Knimrod
11-27-2005, 11:21 PM
Courts rule against gun club
November 26, 2005
By CRAIG McCOOL
Traverse City Record-Eagle staff writer
ELK RAPIDS - A gun club is another round closer to losing its headquarters after courts ruled, again, that the club has no legal right to land it has occupied for decades.
When Mina Wilcox willed her property to Elk Rapids Township before her death in 1948, it was with the stipulation the land be used as a public park.
A home for the Elk Rapids Sportsman's Club wasn't what she had in mind, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a recent ruling.
"I think (the ruling) is great," said Carolyn Shah, Wilcox's granddaughter. Shah and three other surviving grandchildren sued the township in 2004 to force officials to return the land or open it to the public.
Township officials lease the 11-acre parcel on Woodland Drive to the club for $1 a year. After the case was filed, club members intervened on the township's behalf in an effort to save their longtime home.
"One of the arguments that our opposition advances is that we're a private club on public property. That's really not true," said sportsman's club president Brian Kroll. "We're open to anyone."
Neither Antrim Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers Jr., nor the appellate judges, saw it that way.
" ... (T)he lease in this case was definitely for a private purpose," the three-judge panel wrote in a Nov. 22 decision.
Elk Rapids Township Supervisor Bill White said the township spent a little under $80,000 defending against the lawsuit, as well as developing a plan for that park.
Rodgers initially gave the club 30 days to vacate the property, but the appeal stalled the order.
"My thought is that this probably starts the clock ticking again on (Rodgers') Circuit Court ruling," White said.
Link to story (http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/nov/26gun.htm)
November 26, 2005
By CRAIG McCOOL
Traverse City Record-Eagle staff writer
ELK RAPIDS - A gun club is another round closer to losing its headquarters after courts ruled, again, that the club has no legal right to land it has occupied for decades.
When Mina Wilcox willed her property to Elk Rapids Township before her death in 1948, it was with the stipulation the land be used as a public park.
A home for the Elk Rapids Sportsman's Club wasn't what she had in mind, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a recent ruling.
"I think (the ruling) is great," said Carolyn Shah, Wilcox's granddaughter. Shah and three other surviving grandchildren sued the township in 2004 to force officials to return the land or open it to the public.
Township officials lease the 11-acre parcel on Woodland Drive to the club for $1 a year. After the case was filed, club members intervened on the township's behalf in an effort to save their longtime home.
"One of the arguments that our opposition advances is that we're a private club on public property. That's really not true," said sportsman's club president Brian Kroll. "We're open to anyone."
Neither Antrim Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers Jr., nor the appellate judges, saw it that way.
" ... (T)he lease in this case was definitely for a private purpose," the three-judge panel wrote in a Nov. 22 decision.
Elk Rapids Township Supervisor Bill White said the township spent a little under $80,000 defending against the lawsuit, as well as developing a plan for that park.
Rodgers initially gave the club 30 days to vacate the property, but the appeal stalled the order.
"My thought is that this probably starts the clock ticking again on (Rodgers') Circuit Court ruling," White said.
Link to story (http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/nov/26gun.htm)