DETROIT
Non-Slate Candidate Wins JCCouncil Seat
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
bit of democracy was
injected into the Jew-
ish Community
Council annual meeting
Monday. For the first time in
recent memory, a candidate
nominated by petition
defeated a candidate nomi-
nated by the Council.
Norman Naimark, a vet-
eran communal leader who
is completing six years on
the board of the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation, ran by peti-
tion for a one-year term after
the Council nominating
committee rejected his nom-
ination.
"I was on the Council
years ago, but not recently,"
Naimark said. He at one
time chaired Council's Holo-
caust and urban affairs
committees and is presently
a member of its Israel and
world Jewry committee.
Naimark believes he may
have been overlooked by the
Council's nominating corn-
mittee because "I'm very
forthright at times . . . The
Council is still an agency of
the Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion and I understand that. I
don't always agree but I
understand it."
Several community ac-
tivists were asked to run by
petition because, some
believed, the Council slate
was packed with Federation
leaders. Naimark was urged
to run for a two-year term,
JCCouncil Cites Youth, Paper
The Jewish Community
Council at its annual
meeting Monday cited six
youth groups for social ac-
tion projects conducted this
year.
The Walter E. Klein
Award and $200 was given
to Temple Emanu-El Temple
Youth for collecting and gift
wrapping 150 children's
books and presenting them
at a party to the Lincoln
Park Head Start program.
Lahav USY at Congrega-
tion Beth Achim was award-
ed $150 and honorable men-
tion for its shalach manot
Purim parcel project.
National Council of Syn-
agogue Youth received $50
and honorable mention for
its Bike 4 Life, which raised
$1,000 for muscular
dystrophy research.
Certificates of merit were
awarded to:
• Community Jewish High
School for involving Ameri-
can and Soviet Jewish teens
in its shalach manot Purim
parcel project;
• Shira B'nai B'rith Girls
for hosting a dance-a-thon to
benefit Mazon-The Jewish
Response to Hunger, and a
Hawaiian theme party for
residents of Fleischman
Home for Aged;
• Junior Emanu-El Teen
Society (JETS) for hosting a
community-wide dance for
seventh and eighth graders
to benefit Yad Ezra, the new
kosher food pantry.
In addition, the Council
cited The Jewish News and
its associate publisher Ar-
thur Horwitz for the news-
paper's promotion of the
Council's Project Sherut,
which publicizes organiza-
tional needs for goods and
services; Project Chametz,
which donated non-Passover
foods to organizations which
help the hungry; and the
Council-sponsored Israel
Trade Fair.
FOLLOW-UP
Hebrew Memorial
Faces More Damage
The acre of grass damaged
at Hebrew Memorial Park
will be green again in about
two weeks, according to
cemetery superintendent
Michael Hocheiser. An in-
correct chemical was recent-
ly sprayed on the lawn at
Hebrew Memorial, between
the caretaker's house and
Gratiot Avenue, near 14
Mile.
And in an unrelated inci-
dent, more damage occurred
at Hebrew Memorial.
Last week, the two-story
house, occupied by the
caretaker, Randy Raska,
Caught fire in a liquified
propane gas explosion.
Raska and Donna Shulte,
who was also living in the
house, were injured.
Raska is in stable condi-
tion at the University of
Michigan Burn Center in
Ann Arbor, with 50 percent
of his body covered by burns.
Shulte was treated for minor
burns and released hours
later.
None of the graves in the
cemetery were affected,
Hocheiser said.
Hocheiser is uncertain
whether a new house will
replace the soon-to-be-
demolished one.
Sinai-Ford Merger
Talks Will Continue
The executive committee
for the Henry Ford Health
Care Corp. is scheduled to
make a decision May 30 on
integrating the financially
strapped Sinai Hospital into
its giant network.
For the past four months,
representatives from the two
hospitals have been holding
merger talks. Sinai's board
of trustees is scheduled to
meet on the issue on June
18.
"Both organizations have
been working on bringing
this matter to a conclusion,"
Sinai administrator Robert
Steinberg said.
