The National Herald · Captain Blood, a novel by Rafael Sabatini. In the reign of the Eng - lish...

The National HeraldA wEEkly GrEEk-AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON

August 9-15, 2014

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By Tasmin Blanchard, EllieWitt, and Wendy DouglasThe Telegraph

An article in The Economistabout the Greek financial crisisis not an obvious inspiration forstarting a high-end clothing la-bel. But for Mareva Grabowski(an ex-managing director atDeutsche Bank) and DimitraKolotoura (the owner of a Lon-don-based PR agency) one actedas a spur to try to change theworld's perception of theirhomeland and its people. Theywanted to showcase their coun-try's craftsmen and women sothey took a series of trips aroundGreece to find the skills theyknew were there. Soon Zeus +Dione was born.

'We went everywhere that weheard there was someone doingsomething interesting,' Kolo-toura says, 'and we met so manyamazing people. That was thebest part of this whole journey.'Though their relatively large or-ders for capes and sandals wereoften met with scepticism thanksto the economic climate of thetime, they were undeterred. 'Weare driven,' Kolotoura says.'When we decide to do some-thing we do it and we don't de-lay.'

Now, three years later, theyemploy 18 staff in their Athensstudio and have created jobs formore than 100 people aroundGreece, working with small andoften isolated suppliers to pro-duce their collections. 'That givesus the drive and the courage tocontinue,' Kolotoura says. 'See-ing small workshops and familybusinesses growing and hiring

“Greece” is The Word, is The Place, is The Fashion

By Constantinos E. Scaros

TARPON SPRINGS, FL – NewYork can be a difficult place inwhich to work, as Father Anas-tasios “Taso” Gounaris foundout while serving in the high-profile position of Dean of theHoly Trinity ArchdiocesanCathedral. “God works in mys-terious ways,” Gounaris toldTNH, because as “honored andprivileged as I felt at the Cathe-dral, more than anything else Ijust want to be a simple parishpriest.”

The Cathedral “is more an in-stitution than a parish,”Gounaris said. “The parish coun-cil is not chosen by the people,but by the archbishop. Here [atthe St. Nicholas Cathedral,where he was recently trans-ferred] in Tarpon Springs, I canbe a simple parish priest again.”

FALSE ALLEGATIONSOver the years, some congre-

gants or employees at Gounaris’parishes in Indianapolis andNew York City relayed to TheNational Herald confrontationalinstances involving Gounaris,which he unequivocally asserts

never happened.In one instance, Gounaris in

Indianapolis in 1999 allegedlypushed a parish council memberto the floor in a heated moment,after which he reportedly apol-ogized to the man, kissing himand even licking his face.

“All I can say is that ab-solutely never happened,”Gounaris told TNH. Losing one’stemper is regrettable, but atleast understandable, but lickinganother person’s face is down-right bizarre. Gounaris agreed,and said neither of those thingshappened.

But why would the manmake up such as story? “Wemade major changes in Indi-anapolis, relocating our churchfrom where it had been for over50 years to a new state-of-the-art facility that involved the pur-chase of new land,” Gounarissaid. “The man was one of thosewho resisted the change. Some-times, those who resist changeare small in numbers but makea lot of noise. And one of theirstated goals was to railroad me.”

Gounaris says he would com-pletely understand why manymight be skeptical if, shortly fol-lowing the allegation, he wasordered transferred elsewhere.“But I was there for 14 moreyears, and I left voluntarily,” toaccept the position at the Cathe-dral.

The initiative to purchase thenew land and relocate thechurch was a 10-year project,Gounaris said, “that required 98or 99 percent of the people tobe behind me. Why would thevast majority of the parishionersbe supportive of me if any ofthat were true?” Moreover,“why would ArchbishopDemetrios have appointed meto such an important and high-profile position if any of thatwere true? The record speaks

Former Cathedral DeanGounaris, Now in Florida,Tells His Side of the Story

By Demetris TsakasTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – Phillip Themisto-cles Frangos was electedSupreme President of the largestmembership organization in theGreek-American community, theOrder of AHEPA, at its 92ndSupreme convention in New Or-leans on July 25.

In an interview with The Na-tional Herald shortly afterwardshe shared some thoughts aboutthe convention and significanceof AHEPA to the community.

