Anne Stanton

Features Anne Stanton Park officials are talking about breaking new trails for nature lovers at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
A recently proposed management plan envisions a bay-to-bay backpacking trail, roughly 30 miles long. The path would stretch from Platte River Pointe to Good Harbor Bay and provide hikers with a series of overnight campgrounds, complete with campfire rings and primitive toilets. Kayakers would be able to paddle into shoreline and make a short hike to the campsites.
The management plan also envisions a roughly 50-mile bike path that would run on the lakeside of M-109 and M-22, the main roads that run through the national park. Bicycling on these roads is already popular, but can also be treacherous in some places because the pavement’s rough or lacks a shoulder.

Features Anne Stanton Public health officials in Lansing have heard next to nothing of Lyme disease in Northwest Michigan, but the area is abuzz with stories of people battling the disease.
Lyme disease is truly nasty, confusing and complicated. And the politics surrounding this tick-borne disease are pretty much the same way. In fact, the intense medical controversy has kept state officials in the dark about proven cases in the area.
Dawn Brown, whose face flashed with pain through a recent interview, believes a tick at the Lake Ann Baptist Camp burrowed into her leg on a sunny day last May. An avid walker/runner and mother of three, she paid little attention to the scab on her leg while shaving over the weekend.
But three days later she felt as if a Mack truck had hit her.
“I was fine in the morning, I did all my errands, got the kids to school. By noon I was on the couch and couldn’t move. I called my husband and he sat on the couch, and I screamed in pain. Just him sitting on the couch made me hurt.”
Her temperature climbed to 102. She sweated and shivered with chills. Over the next three weeks, her knees, ankles, wrists and elbows puffed up. Pain jumped from one joint to another. Unable to get a definitive diagnosis from area physicians, she surfed the Internet and found the Michigan Lyme Disease Association. She had all the symptoms of Lyme. Out of curiosity, she sent a note out to the neighborhood. Had anyone else been bit?

Features Anne Stanton May is National Foster Care Month in recognition of the 513,000 kids placed in foster care nationally due to abuse, neglect or sudden crises. Look for blue ribbons this month tied on trees—symbolizing the attempt to end child abuse. This article focuses on kids aging out of the system at the age of 18—about 20,000 kids across the country each year. A program called Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative helps them out.



When Kayla Abel was a sophomore at Kingsley High School, she had to drop out of school to take care of her new baby sister.
She cleaned the house, watched the baby and two other siblings, and cooked dinners while her mom worked at night. After a year, however, she called it quits. She moved in with a boyfriend, who beat her, and then with an uncle and aunt—her fourth set of foster parents.

Other Opinions Anne Stanton Imagine. Dr. Howard Tanner as czar of Michigan.
Dr. Tanner was DNR director under Governor William Milliken, and he’s utterly disgusted with what’s happened since John Engler’s first day as governor. “And what I most often hear about Governor Granholm is that at least she’s not as bad as Engler,” he said.

Features Anne Stanton Talking with Sally Van Vleck and Bob Russell can either be highly motivating or deeply depressing. The couple eats and breathes the state of the planet and peace, which has gone arguably downhill since the first Earth Day in 1970.
In their quest to change the world for the better, they run the Neahtawanta Inn, a rambling and quaint turn-of-the century house on Old Mission Peninsula with a big porch overlooking Lake Michigan. All is quiet at the inn right now (except for the birds), but the place will be hopping once summer tourists return.

Features Anne Stanton Nearly 11 years ago, Marcus Colburn fell 3,000 feet from the sky, his chute shredded by a fellow Navy SEAL skydiver. Nearly every bone in his body was broken. Even worse, his brain was slammed against his skull and badly injured.
Marcus was fortunate in one way, though. The ground was soft from rain the night before. Doctors induced a coma to aid recovery, but couldn’t revive him back to consciousness.
His doctor gave him five chances out of 100 of ever waking up.
Mark started coming back to life after four months, but with the abilities of a six-month old. He had to re-learn even the most elementary skills—rolling over, moving his toes, and drinking liquid.

Features Anne Stanton In the last year, I have personally witnessed the following:
• A dad who appears to be in the living room with his wife, an out-of-town
guest, and his two kids—all trying to plan out what to do that day
together. Meanwhile, he’s on his laptop scheduling airline tickets for a
business trip and has no idea what’s going on.

Features Anne Stanton A friend of Lori Hall Steele recently asked her if she saw the movie Sicko.
“I haven’t seen it,” she quipped. “I’m living it!”
Steele, a gifted freelance writer, has been sidelined with a paralyzing neurological condition that has yet to be diagnosed. It’s left her unable to walk or even write. That prompted a band of friends and local writers to hold an April 12 fundraiser to help her out.
“It’s pretty amazing that these independent, creative types are all pitching in. I think we all think of ourselves as poor, starving artists, but collectively we’re going to make a difference,” said Kris Hains, a freelance writer, who’s coordinating the event.

