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City Sues Man For Cleaning Up His Rotting Meat

Posted by samzenpus on from the cut-off-the-green-parts dept.

The city of Bridgewater, South Dakota is suing meat plant owner and "sell by date" denier, Ilan Parente, for having to clean up his abandoned meat plant. The city spent between $5k-$7k on volunteers, city and county personnel, fire department, emergency management and ambulance personnel to clean up the 44-ton mountain of rotting meat left in the plant. Parente says that he received the bill but will have to consult with his advisers to decide if he would pay. Bridgewater residents speculate that he left the meat behind as payback for past run-ins with local officials. Parente denies these claims and says the putrefying pile was a simple mishap he has been trying to correct for the past month.

8 comments

  1. Volunteers? by oldspewey · · Score: 1

    The city spent between $5k-$7k on volunteers, city and county personnel, fire department, emergency management and ambulance personnel

    What kind of low self-esteem does a person have when they put up their hand in response to "Okay! We need some volunteers to go clean up a bunch of rotting meat!"

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    1. Re:Volunteers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps they do not have low self esteem they just simply care about the place they live in. I for one believe the volunteers for this project have proven themselves to be people that care for their city or at least the area this place inhabited. It is not low self esteem to put the needs of others above one's self and even more so when the need of those that would be of a lesser station than yourself have been placed above your own.

    2. Re:Volunteers? by ocularDeathRay · · Score: 1

      ummm.... inmates? I am guessing maybe it wasn't all that voluntary

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      Obama is a twitter sock puppet
    3. Re:Volunteers? by SpuriousLogic · · Score: 1

      Well, if it stinks as bad as the article says, I'm sure the people living nearby would like to help clean it up rather than smelling it for weeks/months

    4. Re:Volunteers? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Instead of volunteering for this effort for no money, they should have joined together and offered to clean up the mess in exchange for a portion of the settlement/judgment/payment from the meat plant owner. That way, if the city doesn't succeed in recovering from the owner, they don't have to pay all the locals, but if they do succeed, they can sock the owner for not just the costs they couldn't avoid, but for all the labor for these people as well. It's only right that this jerk pay for these peoples' time and effort in cleaning up his mess.

    5. Re:Volunteers? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      It would have been easier to just call the Taco Bell.

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    6. Re:Volunteers? by sjames · · Score: 1

      All they need is to live downwind and see that there aren't many others stepping forward.

  2. poetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I find it amusing that the quote at the bottom of the page is really fitting:

    It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have to do, that makes life blessed. -- Goethe