« November 2004 | Main | June 2005 »
May 26, 2005
Empire basks in the Second Annual Spear-It of Spring
Ashlea J. Walter
Sun contributor
Villagers and tourists came out of winter hibernation to celebrate together in Empire on May 20 and 21. The reason? Asparagus, of course. Thankfully, the weather committee for the Empire Asparagus Festival worked hard all winter to ensure a beautiful blue-sky weekend for the Second Annual fete to celebrate the Village of Empire’s favorite green vegetable.
A host of events made for Asparagus lovers brought hundreds of enthusiastic people to the idyllic hamlet of 400, at least doubling its size for a weekend. The day started out with a Fun Run/Walk meandering through the Village. Getting some exercise in the morning was highly recommended because of the plethora of opportunities for good eats at the festival later on. Ten gallons of Cream of Asparagus Soup were enjoyed by many, but after 45 minutes the last bowl had already been served. Luckily, attendees could indulge in deep-fried asparagus, a sale that benefited the Fresh Food Partnership, or asparagus brats to sate their hearty asparagus appetites.
Many other ways to enjoy the fresh locally grown vegetable were demonstrated at the Asparagus Cooking & Recipe contest at the Town Hall. Extremely creative cooks brought dozens of sweet and savory asparagus-based dishes to the contest. Winning dishes included Carol Vanderberg’s beautiful “Bad Ass-paragrass Casserole,” Judy Walter’s “Asparagus Sherry Cake,” and Jo Lynn Davis’ “Spicy Asparagus Soup.” Winners in the popular people’s choice category included Gerald Gorte’s “Asparagus Pie” and Jennifer Flynn’s “Asparagus Primavera.” Other dishes included Asparagus Potstickers, Chinese Asparagus, Asparagus Casseroles and many more.
It’s a wonder anyone had room left to enjoy even more asparagus, but they did. The Lion’s Club Asparagus Festival dinner served over 300 people. Guests were also able to enjoy a selection of Leelanau County wines at the wine tasting, including wines from Bel Lago, Black Star Farms and Ciccone Vineyards.
Perhaps people were able to continue to indulge after accompanying Robin Johnson on a guided Asparagus Garden Walk through the Village in the afternoon. There are at least a half dozen places in Empire where Asparagus has been planted, accompanied by carefully selected complimentary perennial plantings. Village residents Heidi and Paul Skinner, Robin Johnson and Jan Sikorski have been instrumental in the maintenance of the awe-inspiring Asparagus Gardens. Of course, they can’t even begin to rival the local Norconk Asparagus fields just south of Empire, but Villagers will continue to enjoy them for years and years to come.
Poems were written, art was created, songs were sung, dishes were slaved over, asparagus was picked, posters and t-shirts were printed, books were written. All for the love of local asparagus. If you haven’t come to witness it in person, you must write it in next year’s calendar as a must-see-to-believe event. By witnessing the parading of asparagus people, painting with asparagus, bobbing for asparagus or even the throwing of asparagus spears, one might conclude that thankfully, Empire does not take itself too seriously. A slight irreverence, with a dash of self deprecating humor, mixed in with hundreds of volunteer hours make the festival unique, fun-loving and just what we all need after a long, cold, dark winter.
Posted by editor at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)
What happened while you were away?
The river, the arcade, the chocolate and the other new faces in town
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
You know that anticipation of spring — that pining for the day the snow melts and leaves behind a few surprises? Who dropped their mittens on the ground last fall, only to be buried under the drifts? In what shape will you find the garden when vibrant greens reclaims the landscape? Will you still be able to see the bay through the forest when the leaves return?
Well, downtown Glen Arbor has been giddy with anticipation too. Every Memorial Day weekend, it seems, new businesses are opening their doors and new management is lining up to serve the first guests as they leave their cars after a long drive up US-31 or M-22. And every year around this time the locals emerge from hibernation, dine out, jump on the bicycle or even wade into Lake Michigan’s still frigid waters for the first time since last fall.
It’s a time of new beginnings, sounds the cliché. But it’s true. Trilliums and morel mushrooms dominate the forest; t-shirts and bathing trunks replace sweats and thick winter jackets on the clothesline; young romance rises with the temperature; the Detroit Tigers are still in contention for the postseason; the Glen Arbor Sun has given birth to a sister paper in nearby Frankfort; and the beach, oh the beach, is as good a spot as any to have lunch.
