Jack_Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

Letter to the Nicklaus Foundation

We believed that Jack Nicklaus may have not been told about the history

the gift

of Jean Klock Park or the restrictions that were placed on the

park

the Federal

Land Water and Conservation Fund grant that the City

Benton

Harbor utilized for

improvements to the park and the 2004

Berrien

County

Court

onsent

udgement

that

independently

prohibit

further

private

development within the park.

We discovered that the Nicklaus family had created a children's health

foundation in

memory of their deceased grandson Jake who drowned in a

hot

tub incident in 2005.

In addition to this foundation a memorial golf

tournament

is held yearly in memory

of the Nicklaus' grandson.

In June of 2007 a letter was sent to Mrs. Nicklaus at the Nicklaus

Foundation.

was in part an emotional appeal as their loss

paralleled

John

and

Carie

Klock's loss

of their daughter Jean. We also wanted them to

know

that the

park was restricted

from private development. It was our

hope that

the

Nicklaus' would take this into

serious consideration and that

Jack would

not

want his name associated with the

taking of a memorial

and gift to the

children

of the area.

Letter to the Nicklaus Foundation

After not receiving a reply

we contacted the Nicklaus Foundation and were

assured

that

Mr. and Mrs. Nicklaus

would re

pond to our letter

when

the

returned from

their Europ

e, but t

hey never did.

Golf Course Markers

uring the week of August 1, 2007, Harbor Shores placed large color

coded

PVC

pipe masts to mark the holes and tees for the proposed golf

course.

Unsure of the

reason for this we concluded that they were placed

order to

fly potential investors

over the project area to show them the

golf

course

layout

August 8, 2007-Herald Palladium Announcement

On Wednesday August 8, 2007,

a week after the placement of the golf course

markers,

he Herald Palladium reported that

on Sunday

August 12th

Jack

Nicklaus

would be in Benton Harbor to tour the

project area and

finalize plans for the

course.

This was two weeks after we

were told we would

receive a reply to our

letter. It was reported that h

would

not be meeting with

the

public and was holding

private press

conferences.

Read the article:

Jack Nicklaus coming Sunday.....

There was immediate discussion within our group about whether or not we

should

make a public statement/protest outside of the press conference

that

was scheduled

after

Jack's

tour. It was decided that we would not

interfere in

hopes that he

in part

was here to tell Harbor Shores that they

must use an

alternative to developing JKP

and that he would not want his

name

associated

with the taking of a memorial to a

child

and a gift to

children of

future

generations.

August 9, 200

Staged Trash

On Thursday

Augu

th,

the day after the news report that Jack was coming soon,

someone driving by the park noticed

white pickup

trucks

loaded with trash

that

rove

into an

open area of the

old highway cloverleaf

road

ramp that was

former

parkland.

the

return trip

his

person

noticed that piles of trash had been

unloaded

and

left

that

immediate area. Three people

reported the

suspicious

incident to the

Benton

Harbor

Police and were told "it was

an inspections department

issue."

Some of us went to the site to see if there was anything in the illegally

dumped

trash

that could identify the individuals who had left it and were

not

prepared

for what we

found.

pproximately 100' or more of a linear

pile

enormous

amounts of trash

had been strategically laid along the old

road

bed

of the

highway cloverleaf

right

near the ninth hole.

Click on the images below to witness what we

ound

It was immediately obvious to us that the

timing and neat

and strategic

placement of

this trash

along the road bed

coincided with the WNDU

uth

Bend news

television

reports of Jack's upcoming visit as these

reports

were

highlighting

areas of dumping

and contamination. News

reports more or

ess

were stating

that the only way th

ese

sites could be

cleaned up was

through

the

construction of

the Harbor Shores

development.

August 12th

Jack's Visit

At 11:15 am Sunday Morning. I

oined

fellow plaintiff and member of

the

Friends of

ean Klock Park at the bird watch tower

on top of the south

dune

JKP

. We

didn't

’t anticipate

anything would happen except that a

helicopter

or two

might fly overhead

and

had no

ntentions t

o encounter

Jack Nicklaus’

on his tour

About 20 minutes later I left

. When I

came to

red light at the intersection

Klock

Road and M-63

Benton Harbor police car with lights flashing

ntered the

intersection.

