Utah, FLDS to keep negotiating

SALT LAKE CITY, June 17 (UPI) -- Utah law enforcement officials say they're going to keep talking with a polygamist Mormon sect after it announced it would oppose underage marriages.

The state attorney general's office said Tuesday it's planning more negotiations with the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church in the wake of a successful meeting that resulted in a declaration by church leaders that they would no longer condone or encourage child weddings, the Deseret Morning News reported.

It wasn't apparent if Utah Attorney General Mark Schurtleff would personally participate in future talks, but church leader Willie Jessop said Schurtleff's appearance in the latest round of negotiations helped.

"I'll be the first to say that this meeting did me some good," Jessop told the newspaper. "It wasn't a meeting where everyone drew battle lines. I think the ball is in Mark Shurtleff's court now. We'll see whether he calls us back or not."

The Utah FLDS church's shift on underage marriage came as a custody battle involving 440 children taken from the group's community in Eldorado, Texas, was being played out.