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Park, who waited in line with
hundreds of others to have his
book signed.
"She's a peace advocate, which
is fine, but I'd like to hear her de-
finition of 'right wing,'" he said.
"She preaches peace through
strength, yet she's tired of war."
He explained that without an ex-
planation, it appears Ms. Artzi-
Pelossof believes that Zionism,
for example, is right-wing ex-
tremism.
Many others in line clutching
their books were struck by Ms.
Artzi-Pelossofs eloquence and
maturity.
"I think she spoke like a typ-
ical Israeli teen-ager, but with
more maturity than our teen-
agers. She has a deeper under-
standing of who she is and where
she comes from," said Susan
Tapper of Bloomfield Hills.
David Salama, immediate

past president of United Syna-
gogue Youth, said Ms. Artzi-
Pelossof refused to speak
Hebrew with him when he ap-
proached her before her presen-
tation. She explained, in a
friendly way, that she wanted to
practice her English.
"I am glad I went to see her.
When I saw the funeral on TV
— to see someone my age go
through what she went through
— I wanted to meet her. When
this opportunity came up, I told
my parents I really wanted to
go," he said.
Ms. Artzi-Pelossof took a six-
week leave of absence from the
army to publicize her book. She
visited Germany and France be-
fore arriving in the United States
for two weeks. She'll continue the
book tour in Italy and Holland
before returning to Israel on May
9.

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sor, but they've come to a part-
ing of their ways. It's obvious
from Patterson's public and pri-
vate comments that he is fed up
with Dick Thompson. At best, all
Dick Thompson can hope for is
Mr. Patterson's neutrality."
Mr. Thompson succeeded L.
Brooks Patterson in 1989. Prior
to that, he was Mr. Patterson's
right-hand man, working for 16
years as an assistant prosecu-
tor.
Mr. Kaplan has the endorse-
ment of groups and organiza-
tions who remained neutral in
the previous election, including
police forces and school super-
•intendents.
"There is the feeling this is a
winning campaign," Mr. Kaplan
said. "Once people think you're
going to win, they are more will-
ing to support you."
Mr. Kaplan, a 1981 graduate
of Detroit College of Law, has
worked for nearly 10 years as an
assistant prosecutor in Macomb
County.
From 1987-1995, he served on
the Southfield Public Schools
Board of Education, including
two terms as president.
Mr. Kaplan decided not to
seek re-election to the board and
moved, with his family, to West
Bloomfield when his daughter
was old enough to enter public
school.
He complains Mr. Thompson's
office has a tendency to be over-
zealous in charging defendants.
Mr. Kaplan proposed spear-
heading crime-prevention mea-
sures to keep would-be offenders
out of trouble and targeting po-
tential criminals through the
public schools.
"Without investing money,
the prosecutor's office, with com-
munity leaders, can prevent
some violent crime," Mr. Kaplan
said.

He advocates getting each of
the county's 102 assistant pros-
ecutors to "adopt" a high school
or middle school and spend two
hours a month working with the
students, particularly those at
risk.
Mr. Gorcyca, a 1988 graduate
of Detroit College of Law, said
he agrees the prosecutor's no
plea-bargaining policy can be an
effective law-enforcement tool.
But unlike Mr. Thompson, he
would give prosecutors some dis-
cretion.
If elected, Mr. Gorcyca would
like to start a homicide unit and
increase the county's conviction
rate.
"Dick Thompson broke his
promise to be tough on crime,"
he said. "His statistics on guilty-

"This is the only
game in town."

-- Bill Ballenger

as-charged conviction rates are
less than 50 percent. That
means those who go to the bench
for a jury trial are found either
not guilty or guilty of a lesser of-
fense. When you have a no plea-
bargain policy, you have to be
prepared to convict these indi-
viduals, and statistics show he
is not."
Mr. Thompson, however, pre-
sents different statistics.
"We've completed over
100,000 cases with a conviction
rate of 95 percent," Mr. Thomp-
son said. "Very few of our cases
were overturned on appeal.
That's a result of our aggressive
no plea-bargaining attitude
against criminals. We're a very
effective, aggressive office."