Glen Arbor Sun’s top stories of 2020
From staff reports
2020 was a year like no other. One of pain, loneliness, and uncertainty. A global pandemic, an economic lockdown, a burgeoning movement for racial equity, and nationwide political and social division.
We at the Glen Arbor Sun were forced to scale back our page counts as advertisements dropped slightly during the state lockdown. This past spring we invested in newspaper stands (placed outside Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor, and Grocers Daughter Chocolate in Empire) when it wasn’t sure that retail businesses would open at all.
Nevertheless, this community newspaper enjoyed a banner year in terms of in-depth reporting and viewership, as our local coverage of COVID-19, the lockdown, racial equity, record-high Lake Michigan water levels and climate change forced us to up our game. Our website, GlenArbor.com, broke records for online views in 6 out of 12 months in 2020, and averaged a little more than 700 unique viewers per day.
Here’s a list of our top 10 stories of 2020.
1) The Things We Carry on Munson’s COVID Ward, October 11, by Elitza Nicolaou (our fifth most read story of all time):
“I have seen some truly painful things while working at Munson’s COVID ward during the Coronavirus pandemic,” wrote Nicolaou, a Leelanau County native and nurse in training at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. “One of my nurses spent 45 minutes trying to set up a FaceTime chat, a Zoom call, anything that he and the patient’s family could think of so that they could see him and talk to him. They never did get it figured out that day. I hope they managed to before he died the following afternoon.”
2) Bohemian Road Beach to be closed for seven weeks this summer, June 12, staff reports:
Bohemian Road Beach, a popular summer destination within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore between Glen Arbor and Leland, will be all but inaccessible for 7 weeks this summer due to road work on part of County Road 669 (Bohemian Road) which runs between M-22 and Lake Michigan.
3) Black Like Me: Growing up a person of color in Leelanau County, June 19, by Marshall Collins, Jr. (as told to Jacob Wheeler):
Northport native and Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District educator Marshall Collins, Jr., has a unique story to tell as an African-American in Leelanau County. Collins was the only black member of his graduating class in 1995, and despite struggling with being one of very few people of color, he returned to the County after college to be near his family and out of love for this region. Following the gruesome murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, Collins helped organize recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Traverse City, including an upbeat and peaceful rally at the Open Space on June 6 that drew a diverse crowd of approximately 2,000 mask-wearing and social distancing activists and allies. Inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter movement—which is provoking conversations nationwide about racial inequities and the need for police reform—the Glen Arbor Sun published a series of stories by, and about, people of color in Leelanau County, and how their skin color affects how they are treated here.
4) “If she hadn’t been in the car, she would be alive today” — COVID-19 claims 30-year-old Native American, December 7, by Jacob Wheeler:
In the final days before she died of the Coronavirus on November 23, Maryan Rochel Petoskey’s family received fewer and fewer updates from the COVID-19 ward at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City. They understood that meant the hospital was becoming overwhelmed with patients. Calls from Munson grew less frequent as Maryan’s time on a ventilator stretched from days to a week (she arrived at the hospital on the evening of Thursday, November 12, three days before she was put on a ventilator). A member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians who lived on the Peshawbestown reservation, Maryan Rochel Petoskey was 30 years young. She was the third victim of COVID-19 in Leelanau County, and the first person under age 60 to die of the pandemic. According to the Benzie-Leelanau Health Department, she had “no significant comorbidities”. No cancer, no diabetes, nothing to reinforce the dangerously false notion that the Coronavirus claims only the old and the sick.
5) Young people test positive, contact traces surge, businesses close as Leelanau COVID cases rise, July 9, staff reports: The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department reported five new COVID-19 cases in Leelanau County today, all of which are symptomatic and two of which are currently hospitalized. That makes 25 new cases over the past two weeks (Thursday, June 25—Thursday, July 9), a period that included the Fourth of July weekend. Prior to June 25, and dating back to March when the first Coronavirus case appeared in Leelanau County, the district saw only 17 cases. Health Department officials note a trend of young people in their late teens and early 20s falling ill. Eight of the 25 new cases are under age 25.
6) Borkovich, fellow county sheriffs defy Gov. Whitmer, claim they will selectively enforce State’s social distancing executive order, April 15, by Jacob Wheeler:
Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich and his fellow sheriffs in Benzie, Manistee and Mason Counties released a press release stating they would defy Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order and selectively enforce social distancing in their communities. The governor’s clarification last week of her executive order temporarily banning the use of motorized boats during the COVID-19 global pandemic has drawn criticism from conservative circles. Non-motorized boating, such as canoeing, kayaking and sailing is allowed. Perch fishing in motorized boats is a popular sport this time of year in Leelanau County. But the state’s Department of Natural Resources closed three county boat launches on April 3 after large crowds of fishermen gathered at them. This morning, protestors formed a gridlock of cars around the State Capitol in Lansing to call for Whitmer to relax social distancing and re-open Michigan’s economy. Whitmer’s stay-at-home order currently extends through April 30.
7) Tires slashed, tickets issued for trespassing: life in a shutdown Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, April 28, staff reports:
Much of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is closed until July 1, to slow the spread of COVID-19, and Park Rangers are patrolling popular spots within the Lakeshore—particular on sunny days—both to provide education and guidance and, when necessary, to issue tickets for trespassing, Chief Ranger Phil Akers told the Glen Arbor Sun. “Up until this past weekend, people were very respectful of the Park closures,” said Akers, who confirmed that several tickets were issued on Saturday and Sunday. Akers also noted several occurrences of people driving off roadways into natural areas that damaged natural resources.
8) Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to delay seasonal opening of facilities until July 1, April 21, staff reports:
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in response to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Unites States Public Health Service, and Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department is announcing additional modifications to operations to support federal, state, and local efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is planning to delay the seasonal opening of the following park facilities until July 1.
9) Please don’t come to Leelanau County, August 14:
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.
10) Sleeping Bear Dunes may close popular trails if visitors don’t obey social distancing, April 9, staff reports:
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore superintendent Scott Tucker is considering temporarily closing popular trails to the public, including Empire Bluffs and Pyramid Point, to limit large crowds from gathering on warm spring days during the coronavirus pandemic. “People up here are not behaving,” said Tucker. “We counted 60 cars parked last weekend at the Empire Bluffs trailhead. People were not practicing social distancing.”
