Welding inspector says he won't take his kids to new Marlins stadium due to safety concerns

Jose's hammie minder best check out Marlins stadium for potholes.

• 12/14/11, "Marlins stadium inspector: "I won't take my kids to that place"," Field of Schemes, Neil deMause

"As if a parking garage tax controversy, an SEC probe, and crimes against typography weren't enough, a former welding inspector at their new stadium says he won't go to there because he's afraid it'll fall down:

What [Roy] Fastabend said he found shocked him.

Engineering specifications ignored. Contractors cutting corners to save time and money. He even caught a fellow inspector falsifying records and signing off on welds he never examined.

"If people knew what was going on there or how they did things, I mean, I won't go to that stadium, I won't take my kids to that place," Fastabend told CBS4's Jim DeFede in an exclusive interview. "Sadly, it looks beautiful but there are questions."

Marlins execs say that the inspector caught faking records was fired, and the team has now belatedly begun reinspecting all the welds to be sure they're legit. So with any luck, this will pass like the New York Yankees' crumbling concrete controversy, and the only catastrophic failure in Miami in coming years

• will be Jose Reyes' hamstrings."

12/13/11, "Roy Fastabend has been a welder for 35 years and a certified inspector for the last fifteen. It was his job to make sure the columns and beams connected to the retractable roof at the Marlins Stadium were constructed and welded correctly."

• 12/13/11, "Whistleblower: Marlins Stadium Contractors Cut Corners," miami.cbslocal.com

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