West Michigan News Company

Jean Klock Park Advocates Sue National Park Service
Cite extensive violation of National Environmental Policy Act
State of Michigan Named Co-Defendant

(Benton Harbor, Michigan) – August 5, 2008

Seven Benton Harbor and Benton Township residents today filed suit
against the National Park Service in the U. S. District Court for the
District of Columbia alleging multiple violations of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and failure to properly apply
regulations mandated under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act in
its July 25 decision to approve the conversion of Jean Klock Park on
Lake Michigan to an elite Jack Nicklaus golf course.

Residents assert that the plan to convert significant portions of the
Park for private development fails to disclose the true scope of impacts
to the environment and fails to present and analyze serious development
alternatives as required under the law.

The 91year-old public park offers commanding views of Lake Michigan from
the dunes - - which would be off limits to all but golfers paying
greens fees reported to be as high as $225. per round.

The State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the City of
Benton Harbor also are named as defendants in the 52-page Complaint
filed by Toledo attorney Terry J. Lodge.

The lawsuit claims that the City and the developer, Harbor Shores, a
consortium made up of the Whirlpool Foundation, the Cornerstone Alliance
and the Alliance for World Class Communities, have continuously
concealed significant information about the environmental impacts which
would result from golf course construction and maintenance in the park.
The conversion plan does not reveal the quantity of sand which would be
removed from the dunes and replaced with topsoil for a stable,
unchanging base, nor the amount of chemical herbicides and pesticides
which would be released into the environment, nor does it take into
account the widely fluctuating lake level over time and the effects of
historical high levels in reducing the beach and park land available to
the public.
"We think if the public had been told the truth about how much permanent
damage there will be to the dunes, trees, plants and animals, the
outrage would have killed this idea. Why else did Harbor Shores hide
this from us?" said Emma Kinnard, a plaintiff.

“Extensive excavation and stabilization of the dunes would be
necessary to plant golf course features,” said plaintiff Julie Weiss.
“In a plan which describes wetland fill to the last cubic yard, there
is no dissection whatsoever of the impacts to the dunes, the signature
landscape of Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. Once they’re gone,
they’re gone forever.”

Plaintiffs also contend that the appraisal price of $900,000 for the 22
acres featuring dramatic views of Lake Michigan is low by perhaps
$15,000,000 because it ignores explicit federal requirements. Finally,
opponents of golf holes in the park assert that seven parcels of land
along the Paw Paw River, some of it so polluted it may be too expensive
to clean up, cannot come close to compensating the public for taking
away the aesthetic beauty and joy which access to the dunes affords.

“Rarely has the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act been so
violated,” said LuAnne Kozma, Michigan Director of the San
Francisco-based park preservation organization, Defense of Place. “The
law is very clear. This lawsuit has national implications for places
everywhere that matter, like Jean Klock Park.” Kozma has worked with
many local residents and people around the state for over two years to
preserve the park for the public for all time.

On July 8 Carol Drake and Clellen Bury representing the Friends of Jean
Klock Park filed a separate lawsuit in Berrien County Circuit Court
alleging multiple violations of a four-year-old settlement agreement
promising no future development in the park.

“This park was left to all of us, and our children, and their
children, forever,” said James Duncan, another plaintiff. “No one
living today will be alive when this lease runs out in 105 years.
They’re taking our park away to give to outsiders for what in real
life terms is ‘forever.’”

“We have a better idea: build Harbor Shores golf course outside the
park, and follow our lead to restore Jean Klock Park to the grandeur
envisioned in the 1920’s by the foremost Prairie School landscape
architect, Jens Jensen. That way, we’ll have something special for
everyone,” said Nicole Moon, a plaintiff.

For more information contact Protect Jean Klock Park at
info@protectjkp.com or telephone 269 519 8192. Visit our website at
www.protectjkp.com.

