Man to challenge eviction in court
 FLDS leaders say property belongs to their church
 
By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
 
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — An Arizona judge is slated to hear arguments today in an eviction case involving a former member of the nation's largest polygamous church.

Ross Chatwin, 35, will argue he cannot be evicted from a house constructed on property owned by the Fundamentalist LDS Church unless the church compensates him for improvements made to the property.

Mohave County Superior Court Judge James E. Chavez is scheduled to preside over the 9 a.m. bench trial in Kingman. Media interest in the case is strong, according to a court clerk, who also said the trial could last all day.

The judge is expected to take the case under advisement and issue a decision at a later date, the clerk said.

Chatwin, his wife Lori and their six children live in the basement of a frame house built by one of his brothers on Willow Street, while another brother and his family recently moved in upstairs. FLDS leaders assigned both families to their respective living spaces, said FLDS attorney Rod Parker.

The FLDS Church owns much of the property and buildings in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City under a legal trust called the United Effort Plan. Through the UEP, faithful FLDS men are assigned homes or lots to build on with the understanding they are tenants at will, according to the UEP declaration of trust.

Parker said Chatwin was assigned to live in the basement of the house on Willow Street by church leaders who were concerned about the family's safety.

"They were living in squalor in a smaller house that Ross built," Parker said.

"The fire department was really worried because of the paint fumes and other dangerous chemicals that Ross kept in the attached garage," Parker said, referring to Chatwin's home business of repairing and painting used vehicles for resale.

Chatwin, who was excommunicated from the FLDS Church in November for pursuing underage girls as potential plural wives, accuses church officials of moving his family two years ago so they could say he didn't own the house he now lives in. That's an allegation Parker disputes.

Under the UEP trust, church leaders are given the responsibility of deciding where FLDS members should live, according to their perceived needs. Most residents of the twin cities are members of the FLDS Church and practice polygamy.

During a Jan. 23 press conference, Chatwin told dozens of reporters from around the country he would not move from his home and that FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, 48, was a phony.

Nearly two weeks prior to Chatwin's public trashing of Jeffs, the FLDS leader excommunicated or disciplined more than 21 men, including longtime Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow, who immediately resigned from public office. Jeffs has disciplined several more FLDS men since then.

Polygamy, said Chatwin, is not the problem when it comes to the FLDS Church. The problem, as Chatwin sees it, lies in the current FLDS Church president, Jeffs.
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, March 2, 2004
 
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