Anne Stanton

Features Anne Stanton Getting Tough on Grandma: Prosecutor drags on case against pepper-sprayed great grandmother
By Anne Stanton
It sounds like a send-up from a David Letterman show: Why did the deputy pepper spray a 79-year-old great grandmother?
Yet it isn’t a joke to either to Elaine Vanderberg or to Frankfort Village Police Officer Jason Wolfe, who pepper sprayed Vanderburg twice in the eyes and arrested her on a felony charge for resisting and obstructing a police officer. The charges were dismissed in May, but Benzie County Prosecutor John Daughtery filed a motion with the state Court of Appeals last week to reinstate the felony charges.
Vanderberg’s problems began last May when she asked her nephew, Andrew Haas, then 27, to come help her with her badly crippled husband, who “had every single disease and disorder that a human being can have—throat cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, Parkinson’s, gout, scoliosis, bones replaced with screws, a pacemaker and dementia.”

Features Anne Stanton Throw for Joe! Disc golf tournament will honor fallen teen
By Anne Stanton
The family of a teen killed in an alcohol-related car accident has invited disc golf players of all skills to take part in a July 31 tournament at Hickory Hills in Traverse City.
The family of the late Joe Welburn is holding a “Throw for Joe” tournament to promote the message of responsible driving, to provide band scholarships, and to help maintain the Hickory Hills disk golf course.
Most of all they wanted to honor the memory of Joe Welburn, a 2008 Traverse City High School graduate, who played in the drum line of the Traverse City West Marching Band. He loved listening to Led Zeppelin, attending music festivals, skiing and playing disc golf at Hickory Hills, a wooded area located in the heart of Traverse City.

Features Anne Stanton Natural gas: Will drilling create a big fracking problem?
Last week, Northern Express covered a potential boom in natural gas
exploration, known as fracking (short for hydraulic fracturing), that
has some people excited over the money to be made, while others worry
about potential water contamination. This week, area
environmentalists—fractured over the Traverse City biomass
proposal—weigh in on this new issue.
By Anne Stanton

Features Anne Stanton Fear of Fracking: Residents wonder whether to allow deep drilling on their land
By Anne Stanton
In the course of a few weeks, a Leelanau Township landowner was
approached by landmen representing 10 different natural gas companies.
They were pressuring him to sign a lease that would allow natural gas
drilling on his property. Some weren’t so polite.

Features Anne Stanton Blowin’ in the Wind: Coupling wind power & natural gas may provide answer to region’s energy search
By Anne Stanton
Under dark storm clouds, reporters last week visited a wind farm at
Stoney Corners outside of Cadillac where graceful turbines dwarfed the
barns and silos dotting the countryside.

Features Anne Stanton Afghanistan: Our Second Vietnam?
NATO diplomat Jack Segal offers a view from the “graveyard of empires”
By Anne Stanton
Last week Jack Segal was trying to figure out how to pump a shallow
pool of gray water out of the basement of the Traverse City house he
and his family had recently moved into.

Features Anne Stanton Afghanistan: Our Second Vietnam?
NATO diplomat Jack Segal offers a view from the “graveyard of empires”
By Anne Stanton
Last week Jack Segal was trying to figure out how to pump a shallow
pool of gray water out of the basement of the Traverse City house he
and his family had recently moved into.

Features Anne Stanton Lyme disease in Northwest Michigan? Hikers are cautioned to check for disease-carrying deer ticks
By Anne Stanton
The State of Michigan has reported for the first time that deer ticks
have been found in northwestern Michigan — the type of ticks that
potentially carry Lyme disease.
Local health officials say they have no confirmed reports of Lyme, but
 hikers need to respond by taking a few precautions.

Features Anne Stanton Wave Riders The New Rage: stand-up paddle boarding
By Anne Stanton
When Beryl and Frank Scrocki learned they were expecting a third child, they decided to pack it in as far as downstate living goes, sell their house, and move north to Empire to open a … surf shop.
“We didn’t know anything about surfing or whether anyone surfed here, but I spent summers here, and I knew you could surf. I’d spent a lot of times playing in the waves. Everyone thought we were crazy. ‘Such a liability!’ But it’s working!”
Beryl, a fit and fresh-eyed blonde, is now the proud owner of Sleeping Bear Surf and Kayak, a colorful store in Empire that’s packed with surfboards and surfer clothing. It’s not their full-time income by any means (her husband works a full-time day job in the environmental field), but it’s been a blast, plain and simple since opening the shop in 2004, she said.

Features Anne Stanton These Dam Decisions
By Anne Stanton
When Traverse City Light and Power proposed building a 10 megawatt biomass
plant (or three or four) earlier this year, people wondered about the
wisdom of removing the three Boardman River dams, which once produced more
than 2 megawatts of energy each year, enough to power 1,400 homes. The
owners, the city of Traverse City and Grand Traverse County, voted last
year to dismantle them, but people wonder if it’s too late to reconsider.
The cost to remove the dams is about the same as to bring them into
compliance and add upgrades to get the river colder.

Features Anne Stanton Why the Dam Hurry? Biomass controversy sparks a kinder, gentler look at hydropower
By Anne Stanton
Fred Kiefer, an older gentleman from northern Indiana, walked down the
path of Lone Pine Trail off Keystone Road in Traverse City with his
wife, to a place they held dear in their memories. Hung around his
neck was a camera, ready to capture a picture of the blue herons,
swans, mergansers, and, if he was lucky, a pair of loons.

Features Anne Stanton Will Subsidies go Poof? EPA decision sends ‘chilling message’ to the biomass industry
By Anne Stanton
 An EPA final rule issued last week did not exempt biomass power from
greenhouse gas permitting requirements, sending a “chilling message” to
the biomass industry, the New York Times reported last week.

Features Anne Stanton A Case of Mistaken Identity: Christopher Phillips copes with the ‘other’ Christopher Phillips
By Anne Stanton
 Back a dozen years ago, Christopher David Phillips, 30, was pulled out of
his algebra class at Traverse City Central High School and hauled down to
the office. The principal accused him of getting in a fight with a guy
he’d never heard of.

Features Anne Stanton Anne Avery-Miller’s Suicide: Friends and lawyer say jail hanging was totally preventable
 By Anne Stanton
The woman who once jokingly called herself the Britney Spears of
Northern Michigan is now dead, after hanging herself in an Antrim
County jail cell.

Features Anne Stanton Ruffled Feathers: Wings of Wonder fights Leelanau Road Commission plan to shoot down bird sanctuary
By Anne Stanton
Spirits soared like an eagle at the Wings of Wonder (WOW) bird
sanctuary last week, thanks to a forthcoming restraining order against
the Leelanau County Road Commission, whose actions threatened the
existence of the bird sanctuary and raptor hospital.