21 bighorn sheep dead.

[cjcj]

I heard this on AM talk radio today....We have a scumbag greedy developer in pinal county [AZ] rape over 2,000 acres and Poison a waterhole resulting in the death of 21 "precious" bighorn sheep. :MAD....Our "gay" attorney general is on the case.

 

[AZ402]

cjcj, never heard anything about this? Where can I find the article or some more info?

 

[ELKCHSR]

Keep us in the loop on what you guy's come up with..

 

[MarvB]

Stan, this was in the Phoenix new times paper....

Big Bad Developer
George Johnson is quickly becoming the most notorious developer in Arizona
BY ROBERT NELSON
[email protected]

George Johnson's three troublesome developments.

MARANA -- George Johnson watches stonefaced as two Black Hawk helicopters rise from the tarmac and tilt toward Ragged Top Mountain, the heart of Ironwood Forest National Monument southeast of Phoenix and home to one of Arizona's last remaining native herds of desert bighorn sheep.
The Army helicopters are loaded down with members of the Pinal County Planning and Zoning Commission. The Army is taking the board members for an aerial tour of Johnson's sprawling La Osa Ranch, a 16-mile-long chunk of remote Sonoran Desert near the mountain that Johnson wants to turn into Arizona's eighth-largest city.

With the help of a little shock and awe, the Army hopes to convey to Pinal County leaders that the Scottsdale developer's proposed city between the national monument and the air base would wipe out military flight patterns and critical Apache attack helicopter night training exercises and might just cause the closure of this base, which provides hundreds of millions of dollars to the Arizona economy. And all this disruption to the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site would certainly damage the readiness of American soldiers in combat with al-Qaeda in the Arizona-like landscapes of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Making the scene more uncomfortable for Johnson: He is left on the tarmac with the rest of the Army's guests this day -- a tough crowd of about a dozen state and federal officials, scientists and environmental activists who believe Johnson also is waging war on the people, water, air and wildlife of Arizona.

Unlike the Army, they're not angry about what Johnson wants to do. They're angry about what Johnson has already done.

Johnson already has racked up numerous violations of state environmental laws from two other massive developments in Arizona, one of which -- Johnson Ranch -- covers the southeastern corner of the Valley.

One fine is the largest of its kind ever imposed by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

Another penalty is the largest ever by the state Department of Water Resources.

His dealings at Johnson Ranch and his project in Apache County along the Little Colorado River also have sparked numerous allegations from bribery to failing to notify families that their water was toxic.

La Osa Ranch, however, is where Johnson is really making his reputation as a scoundrel.

Along the border of Ironwood National Monument and the Army training site, Johnson has begun a massive grading project that, although Johnson denies it, appears to be the initial stages of a 67,000-home master-planned community that has yet to be approved by any county, state or federal official.

The grading of the 20,000 acres, according to two DEQ Notices of Violation, was done without proper permits and may have polluted the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries in this delicate region. Johnson denies the DEQ charges, saying he didn't need any permits because the grading, which one archaeologist describes as a "moonscape," is part of his ranching and farming operations.

The grading also wiped out a Santa Cruz wetland that one University of Arizona biologist says had served as critical habitat for wildlife in the area. And the grading and any development could cause extreme problems for people and wildlife along the Santa Cruz.

"That area is an inland delta, a huge flood plain," says Phil Rosen, a UofA biologist who was on the tour of the Army base. "If you constrict that area, you're going to see a fantastic amount of problems."

The grading project also affected swaths of state and federal land along the Santa Cruz and may have destroyed several Hohokam archaeological sites dating back as much as a thousand years.

Then there are the goats.

Late last year, in a strange and apparently unprecedented move for an Arizona ranch owner, Johnson brought 5,000 domestic goats from Texas to his land -- some of it state-leased land -- next to the Ironwood Forest National Monument.

At least 140 goats quickly broke through the cattle fencing that separated them from the national monument.

The goats, which are known to cavort with bighorn sheep, also are thought to have carried an eye disease that can be fatal to bighorn sheep.

