Funeral Held in Blanding for Doctor Indicted For Artifact Theft

he was cought in Bulff Ut once doing that too

I think it's about time that the feds finally busted these "honest mormon american" because they need to be put back in check.

manndan8ive wrote:

I think it's about time that the feds finally busted these "honest mormon american" because they need to be put back in check.

I find it pathetic that someone with no understanding of the area, the history or the people is quick to pass judgement. I grew up in Blanding, Utah and have an understanding you do not have regarding these things. First, let me ascertain that I have no doubt there are individuals in Blanding who are guilty of illegally hunting, collecting and selling artifacts. There are a few who had been advised not to continue and that there would be consequences if they continued in this activity. I suspect some considered themselves above the law and others were just foolish. What is criminal is the way the entire community, including innocent people were victimized by federal agents drunk with authority, probably fueled by some predjudice.

From the time the first tent was set up in the area, before home were built, the settlers were finding arrowheads and pices of pottery everywhere. Farmers in this small farming cmmunity, would turn over the earth to build homes, clear land or plant crops and find artifacts on a daily basis. Some ignored these things and felt they were a nuisance, while others reverenced these artifacts as a link to the Book of Mormon people. This prompted people to gather arrowheads and mount them in designs on velvet covered boards, frame them and display them on the walls. If many pottery pieces to a single bowl were discovered, the area would be scoured to find as many pieces as possible. The pieces were then painstakingly fitted and glued together to complete as much of the bowl as possible. This piece would then be lovingly displayed in the home.

I would venture a guess that more then 60% of the artifacts in the Blanding area were found by early settlers and passed from one generation to another. The citizens of this small community took greater care of these artifacts than individuals who later discovered their monitary value.

Some very decent, law biding people were set up, in my mind immorally if not illegally, to entrap them. Surely, our government has better methods of securing accurate information of good people who were not aware they did not have the right to sell this personal property due to an obscure law.
Most of these people would not have parted with these items if they had not been approached. They were not looking for buyers. However, the economy is tough for most people in a small community and when offered a large sum of money for a non-essential item handed down for two or three generations, it might be considered a blessing to part with the item for enough money to make a house payment and feed a family for a couple of weeks.

It is the responsibility of our government to protect its people. Period. It is not the responsibility or even the right of government to plunder, raid homes and terrorize its people to protect any THING. This is another case of government beoming too big and out of control to do what our forefathers intended it to do.

I recently watched a documentary on Hitler and his methods of pushing himself and the third Reich into power. His methods weren't much different than what the people pf Blanding experienced. Perhaps it would be well for you to obtain ALL of the ACURATE DETAILS. Take a lesson from this episode and start paying attention to other things being done to U.S. citizens in the name of government. We still live in the greatest country in the world, but there are those from within who will take it away a piece at a time if we continue to allow it.