Suspicious Fire in Cherry Grove, Alberta, Canada Destroys Latter-day Saint Church Building

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, Navidad said:

I am just curious. I know a number of very conservative and fundamentalist Mormon groups found their way to Alberta as they did to Mexico. Are there Mormon fundamentalists in the area? I am not suggesting they did this; I am merely curious. I think there are some Mormon (broadly speaking) commonalities possibly between Alberta and our area in Mexico. I have often been curious about them.

as far as I know fundamentalist groups moved into British Columbia. I think the main group was successfully sued by our Church for use of it's name and so they go by something else now. I have never heard of any in Alberta but I could be wrong

[blackstrap]

Duncan is correct in that most polygamous families moved into BC around the Creston area. Rumor has it that they would ship daughters to those groups in the southwestern US for marriage. It was a bit of a scandal. When I was a child there was only one polygamous family from the Cardston area,  the Blackmores ( IIRC ).

[Calm]

1 hour ago, blackstrap said:

Duncan is correct in that most polygamous families moved into BC around the Creston area. Rumor has it that they would ship daughters to those groups in the southwestern US for marriage. It was a bit of a scandal. When I was a child there was only one polygamous family from the Cardston area,  the Blackmores ( IIRC ).

When did they move there?  They were coming into the bookstore in 2001 and 2002. If they had already moved, I wonder why they were in Calgary. Maybe business or visiting relatives. It was just women, usually a group of 3 iirc. Happened a couple of times. 
 

The store manager said it had been happening since she had worked there, coming in a couple of times a year. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Calm

[blackstrap]

I'm way out of the loop. My experiences with BC groups was in the late 70's early 80's so I don't know what has happened to them since. They just don't show up on the radar here anyway.

[pogi]

20 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Hmm.  OK.     I'm not sure, given what such places usually mean to many of those who worship there, that I would find the destruction of any house of worship particularly amusing (even if I weren't an adherent to the particular faith in question), but ... OK.

And yet you laughed at my post.   Hmm. Ok. 

[Kenngo1969]

1 hour ago, pogi said:

And yet you laughed at my post.   Hmm. Ok. 

Yeah, I thought I'd throw you a bone.  (Or confuse you: Keep you on your toes. )

[smac97]

On 4/28/2023 at 1:03 PM, smac97 said:

Quote

I have never heard of arson being committed on any of the buildings here in Canada but sadly always a first-hopefully I am wrong.

From last year: https://www.cheknews.ca/saanich-police-investigate-suspicious-fire-at-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-1115629/

Charges laid in string of deliberately set fires in Alberta, including fire that destroyed church

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An Alberta man has been charged in connection with a string of suspicious fires, including one that destroyed a church in late April.

The link is to the story about the fire referenced in the OP.  So it looks like the fire was arson (hat tip to the "innocent until proven guilty" presumption).

Quote

In August 2022, police began an investigation into several wildfires in the Hilda Lake, Cold Lake Provincial Park, Ardmore, and Cherry Grove areas.

The fires were deemed suspicious and investigation revealed they had been intentionally set.

On Sept. 9, Cold Lake RCMP were called to a fire at the Cherry Grove, Alta., rodeo grounds where a wooden platform was deliberately set on fire.

More recently, in the early morning hours of April 28, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Cherry Grove burned to the ground in a fire police called suspicious.

Another fire was discovered at the Canada Post office in Cherry Grove the same morning.

On April 30, police responded to several vehicle and structure fires in Cherry Grove in the Maple Street and Pine Drive areas, including at two residential homes.

The fires were determined to be deliberately set.

The same day, police arrested a 29-year-old Cherry Grove man.

He's been charged with 10 counts of arson.

Police say he was already under a conditional sentence order to remain on his property because of an unrelated incident.

He remains in custody and will appear in court in Cold Lake on May 10.

The hamlet of Cherry Grove is about 290 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. 

So the purported targets of this arsonist were the church building, "several wildfires," "rodeo grounds," "the Canada Post office," "several vehicle and structure fires in Cherry Grove in the Maple Street and Pine Drive areas, including at two residential homes," etc.

This sounds like the work of an indiscriminate and inveterate firebug.

Thanks,

-Smac