Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 27

I 200 DETROIT FREE PRESSMONDAY, NOV. 20, 1978 Bless the beasts with their children Parish dogs have their day 0, I Jim He's in good hands again, Kr. i fry 7r" KWrWW MKw 'A. Wn irm-r. when hounds were blessed before fox hunts.

MR. ALBRECHT, who Is also a stockbroker with the Southfield firm of Schearson Haydon Stone has a flair for publicity. He preached the "world's shortest sermon" last year. It went like this: "Love." Mr. Albrecht and his wife, Mimi, an assistant Michigan attorney general, have five children and one cat.

They had a dog which he blessed in last year's service. She was run over this summer, he said, adding, "I'm glad we had her blessed." During this year's service, the congregation at 138 about twice as large as the past Sunday's, he said sang: "All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord Cod made them all. He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell, How great is God Almighty, Who has made all things well." There were, in addition to the human but Pm not sure about me By JOHN ASKINS Free Prt Staff Writer "The Lord bless you and keep you," said the Rev. John Albrecht to a dog, and the second annual Parade and Blessing of Animals at St. Mary'8-in-the-Hills Episcopal Church, Lake Orion, was under way.

The 50-year-old priest started the special service last year on the church's 25th anniversary. He said the blessing is "part of our thanks to God for our fellow creatures, who offer us a great deal of comfort." SUNDAY morning the owners of 14 dogs, 1 1 cats and two birds brought their creatures great and small Into the pews and after a short service Mr. Albrecht invited them to the front of the church for the blessing. The cats and dogs were not segregated from each other, but there were no altercations. "They knew it was a special moment," Mr.

Albrecht explained later. Afterward, the priest went out on the church's lawn and blessed a pair of Shetland ponies named Dolly and Daisy, owned by Victor Kramer. Besides the spoken blessing, Mr. Albrecht also sprinkled each of the animals with holy water. The blesssing of animals is a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, he explained, Chalk one up for the little guys.

Allstate has changed Its mind. John Rennets' Insurance won't be cancelled after all. Rennels' problems were described here last month. He's the longtime Allstate customer who moved from the suburbs into a rented house on the northwest side of Detroit. He had no trouble buying an Allstate policy on his furniture when he moved into his new home.

But a week later, Allstate sent him a form letter canceling the policy. RENNELS SUSPECTED redlining, and he was angry. He began asking questions that weren't answered by the form letter. Allstate eventually explained that its hired investiga voices, a few more or less melodic barks. tor had looked at the outside of Rennels' new home and decided it was worth $16,000.

Allstate said it didn't insure property worth less than $20,000. It was pointed out that Rennels was insuring his furni The Rev. John Albrecht (above) accommodates those creatures too large for a church blessing, in this case two Shetland ponies, outside in the churchyard. Inside the church (below left) children and their felines line up before the priest. Julie Fischer (below) finds her dog, Fanny, is willing to trot down the aisle with prodding.

Six-year-old Marie Kilian (bottom) hears no back talk from her pet parakeet during the blessing. free Press Photos by Taro Yamasaki ture, not the house, and that for all the Allstate investigator knew, Rennels could own antique furniture worth $100,000. Allstate said it didn't make any difference how much Rennels' property is worth, Allstate won't insure it if it's inside a building worth less than $20,000. For the ordinary De-troiter trying to buy insurance, that would have been 1L1 the end of discussions with Allstate. But Rennels is extra-stubborn.

He kept pressing Allstate to reconsider, and I wrote about the case. If you would suggest that the publicity prompted Allstate to give Rennels more attention than it usually gives to canceled customers, I wouldn't argue with I I I.DI.II.DJJUIHII 1 1. Ill HI II I -Mi .11,1,,. mi '-'I 4a i ft v. A lW(r tk I Kf a MrmfWi A tj mML'w-' you.

RENNELS ARGUED that his $16,000 home would be worth much more than $20,000 if it were located north of Eight Mile Road. Allstate conceded this point but denied that it discriminates against Detroit residents. There is such a difference in home values because people will pay a lot of money not to live in "older urban areas," Allstate said. "By 'older urban areas' they mean integrated neighborhoods," Rennels claimed. "And to my way of thinking, Allstate is willing to capitalize on these racial biases by setting up guidelines that make homes uninsurable in Detroit while the same home in the suburbs is insurable." Allstate rejected this argument, but it did agree to make a second inspection of Rennels' home.

And guess what? It was determined that the house is worth $20,000 after all. Allstate canceled the cancellation. "I thanked them for the reconsideration and said I hoped that my views, rather than my lot size, were factors in their corporate decision," Rennels said. He thanked me for my help. I wish I could help myself.

WHEN I LIVED IN LAPEER, 60 miles north of Detroit, it cost me $684 a year to insure two cars. I never owned a garage. The car sat outside, in the driveway or on the street, every night. I drove to work every day. Now that I live in Detroit, the cars are garaged behind locked gates, with a 24-hour guard.

