Anne Stanton

Books Anne Stanton The World Peace Diet
Author: animal cruelty, waste & illness make our eating habits all wrong

By Anne Stanton 7/6/09

When Will Tuttle was still in high school some 35 years ago, he read a
book, Cosmic Consciousness, written in 1901. The book examined historic
figures such as Jesus and Buddha, who were able to attain unusual empathy
and compassion for all mankind. The author proposed that these powers of
transcendence could be achieved by others.

Features Anne Stanton Trashed
License glitch dumps biodegrading at Cherry Festival

By Anne Stanton 7/6/09

It’s not like the National Cherry Festival isn’t trying to do the right
thing, but the biodegradable dishes and flatware that vendors were
required to use this year will end up in Glen’s Landfill.

Features Anne Stanton Darwin’s Law
‘Adapt and Survive’ works for
local manufacturers

By Anne Stanton 6/29/09

Adapt and survive. With last year’s crash and burn of the auto industry,
Darwin’s theory has taken on new meaning.
Take Tellurex, a small company tucked away in a Traverse City business
park. At its height two years ago, Tellurex employed 52 people. Its
biggest customer was Cadillac, for which it produced a cup holder that
could either heat or cool drinks at the touch of a button.

Features Anne Stanton Up North Auto Suppliers...
Going, Going, but Not Gone

By Anne Stanton 6/22/09

When I emailed a friend I was working on a story about manufacturing, he
wrote: “How long does it take to say ‘there is no manufacturing left in
Northern Michigan?’”
“Ah, but you’re wrong,” I responded.
“I wish I was wronger,” he wrote.
Is manufacturing dead in northwest Michigan?

Features Anne Stanton The Thrill of Death-Defying Flight Without the Agony of, Um, Death

By Anne Stanton 6/15/09

If you have an intense love for remote control airplanes, here’s your chance to take it to a new altitude.

Features Anne Stanton Hit & Run
GM Shakes Up Small Town Auto Dealers

By Anne Stanton 6/15/09

Wanna’ test drive a Cadillac?
If you live in Traverse City, you’re in luck. But it won’t be so easy—down the road—if you’re in Harbor Springs, Ludington, Manistee, Petoskey, or the Upper Peninsula.
“I was told that from Muskegon all the way to Traverse City, dealers are losing their Cadillac franchises. That’s a pretty big area,” said Bob Yates, a dealer in Manistee who will continue to sell Chevrolets, but lose his Cadillac franchise in October of 2010.

Features Anne Stanton Going out Green
Bringing death back to life again


By Anne Stanton 6/8/09

Last summer, my dad was told last his days were numbered after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, also known as asbestos cancer. About a month later, I went to spend some time with him in Arizona. One morning, his hospice social worker came by to visit him.
“Jerry,” she said, as she wrapped up her meeting with him. “Are there any outstanding concerns you might have right now?”
In fact, there was. He told her that he planned on getting cremated, and he wondered whether she had a price list.
At that moment, I’d been trying to stay out of the way in my parents’ tiny little mobile home, but I almost choked on my bagel. He was just so matter-of-fact about the whole thing. But the social worker wasn’t so surprised. She pulled out a blurry “price list,” that looked like it had been copied about a hundred times.

Features Anne Stanton Coal Consequences:
Will electric bills in rural areas double?

By Anne Stanton 6/8/09

A proposed coal-fired power plant in Rogers City would at least double the electric bill of 33,000 co-op members living in rural Northwest Michigan, and that’s without any new regulations or taxes, asserted an energy activist opposed to its construction.
Tom Karas will introduce a resolution at Cherryland Electric Cooperative’s annual membership meeting this Wednesday that asks co-op leadership to deliver an estimate of how much the proposed Rogers City plant will cost and its impact on customer bills.

Dining Anne Stanton Good-Bye to Bob
Anne Stanton 6/1/09

Ten years ago, a wonderful thing happened to Oryana Natural Food Co-op, a spacious natural foods store tucked in the heart of Traverse City. Bob Struthers took over, and the struggling co-op began to flourish and eventually achieve double digit sales growth year after year.
But now Bob and his wife, Kim, have decided to move to northeastern New Mexico. Bob will start a new career in this remote corner of New Mexico as an independent consultant for food co-ops. Kim, who worked as a biologist at the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore will start a new job as Natural Resource Manager at the Capulin Volcano National Monument.
We couldn’t let Bob go without an exit interview, although it was by phone from his new home, where he’s moving in the furniture.

