Lawsuit filed over polygamist sect school in B.C.

A court-appointed official from Utah is trying to take over a school run by the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in southeast British Columbia.

Bruce R. Wisan, a Salt Lake City accountant designated by a Utah judge to protect the assets of the church, has filed a lawsuit in British Columbia Supreme Court to seek control of the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School near Creston, about 120 miles north of Spokane, Wash.

Wisan told the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto the litigation stems from a split in Bountiful between followers of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and supporters of Canadian Winston Blackmore. Children of Blackmore supporters are barred from attending the school and using the playgrounds, he added.

Wisan said the lawsuit is intended to achieve a fair distribution of FLDS assets in Canada by removing FLDS members as directors of the society that runs the school and appointing him as trustee to regulate its affairs.

Despite debate over polygamy and the teachings at the school, the provincial government contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to its operation annually.

In a statement of defense, school directors questioned whether Wisan had a right to initiate the court action in Canada.

Merrill Palmer, the school principal and a director of the society that runs the school, would not comment on the lawsuit but said he was not aware of any attempt to settle the case outside court. Provincial Education Minister Shirley Bond also would not comment.

Palmer said he expected 175 to 190 children to attend when classes resume next month.