“The Convention delibera-

tions, workshops, and discus-sion of new ideas and conceptsindicate that the AHEPA is vi-brant and determined to makea difference for the better in thegrassroots. Measures were takento pursue enhanced usage oftechnology, social media, andcommunications to strengthenand expand the Hellenic-Amer-ican voice in the overall com-munity.”

He emphasized the impor-tant of AHEPA’s link with thehomelands during their times oftroubles. “AHEPA will not reston its laurels following the mas-

sive relief aid garnered to helpthe people of Greece andCyprus.”

The Cyprus and Hellenic Af-fairs Committee continues totake the lead on issues concern-ing Greece, Cyprus and religiousfreedom in Turkey.

He also noted that “We con-tinue to look for programs andactivities to improve domesti-cally so that we can continue toprovide service to the commu-nity, meet our mission to thebenefit of society as a whole,

Supreme Pres. on AHEPA’s Significance

Vestments of Late Revered Patriarch Athenagoras StolenThieves broke into the Church of the Presentation of Christ in Vasiliko, near Ioannina, and stolevestments that belonged to the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. The vestments were agift from the Archdiocese of America to the village where Athenagoras was born.

Papaioannou is All about Hard Work, Teamwork

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Five ancient coins“of remarkable beauty and greatarcheological importance,” inthe words of ChristosPanagopoulos, Greece’s Ambas-sador to the U.S., were returnedto Greece in a formal ceremonyat the office of Manhattan DAAttorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. on Au-gust 4.

The Ambassador announcedthe exquisite artifacts will behoused in the National Numis-matic Museum in Athens. “Theywill be displayed in their birth-place for all to admire, our citi-zens and the millions of peoplefrom around the world who visitGreece,” he said.

The five pieces will close agap in Greece’s national collec-tion at the Museum where theywill be available for study byscholars.

“As tokens of the world’s old-est democracy, these coins arepriceless,” said Vance.

The five coins were confis-cated in a joint investigation with

U.S. Formally Returns Ancient Coins to Greece

By Harry Mark Petrakis

Illness came in my 11th yearlike a thief in the night, intentupon stealing my life. The onlyhint of a serious affliction was adaily weariness that had meneeding to rest after school. Myparents became concerned andNaka, who was our nanny, tookme to our family doctor.

The doctor’s X-rays revealedtubercular lesions on my lungs.In the mid-1930s, the only treat-ment for tuberculosis was restin a mountain sanatorium. Ourfamily’s limited finances madethat impossible, so my treat-ment was bed rest in the smallsun-parlor room of our ChicagoSouth Side apartment.

My initial reaction was gleeat having deceived the doctorinto thinking I was sick. I wouldbe rid of school and oneroushomework while my choreswould be passed onto myyounger sister, Irene, who wasdistraught at how grievously my

disability would affect her.That autumn, I luxuriated in

bed and continued to feel thedoctor had been mistaken. Inthe afternoon I sat by my win-dow and waited for my friendsto finish school. We holleredback and forth and I gloated as

they expressed their envy at mygood fortune.

Autumn slipped into winterand my friends vanished fromthe streets. Since my diseasewas considered contagious, noone was allowed to visit. I alsobegan feeling ill with severeheadaches and my breathinggrew burdened. I had neverthought of dying and now I con-ceived death to be a Saturdaymatinee movie monster readyto devour me. In the snail-crawl-ing hours of the night I laysleepless, waiting anxiously forfirst light at my windows.

Before my illness, except forschoolbooks, my only readinghad been comic books and pulpmagazines. As I tired of them, Iforaged in the library of myolder siblings and retrieved afew hardcover books. I readCaptain Blood, a novel by RafaelSabatini. In the reign of the Eng-lish King James II, Blood had

How Illness Shaped a Writer's Life

(L-R) Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr., ADA Col. Matthew Bogdanos, unidentified official, andAmb. Christos Panagopoulos at ceremony marking the return of antiquities to Greece.

Harry Mark Petrakis

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – When major re-sponsibilities are thrust uponsomeone, like Nancy Papaioan-nou’s recent appointment asPresident of the Atlantic Bankof New York, it is good to beable to rely on great teams, theknowledge that in America tal-ent and hard work are re-warded, and the memory thatthe timing in one’s life has al-ways been fortunate.

