Making a difference

Mindful Metropolis

Dr. Jane Goodall talks about staying focused on her mission, breaking down global barriers and her institute's Roots & Shoots program

Twenty-four years ago Dr. Jane Goodall had an epiphany. The animal rights and environmental activist best known for her study of chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania was attending a conference here in Chicago when she realized that the habitats of her beloved friends were being destroyed, not just in Tanzania but across Africa — in order to serve the commercial bushmeat trade and to satisfy the growing human population. The chimpanzee population was plummeting. “I couldn’t go back to that old, beautiful wonderful life,” says Dr. Goodall. “Instead, I took to the road, and used my voice, to raise awareness about the threats facing chimpanzees, their habitat, and, ultimately, our world.”

Since then, the Jane Goodall Institute has become a global nonprofit that empowers people everywhere to make a difference for the environment and all living things. Goodall’s “Roots & Shoots” program encourages tens of thousands of youth in almost 100 countries to identify problems in their communities and take action. The Great Lakes Regional Office of Roots & Shoots is here in Chicago, and will hold several Peace Day events downtown Sept. 16-18. Goodall visited the Windy City in May, and granted us this interview via email.

Dr. Goodall, thank you for granting this interview to Mindful Metropolis, and thank you for visiting Chicago in May. These days find you traveling for most of the year. Amidst a sea of airports and hotel rooms, how do you remain focused on your mission?

One of the advantages of all the travel I do is the amazing people I meet. They help keep me inspired, particularly the young people who are so passionate about making a difference in the world.

You appeared on May 5 at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, sponsored by Milwaukee-based Rishi Tea, which unveiled its Masala Chai — an organic and Fair Trade-certified™ tea concentrate, some of whose proceeds benefit your Institute. How can ethical corporations team up with the Jane Goodall Institute to protect animals and the environment?

Despite trying times, consumers are more eager than ever to do their part for the planet by shopping “green.” Charitable organizations like the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) are trying to further this consumer trend by increasingly recognizing manufacturers that have shown a commitment to doing business in an environmentally and socially responsible way.

In 2007, JGI created the “Good for All” brand to recognize companies and environmentally conscious products that are making the effort to use sustainable processes and socially responsible practices. I am pleased that so many eco-friendly companies have come to the table with innovative ideas and products that are consistent with JGI’s vision and values. A portion of the proceeds from “Good for All” products help support JGI’s efforts including chimpanzee protection and community-centered conservation in Africa, as well as Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, JGI’s global environmental and humanitarian youth program for young people from preschool through college.

Together, we can truly encourage consumers to make positive changes in their everyday lives that will help the environment and build a more sustainable future.

Are such collaborative partnerships with for-profit companies a new front in the campaign to protect the environment?

While there are still a number of challenges to overcome, many companies are beginning to change. There’s no question that many companies are trying to help people in the countries where they’re operating. They are trying to improve standards of living and help children get educated. There are people who really, really care. And I think more heads of corporations are beginning to feel that way, whether they’ve seen the writing on the wall or looked into the eyes of their grandchildren. Whatever it is, I think more and more are beginning to understand that we’re not in this world just to grow and take. We’re in this world to help and to save something for our future generations.

Public companies can only act in a socially and environmentally responsible way, that is, make decisions, with their shareholders’ approval. Pressure from the public can also encourage a company to change their practices. So again, it comes back to us. The company will be driven by the people who buy the products. So our purchasing decisions affect our environment on a daily basis.

We hear talk these days of yesterday’s global barriers being broken down — especially among today’s youth — thanks to the Internet, travel and trade. How can such cross-cultural movement help us protect the environment?

Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots is breaking-down the barriers we build between people of different countries, religions and cultures. We now have programs for preschool right through university. It’s even appearing in prisons and among senior citizens. It’s also being embraced by staff at various companies. It’s what gives me hope, and what gives me energy to carry on. The shinning eyes: “Dr. Jane, we want to show you what we’ve done to make the world a better place. We want to tell you what we’re doing to make the world a better place and what we plan to do.”

I hope that one of the achievements in the next quarter century is that more and more people around the world will understand that there are actions that each one of us can take to make a difference. This will happen through the Internet, word of mouth and through the development of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots and other programs coming together to create this critical mass of youth with different values. But if we don’t get there, then during the next quarter of a century we will see the world deteriorating, so it is up to every one of us to become involved locally and to take steps to change the way that we live on this planet.

How has individual involvement in the environmental movement changed since you were a child? These days, what attracts young activists? Is it exposure to the natural world?

The Internet has broken down a number of barriers for the environmental movement since I was a child. People from all over the world can learn about different environmental issues. They can share their thoughts, organize, and collaborate with each other to overcome the threats facing the planet and its well being. For example, members of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots use the website (www.rootsandshoots.org) and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to exchange ideas and share success stories in addition to traditional newsletters and word of mouth.

At the Nature Museum, you also told us, “If I’d imagined what I’d be doing today, when I was out in the forest, I think I would have gone deeper and deeper into the forest and never emerged, but it was thrust upon me. So I went in as a scientist and I came out an activist.” Was there a particular moment when you realized what your calling was? Would you change anything about the path you’ve taken?

It actually all began in 1986. You know, in the beginning of the year, I was in a dream world. I was out there with these amazing chimpanzees. I was in the forests I dreamed about as a child. I was doing some writing and a little bit of teaching once a year. And then I attended a conference in Chicago organized by my good friend Dr. Paul Heltne that brought together people who were studying chimpanzees across Africa and a few who were working with captive chimps, non-invasively. We were together for four days and we had one session on conservation.

It was so shocking to see right across the chimpanzees’ range in Africa, forests were being destroyed, human populations were rapidly growing, the commercial bushmeat trade, the commercial hunting of wild animals for food, was beginning and chimpanzees were increasingly being caught in snares. The chimpanzee population was plummeting. When I left the conference, I couldn’t go back to that old, beautiful wonderful life. Instead, I took to the road, and used my voice, to raise awareness about the threats facing chimpanzees, their habitat, and, ultimately, our world.

You’ve been a hero and an idol to countless people throughout the world. But who are your heroes or idols? Is there anyone, in particular, with whom you’d love to have lunch?

My mother and my grandmother were certainly inspirational. Muhammad Yunus, who founded Grameen Bank with its amazing microcredit program that has done so much to change the lives for the poorest of the poor, is also one of my all-time heroes.

What advice do you have for budding young environmental activists today? And what are the most important current causes in which they should get involved? Climate change? Animal rights?

I would say never to give up and to get involved. We need to step up to the challenge now. There are so many opportunities for people to step up in a positive, lasting and meaningful way — to think globally and live locally. I would encourage young people to get involved in Roots & Shoots, identify the issues that concern them, whether in their own backyard or across the globe, and take action to make a difference for people, animals and the environment we all share.

The Great Lakes Regional Office of your Roots & Shoots program is located in Chicago. Tell us about Roots & Shoots and how it relates to the work for which you are most known — researching and protecting chimpanzees.

When I was in Gombe I was just concerned with learning about the behavior of one group of chimps. Then I realized that chimps across Africa were becoming extinct and so I traveled around Africa and talked about conservation. It was not long after that I realized how many of the problems in Africa are due and left over from colonialism and the continued exploitation of Africa's resources. While travelling in Europe, Asia and North America, I realized how many young people had lost hope, which led me to establish a global program for young people, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, which is now in more than 120 countries. Roots & Shoots involves young people from preschool right through university.

Roots & Shoots’ main message is that that every one of us makes an impact on the world every day. It's helping individuals to understand that though they may feel their small actions don't make a difference, it's not just them. Cumulatively, our small decisions, choices and actions, make a very big difference.

Roots & Shoots is youth driven. The members get together with their peers, teachers, and/or family members to talk about the problems around them. They then choose three projects that they feel would make things better: one for people, one for animals and one for the environment.

Roots & Shoots is working. We are changing lives on a daily basis. Young people are empowered to want to make a difference in their world. I think this is why it's growing so rapidly.

How often do you make it back to Gombe National Park in Tanzania, where you first arrived in 1960 to study the chimpanzee communities 50 years ago this year? What significance does that setting hold for you?

I return twice a year, not for very long though, just long enough to replenish my spirit as it is refuge for me. Most of my old chimp friends are gone. The very original ones have all gone. Now, a research team is following and learning about the great-grandchildren of the chimps that I originally studied.

What’s next for the Jane Goodall Institute? Are any new ventures in the works?

JGI is a global organization. We are planning to build an endowment that will enable us to secure the future for the Gombe research and the Institute’s core programs. It will provide security for our sanctuaries for orphaned chimpanzees whose mothers have been killed for the illegal commercial bushmeat trade, and to help improve the welfare of captive primates. And, it will give Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program a legacy foundation.

Are you reading anything good right now? Any favorite foods?

