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.
When Kate got home, she discovered four new messages on her answering machine. One was a routine call from a friend in San Francisco, but the other three were from Mary Jo and she sounded beside herself. Kate dialed Mary Jo's number and the realtor picked up on the second ring. "Oh, Kate. I was praying that was you. Something absolutely terrible has happened. The Boys have been arrested . . .Yes, that's what I said. Arrested. Just this morning. Cuffed and taken off to jail. Bubba saw the warrants, I talked to him a little while ago. Those tire ruts we were joking about? The ones they called `dredge and fill'? Remember? . . .That was the evidence that persuaded the State Attorney to issue arrest warrants. Bubba says . . .Yes, I called him. He told me bail may be as high as $10,000 each. Oh, Kate, I don't really understand any of this. How could this be happening? But I was certain you'd want to know."
After speaking to Mary Jo, Kate put in a call to Bubba Mason. But, his assistant Ann told her he was out of the office until the morning. Kate explained that she really had to talk to him and asked Ann if she could get in touch with him and ask him to call her. But it turned out Bubba was out of town, the earliest she could talk to him would be the next morning.
Ann offered to try to answer some of Kate's questions herself. Kate told her that wouldn't be necessary, she could wait for Bubba to return. She hung up the phone and sat down to drink a cup of coffee and mull over the news.
She started an article a little later that evening, just sketching it out on a legal pad with an eye to filling in the blanks after she talked to Bubba in the morning. She worked out a lead from what she already knew: "When Frank/and Lloyd . . . purchased Pirates Key for $400,000, they felt it the realization of their dreams. Little did they know the 130-acre island would turn into their worst nightmare . . ."
She remembered Frank's words on the picnic and jotted them down: "The trouble started when we began cleaning up the place . . ."
She listed from memory the labyrinth of regs they found themselves lost in, she could correct the list with Bubba's help. Then she described the intransigence of the system. She wanted to give the other side of the story, so she included quotes from some of the enforcement people she'd just finished interviewing. In the light of the situation at Pirates Key, their words delivered a chilling polemic that demonstrated the desperation of the Boys' plight better than anything she might have come up with.
The article ran the next day in the Miami News. By afternoon, Kate's phone began ringing with complaints, the same thing that had happened when her first piece had appeared. There were also a couple of fan calls, people calling to thank her for tellin' it like it was; they provided some levity that helped her get through the hostile calls. Still, as the day wore on and the criticism continued, Kate let the machine take over and went out for a long walk with Bruiser.
When she got back, it was dark out. She noticed that she had a few messages, but the phone was quiet. She didn't even listen to the messages; she wasn't in the mood. She fed Bruiser and tried to decide what she wanted to eat.
She was scrambling some eggs when the phone rang and she picked it up in the kitchen. A man called her by name. "Kate?"
"This is Kate," she replied, her attention on the eggs. "Who's this?" She couldn't place the voice.
"Never mind who this is. Let's just say, a friend wants to warn you, help you avoid some real unpleasantness."
Kate felt herself grow cold, as much at his tone as his words. She pushed the skillet to the side, away from the heat, and balanced the spatula carefully against it.
"You do?" She said, keeping her voice calm.
"You know, you could get yourself in trouble pursuing this line of irresponsible journalism," the man snarled into the phone. "You've been talking to the wrong people, lady. And you could get yourself hurt if you don't back off."
He slammed down the receiver and Kate was left holding a dead phone.
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.