New Philoptochos President Maria Logus, Active Since 18, Talks to

Transcription

NEWS
oCV
ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ
ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
The National Herald
cv
A weekly Greek-AmericAn PublicAtion
Turkish Warships
Undercut Cyprus
Unification Talks
AP Photo/thAnAssis stAvrAkis
Members of Greek Navy special forces operate during a
Greek joint military exercise
“Pyrpolitis” at the Saronic Gulf
on Thursday, Oct. 30. NATO
Secretary
General
Jens
Stoltenberg attended the drill
as he is in Athens.
www.thenationalherald.com
November 1-7, 2014
VOL. 18, ISSUE 890
The European Union’s expression of “serious concern”
that Turkish warships and a research vessel invaded Cypriot
waters is good enough for
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, although
the ships remain in violation of
international law.
Turkey sent the ships into
Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) in waters where
Nicosia had already licensed
drilling rights to international
companies, including a Texas
firm.
Despite that, the United
States – which is seeking
Turkey’s help in going after the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria –
has said almost nothing to defend the sovereign rights of
Cyprus, a member of the EU,
other than to say it hopes reunification talks on the island divided since an unlawful Turkish
invasion in 1974 will resume at
some point in history.
The statement issued by
leaders of the EU in a meeting
in Brussels stopped short of
“grave concern,” its higher level
of anxiety over developments
and was ignored by Turkey.
United Nations leader Ban
Ki-moon also failed to condemn
the Turkish invasion of Cypriot
waters, instead calling on both
countries to resume unification
talks broken off by Anastasiades
after the incursion. He was hospitalized in Brussels with nosebleeds from high pressure and
represented at the European
Council meeting by Samaras.
Both Turkey – which wants
to join the EU – and Cyprus are
members of NATO, which has
remained silent. The EU also did
not threaten any action about
Turkey’s EU hopes, preferring to
issue a press release showing its
concern, leaving Cyprus essentially helpless and defenseless
against Turkey.
The reference from the EU
calling on Turkey to respect
Cyprus’ sovereign rights left
Athens and Nicosia content with
the outcome, but left the situation unchanged and Turkey in
control of the waters it had invaded.
In their joint statement, the
EU leaders expressed “serious
concern” at rising tension in the
Eastern Mediterranean after
Turkey sent a seismic research
vessel into Cyprus’s exclusive
economic zone (EEZ).
They called on Turkey to “to
show restraint, and to respect
Cyprus’ sovereignty over its territorial sea and Cyprus’s sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone.” The leaders added
that it is “more important than
ever to ensure a positive climate” for reunification talks on
the island. Turkish President ReContinued on page 11
$1.50
James Foley Honored by OXI Day Foundation
Philotimo in
Spotlight in
4th DC Gala
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
AP Photo/GriGoris siAmidis
Very Tight Security Again Undermines OXI Day Joy in Greece
A spectator holds a Greek flag as a Greek Navy vessel is moored at Thermaikos Gulf during the
annual military parade in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014.
The parade is held to celebrate Greece's refusal to align itself with a belligerent fascist Italy in
1940 and instead fight a much stronger opponent, a decision which dragged it into World War
II and eventually led to a brutal occupation by Nazi Germany.
Rossides’ Book Tour was Rewarding
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Budding authors
take note: The work of producing a book does not end with
the writing. “You need to be part
of the promotion of the book,
too,” Eugene T. Rossides, the
founder of the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) told The
National Herald.
Rossides said of his recent
tour in Greece and Cyprus for
his book Kissinger and Cyprus:
A Study in Lawlessness, “It was
tiring but rewarding.”
Among the highlights was receiving an award from. Yiannakis Omirou. the president of
Cyprus’ House of Representatives.
“It was a very moving ceremony for me because it was presented by all the political parties,” in appreciation of his work
on behalf of Cyprus through the
decades.
He also met with President
Nicos Anastasiades. “We spoke
specifically and in detail about
the Turkish incursion into
Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ),” he said.
Most of the questions that
followed Rossides’ presentations
were focused on the book and
Kissinger’s responsibility for
what happened in Cyprus, but
some asked what the U.S. can
do now to right its wrongs.
Rossides responded that the
Greek-American community
“just has to keep pushing and
pressing the U.S. government –
in its own interests – to do this.
It is clearly in the interests of
the U.S. to get rid of the illegal
troops and settlers in Cyprus
Continued on page 9
Catsimatidis Archbishop Demetrios Visits Occupied Cyprus
donates $50K
To Assist
Democrats
TNH Staff
NEW YORK – Billionaire GreekAmerican businessman John
Catsimatidis, who unsuccessfully
sought the Republican nomination to run for Mayor, said he
donated $50,000 to help Democrats try to take control of the
State Senate – at the request of
Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The New York Daily News reported that was part of a scheme
developed by Democratic organizations to funnel money to key
Senatorial candidates through
their groups to circumvent laws
putting a $10,300 cap on how
much could be sent individually
to those running for the office.
While Catsimatidis last year
sought to win the New York
Mayor’s office – and would have
faced de Blasio had he won the
GOP nomination – he told the
News he felt compelled to donate to his ideological rival because of his key business interests in the city.
“I just wanted to show an indication I was willing to work
with” de Blasio, said Catsimatidis, who has been known to
cross party lines before and is
friends with former President
Bill Clinton and his wife, emerging Democratic Presidential candidate and former Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Catsimatidis, who made his
fortune in the grocery and real
estate businesses as a self-made
man, has a penchant for doing
the unorthodox in politics. It
wasn't reported further why he
donated money, even at de Blasio's request, to help defeat
members of his own party for
control of the State Senate.
Continued on page 4
For subscription:
718.784.5255
[email protected]
Bringing the news
to generations of
Greek-Americans
NICOSIA – With politicians sitting out reunification talks in a
dispute over who should have
access to oil and gas reserves off
the island's coast, Archbishop
Demetrios paid a critical visit to
the northern territory occupied
by Turkey, his first there.
The trek came during a
week-long visit to Cyprus at the
invitation of President Nicos
Anastasiades and gave the Archbishop a chance to talk about
the importance of the Greek language and the touchy issue of
missing persons from the unlawful Turkish invasion in 1974.
The highlight was the historic visit to the lands which
used to house Greek-Cypriots
driven from their homes by the
Turkish army 40 years before.
The properties were taken over
by Turks who still occupy them,
backed by a standing Turkish
army and the backing of
Ankara, which refuses to recognize Cyprus.
Turkey also refuses to allow
Continued on page 6
CHICAGO- Sometime around
1930, Nicholas George Montos
was the victim of an incredibly
violent and traumatic crime. It
took place in Tampa, FL. All documents and reference sources
I’ve managed to locate report
only these two facts. Given
Montos’ life of continuous antisocial behavior, one would have
thought someone at some point
would have sought out this motivating event. Yet for reasons,
lost to history, the singular event
that sent Nicholas George Montos on a 72-year long crime
spree remains unknown.
From 1934, until his death,
Continued on page 7
Book: Onassis
Cheated on
Jackie O
TNH Staff
New York Times bestselling
author Christopher Andersen in
his upcoming book, The Good
Son: JFK Jr. and the Mother He
Loved, writes how Greek tycoon
Aristotle Onassis, who married
President John F. Kennedy’s
widow, Jackie, in 1968, routinely cheated on her with the
woman he really loved, Maria
Callas.
Andersen writes that after
Kennedy’s assassination, Jackie
was much sought-after by numerous suitors, most prominently the president’s brother
Robert (Bobby) and Onassis, the
News reported. When Bobby
Kennedy was assassinated in
1968, Andersen writes, Onassis
gloated to his closest friend,
Costa Gratsos, that finally “she’s
free of the Kennedys.” Rumors
circulated over the years, and
were captured in the 2005 book
Nemesis: Aristotle Onassis,
Jackie O, and the Love Triangle
that Brought Down the
Kennedys, by Peter Evans. Much
was made about Onassis “financing Robert Kennedy’s
death,” but it was less an insinuation that Onassis orchestrated
H.M. Petrakis:
Restaurants
Greek to Me
dimitris PAnAGos
Archbishop Demetrios visited the historic villages of Rizokarpaso, where he received flowers
from children, above, Hagia Triada and Yialousa and the monastery of Hagios Andreas.
By Penelope Karageorge
TNH Staff Writer
Continued on page 4
Continued on page 9
The Selected Letters of Elia
Kazan provided the focus for a
fascinating panel at an October
23 discussion hosted by Barnes
& Noble on Manhattan’s West
Side. Characterizing Kazan as
“America’s greatest film and theater director,” film professor
Foster Hirsh introduced three
people who knew and loved
him: legendary Alfred A Knopf
book editor Katherine Hourigan,
Avram Ludwig of the Actors Studio; and actor Stathis Gialellis,
star of America, America,
Kazan’s favorite and most personal film.
“I was immediately captured
by his voice, his energy, his ability to seize the moment. He had
a magnetism, everyone was
drawn to him,” Hourigan recalled. “The letters are amazing.
There was that difficult relationship with his first wife, Molly
Thacher, a wealthy society person who was also leftwing and
Director Elia Kazan, brilliant
but controversial, left permanent marks on American theater and film making.
a Yale Drama School graduate.
They loved each other very
much, but Kazan was incapable
of being faithful. He felt it was
part of his education. He
By Harry Mark Petrakis
wanted to know everything
about people. The truth comes
out in the letters.”
In one letter, he confesses to
his wife about his affair with
Marilyn Monroe, characterizing
her as a “touching, pathetic
waif.” Kazan wrote “If you divorce me, I’ll tell you plainly I
will in time get married again
and have more children. I feel
I’m a family man and I want a
family, and am a damned good
one. I don’t care what your judgment is on that. I think I see the
world around me (us) a hell of
a lot more clearly than you do
or anyone else does for that
matter.”
Regardless of his personal involvements, Hourigan said his
Kazan’s thrust was his art.
“Work was his drug, in theater,
in movies and in writing. Writing was so important to him. He
was always looking for the exact
right word, the surprising word.
As a youth I recall hearing
the reassuring aphorism that "all
a Greek had to do to make
money in a restaurant was stand
by the cash register and smile."
There was also the frequent
question, "How did so many
Greeks end up in that business?"
One of the most tenable explanations is that the early part
of the 20th century brought an
influx of young Greek immigrants into the coal fields and
railroad camps of Utah and Colorado. They were conscripted
by a padrone or labor boss, who
signed them into bondage in return for providing them passage
to and a job in the United
States.
These young men lived in
railroad cars and shanties. The
cooking chores were rotated.
Men who proved more skilled
at their rudimentary cuisine
probably decided that cooking
was less hazardous than mining
or laying track. The first Greek
lunchroom was born.
My experience in restaurants
came in the late 1940s. I had
been married in 1945 and for
the first few years had an erratic
work record. A year in U.S. Steel
Continued on page 5
Continued on page 9
N.G. Montos: Kazan Panel at B&N in Manhattan
Most Wanted
Mysteries
By Steve Frangos
WASHINGTON , DC – The 4th
annual gala of the Washington
OXI Day foundation filled the
magnificent Great Hall of the
U.S. Institute for Peace with
Greek-Americans and philhellenes celebrating past and contemporary heroes of the fight
for freedom and democracy
around the world.
OXI Day recognizes October
28, 1940, when John Metaxas,
the Prime Minister of Greece,
told a representative the Mussolini government, Nazi Germany’s ally, that Greece would
not surrender. Subsequently,
Greece inspired the world as the
first country to stop the Axis
horror, inflicting a wound that
was instrumental to Hitler’s ultimate defeat.
Among the recipients of
awards were Shimon Perez, the
former president of Israel, John
and Diane Foley in honor of
their son, the late journalist
COMMUNITY
2
GOINGS ON...
GREEKS AROUND THE US
Pennsylvania’s Greeks Like to Party in the Fall
By Constantinos E. Scaros
READING, PA – Greek Festival
Season, at least in the New York
Metropolitan Area, is in the
springtime. Usually, churches
hold their annual feasts sometime between mid-May and
mid-June. One would think
then, that any church named after Saints Constantine and Helen – whose Feast Day is celebrated on May 21 – would
surely hold its yearly festival on
the closest weekend to that
date.
But if the Greeks of Reading,
PA did that, then the food, wine,
and music would have been a
distant memory, instead of an
enjoyable reality this past weekend.
Having just celebrated its
100th anniversary, the Sts. Constantine and Helen parish in
Reading held its 44th annual
festival – which it calls the
Greek Food and Pastry Bazaar –
October 17-19. Sure, the fall
weather is a bit too blustery for
ouzo, and the outdoor tent has
to include portable heaters, but
having a glendi this late in the
year – during the lull between
Labor Day and Thanksgiving
Day – is like receiving a belated
Christmas gift sometime in midFebruary, just when you need it
the most.
“We did a few things differently this year” said Mark Dialectos who, along with his
cousin Athan Dialectos, Chris
Dikos, Dean Kraras, and Anthony and Stav Koumaras
served as the Bazaar Chairman.
“We decided to make it a team
effort,” Dikos added.
One of this year’s particularly
notable added attractions, Dialectos pointed out, was the live
music and dancing in the out-
The Greek Food and Pastry
Bazaar of Sts. Constantine and
Helen Greek Orthodox Church
in Reading, PA remained wellattended even up until the
end on Sunday afternoon, October 19.
Sts. Constantine and Helen
Church’s warm and tranquil
setting befits the kindness and
generosity of its parish, for
which head priest Father Tom
Pappalas and the Bazaar
Chairs are very grateful.
door tent. “We had a live band
this year,” Dialectos said: “it
made a big difference.”
There was still some dancing
and live music going on Sunday
afternoon as the Bazaar proceeded to wind down, but the
peak time was Saturday night.
Even so, many Greek festivals,
which get started on a Friday
and pick up steam through Saturday night, usually fizzle by
Sunday afternoon, with only a
scarce crowd present in the final
hour. Not so at this Bazaar. The
live music continued, as did the
dancing, and the food lines were
pleasantly shorter, making it
easy for the hungry attendees
to get their food and find a seat
Cypriot Young Professionals Network High Above Manhattan
Cypriot Young Professionals (CYP) of the Cyprus-US Chamber of Commerce and their friends
at a Happy Hour Networking Event at “The RoofBar” in Manhattan.Seen in the photo are CYP’s
president, Laura Neroulias, 5th from right, in front of the proprietor Stathis Antonakopoulos,
Christina Shailas, Maria Fillas, Eleni Eracleous, Renos Savvides, Stathis Theodoropoulos,
Jovanna Tannousis, Demetrios Comodromos, Petroula Lambrou and Christos Athanasiou.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, NOVEMBER 1-7, 2014
without a whole lot of waiting.
Dialectos and Dikos extended their thanks to the entire
community, who made all of it
possible, and Dialectos added
“my uncle [Gust Kraras] is 92
years old, and he’s working in
the kitchen.” Kraras organized
the very first bazaar, to mark
the Church’s new building, in
1970.
The welcome letter by the
Church’s head priest, Father
Tom Pappalas, which appeared
in the Bazaar’s commemorative
program, noted that “the success of our Bazaar is strongly
connected to our faith as Orthodox Christians where we find
great inspiration to work in the
name of Our Lord Jesus, and on
behalf of our Sts. Constantine
and Helen Greek Orthodox
Church. Although some of the
monies raised at the Bazaar go
to the Church’s operating budget, a lot goes into the various
philanthropic ministries that we
support, both locally and
around the world.”
Father Pappalas’ message is
emblematic of the philosophy at
Sts. Constantine and Helen.
There is no set amount of
church membership. It is a stewardship and parishioners give
what is commensurate with
what they believe is reasonable
within their capability. Also,
when a second collection tray is
passed during Sunday Service,
Pappalas usually announces the
specific purpose of the second
tray. In that spirit, the Church
indeed feels like a church, and
not a business – and yet it is
able to meet its financial obligations.
Welcome Fall with The National Herald!
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ON-LINE EDITION AND STAY INFORMED!
n THRU NOV 1
TARPON SPRINGS, FL – Night
in the Islands returns to the
world-famous Sponge Docks of
Tarpon Springs for 2014! Saturdays, 6-11PM, May 3, Jun. 7,
Jul. 12, Aug. 2, Sept. 6, Oct. 4,
and Nov. 1. A free event of
Greek music, dancing, and dining! And we will offer an hour
of free Greek dance lessons by
the Levendia Dance Troupe
from 6-7 PM. The festival is supported in part by a grant from
the National Endowment for the
Arts. Come join us for authentic
island fun in the warm Florida
sun and mark your calendar and
make this a regular destination!
And if you’re just in town for a
week or two, make sure to mark
your calendar as you will not
want to miss this! Tarpon
Springs is a unique Greek experience in the United States, one
unlike any other Greek community. Come be part of this oneof-a-kind American experience
that will make you feel as if,
truly, you are back in the homeland!
n NOVEMBER 1
FLUSHING – Hellenic Public Radio COSMOS FM 91.5 invites
the community to the Phidippides Award Gala Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7PM at Terrace
on the Park, 52-11 111th St. in
Flushing. The Award for Passionate Advocacy of Hellenism
will be bestowed upon Mario
Frangoulis, the world renowned
tenor. Television Journalist Andrea Stassou will serve as Gala
Chairperson. For tickets and
sponsorship packages call 718204-8900
or
visit
[email protected]
n NOVEMBER 2
MANHATTAN –The community
is invited to a concert to benefit
HPR –Cosmos FM 91.5 by the
internationally acclaimed tenor
Mario Frangoulis on Sunday,
Nov. 2 at the Tribeca Performing
Arts Center, 199 Chambers St.
in Manhattan at 5PM. Frangoulis, who was also trained as
an actor, will recite and perform
music set to the poetry of Nikos
Gatsos. Tickets: VIP, $150, $100,
$75, $40. Call 718-204-8900
(Cosmos FM) or 212-220-1460
(box office). Email: cosOnline
[email protected].
www.cosmosfm.org (PayPal) or
tickets.tribecapac.org.
n NOVEMBER 5
MANHATTAN – The Association
of Greek American Professional
Women (A.G.A.P.W.), Under the
auspices of the Press and Communication Office Permanent
Mission of Greece to the UN, is
pleased to invite you to join us
at our upcoming Conversation
with Women Leaders Series featuring Judge Harriet Pavles
George (emerita). Wednesday,
Nov. 5 6-8PM at the Press and
Communication Office Permanent Mission of Greece to the
UN 305 East 47th Street, 2nd
Floor, in Manhattan. Master of
Ceremonies
Constantina
Koulosousas Spatola, Esq. We
will be honoring Judge George
and presenting her with a Distinguished Life Achievement
Award. Judge George will share
her insights and experiences as
an attorney in private practice
and as a Judge of the Housing
Part of the Civil Court of the City
of New York during some of the
city’s most stressful decades,
while rearing six children along
with her husband Judge Norman George. This is a complimentary event, but RSVP is required as space is limited. For
further information, please contact Dr. Olga Alexakos at [email protected]. We look forward to welcoming you!
n NOVEMBER 6-8
BROOKLINE, MA – The Executive Board of the Orthodox
Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion is
pleased to announce that our
Annual Conference will begin
on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 7:30PM,
and continue until Saturday,
Nov. 8 at 6PM. We are honored
to have as our Keynote Speaker
Thursday evening His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of
America. The Conference is cosponsored by and will be held
at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox
School of Theology, 50 Goddard
Avenue in Brookline. It is titled,
"Exploring the Mind-Body-Soul
Connection: Spirituality in Illness and Healing." An extensive
Program with numerous distinguished speakers is attached.
Hotel information will follow
soon. We invite you to join us
for this exciting Conference, a
unique opportunity for Orthodox clergy, theologians, and
healthcare professionals to
come together to discuss how
the Orthodox healing traditions
interface with contemporary
theories and practices of care.
Registration fees are as follows,
which include all meals except
the Friday dinner with speaker,
which is an additional $25
(complementary for Clergy):
Professional Members/Nonmembers - $50, Students/Clergy
- $25. Until we are able to get
set up on our website to register
via PayPal, you may send a
check with your registration information and email address to
our Treasurer at PO Box
206125, Louisville, KY 402506125. Abstracts for 20 minute
paper presentations and case
studies on topics related to Orthodoxy and healing are due by
September 15 to Michael Christakis at [email protected]. Submittals traditionally include current work on theories and
practices of Orthodox care by
clergy, physicians, mental health
professionals and other healthcare workers. Please support our
mission by joining OCAMPR.
You will see from our website,
www.ocampr.org, that recommended dues for professionals
are $100, but that voluntary
dues of any amount are welcomed for professionals, clergy
and students. We also encourage interested members to attend the Open Executive Board
Meeting on Thursday from 14PM. Those who wish to become more involved in
OCAMPR, and/or are willing to
serve on the Executive Board
(new officers will be elected at
our Annual Business Meeting on
Saturday) would benefit from
coming to this meeting.
n NOVEMBER 7
MANHATTAN – The Archdiocesan Cathedral Philoptochos Society will host its annual
Chrysanthemum Ball on Friday,
Nov. 7 at the Metropolitan Club,
8 1 East 60th St. in Manhattan,
honoring Aphrodite Skeadas
and supporting National Philoptochos Department of Social
Services. Black Tie Dinner.
Cocktails: 7:30PM; Dinner:
8:30. Young Professionals
Event: Buffet with open bar and
dancing, 8 PM. Ball Reservations: Pauline Kotsilimbas 718263-4961 [email protected];
Carol Contos 917-817-0306
[email protected].
Young Professionals reservations: Justin Bozonelis [email protected]; Stephanie
P a n t e l i d i s
[email protected].
n NOVEMBER 9
MANHATTAN – St. Michael’s
Home is pleased to announce
that our 2014 Annual Name Day
Gala will be held on Sunday,
Nov. 9 at the Metropolitan Club,
1 East 60th Street in Manhattan.
In conjunction with the Gala, St.
Michael’s honors a distinguished
member of the Greek Orthodox
Community who embodies and
promotes the finer qualities and
traditions of our Faith and heritage. This year’s recipient of the
2014 Archangel Michael Award
is Mr. Stephen Cherpelis. Mr.
Cherpelis has given tirelessly to
the Greek Orthodox Community
as an Archon of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, 1st Vice President
of the Archdiocesan Cathedral
of Holy Trinity, devoted member
of St. Nicholas Church of Flushing where he was instrumental
in the building of the expanded
community center and school,
Vice Chair of the New York
Diocesan Council, member of
Leadership 100, and a major
contributor and fundraising
chairman of the Ronald McDonald House. For more information please contact us by phone
at (914)-476-3374, by email at
development@stmichaelshome.
org or visit our website at
http://www.stmichaelshome.or
g/what-our-residents-do/gala/.
n NOVEMBER 14-15
BROOKLINE, MA – The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art
and Culture is proud to partner
with The New York Life Center
for the Study of Pontus & Asia
Minor at Hellenic College Holy
Cross to present the Boston
Byzantine Music Festival. The
Festival presents a dynamic and
engaging collection of performances that explore the musical
tradition of the Byzantine Empire
and its points of contact with the
music of Western Europe and the
Ottoman Empire. Friday, Nov.
