Faith meets fury where hilltop cross is planned : Couple say 70-foot symbol would be a ‘subtle’ inspiration. But some opponents have been moved to vandalism, harassment.

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. —  Jerry and Pat Chouinard never imagined that making what they consider a low-key expression of their religious faith could cause such an ugly dispute.

But their plan to erect a 70-foot cross and a 30-foot Madonna figure on their scenic hillside property has encountered loud and scary opposition.

The fight started with neighbors complaining that the project would create traffic and congestion problems in Ash Canyon, a peaceful spot a few miles south of this fast-growing southeast Arizona town.

Now, tempers have escalated and the Chouinards have been the victims of several acts of vandalism. They’ve found human feces in their mailbox, had the box sprayed full of foam insulation and have had long, headless nails pounded into their driveway.

“I had seven or eight flats before I had to go out with a metal detector and remove them,” says Jerry Chouinard, a semi-retired printer from Illinois.

Someone also hung a locked chain across his long driveway, preventing cars from leaving. And when his wife is home alone, she receives harassing phone calls. The couple is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of those responsible.

“They’re trying to give us the message that ‘we don’t like what you’re doing and we can control you,’ ” Chouinard says. “It’s a form of extortion by someone with a troubled mind.”

Even though Pat Chouinard is suffering from stomach trouble brought on by the intimidation, the couple have no intention of scuttling their controversial project.

It was inspired by a November, 1989, visit to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, where the couple traveled after reports of appearances by the Virgin Mary.

When they returned to Sierra Vista, they walked across their hillside property and talked about a cross that stood on a similar hill at Medjugorje.

“We had a very strong feeling that there should be a cross on this hill too,” Chouinard says. “I don’t have visions, and nothing appears to me or anything like that. But it felt like a spiritual spot out here.”

Chouinard describes his fiberglass-reinforced concrete cross, which will be 64 feet tall on a six-foot base, as “subtle” compared to other crosses that have been erected on private property around the country.

“Oh, this is a small fry,” he says, staring out across 40 miles of desert to the Mule Mountains. “But we wanted it to be seen in the morning sun by people driving into Sierra Vista from Bisbee.”

The Chouinards initially wanted it to be visible at night too. They planned to equip the cross with fiber-optic lighting but dropped that idea to appease worried neighbors.

The earth-colored Madonna will stand beside the cross. A short way downhill, Chouinard wants to build a 680-square-foot chapel made of rock, and below that a 10-car parking lot.

He plans to open the nondenominational chapel to the public two days a week for four hours each day. The project will cost about $500,000.

But Chouinard’s vision is opposed by most of his neighbors, more than 40 of whom have joined a lawsuit to stop it. They fear it will bring to Ash Canyon the crowds, noise, traffic and dust they moved there to escape.

Neighbors Christopher and Paula Betancourt moved from Sierra Vista to the canyon with their daughters six months ago, thinking Chouinard was going to build a private prayer garden. Shortly after moving in, they learned that the project included a parking lot and a chapel.

“If we had a way out, we wouldn’t have bought the home, but it was too late,” Paula Betancourt says. “People move here for privacy, quiet and a view of the mountains, and this will infringe on that. It might make houses harder to sell too.”

Realtor Norm House, a vocal opponent, has said that the cross would constitute “visual pollution.” Car salesman Joseph Reiser says he believes the project will bring big changes to the neighborhood, including carloads of visitors from Mexico.

“A lot of people say what really burns them up is that he builds a million-dollar house on top of a hill, has more money than God, and spends part of his time in Illinois,” Reiser says. “So he won’t be here to deal with what happens when this goes in. But who knows, maybe property values will go up.”

The wealthy, soft-spoken printer says his monument won’t overwhelm the neighborhood and therefore is a legitimate and constitutionally protected use of private property.

He has already received a permit from Cochise County to go ahead with construction, pending road improvements. The Celtic cross and Madonna, which together will weigh several tons, are being crafted by a Tucson firm. Barring delays caused by the suit, workers could begin installing them this year.

“I was raised in the Depression, made money and had a great life, and the best way I could think of to say thank you to the Lord was this project. I’m going to do it because I’ve been called to do it,” says Chouinard, who looks forward to the day when he can see his opponents praying at the foot of his cross.