I UP FRONT
Residents Hope Federation
Will Approve JPM Pool
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
hree times each week, Ed Ross
swims a mile at the South
Oakland YMCA in Royal Oak.
When he lived near Northwestern
Highway and 12 Mile Road in
Southfield, he swam at the
Maple/Drake Jewish "Community
Center. After his workout, he thumb-
ed through books and magazines at
the JCC library.
But when he moved to Oak Park
two years ago, the distance from his ,
home to West Bloomfield was too
great, and the Jimmy Prentis Morris
branch of the JCC offered no exercise
facility. He joined the YMCA.
"I liked the JCC facility a lot bet-
ter," Ross says. He has been lobbying
with a group of Oak Park and
Southfield residents for a $2 million
enhancement proposal for the JPM
facility, which includes a pool, locker
rooms and a multipurpose area.
JCC officials say they have been
looking for acceptable proposals for
the past two years, and that they favor
the enhancement plan. Yet residents,
who recently spearheaded a petition-
writing campaign to show support for
the plan, are wondering whether the
Oak Park facility will ever be
improved.
"It seems like it will become a
reality," Ross says. "But it carries
with it a big question mark."
Oak Park resident Paul Levine
helped lead the petition drive
T
because, he says, previous requests for
improvements had been turned down.
"I don't have a lot of faith with the
Center proposal;' Levine says. "There
is a lot of politicking."
Levine and Ross are just two of
many Oak Park, Huntington Woods
and Southfield residents anxiously
awaiting a decision on the fate of the
two-part plan. The board of governors
of the Jewish Welfare Federation is
expected to review the proposal for
the first time on Thursday.
Federation President Dr. Conrad
Giles says the proposal likely will go
back to committees for revisions after
the meeting.
Marty Oliff, assistant vice presi-
dent of the JCC, says Federation
leaders will seek an _endowment to
finance the project if it is accepted by
the board of governors. He is op-
timistic that the board eventually will
approve the proposal.
JCC President Richard Madden
could not be reached for comment, but
has said stabilization of the Oak Park
Jewish community has increased
chances of other improvements. The
Federation's two-year-old
Neighborhood Project, he said, also
enhanced the city.
Madden has said the JCC board
never opposed construction of a swim-
ming pool at the JPM site, but said
other community needs seemed more
necessary. He is concerned that
operating costs — estimated at
$100,000 to $300,000 a year — would
be a burden for the JCC.
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Jewish Community Council staff members and delegates participated in Monday's parade and
program commemorating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hundreds participated in the
Southfield event honoring the slain civil rights leader.
Ann Arbor Allows Donors
To Earmark Contributions
SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
Special to The Jewish News
T
he United Jewish Appeal/
Jewish Community Associa-
tion of Washtenaw County has
changed its allocations policy. Begin-
ning with the 1989 campaign, pledges
to the Ann Arbor UJA can be ear-
marked for local programs, the Israel
and overseas fund, or the general
fund. Donors can also give separate-
ly to Project Renewal.
For years there's been an ongoing
discussion within the Ann Arbor com-
munity about the efficacy of the
allocations procedure. While some
people have been vocal about sending
all UJA funds to Israel others have
felt that such monies should remain
closer to home.
"We're sure that it will be helpful
to the Jewish Community Center," ex-
plains Nancy Margolis, Washtenaw
JCC director. This year and last the
JCC received $16,000 from the
United Jewish Appeal/Jewish Corn-
munity Association. Margolis hopes
that the new policy will up the
Continued on Page 12
ROUND UP
Department
To Talk To Arabs
The State Department will
hold talks with Arab-
American organizations that
met with the Palestine
Organization Liberation in
Tunesia, a Department of-
ficial said this week.
A spokesman for the
Department's Near East and
South Asia Bureau, under
whose auspices the meeting
will be held, would not
discuss details of the talks,
saying only that they had
nothing to do with PLO
Chairman Yassir Arafat's
plans to come to the United
States.
Arafat recently accepted an
invitation from American-
Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC) President
Abdeen Jabara of Detroit to
speak at the ADC's annual
convention.
State Department officials
would not discuss whether
Arafat will be allowed to
enter the United States
because, a spokesman said,
"The question is
hypothetical. He has not re-
quested a visa."
the Soviet Union since the
USSR severed diplomatic
relations with Israel 21 years
ago.
That's The Way
The Ball Bounces
New York (JTA) — Family
and supporters of Anne
Henderson Pollard claim she
was abruptly transferred
from medical treatment in a
Connecticut hospital Satur-
day and returned without
forewarning to a prison facili-
ty in Rochester, Minn.
Pollard, whose family says
she suffers from a rare
digestive disorder, is serving
two concurrent five-year
prison terms for being an ac-
cessory to her husband,
Jonathan Pollard, a former
civilian Navy defense analyst
sentenced to life imprison-
ment for spying for Israel.
The family says Pollard was
Tel Aviv (JTA) — The cham-
pionship Maccabi Tel Aviv
basketball team scored a
historic triumph last week,
defeating the CSKA Red
Army champions, 97-92, on
their home court.
The Israeli victory brought
Maccabi a step closer to the
European Cup Tournament
finals. The Russians are
eliminated, even if they win
their rematch with Maccabi
in Tel Aviv next March.
The contest was the first
Israeli athletes have played in
Pollard's Wife
Back To Prison
taken from her bed at Dan-
bury General Hospital and
that intravenous tubes were
disconnected from her body
by prison guards in order to
remove her from the bed.
No eyewitnesses were
available to verify Anne
Pollard's removal from . the
hospital. The hospital and a
physician that Pollard's fami-
ly says treated her favorably
were enjoined from talking to
the news media and referred
all calls to the Danbury
prison.
Pollard was transferred last
week to Danbury General
from Danbury Prison Camp,
a minimum security prison.
Her family said a prison doc-
tor diagnosed her as being
dehydrated and malnour-
ished.
A Danbury prison spokes-
man said the transfer was
made to enable Pollard to
have correct medical treat-
ment.
Reagan Honors
Max Fisher
President Ronald Reagan
on Wednesday honored 35
Americans — including Max
Fisher — with the Presiden-
tial Citizens Medal in a
private ceremony at the
White House.
Fisher, a Detroit-based in-
dustrialist, was among the
honorees cited for "outstan-
ding service to their country
and fellow citizens."
The honorees also included
arms reduction negotiator
Max Kampleman, William F.
Buckley Jr., James Brady,
Malcom Forbes and Charlton
Heston.
Fisher is honorary chair-
man of the 1989 Jewish In-
augural Advisory Committee
for George Bush. It is the first
time Jewish Sabbath services
have been part of the official
inaugural program.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 5