And although she feels theweight of following a great man,Spiros Voutsinas, who was amentor and example as abanker and as a person, she isstrengthened by knowing “he islooking down on us,” and thatshe wants to make him proud.

From childhood, Papaioan-nou felt a strong desire to dowell and to do good for thosearound her, and she feels that,too, led her to where she is. “Iwill to everything I can for Hel-lenism, our community and ourbank...we are like a family and

New Atlantic BankPres. Talks to TNHAbout New Role

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 6

TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – TimothyManiatis, a pillar of the Greek-American community at the na-tional level and in the Washing-ton, DC Metropolitan area, haspassed away.

Maniatis’ friends and familywould declare that while hisdedication and passion for thecauses he believed in and theendeavors he undertook drovehis significant successes, it wasobvious where his heart be-longed.

Nothing in his life comparedwith the love for his family,proudly supporting his wife,daughters, and son-in-law Alexin everything they did.

Continued on page 8

Maniatis isMourned byCommunity


TARPON SPRINGS, FL – “Thereis no place like this anywhereelse in the United States” saidChrysostomos “Chris” Ala-houzos, looking out at thesponge boats moored in TarponSprings’ harbor, as another boatsailed by, carrying tourists whowaved to their counterparts ondry land, and vice versa.

In describing Tarpon Springs’unique quality, Alahouzosmeant that there is no otherplace in the United States thatfeels quite as much like Greeceas this city on Florida’s GulfCoast.

FROM SPONGES TOSPONGES

Born on the Dodecanese Is-land of Kalymnos, Alahouzoscame to the United States in1967, and though he has beenback to Greece several timessince then, Tarpon Springs is hishome. And now, after a lifetimenot only in the private sectorbut also 20 years in public ser-vice, Alahouzos is running formayor of his beloved town innext year’s election. If he wins,he would become the firstGreek-born mayor of TarponSprings.

Tarpon MayGet 1st Greek-Born Mayor

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The title ofNicholas Basbanes’ first book hasentered popular usage. He coinedthe phrase “A Gentle Madness,”for his relationship with books,and his debut’s success drove himto write seven more on variousaspects of books and book cul-ture.

He has long planned to chartnew seas, however, and his cur-rent best seller, “On Paper,” isabout…paper.

There are no apologies. “It waslogical that the next book wouldbe about the medium of trans-mission,” he told The NationalHerald.

Professional dedication, notreal madness, fueled his interest.As the Literary Editor of theWorcester Sunday Telegram,books were his focus for 21 years,during which he interviewedmore than a thousand authors.

There is no doubt about hispassionate nature however. Hemet wife Constantina when hewas a young reporter and she washostessing at her family’s restau-rant. “I met her there and I wasdazzled and I remain dazzled af-

Best-Selling Book on PaperBy Basbanes

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 5

Continued on page 4

Father Anastasios Gounaris

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 5 Continued on page 4

Continued on page 5

By Dr. ConstantinaMichalos

HOUSTON, TX – There’s a greatTV commercial that runs everyAugust. A mother with an in-sane smile on her face rides ashopping cart up and down theaisles of a Staples store, tossingschool supplies into her basket.Meanwhile her kids stare at her,not understanding what she’sdoing or why she’s so happy.The background music? It’s theMost Wonderful time of the Year– the Christmas carol made fa-mous by Andy Williams.

What has driven this mother– or Staples’ marketing people– to such a level of glee at theprospect of children returningto school? Trust me, their mo-tives are not noble. This com-mercial satirizes what many par-ents think but are ashamed toarticulate. It’s been a long, hotsummer. And my kids have dri-ven me crazy. For over two end-less months, it has been a ca-cophony of “I’m bored.”“There’s nothing to do.” “He’slooking at me!”

So how do we spend qualitytime with our children withoutlosing our minds? Well, beforethey are old enough to get jobs,we have to be creative. And,thank God, there are angelsamong us who are inspired tobe just that. They are called Va-cation Bible School coordina-tors, specifically Irene Cassisand Susie Sobchak. Irene hasdirected the program at Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral in Houston since the 1980s,when she became Director ofReligious Education, though theprogram is older than that.Susie Sobchak, of St. GeorgeAntiochian Orthodox Church,got involved in her church’s Va-cation Church School (VCS)program in 1998, but St. Georgewas already collaborating withAnnunciation.

