THE JEWISH NEWS

THIS ISSUE 60(P

SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

NOVEMBER 10, 1989 / 12 HESHVAN 5750

Bad Floor Delays
New JCC Facility

CLOSE-UP

RICHARD PEARL

Staff Writer

Arthur Leipzig/Wo men's American ORT

A

Saving Ethiopian Jews:
The Final Chapter?

News of a diplomatic agreement
between Israel and Ethiopia was greeted as a
timely miracle by thousands of
Ethiopian Jews in Israel,
eagerly awaiting to be reunited
with loved ones.

faulty asphalt floor in
the new Rosenberg
Recreational Com-
plex has delayed by two
months the opening of the
all-purpose facility at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center.
JCC Executive Director
Mort Plotnick said Wednes-
day if the floor, which de-
veloped small bubbles, has
to be torn up and replaced,
the facility would open
within a couple of weeks. He
said the work itself would
take three to seven days.
He said he did not know
what the floor replacement
would cost. c,However, it will
not be charged to the Center.
The $1.75-million all-
weather structure, which
replaced the JCC tennis
bubble, was scheduled to
have opened around Labor
Day.
A main feature of the
facility is five tennis courts,
two of which are specially
coated for basketball. A one-
tenth-mile walking/jogging
track encircles the courts.
Center officials, contrac-
tors and the supplier were to
have met late this week to
determine whether the floor

would have to be replaced.
Holes might have to be cut
in a wall, depending on the
size of the equipment needed
for the job, Plotnick said.
If floor replacement isn't
necessary, the surface will
need to be coated and
striped. The facility could
open for use within a week.
Plotnick said the track was
not affected, but "we didn't
want to open the facility and

"No one really
seems to know
what caused it,"
said Plotnick.

then close it again" if the
flooring had to be replaced.
The flooring subcontrac-
tor, T&M Asphalt, re-heated
and re-rolled the surface 10
days ago in an effort to cor-
rect the problem.
The general contractor on
the project is Kendall Con-
struction Co. and the asphalt
supplier is Cadillac Asphalt
Paving Co.
"No one really seems to
know what caused it," said
Plotnick of the small bubbles
that appeared in the asphalt
after it was installed. "It's
not something they've run
across before."

Hunger Project
Wheels Are Slow

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

W

ithout a refrigerated
van to carry leftover
food to area soup
kitchens, a non-profit orga-
nization will not be able to
feed the hungry in Oakland
County.
Earlier this year, the
Mazon Council of
Metropolitan Detroit first
suggested Forgotten
Harvest, a new project in
which people could donate
leftover food to the hungry.
Organizers had hoped to get
it rolling by Thanksgiving.
Forgotten Harvest vol-
unteers would collect lef-
tover food from b'nai mizvot,

weddings, shiva houses and
anniversaries and take it to
the 80 soup kitchens and
shelters in Oakland County.
But without a $15,000
refrigerated van, the project
has stalled, said Nancy
Fishman, Forgotten Harvest
spokeswoman.
Although the project
organizers have spoken to a
few automobile dealers
about donating a van, so far
no one has come forward,
said Fishman, who remains
optimistic that a donor will
materialize.
In the meantime, the 15
volunteers organizing
Forgotten Harvest have es-
tablished a board of direc-
Continued on Page 18