County plans courthouse near Colorado City
 
By Jane Zhang
The Spectrum
 
ST. GEORGE -- Mohave County officials are looking to purchase three-quarters of an acre in the Colorado City area, on which they plan to build a justice courthouse to replace the current double-wide trailer in Moccasin.

The county is accepting proposals for land through Thursday. As of Monday, three parties had expressed interest in selling land, including Colorado City, the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation and Moccasin Justice Court Judge McKay Heaton, who owns property in the area, according to Mohave County Procurement and Central Services in Kingman.

The courts system has allocated $500,000 for the new courthouse, which is estimated to be 3,500 square feet, said Larry D. Imus, presiding justice of the peace for Mohave County Courts. A partially completed building design was turned over to an architect six weeks ago, he said. And construction can start as soon as 90 days after the bid selection. The new courthouse will be closer to bigger cities on the Arizona Strip, especially Colorado City, the justice court's biggest precinct. The Moccasin Justice Courthouse is 20 miles from Colorado City and 90 miles from Littlefield, Ariz.

"I think we can put it close to the highway," Judge Imus said. "I think it will better serve the people out there because it will be easier to find. It will be easier to get in and out of."

Earlier this month, Pete Byers, who serves on the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, expressed interest in leasing land from Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow. But anti-polygamy activists said they would protest any association the court has with the city administration.

No decision has been made about the justice court site in Colorado City, Imus said.

"The court is extremely independent, and we intend to keep it that way," he said.

Both Utah and Arizona prosecutors are investigating what they say are tax evasion, welfare fraud and abuses of women and children in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City. Almost all of the area's 6,000 residents belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which still teaches polygamy as a central tenet.

Bob Curran, an anti-polygamy activist with Help the Child Brides in St. George, said he hopes the courts system will be willing to lease space to law-enforcement agencies and children and women's services both in Utah and Arizona.

Both Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith and Mohave County Attorney William Ekstrom, Jr. have expressed interest in opening substations in the Hildale-Colorado City area.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published September 30, 2003
 
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