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: Kate does her homework. Chapters 19 and 20: She attends a Code Enforcement meeting. Chapter 21 and 22: We get a peek inside a Steering Committee meeting of the Conservation League.
There were more people and hubbub in Bubba's office than there had been outside the seat of the government. Bubba gave a high sign to one and another, held a couple of hurried conferences, answered some questions for his staff, grabbed a couple of pink phone memos from the receptionist— as they made their way to his inner sanctum. "Hold my calls, will you please, Dorothy?" he hollered over his shoulder, as he ushered Kate inside and shut the door.
He tossed his hat onto a couch at the back of the room, removed his sunglasses and put them in his breast pocket, pointed Kate toward one of a pair of leather chairs facing his desk. Then he walked behind the desk to a cupboard and took out a bottle of spiced rum and a tumbler. "You want one of these?" he asked, pouring. Kate shook her head, No. "Coffee?" he asked her. "That'd be great."
Bubba belted down the whiskey, sat and buzzed his secretary on the intercom. "Could we get two coffees, Dorothy?" Not waiting for an answer, he took his finger off the button, leaned back in his chair, pursed his lips and fixed his gray eyes on Kate.
"Where to begin?" Bubba muttered, rubbing his hands over his face and sighing. "Where to begin?"
Where to begin, indeed, Kate thought. Waiting.
"What say we start with Jimmy and Sue? You seem to know what's going on there. Any questions?"
Before Kate had a chance to answer, the door opened and Dorothy came in carrying a tray. On it were two cups of Bucci, spoons, napkins and a jar of sugar. She set it on the desk and left. Bubba reached for one of the little blue cups and began scooping sugar into it. Kate followed suit. Then they paused to take sips of the sweet, strong Cuban coffee.
Kate said, "One thing I was wondering. In your opinion, now that the charges were dismissed, will things just settle down out there? Go back to what they were? Out on Little Knockemdown, will people eventually forget what happened to them and, well, pick up their lives where they left off?"
Bubba shook his head. "No, they won't. I think Sue was right when she told you, it's all over for them and the others. No one's gonna feel comfortable again, not after this siege. Too much abuse happened out there. Think about it. How can they know for certain it won't all start up again, maybe worse? Narcotics raids? Planted drugs, busts that lead to actual hard time? Nope, it's over for them. Their little fish camp idyll is finished."
"Well, that's too bad," Kate said, putting the coffee cup down and taking out her notebook and a pen. "So their tactics worked?"
Bubba nodded. "They got exactly what they wanted. They have turned Little Knockemdown into an de facto preserve. Without spending a dime."
"And Dr. Paul? Do you think your client will talk to me?"
"I don't know about that, he's pretty wrecked. I'll do what I can, I'll ask him. Meanwhile, is there anything on that you need me to fill in?"
"I'm going to write about it, I've got all the records. It's pretty horrific. Like they were making him an-offer-he-can't-refuse . . ."
"They were. The Earth Mafia."
". . . and when he wouldn't cave in . . ."
". . . they nailed him to a tree. A Gumbo Limbo, it's indigenous but not protected. Bubba allowed himself a grin, then grew serious. "I can let you go through our file on the case, if you'd like. Would that help?"
Kate nodded. Bubba pressed the intercom and asked Dorothy to bring in the Paul Williams case file. He pronounced it "Wims".
"I was at the hearing for Billy Ray Johnson yesterday. You know anything about the case?" Kate asked.
"I know they're crucifyin' that good ole boy. The charges are bogus. His only crime was purchasing some prime Little Torch lots, three of them, I believe. They're particularly interested in Little Torch and Big Pine, which you may have noticed."
"I have something to ask you about these so-called environmental felonies. Are they actual crimes all over the state? Or do they vary from county to county? Isn't it true you're allowed to trim mangroves in Dade? How come it's a felony here? Where's the science? And who is it decides what is or isn't allowed? I thought that was up to the legislative bodies? Is it really the purview of the State Attorney, to create criminal statutes? Because it seems that's what Walden Simms is doing." Walden Simms was the State Attorney.
"You're good, Kate," Bubba told her. "I'm impressed. That's a very important point, but most people miss it completely. This State Attorney's co-opting a legislative burden and I've not seen it done before. By the way, Simms will deny he's acting with any special interest, but did you know he sits on the Conservation League Board?" He waited a moment for that to sink in.
"No, I didn't. Wow."
The Cuban coffee and the rum kicked in, and Bubba was off and running. He was talking fast, in a loud voice, his eyes were bright. He segued from the Conch vernacular to legalese and back again, as Kate struggled to take notes.
"Simms is the one who signs these environmental felony charges. Here's something else. Nearly all the properties cited with these felonies happen to be on the League's property acquisition list. The Conservation League is the preeminent land grabbin' entity in the state. These're properties they aim to acquire for the state. And they generally target landowners who can't afford legal defense.
"For the moms and pops of the world, they can take their property and they can't fight back. The government's too big, too scary. It has too many attorneys and it can outlast them. These people, you hassle them, they just cave in. The result is, they give away their land."