Testimony hinged largely around the fact that the donor of this park, Mr. Klock, had made this gift to the City of Benton Harbor in memory of his daughter who had died at a very young age. It was in her memory that the park be used by the children of Benton Harbor, not to be turned into a golf course for the wealthy. If this happens in Benton Harbor, it will set a precedent that could affect every public park in our state. Do the wealthy and powerful have a right to steal from the citizens of this state? The voice of people needs to be heard, or one day every one of us will wake up some day and find our lives completely shattered by the powerful few.

On Tuesday night, April 15th, the Friends of Jean Klock Park met at the M Tec Center in Benton Harbor to give a presentation on the deal offered the people to allow Harbor Shores Development Corporation lease this prime property on Lake Michigan for over 100 years to put up a private golf course. For allowing them to lease this prime property, they are willing to swap some contaminated property not even in Benton Harbor, that the residents may be forced to clean up. Sound like a sweet deal to you? It gets better. They will guarantee the residents of Benton Harbor 40% of 22 jobs working seasonally to maintain their golf course. That is a total of 9 jobs going to the residents of Benton Harbor. How much tax money do you think Fred Upton of Whirlpool who is the district's Congressional Representative has been able to get in federal and state taxpayer funds to provide these 22 jobs? Would you believe $120 million, or $5,450,000 per job.

First, under your plan, the $120 million never comes back to the taxpayers. Under my plan, the money is loaned to the people of Benton Harbor for 15 years interest free. I'll give the taxpayers back their money, and invest the $120 million in stocks and bonds yielding between 6 and 12% annually. That would provide enough money to fund anywhere from 200 to 500 livable wages averaging $30,000 annually. This money would be spent directly in the community and it would provide livable wages for far more workers. They could work on restoring the community to a level that would attract outside interest.

Yours has 9 workers guaranteed against my 200 to 500 workers. The dunes would not be destroyed, and the wishes of Mr. Klock who donated the park to the people of Benton harbor for their children would be honored.

On St. Patrick's Day, the Honorable Judge Butzbaugh heard the motion to remove the entire Berrien County Judiciary from the Rev. Pinkney case. This hearing was important for not only what was said, but what was not said, but known. In the video above, the defense attorney talks about the demeaning remarks both Pinkney and his supprters used against both Judge Butzbaugh and the Berrien County Judiciary. I have heard the remarks, seen the t-shirts, and have to admit that they are not appropriate for an honest and fair Judiciary system. I believed that Judge Butzbaugh loved the law, and would do the right thing for the people who came up in front of him.

What was not said, but known is quite damaging to both the honorable jusdge and possibly many within the Judiciary system in Berrien County. The Reverend Pinkney was sentenced for his actions in a recall election that he started to save Jean Klock Park from developers. One of the major developers of the area is Ship Street Realty, which was merged with the professional corporation of Butzbaugh and Ryan on March 9, 2006 after the Pinkney conviction. Back in 2004, you had Law & Title Realty, LLC taking the assumed name of Counselors-Ship Street Realty. The word "counselors" assumes that the ownership is by members of the legal profession. Why is the defense attorney worried about getting a fair hearing in Berrien County? That certainly may be one of the answers.

At this point, nobody has proved any violation of the law or ethics. This situation need not get out of hand. After this hearing, I listened to many members of Pinkney's supporters say that they would like to see Judge Butzbaugh, the prosecutor, and the defense attorneys sit down in the Judge's quarters and work a deal that would allow all parties to walk away with their head held high. If the Reverend was wrong in referring to the Berrien County Justice System in a demeaning manner, than this is the time for a reconciliation. This man has certainly paid for any ill advised remarks by spending time in the Berrien County lockup. "When two great forces oppose each other, the victory will go to the one that knows how to yield." Lao Tzu

