EDITOR'S NOTE: Ellen Sugarman is a nationally known investigative reporter. She has given KWTN permission to serialize her new book about environmental terrorism in the Florida Keys. Here is a synopsis of previous chapters. For complete chapters, see our website: www.kwtn.com.
In Chapter 1, officials from County Code Enforcement, the Sheriff's Office and the Florida Marine Patrol— off-duty and in civilian clothes, but armed— pay an unofficial visit to property owners on Little Knockemdown Key. A few days later, the owners were cited, ordering them to tear down unpermitted structures— even though many of those structures had been there prior to the law requiring permitting.
In Chapter 2, Sugarman used Fantasy Fest as a backdrop to introduce us to her cast of characters. In Chapter 3, investigative reporter Kate Anderson hears about an allegfed conspiracy by multiple government agencies to take over private property in the Keys. In Chapter 4, she starts to look into it.
Chapter 5: Officials "raid" Little Torch Key. Chapter 6: Government officials charge a Sugarloaf resident with environmental infractions and, in Chapter 7, they take his house. Chapters 8 and 9: Kate's review of Code Enforcement records seem to reveal a pattern of deceit. Chapter 10: A lawyer tells a property owner, in jail on seemingly trumped up environmental charges, that he can get him off if he will sell his property cheap to the Conservation League.
In Chapter 11, Kate shares her suspicians with the editor of a local newspaper . Chapter 12: The editor suggests that she take a close look at Rev. Clive Farrell and the Conservation League. Kate and a freind head down to Bahama Village to hear Farrell address a meeting of Last Chance. Chapter 13: The meeting. Chapter 14: Kate meets Clive Farrell and asks for an interview. Chapters 15 and 16: The interview. Chapter 17: Another government raid.
CHAPTER 18
When Kate got home, she dumped the papers on the kitchen table and opened the French doors to let Bruiser out in the garden. He raced down the stairs and disappeared into some ferns, giving her a grateful look on his way out. Kate went over to the refrigerator and peered inside, praying for something edible. "Yes!" she shouted as her eyes fell on a take-out container she recognized from the day before, fish and rice and plantains and beans from a Cuban restaurant downtown.
She grabbed a fork and went outside to a glass topped table, where she began to wolf it down cold, right out of the box. Halfway through, the edge off her hunger, she went in, poured a glass of iced tea from a pitcher in the fridge, and returned to her seat. Bruiser, his frolicking finished, had returned to sit politely at her feet, daintily accepting tidbits she offered him.
"Bruiser, you're such a sweet guy," Kate crooned between mouthfuls. "And you have such good manners. Who loves you?" Bruiser stood up and put his front legs, lightly, on her knees, licking her arm lovingly.
Lunch over, Kate went back inside, and sat down to look through the papers. She opened up the current issue of the `League News'. An open letter to contributors on the first page caught her eye. She recognized the photo at the bottom, over the signature. Donald Renfrow, smiling out at the readers with the same cordial look he'd given her when Clive had introduced them. With his sweet smile, that round boyish face, the peachfuzz complexion, rosy cheeks and full pink lips, he resembled a cherub.
She began to read Renfrow's message. It started with a quote from an EPA official: "Buying land is a significant step, but there are areas that are so valuable they must be preserved by government fiat. We need master planning at all levels of government to limit development, with federal agencies working with environmentalists to stop it . . ."
Renfrow went on to describe how League projects in the Keys and elsewhere were "augmented by government intervention on every level."
Kate glanced through a few more issues at the glossy photos, first-person testimonials from all over the country—average citizens saving the land. She scanned some of the features about particular acquisitions.
Then a piece in a year-old issue caught her eye. Actually, it was the photo spread that did it: shots of Amanda Southwood, the dowager empress of one of the Keys' oldest families, on some of her property in the upper Keys. It seemed the venerable "Sunny" Southwood had turned over a great deal of her land legacy to the League. The exchange was touted in the magazine as exemplary and Sunny was what they called a `Preserve Partner'.
Kate supposed that was the title you earned when you gave away that much land. Now that she thought about it, Kate recalled that the Miami Herald and the Citizen had made quite a fuss about the $5-million land transfer at the time. She imagined it was a feather in Clive's cap. So Sunny Southwood was one of his `willing sellers'? Interesting.
Her reading was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone. It was Betsy Washington calling to remind her to be sure to go to tomorrow's Code Enforcement Board meeting. She was sure Kate would find it informative. Betsy's word, "informative".
Kate said, Sure, she had it down on her calendar. No, Betsy wouldn't be there. But, off the record, she had hired an attorney to represent Sue and Jimmy.
"Bubba Mason. You know Bubba, don't you? He's a really great guy. Anyway, while you're there, talk to Bubba. He'll fill you in, he's been helping people with these things for some time. He really knows what's going on. Tell him I told you to talk to him."
Kate asked if Betsy thought Bubba would be able to help Sue and Betsy said she did. "Listen, Kate, let me tell you what's been going on out there on Little Knockemdown Key. It's an outrage. Personally, I think all this harassment is making my patient ill."
"Harassment?"
"Endless harassment. They don't have a moment to themselves out there these days. I'm not kidding, it's a strategy to drive them away. Unannounced so-called `inspections' by sheriff deputies, code inspectors. All kinds of intimidation. None of it is legal.
"Marine patrol zooming down on them, helicopter flyovers. I'm not exaggerating when I say Sue is a complete nervous wreck. You know Kate, like I told you, these are little people. They don't have the resources or the savvy to buck the system. Between us, they're scared to death."
Sam filed his first story the day after he arrived in Miami, having managed to corner a phone on the fifth floor of the courthouse during afternoon recess. He told Vern he had to take on the `takings' case. Cute, Vernon said. Very damn cute. The story ran on page three of the morning edition, just three graphs under the header TAKINGS CASE OPENS IN MIAMI:
"A lawsuit in Miami circuit court is being closely watched as a bellwether by many who feel it could change the future of environmental regulation. Plaintiffs in "SUITELAND v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION & THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE' claim the agencies are overstepping the authority granted them by the Endangered Species Act in their regulation of private property.
"The suit questions the current interpretation of `takings' of a species, saying the Act only intended to protect animals from direct physical harm—not alteration of their habitat. Environmental groups are calling the lawsuit "frivolous" and even "ridiculous", but today's proceedings demonstrated a judicial willingness to take a serious look at the semantics. This could be the most significant test of government regs to come along . . ."
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 former 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.