"That's what's going on here," Kate whispered, writing in her notebook.
"As to your other question, No. These aren't crimes statewide. Like you said, you can whack the hell out of a mangrove up in Dade County, no one'll bother you about it. Hey, someone once told me the mangrove is a weed, a rugged one at that. They doused them with Agent Orange in Nam, the suckers all grew back.
"People here are being deprived of the right to use their land, as well as their Constitutional right to fair compensation in the event of a taking. It's a conspiracy of agencies who're tag-teaming people. Using their regulatory powers to limit land use, instead of paying for it. And government. federal, state and local, they're all in on it. This is entirely unconstitutional. But very few people can afford to take a case like this through the courts.
"We're talkin' a half a million dollars just to reach the Supreme Court. Then the government uses your tax dollars to litigate against you! Here in the Keys, they've created thousands of acres of park land without paying a nickel for it. They're supposed to give the property owner fair market value. Says so in the Constitution, the Law of the Land.
"They're supposed to compensate the owner for value determined— what a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller. In these transactions, you'll hear that phrase all the time. Willing seller. Well, the term is completely bogus, there ain't nothing willing about these sellers. It's the conservation movement's catch phrase. And most of the time it's a complete and utter lie when they use it.
"The government gets around the law by using private conservation groups, like the League here, to do their dirty work. The League, by the way, has a mandate to buy land below market value. Then they turn around and resells the land to the government, at a profit. Anyway you look at it, they're making out like bandits. And we're all paying the price."
He stopped as though he'd just thought of something. "You know, I have someone you should really talk to. A client of mine who knows where all the bodies are buried, so to speak. If she'll talk to you, that is. She's pretty gun shy. I tell you what, I'll give it a try."
Just then Dorothy walked in with an armload of files.
"That the Williams' case?" Bubba asked. She nodded. "Find an empty office, put them in there. Kate? You have time to take a look at this right now?" Kate nodded as Bubba glanced at his Rolex. "I have an appointment, I'm sorry we have break this up. I hope it was useful." Kate said it was extremely useful and thanked him. As she followed Dorothy out of the room, Bubba told her to be sure and stay in touch.
Kate's Miami News story began:
"They call themselves Defenders of the Environment. But, here in the Keys, which is fast becoming one of the most heavily regulated environments in the county, where decent citizens are embroiled in a pitched battle against these forces, another profile is emerging— that of the enemy.
"Ask Dr. Paul Williams, who just lost his $1.5 million dollar Sugarloaf property to the DER after a year long pitched battle. Ask Ben Morris, whose Yellowfin Key trailer park has been under siege from state and county forces. Or talk to Billy Ray Johnson, who's currently sitting in jail for a bunch of environmental felonies he says he didn't commit.
"Like many other Monroe County landowners who have suddenly found themselves on the front lines of a war between environmental idealists and advocates of property rights, Ben Morris said he didn't see it coming.
"Mr. Morris described what he characterized as a `bust' by an environmental SWAT team that occurred at his Getaway Park property two weeks ago, leaving in its wake dozens of citations for `environmental crimes.'
"They just came in without any warning and stormed the Park. There were ten cars. Officers from Fish and Wildlife, the County Code department, the Sheriff's department, Marine Patrol. They cited us for everything and anything. They objected to the tent camping, to picnic tables, to a swing one of the guests had hung in a tree. To us using a truck to collect the garbage. What the heck are we supposed to do? We've always collected it that way. To us pruning trees. They threatened and taunted people. Everyone was afraid."
To authorities and the environmentalists, there is a rationale for such harsh measures. The Keys' ecosystem is one of the most fragile in the country . . ."
She worked another two hours on the story before she was satisfied. Then she printed out two copies, put one in a manila envelope to take to the News bureau the next day, and poured herself a glass of Merlot. She took it upstairs to her bedroom and settled down to watch a movie.
As she waited for it to start, she couldn't help thinking about the story. She liked the way it turned out, but it was certainly controversial, guaranteed to get people's back up. She knew the drill. The minute it came out, she was going to get reactions, some of them negative.
Day after tomorrow, everyone would be reading her piece and they'd let her know it. One thing about Key West, people tended to let you know, up close and personal, exactly how they felt about anything you wrote. In a way, for Kate, that was part of its charm.
ABOUT WILLING SELLER—This is a novel about environmental terrorism in the Florida Keys. It is a work of fiction based on truth. A few years ago, writer Ellen Sugarman produced a segment on environmental terrorism in the Keys for ABC's 20/20 news magazine show. Among a number of shocking revelations, the program documented 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 denied any wrongdoing, but quickly resigned from the Nature Conservancy board after he was interviewed by ABC.
The 20/20 program, although scheduled to run several times, was subsequently killed— reportedly because of pressure from the Nature Conservancy. But it did air in the Keys after activist Peter Anderson obtained a copy of the video tape and paid to run it on local cable television. Anderson encouraged viewers to tape the show. If you're interested in seeing it, Key West The Newspaper has a couple of loaner copies. Info: 292-2108.
To read previous chapters of The Willing Seller, visit our website: www.kwtn.com.