COMMUNITY
Spring cleaning Hidden Valley has had it with illegal dumping. Their solution? Doxxing people BY DAVID IVERSEN
HE SHOCK HAS WORN OFF FOR Hidden Valley resident Robin Davis. The things she pulls from the desert used to surprise her. Who would leave a boat in the desert? Jet skis? Furniture? Now, months into her crusade to clean up this rural oasis, nothing surprises her anymore. “It’s nothing to pull a dozen tires at a time,” said Davis. Along with several of her neighbors, Davis is taking a stand against illegal dumping and blight. This growing group of vocal neighbors are working closely with public officials to clean up their communities and protect their way of life. Davis, 68, has spent months driving rural roads with her husband, hauling away trash, reporting illegal dump sites and even confronting suspected violators. “We’re done with people dumping out here,” Davis said. “We’re ready to make an example of someone.” It costs $1 per tire for proper disposal in Pinal County. It costs nothing, at least for the litterer, to dump a tire in the open desert. Pinal County Public Works sent a team out for seven hours over two days to clean up tires and other dumped debris. The county provides two official cleanup days a year, most recently in late March, first organized to allow residents to dispose of bulk waste. The focus of those dates has shifted over time to cleaning up illegal dump sites found around the open desert. Davis knows it takes longer than a day to clean up, so she pre-cleans the neighborhood, pulling and stacking old tires on her property for quick disposal on cleanup day, she said. With the help of public works and several of her Hidden Valley neighbors, Davis helped remove more than 200 tires, household furniture and animal remains from desert washes. Her efforts have helped identify chronic dump sites along Barnes and Ralston Roads and other dumping hotspots. Do it right or pay the price Community sleuthing and grassroots inves- tigations recently led to confrontations with T
Robin Davis speaks at the Thunder Fire Station during an emergency meeting opposing the Rio
Blanco Ranch development April 9.
‘Hidden Valley Haunting’ After another week, another envelope cropped up. This time, the cleanup crew was digging through a pile on State Route 238 and found the name of an EMT from Mesa. After some internet sleuthing, a Hidden Valley resident found the woman’s cell phone number, Facebook and LinkedIn page. He sent her a message. “It’s still your trash, ho,” said a Hidden Valley garbage vigilante in a text message to the woman, calling her a derogatory slang term for a prostitute. The message was proudly posted to the Facebook group for all to see. The group contacted the woman’s employer and started posting the photos of the dump site to the employer’s Facebook page as well. “I suggest you go pick up your garbage,” said one poster. “Your Hidden Valley Haunting has commenced.” “I hope she decides to come clean it up or someone decides to dump it in her driveway,” said another. That woman, whose name InMaricopa is choosing not to include, described the messages this way in an interview: “I’ve been threatened with loss of my job and license, being arrested and harassment from others. I paid someone, a year ago, $150 for junk removal. I had no idea they didn’t take it to the dump like they were supposed to.”
suspected dumpers. Cleaning up a bag of res- idential trash, Hidden Valley residents found discarded mail with a name and address. It was enough for Davis to jump into action. She took it upon herself to confront the person on that envelope. “I can’t let this ride,” she said. She tracked the person down to an address in Maricopa’s Alterra neighborhood. InMaricopa contacted that homeowner by phone and through social media, but she did not respond to request for an interview before publication. “I asked, ‘Is this you? I asked, is this your trash?’” she recalled of the homeowner whose name was found in the desert. “She never opened the door more than 12 inches. She was nervous. She said anyone could have taken my trash. “It was a civil conversation,” said Davis. Someone in the online cleanup community had matched a Google Street View photo of a truck on the property to some of the things dumped in the desert. Davis turned the findings over to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the illegal dump. But she is remaining vigilant with her neighbors. “We see you. We’re watching,” she said. “We’re not going to tolerate this anymore.” The next day, the dump site was cleaned up. None of the neighbors know who cleaned it up. The lesson was that public shaming worked.
Clockwise from top left: A discarded jet ski found during a biannual county-sponsored cleanup event in Hidden Valley. | Graffitists marked a powerboat on Sage Street just south of Barnes Road. | County staffers facilitate a mass dumping. | Robin Davis found dozens of tires that had been illegally dumped. | Refuse along Hidden Valley Road. | Supervisor Rich Vitiello, Pinal County supervisor Maricopa, rides an undersized UTV through a dumpsite March 29.
InMaricopa.com | May 2025
May 2025 | InMaricopa.com
40
41
Powered by FlippingBook