14, 7:30PM and Saturday, Nov.
15, 7:30PM (at Hellenic College
Holy Cross, Maliotis Cultural
Center, 50 Goddard Avenue in
Brookline. Tickets: $25 per concert • $40 for both concerts Students: $12 per concert with valid
ID. For further information, press
tickets, and to arrange interviews, please contact Brandie
Ratliff at 617.850.1242 or
[email protected].
For more information contact: [email protected] or call: 718-784-5255, ext. 108
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
The National Herald
E
LD
TH
NA
TIO
E
N AL H
RA
How can more Americans be made aware of Greece’s important role to the Allies in World War II?
Please
email
your
response
to
[email protected]
We may publish some responses as Letters to the Editor in
a future issue.
COMMUNITY
3
State Senator Michael Gianaris Steadily Rises as New York Leader
TNH Staff
derful friend, and someone who
fights with you and follows
through.”
And he is committed to opening doors for fellow GreekAmericans to get into public office “He pushed me to run for
his Assembly seat when he was
elected to the Senate. He has inspired many people to support
Greek-American and get them
into places where they can have
a say,” Simotas said.
Simotas declared to the
crowd “we will see a lot more
great things from him,” but Gianaris shifted into modesty and
humorous mode when he
thanked the friends who filled
the room “and come out year
after year, but I know it’s really
ASTORIA – New York State Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas
was very happy to introduce a
man who needs no introduction
in Astoria, State Senator
Michael Gianaris. The occasion
was a fundraiser for his re-election campaign at Trattoria L’incontro restaurant on Ditmars
Boulevard.
Gianaris is the second-highest Democrat in the Senate, and
as chair of the NY State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee he is working hard to gain a
Democratic majority. He will
then be in a position to do even
more for his constituents and
the community, “but I have to
make sure I am reelected,” he
said with a smile.
Simotas told TNH Gianaris is
not only “a fierce advocate for
the working class and very committed to his Orthodox and Hellenic Roots, he is also a won-
Michael Gianaris, the second
highest Democrat in the Senate,
and chair of the New York State
Democratic Senate Campaign
Committee, addresses guests at
his fundraiser in Astoria.
because of the restaurant. I hope
you are enjoying you dinners.”
Gianaris
then
warmly
thanked the guests, his staff
“who work hard, day in and day
out,” his parents, Magdalene
and Prof. Nicholas Gianaris, and
his brother Bill. “He doubles as
the treasurer of my committee
so he thanks you for all the
checks.”
He summarized his team’s
achievements, such as cleaner
air in Astoria. Citing the enormous growth in nearby Long Island City and Astoria, Gianaris
said he also works with developers “to make sure the buildings go up responsibly” and with
adequate infrastructure and
making sure that as the community prospers longtime resident
can still afford to live there.
He closed his remarks saying
“we have done a lot; we have a
lot more to do.”
When Simotas introduced
Constantinides of Astoria as the
first Greek and Cypriot elected
to the City Council, he declared,
“I can’t say enough good things
about Mike Gianaris.”
Retired City Council Speaker
Peter F. Vallone Sr. told TNH
“Mike has been my protégé. I
have been with him his whole
political life. I love him and I
only hope that he could run the
Senate. He would be terrific for
the state. He is a good guy, very
intelligent – a Harvard graduate,
but I taught him everything he
knows.”
Asked when she began to feel
that her son was going to make
an impact in politics, Gianaris’
mother said it was when he became active with Michael
Dukakis’ presidential campaign
when he was 17. “He helped register 10,000 voters. That’s when
politics entered his blood” – although she noted one of Gianaris’
grandparents was elected mayor
of his village near Kalavrita.
Greek Singing Star Giannis Ploutarchos Helps Florida Church Rebuild
PALM HARBOR, FL – Greek
singing superstar Giannis
Ploutarchos took time out of his
U.S. tour to help some fellow
Greeks in need: the community
of Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and
Irene in Palm Harbor, FL whose
church was severely damaged
by a fire in late September.
As TNH reported (“Fire Damages Palm Harbor Church, but
Remains of 3 Saints are Saved,”
Oct. 4), a fire in the early morning hours of September 23 – an
investigation of which concluded it was electrical in nature
– would have caused the entire
church to burn to the ground,
were it not for the quick response of Carol Dyer, who noticed the smoke as she proceeded on her newspaper route,
delivering the Tampa Bay
Times. Dyer called the fire department immediately, and the
firefighters were able to extinguish the flames before they engulfed the entire structure, saving among other things the
critical ancient remnants of the
three saints for which the
Church is named – which were
given to the Church, brought
ABOVE: Parish Council President Elias Diamanakis (L) gives Greek singer/superstar
Giannis Ploutarchos a gift made by the children of the Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and
Irene parish in Palm Harbor, FL.
LEFT: World-famous singer Giannis
Ploutarchos (R) graciously signs a guitar
presented by Parish Council President Elias
Diamanakis, which will be used to raise
funds to rebuild the fire-ravaged Sts.
Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Church in
Palm Harbor, FL.
there from Greece. Saints
Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
were Christian martyrs from the
village of Thermi on the island
of Lesvos. According to the
Church’s website, straphaelhoc.org, the three, who were fatally tortured by the Ottoman
Empire in 1463, began appearing to Thermi villagers in
dreams and visions in 1959, revealing their cruel torture and
providing clues that led to important excavations. They were
canonized as saints on September 11, 1970.
STAR SUPPORTER
Then, Parish Council President Elias Diamanakis heard
that world-renowned Greek
singer Giannis Ploutarchos was
coming to town. “I reached out
to him as well as the production
team at shortly after the fire,
when I learned he was coming
to the area to perform. Almost
immediately, they responded in
the affirmative. When he was in
town, we touched base and
arranged a time for him to see
the property,” he told TNH.
Diamanakis was very appreciative of Ploutarchos’ support
as well as his genuine desire to
help. “He was engaged and
seemed moved by what he encountered. He took time to reverence the liturgical space with
dignity, and toured the entire
premises examining the source
of the fire. I spent time answering his questions about the
foundation of the community
and told him about the miracles
I saw firsthand over the last few
weeks,” not least of which how
the relics of the Saints were
spared from the flames.
“I know that this is only the
beginning of his stewardship to
our community,” Diamanakis
continued. “He literally gave of
time, talent and treasure to insure the church be resurrected
from the ashes. I cannot over
emphasize the genuineness of
this man.”
Diamanakis was especially
moved by Ploutarchos’ genuine
quality: “He was extremely
thoughtful and measured in his
visit, I never once felt rushed or
dismissed or as if this were being done as some public relations act. He was sincere and
devoted to this faith, I really appreciated this 'superstar' in a
real brotherly way. Mr. Ploutarchos – Giannis – and his family
are in our daily prayers.”
Vlachos Accepts HANAC Man of Year Award with Warmth and Humor
The honoree and dignitaries
pose for commemorative
photo at the HANAC gala. (LR) Amb. George Iliopoulos,
Stavros Plangetis, George
Mihaltses, Demetria Tsagaris,
Evangeline Douras, Peter
Vlachos, Nikitas Drakotos,
John Kaiteris, Dennis Yuelys
and Nick Tjartjalis.
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Philanthropic passion, gratitude and kefi once
again dominated the annual
HANAC gala, guaranteeing the
event the Mandarin Oriental
Hotel on October 24 would be
both fun and inspiring.
The hotel’s Grand Ballroom,
with its spectacular views of
Manhattan, was filled with supporters of the multi-faceted social services organization with
Greek-American roots, and the
friends and admirers of
HANAC’s 2014 man of the year,
noted investor and philanthropist Peter A. Vlachos.
The guest were welcomed by
the comedian Basile, who was
as gracious an Emcee as he was
a hilarious and outrageous featured entertainer performing
the Greek-American version of
his stand-up routine later on.
The moving invocation of Fr.
Nicholas Anctil set the tone for
the speaking program just as the
music of Alpha fueled the dancing that followed.
He said to those gathered “I
want to salute you and thank
you for all that you do for
HANAC. You don’t realize the
amount of services that its offers… but HANAC is more than
a program, it is people – people
assisting God’s people and any
prayer I offer tonight, must also
be a thanksgiving…for all you
do...Your time and your talents
and your treasures go a long
way.”
Evangeline Douris, HANAC’
chairman, welcomed the guests
“to our 46th birthday celebration of the organization that is
the fulfilment of the dream of
its founder, her late husband
George Douris, for an agency
that would support “the most
vulnerable citizens of New York”
and immigrants from Greece
and Cyprus who came in pursuit
of the American dream.
ESL classes “that helped
them get jobs” were among its
first programs, but the jewels in
HANAC’s crown are the senior
citizens centers and residences
for the people whose sacrifices
enabled their children to realize
that dreams in ways few could
have imagined.
Mrs. Douris was the first of
the speakers to thank everyone
– its committees, board, and
staffers, and especially John Kaiteris, its Executive Director –
who make possible the work of
HANAC and the success of its
galas, which are very important
fundraisers in light of cutbacks
in government aid.
She praised the honoree for
his achievement and his 21
years of service on HANAC’s
Board, saying “Peter Vlachos’
name is synonymous with integrity, respect and compassion.”
Nikitas Drakotos, HANAC’s
president, added praise for the
dedication and energy of Mrs.
Douris when it was his turn to
speak.
George Tsandikos, the president of the Leadership 100 endowment that funds endeavors
in support of the Orthodox Faith
and Hellenism, introduced Vlachos.
After thanking HANAC for
the honor and the guests for
their presence, Vlachos began
with the story of his father Emmanuel, who emigrated from
the island of Hydra in 1910. His
mother, Mary Ellen Austin, was
a Southern Baptist descendant
of early English and Scottish
Settlers
He proceeded to tell the
moving story of his life, beginning with his childhood in
Washington Heights, with
warmth and humor, beginning
by noting that since his parents
could not decide where he and
his sister Josephine should be
baptized, we “began life as heathens.”
“I frequently found myself in
troubling situations, I fought in
school and outside school,” but
although he called himself a truant, he said he was an enterprising one, foreshadowing both
his success as an investment advisor, and his decision to give
back to society – he became a
lifelong supporter of the arts,
humanitarian causes and edu-
cation.
The gifted and hardworking
young man overcame his early
trials and errors, and expressed
his deep appreciation to those
who guided him and encouraged him in his difficult moments – and the classmates who
helped him survive some dangerous moments in tough public
schools.
He emphasized the importance of mentors in the lives of
successful people, telling TNH
“all it takes is interest and follow
through.”
He told the gathering “No
one becomes successful in life
without the help of others, from
small courtesies, to a few words
imparting knowledge, or personal guidance. I have received
them all, for which I express my
gratitude.”
In 1989 he founded Austin
Investment Management, Inc. It
was bought in 2009 by Beck,
Mack & Oliver, LLC, and Vlachos
became its managing director.
Vlahos spoke warmly of his
dear friends, including George
Douris, and Michael and Mary
Jaharis, who were instrumental
in his finally joining the Orthodox Church.
His daughter Zoe told THN
she was moved “to have my father honored in this way. He is
a humble man. He works extremely hard for numerous organizations, but he is not one
to boast about it.”
She works with her father in
investment and money management and her brother Dimitri is
an engineer and marketing specialist. Their mother Susan is a
psychiatrist affiliated with New
York Presbyterian-Columbia
Medical Center.
Paulette Poulos, Executive
Director of Leadership 100, told
TNH “Peter never ceases to
amaze me, as a friend as a professional.” Vlachos is chairman
of the endowment’s investment
committee. “He always dealt
with every account as if it were
his own. He is a humble, dedi-
cated person and he gives his
all.”
Among the dignitaries who
attended were Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney, State Senator
Michael Gianaris, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas, and
George Iliopoulos, the Consul
General of Greece.
The guests were taken by the
magnificent flower arrangements that graced each table.
Mrs. Douris thanked Gus and
Louis Vellios of Brooklyn’s Avenue J Florist.
Nikitas Moustakas, Esq.
Attorney at Law
Greek-American Attorney
My practice encompasses
businesses, restaurant/hospitality industry,
physicians, hospitals, and estate & trust planning.
Nikitas Moustakas, Esq.
M.B.A., LL.M. in Taxation
Chair, Health Care and Dental Group;
Co-Chair, Business & Tax Group
[email protected]
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COMMUNITY
4
Hero Journalist Foley Honored by Washington OXI Day Foundation
1) Mobile Medical Units of
Greece: (L-R) Dr. Michalis
Bobotis, Angeliki Vlassi,
Nikoletta Beltsiou, Andreas
Dracopoulos, SNF CoPresident, and Dr. Panagiotis
Koulouvaris.
2) Judge B. Theodore
Bozonelis receives the award
on behalf of the Nicholas
Bouras Foundation from
Andy Manatos.
3) At Arlington National
Cemetery for a wreath laying
ceremony: Front row (L-R)
Maria Kafarakis, Arguiro
Eleftheriu, Andy Manatos,
Amb. George Chacalli, Col.
Evangelos Papadopoulos and
Michael Psaros.
4) The Great Hall of the U.S.
Institute for Peace in
Washington, DC.
1
2
Remarks by
SNF Co-President
A. Dracopoulos
Following is an excerpt
from the speech Andreas C.
Dracopoulos
delivered
presenting the Philotimo
Award:
3
Continued from page 1
in his family.
The ideological connection
was though his mentor, David
Ben Gurion, Israel’s first president. Ben Gurion decided to
learn to read Greek “because he
thought something was missing
our history” of great kings and
prophets – the story of statesmen. He studied Greek philotimo
to learn what it was like to be
the head of a state,” Perez said.
President Bill Clinton also addressed the gathering – by video.
It was he who nominated this
year’s recipient of the OXI Day
Award. “As a journalist, he took
on the important job of shining
a light on some of the darkest
parts of the world…he fought
always to bring us the truth…
.Just as the Greek Prime Minster
in1941 answered the Axis forces’
request for surrender with one
word – OXI - James Foley said
NO to the forces of destruction,
division and domination.”
The crowd’s loud applause
carried over into their welcome
for Foley’s parents, John and Diane Foley. They thanked everyone and spoke of their son’s
sense of mission, and the humanitarian light that shined
throughout his captivity, sustained by the prayers of others,
and his own faith and praying,
which fueled the comfort he offered his fellow captives.
Andreas Dracopoulos, Stavros
Niarchos Foundation Director
and co-President, introduced Dr.
Koulouvaris, who presented a
video and spoke about the vital
work of bringing medical care to
the remote parts of Greece.
George Logothetis, Chairman
and CEO of the Libra Group,
who gave the Keynote Speech,
declared that philotimo is what
binds together 20 million Greeks
in a world of 7 billion people.
He offered as prime example of
philotimo two of this year’s recipients of the Libra Group’s Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award,
who said they were honored to
be named, but returned the
monetary prize so that others
might be helped.
Ambassador
Melanne
Verveer, the Director of the
Georgetown
Institute
for
Women, Peace and Security, in-
religion & spirituality
SP
EC
IA
L
IN
SE
RT
!
James Foley, whose life was
taken by the forces of ISIS in
Syria, Ruslana Lyzhychko of
Ukraine, and Dr. Takis Koulouvaris on behalf of the Mobile
Medical Units of Greece, winners of the first annual Stavros
Niarchos Foundation Philotimo
Award.
A trailer of the Foundation’s
film Philotimo, The Greek Secret, which has gone viral, was
shown with excerpts showing
leading Greek-Americans expressing what that untranslatable word – the usual English
phrase “love of honor” does not
do it justice– means to them.
The guests were welcomed
by Andy Manatos, the founder
and president of the Foundation
and of the National Coordinated
Effort of Hellenes, who shared
Emcee duties with his son, Mike.
The invocation was offered
by Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, who asked God to
endow those present with the
power of philotimo, and to “en-
able us to always stand with
those who courageously say no
– OXI – against evil forces…that
threaten our freedoms.”
Christos
Ambassador
Panagopoulos of Greece offered
greetings and declared that after
October 28, Greek philotimo
“made the difference and gave
the world confidence that the
darkness could be defeated.”
The video message of President Peres, who was presented
the Chysostomos Award, named
for the Archbishop of Greece
who risked his life by standing
up to the nazi terror and saved
the lives of Greek Jews, was the
first of many highlights.
He said “I am very touched,”
and proceeded to reveal strong
personal and ideological connections with the spirit of OXI Day.
Perez’ father joined the
British Army and fought the fascists in Greece, and when his life
was in danger he was given shelter for two years by monks.
Perez said his father was very
taken by the support of the
Greek people and would often
sing Greek songs to the children
4
troduced Lyzhychko, who communicated live via skype. The
Ukrainian pop star, who received
death threats when she refused
to stop participating in demonstrations in her homeland, has
been called “The Soul of
Ukraine’s Revolution.”
B. Theodore Bozonelis, a
trustee of the Nicholas J. and
Anna K. Bouras Foundation announced the winners of the new
Philotimo Scholarship Award.
Among the dignitaries were
retired U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, Congressman John Sarbanes, David D. Pearce, U.S. Ambassador to Greece, and Greece’s
former Ambassador to the U.S.
Vassilis Kaskarellis.
Sophia Pelekakis opened the
program with a thrilling rendition of the national anthems and
the evening concluded with a
moving benediction by R. Steven
Zorzos, Dean of St. Sophia
Cathedral.
Michael Psaros, co-founder of
a major private equity firm, who
traveled from New York, told
TNH “it is a privilege and an
honor to be here, first because
it’s for OXI Day and everything
that it symbolizes to the world
and Hellenes worldwide, but
also to honor the parents of a
man killed by true evil – Greeks
have a words for that: barbari.
May his memory be eternal God
bless him and his family.”
Nick Larigakis, the president
of AHI, emphasized the importance of bringing the story and
meaning of OXI Day to the
American mainstream and the
public policy community. “I congratulate the OXI Day foundation for the work that it does,
and I commend them for making
the event contemporary by identifying individuals around the
world, not just of Greek decent,
who are fighting against tyranny
and barbarism,” he said.
Basil Mossaides, Executive
Director of AHEPA, said he is
pleased they are sponsors of the
event, which is “a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the
heroes of October 28. The Foundation does a wonderful job of
bringing Greek-Americans together,” for that purpose.
Everyone knows that
Greece is basically an island
nation. Its thousands of islands are an essential part of
Greece's identity. Every Greek
recognizes their importance
–strategic, economic, geographic –while every Greek
also knows that most of the
islands remain isolated, neglected, abandoned by the
Greek State, and left to their
own devices however insufficient these may be. To be
an inhabitant on most of
these places means living a
lonely, and dangerous life. In
talking about the situation
one could easily say that
Greeks have no sense of
philotimo when it comes to
addressing the needs of these
islands and taking care of
their inhabitants.
That is why the Mobile
Medical Units are the recipients of the First Annual
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Philotimo Award. Under the
guidance and leadership of
Dr. Takis Koulouvaris, and
with the support of the
Stavros Niarchos Foundation,
an extraordinary team of volunteers (doctors and assistants) have been providing
free comprehensive and
state-of-the-art health care
services to thousands of residents of some of Greece's
most isolated, remote and neglected islands. Their act constitutes a true manifestation
of philotimo for the common
good, which becomes even
more important during the
current critical times for
Greek society. I am delighted
and honored to present Dr.
Koulouvaris and all his colleagues at the Mobile Medical Units team with the First
Annual Stavros Niarchos
Foundation Philotimo Award,
and to congratulate them for
their efforts and hard work,
which sends an important
message about social cohesiveness and responsibility to
one’s fellow citizens. We look
forward to continuing choosing our Award winners on an
annual basis for other extraordinary acts of philotimo.
One of the favorite sayings
of Emmanuel Kriaras, a modern Greek philosopher, who
was born in 1906 and passed
away this summer at the
young age of 108, was that
true love can only be
achieved by being able to
constantly seek your ideals.
In closing, I urge all of you
to seek your ideals, to do
your best to help the ones
less fortunate, and in doing
so, stay in love.
Catsimatidis donates $50K
To Assist State Democrats
NOVEMBER 15-16, 2014
The National Herald, proudly announces its special insert dedicated
to RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY.
This insert will appear in our English edition ONCE-A-MONTH and will feature
articles on spirituality, theology, religion and much more.
The National Herald
E
LD
TH
NA
TIO
E
N AL H
RA
For more information contact: [email protected] or call: 718-784-5255, ext. 101
De Blasio is leading a coalition of unions and activists in
the political campaign to give
the Democrats more power over
Catsimatidis’ party.
The News reported that as
part of de Blasio’s drive to help
Democrats retake the Senate, a
key aide to the Mayor hit up a
city developer for a suggested
contribution of $50,000.
The solicitation made the developer “feel uncomfortable” in
part because he deals with the
city on permitting and other
land-use issues, a person who
spoke with him said.
“He wasn’t sure how to play
it because he has business with
the city,” the source told the pa-
per. “While he likes the mayor,
he doesn’t feel the Senate Democrats are friendly to the real
estate industry.”
It was not immediately clear
if the developer, who did not wish
to be identified, made the donation. His name is not listed among
the donors whose contributions
already have been reported to the
state Board of Elections.
Sam Nagourney, Finance Director of de Blasio’s 2013 mayoral campaign, asked the unnamed developer for a donation
in an email, which was obtained
by The News.
“We are focusing on the four
most winnable races at this
point,” the email said, listing
four Democrats battling for Senate seats upstate.
COMMUNITY
5
HuffPost Greece Launch is a Homecoming for Arianna Huffington
By Constantine Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – When Arianna
Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington
Post Media Group, announced in
September her plans to launch
a Greek language edition of The
Huffington Post in collaboration
with 24MEDIA, the largest digital media publisher in Greece,
many Greek-Americans were
happy both for Greece and the
media mogul.
The National Herald asked
Huffington how she feels about
the venture. “Launching HuffPost
in Greece is, in many ways,
about coming full circle. My father was a serial journalism entrepreneur who launched a succession of small newspaper
ventures – all of which failed.
(It’s no accident HuffPost is not
in print!) He often quoted to me
his favorite story of the Greek
philosopher Diogenes, who was
asked why he kept begging from
statues. ‘I'm practicing disappointment,’ he replied. So you
might say that HuffPost Greece
is following in my paternal footsteps – only without Diogenes! I
hope he would be proud.”
Arianna Huffington talks about her book Thrive: The Third
Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being,
Wisdom, and Wonder at a Philoptochos luncheon in NY.
Diaspora Greeks know that
the Greek media deserve a share
of the blame for their homeland’s
current malaise and suffering, so
they are pleased that the Huffington Post, a Pulitzer Prize-winning source of breaking news,
features, and entertainment, will
become part of the media mix
there.
The venture, which is backed
by a number of prominent Greek
financial partners, may prove a
game changer for Greece, joining
The National Herald as a credible
source of news and commentary
run by a Diaspora Hellene.
