Leelanau sheriff

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Thirty-seven years of service: Mary Patterson and the people behind the badge

Late into her 37th year in law enforcement, Mary Patterson still measures her career the same way she did when she started: by the people she’s helped. “I just like interacting with people. I like helping people… just having an impact and knowing my community—that’s pretty rewarding,” Patterson said. A road patrol deputy with the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, Patterson has spent nearly four decades responding to everything from routine calls to life-threatening emergencies. But for her, the job has never been about recognition or pay. “You have to love what you do and know that you’re helping people,” she said. “You’re not going to get rich doing this job.” In a small Northern Michigan community, that kind of work becomes personal. Unlike larger cities, where officers may never encounter the same person twice, Patterson has built lasting relationships with the people she serves.

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Youth for Christ in Leland, Twin Flames raid, Trump’s government cuts, Art’s Tavern sells—Glen Arbor Sun’s most read stories of 2025

A controversial youth missionary group recruits inside Leland school and rattles the community; Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel orders a raid of the Twin Flames Universe cult’s home near Suttons Bay; Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore leadership and staff face cuts and uncertainty under Trump and DOGE’s wrecking ball; Barb and Paul Olson acquire Glen Arbor’s iconic Art’s Tavern, and tribal fisherwoman Cindi John survives a mass stabbing at Walmart in Traverse City. Those were the most-read online stories of 2025 in the Glen Arbor Sun. Here’s a list of our top 10, by online views.

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Making Room for Gratitude: Thanksgiving the Day After

“Gratitude doesn’t always arrive on schedule; sometimes it’s a day late. Somewhere between the boiling pots on the stove, embarrassing memories being dished out, and laughter echoing off the living room walls, my family and I find our own rhythm of Thanksgiving,” writes Isabelle Plamondon. “My mom is a [Leelanau County] dispatcher who often has to work holidays since she’s a single parent. She’s worked on Thanksgiving almost every year, helping people whose holidays may not be going as planned. She, and other first-responders like her, see the dark side to every holiday before celebrating their own.”

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Protecting paradise since 2013: Leelanau County’s Sheriff Mike Borkovich

The very mention of the name “Borkovich” in the region always seems to get a strong reaction, one way or the other, writes author Tim Mulherin in this excerpt from his book “This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan,” which is currently available at local bookstores. “When I told several of my more liberal acquaintances that I would be meeting with the Leelanau County sheriff as part of my research, they greeted the news dismissively, eyes rolling, heads shaking from side to side. Yet my more conservative friends commended me for reaching out to the county’s chief law enforcement officer, collectively giving him plaudits. With such extreme polarities being openly shared, I was eager to meet the man responsible for ‘protecting paradise’. Indeed, Sheriff Mike Borkovich did not disappoint.”

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American flags, strawberry rhubarb crisp, but No Kings

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On Friday, June 13—the day before thousands of “No Kings” rallies attracted millions of demonstrators in cities and towns across the United States to oppose the Trump administration—a downstate woman sent a flurry of emails to the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department as well as federal authorities including the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to alert them about alleged “domestic terrorism” in Leelanau County and a host of outlandish claims. Out of concern about “some bad actors and their weird crazy rhetoric about me,” Nancy Janulis, a Glen Arbor summer resident who organized a No Kings rally at the Glen Lake Narrows, contacted the Leelanau Sheriffs Department to provide event details. The mood that morning was upbeat, patriotic, and collaborative. As bikers raced along the south shores of the Glen Lakes toward the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb to complete the M22 Challenge, approximately 200 citizens stood on the sides of M-22 at the bridge holding flags and banners. Organizers Janulis and Linda Dewey had asked participants to “please stand in solidarity and join us on this nationwide day of peaceful affirmation of our right to due process, free speech and equal protection.” Leelanau Sheriff Mike Borkovich “had friendly conversations with the protesters, and he was upbeat and friendly with me,” said Janulis. “We visited about fishing and the cold lake temperatures this year. I’m happy he attended. We had no incidents at the rally.”

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Stripped of safe haven status, local schools face immigration enforcement threat

Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich will face tough questions from commissioners, and comments from citizens, at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Feb. 11 — following his recent statements that, if asked, he would cooperate with federal agents arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants. However, Borkovich considered immigration raids at Leelanau County schools “unlikely”. During a Jan. 10 meeting with the superintendents of the county’s four public schools, he said he didn’t think it would be “necessary” for federal agents to visit local schools. Days after Trump’s inauguration, a handful of Leelanau farmers met with Borkovich in an effort to convey to the sheriff the importance of immigrant and migrant farmworkers to the region’s agricultural economy. The Hispanic community is crucial to Leelanau’s agricultural workforce. Out of 22,000 county residents — according to the latest Census — as many as 1,000 identify as Hispanic or Latino. Many have an undocumented parent or family member living here in northern Michigan, now as rooted here as the pine trees, though they may have crossed illegally into the United States years ago.

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Missing Wisconsin man found, arrested at Sleeping Bear Dunes

A man reported missing from Milwaukee was located by officials at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Tuesday afternoon, August 20. Steven Lisowski, 28, of Wisconsin, was taken into custody about 2:30 p.m. ET after an altercation between Lisowski and police officers. Lisowski had been reported critically missing by the Milwaukee Police Department on Sunday, August 18. A critical missing alert is used by the police department when an individual may be particularly vulnerable. On Tuesday, as officers attempted to detain Lisowski, an altercation ensued before he was eventually restrained with the assistance of the Benzie County Sheriff’s Office police K-9. Lisowski and the two officers were transported to Munson Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries sustained during the altercation. Charges against Lisowski are pending.

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A brutal murder, politicizing a family’s pain, scuffing the thin blue line

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Leelanau County sheriff Mike Borkovich flanked Donald Trump at a campaign appearance in Grand Rapids on April 2, where Trump used bombastic, anti-immigrant rhetoric following the murder of Ruby Garcia by an undocumented immigrant in late March. The victim’s family accused Trump of politicizing their pain. He said that he had spoken with the Garcia family, which he did not. At the Leelanau Board of Commissioners meeting on April 9, some constituents are expected to voice their displeasure with Borkovich traveling, in uniform, to stand with Trump.

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