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Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘They didn't discover this land, there were people that lived here,': Shoshone Tribal Elder tells the untold side of the Pioneer Day story
SALT LAKE CITY () — As Pioneer Day celebrations take place across the Beehive State, a Shoshone Tribe elder spoke out about the untold history of pioneers settling in native lands in Utah. Darren Parry, former Chairman of the Shoshone Tribe and devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke to in an exclusive interview Thursday about the complexities of one of Utah's most popular holidays. 'On one hand, I'm Shoshone… and on the other hand, I'm a sixth-generation Latter-day Saint,' Parry said. 'I absolutely love and honor the pioneers who came, but they didn't discover this land. There were people that lived here.' Two sides to the pioneer story According to the LDS church, as many as 70,000 Saints migrated to Utah and the surrounding areas between 1847 and 1868. 'The records of those who made this trek describe… episode[s] of disease, danger, bravery, and miracles,' the church's website reads. 'You have this state holiday when only one side is celebrated and told,' Parry told Parry says telling the Indigenous people's story is not to replace Pioneer heritage and history, but to be a companion to it. He strongly discourages harboring hard feelings of anger towards anyone based on history, but rather encourages people to ask, 'Is there another side to the story?' In a National Park Service historic resource study, the Mormon Pioneers were part of the idea and the realization of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, and that they 'contributed to the growth of white supremacy in the west.' 'I cannot separate that story from the broader one. The story of Manifest Destiny, a belief that drove expansion across this continent at the cost of Indigenous lives, lands, and cultures,' Parry said. 'I think a lot of people don't look at the… problematic side of their ancestors coming here because it was never taught,' he said. The Bear River Massacre According to Parry, before the arrival of Mormon Pioneers, the Shoshone Tribe's home base was centered in Cache Valley, or 'Sihiviogoi' in the Shoshone language, meaning 'Willow River.' Over time, more and more pioneers came and settled in the valley. By 1856, thousands of Pioneers had settled there and had already begun to deplete its natural resources. The late BYU historian, Harold Schindler, wrote in 2012 that tensions began to grow between settlers and the Shoshone, who, 'faced with dwindling lands and food sources, had resorted to theft in order to survive.' 'The saints began writing letters to Salt Lake for somebody to come take care of the 'Indian Problem,'' Parry told adding that the letters eventually made it to U.S. Soldiers at Fort Douglas. According to Schindler, on January 29, 1863, soldiers from Fort Douglas attacked a Shoshoni camp on the Bear River near modern-day Preston, Idaho, killing nearly 300 men, women, and children. However, many Shoshone believe the number to be closer to 400, making it the largest massacre of Indigenous people in the history of the U.S. Healing from 'generational trauma' In an LDS Church history essay, historians detail that while Indigenous peoples in some instances captured horses and burned prairie grass to divert bison away from Latter-day Saint hunters, they were often hospitable and sometimes offered to push handcarts or help the migrants ford rivers. Within 10 years of the Bear River Massacre, Shoshone and Pioneers began to interact with one another, Parry said. 'In May of 1873, 102 Shoshones were baptized members of the LDS Church in the Bear River. The same river that, 10 years earlier, saw the destruction of our people.' According to Shoshone oral history, tribal leaders began having visions and manifestations about a god among the Mormon Church, leading many to join the faith; However, Parry acknowledges that material benefits and security may have been a factor in so many Shoshone joining the church. He concluded, saying, 'We just want to acknowledge the past and allow us to heal from this generational trauma that's existed from 1847 on.' Latest headlines: Two fires ignite near freeway in Salt Lake City, fireworks 'unlikely' cause Trump targets disaster mitigation funds, raising risks in future crises Trump and Powell feud explodes in public White House mulling a rare tool to block spending without Congress: What to know GOP leaders submarined by Epstein uproar Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Boston Globe
Lori Vallow Daybell to be sentenced on Arizona convictions, signaling end to legal saga
