JEWELRY APPRAISALS LOCAL NEWS 1111111=111 At Very Reasonable Prices Call For An Appointment L 6n . ,! ..‘411 1e / te N., established 1919 FINE JEWELERS 30400 Telegraph Road Suite 134 Birmingham, MI 48010 (313) 642-5575 GEM/DIAMOND SPECIALIST AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA IN GRADING AND EVALUATION ■ 1111•=111 GM Layoff Continued from Page 1 Daily 10:00-5:30 Thurs. 10:00-8:30 Sat. 10:00-5:00 YOUR DEALER CRISSMAN CADILLAC OF BIRMINGHAM 1350 N. Woodward, Just South of Big Beaver (16 Mile) "Haven't you always wanted a friend in the car business?" Please Call DAVID BIBER 644-1930 Sales and Leasing I will get you the BEST possible DEAL from the dealer with the BEST SERVICE anywhere! Mon. and Thurs. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tues., Wed., Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. DO IT NOW When we think back we often wonder why we didn't do more to help oppressed Jews in foreign lands. Avoid future regrets. I urge you to write a polite, thoughtful letter to the various Soviet officials noted below asking them to allow Jewish families who wish to leave Russia be permit- ted to do so. Letters on company stationery are especially encouraged. BERNARD EDELMAN Mikhail M. Gorbachev General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee The Kremlin Moscow RSFSR, USSR Andrei A. Gromyko President of the Supreme Soviet The Kremlin Moscow RSFSR, USSR Eduard A. Shevardnadze Minister of Foreign Affairs Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square 32-34 Moscow 121200 RSFSR, USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov Chairman, Council of Ministers The Kremlin Moscow RSFSR, USSR Aleksandr M. Rekunkov Procurator General ul.Pushkinskaya 15-A Moscow 103009 RSFSR, USSR Sergei P. Burenkov Minister of Health K-51 Rehmanovsky Pereulok 3 Moscow 103051 RSFSR, USSR Anatoly P. Aleksandrov President, Academy of Science V-71, Leninsky Prospekt 14 Moscow, 117901, GSP-1 RSFSR, USSR Gen. Karpov Chief, Moscow KGB Moscow RSFSR, USSR 16 Friday, February 27, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Viktor M. Chebrikov Chairman, KGB ul.Dzerzhinsky 2 Moscow 10100 RSFSR, USSR Aleksandr V. Vlasov Minister of Interior ul.Ogareva 6 Moscow 103009 RSFSR, USSR Boris Shumilin Deputy Minister of Interior ul.Ogareva Moscow 103009 RSFSR, USSR Rudolf Kuznetsov Chief, OVIR ulOgereva 6 Moscow 103009 RSFSR, USSR Gen. Ivan Shutov Chief, Moscow Militia Moscow RSFSR, USSR Gennady Ivanovich Tomin Chief, Moscow OVIR Kolpachny Pereulok 9 Moscow RSFSR, USSR Andrei Bokov Chief, Leningrad OVIR 26 Zheliabova Street RSFSR, USSR Mr. Petrenko Chief, Ukraine OVIR ul.Bogomoltsa 8 Kiev Ukr.SSR, USSR The Fisher Guide Plant on Fort Street in Detroit is to be phased-out by September 1989. General Motors plans to eliminate 29,000 jobs nationally over a three-year period. "We're seeing white collar folks again and we don't know where they're coming from." Ascher says he is unsure whether the increased number of people seeking vocational counseling and retraining at JVS is due to increased need — symptomatic of a weakening economy — or because JVS's new central location in South- field makes it more convenient for people to stop by. General Motors' plan to close its older plants in Detroit, Pon- tiac, Flint and other Midwest- ern cities has been on the draw- ing boards for quite some time. The "good times of 1984" ex- tended their lifespan, explains Michelle Krebs, financial editor of Automotive News. Because of the changes the auto industry has undergone, particularly the significant in- roads made by Japanese au- tomakers, American plants are producing at overcapacity, she says. "Supply and demand are way out of whack. Something has to give." The first to give were Ford and Chrysler. "They had to get lean just to survive. GM never had to do it. But now the day of reckoning is here." GM's plan is to sustain pro- fits on a lower sales volume and make the remaining jobs more secure, Krebs says, point- ing out that most of the new plants GM has built are in Michigan, and that many jobs were transferred from the old plants to the new. The plant closings and layoffs are "obviously bad for Michigan," says Dr. David Fand, professor of economics at Wayne State University. "The 20,000 jobs that are going to be reduced would lower Michi- gan's personal income by one- half percent." That's more than $500 million out of a total of $130 billion that Michigan citizens have in their pockets annually. Many look at the plant clos- ings and see the recession of 1981-1983 repeating itself. "It was horrible then," says Stuart Goldstein, owner of Franklin Metal Co. Scrap metal dealers like Goldstein were adversely affected by low prices and lack of available scrap metal in those days. "There were people who decided to close their doors," he says. The scrap industry never re- covered, according to Golds- tein. Prices never kept up with inflation, he explains, plus the automobile companies are manufacturing more out of synthetic materials. "Auto plants today are more effi- cient," he adds. "There's less waste and less for us." The plant closings have caused "a little nervousness" and "talk around the trade," he says. "Last time we discovered, to our horror, that extremely well-to-do families had overex- tended themselves eco- nomically," JFS's Margaret Weiner recalls. "People were coming to us saying, 'Can you help us make payment on a $300,000 house?' " Jewish Family Service is not equipped to handle that kind of bail out, she says. "It's easier to help if someone says they need help with two months' rent be- fore they can go on public assis- tance." JFS also helps to provide "psychological comfort" to those in dire straits. "Some families are not flexible enough to make the kind of changes" needed during lean times. "How do you tell people, what you've worked a lifetime for, forget it?" A recession can be devastat- ing for those on the economic or psychological margins of society, she says. "When times are good, certain people can make it psychologically. When times are bad, they can't make it." Continued on Page 20