Told HuffPost Greece could
be revolutionary for the country,
Huffington said to TNH, “I’m so
grateful to be able to bring The
Huffington Post to Greece at this
moment. As both a journalistic
outlet and a blogging platform,
we will be telling the most important stories in Greece, and -just as important – helping people throughout Greece tell their
stories themselves.”
“We’ll be bringing our hybrid
approach of original reporting
and an inclusive blog platform
to tell the stories that matter
most and – just as important –
help people throughout Greece
addition to The Huffington Post’s
integrated global newsroom,
which has hundreds of editors
who collaborate in real-time to
create content in eight languages
using a custom unified tech platform and will cover 14 markets
by the end of January 2015…
Nearly 50 percent of HuffPost’s
Traffic Now Comes from Outside
the United States…its growing
international presence…covers
more than half of the world’s
GDP,” according to the release.
HuffPost India will also debut
in November 2014 and HuffPost
Arabic in January.
The timing could be very
good from a business standpoint.
Jimmy Maymann, Chief Executive Officer of the Huffington
Post, said “With the Greek economy seeming to have turned a
corner in 2014 and with real
GDP forecast to grow more than
6% over the next two years, this
is an exciting time to be launching our Greek edition.”
The possibility of early elections raises questions about that
forecast, but renewed political
and economic turmoil would
only serve to heighten the new
venture’s importance to Huffington’s homeland.
tell their stories themselves, in
words, in pictures and in video.
For me, launching HuffPost in
Greece is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with a country
that has given so much to me,”
Huffington added in a news release.
Recruiting the right people is
critical. Huffington told TNH
they are assembling “a team that
will bring the HuffPost DNA to
Greece. Our content strategy is
local - with topics and coverage
for Greek audiences - across general news, lifestyle, and entertainment.”
Among her partners are “Petros Pappas, the Latsis family,
Dimitris Maris and Evgenia
Chandri. “We've assembled a
consortium of partners in
Greece, all of whom believe in
creating a new venture in
Greece's growing digital economy,” she said.
“When we began our international expansion more than three
years ago,” she said, “I knew that
one day HuffPost’s own odyssey
– to borrow from one of my compatriots – would lead us to
Greece. And I couldn’t be happier
that that day has finally come.”
“HuffPost Greece is the latest
AG Candidate John Cahill will Focus on the Climate of Corruption in Albany
TNH Staff
NEW YORK – New York residents have been waiting for
progress in the fight against corruption in the state capital for a
long time. One of the forces citizens count on is the office of
the New York State attorney
general.
The incumbent, Democrat
Eric Schneiderman said attacking corruption was a priority
when he was elected, but his
challenger, Republican John
Cahill, told The National Herald,
“Schneiderman said he was going to do that four years ago,
but he absolutely failed.”
After eight years in private
practice, Cahill, an attorney,
told TNH “The reason I am running is reassert the independence and integrity of the office
of the Attorney General. I am
concerned about the politicization of the office of Attorney
General,” which he believes undermines efforts to fight corruption.
Born in the Bronx to parents
of Irish immigrants, and growing up in Yonkers, Cahill has the
street and book smarts the fight
requires. He received a BA in
Economics from Fordham University and a J.D. and L.L.M. in
Environmental Law from Pace
University.
After practicing law and serving as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation,
Cahill
became
secretary and later Chief of Staff
to Governor George Pataki.
The crisis in government in
Albany and the power of the AG
dominated the discussion at
TNH headquarters, saying that
Schneiderman has “failed to
stand up to the politicians in Albany,” on a number of issues,
such as the Moreland Commission,” which was created to investigate corruption but was disbanded by Governor Andrew
Cuomo. “Schneiderman sat idly
by when his assistant district attorneys were being interfered
with by the Executive’s office…
He should have stood up to the
interference but he failed to do
that.”
Among Cahill’s other priorities is fighting the heroin epidemic. “It’s the number one issue in every community I go
to…there are more people in
substance abuse programs for
heroin than alcohol.”
Although he supported the
rollback of the draconian Rockefeller drug laws, he feels the
state went too far. While support treatment programs and
education, be believes prosecutors must be given more discretion in order to go after the traffickers.
He is opposed to the legalization of recreational marijuana, but supported the legalization of medical marijuana
because it helps the sick and the
law included funding for appropriate oversight by police.
That is an indication that although he hates government
waste and inefficiency, Cahill’s
experience has taught him the
importance of proper funding
for critical functions.
Balance and justice are concept that comes up often in conversations with Cahill, especially
in the context of regulation. As
an aspiring governor, Elliot
Spitzer when he was AG, used
his Wall Street investigations “as
a platform to get headlines as
opposed to getting justice. “
Cahill asked rhetorically
“when you see the 160 billion
that have been imposed on Wall
Street so far in fines and penalties…how many have actually
gone to jail?” He compared that
to the S&L scandals – which did
less damage in the 1980s –
where more than 1000 more
were punished. Making the
shareholders pay instead of
holding wrongdoers personally
accountable is unjust and ineffective he said.
Told that small businesses
are the backbone of the GreekAmerican community, Cahill
noted that his father owned a
bar in the Bronx and acknowledged that owners feel harassed, not helped by government.
He believes inspectors should
be more reasonable when
health is not the issue, issuing
warnings rather than charging
fines, which should not be seen
as a revenue source by municipalities.
Cahill also believes how new
industries are regulated must be
re-examined “because New York
wants to be at the forefront of
developing new technologies
and services.
Cahill looks at the issue of
natural gas drilling from the
perspective of a career devoted
to environmental protection, but
he is also concerned about the
economy of upstate New York.
“I travelled the southern tier
of New York and those communities are really struggling, and
I see that natural gas is critically
important, bringing economic
benefits statewide, like a revival
of manufacturing and lower energy costs for the poor.
He said recent studies have
clarified some issues and believe
citizens will be protected by his
proposals to ban fracking from
watersheds and state parks, and
to force oil companies to reveal
what they are injecting into the
ground. “And you let the professionals at DEC, properly
funded, to oversee the activity.”
Neighborhood safety is another priority, and he weighed
in on the “stop and frisk” controversy.
“The active policing that has
been happening in the last 20
something years has dramatically changed the city for the
better,” especially the poor
neighborhoods, but he listens to
minority communities and acknowledges the abuses.
Cahill noted that Commis-
with court decisions and in a
manner that does not send the
wrong message.”
Cahill believes it is vital for
officials to communicate with
citizens about such matters and
one of his criticisms of Schneiderman is that he has not travelled extensively across the
State. “You have to meet with
the people that you serve.”
He will also focus on domestic violence.
Cahill played a major role in
coordinating the New York
State’s response to 9/11 and in
the redevelopment of the World
Trade Center. He said that prior
to the formal master plan, he
and his colleagues and Governor Pataki agreed that “the critical elements would be the
memorial, office space for the
critical financial industry but
also a place of worship – and
that was the Greek Church – because all of that was attacked
and destroyed on 9/11.”
He said, “We are thrilled to
see that the Church is on the
right path after a lot of effort
from a lot of people.”
John Cahill is challenging incumbent New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Nov. 4. He played major roles on
Governor Pataki’s team for Lower Manhattan after 9/11.
sioner Bratton says police are
still using it, just not to the same
extent, and that the modification which he called “stop ask
and frisk” policies is one way to
limit abuse.
“But we need to make sure
we are suing it in accordance
Kazan Panel in Manhattan
He didn’t want anything pedestrian or commonplace. In the
same way, he was always wanting his actors to do something
surprising.”
“Kazan was provocative,”
commented Ludwig. “I think he
liked to shock you. Most contact
you have with people is so boring. But he broke the rules. My
parents said he was the best director ever. He never said ‘no’
to an actor. He didn’t limit the
actor’s imagination, and that
was his brilliance.”
Gialellis, who became a close
friend of Kazan, said “he would
allow every actor to do what the
actor thought was right for the
part. But in the end you did
what he wanted you to do. Together, you discovered so many
things.” Gialellis beat out hundreds of actors for the role of
Stavros in America, America, including Warren Beatty. Kazan
wrote Beatty that he was not
right for the role, “because I am
going to look for a Latin boy, a
Greek, or Italian that understands this part, because he absorbed it with his mother’s
milk.”
Gialellis recalled: “Publicity
at the time said that Kazan
chose me after spotting me in
an office because I looked right.
But I was in drama school in
Athens, in a school that practiced the Stanislavsky method,
like the Actors Studio. And I was
the assistant to Greece’s leading
film director.” Kazan interviewed many young actors in
Athens but did not select one.
Gialellis flew to New York and
knocked on Kazan’s door. He got
the part.
“Kazan was great. He was
very tender with his actors. He
never yelled. He talked with
you. And he never rehearsed.
He believed that in an emotional scene you don’t rehearse.
It had to happen during the first
two or three takes. Every time I
saw him over the years, it was
always a lesson to me. One
night he said ‘What are you doing tonight? Let’s go and see a
friend.’ The friend was Clifford
Odets. We talked for six hours
and it was the greatest experience of my life.”
Kazan’s “naming names” for
the House Un-American Committee continues to provoke
controversy. Ludwig says Kazan
called six out of the eight people
he named in advance and got
their permission. “Kazan’s action
received such enormous notice
because he took out a full-page
ad in the New York Times the
next day saying ‘I did it voluntarily, and I believe in what I
did.’ That brought everyone
down on him. It made him the
lightning rod for compliance
with the Committee. He did it
because he did not want to be
squashed.” Kazan never backed
down in public, or apologized.
Gialellis had a different take.
“Many times, from what he told
me and from what I understood
by his behavior, he was very
hurt and hated for what he had
done. Knowing him, he would
take the ad in the paper because
he was showing he was not defeated. McCarthy was trying to
squash those people down,
squash their spirits. Kazan said
he was not squashed, but of
course he was because all his
life he would be trying to find
the answer to what happened
(L-R) Book editor Katherine Hourigan director Avram Ludwig, film professor Foster Hirsh, and
Stathis Gialellis, star of America, America shared memories of the director at a Barnes & Noble
panel on The Selected Letters of Elia Kazan.
to him. I never judged him, and
he spoke about it for many
years.”
Highly recommended, The
side look at a unique personality
who left an indelible mark on
film, theatre and people. At 629
pages, it is a great read.
Selected Letters of Elia Kazan
presents 300 letters culled from
the 1,300 letters that Kazan
wrote. It offers a fascinating in-
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COMMUNITY
6
Abraham Lincoln Threatened, Then Killed, by a “Greek”
The fascinating quality of history is that its true stories are often more compelling than ones
that are pure fiction. Such is the
case regarding the “Greek” who
shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln.
Before we delve into Lincoln’s
assassination, consider this: suppose that Leonardo DiCaprio,
one of the most popular actors
in America today and the star of
numerous hit films, turned to the
live stage – reprising his role as
Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of
Theatre. Suppose, further, that
in one appearance, DiCaprio, in
character as Vallon, uttered
highly-threatening language, using Obama as a prop, standing
only inches away from him. Soon
enough, one of Obama’s invited
guests seated next to him says:
“Mr. President, it would seem as
if those threats are really meant
for you.” With a chuckle, Obama
responds: “yeah, it looks that
way, doesn’t it.”
Finally, suppose that five
months later, DiCaprio shoots
Obama from behind, killing him,
while Obama is sitting in that
ABOVE: An illustration of President Lincoln’s assassination. From L to R: Major Henry Rathbone,
his fiancée Clara Harris, First Lady Mary Todd, the president, and the assassin John Wilkes
Booth. FAR LEFT: A statue of the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, whom President Lincoln’s
killer, John Wilkes booth, portrayed in the play “Marble Heart,” which Lincoln attended a few
months before the assassination. LEFT: President Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was
not actually Greek, but when he first met Lincoln face-to-face, he threatened him while
portraying a villainous version of the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias.
New York, at the historic National Theatre in Washington,
DC. Suppose that DiCaprio was
one of Barack Obama’s favorite
actors, and that the president
would often attend DiCaprio’s
live performances at the National
same theater watching a different play.
Imagine that scenario: a national manhunt to track down
and capture Leonardo DiCaprio,
for assassinating President
Obama. As outrageous as that
story might seem, a strikingly
similar version really happened
about 150 years ago.
KILLING LINCOLN
From the time we were in
grade school we learned that Lincoln was assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth. That much is correct. Also correct is that Booth
was not Greek. He was born in
Maryland to parents who were
immigrants from England. But
on November 9, 1964, President
Lincoln was sitting with his entourage in Ford’s Theatre in DC,
watching the play “Marble
Heart,” starring John Wilkes
Booth. Besides being an avid fan
of theater in general, Lincoln was
specifically a fan of Booth, and
requested to meet him on numerous occasions, both at Ford’s
Theatre and at the White House.
Booth always seemed to have an
excuse to avoid the meeting. A
staunch racist, Booth intensely
despised Lincoln because the
president had abolished slavery.
In response to the invitations,
Booth privately told friends “I
would rather meet a Negro.”
“Marble Heart” is a play
adapted into English in 1854 by
Charles Selby, from the original
French version “Les Filles de
Marbre,” written a year earlier
by Theodore Barriere. Booth
starred as the Ancient Greek
sculptor Phidias, who traveled in
time and reemerged with the
alias Raphael Duchatlet, a 19th
century sculptor. On more than
one occasion while uttering contentious language, Booth in the
mode of a villainous Phidias got
very close to Lincoln, pointing
his finger just inches from the
president’s face. Reportedly, one
of Lincoln’s guests seated with
him said: “Mr. Lincoln, he looks
as if he meant that for you,” to
which the president replied:
“well, he does look pretty sharp
at me, doesn’t he?”
Five months later, on April 14,
1865, Booth shot Lincoln in the
back of the head at that same
theater, while the president was
enjoying another play there, “My
American Cousin.”
We know the rest – Booth escaped, but was killed while the
authorities tried to apprehend
him. Lincoln, of course, died a
day after the shooting. The next
day was Easter Sunday, and the
devastated nation, mired in
mourning, called it Black Easter.
PRESIDENTIAL
ASSASSINATIONS
As if Lincoln’s assassination
wasn’t tragic enough, three
other presidents would be fatally
felled by assassins’ bullets in the
ensuing years: besides the bestknown among those, the killing
of John F. Kennedy in 1963,
there were the assassinations of
James A. Garfield and William
McKinley in 1881 and 1901, respectively.
The main difference is that
none of those three other presidents even knew his assassin, let
alone was ever in his presence
and ever sought to be introduced to him.
As for the play “Marble
Heart” itself, it was performed
in English, and there is no conclusive evidence that Booth, as
Phidias, uttered his threats to
Lincoln in Greek. Nonetheless,
as part of preparation for his distinguished acting career, Booth
had studied and learned the
Greek language.
Moosed Opportunity: Bumgarner too Much for Moustakas and the Royals
legs, they flew back to Kansas
City, determined not to lose the
championship on their home
turf.
A resounding 10-0 blowout
– clearly the most decisive game
of the Series – was highlighted
by Moustakas bat: he drove in
the game’s first, and last runs.
First, with a double, then with
a home run. The moose antlers,
a hometown prop in Moustakas’
honor – his nickname is “Moose”
– could be spotted throughout
Kauffman Stadium. It all boiled
down to Game 7. Six games,
three wins apiece, 25 total runs
for the Royals, 27 for the Giants.
It doesn’t get more evenlymatched than that.
In the final game, undaunted
by the 10-0 mauling the night
before, the Giants struck first,
scoring two runs in the top of
the second inning. Kansas City
answered back with two runs of
its own in the bottom half of the
inning, and that’s the way it
stayed until the Giants scored
again in the fourth to jump
ahead 3-2. The rest was pitching. More specifically, Madison
Bumgarner. Amazingly, he
pitched five scoreless innings on
just two days’ rest to keep the
Royals at bay. Things almost got
out of hand in the bottom of the
ninth, as an fielding flop saw a
Kansas City Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas reacts
after left fielder Alex Gordon
made a leaping catch on a ball
hit by Baltimore Orioles' J.J.
Hardy during the fifth inning
of Game 4 of the American
League baseball championship series Wednesday, Oct.
15, 2014, in Kansas City, Mo.
runner on third with two outs,
and Moustakas on deck. What
a showdown that would have
been: Bumgarner v. Moustakas.
But it was not to be – as Bumgarner got Salvador Perez to
pop up in foul territory and the
ballgame was over. Needless to
say, Bumgarner was named Series MVP.
The Giants added to their
glory, winning their third World
Series championship in five
years, and eighth overall. The
first five came when the team
played in New York City at the
Polo Grounds.
The Royals, meanwhile, will
have to wait at least another
year to win what would be their
second championship ever. They
won it all in 1985, on the back
of another third baseman (that
is Moustakas’ position) – a fellow who is a legend in Kansas
AP Photo/mAtt slocum
KANSAS CITY, MO – It was a
Cinderella year for the Kansas
City Royals. An improbable 8-0
postseason start, much of it on
the clutch power-hitting heroics
of Greek-American Mike Moustakas, thrust them into the
World Series against the
vaunted veteran San Francisco
Giants.
Losing the first game at
home, the Royals evened things
up in Game 2 as the Series
headed West. Now with home
field advantage, the Giants
could have wrapped things up
in Frisco by Sunday night, but
it was not to be.
After edging their hosts 3-2
in Game 3, the Royals fell victims to the Giants’ bats in Game
4, and the masterful pitching of
Madison Bumgarner in Game 5.
With their backs to the wall if
not their tails between their
City – George Brett.
Now the team’s Vice President of Baseball Operations,
Brett has been supportive of
Moustakas during the latter’s
hitting slumps, often recalling
his early days before he blossomed into one of the game’s
greatest hitters. Graciously, he
said “Moustakas isn’t the first
young, struggling, Royals third
baseman.”
But Moustakas has a great
deal to be proud of this season,
including four home runs and
five RBIs against the California
Angels and Baltimore Orioles,
helping his team get to the
World Series.
They may not have won it all
this time, but as the Royals set
to defend their American
League Championship, all bets
are on the moose calls and
moose antlers being abound.
Clockwise from upper left: President Nicos Anastasiades
greets Archbishop Demetrios; an elderly woman in the “enclaved” village of Rizokarpaso in north Cyprus seems to bear
the pain and sorrow of the 40 years of the illegal Turkish occupation; His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios presides over
a service with local clergy and residents of occupied Cyprus;
an historic church that has been illegally converted to a
mosque; At the historic monastery of St. Andrew the Apostle
in the occupied zone, Archbishop Demetrios lights a candle.
Archbishop Demetrios Visits Turkish Occupied Cypriot Territory
Cypriot ships and planes to enter its territory although Cyprus
is a member of the European
Union and Turkey wants to join.
Despite that ban – and with
Turkey placing warships and a
research vessel in sovereign
Cypriot waters – the EU is continuing negotiations with Turkey
that could allow admission one
day.
For the Archbishop though,
that was all politics and he was
all humanitarian, particularly in
the touching visit to the Turkish
occupied area.
The few hundred GreekCypriots remaining in the northernmost points of the island
welcomed the Archbishop, who
visited the villages of Agia Triada Yialousa, Rizokarpaso, and
also the historic monastery of
St. Andrew.
Demetrios also visited Famagusta – he went to the tomb of
the Apostle Barnabas, the patron of the Church of Cyprus.
“It is a special blessing,”
Demetrios said, of his opportunity to extend his visit to the occupied region.
Accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus John Koenig,
Demetrios crossed over Nicosia
into the occupied portion, and
was joyfully welcomed.
The church in Agia Triada,
named after the village, rang the
bell at his arrival. Demetrios
joined the congregation, which
sang the Pentecost hymn and
also Ti Ypermaho.
Demetrios also memorialized
Giannakis, the son of Sava Lias,
who in 1974 at age 21 died on
the battlefield. The bones were
found by the Commission for
Missing Persons in a mass grave
in occupied Kyrenia and buried
in the village.
Koenig thanked Demetrios
and said “the United States will
do everything it can for the
Greek Cypriots. You are a kernel
of hope for a reunited Cyprus.”
Before that, he visited Education Minister Costas Kadis,
with whom he discussed the
strengthening of relations between the Ministry and the
Archbishopric in the United
States, as well as promoting the
Greek language in schools.
In addition, the Archbishop
visited the Anthropology Lab of
the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) at the old Nicosia
airport, followed by a visit to
the Leventis Art Gallery, where
he was given a tour of the exhibits, the Cyprus Mail said.
He had lunch with Vasilis Papaioannou and met with Commissioner for Humanitarian and
Overseas Affairs Fotis Fotiou and
Koening. He was hosted at a private dinner in Limassol by Anastasiades’ wife, Andry Anastasiades, at their home.
His
agenda
included,
amongst other issues, the
Cyprus problem, charity foundations in Cyprus and educational issues.
While he was there, at an official lunch in the Archbishop's
honor, Anastasiades said he
would not be pressured into returning to reunification talks
and negotiate under threat or
intimidation only to have a
forced solution dictated by military might.
The President broke off the
reunification talks he had initiated after Turkey violated
Cyprus' Exclusive Economic
Zone (EEZ) and kept warships
there in violation of international law. Ankara ignored calls
by the EU, the US and the UN
to return to negotiations, although none in the international
community asked Turkey to remove its warships.
COMMUNITY
7
ALL HISTORY
Nicholas George Montos: Among America’s Most Wanted Mysteries
Montos spent his entire life doing only three things: committing a crime, sitting in a courtroom, or living in jail. No
common run-of-the-mill street
thug, Montos is the first individual in history to the FBI’s Most
Wanted list twice. “Little Nicky”
Montos was a violent and obsessed man. What follows is a
brief account of a wasted, fruitless life.
Montos was born on November 8, 1916 in Tampa. No public
document, including prison reports, that I have managed to
locate identifies his family of
birth. At 14, Montos stole a saxophone, thus beginning his life
of crime. In 1933, Montos
dropped out of Lakeland, High
School in the 11th grade. What
followed was nothing short of
quite literally an endless stream
of crimes. In time, he became
one of nation’s top safecrackers
and jewel thieves. Montos’
crimes quickly became the stuff
of front page headlines.
A rough outline of Montos’
first ten years of crime include
the following: in August 1934,
Montos was arrested in Tampa
for breaking and entering, but
released. That November, 1934,
he was arrested in Raleigh, NC
for auto theft and served 18
months, first in Ohio and then
at a prison camp in Petersburg,
VA. Sometime before he was 19,
Montos made his first successful
prison break when he escaped
from the Dade County Stockade
in Miami. In July 1936, he was
arrested for possessing burglary
tools but escaped from the Miami County Jail before being recaptured and serving time in
Florida State Prison in Raiford.
He was picked up yet again in
1938 for burglaries in Alabama
and Georgia, and escaped twice
from Alabama chain gangs in
1942 and 1944.
