The National HeraldA weekly Greek-AmericAn PublicAtiOn

May 23-29, 2015

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 18, ISSUE 919 $1.50c v

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

S 100

1

th

anniversary

1915-2015

TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – The lead-ers of the Order of AHEPA con-cluded the 87th annual overseasexcursion to Greece, Cyprus,and the Ecumenical Patriarchatethat took place May 6 to 16.

Supreme President Phillip T.Frangos, Daughters of Penelope(DOP) Grand President Anna-Helene Grossomanides, andMaids of Athena Grand Presi-dent Deana Socaris led the del-egation. AHEPA Executive Di-rector Basil Mossaidis and DOPExecutive Director Elena Savio-lakis also participated.

“I commend the members ofthe delegation for taking thevolunteer time out of their pro-fessional and personal schedulesto participate on this importantexcursion,” Frangos said. “I ap-preciated their support, andtheir participation helped tomake this excursion a tremen-dous success.”

The Leadership Mission con-cluded in Athens, and includedmeetings with Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras, PresidentProkopis Pavlopoulos, Presidentof Hellenic Parliament Zoe Kon-stantopoulou, Foreign MinisterNikos Kotzias, and AlternateMinister of Tourism Elena Koun-toura.

In addition, the group metwith Webster University Presi-dent Dr. Vasilis Botopoulos andseparately with AmbassadorVassilis Kaskarelis, senior advi-sor to the Board of Directors andmember of the Executive Man-agement Team of the StavrosNiarchos Foundation; to discuss

AHEPAConcludesOverseasMission

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – ABC Chief NewsAnchor George Stephanopoulos,a Greek-American who made asuccessful transition from poli-tics – as an advisor in Bill Clin-ton’s White House – to journal-ism, emerging as the mostimportant newsman of a majornetwork, failed to disclose to hisemployers and to the public thathe made contributions totaling$75,000 to the Clinton Founda-tion. He says that he donated tothe Foundation not for politicalreasons, but because of theFoundation’s advances in im-proving quality of life, such asits efforts to combat AIDS.

To avoid further conflict ofinterest, he has withdrawn asmoderator for one of the 2016major party presidential de-bates.

Stephanopoulos apologizedto his viewers on Good MorningAmerica on May 14, and laterto the Sunday Morning politicalshow This Week on May 17.

Though in both casesStephanopoulos qualified thathis donations to the Foundationare a matter of public record,he made it clear that “I shouldhave taken the extra step of per-sonally disclosing my donationsto my employer and to the view-ers on the air during the recentnews stories about the founda-tion. I apologize.”

THE SCHWEIZERINTERVIEW

Prior to the disclosure, onApril 26, Stephanopoulos inter-viewed Peter Schweizer on ThisWeek, who wrote the top-sellingexpose Clinton Cash, a book inwhich the author contends that“my research team and I haveuncovered a repeated pattern offinancial transactions coincidingwith official actions favorable toClinton contributors.”

A specific allegationSchweizer makes is that formerPresident Bill Clinton’s already-famously exorbitant speakingfees doubled and tripled whenhis wife became Secretary ofState, with some of those payingthe fees having had pending in-terests before the State Depart-ment.

Stephanopoulos counteredSchweizer’s arguments by refer-ring to the Clinton campaign’sinsistence that the charges arewithout merit, adding that ABCNews did its own investigationand found no damning evi-dence, and pointing to Bill Alli-son of the nonpartisan SunlightFoundation, which advocates fortransparency in government,who said: “There’s no smokinggun. There is no evidence that[Hillary Clinton] changed a pol-icy based on…donations to the

Stephanopoulos MiredIn Clinton FoundationDonation Controversy

By Theodore KalmoukosTranslated from the Original Greek

BOSTON, MA – ArchbishopDemetrios of America in an in-terview with TNH said that hedoesn’t see anything wrong thatthe newly-appointed president ofHellenic College and Holy Cross(HCHC) Rev. ChristopherMetropoulos is a koumbaro ofTomas Lelon, who was Chairmanof the Presidential Search Com-mittee. Lelon has baptized Fr.Metropoulos’ daughter, and isalso is the Vice Chairman of theBoard of Trustees.

Metropoulos was chosenamong 41 candidates, which in-cluded other priests, businessmenand experts in administration.

Archbishop Demetrios de-fended the process which was fol-lowed and called it “exceptional,”and emphasized that there isnothing to be concerned about.Demetrios is Chairman ofHCHC’s Board of Trustees.

The interview with Arch-bishop Demetrios follows:

TNH: Your Eminence, how doyou feel about the selection ofthe new president of HellenicCollege and Holy Cross, Rev.

Christopher Metropoulos?AD: An exceptional process

was followed. The fact that wehad 41 candidates is not acciden-tal. Consequently, I say clearlythat we are very grateful andproud about the process.

TNH: Tomas Lelon is thekoumbaro of the newly-selectedpresident. Do you see anythingwrong here?

AD: Nothing whatsoever. Mr.Lelon had nothing to do with Fr.Metropoulos’ selection.

TNH: Your Eminence, I re-

Demetrios Defends HCHC's Process

Greek Defense Chief Panos Kammenos Shut Out at PentagonGreek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos greets the brass at the Pentagon accompanied byChristine Wormuth, Secretary of Defense for Policy on May 20. The former was disappointed inhis hopes for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, prompting speculationthat the Obama Administration canceled a scheduled meeting to signal dissatisfaction.

Mystery Deepens about Savopoulos Homicides

TNH Staff

Greek-American MichaelPsaros, co-Founder and Manag-ing Partner of the private equityfirm KPS Capital Partners has alot to be happy about these days.Back in 2009, KPS announcedthat it would purchase the luxuryhome-goods maker WaterfordWedgwood (WW) – a poorly-per-forming company at the time. AsFortune magazine describes it,the deal didn’t make much senseback then.

Waterford was losing about$100 million per year, but asPsaros told Fortune, “we’ve beendoing professional turnaroundsfor 25 years.” The parent com-pany KPS created, WWRD hold-ings, will be sold to Fiskars, aFinnish consumer products com-pany for $437 million – whichtranslates to a 400% return oninvestment for KPS.

How did they know? “Whatwe knew was that [WaterfordWedgewood] had four legendaryand iconic brands, including sell-ing product in 80 countries,”

KPS’ Michael Psaros Makes the Deal of a Lifetime

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The Spring Lun-cheon of the ArchdiocesanCathedral Philoptochos Societyis one of events the communityin New York looks forward to.The attendees on May 14 weremainly women, but the men whoattend always enjoy the gather-ing that promises both fellowshipand cultural enrichment.

Guests are also pleased tosupport a good cause: the Cathe-dral School’s scholarship fund.

Eleni N. Gage, who just pub-lished her third book – a noveltitled The Ladies of Managua –was the latest distinguished au-thor to fill the dining room ofthe Loeb Boathouse for the Soci-ety, but the venue itself, nestlednext to a pond in Central Park atits most lush season was also amagnet.

And there is also the food.One guest referred to partakingof “the filet mignon” of the year

for Greek events. Catherine Moutousis invited

Fr. John Vlahos, the Dean of theCathedral, to offer the invocationand then acknowledged the pres-ence of Amb. Vasilios Philippou,the Consul General of Cyprusand his wife Anthea, AnthousaIliopoulos, the wife of the ConsulGeneral of Greece, Jenifer Con-stantin. the Philoptochos Presi-dent for the Direct ArchdiocesanDistrict, Dean Poll, president ofthe Board of Trustees of HolyTrinity Cathedral, and MariaSereti of the Onassis Foundation(USA).

Moutousis announced thatthe event raises funds for the$10,000 the chapter provides forthe scholarship and said “wegreatly appreciate your continu-ing support and generosity thatmakes it possible.”

She also thanked the lun-cheon chairpersons, Bia Georgeand Antonia Rigopoulos and the

Eleni Gage Presents Her New Book

Michael Psaros, a co-Founder of KPS Capital Partners, speaks at Chassis Brakes Wuhan plantopening ceremony in China. Asia now accounts for 40% of KPS’ sales.

Eleni Gage Delights Philopto-chos Gathering With Story ofHer New Book.

WASHINGTON, DC – The de-tails surrounding the deaths offour people in an upscale homenear Vice President Joe Biden’sin NW Washington, DC continueto build as police try to unravela quadruple homicide that is asmysterious as it is tragic.

On May 14 of Greek-Ameri-can Savvas Savopoulos, CEO ofAmerican Ironworks, his wife,Amy, their 10-year-old, son,Philip, and a housekeeper, Ver-alicia Figueroa, were founddead, and the Savopoulos homewas on fire, the Daily Mail re-ported.

DNA found in the crust ofpizza at the scene of the crimeled police to identify 34-year-oldDaron Dylon Wint as a suspect,the Washington Post reported onMay 21, and at press time he re-mained at large with a warrantissued for his arrest.

Greta Van Susteren of FoxNews reported of a possible ElSalvador connection, becauseFigueroa is from El Salvador,and the prime suspect – uniden-

40K at House HoursBefore Fire; DNA inPizza may ID Killer

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The Glendi andSpringtime Celebration of the Par-ents' Association of the CathedralSchool, the parochial school ofthe Archdiocesan Cathedral of theHoly Trinity, was an enjoyable af-fair. But it was more touchingthan usual because it was the oc-casion for honoring a womanwhose devotion and ability put apositive and fruitful stamp on somany childhoods, StaceyMichaels, who in 1965 began amore than two decade tenure asHead of the school.

The brief speaking programput Peter Douros, one of Michael’sstudents in the spotlight, repre-

Continued on page 5

Holy TrinitySchool LaudsFormer Head

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- Greeks can be foundall across the planet from oneperiod of recorded time to an-other. Detailed accounts of in-dividual Hellenes, their familiesand entire communities continueto see publication on almost adaily basis. How these individ-uals are received by the societyaround them offers to us a viewnot only into the time period inwhich these Greeks lived andacted but how the perceptionof them is imbedded in each ac-count left to us. Consequentlywe are never offered simply oneversion of an event or accountof a single individual’s actionsbut rather several ways of ex-amining what has been left tous.

This is certainly evident inthe news account, Letter fromLusitania: Enduring keepsake,by Johnny Woodhouse as pub-lished in the Beach Life news-paper just this past May 7th(www.beachesleader.com).Woodhouse offers us an extreme-ly detailed well-written accountfocusing on one specific passen-ger Thomas James Silva’s tripaboard the RMS Lusitania in

Frank JamesSilva: a LostTimayenis

ATHENS – Greece will not beable to repay a loan to the In-ternational Monetary Fund earlynext month unless a deal isreached with its creditors to un-block bailout funds, the govern-ing party’s parliamentspokesman said.

Nikos Filis said the govern-ment would give priority to thepayment of salaries, pensionsand the general running costsof the state rather than the IMFrepayment on June 5.

“No country can repay itsdebts with only the money fromits budget,” he told Ant1 televi-sion. “We don’t have it to repayit, and it’s a subject of the dis-cussions.”

Greece’s new governmenthas been struggling for fourmonths to agree on reforms thatcreditors require in return forthe disbursement of the remain-ing 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion)of the country’s bailout pro-gram.

Locked out of the interna-tional bond market by prohibi-tively high interest rates, Greecerelies on the bailout funds toservice its debts and avoid de-fault.

“Now is the hour of truth,”

Greece WillDefault 6/5w/o Bailout

Continued on page 7

Continued on page 3

George Stephanopoulos apol-ogized on both ABC shows hehosts: Good Morning Americaon May 14, and This Weekthree days later, for not pub-licly disclosing his donationsof $75,000 to the ClintonFoundation. Continued on page 3 Continued on page 2

Continued on page 9

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 3

For subscription:

718.784.5255subscriptions@thenationalherald.com

QUESTION OF THE WEEKFollowing the controversy over his donation to the Clinton

Foundation, do you think George Stephanopoulos can redeemhimself and be viewed as an objective journalist?

Please email your response toscaros@thenationalherald.com

We may publish some responses as Letters to the Editor ina future issue.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Ariel Win-ter, a Greek-American 17 year-old who plays Alex, the brainymiddle child of the Dunphys onthe hit ABC sitcom Modern Fam-ily, successfully won emancipa-tion from her estranged mother,Chrisoula (Crystal) BatistasWorkman, the New York DailyNews reported, after the courtfound evidence that Workmanemotionally abused Winter.

The young actress, whoseGreek name is Eleftheria,Tweeted: “I’m really lucky I havean amazing support system andlovely people in my life whohave given me the support andguidance to have been given thiswonderful opportunity.” Previ-ous to her court-determined sta-tus as an “emancipated minor,”Winter was under the legalguardianship of her older sister,Shanelle Gray, also an actressand best role for having starredon the soap opera One Live toLive, and also put her financesin the hands of her father, GlennWorkman. Winter thanked hersister and her father for theirsupport, and also thanked herfans: “Thank you to all of my

family, friends, and fans whohave supported me through allof my endeavors in life, andhave encouraged me. Thank youfor making my life so special! I

can’t wait to embark on my newadventures.”

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL – Pioneer-ing Priests: Establishing the

Greek Orthodox Faith in Amer-ica, a special exhibition fundedby The Archbishop IakovosLeadership 100 EndowmentFund (Leadership 100), is nowon display at the St. PhotiosGreek Orthodox National Shrinein Saint Augustine, Florida. Thisexhibition honors the achieve-ments of the early priests andHierarchs who helped establishthe Greek Orthodox faith inAmerica. It is intended to raiseawareness of the pioneers of thefaith who labored in trying cir-cumstances for the churchesthat became part of the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese in Amer-ica.

The exhibition touches onmajor issues and events thatshaped the parishes and thelives and careers of the pioneer-ing priests. It also sheds newlight on aspects of history thatare often overlooked.

The Saint Photios Greek Or-thodox National Shrine is theGreek-American “PlymouthRock,” dedicated to the firstcolony of Greek people whocame to America in 1768. Situ-ated in historic Saint Augustine,this country’s oldest city, theShrine honors all Greek immi-grants, so it is appropriate thatit should host an exhibition thatfocuses on the contributions ofthe pioneering immigrantpriests.

The exhibition was officiallyopened and blessed by BishopDimitrios of Xanthos on Febru-ary 6. The opening and blessingwere part of the 33rd AnnualPilgrimage and Feast Day Cele-bration of the Shrine. Pho-tographs of these events can beseen atwww.jackiehird.com/stphotiosusing the password Greek41.

It was produced by guest cu-rators Dr. William H. Samonidesand Dr. Regine Johnson Sa-monides and is the product ofmore than a decade of research.It is groundbreaking in severalrespects. It examines the historyof the Greek Orthodox Churchin America from the groundlevel, across parish lines throughthe lives and careers of priests,most of whom were immigrants.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Oftendescribed as “wacky” and cer-tain eccentric, Greek-Americanbillionaire Alkiviadis (Alki)David, heir to the Coca ColaHellenic company as well asother lucrative businesses, isperhaps best known for publiclyoffering to pay $1 million to thefirst person who would appearnude within eye and earshot ofPresident Obama, bearing theword Battlecam.com – David’swebsite – on his chest, and shoutout the website name six timesduring the streak.

That was five years ago, andJuan James Rodriguez complied– almost. Rodriguez performedthe stunt, but upon being pressedby David to confirm that thepresident heard him, Rodriguezacknowledged that he did notget close enough, ABC News re-ported. Nonetheless, because hecame close to meeting the re-quirements, David gave Ro-driguez a year’s worth of rentand money to pay his sister’s hos-pital bills (who had surgery ofsome type at the time). The totalamount was undisclosed.

Now, David has put up hisBeverly Hills mansion for sale,for $35 million, the Wall StreetJournal reports. “I don’t have tosell it, but I will if it’s the rightperson and the right price,” hetold the Journal. “Nobody shouldconsider offering anything less.The price is only going to go up.”

David’s Beverly Hills homemeasures about 16,000 squarefeet, with six bedrooms and 11bathrooms, the Journal reported.He paid about $16.5 million forthe Tuscan-style home around2010.

Ariel Winter: Greek-American Ariel (Eleftheria) Winter (17),who stars on the hit TV sitcom Modern Family, is now legallyemancipated from her estranged mother.

n THRU NOV. 1TARPON SPRINGS, FL – Nightin the Islands returns to theworld-famous Sponge Docks ofTarpon Springs for 2015! Sat-urdays, 6-11PM: Jul. 11, Aug.1, Sept. 12, and Oct. 3. A freeevent of Greek music, dancing,and dining! And we will offeran hour of free Greek dancelessons by the Levendia DanceTroupe from 6-7 PM. The festi-val is supported in part by agrant from the National En-dowment for the Arts. Comejoin us for authentic island funin the warm Florida sun andmark your calendar and makethis a regular destination! Andif you’re just in town for a weekor two, make sure to mark yourcalendar as you will not wantto miss this! Tarpon Springs isa unique Greek experience inthe United States, one unlikeany other Greek community.Come be part of this one-of-a-kind American experience thatwill make you feel as if, truly,you are back in the homeland!

n MAY 22-24NEW ORLEANS, LA – Opa,opa, opa! The annual New Or-leans Greek Festival is Memor-ial Day weekend. This event isfilled Greek food, music, cul-ture and fun for kids and adultsalike. New Orleans's connec-tion with Greece dates back tothe mid-1800s when largenumbers of Greeks immigratedhere, bringing along their sto-ried culture and traditionalheritage. The Greek Festivalcelebrates that culture and her-itage every year on MemorialDay Weekend at the Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Cathedral(1200 Robert E. Lee Blvd, NewOrleans, LA 70117), which ison the banks of Bayou St. John.Free off-site parking and shut-tle service is also available.FOOD: Kali Orexi! This popularphrase means "Bon Apetit" or"good appetite". In other words- you better come hungry. Try-ing a gyro sandwich is a must.The Goatburgers, which is ahamburger the Greek way, arealso delicious. For dessert, trya Loukoumades, which is likea beignet topped with honeyand cinnamon. For a caffeinefix, pick up a Frappe (no rela-tion to Starbucks), which is ba-sically an iced coffee. MUSIC:Every year, people come to-gether to perform and danceto traditional, live Greek music.Kostas Kastanis will be playingthis year, and guests will havethe chance to learn the Zorbaand other traditional dancesout on the Bayou. SPECIALEVENTS: For all the runnersout there, the annual GreekFestival Walk/Run will takeplace that Friday! Participantscan either choose to walk/runone mile or 5k. Cash prizeswill be given to the winners.Registration is open until theday of the race. The 1 mile par-ticipants start at 7 PM and the5k starts at 7:20PM. Back thisyear by popular demand isToga Sunday! Anyone wearinga toga gets free admission.There will also be a Best Togacontest with some great prizes.Fun For The Whole Family!Kids will love the AthenianPlayground, which includes anumber of fun things to do.Families can rent a canoe andtour Bayou St. John, or climbMount Olympus. There’s also abounce house for the youngerones. Once you tire out the lit-tle ones, check out the Agora,the outdoor marketplace withGreek paintings, jewelry andother souvenirs.

n MAY 26MANHATTAN – We are de-lighted to invite you toAGAPW’s Annual May celebra-tion acknowledging the Moth-ers of the Greek Diaspora.Please join us in honoring theGreek American women, whothrough their volunteer philan-thropic and charity work be-come “mothers to the commu-nity” Panel discussion onMothers to the Community:Greek American Women’s Con-tribution to Philanthropy, andCivic Education. Speakers: Mrs.Anthoussa Diakopoulou Il-iopoulou, Maria Logus, andLila Prounis, Tuesday, May 26,6-8PM at the Coco-Mat Show-room – 49 Mercer Street inManhattan. Reception withGreek wines, refreshments anddelicious Greek cuisine sam-pling by: Calliope Charalam-bous Krief of Calliope’s RealGreek Food; Loumidis Foods;Pi Bakerie. RSVP is required byMay 23rd. Suggested donationis $15. Please RSVP here (youwill be redirected to theEventbrite secure connection).For further information, please

contact Dr. Olga Alexakos atoalexakos@agapw.org or 917-405-6833. Thank you for join-ing us! We are looking forwardto celebrating with you!

n MAY 28-31HEMPSTEAD, NY – The GreekOrthodox Cathedral of St. Paul,110 Cathedral Ave. in Hemp-stead, presents its annualGreek festival Thursday, May28 through Sunday, May 31.Thurs: 6-10; Fri: 6-11; Sat: 6-11; Sun: 1-9. Greek food andpastries, Music and dancing ,Greek Dance Performers, Ven-dors, Huge flea market,Rides, games, Raffle, Guidedtours of the Cathedral. Formore information, call (516)483-5700.

n JUNE 5MANHATTTAN – All are in-vited to the ArchdiocesanCathedral Soiree on Friday,Jun. 5th honoring industrialistDennis Mehiel and formallywelcoming Fr. John Vlahos asCathedral Dean. Enjoy one bigparty with "adults" and "youngprofessionals" in a fantasticspace. Cocktail hour 7PM,Soiree 8 PM until? Dancing,gourmet food stations, openbar, live Greek band/dancingand DJ at Guastavinos, 409East 59th Street. For ticket in-formation visit www.thecathe-dral.goarch.org/ and clickabove the Soiree image.

n JUNE 13MANHATTAN – The Greek-American Writers Associationinvites you to a special eveningof comedy and poetry. EllenKaris, the “Greek Queen ofComedy” humorist, actress andstand-up comedienne – willperform. Dean Kostos will pre-sent work from his new This IsNot a Skyscraper (Red HenPress), winner of the presti-gious Benjamin Saltman PoetryAward. Penelope Karageorgewill make the New York debutof her just-published poetrycollection, The Neon Suitcase(Somerset Hall Press). Enjoythe special ambiance of Green-wich Village. Meet old friendsand discover new at the easy-to-reach Cornelia Street Café,29 Cornelia Street, located be-tween Bleecker and WestFourth Streets. Subways A, C,E, B, D, M to West 4th Streetor 1 to Christopher Street. 6-8PM. $8 admission includes aglass of wine, beer, or softdrink.

n JUNE 17EASTCHESTER, NY – TheMake a Difference with Louk-oumi Dance Party and AwardsGala, which celebrates Louk-oumi’s 10th anniversary, takesplace at the Lake Isle CountryClub, 660 White Plains Roadin Eastchester on Wednesday,Jun. 17 at 6PM. Guests includeOscar winner Olympia Dukakisand Tony Award Nominee Con-stantine Maroulis. Loukoumi,a fluffy little lamb, is the maincharacter from the Loukoumibook series that wants to makethe world a better place. TheLoukoumi Make A DifferenceFoundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that seeksto teach children to followLoukoumi’s lead and to makea positive difference in theirlives and the lives of others.For more information aboutthe organization and the event,visit loukoumifoundation.org.

n JUNE 26IRVINE, CA – St. Paul’s GreekOrthodox Church, 4949 AltonParkway in Irvine, celebratesits 36th Greek festival Friday-Sunday, June 26-28. Friday 5-10PM, Saturday Noon-10PM,Sunday Noon-9PM. DeliciousGreek Food and Pastries,Greek Folk Dancing, CarnivalRides, Opportunity Drawing,Church Tours, Boutique andGift Items from around theworld, Carnival Rides, andCooking Demonstrationsawait! $3.00 per person, Chil-dren under 10 are free, Seniors65+ are free Saturday 12-5pm.For more information, pleasevisit http://irvinegreekfest.comor call the Church at (949)733-2366.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service tothe Greek American commu-nity. All parishes, organizationsand institutions are encour-aged to e-mail their informa-tion regarding the event 3-4weeks ahead of time, and nolater than Monday of the weekbefore the event, toenglish.edition@thenational-herald.com

GOINGS ON...