Features Anne Stanton Watch me... a kleptomaniac‘s plea to stop stealing
Anne Stanton 6/1/09


I was over at the Traverse City courthouse a couple of months ago, and noticed a blonde middle age woman walking with an awkward gait, relying on a cane. Her blond hair was swept away from her smooth forehead, upon which something was written in a red marker. I couldn’t read the words and caught up with her to ask what they said.
Her name was Donna Hamblin, and she talked in a loud and friendly voice that didn’t have much inflection. She wasn’t surprised by my question—people often asked her the same thing.
She told me she had a problem with stealing. So she had decided to take a drastic measure and write, “watch me” on her forehead. That way when she walked into a store, the clerk would take notice of her, ask her what the words said, and then make sure she didn’t steal anything.
Hamblin, 56, explained she has been diagnosed as a kleptomaniac, which is defined as the failure to resist the impulse to steal or hoard things. She said she’s attracted to anything shiny, and she particularly is fond of stealing items for her grandkids.

Art Anne Stanton Bill Hosner‘s Baristas
Anne Stanton 5/25/09

Artist captures coffee house servers and their stories





When Bill Hosner first stopped in at the Roast & Toast coffee shop in Petoskey for his daily cup of brew, he was a little taken aback by the kids behind the counter. Earrings in nostrils, hair color not found in nature, and tattoos where you ought not to be looking.
“As I looked at them, I thought what a lot of people might think. I rushed to judgment and thought these are a motley crew. And as I got to know them over the three years I lived in Petoskey, I realized they were just the way I was when I was that age. They were trying to find their way into life. Some were married, some had children, they were trying to build families. They were really great kids, people trying to fit into this world.”
Hosner, a renowned pastel painter, is known for his landscapes and romantic portraits of women strolling on the beach, reminiscent of Joaquin Sorrola, a 19th Century artist he admires.
But he wanted these kids to also have their story told, so he decided to bring his easel into the coffee shop and paint spontaneous portraits of each “coffee house kid.”
Hosner proposed his plan to the Roast & Toast coffee shop owner, and she thought it was a great idea. The workers themselves weren’t quite as enthusiastic, but signed on after they saw the first portraits.
“It was one of those things; as an artist, you have to make a painting, get it out of your system, and you can’t rest until you do,” Hosner said.
These aren’t his usual paintings that take several days, yet they still succeed in capturing the essence and energy of the person. Hosner finished his 14 paintings of the Petoskey kids last summer. Now he has taken his easel to Another Cuppa Joe and Higher Grounds at Traverse City’s Building 50.
Ultimately, he’d like to display the entire collection of 24 portraits at a local museum.

Features Anne Stanton Enough is enough/ credit card reform
Anne Stanton 5/18/09
Carrie Jones of Traverse City is the proud owner of a nearly perfect credit score, having never been late on a credit card payment and almost always paying off the balance each month.
Yet she received a notice a few months ago from CitiBank that the interest rate on her credit card would zoom from 9.9 percent to 16 percent. She was given the choice to close the account—one she’s had for 12 years—keeping the lower interest rate until the balance was paid off. Or she could do nothing and keep the card at nearly double the interest. At first—in disbelief—she did nothing. But with the interest hike looming, she reluctantly closed the account. That action may temporarily ding her otherwise perfect credit score.

Features Anne Stanton Dance Therapy
Anne Stanton 5/4/09

Partner dancing. Fun, but come on. Does it really change lives?
When you talk to a group of students and their college dance instructor, Mykl (pronounced Michael) who goes by one name, the answer is an overwhelming “ohmygodyes!” Their enthusiasm is so great about Mykl’s unique style of partner dancing—an intimate style of ballroom dancing, which looks very graceful and altogether normal—they believe that it can become a movement. That it has the potential to spread like a virus (a good virus) throughout the world, and awake the weary worker bees who have lost their joy of living due to the hum drum struggle of survival.
In fact, they are making a feature movie about this dance style and are calling it Be Here Now.

Features Anne Stanton Bulldozed
Coast Guard investigation unearths questions of toxic waste dumping
By Anne Stanton

Randy Stewart held a party for his daughter’s graduation in 2005, but as the festivities swirled around him on the warm summer day, he had more serious things on his mind.
He had burned his ears while scuba diving in the bay at Bar Harbor Resort the year before—he suspected because of leachate from the cement kiln dust—and was talking about it to a friend.
“He said, ‘You wouldn’t believe it. There is so much stuff buried there, it’s crazy. It’s like a Love Canal.’ He said to me they were bringing truckloads of debris and dumping them over the side of this pit and he would, in turn, bury it all. He said it was truckload after truckload. Barrels half full of chemicals and things he didn’t know anything about. Even treated green wood. They’ve outlawed the wood since. The highest point on the golf course on the fairway is where the debris is at.”

Features Anne Stanton Sun, Wind and Power
Anne Stanton 4/20/09
Lots of people would prefer to “do the right thing” as far as building an energy-saving home, but the cost and complexity are daunting for most folks.
Gary Woodcock has a vision that would change that reality, and has formed a new company called Healthy Green Homes. He aims to build “green” homes and to remodel existing homes at a price or size that people can afford.
But first, he has to finish building a model home on his 10 windy acres outside of Maple City. The home will have 1,000 square feet, but the 24-foot ceiling and loft will give it a spacious feeling. Its electrical source will come from the sun and wind.