . . .

I dunno . . . I told the story to Will Bagley last month, and his remark was "And that was after Skousen [W. Cleon Skousen who was police chief for a short time during the 60's] left, right?" As I recollect, Dewey Fillis was Salt Lake Police Chief at the time . . .

Infymus wrote:I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I would have police staked out around my house, my wires tapped, my every move scrutinized by the Cult if I was able to do then what I have done now.

Trevor wrote:There was a real shady character in it who was supposed to be a Mormon on Howard Hughes' security detail.

moksha wrote:Are you referring to US Senator (R-Utah) Robert Bennett? Or that other guy who was one of the Nixon-Watergate bag men?

Sethbag wrote:I've seen Mr. 4Justice's comments before, and it smacked of retarded conspiracy theory of the type I can't force myself to give a damn about, to be entirely honest. I haven't addressed his latest comments, because frankly I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to them.