HELLENIC HAPPENINGS FROM COAST TO COAST

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

mind you that Mr. Lelon wasChairman of the Search Commit-tee tasked to find the School anew president.

AD: Mr. Lelon was Presidentof the Search Committee, but hewas not the kind of presidentwho would direct the process to-wards a certain direction, and Iam saying this responsibly. Donot write this mistakenly…

TNH: I will write exactly whatyou are telling me.

AD: When they mentioned itto Mr. Lelon, he said “If you thinkthat I shouldn’t be [on the Com-mittee]…” I told him “Are youkidding?

TNH: Therefore there is noproblem as far as you are con-cerned?

AD: Yes, there is no problem.TNH: What are your impres-

sions regarding HCHC’s gradua-tion ceremony?

AD: It was a very nice gradu-ation ceremony. The participationwas bigger this year due to thedeparture of Fr. Nicholas Tri-antafilou from the School’s pres-idency. We had a very good grad-

uating class, about 30 studentsfrom the Theological School,. Wehad fewer from Hellenic College.

TNH: Do you have a strategyin place to increase the numberof students in Hellenic Collegeand the Theological School?

AD: Yes. And not only there isa strategy, because many timesstrategies are abstract things, butat this moment the strategy hasadvanced and with what weknow thus far, we anticipate to

have a significant increase in thenumber of students coming inSeptember.

TNH: Do you have such anassurance?

AD: Certainly.TNH: How are HCHC’s fi-

nances?AD: The finances are some-

thing that we try to improve andI will tell you, very bluntly, thatif you write good things, it willhelp.

TNH: I will also ask you verybluntly, are all these employeesneeded? Isn’t $12 million per yearto operate the school a lot ofmoney?

AD: Look, now with the com-ing of the new president there isa capability…The trustees the re-cent years have functioned muchbetter. In other words, there is asignificant [improvement] and Iam saying this to you as an aca-demician, not as the archbishop.

Demetrios Defends HCHC Process to Pick New PresidentContinued from page 1

TNH Religion Editor Theodore Kalmoukos interviews His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios.

*in 2013, new york community bancorp, inc. was the top Performing thrift in the nation with assets of $5 billion or more,as reported by Snl Financial. new york commercial bank is a subsidiary of new york community bancorp, inc. bank is notresponsible for typographical errors. equal Opportunity lender

tified but seen in a grainy sur-veillance video image, presum-ably drove Savopoulos’ 2008Porsche away and to an area ofDC with a significant Salvado-rian population, where it wasleft abandoned and burned.

The police noted, Susterenadded, that typically those whodrive away with cars tend toabandon them in neighborhoodswith which they are familiar, soas to avoid being caught on sur-veillance cameras or police stingoperations.

The police have deemed allfour deaths to be homicides.ABC news reported speculationthat the victims were killed be-fore the fire was set.

New developments includestatements by another house-keeper, Nelitza Gutierrez, whowas supposed to clean theSavopoulos home on the morn-ing of the quadruple homicide.

She said Savopoulos had toldher the day before, in person,that he and Amy were going outthat evening, but later in a voice-mail said his wife had been sickin bed all day, the WashingtonPost reported.

Gutierrez said in the voice-mail, Savopoulos also stated thatFigueroa would be staying at the

home that night (May 13) butasked that Gutierrez informFigueroa’s family, becauseFigueroa’s cell phone batteryhad died.

“DON’T COME TODAY”Among other things, a house-

keeper scheduled to work therereceived a text message fromSavopoulos’ wife, Amy, earlier inthe day stating the “family issick” and for her not to go overthat day. “You can come Monday,or any other day, but not today,”said the text, the Mail reported.

“It was something very sus-

picious because I felt his voicewas really tense” on the voice-mail, Gutierrez said, the Post re-ported, “and it was differentthan what he had said to me be-fore.”

The police are asking for in-formation regarding Savopoulos’Porsche, CNN reported. Theyhave also released footage of aman wearing a hoodie, runningfrom the scene, believed to belinked to driving the Porscheaway.

$40,000, AND PIZZAMore pieces to the puzzle

emerged on May 20, as the Postreported that Savopoulos’ per-sonal assistant, whose namewas not revealed, said hedropped off $40,000 in cash tothe house hours before the fourvictims were found dead.

The assistant, the Post re-ported, was helping Savopoulosrush to complete a martial artsstudio in Chantilly, VA – whichwas scheduled for its grandopening on May 15, the day af-ter the homicides.

The Post did not confirmwhether the assistant interactedwith anyone inside the housewhen he dropped off the money– but the money was missingwhen law enforcement officials

investigated later that day.The Post further reports a

“flurry of phonecalls” amongSavopoulos and various individ-uals just hours before the fire,including the assistant, a bank,an accountant, a constructioncompany executive, andSavopoulos’ company, AmericanIron Works. The calls ended justbefore noon, and the fire wasreported at 1:15PM. The DailyMail reported that the assistantcould not have started the firehimself – it was determined tohave been started around noon– because he had already leftthe NW neighborhood and bythat time was in Virginia, about30 miles away.

The Mail also reported thata nearby Domino’s Pizza deliv-ered pizzas to the home whilethe Savopouloses and Figueroawere held captive. It is unclearhow much pizza was deliveredand whether there was morethan one captor in the house. Ifthere was more pizza than oneperson would normally con-sume, it is possible that therewas more than one captor, orthat the captor (or captors)shared the food with the vic-tims.

Savopoulos lived in the homewith his wife, 10-year-old son,Philip, and two housekeepers,the Daily Mail reported. Thecouple’s two teenage daughters,Abigail and Katerina, were awayat boarding school.

FUNERALSThe funeral for the Savopou-

los victims is scheduled for June1 at the St. Sophia Greek Or-thodox Cathedral in NW Wash-ington. The Cathedral’s priest,Fr. Steve Zorzos, told TNH that“the entire Saint Sophia Cathe-dral community deeply grieveswith the families, whom wetightly embrace in love's wound,and together with whom we tri-umphantly proclaim the ulti-mate defeat of death by the Res-urrected Christ.”

Figueroa’s body will be flownback to her native El Salvador,the Post reported, for her fu-neral.

Community leader MikeManatos was a childhood friendof Savopoulos. They served to-

gether as altar boys at St. Sophiaand recently reconnected, devo-tion to their children being acommon tie. “I don’t know ifI’ve ever see a family more ador-ing and devoted to their kidsthan Savas and Amy,” he toldTNH.

They were emailing eachother a month ago when one ofManatos’ children had a concus-sion. He said both Savopoulos’daughters play lacrosse andwhen they had concussions“they were surprised to findhow little medicine knows aboutit.

“It’s horrible to somethinglike this happen to such a lov-ing, giving couple like that,”Manatos said with emotion.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015 3

Mystery Deepens in Homicides of Savopoulos, Wife, Son, HousekeeperContinued from page 1

Left: Savvas Savopoulos and his wife, Amy, were killed inside their NW Washington, DC homeon May 14 Top: The four victims who died in the Savopoulos home on May 14, which the policehave ruled a quadruple homicide: Philip Savopoulos, his parents, Savvas and Amy, and theirhousekeeper Veralicia Figueroa.

AHEPA’s Journey to Greece Pro-gram.

On May 15 the delegationmet with Deputy Chief of Mis-sion Suzanne Lawrence at theU.S. Embassy, where the dele-gation took a moment to visitthe George C. Marshall Statue,which was donated by AHEPA.

"We have been extremelywell-received in Athens,"Supreme President Frangossaid. “Our meetings were pro-ductive and informative, touch-ing on a range of important is-sues. We look forward tocontinuing our work together tofurther enhance and strengthenrelations between the UnitedStates and Greece.”

He added, “We discussed themultitude of programs we haveeither launched, or helped tosupport in cooperation withother charitable organizations,to address Greece’s humanitar-ian crisis…We look forward tocontinuing to our work to helpthe people of Greece and tostrengthen the bridge of coop-eration between the UnitedStates and Greece.”

AHEPA donated $10,000 forthe Ecumenical Patriarchateduring an audience with His AllHoliness Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew I on May 7.

The delegation participated

at Hellas District 25's Conven-tion in Komotini, May 8 and 9.There, District 25 GovernorGeorge Plokamakis presentedSupreme President Frangos witha $2,600 donation toward theAHEPA campaign to help re-build Saint Nicholas NationalShrine at World Trade Center.

In addition, the delegationvisited the AHEPA Hospital inThessalonki to meet with hos-pital administration officials.

In Cyprus, meetings wereheld with: U.S. Ambassador tothe Republic of Cyprus JohnKoenig, President of the Repub-lic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades,and Foreign Minister of the Re-public of Cyprus Ioannis Ka-soulides.

In addition, the delegationvisited Apostolos Andreas,which is located in the KarpasiaPeninsula, on May 12.

Also on May 12, the delega-

tion met with Minister of Fi-nance of the Republic of CyprusHarris Georgiades.

AHEPA Concludes its Mission in the Mediterranean

(L-R) DOP Executive Director Elena Saviolakis, Supreme VP John Galanis, AHEPA ExecutiveBasil Mossaides, DOP Grand President Anna-Helene Grossomanides, Prime Minister AlexisTsipras, Supreme President Phillip Frangos, and AHEPA Board president Nicholas Karacostas.

Continued from page 1

Foundation.”Schweizer, in turn, pointed

to the New York Times and theWall Street Journal, both ofwhich reported that the Foun-dation failed to disclose multi-million dollar donations.

Ironically, Stephanopoulosinitiated a discussion thatSchweizer, who was a speech-writer for George W. Bush andis an outspoken conservative,would likely be perceived ashaving written a partisan-in-spired attack on the Clintons. Itwas that reference that particu-larly caused problems forStephanopoulos, as he did notpublicly disclose any perceivedbias against him, insofar as hisdonations to the Foundation.

Schweizer added that heshared his findings with the in-vestigative teams of the Times,the Washington Post, andStephanopoulos’ employer, ABCNews, and that he plans to dothe same regarding a forthcom-ing book, investigating the fi-nancial dealings of Republican

Jeb Bush, son of George Sr.,brother of George W., and all-but-declared 2016 presidentialcandidate.

SCHWEIZER’S RESPONSEIn a May 18 article in USA

Today, Schweizer acknowledgedthat Stephanopoulos’ toughquestioning was not out of theordinary; he would expect suchrigorous cross-examination froma number of journalists. “IfStephanopoulos had disclosedhis donations to the very foun-dation I was there to talk about,perhaps it would have put theaggressive posture of his inter-view with me in context. But hedidn't.”

Schweizer goes on to say thatStephanopoulos’ links to theFoundation go beyond the do-nations: “in 2006 he was a fea-tured attendee and panel mod-erator at the annual meeting ofthe Clinton Global Initiative(CGI)… He did not disclose thatin 2007, he was a featured at-tendee at the CGI annual meet-ing” and a panelist at the 2008meeting. He continued thatStephanopoulos “did not dis-

close that in 2009, he served asa panel moderator at CGI's an-nual meeting, nor did he dis-close that in 2010 and 2011, hewas an official CGI member,[and] that in 2013 and 2014,he and [the Clintons’ daughter]Chelsea served as CGI contestjudges for awards.

WHAT NEXT?ABC news from the onset in-

dicated that it would “stand by”Stephanopoulos and at presstime there was no indication tothe contrary. A May 19 NewYork Post story revealed thatStephanopoulos recently signeda multiyear deal with the net-work in excess of $100 million.

Whether ABC News andStephanopoulos can weatherthe storm, or whether ABCNews will relieve Stephanopou-los of his duties as the network’sChief Anchor and host of twoshows – presumably, still payinghim the 100+ million becausethere is likely nothing in his con-tract that would preclude himfrom earning that salary underthese circumstances – remainsto be seen.

Stephanopoulos’ Impropriety AppearanceContinued from page 1

Thursday May 28th 6-10 Μ.M.Saturday May 30st 2-11 Μ.M.

110 CATHEDRAL AVENUE, HEMPSTEAD, NY 11550

Tel: (516) 483-5700

FESTIVAL.STPAULHEMPSTEAD.ORG

Friday May 29st 6-11 Μ.M.Sunday May 31st 1-9 Μ.M.

SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE & EXTRA PARKING!

2015

GREAT FOOD - LIVE MUSIC

FREE ADMISSION

GREEK FOODS & DELICACIES

SOUVLAKI PIT • TAVERNA

COLOSSAL FLEA MARKET

LOUKOUMADES • WINE & CHEESE

CYPRIOT CORNER

GREEK PASTRY CAFÉ

NEW RIDES, GAMES & PRIZES

GIANT AGORA (MARKETPLACE)

A WIDE VARIETY OF VENDORS

GREEK DANCE PERFORMANCES

GUIDED CHURCH TOURS

GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRALOF St.PAUL

PRESENTS OUR FAMOUS

GREEK FESTIVAL

The DNA of Daron DylonWint, seen here, was found inthe pizza crust at theSavopoulos' home, leading po-lice to issue a warrant for hisarrest.

Students Shine, Signal Community’sFuture is BrightDr. Andre Gerolymatos, atpodium, put the Germanreparations issue intoperspective at the awardsceremonies of QueensCollege’s Center forByzantine and ModernGreek Studies. At table (L-R) are Center DirectorChristos Ioannides,Provost Elizabeth Hen-drey, Very Rev. VasiliosBassakyros, Greek ConsulManos Koubarakis, andCyprus Consul GeneralAmb. Vasilios Philippou.The ceremony was dedi-cated to Peter Pa-pavasilopoulos.

Board members “for making theevent a great success,” and theyin turn thanked their committeemembers.

Mary and Peter Kalikow, whounderwrote the purchase ofGage’s book that the guests re-ceived as gifts and the

Soupouta/Zervoulioas Founda-tion, who paid for the flowers,were thanked, as were othersponsors.

Bea George introduced Gage,“the author of three fascinatingand heartwarming books.”

Gage, a proud member of theCathedral community, thankedPhiloptochos for the invitation

and gave a shout out to Dr.Theodore Kousoulas, the Headof the Cathedral School, whichher daughter attends.

Before sharing the story ofher book, which the programnoted “follows three generationsof women, each hiding her ownsecret,” she declared that all 270women in attendance “have in-

credible stories to tell.”Anticipating questions about

how a Greek-American girlcould write a book aboutNicaragua, she blamed thefanouropita that brought herNicaraguan husband Emilio -and father of her two children –into her life.

Her first novel, Other Waters,was about a woman with rootsin the Indian subcontinent, so aless humble person could haveanswered – with justice in hercase – “it’s a gift.”

Emilio was the source notonly background but content.

Isabella, the matriarch amongThe Ladies of Managua, belovedmother and grandmother Is-abela, was modelled on the lifeof his own grandmother.

After overcoming her annoy-ance over her husband’s delay intelling her the fascinating story,she got to work, much of it dur-ing seven months she lived inNicaragua.

Gage’s tale. which is not onlya fascinating exploration of whatpeople on the most intimateterms do and do not know abouteach other, also sheds light onthe dramatic changes countriescan undergo in short periods oftime.

Growing up, people investmuch time energy figuring outthe rules of society, she said, butwhat happens when – as inNicaragua in the 1980s, afterAnastasio Somoza was over-thrown – a revolution changesall the rules?

Among Gage’s gifts is creatingcharacters the reader comes tocare deeply about, so that by thetime the final, moving, sentenceis read the reader will feel thatshe – or he, the book, which , il-

luminates many Venus mysterieswould be a bestseller on Marstoo – has become part of thefamily.

The extended reception priorto the luncheon was an oppor-tunity for old friendships to re-cover from distance and timeand for new ones to be estab-lished. The guests also werepleased with the booths proffer-ing fashion items and flowersand raffles, proceeds from which,along with raffle earning, con-tributed to the cause.

Among the vendors was anoted florist named Carolina.

Apropos of Gage’s openingcomments that every womanthere had a fascinating story totell, Carolina told TNH she wasonce a stock analyst.

“I can’t tell you how muchhappier I am doing flowers…Flowers bring beauty and happi-

ness to my life and into every-body else’s life,” said the womanwho has degrees both in financeand art history.

There is a connection. Politi-cians need to be both analyticaland creative, and her father hadrisen to the top ranks of…Nicaragua. Can you rememberhis name?

While Carolina could illumi-nate much of the reality Gagetalked about, what she empha-sized to TNH was that “The peo-ple are beautiful.”

Helen Nicozisis, who was thefirst woman president of theparish council of the Annuncia-tion Church in Lancaster, PA andnow lives in Florida, traveled far“because I believe in the Philop-tochos cause and all they do withthe funds that they raise as partof our wonderful Greek Ortho-dox heritage.”

4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

Psaros told Fortune. “Waterfordis a household name in the U.S.but, globally, Wedgwood ismagic. If we could figure out howto design and make the productsprofitably, then we could reallydo something.”

“It has been the most dramaticturnaround of our careers,”Psaros told Fortune. “To us thiswasn’t just a deal or invest-ment… it was something welived for six years, and now be-lieve it’s going to a very goodhome.”

The Telegraph described it asa “Lazarus-like turnaround.” Itwrote about the sparkling Amer-ican football made of out cut-crystal – for which WW is famous– that sits atop a mantelpiece in-side the Weirton, WV home ofPsaros’ parents, George and MaryAnn. The piece, the Telegraphnotes, was sent to the couplefrom Ireland, by the WW staff, inappreciation of their son’s abilityto salvage the old and well-es-tablished company that had beenstruggling prior to KPS’ takeover.

“It was thoroughly shattered,every single part needed to befixed,” Psaros said, not of thecrystal gift, but of its creator, WW,at the time when KPS took itover, the Telegraph reported.

Psaros explained that thecompany had swelled in size,with its management, distribu-tion, and marketing facilities foreach of its brands quadrupling.Rather than competing againstits rivals, the company was com-peting internally. So the compa-nies under KPS were all put un-der one name, with a singlemanagement team. That saved3,000 jobs and 100 million dol-

lars, he said.The Telegraph noted wide-

spread reporting on many UnitedKingdom companies that sufferedat the hands of turnaround fundsduring Britain’s recession, butthat success stories, where belea-guered companies were nurturedback to health – such as Psaroswith WW – often go unnoticed.

Psaros is sentimental whenspeaking about his Greek par-ents, the Telegraph notes, but

“still has the distinct fast-talk-ing, no-nonsense approach com-mon to many Wall Street hedge-fund owners. ‘We are like theAmerican football PittsburghSteelers team (Psaros grew up innearby West Virginia, whichdoesn’t have its own professionalfootball team, and has manySteelers fans) – what we do issmash-mouth football. We go inand it is a full-body contact op-eration,’ he says.”