Around that time, Montos began breaking into Post Office
safes. In 1945, Montos climbed
over the wall at Kilby State
Prison in Montgomery, AL. By
1945, Montos had situated himself in Chicago and not long af-
The reasons for the 72-year long crime spree of Tampas’ Nicholas George Montos are unknown.
ter was convicted on charges of
burglary and postal larceny. It
was January 1945, when Montos hoping for a life as a gentleman criminal, married Kathryn
De Galleford.
Sometime in the 1950s, Montos became affiliated with
Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana. Never taking a moment’s
rest, Montos opened and operated a Chicago night club, as a
front, while he continued to
commit one crime after another.
Obsessed with committing the
“perfect crime,” it was during
this period Montos came into his
maturity as a criminal. As FBI
reports stated, he was now especially focused, hardworking
and always heavy armed. As for
the Chicago Outfit, it was the
FBI that openly admitted that
Montos “developed an astonishing facility as a safe-cracker,
which brought him high renown
in the underworld (Evening
Times, September 8, 1952).”
The FBI first placed Montos
on their Most Wanted list on
September 8, 1952. Front page
news stories from around the
country listed his many and varied crimes. The tipping point for
the FBI was Little Nick’s pistolwhipping on August 11, 1951,
in Georgia of a 74 year-old man
and his 65 year-old sister to loot
them of $1,000. According to
Georgia state law, the crime carried the death penalty. Yet nothing could stop Montos. After the
pistol-whipping burglary Montos
engaged in a long string of
crimes in Alabama and Mississippi from 1951 until 1954.
Montos remained loose for two
years until he was apprehended
by two FBI agents, on August
23, 1954. At the time, Montos
was credited in the national
press as having served prison
time in most of the major and
many of the minor prisons east
of the Mississippi River.
On March 2, 1956, the FBI
listed Montos for the second
time on the Most Wanted list.
On January 10, 1956, while
serving time at the Parchman,
MS prison farm Montos, along
with fellow inmate Robert Jones,
escaped by sawing through a
door latch with a hacksaw and
tossing blankets over the barbed
wire fence to make good their
escape. Determined to catch
Montos and Jones, the FBI made
special efforts to track the two
escaped convicts down. Twentysix days later, cornered in a
Memphis, TN motel, after much
gunplay and plenty of tear gas,
the men surrendered. From
1957-1962, Montos was imprisoned at Alcatraz. After his release, only a Supreme Court verdict saved Montos from the
electric chair, for the 1951 pistol-whipping of the brother and
sister in Georgia.
After being released from
prison in May 1973, Montos
joined the payroll of Chicago
Teamsters Local 714 while
moonlighting as a burglar in
Youngstown, OH. In the late
1970s, he was living in the
Chicago suburb of Forest Park
and working for Chicago Outfit
members John Monteleone and
James Torello. He was a prime
suspect in the attempted murder
of Milwaukee organized crime
member Vincent Maniaci in
1977.
In 1985, Montos and his
three partners were caught robbing Woodmar Jewelers in Hammond, IN. The Woodmar Mall
was nestled on the south shore
of Lake Michigan, within a
stone’s throw from Chicago.
Given Indiana’s habitual criminal act, Montos and company
faced a possible 30 years in
prison besides whatever sentence they might receive for jewelry store robbery. Rather than
face such extended prison sentencing Montos jumped bail and
spent the next few years in
Greece.
In a series of articles on this
$100,000+ jewelry store robbery, reporter John O’Brien covered Montos’ role in this crime.
At the time of this robbery Montos and his second wife, Nancy
lived at 212 Lathrop Avenue in
River Forest an upscale suburb
of Chicago (15; 22 October 1985
Chicago Tribune). Nancy Montos
turned over to the police an audio recording she had just received from her fugitive husband
with a Greek post mark on the
mailing envelope. The enclosed
audio-recording carried Montos’
verbal message where he apologized to his wife and son saying
in part: “I am old and weak and
can hardly stand on my legs. I
probably have only a few years
left. I don’t want to die in
prison.”
Montos returned to the
United States sometime in the
1900s and resumed his life of
crime under an assumed name.
In 1995, Montos attempted to
rob an antiques store. He walked
into the shop with a gun and
threatened to kill owner Sonia
Paine if she didn't cooperate. As
he attempted to tie up Paine, she
managed to escape and attacked
Montos with an aluminum baseball bat. Montos was 78, at the
time of this attempted robbery
and Paine, 73. “I don't take any
crap from anybody,” Paine said.
“I beat the hell out of him.” This
was Montos' last crime. Given a
sentence of 33 to 40 years for
armed robbery Montos was sent
to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk.
Montos, who suffered from
heart problems, had a triple bypass in 2000. Later into his sentence he became weaker and
started to experience additional
health problems. Montos applied
for parole after the surgery but
it was rejected. A few weeks before his death Montos suffered
a heart attack and once again
applied for parole. Montos died
on November 30, 2008 at 92,
while his parole plea was still to
be evaluated. At the time of his
death, Montos was the oldest inmate in the country. The most
senior American outlaw was
dead.
It is plain fact of history that
Greeks in the United States can
count criminals among their
number from the day the mass
migrations began in the 1880s.
All manner of career criminals
were and continue to be a small
element of our overall population. Ignoring these individuals
will not make them go away.
How non-Greeks see and understand us has been influenced by
the criminal element among us.
We must collectively come to not
simply understand this fundamental point but come to terms
with its long-term ramifications.
All this is compounded by the
recent twist in popular culture
where Greeks are said to be
criminals operating behind the
scenes all across America. This
ungrounded fantasy can only be
combated by having a sure understanding of our documented
historical experience. It is a fairly
straightforward problem, who
will be in control of our historical past, ourselves or others?
[email protected]
GREEK AMERICAN STORIES
Medical Marvels
By Phylis (Kiki) Sembos
Special to The National Herald
I was lying on the sofa hoping to see something entertaining on TV. Switching channels,
one at a time, I became disheartened. On one channel, someone
was choking the life out of a
man who was trying to get in
front of him at a sport event.
Next channel showed a man
shooting a dog because he was
chasing his bicycle. Then, another channel showed a group
of people about to be slaughtered by a depraved, alien, with
ten, hooked arms and five eye
balls,
from
the
planet,
Gochadoo. I couldn’t wait for
the commercials that are, sometimes, more entertaining. But,
that’s when I realized they can
be more terrifying. In one com-
mercial, a man dressed like a
doctor, the customary stethoscope round his neck (that
proves he’s a doctor) told those
listening that, according to a recent survey, 60 million people
are suffering from Colducia and
don’t know it. “Could you be
one of them?” he asks his audience, grimly, looking like, ‘of
course you have Colducia but
you’re too stupid to know it.’
He, then, lists the symptoms:
itchy skin, tiredness, and achy
joints in the morning, or a hungry feeling before going to bed.
Gee, I thought. I get those very
feelings. He warns, “You should
ask your doctor about Megabitian, a simple pill that can,
greatly, cure those symptoms.
(One he invented in his garage.)
Now, he is smiling, broadly, “The
good news is that if you can’t
afford it, call the number on our
screen and we will set up an account for you.”
A video goes on showing a
happy, middle-aged couple,
holding hands and prancing in
a grassy meadow – all because
they, supposedly, took his pill
when, in reality, they’re a couple
of models who got paid, handsomely for posing. He tells us
that 23,000 customers who took
Megabitian are so satisfied that
they’ve never been heard from,
again. Then, a voice that exceeds the NASCAR speed, warns
that you must discontinue taking Megabitian if you notice
such side effects like: Stomachpainkneejointswellingsdizziness,tongueturningpurple,or
thedisintergratingof youreyebrows. If you or your loved one
has experienced any of the
WINE & SPIRITS – From our website…
By
Lauren Loeffler
Karamolegos Feredini
Assyrtiko
As far as indigenous Greek
varietals go, and I do find that
Greek winegrowers and producers do the most interesting
things with indigenous varietals,
Assyrtiko and Xinomavro have
become my favorites. For Assyrtiko,
Santorini is the region to
look to. It seems like the place
to go to as well, it seems like
the type of place I need to place
on my travel list.
The Karamolegos Feredini
Assyrtiko is a great value for a
Santorini white. With a clean
nose, and a bright, up front
palate, this is a fresh and focused white wine. Easy to
drink and balanced, this
is a great option for
fans
of
French
Sauvig n o n
Blancs
w h o
want a
change,
or want
to explore
G r e e k
Whites. Minerally with an almost
chalky finish, this
wine doesn’t rely entirely on fruit for its
character.
Pair this with any
shellfish dish, or with roasted
fall vegetables.
Gaia “Notios” Red:
Ideal Cocktail Wine
As the name would suggest,
the Notios is produced from
grapes sourced from Southern
Greece.
100% Agiorgitiko, this wine
comes from the Nemea region
on the Peloponnese, one of the
largest and most prominent in
all of Greece.
Nemea wines range from the
very rich to much lighter varieties, and this Agiorgitiko is on
the lighter side of the scale.
Fruit-driven, with soft tannins lively cherry and raspberry
flavors, it’s an easy-to-drink option.
Darker flavors of plum and
black fruit on the finish.
This makes for a great cocktail wine, or a pairing for light
fare. As the weather heats up,
serve this with a slight chill!
Thalassitis: Inspired
by the Aegean Sea
Thalassitis is yet another fabulous white wine from Santorini.
The Thalassitis is 100% Assyrtiko, and is produced from
fruit grown on Santorini at a relatively high elevation.
The high elevation of the
vineyards contributes to a high
acidity, and a focused structure.
This white features bright citrus tones, steely minerality, and
a hint of smoke. White fruit flavors and subtly floral aromas
are present, and overall this is a
dry, medium bodied option.
Rest assured, there is no seawater mixed in, although in Ancient times, the “Thassalitis
Oenos” was the name given to
wines mixed with seawater, believed to provide healing to the
drinker.
Nonetheless, the winemaker
is closely-situated to the Aegean
Sea, giving the grapes their distinct character.
Serve this well chilled with
raw seafood, or any fish meal.
above by taking Megabitian, or
has died, call the number on
your screen and we will give
you your money back, no questions asked. I shut the T.V. and
lay back, thinking about our ancestors who, in all probability,
never dealt with medicines with
names we can hardly pronounce, like, “Zumoped Keddlezylopin, Gippydoodleprosi,
and that popular one, Glunch!”
No!
Our ancestors relied on praying to Ayios Phanourios or Ayia
Elpitha or they’d go to their local sorceress, someone named,
Kyria Mamakos, who had a myriad of jars with the oddest things
in them, like Oregano juice,
Mustos or a poultice made from
one hundred and eighty mashed
garlic cloves.
Of course, she expected to be
paid. Being practical, she’d ask
for a year’s supply of wood for
her fireplace or your gold
bracelet or five sheep. Thing is,
whatever she did, the stuff
worked! At least, that’s what my
yiayia said! My yiayia swears
that Kyria Mamakos had cured
her long suffering of severe back
pain. All she did was rub the
garlic poultice on the affected
area after relieving her of the
60 Lbs of wood for Kyria Mamakos’ payment. It was quite a
distance to her cabin. But, people believed in her cures. Lines
formed outside her cabin near
the border of Albania.
Yiayia traveled two days on
a donkey to get there, the wood
on her back. I, often, wondered
if the donkey got back pains.
Then, she’d walk home because
Kyria Mamakos wanted the donkey as payment after she cured
my yiayia of the splinters that
plagued her hands. Kyria Mamakos, chanting a tuneless song
that Tony Bennet rejected fifty
years ago, she took a tweezers
and plucked out every wood
splinter, then, rubbed them with
more garlic poultice.
Yiayia’s hands were smooth
as silk – until the next pile of
wood. She was never afraid of
marauding Turks or wolves, going home.
She believed that the garlic
poultice, also, performed the
holy miracle of protection. Turning off the TV, I sat back and
thought. We have to marvel at
today’s medical achievements.
Do you realize that there’s a pill
for every conceivable part of the
body?
I mean, many diseases really
have been eradicated. But, then,
again, so have many people. Today, there are no Kyria Mamakoses.
No! We’ve got guys that invent medical marvels – like
Megabitian!
Law Firm
G. Dimitriadis & Associates
our company aims to provide high quality services, adapted to the
specific needs of our clients.
the main areas of our activities include:
• Legal services
• Financial managerial services
• Real Estate
our wide network of contacts in Greece guarantees the immediate
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Phone: 01130 210 3390080 • cell.: 01130 6977 469888
Fax: 01130 210 3390044
e-mail: [email protected]
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VIEWPOINTS
8
Opposing Principles of Faith and Religion: How Do We Safeguard the Community?
What separates a healthy person from an extremist, a fascist,
a sick individual willing to commit crimes or even murder for the
sake of his or her ideology – be it
political or religious?
In light of the troubling events
taking place all over the world
through fundamentalism and extremism, the need to spread the
ecumenical message of Hellenism, which, served to cultivate
and civilize – and among other
things, pave the way for the widespread acceptance of Christianity
– becomes increasingly more important. Inasmuch as the historical duty of Hellenes and philhellenes all over the world foresees
that they act as ambassadors of
the legacy they bear, it becomes
crucial to ensure that we adhere
to its principles, as embodied in
empirical traditions that have
been passed on for centuries, to
avoid falling victim to the neurobiological sickness or diabolical
self-serving individualism that
threatens the very fabric of our
society, and in fact, the stability
of the cosmos.
According to the ever-memorable Rev. John S. Romanides,
one of the most prominent Orthodox Christian theologians of
the 20th century, “religion is a
neurobiological sickness, Orthodoxy is its cure.” Romanides’ seminal texts and treatises make evident the fact that Orthodoxy is
not intended to be a “religion,”
but rather a “faith.” In making
this distinction, religion is defined
as nothing more than a nervous
condition or a self-deceit aimed
at creating psychological illusions
or assurances. Due to the prevalence of legalism in the West, this
psychological false assurance took
the form of “indulgences,” “merits,” and good works in general,
gratification.
which were misconOrthodoxy has
strued into individnever compared itual claims that one
self to a legalistic
could “stake” for a
system. It never
place in Paradise.
sought to codify its
The hoaxes of purcanon law as the
gatory, limbo, and
Franks did, nor did
writs of indulgence
it ever issue an “Inare all examples of
dex Librorum Prothe side-effects of
hibitorum” – an ofthis neurobiological
ficial list of banned
that
sickness
by Christopher
books deemed danplagued humanity.
TRIPOULAS
gerous to its ideolThe formation of
ogy. Rather, Orthothese hoaxes within
Special to
The National Herald
doxy
has
the religious frametraditionally made
work of Catholicism
or the witch-hunts and pietism of frequent reference to itself as a
Protestantism created a breach of hospital, where the ill come to be
trust between those religions and healed (physically and spiritually,
society, where the concept of as Hellenism view the process
faith, implicit to which is the em- holistically). The foremost role of
pirical existence of trust, was mar- its clergy is to act as doctors and
ginalized by ideology. The rela- healers, helping the faithful to
tion between faith and trust is transcend from individuals to perindivisible, as illustrated by the sons, and enter into communion
fact that the Greek word for trust, with God.
As Romanides writes, “This
“empistosyni” ( μπιστοσύνη) is
rooted in the word for faith, “pis- cure begins by the purification of
the heart, it arrives at the restoratis,” (πίστις).
When viewed from this prism, tion of the heart to its natural
it is not difficult to see how a ji- state of illumination and the
hadist suffering from the same whole person begins to be perneurological sickness (just in a fected beyond one's natural camore severe condition) could be pacities by the glorification of
diabolically deceived into believ- body and soul by God's uncreated
ing that he will “earn” a place in glory. The result of this cure and
paradise with plenty of pilaf and perfection was not only the
virgins if he beheads an “infidel.” proper preparation for life after
Just like the concept of democ- the death of one's body, but also
racy can become corrupted and the transformation of society here
turn into a “kleptocracy” of parti- and now from a collection of selfsanship, clientelism, and unfet- ish and self-centered individuals
tered bureaucracy, so too can the to a society of persons with selfgenuine interpersonal and divine less love ‘which does not seek its
interaction of the “ecclesiastical own.’”
This is the ethos that Greek
event” that transforms our mode
of existence to emulate the divine Orthodox Christians are called to
become corrupted and turned embody in a world that is inuninto an ideological process that is dated in rationalism and individdevoid of any purpose save self- ualism, and a society where
THE HERALD SQUARE
TNH's Crossword Challenge
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www.CrosswordWeaver.com
ACROSS
1 "__ apple a day keeps the doctor away"
4 ____ Valley - wine region
8 Epochs
11 Baseball card company
13 Earvin Johnson's nickname
14 __ Blues - Elvis film
15 NJ Shore destination (abbrev.)
17 On the other hand
18 Former Baseball Commissioner Bud
21 A Fonda
23 Mode of Transp. from Manhattan to
Nassau
24 E=MC2 genius (init.)
25 Greek suffix meaning the study of
30 Brothers who sang "Bye Bye Love"
34 Actor Sharif
35 Railway Express Agcy. (abbrev.)
36 Consumed
37 Plyd. guitar in rock band Cream (init.)
38 Library Admin. and Mgmt. Assn.
(abbrev.)
39 Kit ___ chocolate bar
41 Island of Masticha
44 Precipitation
45 Malone of Cheers
46 Automobile
47 Famous 49ers QB (init.)
48 "Pretty Woman" sngr. (init.)
49 Victoria General Hosp. (abbrev.)
53 Marino of the Dolphins
54
55 The Crying Game's Stephen
56 Listening devices?
58 Plyd. Tony Soprano's sister Janice (init.)
59 Powder
61 Gamma _____
63 Tenth Greek letter
66 Sultry singer Turner
69 Sound made upon encountering a
mouse
70 "No ___" Duran's famous comment vs.
Leonard
71 Saints honored on July 1
DOWN
2 Acclaimed international prize
3 Oliver on TV's Green Acres (abbrev.)
5 Before, or after, PM (abbrev.)
6 Saint honored on July 27
7 BC's VP (init.)
8 Europ. Clearing House (abbrev.)
9 A long, long time --10 Knight's title
12 Greek Congressman from Florida
15 Played Hyman Roth in Godfather Pt. 2
(init.)
16 News org. (abbrev.)
19 Where hurt NFL players may be placed
(abbrev.)
20 Alexander's adjective
22 Great listener?
25 Reaction to a funny IM (abbrev.)
26
27 Third Greek letter
28
29 On the other hand
31 Motpelier is its capital (abbrev.)
32 Electrical Eng. and Comp. Science
(abbrev.)
33
40 Whichever
42 Hellenic American Republican Assn.
(abbrev.)
43 Saint honored on December 5
46 Arthur of the White House
50 Expert
51 Sliced Greek cheese?
52 Hayworth and Moreno
53 Fourth Greek letter
55 Tsipouro
57
60 Conservation Info. Network (abbrev.)
62 Rock band Speedwagon
64 Before, and after, AM
65 The Keystone St. (abbrev.)
67 Canada's Continent (abbrev.)
68 Alleged to have fixed 1919 World Series
(init.)
Solution to last week’s puzzle
things are often portrayed as “either-or” or “black and white.” The
crucial question facing Hellenism
in America, where the local parish
is set at the center of organized
community life, is what happens
when this ethos becomes adulterated?
As Metropolitan John of Pergamon has stated, “the best testimony to Orthodoxy is the Church
itself, when it is organized and
functions properly; i.e. when a
Parish exists and operates properly in our individualistic Western
culture.” Its mere paradigm is far
more effective than any sermons,
articles, or paraphernalia with
which our “religious professionals” preoccupy themselves. On
the contrary, if the decision-making at our parishes and organized
communities begins to operate
according to the individualistic,
rationalistic world the Church is
trying to transform, then the
whole undertaking is threatened.
Just as doctors are subject to
malpractice suits for exhibiting
negligence, similarly, priests and
other parish administrators are
capable of causing great harm
when they do not adhere to Orthodox practices. Imagine the effect that the spiritual malpractice
of instituting a “quid pro quo”
philosophy into parish community life might have. Consider
how disparaging it would be to
the Orthodox Church if its priests
and other officials were reduced
to petty extortionists, bartering
funding of vital community services in exchange for mandatory
attendance at events or even
church services! (thus negating
God’s gift of free will)!
In that nightmare scenario,
they might go as far as to threaten
to shut down a Greek Saturday
School because the quota for student attendance at an event or
activity staged to stoke their “religiousness” or “self-gratification”
wasn’t met…if they haven’t gone
that far already!
Follow
me
@CTripoulas
on
Twitter
Germany-Greece: the Similarity Ends at “G”
By Alekos E. Rizou
Germany and Greece: two
countries, each great, and each
with a character vastly different
from the other.
Germany is unison, discipline, goal, achievement. Which
of these distinctly German qualities of character can one relate
to Greece? Unison? (does Greek
history substantiate this?). Discipline? (where does one notice
this in Greece?) Goal? (has any
one ever set a national goal
other than the good conduct of
the 2004 Olympics?) Achievement? (What achievements,
other than the very successful
2004 Olympics can Modern
Greece display?).
The world knows how the
Greek “situation” has come to
be, the Greeks do not. No responsible political party has
bothered to explain to the people what went wrong and why.
The radical “left” stepped in to
tell the nation its version of what
happened and what the nation
should do, moving the national
“mood” to the left of center. No
responsible political party has
presented an objective explanation of the situation with an objective allocation of responsibility for the situation. No
responsible political party has
presented a plan, complete with
figures allocation of sources and
specific objectives for each segment of the Greek society, with
which the country can climb out
of the pit with the help of its Eurozone partners.
Germany is different. People
know what their role is within
the context of a National Development plan and so they cooperate for the National Benefit.
They have a road map, a sense
of purpose.
Why was the conduct of the
Athens 2004 Olympics so successful? Obviously because an
“iron lady” was in charge and
she left nothing to chance, despite the delaying tactics of the
present Minister of Finance, who
was then the Minister under
whose authority was the preparation of the stadiums and other
venues and he wanted to have
his way, for his own reasons. The
very successful conduct of the
Games was an achievement for
Greece. It reflected well on the
country, thanks to an individual’s
drive, talents and determination,
not thanks to a capable government.
If Germany were to conduct
the Olympics, the government
would organize everything, brilliantly, no “iron lady” would be
necessary. Germany has a state
mechanism that functions well,
in stark contrast to Greece.
The lesson of experience with
the 2004 Olympics is that when
given a goal the Greeks can display German-like efficiency and
achievement, which leads to the
question: why are the Greeks left
to wallow in misery instead of
being presented with realistic solutions to their problems? The
obvious answer is lack of leadership and that neither of the
two leading parties has a well
documented solution to the
problem and with elections expected in the near future all
those with a “plan” want to present it as an electoral platform.
Germany is different. The
government communicates with
the people and is close to them.
unlike Greece, where political
parties “communicate” only with
specific groups.
The anger displayed at every
occasion, with people exhibiting
disdain, even aggression, when
they see politicians is an example of despair. People are suffering the repercussions of the astronomical national debt and
they see no light at the end of
the tunnel; suffering with no expiration date.
