Monday, December 7, 2009

Saguaro Ranch Update Update!

Posted By on Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 4:52 PM

On Thursday, The Range mentioned a Marana Town Council meeting during which neighbors of the Saguaro Ranch development announced they'd filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the town and staff. In an update, we also mentioned neighbors' concern over Town Manager Gilbert Davidson showing up at the development's restaurant to a champagne toast—two days after the arrest of neighbor Steve Blomquist.

Blomquist was arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct. Blomquist, his wife, Sharyl Cummings, and their neighbor Tracy Chamberlain, however, have been protesting and are in the midst of litigation with Saguaro Ranch developer Stephen Phinny and the town of Marana regarding a disputed easement—which the restaurant, McClintock's, sits atop of. That's where Blomquist sat down the day of his arrest on Friday, Nov. 13—quietly and courteously. Go back to our first installment here, and have a listen to Blomquist's audio recording of his quiet beer-ordering protest.

When The Range called Town Attorney Frank Cassidy for a comment, Town of Marana PIO Rodney Campbell responded. He told The Range that the champagne toast of Davidson at McClintock's, two days after Blomquist's arrest, was nothing more than Davidson's wife's birthday celebration. He also accused Chamberlain of charging up to Davidson and his wife with her video camera.

"She went right in their faces," Campbell said.

Well, take a look at the video above, provided by Chamberlain, who zooms in and out—but doesn't charge up to the couple or gets into their faces.

"I dispute the claims by the town and Mr. Campbell--and as a result, I have offered a copy of the video to prove no one got in the (couple's) faces," Chamberlain wrote in an e-mail to The Range.

Chamberlain says it was Davidson's wife who turned and walked toward her to tell her it was her birthday.

Coming next: Blomquist's arrest report, to look at claims made by the McClintock's manager that Blomquist was harassing other people at the restaurant the night of the arrest. Campbell also noted that Davidson has a copy of the credit card statement from that night at McClintock's. Hopefully, we'll have a copy of that soon, too.

Happy trails!