Now state and federal officials, as well as a couple of sharpshooters hired by Johnson, are scouring the Silverbell Mountains, hunting for goats to kill and sheep to medicate. The monthlong hunt has created a rolling black comedy through the Silverbell Mountains and may still result in the extermination of one of Arizona's last native desert bighorn sheep herds.

Prior to the mass grading, the most vocal and organized opposition to Johnson's development had focused on protecting this herd.

At least 30 of the estimated 100 sheep are now blind from the disease. Only one is confirmed dead, but state Game and Fish officials are worried because they can't find the other 70 or so bighorn in this extremely rugged country.

"It's really scary because when you don't see them, that means they're hunkered down sick or just dead," says Jim Heffelfinger, regional game specialist for Game and Fish. "We simply don't know yet if the herd will survive."

Johnson has been issued a trespassing notice by the federal Bureau of Land Management. On December 18, the state Land Department informed Johnson that he was in default on his state land lease for "granting permission to another to cause waste and loss on State Trust Land" and for violating lease conditions "by destroying native plants and an archaeological site."

Indeed, in the last year, Johnson has arguably become the new king of Arizona's bad-boy developers.

Johnson, a stout, leather-skinned, silver-haired man in his 60s, wears dark sunglasses as he stands on the tarmac awaiting the Army tour. His detractors occasionally glance back at him, some rolling their eyes, others keeping the stoic faces of diplomacy.

Johnson remains expressionless, a model of civility.

But inside, he is boiling.

"I'm not buying the Army's numbers, I'm not buying any of this stuff," Johnson says as he waits for the Black Hawks to return. "I don't know why people are targeting me, but they are."

As his ire builds, Johnson catches himself. He changes the subject and removes his sunglasses. His cold stare turns soft.

"You know, I'm out there with my guys taking care of this goat problem," he says. "And that's not something that's pleasant. I don't like killing animals. Hell, I can't even shoot a pheasant anymore. They're just so beautiful."

It's a strangely delicate moment for a man known for his bulldog demeanor and tactics.

 

[BigHornRam]

CJ,

Any info on whether or not this jackass poisoned a water hole? Keep us posted.

 

[cjcj]

Thanks Marvb....thats the guy i believe [Johnson]....I heard it yesterday while i was driving... if i get more info....I will let you guys know...If its two things the State newspaper [republic and gazzette] is slow to report its on "bad things" that "illegals" and "developers" do [their protected] by the big money crooks. :MAD hump

 

[MarvB]

Paul/cjcj couldn't find anything related to poisoning by this guy (or his firm) but no doubt we is on the to be watched list for his antics...this is interesting:

State of Arizona Sues Land Developer In 'moonscaping' Of Desert
Mary Jo Pitzl (602) 444-8963
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 15, 2005

State officials on Monday filed a 10-count lawsuit against a housing developer, alleging "unprecedented" damage to land, archaeological ruins, waterways and wildlife in southern Arizona.

Five state agencies joined in the suit against George Johnson, owner of Scottsdale-based Johnson International. Attorney General Terry Goddard said the suit is an attempt to redress an "unprecedented despoliation of Arizona's heritage."

Those losses include:

Destruction of parts of seven Hohokam archaeological sites that date back more than 1,200 years.
Blading of about 270 acres of state trust land without permission.
The death of 21 desert bighorn sheep from diseases caused by Johnson's goat herd.
Destruction of more than 40,000 native plants on state trust lands.
Land clearing that resulted in the unlawful deposit of potential pollutants into Los Robles Wash and other tributaries of the Santa Cruz River.
All but one of the charges involve activities at La Osa Ranch, a tract of desert in southern Pinal County that Johnson wanted to turn into a 67,000-home development about the size of Tempe.

Johnson has since scrapped those plans and sold the land to developer Conley Wolfswinkel and the Wolfswinkel Group.

The 10th charge stems, officials say, from water-quality violations in fall 2001 at another Johnson development called South Fork, on a tributary of the Little Colorado River in Apache County.

Goddard, at an afternoon news conference, said five state agencies joined in the suit to make a powerful statement that they take the violations seriously.

