Save Jean Klock Park
Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2, 2008

Carol Drake Awarded Prestigious 2008 Petoskey Prize for Environmental
Leadership at U of M Ceremony

(Benton Harbor, Michigan) – June 2, 2008

Before a large, invited audience of distinguished Michigan environmental
activists and supporters at a May 28 University of Michigan ceremony, Carol
Drake co-founder of the Friends of Jean Klock Park received the prestigious
Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership from Lana Pollack, President of
the Michigan Environmental Council. Ms. Drake was recognized for her
steadfast fight and organization of a local citizen’s grassroots group and
various environmental organizations, and their uphill battle to save their
spectacular Lake Michigan Jean Klock Park from a developer’s golf course.

"Jean Klock Park—Drake’s playground since childhood—provides residents
of economically challenged Benton Harbor with free, public access to stunning
dunes and a sandy Lake Michigan beach. When developers and their political
allies moved to take away huge swaths of the park for an exclusive golf
course, Drake rallied her community to stand up for this amazing piece of land
which was given to residents a century ago as a permanent gift for pubic
recreation."

"In facing the almost daily challenges the developers put before her, Drake
displays the ‘commitment, creativity and courage’ that the Petoskey Prize
recognizes each year," Lana Pollack stated.

In her acceptance speech, Drake explained, "The Lake Michigan shoreline and
its adjacent coastal resources are a global wonder and an irreplaceable natural
resource. Unfortunately, the majority of the Michigan shoreline has been lost
to commercial, industrial and residential development. But scattered between
these privately owned developments are extremely special public lands. They
are ‘Places That Matter.’ And because the public has so little of the shoreline
left to enjoy, these remaining places are in dire need of protection. Jean Klock
Park in Benton Harbor, Michigan, is one of these increasingly rare and very
special places."

"Now, nearly four years after discovering the golf course plan, the Friends of
Jean Klock Park and collaborating nonprofit environmental organizations have
been successful at holding the development within the park at bay," Drake
continued. "In the meantime, the Harbor Shores developers are fervently
constructing the golf course around Jean Klock Park in hopes the National
Park Service and Department of Natural Resources will ultimately approve the
taking of the public’s rightful heritage of Jean Klock Park’s dunes and other
spectacular natural features for private gain."

"It is our hope that the Benton Harbor City Commission will finally realize the
significance of the publicly owned and globally rare natural resources they are
considering sacrificing for a privately owned golf course and not approve the
lease and Conversion of JKP; land that was forever dedicated for the children,
and for the use and enjoyment of residents of Benton Harbor and surrounding
communities; land that is the only Lake Michigan access owned by an African-
American community in the state."

"If the City doesn’t reconsider and proceeds with the second request to
convert JKP to a golf course, we are extremely hopeful that the NPS will
recognize that the revised proposal is a warmed over version of the original
one and that still it gives control and tenure of JKP to the developers, and that
the proposed contaminated mitigated parcels are not ap provable as parkland
because JKP’s precious and irreplaceable resources cannot ever be replicated
or mitigated."

"I would like to add, "Drake continued, "that this is bigger than JKP. This
would set a dangerous precedent that would threaten all public lands protected
with deeds, grant funds and court judgments, etc. I/We ask that those of you
here join us in the quest to preserve this irreplaceable public land, a ‘Place
That Matters,’ because once it’s gone, it will be lost from us forever."

Also accepting the MEC’s highest honor, Bunyan Bryant, Ph.D., received the
Helen & William Milliken Distinguished Service Award for his life’s work in
"moving environmental justice from a fringe issue to a widely accepted tenet
of progressive public policy." Bunyan is director of the Environmental Justice
Initiative and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan
School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), where he teaches
environmental justice. "The Milliken Award is Michigan’s highest
environmental honor, presented annually to a person who has made
exceptional contributions to protect our state’s residents and to preserve their
natural resources."

"Bryant was a leader in creating a national Environmental Justice movement
when EJ was considered a fringe issue. Today, innumerable studies and reams
of data confirm the truth—low income neighborhoods and communities of
color suffer from asthma rates, cancers and debilitating illnesses as a result of
pollution that far exceeds normal or average."

"I’ve long been a great admirer of Bunyan because I’ve never known him to
step back from doing the right thing, no matter what the challenge," Lana
Pollack said. "He has changed lives, and made our state, and our nation, a
better place to live."

Those in attendance at the ceremony stood in line following the award
presentations and expressed their gratitude and support to both of these
individuals for their efforts to protect the environment along the Great Lakes
in Michigan.

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Documents in the Media Kit include:

Michigan Environmental Report Spring 2008

Proclamation