With all that in mind, here are a few other changes to report this spring:
Leelanau Conservancy, National Park acquire Crystal River tract, ending years of struggle
After more than two decades of controversy over the Crystal River, a doomed golf course, a failed land swap and plenty of hurt feelings, The Homestead Resort, the National Park Service and the Leelanau Conservancy finally shook hands over the winter and reached a win-win solution for all. The large resort north of Glen Arbor agreed to sell 104 acres and 6,300 feet of river frontage once slated for a golf course to the National Park Service for $8.5 million. But funds weren’t available to do the whole thing at once. So the Leelanau Conservancy brokered a deal that would ultimately get all 104 acres into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the regional chapter of the Park, one section at a time.
In November of last year, the National Park Service bought the first 22 acres, including one of the most scenic stretches of the Crystal River, for $1.8 million. A month later Washington appropriated $2 million for another 23-acre parcel. The Conservancy, in turn, purchased 59 acres for $4.85 million just before Christmas and is holding the land until funding becomes available to sell it to the federal government.
The Crystal River is considered by many locals to be the “signature landscape” of the Glen Arbor area. The effort to protect the last undeveloped stretch of river has been unprecedented in terms of the cooperation between Park officials and local organizations like the Friends of the Crystal River and the Leelanau Conservancy.
“Sometimes the right thing prevails after a long struggle,” says Brian Price, executive director of the Conservancy. “There were many streams that converged for the Crystal to be saved in this manner.” He alluded to the commitment of the National Park, which has become more aware in recent years of the importance of the Crystal River, scenically and recreationally; near unanimous political support, both locally and from Michigan’s congressional delegates; and the Conservancy’s good relationship with The Homestead’s point-man Bob Kuras.
“Canoeing down the Crystal River, you feel like you’re in a primeval world,” says Park assistant superintendent Tom Ulrich. “It’s wonderful that this amazing piece of property will be available to the entire American public for years to come instead of a much small number had it been developed.
“For the community, the fact that it will be permanently protected is a testament to 20 years of hard work.”
Tim installs arcade next to the bar
While Dad sips a cold Bell’s Oberon at Art’s, and Mom nibbles on fine Ecuadorian chocolate at Thyme Out, their children can pump quarters into the pinball machine at The Station, Tim Barr’s new arcade in the old gas station-body shop next to Glen Arbor’s famed Art’s Tavern. Right between Dad’s sports craving and Mom’s sweet tooth, the kids are in good hands — and best of all, entertained.
As of press time, The Station boasted a pinball machine and an air hockey table. Games are still rolling in, says Tim, who is also presiding over the establishment of outdoor seating on the lakeside of Art’s this summer, separated from M-22 by a white picket fence. He’ll have someone manning the arcade at all times, and best of all, in tiny Glen Arbor, Mom or Dad are always nearby with a pocket full of change.
Grocer’s Daughter invites you to take a Thyme Out and taste its chocolate
In the last couple decades Glen Arbor has been transformed from a remote outpost longing for the bygone logging days into a tourist Mecca. Now exquisite food, good wine, strong cheese, classy cigars and tasty desserts lurk around every corner. Some now call our home the Cape Cod of the Midwest — they have their Kennedys, and we have our Sutherlands!
Now you can add to that list rich, fair-trade chocolate, cultivated by the hands of Ecuadorian workers who make a decent wage and tempered by a European who knows the art of French truffles and uses her Scandinavian upbringing as inspiration. (Mimi Wheeler is the Grocer’s Daughter, and mother of the editor of the Glen Arbor Sun. Do you follow?) She and business partner Carlene Peregrine will hold a chocolate tasting on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend from 10-3 in front of Thyme Out in the heart of Glen Arbor.
New faces in town
At the Western Avenue Grill, the name is the same; the logo hasn’t changed; the fresh fish are still the best in downtown Glen Arbor; only the ownership and personnel have changed hands. Mark and Matt Davies of JBM Partners now run the show. General manager and director of operations Tim Weiss keeps everything on an even keel. And Keith Karp of the Florida Culinary Institute is the chef whose hand you’ll want to shake after you weep over how good the Chipotle Honey Shrimp tastes when it reaches your tongue.
Meanwhile, Randy Chamberlain and Phil Murray can lay claim to the best view in town. These veterans of the famed Window’s restaurant just outside Traverse City on West Grand Traverse Bay are co-owners of Le Bear Restaurant, located inside the dazzling new resort by the boat ramp at the end of Lake Street. This is Le Bear Resort’s first summer in existence, and the high-class restaurant, modeled after Window’s, will be open for business soon.