"We are not talking about a few feet here and there. We are talking about moonscaping 270 acres over a period of many weeks, knocking down saguaros, filling in creeks and washes used by wildlife and destroying priceless archaeological sites," Goddard said.

"The last thing I or the Attorney General's Office wants to do is to allow a blatant violation such as this to be written off as a cost of doing business."

Johnson's attorney, Lee Stein, lamented that the state felt the need to go to court, given that Johnson and the state had been talking for a year about how to fix the problems caused by the land clearing. He said the work was accidental, although he could not immediately answer why Johnson had bulldozers rolling on land that he said was a working ranch.

Johnson has said his actions are a part of farming activities, which provides exemptions from certain state rules, including water-discharge guidelines.

But Goddard said state officials don't buy that explanation.

"It was a deliberate action in violation of a wide number of state laws," he said.

The lawsuit was welcome news to environmentalists, who objected to what they saw as Johnson's cavalier approach to land development.

"That makes my Monday!" said Jenny Neely, Southwestern representative for Defenders of Wildlife.

"It's a long time coming. Some of the scars he inflicted on the lands down there are hard to bear."

The civil suit does not seek a specific amount of compensation but asks the court to triple the damages for trespassing on state lands, seeks $70,000 to recoup the cost of treating the infected bighorn sheep, asks for a minimum of $15,750 for the 21 sheep that died due to blindness caused by the infection and asks for penalties of up to $25,000 a day for each violation of water-quality statutes.

The suit was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the Arizona State Museum, the State Land Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Arizona Game & Fish Commission.

 

[Ten Bears]

So, does this guy pay the fines and then do shit again??? Slow learner or is he making that much money over the fines?

 

[danr55]

This is the same guy who wanted to buy Big Boquillas Ranch and turn it into a retirement community.. He was all set to go and the Navajo told him to shove it.. This guy is a real winner..

 

[BuzzH]

See what compromising gets you?

You wonder why I refuse to compromise with developers, extractive industries, government agencies, etc.???

Theres flat no more room for compromising.

 

[cjcj]

Buzz i don`t know if its compromising...More like bought and paid for. Sadly i have seen a hell of alot of corruption in my 51 yrs....is it just here in AZ? i doubt it.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Buzz
As you have stated in the past, if every thing is done with good science, then it can be done, but some of these guys just don't know when to stop and this really isn't compromise, it is railroading and there is a big difference...

 

[cjcj]

looks like i have got some of the story wrong [can`t believe everything you hear] i cant find any info on the poisen water hole as was first reported. thanks Marvb for the story. .....But glad that the basic story is getting some att.

 

[Ten Bears]

I didn't see anything on compromises... ?????? Again BUZZ, wtf?

 

[BuzzH]

This isnt compromising with a crook?

"Johnson's attorney, Lee Stein, lamented that the state felt the need to go to court, given that Johnson and the state had been talking for a year about how to fix the problems caused by the land clearing."

Who do think they've been dealing with for the last YEAR! Santa Claus?

There should have been no talking (compromising) for a year....this case should have been dealt with a year ago....

 

[ELKCHSR]

compromising or railroading?

 

[BuzzH]

Hey Cheese,

Who's being railroaded? The developer who destroyed all that stuff?

I dont think the state is in the wrong here, maybe you do.

Please explain how the state is being railroaded?

Just like most other topics...you just dont get it...nothing ever changes.

 

[cjcj]

Well the truth is the state should hang this guys ass....he destroyed land and other stuff without obtaining proper permits and violated other regulations... but our state officials are in the pocket of developers.... and our attorney general is worthless as tits on a bull....this fag [Terry Goddard] is a former city of phx. mayor, and a lifetime politition as was his daddy Sam Goddard. I`m sure the "Boy Blunder" Ferry Goddard will work a deal.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Just like most other topics...you just dont get it...nothing ever changes.

It really never does now does it
Once you have taken bribes or what ever the pay off is, you are kinda beholdin to what ever the other party wants to run down your throat... Of course some people like that

 

[BuzzH]

Elkcheese,

Yep, you've now officially removed all doubt....you really DONT get it.