New justice center opens in Colorado City
 
The Associated Press
 
Arizona's Mohave County has established a permanent presence in the polygamous community of Colorado City.

A $200,000 justice center opened last week, providing office space for the sheriff's office, the county attorney's office, and room for state child protective service offices and the Arizona attorney general's office.

"Our closest facility was 85 miles away," Sheriff Tom Sheahan said. "It's going to be a world of difference."

A deputy will be reassigned to the Colorado City area, and the center also will be available to deputies from the adjacent Washington County in Utah, Sheahan said.

"It should make people feel a lot safer," he said. "They don't have to rely on the local marshals," who are perceived to be controlled by the dominant Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In January, when an excommunicated member of the church refused an order to leave his church-owned home and the town, Ross Chatwin held a news conference in Colorado City. Sheahan had most of his officers standing guard at the news conference, while city police officers kept their own watch from just blocks away in a standoff, of sorts.

Increased patrols in Colorado City cost Sheahan about $50,000 in deputies' meals, overtime and motels.

"It's been an expensive proposition, but we're doing what we can if people want to get away," he said.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published August 30, 2004
 
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