Ex-FLDS member is refusing eviction
 
By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
 
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — Ross Chatwin refuses to budge.

"I'm not going to move out. No way. I think this is my house," Chatwin said Wednesday in response to an eviction notice sent by the home's legal owner.

Chatwin's comments came several days after he held a press conference to denounce Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as a "Hitler-like dictator" who needs to be stopped.

The eviction letter, written by FLDS attorney Rod Parker and served on Chatwin late Monday afternoon, gives Chatwin five days to make up his mind.

"We're not going to kick Mr. Chatwin and his family out on the street in five days. But he does need to agree to surrender possession of UEP property. He needs to agree to be out," said Parker. "The UEP will allow him the time necessary to find another place to live and then move his family and possessions."

But Chatwin has no plans to move or respond to Parker's letter.

"My plan is to get an attorney and fight this," said Chatwin. "I'm going against someone, Warren Jeffs, who thinks he's the most powerful person in the world. It's not about the house. It's about a much more serious thing."

Chatwin, a 35-year-old father of six, was excommunicated from the FLDS Church in November. Eviction notices routinely follow such church discipline, Parker said, and Chatwin was asked several weeks ago to leave the church-owned home.

If Chatwin refuses to respond to the eviction notice, said Parker, then Chatwin is violating Arizona law.

"It's called forcible detainment," he said. "If Mr. Chatwin chooses to do that, then he will be evicted. But it will be on my timetable."

Few residents of Colorado City and its neighbor, Hildale, Utah, actually own the homes they live in. Under the FLDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust, men who are considered worthy are assigned to a home or a lot on which they can build a home. Saturdays are designated as "work days," where church members routinely help other members construct homes and complete other church projects.

Chatwin, his wife, Lori, and their children live in the basement of a sea green frame house on Willow Street, a dusty, dirt road just west of the dairy. Like many other homes in town, the house is unfinished and has no landscaping to speak of.

At last week's press conference, Chatwin accused FLDS leaders of moving church members from one house to another so they couldn't claim residency and eventually ownership.

Parker said FLDS leaders often move families to different houses in an effort to meet everyone's needs.

Chatwin is relying on a court decision that said FLDS dissidents living on UEP property would have to be compensated for improvements they made to the property or be allowed to live there for life.

"Many men have been told to move from a house they built into another house, one they didn't build," Chatwin said. "From my perspective, if the UEP tries to evict you, you should resist."

Jeffs recently excommunicated or disciplined more than 20 men, including former Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow and Hildale City Councilman Joseph Barlow Sr.

Both men resigned from public office the same day Jeffs announced they were no longer welcome at church or in town. Many of the ousted men left their homes and families behind and moved to nearby St. George.
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Thursday, January 29, 2004
 
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