But the “smash-mouth foot-ball” wasn’t all slah and burn, theTelegraph points out. KPS in-vested in a new ceramics factoryand made a financial push intoAsia, which now accounts for 40percent of all sales. Victoria’s Se-cret Angel Miranda Kerr is nowbecoming the face of KPS’ RoyalAlbert china brand, writes theTelegraph, “and she’s the onewho reached out to us,” Psarosnotes.

ZERO-BASED BUDGETINGKPS utilized an approach

called “zero-based budgeting,”Psaros explains, the Telegraph re-ports: Essentially, that means thatmanagers have to plan eachyear’s budget beginning withzero funds, and explain each costthey need, as opposed to follow-ing the previous year’s budget.

In using zero-based budget-

ing, for example, a company candetermine that a particular bud-get item does not need as manyfunds allocated to it in the cur-rent year, and may actually be el-igible to be removed from thebudget altogether. Zero budget-ing helps to detect duplication,i.e., when two different budgetitems serve one purpose, therebyrendering the extra item waste-ful.

“It’s simple business sense:any capital invested must achievea return, cash flow is king andevery expense must be accountedfor,” Psaros says.

ABOUT KPSIn 1991, KPS Capital Partners

was established, named after thefirst initial of the surname of eachof its three founders: Eugene

Keilin, Michael Psaros and DavidShapiro. According to its web-site, kpsfund.com, the company“seeks to create wealth for ourinvestors by making businessesbetter. Our investment strategyinvolves acquiring companies orassets at values we view as com-pelling, then implementing busi-ness plans based on cost reduc-tion, productivity improvementand optimal asset utilization.Thereafter, we focus on growingour companies aggressively, bothorganically and through strategicacquisitions. KPS seeks to glob-alize the business and operationsof our companies wherever pos-sible. We provide our companieswith a capital structure that pro-vides the financial resources forcapital investment, moderniza-

tion and growth. “We are neither a hedge fund

nor a leveraged buyout firm. Wedo not trade in public securities,but may purchase public securi-ties in furtherance of obtaining acontrol position. We do not be-lieve long term or sustainablevalue is created through financialengineering, by using excessivefinancial leverage or other capitalstructure related initiatives.

“KPS is a constructive investor.Our experience in structuringtransactions that align the inter-ests of management, employeesand all stakeholders is evidencedby the manner in which KPS hasapproached many difficult andcomplex situations. Our ap-proach stands in sharp contrastto the confrontational approach

often relied upon by other in-vestors. KPS’ ability to work con-structively with major unions inNorth America and increasinglyin Western Europe has resultedin the creation of enterprises thatare profitable and positioned forsuccess over the long term.

“We believe that KPS’ uniqueculture provides a real competi-tive advantage. KPS’ co-foundershave worked as a team for overtwo decades. We believe our in-vestment team’s track record,depth and breadth of experience,differentiated operations-focusedinvestment strategy and firm cul-ture differentiate KPS from otherprivate equity firms. Our successis a result of a true team effort.There is no individual attributionof investments at KPS.

“KPS is an active, control in-vestor. Our professionals workclosely with our managementand employee partners at ourportfolio companies to createstockholder wealth by developingtruly effective turnaround andbusiness plans, effectively over-seeing their execution, providingadvice and counsel through gov-ernance control positions, pursu-ing strategic follow-on acquisi-tions, joint-ventures andalliances, and implementing cre-ative incentives for managementand employees. Our investors un-derstand that building equityvalue takes time, and we encour-age our companies to take a long-term perspective.

“KPS Portfolio Companieshave aggregate annual revenuesof approximately $6.3 billion, op-erate 103 manufacturing facilitiesin 26 countries, and employ ap-proximately 46,000 associates,directly and through joint ven-tures worldwide.”

Psaros’ Deal of a Lifetime: Sells Waterford Wedgewood for a 400% ROI

This bridal registry features ample coveted items that are part of Waterford Wedgewood’s(WW) product line. KPS acquired WW in 2009, turned it around, and sold it at 400% ROI.

Law Firm

G. Dimitriadis & Associates

Our company aims to provide high quality services, adapted to thespecific needs of our clients.the main areas of our activities include:• Legal services• Financial managerial services• Real EstateOur wide network of contacts in Greece guarantees the immediateand unified handling of our clients’ matters.

Phone: 01130 210 3390080 • cell.: 01130 6977 469888Fax: 01130 210 3390044

e-mail: info@dimitriadislawfirm.gr

www.dimitriadislawfirm.gr

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

ASTORIA – New York CityCouncilman Costas Constanti-nides recently held a party inhis Astoria district to celebrateNew York City’s innovative Par-ticipatory Budgeting processand to honor the volunteerswho helped make it possible.

The initiative, which was pi-oneered by Melissa Mark-Viver-ito as a member of the CityCouncil before she became itsSpeaker, enables citizens to votefor the projects they deem mostimportant for their neighbor-hoods and the party was the oc-casion for announcing the win-ning projects.

When the Ancient Greeks pi-oneered democracy, it was di-rect democracy, but as cities andstates grew bigger and bigger,representative government be-came the norm for democraticgovernment. Notwithstandingwhat the information revolutionmight make possible in the fu-ture, public officials concernedwith declining citizen interest inpolitics and election turnoutshave worked within the currentsystem to get citizens more in-volved.

About half of New York’s City

Council members have turnedover responsibility for $1 millionof their annual capital allocationto their constituents.

The process, which tookplace in Astoria for the first timein the 2014-15 budget cyclegenerated 2,204 ballots – whichoutperformed last year’s citywide average of 1700. “I’m veryproud of that,” Constantinidessaid.

Constantinides explained toTNH how it works. Last fallcommunity residents attendedfour assemblies in Astoria andJackson Heights and brain-stormed about project ideas.

About 100 of the participantsthen volunteered to be BudgetDelegates and broke up intogroups working on specific is-sues.

The delegates turned an ini-tial list of 250 capital projectsinto 18 proposals that were an-nounced in March 2015.

“The delegates worked withCity agencies to see what wasfeasible,” Constantinides said,and clarified that what is in-volved in the capitol budget arenot programs but buildable pro-jects “that cost more than$35,000 and last more than fiveyears.”

The Councilman and his staff

– who put in many hours andwhom Constantinides said werevital to the effort – did not ad-vocate for any of the projects.They tried to be as neutral andhelpful as possible.

The 18 projects were votedupon at sites across Constanti-nides’ district. There were manyGreek-American voters and bal-

lots were also Greek.The three winning projects’

budgets exceeded the $1 millionthe process produced, “but I didnot want to not fund somethingthat got more than 700 votes,”he said, and provided an addi-tional $245,000 to the budgets.

The extra money came outof the capital outlay his office

also controls. Last year they had$5 million to spend on items likeschool playgrounds and li-braries.

“This allows direct democ-racy, it allows neighbors to de-cide how their tax dollarsshould be spent,” Constanti-nides said, adding “It was greatto see…people were very ex-cited,” and he especially enjoyedseeing high school students casttheir first votes as citizens.

The top vote getter was “Pub-lic school district-wide Tech up-grades.” $245,000 was allo-cated, $35,000 for each of sevenschools.

The councilman was mostexcited about “the additionaltech dollars we are putting intoour schools… Schools in the21st century have to keep upwith technology.”

The “Dog Run in Astoria”came in second place and willreceive $500,000. “We havenever had a functional dog runbefore,” he said. The run will bebuilt on an empty lot under theRFK Bridge.

In third place was the IS 126playground, which will cost$500,000.

“We had great volunteers,people who gave up their timefor the betterment of our neigh-

borhood should be com-mended,” Constantinides said,but he also spotlighted his staff.“They were amazing. I could nothave done this without them. Itwas like running a district-wideelection with seven people. Theymanned five poll sites 12 hoursa day, seven days that week.”

Attorney Constantinos Kap-atsos’ parents are from Cephalo-nia. He told TNH he read aboutParticipatory Budgeting on Face-book and decided to attend ameeting. He was so impressedhe became a budget delegateand at a volunteer at the votingsites.

Born in California, Jeremy-Joseph Rosen has lived in NewYork most of his life. He said thestaff did a great job of facilitat-ing and not influencing theprocess. “People from all walksof life, 40-60 people came to themeetings I attended, whichlasted 1 ½ hours. The budgetdelegates are committed to afour month process of a meetinga week.”

While a lot of people cameinto the process with an agenda,a specific project they wantedto support, Rosen said. He toldTNH “I just love my neighbor-hood and wanted to be part ofthe process.

Reviving Democracy in Astoria via Process of Participatory Budgeting

City Councilman Costa Constantinides on a Participatory Bud-geting outreach run to senior citizens. 2,204 ballots were castin Council District 22, well above the city average.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Eleni Gage Presents Her New Book at Philoptochos Luncheon in NYC

(L-R) Bia George, Antonia Rigopoulos, Catherine Moutousis,and Eleni Gage, who was presented with the Cathedral Philop-tochos’ 80th anniversary scarf, which is adorned with Greekand American flags and icons of the Society's patrons saints,Kosmas and Damianos.

By Theodore Kalmoukos

BOSTON, MA – The 73rd com-mencement ceremony of HellenicCollege and Holy Cross Greek Or-thodox School of Theology(HCHC) was dedicated to its re-tiring president, Rev. Nicholas Tri-antafilou. The ceremonies beganon the morning of May 16 withMatins followed by the DivineLiturgy at Holy Cross Chapel of-ficiated by His Eminence Arch-bishop Demetrios of America.

The commencement tookplace in the Pappas Auditoriumwith the invocation offered by thearchbishop. Greetings were of-fered by Tomas Lelon Vice Chair-man of the HCHC’s Board ofTrustees, Greek Consul Generalof Boston Iphigenia Kanara, Na-tional Philoptochos PresidentMaria Logus, who gave a dona-tion of $100,000 for scholarshipsto theological students, and Lead-ership 100 Chairman GeorgeTsandikos, which gives $1 millionper year for scholarships.

Fr. Triantafilou was honoredwith an honorary degree of Doc-tor of Theology and he wasthanked for his 15 years of service

as HCHC President. Appealing tothe graduating class, Triantafilousaid “you are part of Christ. Youhave received the spirit of Christin order to transmit it to theparishes” and he urged the grad-uates “to continue to study”.

Archbishop Demetrios con-veyed the blessing and the wishesof His All Holiness EcumenicalPatriarch Bartholomew to thegraduating classes. He also con-veyed the complacence of theHoly Eparchial Synod to the out-going Triantafilou and read a longletter enumerating his achieve-ments at the School. At the end,the members of the Holy Synodwho were present at the com-mencement ceremony signed theletter of complacence.

Other clergy at the ceremonyincluded Metropolitans Method-ios of Boston, Alexios of Atlanta,Evangelos of New Jersey, Savasof Pittsburgh, and Gerasimos ofSan Francisco. Bishops Antoniosof Phasiane, Chancellor of theArchdiocese, Sebastian of ZelaChief Secretary of the HolyEparchial Synod, Demetrios ofMoskissos Chancellor of the Me-tropolis of Chicago, retired Bishop

Demetrios of Xanthos, BishopKyrillos of Abydos, visiting pro-fessor of Canon Law from theUniversity of Athens, and BishopJohn of the Antiochian OrthodoxArchdiocese.

Rachel Contos was the vale-dictorian for Hellenic College andPeter Hasiakos for the School ofTheology. There were 34 gradu-ates from the Theological School:26 received the Master of Divinity,5 Master of Theological Studies,and 3 Master of Theology, anda20 graduated from Hellenic Col-lege.

The choirs of Hellenic Collegeand Holy Cross also participated.

On May 15, a farewell dinnerwas held in Triantafilou’s honorat the Marriott Hotel in Newton.

senting all those who know andlove her and whom he advised,“It’s a tough crowd Mrs. Michaels– these people were your studentsand this is their chance for re-venge.” But the joke, whichtouched everyone’s funny bone –including the honoree’s – couldnot have struck farther from thetruth. The big crowd was filledwith love and appreciation.

Michaels thanked her teamand expressed her love for thestudents and her own parents.Douros noted that he and hisclassmates do not need reunionsto keep in touch, enjoying endur-ing friendship from their studentdays.

The tradition continues.Theodore P. Kusulas, the currentHead of School, told the guests“the energy in this room is ma-jestic. It started with the childrenat their first assembly last Sep-tember and it kept building andbuilding and here we are, cele-brating the year’s accomplish-ments – and Stacey Michaels.”

Kusulas taught at St.Demetrios in Astoria and noted“everyone wanted to come to theCathedral School to work withStacy...she is the consummateprofessional and on behalf of ourschool I thank you for being hereto honor her.”

Lilly Gerontis Pritchard, secre-tary of the Parents Association,served as co-chair of the eventwith Roula Lambrakis.

Fr. John Vlahos, the Dean ofthe Cathedral, offered the invo-cation and Bill Mihas, Parent As-sociation President, thankedeveryone responsible “for an awe-some year,” as did Pritchard andLambrakis in English and Greek,respectively.

Lambrakis brought smiles ofunderstanding in the room filledwith leaders when she said she

and her friends say every year“this is last time we will do theGlendi,” but the next day they areon the phone saying “Okay, whatwill we do next year?”

“This year’s gathering is spe-cial because we have before us asymbol in Stacy Michaels…Herlegacy is in all of us, includingthe parents of the students, whowork to keep the flame burningand the dream alive…her spiritis planted in our students.“

Lambrakis concluded with anobservation about the School thatapplies to all the community’s in-stitutions, saying the future willbe secure “if we do no leave thetough tasks for tomorrow.”

Fr. Vlahos told TNH “It’s agreat occasion to get together asa family… We look forward tobuilding upon the good work ofthe people who came before usto take the school to newheights.”

Among the dignitaries wereDr. Ioannis Efthymiopoulos, Na-tional Director of Education forthe Archdiocese, Stella Kokolis,Federation of Hellenic-American

Educators and Cultural Associa-tions of America, and CatherineMoutousis, President of theCathedral Philoptochos.

Amb. George Iliopoulos. Con-sul General of Greece said “we allhave vision for the school and thesky is the limit; it has the location,the people and the pupils it needs,so there is no excuse for us not todo what we have to achieve great-ness in the middle of Manhattan.”

Amb. Philippou declared “It iswith great joy that I greet you…and that I am with you to honorpaideia,” and the school and itsheads who have promoted it.

Fr. Eugene Pappas, the pastorof the Church of Three Hierarchsin Brooklyn was invited to remi-nisce about working with Math-ews as the Cathedral’s assistantpriest and religion instructor.

With his trademark edgy hu-mor mixed with affection, Fr. Pap-pas praised Matthews’ dedicationand achievements while whettingthe appetite of the guests – andevoking laughter in the honoree– with references to stories hecould not tell publicly about their

tenures. Among the guests wasWhite House pastry chef BillYosses, a friend of chef Maria Loi,who catered the glendi. He is Pol-ish, not Greek, but he loves Greekfood and said the staff looks for-

ward to the annual Greek Inde-pendence Day reception.

Organizers credited Loi’s touchfor the look and feel of the ball-room the guests enjoyed as theydined, danced and chatted with

old and new friends entertainedby the music of the Apollo Or-chestra led by virtuoso clarinetistsLefteris Bournias.

Carol Contos, a retired educa-tor whose father is from Nisyros,credits the school and Michaelsfor the successful careers and ex-cellent Greek of her children,George and Nicole Contos. Theformer earned his law degree atGeorgetown University and thelatter has two master’s degrees ineducation.

Dr. Stella Lymberis has had herchildren, Olga and Michalis La-toussakis, in the school for sevenyears. “We have seen the schoolflourish and improve over timeand today we are honoring awoman who left a powerfullegacy,” she said.

The event, which is afundraiser, spotlighted specificschool upgrade projects such asscience lab enhancement, a cul-tural art center and arobotics/odyssey of the mind cen-ter.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015 5

Cathedral School Honors Former Head, Stacey Michaels, at 2015 GlendiContinued from page 1

Left: (L-R) Dr. Stella Lymberis, Stella Kokolis, honoree StacyMichaels, Roula Lambrakis, glendi co-chair with Lilly GerontisPritchard (not seen in photo) and Anthousa Iliopoulos.Top: Revered retired Cathedral School head Stacy Michaels ispresented a gift consisting of a work of art created by currentstudents by Roula Lambrakis (L) and Peter Douros.

President of the National Philoptochos, Attorney Maria Logus speakingat the commencement. Shown are the hierarchs of the stage.

The Pappas Auditorium filled with parents, relatives and friends ofthe graduating classes of Hellenic College/Holy Cross.

HCHC 73rd Commencement isDedicated to Fr. Triantafilou

Fr. Nicholas Triantafilou was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Theology Degree. Shown are: JamesSkedros, Fr. Nicholas Triantafillou, Archbishop Demetrios, Tomas Lelon and Demetrios Katos.

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

DEATH NOTICES

n COTSORIDIS, APOSTOLOSNEWPORT, RI (From the New-port Daily News, published onApr. 30) – NEWPORT – Apostolos(Paul) G. Cotsoridis, fell asleep inthe Lord, on Saturday, April 25,2015 at Newport Hospital. Bornin Newport, RI, on May 21, 1930,he was the loving son of Mary(Maniates) and Constantine Cot-soridis. He was a graduate ofRogers High School class of 1949,where he played the xylophonein the school band and was voted"Most School Spirited" by his fel-low seniors. He attended the Uni-versity of Rhode Island, receivinga Degree in Education from theMaster's Graduate Program andtaught briefly with the NewportSchool Department. He workedas a manager at Ryan's SportingGoods and was a retired federalemployee, having worked at theNavy Education Training CenterLibrary for over 20 years. A de-vout Orthodox Christin, Paul wasan active member of St. Spyri-don's Church. As a graduate ofthe Holy Cross Greek TheologicalSchool in Brookline, MA, he wasassigned by the Archdiocese toProvidence where he deliveredSunday morning sermons at theChurch of the Annunciation forone year. That was followed bythe assignment to St. Spyridon'sChurch as Choir Director andCantor, a role he proudly servedfor over 55 consecutive years. Hewas a self-taught organ playerand would happily fill in whennecessary at the church. He wasa member of AHEPA for over 50years, having served as the Presi-dent of the local chapter. He alsoserved on the board of directorsfor the AHEPA National HousingCorporation. He was a foster par-ent sponsor of the Cyprus Chil-dren's fund for 30 years. Also, atalented artist, his work of art areproudly displayed and cherishedby members of his family. Paulwas very proud of his Greek her-itage and enjoyed travelingthroughout Greece and the Is-lands, particularly to the locationsof Papingo and Mytilene, wherehis parents were born. He alsovisited the Holy Land, Jerusalem,Mount Sinai, and Istanbul,Turkey. Though his main passionwas for his Church, he could alsobe found worshiping the sun atFirst Beach, where he was one ofthe "regulars". An enthusiasticsport's fan, he faithfully followedthe Patriots, Celtics and theBoston Red Sox. A beloved mem-ber of the St. Spyridon's ParishFamily, he was often referred toas "Uncle Paul", having partici-pated in so many of the HolySacraments with their families.He was a proud and loving God-father to many members of theparish. He takes with him thewonderful memories of familygatherings and celebrations andthe knowledge that he did hispart to maintain the traditionsthat he was brought up with andmore importantly, that he wasable to pass them down to futuregenerations. May his memory beeternal. He is survived by hisnephews, Charles Cotsoridis andhis wife Christine, Theodore Cot-soridis and his wife Maureen and

his niece Susan Cotsoridis Heffnerand her husband Charles, great-nieces and nephews, Jason,Nicole and her husband Bo,Stephanie and Anthony andgreat-great nieces Paige and Pey-ton, along with his first cousins,Diane (Nick) Bonofas, CatherineViolet, Artemis (Tom) Adamedes.He also leaves many relativesfrom the Boston region and inGreece. He was predeceased byhis brother George, sister-in-lawIrene and his nephew Peter Cot-soridis. Calling hours will be heldon Wednesday, April 29, 2015,from 4 –7 p.m., in the MemorialFuneral Home, 375 Broadway,Newport. On Thursday, April 30,2015, visitation will be held from9:30-10:30 a.m. in St. Spyridon'sGreek Orthodox Church, ThamesStreet, Newport, followed by hisfuneral service at 10:30 a.m. inthe church. Burial will follow inMiddletown Cemetery.In lieu of flowers, memorials maybe made to St. Spyridon Greek Or-thodox Church, P.O. Box 427,Newport, RI 02840. Additional in-formation at www.memorialfuner-alhome.com

n DRISTHULAS, KATINASEATTLE, WA (From the SeattleTimes, published on Apr. 27) –Our Mother, Friend, and Lovedone peacefully passed away at herhome surrounded by all those sheloved, just before turning 100years old. Katina was born in thebeautiful Aegean Village of Hos-tia, the oldest daughter of Aspasiaand George Angelou. She workedin the fields as a child and taughtherself about the world. Katinaendured the atrocities of WorldWar II, fleeing from the Nazi oc-cupation, which destroyed her vil-lage. In 1949, she met her truelove, Nick, and immigrated as hiswife to Havre, Montana, whereshe began a new phase of her life.Soon after arriving, Katina spon-sored her brother, Angelo An-gelou, her cousin, John Papanas-tasiou, and Nick's nephew, JohnDritshulas, all who forged newlives in America under her lovingguidance. Nick passed away fartoo early in their marriage andKatina was left to raise their onlydaughter, Anastasia, on her own.In 1966 Katina moved to Seattleto be closer to her brother and toprovide a better life for Anastasia.This young woman from Greecegot a job at Skyway Luggage,learned to drive a car in the bigcity, and artfully navigated thecomplexities of a new life for herand Anastasia. Katina's Greek Or-thodox faith and her family werealways at the center of her life.She loved nothing more than toattend church and return hometo a household full of family andfriends for whom she would cook,share recipes, and point out herbeautiful flowers. Family andfriends meant everything toKatina. She is survived by herloving daughter, Anastasia, herson-in-law, Mark, and her twogranddaughters, Tess and Xana,the true lights of her life; her lov-ing brother Angelo Angelou(Magdaline), her nephew GeorgeAngelou, niece Stasia and hus-band Darrin Waters and their chil-dren, Van and Mena, niece Aspa-sia and husband Phil Carlson; hercousin and dining companion,John Papanastasiou (Kalomira)and their family, George Papanas-tasiou and Alexa, Gus and Errin,Papanastasiou, Johnny andMadelon; daughter-in-law, AliceDritshulas (John T); nephew

