Acme Activist Faces Charge

May 29, 2015

Depending on who you ask, Brian Kelley is either a courageous environmental activist or a nitpicking scofflaw.

In April, the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council (NMEAC) named him Volunteer Activist of the Year. In March, he was charged with misdemeanor trespassing by Grand Traverse County prosecutors for an alleged intrusion into the Grand Traverse Town Center in Acme.

Kelley pleaded not guilty to the charge and is awaiting trial. He faces up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine if he is convicted. Kelley said he was instructed by his attorney not to comment.

His attorney Jesse Williams plans to argue that if Kelley trespassed, he trespassed for the public good. Williams plans to seek a public necessity and immunity defense, according to a motion he filed. In the motion, he argues that Kelley acted to avert an "imminent and grave public disaster."

Williams argues that, in September, clay sediment discharge from the site threatened "the destruction of the beautiful blue waters of Grand Traverse Bay, the beachfront development of Acme Shoreline Park, the fisheries of Acme Creek" and the region’s economic welfare.

Williams’ motion stated that Kelley worked closely with the DEQ to monitor the development and that he assisted in data collection, including water quality monitoring and taking photos.

In fact, Williams wrote, it was Kelley’s "citizen reports" that were responsible for DEQ citations and enforcement actions against the Town Center.

A DEQ official denied that Kelley was responsible for finding violations at the site. Kelley was warned not to trespass on the site, said Brian Jankowski, water resources division district supervisor at the Cadillac DEQ office.

"Mr. Kelley was not, and is not, an employee or agent of the DEQ. The DEQ did not authorize his activity, we had no agreement with him and he was not working on our behalf," Jankowski said.

"I think that’s a very creative defense," said VGT’s attorney, Ken Petterson. "It certainly doesn’t apply to what happened the day he was there, for sure. There was no discharge on the day he was there and arrested for trespassing."

Greg Reisig, NMEAC chairman, said he was unaware that Kelley had been charged with trespassing when Kelley was honored in April, but he praised Kelley’s work on behalf of the environment and Acme Creek.

Reisig said that since Grand Traverse County scaled back soil erosion control duties three years ago by stripping the responsibility from the drain commissioner, there has been a vacuum in soil erosion control work that citizens need to fill.

"Where we used to have someone who was really on top of everything, now it’s really hard to tell who is doing what," Reisig said. "That’s part of the reason why Brian’s role was so key.

He was willing to hike the stream and hike the wetlands and monitor the creek."