Demonstrators engage in a 'tug of wetlands'
Clous and DEQ situation is focus
by Ian
Storey
Traverse City Record Eagle
TRAVERSE
CITY—A puppet-show protest against Eastwood Custom Homes President
Bill Clous greeted sleepy-eyed participants of the Michigan Wetlands
Conference.
Demonstrators wearing animal heads battled in a "tug of wetlands"
with a puppet-head of Clous over a three-headed effigy of Gov.
Jennifer Granholm, Department of Environmental Quality Director
Steven Chester and the Army Corps of Engineers. The demonstration
was coordinated by the Sweetwater Alliance water rights group and
the Little Artshram organization.
Lou
Blouin, spokesman for the Sweetwater Alliance, said the focus of the
demonstration at the Water Studies Institute of Northwestern
Michigan College was to bring to light negotiations between Clous
and the DEQ over Clous' treatment of nearly 80 acres of wetlands
property in East Bay Township. He said the group wants the DEQ to
hold a public hearing when it announces the terms of its settlement
with Clous.
"We
really feel that the best forum is to have a public hearing," he
said. "So far, they have been reluctant to agree to that demand."
The
conference gathered more than 300 participants to discuss and
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Goemaere-Anderson Wetland
Protection Act.
Wil
Cwikiel, water resource program director at the Tip of the Mitt
Watershed Council and one of the organizers of the conference,
invited the demonstrators in to be part of the day's events.
"I
have never seen my head on a stick," said Chester, who added that
despite the effigy, he was happy the protesters joined the
conference.
But the
demonstration almost derailed after an e-mail sent to members of the
two groups also was sent to the media, prompting conference
organizers to request the group not attend.
Cwikiel
said he was initially worried the protest might create a divide.
After seeing the display, he was happy it was done in a positive and
peaceful manner.
The
invitation to participate in the conference was a move Blouin said
he and the other demonstrators appreciated and the kind of
connection they had hoped to create.
"When
you hold protests, people are less inclined to stop and find out
what the message is," he said. "I think it made people more
comfortable and more inclined to stop and hear the message because
we made it fun and --enjoyable."
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