Choice for polygamist: a plane or a wife

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As a young, married man living in rural Arizona in the early 1960's, Benjamin Bistline wanted a second wife -- but not as much as he wanted his own airplane.In 1963, Bistline spent $1,650 on a Piper J-3-Cub airplane, fulfilling his lifelong dream to become a pilot. "I bought a plane instead of giving my money," Bistline said. "I screwed up."A successful timber-clearer, Bistline was supposed to turn his earnings over to the "priesthood group," the elders whose United Effort Plan community would, 20 years later, become the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was their compound, the Yearning For Zion Ranch near rural Eldorado, Texas, that has become the scene of alleged sexual and physical abuse.Bistline, who severed ties with the group after spending much of his life in FLDS, described the process of securing multiple wives from the elders as one of "nepotism and money."Growing up in Short Creek, Ariz. -- the town has since been renamed Colorado City -- Bistline was raised in a polygamous household. When Bistline was 14 his father died, and his mother remarried -- as a man's fifth wife. "It was alright," Bistline said. "It was good. It was cool. We all lived in the same house, the same three-story house."Bistline was 10 when his family moved to Short Creek in 1945. He remembers his childhood fondly, describing the priesthood group and Short Creek in positive terms. "It was wonderful for us kids," he said.The UEP -- which he describes as a cult and said was led by a council of seven men -- operated in a "communistic type system." All personal earnings were given to a central authority that redistributed them back out.Bistline has chronicled his life and polygamy in two books, "The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona" and "Colorado City Polygamists: An Inside Look for the Outsider."As he grew up, Bistline remained faithful to the UEP but also nurtured a passion for aviation. Over time, however, Bistline realized that his lifelong dream to pilot an airplane was at odds with his spiritual community: By focusing his time and money on flying, Bistline said he dashed his chances of getting a second wife.While the FLDS today faces accusations of rape and forced marriages, Bistline says that the group only acquired those practices over time. Polygamy was a constant in the UEP, but forced marriages began only in about 1960, Bistline said. That's when middle-aged and older men began to find that young women were bypassing them, selecting young men instead, Bistline said.The group's close-mindedness also grew over time, he says. When Bistline was involved in the UEP, he was connected with outside society. He didn't live on a compound. He drove a car to work each day and his co-workers were not members of the faith.Adherents of FLDS believe that only by having three wives can a man reach the highest level of heaven, Bistline said. In 1975, when he was 40 and still without a second wife, Bistline became anxious. He approached an elder and asked why he hadn't received another wife. Told that he would never merit another wife because he hadn't devoted enough time and money to the community, Bistline started to become disillusioned. Over the next 10 years he became increasingly cynical of the group."Once you start thinking something is wrong, you start to stand back and take another look," he said.In 1985, Bistline decided it was time to leave the group. What came next was a protracted legal battle: The group owned the land where Bistline had built his home, and, beginning in 1987, a decade-long fight unfolded in the court system. The case was resolved five years ago, when Bistline moved with his only wife to Cane Beds, Ariz. a few miles away.Bistline has mixed emotions about the YFZ Ranch, which was only opened in the last five years. "I'm related to most of them," he said. "They're my people."(E-mail Isaac Wolf at WolfD(at)SHNS.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)