By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
SEBEWAING — Until a news article ran in Wednesday’s edition of The Tuscola County Advertiser, only a few people were concerned with Bay Shore Camp & Family Ministries officials’ request for a property exchange with the Department of Natural Resources for state land in the village of Sebewaing for two other properties outside of the village.
There is some additional interest on the issue now. Camp officials will host a meeting 10 a.m., Tuesday, that will start at Bay Shore Camp’s office at 450 N. Miller St., Sebewaing, and then move to the adjacent state property.
“We continually seek God’s guidance for the Bay Shore Ministry. We would love to share, in person with anyone interested, our intent,” said Bay Shore Camp & Family Ministries Executive Director Jeff Parsons about the meeting he is hosting. “We’ll walk to the property and discuss how it’s currently being used, and share our hope to make this property more accessible to more people, especially children and youth.”
The land the camp wants is off of Miller Street at the end Pine Street in the northwest side of the village. It was donated to the state in the early 1970s by Thelma E. Whitlock “in memory of her husband Doctor Stanley C. Whitlock, assistant chief of the Game Division, Michigan Department of Conservation.”
According to Parsons, the camp is interested in the state land to use for an outdoor wildlife education for youths who attend the camp and also for area school children.
As state property, the land is currently open year around to the public.
In exchange for the 12-acres of land next-door, camp officials want to trade the state about 17.14 acres worth of land between what is located in Huron County off of Kilmanagh Road along with land off M-25 and Barney Road in Quanicassee. The camp owns the land off of Kilmanagh Road in Huron County, and has an option to purchase agreement for the land in Quanicassee in Wisner Township in Tuscola County.
Some residents are opposed to the land swap because: the other sites are not easily accessible, don’t have path ways, don’t have a parking lot, are swampy, and covered in brush, weeds and phragmites.
“The land isn’t being sold. Bay Shore Camp asked for a land trade,” explained Earl Flegler who is a specialist with the Department of Natural Resources Public Land Division. “We did an extensive study of the documents when the land was given to the state. There were no provisions limiting the use of the land – so it can be traded for other land.
“The state does about 60 land trades a year.”
Flegler said he spent a lot of time trying to track down Whitlock ancestors about the land-trade issue, but wasn’t able to find any.
A Nov. 30, 1961, article in the Wakefield News explained Dr. Stanley Whitlock, 57, died during deer hunting season of a heart attack while hunting near Newberry, and that he joined the State’s Game Division in 1936 as a biologist after teaching veterinary medicine for several years at Iowa State College.
The article also noted during his 25-year career in game work, Whitlock served as a pathologist, game parasitologist, wildlife specialist. In 1955, he was named head of game research, a position he held until 1956 when he was appointed as assistant chief of the game division. And, that Whitlock, who was a Caro native, received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Michigan in 1943 and was regarded as an expert in diagnosis of cancer.
The proposed DNR Land Transaction Application #20140112 from Bay Shore Camp would have to be reviewed by the Director of the DNR during a Natural Resources Commission (NRC) meeting. The next meeting of the NRC Jan. 15, 2015, at the Michigan State University Center, 4125 Beaumont Rd., Lansing. A time has not been posted yet.
The following is some contact information for those who would like to have their voice heard on the land trade proposal: DNR Director Keith Creagh, DNR-Director@michigan.gov; or call (517) 284-6367, and Jennifer Olson - OlsonJ1@michigan.govCc.
Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.