BOB NORMAN --

Last month, Amy Galloway, a Tripp-Scott lawyer representing Sun Bergeron Solid Waste Services, ripped Bob “Geraldo” Norman a new one.

Documents provided to MAOS (see below) reveals Galloway taking exception to Geraldo’s slanted reporting and anonymous blog traffic implying that Sun Recycling “somehow duped the BCEDP and are responsible for some ill-defined ‘hazardous’ conditions at the Treasure Cove development in Dania Beach.”

Many will recall, in pursuit of that June 13th story, Norman and “others” snagged a lone soil sample from Treasure Cove.

And while a sample, such as Norman’s, found containing arsenic makes for great doom-n-gloom ratings fodder, he “neglected” to mention:

1. The level of reported arsenic is well within the range common in coastal southeast Florida area.
2. Sediments from Biscayne Bay contain natural background levels of arsenic ranging up to 60 mg/kg.
3. Dade County has the highest geometric mean arsenic levels in surface soils for any Florida county, exceeding 7 mg/kg.

Also the sample, taken 10 years after remediation, had clear issues with collection, preservation, and storage.

Move over Brian Norcross, here comes Bob Norman to scare the living fuck out of all of us.

Then there’s Norman’s interview with former Sun Recycling employee Abron Farache.

“[H]e and the company [Sun] tricked the County and never really cleaned up the bulk” of unpermitted RSM previously delivered to the site.”

- Abron Farache

The Tripp-Scott lawyer contends Norman and Channel 10 have “published an investigative ‘series’ that is false, misleading and defamatory and has absolutely no basis in fact.”

Well, no shit.

Haven’t you been watching Norman’s “career” this past many years months? I’d have a hard time recommending him for a writing gig for the DBHS yearbook.

Farache was reported to be involved in every single aspect of the mitigation plan.

Galloway writes, “the County expressly found that the remediation had been performed and the County inspector, who had approximately 20 years experience at the time of this investigation, testified he believed that the RSM material that was supposed to be removed was removed.”

Farache and Sun, once locked in a court battle-royale, were enjoined by the Treasurer Cove developers – who claimed Sun dumped “unpermitted fill and the subsequent remediation was not properly performed.”

Worth noting is Farache’s past financial ties to the developers.

Ultimately, the lawsuit was settled, though Sun “refused to release or otherwise include Abron Farache in the Settlement Agreement as it was made quite clear in the course of discovery that Farache was the source of misrepresentations and falsehoods.”

Moving onto Norman’s claims about the Lake Worth landfill, Galloway describes his questions as “stylistically inciting.”

Eric: Hey Jon, do you remember your first blow job?
Jon: Oh yeah! I was 16.
Eric: How did it taste?

The Tripp-Scott lawyer writes, “in contrast to Norman’s reporting, there was no ‘dumping’ of RSM/solid waste nor any contamination.”

Hence, no cleanup was required.

The controversy, such that it is, is politically motivated. Factions within the Lake Worth political community are trying to create a controversy and claim that former officials at the City of Lake Worth made a mistake or were “duped” when they allowed the project to go forward. This is simply not true. Sun did not deceive the City of Lake Worth or anyone else regarding this project. Sun did not create or contribute to “elevated levels of arsenic” in an aging city landfill.

- Amy Galloway

Finally, onto the good stuff – aka the legal bitch slapping.

Norman, and his buddies over at WPLG, were given notice that “any representation or position broadcast by Channel 10 alleging or implying that Sun Recycling, in “cahoots” with Ahron Farache or otherwise, did not fully perform the obligations set forth in the County’s approved remediation plan regarding Treasure Cove is false.” Continued actions were to be considered a reckless disregard of the actual facts.

Bob gave up on the facts when he left The Pulp. He’s in the Facts Free Zone.

As with Galloway, we agree breaking up a twenty-five year waste disposal monopoly, with millions of dollars at stake, is a daunting plan; one made tougher by Norman doing his best Bill Nye the Science Guy impression.

Hey Bob, stick with Al Capone’s safe. That’s more up your alley.