John G. Dritshulas (Arhonto) andfamily, Kerry and Zoe Caizza,Margarita, John and Becca Stoup;Janna, Chris, Jonathan, SarahFaber; her many friends, and herloving caregivers. Trisagion Ser-vice will be held Friday, May 1,7:00 p.m., at Bonney Watson Fu-neral Home on Capitol Hill. Fu-neral service will be Saturday,May 2, at 11:00 am, with recep-tion to follow at St. DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church. In lieuof flowers, the family requests do-nations be made to Kids n' Cancer,Camp Agape NW, www.campa-gapenw.org or St. DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church.

n GRIGOROPOULOS, CHRISTOSLENOX, MA (From the BerkshireEagle, published on Apr. 25) –Christos Grigoropoulos died onApril 22nd at his summer estatein the family village of Alevrou,Sparta/Greece. He was 75 yearsold. Mr. Grigoropoulos was theson of olive grove farm owners,Spiros and Dimitra Grigoropoulosof Alevrou, Greece. He is survivedby his wife, Athena Grigoropoulosof Lenox; son, Spiro C. Grig-oropoulos of Lenox; daughter,Demi Schimenti and grandson,Matthew Christopher Schimentiof Fairfield County, Connecticut.Also, two sisters of BerkshireCounty, Angel Arlos and Julia Vla-hopoulos; two brothers, GeorgeGrigoropoulos of Alevrou, Greeceand Peter Grigoropoulos of Mel-bourne, Australia. Additionally, heis survived by 11 nieces, tennephews and two god-daughters.Mr. Grigoropoulos worked in thefurniture trade as a craftsman inAthens, Greece and later movedto Melbourne, Australia where hemet his wife, Athena. The familyrelocated to Massachusetts in thelate 60's where Mr. Grigoropoulosbegan his entrepreneurial careeras a carpenter, restaurateur andbusiness real estate developer. Inaddition to his business career,Mr. Grigoropoulos enjoyed spend-ing time with his family in theBerkshires, visiting Saratoga andConnecticut. In Greece, he alsoenjoyed dancing, gardening, mak-ing his own wine, olive oil andspending time at his estiatoria atthe base of Taygetus mountain. Hefelt passionately about sharing hisfamily history and personal knowl-edge of life experiences. A lifemember of St. George GreekChurch of Lakonias/Greece, hewas known for his fun-loving, gre-garious wit and for his generosityin local communities. Funeralarrangements will be held at hisbirthplace in Alevrou, Greece. Inlieu of flowers, donations may bemade to Lenox Public Schools[Walker Fund] and The TaftSchool of Watertown, Connecticut.

n KOULOGANIS, DIMITRIOSGREAT BARRINGTON, MA(From the Berkshire Eagle, pub-lished on May 6) – Dimitrios"Jimmy" Kouloganes, age 78, diedpeacefully at home in Great Bar-rington, surrounded by family,Friday, May 1, 2015. Dimitri wasborn on September 4, 1936, inPellana Greece, son of Panyiotaand Panayioti. After graduatingfrom the Gymnasium of Sparti,he immigrated to Stamford, CTand joined his father working tobring the family to America. Dim-itri was a founding member ofthe Pellana Society of Stamford,CT and an active member of theAmerican Hellenic EducationalProgressive Association. He wasalso a longtime supporter of the

Greek Orthodox Church in bothStamford and Danbury, CT. Heworked as the Production ControlManager for the Kanthal Corpo-ration and Plant Manager forKanthal in Cinnaminson, NJ. In1973, he opened his first of manyrestaurants, beginning with the"Country Pizza Inn" in Danbury,CT. "Dimitri's Pizza" was openedin 1985 in New Milford, CT andbecame a popular local familydestination. He is survived byInge, his loving wife of 50 years,his children; Peter, Thomas,Stephanie and David, grand-daughter, Anastasia and daugh-ter-in-law, Cheryl; two sisters;Katina, Helen, and a brother, An-gelo. He is predeceased by hisbrothers, Nikolas, George, and sis-ters, Dina, Maria, and little Maria.He will be missed by extendedfamily and friends in the UnitedStates, Germany and Greece. Helived his life with immense lovefor his family and adopted coun-try; may his memory be forevereternal. FUNERAL NOTICE: Ser-vices will be held at 11 a.m.,Thursday, May 7, 2015 atFINNERTY & STEVENS FU-NERAL HOME in Great Barring-ton, MA. Burial will follow at Elm-wood Cemetery in GreatBarrington. In lieu of flowers, do-nations may be made to HospiceCare of the Berkshires throughFINNERTY & STEVENS FU-NERAL HOME, 426 Main St.,Great Barrington, MA 01230 oronline at www.hcib.org. To signthe guest book or send remem-brances to his family go towww.finnertyandstevens.com.

n LEKKAS, DR. PETERGODFREY, IL (From the Tele-graph, published on May 13) –Dr. Peter K. Lekkas, 87, passedaway at 9:35 a.m. Wednesday,May 6, 2015, at home. He wasborn on June 16, 1927, in Thes-saloniki, Greece, the son of thelate Konstantinos and Fanee (Ko-rneti) Lekkas. He married SamaryHomburg on May 31, 1959, at St.Nicholas Greek Orthodox Churchin St. Louis. She survives. Dr.Lekkas graduated from the Uni-versity of Thessaloniki medicalschool in 1954. From 1954 to1963 he did post graduate workat Washington University, special-izing in general surgery, thoracicsurgery and cardiovascularsurgery. He became a UnitedStates citizen in 1968, and prac-ticed medicine in Alton for manyyears. In addition to his wife, Dr.Lekkas is survived by two daugh-ters and sons-in-law, Dr. Faneeand Wayne Freeman of Bozeman,Mont., and Mary and DerrickStiebler of St. Louis; one son anddaughter-in-law, Dr. Konstantinosand Lolani Lekkas of Des Moines,Iowa; five grandchildren, Trentand Nicholas Stiebler, Elleana,Alexandra and Peter Lekkas;three stepgrandchildren, SarahStiebler (Cotur), Emily and AbbyFreeman; one sister, Athena Dav-elopoulou of Greece; and twonephews, Yiannis and Konstanti-nos Davelopoulos, both of Greece.Cremation rites will be accorded.Visitation will be from 9 until timeof Memorial Service at 11 a.m.Saturday, May 16, 2105, at Elias,Kallal and Schaaf Funeral Homein Godfrey with Pastor IreneGulovsen.

n MARKAKIS, DR. PERICLESEAST LANSING, MI (From theLansing State Journal, publishedon May 7) – Dr. Pericles Constan-tine Markakis, loving husband, fa-

ther and grandfather and Profes-sor Emeritus at Michigan StateUniversity, passed away on May3, 2015. He was 95. Perry is sur-vived by his loving and devotedwife of 62 years, GeorgiaMarkakis (Papathanasiou),daughters and sons-in-law Con-stance Markakis and MichaelMills of Bethesda, MD, KathrynMarkakis and Geoffrey Williamsof Rochester, NY, and AnastasiaMarkakis Nye and Ronald Nye ofSouth Barrington, IL, and grand-children Alexandra, Pericles,David, Georgia, Artemis, Bran-don, Cameron and Austin. Perrywas born in Cassaba, Turkey, nearSmyrna, to Constantinos and Yeo-ryia Markakis on March 3, 1920.In 1922 when he was two yearsold, his family fled to Greece, fol-lowing the war between Greeceand Turkey and the post-WorldWar I partitioning of the OttomanEmpire. He was raised in Thessa-loniki and served twice in theGreek Army, first in the 1941 re-sistance against the Nazi invasionof Greece when he was capturedand held as a prisoner of war forsix months on the island of Crete.In the subsequent Greek Civil Warhe fought on the side of the Na-tional Army against the Commu-nists. Through this tumultuoustime, Perry in 1949 earned twoundergraduate degrees, in agri-culture and chemistry, from theUniversity of Thessaloniki. Perryfirst came to the United States in1950 as a Fulbright scholar at theMassachusetts Institute of Tech-nology. He entered the Universityof Massachusetts in Amherst in1951 to pursue graduate studies.In his first course, his professorintroduced him to an intelligentand spirited young Greek woman- the only female student in theclassroom - who would becomehis great love and partner in life.Georgia and Perry married in1953. He went on to earn a Mas-ters and a Ph.D. by 1955. Most ofPerry's academic career was spentas a tenured professor of foodchemistry for the MSU Depart-ment of Food Science and HumanNutrition. He was the author ofmore than 100 scientific articles,reviews and papers — other sci-

entists cited his work more than130 times — as well as books inEnglish, Greek and Spanish. Hisresearch focused on the chemicalprocesses behind Green Revolu-tion initiatives to increase agri-cultural production worldwide.Among his various explorationswere the promise of the cassavaroot as a major global foodsource, physical factors contribut-ing to the optimal refinement ofolive oil, and the role and extrac-tion of natural food colorants.During his tenure at MSU he trav-eled widely to speak at confer-ences and taught hundreds ofgraduate and undergraduate stu-dents from around the world;many remained in close contactwith him throughout his life andinvited him to their home coun-tries for teaching, lecturing andconsultation. During his retire-ment Perry continued to write,speak and consult on food chem-istry. He gave several lectures inIndonesia and was recognized forhis consulting work with theGreek food industry. The Univer-sity of Athens bestowed on himthe prestigious title of honoraryprofessor. Outside his professionalinterests, he and Georgia traveledextensively, spending winters attheir second home in Athens andsummers at their cottage on theGreek island of Naxos with theirchildren, their families and theirbeloved extended family inGreece. While Perry remained in-tensely curious about all thingsscientific, he also turned to artisticpursuits. He took up poetry andpainting, and along with Georgiawas a devoted patron and sup-porter of the MSU Wharton Cen-ter for Performing Arts. Perry wasa gentle soul who lived and em-bodied the values common toChristianity and all major faiths— humility, compassion, concernfor the human condition and so-cial justice. He passed these val-ues on to his children, grandchil-dren and many generations ofstudents. Visitation will be on Fri-day, May 8, from 5:00 p.m. to8:00 p.m. at Gorsline RuncimanFuneral Home, 1730 E. GrandRiver Ave., East Lansing, withTrisagion Prayers at 7 p.m. A ser-vice will be held at 10:00 a.m. onSaturday, May 9, at Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 1701 E.Saginaw Street, Lansing, offici-ated by Fr. Mark Sietsema. In lieuof flowers, a donation to ProjectHope for Greece, a philanthropiceffort to assist the neediest at thistime of economic crisis in Greece,or to Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch, would honor Perry'slegacy. On line condolences maybe made atwww.greastlansing.com

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:

classifieds@thenationalherald.com

days and dates of funerals,memorials, and other events di-rectly correspond to the originalpublication date, which appearsat the beginning of each notice.

LEI Smart LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY5/7/15. Office in NY Co. SSNY designated forservice of process and shall mail to: LEI SmartLLC, 225 Rector Place Ste. 3M, New York, NY10280. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

274409/18796

Notice of Formation of FISCHER FLOORPLANS LLC. (DOM. LLC) Articles of Organiza-tion filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 02/05/15. Office location:Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail copy of process to:Seth Mulvey, 240 Jefferson Street 3R,Brooklyn, NY 10237. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

274398/19500

Notice of formation of Montur Family PizzeriaLLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretaryof State of New York (SSNY) on 03/18/2015.Office located at Nassau County. SSNY has beendesignated as agent of the LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. The post officeaddress to which the SSNY shall mail a copy ofany process served against the LLC at 658 SunriseHighway, Baldwin, NY 11510. Purpose/characterof LLC: Any lawful purpose.

274390/19493

Notice of Formation of BLACKJADEDWOLFLLC. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organizationfiled with the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 08/22/14. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent of the LLCupon whom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail copy of process to: ShevonCollins, 49 Erasmus Street, 2D, Brooklyn, NY11226. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

274384/19491

Notice of Formation of K&A BUSINESS SOLUTIONSLLC. (DOM. LLC) Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 03/03/15. Office location: NassauCounty. SSNY is designated as agent of the LLCupon whom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail copy of process to: K&ABusiness Solutions LLC, 57 Eastwood Lane,Valley Stream, NY 11581. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

274422/19526

NOTICE OF FORMATION, P&P estates, LLC.Articles of Organization Filed with Secretary ofState of New York (SSNY) on 03/04/2015. Officelocation: Nassau County. SSNY designated forservice of process. SSNY shall mail copies of anyprocess served against the LLC to c/o: THE LLC,87 Georgia Dr., Syosset NY, 11791. Purpose: anylawful Purpose or activity.

274370/19467

Notice of formation of JONNY HIRSCH MUSICLLC a (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on03/31/2015. Office location: Kings County. SSNYis designated as agent upon whom process againstthe LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail processto: Jonny Hirsch Music LLC, 80 Meserole Street,Apt. 4C, Brooklyn, NY 11206. Any LawfulPurpose.

274363/19466

Notice of Formation of Y&F FAMILY LLCArts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY)on 03/31/15. Office location: Kings County.Princ. office of LLC: Joel Frankel, 74 Ross St., Apt.5-F, Brooklyn, NY 11249. SSNY designated asagent of LLC upon whom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC atthe addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

274355/17976

Notice of Formation of B & B MoneyManagement, LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy. ofState of NY (SSNY) on 3/16/2015. Officelocation: BX County, SSNY designated agentupon whom process may be served and shall mailcopy of process against LLC to principal businessaddress: 3000 Park Avenue, #4D, Bronx, NY10451. Purpose: any lawful act.

274356/19459

Notice Of Formation, ANTLIA CAPITAL LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization Filed withSecretary of State of New York (SSNY) on03/17/2015. Office location: Kings County. SSNYdesignated for service of process. SSNY shall mailcopies of any process served against the LLC to:Murat Omur, 863 45 Street, Floor 1, Brooklyn, NY11220. Purpose: any lawful Purpose or activity.

274372/19470

Notice Of Formation, ROBINSONGAL43 LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization Filed withSecretary of State of New York (SSNY) on12/19/2014. Office location: Nassau County.SSNY designated for service of process. SSNYshall mail copies of any process served against theLLC to: c/o: United States Corporation Agents,Inc. 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY11228. Purpose: any lawful Purpose or activity.

274380/19477

APOSTOLOPOULOSApostle Family - Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew - Funeral Directors of RIVERDALE FUNERAL HOME Inc.5044 BroadwayNew York, NY 10034(212) 942-4000Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLECONSTANTINIDESFUNERAL PARLOR Co.(718) 745-1010Services in all localities - Low cost shipping to Greece

ANTONOPOULOS FUNERAL HOME, INC.Konstantinos Antonopoulos - Funeral Director38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,Astoria, New York 11105(718) 728-8500Not affiliated with any other funeral home.

FUNERAL HOMES

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

CLASSIFIEDS

tO PlAce yOur clASSiFied Ad, cAll: (718) 784-5255, ext. 106, e-mAil: classifieds@ thenationalherald.com

Garo Yepremian, the flam-boyant, lovable, one-of-a-kindArmenian-Cypriot placekickeron the 1972 Miami Dolphins,the only team in NFL history tohave a perfect season, died inPennsylvania at age 70, after ayearlong battle with cancer.

As a young immigrant in theUnited States, Yepremian toldhis brother that he knew hecould make a living in thiscountry, by being a kicker in theNFL. He tried out and made theteam – the Detroit Lions, wherehe raised his arms in excitementafter kicking an extra point,even though his team lost.Teammate and Greek-AmericanAlex Karras asked him why he

was celebrating, to whichYepremian replied: “I keek atouchdown!”

Yepremian was signed by theDolphins two years later, in1970, where he played eightseasons.

The Dolphins won the SuperBowl in the 1972 and 1973 sea-sons. Even though the 1972 wincapped a perfect season,Yepremian’s blunder late in thegame made it close. With theDolphins ahead 14-0,Yepremian’s field goal, whichwould have put the game outof reach, was blocked, and theball wound up in his handsagain. Instead of falling on it topreserve the lead, he scrambled

to throw a touchdown, but theball sailed out of his hands andin the air. Yepremian then bat-ted it into an opponent’s hands,who ran in for the touchdown,cutting the lead to 14-7. In theend, it didn’t matter, though, asthat was the final score, and theDolphins had their perfect sea-son.

Yepremian helped the Dol-phins in the Super Bowl the fol-lowing year as well, and playedwith them for another five sea-sons before joining the New Or-leans Saints and the Tampa BayBuccaneers.

Yepremian is one of the mostbeloved Miami Dolphins of alltime.

Garo Yepremian, Kicker on Perfect Season Dolphins, 70

Maria Meklis, 45, of Lynn,passed away on May 12 aftersuffering a devastating brainaneurysm one week earlier. Shewas born in Lynn on May 10,1970, the only daughter ofEleni and James Meklis and sis-ter to John James Meklis. Mariawas living proof of angels onearth and her sudden departurewill have a deep and lasting ef-fect on everyone who knew her.

Maria earned her NursingDegree from Northeastern Uni-versity and dedicated 20 plusyears of her life to Union Hos-pital in various nursing posts.While there, Maria earned herLaw Degree from the Massachu-

setts School of Law. Maria wasmost recently employed byBMC in Risk Management,where she was able to combineher extensive medical expertisewith law. She leaves behind herdevoted mother, Eleni; her bestfriend and brother, John, andhis wife, Candice; and herbeloved niece and nephew,James & Gianna. She was pre-deceased by her loving father,James. She also leaves behindseveral cousins, aunts and un-cles.

Maria was a devoted daugh-ter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt andfriend. Her love and supportknew no bounds and her devo-

tion to her family was immea-surable. Maria was a hero, shewas selfless, generous in spiritand she gave back as much aspossible.

Her funeral will be held onFriday at 11AM from theSOLIMINE FUNERAL HOME,67 Burial was in Pine GroveCemetery. In lieu of flowers, herfamily would like to honor hercharitable and giving spirit andhas created the Maria MeklisMemorial Scholarship Fund.Donations in Maria's memorycan be made to the Maria Mek-lis Memorial Scholarship Fundc/o Eastern Bank, 156 BostonStreet, Lynn, MA 01904.

Maria Meklis of Lynn, MA Was 45

April 1915. This may come as something

of a surprise to those of youwho know that the RMS Lusita-nia, a British ocean liner, wastorpedoed and sunk by a GermanU-boat, on May 7, 1915 causingthe deaths of 1,198 passengersand crew. Silva then only 26years old, married and with ayoung family died during theattack.

This specific event was usedby British as a propaganda op-portunity to help shift publicopinion in the United Statesagainst Germany and so it is ahistorical event said to have di-rectly influenced America's even-tual declaration of war two yearslater, in 1917. This is one reasonwhy so many reporters over thelast 100 years have sought outthe Silva family.

Another is that Silva’s deathis as one journalist has noted so“uncommonly well-documented.There is his last letter home–on Lusitania stationery - the des-perate telegrams after the sink-ing, a communication of regretfrom Cunard, clips of news cov-erage, tributes of sympathy, anda gripping letter from a survivorabout his last minutes alive.”This wealth of information “el-evates him from the mass of the1,198 who died into a well-drawn character of nobility andstrength. Fleshing out one indi-vidual may offer its own tributeto the rest(www.rmslusitania.info).”

For his part, Woodhouse em-ploys not only an array of eye-witness accounts and availablepublished documents but therecollections and heirlooms ofGeorgia Goodling of AtlanticBeach Florida, a Silva descen-dant, to weave a most complexand intriguing tale of not onlythe sinking of the RMS Lusitaniabut also as the means to explorehow generations of the Silvafamily have dealt with this loss.

