The Barkley family especially Richard Long stir up a real hornet's nest in the Stockton area when they rent to Fritz Weaver and his wives. The plural is correct because Weaver is a member of the Church Of Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon. Though the practice of polygamy may have finally been outlawed as Utah waits to me admitted as a state, some of the brethren haven't accepted that notion. One of those is Fritz Weaver who has moved and rented Barkley land with Oliva Dunbar and Donna Baccala.
That's got the locals all in an uproar and sheriff Douglas Kennedy in a real dilemma. Mormons or not bigamy is against the law still in the rest of the USA. And lawyer Jarrod Barkley is faced with a legal conundrum.
With an LDS member actually becoming a presidential candidate this past year, this episode takes on an additional significance. The Mormons did suffer great persecution for their beliefs and not just their belief in polygamy. Something Mitt Romney did not acknowledge nor show any empathy for other persecuted minorities. He was a couple of generations removed from that. What's shown in this Big Valley episode is the real deal with Mormon persecution.
And a good group of guest star performances helps a great deal to tell this not often told story.
That's got the locals all in an uproar and sheriff Douglas Kennedy in a real dilemma. Mormons or not bigamy is against the law still in the rest of the USA. And lawyer Jarrod Barkley is faced with a legal conundrum.
With an LDS member actually becoming a presidential candidate this past year, this episode takes on an additional significance. The Mormons did suffer great persecution for their beliefs and not just their belief in polygamy. Something Mitt Romney did not acknowledge nor show any empathy for other persecuted minorities. He was a couple of generations removed from that. What's shown in this Big Valley episode is the real deal with Mormon persecution.
And a good group of guest star performances helps a great deal to tell this not often told story.