Features Anne Stanton Who knew? When it came to a vote for “favorite environmentalist,” no fewer than 34 “people” were nominated. Included were “hippies,” “Yule Gibbons” and “Oryana Natural Foods Market,” receiving one vote each.
So we chose a few dedicated folks—knowing, of course, that dozens more should rightfully be honored.
Our question for the environmentalists: What motivates you to work so hard, when it’s clearly not the money.

Features Anne Stanton What stories had the most impact on Northern Michigan and the state in general last year? Everyone has a different perspective, but these are a few that we at the Express feel had the biggest impact:

The Death of Craig Carlson: In an exclusive interview with Northern Express, the close-knit family of an Interlochen man told of the evening they called 9-1-1 to get help for Craig Carlson, who was deeply depressed and suicidal. The story reflected the family’s heartache, as well as the challenge of trying to ensure public safety in an uncertain situation.

Features Anne Stanton There was no clear stand-out for best athlete this year—there was one or two votes for scores of athletes across the region, so Northern Express chose Traverse City West senior J.T. Hogan who “gets life,” and we’re not just talking football. There’s also Helene Dryden, a junior at St. Francis High School, who says she doesn’t feel fearless on her snowboard, but you’d never know it by looking at her.
Here’s a profile on each.

Region Watch Anne Stanton Look for a major new museum in Northern Michigan this summer when the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians opens the Eyaawing Museum & Cultural Center in Leelanau County.
“The creation of a Museum & Cultural Center has been a long-time vision of the Grand Traverse Band,” said Pat Putney, GTB Elders and cultural department manager.
The emphasis of the new museum will be on education and increasing the understanding and respect for the Grand Traverse Band’s vibrant culture, art, and history. Although the specific date when Eyaawing will be open to the public has not been set, construction is slated to be completed at the end of May.
The name Eyaawing was selected by tribal members. It translates as “Who we are” in Anishinaabemowin, the native language of the Grand Traverse Band and Michigan’s Anishinaabek.
In addition to telling the story of the Grand Traverse Band through various exhibits, the Eyaawing Museum will be a place where the traditions and language of the tribe will be kept, taught, and celebrated. Eyaawing’s programming will be twofold, with some programs designed specifically for tribal members and others designed to share the culture, language and spirit of the Grand Traverse Band with the public.
Eyaawing will focus on both the traditional and contemporary culture and history of the Grand Traverse Band and Michigan’s Anishinaabek. Critical to that saga is the long path that leads to the Grand Traverse Band’s recognition as a Native Sovereign Nation on May 27, 1980.

Features Anne Stanton Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and his dalliance with a gorgeous, highly-paid hooker have the television networks aflame.
But politics and sex have always gone together like, um, nylons and garters.

The most recent buzz in Michigan, of course, involves Kwame Kilpatrick, the married mayor of Detroit, who wishes it would all go away. He’ll be forever remembered by his text message to his chief of staff: “I’ve been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for three days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.”
George Weeks, a veteran political writer, says that in most cases, it isn’t the sex that gets these guys in trouble as much as lying about it. And Kilpatrick is no exception.

Region Watch Anne Stanton For the love of kayaking...
...don’t miss the documentary, Pacific Horizons, directed and produced by Traverse City native Bryan Smith.
The action-packed travelogue takes you to some of the world’s coolest sea kayaking destinations in the Pacific Northwest.
You can meet director Bryan Smith, an avid kayaker, at the Traverse City premiere showing on Thursday, March 13, at 6:30 p.m., at Timber Ridge, 4050 Hammond Rd.
Be sure to ask him about his first movie, 49 Megawatts, which just won the award for best environmental film at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. That movie captured how privatization is damaging rivers in British Columbia, where Smith lives with his French-Canadian wife.

Features Anne Stanton Body, spirit, mind. The three are fused in the mind of K.B. Sutton, who is, at this moment, kneeling on the backside of Jon Roth in order to broaden his hamstring.
“The thing I like about you, K.B., is that you have no fear,” Roth said. “Some therapists are timid, they’re afraid they might hurt you, but not you.”
It’s true. K.B. (Kathryn Boss) Sutton is definitely not timid. She’s slim and tan with a long tangle of black hair. At 55, her good looks haven’t faded. She has strong hands and even stronger ideas about how to go about this life.
“The problem is most people think of themselves as humans who are having a spiritual experience. They need to see themselves as spiritual beings having a human experience.”