Posted by editor at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
In impoverished, war-torn Guatemala, county locals try to make a difference
Sutherland brothers encourage volunteers for trip next fall
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
“Study is not the goal, DOING is.
Do not mistake ‘talk’ for action.
Pity fills no stomach.
Compassion builds no house.
Understanding is not yet justice.”
— Rabbi Pirke Avot
Part one in a two-part series on locals doing humanitarian work in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY — The shantytowns of humble tin shacks now stretch as far as the eye can see on the outskirts of this destitute and gritty Central American capital. The residents are hard-luck Mayan Indians and mixed-blood Ladinos who fled their native villages in the western highlands during the height of the civil war massacres in the 1980’s for the anonymity of la ciudad. The stories they share with each other are ones of loss, and terror, and fear of returning. They are terminal refugees. Yet they know they are better off than some.
For in Guatemala City’s garbage dump, thousands of people live and try to make every day lead to the next. They wander from heap to heap of trash, looking for tortillas or beans, or even meat that a rich family in Zona 10 may have thrown out. The father, if there is one, often wanders off for days to get drunk on high-octane and cheap Agua Diente firewater, while the mother leaves her infant in an old car tire with a piece of plywood over its head to keep out the sun’s burning rays while she looks for bags of glue she can sniff to dull the pain of hunger.
Though impossible for wealthy Americans like us to fathom, this story repeats itself every day here — every single day.
To combat this, Hanley Denning, a 1992 graduate of Bowdoin College and native of Maine, has established Safe Passage (Camino Seguro), a community of local and foreign volunteers, sponsors and a small Guatemalan staff working to provide hope and assistance to the children of families living in Guatemala City’s garbage dump. Safe Passage has about 40 employees, 25 of which are social workers. It also runs two orphanages and schools, but can only house up to 50 kids at one time — all on a budget of approximately $30,000 a month
Among those who have traveled to Central America to help Safe Passage are Traverse City-resident and financial consultant Paul Sutherland, and more recently his brother Mike, a building contractor who lives on the Crystal River in Glen Arbor. A huge proponent of philanthropy, Paul was wary of talking too much about himself when I interviewed him for this article, since Denning, who will visit northern Michigan in early June, deserves the lion’s share of the credit. Needless to say, the work has only begun.
Paul carries the above quote from Rabbi Pirke Avot in his wallet at all times, and refers to it religiously. “I mean, you could donate money for a new stained glass window in a church in the United States, but putting a roof over someone’s head down there means a lot more,” he says.
Putting roofs over people’s heads is just what his brother Mike hopes to do this coming fall if he can round up a trip of volunteers. “Hanley wants me to build a shelter in the dump where mothers can drop their babies off so they won’t have to leave them in abandoned tires,” Mike says.
Though he has traveled to more than 40 different countries and didn’t think that anything could surprise him, Mike admits he wasn’t at all prepared for what he witnessed at the garbage dump in Guatemala City. Over breakfast at Art’s Tavern earlier this month, he revealed that he sometimes wakes up at night, haunted, with the image of Astrid, a five-year-old girl he held in his arms for an hour. “She wouldn’t let me go,” he remembers. “She was hanging on for dear life.
“I didn’t want to admit to myself that this kind of poverty exists for some people. The Dali Lama says that people don’t really want to realize the extremity of it even though they say they want to help the world. ‘Where do you begin?’ they ask.
“’Start anywhere!’” he answers.
“As for me,” Mike summarizes, “I love to travel. I was blown away by the Guatemalan food; the culture; the people. So Guatemala was the perfect place for me to being.”
If you would like to join Mike Sutherland this fall on his trip to build shelters for the children living in Guatemala City’s garbage dump, he can be reached at 883-7890. Lodging in Guatemala will be provided. The cost of the flight, and food while there, are not included.
Glen Lake alum Liz Martin’s story about volunteering in a Mayan clinic in the jungle in eastern Guatemala will appear in the June 16 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun
Posted by editor at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
Morel mushrooms are Ripe in the Land of the Sleeping Bear
By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Every year I love to watch for the signs of spring: a robin on the ground; a crocus pushing up; the return of the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks; the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird; the first balmy breeze’ the evenings getting longer.
