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CEDAR CITY - For Bruce Wisan, the raid on a polygamous ranch in west Texas is bringing positive results 1,200 miles away, in southern Utah and northern Arizona.
Finally, after months of cajoling, hundreds of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are signing agreements with Wisan to remain in their homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
"The timing of the raid was wonderful," said Wisan, the court-appointed fiduciary overseeing the sect's communal property trust.
Wisan credits the raid, in part, with persuading more than 220 residents to suddenly sign occupancy pacts and pay their $100-a-month assessments for utilities and infrastructure upgrades. If they hadn't done so, they risked eviction from their trust-held homes.
So why the sudden change of heart? Wisan speculates that the FLDS faithful have decided they had better stay put and cooperate rather than count on moving to the sect's Texas ranch where authorities recently removed 416 children as part of an abuse investigation.
Wisan also points to a letter he sent earlier this month to three FLDS leaders in the twin border towns, reminding them that residents must sign the deals or risk losing their homes.
"It went out over the pulpit, that this [signing] was a good thing to do," Wisan said.
Before the recent surge of sign-ups, only about 30 residents had inked occupancy pacts.
The agreements were sent to residents in 2005 in an attempt to divvy up assets of the United Effort Plan Trust. Utah officials asked a court to take control of the trust after alleging that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and others had mismanaged it.
Still, not all the residents plan to sign.
Former FLDS member Ross Chatwin said Wednesday that he won't. He accuses Wisan of wielding "inhumane" and "strong-armed tactics" with residents.
"Those who sign," Chatwin said, "are signing away their rights."
Wisan acknowledges being tough with residents, who are wary of outsiders, to get them to sign up and pay up so they can keep their homes.
"Anybody who knows me, knows that if a [person] has a hardship situation, we can work something out."