Colorado City man admits mailing letter
 
By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
 
COLORADO CITY — Ross Chatwin said he didn't even question the note asking him to copy an anonymous letter and mail it to hundreds of residents in the twin polygamous towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and nearby Hildale, Utah.

"I did not write the letter; I didn't even read more than a few sentences in it until afterward," Chatwin explained during an interview at his Colorado City home. "People think I wrote it, though, and I'm taking the brunt of the fallout for it."

Chatwin, who was excommunicated from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints two months ago after numerous warnings, said he fears his life is in jeopardy because of his involvement with the controversial letter. The letter challenges the right of Warren Jeffs to lead the FLDS church.

Chatwin also refuses to move from his home, which is owned by the FLDS church under its United Effort Plan.

Despite those fears, Chatwin, 35, has scheduled a press conference later today with the help of anti-polygamy activists Jay Beswick and Flora Jessop. He is expected to share intimate details of the FLDS church and discuss his own fight to stay in his home.

Sheriff's deputies from Utah and Arizona will be in town to monitor the situation, said Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith. Mohave County (Ariz.) Sheriff Tom Sheahan said he is working with Smith in an effort to cross-deputize their deputies to work both sides of the state line.

Chatwin said he found the anonymous letter and about $220 in an envelope on his doorstep one day. Included was a handwritten note that asked Chatwin to copy the letter, mail it to certain members of the FLDS church and to keep any money that remained.

Chatwin said he sat at his kitchen table, flipped through the local phone book and marked the names and addresses of the "Warrenites" in town — those closest to FLDS president Warren Jeffs. He eventually mailed more than 500 letters at a cost of $75.

"I guess whoever left the note knew I needed the money," said Chatwin, an unemployed used car salesman with an eighth-grade education, a wife and several children.

The letter came just days after Jeffs stripped 20 men of their priesthood, their families and their right to live on church property. Besides the challenge to Jeffs' authority, the letter also identifies Louis Barlow, 80, son of the town's founder, as the true prophet of the FLDS church.

Among those ousted from the FLDS church are Barlow and two of his younger brothers: Colorado City's first and only mayor, Dan Barlow, and Joe Barlow, a Hildale councilman. Both men resigned from public office the same day and checked into a St. George hotel.

"I think the intent of the letter was to stir up an uproar so someone would go against Warren," said Chatwin, who added he still believes polygamy is a correct principle even though he has only one wife. "What we found out was that all the Barlows just laid down and died."

While church spokesmen characterize the disciplinary measures as an "adjustment" within church ranks, Chatwin said it's a sign that Jeffs fears losing control of his flock.

"The only people who can get in and see him right now are women who want to leave their husbands," he said.

The FLDS church, under the leadership of Jeffs, 47, owns much of the land within the two cities under the umbrella of the United Effort Plan. Signs bearing "UEP property" are posted on lots and homes throughout the area. While FLDS members are allowed to construct homes on UEP property and live there, they are not the legal owners. In recent years, former members who wanted to continue living in their homes on UEP land, or be compensated for improvements they made to the property, have won several court battles.

"I've been told twice to leave my house, that I've worn out my welcome on UEP land and I have to leave," said Chatwin, who lives in the basement of a house on UEP land. "I'm going to stay put, though. I want to inform people that they do not have to leave their families and their homes. They should put up a fight and show their families they're men instead of cowards."
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Friday, January 23, 2004
 
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