Ser ving
America’s
Beautiful
Place
Copyright 2015, Leelanau Enterprise, Inc., all rights reserved.
Vol. 138 — No. 49
Lake Leelanau, Michigan 49653
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Five Sections
68 Pages
75¢
M-22 birth deserving of a ‘onesie’ By Alan Campbell Of The Enterprise staff
One of Cason Griswold’s first acts as a newborn was to trespass on a lawn along M-22 about halfway between his home and Munson Medical Center. Cason couldn’t help it, and neither could his mother, Nicole Winowiecki. Mother and son are doing fine now, fully recovered from an unusual birthing experience that occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 13. That will forever be the birthday of C a s o n Father pulls Griswold of L a k e over as mom Leelanau, and his place of gives birth birth — as
identified on his birth certificate — will forever be 8546 South West Bay Shore Drive. “That’s what’s on his birth certificate,” said Winowiecki. “That’s how the hospital wanted it.” Normally Winowiecki would be working at Orchard Creek Senior Living and Healthcare in Elmwood Township, but she’s been rather busy at home keeping track of Cason while father Isaac Griswold continues at his job at the Merc in Leland. Grandmother Janine Griswold, a caregiver who resides in Leland Township, recalled getting a somewhat frantic message three weeks ago. “They called me in the wee hours. I got over there within 15 minutes, and they were literally walking out the door
as I was walking in. I said, “Do you need towels or something?’ And I ran in and grabbed some bath towels and threw them at my son. And they used them,” Griswold said. “About 5 ‘clock I get a call from my son. ‘Oh, mom, we didn’t make it.’ I said, ‘What are you telling me?’” Winowiecki had doubts that Cason would wait until the couple arrived at the hospital soon after awaking with contractions two minutes apart. “We made it about halfway to Traverse City and I told Isaac, ‘You need to call 911 and pull over.’ I had to tell him a couple times to pull over. I don’t think he believed me,” she said. Cason was ready and made his (Concluded on Page 18)
THREE-WEEK-OLD Cason Griswold is now home with his parents, Nicole Winowiecki and Isaac Griswold.
It’s (literally) been a long summer
40-unit complex planned
By Eric Carlson Of The Enterprise staff
Students, parents and teachers are preparing to shift gears next week. But have you noticed that the gears will be shifting a full week later this year? Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, will arrive as late as it possibly can this year because the first Monday of September is on the seventh day of the month, not on Sept. 1 as it was last year. It’s worth noting, too, that Memorial Day, the MOSTLY SUNNY unofficial beginning of summer, arrived as early 80° as possible this year, on May 25. Last year, classes at local public schools began on Tuesday, Sept. 2, following Labor Day. This year, classes begin on MOSTLY SUNNY Tuesday, Sept. 9. 83° Quite a few Leelanau County residents have taken notice, especially this week when summer finally seemed to arrive on the heels of some unexpected fall-like weather in late August. CHANCE OF “Once we hit the middle THUNDERSTORMS of August, I am usually 80° ready to get back to school,” said Suttons Bay teacher and coach Todd Hursey. “But now that temperatures are back into the mid-80s – not so much.” The mother of three young boys, Amy Sutherland of Bingham Township, said she under-
By Patti Brandt Of The Enterprise staff
MOM AMY Sutherland of Bingham Township, and her three boys, from left, William, 2, Henry, 5, and Patrick, 7, enjoy warm weather and an extra week of summer vacation Tuesday morning at the Suttons Bay Marina Park.
Diversions winds down with Back to School coverage It’s been a long summer for our Diversions coverage, too, as we wind down the weekly 16-page sections with stories about classes resuming at Leelanu County schools. Inside you’ll find stories about the public high schools of Glen Lake, Leland, Northport and Suttons Bay as well as privately held St. Mary and Leelanau schools. In addition, coverage is provided for Suttons Bay Montessori
Thursday, September 3, 2015
and Pathfinder er schools. Thanks go outt to the many sources who became part of our summer coverage of L e e l a n a u County.
(Concluded on Page 19)
Last hurrah activities include walks and a float By Amy Hubbell Of The Enterprise staff
Leelanau County will celebrate the end of summer this weekend with activities on and over water. An estimated 3,500 water lovers are expected to converge when the Suttons Bay Floatilla returns after a one-year hiatus on Saturday with a different group of people at the helm. Suttons Bay Community First, Inc., is organizing the event.
“Our numbers are coming in strong,” said Joe Francis, who serves on the board of the local nonprofit. “The weather looks like it will be fantastic.” Two years ago, the Suttons Bay community set a new Guinness World Book record by gathering 2,099 vessels to form the largest raft of canoes and kayaks ever to float together. The event raised $50,000 for Suttons Bay Public Schools. However, last summer a group in Inlet, N.Y. smashed the Suttons Bay record with a raft of
3,151 canoes for One Square Mile of Hope and raised more than $10,000 for the fight against breast cancer. That means 3,152 vessels are needed to win the title back. “We’re shooting for 3,200,” Francis said. To reach the goal, Suttons Bay Community First reached out beyond the school community to other local, regional and statewide groups. St. Mary School is one of the local groups formally (Concluded on Page 19)
An affordable housing development with up to 40 units — some with spectacular views of the Grand Traverse Bay — is proposed for Northport Village. The project is dependent upon tax breaks that would have to be approved by Leelanau Township and Northport Village. The Woda Group, a company that designs, builds and manages affordable housing in several states, is looking at purchasing the unused portion of the former Leelanau Memorial Hospital, as well as a parcel of land located across the street on West Street. The property, at 211 High St., is just under nine acres. It includes the southern half of the former Leelanau Memorial Hospital, a utility garage and a six-acre lot on West Street. It’s listed with Coldwell Bankers at a price of $395,000. Affordable The hospital closed in 2004 housing and part of the building was remodeled and opened in eyed for 2009 as Northport Highlands, an assisted living and memo- Northport ry care facility. Located next door to Northport School, the property is owned by the Parkside Group, which had planned to renovate the entire building to offer senior living apartments. Those plans never came to fruition. The Woda Group has been in business for 25 years and is currently working on two affordable housing projects in Traverse City — the Boardman Lake apartments, which are scheduled to be complete by next week, and Brookside Commons, which is expected to open in November. David Cooper, a principal with the company, said a market study is underway to assess the need in the Northport area for affordable housing and how many units the market will support. Apartments would have one, two or three bedrooms and would be rented for $300 to $700 per (Concluded on Page 19)
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