Woodhouse proves such acareful storyteller that we areable to tease out quite a tale ofGreek-American history out ofthis decidedly tragic event. ForFrank James Silva was the bio-logical son of Plutarch Timayenis,a member of the ill-fated Timaye-nis clan. Let us review some ofthe Timayenis clan so that we

can better understand FrankJames Silva.

Four brothers, Demosthenes,Telemachus, Plutarch, andNicholas Timayenis came to theUnited States. Within Greeceand the eastern Levant theTimayenis family was not simplya prominent family but by allmanner of family connectionsrelated to the highest strata ofthe merchant class. ThomasTimayenis (d. May 29, 1882)father of these men was a pro-fessor of languages at the Uni-

versity of Athens. Their mother,Fotini Rodocanachi Timayeniswas the sister to J. MRodocanachi the consul ofGreece in Boston. Rodocanachiwas himself a notable interna-tional merchant as well as aGrand Master of the BostonFreemasons.

In time both Demosthenes(1856-1918) and then

Telemachus (1853-1918) be-came consuls for the Greek gov-ernment. Each of these men rep-resented Greek interests andaided the newly arriving Greekworkers in their efforts to adjustto American society. Unfortu-nately, Telemachus is best re-called for a number of well pub-licized financial scandals andfor the publication of his anti-Semitic beliefs.

Telemachus authored threebooks on the Jews: The OriginalMr. Jacobs: A Startling Exposé,�The American Jew: An Exposeof His Career�, and Judas Iscar-iot: An Old Type in a New Form.Timayenis has not only the dis-tinction of being the first towrite and publish such anti-Se-mitic literature in the UnitedStates he is remembered (andreviled) for his success. TheOriginal Mr. Jacobs sold over200,000 copies and went intoits thirtieth edition with twentyprintings.

On May 3, 1885, the NewYork Times carried a story onthe suicide of the youngest broth-er Nicholas (1866-1885) overhis love for Theckla Carlson ayoung Swedish waitress. Demos-thenes refused to allow hisyounger brother to marry Carl-son because of her low socialstation. Faced with the threatof being sent back to Greece

and never seeing Theckla Carlsonagain Nicholas threw himselfinto the Charles River.

Of Plutarch Timayenis, bio-logical father of Thomas JamesSilva, we know very little. Wood-house is forced to sketch out, asbest he can, Plutarch’s life asfirst working for his maternaluncle’s import/export businessand then serving as a bookkeeper

for the Ralli Brothers, whosefirm he describes as “a majorpurchaser of U.S. cotton.” Then,in his search for Plutarch, Wood-house is forced to cite a NewYork Times September 25, 1890article. In this report Plutarch issaid to have stolen a wealthywoman’s brooch and while nomore is offered in this news ac-count the man simply disappearsfrom the pages of history.

Plutarch’s life was more com-plex if still largely a mystery.After his employ with the RalliBrothers firm Plutarch workedwith Thomas Zizinia in thisGreek cotton merchant’s officesof the Savannah Cotton Ex-change. In 1887, PlutarchTimayenis was admitted as anattorney for Zizinia. By 1889,Timayenis was accepted as afull participating member of theSavannah Cotton Exchange.

Whatever happened toPlutarch later in life we cannotnow say but when he met andmarried May Lucy Silva (1861-1954) of Savanah in the mid-1880s he was an American citi-zen, lawyer and prosperous busi-nessman on his way up. TheTimayenis-Silva marriage pro-duced three children Margaretin 1887, Thomas in 1888 andFrank in 1889. Sometime, notlong after Frank James Silva’sbirth, Plutarch and May LucySilva divorced. Timayenis headedto Boston and Silva, reclaimingher maiden name, remainedwith the children in Savanah.In 1900, May Lucy Silva marriedher second husband WilliamHenry Teasdale (d. 1949), Su-perintendent of the SavanahCotton Exchange for 35 years.

But we know that the twofamilies did not completely severtheir relationships. In the earlydays after the sinking of theRMS Lusitania May Silva Teas-dale reached out to her formerbrother-in-law Telemachus, thenEditor of the Eastern and West-ern Review magazine who hadbeen asked to use his good of-fices in securing further infor-mation for the family.

Here is the text of his June3, 1915 letter:

“Dear Mrs. Silva:I have duly received your let-

ter of May 13th. It is impossiblefor me to express in words howsorry I feel because of the un-timely death of Tom. I learned

to love him. He was a manlyfellow, of noble character, andevery inch of him a man.

Upon receipt of your letter Iwent to New York, but all myendeavors remain fruitless. I feelsick at heart, and am really un-happy, so that it is impossiblefor me to add anything further.Consolation must come fromHigher up.

If there is anything in theworld that I can do for you, donot hesitate to bear me in mind.

Sincerely yours, T. T. Timayenis” Frank Thomas Silva’s body

was never found. The extendedfamily never gave up hope andin the course of their investiga-tions learned that one of thesurvivors Charles Thomas Jeffery(1876-1935) had met and be-friended Silva aboard ship andwas with him when the torpe-does hit the Lusitania. Jeffery’sletters to the family are part ofthe extremely detailed informa-tion available on Silva’s finaldays.

By all accounts Frank JamesSilva was a fine young man withevery prospect for a good life.The events of war ended hislife. The actions and recollectionsof three generations preservehis memory. By chance alonehis passage aboard the ill-fatedLusitania is especially well doc-umented as is the period imme-diately afterward when his fatewas still unknown. As a meansof identifying his body the familyreported that on his right armwas the tattoo of a Greek key.Over the past 100 years variousreports about this tattoo haveclaimed it was in honor of hisfather’s Greek heritage.

Also deposited among theSilva Family Papers in the Geor-gia Historical Society we findlisted: “May Silva Teasdale's pa-pers include a loose-leaf note-book of letters from the familyof her first husband, PlutarchTimayenis, in Smyrna andAthens, Greece, correspondence.”In Greek-American history it istoo often the case that we moveforward in our broader under-standings one fact, one person,one event at a time. Such is ourre-discovery of the lives ofPlutarch Timayenis and the ex-tended Silva family.

hellenenow1@yahoo.com

FEATURETHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015 7

Frank James Silva: a Glimpse into the Life of a Lost Member of the Timayenis Family

Αbove: The American Jew: AnExpose of His Career is one ofthree books written byTelemachus Timayenis. Right: Timayenis 2: ThomasJames Silva was on board theBritish ocean liner Lusitania,which was sunk by a GermanU-boat on May 7, 1915.

ALL HISTORY

By Constantinos E. Scaros

When asking Greek-Ameri-cans in New York the oft-askedquestion “what part of Greeceare you from,” the answer, agreat deal of the time, is: Nisy-ros. One would think, then,that Nisyros is a big Greek city,like Athens or Thessaloniki. Ora large island, like Crete orRhodes.

Well, it’s an island, all right,but the size of a dot on a Greekmap – too small to name – andas many joke, that size is notscaled down for the map, that’sreally how big it is!

That is an exaggeration, ofcourse, but to put things in per-spective, Rhodes, the capital ofthe Dodecanese Islands, hasabout 100,000 year round res-idents, whereas Nisyros hasabout 1,000 – maybe even less.The island has four villages, allof which can be seen in the bet-ter part of an hour, and no traf-fic lights.

It has a historic dormant vol-cano, was referenced by Homerin the Iliad, and has a neigh-boring island called Yiali –Glass – which doubles as theworld’s largest pumice stone.The church Panagia Spiliani –Virgin of the Caves, sits atopthe sea, and when the moon il-luminates it at night, the imageis too breathtaking for any pho-tograph to do it justice.

Its beaches are not the stuffof Club-Med vacation post-cards. But they are pristinelyclean and private. On any givenday, you can go for a swim andhave the entire beach to your-self. And the good thing aboutan island that small, you cansee the water no matter whereyou are.

If you are of the “party ‘tilldawn” crowd, you can alwayshop the ferry to Kardamena inKos. But if you truly want to“get away from it all,” there’sno better place to be!

Wherever you are in Greece,there is that special energy ofbeing in a different place thanhome. But on Nisyros, becauseof its natural unspoiled beauty,you will literally feel as if youare in a different world.

You are unlikely to run intothe Kardashians there – if that’syour thing – though you mightspot a wealthy vacationer’syacht anchored near an empty

beach, as was that of PrinceCharles over a dozen years ago,when he was there to enjoy wa-ter just as beautiful as any-where else in the country, butwithout the paparazzi.

If your family happens tohail from one of the four vil-lages – Emporios, Mandraki,Nikia, or Paloi – then by allmeans stay there, to walk thesame unpaved roads your par-ents or grandparents did. Butif you have no family ties to theisland, I strongly recommendthe capital, Mandraki, as yourhome base: it is all about loca-tion-location-location.

The Porfyris (Nisyros’ An-cient name) is the only full-sized, full-fledged hotel in thecapital town, and convenientlylocated to everything. There areeven a couple of beaches onMandraki. In fact, anywhereyou see water and jump rightin – voila! There’s your beach!

Full disclosure: my cousinsown the Porfyris. But I mentionit not for that reason, but ratherfor how it transformed vaca-tioning in Nisyros.

As a teenager in the early1980s, after about three or fourdays on the island, I would bebored out of my mind. Butthen, my uncle built thePorfyris in 1986, and I went fora trip in 1988 and didn’t wantto leave!

It was as if Nisyros finallygot on the map. But tourismnever overcrowded the island,except around August 15, theFeast of Panagia (the VirginMary), when it feels like MardiGras in New Orleans.

Then, a day or two later, theisland empties out again, re-turning to its usual year-roundstatus of being a bastion of soli-tude.

There are other accommo-dations on Mandraki, too –some smaller hotels, somemore in the “Rooms to Let” sta-tus. After Mandraki, I wouldrecommend the seafearing vil-lage of Paloi. Though a trip tothe island is not complete with-out at least a day visit to Nikiaand Emporio.

So, if you’d like to see andbe seen in the touristy hotspots,then by all means, take the nextflight to Mykonos or Santorini.But if natural, non-commercialbeauty is your thing, then Nisy-ros awaits.

Early Summer Greece Travelers – Consider Nisyros

FROM OUR TRAVEL WEBSITE

Continued from page 1

From Top to Bottom: 1) White roads, white houses, no trafficlights, and a view of the sea from everywhere; 2) The pool atthe Porfyris, Nisyros’ first and largest full-fledged hotel;3) The 400+ year-old Panagia Spiliani sits high atop Mandrakiand looks even more breathtaking by moonlight; 4) The Porfyris,built in the mid-80s, brought a modern dimension to Nisyros.

DEPARTS FROM NEW YORK CITY PICK-UP PICKUP ARRIVES

Annunciation Greek St. Spyridon Cathedral of St. JohnOrthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church the Theologian302 West 91 Street 124 Wadsworth Avenue 353 East Clinton Avenue

New York Washington Heights, NY Tenafly, NJ

Sat. & Sun., May 30 & 31 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM

Sat. & Sun., May 30 & 31 5:00 PM 5:30 PM 6:00 PM

RETURNS TO NEW YORK CITY DEPARTS: ARRIVES: ARRIVES:

Cathedral of St. John St. Spyridon Annunciation the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church

353 East Clinton Avenue 124 Wadsworth Avenue 302 West 91 StreetTenafly, NJ Washington Heights, NY New York

Saturday, May 30 7:00 PM 7:30 PM 8:00 PM

Saturday, May 30 10:00 PM 10:30 PM 11:00 PM

Sunday, May 31 6:00 PM 6:30 PM 7:00 PM

Sunday, May 31 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 10:00 PM

DEPARTS ARRIVES

BUS SERVICE SCHEDULETO TASTE OF GREECE GREEK FESTIVAL

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN • 353 EAST CLINTON AVENUE, TENAFLY, NJ

Sunday May 31, 2015 St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Cathedral of St.John the Theologian196-10 Northern Blvd, Flushing, New York 11358 353 East Clinton Avenue, Tenafly, NJ

718-357-4200 201-567-5072

1:00 PM 2:00 PM

DEPARTS: ARRIVES:Cathedral of St.John the Theologian St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church353 East Clinton Avenue, Tenafly, NJ Flushing, New York 11358, 196-10 Northern Blvd

5:00 PM 6:00 PM

GREECE8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

ACROSS1 Pod dweller?4 Saudi Arabian citizen9 Romanian compound14 Louisiana Acad. of Neuroscience15 Pimpled16 Barack17 Sea eagle18 ____ and the Man19 Famous fabler20 Rght. away! (abbrev.)22 Slanted font24 Stretch to make do25 Office of Greek Life (abbrev.)27 Her29 Sealed bottle32 Bends35 Famous TV maker of old (abbrev.)36 Athens subway38 Actor DeVito40 Prick42 Lower legs44 Secure45 Alexander's adjective47 Render capable49 Communication Workers of America (abr.)50 Given name of The Fonz52 N. A. Indian54 Offence55 Baseball stat. (abbrev.)56 Compass point59 Brother's opposite63 Manner67 Allure69 Infant's disease71 Viewed72 The Little Mermaid73 Professional wrestler Spiros74 Precedes centric or maniac75 Grande Dame of Hollywood Davis76 What the eyes shed77 Eastern state

DOWN1 Entreaty2 Listening devices?3 Saint honored on December 94 South Atlantic Conf. (abbrev.)5 Weak-heeled mythical figure6 Dimension7 Prefix ten8 Graven image9 Stewed10 Mr. Lincoln, informally

11 Jar12 Run ____ (out of control)13 Record21 Cola23 Interactive Syst. Language (abbrev.)26 Chicle28 Student's dread29 Capital of Ghana30 Star of Real Time31 Anesthetic32 Played a juror in 12 Angry Men33 Cain’s eldest son34 Maine's Olympia35 Scott Joplin Composition37 ___ Tin Tin39 Young Republicans Assn. (abbrev.)41 Food43 Senior46 Briar48 Good listener?51 Prefix meaning one53 Canadian Auto. Assn. (abbrev.)56 Jab57 Dried-up58 Discharge60 Get out!61 Ripped up62 Director Kazan64 Old65 Fury66 US Army deserting (abbrev.)68 Cat70 Nervous system

Solution:

B E T A C A L O M A R

I R A N L I L A C B O N O

D A R N A R O M A I N G A

I O U E D G E E L M

A B C Y R A A N A S T O S

P R O B L E M S E R E

N O S E N E E D Y N A C B

E A T S A G O S T A R

A D S E I N A N E E L L E

T A O L O N S D A L E

R A I S I N S R A P S A D

H I D L I O N M A P

I D E A A L A T E A N N A

N E A R N O B E L A H A B

O S L O N S A R A G E

Solution to last week’s puzzle

THE HERALD SQUARETNH's Crossword Challenge

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28

29 30 31 32 33 34

35 36 37 38 39

40 41 42 43 44

45 46 47 48 49

50 51 52 53

54 55

56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

67 68 69 70 71

72 73 74

75 76 77

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

ACROSS

1 Pod dweller?

4 Saudi Arabian citizen

9 Romanian compound

14 Louisiana Acad. of

Neuroscience

15 Pimpled

16 Barack

17 Sea eagle

18 ____ and the Man

19 Famous fabler

20 Rght. away! (abbrev.)

22 Slanted font

24 Stretch to make do

25 Office of Greek Life

(abbrev.)

27 Her

29 Sealed bottle

32 Bends

35 Famous TV maker of old

(abbrev.)

36 Athens subway

38 Actor DeVito

40 Prick

42 Lower legs

44 Secure

45 Alexander's adjective

47 Render capable

49 Communication Workers of

America (abr.)

50 Given name of The Fonz

52 N. A. Indian

54 Offence

55 Baseball stat. (abbrev.)

56 Compass point

59 Brother's opposite

63 Manner

67 Allure

69 Infant's disease

71 Viewed

72 The Little Mermaid

73 Professional wrestler

Spiros

74 Precedes centric or

maniac

75 Grande Dame of

Hollywood Davis

76 What the eyes shed

77 Eastern state

DOWN

1 Entreaty

2 Listening devices?

3 Saint honored on

December 9

4 South Atlantic Conf.

(abbrev.)

5 Weak-heeled mythical

figure

6 Dimension

7 Prefix ten

8 Graven image

9 Stewed

10 Mr. Lincoln, informally

11 Jar

12 Run ____ (out of control)

13 Record

21 Cola

23 Interactive Syst. Language

(abbrev.)

26 Chicle

28 Student's dread

29 Capital of Ghana

30 Star of Real Time

31 Anesthetic

32 Played a juror in 12 Angry

Men

33 Cain’s eldest son

34 Maine's Olympia

35 Scott Joplin Composition

37 ___ Tin Tin

39 Young Republicans Assn.

(abbrev.)

41 Food

43 Senior

46 Briar

48 Good listener?

51 Prefix meaning one

53 Canadian Auto. Assn.

(abbrev.)

56 Jab

57 Dried-up

58 Discharge

60 Get out!

61 Ripped up

62 Director Kazan

64 Old

65 Fury

66 US Army deserting

(abbrev.)

68 Cat

70 Nervous system

On May 22, 1947, the Tru-man Doctrine was signed intolaw. Both Greece and Turkeywere vulnerable to becomingpuppet regimes of the Iron Cur-tain – the Soviet Union’s list ofsubordinate nations. By 1947,Great Britain, a longtime sup-porter of Greece, was no longerable to protect Greece’s democ-ratic interests, and directlyasked the United States to in-tervene.

On March 22, PresidentHarry Truman issued the fa-mous Truman Doctrine, declar-ing economic and, if necessary,military assistance to Greeceand Turkey should they fall un-der threat of communism.

In that speech, Truman said:“The very existence of the Greekstate is today threatened by theterrorist activities of severalthousand armed men, led byCommunists, who defy the gov-ernment's authority at a numberof points, particularly along thenorthern boundaries…TheGreek Government is unable tocope with the situation. TheGreek army is small and poorlyequipped. It needs supplies andequipment if it is to restore theauthority of the governmentthroughout Greek territory.Greece must have assistance ifit is to become a self-supportingand self-respecting democracy.

“The United States mustsupply that assistance…Thereis no other country to whichdemocratic Greece can turn…No other nation is willing andable to provide the necessarysupport for a democratic Greek

government…The situation isan urgent one requiring imme-diate action and the United Na-tions and its related organiza-tions are not in a position toextend help of the kind that isrequired…

This Week in Greek History:

Truman Doctrine Goes into Effect

Truman Doctrine: On May 22, 1947, the Truman Doctrine, pro-tecting Greece and Turkey from communism, became law.

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

Spring is my favorite season.We can eat outdoor withoutbugs invading, enjoy the peren-nials that color the garden, andbegin to prepare the vegetablegarden. Lately, I began to be-lieve that Zeus watches over usGreeks.

What makes me say that?Well, St. Patrick’s Day paradewas cold, drizzly and gray whilethe weather for the Greek pa-rade was surprisingly lovely.Latin Easter was cold, drizzlyand gray while our Easter wasdelightful. Two glorious days forus to enjoy. Old fashioned thingslike fresh air and sunshine ishard to beat. But, as the snowbegan to fade away I knewspring was on its way when Ireached into my mail box,brushed away the snow flakesand found the annual seed cat-alogs, a true reminder that win-ter is on its way out.

This year the Forsythias andCrocus were late in blooming. Ithought the heavy frosts anddeep snows had burnt them for-ever. Then, one late afternoon,when my daughter and I re-turned from Astoria after buyingEaster stuff I saw, peeking upfrom the wet earth, severalinches of green. You’d think Iwas a kid seeing it for the firsttime. Thanks, Mama Earth!Now, I have to do some realwork – tilling a patch of soil,adding fertilizer and humuswhere tomatoes, zucchini andcucumbers will grow, hopefully.

Last season, after canning adozen sauces, I had so manytomatoes left over I had to givea lot away. I thought Shop-Ritewould send out their henchmento warn me off. Their sales werelagging. Its hard work, though.But, when the yellow infantblossoms show their prettypetals you know fruit will re-place them and then I forget thehard work. Spring always held

nice memories for me. As a kid of about 5 or 6, I re-

member picnics on the heightsof Van Cortland Park. At thetime it was a dense forest, cur-taining the gray city. To me itwas country – or, as close tocountry as we’d ever get at thetime. My brother and I withsome other kids would run

through the vast meadows,climb trees with low branchesand step across flat rocks overthe wide, frothy stream whilethe grown-ups prepared foodand exchanged gossip.

That stream was so cold yourhand would get numb in it. Fruitand meats were placed in bagswhere the icy water kept it fresh

and chilled until the stone fur-naces were lit. There were stoneovens beside wooden tables andbenches.

Musicians took out guitars, abouzouki, a tefi, a violin, andan accordion that sent sweetnotes into the crystal air anddancing began; Greeks, Arme-nians, Arabs and even Turksjoined in, handkerchiefs wavingin the air, smiles and laughterreigned. That’s, probably, whenmy appreciation of Greek andArabic music started. Exceptingfor my parents and grandpar-ents, I knew no one. But, kidscame together as if we’d alwaysknown one another.

