•

Metro

Overruled

The 46th District Court candidates
have received plenty of attention.

Heated Seats, All Wheel Drive, Leather interior, CD Changer, Moonroof

*48 Mo/12IC miles a year. $0 down $1241 due includes 1st payment, $600 acq. Fee plus tax, title, plate and doc fee.
•
Ends July 28, 2004.

CERTIFIED

Pre-Owned

LARGEST SELECTION
of PRE-OWNED

Certified Lexus
Pre-Owned

'01 GMC JIMMY

SLS, 2 dr.
$9,995

3.49% on all
Certified Pre-Owned
Lexus up to 60 mos.

'00 TOYOTA CAMRY

Auto, Fully loaded
$9,995

'02 LEXUS ES 300

`03 MITSUBISHI GALLANT ES

Leather, Sunroof,
Only 16,000 miles
$25,795

Leather, (3) tr.
$10,595

'04 TOYOTA COROLLA

Auto, Easy on gas

'03 LEXUS ES 300

Leather, Fully loaded
$27,995

$11,995

'01 TOYOTA CAMRY LE

Fully loaded
$13,495

'00 LEXUS LX 470

Leather, Fully lOaded
$33,995

`02 TOYOTA AVALON XL

Leather, Fully loaded
$17,495

'03 LEXUS GS 430

Leather, Navigation,
Meticulously maintained
$41,995

LEXUS 2000 - '04

All models available. 45 in
stock. For best pricing any-
where, call Charles Pulkownik
@ 734-996-1662

`02 SEVILLE SLS

Chrome whls., exc. cond.
$18,995

'00 LEXUS RX 300

AWD, Leather, Moon, Sharp
$19,995

MERCEDES BENZ ML320

Leather, AWP, Sunroof
$19,995

Non-Certified
Pre-Owned

4 dr., Auto, Leather, priced to sell
$22,495

'03 TOYOTA COROLLA

'00 MERCEDES ML SS AMG

Auto, Easy on gas
$9,595

'01 BMW 3251

Loaded, Navigation
$28,995

OUR CARS MUST PASS 128 INSPECTION POINTS

CUSTOMER

SATISFACTION

jN

7/23

2004

16

IS AN IDEA THAT
EVERYONE EXPECTS, 8LIT
NO DEALER ACHIEVES.
CONSIDER IT A NONISSUE
AT LEXUS OF ANN ARBOR
AND 1..exus OF LANSING.
OUR SERVICE
DEPARTMENT WON'T
GIVE YOU POOR EXCUSES
AS TO WHY:THE JOB
DIDN'T GETDONE. BEST
OF ALL.THIS QUALITY
CUSTOMER SERVICE
COMES AT A VERY
REASONABLE PRICE.

NOTHING.

Oxus C1111

Flinn IFIFZEHDIRE

Lia>01-J1-5
L-Fir11-511r1G

590 Auto Mall Dr. • Ann Arbor

5701 Pennsylvania Ave • Lansing

lexusofannarbor.com
lexusannarbor@usa.net

lexusoflonsing.corn

1.866.645.3987

OPEN
SATURDAY
10-5

1.800.539.8748

OPEN
MONDAY

9am-9pm

882480

ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor

ocal newspapers and colum-
nists have been given loads of
fodder in
recent weeks as
they analyze the
protagonists vying
for incumbent
Judge Stephen
Cooper's court
seat.
The race should
be fairly straight-
forward for voters:
A highly thought • Cooper
of three-term
incumbent running against two
political newcomers for the 46th
District Court, which serves Beverly
Hills, Bingham Farms, Franklin,
Lathrup Village and Southfield.
Instead, the challengers — espe-
cially Arlene Woods — have been
scrutinized for their own legal histo-
ries. And hanging over it all is the
judicial election two years ago, when
a young newcomer, Shelia Johnson,
upset another highly thought of
incumbent, Bryan Levy, by 300
votes out of 30,000 cast.
Cooper downplays the impact of
the 2002 vote on his campaign.
"Certainly, I thought about it," he
says. But in every campaign, I try
to knock on as many doors as I
can.
This year, he's also using the
Internet. All three candidates have
created Web sites.
"Eight years ago, I created a [per-
sonal] Web site — www.judgecoop-
er.com — to provide educational
material about the court," Cooper
says. "Now, I've added election
stuff."
Cooper, 59, has been a Southfield-
resident since the ninth grade. He
and his wife have three children.
Cooper graduated from Southfield
High, Brandeis and Wayne State
universities, taught high school near
Jerusalem for a year and Hebrew and
Jewish history in the Detroit area.
He has served locally on the Jewish
Community Council and the Anti-
Defamation League boards.
Cooper is a past president of the

Michigan District Judges Association
and was elected Michigan governor
of the American Judges Association.
Before being elected to the first of
his three six-year terms on the
bench, he served on the Southfield
City Council. He continues to corn-
bine reading advocacy and legal edu-
cation for the public with civic
events.
"Eighty percent of people going to
jail" in this country "have reading
problems," he says.
He is co-chair of a reading pro-
gram with Southfield Mayor Brenda
Lawrence, sponsored an annual law
fair at Tel-Twelve Mall for 12 years
to educate the public about the legal
system and recently took his docket
into area. high schools "so kids could
see a real court, not TV court."

TV Court

Television court may have come to
Southfield last week anyway when
one of Cooper's opponents, Arlene
Woods, was sued by a Detroit public
relations firm for nonpayment of
$14,000 for work performed for her
campaign for judge of the same
court.
The case was
the latest in a
series of 14 non-
payment suits
against Woods, a
Southfield resi-
dent who has
been in private
practice in
Detroit for 17
Woods
years. According
to media reports,
seven of the cases against her were
dismissed. But in five cases, she
failed to appear in court and judg-
ments were issued against her.
In the latest nonpayment case,
Woods, 49, claims the suit is a polit-
ical smear and is countersuing the
PR firm for $25,000.
In 2002, Woods was fined $1,246
by the Attorney Discipline Board for
failing to provide information to the
Attorney Grievance Commission.
Cooper's other opponent for the
$138,000-a-year judicial position is
Maria Mannarino Thompson - of