The Willing Seller is about environmental terrorism by our government. It is fiction based on truth. Here's how to access previous chapters on line: Visit www.kwtn.com/news/fiction. That will take you to our fiction index. Double click on "Willing Seller." That will take you to the index of chapters. Click on the chapter you want to read. To get back to the chapter index, click on your "back" arrow.
That night, Jack Peterson's declaration of war was on the local newscast, on Channels 5 and 7 in Miami, and even made some national spots thanks to FOX news. The following day, innumerable articles appeared in the press. It was a sensation, as Peterson himself was the first to say. The Key West Citizen gave it a banner headline: CONCH REPUBLIC DECLARES WAR ON CONSERVATION LEAGUE. The largely approving article took up the entire top half of the paper. It began with:
"The ever rebellious, tongue-in-cheek Conch Republic nearly outdid itself this time as it claimed to have uncovered a heinous plot to turn the Keys into a heavily-regulated preserve and swore to uphold the Republic by declaring war on the well-respected environmental group, the Conservation League. At a standing-room-only meeting at the Waterfront Playhouse yesterday, Jack Peterson, Secretary General of the Conch Republic, read from a Declaration of War on behalf of the Republic and vowed to carry out that war "with humor, respect and simple courtesy." Peterson showed taped interviews of Keys' residents who claimed to be victims of the conspiracy. Calling it an "unholy alliance of environmentalists and government agents . . ."
Though Keys' news was generally relegated to the mid-paper `regional' section, Kate's article in the Miami News took up three full column inches on the front page. Exhilarated by the campiness and the content of Jack's presentation, she'd written:
"Yesterday, in a stunning demonstration of his grasp of guerrilla theater, Jack Peterson, Secretary General of the semi-serious Conch Republic— the group that led the Keys' secession from the Union in 1982 when the feds blockaded U.S. 1 to try to put an end to illegal drug trafficking— declared war on the preeminent environmental organization, the Conservation League.
"Peterson explained to a capacity crowd at a downtown Key theater that the Keys are currently under siege from an `unholy alliance' of environmentalists and government agents, led by the League. Their purpose? To turn the Keys into a preserve, without paying a dime for the land. To bolster his claim, Peterson showed a tape with interviews of some of the victims.
"In the glib manner he's best known for, Peterson said, `We are going to wage war in the manner of the Republic, with humor, respect and simple courtesy.'
"But, many at the meeting where Peterson made his announcement did not find it humorous. John Murphy, a fisherman who lives on Big Pine Key, told the News, `Yeah, I believe these things are going on. The man is telling the truth. I've heard stories, we all hear stories. Someone's harassing these people and driving them off their land.'
"A woman who owns property on Little Torch and requested anonymity had her own story to tell . . ."
Sam O'Brien's article ran that same day, too, as a feature on the Conch Republic on the Herald's Lifestyles page. Sam had much of it in his computer well before the meeting: a brief `colorful' history of the Conch Republic and an exclusive interview with Jack Peterson.
In the interview, Peterson had told him how the Republic had uncovered "a wide reaching conspiracy to turn the Florida Keys into a preserve by taking people's property without paying for it." Jack elaborated on this by touching on a couple of the victims' stories from his own research. He also had a description of the Conservation League and its work in Florida.
Then, all he had to do was plug in the lead— Conch Republic declares war, blah blah blah— and move the other stuff around. That would do it.
So, just as the meeting was breaking up, with the sound of the Conch Shell still ringing in his ears, Sam raced to a payphone and put in a call to Clive Farrell, whose number he'd carefully written on the front of his reporter's notebook. He wanted badly to be the person who broke the news to the Reverend, mainly because he was hoping to get some good off-the-cuff quotes when he did. His strategy worked.
The Reverend took his call, Sam told him what was going on— but the only thing Sam got from him was silence. The information rendered Clive speechless, so much so Sam feared the line had gone dead. Finally, he heard Clive breathe heavily, followed by a muttered curse. Dammit. And then: "Mister, uh, what did you say your name was? Listen, are you pulling my leg?"
Sam assured him that he wasn't, and repeated his name and affiliation. "I'm right down here, at the meeting. It's just breaking up." He held out the receiver to catch the sounds of the crowd. "Yes, sir. That's what I said. They declared war on you. On the League, that is. Do you know anything about this?"
"Course I don't know anything about it. This is the first I heard of it, this is crazy. You said the Conch Republic, didn't you?" The Reverend sounded baffled. "Explain it to me again."
Sam did, briefly paraphrasing Jack Peterson.
"Why, if that isn't complete hogwash!" Good quote, `Hogwash' was good, Sam thought, writing it down. "So you deny the accusations, Mr. Farrell?"
"Deny it. Are you kidding me, Sam? Of course I deny it. It's a complete and total lie. You can quote me on that. A complete and total lie . . ."
Sam high tailed it up the Keys and pounded out the piece. It took him a couple hours and when he was satisfied, he filed it.
As he expected, the Lifestyles' editor and Vernon both adored the piece. Vern said he was certain it would be picked up by the L.A. Times syndication bureau, and it was, the following day. This delighted Sam, because it made it that much harder for Vern to order him back to D.C. after he'd explained he was planning on staying and tracking this story, the big story underlying all this.
Vern blustered, claimed he needed Sam back at the office— but what could he do about it? They both knew the answer: not a thing. So, Sam stayed, although not entirely with the blessing of his boss.
To be continued next week.
Willing Seller is a work of fiction. The events and characters portrayed are imaginary. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is coincidental.
Ellen Sugarman's writing has appeared in publications such as Newsday, Time, Vogue, Ms., Penthouse, New York Times Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Miami Herald's Tropic Magazine.
As a freelance television producer, she has worked with ABC, Fox News, A&E and the BBC.
Several years ago, she produced a segment on environmental terrorism in the Florida Keys for ABC's 20/20. Although scheduled to run several times, the show was ultimately killed, reportedly because of pressure from the Nature Conservancy.
The program did air in the Keys, however, after activist Peter Anderson was able to obtain a videotape of the show and paid for time to run it on local cable television.
Among a number of shocking revelations, the program documents that State Attorney Kirk Zuelch, while a member of the local Nature Conservancy board, offered to drop charges against property owners accused of environmental crimes if they would sell or give their land to the Nature Conservancy. Zuelch quickly resigned from the Nature Conservancy board after he was interviewed by 20/20.
Anderson encouraged viewers to tape the show when it ran on local TV. If you want to see this show, KWTN has a couple of loaner copies. Info: 292-2108.