I bought a home and property above Gold Canyon in 1972 shortly after my first son was born. I have helped raise 13 children on this hill. We have tolerated the Pinal County Unified School District and the many other shortcomings of this community over the years. I have watched our rights and quality of life gradually being stripped from us and handed away. After 35 years we still don?t even have access to a fire truck. Our old house and property was sucked into the most oppressive small land divisions with selectively enforced ordinances and the most restrictive housing codes in the state. This restrictive oppression of private ownership favors the investors and developers that profit by driving people off their land with these contrived burdens.

I have had a bird's-eye view of the dark cloud of congestion, contamination and corruption that slowly swept across this Valley. I came here to be free, safe and happy with my family. I did not come here to make money in the real estate business or invest in trampling on peoples property and rights.

Pinal County planning and zoning has been carefully steered under the watchful eye of Stanley Griffis and the Pinal County Board of Supervisors for many years. The small land divisions, zoning changes, requirements, waivers, rules, ordinances, citations, fines and fees that Mr. Griffis and his gang have used to bully people off their land are still in place even though he is in prison. Stan Griffis and his gangs fingerprints are all over our county and their actions should be carefully revisited, and revised. The many individuals that are still carrying the torch for Mr. Griffis need to join him in his solitude.

These individuals that have involved themselves in Pinal County development have issued building permits for homes that sit in the bottom of a deadly, raging river bottom. They have issued permits to put raw sewage into a priceless and pristine water system that has served the inhabitants of this desert community for thousands of years. They have sanctioned the destruction of valuable rock history and other artifacts as if they were meaningless. They have created an unsustainable environment and jeopardized the original inhabitants well being, prosperity and posterity. They have duped the new residents that trusted them to make their safety and well being a priority.