Leavitt's basing his prosecution on Green taking a 13-year-old to wife, and he stressed that polygamy is against Utah's laws. He said he has a duty to enforce all state laws.

That's all well and good, but Dave, we think this prosecution won't do any good for anyone.

We're not saying to give polygamists a blank check to commit whatever crimes they want. If Green is guilty of statutory rape, we'll hold the prison door open while Leavitt throws him in, and we'll even help throw away the key.

But going after polygamy itself? That's a tar baby that's best left alone.

The anti-polygamy provision of Utah's Constitution was put in as a condition of statehood by opponents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For years, prosecutors have recognized that fact and have pretty much looked the other way on polygamy.

There are other laws on the books that don't get enforced because they are stupid or not worth the effort to prosecute.

Let's say we decide to prosecute polygamists. That ties up the resources of the judicial system in a case that, because of poorly drafted laws, is difficult to prove.

Then, if there is a conviction, it will definitely be appealed, probably all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and these things aren't cheap.

There's another cost to this as well.

We take the polygamist patriarch out of the family, and who's going to take care of the families left behind? Utah's child welfare system is already overburdened, and this would make matters worse.

Plus, do we really want the bad publicity that Arizona suffered when it raided the Short Creek polygamist enclave in 1953? It would make the black eye we got for the Olympic bribery scandal look like a love tap.

We think the best course of action is to ignore polygamy itself, as long as only consenting adults are involved. But prosecutors should zealously go after those who use it as a cloak to cover incest, child abuse, welfare fraud and other crimes.

The recent prosecution of members of the Kingston polygamist group demonstrates the wisdom of this approach. It keeps the religious issue out completely and lets a jury decide on simple questions of law.

So, what do you think? Should Utah prosecute polygamists?

Tell us on either our Web page, www.HarkTheHerald.com, or on our call-in line, 1.801.344.2942. We'll take your comments until May 17 and publish the results in our May 21 paper. [The Provo Herald Poll showed that 70% of respondents said that plural marriage should NOT be prosecuted.]

If you respond, please leave your name, hometown and phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous responses will be discarded.

If you use the Internet, please keep your comments to 75 words or less. If you call in, please keep your response to 30 seconds or less.

Members of The Daily Herald Editorial Board are:
Publisher Kirk Parkinson,
Opinions Page Editor Donald W. Meyers,
City Editor Sharon Gholdston,
Payson resident Amie Leavitt and
Provo resident Scott Ellis Ferrin.