Entries by editor

Please don’t come to Leelanau County

Kurt Luedtke, who died on August 9 at age 80, wrote this tongue-and-cheek essay about 30 years ago. The Glen Arbor Sun republished it in 2011 after the Sleeping Bear Dunes was selected “The Most Beautiful Place in America” by the Good Morning America TV show. Luedtke was a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, wrote the screenplay Absence of Malice, and won the Academy Award for his screenplay of Out of Africa. He and his wife Eleanor lived for decades at The Homestead where they were the original owners of a condominium in the “Wilderness” neighborhood.

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Afraid of COVID in the city? Buy a home in Leelanau

The Nickeys and other working families are deciding that now is the time to buy their home in Leelanau County, in part because of the Coronavirus and the inconvenience of living in a big city during this trying time of physical distancing. “The pandemic has levied a huge human toll on the world,” said Ian Nickey. “During this time we have realized, as a country, the possibilities of remote work and that we can be just as productive away from the office while also attending to ‘the real business of life’.”

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Racist road commissioner resigns. What’s next?

In the wake of former Leelanau County Road Commissioner Tom Eckerle’s public racist tirade, and subsequent resignation, activists are pondering whether to launch a movement to change the name of Eckerle Road, a small stretch of road just south of Suttons Bay, and coincidentally where the Leelanau County Road Commission sits. Here’s what it would take to change the road name.

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Jon Ornée and friends swim across Lake Michigan

Remember Jon Ornée, the athlete who swam the 7.4 miles from Pyramid Point to North Manitou Island in less than 3 hours last September? Tonight Ornée is pursuing another freshwater challenge. On Tuesday night, August 11, and into Wednesday, Aug. 12—under the Perseid meteor shower—Ornée and five friends are swimming 60 miles across Lake Michigan, from Two Rivers, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan. They started their epic adventure at 7:15 p.m EST (6:15 in Wisconsin) and expect it to take 24-28 hours.

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From cherries to lavender: a Leelanau grower adapts to change

Mike and Mary Shimek have transformed their farm near Maple City from forests and cherry orchards into rolling meadows covered in swirls of lavender and dotted with lilies. We spoke with Mike the last week in July at their “Bohemian Lavender Farm” about their move from cherries into lavender.

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“What does the future hold? It holds us”

It’s July 2020, but in my mind it’s late summer, August 2019, out on South Fox Island. I’m lying on my back in the lacey shade of towering maples. Dunes range up the hill behind my head, as soft-looking as caramel-sweetened whipped cream. Every island is a tiny earth and South Fox Island, lapped by the rhythmic turquoise-and-indigo waters of Lake Michigan, may be one of the tiniest.

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Leelanau residents move to bounce racist road commissioner Tom Eckerle

According to Leelanau County officials, three paths exist to remove Tom Eckerle, the Leelanau County road commissioner who used the N— word just before the road commission’s monthly meeting on Tuesday night, doubled down and repeated his racist rants to the press today, and now faces a firestorm of calls that he resign or be forced from elected office.

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Honoring Our Pets and Their People: Veterinarian Dr. Jerry Harrison and Shane Boland Harrison

Dr. Jerry Harrison and his wife Shane Boland Harrison have owned Leelanau Veterinary Care in Lake Leelanau for 18 years, specializing in caring for dogs and cats. Dr. Jerry earned his DVM degree from MSU, and has practiced for 34 years. Shane does bookkeeping for LVC, and is also a full-time educator, teaching middle school science at Pathfinder in Traverse City.

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Grandma JoJo: A True Glen Arbor Matriarch

By Maria Okorn Sun contributor I didn’t need another grandmother. With both paternal and maternal grandmothers living nearby and thriving in their elderly years, I considered myself extremely fortunate. Loving, attentive, lively, and very engaged in my life, their influence and my experiences with them were numerous and treasured. My relationships with them both were […]

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Adelade’s Baked Goods in Northport: The Little Stand that Could

Take a period of unprecedented disturbance, add a cup of communal spirit, a dash of post-retirement creativity, a couple handfuls of craftsmanship and sprinkle on a liberal desire to share and give back: the delicious result would most certainly resemble The Big House Farm Stand, featuring Adelade’s Baked Goods and locally grown produce in Northport.

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