At the moment, I am proofreading Dale Peterson's new book The Moral Lives of Animals, which will be published in the United States by Bloomsbury in the late spring of 2011. Dale is the author of my biography, Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man.

Regarding favorite foods, I love good dark chocolate, organic cheese and well-cooked vegetables (beans, spinach, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli etc.)"

Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail promotes access and safety

Glen Arbor Sun

Over the years, Bob Sutherland has taken his mother on countless walks along the quiet, rustic trail near the base of Alligator Hill, between Glen Arbor and Glen Haven. The president of Cherry Republic underwent a change of heart before he realized that this path should be turned into a multi-use trail and shared with bikers, hikers, rollerbladers and wheelchairs — for the greater good, he says. Cherry Republic has been a major funder of the push to build the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail — a 27-mile multi-use trail planned within the National Lakeshore, from the Leelanau-Benzie county line to north of Port Oneida.

Anderson’s Market owner Brad Anderson spends much of the school year in Traverse City, where he and his three kids enjoy the Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation (TART) bike trail between Suttons Bay and Acme, and in particular, “the connection that family biking brings to our lives.” But in the summer, when Anderson brings the family’s bikes to Glen Arbor, “they lay dormant as I rediscover the hazards of navigating the state highways in and around the (Sleeping Bear Dunes National) Lakeshore.”

Tom Reay, owner of Trattoria Funistrada in Burdickville, says he’s been advocating for a bike trail within the Lakeshore for over a decade — especially during the days when the Park’s attitude toward the concept was lukewarm at best. Reay laments how many tourists come to our region with bike racks on their vehicles but find nowhere — other than the edges of state highways, or rugged two-tracks — to use their two-wheelers, despite the fact that the Lakeshore’s 1976 mission statement mentions trails for biking (and in those days, mountain bikes weren’t yet mass produced).

Too many visitors still experience the Lakeshore from within an automobile and spend minimal time interacting with its wonders while hiking, swimming or biking. Reay says that the majority of tourists never stray more than 100 feet from their cars. Matt Wiesen, owner of Crystal River Outfitters (which also rents and services bikes), believes that the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail “will allow us to promote safe, family-oriented recreational opportunities within the National Park’s boundaries and showcase its beauty from within and not just from a passing car.”

For 25 years Miller Hill resident Sandy Miller (Hall of Fame retired Glen Lake basketball coach Don Miller is her husband) has biked from her house to Sugar Loaf, or into Glen Arbor and Glen Haven on M-22 and M-109. During that quarter century she’s seen this area bloom into a tourism mecca, and she’s seen automobile traffic increase and cars grow bigger and wider while pulling monstrous boats behind them. Driver distractions have increased accordingly (children in the backseat, maps, cell phones). In short, the number of people who want to enjoy the outdoors near Glen Arbor has surged, but the available roadways have not. Miller has experienced and witnessed numerous “near misses” between bikers and distracted drivers.

The Park’s Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich shakes his head at the irony of seeing children on bikes at the D.H. Day campground on M-109 doing circles in the gravel, because their parents don’t feel that the stretch of Harbor Highway between Glen Haven and Glen Arbor is safe enough for amateur bikers. Cars whizz by (often blinded, if they’re heading east during sunrise or west during sunset). As Sandy Miller says, “just like with coloring books, little kids aren’t always able to stay within the small lines on the roadside.” As a result, entire families often drive from the campground to the Dune Climb, or the mile to Anderson’s Market, to buy a single grocery item, when they could have easily biked that short distance.

Sutherland, Anderson, Reay, Wiesen and Miller are all proponents of the planned Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and active on its fundraising committee, which is a joint effort between local citizens and Traverse City-based TART Trails. The Park supports the trail on its land but will not finance its development or construction. In order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and thus receive matching funds, the majority of the trail will be paved and 10 feet wide, with two-foot buffers on either side.

The prospect of an asphalt trail running through the Park (and the Alligator Hill/M-109 stretch in particular) has generated passionate opposition from some locals: see “To pave or not to pave the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail?” in our July 15 edition, and numerous comments, both pro- and con- on our website, GlenArbor.com. “If the Park must put in a trail then let it be crushed limestone and only 5 feet wide,” opines Glen Arborite Paul May, whose perspective is shared by many.

But as we reported then, this project has been in development for nearly four years, support for the trail has reached a critical mass, and with the Park’s support and local business owners writing checks, it won’t be long before the Glen Arbor region can add yet another feather to its hat — as a safe and accessible bicycle destination for the entire family, amateur and experienced riders alike.

“I strongly believe that the Lakeshore is a family destination, particularly a young family destination,” says Brad Anderson. “Creating new opportunities for families to enjoy the Park will create special memories and timeless connections to the land. Families will use these 27 miles of trail to discover places they never would have without it.”

Sandy Miller says that she was initially skeptical about the idea of an asphalt trail in the woods (where a natural footpath had existed before), but that now she supports a trail and surface that will permit the broadest range of use. For Miller, two tenants trump all others: access and safety.

“We have become a destination for those interested in all manners of outdoor activities. I believe that we have an obligation and responsibility to provide safe access for those activities.”

Dining on the deck at the Glen Lake Manor

Glen Arbor Sun

Ah, what better way to celebrate an August early evening than with summer fresh ingredients — both on my plate and in my glass — and a view of the shifting light over Little Glen. At the Manor on Glen Lake, you can begin your dining affair with a fresh bruschetta appetizer (tomato basil, garlic, onion and balsamic vinegar on bread) and a minty mojito, and have your view too. It’s honestly difficult to decide which of the three are more deserving of your full attention.

That’s the biggest dilemma facing patrons of Scott Lee Grant’s cuisine. So yes, things could be much worse.

Grant, a graduate of the Culinary Arts Institute of Seattle and native of Clare, Mich., joined the Manor in early July after seeing an advertisement for an executive chef position posted by owner Nancy Wright. Grant and his fiance Tammy were tired of the rat-race in Port Huron, Mich. (they occasionally heard gun shots): he visited the Manor in late June, Wright hired him on the spot, and he stuck around to work Sunday brunch the next day. The couple’s move out of the city and up north has been a breath of fresh air — other than when their moving truck broke down in Flint for an entire day.

“The area sold me on this job,” says Grant, who just turned 50 years old. “Tammy and I love it up here. My four brothers and I grew up in Clare, and we’d come up here as kids to visit the Dunes and Lake Michigan.”

Grant took one look at the Manor’s deck, and its dazzling views of Little Glen Lake across M-22, and came up with the idea for “Chef on the Deck.” Every Saturday evening you can dine on the deck and interact with the friendly former army nurse, who dresses in a telltale towering chef’s hat and sports an American flag on the right breast of his coat. While getting his executive certification at culinary school eight years ago, Grant got to work with the 1986 American Olympic Prep team. The experience was unforgettable, and the patriotism stuck with him.

The Saturday menu features Jack Daniels Tenderloin with Mushroom Demi sauce, a twice-baked potato, vegetables, and for dessert, “Cherry Jubilee” or Banana foster, all for $30. The Manor also serves a “light fare,” grilled sandwiches and burgers or appetizers for $9-15. And an early-bird special between 4-6 p.m. features Parmesan-crusted whitefish, broasted chicken or glazed salmon.

My wife Sarah and I dined at the Manor in mid-July, and we were ravenously hungry, following several hours of standup paddle boarding at Empire beach. We kicked things off with bruschetta and crab cakes, served with a mild Thai coconut curry sauce. As with Nancy Wright’s past restaurants (remember Le Bear?) warm bread rolls and salads with dried cherries topped with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing followed the appetizers. Lemon sorbet arrived as a taste bud cleanser before our main entrees, which were Parmesan-crusted whitefish and a broasted chicken dinner, each served with asparagus and a twice-baked potato.

Chef Grant has logged his share of miles in recent years. He’s worked at restaurants in Onekema, Bay City, Grand Rapids, an upscale retirement home in Lansing, and briefly ran his own joint in Port Huron, before meeting Nancy. Grant hopes that the 104-year-old Manor is his last stop for a while. Once the summer fades and the tourists go home, he looks forward to spending his free time hunting and fishing, and planning his wedding with Tammy.

He’s also excited about the changes that could be in store for the historic building. Wright hopes to build a tavern in the east room and perhaps convert the rooms upstairs into shops. Grant’s expansion plans for the Manor include hosting picnics, weddings and private parties on the deck. And if boaters on the Glen Lakes prefer to call in their order and eat his culinary creations out on the water, the Manor will deliver your meal to the dock on Little Glen.

After all, a good meal deserves an equal view.

The Manor on Glen Lake is open 7 days a week, serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner from 5-9 p.m., and Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Early Bird specials are 4-6 p.m. daily. For more information call (231) 334-0150.

