Spokesman: Polygamists just want fairness

ELDORADO, Texas, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A spokesman for a polygamist sect invited officials in a Texas county to come out to the group's compound and see it for themselves.

Willie Jessop met Monday with Schleicher County commissioners during a break in court proceedings Monday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Ten members of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints face charges involving marriages with underage women. At Monday's hearing, a judge scheduled the first trial for October.

The church owns the Yearning for Zion Ranch, which was raided by Texas police and child welfare officials last year. Jessop said that the church is the third-largest landowner in the county.

Jessop asked why none of the residents of the ranch had been called for jury duty and told the commissioners they should "acknowledge that we exist." He dismissed rumors that church members are plotting a political takeover of the thinly settled county in West Texas, the newspaper said.

The church owes $544,100.77 in back taxes on the ranch.

"Of course we've had a tough year," Jessop said.

But he told the commissioners that the church is not looking for tax breaks, that all its members want is fair treatment.