Ep64: LDS Church Sues and Financially Threatens Town: The Cody, WY Temple Story 

I wouldn’t be surprised if the two years spent on “studying” Cody architecture, they where actually studying the laws and looking at loopholes.

Thank you for bringing the Cody temple issues to my attention. Sadly this will not only sour the veiws of people in Cody but also others about the LDS faith.

Absolutely love your channel. I am totally blind and always appreciate you describing what you put up on the screen.

“ … we believe in … obeying, honoring and sustaining the law (except for city ordinances and zoning requirements) … “

I’m hearing that the Citizens of Cody are grateful to you for this coverage.

I personally knew a family the South Whittier stake wanted their house because the church had to build their parking lot around it : they were always sending missionaries over to convert them and when that didn't work they tried to get a Mormon who was a Whittier policeman to shut down their home business. This was in the 90's and so they have been doing underhanded things 4 a long time.

How would it be to be an LDS missionary in Cody after all this... Made a tough job even more difficult. The church is literally shooting itself in the foot with their behavior.

So sad to hear the church acting this way 😢 "Do as I say, not as I do". Huge double standard in the church. I'm impressed with those in Cody who are standing up for their town and to keep the laws of the land. If the situation was reversed then the church would put this article in the Liahona magazine as a faith building story of living your standards and standing up for what you believe in. Sigh.....

The letter from the SP counselor was tone deaf and gross. How long do you think it will be before we get a general conference address talking about the miracle of getting past the Cody city council to build the house of the Lord?

Great job on covering this!

As a citizen of Cody we ARE VERY GRATEFUL for your honest reporting.

The church is so crooked. They just do whatever they want to do and do anything to have things go their way. 😡

One more example of tithing moneys being used inappropriately. Using their billions to threaten a small town and bully their way through the “laws of the land”. Thank you mormonish, y’all are doing good things.

I'm used to consider myself a proud member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but now I'm ashamed to be a member. I wish I could support the citizens of Cody but I'm poor and can't do so. It is disgusting the way my church has behaved. I hope the citizens of Cody win in court against big bullies like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and set the tone for other proud communities. Go Cody! Go!

I think it would be useful for any future organizations or cities dealing with the Mormon church to have the mindset from the get-go they are dealing with a greedy corporation, not a church. This would get them up-to-speed much faster on how to prepare & respond. Hopefully this situation with Cody will open up more eyes of the nation as to how the Mormon church operates. The veneer of niceness is very thin. I feel very badly for Cody residents. This is so wrong.

The lady you talk to said it all. Thank You very much for listen to hear her impression as a citzen. And Thank You for the program. Best wishes from a luserner in Sweden

Another great episode!. A small town buckles under a huge corporation. I bet Walmart would be more accommodating than the LDS church.

My heart aches for the city of Cody. I feel shocked that RNelson has come up with these prefab Temples with no concern for the city. I worked with Nelson in surgery and I know his temperament…… Don’t mess with me I am a Cardiovascular Surgeon!” We would jump and do whatever he wanted!!!The church is NOT a heart and life. It is about Zoning!!!

Erda, UT fought the temple and the push for it to go to vote won. The temple ended up moving to Tooele, UT. They wanted to do smaller lots and condensed housing around the temple. Erda is a small town farming community. Most lots are .5 acre, acre or larger. Not really a condensed Housing area. Kind of amazing that they don’t seem to care about the current community they are potentially building in.