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Public interest in Vallow Daybell, 52, grew as the investigation into her own missing children — 7-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan — took several strange and unexpected turns. Their bodies were found buried in rural Idaho on Chad Daybell's property on June 9, 2020. Advertisement Chad Daybell was sentenced to death in the killings of the children and his wife, Tammy, the romantic rival. Vallow Daybell was convicted of conspiring to kill Tammy. Advertisement Prosecutors in Arizona are seeking life sentences on each of Vallow Daybell's latest convictions. Once sentenced in Arizona, Vallow Daybell will be sent back to prison in Idaho. Charles Vallow was fatally shot in 2019 Charles Vallow filed for divorce four months before he died. He said Vallow Daybell became infatuated with near-death experiences and claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He told police she threatened to kill him and he was concerned for his children. Vallow was shot when he went to pick up his son at Vallow Daybell's home outside Phoenix, police said. Vallow Daybell's daughter, Tylee, told police the sound of yelling woke her up, and she confronted Vallow with a baseball bat to defend her mother. Vallow managed to take the bat from her. Cox told police that he shot Vallow after he refused to drop the bat and came after him. Cox died five months later from a blood clot in his lungs. His self-defense claim was later called into question, with investigators saying Cox and Vallow Daybell waited more than 40 minutes before calling 911. Right before his death, Vallow and his wife's other brother, Adam Cox, planned an intervention to try to bring Lori back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Adam Cox, a witness for the prosecution, testified his sister claimed to be in the process of 'translating from being a mortal human to an immortal human being, a celestial being.' He also said she told people that Vallow was no longer living and that a zombie was inside her estranged husband's body. Someone shot at Brandon Boudreaux months later Almost three months after Vallow died, someone fired a shot at Boudreaux from an open window of a Jeep as he was driving up to his home in Gilbert, another Phoenix suburb. It narrowly missed Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell's niece, Melani Pawlowski. Advertisement Boudreaux said Pawlowski aspired to be like her aunt. The two started attending religious meetings together in 2018. Soon after, Pawlowski said they should stockpile food for the end of the world. Prosecutors tied the Jeep to Vallow Daybell and said she loaned it to Alex Cox. The two bought a burner phone used to carry out the attack and tried to concoct an alibi for Cox to make it seem like he was in Idaho at the time, prosecutors said. Vallow Daybell is representing herself Unlike her Idaho case, Vallow Daybell chose to represent herself at both Arizona trials, even though she isn't a lawyer. At her first trial, she argued her brother Alex Cox acted in self-defense when killing Vallow. She struggled with legal duties that most lawyers consider routine, such as lining up witnesses to testify. She argued at the second Arizona trial that no evidence established that she conspired with Cox to kill Boudreaux. 'I'm not defensive,' Vallow Daybell told jurors. 'I'm not angry.' She clashed with Judge Justin Beresky and tried to get him removed from the case, arguing he was biased against her. She insisted on exercising her speedy trial rights yet complained she didn't have enough time to prepare. During jury selection in the case involving Boudreaux, Vallow Daybell said she was sick and couldn't go to trial. Beresky pushed ahead, saying there was no objective evidence to support her claim.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
From Idol to exile: David Archuleta's tell-all memoir exposes secrets, scars and salvation
David Archuleta is opening up like never before. The American Idol finalist has revealed the cover and details of his forthcoming memoir Devout: Losing My Faith to Find Myself, a deeply personal account of fame, faith, and the inner turmoil of living a double life. The book promises a searing exploration of Archuleta's transformation from a closeted Mormon teen to an openly queer artist unafraid to speak his truth. Archuleta, now 34, shot to fame as a teenager, charming millions with his boy-next-door image and angelic voice. But behind the scenes, he was struggling with intense pressure, not only from fame, but from a rigid religious upbringing that left him feeling ashamed of who he was. In Devout, he details the emotional cost of trying to meet the expectations of both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a global fanbase. The memoir covers a range of harrowing experiences, including emotional abuse, control by his father during his early career, and even suicidal thoughts. Archuleta reveals he was engaged three times and called off each one while wrestling with his identity. His two-year missionary trip to South America, once thought to be a spiritual high point, is now described as a time of deep internal conflict. 'I tried everything not to be queer,' Archuleta said. 'Coming out wasn't a choice. It was survival.' After years of internal war, he made the difficult decision to leave the Mormon Church in 2022, a turning point that allowed him to embrace authenticity over doctrine. The memoir also includes behind-the-scenes moments from his time on Idol, a tour with Demi Lovato, and previously unseen photos chronicling his personal evolution. With its February 2026 release already gaining attention, Devout is set to ignite conversations around religion, identity, and the cost of silence.