Germany is different. No German government would have
acted as selfishly and irresponsibly as Greek governments
have, loading on the back of the
nation a colossal debt which,
ironically, did not finance wealth
producing investments, which
could pay off the debt, but the
parties’ shenanigans with the
unions and the public sector.
When the Germans are angry
they display anger with civility.
Greek anger is not constrained.
In Germany, people respect the
authorities because the authorities exercise enlightened leadership, beneficial to the people,
not a defining characteristic of
Greek authorities who very often
fail to deliver. No wonder why
Greeks abhor authority, which
most of the time is but a pain in
the neck, unlike Germany, where
it is always a helping hand.
What will the political platforms of the Greek parties present? An attractive story of Economic development? Based on
what? New tenets? A New socioeconomic contract? Will they
borrow something from the German book of success?
Will they want to reduce government by passing to private
enterprise a number of activities
which the public sector is engaged in, as is the case with Germany? Such a move will result
in investments without any cost
to the government. These investments will have a multiplying
effect, any economist can attest
to that, which translates to capital inflows, as Greeks will begin
to bring back the capital deposited “abroad” for safety reasons.
Will the two parties promise
(and materialize the promise) to
do away with the developmentkiller bureaucracy? German public sector executives will be installed in the Greek public sector
to help reduce the “killer” bureaucracy. Will, after they are
gone, the Greek public sector revert to its old poisonous ways,
with the help of the political parties?
Can a Greek government
do all that should
be done, in the way
that it should?
A government of
technocrats?
Will they push for the exploitation of the national resources under the ground and
under the sea bed? Greece has
interesting mineral wealth and
the discovery of commercially viable oil and gas deposits is a possibility.
If Germany was sitting on the
mineral wealth of Greece, with
the National interest as the guiding star, German Governments
would have planned and started,
long ago, the exploitation of this
potential, but then German Governments are there for the people.
Will they push for a close cooperation between farmers’ cooperatives and private sector
knowhow, to thus enable the
farmers to gain more by processing (where advisable) and marketing, in partnership with private sector expertise, their
output? Germany is a leader in
Agri-Exports. The German
knowhow will be valuable, if the
Greeks decide to ask for German
help in this economic sector.
Will they wage war on
waste? Forty customs houses are
to cease operating. Will their installations be put to other uses,
to save the public sector money,
will they be abandoned and save
the country rental payments for
unused installations, or will the
government keep paying the
rents, for no, obvious, reason?
Will they diligently yield the
axe on the expenses of local government? Persistent talk and
facts known point to the possibility of great opportunities for
savings there.
In Germany, it could never
happen that the mayors of two
neighboring municipalities hire
the one the relatives of the other,
so that they would not be accused of nepotism.
In Greece this has happened
(press reports).
In Greece, there are Pension
Funds that refuse to participate
in the voluntary reduction of the
value of the Greek Bonds they
hold, when foreign pension
funds participate. This is not
only the Greek idea of patriotism, but also makes it difficult
for the Greek Government to
persuade Greek Bond holders
around the world to voluntarily
participate. Such, totally unjustified attitude that inhibits the
effort of the Greek Government
in a time of need is “Greek” in
its nature. A ghastly public exhibition of indifference to the
National benefit, something that
could never happen in Germany,
where National prevails over
Sectarian benefit. Unison is not
“Greek.” Will the Greek politicos, finally, adhere to the doctrine of the separation powers
and separate the legislative from
the executive? Today’s challenges require expertise that
politicians, let alone the political
operatives who constitute the
parties’ nomenclature, do not
possess. Accomplished individuals should undertake the executive function with the politicos
legislating in accordance with
the requirements of the executive. Of course, in Germany the
public sector has all the required
expertise and so the politicians,
devoted to the good of the country, can also be in charge of the
executive branch of government.
Will they accept that the taxpayers should not finance the
political parties, which, any way,
cater to the interests of the
“pressure groups”? Voluntary financial support, in full view of
the country should replace the
current stipends and no public
employee, paid by the tax payers, should be engaged in the
service of the political parties.
Will they accept this?
Will they accept that the
unions be financed solely by
their members’ contributions, so
that the taxpayers do not finance
what, in effect, is a political apparatus in the service of political
parties?
Will they bind themselves to
reducing deficits to near zero,
indeed since from June 2012
Greece must stand on its own
feet? Will they reduce public expenditures by eliminating the
thousands of public organizations, useless schools of every
level (with only a handful of students), will they go over the outflows side of the Budget assessing every item, a zero-base
budget procedure in effect?
Will they restart the economy
by wiping out all the disincentives to investments and provide
meaningful incentives to investors?
Will they collaborate with private enterprise to plan economic
growth and prepare plans for
specific projects to be presented
to foreign investors?
If Germany were asked to
govern Greece for six months,
recovery would be certain.
Can a Greek government do
all what should be done, in the
way that it should? A government of technocrats? Yes, definitely. A government from and
of the parties who brought the
country to its knees? Very doubtful.
Germany is purposeful action. The Germans love order
and do what their leaders tell
them. The Eurozone is de facto
under the German leadership,
which wants austerity for all. Yes
this is the way to start reducing
the deficit (by reducing expenditures), but it should be coupled to growth, which will generate the additional income to
reduce the deficit. The German
government believes austerity is
the cure for all the ills, recession
be damned. Only recently has it
started realizing that growth
should, also, be encouraged, to
prevent an accentuation of the
recession plaguing Greece in
particular, where unemployment
has climbed above 20%.
The American solution to recession has, successfully, been
expansion instead of austerity.
This seems to have been, finally,
understood by the Germans who
now heed to the suggestion of
the EU leadership, which, until
recently, they have ignored, that
growth is urgently required to
pull Europe and the Eurozone
up.
Germany has many of the
qualities Greece lacks. The result
attests to the fact that Greece
should become a little “German”
in some ways. Yes, the German
character has its shortcomings,
but then the Greek character has
many (too many) shortcomings
as well.
Alekos E. Rizou lives in Athens
COMMUNITY
9
New Philoptochos President Maria Logus, Active Since 18, Talks to TNH
By Theodore Kalmoukos
NEW YORK – The National
Philoptochos Society of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
America has a new president,
attorney Maria (Logothetis) Logus; her grandfather abbreviated the surname in 1903.
Logus has been involved in
the Philoptochos since age 18,
following the steps of her
mother who was president of
their local parish Philoptochos
in Brooklyn, and later the district president.
Logus has provided valuable
services to the Philoptochos and
to the Archdiocese all these
years and she is ready and eager
to offer even more in her new
capacity. She spoke with TNH
about her vision for Philoptochos, which is the Archdiocese’s
philanthropic arm.
“I am overwhelmingly humbled,” Logus said, of the appointment.
“I am eager and challenged,
but concerned there will not be
enough time to do as much as I
love to do and as much as the
team would like to do. But I am
optimistic to continue the
Philoptochos’ extraordinary
work.”
With all the work Logus has
done for Philoptochos, should
the presidency have come
Archbishop Demetrios of America presents the new Philoptochos President Maria Logus to the Archdiocesan Council.
sooner? Not necessarily, she responds.
“I think whatever gratification I received for all these years
of service far awaited any expectation I had, and I welcome
this invitation to continue in
that service.”
“The ability to give back,” is
what attracted Logus to join
Philoptochos in the first place.
“I am a lucky person, I was
given a wonderful childhood, I
was embraced by the community of my church. I grew up in
Kimisis tis Theotokou and I
learned early on from my childhood priest Fr. Titus Tseligardakis that service to the church
and to the community is a gift
that we give. It was a natural
progression for me.” In addition
to her mother’s Philoptochos
service, “my father was parish
council president and chairman
of the school board,” Logus said.
“Our lives circulated around the
church.”
As for her vision as president,
Logus says “Philoptochos
doesn’t have the luxury of any
single priority. We live in an increasingly complex world and
we have to be prepared to respond to multiple challenges
both anticipated and unexpected in vibrant meaningful
ways, but we also have to combine with the readiness to answer the unknown with an unwavering commitment to the
institutions of the Archdiocese.
“The first goal is to increase
and to expand membership.”
Today Philoptochos has 27,000
members. Could it have more?
“I believe we can, there are
certainly untapped segments of
our population and we want to
welcome them into Philoptochos so they can experience the
same joy we feel when we give.
I like to see Philoptochos as a
reflection, as hope of Orthodox
women in the United States. We
need to bring in young adult,
working women, mothers with
small children, retired women.
We need to inclusive, excited,
eager, and prepare for the future.”
The literal meaning of
“philoptochos” is friend of the
poor. Why, then, does Philoptochos support Archdiocesan institutions, which are not poor?
Because “our mission is not
solely to assist the poor, but also
to assist the preservation and
the perpetuation of the faith.”
Logus is particularly well-educated and with good social and
professional standing, but that
secular world does not keep her
far from the church. “I am unable to separate myself from
who I am. Just because I am
professional woman doesn’t
mean that I am not also a part
of this community. It’s in my
soul and therefore it is part of
me.”
But not everyone thinks that
way, apparently, and Logus can
only speak for herself specifically, “but I think that American
life today is complex and we are
pulled in many different directions. We are certainly more assimilated into the American
fiber that we were in generations past, and our challenge today is to try to intergrade both
that assimilation and to nevertheless with a commitment to
our heritage and to our community. I think we have to work
harder.
Regarding St. Basil’s Academy, Logus says that “the
Philoptochos and the Academy
have a special relationship. It is
clearly the institution which is
most closely associated with
Philoptochos. We purchased the
property many, many years ago.
Today there is an independent
board of trustees that has the
administrative authority of the
functioning of the Academy. We
have members who serve on
that board and I would like to
see us work in collaboration
with Fr. [Constantine] Sitaras to
make sure that the effectiveness
of this extraordinary resource
cab be maximized. Today, it is a
different institution than it was
I when was president there 20
years ago, and we would all love
to see it restored to a time when
there were hundreds of children
attending. Today, we see a different type of mission that is still
supportive of children in need.”
There are less than 20 students
there now, she said.
Logus told TNH that through
its annual Vasilopita, Philoptochos donates about $350,000
every year to the Academy,
though “there are probably
many-many more dollars are
provided to the Academy
through the individual donations.” The Archdiocese, she
says, does not provide financial
support, only spiritual support.
“That is a decision the Archdiocese made. I was not privy to
that.”
As for the Greek-American
community as a whole, Logus
says “we have extraordinary resources. We can do much more,
and I am confident that we
will.”
Eugene Rossides’ Book Tour in Greece and Cyprus Filled with Memories and Honors
and to support Greece regarding
Turkey’s aggressive actions and
threats in the Aegean Sea.”
He emphasized, however,
both in Cyprus and in Greece,
that they must do “what other
countries do, namely, hire
proper public relations counsel
in the U.S. Neither one does it.”
“We must continue to “attack
Turkey’s actions and its unreliability as an ally,” he said, including suspending it from NATO
until their illegal troops and settlers are out of Cyprus.
When Rossides met with
John Koenig, the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus, “we had a spirited exchange because we were
pressing him to speak out about
Turkey’s illegality in the EEZ…
He was conciliatory, because we
were aggressive regarding that,
and said he was waiting for further instructions from the State
Department.”
WEAK U.S. RESPONSE
TO TURKISH INCURSION
Rossides called the Department’s official response “weak…
They just said Cyprus has a right
to explore in its EEZ…They
Yiannakis Omirou, the
president of Cyprus’ House of
Representatives, presents
Eugene T. Rossides with a
medal and thanks him for his
decades of championing the
cause of Cyprus.
should have been much
tougher.”
He said that when Larigakis
returned to the U.S. he send letters to President Obama and VP
Biden.
The trip, which lasted from
October 7-16, was prompted by
an invitation from Public Information Office of the Republic of
Cyprus to come to the island nation where his father, Dr.
Telemachos Rossides, was born,
for a book presentation at the
press club in Nicosia.
Nick Larigakis, the President
of AHI who accompanied Rossides, also arranged presentations at the University of
Nicosia, the the Greek Foreign
Ministry auditorium, sponsored
by the think tank ELIAMEP , and
the American College of GreeceDeree College.
There was a meeting with
President Karolos Papoulias, and
George Economou, the president of AHI’s Athens chapter,
and his wife Eleni, hosted a dinner for Rossides at the Athens
Club.
Another book presentation
and a dinner in Rossides’ honor
took place at the Officer’s Club
Thessaloniki arranged by General Ilias Leontaris, Command-
ing General for Macedonia and
Ioannina.
One trip highlight was not
connected with the book. Rossides drove his daughter Eleni
and his son Michael to his their
grandmother’s village of Selagoudi high in the Taygetos
Mountains in Mani.
At its peak, 150 people lived
there. Now there are 10. “We
met two ladies dressed in black,
but I could not get across who
we were…until I told them I
made a few trips here, once in
a friends helicopter.”
They then exclaimed, “You
are the one who brought elec-
tricity to the village!”
Rossides explained that
when his uncle Peter wrote to
him that the village had been
bypassed when electricity came
to its environs, he contacted the
Greek Ambassador in Washington – it was during his 1969-73
tenure as Assistant Secretary of
the Treasury – “and very shortly
thereafter our village got electricity.”
He is now working on two
new books, one, a collection of
his op-ed writing through the
years is almost done, and another, a memoir of his tenure at
the Department of the Treasury.
Petrakis: Restaurant Business Was Greek to Me
South Works and another year
working a triad of jobs that included a package liquor store,
pressing clothes for a cleaner
and delivering prescriptions for
a pharmacist.
A good friend had just been
discharged from service in the
Air Force and we spoke of becoming partners in some business. Each of us had about
$1,000 (my $1,000 comprising
my wife's dowry), which wasn't
enough for a coffee dealership
or a jukebox franchise. We kept
returning to restaurants.
One of the places we visited
was a small lunchroom owned
by an older Greek man. The
place had 10 stools at the
counter and four tables. A dingy
weathered sign reading ART'S
LUNCH hung over the door. Art
was the lunchroom's first owner,
and none of the four successive
owners had been motivated
enough nor had the money to
change the sign.
The lunchroom was located
at 13th and Indiana in a shabby
but bustling commercial area
that contained a potato warehouse and an armature factory.
It was in proximity to the busy
railroad yards at 12th Street and
truck traffic also flowed through
the neighborhood.
The owner, who had spent
almost 50 years in the business
and wished to retire, adjusted
his price to fit the cash we had
available and we bought ART'S
LUNCH.
The first few times we visited
the lunchroom in early November, the stools and tables were
full. Two waitresses worked the
front, while a cook and a dishwasher handled the kitchen.
Every time the cash register bell
rang, it sounded to my partner
and I like a Christmas carol. Before turning over the keys, the
honest owner issued us a warning. "We're busy now because
the factories and railroad are
jammed with holiday help," his
voice turned somber. "After
Christmas, business will fall
abruptly. Then you must take
care in what you buy and in
how you use leftovers."
Anticipating a multitude of
patrons, we overlooked the fact
that the stove was a huge coalburning behemoth that had to
be loaded and stoked in the
middle of the night so it would
be ready for breakfast. The icebox was a three-tiered, six-compartment monster that looked
as if it might have seen service
in the Civil War.
The sinks were two great
iron tubs that were the domain
of an older black man named
George who had served as a bugler in the Spanish-American
War. He was wiry with alert
eyes, strong arms, and shoulders
stooped from years of bending
over the tubs.
"George has served here
since Art opened the lunch-
considerable quantity of unused
meat and produce.
The trickle of business continued through January and into
February. A major problem was
that we lacked knowledge and
experience in how to reduce our
purchases to match the dwindling number of customers. We
also lacked the ability to utilize
leftovers for soups and stews.
We let go of our cook and
one waitress. After trimming our
menu to meet my unexceptional
skills as a chef, I retreated to the
kitchen to handle the cooking.
In this time, coming to realize that the restaurant could not
sustain two of us, my partner
and I flipped a coin. I lost and
became sole owner of ART'S
LUNCH.
Beloved Greek-American author Harry Mark Petrakis
room," the owner had told us.
"He sleeps in the storeroom back
of the kitchen and gets up at
four to put coal in the stove. All
day long he washes dishes, cuts
the meat, scrapes vegetables,
scours pots and pans. He is
worth three men in the kitchen."
At the end of our first week,
after all expenses were paid,
there remained $300 profit for
each of us, a huge sum in those
days. My partner and I were
elated that we'd have our down
payment back in a few weeks.
The first intimation of trouble came right after the first of
January. Except for a modest
surge at lunch, the stools and
tables remained empty. At
week's end, we threw away a
I geared myself for a final offensive against impending catastrophe. I kept the waitress, a
sturdy Norwegian lady named
Maude, and relied on George in
the kitchen. He worked double
shifts that began at 4 a.m., when
he first stoked the coal-burning
stove. For the following 16
hours he managed the kitchen.
I survived only as long as I did
because of his Herculean labors.
Predating McDonald's and
Burger King, I devised a meal
called "Burger in a Basket,"
which consisted of a burger, a
few fries and a slice of pickle.
To add an aesthetic flourish, I
added a sprig of parsley. Our
customers responded with enthusiasm, but burgers alone
couldn't pay our bills.
Desperate times required
desperate measures. We had
been approached in the past by
a scurrilous meat salesman we
knew only as Sam. His rock-bottom prices and the wretched appearance of his products suggested a slippery slope to food
poisoning. (Once when we
asked Sam why his chickens
looked so dark, he reassured us
they had been raised on a farm
in Florida.) Our own somber assumption was that his creatures
had died a natural death.
Frantic as I was, for the first
time I bought a crate of turkeys
from Sam at 15 cents a pound.
I boiled those turkeys for hours
and when customers complained about the smell I told
them a gas main had broken.
I served the turkeys all that
week, varying the menu slightly
each day. Monday: Roast young
tom turkey. Tuesday: turkey and
noodles. Wednesday: hot turkey
sandwich. Thursday: turkey croquettes. Friday: turkey hash.
Saturday: chicken a la king.
Despite showing a profit that
week for the first time in
months, it could not stave off
my collapse. In the early spring,
after a futile effort to sell the
lunchroom came to naught, I
tore out fixtures and furnishings
that I then sold to a restaurant
supply house. The sum I received was just enough to cover
the hospital bill my wife and I
incurred with the birth of our
first son.
In the decades that have
passed since then, whenever I
enter a restaurant owned by a
Greek, I watch closely to see if
the owner exhibits any of the
anguish my own experience produced. They all seem untroubled while spending an uncommon amount of time at the cash
register.
The forlorn conclusion I finally came to was that Greeks
and restaurants belonged together. I was simply the wrong
Greek.
Harry Mark Petrakis’ new book,
Cavafy's Stone and Other Village
Tales, will be published by
Wicker Park Press in November.
The photos and the background of the wedding of Jackie and
Aristotle Onassis have a fairytale feel, but the details of the reality that have trickled out are nightmarish.
Book: Onassis Cheated on
Jackie with Maria Callas
the plot – or even knew about it
directly – and more that the assassination was financed by
money that Onassis had paid to
Arab groups.
Days after Bobby’s death,
Onassis began his charm offensive wooing Jackie with jewels,
other lavish gifts, and his overthe-top personality.
But all the money in the
world couldn’t convince the
Kennedys, as well as Jackie’s social circle, that Onassis was
good enough to marry the president’s widow. Truman Capote
said, as Andersen describes that
“the term Eurotrash hadn’t been
invented yet, but that’s definitely what they thought Ari
was.”
As for Onassis, Andersen
continues, he understood, and
accepted that he was not welcome by Jackie’s world – “they
hate my Greek guts,” he said –
but that didn’t stop him from
making his move.
After the marriage, though,
Andersen writes, Onassis returned to “the love of his life,”
Maria Callas. The two women
had an icy relationship throughout the marriage years, which
ended in 1975 upon Onassis’
death.
This is a link to an excerpt from
Andersen’s book, in the Oct. 26
edition of the New York Daily
news,
appears
here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/n
ews/politics/jackie-o-aristotleonassis-rocky-marriage-recounted-book-article-1.1987195.
Jackie Onassis stands by her son John Kennedy in New York
as Aristotle Onassis, who was a dutiful stepfather, looks on.
OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS
10
DEATH NOTICES
n BARGAS, CHRIS
TRUMBULL, CT (From the Connecticut Post, published on Oct.
21) – Chris Bargas, age 94, of
Trumbull, passed away peacefully Sunday, October 19, 2014,
at his home with his loving family by his side. He was the
beloved husband of 76 years of
Rose (Cordone) Bargas. Chris
was born in Lowell, MA on December 22, 1919, son of the late
and
Lemonia
Athanasios
(Kiourkas) Bargas, and three
years later he returned with his
mother and brother to their native Greece where he spent his
formative years. Chris came back
to Bridgeport in 1929, where he
left school to work during the
great depression. He married
Rose and as a young adult
worked as a hammer operator
for Heppenstall Steel in Bridgeport before he enlisted in the US
Navy and served in WWII. Chris
served with distinction as a
40mm anti-aircraft gunner on
the Aircraft Carrier USS Franklin
in the South Pacific. He returned
with honor in 1945 with 7 battle
stars and a purple heart. Upon
his return he opened Midway
Luncheonette with his wife in
Bridgeport. In 1954 he opened
Capitol Realty Co. and worked
as a real estate broker. He began
a construction and development
company that grew beyond Fairfield county to include New
Haven county, Broward and
Palm Beach counties, Florida,
and real estate holdings in
Puerto Rico. He was an original
investor in the Claridge Casino
Hotel in Atlantic City, and the
producer of the 1961 feature
film, Antigone. Over the years,
Chris developed miles of roads,
thousands of homes and condominiums, as well as building
three golf courses, including Hillandale Country Club in Trumbull, Oronoque Village in Stratford, and Whitney Farms Golf
Course in Monroe. He loved the
creative process of developing
land from scratch, and working
with everyone involved to realize
his vision. He was also a devoted
family man who loved to spend
time with his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, extended family and close friends.
He is the beloved father of
Thomas Bargas and his wife
Pamela George and James Bargas and his wife Gertrud Leuwer.
He is the cherished grandfather
of Lisa Bargas, Jamie Bargas, and
Jill Bargas-Gold and her husband
Bruce, Chris B. Bargas and his
wife
Jennifer
Condren,
Stephanie Bargas, and Elke Bargas, and great-grandfather of
Jack and William Fitzmaurice,
Eleni Alexandra Gold, Amelia
Rose and James William Bargas.
He also leaves a sister-in-law, Antoinette Caselli, several nieces
and nephews, and his closest of
friends, James Cormier. Chris
was predeceased by his brother
John Bargas. Friends may greet
the family at the Riverview Funeral Home, 390 River Road,
Shelton, on Wednesday from 4
to 8 PM. On Thursday, friends
are invited directly to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church,
4070 Park Ave, Bridgeport for a
Funeral Mass at 10:30 AM. Burial will follow at Nichols Farm
Burial Ground in Trumbull.
Memorial contributions can be
made to Folds of Honor, 5800 N.