Men played backgammon,others played cards. I cannot re-call an argument or anythingever going wrong. The picniclasted until sun down. Then, af-ter farewells everyone packed itup to leave, some by automo-biles, others trekked down towhere buses arrived. My pappouhad a car that he cranked in thefront to start it. His face got asred as cherry cough drops. Thecar had a rumble seat that I wasnever allowed to sit in however

much I’d wanted to. Being smalland spindly – and very active -they were afraid I’d tumble out.The car had gray shades at eachwindow that I pulled up anddown. Even with the Depressionand the uncertain tomorrowswe found moments to be happy.

Spring made everything spe-cial. As a young girl, comespring, I loved dressing up, don-ning a picture hat, spring coatand pretty silk dress I’d made,patent leather, heeled shoes andmatching purse. Looking at oldphotos I wonder why a Holly-wood agent didn’t snap me up.But, nah! Oh, what did theyknow, anyway? My girlfriends,equally nicely dressed, and I tookpictures under the blossomingcherry trees in Inwood Park orwe’d take the subway to Centralpark where Forsythias bloomedin golden glory while being onthe look-out for the Greek guyswe’d met at a Greek dance andhad promised to be there. But,nah! Oh, what did they know,anyway? But, nothing could everdull my exuberance. It wasspring and hope always sprungeternal then. It still does.

SpringGREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Nofir is Cleaning up the Greek Coastline

Left: Greece’s beautiful blue sea, like the Eastern shore of Crete seen here, is being tainted by dis-carded fishing equipment. But Nofir is focusing on cleaning it up. Center: CEO Oistein Aleksandersenwill speak at the Piraeus conference about marine litter in Europe. Right: The formidable port ofPiraeus, where the 2015 European Maritime Days conference will be held May 28-31.

TNH Staff

PIRAEUS, GREECE – Approxi-mately 6.4 million tons of uselessfishing equipment is discardedor lost at sea each year, and morethan 100,000 marine mammalsdie from the toxic effects of plas-tic, fishing nets, and other de-bris.

But the Norwegian companyNofir is doing something aboutit: it is organizing action inGreece, focusing on collectingdiscarded material used for fish-ing and fish farming.

Here is the company’s report:COLLECTING IN GREECEMore and more fishermen

and fish farmers in Europe com-plain about disposal of old fish-ing equipment which is difficultto sort and transport. Nofir’s ac-tivity in Greece will include look-ing for companies, fishermen orfish farmers who want to get ridof material. The company will be

responsible for everything – fromtransport to paperwork. Most ofthe material will be dismantledand given for recycling.

Large amounts of fishingequipment lost at sea or aban-doned by fishers are hurting themarine environment. Ghost netshave continuously catches fish,birds and marine mammals formany years at the seabed causingdegradation of marine life. Nofirtries to predict throwing awaynets to the oceans by taking use-less fishing material from fisher-men and fish farmers.

We organize the action inGreece to collect as much mate-rial as we can and give it to re-cycling. From recycled fishingequipment you can makeclothes, carpets, baskets forshops and much more. We areopen for cooperation. “If some-body contacts us, we will visitthem immediately and take spe-cific action,” said Tomas Sar-

nacinskas, Procurement Managerof Nofir.

PIRAEUS CONFERENCEFrom May 28-31, the Euro-

pean Maritime Days will takeplace in Piraeus for people whoare connected to marine indus-try. The event will focus on portsand coasts as engines for BlueGrowth. Nofir will actively par-ticipate in the conference duringthe event as CEO Oistein Alek-sandersen will give a speech con-cerning marine litter in Europe.

ABOUT NOFIRNofir recycles discarded ma-

terial from fishing and fish farm-ing industry around Europe. Tobe more effective the companywas granted a support from Eu-ropean Union through the EcoInnovation. The goal of this pro-ject includes decreasing theamount of plastic waste in Euro-pean seas by 12 600 tons anddecreasing CO2 emission by57,600 tons.

ATHENS – Greece’s AlternateTourism Minister rejected pressreports alleging that holiday-makers arriving in the countrywill face many difficulties, in-cluding empty ATMs.

“These reports in the foreignpress which aim at preventingtourists from traveling to Greecelack seriousness and substanti-ation and do not reflect reality,”Elena Kountoura told ANA-MPA.

“Greece always welcomesvisitors in the best possible con-ditions and offers them tradi-tional Greek hospitality,” theminister said.

Commenting on tourist book-ings at a recent Economist Con-ference, Kountoura said majorinternational tour operatorshave extended the holiday pack-ages offered for Greece to 210days from 185 days previously.

Speaking to ANA-MPA, theDeputy Head of Tourism Promo-tion for the Ionian Islands, Spy-ros Galiatsatos, said that Juneis expected to be a very goodmonth for tourist arrivals andthat any losses observed in Maywill not influence the overallperformance of the sector at theend of the year.

The worry is that unless thecountry ends a standoff with thetroika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that is holding back a7.2-billion euro installment untilmore reforms are imposed thatGreece could default and beforced out of the Eurozone.

That would lead to capitalcontrols, a temporary shutdownof banks, no access to ATMs andfears that the governmentwould go back to the drachmaor issue IOU’s, which would beof no use to tourists, some ofwhom are being advised tobring lots of extra cash just incase.

Greece has had two straightrecord tourism seasons after adisappointing 2012 in which vis-itors stayed away, scared off byconstant protests, strikes and ri-ots against austerity.

With Prime Minister andRadical Left SYRIZA leaderAlexis Tsipras so far holding tocampaign promises not to im-plement more pay cuts, taxhikes, slashed pensions andworker firings – even going asfar as rehiring workers – the ten-sion with the troika has the mar-kets, investors, and tourists wor-ried about what might happen.

Tourism is Greece’s biggestrevenue producer, bringing inas much as 18 percent of its an-nual Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of 217.22 billion euros($242.2 billion) and has been asavior the last two years of a lin-gering economic crisis.

But, as Bloomberg news

agency noted in a feature, astrong start to the year hastailed off in recent months withpotential visitors deterred by therisk of being caught up in a cashcrunch. Bookings from Germanywere 0.7 percent higher thanlast year at the end of the firstquarter after jumping 12 per-cent in January, prompting theGreek tourist lobby to considerditching its forecast for a recordnumber of visitors this year.

“We’re seeing a slowdown insome markets, particularly inGermany,” Andreas Andreadis,president of the Association ofGreek Tourism Enterprises, orSETE, told Bloomberg.

“We’ve been losing ground in

the last few months, we’re los-ing momentum, as long as thebig picture remains unclear,” hesaid.

The crisis has left Greekbanks on the edge of insolvency,especially after the withdrawalof more than 26 billion euros inthe past seven months by de-positors fearful of a Eurozoneexit or the seizure of bank ac-counts to save the economy, ashappened on Cyprus.

Greek banks are relying onemergency liquidity injectionsfrom the ECB amid fears the in-stitution could cut it off to pres-sure the government into ac-cepting more reforms in returnfor ongoing loans, possibly in-

cluding a third bailout.That has raised the prospect

capital controls may be imposedwhich could limit the amountof cash that visitors could with-draw from ATM machines –which could even be closed fora time.

The funding squeeze has al-ready made it impossible for thehotel industry to reach its an-nual investment target of 3 bil-lion euros ($3.4 billion), An-dreadis said.

Greek banks are chargingcommercial borrowers as muchas seven percentage points morethan competitors in the rest ofthe euro area, he added.

The bailout talks also pose a

more direct threat to the touristindustry. Greece is being pushedto eliminate the reduced ratesof sales tax levied on its islandsas a spur to tourism as a condi-tion of any aid and is consider-ing a luxury tax on top hotelson islands to make visitors helppay for the cost of the crisis,spurring fears it could drivethem to other countries, such asTurkey.

“The VAT (Value Added Tax)on tourism has changed sixtimes in the last six years andyou cannot make a 10-year planwith this sort of problem,” saidAndreadis. “It’s important tofind a balance in the finances ofthe state, but how can you finda balance if you kill the invest-ment climate?”

The slowdown in bookingshas been most pronounced inGermany, Andreadis said, wherepress coverage and publicawareness of the Greek crisis isparticularly intense. Relationsbetween the two governmentshave been tense at times asGreece revived demands thatGermany pay reparations overWorld War II.

Bookings have held up betterin the U.K. and U.S., boosted inpart by the euro’s decline relativeto the pound and the dollar thisyear, Andreadis told Bloomberg.

The tourist industry last yearsaw more than 24.3 million ar-rivals, a 21 percent over the pre-vious record year of 2013 astourists seemed unconcernedabout the ups and downs of thevolatile Greek political land-scape.

SETE had forecast 25 millionwill visit the country in 2015.But Andreadis is backing awayfrom that projection now.

“Having a million more visi-tors to Greece this year from in-creased air traffic seems moredifficult at this point in time thanit did a couple of months ago,”Andreadis said.

“If this slowdown continues,we won’t be able to achieve 25million, for sure. We probablywon’t even achieve 24 million.”

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015 9

Greece Tries to Reassure Anxious Tourists that ATMs Will Not be Empty

Filis said. He added that if thereis no agreement by June 5,Greece will not be able to repaythe 303 million euros due to theIMF that day.

In recent weeks, Greece hasmanaged to repay debts byscraping together money fromstate enterprises’ reserve funds,including schools, cultural cen-ters and embassies abroad.

But those funds will not beenough to tide the country overthrough the summer, when itfaces repayments of several bil-lion euros.

The liquidity crunch has af-fected the country’s banking sec-tor, with the uncertainty leadingto a steady stream of depositsbeing withdrawn.

THINGS LOOK BADThe Moody’s credit ratings

agency said its outlook for theGreek banking system was neg-ative, “primarily reflecting theacute deterioration in Greekbanks’ funding and liquidity.”

It noted that more than 30billion euros had been with-drawn from the country’s bankssince December, increasing re-liance on central bank funding.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’radical left SYRIZA party wonelections in January on promisesto repeal deeply resented bud-get austerity measures that ac-companied Greece’s two inter-national bailouts, totaling 240billion euros since May 2010.

But his government has runinto trouble in negotiations withcreditors at the IMF, other Eu-rozone countries and the Euro-

pean Central Bank, with thelenders insisting more reformsmust be implemented to ensurethe country’s economy can be-come sustainable.

Late May 18, Finance Minis-ter Yanis Varoufakis said a dealcould be reached with lenderswithin a week, but European of-ficials have said progress re-mains slow.

Tsipras has also faced dissentwithin his own party, with some

members saying Tuesday thatlenders were trying to force thegovernment to abandon pre-election promises, and advocat-ing the government make clearit intends to delay repayments.

On May 20, doctors, nursesand ambulance staff from state-run hospitals and health centersstarted a 24-hour strike protest-ing understaffing and under-funding and demanding backpay.

Hospitals were functioningwith emergency staff, whileabout 500 pensioners and strik-ing medical workers demon-strated outside the health min-istry.

The state hospital workers’union said Greece’s nationalhealth service is “out of controldue to underfunding and under-staffing.”

It said the course of the coun-try’s negotiations with its credi-

tors is not creating “the require-ments to solve accumulatedproblems, and the situation isheading to a non-manageablelevel.”

WHO GETS PAID WHATPensions and salaries will be

paid this month by scraping to-gether what’s left in state coffersbut that will be the last unlessmore money comes in from thelenders at the same time Tsiprassays he won’t give on to thetough austerity conditionsneeded for its release.

Greece faces several pay-ments totaling 1.5 billion euros($1.7 billion) to the IMF, which,along with the European Unionand European Central Bankmakes up the EU-IMF-ECB troikathat has put up 240 billion euros($266 billion) in two bailoutssince 2010, most of which runout this year.

“Now is the moment that ne-gotiations are coming to a head.Now is the moment of truth, onJune 5,” Filis told ANT1 televi-sion. “If there is no deal by thenthat will address the currentfunding problem, they won’t getany money,” he said, referring tothe IMF.

That could trigger a defaultand push Greece toward a Euro-zone exit and economic catastro-phe but hardline elements in themotley collection of Far Leftistsin SYRIZA say they’d prefer thatto giving to demands for moreausterity measures they cam-paigned against.

A payment of about 750 mil-lion euros to the IMF last weekwas only made after emptying aholding account at the institution

and Greece can’t do that again.At the same time the country islocked out of the markets by pro-hibitively high interest rates andinvestors have been scared off.

Tsipras’ long run aim is alsofor debt restructuring and an in-vestment plan although neitherare in sight. Meanwhile, LaborMinister Panos Skourletis saidthe government will struggle tomet the IMF payments.

“Things will be difficult” if anagreement is not reached soon,he conceded.

Talks with the troika havedragged since the governmenton Feb. 20 was given a four-month bailout extension, whichit has used to badmouth thelenders and failed to come upwith a credible list of reformsneeded to unlock critical aid.

“There is no money for theforeign (lenders) when they havenot given us any funds for ayear,” Filis said. “We don’t haveit to make the payment and thisis part of the discussion,” headded.

He said the governmentwould make sure that it hasmoney to pay pensions andwages before servicing debt re-payments to the IMF.

EU leaders played downGreece’s hopes of a swift end tonegotiations on an aid agree-ment and said talks needed tospeed up before the countryruns out of cash. Tsipras said hewants the money without con-ditions and won’t bend on aus-terity.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

Greece Can’t Pay: Unless it Deals for Bailout, Default is Set for June 5

Greece's hopes for a third straight record tourist season are threatened by political instability and rumors of empty ATMs.

Continued from page 1

After decades of division,Cyprus will likely be reunifiedagain within a few months, theTurkish-Cypriot negotiator in re-sumed talks said.

“It’s always very dangerousto talk about time frames, how-ever everybody agrees that withthe required political will, tech-nically it is possible to solve theCyprus issue in a matter ofmonths and not years,” saidOzdil Nami, Agence FrancePresse reported.

Greek Cypriot leader NicosAnastasiades and his TurkishCypriot counterpart Mustafa Ak-inci on May 15 resumed talksthat had been stalled since Oc-tober, when Turkey sent a war-ship and research vessel intoCypriot waters on an energyhunt.

After those were withdrawn,Anastasiades last month agreedto talk again but then Akinci, amoderate, beat hardliner DervisEroglu, giving new hope for thestalled talks.

They agreed to meet twice a

month to push for a solution toreunite the island that’s beenseparated into two sides sincean unlawful invasion by Turkeyin 1974.

Anastasiades said he has“high hopes” for the future andAkinci is equally optimistic. Butthe wild card is Turkish Presi-dent Recep Tayyip Erdogan whosaid Akinci will do as he’s toldby Ankara, which does not rec-ognize Cyprus and has barredCypriot ships and planes.

Nami said though that“There is a feeling that this is afinal push to find a solution”and said Anastasiades and Ak-inci are “the right people to de-liver” an answer.

But he warned they must actquickly on the positive momen-tum that emerged from the talksresumption on May 15, even ifthat was just a meet-and-greet.

“You can’t sustain that posi-tive mood in the public opinionfor long. You are obliged to de-liver positive results rapidly,” hesaid.

“Everybody is aware thatnow that the Cyprus issue hasbeen on the UN agenda formore than half a century. Thereis a feeling of being fed up with

it.After the talks Akinci tweeted

his optimism saying, “if we findthe way out until the end of thisyear, everyone will be happy.”

The aim of the meeting, heldin the presence of UN specialenvoy Espen Barthe Eide, wasto agree on the structure andfrequency of meetings and noth-ing substantive resulted. It wasnot said then why there was op-timism.

Anastasiades reportedly pre-sented Akinci with maps ofmore than two dozen minefieldsplanted in the mountains northof Nicosia before the Turkish in-vasion, hoping that would helpshow some goodwill from him.

Nami said the two sides hadagreed on “practical measures”to help push a solution and sat-isfy public opinion and wereworking to fine tune other steps.

“We are already in greatagreement about connecting ourmobile phone operators, thatwill be one measure… Theresalso teaching of Greek and Turk-ish in primary schools,” he said.

“Longer term measure mayinclude opening more crossingpoints, and allowing free accessto commercial vehicles to facili-

tate trade between north andsouth.”

Currently there are sevencrossings between northern andsouthern Cyprus, which are alsonot connected on the telecom-munications grid.

Long-standing sticking pointssuch as land restitution or thefate of Varosha in the northwould be examined later, saidNami.

Varosha and its beaches inthe eastern town of Famagustahas fallen into ruins since itsGreek Cypriot residents fled asTurkish troops invaded thenorth of the island in 1974.

“All aspects of these issueshave been thoroughly discussed,the positions of both sides, arewell known, the compromisepositions are well known aswell,” said Nami.

Any agreement will have tobe put to the Cypriot people fora vote. A UN settlement blue-print put to a referendum in2004 was rejected by 75 percentof Greek Cypriots.

In Athens, health workers scuffle with police outside the Parliament during a protest.AP PHOtO/tHAnASSiS StAvrAkiS

After Decades of Frustration, there is Viable Hope that Cyprus Deal is Imminent

Another month, another year, another hopeful conversationthat the Cyprus problem is going to be resolved, and soonthereafter, talks collapse and frustration ensues. But this time,things are really looking up. A deal may actually happen soon

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

Glad to Hear ThatParios Can Still Sing

To the Editor:I enjoyed reading Constanti-

nos Scaros’ review of YiannisParios’ concert in New York City(“Pio Kali I Syntrofia: LegendaryParios Wows Sellout Crowd inNew York,” May 16). It was thenext-best thing to being there!

A prior commitment kept mefrom attending, but I am so gladto read that he’s still got it! I amespecially happy that he has notabandoned his attention to Ni-siotika (“Ligaria” is my all-time

favorite.)Considering that he can still

sing – and very well – even ashe is several decades past hisprime, it gives me hope that hewill return to the New York Cityarea for at least one future con-cert, if not more, before he re-tires, so that I may have achance to see him.

I agree with Mr. Scaros thatwhen it comes to Greek singers,Parios is at or near the very topof the list.

Popi ZariosAstoria, NY

Losing their Grips on RealityAs the possibility of an agreement becomes apparent, too many

unorthodox things are happening (if they have not already hap-pened) that constitute a serious danger.

For one, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said from the floorof the Greek Parliament that “the soul of [ECB President] MarioDraghi” is filled with fear over the hardliners in Germany, otherwise,he would accommodate Greece. Are these the kinds of things Min-isters of Finance are supposed to say?

How, then, could the New York Times not resist putting hiswords in the spotlight? “Mr. Varoufakis’ remarks are unlikely toendear him to the central bank at a time when Greece needs itshelp to avoid economic collapse.”

Some members of the bank are already upset. They considerthe behavior of Varoufakis and other members of the leftist gov-ernment to be irresponsible.

In another example, Venezuelan Ambassador to Greece FaridFernandez visited Panagiotis Lafazanis this week. It was reportedthat “Mr. Lafazanis thanked him, expressed his appreciation forthe pioneering role of the government of Venezuela in the anti-imperialist struggle, not only for the Latin American region, butalso for the whole world. He emphasized that ‘this fight of theVenezuelan people, inspired by the principles and values of theBolivarian revolution, shows that small countries can also standand confront imperialist pressures and threats.’”

Lafazanis is the minister Productive Reconstruction, Environ-ment and Energy, a pillar of the government of Greece, a Westerncountry. Then, there is the example that the Greek government fortwo days has delayed issuing paychecks to approximately 600 em-ployees “due to bureaucratic procedures.”

Something similar was said when pension payments were de-layed two weeks ago.

It was also reported that the consulates and embassies of Greecearound the World – including in the United States and Canada –were instructed to wire to Athens any cash they have on hand thatwas not used to pay local creditors and the charges from such ser-vices as issuing passports or other documents.

And even if Athenians show understanding when they are notpaid on time, the same cannot be expected of foreigners.

So, if tomorrow you go to a government agency of Greece inthe United States and find it dark inside, do not be surprised.Some electrical utility may have cut the power supply.

But if that happens, you will hear Lafazanis say it is a capitalistplot against his government.

Internationally InexperiencedOne of the great concerns regarding the Greek government is

that its obvious lack of experience with the external world – exceptfor Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis – can lead to miscalculations.It is a factor that has cost Greece dearly at various difficult momentsin history. We have noticed the effects of such inexperience in sev-eral comments made by government officials. One statement, inparticular, by Labor Minister Panos Skourletis – a close ally ofPrime Minister Alexis Tsipras – is disconcerting: “the foreign lendersare determined to humiliate the country and the government.”And he added, “We will not tolerate this.”

Skourletis referred to a law that is being prepared regardinghis ministry, which will need the approval of “the institutions” –aka the Troika. We agree. What Greek wants the humiliation ofhis country?

The minister cannot be unaware, however, that from the mo-ment Greece was shut out of financial markets five years ago, thatis, once it went bankrupt and had to resort to a bailout and the ac-companying “memoranda” to survive, its lenders imposed severalconditions, one of which is the control of costs.

Also interesting is that he said “the rejection of all our solutionsand plans aims to undermine the government.” A person unfamiliarwith how the far left thinks in Greece would describe that as sim-plistic thinking. While not many rejoiced at SYRIZA’s ascendanceto power, Europe, America and Asia did not do anything to blockits rise, either, such as providing more support to former PrimeMinister Antonis Samaras.