Dunegrass focuses local, with a little Big Easy

Glen Arbor Sun

Now that Dunegrass organizer Ryan Lake has the 2009 rebirth of the festival under his belt, he can focus on bringing harmony to the popular annual northern Michigan music event, which celebrates its 18th year this August. To Lake, that means trimming the number of bands, so that festival-revelers can hear them perform more than once, and above all, emphasizing Michigan artists.

Ninety percent of the 32 bands scheduled to play at Dunegrass 2010 — August 6-8 at the Empire Eagles’ property on M-72 east of Empire — hail from the mitten state, says Lake. The local performers include Steppin’ In It, Luke Winslow-King, Susan Fawcett and Michael Beauchamp, who belong to the Earthworks Music collective and are as familiar to local folk aficionados as beaches and cherry pie.

But Dunegrass also supports a smooth musical connection between New Orleans and northern Michigan. Lake once lived in the Big Easy (he spent the winter in nearby Lake Ann, and has camped on the Dunegrass land all summer, in preparation for the festival); Winslow-King calls the Bayou home after honing his skills at the Interlochen Art’s Academy, and this year’s festival will once again import a famous act from America’s first musical mecca — following Porter Battisse Stoltz’s show last year that nearly brought down the roof.

Big Sam’s Funky Nation will headline Friday night at midnight. HBO viewers will recognize trombonist and bandleader “Big Sam” Williams from “The Wire” producer David Simon’s new hit miniseries, “Treme”, about life in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Williams has toured with everyone from James Brown to Dave Matthews.

Lake is also stoked to have Greensky Bluegrass on tap for Saturday at 9 p.m. Greensky may team up with Earthworks members Jen Sygit and Sam Corbin. And he’s curious to see what form local favorite Steppin’ In It takes when it plays with a big band, drums and bass. (Glen Arborites will remember Steppin’ In It from their acoustic acts at pastoral sites such as Thoreson Farm and at the Dune Climb.)

Even the musicians we think we already know could surprise us, explains Lake. “Everyone goes through phases where you do one thing and then morph into something totally different. If an artist isn’t creating, then they’re not an artist.”

Dunegrass 2010 will feature two alternating stages on the infield, in order to avoid delays between acts.

As always, the festival features many kid-friendly events, including arts and crafts and educational workshops on Saturday from noon until 6 p.m. Twister Joe will be there twisting balloons, and the food lineup will include Thai, barbecue and gyros, with a full coffee bar for those needing a pick-me-up. For the spiritually inclined, Rachael Davis will lead a Sunday morning gospel hour at 11 a.m.

Dunegrass is preparing for as many as 2,500 revelers this year. Tickets cost $74 for a weekend pass ($90 if you buy at the gate), $40 for a day pass, and $25 per vehicle if you’re camping. You can purchase tickets on the festival’s website until August 4 at DunegrassMusicFestival.org or buy them at Oryana or Old Town Coffee In Traverse City.

And if you see video cameras at the festival, smile and wave. Vic McCarty, a well-known local TV broadcaster, is reportedly making a documentary-style movie about Dunegrass. Also, we’ll post daily updates on our website GlenArbor.com from the festival. Once again, Dunegrass lives!

Candidate John Arens

Glen Arbor Sun

Avid readers of this newspaper who also frequent the Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company and have talked with John Arens, part owner of the Glen Arbor business, know that our politics don’t align. In fact, on some days our perspectives on current issues seem as far apart as the distance from here to Wisconsin. But rather than using that as an excuse to avoid meaningful discussion, for years (ever since I worked behind the counter as a barista) John and I have engaged each other in provocative banter, usually prodding, but always listening, and respectful of the other’s views. I’ve played revolutionary Bob Dylan tunes in his establishment, and he recently leant me Radical Son, the autobiography of David Horowitz, a one-time liberal turned conservative. I’ve promised Arens that I’ll read the book before the next ice age (or before global climate change melts the polar ice caps).

So when I learned that Arens was running in the Republican primary for state representative, I jumped at the opportunity to interview him, ask a few tough questions and publish his answers in the Glen Arbor Sun (they were long: read the full interview on our webpage, GlenArbor.com) For whether or not I agree with his politics (in particular, his doubts about public education and green energy potential make me shudder), he is an articulate and witty thinker whose words deserve a place in the local rag. Arens faces an uphill battle to defeat Onekema resident Ray Franz in the Aug. 3 primary before he would even have a chance at taking on Democrat Dan Scripps, who beat Franz handily, with 60 percent of the vote, in 2008 and currently serves Michigan’s 101st District. Arens hasn’t spent the money on publicity that Franz has (road signs around Leelanau County tout Franz as a “conservative Republican”). But that doesn’t mean that this underdog should be ruled out.

Glen Arbor Sun: You are a successful part owner of the Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company in Glen Arbor? Doesn’t that keep you busy? Why run for office?

John Arens: Why not? Its Glen Lake Fair Day today, and I can’t find a parking space here at the Coffee Shop. The closest one may well be in Lansing.

Seriously, Jacob, I think Government at all levels has run completely off the rails, and has breeched the well-constructed firewalls of the constitution. And I see a fresh breeze of New Federalism on the horizon, which will mean we better be ready to take advantage here in Michigan of our long-dormant sovereignty as it pops up.

As for being busy, The Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company has an amazing bunch of people that care a great deal about it, and I am only one of them. And, I fully expect to still be involved at the coffee place, even if the clouds part, the heavens are rent asunder, and I am elected. When this state was in its infancy, it was lead by folks that put down their plows for a season once the fields were harvested, went to Lansing, debated a bit, passed a law or two, and then went home. I think there is great wisdom in this approach, and Michigan would be much better served by such citizen-legislators.

Sun: If successful, name three objectives that you’ll seek to accomplish in Lansing.

Arens: One: reduce the size, scope and reach of state Government.

Unlike many erstwhile Republicans, I am not advocating “tax cuts” per se. I am talking about “government cuts”. And, I won’t cast these cuts simply in economic terms. There are moral components involved in respecting the dignity of grown-up, adult, Michiganders. Actually reducing the amount that the State harasses, torments and belittles its citizens would be an active admission that you as an individual, free-born, grown-up adult are perfectly capable of minding your own affairs, and those of your family and community, and that the instrumentalities of State Government should respect you for it.

This can be done a number of ways, through a number of methods: Legislatively, by executive order, or before the Bar. Or, a combination of all three. For example, in order to reduce the size and influence of the Government where it is a matter of “settled” issue or law before the courts, those in the Legislature should work hard to remove the standing of public advocacy groups that are not directly impacted and then re-file lawsuits as needed. We should as a matter of statute restore such legal pathways as “local nuisance law”, in order to attempt to short-circuit some of the authoritarian federal rulings, as well.

Two: Work with like-minded colleagues to create a totally new, creative, nimble framework for primary and secondary education.

You are either blind, or a fool, to not see that our current system of public education is a disaster, and that it needs to be ripped out, root, branch and leaf. The inequities in the foundational funding alone requires this, on top of the fiscal massacre we see at how much we spend for such middling results. And finally, we need to seriously address the horrible injustice of forcing parents to pay for a child’s education that oftentimes may actively countermand the educational priorities of those parents.

When the nation was founded, the framers rightly put the societal “informing institutions” beyond the reach and influence of government: freedom of assembly, religion, and of the press. At the time, there were no government schools, and the means of education were strictly functions of assembly and the church, so there was no need to explicitly spell out that freedom of education was inherently included in this calculation. Of course, the wheels fell off this approach when localities began taxing themselves to build schoolhouses, and the State metastasized itself inside the classroom.

This was acceptable for as long as the education kids received mirrored the wants and needs of the parents, and as long as the locality had paramount control over the operation of the Little Red School House. Obviously, this long ago ceased being true, and now the whole system needs to scrapped to achieve the basic goal: Teach kids in accordance with their parents’ means and wishes.

Three: Require home delivery of the Glen Arbor Sun state-wide. At $7 a copy.

‘Skidding. Seriously, though, if I can make substantive progress on these two things (reducing the size of State Government, and thoroughly reforming the means of primary and secondary education), then that is enough for any legislator’s plate.

Sun: Your opponent in the Republican primaries, Ray Franz, got into hot water during the 2008 election when he attacked Democratic opponent Dan Scripps (who won the election and currently holds the 101st state house seat) with a mailer that used homophobic language. What did Franz (who calls himself a “conservative Republican” on roadside billboards) do wrong in that campaign? And how is your campaign different?

Arens: I never saw the mailer to which you refer, although I did read excerpts of it, and quite a bit of the commentary about it, so I can’t definitively address its tone, if it was “homophobic”, or not. As I recall the incident, I think Candidate Franz was referring to a generous Democrat donor as a “homosexual activist”. I will say this: I am not in favor of revealing the sexual proclivities of any political donors, (aside from those who have been convicted of breaking the law) especially when the thought of the sexuality of most politicians is kind of creepy anyway.

