Warren Jeffs may still hold the keys to the FLDS priesthood and thereby continue to represent God on Earth, at least in the eyes of his faithful followers, but the fugitive prophet no longer has any say over the operation of the United Effort Plan trust. Jeffs was removed last week from his position as a UEP trustee by Utah District Judge Deno Himonas.

The judge didn’t stop there, however, he went on to remove all the members of the UEP board of trustees and appointed a ‘special fiduciary’ or independent manager to oversee the operation of the trust until a July 21, 2005 hearing, at which time Judge Himonas is slated to hear testimony and consider appointing new trustees and/or increase the special fiduciary’s control over trust assets.

The United Effort Plan trust was originally established to protect members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect that later became the FLDS church, from having their property confiscated by the government over the issue of polygamy. Most of the group’s property in Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT was actually owned by the UEP, with members having the right to build homes and live on the property. However, when Warren Jeffs ascended to power within the church, he and his lieutenants soon began using their authority as UEP trustees to punish FLDS members who were deemed to be less than faithful to the new Jeffs as the church’s new prophet.

Soon men were being excommunicated from the church and evicted from their homes and their wives and children were being reassigned to other men. In a matter of months Warren Jeffs was wielding almost absolute control over his followers and their lives in C-City/Hildale. It was about the same time that Jeffs began moving part of his flock to the YFZ Ranch here in Schleicher County, Texas, where a series of large dormitory style buildings and a massive white temple were being built.

Chinks began to appear in the prophet’s armor last year when authorities in Utah and Arizona began moving against Jeffs’ polygamous empire. Control of the Colorado City Unified School District, long believed to be one of Jeffs’ primary cash cows, was wrested away by the Arizona legislature, then Utah started proceedings to take away Jeffs’ control of the UEP trust.

Even as the fate of the UEP was being weighed in Utah Courts, a Mohave County, AZ grand jury indicted Warren Jeffs on felony charges of arranging and performing underage marriages between young girls within his group and older men who were already married.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

FLDS observers have long maintained that Warren Jeffs erred when he chose to move to Texas — first by misleading local citizens about his intentions for the YFZ Ranch and then by failing to understand Texas environmental regulations.

Now, as word comes that an oil well has been completed on the Ronnie Kerr place, bordering the western edge of the YFZ, it is learned that YFZ officials who purchased the Schleicher County property, failed to buy up the mineral rights to the ranch. With oil topping $60 per barrel and natural gas prices approaching an all-time high, it appears very likely that a drilling rig will soon be sinking a well bore on the YFZ Ranch.

Texas law provides the owners of mineral rights to have access to their property, including the right to drill for oil & gas, even if surface owners don’t agree.

The Lonestar Schleicher #1 reached total depth at 7,104 ft. last week with casing being set through the Ellenberger formation. The well was drilled by Lonestar Land & Exploration Company of Houston on the Ronnie Kerr place, some four miles north of Eldorado on the Old San Angelo Highway. The prospect was developed by Eastern Shelf Production Company of Ft. Worth. When it is put into production, the well will be operated by J.W. Mulloy & Associates, Inc. of Midland.

It is unknown exactly how soon exploration might begin on the YFZ Ranch, but one thing is for sure, the men and women who live in seclusion on the property aren’t likely to welcome the intrusion of man and machine on land they deem to be holy.