KEY LARGO, Florida (23 May 2002) -- Florida Keys dive operator Spencer Slate blamed the botched sinking of the controversial and financially troubled 'Spiegel Grove' on "absolute blatant arrogance and egos" stating that the disaster was "predictable (and) preventable". Slate - no stranger to controversy after public condemnation of his comparison of government conservation officials to terrorists in the wake of Florida's shark feeding ban - resigned as chairman of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce immediately after the Spiegel Grove sinking went awry. Slate, fellow dive operator Steve Frink and the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce "sold" the project to bankers, tourism developers and enthusiastic local government officials as "the best shipwreck dive in the world" and a "sure thing" financial bonanza for the Florida Keys based on projections of an increase in tourism revenue. Even when funds for the rapidly escalating cost of the 'Grove' project dried up late last year, it was Slate, Frink and the chamber who cooked up the plan to get project champion Murray Nelson and his fellow Monroe County commissioners to divert $300,000 in taxpayer funds from a Lower Keys wastewater project appropriation to the Spiegel Grove project. But that was six months before the promised 'Grove' tourism bonanza suddenly went bust when the star turned turtle. Support the American dream!!! Buy a Florida Flop fake gold medallion and make us filthy rich! | | "I'm not getting over it--EVER!" screamed Florida Keys scuba clown Spencer Slate. Now an angry and vindictive Slate describes the Spiegel Grove as a "navigation hazard", is screaming that he and his business partners have been made to "look like idiots" and has started blaming others involved in the project for the disaster. "I'm not getting over it...EVER!" Slate announced echoing his previous angry statements after Florida approved a ban on shark feeding. Whomever is to blame, Slate's emotional tirade doesn't sound good for wreck diving amusement parks in the Florida Keys unless another quarter of a million dollars can turn "Frink's Folly" rightside up. And according to Slate, that's the bottom line because if the vessel ends up on its side, it will only "...be a tenth of the dive it could have been." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
