Whitefish Point Preservation Society members met with Director Anderson in 2003 about GLSHS’s unremitting assault on the historical integrity of the Whitefish Point Light Station. 

By 2004 GLSHS Executive Director Tom Farnquist joined Dr. Anderson's Maritime Heritage Destination Steering Committee , and by 2005 GLSHS "spearheaded" a [HAL] initiative called Echoes of the Edmund Fitzgerald - a Maritime Cultural Heritage Driving Tour'.

DNR records indicate that Director Anderson used undue influence on the Department of Natural Resources [DNR] in 2006 to grant special privileges to Farnquist and GLSHS in violation of DNR written policy.

As Director of Michigan's HAL, Anderson has oversight of the Office of the State Archaeologist, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the Michigan Council for Cultural Affairs.

State Archaeologist Halsey has a long history with GLSHS that included failure to monitor the State of Michigan’s artifacts inside the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point and the endorsement of a $225,000 Federal grant for GLSHS to “survey” shipwrecks that they had plundered.

See the history of maritime artifacts at Whitefish Point and Whitefish Point Local Politics

The SHPO bastardized the regulations of the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Historic Properties by drawing an imaginary line in the Whitefish Point Light Station sand so that modern development & commercialization overwhelms its natural, scenic, historic, and forested condition.

The public has repeatedly been denied its right to participate a full Sec 106 review process that includes removal and/or mitigation of non-historic structures & alterations of historic sites. 

For more information, see Whitefish Point Light Station: a site on the National Historic Register

You can help save the Whitefish Point Light Station by signing an online petition to the Secretary of Interior.

A tangled web …

MIDEQ issued the following statement in 1997 about the environment at Whitefish Point:

“We have no warranty or guarantee as to the fitness of this site for any general or specific use, and prospective purchasers or users of this site are advised to use due diligence in acquiring or using this site.”

MIDEQ did not appear to respond to 2003 complaints about an unreported mercury spill at Whitefish Point until after repeated pressure from the public when Det. Timothy Shuker met with members of the Whitefish Point Preservation Society [WPPS] on 4/06/04. 

Shuker stated that WPPS had no idea how “political” it was for him to meet with them. Shuker left telephone messages on 7/29/04, 8/03/04, & 8/05/07 and then abruptly severed all contact without explanation.

MIDEQ awarded GLSHS $48,347 more taxpayer dollars despite their knowledge of multiple GLSHS violations of Michigan grant contract terms.

More tangled webs …

GLSHS & MIDEQ’s Tom Graf were participants in a 1989 publicly funded project that included exploration of the shipwreck S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. Tom Graf was involved in a 2006 - 2007 MIDEQ investigation of GLSHS involvement in the illegal removal of taconite pellets from the wreck of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. The State of Michigan took no action against GLSHS for their illegal activity at the Fitzgerald wreck site.

More apparent cover up ….

MIOSHA first responded to a 2004 “Notice of Alleged Safety or Health Hazards” by claiming that they did not have jurisdiction over worker exposure to mercury vapor at Whitefish Point. When they were finally forced to admit that they indeed have responsibility, they instead ruled in 2005 that the ongoing exposure of workers “occurred more than six months prior to submission of the complaint …” They never responded to notification that the exposure was ongoing.