Vacation Bible School (VBS)is designed for children between

four and twelve, and runs forthree hours a day for a week.Its purpose is not to give harriedmothers spa time. It is anotheropportunity for the Church toteach children the Bible andtheir Orthodox Faith. Accord-ing to Susie, “The cross jurisdic-tion partnership of our churchesmakes the program the successit has been and also I feel oneof the most wonderful messagesthat we can send to our youngpeople. We are truly one church.It doesn't matter what our eth-nic background may be, wework together for God for ourOne True Orthodox Church.”

Rather than reinvent thewheel, Irene and Susie use aProtestant, Bible-based VBS pro-gram by Group Publishing as afoundation. “We go through theprogram and look for opportu-nities to incorporate Orthodoxtraditions, sacraments andteachings whenever possible.

For example, when the Bibleverse is about forgiveness, weadd confession. We also add ap-propriate hymns along with theChristian Songs.” Irene de-scribes, “When we have a spe-cial feast day, we begin the pro-gram attending the DivineLiturgy. The kids participate bysinging the hymns and one ofthe teen leaders reads the epis-tle. Afterwards we go into themain area where the main char-acter (i.e. Moses), dressed inO.T. times, tells the story of thatfeast or saint. Then the kids re-turn to their tribes to discusswhat they heard.”

Even the Group Publishingthemes have evolved over time.“They are now producing theHoly Land series that is reallyOld Testament Bible-based andeasy to connect to our OrthodoxFaith. The Holy Land series isset up like a marketplace, withdifferent scriptural themes.

Singing, drama, games, crafts,and charity are experienceddaily in small group settingswith teen and adult leaders.”Group Publishing even providestraining for volunteer leaders,about 50 teens and 25 parentsfrom both church communities,who return each year becausethey have fun while they are do-ing important work for theChurch and their families.

The program alternates be-tween the two churches ashosts. This year it was held atSt. George’s in June. But thework for each year’s programbegins in January. “SusieSobchak and I work diligentlyto surpass the previous year’sprogram. We average 200 par-ticipants, and I would say thatthey have fun while getting agreat learning experience. Thechildren do not understand whyit is only offered one week.Every church in the south,Protestant and Orthodox, offersVacation Bible School, but manyare formatted like regularschool in the classrooms. Susieand I chose the Protestant pro-gram because it is not likeschool. There is more interac-tion, moving, singing, and do-ing. The kids have fun andlearn a lot during the week be-cause it is interactive. Fromwhat Susie and I have seen,each summer we offer the mostelaborate VBS. Kids continue toreturn and bring their friends,teens love their roles as leadersof small tribes, and adults, usu-ally parents, want to help us asshopkeepers, actors of Biblicalcharacters, and creative snackpreparers.”

The kids who attend Vaca-tion Bible School at Annuncia-tion and St. George’s spend aweek in June learning and livingtheir faith. So what do they dofor the rest of the summer? Dothey complain? Possibly. Butnow, when they whine, “Are wethere yet?” they are anxious toget back to church.

Vacation Bible School: Summer Quality Time

Kids release prayer balloons to Jesus.

n THRU NOV 1TARPON SPRINGS, FL – Nightin the Islands returns to theworld-famous Sponge Docks ofTarpon Springs for 2014! Satur-days, 6-11PM, Sept. 6, Oct. 4,and Nov. 1. A free event ofGreek music, dancing, and din-ing! And we will offer an hourof free Greek dance lessons bythe Levendia Dance Troupefrom 6-7 PM. The festival is sup-ported in part by a grant fromthe National Endowment for theArts. Come join us for authenticisland fun in the warm Floridasun and mark your calendar andmake this a regular destination!And if you’re just in town for aweek or two, make sure to markyour calendar as you will notwant to miss this! TarponSprings is a unique Greek expe-rience in the United States, oneunlike any other Greek commu-nity. Come be part of this one-of-a-kind American experiencethat will make you feel as if,truly, you are back in the home-land!

