Back to School
Includes Your Cars
By Kenny "the Car Guy" Walters
Some committee members: Madeline Bleier, Anne Carron and Skip Siegel,
all of West Bloomfield, Herb Sherbin of Farmington Hills, Harold Stein of
Franklin, Lila Monsein of West Bloomfield.
School Days
Back-to-school season has officially arrived, and parents are racing to arm their
kids with school supplies, textbooks.
Adolescence is not only a journey of new experiences, knowledge and friends. It's
also another, more literal journey - one that involves the family car or the jalopy you
bought so you didn't have to play the role of chauffeur.
As your child drives off to school, his or her safety becomes even more of a
concern. Never mind the statistic that a disproportionate number of car accidents
happen among first-year drivers, or that biology research suggests the brain isn't
fully formed until the age of 25. If your student is driving, make sure the vehicle is in
top condition.
During the school year, your car will experience almost every kind of weather:
humidity and heat, icy winter roads and heavy spring storms.
Add these car care steps to your back-to-school chore chart:
• Fluids. Before your child leaves for school, check all your car's fluid levels. While
we usually remember to keep an eye out for engine oil fluctuations, we often forget
about other fluid levels such as coolant, transmission, brake and power steering
fluids.Your owner's manual will tell you where all these fluids are located and what
their levels should look like.And since you're under the hood already, why not
look at the date on your battery – if it's more than two or three years old, have it
checked.
• Lights and signals. Your car's owner's manual should be the first book your child
studies. Review the manual with your teen so that he/she knows what dashboard
warnings and indicator lights signify. If one of these lights blinks on while your
child is driving, it won't be alarming.
• Tires. Check tire pressure. Frankly, make this a routine for your young driver so they
don't fall into the adult pattern of procrastinating or forgetting altogether – until
you've got a flat. Strong, sturdy tires lead to parental peace of mind. Check the
manual or inside of the driver's door for the vehicle's optimal tire pressure and
keep a gauge in the glove compartment.
• Wipers. Look at your wipers to make sure they are intact and working. Most of the
time, you can tell how your wipers are doing just by turning them on. If they streak
or chatter against the windshield, it's time to get new ones. Really, you should be
replacing your wipers every six to 12 months regardless. Driver safety depends on
visibility – don't jeopardize it because of faulty wipers.
• Clean up. Make sure sure your car has been tidied up and all your teen's
valuables are stashed in nonvisible spaces. Remove clutter from the car. It's
important not just for cleanliness, but also for safety. A plastic bottle, soda can or
food container could roll under the brake or gas pedal and lodge there.
MUFFLERS
Kenny "the Car Guy" Walters,
owns the award-winning auto shop
Mufflers and More
at 490 N. Pontiac Trail
in Walled Lake
248.668.1200
Full Service Auto Repair & Maintenance
16 August 29 • 2013
www.muthersandmore.net
Kenny@mufflersandmore.net
Central High classes of 1948 look
forward to their 65th reunion.
Barbara Lewis
Special to the Jewish News
T
hey're all 82 or 83 years old
now, but the men and women
who graduated from Detroit
Central High School in 1948 still have
warm feelings about their teen years.
Members of the two classes of 1948
— a small class graduated in January
and about twice as many graduated
in June — are holding a joint 65th
reunion Sept. 8 starting at 2 p.m. at
Glen Oaks in Farmington Hills.
The alumni have been getting
together every five years, with few
exceptions, since they left school.
The two classes together produced
873 graduates. Harvey Miller of West
Bloomfield, a member of the reunion
planning committee, estimates that at
least 700 are still alive. More than 250,
including spouses and other guests,
attended last year's reunion.
Skip Siegel of West Bloomfield has
a theory that explains why he and
his classmates have maintained their
friendship over so many years.
"I read somewhere that people who
were born in 1930 were the luckiest:'
said Siegel, who owned and operated
a drugstore in Dearborn Heights for
many years.
By the time they were teenagers, he
said, the worst of the Depression had
passed, and they were too young to
have to fight in World War II. They
were fully matured before the turbu-
lence of the 1960s.
"Business was good, and people
were doing well financially. There were
no wars:' he said. "We were a blessed
group. Those were happy years for us.
I think that's one reason we like to get
together:'
Another reason is that so many
members of the class still live in the
area, at least for part of the year.
"I can hardly go anywhere, to a mall
or a restaurant or a concert, without
running into some of my classmates:'
Siegel said.
Central High, on Tuxedo Street near
Linwood and Chicago Boulevard on
Detroit's near northwest side, was in
the heart of the Jewish community at
the time, and probably 85 percent of
the students were Jewish. That helped
make the class very tight-knit.
High Standards
Academics were very important. Most
of the students came from working-
class families and sought professional
careers as a way of achieving upward
mobility
"I remember how excellent the
classes and teachers were;' said Harvey
Miller, who started a company that
represented furniture manufactur-
ers. "Central was harder than college.
Student competition was so intense:'
Most members of the class of 1948
went to college, and many went into
law, medicine, accounting, education
and other professions. Class president
Herb Sherbin of Farmington Hills, a
retired ophthalmologist, says at least
15 of his classmates went to University
of Michigan's medical school with him.
Sherbin chairs the committee for
the 65th reunion, as he has for almost
every preceding get-together. "Once
you're elected president, you're always
the president:' he said. "It's an honor!"
In addition to gathering every five
years at reunions, a group of women
alums has been getting together five
or six times a year for lunch, said
Madeline Bleier of West Bloomfield.
She has about 60 women on her mail-
ing list; about 30 show up for each
luncheon. If there are any women from
the Class of 1948 who aren't on her list,
Bleier hopes they'll call her at (248)
737-5009.
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