In about 1991, in my City of Escondido, CA...I was on the City Council. 28 year old LDS...somewhat non-attending (long story...I was on the wrong side of politics for local Mormon leaders...cold shoulder). Well, The Church buys two pieces of land. One to build a Chapel and One to build a Stake Center. One of the parcels is almost 100% Eucalyptus Trees...about half fully grown. The Other Site is in a quiet residential area...THE STAKE CENTER....not fronting any significant road....have to drive through quiet residential area to get to it. Anyway, I get a call from Local LDS Leader that Church Development Team is flying in from SLC and wants to talk with ME to discuss their "problems" with getting these Projects going. I do a sit down. 28 year old me...Stake President...Another Local Physical Facilities Guy....Realtor Sister from my Old Ward...and a couple of Suits from SLC. LONG STORY SHORT..... They can't figure out why the City won't let them cut down EVERY SINGLE TREE ON THE 90% TREED LAND IN A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT IS BASED AROUND RURAL TREED SINGLE FAMILY LOTS.....AND The City is not real happy with the idea of putting a rather large and sometimes intense facility in the middle of a rural neighborhood. They want my help. I told them that I would vote no 100 out of 100 times on any Plan-Project that cuts down every tree on such a piece of land....and I told them further I would say that face to face with The Prophet if he came down to see me. I did say it nicely, but I wanted to make it clear. I also told them it was would be almost impossible to get the Neighbors to support the Stake Center Project....that personally I'd have a hard time voting yes on approving it. BUT.... off the top of my head and with my knowledge of my City I said..."Why would the LDS Church want to be The Black Hat in two different neighborhoods in the City??" And that they should look at two other sites which were both fronting two major roads and both had access to and from I-15. The Church withdrew one Project...tried to push the Other One through....failed....and if I recall, bought BOTH pieces of Land I recommended and built the Stake Center on one...and never built the Other Chapel. The Church thought it should get Red Carpet. BUT...they were VERY polite and acted very professionally.

Should be noted the towns at 37:00 are all tiny communities within Park County (except Powell which is the next town over from Cody ~20 miles away). They're all technically within the same county but Park County is huge (~7000 sq miles) they're not in Cody and would not deal with the eyesore. Certainly they went to their members for these signatures. Clark and Wapiti are not really towns but tiny hamlets. Meeteese maybe has 300 people.

I would love to tell you folks about my experiences while bringing light to this temple including a whispering whittlers brigade in front of my shop and doxing on Facebook

I hope Cody prevails but if the temple HAS to be built there why can’t the church compromise on the spire. Not all temples have spires such as Mesa, Hawaii and Paris. Ostentatiousness seems to be the goal.

WOW!!! Another very informative podcast. Yvonne gave great detail to the layout of the area and better solutions for everyone involved. Too bad the church didn't hire her to be their pr person. Also very sad that the church not only doesn't care about the community but especially how this situation is going to cause great difficulties for the members in the surrounding areas. It's disappointing that members of the church didn't see through this bullying of the church to this community. How can people not see the greed and narcissism of this project. The majority of the members that are temple worthy don't even live there. All this giant eyesore does is give the church a giant free light up billboard to advertise the church. Praying and spreading the word about this to everyone I know. Thank you Rebecca and Landon. Im really loving being informed and strengthen by your programs.

The Catholic church in Utah built a beautiful church between Kimball Junction and Park City that blends in beautifully to the landscape, and mountain setting. The Mormons are so arrogant, and in Russell Nelson's words...Myopic.

And most of the people can not go in it!

As a then Single Adult dating a Canadian, I heard a lot about the Vancouver temple, built in 2010. The person in charge was invited to speak on both sides of the border, and described a difficult process of buying pieces of land that were not for sale, and negotiating compromises from the city of Langley BC. Not sure why Wyoming should be different.

Huh, Jesus in action again... No one does as much damage to the message of Christ as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

This is horrible!! I hope the Lord takes this church down.

Great show! Love the AI Cody Temple artwork! 😂

Thank you for such an informative and well done interview

I think another thing to consider when looking at where the church is building all these temples is I believe, that they have housing areas set aside in these buildings for the church leadership to stay with their families when visiting these areas.

In the 1990s a ward building was built in Julian, California according to town codes matching the historic gold mine town architecture. Population about 6,000. It cost a million back then which was much more than other ward buildings. It was comply or don’t build. It can be done.

Is there any data on member density around each of the temples?

Here's the church, here's the steeple. Open the door. Where's all the people? Are the modular parts made in China? If not now, I bet they will be in the near future.