Federation To Build
Hechtman Phase II
Federation Apartments
will move forward with
plans to build its first senior
housing project that is not
government subsidized. The
announcement followed
West Bloomfield Township
Board of Trustees approval
this month of a conceptual
design.
At its May 7 meeting, the
trustees approved tentative
plans for 98 apartments —
which will be called
Hechtman Phase II — to be
built on the Jewish Com-
munity Campus at Maple
and Drake roads.
Federation Apartments
Executive Director Helen
Naimark said she is study-
ing financing options.
Koffman Frogs
Lose At Jubilee
Angel's Camp, Calif. —
Former Michigander Andy
Koffman and his goliath
frogs were anything but
jumping with joy after the
Calaveras County Frog
Jumping Jubilee last week.
Despite Koffman's con-
fidence that his goliath frogs
would set a world record, his
pets jumped under 7 feet. The
winner hopped 19 feet 3
inches.
but thought "that was polit-
ically impossible — splitting
your vote against three peo-
ple."
Wayne State University
Professor Norma Shifrin
also ran by petition, but was
defeated for a two-year seat.
According to former Council
Executive Director Alvin
Kushner it has been at least
10 years since a non-slate
candidate was elected. Run-
ning by petition was at one
time fairly common,
Kushner said, but it has not
happened in the last five or
six years. Naimark's elec-
tion "was no reflection on
the person I was running
against (Eric Canvasser),
who I don't know," Naimark
said. "I understand he is a
pretty good man. But I ran
on my own merits."
Fred Frank chaired the
Council nominating com-
mittee. He refused to com-
ment on deliberations over
Naimark's nomination, but
said, "When the process
works we can all be happy.
And the process includes the
slate and nomination by
petition."
Naimark has been a dele-
gate to the 1982 and 1987
World Zionist Congresses in
Jerusalem, is a member of
the national executive com-
mittee of Labor Zionist Alli-
ance and of Histadrut, and is
chairman of the executive
committee and past presi-
dent of the Detroit Zionist
Federation.
He believes "there are
many new things that need
doing" in the community
and the Federation's recent
demographic study
"provides a real opportunity
Norman Naimark:
Stepping back in.
for the Council. It was long
overdue," Naimark said,
"and it has already un-
covered many things, in-
cluding 26,000 unaccounted
for and unaffiliated Jews."
The Council, he said, has
joined a Detroit Zionist Fed-
eration program to address
the needs of Jewish college
students, but more needs to
be done. He also advocates
strengthening Federation's
funding of subsidies for
young people to travel to
Israel.
"One thing that fires up
young people is an organized
trip to Israel," Naimark
said. "Considering the
potential, it doesn't receive
the kind of support that it
should — $30,000 from a
community that raises the
kind of money we do is not
right.
"There are a lot of things
that can be done with a little
initiative, critical thinking,
and putting things into the
process," Naimark said. ❑
Kirk Douglas To Speak
At JCC Annual Meeting
STEVE HARTZ
Staff Writer
M
ovie star-author
Kirk Douglas will
be the keynote
speaker at the Detroit Jew-
ish Community Center's an-
nual meeting 8 p.m. June 24
at the Maple-Drake Building.
Douglas, who recently
wrote The Ragman's Son, an
autobiography about grow-
ing up as the son of an im-
migrant-Russian-Jewish rag
picker and junk man, will
discuss his latest book,
Dance with the Devil.
The book, about a suc-
cessful Hollywood director
who struggles with his Jew-
ish identity, will be released
in Detroit on June 24.
Douglas agreed to come to
Detroit to speak about his
book because it will be part
of the Jewish Community
Center's 39th Annual Book
Fair next November at the
Maple-Drake building. The
JCC's Jewish book fair is the
largest in the nation. More
than $65,000 in total sales
was grossed at last year's
fair.
In addition to Douglas' ad-
dress, the Jewish Commun-
ity Center will hold its elec-
tion and installation of offi-
cers and directors.
There is no charge. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
15