n AUGUST 16-17WINCHESTER CITY, VA – Yas-sou! The annual WinchesterGreek Festival in 2014 will takeplace on August 16 & 17. Joinus in celebrating our Feast Day,the Dormition of the VirginMary. Observe our proud Greekculture and traditions. Sampleour legendary Greek culinaryfare. And experience ourrenown Greek music and dance.Become Greek for a day... Trulygreat fun for the whole family!Come hungry... A large selectionof tasty Greek food is offered.From the kitchen, we offerbaked entries which includesAthenian Chicken, Moussaka,Pastitsio, and Spanakopita. Fromthe spits, we offer Gyros, Sou-vlaki, and Roasted Lamb. Andfrom our bakers, we offer an as-sortment of delicious sweets andpastries that will satisfy anysweet tooth. Check out ourmenu webpage for a completelisting with descriptions. Wantto learn more about our faith?Informal guided tours of thechurch are offered by our clergy.Questions about our faith andtraditions are welcome. Also, theParish Store will be open offer-ing religious items and readingmaterial of the Orthodox faith.Other retail vendors will also beset-up displaying their variousitems for purchase. Admission isfree and ample free parking isavailable. Admission Fee: FreeParking & Admission, Food &Drink for purchase. Dormitionof the Virgin Mary Greek Ortho-dox Church 1700 Amherst Streetin Winchester. Saturday, Aug.16, 2014 11AM-7PM and Sun-day, Aug. 17 12Noon-7PM.Church Phone: (540) 667-1416Church Email [email protected] Festival Website dormi-tion.va.goarch.org/greek-festi-val. About our Parish: heDormition of the Virgin MaryGreek Orthodox Church in Win-chester was originally foundedby a small group of Greek Amer-icans, but today the parish aptlyreflects the American experienceand comprises approximately100 families representing sev-eral different Ethnic groups, allwitnessing to the Good News ofJesus Christ, striving to reflectHis love, and living according tothe ancient Christian principlesand disciplines of the OrthodoxChristian Church.

n AUGUST 17-19ANCHORAGE, AK – The 20thAnnual Alaska Greek festivaltakes place from August 17 to19 at the Holy TransfigurationGreek Orthodox Church, 2800O’Malley Road in Anchorage.Come enjoy the tastes, smells,sights, and sounds of Greece!Events & Activities a tour of thenearly-completed new Church,including lessons on the history,traditions, and worship of theGreek Orthodox faith. A cook-ing demonstration by LaurieConstantino – how to makebaklava and dolmades. Dancinggroups performing traditionalGreek dances, dressed in au-thentic regional costumes. Inaddition to the food and drinkson hand, there is an array of im-ported Greek cheeses, olives,olive oil, grape leaves, halva,pasta, herbs, cookies and candy.The hot summers in the Conti-nental United States is the per-fect time to take a trip and cooloff in beautiful Alaska. Andwhen you do, please remember

to visit us, as it will a uniqueexperience: Hellenism, Alaska-style!

n AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 1

COLUMBUS, OH – Live like aGreek for an entire long week-end! Experience the culture andancestry of Greece and our Or-thodox Christian faith!Be part of this year’s annualGreek festival (our 42nd!) at theAnnunciation Greek OrthodoxCathedral, 555 N. High Street(Goodale Boulevard at HighStreet) in Columbus. Friday,Aug. 29 through Monday,Sept.1. Come and connect withheritage and traditions that arecenturies old, but still contem-porary in their focus. Our Cathe-dral tours will inspire you, theOrthodox Christian Bookstorewill educate you, the food anddrink will entice you and thehospitality will overwhelm you.Stop by the shops, enjoy the mu-sic and dancing, visit the ex-hibits and enjoy the wonderfulGreek pastries. (614) 224-9020or visit our website: www.greek-cathedral.com. We look forwardto seeing you there!

