Front Lines JNenline NOTEBOOK This Week www.JNonline.us Teen2Teen Web Site A Hallmark Moment The second try was a charm for Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson, one of the newest class members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the National Basketball Association's highest honor. The announcement came during the NCAA finals on April 7 in San Antonio. In a prepared statement, Davidson, 84, said from his Auburn Hills office: "I am pleased and honored. To be included as a member of this elite group of men and women that have made significant contributions to the sport of basketball, I am grateful." Davidson, a Michigan native, owns Guardian Industries, an international maker of architectural Bill Davidson and auto glass. The Bloomfield Hills resident bought the Pistons in 1974 for $7 million. Forbes magazine tags the team's cur- rent worth at $477 million. Davidson is former chair of the NBA Board of Governors. A key owner because of his business savvy, Davidson helped bring about NBA salary controls and free agent. He also introduced a splashy entertain- ment component to the once-staid game. The privately held Palace of Auburn Hills and its operating arm Palace Sports & Entertainment helped revolutionize the basketball arena experience. In 2003, Davidson was the first owner of teams to win three cham- pionships in the same year — the WNBWs Shock, the Pistons and the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. He has owned the Shock since 1998. The Pistons have won three championships, the Shock two and the Lightning one. Davidson also was a finalist for the Hall last year. This year's Class of Seven will be inducted Sept. 5 in a ceremony at the Hall in Springfield, Mass. Davidson is one of the Jewish world's mega-philanthropists. Organizations and institutions to benefit include the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Hadassah, Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland County, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, Weitzmann Institute in Rehovot, Jerusalem Archeological Park and Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. The University of Michigan is one of his largest secular beneficiaries. "With this Hall of Fame honor, Bill Davidson has brought credit to our entire community as he has so many times before,' said Robert Aronson, adviser to Bill Davidson and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. - Robert A. Sklar, editor Honor A Cancer Hero The Detroit-based Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is accepting nominations for this year's "Patricia Milner Sachs Heart of a Survivor Award." The honor recognizes a cancer patient or survivor who exempli- fies helping others with cancer. The award will be given at the institute's Survivorship Celebration on June 19 in Southfield. Nominations are open to all cancer patients and sur- vivors. Pat Sachs, a Karmanos employee who lost her 11- year battle with melanoma in June 2006, was dedi- cated to cancer prevention and to making life easier for others with cancer as she, herself, courageously Pat Sachs battled the disease. Pat's ongoing legacy includes the Survivorship University lecture series; the NSiah (journey) spiritual support group; and SHIELD, a sun-safety program for children and adults. Nomination forms must be returned by April 27 and are available on the Web site www.karmanos.org or by calling (800) KARMANOS. European Cemeteries To Be Surveyed Teams of young people will be surveying more than 100 cemeteries in the region around Warsaw, Poland, over the coming weeks, marking the start of a vast project to preserve Jewish burial grounds across the European continent. The project, known by the Hebrew words Lo Tishkach (Do Not Forget), aims to repeat this process in thousands of burial sites from Portugal to Russia, thereby preserving the memory of the Jewish pres- ence in Europe before the Holocaust. At each site, Lo Tishkach surveyors work together with the local Jewish community and under full rabbini- cal supervision. "I believe that this work is valuable on so many levels,"said Philip Carmel, Lo Tishkach project director. "It preserves the memory and the sanctity of these sites as part of the Jewish tradition, but it also mobi- lizes local Jewish communities to preserve their own heritage. When you take young people and make them aware that in the Warsaw region alone there were 107 Jewish burial grounds, or that there were 700 indi- vidual Jewish communities in Slovakia, you begin to comprehend the vastness of Jewish life that was wiped out in the Holocaust" The surveyors' work involves them arriving at the sites with cameras and forms with dozens of different questions to file on each cemetery. These are then fed into a computerized database which will soon be accessible to the public. One of the project's aims is to list every Jewish cemetery and mass burial site in Europe. Estimates place the figure at around 20,000 of such sites. For further information, contact Caramel at director@lo-tishkach.org . April 2008 Latest From Israel Check our streaming news from Ynetnews.com for con- tinuous updates and longer news, opinion and feature stories. And look at the cen- ter of our Homepage for an Israel story that changes twice daily. Just visit JNonline.us and click on a scrolling story on the left. - Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor E-Newsletter ECO Judaism Conservation Tips What you can do to stop global warming: Reduce cooling costs! • Program your programmable thermostat for cooler temper- atures when you need them and warmer temperatures when you do not. Adapt to warmer temperatures such as 75F and 78F. We love those temperatures in the winter! • When evenings are cool, open your windows instead of using air conditioning. A natural ventilation system is the most energy-efficient way to provide airflow in your home. Cross ventilation is created when some combination of open- ings are on opposing walls permitting a free flow of air from one side to the other. • During warmer months, keep extra lighting to a minimum. It adds heat to your home as well as light. Using compact florescent bulbs will help. • Shades, blinds and curtains should be drawn during the heat of a summer day. This is especially important on the south side. Jewish Thought on the Environment: And God said: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. - Genesis 1:9 Please contact Michigan Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life for global warming presentations: (248) 642- 5393, ext. 7, or mi-coejl@jfmd.org . Source: Michigan Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life A18 Local teens have contributed their favorite Passover reci- pes for this special issue of T2T. You can find many more recipes to test this holiday by checking online. Also, we are calling all teens to tell us what Israel means to them for our special Israel©60 issue. Tell us what you think online. Only at JNt2t.com . Desire notification when stories that interest you in particular are posted on JNonline.us? It's easy to designate the kinds of stories you like when you sign up for your personalized e-newslet- ter. Click on Newsletter on menu near top of the page. Celebrations! Find weekly listings of births, b'nai mitzvah, engagements, weddings and anniversaries as well as past simchahs all online. Visit JNonline.us and click on Lifecycles, on left. Online Poll Last week's poll results: Will you change dishes and clean chametz from your home for Passover? Yes 70% No 30% This week's question: Are you following coverage of the pope's U.S. visit? Visit the JNonline.us homepage, below the left menu, to cast your vote.