In the same month, the state filed a lawsuit against the boat in the Sarasota Circuit Court for turbidity violations in and around the boat's dock space on five separate occasions since June 1997. In the past, Venice City Council members waged an unsuccessful fight to ban the ship from Venice waters, losing in Judge Gilbert Smith's courtroom in March 1997. Don't drink the water - State health officials discovered critical, contaminant levels in seven South Venice wells in May and June while 11 more were found contaminated, but below the critical threshold. The wells, located along Hialeah, Magnolia, Pelican and Plantation roads, had high levels of trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene and vinyl chloride. Some levels were 70 times allowed totals.
Dry cleaners use the cancer-causing, organic solvents as degreasing agents.
The business was denied eligibility into the state's dry cleaning clean-up program in 1997 for not contributing to the program and for not having secondary containment around its equipment. Charcoal filters were installed into the affected homes and currently, the Sarasota County Utilities Department is extending water lines into the area. All property owners will pay for running lines down their individual streets. The project is scheduled to be finished in late February. Weather woes - Mother Nature was in a strange mood for much of the year.