Further, I would assume that those who donate to Democrats are, in fact, Democrats — or that they have a world-view that mirrors the choices of their endorsed candidates. If I remember correctly, the activist to whom Mr. Franz referred was Jon Stryker, who is well known in Michigan as a very wealthy, far-left supporter of Democrat issues and causes. Similarly, Betsy DeVos is a well-known wealthy, conservative donor, but I don’t recall anyone referring to her as a “heterosexual activist”. Neither seems particularly germane. Mr. Stryker’s personal choices are his own, and like everyone else, he alone is responsible for them. However, I find Styker’s political activity far more problematic than what he might (or might not) do with his clothes off. I found the whole kerfuffle to be quite odd, frankly. And I know it was a gigantic blunder on Candidate Franz’s part because Mr. Stryker’s personal affairs were so foreign to race at hand, as it remains today.

Mr. Franz’s mistake, I believe, is that at times he tends to engage his words before he engages his critical thought. For example, I have learned through the good offices of the Ludington Daily News that Mr. Franz is telling those that are interested, that I am no longer campaigning for the primary. This is odd, because I’ve seen Mr. Franz at a couple of recent candidate events, and he knows I am still an active candidate.

I am a thorough-going conservative, and I know that campaigning as such requires temperate, passionate, articulate argumentation, and ongoing appeals to reason. Throwing around intemperate, polarizing nonsense at critical times can be very hurtful to the constitutional, conservative cause (just as it clearly can be to the statist, liberal cause). There are certainly times to be loud and passionate and forceful. But this Franz mailer thing was oddly timed, and seemed genuinely weird.

This is unfortunate, because I’ve found Mr. Franz to be a perfectly nice man, and probably quite earnest in his beliefs. But, the constitutional movement needs thoughtful and rhetorically sound candidates, and I am not sanguine Mr. Franz completely fits the bill. I wish him the best.

Sun: Appealing to divisive social issues seems to be in the national Republican party’s playbook these days. Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? On which issues do you stand with the national Republican party, and where do you differ?

Arens: Well, perhaps you have a copy of that playbook. The Republicans have not sent me a copy.

I don’t know that I agree with the premise, Jacob. Some of my fellow citizens on the more liberal end of the spectrum should come to terms with the fact that these issues you reference which relate to family, traditional morality, societal culture and so forth, have deep and enduring meaning to many Americans, even more to them than, say, simple economic policy, light rail, or parking ordinances. Further, “divisiveness” can be in the eye of the beholder, as well. Some might term it “competitiveness”.

Having said this, though, the issues that relate directly to individual sovereignty and cultural mores are extremely deep, extremely personal, and thus should be treated with the utmost seriousness by both sides. Just as a societal liberal might view a buffoonish appearance of an right-wing evangelical pastor calling on God to strike down sinful living as (correctly) repulsive, it is equally offensive to see radical homosexuals dressed as nuns parading down Fifth Avenue. Caricature-like behavior begets caricature-like public policy and discourse.

Sun: In our conversations, you’ve said that you favor small government, one that’s non-intrusive, and perhaps sometimes invisible. What ought to be government’s primary functions, and what ought it to leave alone?

Arens: The primary functions of government are spelled out quite well in the Constitution, and the nub of that document is to protect the liberties and private property of free-born sovereign adults. These protection functions includes armies, patent laws, civilian police and courts, and the laws describing the intercourse of one state vis-a-vis another, and so forth. Beyond that, as James Madison wryly observed, I don’t see any indication in the constitution that provides for the absolute sheer comfortability of anyone — especially at the expense of someone else.

Sun: That said, some of the biggest problems facing the state, and the country, today, seem to lack solutions within the private sector or from the private citizenry. Malfeasance by giants such as BP and Massey Energy, and Washington’s recent moves (mostly under past administrations) to water down regulations of the behemoth oil and mining industries, led directly to recent environmental and human disasters in the Gulf of Mexico and West Virginia. The financial sector brought the 2008 recession upon us all with little or no government oversight to stop that from happening. And health care costs have risen to the point where they were completely unsustainable and forcing hard-working people into poverty. Isn’t good government part of the solution? Shouldn’t we favor good government over — or at least on equal footing with — corporations run amuck?

Arens: Thank goodness we got to the question mark here, Jacob!

The institutions of our federal and state governments have delivered our society to the point where we, as a people, now bear the burden of $65 Thousand Million Millions (-that’s “Trillions”) in unfunded public liabilities. In my view, this criminal failure means that that our Federal Government in particular has categorically surrendered all moral authority to regulate anything, from my toilet water to multi-national corporations, including BP. I think you would agree that any institution, public or private, that so thoroughly abuses its constituent citizens (be they employees, stockholders, or voters) financially, like the Government has, to the point that it compels, it forces, it enslaves them (and their off-spring for generations) to personally pay off and atone for its reckless behavior, should be punished to the utmost — rather than given further authority over the liberties of individuals.

And this goes to the basic understanding of “free” markets. Take your statement about the “unsustainability” of health-care costs: When the United States Government entered the health-care market in a significant manner in 1966, the average cost of delivering a baby was $265. It is now, 45 years later, over $10,000. In 1966, the average cost of a new television was also $265. Today, it is $415. The “raw materials” for both activities have not changed dramatically in the last half-century, to my knowledge (and I do have two sons, so I am at least familiar with that process, although I’ve never manufactured a television). In the intervening years, the price of the TV doubled, but the cost of having a baby has increased nearly 50 fold. What changed?

A simple market fact: When government steps in, as it did in 1966, it neither creates nor manufactures anything of added value, it only “shifts” existing resources, and creates market dislocation. Each “shift” costs more resources (in fact, this could be the economic version of the second law of thermodynamics relating to friction). Each dislocation requires “making up” the resources dislocated. At some point, the multipliers add up. A baby is still free of charge to create, just as it was in 1966, but the market dislocations created by government regulations and mandates have ballooned the cost of delivering it. Clearly, then, the fix to this isn’t more government. It is less dislocation of market forces by government.

The same is true for the financial crisis: It was a beast created by market dislocation by government. I personally hold extreme environmental regulation responsible for creating the spark that ignited the financial free-fall: By virtue of our inability to site and permit petroleum refineries in America for the last 25 years, owing to the byzantine and onerous rules for citing them created by the EPA, we had a market scarcity of refined petroleum in the fall of 2007. This caused a run on refined petroleum in the western world, which drove up the cost of unrefined product, which caused scarcity of both by the spring of 2008, and a run-up in the speculative futures price. This meant Joe Schmoe of Kokomo wound up paying $4 a gallon for gas, and all those other things that were once affordable for him (say, a 100% loan-to-value mortgage) were suddenly un-affordable. The sudden, cascading effect was stunning throughout the general economy at that point. If we had continued to have $1.29 per-gallon gasoline, as we did in 2007, there would have been no “financial crisis”. Pure and simple.

Jacob, I would be careful about throwing around the term “malfeasance”. That implies criminal premeditation on the part of BP. “Misfeasance”, perhaps. I am fairly sure they didn’t knowingly blow up one of their own wells, and kill 11 of their employees. But, I would also point out that the mere existence of BP is a creation of the federal leviathan: It’s incarnation here in America as a monstrous international entity cobbled out of the rump ends of the federally mandated break-up of Standard Oil (which was broken up into Amoco, Esso, Conoco, Exxon, etcetera). Since the end of the Rockefeller era, the oil industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in our nation, and, after the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon, I am not sure what this regulation has bought, and at what price.

The logical fallacy here is that the free market, when untrammeled, will run roughshod over individuals. Let’s accept that for argument’s sake. But, what of untrammeled government? Wouldn’t it trend toward a similar outcome? They are both human constructs, so the logical answer is, yes. While the market is not perfect, which I would never argue, it is clearly more perfect in that it must answer to the needs and whims of tens of millions of individuals, making tens of millions of individual decisions, versus government, which only coerces and forces people to its will.

As for the canard of “Good Government”: Government Governs — it doesn’t nurture. It can only coerce and impel, ultimately at the point of a law-enforcement gun. The sooner a voter comes to terms with this concrete fact, the sooner we will have “Just and Effective Government”.

Sun: Here at home, Michigan has been bleeding jobs for the better part of a decade, the auto industry has all but imploded, and there doesn’t seem to be any hope in sight. Many have posited that investing in the clean energy sector (wind, solar, hydro, and perhaps nuclear) is a way to bring manufacturing and skilled jobs back to Michigan. Where do you stand on this? What kinds of state government investments and initiatives would help create jobs here at home?

Arens: I stand on “cheap” energy. I don’t care if it comes from elderberry fumes, and some enterprising chap finds a way to market them. I also stand on extremely “abundant” energy. I also stand on “safe” energy, which all existing base-load power is, especially when placed on the overall economic balance.