Patriot Drive, Owasso, OK 74055
or through the funeral director.
n CALTIS, JOHN
CHARLOTTE, NC (From the
Charlotte Observer, published on
Oct. 17) – John Demosthenis
Caltis passed on Wednesday, October 15th, 2014, at home, surrounded by his loving family following a short illness. He was
born on December 26, 1928 in
Kapsia, Arkadia, Greece, the
youngest of four children of
Demosthenis and Hariklea
Kalteziotis. He attended high
school in Tripolis, Greece during
the German occupation but left
before graduating to enlist in the
newly reconstituted Greek Air
Force. John was an accomplished
athlete, winning many awards in
the decathalon, in which the discus was his best event. He was
an avid outdoorsman and loved
nature and wildlife. Well known
as an expert marksman, he was
a fervent hunter his whole life.
John came to Charlotte in 1955
to attend the wedding of his sister, the late Connie Caltis Kokenes. During his visit he decided
to make the United States his
home. He first worked at the
Picadilly Grill on Morehead
Street and then at the Open
Kitchen Restaurant for his
brother-in-law, Speros G. Kokenes. In 1961, he opened the
KC Drive-in with his uncle Costa
Kontos at 2221 Central Ave.
which later became The Little
Italy Restaurant. John returned
to Greece in 1963 to marry Georgia Rempas in Agios Konstantinos, Arkadia, Greece. They returned to Charlotte to raise their
two daughters. They are active
days and dates of funerals,
memorials, and other events directly correspond to the original
publication date, which appears
at the beginning of each notice.
members of the Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox and St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox communities
of Charlotte. John owned and
operated the Little Italy with his
wife Georgia for 49 years. The
Little Italy, a Charlotte landmark,
finally closed in March 2008,
leaving behind many devoted patrons. Known for Italian and
Greek cuisine, the Little Italy was
a family restaurant, and became
a traditional spot for holiday and
personal celebrations. The regular customers became a second
family for John and Georgia,
even starting up a Facebook page
devoted to keeping in touch with
one another and the Caltis family
after the ultimate closing of the
restaurant. John is survived by
his wife of fifty-one years, Georgia Caltis and their two beloved
daughters, Lilly Caltis Huffman
(Brad) and Kate Caltis. The
Caltis family would like to thank
Drs. Terry Benson, Kenneth
Compton, John Pasquini and KD
Weeks. Their counsel and support was invaluable. A special
thank you to Dr. Michael Metcalf
for his care at Presbyterian Hospital. Hospice and Palliative Care
Charlotte Region was a great
support in the final days. Funeral
services will be held at 12 noon,
Saturday, October 18th, at St.
Nektarios Greek Orthodox
Church with Fr. Steve Dalber officiating. Interment will follow
at Evergreen Cemetery on Central Avenue. In lieu of flowers,
donations may be sent to Holy
Trinity Greek Orthodox Foundation of Charlotte, 600 East Blvd.,
Charlotte NC 28203 and to St.
Nektarios Greek Orthodox
Church Building Fund, 5108
Kuykendall Rd., Charlotte, NC
28270. Arrangements are in the
care of Hankins & Whittington
Funeral Service; please share
condolences online at www.hankinswhittington.com.
n GOLFIS, JAMES
DYER, IN (From the Times, published on Oct. 14) – James Golfis,
93, of Dyer, IN passed away on
Sunday, October 12, 2014. He is
survived by his sons and daughters: George (Penny) Golfis, Tom
Golfis, Charles (Denise) Golfis,
Pauline (Tim) Cleland, Anthony
(Mariellen) Golfis, Vivian Golfis,
John Golfis; grand children:
Dimitri-George, Dimitri-, Charles
(Kristen), Sam, Jenna, AnthonyJames, Jennifer, Ruben; great
grand children: Imani, Alex,
Abel-Dimitrios; brothers: Bill
(Maria) Golfis, Kostas (Ritsa)
Golfis; brothers and sister-in-law:
Athena Golfis, Andreas (Mary)
Cappos, John (Zina) Cappos,
Asimo (Pantelis) Moiras; nieces
and nephews: Jim (Peggy)
Strouzas, Kosta (Jan) Strouzas;
and numerous others in Greece
and in the U.S. He was preceded
in death by his parents Georgios
and Efrosini Golfis; wife, Froso
(Frances); brothers: Ioannis (Helen), Antonis; sisters: Tasoula
(Georgios) Strouzas, Asimo
(George) Golfis; brothers-in law:
Kostas Cappos and Dimitrios
Cappos. James was born in Egitio, Fokida Greece. He came to
the United States in 1951 after
serving in the Greek Army. He
met Froso Cappos and was married for 56 years. They raised a
family in Hammond before finally settling in Dyer, IN. James
was employed for over thirty
years and retired from BlawKnox Co. where he worked as a
painter, bricklayer and pipe-fitter. James also owned and maintained several apartment buildings. James was member of St.
Demetrios and St. George Greek
Orthodox Churches for over 50
years and also a member of the
Federation of Sterea Hellas
(MakrygiannisLidorikioton Society). James was a loving and
dedicated father, who also sponsored and assisted many immigrating to the U.S. He loved to
garden, make wine and roast
lambs. Funeral service will be
Wednesday, October 15, 2014 at
10:00 a.m. at St. George Greek
Orthodox Church, 528 W. 77th
Ave. Schererville, IN. Interment
will be at Ridgelawn Cemetery,
Gary, IN. In lieu of flowers, donations to St. George Greek Orthodox Church, in his memory
would be appreciated.
n IOANNIDIS, CHRISTOS
LIMA, OH (From the Lima News,
published on Oct. 17) – Christos
B. Ioannidis M.D., 75 passed
away at 9:15 a.m., October 14,
2014, at his residence. Christos
was born on June 14, 1939 in
Koritsa, Albania to Basilios Ioannidis, originally of Premeti, Albania and Sophia Pollatou, originally of Cephalonia, Greece who
preceded him in death. On December 16, 1976 he married
Deborah N. Covell who survives
in Lima. From 1957 to 1965, he
attended medical school at the
University of Athens, Faculty of
Medicine, School of Health Services, National and Kapodistrian
University. He practiced medicine in both England and Wales,
before completing his training
with a Neurology residency at
The Ohio State University. He
was a neurologist in Lima for
many years until his retirement.
He was a member of Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Church in
Toledo. Survivors include a son,
Glenn Bauman of Delaware,
OH.; a granddaughter, Avery
Bauman of Delaware, OH.; a sister, Chrysanthi Lefas-Tetene of
Athens, Greece; a niece, Mariani
Lefas-Tetene (Jason) Patch of
Providence, RI.; a nephew, Vasilios Lefas-Tetene of Athens; a
niece, Cara Dafoe of Athens;
brother-in-law, Michael D. Covell
of Alto Pass, IL.; a sister-in-law,
April (Jim) Pemberton of New
Jersey.; and numerous family
and friends. The family will receive friends from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., on Monday, October 20, 2014 at Chiles-Laman
Funeral Homes, Shawnee
Chapel. A private family graveside will be held at Woodlawn
Cemetery with Father Larry Lagakis officiating. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may
be made to Holy Trinity Greek
Orthodox Church building fund,
750 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH
43604; The Salvation Army or
The Humane Society of Allen
County, attention Lisa Harding
3606 Elida Rd., Elida, OH.
45807.
n KATRIS, THOMAS
MUNSTER, IN (From the PostTribune, published on Oct. 8) –
Katris, Thomas C. 87, of Munster,
IN passed away on Monday, October 6, 2014 after a courageous
battle with cancer, with his loving wife of 55 years, Kathryn by
his side. Born to Chris and Theofania Katris on June 21, 1927
in the village of Nestani, Greece,
just outside of Tripoli, Thomas
was the third youngest of nine
siblings. As Thomas experienced
the many hardships, dangers and
struggles before, during and after
World War II in Greece, he developed the strong determination, hard work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit and the love of and
faith in God and family that
would shape the rest of his life.
After immigrating to the United
States in 1951, Thomas worked
at a factory on a production line
where he developed a very cost
saving and efficient method of
production that earned him high
praise and a hefty bonus. He
later formed Katris Brothers
Builders Inc. with his younger
brother Danny in the 1950's. Together they built many new
homes in northwest Indiana.
They purchased the old Knights
of Columbus Hall in East
Chicago, IN and converted it into
the Wishing Well Restaurant and
added several apartments above
it. They then purchased the
Vogue Movie Theater also in East
Chicago, IN. Thomas briefly returned to Greece to find and
marry Kathryn on February 15,
1959, which he referred to us
"the greatest moment of his life."
He always considered himself
lucky to have found such a loving
wife and mother to their children. In 1968, Thomas became
a pipefitter and a proud Local
597 Union member until his retirement. In 1984 he and his wife
purchased and operated what
was later named Kathy's Kitchen
Restaurant. Together they
worked seven days a week,
morning and night to provide for
their family. While a resident of
Munster, IN from the 1950's to
the 1970's,Thomas was a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Hammond, IN.
From the 1980's to 2004 he lived
in Crown Point, IN and attended
the St. Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church in Merrillville, IN. He was also a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Greek
Orthodox Church in Boulder, CO
from 2009 to 2014. Thomas became a Freemason in the early
1970's and was a member of
AHEPA since the 1950's. Thomas
has a variety of hobbies. He
made his own wine from grapes
he pressed himself. His life-long
enjoyment and passion for gardening provided loved ones and
friends a never ending array of
delicious vegetables. He donated
his tremendous surplus to his
church and a food bank. He composed poetry and many songs
and was complemented for his
great singing voice. He also loved
to chant in church from the time
he was a child. Thomas will always be deeply loved by his family for his warmth, kindness and
generosity and very proud of all
of his accomplishments and
achievements. He lived life on
his terms and truly lived life to
the fullest. Thomas is survived
by is wife, Kathryn (Eliopoulos)
Katris; sons, Chris Katris of Munster, IN, John (Georgia) Katris of
Munster, IN and Frank Katris of
Plainfield, IN; his daughter,
Frances (Louis) Gonis of
Louisville, CO; his grandchildren,
Marianna Gonis, George Gonis
and Katherine Katris; his brother,
Danny Katris of Chico, CA. Visitation will be on Thursday, October 9, 2014 from 3:00-8:00
p.m. with a prayer service at
6:30 p.m. at Kish Funeral Home,
10000 Calumet Ave, Munster, IN.
Funeral service and interment
will be at St. Anthony Greek Orthodox Monastery in Florence,
AZ In lieu of flowers, donations
may be made to St. Athony's
Greek Orthodox Monastery,
4784 N. St. Joseph's Way, Florence, AZ. 85132. www.kishfuneralhome.net.
CLASSIFIEDS
n PRIBAS, JOHN GEORGE
CHARLOTTE, NC (From the
Charlotte Observer, published on
Oct. 6) – John George Pribas 81,
of Charlotte, passed away on Saturday, October 4th, 2014. He
was surrounded by his loving
wife and family. John was born
on July 25th, 1933, to the late
George and Maria Pribas in Agios
Nikolaos, Evrytania, Greece.
John immigrated to this country
in 1954 and was sponsored and
warmly welcomed by the family
of his late Uncle Nick and Aunt
Demetra Dross. John was a longtime member of Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Cathedral and
an active member of the Evrytanian Association. Many in the
Charlotte area knew him as the
owner of the Ole Smokehouse
restaurant for over 35 years. He
enjoyed serving great barbecue,
taking care of his customers and
greeting each of them with his
genuine smile. After retiring in
2001, he was able to further his
entrepreneurial spirit by marketing his famous barbecue sauce.
He was also able to spend more
of his time on his lifelong enthusiasm for financial investing. He
enjoyed learning and much of
his knowledge was self-taught.
John was the eternal optimist
and always chose to look for the
good in other people and situations around him. His dealings
with others were always characterized by his strong work ethic
and character, integrity and kindness. John was most proud of his
family and the life he built with
his loving wife of 50 years, Vasiliki (Koula) Pribas. He was a constant source of inspiration to his
children and grandchildren. He
was their role model and hero.
He championed the message that
the "sky is the limit." John is survived by his adoring wife, Vasiliki
(Koula) Pribas; children, Maria
Pribas Diamantis and and her
husband Michael of Charlotte,
NC, Ann Pribas Papastrat and her
husband Jon of Atlanta, GA and
George Pribas and his wife Carrie, also of Atlanta, GA. His surviving grandchildren, Dean,
Jonathan, Matthew, Christina
Pribas, Christina Diamantis and
John, who were blessed to have
the most loving and wonderful
Pappou. Survivors also include
Nick and Demetra Sitaras and
family, Demetra Sitaras and family, John and Fran Dross and
family, Nick and Stella Matalas
and family and Koula Litchos as
well as many godchildren, nieces
and nephews in Charlotte and
Greece. Funeral service for John
will be held at 11:00 am Tuesday,
October 7th, 2014, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
600 East Blvd. , Charlotte, NC,
28203. Interment will follow at
Evergreen Cemetery. The Trisagion service will be held on Monday, October 6th , at 7:00pm at
the Cathedral. Pallbearers for the
service will be Chris Burlos, Nick
Dross, George Evagoras, Jimmy
Holevas, Dennis Kastriches, Sam
Kastriches, Dimitri Nickols and
John Sitaras. Memorials may be
made to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 600 East
Blvd., Charlotte, NC, 28203 or
Panagia Proussiotisa Elatos, c/o
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox
Cathedral. Arrangements are in
the care of Hankins & Whittington Funeral Service; please share
condolences online at www.hankinswhittington.com.
n TOKOS, MARY
WYCKOFF, NJ (From the
Record/Herald News published
on Oct. 15) – Dr. Mary B., PHD
(nee Barkas), 91 years old, fell
asleep in the Lord on Sunday,
October 12, 2014. Mary was
born in New York City and
raised in Astoria, Queens along
with her younger sisters Diana
and Helen. A graduate of Julia
Richmond High School, she began work as a bookkeeper for
her father's fur manufacturing
business while taking courses at
Hunter College. Mary's parent's
William and Agnes Barkas emigrated from Kastoria, Greece. In
1943, Mary, along with her
friends in the Kastorian Girl's
Society (as she wrote 50 years
later) "…had to do something
for the war effort…and decided
that they would "write and publish a newspaper to send to our
boys overseas." Twenty seven issues later, they celebrated peace
leaving a legacy of life in America during the war. Mary became engaged to her beloved
husband of 60 years, Pasquale
M. Toskos, while he was overseas. Upon his return and discharge from the Army they wed
in April of 1946. Their union
produced two children, five
grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren. Mary continued
to work while raising her family
and attending Hunter College at
night. In 1965 she received her
Bachelor of Arts degree and began teaching high school. Eventually, she became an Assistant
Principal at Bryant High School
in Queens and later on at Boys
and Girls High School in Brooklyn. During her teaching career,
she touched the lives of many
teachers and students, stressing
the importance of education.
Continuing her education, Mary
obtained a Master's Degree from
Hunter College and in 1993 she
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
Notice of formation of ABUNDANCE YOGA,
LLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of
Organization filed with the Secretary of
State of New York (SSNY) on 07/31/2014.
Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against
the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail
process to: c/o United States Corporation
Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202,
Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any Lawful
Purpose.
274082/19254
LEGAL NOTICE
Notice of formation of 20 DEGREES,
AMERICAN CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE
ROASTERS, LLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of
State of New York (SSNY) on 09/03/2014.
Office location: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against
the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail
process to: c/o United States Corporation
Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202,
Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any Lawful
Purpose.
274081/19253
Notice of Formation of OVER THE EIGHT LLC
Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY
(SSNY) on 02/13/13. Office location: Kings
County. SSNY designated as agent of llc upon
whom process against it may be served. SSNY
shall mail process to: c/o U.S. Corp. Agents, Inc.,
7014 13th Ave., Ste. 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228,
regd. agent upon whom and at which process
may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
274024/17976
LEGAL NOTICE
Notice of Application for Authority of
ROCKSTEADY GAMBIT LLC, a foreign
LLC.
Application for Authority filed with Secy. of State
of NY (SSNY) on 9/10/2014. LLC organized in
DE on 8/29/2014. NY office locations: Kings
County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon
whom process against it may be served. SSNY
shall mail copy of process to: 250 N.10th St.,
Apt.#640, Bklyn, NY 11211. Office address in jurisdiction of organization: ROCKSTEADY
GAMBIT LLC copy of articles of organization on
file with Secy. of State of DE, 401 Federal St.
Ste.#4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose of LLC: Web
site consulting .
274020/19219
LEGAL NOTICE
LEGAL NOTICE
PLG-VYNE, LLC, a domestic LLC, filed
with the SSNY on 6/24/14. Office
location: Kings County. SSNY is
designated as agent upon whom process
against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall
mail process to: The LLC, 296 New York
Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11216. General Purposes.
274072/10709
Notice of Formation of DCAP Of ALBANY AVE
LLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization
filed with the Secretary of State of New York,
County. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom
process against the LLC may be served. SSNY
shall mail process to: State of United States
Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th
Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228.
Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
LEGAL NOTICE
274049/19176
Notice of formation of MICH-MASH PRODUCTIONS
LLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization
filed with the Secretary of State of New York,
County. SSNY is designated as agent upon
whom process against the LLC may be served.
SSNY shall mail process to: Micheline Heal,
218 S 3rd St., #12, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
274066/19249
LEGAL NOTICE
Notice of Formation of JUSTIFIED JIMMY LLC
a (DOM LLC). Articles of Organization filed
with the Secretary of State of New York,
(SSNY) on 02/18/2014. Office location:
Nassau County. SSNY is designated as agent
upon whom process against the LLC may be
served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC,
335 Nassau Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530.
Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
LEGAL NOTICE
274047/19240
Notice of Formation of MANHATTAN
EATS LLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of
State of New York, (SSNY) on
08/11/2014. Office location: Nassau
County. SSNY is designated as agent upon
whom process against the LLC may be
served. SSNY shall mail process to: Laura
Araujo, 2160 Jerusalem Avenue, North
Merrick, NY 11566. Purpose: Any Lawful
Purpose.
274065/19248
LEGAL NOTICE
EMC 2 Bushwick LLC Arts of Org filed
with NY Sec of State (SSNY) on 7/23/14.
Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as
agent of LLC upon whom process may be
served. SSNY shall mail process to: 12-01
Estates Ln, Bayside, NY 11360. General
Purposes.
274064/18351
LEGAL NOTICE
1871 86TH ST., LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with
the SSNY on 09/12/2014. Office loc: Kings
County. SSNY has been designated as agent
upon whom process against the LLC may be
served. SSNY shall mail process to: 1873
86th St., Brooklyn, NY 11214. Purpose: Any
Lawful Purpose.
274046/16818
LEGAL NOTICE
of
Qualification
of
SHIFT
Notice
CAMPANARIO LLC
Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/01/14. Office location: Kings
County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on
09/24/14. Princ. office of LLC: 362 Pacific
St., Ste. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11217. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process
against it may be served. SSNY shall mail
process to Law Offices of M.W. McCarthy at
the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC:
2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington,
DE 19808. Arts. of Org. filed with The DE
Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover,
DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
274037/17976
LEGAL NOTICE
Notice of Formation of SOL IMPORTS LLC a
(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filed
with the Secretary of State of New York,
(SSNY) on 09/19/2014. Office location:
Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent
upon whom process against the LLC
may be served. SSNY shall mail process to:
SOL IMPORT LLC., 936 51ST ST STE 1,
Brooklyn, NY 11219. Purpoce: Any Lawful
Purpose.
274026/19225
FUNERAL HOMES
LITRAS
VASILIOS LITRAS
OF THE ORIGINAL
FAMILY OF
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
Basil Litras Funeral Home
117 Washington Ave.,
Pleasantville, NY 10570
Nationwide Toll Free
866-725-4872
Chapel Facilities Available
in the Metro Area
for your convenience.
Not affiliated with
any other Funeral Home
LITRAS FUNERAL HOME
ARLINGTON
BENSON DOWD, INC
FUNERAL HOME
83-15 Parsons Blvd.,
Jamaica, NY 11432
(718) 858-4434
• (800) 245-4872
APOSTOLOPOULOS
Apostle Family Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew Funeral Directors of
RIVERDALE
FUNERAL HOME Inc.
5044 Broadway
New York, NY 10034
(212) 942-4000
Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLE
CONSTANTINIDES
FUNERAL PARLOR Co.
(718) 745-1010
Services in all localities Low cost shipping to Greece
LEGAL NOTICE
Blazer Capital Fund II LP filed an App. for
Authority with the Department of State of NY
on 9/10/2014. Jurisdiction: DE, and the date
of its formation is 9/9/14. Office location in
NYS: Kings. The Secretary of State of NY ("SSNY") is designated as agent upon whom
process against it may be served. The address
to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of such
process is: c/o Harvey R. Hirschfeld, 26 Court
St., Ste. 1104, Brooklyn, NY 11242. The
address in DE is 615 S. Dupont Hwy., Dover,
DE 19901. A copy of the Articles of
Organization may be obtained from DE Secretary of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE
19903. The list of names and addresses of all
general partners is available from the
Secretary of State. The purpose of the LP is any
lawful act.
ANTONOPOULOS
FUNERAL HOME, INC.
Konstantinos Antonopoulos Funeral Director
38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,
Astoria, New York 11105
(718) 728-8500
Not affiliated with any
other funeral home.
274025/11629
to PlAce your clAssiFied Ad, cAll: (718) 784-5255,
ext. 106, e-mAil: classifieds@ thenationalherald.com
received her Doctorate from
New York University. It was a
proud moment for her family!
Following her retirement, Mary
remained active in Church and
professional activities. She and
"Pas" enjoyed traveling around
the world with friends. Mary
was a gourmet cook and baker.
She entertained a houseful of
family and friends each year in
celebration of Greek Easter, at
which time everyone looked forward to her specialties such as
sauerkraut peta and her famous
kourabiedes. In 2003, Mary and
Pas moved to Washington Twp.,
NJ and became parishioners of
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox
Church where they joined Kali
Parea, a senior adult organization. Following Paquale's stroke,
this is a service
to the community.
Announcements of deaths
may be telephoned to the
classified department of
the national herald at
(718) 784-5255,
monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. est
or e-mailed to:
[email protected]
they moved to The Cupola, an
assisted living facility in Paramus. After his death, Mary continued to live there, receiving
the loving care she required
later in life. Mary is preceded in
death by her husband Pasquale.
She is survived by her son, Honorable Menelaos W. Toskos, and
his wife, Chrissie, her daughter,
Dr. Karen Toskos Robertson and
her husband, Dr. W. Scott
Robertson,
grandchildren,
Stephanie (and Tommy) Stavrianos, Gregory Toskos (and
Chrisoula) Toskos and Christopher Toskos, Andrew Robertson,
and Audrey (and Richard) Kinsman and her great grandchildren, Kyra, Dean, Andrew, Angeliki, Manny, Demetra, Will
and Wyatt, and her sister-in-law
Katherine Papazoglou, nieces
and nephews, Eve, Nancy and
Christine Costopoulos, Paul and
Bill Petkanas, Cathy Toskos,
Manny and Steve Papazoglou.