I walk or take the bus to work. And the same insurance costs me 1 1 1 4. That's a $430 increase. Redlining? Not according to Jack Butterick, executive vice-president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Michigan. He'd rather call it "geographical "You were a whole heck of a lot better risk in Lapeer than you are in beautiful downtown Detroit," Butterick told me, "not necessarily because of you, but because of what you are exposed to.

crime rate in the Detroit metropolitan area is unfortunate and regrettably horrendous. you leave that fortress of a garage. become immedi' ately susceptible to a total theft or strip of parts on your Jersey casino salutes Hollywood vehicle like no place else in the state. How should I answer Butterick's logic and statistics? names faces could make the usual argument that insurance companies should give more weight to individuals and less weight to geography. But I'd rather tell him what happened in Lapeer during a recent dark night.

Someone broke into several cars in my old neighborhood. One of the cars belonged to my insurance agent. Life can be beautiful. HOLLYWOOD, CALIF, is the guest of honor, but the party Is on the Boardwalk of Atlantic City, N.J. Resorts International Hotel Casino spent about $250,000 to introduce its gaming tables to big-time bettors, to honor the movie capital of the world on its 75th anniversary, and to shower itself with the passel of stars including Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, George Hamilton, Janet Leigh, and Jack Carter.

The stars were flown in on a special charter jumbo jet, then wined and dined with Las Vegas-style shows, a Gleason billiards exhibition and several games tournaments all on the house. Hotel officials fully expected to recoup the $250,000 tab courtesy of the high rollers they'd imported. The entertainers themselves saw things more philosophically. "It's about time," said actor George Hamilton. Comedian Jack Carter sighed, "What the hell, I'm going to have to play this place eventually." PRINCE BERTIL and Princess Lillian of Sweden have learned a new maneuver called the Royal Bump.

It wasn't the dance floor variety, but the kind of bump you get when airline overbook a flight and perform the bump on whichever passengers arrive last at the airport. Sweeping into the Hong Kong airport to catch their Tokyo flight just ten minutes before takeoff, the royal couple was ft r'A jf Dilly Graham saved. He sent His only Son into the world as a sacrifice for our sins. Because He loves us, we also are commanded to love others. But the Bible also tells us tf-at God is holy and just.

If is just, then He must dge sin. We have to keep le two ideas in balance: wOd is love, but He also is just. It may seem hard to understand, but God Is both the perfect judge and the one who loves perfectly. When God's people were commanded to destroy their enemies on certain occasions in the Old Testament, they were acting under the specific command of God. QUESTION If the Bible is supposed to be perfect, how come it tells people to love their enemies in one place, and yet in the Old Testament people were told to kill their enemies? W.

C. ANSWER -This is not a contradiction although it may seem to be one at first sight. One key to understanding this is realizing what the Bible teaches us about God. The Bible tells us that God is a God of love, "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter He loves us so much that He has provided a way for us to be Queen Noor tied down Dreary glamor LISA HALABY'S life as Queen Noor of Jordan has forced to her abandon her high-flying habits, she said in a recent interview. The daughter of Najeeb Hal-aby (the former chairman of the Federal Avaition Administration and former president of Pan Am) savs she's alwavs informed by officials of Pan American World Airways that all the first class seats had been reassigned.

Would they like a seat in the economy class section? The couple refused, but made their connections to Tokyo via a Japan Air Lines flight two hours later. The royal couple and a party of four were in Hong Kong to study the possibility of establishing a Swedish commercial center in Hong Kong for trade with Asian countries. A STATUE commemorating the 1970 Kent State University shootings has finally found a home, but one far, far away from the site of the Ohio National Guard shootings. The bronze piece by sculptor George Segal has been accepted by Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., for display in the school's art museum, said museum director Fred Licht. The Midwestern school had rejected the sculpture as "inappropriate" to observe the killing of four students; it depicts the Bible story in which Abraham shows his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God's bidding.

Segal has said the work symbolizes both "violence and compassion." The school, however, flunked it. POPE JOHN PAUL II will reclaim his mantle as a professor of ethics at Lublin's Roman Catholic university. His scheduled May 13 lecture at the university will coincide with his journey to Krakow May 9 to honor been accustomed to the advantage of air travel. "I've alwavs loved the ability to Iicclihoms just pick up and go someplace," she said. Her royal status also gets in the way of more earthbound travel, she complains.

"I can't just go out and, say, jog, because someone would have to be iobbine alone a PVsT' Lai imiOiMiimi immmmmtmitn fi 11 Vf urn uJ behind me." she said, referring to her constant bodyguard. The queen, formerly an American architect, married King Hussein last May. sophisticated career women, will ceiise publication with its January issue. The reason for its demise, editor Kathy Keeton says, is that it St. Stamsiaw, Poland patron saint, according to university rector Professor Mieczyslay Kraplec.

VIVA HAS BEEN done in by its beginnings. The five-year-old magazine founded by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and aimed at "was never able to shed its soft-porn image after helping pioneer male nudity in magazines. Most often, she said, Viva ended up beside Playboy and Penthouse on newsstands, even though it dropped nude photos in 1976. UPI Photo "FOR VEAR6 I COULPN'T FiSURE OUT HOW HIS MINP WORKER THEN I REALIZE? IT Overlooking Atlantic City's boardwalk are, left to right: Actor Bobby Troup, Comedian Foster Brooks, Actress Jane Withers and Comedian Jack Carter..