But, “Green Energy” jobs, as such, are a myth. Spain, which has been “investing” (that is, coercing markets) in “Green” jobs for over a decade, has recently come to the conclusion that it is a giant sucking maw at the public treasury. For every $230,000 spent, only $38,000 was returned to the general economy in the form of a job, or what have you; and, as I say, this was after ten years. “Clean Energy” is an emotional euphemism, and has a whiff of propaganda, dependent on its verbal reverse for effectiveness: “Dirty Energy”. Nobody, of course, wants that.

But, our current market-driven system of energy delivery is already manifestly clean, especially when compared to the America of 70 or 100 years ago. Go to Mackinac Island on a hot, steamy July day for evidence of how “clean” our transportation is today, compared to how it was in the horse and buggy era. I especially enjoy trundling my wheeled luggage over the road apples. And, my mom and dad remember their childhoods in Lansing, when they had to get out and play in the new-fallen snow quickly, before it got covered with an ugly sheet of coal soot from all the neighborhood coal-burning furnaces. Nowadays, you flip a switch, the heat comes on, and the snow stays white.

There is a reason that Michigan grew from a backwater prairie outpost to world-class industrial power in roughly 80 years, between 1840 and 1920: Michigan was at the vanguard of utterly free-market mercantile capitalism. You see, Michigan had once experimented with giant Public Works in its very early years of statehood, and left a number of New York bondholders holding a very empty bag for a failed publicly-owned railroad system. After that Rube-Goldberg experiment of the late 1830s, Michigan was both unwilling and unable to float bonds for such things, which in their day, were the equivalent of Governor Granholm’s “Green Jobs” initiatives. Instead, Michigan chose the way of public frugality, and general liberty. As a result, the Fords, the Durants, the Kelloggs, the Dows, were free to experiment, put their sweat and capital at risk for little overhead burden, and they created an entire new civilization.

That could easily happen again if we made the political determination to remove regulatory obstacles, open lands and resources currently put off-limits by government’s arbitrary fiat, and remove the standing in court that crony capitalists and left-wing agitators alike enjoy.

Michigan is an amazing, amazing place. It’s people are some of the most sophisticated, hard-working, creative folks on the planet. Michigan should be the golden place, and the golden age, in which to live. All we need is the political will to make it happen.

Sun: Of course, tourism, and not auto manufacturing, is the name of the game here in Leelanau County. What should politicians in Lansing be doing to help folks up north?

Arens: Get the heck out of the way. For example, most of the beachfront hotels in Michigan would love to be, ‘er, “beachfront”. Instead, many of them are “reed-front” or “fen-front”, and the owners of the properties would jump at the chance to recharge their beachfronts with the beautiful sugar-sand that sits a couple of hundred feet out in the water, sitting at the bottom of the bay, or lake. Let them rebuild their beaches with it, as they could prior to about 1978. Let the sunbathers, and toddlers and swimmers enjoy real sand beaches. That’s what attracts tourists, not wilderness areas that only Park Rangers can enjoy.

Besides, the level of Lake Michigan will come back up anyway in the next 10 years, and all of the so-called “emerging wetlands” of the firth will again be submerged. Bank on it.

Also, the State and Local governments should re-align their taxing, permitting and citing requirements to more easily allow developers to take over distressed or unfinished projects, such as the condo projects in Manistee, or the Black Hole of Petoskey, and to partner alongside those that have real money to spend on such projects.

I will also point out that Michigan has lost a vast swath of 850,000 middle-management, or highly skilled labor jobs since 2007. Those people used to fill the hotels, buy the t-shirts, and play the putt-putt, but they’ve moved on. We can fix this, though. Remember: when Henry Ford went to build his Highland Park plant in 1904, which, along with his River Rouge project in the 1920s, went on to employ nearly 185,000 people, he had very few regulatory hoops he had to jump through, both at a local, and a state level. And Hamtramck and Dearborn exist because of it. We can create that kind of climate again in Michigan, if we are serious about jobs, and a liberty-based way of life; or, we can be mealy-mouthed about it, and watch while we wring our hankies over “wetland” protection, or whether or not we are disturbing the local dandelions.

Sun: Bringing things back to Glen Arbor, what’s the best coffee at the Roasters? And have you seen any interesting characters come through the cafe today?

Arens: Oh, man: a softball! I just had a cup of Guatemala that was so bright and spring-like that my tongue thought we were having a party. It depends, really, on what’s just been roasted.

But, as you know, we just lost one of the Most Interesting Characters that ever walked through the cafe (and who walked through it the first day we were open, by the way): Don Vavra. I still expect to see the old fellow come through the door, and ask for “brewed coffee”. Don was a great, great man — and he knew how to live life, that’s for sure. Life was a canvass to him, and he was the artist.

Sun: You live near Sugar Loaf resort. Got any good Liko Smith stories for us? And what’s the secret to getting the long shuttered ski resort open again?

Arens: Liko who?

Oh, yeah, him: “Mr. Smith Goes to Cedar”. I understand he was a boxer of some type. I knew the minute Mr. Smith said he was going to open the hotel “by July 4th” that he was, shall we say, “punch-drunk”. The last publicly revealed suitors (the Lutz’s, I think) of the resort back in 2006, it should be remembered, walked away once they discovered they couldn’t obtain a clear title to the place after two years of searching — and this Smith fellow is going to walk in, turn on the lights, and start leaving mints on the sun-bleached pillows? It sure seemed like a con-game to me.

All I can tell you is that it is a heartbreaking scene up at Sugar Loaf. The memories are trapped in the amber of about 1975 everywhere you look. For crying out loud, Sandy Miller was my ski instructor there, back when we were both many eons younger. Other than Boyne, it was the place to go in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. The hill itself is probably the second best in the Lower Peninsula. And the view is magnificent.

But, if you go there now, the box elder trees are reclaiming the slopes, the seats on the J-Bar have rotted off, and lay right beneath where they’ve fallen. The warming hut at the top of the hill is sliding down the hill. Windows and doors are broken out, or boarded over. The eaves are crumbling on the buildings, the swimming pools have cracked, and I wouldn’t get on one of the sclerotic lifts now unless all the moving parts and electrical service were replaced.

Other than Kate Wickstrom, or her secured interests, deciding that they can take a massive loss to unload the place to someone with aquifer-deep pockets, I don’t know what can be done at this point. And it sure looks like Remo will run to the darkest corner of Fiji to avoid taking a real loss.

Polselli paid what, $11 million for the place? And, as far as I can tell, Kate has what amounts to a glorified land contract for roughly the same amount. Five or six years ago, I think Kate could have opened the hotel and restaurant to at least get some revenue flowing, but now, after half a decade of abandonment, I don’t know.

The real problem is that it’s such a tangled mess of competing legal interests. Who actually holds the paper on the place? Is there fraud involved, known or unknown, to the signatories? Who is suing whom over what? If the resort stays wide open and unbarricaded long enough, some kid is going to wander onto the grounds in a drunken stupor, fall into one of the holes or through a window and get hurt, and then what? It certainly is an attractive menace, to say the least, to use a legal term. Of course, if the taxes don’t get paid over time, this will be a moot discussion anyway, the County and the taxpayers will own it. At which point, maybe the county could abate away the taxes, or create some sort of TIFA district there to entice a purchaser. But, it would be silly to even propose such a thing until they actually took possession of it, which could be a disaster, too.

It’s better in Burdickville

Glen Arbor Sun

“I would characterize Burdickville as the great big little community,” says Mary O’Neill, owner of the Laker Shakes Burdickville Market and, one day last week, the owner of a very sore right wrist, from scooping rock solid ice cream.

“Though we are, for the most part, rural and a very small community, we have a school, a church, a park, four thriving businesses, many thriving home-based businesses, a few farm stands and, of course, access to beautiful Glen Lake.”

O’Neill goes on to mention that Burdickville — the semi-autonomous community on the east end of Big Glen Lake — is home to a Pulitzer Prize winner (Taro Yamasaki), an award-winning restaurant (La Becasse) and a former Lieutenant Governor (Connie Binsfeld). “I would say that the nature of Burdickvillians is one of community and neighborliness. We take care of each other.”

Since acquiring Laker Shakes nearly two years ago from longtime icon Rich Hargreaves, O’Neill has offered the community humor at the direst of times (Remember her “Tent caterpillars, You Pick” sign out front during those icky May days?) and now music too. She and the Binsfeld brothers Greg and Mike got together last summer to jam (She and Steamboat, Col. resident Greg play guitar; Mike plays bass, and his wife Mindy accompanies on the harmonica), and now Laker Shakes boasts “Music Mondays” outside in the side garden, from 7-10 p.m., weather permitting.

“We welcome anyone to play instruments along with us,” invites O’Neill. Greg routinely sets up bongos, drums and a PA system. And people just stop by. They bring their music, and some offer a solo performance.

