UP FRONT I Ethnic Center Plan Faces Mixed Reactions KIMBERLY LIFTON Stall Writer M ounting opposition to a Chaldean group's recent pur- chase of Shenandoah Golf and Country Club has met with mixed reaction among Chal- dean and Jewish community leaders. The golf club's sale to the Chaldean-Iraqi Association of Michigan is facing resistence by its West Bloomfield neighbors, many of whom are Jewish, who said buying the club and expanding it into an ethnic center might destroy the peaceful neighborhood community. Neighbors fear an ethnic center will bring ex- cess traffic and noise. CIAM members said plans include keeping the golf course public. No plans are under way to enlarge the ex- isting club house or to build banquet facilities. Possible additions would be an in- door/outdoor pool, basketball, tennis and raquetball courts, a health center and a small cultural center for Chaldean artifacts. The homeowners' group, Shenandoah Golf and Coun- try Club Estates, fears the facility will turn into a large complex like the Jewish Com- munity Center at Maple and Drake roads. They said they don't want development in West Bloomfield. Shenandoah sits on 145 acres at Walnut Lake and Drake roads with a building about 25,000 square feet. The JCC is situated on 132 acres with a 200,000-square-foot building. "We are concerned with quality of life," said homeowner's attorney Geof- frey Fieger, also a vice presi- dent of the Organizations United to Save the Township (OUST). Many of the homeowners also are members of OUST. Fieger said current plans are acceptable to the homeowner's group. But he said the group is afraid CIAM might alter proposals. Although the homeowners' group says its main concern is limiting growth of West Bloomfield, some Chaldeans are concerned the Chaldean group's purchase is bringing out more than speculation of overdevelopment. They fear underlying prejudices against their community could hold up their plans. "We are trying to live together like brothers and sisters," said CIAM member Joseph Nadhir. "Somebody out there is really prejudice. They are not really concern- ed with growth." Mike George, CIAM presi- dent and co-owner of Melody Farms Dairy, said he has received many letters of sup- port for the ethnic center from members of the Jewish community. He said the issue is not religion, heritage or culture, but a small group of people Continued on Page 18 Consultants Submit JPM Upgrade Draft MICHAEL WEISS News Intern A committee of The Jewish Community Center board of direc- tors last week received a draft of a feasibility study for enhancements to the Jimmy Prentis Morris branch in Oak Park. The study, undertaken at the JCC's request by the Jewish Welfare board, is meant to provide an indepen- dent assessment of a JCC pro- posal to upgrade the JPM facility, including a swim- ming pool, expanded meting and classroom space and general refurbishing. The Jewish Welfare Federa- tion, which would be called upon to provide the additional funds needed to operate and maintain an expanded facili- ty, and to assist in the raising of approximately $3 million needed to carry out its con- struction, tabled the JCC pro- posal pending the results of the JWB study. JCC Executive Director Morton Plotnick said this week the committee is reviewing the draft and is "giving it a lot of considera- tion." He declined to com- ment on the results of the study, saying the committee decided not to release any in- formation "until we've reach- ed our final decision." JCC President Richard Maddin also declined to com- ment on the contents of the draft except to say the com- mittee may release a report by the end of the month. ❑ Brig. Gen. Shaki Erez, head of civil administration in the West Bank, visits with students in an elementary school. Between 90 and 95 percent of elementary and 12th-grade West Bank pupils recently returned to schools. ROUND UP Jewish Writers Are Recalled New York City and Jewish leaders joined today in a memorial service for 24 pro- minent Soviet Jewish writers and cultural leaders murdered 37 years ago in the purges of Josef Stalin. Also participating in the event, which was sponsored by the office of Mayor Edward Koch, the Workmen's Circle and The Jewish Forward, were members of the Moscow Jewish Art Theater under the directorship of Solomon Mikhoels. Mikhoels was among those murdered in the purges. MY most IMPORTANT RELArioN SNIP IS wiTH MY FAM, BecAvsg I CAN AL ,A , S CeME BAC t To THrm wHEN r,y Boy,s,e, Me D.. MY FRIENDS ARE 5iCK OF ME OR I DoNT HAVE A/JYTlUN6 gErrEk To DO A teen-ager grapples with shalom bayit in Keeping Posted. moniously with parents and siblings. As the opening of the magazine notes, "Shalom bayit does not come easily; it requires work." Keeping Posted About Peace Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Old Bones These are battles even Gen. George Patten wouldn't want to wage: who gets to sleep on the top bunk, who gets the last piece of cake, who gets to use the car. But now, young men and women can learn how to find that most elusive of all treasures — shalom bayit, peace in the home — by reading the latest issue of Keeping Posted, the monthly magazine published by the Reform Union of American Hebrew Congregations. In articles, cartoons, short stories and essays, the issue focuses on how teen-agers can learn to live more har- Tel Aviv (JTA) — If bones could talk, this one would cer- tainly have a lot to say. A tiny mouth bone discovered in excavations at the Kabra caves on the Carmel coast has convinced scientists that prehistoric man, unlike the monkey, was able to talk, according to Aviv University Professor Baruch Ernsburg, a member of an international research team working at the excava- tion site. A complete skeleton of a prehistoric man, estimated to be about 60,00 years old, previously was found at Kabra. Yehuda Amichai To Speak Here Israel's leading poet, Yehuda Amichai, will be the guest speaker at Wayne State University noon Sept. 11, and 1 p.m. Sept. 12 at the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation. Amichai will read from English in his poems, which explore the alteration of Jewish perspectives in the 20th century, the loss of religious orthodoxy and the nature of Jewish identity. UCSJ Goes For The Gold New York — Yes, it's really true! You can build up that MasterCard bill so high that credit card officials will call and say they have never, ever in the history of all credit card-dom ever heard of a bill so massive AND STILL NOT LOSE ANY SLEEP! How? you're certainly wondering. A new MasterCard allows consumers to help Soviet Jews each time they use their cards. The Gold MasterCard is issues through the Southeast Bank of Miami, Fla., which will make con- tributions to Union of Coun- cils for Soviet Jews each time users charge a purchase. Happy charging! Compiled by Elizabeth Applebaum THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 5