Like everyone else, I also eagerly await the Trillium. This year it seems we had a bumper crop, with some of the biggest Trilliums I have ever seen. “Trillium Gigantus,” I laughingly call them. Some look literally a foot tall with flowers as big as your fist. Not only that, but in some areas they seem to blanket the ground.
And then there are the mushrooms. Once the trilliums are out and we’ve had a few warm days, everyone starts talking about mushrooms.
I heard on the news weeks ago that people were finding mushrooms in Mesick. I know Mesick is the morel capital of Michigan, but those people down there must have secret spots where they know they can find the earliest mushrooms. Up here it seems like ours always lag behind.
As I waited impatiently in early May for some warm weather, I asked around to hear if mushrooms had been discovered here yet. It turned out that everyone has a mushroom story or a mushroom theory.
A lady at the Glen Arbor Athletic Club told me there are always some in the corner of her yard. But the neighbors know she doesn’t really like mushrooms, so they come and get them.
A couple other people I talked to mentioned morels growing in their yards. These stories of yard morels made me wonder if they grow among regular lawn grass or if these yards are more like my own “yard”, which simply means an opening in the woods where my house stands.
Even the cable TV guy talks mushrooms. He said he thought they would be out by the weekend, “if we can just get some rain.”
Some people think they come out after the warm weather starts, but only if there has been enough rain.
A friend said I should look near beach trees. Another friend says under big pine trees. The Mesick website suggested looking for poplar and ash trees with good spring sun.
My personal theory is that they are best found around plenty of blooming Trilliums and other wildflowers.
Once the Trillium arrived, I started checking a certain spot in my yard among the trees where I found mushrooms two previous years. I also went out for a serious search in the woods off County Road 677, south of the Glen Lakes. But I had no luck, and it felt too cold and dry for mushrooms anyway.
May 17
Yeah! I found my first mushrooms! We walked Alligator Hill on a cool day with a little sun. At the very top, near the lookout over Big Glen Lake, I spotted a large, black morel, practically on the trail. We had walked right past it coming in but somehow I saw it as we started back.
I pointed my walking stick in wonder: I was speechless. “What’s wrong?” asked my friend, as I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Finally I spoke. “Look, a mushroom!” I said. I reached down and picked up the morel, probably the biggest I had ever found. “Here, feel how cool and heavy it is,” I told her. My friend looked around as she touched the mushroom and said, “There’s another one, and look, I almost stepped on this one!”
Those three were all we found and all I have to show for this year. But we took them home and fried them up in butter and, suddenly, spring was off to a great start. After all, it wouldn’t seem like a northern Michigan spring without mushrooms.
Each day now as I pass the cars parked along 677, I silently cheer the avid mushroomers who scavenge the forest hunting morels, and I long to be with them. It’s a warm, sunny Saturday, promising to reach the 70’s as I write this. As soon as I finish, I’ll get my mushroom stick and go out there and join them in this northern Michigan rite of springtime.
Posted by editor at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
The Little People of the North Woods
By Lois Beardslee
Sun contributor
The following is an excerpt from the collection Calm Days and is the first in a series of nine pieces the Glen Arbor Sun will run this summer, exploring the lore of Michigan’s Native Americans as well as current issues.
Epanigishimoog is resting. This monstrous, overwhelming being, the Wind Himself, is sound asleep. This is an opportunity on Lake Superior. This is when the Little People spring forth from the forest floor, fall into their tiny boats, and play and explore where the lake offers itself up to every bit of land touching its otherwise restless borders. Great, hulking cliffs are warm and touchable. Islands and coves known only to the clattering hooves and scratching toenails of caribou, moose, bears, and otters come alive with Superior's people, the Anishnabeg.
There are those who believe that the Little People are figments of our imaginations, that the Ojibwe believe in fairies. But we are the Little People ourselves, dwarfed by our environment, by old growth timber, by lakes and rivers that are so immense they seem endless. We are one and the same. Sometimes we are very big, and sometimes we are very small. When Epanigishimoog sleeps and Superior opens her arms to us, we are very small.
The water is so clear today that we hang over the edges of our tiny boat, intrigued. Cliffs rise up straight below us, and we float on the dense water that rises above their peaks. We see fifty feet down, clearly, as though we are eagles in a cloudless sky. Lake trout roll their marble-sized eyes up at us and loll but a few feet to one side or another. There is no constant lapping, sloshing, crashing of waves to hide us from the wildlife, not even a ripple. We will see no swimming bears today. The caribou will not come to visit. Only Little People like us and smaller mammals like beavers and otters skitter about on a day like today. We are as much a part of this lake as the crayfish.
