Lionel D. Ruiz, Pinal County Supervisor

Wood Field is situated in Oracle at the intersection of John Adams road and the Mt. Lemmon Highway and was donated by Oracle pioneer Elizabeth Lambert Wood.

The Oracle Historical Society has been working with the county for 2 years to finalize the lease agreement with the county so as to use Wood Field for sports and recreational activities benefiting Oracle youth.

Ruiz claims he "had no choice" in the matter because the Historical Society had shown no interest in the property.

The facts belie Ruiz's explanation. 

In December, Pinal County sent the final agreement to the Oracle Historical Society's board of directors for their approval. 

The Oracle Historical Society board reviewed the lease agreement, accepted it and on Dec. 18, sent the signed and notarized agreement back to county for approval at the Jan 16 meeting of the Pinal supervisors. 

Public notices announcing that "the Board of Supervisors of Pinal County, Arizona, intends to enter into a lease agreement agreement with the Oracle Historical Society" ran in all the weekend editions of  The Casa Grande Dispatch throughout December. 

Expecting the agreement to be finalized, the Oracle Historical Society  board last month established a Heritage Park/Wood Field Committee and discussed ways to have the entire Oracle community participate in deciding how to best use the site for Oracle youth.

But the signed agreement with the county never came before the supervisors at their Jan 16 meeting. 

Supervisor Ruiz had the item removed from the Jan. 16 meeting agenda. 

After receiving Ruiz's letter reneging on the deal, Oracle Historical Society  board member Harmon called Deputy County Attorney Glenn Johnson and asked why the lease agreement item had been pulled from the Jan. 16 agenda.  Johnson told Harmon that Ruiz had Pinal County Manager Stanley Griffis delete it.

Johnson had worked with the Oracle Historical Society on the agreement for almost a year-and-half, ever since Ruiz had directed him to do so in Sept. of 2000. 

On Jan 17, the day after having Griffis remove the lease item from the supervisors' agenda, Ruiz wrote a letter to the Oracle Historical Society (OHS) board informing them that "he had no choice" but to give the lease to another organization because OHS had shown no interest in the property. 

Ruiz's letter failed to describe why awarding the lease to "the other organization" would provide more benefit to Oracle than the originally agreed to lease with OHS.

Ruiz's letter also failed to identify the other organization that would get the lease, but Ruiz said that the group had been in "constant contact" with him.

Deputy county attorney Johnson told Harmon that Ruiz planned to give the lease to the Citizens for Positive Growth and Development (CPGD).

CPGD is a young group, having been formed just 6 months ago by Oracle resident Elaine Helzer. 

Helzer's husband, Elwin, works for the Pinal Planning and Zoning department.

According to The Arizona Daily Star, initial funding for CPGD came from Anam Inc. and Robson Communities, Inc., two corporations seeking to build two very large residential developments in Ruiz's district. 

Anam is trying to take care of rezoning and other technical details so as to be able to sell 4,700 acres of their land near the Oracle Junction area to home building companies.  The project is called Willow Springs. 

A month after forming CPGD, Helzer teamed with Anam Inc., and the two filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the referendum petition to allow voters to consider the Anam rezoning at the ballot box.

Robson Communities Inc. wants to build their 2,500-acre SaddleBrooke Ranch project directly adjacent to the Page-Trowbrige radioactive/toxic waste dump a few miles to the east of Oracle Junction.

Over 11,000 signatures were collected in two referendum actions to allow voters to consider the rezoning for the Anam/Robson projects at the next general election.

OHS was formed 25 years ago and is a non-political, community-based organization with approximately 150 members. 

OHS, a member of the Arizona Historical Society, preserved the Acadia Museum and the American Flag Ranch, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

The OHS board of directors, past and present, includes a wide range of business, educational, professional and cultural leaders of the area.

Over its 25-year lifetime, OHS meetings have always been open to the public as OHS encourages public participation.

In a letter to Ruiz, dated Jan 28, the OHS board expressed their "total surprise and deep disappointment" with his decision. 

Attached to the letter was a three page summary of all the interactions between the county and OHS on the Wood Field matter over the last two years. 

The last item on the summary is dated Jan. 22 and notes the receipt of a bill from Pinal County asking OHS to reimburse the county for publishing the public notices announcing the OHS lease would be considered at the Jan 16 supervisors meeting.

In their letter, the OHS board asked Ruiz to assure that the organization chosen to lease Wood Field would involve the community in deciding how it is used.  The OHS board asked Ruiz to assure that the organization chosen for the lease "be required to hold open meetings, collect community input . . .and adhere to the highest standards of public and community accountability that the Oracle Historical Society has met for over 25 years."

On Jan 31, Oracle resident Ellie Mattausch called CPGD founder Elaine Helzer and asked if their meetings were open to the public. 

Helzer told Mattausch that only CPGD members were allowed in the meetings because "we don't want dissenter's."

"Our meetings are not open to the public.  If you are in favor of what we're doing, your welcome to join the group," Helzer said. 

On Jan 28, Andrew Rush, OHS president and Betty Harmon, OHS board member, met with Ruiz to discuss his decision. 

Ruiz stood by his letter of Jan 17, in which Ruiz claims he "had no choice" but to give the lease to CPGD because there had been "no correspondence or show of interest" by OHS in Wood Field for two years. 

The Robson/Anam development projects have been generating statewide interest for some time.

In Nov. of 2000, The Arizona Republic reported that Robson vice president Steve Soriano told the Pinal County Supervisors that Robson would donate $5,500,000 to Pinal County if a referendum on the SaddleBrooke Ranch project "doesn't appear on the ballot." 

After residents submitted nearly 6,000 signatures on a referendum petition challenging Pinal County's rezoning for the Robson's SaddleBrooke Ranch project, Robson sued the county alleging the signatures were turned in too late and that there should have been two petitions instead of one.

Pinal County supplied the due date for the signatures and furnished the single petition form.

The case will go to court March 5. 

Last May the Pinal County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning request for the first phase of Anam's Willow Springs project despite an apparent violation of over 13 provisions of Pinal's zoning ordinance. 

When The Apache Junction News asked Supervisor Smith about the alleged violations, Smith told the newspaper that Pinal County Deputy County Attorney William McLean was researching the issue and would respond as soon as he had an answer. 

The County Attorney's office has not reported on the status of their investigation into the alleged violations, and there has been no indication that an investigation was started. 

After residents submitted a referendum petition to allow voters to consider the Anam rezoning at the ballot box, Anam and Helzer sued the county, alleging the signatures had been turned in too late and that inadequate materials had been attached to the petitions.

Pinal County supplied the due date for the signatures and furnished the material to be attached to the petitions.

No court date has been set in the Anam case.