“People come to the stop to get ice cream, and they often hang around and listen. … An employee of mine has a rap band and threatens to show up.”

“We want real live professional musicians to show up,” jokes Greg Binsfeld. “Just make sure the audience has no rotten fruit to throw at us!”

Laker Shakes offers more than just good jokes these days — though no longer the insanely inexpensive milk shakes for which the destination was famous, particularly among Glen Lake students up the hill. The store’s interior is updated with soft hues. Quality beer and wine, lunch items, local food products and upscale snacks line the shelves, and cold ice cream fills the coolers — sometimes to the chagrin of O’Neill’s right wrist. The paintings on the wall were done by her brother John.

“I’m doing Gabe’s hotdogs from Maple City, Food for Thought jam from Honor, and we’ll soon get Michigan beer and Michigan-made potato chips,” promises O’Neill. “We’re in an evolutionary stage.”

Naturally, the presence of two world-class European restaurants in the neighborhood (La Becasse and Funistrada) were clear incentives to bring in local produce and high-quality foods to satisfy the local culinarians. O’Neill says that one day she’d like to have an outdoor farm stand here. To many beachgoers, families and bike riders, however, Laker Shakes is still the ice cream pit stop.

O’Neill moved to this neck of the woods from Denver when her parents passed on (and a job at Lockheed-Martin fell through). In 1980 her mother opened that restaurant across the street where Guillaume Hazael-Massieux now makes his famous hangar steak. La Becasse won best restaurant in Michigan in 1987 before she sold it to Peachy Rentenbach before the decade’s close. With the profits, O’Neill’s mom bought a cottage on Big Glen.

And now, in addition to scooping ice cream, jamming in the garden and striking fear into the tent caterpillars, O’Neill is the community scribe. She pens the weekly Burdickville column for the Leelanau Enterprise, the county’s paper of record.

“I approached them a year and a half ago and said, ‘There’s an Omena news, and a Glen Lake news, so why not do Burdickville too?’ To me the tone is that of a Garrison Keillor-like Lake Wobegon, with my own little twist. I like to be a little self-deprecating.”

O’Neill once made her living as a writer, at Detroit Monthly Magazine. She also worked at a dealership, doing advertising, television, radio and print ads.

“I write the column to bring attention to little Burdickville, which is often in the shadows of the Thriving Metropolis of Glen Arbor. We like to say ‘It’s Better in Burdickville’ and I like to highlight the quirky things that happen in life that have universal appeal but that are also specific to our little corner of the world.”

To pave or not to pave the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail?

Glen Arbor Sun

Some citizens prefer compact earth or crushed limestone to asphalt

With at least one fundraising meeting under the belt, and checks already committed by local private-sector philanthropists, the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail appears to be on a momentous course for success. According to Tom Ulrich, Deputy Superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (the local branch of the National Park Service), construction could begin as early as next year.

This multi-use, biker-oriented trail within the Lakeshore will run roughly parallel to state highways M-22 and M-109 near the Dune Climb, and will one day stretch from Manning Road, south of Empire on the Leelanau-Benzie county line, to the Lakeshore’s northeastern border beyond Port Oneida. It will increase the region’s visibility as a biker destination and almost certainly bring more visitors into the Park.

Traverse Area Recreation and Transport (TART), which heads the fundraising effort, envisions that, one day, two-wheelers will be able to pedal from Traverse City to Northport and around the perimeter of Leelanau County, clear to Frankfort and the existing Betsie Valley Trail. Around nearly every turn, this grand idea has been greeted with open arms.

But the trail’s specifics — 10 feet wide with two-foot buffers on either side — and a push by TART and the Lakeshore to pave its surfaces (as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act) has some local residents worried that the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail will be not a trail, but a mini highway through the National Park.

Of particular concern is Segment Five of the proposed trail, which would divert west of M-109 near the Dune Climb and follow an historic narrow gauge railroad toward Glen Haven before running south of 109 (Harbor Highway) toward Glen Arbor, at the base of Alligator Hill. Segment Five may be the first portion of the trail constructed.

The Glen Arbor Sun met with a trio of citizens last week who, though supporters of the trail, oppose the exclusive use of asphalt and believe that a 14-foot-wide, paved trail is incompatible with the aesthetics of the National Lakeshore. Cookie and Becky Thatcher and Nancy Mueller worry that our precious Park is ceding land to TART, and bowing to the regulations of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT, who would eventually install the asphalt), which they call “a highway service,” not a trail designer.

“The Park is giving TART free access to go in and build trails,” says Mueller. “This is a piece of land that went through national legislation to protect it. And yet TART is treating this like an extension of the Traverse City trail system. People come here to get away from pavement and sidewalks and typical suburban parks. Certain areas of our Park are not to be paved over.”

Mueller adds that Segment Five near Alligator Hill is zoned “recreation”. According to the Park’s General Management Plan, any such natural overall alterations must be designed to blend in with the rustic, natural landscape.

“I don’t believe that asphalt is rustic or unobtrusive. And yet this is the Park’s plan — a 14-foot, paved bicycle path.”

The width of the trail will require the removal of trees that would be unnecessary if it were more narrow, and rustic. Mueller fears that a wider trail means a straighter trail, and a faster trail. “When you take a two-lane and make it a four-lane road, people go a lot faster.”

Debates like these, between recreation and preservation, represent an age-old discussion within the National Park, says Tom Ulrich. We see these two camps square off every time the Lakeshore faces major decisions, be they a General Management Plan, parking lots at Glen Haven or North Bar Lake, or the scenic outlook at Pierce Stocking Drive.

“We always ask ourselves, ‘have we designed a trail that provides immense benefit without having a significant (environmental) impact?’” explains Ulrich. “The goal of this trail is to provide maximum utility for many users — hikers, rollerbladers, wheelchairs and both wide- and thin-tired bikes. The best way to do that is with a hard-surface trail.”

The Park’s Environmental Assessment revealed that pavement would have a minimal environmental impact on ecosystems such as those in Segment Five, which may also include a boardwalk over certain wetlands.

Cookie Thatcher believes that compact earth or crushed limestone would suffice for a trail surface that could still accommodate most bikes and non-motorized vehicles, and would prove more appealing to hikers who don’t favor pavement. She wants the Park to consider trying compact earth or crushed limestone first, for two or three years. If that doesn’t work, then pave it.

But Ulrich disagrees. Crushed limestone is not good for rainwater runoff, he says, whereas a paved surface would have a longer lifespan and serves a greater number of people. Ulrich has studied crushed limestone bike trails elsewhere in the United States, particularly one in Kansas, which, according to online commentary, hasn’t been kind on road bikes.

“Most narrow-tired bikers say they can’t ride there. They get too many flats. In fact, some former crushed limestone trails are redoing them. Earth trails are primarily used for mountain bikes.”

To Nancy Mueller, the Park and TART’s push for paved trails proves that the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is a bike trail first and a multi-use trail second.

Becky Thatcher wonders to what degree the trail’s private financing has forced the Park’s hand. TART heads the fundraising, several prominent local businessmen have already pledged their support, and the federal government has offered up to $5 million in matching funds. In short, none of the money required to build this trail will come from the Park’s coffers.

“Are they trying to cooperate so much with MDOT and TART that they’re forgetting their own citizens who use the Park?” Becky asks.

Cookie Thatcher and Mueller, both of whom are certified trail masters, favor a packed earth trail that can be maintained by volunteers. Cookie alludes to popular natural trails in both Missouri and Lake Tahoe, Nev., which are used by bikers, hikers, and animals from horses to donkeys. She favors investing in a $100,000 machine that carves and compacts dirt into a two-foot wide path.

Some of the natural trails in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Cookie says, have been around since the loggers, and the Native Americans before them, tamped down by feet and hooves. “Not one piece of equipment has ever been back there.”

In addition, Cookie worries that this trail through hilly country couldn’t possibly conform to the maximum 10-percent grade required for wheelchairs by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“There isn’t anybody in a wheelchair who could get up the hill between Empire and Glen Arbor. They’d have to add switchbacks, which would be 14-feet wide and paved. That might mean paving the whole hill!”

Becky Thatcher says she welcomes the Leelanau County-wide trail with open arms, but only if it’s done in the right manner. She proposes building a packed earth surface for Segment Five between Glen Arbor and Dune Climb — the first phase that will be launched.

“It would serve as an example to people of how to install a trail that’s sensitive to the environment, and it could be done by volunteers. We don’t just have to pave it because it’s convenient and gives us a bike path. Instead we can teach kids how to adapt to the land and conserve it.”

Stay tuned for more perspectives on the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail in future editions of the Glen Arbor Sun, including interviews with local business owners who are already writing checks, and inside looks at the pros and cons of similar trails elsewhere in the United States.