Ideological differences have now softened to such an extentthat there is no question that SYRIZA is now, unlike in the past, anaccepted party. For example, we saw in recent times something in-conceivable a few years ago: cooperation between two sometimesfierce opponents, New Democracy and PASOK, and the presentcoalition government between SYRIZA and the IndependentGreeks.

What matters now is the government’s effectiveness. The abilityto govern productively and maintain a respectable level of popularsupport. Conversely, a corrupt, authoritarian government, and inparticular one that attempts to radically change course regardingforeign allies, i.e., to side with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, certainlywill not be a much-beloved government among Greece’s partners.

So if the far left leaders are trying to find a scapegoat for theirmistakes, they are knocking on the wrong door. A lot of time hasbeen wasted, and trying to present themselves as Castro-like heroesof the oppressed countries and classes will not work.

Savopoulos and StephanopoulosTwo Greek-Americans were prominently featured by the main-

stream media this week: American Ironworks CEO Savvas Savopou-los, who along with his wife, son, and housekeeper, was killed ina fire in his home ruled as a homicide, and ABC Chief AnchorGeorge Stephanopoulos, whose failure to publicly disclose his$75,000 donations to the Clinton Foundation creates the appear-ance that his impartiality as a journalist is compromised.

The homicides, still unresolved at press time, are a monumentaltragedy. The Stephanopoulos situation, though comparatively lesssevere, is nonetheless unfortunate. Both matters continue to unfold,and we will write more about them on these pages as well as inour news coverage accordingly.

We extend our deepest condolences to the families and friendsof the homicide victims, and we hope Stephanopoulos weathershis current storm successfully.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

By Yianni Pappas

It is almost a cliché, if not anaxiom, that to see one’s futureyou must first understand one’spast. It is no different in groups,such as the Church. In this case,the Greek Orthodox Church inNorth America.

This is the premise on whichSteve Frangos builds histhoughtful and provocative arti-cle in the May 2nd edition ofTNH (“The Possible Future[s] ofOrthodoxy”). I found the major-ity of the article to be excellent.Mr. Frangos brings up very goodpoints that beckon the question“who are we and where are wegoing?” We need questions likethese.

The article states that parishstruggles and problems in largemetropolitan areas were han-dled by the individual parishesthere. What is implied, but notovertly stated, is that this doesnot seem to be the case today.And if indeed it is not the casetoday, then intuitively one wouldlogically conclude that there isa profound sense of “microman-agement” on behalf of those em-powered to do so, and thatwould mean the hierarchs of ourChurch.

Mention was rightfully madethat there also does not seem tobe any sense of accountabilityon behalf of the various Metrop-olises that constitute the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese of Amer-

ica (GOA). The Church shouldbe the pristine example of ac-countability, but it seems to bethe poster child of “what not todo.”

The ninth paragraph bringsup an overtly-stated “rumor.”This “rumor” states that there issome scheme to reduce the num-ber of parishes from about 350in the United States to about200. The reason is because thereappear to be too many convertsthat are diluting the “Greek com-ponent” of every Metropolis ofthe Archdiocese of America.

I find this to be preposter-ously idiotic. Mr. Frangos ismerely reporting what he ishearing; this is what reportersdo. But it leaves one to wonderhow in the world can suchthoughts and statements beginto be contemplated by intelligentand rational people?

My conclusion refers to thepreviously-stated thoughts.There is no sense of accountabil-ity (financial and in regards toimmoral behaviors by hierarchsand priests). Immorality seemsto be overlooked (if not con-doned by some hierarchs). Theredoes not seem to be any docu-mentation of “perks and hono-raria” given here in the UnitedStates as well as “perks” givenin Greece to GOA Hierarchs fromGreek government officials.Nothing.

Add to this mix that whensomeone with integrity, like Fr.

Angelo Artemas, stands up andspeaks the truth, he is bashedand treated wrongfully by lead-ers who are supposed to be agood example. And that such is-sues in America are simply notaddressed by the GOA’s HolySynod. Problems simply seem tobe ignored. Add again to thismix the sense of overt Clerical-ism that is manifesting itself withwhat appears to be total micro-management by the Hierarchs.And that our “ruling hierarchs”do not appear to have a provenparish record of achievement,and thereby are anaesthetizedand disconnected from the realworld, entrancing themselveswith the misuse of the mantra“we are not of this world.”

It would be no surprise, then,to conclude that our “ruling hi-erarchs” look down at themasses, as one hierarch put itwith a sneer, “the hoi polloi.”

When considering all of this,it is no wonder why this ridicu-lous notion of a grand schemeto reduce the number ofChurches in the United Statesemerged. The only people thatwould ever adopt such an ab-surd notion would be the fun-damentalists. That group seemsto be embodied under the lead-ership of Elder Ephraim (of Ari-zona), and his right-hand man,Geronta Paisios. Volumes havebeen written about this group.However, not many volumes canbe written about how the Holy

Synod of the GOA has addressedthis group. Just one sentence:“They ignored it.” If there is nosuch grand scheme, then thesesentiments might very well bealluding to an imminent schismwithin our Church. The funda-mentalists would love this sce-nario, too.

The Vital Statistics andRecords of our Church clearlyshow there is an exodus of peo-ple (and their revenue). Our in-sulated leaders dismiss this as a“mere trend.” They do not com-prehend that our people are sim-ply going elsewhere.

Accordingly, the bringing ofthe Greek Orthodox Church tothe United States and establish-ing it as the treasure it is todaywas a grass roots effort on behalfof the laity, with assistance fromthe Clergy. Mr. Frangos promptsus to remember this: What doesthis mean and how does this ad-dress the question “where arewe going?”

What I think it means is thatit is up to us to get ourselves ingear: reclaim our Church andher direction, inspire our Youthwith love (not disdain) for ourChurch, and do everything wecan, and I mean everything, toimpress upon our insulated lead-ers we are mad as can be, andwe’re not going to take it any-more.

Yianni Pappas is a freelancewriter.

The Greek Orthodox Church in US: Sad State of Affairs

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

(ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ),reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest to the Greek-American community of the United States of America.

Publisher-Editor Antonis H. DiamatarisAssistant to the Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos

Executive Editor Constantinos E. ScarosReligion Editor Theodore KalmoukosSenior Writer Constantine S. Sirigos

Online Managing Editor Andy Dabilis

Production Manager Chrysoula Karametros

The National Herald (USPS 016864) is published weekly byThe National Herald Inc. at 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614

Tel: (718)784-5255, Fax: (718)472-0510, e-mail: english.edition@thenationalherald.com

Democritou 1 and Academias Sts, Athens, 10671, GreeceTel: 011.30.210.3614.598, Fax: 011.30.210.3643.776, e-mail:

athens@ekirikas.com

Subscriptions by mail: 1 year $66.00, 6 months $33.00, 3 months $22.00, 1 month $11.00Home delivery NY, NJ, CT: 1 year $88.00, 6 months $48.00,

3 months $33.00, 1 month $14.00Home delivery New England States:

1 year $109.00, 6 months $57.00, 3 months $41.00, 1 month $18.00On line subscription: Subscribers to the print edition: 1 year $57.60, 6 months $39.50, 3 months $25.00; Non subscribers: 1 year $90.00, 6 months $45.50, 3 months $22.50

Periodical postage paid at L.I.C., N.Y. and additional mailing offices.Postmaster send change of address to:

THE NATIONAL HERALD, 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614

TO OUR READERS

the national Herald welcomes letters from its readers intended forpublication. they should include the writer’s name, address, andtelephone number and be addressed to: the editor, the nationalHerald, 37-10 30th Street, long island city, ny 11101. letters canalso be faxed to (718) 472-0510 or e-mailed to scaros@thenation-alherald.com. we reserve the right to edit letters for publicationand regret that we are unable to acknowledge or return those leftunpublished.

GeOrGe SArAFOGlOu / SPeciAl tO tHe nAtiOnAl HerAld

Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

Playing by Club Rules

As we continue to discuss the Greek fi-nancial crisis, there is, I fear, a “detail” thatprobably escapes us. That detail is: if youreally want to be a member of the Euro-zone, you need to behave accordingly.

You have to be competitive, with coun-tries such as France and Germany. And thatis not easy, as those countries have a dif-ferent way of life, different cultures, her-itages, and economic foundations.

Of course – for those who remember –the Eurozone gave tens of billions of euroto Greece for its infrastructure, but thatmoney was wasted on buying votes andmaking deposits to Swiss bank accounts.

Now, as the government draws its “red

lines” on issues such as employment, pen-sions, etc., it would do well to considerhow that brings it closer to Europe and en-sures its stay in the Eurozone.

It should trouble us strongly that PrimeMinister Tsipras in a letter to the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) head ChristineLagarde stated that it could not pay its 750million euro installment unless it washelped by the European Central Bank(ECB).

The reaction? Dead silence. Fortunately,there was the IMF’s “last resort” windowfrom which Greece borrowed…to pay theIMF.

But the message is clear: the IMF’s “takeit or leave it” ultimatum rings like a veryloud bell. The same thing applies to thesearch for a solution to the Cyprus prob-

lem, which according to the FinancialTimes is gaining traction among financeministers.

I am sure that all these messages arebeing analyzed with the proper care re-quired by the Greek authorities. And I stillbelieve that it is not in the Eurozone’s in-terest to kick Greece out, one way or an-other.

Unless Greece itself convinces the Eu-rozone that the only way it can survive isto cut off the Greek branch from its treetrunk.

And how does Greece do that? By un-necessarily making them weary. By basingdecisions on miscalculations.

We Greeks would do well to rememberthat apart from us, there are other smartfolks out there, too.

By Constantinos E. Scaros

It’s not even Memorial DayWeekend a year before the 2016election, and already the Repub-lican Party has limited primarydebate participants to the top10-place finishers “in an averageof national polls,” because it isvery likely that there will be al-most double that number in therace.

There is no frontrunner insight, given Jeb Bush’s recentflub – in the form of a four-ver-sion answer in as many days –as to whether he would have in-vaded Iraq in 2003 if we knewthen what we know now.

Bush hasn’t even entered therace formally, but conventionalwisdom suggests that he wouldbe the early favorite, given hiscommanding lead over his rivalsin terms of big-money backers.

Marco Rubio, in a heated in-terview with Fox News’ ChrisWallace, who asked him thesame question about the IraqWar, raised the level of the dis-cussion by noting that “was go-ing into Iraq a mistake?” and “ifyou knew then what we knownow, would you have gone in?”are two different questions. Ru-

bio pointed out that even if, inhindsight, the action taken wasnot the best one vis-à-vis the out-come, he said that based on theavailable intelligence at thetime, that Saddam Hussein hadWeapons of Mass Destruction(WMDs), President George W.Bush’s decision to invade wasnot a mistake, even as it turned

out to be the wrong decisiongiven that the intelligence waslater determined to be highlyflawed.

Besides Bush and Rubio,other Republicans who have for-mally declared their presidentialcandidacy are: neurosurgeonBen Carson, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Sen-

ators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul,and former Arkansas GovernorMike Huckabee. There is alsomuch speculation that WisconsinGovernor Scott Walker, whogained national attention by tak-ing on and defeating big unionpolitical machines, is going tothrow his hat into the ring.There is less steam behind NewJersey Governor Chris Christie’spotential bid, given he is stillsmarting from his underlings’Bridgegate scandal, and hisrecord in the Garden State, uponfurther review, is not as stellaras it seemed at first glance.

South Carolina Senator Lind-sey Graham, who plans to an-nounce his candidacy formallyon June 1, is trying to win overthe hawks, vowing that “if youare a terrorist, I will send adrone, and I will kill you.”

Then there are Rick Perry,Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum,and a host of others to consider.

And just when it couldn’t getany murkier, a well-known fig-ure told Megyn Kelly on May 20to stay tuned for his big an-nouncement in June – and thathe’s the “only one” who can fixthis country: that man’s name isDonald Trump.

GOP Race Heats Up – Fasten Your Seatbelts…

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015 11

Please, somebody restrainme before I fly to London andsteal a piece of the stolenParthenon Marbles and bring itback to hit Greek Alternate Cul-ture Minister Nikos Xydakis tosmack some sense into him.Preferably a heavy one.

Before the howl of outrageconvinced him to drop hiscockamamie idea not to sue totry to force the thieves of theBritish Museum to return theMarbles, he was ready to rollover and let the Brits keepGreece’s greatest national trea-sure.

If he hadn’t, you could haveadded treachery, cultural trea-son and stupidity along with in-competence and amateurism tothe resume of the Looney LeftSYRIZA Party misled by PrimeMinister Alexis “Che” Tsipras,which has no regard or respectfor Greek heritage, apparentlybelieving all the world is one,as long as it’s left.

If it’s possible, Xydakis mightbe the looniest of these lefties,but what can you expect frompeople who aren’t capable ofrunning a hot dog stand outsideYankee Stadium, never mind awhole country, or what will beleft of it once they get throughwith it.

You have to remember thisis the party that put Aristidesin as Education Minister, a guywho said education – he’s the“education” minister – is anoverrated virtue.

But Xydakis has just movedto the Head of the Class for out-right idiocy even though hebacked off, because he still be-lieves Greece should not fightfor the return of the Marblesother than dialogue, which has

failed for decades. He’d better hope

that the real cham-pion for the returnof the Marbles, thelate, great actressMelina Mercouri –who was a real Cul-ture Minister, not aphony like him –doesn’t pull a Talefrom the Crypt andrise from the graveto get him becausethis guy deserves tobe sacked, rightnow. And somebodygive him a bloodtest to see he’s really Greek be-cause no real Greek would giveup the Parthenon Marbles.

That’s the problem withthese SYRIZA types: they putCommunist and Anarchist ide-ology about God, country andeven family and would ratherhave Greece be like Cuba orVenezuela, two other failedcountries where the Leftistmodel has proved to be failures,unless you like standing in linefor bread and toilet paper andspare parts for 1957 Chevies.

SYRIZA’s even worse thanprevious Greek governmentsthat did nothing to try to getthe Marbles back other thanpaying limp lip service to theidea, even with the advantageof having the new AcropolisMuseum, which has a floor ded-icated for showing them off, ifthey ever get back – which theywon’t.

Xydakis is a dentist with adegree in art history and a for-mer journalist, where heworked for Kathimerini as ArtsEditor and then Editor-in-Chieffrom 2003-14. His colleagues

there must be em-barrassed at whathe’s wrought inhis Culture postwhere he has doneGreece only dis-service, along withjust about every-body else inSYRIZA.

Xydakis disre-garded the expen-sive opinion of ateam of humanrights lawyersfrom London, in-cluding GeorgeClooney’s wife,

Amal, that the best chanceGreece has of getting back theMarbles is suing the British Mu-seum. Both Clooneys aregreater champions of the Mar-bles than Xydakis who hasshown no real interest in them.“You cannot go to court overevery issue,” he said in an em-barrassing interview on Greektelevision. “Besides, in interna-tional courts, the outcome is un-certain.”

No s—t, Sherlock. Every ven-ture in court is uncertain butthat’s why people who believethey have a case go there, andGreece has the world’s greatestcase: the marbles were stolen,we want the thieves to givethem back now. There’s nostatute of limitations on culturalheritage theft, and other coun-tries, including the UnitedStates, have returned Greektreasures.

The British though aren’tcomfortable with giving backstolen culture since they haveso little of their own, unless youcount the rocks at Stonehenge,a laughable comparison to the

genius and precision of theParthenon and the Marbles thatadorned it before Lord Elginstole them 200 years ago withthe blessing of the Turks whooccupied Greece.

The British say they weren’tstolen because the Turks gaveElgin the right to take them butthieves have no right to letthieves take someone else’sproperty.

Xydakis, who apparentlydidn’t read his own newspaperfor 11 years, said the best wayof securing the Marbles wasn’tin courts.

“The road to reclaiming thereturn of the sculptures is diplo-matic and political,” he said,two paths that have failed andalways will because the Britishhave no – none – interest in giv-ing up the goods unless they areforced.

“The British negativism isoverwhelming, along with itslack of respect for the role ofmediators,” Xydakis said. Sowhy does he think talking willwork?

Most of the people trying toget the Marbles back are Phil-hellenes outside Greece becauseGreeks and Greek governmentshave little interest and put upalmost no fight, except for Mer-couri’s gallant efforts.

After declining to accept UN-ESCO’s offer of mediation,British Museum ChairmanRichard Lambert, told the Greekgovernment the trustees de-cided to “respectfully declinethis request.”

That’s what diplomacy gets,so here’s a tip for Xydakis. Seethem in court. Sue ‘em fast.

adabilis@thenationalherald.com

Before I jump into whatamounts as a limited defense ofGeorge Stephanopoulos, let mebegin by stating that I’m not oneof those “he’s Greek, so we haveto stand behind him” types. Noris he necessarily one of my fa-vorite journalists. Truth be told,I prefer watching Bob Schiefferon Face the Nation on Sundaymornings, and when he wasalive and hosting Meet thePress, I preferred Tim Russert toall of them.

But at the same time, I donot dislike GeorgeStephanopoulos, either. There issomething to be said for the factthat rightwingers, who arerarely shy about unleashing abarrage of verbal onslaughtsfirst and fact-checking theirpremises later, do not have atarget on Stephanopoulos’ back.They do not vilify him, as theydo, say, the New York Times, orChris Matthews. And for goodreason. Stephanopoulos hasproven himself worthy of deliv-ering the news responsibly –and even if he doesn’t compareto Eric Sevareid or WalterCronkite, he can certainly holdhis own among his contempo-raries.

With Schieffer set to retire inabout a month – he is in firstplace in the Sunday morningnews show ratings – and withcurrent Meet the Press hostChuck Todd, though at times anentertaining political junkie notquite (at least to this point) hav-ing fully filled Russert’s shoes,this was a golden opportunityfor Stephanopoulos to emergeas Sunday morning’s “go-to”newsman.

What has dealtStephanopoulos a severe blow,though, is not exactly a hangingoffense. Basically, he donated$75,000 to the Clinton Founda-tion, a global nonprofit organi-zation established by FormerPresident Bill Clinton, his wife,Hillary, who currently the over-all favorite to win the 2016presidential election, and theirdaughter, Chelsea. The Founda-tion is committed to numerousnoble initiatives, such as fight-ing AIDS in an effort to improveoverall global health. It was be-cause of such worthy endeav-ors, Stephanopoulos says, thathe donated the money to theFoundation, even as criticspoint out that he could have

given the moneyto other organiza-tions equally adeptat putting the do-nation to gooduse, but not run byhis former em-p l o y e r(Stephanopoulosworked in theClinton WhiteHouse).

Although therelationship be-t w e e nStephanopoulosand the Clintonsseems strained,given the former’s leaving theAdministration and through hisexperiences described in hisbook All Too Human, the size-able donation certainly createsan “an appearance of impropri-ety,” insofar as speculation thathe is more supportive of, say,Hillary’s candidacy than hewould be of say, Jeb Bush’s. Re-ally? Gee, what a shocker, be-cause if the story didn’t comeout that he donated money tothe Clinton Foundation, I neverwould have guessed that (not!).The next thing you’re going totell me is that Bill O’Reilly, whoprides himself on his objectivity,is far more likely to vote for theRepublican presidential nomi-nee than the Democrat. Well ofcourse he is!

The point is that journalists

need to be evalu-ated on their objec-tivity in reporting,not in their personalpoints of view. Oth-erwise, a journalistwould a brainlesszombie, with noformulated opin-ions – essentially, ahuman taperecorder.

I have personalpolitical opinions.So does every singleone of my col-leagues here at TheNational Herald,

and at every other news organi-zation in the country andthroughout the world. But thatdoesn’t mean that we allow ourpersonal preferences to cloudobjective reporting.

To clarify: what you are read-ing right now is an op-ed piece.It is commentary. It is supposedto be subjective. So are editori-als, letters to the editor, featurestories, and even obituaries. Butnews stories are the ones thatneed to be objective, and goodjournalists, with an innate senseof fairness, understand thatwhen writing them, the primarypurpose is to inform, not to per-suade.

Therefore, let us stop pre-tending that the only reasonGeorge Stephanopoulos oughtto be held to the standard of

“can he put his personal feelingsaside and report objectively” isbecause of his Foundation do-nation. He – just like any otherjournalist – should have beenheld to that standard all along.

To put it another way, mostof the journalists whose articlesyou read and whose newscastsyou watch will vote on ElectionDay. Shall we pretend that theyare not voting for either the De-mocrat or the Republican? Shallwe allow them to keep their jobsonly because we don’t knowtheir voting records? If for somereason their voting records wereleaked, should we disqualifythem from continuing to bejournalists?

George Stephanopoulosshould have been more proac-tive in disclosing his contribu-tion to a nonpolitical organiza-tion established by very politicalpeople. But to think that heshouldn’t be allowed to preferone candidate to another is un-realistic. And to think that all ofhis professional colleagues arenot personally politically biased,too, is delusional.

Constantinos E. Scaros’ latestbook, about the 2016 presiden-tial race, will be published thissummer. It is titled Grumpy OldParty: 20 Tips on How the Re-publicans Can Shed their Anger,Reclaim their Respectability,and Win Back the White House.

Purely Objective Journalists? Who’s Kidding Whom?