We land our small craft and scramble on rocks that are rarely dry and safe to the tread of an awkward human being. Our eager hands cradle open geodes and vast cauldrons worn smooth by ice-dropped boulders swirled for years in heaving waves. We walk on coarse lava that is creased and caked like old gravy, frozen since the moment that liquid rock hit cool air. It is only here, at Superior's fingertips, that the centuries of soil and softer rock are cleansed from the surface of the lava. No lichens can survive here to tear at the surface structure of this hardest of rocks. We clamber about, we Little People, small, non-invasive, flitting, elusive, and timeless. We are among the secrets of this lake.
The island is so small that I have never dreamed of landing on it. It is perhaps five acres. It is close to the big island, but surprisingly, separated by a chasm a hundred feet deep. Its rocky shore is somehow different from the adjacent island. It is out on the open water's side of the big island. Epanigishimoog rarely leaves this islet alone. I have never dared venture around it. I assume I am being given a tour of its perimeter. I keep my eyes down and ahead for unknown shoals. But Grandfather guides the boat directly onto the rocks. I shift my weight toward the back, and the high front end barely scrapes. We set the anchor on the shore, although today no gust will move the vessel while we are away.
"I'll go this way. You two go around on the other shore."
"But Miisho, I want to go with you!"
"No. Follow your mother. Go on. I've got a surprise for you."
In a few minutes, we meet on a rock bluff at the narrow, inland tip of the island. By late morning, this calm day has become so warm that we have left a trail of clothing layers among the rocks. We kneel to sip water directly from the big lake.
"Ohhh..." he says with such disappointment. "I wanted to show you a caribou." I am quizzical. I have seen a hundred caribou. Why would a caribou hunker down on this tiny islet with so little forage?
"I figured if I walked around this way, I would make it come right out at you."
I've had caribou run right past me. It's terrifying. So I smile and shrug. I look to the bigger island, where I know the caribou bed down, perhaps 200 feet away from here. I peer into the cedars. Are they watching us? Are they laughing at us?
I return to my knees, for another drink, wondering what sort of sight I am to those caribou, a rare mammal drinking at the water's edge on a calm, hot day. As I swallow, I catch a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye, before I hear the deafening clatter of those immense hooves. Confused by our prattle, then startled by the actual sight of us, the great beast pulls its weight forward and dashes with unruly momentum into the water. His chest and chin are clearly reflected in the water's mirror-like surface before him. As he propells himself, I see each leg under the surface in its strong paddling motion. It is the biggest caribou I have ever seen in my life.
"One of the cows calves in there." Mishomis points to an old Indian copper mine, a man-made depression in the rock, now full of small trees and lichens. "He just comes to visit." He is referring to the caribou as if it is an old friend. I can imagine them, the two old bulls, in quiet conversation.
The old man is laughing with his whole body. He loves being right. His arms dangle down, and he is helpless, giddy. Today is about teaching. It is about knowing everything about one's environment that one needs to know to survive. The Little People can never have hoped to hunt and live off of animals as immense as bears, caribou, and moose without knowing everything there is to know about them.
Mishomis is not showing off. He is teaching lessons about the Anishnabeg that are bigger than hunting. We no longer rely strictly upon hunting for our food. He is teaching me about self respect and the knowledge that Indians always have been cunning. Our environment and our resources have changed. But we are still smart and adaptable. We are still strong. We know this about ourselves, even if it is one of the best kept unintentional secrets in North America. The Little People should never remain small. We should always know how and when to make ourselves big. As the old man convulses with laughter in front of the fading wake of the great swimming caribou, he stands there as a giant.
And now it is time to become small again, to slip off of the tiny island without further disturbing mother and calf.
Today is a day of transformations. It is a day to feel good about ourselves. It is a day to smile at the silliness of strangers who believe that we are superstitious, ignorant fools who are mistaken in our beliefs that we have actually seen our elders transform themselves into creatures and fish. Today has been a day for flying over mountaintops, while trout, pike, and sturgeon sail through canyons below.