n SEPTEMBER 27-28BOSTON, MA – The Initiativefor Productivity and HealthManagement at the HarvardSchool of Public Health (HSPH)in collaboration with the PBSshow, The Cooking Odyssey, ispleased to announce the confer-ence, “Mediterranean Diet andWorkplace Health” on Septem-ber 27-28 in Boston. Thisunique and innovative confer-ence will feature lectures, pan-els, and select chef-supervisedmeals to increase awareness, ap-peal, and understanding ofMediterranean dietary habits asa vehicle for improved work-place and school health. Con-ference registrants will also becourtesy guests at an associatedGreek food and wine exhibitionimmediately following theHSPH conference. The HarvardConference is a unique collabo-ration between the Course Co-Directors: Harvard’s Dr. Ste-fanos N. Kales, aninternationally-recognized re-searcher and workplace healthauthority; and New York’sworld-renowned Gourmet Chefand Restaurateur Michael Psi-lakis. Kales and Psilakis have as-sembled a highly experiencedteam of elite scientists, chefsand thought leaders to presentthe tradition and flavors of theMediterranean diet; the sciencebehind it; and various strategiesand ideas necessary to introduceand implement it in workplacesand schools.

n NOVEMBER 9MANHATTAN – St. Michael’sHome is pleased to announcethat our 2014 Annual Name DayGala will be held on Sunday,Nov. 9 at the Metropolitan Club,1 East 60th Street in Manhattan.In conjunction with the Gala, St.Michael’s honors a distinguishedmember of the Greek OrthodoxCommunity who embodies andpromotes the finer qualities andtraditions of our Faith and her-itage. This year’s recipient of the2014 Archangel Michael Awardis Mr. Stephen Cherpelis. Mr.Cherpelis has given tirelessly tothe Greek Orthodox Communityas an Archon of the EcumenicalPatriarchate, 1st Vice Presidentof the Archdiocesan Cathedralof Holy Trinity, devoted memberof St. Nicholas Church of Flush-ing where he was instrumentalin the building of the expandedcommunity center and school,Vice Chair of the New YorkDiocesan Council, member ofLeadership 100, and a majorcontributor and fundraisingchairman of the Ronald McDon-ald House. For more informa-tion please contact us by phoneat (914)-476-3374, by email [email protected] or visit our website athttp://www.stmichaelshome.org/what-our-residents-do/gala/.

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service tothe Greek American community.All parishes, organizations andinstitutions are encouraged toe-mail their information regard-ing the event 3-4 weeks aheadof time, and no later than Mon-day of the week before theevent, to [email protected]

GOINGS ON...

QUESTION OF THE WEEKWhat role, if any, should the United States play in the Israel

peace process?Please email your response to

[email protected] We may publish some responses as Letters to the Editor in

a future issue.

GREEKS AROUND THE US

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014

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The VBS Tribes, children ages 4 to 12, learn about their Orthodox Faith three hours per day.

For more information contact: [email protected] or call: 718-784-5255, ext. 108

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Kos, Kastri Inlet

By Demetris TsakasTNH Staff Writer

ASTORIA – The long awaitedcompletion of the renovation ofAstoria’s beloved Athens SquarePark is near. The project, whichhas taken approximately a year,

is expected to be finished in lateAugust.

The work was slowed downby the brutal winter, but it ap-pears to passersby that only re-construction of the handicappedramp remains to be done.

The NYC Department of

Parks told The National Heraldthat “The scope of this projectis to reconstruct Athens Plazaand its adjacent seating area.”

The site is being covered innew concrete pavers, but thepavers in the circular perfor-mance area have been laid in

the form of the famed Sun ofVergina, which symbolizesMacedonia.

“The pavers in the sunkenportion of the plaza arearranged in a diagonal checker-board pattern, inspired byAthens’ Odeon of Herodes Atti-cus theater. The project also in-

cludes new plantings, fencing,lighting, and recycled plasticlumber benches. The budget forthis project is $850,000 allo-cated by the Queens BoroughPresident’s Office,” said ZacharyFeder of the Department’s pressoffice.

George Delis, longtime

Greek-American leader and for-mer Community Board 1 districtmanager leader, told TNH he isvery satisfied. “They have doneexcellent work and the face ofthe park has not been altered.”

He and his colleagues andfriends of the park are also look-ing forward to the installationof the statue of the great drama-tist Sophocles, which will jointhose of Socrates, Aristotle, andthe most dramatic of all,Athena, which towers over theentrance of the park.