From behind him came more

police

officers

large 4 wheelers

escorting

other off

road four

wheel

vehicles. The officer

in the

intersection directed

everyone trying to get

through to drive south

towards St.

Joe. It was obvious Jack

was on his

way

tour

the park

by full scale

police

escort, not by

helicopter.

I went back to the park through

an alternate

entrance

to inform the person

that

I left

behind that

ack Nicklaus was touring the park and was probably

his

way up the

path to the birdwatch tower to look at the 9th tee

I had no sooner

aid something

when

the

four

wheel vehicles c

up the dune path.

What happened next seemed at the time unbelievable

at the same time

ugly

xample

of the injustice of this whole situation.

Police Intimidation

One of the four-wheel vehicles pulled up to us. W

hen

asked if they were

arbor

Shores

representatives

were told

no,

that

they

were from Cornerstone Alliance.

They told us that

Jack Nicklaus

was

his

way

up.

At that point the path was

jammed up with four-wheel vehicles

nd we

didn't have a way out so m

y associate

asked if it

was

alright

just

sat

ther

hey said

sure

and

with radio in hand,

alerting others that we

were there,

drove away

hen,

two police officers

and two members

of Cornerstone Alliance

approached us.

One

Benton Harbor police officer,

came directly up to me

and as if to restain me,

firmly

aid

his hand on

shoulder and

said; “Ms. Drake, you

aren't

here to cause

trouble

for Jack are

you? You aren't

going to yell, holler and

make a scene

are

you?”

replied that

I had not done that so

o date, why

would I do it

now? I then

told

the officer

that; “like wise, I

appreciate being

harassed.”

I was told that

they were

not there to

harass

me, but

were

instead there for my protection.

Protection

from who or what? Jack

Nicklaus

and Cornerstone Alliance?

hile we were being restrained

a man

from Cornerstone Alliance

linbed

into the

adjacent

dune

area

check

for anyone else who might be associated with

that

might be

lurking

around or taping

the incident

t was a

ridiculous

scene

right out of

a TV drama

and

it was

very

obvious to

us that Harbor

Shores

as being

extremely

paranoid

Then Jack came up

and was standing very near

the tower

where we were

. H

was

circled by

photographers

and talking

but

couldn't

’t hear what he was saying.

hen

Jack

walked

towards u

as able to see the

cold look on his

face

knew he was

nothing

than a

businessman

that

only care

abou

what he want

- and right

then all he wanted was for the golf course to own

the

view

from the

top of

the

dunes

The whole time this was going on

felt extremely intimidated and

felt

said

anything or tried

to move or stand up that

would have been

arreste

because the

police and Cornerstone officials

were within a foot of

at all

times.

hen

Jack's entourage left and the police officers left we sat there for a

collect

ing

ourselves. When I left

the park

Jack's entourage

was

at the 9th hole

gawking at

"staged trash

had a

conversation with a

police

officer

who was

parked at the corner of the

intersection

about the

trash and

told him that I knew

that

I knew it

een

dumpe

there

specifically

for Jack

visit.

smirked and

replied that

the trash had

been there longer

than a couple

days and

that he

knew that for a fact.

told it had

been

dumped there on

Thursday and

that I

knew that for a fact and

drove

away.

After this incident took place I consulted a civil rights attorney and was

told

that

because nothing happened, as far as arrest taking place, that there

was

little that

could be done. However, I was informed that I was in a

public park

and that Jack

was a private citizen

and that had I chosen to it

would have

fully

within my rights to

walk up to Mr. Nicklaus, without

making a scene,

and tell

him that he shouldn't

have come to town.

Save Jean Klock Park

A separate and equally
important Federal Court of
environmental law is
ongoing as well. For more
information about the
contaminated land that's
being used to replace
pristine sand dunes please
visit www.protectjkp.com.