Follow Up

A fresh look at some of the stories we reported on in the past weeks.

Berman,
Fresh Air
In Accord

ALAN HITSKY

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

he Fresh Air Society
and Marvin Berman
have signed a settle-
ment agreement
which officially concludes
his 32-year career with
Tamarack Camps.
Mr. Berman said he
could not discuss the
terms of the settlement
because of a confidentiali-
ty clause in the agree-
ment. "It took five months
to negotiate, but it's an
OK settlement," he said.
His dismissal just prior
to the FAS annual meet-

B'nai David
To Move
In Year

KIMBERLY LIPTON

STAFF WRITER

N

ext year at this time,
Congregation B'nai
David plans to move
to its new home in
West Bloomfield, leaving its

(

Single
Sensation

PHIL JACOBS

MANAGING EDITOR

hen last we heard
from Lauren
Wolfe in March of
1991, she was a
14-year-old Okemos Kin-

awa Middle School stu-
dent with a 16 - 0 wrestling
record in the 95-pound-
division. Yes, all of her
opponents were boys.
Now an Okemos High
School sophomore, Lauren
has made believers of
almost anyone who will
wrestle her. Both last
year and this year, Miss
Wolfe was 13-10. Last
year, she wrestled in the
103-pound division. This

ing last fall caused a
groundswell of concern
among former campers
and staffers. FAS Execu-
tive Director Harvey Fin-
kelberg said Mr. Berman
was released along with
three other longtime em-
ployees in a cost-cutting
move by the camps.
"It's a mutually benefi-
cial settlement for Mary
and Fresh Air," said Mr.
Finkelberg.
Mr. Berman has been
working as a substitute
teacher in the Ann Arbor

Mary Berman

Southfield facility in the
hands of the city's cultural
arts department.
To date, the congrega-
tion, which will construct
a new synagogue on Maple
Road between Haggerty
and Halsted, has faced no
problems seeking town-
ship approval.
Now B'nai David is
seeking bids from general
contractors. No ground-
breaking date has been
set.
"Everything is running ,
smoothly," said B'nai Da-
vid President Larry Trai-
son. "Members are ex-
cited."

year, 112 pounds.
But Miss Wolfe has also
gone beyond the local
mats, not to mention boys,
and has wrestled in tour-
naments against adult
women. As a 13-year-old,
she was defeating women
in their 20s at the U.S.
Nationals world team tri-
als in Toledo.
This February, she
again wrestled adult
women, winning all three

Renovation
Under Way
At JPM

ALAN HITSKY

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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area and has applied for
administrative positions
at the University of
Michigan campuses in
Ann Arbor, Flint and
Dearborn. He is also look-
ing into secondary educa-
tion and community col-
lege teaching positions.
"Financially, I'm set for
a while," Mr. Berman
said. "But after talking to
a jobs counselor, I know
it's not going to be easy.
I'm over-qualified."

orkmen are speed-
ing ahead with $3
million in construc-
tion at the Jimmy
Prentis Morris Jewish
Community Center in Oak
1D„ 1-

Membership has been
Vernon, the city of South-
steady in the past year at
field plans to convert the
307 families, Mr. Traison
facility into a cultural arts
said. He expects to lose
center.
about one-third of the
City officials said they
members once the facility
have no intentions of sell-
relocates, but Mr. Traison
ing the building, despite a
estimates the congrega-
developer's request to pur-
tion will make up the loss
chase the B'nai David
with new members located building and land for $1.6
in the northwest area.
million
and donate
Although he declined to
$100,000 to the city's cul-
reveal project costs, or
tural arts department.
fund-raising goals, Mr.
The developer, Marvin
Traison said the congrega- Walkon, has withdrawn
tion is "three-quarters of
his request to purchase
the way to its goal."
the building and is search-
Once the congregation
ing for 12 acres of land,
moves from its building on
preferably in 'Southfield.
Southfield Road near Mt.

of her matches. In another
match, she defeated
France's female national
champion, a woman in her
20s.
Later this year, she'll be
competing at the U.S.
women's tournament in
Las Vegas. She is hoping,
as are many of the world's
top female wrestlers, that
the sport will be consid-
ered for international
competition at the. Pan

JPM staff hope that the
new swimming pool will
be completed in time for
day-camp participants
this summer, although
locker rooms, the health
clubs and general use of
the pool is not expected
until the fall.
The JPM building has
undergone some disrup-

tion during construction,
but the contractors and
the staff have been work-
ing to keep it to a mini-
mum. Some English class-
es for immigrants have
been moved to the adja-
cent Federation Apart-
ments and Temple Eman-

Am Games and the
Olympics.
The word has also got-
ten out on Miss Wolfe. The

Detroit Free Press Maga-
zine featured her. And

while many were perusing
the famous Sports Illus-
trated swimsuit edition,
they got a chance to read
about a female excelling
because of her athletic
ability.

has been constructed for
the English teachers and
the Jewish Information
Service.
The building's gym was
closed for several days
last month while footings
and walls were built for
the new pool. Leslie Bash,
JPM building director,

said construction may
force the gym to be closed
for other short periods.
Union carpenters pick-
eted the construction site
several days in March,
claiming non-union help
was used by the general
contractor, Schiller Con-
struction. Work continued