Wildflowers hopes to bloom

Glen Arbor Sun

Sitting on Donna Burgan’s desk at Wildflowers are detailed blueprints for how Glen Arbor’s lush garden destination hopes to expand. The plans include a restaurant to the north of the store, a couple picturesque ponds, a wine-tasting room and condominiums and new shops to the back. Wildflowers, located on M-22 just south of Glen Arbor’s main intersection, currently uses only a quarter of its land (a storage shed and abundant parking areas occupy the rest).

Imagine that: 75 percent of your commercial property going unused in crowded, lucrative Glen Arbor.

For two and a half years Burgan and her marketing guru Sue Woodward have brainstormed how to expand Wildflowers in a tasteful manner that wouldn’t detract from the popular floral destination, would provide Glen Arbor with services the town doesn’t currently enjoy, and would occupy more of the 320 feet that Burgan owns between M-22 and the back of her rectangular plot.

During that time, of course, the country has fallen into a painful economic recession that has affected both citizens’ pocketbooks and banks’ ability to lend money. Burgan and Woodward have amended their original plan and now hope to lure investors or sell parcels of the property, but above all, involve local residents in visualizing how Wildflowers ought to bloom.

“We’re sitting on valuable property and not using much of it,” says Woodward. “Small businesses like this have to grow, to satisfy customer demands and product demands.”

The women have worked with a local architect to devise a plan that would happen in three phases — though all details are speculative, depending on investor interest. Woodward imagines building a driveway along the property’s southern edge and four condominiums above ground-floor retail spaces to the east that overlook the gardens

“Who wouldn’t want to live five months a year above their business, within walking distance of downtown Glen Arbor?” asks Burgan, who says she’d like to retire in three or four years — after 30 years at Wildflowers.

The mockup also includes a winery tasting room in the northeast corner with tables and chairs out front (in an effort to lure “wine tourists” to Glen Arbor from eastern Leelanau County) and an ethnic-food restaurant where the business’ storage shed currently sits.

“We want to reach out to the community and invite people to bring ideas to us,” says Woodward. “What do they envision for the land? Could we form some sort of environmental partnership here in Glen Arbor that drives visitors and investors alike?”

Woodward would like to introduce a grey water system that irrigates plants with recycled wastewater. Burgan wants to maintain the destination’s ambience, but take conservation to the next level.

Wildflowers doesn’t intend to alter the popular gardens and store, nor will it sacrifice “YouJazz in the Garden,” which attracts both amateur and professional musicians to perform amidst the flora on Tuesday nights. Currently in its fourth year, YouJazz sometimes draws as many as 45 guests, from ages 10 to 70, and has witnessed as many as 11 musicians playing at one time.

Wildflowers is currently listed with Serbin Real Estate. Sue Woodward, Donna Burgan and realtor Ron Raymond welcome ideas, input and investors. Those interested in joining the discussion may post comments on our website, GlenArbor.com, or email Woodward at MichKaleid@aol.com.

Sugar Loaf deal dead?

Glen Arbor Sun


Kate Wickstrom goes public … Liko hides in Vegas … trail leads to Polselli

Kate Wickstrom has broken her silence. And she has spoken with a vengeance.

Wickstrom has effectively banned Eneliko Sean Smith from Sugar Loaf until he makes a legitimate, written offer to purchase the long-shuttered ski resort. Meanwhile, the mysterious West Coast boxer-turned-businessman is back in Las Vegas and may not return to northern Michigan unless a deal miraculously materalizes.

Sugar Loaf’s current hard-luck owner went public last month, following what she called an onslaught of mudslinging — both verbal and online — from Smith. Following a prolonged silence, Wickstrom began commenting in early May on Sugar Loaf-related forums on both Leelanau.com and on our website, GlenArbor.com, in order to defend herself, in particular from accusations that she says Smith made about her and her father on his blog, LikoSmith.com.

Wickstrom is an area native and graduate of Glen Lake High School who runs a substance abuse program in Manistee and lives on Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City. Her father Wally has been Sugar Loaf’s primary caretaker and maintenance man since the resort closed in 2000, and her mother, Betty, lives at the Maple Valley nursing home near Maple City. Both are nearly 80.

“The comments Sean was making on his blog set me off,” Wickstrom said. “I’m not going to let anyone paint me that way, and any attack on my dad really ticks me off. My Dad doesn’t need a bar named after him. He is an 80-year-old man who has worked manual labor all his life, and spends eight hours a day at the home with my mom.”

Kate and Wally agreed to an interview with the Glen Arbor Sun this past Wednesday evening at Myles Kimmerly Park near Maple City. As a girl’s peewee softball league played nearby, they described a very different narrative than the one that has appeared in Liko Smith’s blog posts this spring. And email correspondence this week between Smith and Wickstrom’s attorney, Traverse City-based Joe Quandt — to which she alluded during the interview — shed light on long-suspected Sugar Loaf-related ties between Smith and former owner, and convicted felon, Remo Polselli.

Wickstrom claims that after offering her a legitimate deal for Sugar Loaf on May 6 — and giving the impression that his finances were in order — Smith rescinded the offer and placed other chips on the table, which included pressuring Wickstrom to sign over the deed to the title, no questions asked, before he could prove that Florida-based TransCapital Bank would finance the acquisition, and that Wickstrom wouldn’t be left high and dry with mortgage payments.

Wickstrom alleges that as soon as she brought her lawyer, Joe Quandt, into the picture, Smith’s attitude changed dramatically.

“Sean sat there and called me stupid for involving my attorney,” Wickstrom attests. “We were asked to sign the deed by him. But I couldn’t just sign the deed without knowing that he was set up with the bank. My obvious concern was that if he had the deed and I still held the mortgage, he could salvage the property and I’d have nothing but the land and a building that had been emptied out.”

Smith reported on his blog that on May 5 he brought in a salvage crew to clean up the hotel and turn on the electricity and water, and offered Wickstrom half the salvage proceeds in cash. Smith also offered to name Sugar Loaf’s new future bar after her father Wally.

“My attorney contacted (TransCapital) bank’s attorney (Leonard Zedick), and they weren’t aware that Sean was doing that,” Wickstrom says. “My attorney was leery of me signing a deed, signing anything. My signature shouldn’t be on something without him having closed with the bank … or without Hanna and Remo releasing me from the mortgage.”

Surprising news emerged in February that Hanna Karcho Polselli was Sugar Loaf’s secret mortgage guarantor — unbeknownst to Wickstrom, she and Wally claim. In fact, Wally says they don’t even know what the Polsellis look like.

“Sean told me that Hanna is part Iranian, and here I thought she was a little blonde,” Kate joked.

Hanna Karcho and her husband Remo Polselli owned the resort from 1997 until 2000, before Wickstrom acquired it in 2005. Remo was sentenced to prison in 2003 for tax evasion, though unrelated to Sugar Loaf. Present business ties already link Liko Smith directly to the Polsellis, whom he admits he has known for years. Smith’s company, Hotel Management Advisors, shares the same Bloomfield Hills, Mich., phone number as Resort America, which is tied to the Polsellis.

Wickstrom told the Glen Arbor Sun that Smith has mentioned — in conversation and through emails with attorney Joe Quandt — that he already has a deal in place with Hanna Karcho. “(Smith) says that if I don’t do this, Hanna will foreclose on me, and it’s a matter of time before (he gets) it,” said Wickstrom, who added that Smith stated in an email, “I brokered the deal myself with Remo.”

Wickstrom also alluded to threats made by Liko Smith.

“In (a different) email that (Smith) sent to me, he said (that if I didn’t sign the deed) he’d make sure that Hanna would come after me, and after my property in Manistee, and come after my Dad. He mentioned that again in the email to Joe (Wednesday morning). To me that’s a threat to my Dad. You don’t do something like that to an 80-year-old man.”

“Sean is pretty unhappy now because things aren’t going his way.”

And yet the good-cop, bad-cop routine continues. Liko Smith was back out west this week, to celebrate his young wife Sarah’s birthday on June 8, he writes on his blog — though that was also the date for him to appear in court in Tahoe for restitution related to $200,000 in evaded taxes from a previous failed business venture with The Block hotels.

Early this week, Wickstrom says that she received the following text message from Smith (who may or may not return to Michigan this weekend):

“Please call me. I’ve worked out a deal with the bank for you that will close by Friday. I’m in Vegas. Please call me. This deal is from mortgage companies. They will release you along with Remo and Hanna, and you pick up a cashier’s check for $20,000 from their office in Troy by Friday. They will not pay your attorney’s fees. You sign the claim to the mortgage company and I buy it from them directly. This took two days to finalize. It is a confidential arrangement.”

The message left Wickstrom with more questions than answers.

“How can you go from having a deal here to a deal there?” she verbally expressed. “How many mortgage companies does (Smith) have? How can you have a mortgage company give you approval in two days? Who would put a deal together in two days?”

“It doesn’t make sense. If he has that much pull in the financial arena, he should just be able to sign a check.”

