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1986 Goal: $8.5 million Miracles Can Happen... $6,000,000 ...when you support the Atlanta Jewish Federation s 1986 Campaign See pages 6 and 7 for Campaign update Jewish worker wins anti-Semitism case by Joseph Polakoff \ Si's Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON —A Jewish employee’s charges of anti-Semi tism in his working environment in the Defense Department have resulted in a federal court ordering his reinstatement with full back pay and employment rights and recommendations later in a U.S. civil service proceeding that one of his superiors be dismissed and another demoted three pay grades. The case was initiated four years ago by Wallace H. Weiss while he was employed as an operations research analyst at Grade 13 pay level in the Defense Logistics Agency, a component of the Defense Department that deals with costs of services and supplies outside the armed forces. Weiss has left the agency and is now employed by the U.S. Army. Edward J. Reidy, chief ad ministrative lawjudge of the Merit Systems Protection Board which is an independent agency serving as watchdog over the civil service system, in an opinion Feb. 14, recommended dismissal of Dennis L. Zimmerman, who is DI.A’s senior study director for supply management, and a three pay grade demotion for at least three years to Michael Pouy, a DLA supply manager, who was also fined $1,000. Mark Talisman, Washington representative of the Council of Jewish Federations, lauded Weiss’ courage and determination to go through with proceedings to vindicate his claims. Referring to anti-Semitism within government ranks. Talisman said, “This goes on all the time. Weiss’ courageous action could' be an example to others who fear they will lose their jobs, especially at this time when jobs are hard to get, if they fight anti-Semitism where they work.” Federal Judge Richard L. Williams found that Weiss, em ployed in the DLA from Feb. 17, 1980, to Aug. 4, 1983, was “fully qualified” for his position when he was hired as a GS-13 analyst by Zimmerman, who is not Jewish and did not know that Weiss was Jewish when he hired him. Weiss was the only Jewish employee in the office. None of Zimmerman’s three supervisors on two levels above him and to whom Weiss had made his complaints are Jewish. “From 1980 until March 1982, plaintiff Weiss was the constant target of highly offensive religious slurs and taunts” by Pouy and Zimmerman, Williams’ decision said. “These slurs included such taunts as ‘resident Jew,’ ‘Jew faggot,’ ‘rich Jew,’ ‘Christ killer,’ ‘nail him to the cross,’ and ‘you killed Christ, Wally, so you’ll have to hang from the cross.’ “Mr. Zimmerman made no attempt to stop the repeated anti- Semitic remarks that were directed at the plaintiff by Mr. Pouy,” the decision said. “Indeed Mr. Zimmerman himself repeatedly directed anti-Semitic remarks at Weiss.” Prior to March 22, 1982, “Weiss never repeated or complained about the anti-Semitic remarks to anyone above Mr. Zimmerman,” the decision added. “However, the remarks upset him to develop stress and anxiety-related dis orders.” Despite the slurs re garding his religion, Weiss received high performance evalu ations and generally performed his duties to his supervisor’s satis faction, the decision said. On March 26, 1982, Weiss spoke to Zimmerman and demanded an end to anti-Semitic remarks following a branch staff meeting at which Pouv used an obscenity See Worker, Page 23. The Southern Israelite The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry 'Since 1925' Vol. LXII Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, February 28, 1986 No. 9 > c. rn <c r c c r c 7 Arafat fails king’s ‘tesl loses U.S. concession by Joseph Polakoff rsi’s Washington correspondent WASHINGTON—Two major concessions made by the Reagan administration to the Palestine Liberation Organization to enter the “peace process” with Israel are now without effect because PLO chief Yasir Arafat has refused to accept other parts of Washington’s proposal, the Stale Department has declared. Without the promise of PLO reciprocity in any form, the U.S. had offered through Jordan’s King Hussein that the PLO could have a seat at an international conference to settle the West Bank-Gaza situation if it agreed to U.N. Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 adopted after the Arab- Israelt wars of 1967 and 1973, recognized Israel’s right to live in peace and renounced terrorism. Successive administrations have pledged to Israel since 1974 not to deal with the PLO until it had met the stated conditions. The two King Hussein recent concessions appear to violate the 12-year-old policy that Henry Kissinger had originated \fyhen he was secretary of state. In a statement read by chief spokesman Bernard Kalb fol lowing reportedly heated Israeli- U.S. talks here, the Department said that its concessions to the PLO were part of a package that “would not have been imple mented without agreement to the full package by all sides. Now that the PLO has failed the king’s test there is no package and this isolated question is moot.” Following King Hussein’s three and one-half hour address in Amman that Arafat had broken his commitment that he would ap prove the U.S. conditions in return for the concessions, Israel’s foreign ministry and the embassy in Washington indicated they had no information on the concessions before Hussein’s speech. Wash ington sources then hinted that Prime Minister Shimon Peres had knowledge of the developments. Israel’s cabinet meeting follow ing the speech reportedly did not discuss the concessions. However, Ambassador Meir Rosenne met with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Michael Armacost, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy, an architect of the See Arafat, Page 23 Hebrew Academy’s search ends with vote to buy land by Vida Goldgar It was no ordinary board meeting and everybody knew it. The Hebrew Academy’s president. Dr. Jerry Blumenthal, highlighted it when he said, “I call this very historic and important meeting of the Hebrew Academy board to order.” Two hours later, the significance was confirmed when the board voted overwhelmingly to set in motion the acquisition of ap proximately 19 acres of land on High Point Road for construction of new facilities. The enabling resolutions also provided for entering into a sales agreement for the present property on North Druid Hills Road. The approval, which carried by a vote of 41 to 4, ends several years of speculation and on again, off again reports that the Hebrew Academy would relocate to the Atlanta Jewish Community Center’s Zaban property. At Monday evening’s meeting, David Minkin, who heads the Academy’s relocation committee, made it clear at the outset that “Zaban is not an alternative.” Minkin said both the AJCC and the Academy, with assistance from Federation, “made a tremendous effort” to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to a very complex situation but that “it was finally concluded it could not be done within the framework allowed.” A second alternative—for the Academy to stay at the present location and, presumably limit growth of the student body, had been ruled out after last year’s demographic study showed a strong shift in the student base to the north. “A lot of the community is on the move north of 1-285, with fewer in this area and south of this area,” Minkin said. He said, “The easy decision would be to stay here. We can get an easy 320 students (approximately the pre sent enrollment)” and then he added the kicker—“until some body comes along and builds a new school." Present plans for the utilization of the High Point Road property call for the construction of an elementary school and a middle school, with a view toward adding a high school in the future. Estimated costs of the initial phase range from $4.5 million to approximately $6.75 million, with land costs at roughly $1.3 million assuming that the actual acreage after road rights-of-way is at the 19 acre figure. Additional property would be required for the high school at a later date. Under a proposed contract for the North Druid Hills property negotiated by Jeffrey Snow and Jerry Siegel, somewhere in the vicinity of $3 million would be realized. The contract, which is subject to zoning, calls for the initial sale of approximately five acres not occupied by the school on or before Sept. 15, 1986, with the balance of the property to be sold between Sept. 1, 1987, and Sept. 1, 1988. No rezoning is required to put a school on the High Point property. Construc tion of the new facility woujd not begin until the sale of the school portion of North Druid Hills is consum mated. The resolutions called for $400,000 to be borrowed from the Atlanta Jewish Federation, se- See Academy, Page 5. w IfF’onr- ov nun ).cn