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ALONG THE ARIZONA-UTAH BORDER (CNN) -- A monument stands in a park in the twin cities of Hilldale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, commemorating the 263 children taken from their families during a predawn polygamy raid in 1953.

This monument near the Utah-Arizona border commemorates the 1953 Short Creek raid.

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The raid at Short Creek, as these isolated border communities were known back then, holds an ignoble place in the region's history.

It was a public relations nightmare from the start. Crying children in their bedclothes were yanked from their parents in the dark of a July night.

The backlash drove a governor from office and discouraged officials from taking action against the practice of polygamy for half a century.

It also left a traumatic imprint in the collective mind of a community that has withdrawn from an outside world it views as evil.

Now, more than 800 miles away, history appears to be repeating itself for the descendants of Short Creek. It is deepening their fear, distrust of outsiders and sense of persecution.

This is the heart of FLDS country; the letters stand for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The polygamist sect is headed by imprisoned "prophet" Warren Steed Jeffs and is said to include some 10,000 followers.

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