Board of Directors
At the heart of our mission to save Michigan water.
Peggy Case, President
Peggy Case comes from a long history of environmental and social justice activism. She has been a community organizer, editor, writer and teacher for many years, beginning in college at Michigan State where she received her bachelors in Humanities and did graduate work in history and English. She has a Masters from Oakland University in Education and taught third and fourth grades in Pontiac for 20 years. She also has an Associates degree from Oakland Community College as a Medical Lab Technician and worked in a microbiology lab before teaching. She has been a life-long gardener, and a grower of food, pollinator forage and trees, now residing on a homestead in northern Michigan. She is a beekeeper and works to develop a small carbon-footprint lifestyle using permaculture principles and organic practices. She is a singer with the Gaia Women of the Great Lakes Basin, an experienced canoeist, amateur naturalist, bird watcher, and camper. She currently works as a full-time volunteer to leave a better world for her two sons and two grandchildren. Her passion to protect water has always been a priority.
Shannon Abbott, Vice President
Newest and youngest on our board, Shannon is passionate and devotes a lot of time to water advocacy. She's active in Grand Rapids water issues and Shut Down Line 5. She volunteered with Standing Rock and Flint. Shannon founded the Grand Rapids Water Protectors and is a vivacious, people-loving leader!
Chris Swier, Treasurer
Chris has been involved in MCWC since its dawning. With his family, he currently lives and works an organic farm with community suppported agriculture (CSA) to the east of Barryton. Chris just joined the executive committee as Treasurer.
Diane Weckerle, Secretary
Diane is a nurse in Detroit where she sees firsthand the health effects of polluted water and water poverty. She is a dynamic part of the People's Water Board and the U.S. Ecology Coalition. Her activism focusses on issues surrounding U.S. Ecology and the Detroit community.
John McLane
John is a veteran of the Vietnam Conflict, living in the Big Rapids Township of Michigan. He is a "retired-but-still-working-at-it" surveyor. He worked in the oil and gas fields most of his life. He is a wealth of technical expertise in the oil and gas business. His education is by way of US Army Artillery Survey School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1966. Some years later he gained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Highway Design, Land Surveying. John joined up with MCWC because of his concern and love for the environment. He took part in Ferris State's first "Earth Day" event in 1970. It was the first time he was ever exposed to the word "hydrocarbon". Many journalists have interviewed John and found he has much to offer.
Ken Ford
Ken is a Registered Forester and a 40-year resident of Hersey Township, Osceola County, Michigan. He manages 30,000 acres of privately owned timber as well as several public school, township and county owned forests, primarily in the Central Lower Peninsula of Michigan. His work has involved forests in every watershed in Osceola County. Throughout the past 40 years, Ken has come to realize that all the wetlands, rivers, creeks, springs and seeps in Osceola County, are interconnected. He views the corporatization of water such as that requested by Nestle and Michigan Potash Company as a very real threat to our local wells, streams, forests and the Muskegon River.
Jim Maturen
Jim is a retired State Trooper having spent many years at the Petoskey Post and is also a former Osceola County Commissioner. He also lead the successful effort to return wild turkeys to Michigan. Jim was acknowledged by Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council with the 2018 Clarence Krupp Lifetime achievement award at the annual Environmentalist of Year Awards Celebration.
Splashing News
- Press Release: Court Lets Blue Triton/Nestle Dodge Justice February 1, 2022
- Memories & Happy New Year from MCWC – New Years tidings and remembering those we have lost January 2, 2022
- Press Release: Blue Triton/Nestle Gives up Controversial Permit Seeks backdoor to increase withdrawal October 28, 2021
- Stop Pending Water Shutoffs May 23, 2021
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P.O. Box 1
Mecosta, MI 49332
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