LETTER FROM ATHENS

One-World-Culture SYRIZA Doesn’t Care about Marbles

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

As Greece edgesdeeper and deeperinto the financialabyss created atleast in part by itsavaricious credi-tors, it has becomeevident that thegreatest problem inEurope is not thedebt crisis, butrather a crisis ofdemocracy.

Never in the his-tory of post WWIIEurope has thisform of govern-ment first created in AncientGreece faced such a systemicthreat. Sadly, the threat isgreater now than in the 1960sand 1970s when military dicta-torships still ruled places likeGreece and Spain, because thepolitical lines are much blurriertoday than they once were. Atleast back then people called aspade, a spade. In today’s Eu-rope, democracy is démodé,while autocratic apersonal com-mittees like the “BrusselsGroup,” technocrats, and thehated markets exercise as highhanded a rule as the stratocra-cies staging coupes and prop-ping juntas once did, but theformer are dubbed democratic.

After its first 100 days in of-fice, even if Greece’s new gov-ernment fails at reaching a dig-nified solution to the nation’sprotracted debt crisis and isoverthrown by Europe’s retromedieval overlords, it will havesucceeded in one very importantthing: exposing the democraticdeficit plaguing the EuropeanUnion.

On a smaller scale, the gov-ernment – at least initially – alsosucceeded in at least attemptingto establish a meritocracy, inplace of the usual metriocracy(from the Greek word “metrios,”or mediocre) that has plaguedGreek and other European in-stitutions. The choice of YanisVaroufakis and Nikos Kotzias tohead the critically important fi-nance and foreign ministries, re-spectively, was certainly agroundbreaking step for Greekpolitical norms – at least in re-cent decades. Interestinglyenough, neither of the two be-long to Alexis Tsipras’ SYRIZAParty, and yet he entrusted bothwith major ministerial posts.The results were pleasantly sur-prising.

Varoufakis has managed tovex the entirety of the eurozone’s finance czars, often timesfending off their collective at-tacks single-handedly. He hasconsistently tried to put out al-ternative recovery plans anddemonstrate the folly in contin-uing the current punitive mea-sures stifling the Greek economyand reducing the nation tothird-world status. Naturally, in

the process, he has drawn theire of the European establish-ment because he has at leasttemporarily managed to throwa wrench in the works andthwart their cold-blooded calcu-lations.

In an unprecedented inter-vention in Greece’s domestic af-fairs, several of Greece’s so-called partners have demandedhis removal. The fact alone thatVaroufakis has succeeded in un-masking the anti-democratic be-haviors of his “civilized” col-leagues is sufficient to considerhis tenure – however short itmight end up being – a success.

In a perfect irony, considerthe metriocracy that Europeannations prefer to the Greek Gov-ernment’s pursuit of meritoc-racy. The head of the Eurogroupwho chairs the meetings of theeuro zone finance ministers,Jeroen Dijsselbloem, hasn’t evenearned a Master’s Degree. WhileVaroufakis has taught at presti-gious universities around theworld and been in the companyof Nobel laureates, Dijsselbloemboasts a Bachelor’s in Agricul-tural Economics and “research”towards a graduate degree henever obtained. Assuming you

weren’t in the mar-ket for a “yes man”with an inferioritycomplex, which ofthe two seems likea more capableeconomist on pa-per? Sadly, whilethe former is prob-ably light yearsahead in terms ofcomprehending thereasons for theGreek crisis andthe methods withwhich to exit it, thelatter holds the key

to liquidity for the Greek econ-omy.

Kotzias is another fine exam-ple. In his short time headingthe Greek foreign ministry, he’smanaged to at least assertGreece’s claims to national sov-ereignty. In his first day in office,while the EU was embroiled ina showdown with Russia, whichthe former has deemed unde-mocratic (how ironic) in lightof the crisis in Ukraine, Kotziasrushed to remind his colleaguesthat Greece needed to be in-cluded in discussions and thathe had no qualms about vetoingEU decisions if his nation wassidestepped. More recently,while visiting the U.S., he pub-licly stated that if Turkey trulydesired a solution to the Cyprusissue, the key to resolving theproblem lied in removing Turk-ish troops from Cypriot soil. Justconsider that the previous Greekforeign minister EvangelosVenizelos actually sent a verbalnote (in diplomatic terms, that’sone step short of a formalprotest) to Cyprus over criticismissued by one of its eurodeputiesregarding the manner in whichGreece ignored a provocativeTurkish document undercuttingCyprus’ territorial integritywhen it held the rotating presi-dency... while never issuing averbal note to Turkey for its fre-quent encroachments uponGreek air or naval space or nu-merous other violations.

Naturally, the new Greekgovernment is not devoid ofshortcomings. Recent accusa-tions of nepotism and partisan-ship have dulled the initial en-thusiasm that was created afterthe premier tabbed ministersfrom all political backgroundsand non party members. Still,however, the initial meritoriousappointments show that assum-ing there is political volition,there are solutions that canremedy the metriocracy thathas been force fed down thethroats of the Greek people fordecades. Perhaps that in itselfis the reason why Alexis Tsiprasand his government remainhighly popular in polls, despitemaking negative progress in ne-gotiations with the nation’screditors.

In all likelihood, the Greekprime minister will have to ei-ther do some major backped-dling and break campaignpromises if he is going to securethe tranche needed to bring liq-uidity to Greece’s empty coffers(and bury Greece in furtherdebt) or allow the Europeanoverlords and gangsters to over-throw him for honoring his elec-toral platform. It’s a raw dealeither way. Despite the undoubt-edly unpleasant results, whichwill unquestionably be detri-mental to Greek interests,Tsipras will have at least giventhe nation a democratic surplusand exposed the EuropeanUnion to be in democratic de-fault. If you espouse the opinionthat the Greek crisis is more oneof civics and politics that eco-nomics, then this is probably agood start.

On a side note, it’s worthquestioning whether the meri-tocracy vs. metriocracy dilemmaexists in the organized Greek-American Community as well.But that’s a different topic for adifferent day…

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

Meritocracy vs. Metriocracy:Mediocrity Zaps Democracy?

by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS

Special to The National Herald

Tsipras has a raw deal either way. He can either renegon his campaign promises and succumb to Greece’slenders’ demands, or he can stand his ground anddeal with the consequences, which could mean aGrexit, or his own personal exit, from political power.

VIEPOINTS12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, MAY 23-29, 2015

By Constantinos E. Scaros

The feature story “Naming aGreek Baby is Going Viral” inthe April 18 edition focused onthe online petition created byGreek-American Nicholas Souk-eras, seeking support to namehis yet-to-be-born son after hisown father: Spyridon. Soukeras’wife, Belarus-born Kseniya,prefers to name the babyMichael, for two reasons: 1) tohonor her own father, who haspassed away when she was ateenager; and 2) to give thebaby a name that “people [inthe United States] will be ableto pronounce.

Well, Nicholas and Kseniya,

I have a solution for you, andan opportunity to elaborate onthe broader issue: the strugglein naming a Greek-Americanbaby to achieve a balance be-tween heritage and practicality.

SPENCER MICHAELSOUKERAS

I say, name him: SpencerMichael Soukeras. Here’s why:Nicholas, you want to name himSpyridon, after your dad, right?Well, “Spyridonas” can be hisGreek Baptismal name (thank-fully, both parents are Orthodox,so there’s no argument there),but his birth certificate will saySpencer: a perfectly fine namethat, like Spyridon, begins with“Sp.” Besides, even for every

“Tom, Dick, and Harry” in thisworld, there are 20 Michaels!Whereas “Spencer Michael”stands out a little more. In fact,young Spencer Michael Souk-eras can be called “Mike.” Thatway, both parents’ fathers arehonored.

After all, many people’s nick-names are derived from theirmiddle name. In fact, as he getsolder, he can even refer to him-self as “S. Michael Soukeras,” amaneuver popularized particu-larly by yuppies in the 1980sthat has not entirely gone by thewayside.

If Nicholas insists on honor-ing his father more directly, andfeels – as many do – that Greek

names should be glorified, notpresented in “watered-down”Americanized versions, then ahappy medium can be “Spiro”rather than “Spyridon.” After all,even former Vice President Ag-new was a Spiro, not a Spyri-don. In fact, giving more cre-dence to little Spencer Michaelbeing called “Mike,” the formerGreek-American Veep, whosefull name was Spiro TheodoreAgnew, was commonly knownas “Ted.”

“IT’S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY”

I completely understandwhat Nicholas and Kseniya aregoing through. My wife, Anna,and I went through the samething when deciding what toname our daughter. Though itwas more entertainment thanan ordeal. In fact, judging fromthe Soukerases online petition,found at http://www.ipeti-tions.com/petition/godly-right-to-name-first-born-son-spyri-don, replete with “the party ofthe first part”-type mocklegalese, leads me to believethat they are having fun withthis whole thing, too.

Anyhow, one thing the Souk-erases and the Scaroses have incommon is: each couple hasone spouse with a name Amer-icans can say rather easily(Nicholas, Anna) and one theystruggle with (Kseniya, Con-stantinos). I don’t know Mrs.Soukeras, so I will not specu-late, beyond that her commentabout giving her son a name“people can pronounce” mostlikely stems from her own ex-perience of being a “Kseniya” inthe United States.

As for me, I’ve had a lifetimeof “how do you say your name?”In fact, whether a bartender be-hind the bar giving me back mycredit card at the end of thenight, or a car rental agent con-firming my reservation, I imme-diately know that it is my namethey have in front of me, as Iwatch their mouth contort, theireyes wince in confusion, untilthey finally give up and stare atme, at which point I say: “Yup,that’s me. If you’ve got the namein front of you that you can’tpronounce, it’s mine.”

My wife, on the other hand,is “Anna.” A name almost im-possible to screw up, even forAmericans! So, of course, whendeciding what to name ourdaughter – Anna particularlyliked my mother’s name, An-thoula, and I, of course, wasperfectly fine with honoring mymom – my wife was in favor ofa name that proudly proclaimedits full Greekness, whereas I

wanted an Americanized ver-sion, like Allison. Sure, we couldChristen her Anthousa, I said,and all the Greek family andfriends can call her Anthoula,but what counts most – the peo-ple with whom she, as an Amer-ican will interact during mosthours of most days of her life,from the time she enters Kinder-garten, will know how to sayher name.

Ultimately, we agreed on“Anthoula,” not the formal “An-thousa” on the birth certificate.And it wasn’t a compromise. Weboth like “Anthoula” better. Sheis four now, and we call her Ally.Of course, that doesn’t stop peo-ple from butchering her name.Her name has been called – atthe doctor’s office and at theairport. I kid you not, theylooked straight at her, a long-haired child dressed in pink,clearly a GIRL, and called herAnthony. Really, people? Is thatwhat A-n-t-h-o-u-l-a sounds liketo you? Anthony? How is thateven phonetically possible? Be-sides, how many little girls do

you know named Anthony?! Itmakes me think that if we hadnamed her Haritomeni, they’dread her name on a documentand call her “Harold.”

This is why, Kseniya, “I feelyour pain.” I vote for giving yourson a name that people can pro-nounce. But because, like yourhusband, I am Greek-American,I understand what it means toname a first-born son after thefather’s father, and so I thinkMichael should be the middlename. And you can call him“Mike” all day long.

“YOUR MOMMA NAMEDYOU THAT?”

Nonetheless, here’s a final

point, and this is to Nicholas’defense. Many years ago, whenI first started teaching, at a col-lege in New York City, one ofmy students, upon seeing myname (Constantinos E. Scaros)on the syllabus, approached meafter class, and asked: “how doyou say your name – your firstname?” I responded: “Constan-tinos.” Clearly never havingseen or heard that name before,she looked at me, puzzled, andasked, in all sincerity: “Yourmomma named you that?” Ismiled, and replied: “You’venever heard that name before,right?” She responded: “Nope,I sure haven’t.” So, I led her outof class and walked her to theschool library – located just afew doors down. I walked up toa shelf containing the Encyclo-pedia Britannica (this was allpre-Internet) and found the en-try on Constantine the Great.“Read this,” I told her, and left.

I returned to my classroomto finish up some work, andthen about an hour or so later, Iheaded to back to the library,

for whatever reason. I glancedover at where I left that student,and there she was – still sittingthere, absorbing the article onConstantine the Great, and sim-ilar articles about him that shediscovered.

As many of our students did,she returned to the school tovisit, long after she graduated.When she addressed me as “Pro-fessor Scaros,” I said to her (shewas very close to my age, any-way): “you’re not in my classanymore, you should call meDino.” She looked at me, sternlyand said: “I will NOT call you‘Dino.’ You have a beautifulname – Constantinos!”

By Nicos A. RolandisSpecial to The National Herald

How did we, truly, move outof our course to such an extent?How did we manage to dumpour principles into a gutter ofinsatiability? How did we throwbehind a veil of oblivion thewise words of our fathers andour teachers of the pastdecades?

I was reading again recentlya poem by Costas Varnalis, outof his collection “The Light thatBurns”, entitled “The Mother ofChrist,” in which Virgin Maryasks her son:

“Why did you stand thereand let them catch you? Andfurthermore:

When they asked ‘who isChrist’ why did you reply ‘it isme’?

“Ah: My bitter mouth doesnot realize what it utters!

“Thirty years have elapsedmy son, and I still do not knowyou.”

The innocent one allowedthem to arrest him for the sal-vation of humanity. Even hismother did not anticipate it. Onthe contrary, Cyprus of our days,is unfortunately full of culprits,who are hiding and trying toavoid arrest.

Cyprus’ neighborhoods,which used to be full of jasminearomas, now stink. The socialcell is rotting. And the civil so-ciety feels wounded and be-trayed. The average man suffersdeeply, in dull houses, in socialgroceries, in the solitude of un-employment, in the ruthlessbanks. And punishment of theguilty, with a few exceptions, isso far away…

Nicos and Mustafa, these arethe people of Cyprus, on theGreek side, with whom you willhave to cross your steps, yourbrainstorming and your conclu-sions. It is not the serene “Peo-ple of Cyprus” of painter Dia-mantis. It is a different world,with a blood clot in its brain,caused by the so many culpritswho still move about, unpun-ished.

I am informed that on theTurkish Cypriot side things area little better, but, there again,there is nothing to compare withthe past. The “People of Cyprus”have changed. They detest

politicians. Just 6% of thesepeople would trust them.

Unfortunately, Nicos andMustafa, you both belong to thiscategory of “politicians.” The“people of Cyprus” will be angryand will not show any interestin whatever you say or do, be-cause their lives were turned up-side down. These are the peopleyou will have to convince andgain their confidence. Other-wise, they will not switch on thegreen light for you.

The Cyprus problem willsoon be in the limelight. It is aproblem which has remainedunresolved for 41 years, mainlybecause none of the two com-munities of Cyprus had the hon-esty and the courage to admittheir own sins of the past.

If the Greek Cypriots antici-pate that Mustafa Akinci willchange the scenery radically andthat the wishful thinking of allthose who have been aiming atthe absolute will be fulfilled,they are simply on the wrongtrack. Similarly, the fanatics on

the Turkish Cypriot side, whorely on the Turkish military andfinancial supremacy and try toimpose a partitionist solutionwill fail. Such agreements areneither feasible nor viable.

Both sides committed seriousmistakes in their recent history:The Greek Cypriots were arro-gant on many occasions beforethe invasion. They also blun-dered in an impermissible man-ner. In 1963 they endeavored toamend the Constitution and toreverse what they had agreed in1960. The Greek Cypriot lead-ership was of the impressionthat the Turkish Cypriots would“eventually boil in their ownjuice.” The Greek Cypriots werealso talking continuously aboutunion with Greece. In 1967 theHouse of Representatives votedunanimously for such a union.In 1974, they carried out, to-gether with the Greek junta acoup d’etat which led to theTurkish invasion. After 1974and especially in the initial pe-riod, the Greek Cypriots failed

to capitalize on some good op-portunities for a solution, suchas the Anglo-American-Cana-dian Plan (1978), the Indicators(1983), the Consolidated Doc-uments (1985).

The Turkish Cypriots carriedwith them from the 1950s theconcept of partition. This con-cept became a strong wish, thecredo of their lives. Their leaderfor 35 years Rauf Denktash,took extremist stands. He wasconfrontational, especially dur-ing the last years of his admin-istration.

In 1974, Turkey invadedCyprus. The invasion turnedinto a 40-year occupation. Thehuman rights of Greek-Cypriotswere ignored and grossly vio-lated. Settlers from Turkey in-undated the occupied territory.

The above positions andmentalities will never lead to asolution. As a matter of fact inrecent years, especially in thelight of the corruption and thesocial and economic upheavaland disarray, I became of the

opinion that the “solution train”was gone forever.

The unexpected election ofMustafa Akinci may (I am notcertain) bring about a glimmerof hope. Mustafa is moderateand rational. I had good coop-eration with him in the 1980sand the 1990s. I was the leaderof the Liberal Party and he wasthe leader of the Party of Com-munal Justice. They were bothsmall parties.

To start with, Mustafa willhave to convince about his standthe stronghold of “Ankara-Erdo-gan.” He cannot defeat it. Hemust convince it, becauseAnkara controls both the armyand the economy in the occu-pied part of Cyprus. It is a heavystone around the Mustafa’sneck.

Of course, there are a num-ber of reasons which render theCyprus solution palatable forAnkara. First of all it is her ac-cession to Europe, which Cyprusmay block (and it is alreadyblocking it). Then, a solution

will partly rid Turkey of her re-gional isolation. Furthermoreshe may benefit a lot from thehydrocarbons of the area.

And Nicos Anastasiades? Hehas been my friend for the past34 years – since 1981. I believehe must take into serious con-sideration a number pivotal fac-tors. He is confronted with themost important facet of his ca-reer. He must always rememberthe dictum of James FreemanClarke, that “A politician thinksof the next election. A states-man, of the next generation.”

Nicos, on a number of occa-sions in his career, proved thathe is a statesman. Now it is thetime for him to solidify this. Es-pecially, if Mustafa manages tosmoothen the Ankara-Erdoganweight hanging from his neck.Nicos must ignore all those whothrough their unrealizablestand will lead him to a new fi-asco. He must maneuver withinwhat is correct and what is fea-sible. He must stay away fromunattainable dreams. In thewake of 55 years of blunders,omissions, and confrontations,and also after a coup, a war, aninvasion, and occupation, wecannot anticipate that Cypruswill reach Paradise or thePromised Land.

We may end up with a bal-anced settlement, with a com-mon country of Greek and Turk-ish Cypriots, where we shouldtry to implant the seeds ofdemocracy and justice. After all,there are so many countries inthe world with a similar struc-ture. They consist of a numberof ethnic communities. Let Nicosand Mustafa try to pick up theroses out of the thorny stems.

Of course on our way weshall not come across the“Mother of Christ” of poet Var-nalis for the salvation ofmankind. We would be satisfiedwith the salvation of our ownmicrocosm, the salvation andvindication of Cyprus and herpeople.

Nicos Rolandis (was the Cypri-ot Government’s Foreign Min-ister (1978-83) and Ministerof Commerce, Industry &Tourism (1998-2003). He wasalso a member of the CyprusHouse of Representatives(1991-96) and chairman ofthe Liberal Party (1986-98).

New Day in Cyprus: Nicos and Mustafa Pick Roses out of Thorny Stems

People wearing Cyprus flags stand near a UN peacekeeper whereGreek and Turkish Cypriots gathered with banners outside theLedra Palace Hotel before a dinner between Cyprus' president NicosAnastasiades, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and the UN

envoy Espen Barth Eide inside the UN controlled buffer zone thatdivides Nicosia, on Monday, May 11. The dinner is the first meetingbetween Anastasiades and Akinci since the Turkish Cypriot politiciandefeated the hard-line incumbent in an election last month.

Naming Greek-American Babies: a Solution to the Typical Sticking Point

Exercise your mind with the latest books from The National Herald Collection

THE NATIONAL HERALD BOOKSTORE

FLAVOURS & DELIGHTS

$46.99

FLAVOURS & DELIGHTSTastes and pleasures of Ancient & Byzantine Cuisine

the flavours of classical GreeceMakedonisi(on). Parsley, the macedonian herb.byzantine diet and cuisine. in between ancient and modern gastron-omy. All in the cooking pot. Advances in the study of byzantine diet.eating flowersbyzantine aphrodisiacs & delicacies.liutprand of cremona. A critical guest at the byzantine emperor'stable.TimarionHens, cockerels and other choice fowl. everyday food and gastro-nomic pretensions in byzantiumPallikaria of lentils. the "brave boys" of beans.everyday food in the middle byzantine perioddining with foreignersFood for Saintsthe emperor's salad"the raw and the cooked" way of cooking and serving food inbyzantium

O R D E R F O R M

Please return this form with your check or money order payable to:The National Herald, 37-10 30th street, Long Island City, NY 11101-2614Or charge your credit card: o American express o master card o visa o discover

αCCOUNT: εxPIRATION DATE:ναμε:αDDRESS:CITY: STATE: zIP CODE:PHONE / CELL: FAx: E-MAIL:# BOOKS:

SIGNATURE

AP PHOtO/PetrOS kArAdjiAS