A funeral service will be held at
9:30 AM on Friday, October
17th at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 467 Grandview
Avenue, Wyckoff, NJ. She will
be laid to rest in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, NY. May her
memory be eternal!
GREECE CYPRUS
11
Troika Squeezes Greece Over Reforms, Pension Cuts Pushed
ATHENS – Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ uneasy coalition
government is being choked by
international lenders to stop
dragging its feet and finish some
700 undone reforms, including
another pension cut, before the
envoys return to check the
books and progress.
Technical teams from the
Troika of the European UnionInternational Monetary FundEuropean Central Bank (EUIMF-ECB) were to return on
Nov. 4 but they want an answer
why there hasn’t been more
work done, particularly on the
pension reform Samaras wants
to avoid, having vowed he
would never, ever again in his
life implement more austerity
measures on beleaguered
Greeks.
Reuters reported that the
government has sent a letter to
the EU and IMF making its case
to take the demand for merging
of supplementary pension funds
to be taken off the table. Big pay
cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions
and worker firings have decimated support for Samaras’
New Democracy Conservatives
and his partner, the PASOK Socialists.
A source with knowledge of
the Troika’s positions told
Kathimerini that it is unlikely
Greece’s lenders will allow
Athens to ignore some of its
commitments.
“The IMF officials cannot go
to the Fund’s executive board
and recommend the disbursement of the loan installment if
the Greek government has not
done anything to fulfill some of
the memorandum pledges,” said
the official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
According to Troika sources,
Greece has so far completed
only around half of the bailout
commitments that remain, with
little progress having been made
since the summer.
The government is hoping to
improve on this but the key for
concluding the current program
review is agreement on what
AP Photo/Petros GiAnnAkouris
Storms in Athens Cause Disasters
Cars are piled up after a storm in Athens, on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. As stormy weather hit Greece,
torrents of rain swamped Athens, flooding basements and underpasses and, in a low-lying part of
the capital, sweeping away and piling up parked cars. More than 130 firemen, assisted by dozens
of water-pumping vehicles, rushed to answer about 500 calls for help with flooding in the greater
Athens area late Friday, but authorities said there were no reports of deaths or injuries.
Greece’s lenders call “structural
benchmarks.”
These benchmarks include
further changes to the pension
system, making mass dismissals
easier, measures to close a fiscal
gap the Troika estimates at
some 2 billion euros and overhauling the wage structure in
the civil service.
Greek pensioners have been
protesting benefit cuts for more
than 4 1/2 years to no avail as
the government has continued
to slash payments for the most
vulnerable in society while exempting Parliament workers
and the politically protected.
A SYRIZA Member of Parliament Alexis Mitropoulos demanded the immediate revocation of the appointment of the
EU’s new Pensions Commissioner Peter Ratcliffe and
charged Greece was working
with him to cut pensions again
on Jan. 1.
NO MORE BAILOUTS
Samaras came away from a
meeting of European Union
leaders here without a consensus on an early exit from bailout
leaders with international
lenders.
Nothing was agreed despite
a series of meetings with EU officials, including European Central Bank President Mario
Draghi as well as French President Francois Hollande, Italian
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi,
Dutch President Mark Rutte,
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy and Irish leader Enda
Kenny.
“Nothing has been decided
yet,” said Samaras at a news
conference, during which he
added that discussions about
Greece exiting its bailout at the
end of the year with a precautionary credit line are continuing.
“They are all sympathetic to
our cause,” said Samaras, with-
out giving any more details
about his talks on the sidelines
of the European Council.
“Our aim is to return to normality and for Greece to become
a normal country,” added the
premier, who admitted that the
lack of economic growth in the
Eurozone as well as geopolitical
dangers in other parts of the
world are creating concern
about how Greece might cope
if it leaves its bailout.
Reuters reported the government has sent a letter to the EU
and the International Monetary
Fund outlining its case for demands for further pension reform to be removed from the
ongoing review of the Greek
program. An official told the
news agency that Athens argues
in the letter that the current
pension system is viable until
2060.
The Troika had asked the
government to merge several
supplementary pension funds by
next month but this would lead
to a further cut to pensions,
which the coalition wants to
avoid as Samaras said he would
never, ever again impose any
more of the austerity measures
that have created record unemployment, deep poverty and
decimated support for his coalition government.
LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE
Greece’s Deputy Premier/Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the PASOK Socialists, hinted that the country’s
voters may be able to decide the
course of an uncompleted deal
with international lenders, the
kind of referendum that brought
down the previous government
headed by the party’s thenleader and previous Premier,
George Papandreou.
Speaking after he met with
Samaras, the Socialist chief said
the two had decided to try to
build up some kind of agree-
ment by the Dec. 8 meeting of
Eurozone leaders that would
create the path to an early exit
from what remains of two
bailouts.
Greece has been surviving
since 2010 on two rescue packages of 240 billion euros ($306
billion) from the Troika, but
Samaras wants to break away
as soon as possible because the
attached austerity measures
have decimated support for the
ruling parties.
“The country has a framework for exiting the memorandum and moving to the next
stage that has been thoroughly
worked through and planned,”
Venizelos said in a vague statement that gave no details.
“What is necessary now is for
us to rally behind this effort and
to have the stability, unity, consensus and responsibility required,” he added.
Venizelos also underlined
that with the Presidential elections coming up in February, for
which the government has not
yet found the 180 votes it needs
to elect a successor to Karolos
Papoulias, the government had
to be “very careful and very responsible.”
Hinting at the possibility of
early elections, if a new President is not elected, the PASOK
leader said that voters might
even have the final say on an
agreement between the government and the Troika, making it
clear “if they accept and support
the completed and agreed safe
solution or if they will accept an
adventure and a journey into
the unknown,” Kathimerini said.
Venizelos said any deal with
the Troika would have to include some kind of credit line
as a buffer, repeating statements
Samaras made reluctantly after
his talk of an early exit roiled
the Greek stock market and rattled investors and analysts.
SYRIZA Keeps Grip On Lead Over ND
ATHENS – It wasn’t much, but
the ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras have managed to
cut into the lead in polls of the
major opposition Coalition of the
Radical Left (SYRIZA) party.
The survey in the Efimerida
ton Syntakon paper showed that
the Leftist are still up by a big
8.5 percent but that they had lost
0.5 percent and New Democracy
had gained two percent among
voters after Samaras promised
big giveways and tax cuts, even
though he doesn’t have the okay
yet from international lenders.
The poll put SYRIZA at 35.5
percent and New Democracy
with 27. To Potami is in third
place at 10.5 percent, followed
by the Communist Party (KKE)
at 6.5, while Samaras’ coalition
partner the PASOK Socialists are
tied with the extremist Golden
Dawn Party at 6 percent.
The Independent Greeks have
3 percent and former coalition
partner the Democratic Left (DIMAR) with only 1 percent, far
below the 3 percent threshold
needed to enter Parliament in
the next elections.
If this was the result of the
next general elections, SYRIZA
would gain 144 seats and New
Democracy 71, although 151 is
needed to control Parliament,
showing the likelihood of another coalition. The proportion
of Greeks who think there will
be early elections rose from 54
to 63 percent over the last
month.
SYRIZA began to surge after
its leader, Alexis Tsipras,
promised to reverse the course
of austerity that the government
imposed if he comes to power.
WILL THERE BE
A MR. PRESIDENT?
The polls are critical because
Samaras and PASOK want to
thwart SYRIZA from blocking
election of a Greek President in
February, 2015. Naming someone to replace Karolos Papoulias
requires 180 votes in the 300member Parliament but the
coalition has only 155.
Failure to elect a President
could force snap elections before
the government’s term runs out
in 2016 and Samaras is trying to
close the gap with SYRIZA before
then.
Tsipras is trying to pressure
lawmakers outside the ruling
parties to make their intentions
known on how they will vote.
Tsipras is moving to squeeze
Members of Parliament and has
This Week in Greek History:
King George Restored
to the Monarchy
TNH Staff
“Have suitcase, will travel”
could very well have been an
appropriate motto for King
George II of Greece, who on November 3, 1935 returned to
Greece and became king, after
having followed his father, King
Constantine I, into exile in
1917.
George’s younger brother,
Alexander, became king during
the Venizelos years, and due to
his young age (24) and limited
powers was referred to as a
“puppet king,” even though under this direction Greek forces
made territorial gains in Bulgaria.
Following Alexander’s death
in 1920 under bizarre circumstances, from a bite by a palace
gardener’s monkey, which the
king was trying to separate from
a scuffle with his dog, Fritz,
there was concern about the future of Greece’s monarchy.
After being installed as king
from 1922-1924, George was
sent into exile, but returned
eleven years later, in 1935, to
be elected king – albeit under
suspect conditions. Reportedly,
voters were intimidated –
threatened with and subjected
to physical violence if they did
not vote for the king.
The volatile general Giorgios
Kondylis orchestrated George’s
return, but the king and he later
already succeeded in getting Independent Greeks (ANEL) leader
Panos Kammenos to pledge his
party’s 14 votes to the Leftists’ 71.
With the Democratic Left (DIMAR), a former member of the
coalition already indicating it
would also not vote for the ruling
parties nominee, that gives the
SYRIZA alliance another 10 votes
for a total of 95. That means
Samaras and Tsipras will be
wrestling over the remaining 50
and the coalition needs 25 of
them.
Speaking at a meeting of
SYRIZA’s central committee,
Tsipras claimed that by maintaining an “equivocal stance” on
whether they would back the
coalition’s candidate to succeed
President Papoulias, MPs are fueling fears of last-minute backroom deals to ensure that the
nominee is elected and early
elections are avoided.
“For us the issue is not numerical, it is political,” he said.
“It does not have to do with who
is president, it has to do with the
government no longer having
the democratic legitimacy to continue destroying the country.”
Tsipras’ comments came as a
survey by the University of Macedonia showed the Leftists are
now 7.5 percentage points ahead
of New Democracy after another
poll last week gave them a 6.5
percent lead, and one earlier put
it as high as 11 percent.
The shift toward SYRIZA
came after Tsipras promised to
reverse the course of austerity
and after a number of previous
polls over the previous year had
shown the two parties changing
positions in the number one spot
but with a negligible margin of
error.
AP Photo/Petros kArAdjiAs
FM’s of Greece, Cyprus and Egypt Meet Amidst Regional Tension
Cyprus' Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, centre, shakes hands with his counterparts of
Egypt Sameh Shoukry, right, and Greek Evangelos Venizelos after their meeting at the foreign
ministry in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014. Venizelos, Kasoulides and
Shoukry, told reporters after his meeting with President Anastasiades that Greece will be
making its presence more felt in the seas off Cyprus but that it was due to its NATO and U.N.
obligations and not because of Turkey’s recent activities in the area.
Warships Undercut Cyprus Unification Talks
cep Tayyip Erdogan ignored
them.
Despite that, Samaras said he
was okay with the EU’s stance.
“There is an important decision
in which Europe calls on Turkey
to respect Cyprus, its territorial
waters and its sovereign right in
the EEZ,” Samaras said during
a news conference after the
meeting. He didn’t mention
Ankara paid no attention to the
missive.
The Cyprus government
spokesman said he was “very
satisfied” with the EU leaders’
statement. The final version of
the conclusions came after three
drafts, with Athens and Nicosia
only being satisfied with the final version.
British Prime Minister David
Cameron was the only leader to
suggest that the language re-
garding Turkey should be toned
down, sparking disagreement
with Samaras. German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed
Cyprus’s right to have its own
EEZ.
In Athens, Foreign Minister
Evangelos Venizelos also issued
a message to Turkey, saying “a
country cannot have ambitions
to become an EU member if it
does not recognize one of the
other members.”
In Greece, Patronage and Bribery Prevail
TNH Staff
George II, King of the Hellenes
argued over policy, and George
removed the general, which
prompted shifts in government
until the rise of another dictatorial general, Ioannis Metaxas.
Under
the
King
George/Metaxas reign, there
was a wave of censorship
throughout Greece, including
the banning of the classical
works of Plato and Thucydides.
During World War II while
under German attack, the king
fled to Crete, later to Egypt, and
at the behest of Egypt’s King
Farouk, who had strong ties to
Italy, was exiled to Great Britain.
George never abdicated the
throne, and returned once again
to Greece after the war, in 1946,
as king, but died a year later.
ATHENS – Greece’s crushing
economic crisis has largely seen
politicians, the rich and privileged escape sacrifice while
hammering workers, elderly and
the poor with punishing austerity measures – and it seems like
that will always be the case.
While the country’s international lenders, the European
Union-International Monetary
Fund-European Central Bank
Troika have insisted on big pay
cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions
and worker firings, it has been
less adamant about breaking the
system of patronage and bribery
that have dominated Greek politics for four decades.
Alternating administrations
of the now-ruling New Democracy Conservatives of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his
coalition partner, the PASOK Socialists, have taken turns plundering Greece in a different way:
packing public payrolls with
hundreds of thousands of needless workers in return for votes,
leading the country four years
ago to seek what turned into two
bailouts of 240 billion euros
($317 billion) from the Troika.
They also ignored runaway
corruption that still persists –
along with patronage during a
time when thousands of workers
without political protection are
being fired.
In an analysis, Tony Barber
of the Financial Times (FT) indicated that nothing much will
change in those arenas because
the plutocrats of Greece have almost always had their way and
probably will, even after the
Troika leaves.
Samaras wants the lenders
out fast now, and is seeking an
early exit from the deals Greece
made with them, because the
austerity measures have decimated support for the government and he has responded with
promises of tax cuts and giveaways – without consulting
them.
That’s because the government, with only 154 votes in the
300-member Parliament, needs
180 votes in February to elect
its choice of the next Greek Pres-
ident for a symbolic office that
largely consists of whomever is
holding the position sitting for
photo opportunities and smiling.
Samaras is in a rush, the
piece said, because he hopes that
gaining an early exit from the
Troika will give his government
a position of strength to deal
with the Presidential election
and try to thwart the poll-leading SYRIZA, which said it will
try block the ruling parties candidate and force an early election before the next scheduled
polls in 2016.
That’s why, as puzzling as it
seems, Samaras is content to
push Greece back into the markets and pay 7-9 percent for borrowing money, almost twice as
much as the Troika charges.
Most of the bailout monies run
out this year but IMF funds are
scheduled to be disbursed for
two more years, but Samaras is
fearful the lenders will push for
more reforms, including pension
cuts, he want to avoid at all
costs.
For Samaras, the report said,
“This is not primarily a financial
matter. It is about national dignity and, as is to be expected in
a democracy, political calculation.”
Underpinning the whole battle over a President though is
the backdrop of patronage and
bribery in Greece, which has the
worst record for corruption in
Europe,
despite
constant
promises of reform that haven’t
been delivered, apart from a few
high-level political prosecutions
– which were followed in some
cases by drastically reduced sentences.
“The crisis dealt a blow to the
time-hallowed system of clientelism, bribery and self-enrichment that gained fresh life in
Greece from the early 1980s under PASOK, the Socialist party,
and New Democracy,” FT said,
but added “it is pointless to deny
that public sector corruption and
patronage networks persist. In
the private sector, meanwhile,
rich Greeks made no sacrifices
to help their nation in its moment of need, ensuring the crisis
hammered the middle classes
and poor instead.”
EDITORIALS LETTERS
12
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The National Herald
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reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest
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Publisher-Editor Antonis H. Diamataris
Assistant to the Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos
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Washington’s Take on Cyprus
Finally, Washington clarified its position on the crisis in Cyprus.
And the declaration comes from the State Department, evidencing
that the issue remains distant from the White House’s purview.
In a well-crafted statement, the State Department said that
“we continue to believe that the island’s oil and gas resources
should be equitably shared between both communities in the
context of an overall settlement.”
In principle, we agree that an “equitable” sharing implies that
Turkish Cypriots are entitled to a percentage of the hydrocarbons.
After all, they are residents of Cyprus, too. Any position to the
contrary would be devoid of logic, and unsupportable by objective
criteria.
But Washington’s position is overly vague. For example, what
would an equitable sharing amount to? To us – and surely not
only us – equity should be based on conditions that existed prior
to the invasion. Any conquests through military force surely cannot be considered part of a fair distribution.
The focal point of Washington’s involvement – and the hope
for an overall resolution to the Cyprus problem – is the existence
of the oil reserves themselves, which should serve as a motivator
to both sides for a fresh perspective in negotiations. For instance,
any economic hardships a solution might bring can be replenished
via a share of the ample hydrocarbon reserves.
Then, it would be matter of negotiating the “difficult” issues.
But how can one negotiate with a gun to the head? How can you
sit at the table with someone who comes into your house without
your permission and behaves like your landlord?
The State Department, of course, did not provide an answer.
Its interest is in the defusing of conditions that may increase
“tension in the region.” But isn’t such tension already increased
with the presence of the Turkish ships in the territorial waters of
the Republic?
What would have counted would have been Washington’s requiring Ankara to withdraw its ships immediately. As we recently
noted: "this crisis can act as a catalyst for a meaningful solution
to the Cyprus problem." Surely there are conditions. But they
shouldn’t be limited solely to what Turkey wants.
Failing Truth Stress Test
Greece is putting itself in an unnecessarily difficult position:
it is wrong to present the recent Eurozone bank stress test
results as a victory for Greek banks.
The truth is, there is no victory. Only one out of four – Alpha
Bank – passed the tests. The other three, Eurobank, Piraeus,
and the National Bank of Greece, all failed. (Unfortunately, the
same thing happened in Cyprus, where three banks there did
not meet the difficult criteria of the auditors given its economic
crisis – more on that, below.)
These realities were also manifest in the best indicators regarding these issues: the stock exchange. The General Index of
the Athens Exchange closed at 958.69 points – down 3.29 percent. The banking index fell 3.77 percent. At one point it was
down 6 percent.
So, why not tell the truth? Can’t the people understand, or
handle the truth? And if the Greek media is hiding the truth,
will the people not learn it by osmosis from outside the country,
especially from the Internet and foreign newspapers?
The issue is not that most banks failed the stress tests. That
was relatively well-known. The question is how realistic are
the plans the banks will submit in two weeks to strengthen
their capital base, so they can finally get out of this situation?
What the government actually achieved by misrepresenting
the facts was that it damaged or called into question its credibility, faith in the banks, and the media’s reliability. This is not
how to improve a nation’s psyche climate. On the contrary, it
makes it worse.
The Greek banks are relatively small and as such, do not
gain the attention of the international media, which were focused on Italy – a nation in worse shape than Greece. Eleven
Italian banks failed – a larger and therefore greater threat to
Europe’s banking system.
But even relatively small banks cannot hide. Consider the
situation misinformation that prevails in Cyprus, a situation
much worse than has been presented. At least they put their
former Central Bank Governor, Christodoulos Christodoulou,
in prison. That sends a powerful message. We wish something
similar would happen in Athens.
Rather, as Tony Barber wrote this week in the Financial
Times, “it cannot be denied that corruption and favoritism continue to exist. In the private sector, meanwhile, rich Greeks
made no sacrifices to help their nation…ensuring the crisis
hammered the middle classes and poor instead.”
That is a great shame, and a topic in much need of discussion.
Press-Polemic Presidency?
Greek-American Charities
For Greece Should Unite
To the Editor:
On October 19, a very important event marked the beginning of a new era in charitable
contribution to Greece.
The Lakonian Initiative inspired and managed by a visionary Committee of Organizers
raised a significant amount of
monies to directly support the
charities sponsored by the Metropolis of Lakonia/Sparta in
Greece. Congratulations to the
grassroots organization of Greek
TO OUR READERS
the national herald welcomes
letters from its readers intended for publication. they
should include the writer’s
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island city, ny 11101. letters
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letters for publication and regret that we are unable to acknowledge or return those left
unpublished.
American New Yorkers with
roots in the perennially free areas of Greece in the Southern
Peloponnesos, who worked together with patriotic fire and sacred goals to help the needy in
their area of interest in Greece.
Yes, it takes effort, belief in
your values, and rising above
self-aggrandizement, and it
shows how Greeks of the Diaspora today, like their ancient ancestors, join hands in the fight
against poverty, illness, and economic occupation in Greece.
Furthermore, other organizations like the Hellenic Relief and
the Athenian Society have been
successful in similar projects.
AHEPA is focusing on its
named Greek hospitals and the
Journey to Greece of Greek
American youth. The Panarcadian Association of America, the
Cretans, Chiotes, and Epirotes,
have supported hospitals and
community endeavors in their
areas. The Hellenic Initiative is
sponsoring entrepreneurship in
Greece.
Also, the Greek American
Archdiocese through the IOCC
has sent supplies for the needy
and the hospitals in Greece.
There are many charitable
organizations with noble missions all over Greece that deserve the Omogenia's financial
and spiritual support.
Our Greek-American geot-
opic organizations need to identify these charities, create grassroots initiatives like the
Lakones, collect monies that will
be spent with direct supervision
of the selected charity.
We work well in a city-state
mentality, but time has come to
coordinate our efforts and become more effective in delivering to the noteworthy charities
of Greece.
An umbrella organization in
New York City with representation from all major Greek-American organizations that focus on
charitable contribution to
Greece must organize a conference to figure out how to maximize our efforts.
Greek America has actively
supported Greece throughout
history, and will continue to give
with criteria based on meritocracy.
Dr. Spyros G.E. Mezitis
New York, NY
Dr. Spyros G.E. Mezitis, MD,
PhD, is president of the Federation of Hellenic Medical
Societies of North America.
GeorGe sArAFoGlou / sPeciAl to the nAtionAl herAld
AGORA – THE ORIGINAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS
By Dan Georgakas and
Constantinos E. Scaros
From time to time, an issue emerges and
inspires various minds to converge, often at
odds with one another, to discuss it. Hopefully,
collective enlightenment will result from such
conversations. The Ancient Greeks did that in
the Agora, the original marketplace of ideas,
and we, their modern-day descendants, aspire
to continue that tradition. We respect one another’s opinion very much,
but often times we will disagree on particular
issues. We would never fabricate a difference
of opinion for the sake of writing an interesting
column.
Rest assured, anything we write here are
our sincere, heartfelt thoughts.
We will share them with you every two
weeks. We hope you enjoy them, and we look
forward to your taking part in the discussion
as well – by contributing letters to the editor in
response, and/or commenting on our website:
America’s Eating Habits: Taking it with a Grain of Salt
GEORGAKAS PRESENTS
HIS POINT OF VIEW
Dino, I’d be interested in your
reaction to how mass media reports on health issues. I am particularly appalled by the way
news about the American diet is
presented. A new study or book
that attacks current medical advice usually gets considerable
coverage. People who do not
want to change their eating
habits are left believing science
is on their side or that there is
no scientific consensus. If they
read the full study or book, they
would find it mainly confirms
existing science and only suggests moderate modifications.
The mass media sensationalist syndrome is evident in the
extensive coverage given to a recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of
Medicine. Among numerous
conclusions, the study reported
that not having enough salt in
one’s diet was as bad as those
having too much.