The Limits of the Internet or The Silence Of the Streets by Brigitte Schön

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0305-29.htm

While we're all sitting comfortably at some desk looking at our computer screens, reading articles by people whose opinion we cherish, celebrating the feeling that we might be able to change whatever we want to change by just writing the kind of highly opinionated piece I am about to write, I have lately been giving this complacent feeling of mine a thorough cleansing which led to the following musings:

What if the world, this world of TV images we know, still was pretty archaic at heart and what if it still primarily reacted to centuries-old images and trigger patterns after all? In other words: What do political campaigns and articles via the internet really manage to accomplish? And: Does this mean that I still ought to brave icy winds or pouring rain instead and hold up some banners in demonstrations in order to really achieve anything, and does this mean that all these thoughful articles on the net don't have as much influence as all of us couch revolutionaries would like to believe?

Let me lead you through a little time machine experiment. All I'd ask you to do is imagine that there was an internet around when any of the following occured (there are thousands of cases to choose from; I just randomly picked a few):

The British are occupying India. Instead of rallying hundreds of thousands of Indians in peaceful marches, Mahatma Ghandi launches an internet campaign against the Raj (=British rule of India). Your best bet: Do you think that the British would still be ruling India?

Next stop the Iron Curtain. Instead of hundreds of thousands of East Germans chanting "WE are the people!" every single day for weeks against the leaders of their People's Republic (hence the chant), they launch a massive e-mail-campaign demanding freedom and liberties hitherto not granted in East Germany from their Politburo. Your best bet: Would the Berlin Wall have come down as a result?

Let's go to recent news: Although I am personally appalled at the violent frenzy which erupted in the Arab world about those cartoons in a negligable, albeit famously right-wing, Danish newspaper - the uproar looked very much like an orchestrated opportunity these dictatorships granted their subjects to finally let off some steam to me - would irate articles on discussion forums in the Moslem world have attracted the same amount of international attention to the cause of the Moslems' grievances as all these demonstrators did? What's your best bet?

And, last but not least: Are you aware of the fact that Iran, according to what I've heard, has a thriving internet community which to a large extent is critical of the government? No? But would you be aware of substantial opposition in Iran if on NBC you watched these same people demonstrate? Yes?

Fine. Now you might be ready for what I am really trying to get at: As long as there aren't any massive NUMEROUS and VISIBLE protests against the present US administration's machinations, forget the idea that any well-meaning five-people-vigil in your home town or any irate article on the net will change anything.

The only thing that embarrasses a government is mass protests for MANY DAYS IN A ROW. They can't be overlooked, it's hard to ignore them, they can't be shrugged off, they are bound to be aired in one's country plus around the world, they are in short a major newsworthy event.

While the internet is fabulous when it comes to finding out how many like-minded people there are around you, it is at the same time sadly a silent and invisible weapon. No internet campagain will ever make it to prime time TV or to the front page of any paper. In case you are in doubt, just remember Ukraine last winter. It was the sight of these people braving it for many days in the freeze in their orange attire which caught your attention, wasn't it? Would you have noticed any anger on Ukrainian websites instead??

Or would YOU know about Cindy Sheehan if she'd only vented her grief and anger on the web and not physically outside Bush's ranch?

At some stage the pent-up wrath of many Americans against their government would have to be expressed in lonr-lasting mass (we're talking millions) protests in American cities if people really want to make a difference. They have to be prepared to stand up and be counted.

Or how else could one of Europe's most famous philosophers, Bernard-Henri Lévy, come up with the diagnosis "semi-comatose state of the American Left" on CommonDreams nearly a month ago after having travelled in the US? Well, if you leave your computer, that's definitely the impression.

Ironically, in times of an overkill of electronic communication, it is still the physical protest which to this day seems to be the only action capable of moving mountains, not its (admittedly more comfortable) cyber ersatz.

Deep down, human perception hasn't changed that much.

So you better get out your raingear...

Brigitte Schön (b.schoen@chello.at) is an Austrian conference interpreter, occasional writer and political activist. She lives in Vienna.