Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

News update -- EPA questions city employees about airport sewage dumping
-- John Patten, reprinted from a blog entry of 01/08/03
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

RELATED:
Illegal sewage dumped at airport?
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 01/05/05

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On Friday, January 7, EPA criminal investigator Dan Green was in Venice, questioning several city employees at the city's drinking water treatment plant. Among those questioned were John Newburn, Tim Zimahl and Jim Evans, this according city employees.

Green was reportedly asking the employees about the deliberate dumping of sewage at the airport as covered recently by Venice Florida! dot com.

City Manager Marty Black confirmed that Green was in town, however Black stated he was only aware that Newburn had been pulled in for questioning. Black stated that he had instructed the water department to cooperate fully with any request Green had.

Newburn, a supervisor with the city's water department, had recently come out in the open with stories of how raw sewage had been dumped on city airport property as a matter of unwritten policy. Zimahl and Evans are two city workers that work under Newburn. Newburn had previously made statements that Evans and Zimahl had dumped raw sewage at the airport on Newburn's orders. Newburn claimed he was given the directive from his superior, Dave Adinolfi.

Other workers may have been pulled in for questioning besides the trio, however Venice Florida! dot com has been unable to independently confirm the names as of this writing.

Meanwhile, at the city manager's request, Utilities Administrator Chris Sharek and OMI, the private company that manages the wastewater operations for the city, are conducting their own in-house review of the allegations made by Venice Florida! dot com about deliberate sewage dumping on airport property. A report is expected by Tuesday's city council meeting, at which time Black will release the report to council and to the public.

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.