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Polygamous Towns Appealing Overhaul Of Their Operations

www.splcenter.org

A polygamous community on the Arizona-Utah border is appealing an overhaul of its government operations that was ordered in response to a verdict that found nonbelievers were denied police protection, building permits and water hookups on the basis of religion.

The sister towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, will be under court supervision for the next decade as punishment for the 2016 verdict.

The towns were accused of operating as an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism.

The overhaul requires the community's top police official to be supervised by a court-appointed mentor and training for officers on constitutional protections.

A judge also has required the appointment of an outsider to review municipal decisions involving housing rights.