"Gigantic 77-foot steeple" I wonder if Russell Marriott Nelson needs to compensate for sth. 🤭

As a total different point-Joseph Smith himself would have been ashamed to have a log cabin temple! He wanted to be associated with Roman architectural ideals because they symbolized wealth to him. Wealth= heaven! Whitewalls= heaven! Hwitepeople = heaven! Log cabin= poor people=followers not leaders!

It looks Middle Eastern or Roman. There is what is called National Park Service architecture. Some of the Old Fred Harvey Hotels like the one at Grand Canyon National Park. The El Tovar.

The OKC temple was not wanted by the neighbors, for reasons they anticipated would be problems for their community, like whether the style would be nice enough to blend with the expensive homes that would surround it, traffic, constant noise from ppl coming and going etc. The community lost lawsuit church won. Surprisingly after it was completed the community was pleased and there were no complaints about any of their previous concerns. As a matter of fact they were very pleased because it raised the value of their properties. The members were the only ones with complaints because it was built in the wealthy part of the city which made it burdensome for the south end of the city where the majority of the temple workers would come from. Like most members they just shut their mouth and pretended to be thrilled to take a day trip each time it was their turn to work it. 🤗

This happened in Edmonton, AB, Canada too. People from the neighborhood did not want that lit up spire at night time. A compromise was reached when the church decided to not turn on or leave the light on the spire all night long.

So help me get the facts straight: 1. The site in the residential area was originally approved for the temple by whom? 2. Once plans for the temple were revealed (when did this happen?) citizens of Cody became concerned. 3. Citizens of Cody recommended the church build the temple in a commercial area but the church sued them over this issue. Is that basically correct?

Im.ashamed of rhe church for doing this ...its bullying people..how dare they.

It’s typically the interior architecture that is customized to fit location. Exterior is pretty standard among each temple.

fascinating

Davis, California has a “light ordnance” that no bright outside lights can be on after 9pm because people like to view stars, planets, etc. and need complete darkness. Even street lights are dimmed.

Wish the national press: WSJ et al would launch this bully corporate church situation.

26:57 Follow the process 🎶 Follow the process 🎶 Follow the process 🎶

If the church of LDS wants to serve the Big Horn Basin with this temple why are they putting it on the very western edge? Why not put it in a more central location in a town that wants it and would benefit from it?

What church does this? Ask Clearwater Fl

It’s interesting how different the perspective is depending on who you are. She is very misinformed on many points. The temple is basically tucked away and visible only from one angle from the road for a few feet. This is for worship not for show. Everyone calm down.

Sadly, the LDS legal threats are having their intended effects. The city looks like it is crumbling under them. If this thing gets built with its "non-101 ft spire" there's going to be trouble, and I mean physical trouble. This town is filled with people with LONG memories, and certain "methods" of handling problems.

Going to be hilarious in 20 years when these hundreds of temples are vacant.

Chances of any further baptisms in Cody is a bat chance in hell! Guess god doesn’t care. He just wants another house of god to hang out in.

40:00 what a despicable thing for a sitting bishop to say. IMO he should’ve used the LDS hotline to see that he wasn’t making statements that would make the church look bad.

Sad on every level :(

Excellent now the city just stopped this. What's the address of the property?

If the Mormon Church is building a temple to serve a Godly purpose, they would respect those in the community and place it in another (zoned) area nearby. If the Mormon Church is wanting to build an aesthetic masterpiece for their own attention, then they should continue to fight the people in Cody, Wyoming to place a temple in a cherished neighborhood.

Not mormon but the ai made log temple looks very cosy I’d think the town over there would be more in for that as it suits their environment better. Norwegians have wooden stave churches (ok fine they’re not LDS churches, but it’s cosy and cultural) so why not Cody having a cute log temple? As long as the church members can do what they wish to do inside the building it should be perfectly fine. Not everything has to be marble and stone.

26:14 Excellent point Landon!

Same one sided story here. If there were no justification for this to result in a permit being issued there wouldn’t be one.