Posted by editor at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)
Before the National Championship, the Spartan star was just a local girl
By Sudsy Cheroot
Sun sports writer
A Big Ten standout, a finalist for the USA World University games team, and nearly a national champion, Liz Shimek has achieved unparalleled success over the course of a magical basketball career, the latest chapter of which will appear in the June 16 issue of the Glen Arbor Sun as her junior year in East Lansing culminated in her Michigan State Spartans reaching the NCAA Championship game. Threaded and intertwined through all her thoughts in a recent interview with the Sun was the love and passion for her Leelanau County home, her family, her friends and how grateful she is for, in her words, “the small community support where everyone cares for each other”. In this first chapter of a two part-interview, Liz traces her small-town start, influential coaches and other contributing factors in her amazing basketball journey.
It should not surprise anyone familiar with the local hoops scene that Liz’s first organized basketball memory was attending Don Miller’s Glen Lake School summer camp. “I remember Coach Miller stressing two things: ball handling and having fun,” she remembers, “and how great of an opportunity it was to work with him.” This experience the summer after third grade started her on the way to really committing herself to basketball excellence. Miller recently retired from a legendary career as head coach of the Glen Lake boys basketball team, highlighted by a state championship and an induction into the Michigan High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. Liz spoke fondly of coming back in later years to work at “Mill’s” summer camp.
Liz underscored how lucky she has been to receive fundamentally sound coaching throughout her basketball life when she brought up another Glen Lake and Leelanau coaching legend, Paul Christiansen, and his influence on her development. “Coach C,” as he has always been affectionately called, “was so much fun to play for because he could go from joking to serious so fast,” she noted.
Coach Christiansen was also her track coach. Liz contributed mightily to Glen Lake School’s 2002 State Track Championship, and Shimek feels strongly that track has had a big impact on her athleticism, strength and conditioning, helping her reach such a high level of basketball success in the tough and physical Big Ten conference. Christiansen coached her not only as an eighth grader in basketball, but for four years of great success in Girl’s Track.
Ted Swierad coached Liz as a ninth grader on the Glen Lake varsity team, where she was the first player off the bench. “Coach Swierad was fun to play for,” she reminisces,” and the kind of coach you wanted to play well for and give your heart to.” As Liz spoke about Coach Swierad, she showed a genuine fondness and respect for another member of the Michigan High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.
The Miss Michigan Basketball Award winner in 2002 explained other elements of her athletic excellence, starting with the importance of her superiority in the classroom. Her accolades there include her title as co-valedictorian of her high school graduating class and her recent naming to the first-team Academic All-American squad.
She stressed the importance of academic excellence contributing to her basketball I.Q. “I felt like even though I may not have been as big as my opponents, I was smarter.” She believes in the idea of the mind pushing the body to an “all out effort, reaching past barrier, mind over matter.” The importance of giving 100 percent all the time in everything contributed to a mental toughness that she needed to play in the Big Ten conference known for its big, strong defensive mindset. Her work ethic learned from long days of working on the farm evolved into a mental and physical toughness necessary to juggle academic and athletic excellence at the highest level.
Separating the good athlete from the great athlete capable of excelling in the Big Ten also took superior strength and athleticism. Playing volleyball, still one of her great loves, contributed to quickness, reaction time, hand-eye coordination and her jumping ability. Her four years of track gave her leg strength and the will to cross barriers of physical pain and exhaustion. Playing three sports in high school put her in a multitude of competitive situations to gain confidence in her ability to overcome adverse conditions in pressure situations.
Liz Shimek is a world-class athlete whose success is hard to fathom, but is easy to see after talking with her — it comes from a combination of coaching expertise, superior athletic ability, mental and physical strength and toughness, and a commitment to excellence. In her mind, just as important as these components are to her success, is the continued support of the people of Leelanau County. She emphasized that the incredible amount of ‘thank you’ notes, congratulatory phone calls and flowers that have been sent inspire her each day. She is so grateful and thankful to all.
In the second chapter of this two part-story on Liz Shimek — who will travel to Izmir, Turkey in August as part of the 12-member USA World University Games squad — read the inside scoop on her amazing year that mesmerized area residents and thrilled the college basketball world on the path to the national championship game.