During a recent broadcast of
the McLaughlin Group, a political roundtable, the host gleefully
informed viewers that the New
England Journal of Medicine
had shown that people could use
as much salt as they wanted. He
ridiculed
ex-NYC
Mayor
Bloomberg for his efforts to curb
the excessive use of salt in fast
food outlets, saying Bloomberg
had been misinformed.
But it is John McLaughlin
who is misinformed. Critics of
the Journal article have pointed
out that the people in the study
who had high death rates and
low salt intake were often cancer
patients and other terminally ill
persons who were eating little of
anything. Not adjusting the findings to take out such data is a
grave disservice to all Americans
and life-threatening to the millions of Americans who have
heart disease, high blood pressure, or kidney problems.
Excessive salt intake causes
the body to retain water. One
consequence is a gain in weight.
More menacing is that excessive
fluid in the lungs can lead to
pneumonia, a major killer of people with heart disease. Excessive
salt also raises blood pressure
and strains the kidneys and the
heart in various ways.
Medical authorities have determined that a healthy diet
should average 1,500-2,500 mgs
of salt a day. Most Americans
consume 5,000+. Many Americans respond to such data by
saying they just don’t have time
to study the sodium content
listed in packaged products.
Identifying low salt and no salt
products can indeed be timeconsuming, but spending more
time reading labels in supermarkets is certainly preferable to
spending more time in a hospital
bed.
No-salt and low-salt foods are
available in all major supermarkets. Careful shoppers will discover that salt in many common
foods is 0-50 mgs in some brands
and in the hundreds in others. In
taste tests, unsalted and low salt
SCAROS REPONDS
Dan, on this issue, the Greeks
have the rest of the world beat –
and I don’t mean just by the nowuniversally-regarded “Mediterranean Diet.” I mean the Ancient
Greeks, and their timeless saying:
Pan Metron Ariston – Everything
in Moderation. We are all going
to die of something: whether
heart disease or being hit by a
bus. So, on the one hand, we
can’t sit around worrying about
it. But on the other hand, we
shouldn’t shrug our shoulders
and not take care of our health,
either. My wife and I – who try
to eat organic as much as possible, at least in terms of the gro-
peanut butter, ketchup, pickles,
mustard, and other tasty condiments are usually indistinguishable from their heavily-salted
brethren.
Hundreds of studies of heart
disease, the nation’s number one
killer, have proven that excessive
consumption of fat leads to
clogged arteries. Moreover, x-ray
photos of already clogged arteries have shown that clogging can
be reduced by an extremely low
fat diet. Nonetheless, books such
as The Big Fat Surprise: Why
Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong
in a Healthy Diet are granted
lengthy coverage. In this case,
the title is very misleading. The
book largely endorses the existing scientific guidelines.
Detailed reporting on the fat
and salt content in fast food outlets is rare. Americans might be
surprised to learn that many
products advertised as low-fat
are loaded with salt as a taste
substitute. Less surprising is the
strikingly high fat and sugar content in most of Starbucks’ coffee
combos. Mass media would perform a great public service by reporting on such health monsters.
That, of course, would not appeal to wishful thinkers or major
advertisers.
ceries we bring home – had a
houseguest a year or so ago, a
classic junk food eater. “Don’t
people who eat organic die, too?”
he asked. “Sure they do,” I
replied, “but I think they have a
better chance of living longer,
and not spending the last 10
years of their lives in and out of
the hospital.”
The really scary thing about
poor eating habits in the United
States is that the Coca Cola and
Doritos of, say, 30 years ago were
less harmful than the ones today.
Sure, children’s toys were colored
with toxic lead paint back then,
and contained metal parts that
could take an eye out, but the
morning bowl of Captain Crunch
and the Three Musketeers chocolate bar at snack time were
healthier then than they are today.
The point you raise about lowfat foods overcompensating with
high-salt content to replace the
taste is a prime example. It’s like
those “health salads” at fast food
chains – that contain nutritious
vegetables, drizzled with poisonous salad dressing.
Simply put: foods that taste
great, to some extent, will harm
you if you consume too much of
them.
One of my favorite desserts of
all time is Pillsbury Turnovers
(apple or cherry) which contain
two horrible ingredients: high
fructose corn syrup, and partiallyhydrogenated vegetable oil. As if
one wasn’t bad enough, two together are a toxic double
whammy. That’s why I usually
don’t have them more than twice
a year.
Then there’s a masterpiece of
a sandwich: prosciutto, hot capicolla, fresh mozzarella, sweet
roasted peppers, and oil and
vinegar, all on a freshly-baked
loaf of sesame seed semolina
bread. Talk about high salt content! I figure three or four of
those a year can’t be all that bad.
My point is, if we delude ourselves into thinking we’re better
off consuming the aspartame
found in Diet Coke instead of the
sugar in regular Coke, we are deluding ourselves. Let’s have the
sugar – but less of it. Much less.
As for the media, who knows
what drives them and in whose
pocket they sit? After all, the
biggest food conglomerates –
which most people couldn’t even
identify by name –are bigger than
Walmart, General Motors, and
Disney combined. That rightwing
pundits mock healthy eating is
only because it is First Lady
Michelle Obama’s pet project. If
her message was to promote better cell phone reception, these
same pundits would say: “leave
reception alone. We like it when
we can’t get signal!”
Thankfully, the great equalizer
of our times is social media.
Through Facebook, Twitter, and
the like, the people – who are not
beholden to special interests –
can get the word out. Grass-roots
efforts have finally awakened the
sleeping giant – the American
people – who now rail against
big business’ efforts to keep consumers in the dark about foods
containing Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs).
At least we can rejoice in that
not all news media is suspect.
Even if we do say so ourselves,
Dan, our publication takes its
obligation to its readers seriously.
And you and I can write about
whatever we please, because The
National Herald is no one’s puppet on a string.
Whew! That was all quite a
mouthful. I think I’ll go have
some pretzels – but not too many.
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?
Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris
Two highly-regarded journalists called the Obama Administration “the most secretive I have ever been involved in covering,”
and “more dangerous to the press than any other in history.” We
are not one for hyperbole, and we avoid making or endorsing
extreme statements like that. Yet, we cannot ignore that these
remarks were made not by members of Obama-bashing media
outlets. The second quote is from Susan Page, Washington Bureau
Chief of the apolitical USA Today, and the first is from Jill Abramson, until recently Executive Editor of the New York Times,
which has not endorsed a Republican for president since 1956.
Hyperbole aside, then, there must be at least a kernel of truth
to these journalists’ complaints.
Although we, too, are members of the press, we recognize
the need for confidentiality in the interest of national security.
Nonetheless, we hope that in closing years of his administration,
President Obama will set the tone so that his team will operate
in the spirit of the American people’s right to be informed.
A Historic Visit to Cyprus
It can be described as something analogous to Archbishop Iakovos’ march in
Selma, Alabama in 1965, which was immortalized on that iconic cover of Life magazine.
It was in Selma, as you will recall, where
Iakovos met Martin Luther King and accompanied him on a protest march to the state
capitol in Montgomery during the difficult
years when African-Americans were fighting
for their human rights.
It was then, as Iakovos later confided in
me, that he received so many threatening
messages that he had to hire an armed
guard.
The historic journey of Archbishop
Demetrios to the occupied areas in Cyprus
is different from Iakovos’ act, yet there are
similarities.
The trip highlights the human right of
Greek Cypriots to live freely in their ancestral homes. Scenes from the archbishop’s
trip deep into the occupied lands – a visit
was made possible thanks to the mediation
of the U.S. Ambassador in Nicosia John
Koenig, who accompanied him for reasons
of security – are very touching and memorable.
Like the photo in which he embraces a
proud elderly woman, a woman whose sad
eyes, clenched lips, and uncompromising
posture say much.
It seems the old woman is bearing all
the sorrow and misfortune that struck
Cyprus 40 years ago.
But the compassionate expression of
Archbishop Demetrios also speaks volumes,
conveying the message that the Greek- and
Cypriot-American community will never forget their plight.
The visit to the Greeks who stayed behind in the occupied North is further proof
that the power of love towards the underprivileged and those afflicted for any reason
is more valuable than all the gold in the
world.
VIEWPOINTS
13
Terror in Canada: A Country Loses its Innocence
Technological Advances
Lead to Pathological Results
A Defense DepartWe have stumment software probled badly in the
gram named CarniMiddle East. Clearly,
vore scoops up
someone screwed
billions of emails
up.
messages
every
Was it George W.
minute and another
Bush for the debacle
software program
of invading Iraq in
sorts them for key2003? Or was it his
words such as “terfather, Bush 41, for
rorist” “jihad” and
“not finishing the
“falafel.”
job” after driving
As in private
Saddam out of
by AMB. PATRICK N.
business, we conKuwait by not
THEROS
cluded that the
marching to Baghtechnology
“imdad in 1991? Or
Special to
The National Herald
proved productivperhaps we should
ity” because a single
blame his successor,
Barrack Obama, for clutching satellite collected thousands of
when confronted by the revolu- photos in the time that it took a
tions that swept the Arab World spy on the ground to write a sinfour years ago and the rise of the gle report. The advances in intelIslamic State, seemingly out of ligence collection technology led
nowhere? The blame game our leadership (both parties) over
serves domestic political pur- the last three decades to systemposes marvelously; unfortunately, atically get rid of the human init diverts our attention from our telligence collector to reduce the
real failing: the collapse of the relative size of the American
American ability to gather infor- diplomatic establishment.
And guess what? The Arab
mation on our adversaries.
We completely failed to antic- Awakening, the Islamic State, the
ipate the Arab Awakening, the collapse of the Iraqi Army, and
most momentous event in the even Putin’s deadly reaction to
troubled region in half a century the Ukrainian crisis caught us all
and, just as dramatically, the Is- flatfooted and flailing for a relamic State. The Arab World fes- sponse. Information, unfortutered under corrupt and oppres- nately, is not tangible; we just
sive regimes for two generations. think it is.
That technology-based intelIsrael drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their ligence collection failed us drahomes and humiliated those matically should not surprise us.
same terrible Arab regimes. Mil- The satellite, the drones, and the
lions of young Arabs graduated software programs collect inforfrom University and, if not un- mation on “tangible things,”
employed, are doing menial jobs. which includes what people say
Western political ideologies or write. Unfortunately, the techwhether communism, socialism, nology doesn’t have a personal
secularism, or capitalism have relationship with the targeted
failed to deliver any relief. And person. (Don’t believe the SciFi
movie Her!) We can see where
his tanks are, where his money
is going and listen to what he is
telling his mistress (until, of
course, he discovers we are listening). But technology does not
give us the ability to “look into
his eyes” (to quote our most techsavvy President), have coffee or
drinks with him, or get to know
the kids. Because only then do
we have a chance of discovering
his (or her) ambitions, dreams,
and dark thoughts so we can
have a chance at guessing his
plans. Gathering data unsupported by human contact reminds me of Mark Twain’s comment about the characterization
of lies: “Lies, damned lies and
statistics.” Data tells us a lot
about consumer choices in groceries, it does not tell us a
damned thing about the new
Caliph.
No need to go abroad to see
A member of the Organization
for Security and Co-operation this fallacy in action. Watch TV
in Europe (OSCE) mission to crime programs and you soon
Ukraine gestures near a drone conclude that a cute computer
after a test flight near the geek has solved every crime. We
town of Mariupol, eastern did not notice that moving policemen from the beat on foot to
Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 23.
cruisers and putting a camera on
yet we were surprised when the every street corner effectively
region boiled over. The West’s separated the police from the
failure to anticipate Russia’s republic. Now we have police deaction to Europe’s attempt to pull partments that look like Delta
the Ukraine out of Moscow’s orbit Force or an armored cavalry regiment that can only react to crime
falls into the same category.
If we should blame anyone for but not anticipate it. It so isolates
getting it wrong, we should police from the public that they
blame ourselves and, specifically, shoot anyone looking suspicious.
our obsession with technology. Finally, if you talk to most policeThe United States and the West, men and prosecutors, they will
generally, embraced technology tell you that an ordinary human
as the solution for all its prob- snitch produces 90 percent of
lems. America’s economy grew convictions. Doesn’t that sound
dramatically in the last four a little bit like the ISIL conundecades because we replaced drum?
Americans believe a technoworkers with machines. Economists and businessmen call this logical solution can be found for
an increase in productivity. And, every problem. Big businesses
in fact, if you are producing hype the message because they
“things” such as cars, clothes, make money from selling satelelectronics or anything else tan- lites and drones; spies and diplogible, it has enormously in- mats don’t generate much money
creased the return to investment. for the hedge funds. Worse, we
(Technology’s effect on workers have no monopoly on human
remains beyond the scope of this tech skills and any bright foreigner with a computer can learn
week’s essay.)
Since the Reagan Administra- to be just as good as we are. In
tion, the United States has fact, the last time I looked, the
steadily invested billions in tech- Islamic State has been beating
nology to gather information. We the pants off us in the social mehave so many spy satellites in the dia war.
air that we will soon need a traffic cop to keep them from run- The Hon. Ambassador Theros is
ning into each other. Drones have president of the U.S.-Qatar Busiproliferated so fast that they will ness Council. He served in the
need their own traffic cops. The U.S. Foreign Service for 36 years,
NSA and its related agencies can mostly in the Middle East, and
now listen apparently, to virtually was American Ambassador to
every telephone call in the world. Qatar from 1995 to 1998. He
We hacked Mrs. Merkel’s cell also directed the State Departphones calls when she told the ment’s
Counter-Terrorism
“troika” to deep six Greece as Office, and holds numerous U.S.
well as order her carryout pizza. Government decorations.
On October 22, as one journalist put it: “Canada lost its innocence.” On that day, 30 yearold Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot
and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo,
one of the two soldiers standing
guard at the First World War
Monument in Ottawa. Cirillo
was a much-beloved man and a
man of honor, while his killer
was nothing more than a wasted
life. Zehaf-Bibeau was a drug
addict, thief, and all-around
small-time criminal who converted to Islam and tried to join
ISIS in Syria, but could not get
a passport.
Zehaf-Bibeau’s background is
key in understanding why men
like these are attracted to ISIS
and have a desire to kill. Until
more information becomes
available, we can only speculate
what demons drove this young
man, and similar young men, to
such destruction.
Although Zehaf-Bibeau was
born and raised in Canada, in
the latter part of his life he
seems to have identified more
with his father’s Libyan background than the English-Canadian heritage of his mother.
Among other factors, his parents
had an uneasy relationship, his
mother is a senior civil servant
employed by Immigration
Canada and his father ran a coffeehouse. In a dramatic gesture,
his mother said that she did not
grieve for her son but rather for
the people he harmed. One can
only wonder why she had given
up on her son and, more significantly, if she did so before he
became a human mess.
Zehaf-Bibeau
descended
from being a party-going
teenager to a homeless drug-addict drifting from city to city, until he returned home to Ottawa
and decided to strike a blow for
his brand of Islam and kill a soldier and attempting a murder
spree in the Canadian Parliament. What drove him to convert to the Islamic faith is not
known, but there are disturbing
questions regarding his transition to becoming a jihadist.
Initially wanting to travel to
Syria and join ISIS, only when
that failed did Zehaf-Bibeau
turn to attacking the soldier at
the First World War Monument
and then Parliament. His choice
of targets is significant. The First
World War Monument symbolizes the victory of Canada and
a jihadist, ISIS isthe Allies against
sued a tweet identhe Central Powers
tifying
Zehafin 1918, which inBibeau as one of
cluded the Ottheir own.
toman Empire. As
A few days after
a result of the dethe terrorist attack,
feat, the new TurkISIS released a
ish Republic in
statement advising
1924 abolished the
their followers in
caliphate.
the West to use a
It is doubtful
gun and kill somethat Zehaf-Bibeau,
one, anyone, and if
in his drug-addled
by DR. ANDRE
they
did not have a
state and penury
GEROLYMATOS
gun, to use a knife,
had become a stuand if they did not
dent of history, so
Special to
The National Herald
have a knife, to pick
undoubtedly someup a rock and
one guided him towards the monument. Further- smash the heads of the ‘infidels.’
According to Canadian and
more, someone had to buy for
this homeless man without U.S. authorities, these lone
means a rifle and bullets as well wolves are not in direct commuas give him funds to travel to nication, meaning electronic
Ottawa from Vancouver. Equally communication, with ISIS.
relevant is that someone also However, it is quite possible that
had to have directed him to go ISIS has representatives in
after members of Parliament fol- North America and Europe
lowing the shooting of the sol- whose task is to make contact
these lone wolves. In other
dier.
There is a real possibility that words, when disaffected, disZehaf-Bibeau, and others like turbed young men and women
him, including the other Muslim reach out in response to the
convert who ran over a soldier messages ISIS sends through soin Montreal, are not acting en- cial media, someone must find
tirely alone. There is a strong these hapless individuals and
inclination on the part of the au- guide them to an appropriate
thorities to label the terrorist at- target.
The challenge for the Canatack in Ottawa an act by a socalled lone wolf, but other dian and American security sercircumstantial evidence points vices is to go through the thouto the contrary. It is significant sands of immigration applicants
that before the Canadian au- from the Middle East and examthorities knew he was acting as ine which of them may have, or
at one time had, links to terrorist networks. Only through this
process can they begin to identify potential ISIS recruiters and
their victims.
It would be much easier,
however, if Muslim communities
in the West actively participated
in condemning terrorism and
the abuse of Islam by fanatics
such as those in ISIS and included their voices in denouncing the torment and death inflicted upon Christians and
other religious minorities in the
Middle East. When one religious
group is singled out for punishment because of that group’s beliefs, it opens the door to hatred
against all religious denominations. Through no fault of the
Muslim communities in Canada
or the US, troubled and deranged young men and women
are attracted to the pornography
of violence represented by the
actions of ISIS.
Indeed, the terrorist organization tries to secure legitimacy
by linking itself to Islam. To
counter the siren call of ISIS to
become part of the jihad, Muslims must openly and actively
demonstrate their tolerance of
other religions, clearly indicating that there is no room in Islam for hatred and violence.
André Gerolymatos is Director
of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies
at Simon Fraser University in
Vancouver.
Canadian police scramble to protect Parliament from an ISIS wannabee on October 22, called
"the day Canada lost its innocence."
LETTER FROM ATHENS
Some Questions for Greece’s Reluctant Prime Minister
Invariably in journalism, reporters seeking an interview will
be asked to provide questions
in advance for subjects afraid of
impromptu peppering they can’t
answer. It’s just so embarrassing
to be asked what is the capital
of Uzbekistan and look like Donald Duck trying to come up with
the answer.
Usually, the bigger the Muckety-Muck is, the more certain it
will be they want to know ahead
of time what’s going to be asked
of them so their staff can provide canned, sterile answers, the
lifeblood of politicians and people without a clue or an original
thought.
Prime Minister and New
Democracy Capitalist leader Antonis Samaras, who went to college at Amherst and knows
something about the Diaspora,
now has forgotten it.
So did fellow alumni of the
school and his predecessor,
then-PASOK
Anti-Socialist
leader George Papandreou,
hounded out of office in 2011
after relentless protests, strikes
and riots against austerity measures he imposed on orders of
international lenders.
Both don’t mind giving interviews to big media but are
afraid to talk to Diaspora newspapers at the same time they
profess their love for their fellow
Greeks around the world. Papandreou would talk only to Big
Shots and Samaras is just the
same.
Nothing personal for us, but
it should be for you because
you're the ones being dissed
here. When Samaras comes to
the United States, its for power
lunches with the rich, not for a
souvlaki in Astoria, where he
have no tolerance
should take his enfor wrongdoing by
tourage if he really
ministers.
Why
wants to know what
don’t you?
Greek-Americans
• Why didn’t
think (along with
you keep your
reading The Napromise to hold
tional Herald).
harmless those in
His press office
the Diaspora who
wouldn't even give
put their money
the courtesy of a
and faith into buy“no,” or fake some
ing Greek bonds
sincerity that he
but got stiffed with
couldn't do it beby ANDY
74 percent losses,
cause blah blah
DABILIS
nearly wiping out
blah, some phony
some of them?
reason why he doesSpecial to
The National Herald
• Why did you
n't want to take
oppose austerity
tough questions inwhile out of office but embrace
stead of softballs he prefers.
Since Samaras won’t talk to it the moment you took office?
• Why did you have an advius, we’ve broken our Cardinal
Rule about not preparing ques- sor who was close to the neotions in advance so that he can Nazis of Golden Dawn and had
have time to scrutinize them your ear?
• Why did you tolerate
and have his staff tell him what
Golden Dawn until one of its
to say.
We’ll even take the answers members killed a Greek citizen?
• Why did you cave in to Parin writing so that you can see
the platitudes, non-answers, liament workers exempted from
self-aggrandizement and weak more austerity measures who
threatened to strike if they
rationale for yourselves.
If you really want him to talk weren’t? If they did strike,
to the Diaspora, email his office would you issue a civil mobiand let him know what you lization order to force them to
want to know. Write to pressof- return as you did with Metro
[email protected] and ask workers, unpaid dock workers
for Mr. Mouroutis. He won’t an- and teachers?
• When you were Foreign
swer.
You can send us some ques- Minister two decades ago you
tions to add to this list so that took a stand and quit when the
we can keep his minions busy government allowed the use of
and add to the questions he the word “Macedonia,” to be
taken by the Former Yugoslav
won’t answer.
Republic of Macedonia (FYMr. Prime Minister:
• Why wasn’t Interior Minis- ROM). Every offer on the table
ter Argyris Dinopoulos fired for would keep that word. Why
not paying his health insurance don’t you reject it out of hand?
• When Turkey invaded
while being covered and asking
for the rate for unemployed Cypriot waters with warships
journalists? You said you would and a research vessel in search
of energy, why did you leave it
to your coalition partner, PASOK
Socialist leader Evangelos
Venizelos to make a weak statement instead of demanding the
ships be pulled out?
• Why do you want to take
an early exit from the country’s
deal with international lenders
and pay nearly double in the
markets what they charge?
• Why don’t you get out of
your limo and take a ride on the
Metro and talk to people? It was
good enough for Michael
Dukakis when he was Governor
of Massachusetts.
• Do you think, as a rich and
privileged person, you can really
relate to people eating dog food
because you’ve cut their pensions so much to satisfy
bankers?
• Why is it in an economic
crisis the first reaction is always
to cut people’s pay?
• Why is your government
interfering in the operation of
the new public broadcaster
NERIT after promising to butt
out when it was formed?
• Have you personally, or
through an emissary of any
kind, asked for people to be
hired, promoted or otherwise to
benefit from your friendship
with them?
• Have you been to a movie
or summer cinema since taking
office in 2012?
• Why are you preparing legislation to let big debtors go free
and for lesser sentences for corruption?
• Will New Democracy and
PASOK pay the 250 million euros it owes banks?
• Do you sleep well at night?
[email protected]
14

New Philoptochos President Maria Logus, Active Since 18, Talks to

Transcription

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