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THE DETRO IT J EWIS H NEWS
Retired Craftsmen Offer Low
Cost Home Repair
94
They planned to call themselves the "Gray Team," but thought
that took much explanation.
Instead, they settled on "Handyman Connection" for their
business venture: a group of retired craftsmen who provide low-
cost home repairs. "We're not out to get rich," said Arthur Neu-
man, who co-owns the business with Marvin Belkin, 'It's a business
niche we'd like to fill.
Neuman got the idea for the business after he became chair-
man of his condominium maintenance committee. He found
that residents could not find repairmen to do plumbing, electri-
cal, plaster, drywall, carpentry, painting, wallpapering, ceramic,
etc.
After doing market research, they found that there was a def-
Marvin Beikin watches Arthur Neuman writes another
inite
void in the marketplace for these services and it was a niche
work order at Handyman Connection. Their homerepair
they could fill.
business based in Metro Detroit, 4743670
Neuman grew up being "handy" and he takes care of most of
the repairs while Belkin handles the business end of the venture. Belkin is a retired sales-marketing executive of11-i-
fari Jewelry Company and a volunteer with the Service Corps of Retired Executives.
Although the business was started in Cincinnati over 3 years ago, Handyman Connection has expanded to the
Greater Detroit area - call 474-3670.
In order to reduce cost to customers, Belkin said they reduced their own business expenses. They have no com-
pany trucks, no fancy uniforms, no cellular phone and no billing. Customers pay when the work is completed.
To tackle jobs in the Nashville area, Belkin and Neuman have recruited 10 other craftspeople, many of whom are
multi-talented. "Some of the people have several crafts, "Neuman said. "It's time saving to have one person who can
plaster and wallpaper because you don't have to call on two people to get the job done." The company relies on the
talents to take care of odd jobs, such as leaky faucets, shelves, electrical switches, cutting doors down, wallpaper,
plumbing and carpentry.
Although the business cuts corners to keep rates low and save the customers money, they don't cut the wrong
corners: Their work is guaranteed for 18 months.
ADVERTISEMENT
NOW OPEN IN METRO DETROIT, CALL 474-3670
Overlooked Victim
A synagogue community rallies around the
bereaved family of Ronald L. Goldman, the forgotten
man in the O.J. Simpson tragedy.
NAOMI PFEFFERMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
E
veryone is by now familiar
with the news headlines:
O.J. Simpson accused of the
stabbing deaths of his ex-
wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and
her friend, the 25-year-old wait-
er Ronald Lyle Goldman. What
is less known is the story of Mr.
Goldman's Jewish family, and
the synagogue community that
has rallied around them in their
time of distress.
The shul is Temple Beth
Haverim in Agoura Hills, a close-
knit, Conservative congregation
of 330 families on the outskirts of
Los Angeles County. Fred Gold-
man and his wife, Patti (Ron's
stepmother) were immediately
drawn to Beth Haverim when
they moved here from Chicago in
1987; it was at the synagogue
that they made many of their
close friendships in a large chavu-
rah, and that Patti's three chil-
dren by a previous marriage
became bar/bat mitzvah.
Fred joined the Men's League
and Patti the sisterhood (she even
became a board member who
worked for the telephone com-
mittee).
As for Ron Goldman, he had
apparently followed his father
and stepmother to Los Angeles:
Fred had raised him, and his sis-
ter, Kim, from the time that the
boy was 5 (at the time his biolog-
ical mother left the family and
has not been in contact since).
Young Ron attended Hebrew
school and became bar mitzvah
in Chicago; he worked as a camp
counselor, volunteered to help
disabled children and taught kids
tennis. This last was his great
love.
In Los Angeles the youth
hoped to find his California
dream: He worked as a waiter, as
a tennis coach and employment
headhunter; he was a charis-
matic, helpful "people person," ac-
cording to friends and co-workers.
Mr. Goldman appeared on the
Fox TV show "Studs," in a print
advertisement for Giorgio Ar-
mani, put together a modeling
video and avidly exercised at
the gym, according to the Los
Angeles Times. The Times also
reported that he was an enthu-
siastic surfer, volleyball player
and nightclub-hopper who dated
beautiful women; though Mr.
Goldman once trained as an
emergency medical technician he
worked as a waiter at the upscale
Brentwood trattoria Mezzaluna,
and dreamed of opening his own
trendy Westside bar or restau-
rant.
And despite his apparent love
for the fast lane, friends say, his
great talent was working with
children.
In the last weeks before his
death, the Times said, Mr. Gold-
man had developed an increas-
ingly close, if platonic relationship
with 35-year-old Nicole Brown
Simpson. The two had appar-
ently exercised together, met for
coffee and dinner and made the
dance club scene in Ms. Simp-
son's white Ferrari.
It's been painful for
the family to see
that what little
attention Ron's
death has received
has focused on his
fast-lane lifestyle.
On the night of their deaths,
Nicole had dined at Mezzaluna
and had accidentally left her pre-
scription glasses behind. Mr.
Goldman volunteered to return
them — and was stabbed 22
times as he put up a fierce strug-
gle. His bloodsoaked body was
found near Ms. Simpson's, early
on June 13, in the shrubbery out-
side her townhouse on the 800
block of South Bundy Drive.
The youth's funeral was sched-
uled for June 16, in the Beth
Olam section of Pierce Bros. Val-
ley Oaks Memorial Park in West-
lake Village, and some 400
mourners spilled outside the tiny
chapel as Rabbi Johnson gave the
eulogy. "This horrible deed was
brought upon an essentially good
soul, a caring young man who
was just beginning to get his life
in order," the rabbi said. "Ron
loved people and children ... and
his (handsome) physical appear-
ance should not conceal from us
his sensitivity.
"We've come together to get
through all this," Rabbi Johnson
said. "Our bonding has helped
counterbalance all the media
hype about (Goldman), and the
hyper-excessive focus upon
celebrity instead of who Ron was
as a person." El
Naomi Pfeffeiman is a senior writer
for the Jewish Journal of Los
Angeles.
64