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Parente's phone number is disconnected and the attorney representing him, Mike Unke, declined to comment. A woman who answered the phone at the Minnesota business said Parente is no longer affiliated with it. Requests for someone to comment went unanswered. Parente has said before that he checked the meat in May and found it iced over due to a broken water pipe. He's claimed the meat might have stunk but says he never put anyone in danger. "I feel bad for the people of Bridgewater who had to live with the smell. But that's really where the extent of my feeling bad goes. It wasn't ever a health hazard to anyone," he told The Daily Republic of Mitchell in July. The county spent about $5,000 on dump trucks and men to drive them, the city submitted a bill of $3,918 to Parente for trucking costs, landfill fees, attorney fees, overtime and pest control, and the fire department's cost came in at $2,233 for wages, air tanks, two fire trucks and clothing replacement. Parente also owes $8,628 in back property taxes and interest on the business and $5,457 on a rural house he owns, according to McCoy County records. Bridgewater City Attorney Mike Fink said that the city is in the process of discussing a settlement to recoup the cleanup costs. Months after the massive cleanup, though, the city hasn't seen a dime. The stink wasn't the first issue with the plant. Problems with the business started several years ago when the city's sewer system began getting stopped up because of blood and other parts going down the drain at Bridgewater Quality Meats. The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources filed a civil lawsuit against Bridgewater Quality Meats in 2003 seeking $10,000 per day of violation for dumping between October 2001 to October 2003. The last action on the case was a delay issued in March 2008. If convicted and assessed every day of that period, the penalty could top $7 million. The fate of the building is in limbo. Parente has a "for sale" sign up in the window, but so far, there haven't been any takers. The mayor says the building could be used again, "but it would take some work." So after all the mopping, slogging, bill-paying and legal wrangling, the mayor and his citizens are left with one small, but not insignificant, benefit. The smell is gone.
[Associated
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