Does CoJCoLDS think that Cody is a doofus town full of small-town ignorami? They should think again same kind of rich ppl there who own houses and ranches in Aspen. Church would not dare to use such tactics there.

The ai designs are much better than the cookie-cutter look.

I’m grateful my community has had different experience. Did you know? The land on which the new Feather River California Temple sits was sold to the Church of Jesus Christ in the 1970s by Mehar Tumber and his family, who are devout Sikhs. The Church built a stake center on the land 50 years ago. That building has been replaced by the temple. The public is invited to tour this new house of the Lord from Saturday, August 19, through Saturday, September 9, 2023, except Sundays. “I am completely, completely overwhelmed with the beauty of the temple,” said Tumber’s daughter, Raji. She described the temple as “a forever building,” a place that radiates faith. She said she felt her father was present as she walked through the temple and that he is surely “smiling big and so happy” that this holy structure is part of the community.

The great and spacious building

I bet Cody closes its doors like bedbathbeyond

I always thought there had to be a certain number of endowed members in the area to justify building a temple.

Looks like a Mosque!

Love it:: tipup temples

I live in Cody, went and spoke at the city council meetings on the temple being built. I sympathize with those who fear it being built. But the church went above and beyond to comply with Cody zoning laws. Cody zoning laws state (and this was addressed in the first city council meeting.) that steeples are allowed. The building itself is smaller then what would be allowed to built there. The lightning itself is designed to only light the temple, not the surrounding area using siding on the corners to keep the light reflected on just the temple. (This was not needed to comply with cody zoning laws, but was done out of respect for the area.) As for the amount of traffic, Cody and the surrounding area is small. Nothing like the huge cities in Utah. Temple worship is not like church worship where you will have large crowds gathering at once. Temple worship is individual. And with how small Cody and the surrounding area is, it will be very small amounts of traffic throughout the week.

If the church owns the land they can build what they want

Temples are better suited in and around residential areas. Temples are central to families and a great focal point to any community. From the photos of the property, doesn’t seem very built up so don’t know what look it’s really changing. I could see if it was being built in the middle of town. Not the outskirts of it.

1:25:08-1:26:08 Spot on, Landon!

On August 12th, the Cowboy State Daily newspaper has an article on the Cody temple... "Rowley said it was an eye-opening experience for him and the board to realize that “the process of what city code says in 2023 is different from what it said in 2014.” But he also had additional concerns about the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, a federal law frequently cited by those who support construction of the temple in Cody. This federal law protects people, houses of worship and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws and has been used in arguments by those who support the temple."

Its just me, but i detest the intro music. Maybe if you turned it down a notch! Its like going to commercial, i cant find the mute fast enough.

No litup popup tipup tippler temple should be allowed its outdoor night lighting. Why? So star and planet viewing can continue where artificial lights are not allowed to interfere.

Who donated the land?

Countersue under RICO statutes. Bankrupt the church.

Other than the lightning strikes, why is the church no longer honoring the Angel Moroni by putting him as the head of the temples?

Temple Square needs a mosque

I thank our ETERNAL PARENT'S, for restoring the TRUE CHURCH back on earth, THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS.

How far outside of town is the location for the structure?

Maybe Leah Remini can help raise awareness.

A beautiful Temple will bless members and non-members alike. Those people are extremely fortunate though they don't know it.

Lying for the Lord.

Buffalo Bill

Mormons ahould not talk about blacks or Jews, given CoJCoLDS ‘s recent racist history

No one does as much damage to the latterday saints as the evangelicals and penticostals and I think the church is taking Mormon stories to court John for letting abuse happen against the church

“It’s not about the temple, it’s the location of the temple.” Proven false by half this podcast. Bitter complainers.

Video is a very embarrassing attempt to appear to be fair-minded. Constantly stating your viewpoint and not allowing the other side to share it's perspective will never appeal to truth seekers.

Any wind turbines around there?

The fill of the town. The wills on the bus go round and round. Why didn't you have some interviews with locals?

CoPoCoJCoLDS. Hah!