Wickstrom’s 80-year-old father Wally, who has maintained the grounds at Sugar Loaf, admits that he and his daughter were initially charmed by Liko Smith, and charmed by the notion of getting Sugar Loaf off their hands.

“He is very good at meeting someone and picking a soft spot,” said Wally. “He did that with (Kate), who has strong feelings for her parents. He said he wanted to name the bar after me. I didn’t care about that — there are plenty of Wally’s out there — but if he used my full name, I’d come after him.”

Kate and Wally both maintain that they hold no grudge against Smith, and that if he returns to the area with a legitimate deal, they’ll consider a sale.

“All he has to do is step up to the plate right now with a deal,” said Wally. “His original deal is legal. It’s a clean-cut deal. Sean just needs to hold up to his end of the bargain.”

Kate Wickstrom says she has spent close to $2 million on Sugar Loaf since buying it in 2005, including $750,000 prior to the purchase, and monthly interest payments.

“I’m not holding out for $2 million, not even for $1 million. I just want a little something in return to pay a few people: my attorney, my Dad, my accountant …”

When asked what went wrong with her plans for Sugar Loaf, Wickstrom responded that she was unable to open the resort after acquiring it in 2005, she says, because Ed Fleis and Brian Sculthorp, who own the septic drainage system, the golf course and property near the resort and ski hill, all but handcuffed her.

“I think they saw an opportunity with me. They terminated my agreement six weeks after I purchased the property. They wanted to purchase 450 of my 478 acres and leave the hotel and 25 acres on the other side of mountain. But the bank wouldn’t split the land. Instead, they wanted me to pay $8,000 for a toilet that I couldn’t flush. … I’ve spent $100,000 just in legal fees. They’ve lost twice in court, and they’re trying another appeal.”

If not to Liko Smith, will Kate Wickstrom ever sell Sugar Loaf?

“We want to sell the property to someone who is going to take care of Leelanau County and his residents.”

“It’s gonna take honesty,” Wally chimed in. “Honesty and hard work, and everybody working together, instead of coming into the project and asking ‘What’s in it for me?’”

Time running out on Sugar Loaf

Glen Arbor Sun

Liko Smith sets June 1 deadline for deal with Kate Wickstrom: Red Ginger fundraiser a flop

The window for the mysterious West Coast businessman Liko Smith to acquire and re-open the Sugar Loaf Resort and ski hill appears to be closing — and fast. Smith wrote on his blog’s “Weekly Update” (www.likosmith.com/friends.html) three days ago, and confirmed during a phone conversation yesterday that June 1 — next Tuesday — may be the date when he decides to pack up and leave Leelanau County for good.

“I’m losing my window here,” Smith said, while driving downstate. “I’m gonna take a look at my projects in Las Vegas the first week of June. Because if (Kate Wickstrom) doesn’t sign by June 1, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve got a lot of stuff coming in on Wednesday. … There are so many deals and opportunities in Vegas. I can spend the next year playing softball with my kid and still make a decent living.”

Smith’s bid to acquire the hotel and ski hill from Wickstrom — and the Sugar Loaf golf course, sewage treatment plant and accompanying real estate from businessmen Ed Fleis and Brian Sculthorp — has encountered a series of snafus this month. The 39-year-old former Samoan boxer now says that he has scaled back his plans and only intends to buy from Wickstrom.

As Smith puts it, Fleis and Sculthorp have stonewalled him with strategies similar to their negotiations, and ultimate rejections of deals, with previous bidders for Sugar Loaf. ‘We’ve done this two times before with two other buyers, we’ll keep doing it until we get paid,’ Smith quoted them as saying. In his lengthy blog post (it felt like reading “War and Peace”) Smith also narrates how Fleis, Sculthorp and Wickstrom have played financial and legal hardball against each other for the past decade, which has doomed Sugar Loaf’s chances of reopening.

A deal with Wickstrom was supposed to be inked on May 5, but that date has come and gone. Since then, Smith says, Wickstrom has made numerous additional demands of him, resulting in what he calls “a Mexican standoff.” On May 5, Smith says he brought in a salvage crew to clean up the hotel and turn on the electricity and water, but Wickstrom refused to sign the deed because “she believed she was not going to make any money on the sale.” The crew was turned away.

Smith says that he offered Wickstrom half the salvage proceeds in cash ($50,000 according to his estimates), a 10-percent share in Sugar Loaf (which he valued at $10 million), lifetime employment as an onsite maintenance man for her father Wally, and that he would rename the “Top of the Loaf” bar “Wally’s”. Through her attorney, Wickstrom has asked Smith for $200,000, and $3,200 to reimburse her father Wally to cover gas and expenses for seven visits he made to the resort.

In short, Wickstrom and Smith have engaged in a standoff for most of this month.

Smith says that recent phone calls with former Sugar Loaf owners John Sills and Remo Polselli (a longtime business associate of Smith’s, and convicted felon for tax evasion) encouraged him not to give up on the deal. “You have to see it as a ski resort first and a hotel second, and you have to market heavily to bring in the business, but re-use the exiting lifts, and you’ll see it come back,” Smith quoted Sills … though he admitted during our phone conversation that the equipment is probably worthless and may not even be licensed in October.

But for the first time this week, Smith’s words, both in person and online, have adopted an air of defeatism — that the deal might not get done, and that he might not be a Leelanau County resident for long. “Unless Sugar Loaf is opened this year; it will most likely not open for another 10 years and maybe never again,” he wrote on his blog.

Liko Smith and his young wife Sarah (they say they first learned of Sugar Loaf while on a honeymoon in northern Michigan in March) recently moved into a townhouse next to the vacant resort, which describe as a ghost town:

“Every night, I see a closed-down hotel and ski resort 100 yards from my front door. I am forced to experience it every night. … It is sad at best, and absolutely heartbreaking at worst. … The town of Cedar is a ghost town in the evenings. I walk the town of Cedar every day and in the evenings I sit at the Tavern and skull a few beers. Until you’ve done this, you can’t see the gravity of the situation.”

The couple describes their living situation at the townhouse as reminiscent of that of a developing country: “Kate Wickstrom has made no repairs to the water well that also feeds the town homes for over six years,” Smith writes. “So there is sand seepage into the water system and it is in dire need of repair and upgrade. When we turn the water on here, it is white with sand and we have to boil it out of the water in order to make soup or use the water for pasta.”

Red Ginger flop

But when it comes to ugly standoffs after reneging on financial agreements, Wickstrom, Fleis and Sculthorp are not alone. Liko Smith held a fundraiser on April 30 at Red Ginger, a restaurant next to the State Theatre in downtown Traverse City, which he hoped 100 potential investors would attend and fork over $100 per person to hear “his vision” for Sugar Loaf.

By all accounts, the Quad Fund mixer in the restaurant’s Lotus Room was a flop. Smith estimates that 40 people attended: Red Ginger puts the tally at closer to 20.

A Red Ginger representative, who insisted on remaining anonymous, said that Smith initially sought to rent out the entire restaurant (on a busy Friday night) and take control of it — this after using Red Ginger’s logo on his blog and invitations, which made it look as if the restaurant was backing Liko Smith (a charge it categorically denies).

Instead, Red Ginger suggested its banquet facilities upstairs, for a renting price of $1,500. The restaurant required a deposit before the event, but according to the representative, Smith said that, at the time, he had no cash, no checkbook, no credit card, and that he had just lost his debit card.

“I told him I’d never done this before where I haven’t taken someone’s money, but I asked him to sign the contract and guarantee me that you’re good for that minimum amount,” said the representative.

Attendance at the fundraiser was a disappointment, Smith refused afterwards to pay the $1,500, a near shouting match ensued (alleges Red Ginger), and Smith was ultimately banned from the restaurant. Red Ginger ultimately reclaimed over half of that amount — in part because it collected the credit card charges from people paying $100 at the door.

The Red Ginger representative said he was baffled by Smith’s initial refusal to pay a deposit. “Liko, you told me you own hotels,” the representative said. “So this idea of signing a contract with a minimum amount due is nothing new to you, right?”

During a phone interview yesterday, Smith said that Red Ginger didn’t provide the food service that it had promised. “There were a bunch of California rolls, and not many people drinking,” he said. “It was the cheapest [crap] they could put out. … It was nowhere near $500 in food value. … They said they’d provide three different types of appetizers, drinks, and that would guarantee 100 people.”

“They told me ‘You’re talking a $10 million deal (for Sugar Loaf), but you can’t even pay us $1,500?’ But I’m getting tired of people expecting me to throw money around, just because I’m from Vegas and California. … I’m here to say that I’m not an outsider now. I live in Cedar; I drink at same tavern, I golf the same courses.”

The question is: how much longer will Liko Smith stick around in Cedar? And more importantly, will Sugar Loaf ever re-open?