Who is Karl Blade?

Toward the very end of questioning in the jury selection process in the bid splitting trial of City Manager Bill Galletly, defense attorney Jack Gordon, Jr. asked the jury pool,
"does anyone know Earl Shero or Karl Blade?"

The Observer spent two hours this week with Karl Blade, Miami businessman and Monkey Island resident, seeking answers. Blade is owner of Newell Coach, Inc. of Miami, builder of custom motor coaches. To say these are "deluxe coaches" is an understatement.
Average selling price is $1.2 million each, and worth every penny, owners say. The company builds only 44 coaches a year and waiting time for delivery is on average a year and a half. Equipped with a 625 HP diesel engine, coaches are custom built from the ground up, with 90 different options.
One owner for example, requested, and got, water buffalo hide on the sofa to accommodate two large dogs that traveled along. The hide was so tough even the dogs couldn't tear it.

Blade is a no-nonsense businessman who moved to Miami in 1979 when he purchased the company from L. K. Newell, who founded the company in 1969. In 1991 Blade moved to Monkey Island where he later built a spacious waterfront home in 2003.

So why the question from Gordon?

Some people in Grove have stated that Blade has close affiliations with District Attorney Eddie Wyant and that Blade pushed Wyant to file charges against Galletly in the bid splitting case, to get even for Galletly's treatment of Frank Hallacy, former owner of Cedar Oaks, which was the delivery site of some 900 loads of dirt gleaned from Grove Airport property in 2003.
And, bid splitting charges against Galletly were filed just a few days after the city shut down construction on Phase III at Cedar Oaks, due to what the city said was soil that would not compact per code.
Several weeks later an engineer hired by Cedar Oaks approved the soil, but then the project was shut down by GRDA for lack of a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.
The project is still shut down today.

Blade says he is a friend of Hallacy, who bought a Newell motor coach some time ago, and who has since sold Cedar Oaks and retired to Arizona. Blade says he also supports District Attorney Eddie Wyant and contributed to his campaign for election.

But that's as far as the dots connect, Blade says.
"I did not know about a bid splitting charge from the District Attorney's office until I read it in the newspaper," he says.

Blade says he became a strong supporter of Wyant as a result of Wyant's handling of the Monkey Island Development Authority/Paul Staten case several years ago.
"Wyant was not afraid to take on the political machine and get to the bottom and help resolve the issues," Blade says. He adds that he was never part of the group supporting former state senator Rick Littlefield for the city manager's job, stating that he felt the job should go to someone with actual experience managing a city.

Blade finds the current partisanship in Grove "overwhelming."
"The supporters and detractors are too emotional. The issues should be sorted out on a factual level. What's wrong with running the city, with everyone trying to get along?" he asks.