Boston Globe
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Steve Benson, provocative editorial cartoonist, dies at 71
In an interview in 2017 with KJZZ Radio in Phoenix, Mr. Benson said that 'the role of an editorial cartoonist is not really to give the bottom line on anything, because all we want to do is kick bottoms and, and if it incentivizes people to jump into the -- into the riot -- then that's great.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'I don't aim to please,' he often said, as his mantra. 'I just aim.' Advertisement In criticizing President Trump's insistence on extending barriers along the US-Mexico border in 2018, Mr. Benson depicted President Reagan speaking before a wall topped by concertina wire and saying, 'My fellow Americans, don't build this wall.' It was a takeoff on Reagan's speech in front of the Berlin Wall in 1987, when he famously invoked Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in declaring, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' In one of the 10 cartoons that earned Mr. Benson the 1993 Pulitzer in editorial cartooning, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel and Secretary of State James Baker are standing beside a graveyard of Jews whose tombstones say they were killed by terrorists. Shamir asks, 'I suppose you're going to blame us for this growing Jewish settlement, too, Mr. Baker?' Advertisement Another was that of a starving Somali child whose torso takes the shape of an hourglass with its sand having nearly run out; it appeared at the time of a US-led United Nations military intervention in Somalia. He had been a finalist for the prize in 1984, 1989, and 1992 and would be again in 1994. Mr. Benson grew up in a Mormon family, a grandson of Ezra Taft Benson, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death in 1994 and the secretary of agriculture under President Eisenhower. Steve Benson's cartooning and religious faith clashed when he often lampooned Evan Mecham, a conservative Republican who was the first Mormon to be elected governor of Arizona; Mecham served only 15 months, stepping down when he was convicted of two charges of misconduct in an impeachment trial in the state Senate in 1988. While in office, he rescinded the holiday that honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. Benson, who had early on been a supporter of Mecham's, ultimately portrayed him as a 'paranoid pipsqueak whose ethics rose no higher than his socks,' The New York Times wrote in 1988. His cartoons rankled his Mormon relatives -- he was excluded from a Thanksgiving dinner at his in-laws' house -- as well as Mecham, who called to tell him that his work violated the Ten Commandments. Advertisement Even more, Mr. Benson was ousted as a local church official in 1989 after his cartoon, 'The Second Coming' -- drawn after Mecham said he would run for reelection in 1990 -- showed the governor descending from heaven holding a volume titled 'The Book of Moron, by Ev Mecham.' In 1993, Mr. Benson and his wife at the time, Mary Ann Benson, announced that they had resigned from the church. Steve Benson said he had become an atheist. He also moved from conservative to liberal in his politics, expressing his new leanings with cartoons that supported civil, transgender and abortion rights and Native Americans. Stephen Reed Benson was born Jan. 2, 1954, in Sacramento and grew up in Salt Lake City; Richardson, Texas; and Fort Wayne, Ind.. His father, Mark, was the president of a division of Saladmaster, which makes cookware. His mother, Lela (Wing) Benson, was a music instructor. Steve's early drawing talent was nurtured by his paternal grandmother, Flora Benson, who arranged for art lessons. As a teenager, he enrolled in an art correspondence course, on a scholarship, and submitted work all through high school (in Richardson and Fort Wayne). One summer job in high school was caricaturing customers at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. After serving a two-year Mormon mission in Japan, Mr. Benson entered Brigham Young University, where he was a political cartoonist for the student newspaper The Daily Universe. He started as a graphic arts major but switched to political science when he 'realized that he needed a bigger canvas,' Ferguson, his wife, said. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1979. He was hired by The Arizona Republic, based in Phoenix in 1980. In 1990, he left for The Tacoma Morning News Tribune in Washington state, but returned to the Republic a year later. Advertisement Mr. Benson stayed at the Republic until 2019, when he was laid off; he then joined The Arizona Mirror, a nonprofit news website, which preserves his cartoons online in 'Benson's Corner.' The collection includes a cartoon of the Statue of Liberty standing on a map of Arizona and saying, 'I'm here to help you guard your reproductive rights.' After Mr. Benson's death, Jim Small, the editor of The Arizona Mirror, wrote in a tribute, 'His work was as ubiquitous as it was powerful, and it not only sparked water cooler conversations in workplaces across the state, but it sometimes actually drove news cycles.' Mr. Benson retired in late 2023. In addition to his wife, he leaves his daughter, Audrey Benson Nuamah, and his sons, Brent and Eric, all from his first marriage, to Mary Ann Christiansen, which ended in divorce; his brother, Michael; his sisters, Stacey Ann Reeder, Margaret Ferry, and Mary Richards; and seven grandchildren. Another sister, Stephanie Benson Young, died in a car accident in 2022. Another daughter, Rebecca Benson, also from his marriage to Christiansen, died in 2018 when a vehicle struck her bicycle. Steve Benson found a fan in Queen Elizabeth II after he portrayed her as rain-soaked, wearing galoshes and carrying a dripping umbrella to Buckingham Palace after her West Coast tour in 1983, which coincided with severe rainstorms. A palace guard asks her, 'A pleasant trip, your majesty?' A spokesperson said that she had been amused by the cartoon and asked Mr. Benson for the drawing. Mr. Benson told the AP that 'as one of the queen's loyal subjects' he would make an exception to his rule against giving away originals. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion: Divided by faith — but still united as parents
Religious differences can feel like the deepest of divides. For Utah families going through divorce or separation, that divide can become even more painful when it shows up in co-parenting decisions — around holidays, modesty, dating, Sunday routines, or whether and when a child will be baptized. We know this because we see it every day in our therapy practices. We're colleagues and friends from different faith backgrounds — one of us is Jewish, the other a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As therapists specializing in divorce and co-parenting, we've worked with hundreds of Utah families and seen how religious divides can either deepen conflict or invite growth. In Utah, where faith often plays a central role in family life, it's not uncommon for one parent to remain active in their religion while the other leaves the tradition — or embraces a new one. When this happens, both parents often feel fear: fear that their child won't share their values, or that the other parent will influence them in ways they can't control. But here's what we've learned: it is possible to co-parent well across religious differences. Doing so requires three things — clarity, compassion and commitment. We encourage co-parents to stay grounded in their core values, while staying flexible about how those values are expressed across two households. A key part of this is distinguishing between exposure to different beliefs and indoctrination. Children are more perceptive than we sometimes give them credit for. They can understand that people see the world differently, and they can learn to navigate those differences if they feel emotionally safe. Rather than seeing every disagreement as a battle, look for shared values — like honesty, kindness, respect, service or caring for one's body. When parents can identify and affirm what they agree on, it becomes easier to manage what they don't. It's normal to worry about your co-parent's influence. But children are shaped over time by many factors — not just by what happens at one parent's house. Attempts to control what your child is exposed to often backfire, making your own values seem rigid or fearful. A more effective approach is to live your values authentically, and trust that your child will be shaped by love, not pressure. You don't have to agree with your co-parent's faith — or lack of it — to treat it with respect. What matters most is how you talk about it in front of your child. Kids are always listening. When they hear parents speak about each other with respect, even in disagreement, they tend to feel more secure and confident in forming their own beliefs. Compassion doesn't mean staying silent. It means expressing your values without attacking the values of others. It's the difference between saying, 'I don't want you being brainwashed,' and, 'We believe different things, and I trust you to ask thoughtful questions as you grow.' Even when religious paths diverge, effective co-parents find common ground in the bigger picture: raising children who are kind, capable and resilient. You might disagree on the 'how,' but agreeing on the 'why' can be a powerful starting point. When parents agree on the values they want to instill, the conversation shifts from control to collaboration. And when that feels impossible, a neutral mental health professional — such as a therapist trained in divorce and co-parenting — can help identify what's getting in the way, offer strategies and support you in moving forward. We know this isn't easy. Co-parenting across religious differences isn't a theoretical exercise — it's deeply personal. It can stir up old wounds, grief, fears and the strong desire to protect your child's spiritual well-being. But time and again, we've seen what's possible when parents keep their focus on their child — not just in words, but in actions. Kids can grow up between two homes, with two belief systems, and still feel whole. They can learn that love doesn't require agreement. That faith can look different from one house to another. That they are free to ask questions and explore. And most importantly, that they are deeply loved by both parents. So whether you're divorcing or staying in your marriage but feeling the strain of religious differences, know this: your child doesn't have to grow up caught in the middle. Support is available. With the right mindset and guidance, it's possible to turn conflict into collaboration — and raise strong, thoughtful, resilient kids, even when you and your co-parent see the world differently.