Posted by editor at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)
Leelanau Lender-At-Large even makes house calls
By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
In an age when you can arrange visits at home or in the workplace with everyone from chefs, personal fitness trainers and massage therapists, inviting your local mortgage lender to join you for lunch in your kitchen or work cubicle doesn’t sound too implausible — nor terribly exciting, if one is to be honest. Shopping for a mortgage loan doesn’t usually tickle the taste buds, stoke the calorie-burning furnace or even release a morning’s worth of tension. What a personal visit can do, says Bryan Borchardt of Bank One’s mortgage loan department, is properly prepare a borrower for loan costs associated with purchasing a home, vacant property or business — one of the largest purchases a person will make in his or her lifetime.
Borchardt, who travels between the Leelanau County Bank One branch in Cedar and Bank One branches in Traverse City and Grawn, is quick to point out that many peoples’ lifestyles and schedules don’t allow for one-on-one meetings, the type of customer contact he prefers. Instead, most mortgages are processed via facsimile, overnight mail service and e-mail. The 10 hours per week Borchardt is on the road these days is spent traveling to branch offices, visiting real estate agents’ offices and attending property sale closings at title companies.
What does a mortgage loan officer do during the other 30 or more work hours per week?
“My time is spent fielding calls, (from customers, real estate agents, Bank One’s underwriting department and title companies), running credit histories, evaluating a customer’s financial situation, letting customers know about their borrowing capabilities, educating borrowers on how much their closing costs should be, helping real estate agents structure purchase agreements and networking with realtors.”
Loans he originates and services through Bank One include primary residences, second homes and vacant land. A separate commercial loan division handles business loans. In addition to conventional mortgages, Bank One handles loans through the Rural Housing Program, FHA and VA for people whose income levels make them ineligible for conventional home loans.
When asked if he thinks borrowers might be more sophisticated today, he nods as he replies, “People rate and price shop, looking at closing costs and interest rates. I’m more than happy to provide costs on paper – it’s required by law to do this – but not all (lenders) do.”
Borchardt recalls a couple of first-time homebuyers, young newlyweds, who received a “good faith” estimate of $9,000 in closing costs from a local lender. “The couple asked me if this was too much and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ The lender wanted 2.5 points in origination fees.” A good way to avoid this type of situation, he says, is to obtain the good-faith, written estimate of costs and ask the lender to explain those costs line by line.
“If you have to ask if it’s too much, it probably is,” he explains. “No one should feel belittled by the person they’re meeting with. Options are available for everyone these days. People shouldn’t be intimidated by the process, either.”
Costs are sometimes, but not always, higher for persons who have less-than-perfect credit. One advantage of borrowing from Bank One, Borchardt says, is that all credit grades can be served. The cost of doing loans, whether the borrower’s grades are bad or good, is the same. He adds that this is in contrast to the mortgage broker, (a middle man between the borrower and lending company who “shops” for loans), whose fees are higher for borrowers with bad credit grades.
Another area where Borchardt feels Bank One is competitive is processing time for loans, (underwriting). “If this process takes more than two to three weeks, a red flag should be going up for their, (the borrowers’), closing. They should be questioning what’s happening.”
Although Memorial Weekend signals the start of a busy real estate season, Borchardt says that September, October and November are his busiest months. “I think you probably have a drop in property prices and a lot of people wait (to buy),” he explains.
”That’s how I got (pulled into buying) mine,” he adds with a laugh. “It was 65 degrees and sunny – one of those Indian Summer Days we all love.”
Buyers this season might be a little cautious about the economy, he says, but whether or not they choose to buy depends on a lot of factors. He says that rates are still low enough that he believes it’s affordable to finance. Besides, Borchardt says, Leelanau County is “an entity in itself,” with steady real estate sales from vacation home purchases.
“I think you see a lot more people buying second homes in Leelanau County or investing in property, like rental units, in Traverse City,” he explains. “In this area, people are seeing that real estate is a better return on their investment than the stock market.
Borchardt says that the most rewarding aspect of his job is making his borrowers happy, whether they’re first-time buyers or investors, which, in turn, makes him feel good, and “…also creates good referral business, makes real estate agents happy and generates the repeat business we all love.”
“…And putting first-time home buyers into a new home, he adds. “This one couple, they kept hugging me after the closing,” he says smiling. “Not all buyers are like that.”
In Leelanau County, Bryan Borchardt works from the Bank One branch on Kasson Street in Cedar. You can reach him at 922-2515, toll-free at 800-248-1135 or on his mobile phone: 642-1383. E-mail him at Bryan.J.Borchardt@chase.com. Bank One was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in July, 2004, and the Cedar branch will operate locally under the name “Chase” beginning in November.
Posted by editor at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)