Ed Koch, who served threeterms as Mayor of New York, isone of many City officials whosang the praises of the park andthe efforts of the Greek-Ameri-cans who worked for its cre-ation. He said “it is the first timean ethnic community got to-gether to build a monument inNew York City.”

Delis told TNH that with theerection of the Sophocles statue,“the efforts of three decades willhave been successfully com-pleted.”

Many citizens, Greek andnon-Greeks, including CityCouncilmen Peter Vallone, Se-nior and Junior, followed thelead of Dennis Syntilas to makethe park, with its iconic Doriccolumns that evoke the ruins ofDelphi, a reality at the junctionof 30th Avenue and 30th Street.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014 3

Renovation of Astoria Landmark, Athens Square Park, Almost Finished


TARPON SPRINGS, FL – The St.Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral in Tarpon Springs, FL wasfilled to capacity for the August3 Sunday Liturgy. While otherGreek Orthodox churchesthroughout the country see theirnumbers drop and the emptypews rise during the summermonths, Tarpon’s parishioners donot take a respite from churchservice.

The typically-large crowd waseven larger that day, as His Emi-nence Metropolitan Alexios of At-lanta attended and presided.

As one would expect, his ser-mon was replete with theologicalreferences, as well as remindersfor the laity to support their

priest, Father AnastasiosGounaris – new to the commu-nity and recently transferredfrom the Archdiocesan Cathedralin New York.

Alexios devoted much time,however, to teaching about avirtue not specific to Greek Or-thodoxy, or to Christianity or eventheism, for that matter: trustingyour fellow human beings.

“If people do not trust eachother,” Alexios said, they do notlive in communities. They strayfrom each other and live alone.“And then, you are alone,” hecontinued, “and when you alone,you are like an animal. And whenyou are like an animal, youspread fear.” And that is preciselythe type of world we live in today,Alexios warned. A world where

people live like animals andspread fear, all because they havenot learned to trust their fellowhuman beings.

Alexios message is particularlytimely and compelling, given thecurrent tensions throughout theworld, not least of which the cri-sis in Ukraine and Gaza. That itis a message certainly consistentwith Orthodox Christianity, butnot one exclusive to it, it is onethat is truly catholic (small “c”)and truly ecumenical small “e”):one that can be spread to andvalued by people throughout theworld.

Born Anthimos Panagiotopou-los on Christmas Day 1943 in Pa-tras, Greece, Alexios was or-dained in late 1965 and servednumerous communities in Greece

and the United States, includingAstoria.

In 1999, Alexios was electedBishop of the Diocese of Atlanta

and in 2002, when the Diocesewas elevated to a Metropolis, hewas named Metropolitan. TheMetropolis includes all of Florida

as well as Alabama, Georgia,Louisiana, Mississippi, North Car-olina, South Carolina, and Ten-nessee.

Socrates, who first appeared in 1993, has kept an eye on the progress of the renovation ofAthens Square Park. He, Aristotle and Athena will soon by joined by Sophocles.

Metropolitan Alexios Gives Advice Anyone Can Use: Trust One Another

Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta advises a capacity congregation at St. Nicholas Greek OrthodoxCathedral in Tarpon Springs, FL to trust their fellow human beings.

The $850,000 renovation, whose source is the Queens BP’s of-fice, includes a pavement depicting the Sun of Vergina.

will persevere in our team workand we will succeed,” she said.

She credits hard workthroughout her life and career –in Greece she attended therenowned Arsakion school – withenabling her to reach this point,and moments of good fortune,such as beginning her career atthe National Bank of Greece,which she called a great learningexperience, coming to the UnitedStates, and the purchase of At-lantic Bank by New York Com-munity Bancorp (NYCC).

Papaioannou said her joycannot be described. She hasbeen overwhelmed by the wordsof support she has received fromNYCC’s President and CEO,Joseph Ficalora, its directors,and members of the Greek-American community.

“Everyone wanted a newpresident who could take thaebank to a new level, and I havethe knowledge and energy tosucceed.” Papaioannou addedthat NYCC is a strong founda-tion, a well-managed bank withstrong ties to communities andthe families and businesses thatcomprise them.

She noted that NYCC re-

spects the Greek-American com-munity and Atlantic Bank’s Hel-lenic character. “They couldhave picked a non-Greek,” andshe is thankful that Ficalora rec-ognized in her someone whocould continue to develop thebank’s potential.

