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
From staff reports
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. Thanks for your readership!
1. Leland navigates a lighthouse and a rocky shoal, Nov. 21
A debate over the role of religion in public schools and in the public square has roiled tiny Leland, Michigan, this fall—the conversation a microcosm of an explosive reckoning on the national stage. Leelanau Lighthouse missionaries Micah and Kya Cramer have used their savvy Instagram marketing—and until recently, their regular presence inside Leland school—to attract dozens of local high school students to Sunday evening worships and other faith events. Concerned parents have raised concerns that the group was using lunch hour at school to “pursue” minors. This local conflict has generated whiplash for some. Five years ago, a community letter that addressed race relations during Black Lives Matter protests prompted neighbors to retreat and reinforce their political and cultural walls.
2. Police raid Twin Flames Universe home: Michigan AG announces investigation, July 1
Shortly after 11 am this morning, federal, state and local law enforcement officers raided the Leelanau County home of Jeff and Shaleia Divine, leaders of the Twin Flames Universe organization, which critics and multiple documentaries have described as a cult that manipulates its online followers. A neighbor observed a police officer carrying out a box of papers from their residence near Suttons Bay. Early in the afternoon, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a press release that announced an ongoing investigation into the Twin Flames Universe as well as a second raid against people associated with the coercive group. According to Nessel’s office, the search warrants were carried out by special agents from the Department of Attorney General, along with the U.S. Department of Labor—Office of Inspector General, and law enforcement officers from Michigan State Police, the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office and the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office.
3. Your Sleeping Bear Dunes experience this year may feel very different, March 12
Late February may feel quiet in northern Michigan. But during a typical year the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is busy recruiting, hiring, and onboarding more than 100 seasonal workers who play crucial roles during the busy season in our National Park, so they can hit the ground running in April or May. This is not a typical year. A federal hiring freeze and mass layoff of government employees by the Trump administration and business tycoon and senior advisor Elon Musk under his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) froze that important process and has thrown into question what services and experiences Sleeping Bear will be able to offer the approximately 1.6 million visitors who frequent this popular destination each year. The hiring freeze affects seasonal and full-time workers, including those who coordinate community volunteers.
4. Iconic Art’s Tavern sells to Barb and Paul Olson, June 1
When Tim Barr walked out of Art’s Tavern late on Saturday night, it represented the final time he closed Glen Arbor’s iconic establishment as its owner. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Barb and Paul Olson will officially become Art’s fourth owners since Prohibition. The storied venue will reopen on Wednesday. “The first question people have asked me is ‘Will you take credit cards?’ Nope. ‘Will you change anything?’ Nope,” Paul Olson told the Sun. Everything will remain: the pennants on the walls and ceiling, the Christmas decorations, the retractable pool table, the shot ski. All of it. It’s been so much fun to tell people who get Art’s that we’re buying it. The people who get the history, the special place it is. Art’s is an iconic restaurant. I just want to be its steward.” Read more about Art’s history and previous owners Tim Barr and Bonnie Nescot’s legacy in Glen Arbor.
5. Tribal fisherwoman Cindi John recovering after stabbings at Traverse City Walmart, July 28
Cindi John, who owns and operates Treaty Fish Co. in Leelanau County together with her husband Ed, is recovering after being attacked on Saturday, July 26, at the Traverse City Walmart. Their daughter Ruby posted the news on Facebook early Sunday morning. Click on the story for a link to donate to support the John family during this difficult time. Eleven people were stabbed by the alleged perpetrator Bradford James Gille, who was subdued by fellow shoppers in the parking lot and is currently in police custody in Grand Traverse County. He may face charges of terrorism and assault with intent to murder. All 11 victims are expected to survive.
6. Scratching the right itch, July 9
Ron Reimink knew how uncomfortable and annoying swimmer’s itch could be. He spent much of his adult life trying to eradicate it in lakes across northern Michigan. Then one day, he realized he was completely wrong, writes Dan Wanschura in this story adapted from an Interlochen Public Radio podcast. Glen Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world—clear turquoise-colored water, with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore off in the distance. It was an ideal setting for Reimink’s summer job. One particularly beautiful day, Reimink, who’s a biologist, was walking around the lake, through the water, up and over docks, doing research on ducks. Then, a couple hours after he’d wrapped up for the day, he started to get this sensation in his legs. He looked down, and there were all these red spots popping up. Each one was around the size of a nickel. They started to itch like crazy. “And I literally scratched many of them until they bled,” Reimink said. “It was so intense.”
7. Disgusted at Trump, Canadians boycott Michigan travel, May 13
“I’m terrified to cross the border.” “We’re disgusted.” “The annexation threats and tariffs are a ‘screw you’ to Canada.” “We have canceled our 2025 vacations in the USA. I no longer feel welcome there.” “I won’t go until Trump is gone. What he’s doing is horrific.” Those are the voices of Canadians who live in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario—just across the international border from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and longtime friendly neighbors in trade, in culture, in shopping, and in hockey. Apparently, no longer. Or, at least, not until Trump leaves office.
Sleeping Bear Dunes and other federal employees opened their work emails last week to find threatening form letters from our own government. From a new regime hell-bent on shrinking and neutering our United States government and the crucial services it provides to our citizens and people around the world. Addressed to nearly every public servant, the generic letters question their worth, belittle their service, and encourage all to resign. A simple one word reply to the email is all that’s needed to end a lifetime of service. It is wrong to treat people as replaceable and unwanted tools, but that is the clear sentiment behind the current flurry of messages. Seasonal worker programs like the one that shaped my life are at stake. The federal workforce deserves to know they are appreciated and assured that their work is important.
9. Protecting paradise since 2013: Leelanau County’s Sheriff Mike Borkovich, June 28
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.”
10. Stuck in Glen Arbor, Jamaican workers worry about families after Hurricane Melissa ravages island, Oct. 30
Patricia Brown hasn’t heard from her 4-year-old daughter who lives with her grandmother on the southern coast of Jamaica, which Hurricane Melissa pummeled on Tuesday, Oct. 28, as a Category 5 hurricane. Telecommunications are spotty around the country in the aftermath of the storm—the strongest to strike the island in modern history. Brown has worked as a seasonal employee at The Homestead resort in Glen Arbor for the past 14 years. The Homestead employs 35 Jamaicans as housekeepers on a seasonal basis. Some have returned to the job in Glen Arbor for 20 years. They work hard, and play an indispensable role in Leelanau County’s tourism-based economy. We’ll update this story as we learn how the families are doing—and how the Leelanau County community can support them as Jamaica recovers from Hurricane Melissa.
