|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
November 20, 2005
Graceland, blueberries - and an orange creekDEQ sought felonies against Graceland, haulerHONOR - English shepherds drink from a creek that winds past Charles Brozofsky's Benzie County farmhouse.Brook trout dart from pools to sip insects in the clear water and slip back into shadows. Brozofsky stands along the bank and gestures to the east, to another stream beyond a pasture and stand of hardwood forest. This one is stained orange, smells like a sewer and holds no trout. "This is the way she used to look, just as clean, and you could drink out of it or whatever you'd like to do," he said. Brozofsky believes - and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality agrees - that pollution in the second stream is the result of thousands of gallons of blueberry waste illegally dumped three years ago in a gravel pit upstream from his property. The blueberry waste came from Graceland Fruit Inc., founded by Donald Nugent, a big name in local, regional and state business and politics. Nugent holds a seat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, is a contributor to Republican party candidates and causes and calls himself a friend of state Attorney General Mike Cox, also a high-profile Republican. Brozofsky discovered contamination in late 2002 while searching for a lost cow. It's still polluted, with no remedy in sight. State environmental regulators asked Cox's office to approve felony and misdemeanor charges against Graceland Fruit Inc. and waste hauler Kevin Bonney of Bonney Bros. Septic Pumping of Honor, but the attorney general recently declined that request. Nugent and Cox's office are negotiating a civil settlement. Meanwhile, a lawsuit Brozofsky filed against Graceland and Bonney Bros. is pending. Nugent, Graceland's president and CEO, from the beginning contended he thought Bonney Bros. could legally dispose of his factory waste by applying it to fields like septic waste. He said he ended their business deal when he learned Bonney dumped Graceland waste in a gravel pit. Nugent maintains the waste is organic fruit waste. But DEQ investigators classify it as "liquid industrial waste," which is strictly regulated under environmental laws. According to DEQ's investigation, Nugent and Kevin Bonney knew or should have known Bonney was not licensed to dispose of the waste and that the waste would damage the environment. DEQ investigators cited as evidence: - Before Graceland hired Bonney, officials at the wastewater treatment plant in Frankfort told Graceland the waste was too concentrated and the utility could not handle it; - Nugent tried to hire a septic hauler in Frankfort who told Nugent he could not haul the blueberry waste with a septic hauling license; - Bonney attempted to spread the waste on a farmer's field, but the farmer discovered a foul smell and told Bonney and Nugent he would not accept the waste. Nugent later told an investigator that a farmer called him and complained that the blueberry waste had turned his grass black. Steve Nugent, Donald's son and Graceland's chief operating officer, disputes the findings of the DEQ. "At best it's misinformation, and in some places, it's outright lies," he said. Baffled investigators DEQ Detective Sgt. Thomas Wingate said he won't invest a lot of time on a case if he doesn't think prosecutors will take it to court. He spent significant time on the Bonney/Graceland case, which he opened in March 2003 and continued to investigate after he submitted a report to the attorney general in January 2004. Wingate thought he'd dug up plenty of evidence that could be put before a Benzie County jury to prove Graceland and Bonney committed a crime. "The reckless disregard for the natural resources of this state requires criminal action be taken in this incident," Wingate wrote in a report he submitted to prosecutors. Brian Myers, investigator with the DEQ's water division, said the decision by Cox's office left him wondering if he did something wrong during the probe. Myers and Wingate said they have no idea why prosecutors declined charges. Attorney general spokeswoman Melissia Christianson refused to explain the legal reason why no charges were filed, other than "because it was a bad case; it just didn't meet criminal muster to prosecute," she said. Christianson said her office opted to seek a civil settlement they expect will force a cleanup and win "substantial penalties." She said attorneys determined that was a better strategy. "The office is not letting anyone get off, quote-unquote, scott-free," she said. Christianson said DEQ Director Steven Chester and Milton Scales, chief of the agency's office of criminal investigation, understood why Cox's office declined charges. Scales, though, disputed Christianson's comment that DEQ submitted a "bad case." "I can't imagine that they said it was a bad case. The case met the elements of the crime," Scales said. "My investigators do not spend their time conducting and recommending bad cases." Scales said he believed the case was declined because of limited resources at the attorney general's office and because the case was not a priority. "That's their prerogative," he said. Christianson said Nugent's status as a prominent state Republican didn't factor in the decision. "Pressure is never put on an attorney for political reasons," Christianson said. She said Cox did not review the case. The attorney general's decision prompted Wingate to turn to Benzie County Prosecutor Anthony Cicchelli. Cicchelli responded to Wingate by letter on Oct. 20 and said he would not prosecute. Even if he wanted to, the case would be too complicated for his office and he would need help from the attorney general, Cicchelli wrote. Site visit Myers and Wingate learned of the attorney general's decision to decline prosecution in an e-mail from Thomas Piotrowski, the assistant attorney general who handled the case. The Aug. 30, 2005, one-paragraph message reads, in part: "After a review of the file and a site visit by the Attorney General's office, it has been decided not to seek prosecution at this time." The site visit referred to by Piotrowski never happened, Christianson acknowledged. However, an assistant attorney general traveled to Benzie County to discuss the case with Graceland officials. Christianson said Piotrowski wrote about the site visit in the e-mail because of a misunderstanding between the attorneys. Steve Nugent said a representative from the attorney general's office visited Graceland, but it was merely an opportunity for Graceland to answer questions about the case. "We were very cooperative with the attorney general's office," Steve Nugent said. "We answered all his questions. It was not Mike Cox, I don't remember who the gentleman was." Degraded stream The stream on Brozofsky's property was "severely degraded," by the blueberry waste, DEQ officials said. Bruce Walker, an aquatic biologist at the DEQ's Cadillac office, said in a report that the unpolluted branch where Brozofsky lets his English shepherds roam has high water quality. The stream supports a brook trout fishery and meets the requirements of the Michigan Water Quality standards, standards the other stream can't meet, Walker said. That branch, the west branch, contained dramatically altered water quality, bacterial slimes and an impaired macroinvertebrate community, or animals without backbones that can been seen by the naked eye, like insects and worms, Walker wrote. Downstream, the creek flows into a now-shuttered trout pond business. Keith Boyce, now of Kalamazoo, ran the trout pond from the early 1970s until he turned it over to his son and daughter-in-law. Boyce said the blueberry contamination killed the ponds. "It's dead," Boyce said of the pond where he raised rainbow trout. "Basically, it put us out of business, it shut us down completely." 'Leaking Band-Aid' In June, farmer Brozofsky sued Graceland and Bonney in an effort to get someone to clean his land. "We want them to restore the property, restore the trout stream, restore the cedar swamp and restore the groundwater," said Brozofsky's attorney, Christopher Bzdok, of Traverse City. "What they're doing out there right now, it's not even a Band-Aid, it's a leaking Band-Aid." A hearing is scheduled Dec. 14 in Benzie County's circuit court. Nugent said Graceland has paid for the cleanup thus far at and around Bonney's gravel pit, with Bonney's oversight. Messages left seeking comment from Bonney Bros. Septic Pumping and the company's attorney, Joseph Quandt, were not returned. As for the potential for further pollution from Graceland's blueberry waste, Donald Nugent said it's now shipped to Iowa where it is sold to be used to manufacture ethanol. "So we found a use for it that's a positive use," he said. "We don't make money on it, but it certainly reduces the cost of disposal." See Related Stories:
|
|