She believes running thebank’s private banking opera-tions from February 2001 –shealso counts herself lucky to havebeen part of a dynamic groupwhich has grown tremendously– has prepared her well to facethe bank’s wider challenges andopportunities.

She will continue to overseewhat she called her baby. “I willremain close to my clients andmy colleagues,” and while sheacknowledges that clients trusther, “most of all they trust ourbank,” she said.

“We want clients to feel thatthis is their home...it is not onlyabout making deposits. Banksno longer attract businessthrough interest rates, she said.Relationships and follow-up inall matters pertaining to theirbusinesses and families are im-portant.

She notes that in many busi-nesses today the reality, eventhe ideal, is for relationships to

be impersonal. She does not be-lieve that is best, and at anyrate, Greeks cannot do businessthat way.

Atlantic Bank has an excel-lent Advisory Board and fromamong them it was recently de-cided to create a new Executive

Board that will work even moreclosely and energetically withthe president to help the bankthrive in today’s very competi-tive environment.

“There will be teamwork forplanning and developing rela-tionships with clients,” she said.

She also looks forward todemonstrating what a woman’stouch can add to even successfulorganizations, including theHellenic American Chamber ofCommerce to which she wasalso just elected president.

Papaioannou was born and

raised in Athens, as were herparents, Evgenia, whose familyhails from Mykonos, and thelate Antonis, whose roots are inSmyrna. She has a youngerbrother, Miltiades, who lives inGreece.

“Things are not going wellin Greece, but that is the caseall over the world.” She be-lieves, however, that Greecenow has a serious governmentthat is making an effort to makethe necessary adjustments.

She believes it will succeed,because “I believe in the Greeksoul, that at the last minute weunite to do very good things….We have reached the low pointand little by little we will riseagain…Greece has overcomeworse situations.”

She agrees that with seriousgovernmental decisions and acritical mass of highly motivatedpeople in all sectors, Greece canmake progress even if the wholenation’s mindset does not im-mediately change, but she em-phasized that “your mindsetdoes not change because some-one tells you to do so, but be-cause life around you is chang-ing…especially for youngpeople…that’s why it willchange.”

Atlantic Pres. Papaioannou: Hard Work, Teamwork, Bring Good Results


A technology expert for Ver-izon (he recently retired fromthat position), Alahouzos firstventured into formal culturalendeavors through his involve-ment in the Kalymnian Societyof Tarpon Springs, where healso served as president. He isalso proud of his work on Tar-pon’s Sister City Committee,which he has led. “Tarpon hasfour sister cities,” he told TNH.His native Kalymnos, and twoother Dodecanese islands, Halkiand Symi.

“They all have a sponge div-ing industry,” said Alahouzos,whose father was a sponge diverin Kalymnos and later TarponSprings, the latter dubbed “TheSponge Capital of the World.”Tarpon’s fourth sister-city is Lar-naca, in Cyprus. Rhodes, thelargest of the Dodecanese is-lands, has a street named Tar-pon Springs. “I know,” he said,“I’ve been there,” he said, elab-orating on his various experi-ences in that group of islands.“I have a very good friend fromNisyros, too. I haven’t beenthere yet, but Nisyros has thebest figs in all of Greece,” headded.

“My proudest accomplish-ment to date was my involve-ment in establishing the PlatoAcademy,” a highly-regardedcharter school in Pinellas

County, FL, with campuses inTarpon Springs as well as Clear-water, Largo, Palm Harbor,Seminole, and St. Petersburg.“We plan to expand to other ar-eas of Florida, too,” he toldTNH.

“Teaching Greek is part ofthe curriculum,” Alahouzos ex-plained, and described the

tremendous joy he gets when-ever he visits the classrooms andthe children – particularly notof Greek descent – speak to himin beautiful, fluent Greek. Thefather of three and grandfatherof two evoked his commitmentto excellence in education.

CAMPAIGN PLATFORMAfter two terms as Vice

Mayor of Tarpon Springs, Ala-houzos had to step down due toterm limits, but now he is vyingfor the City’s top job. First andforemost, he told TNH, “weneed to attract businesses. Busi-ness owners are in it to makemoney, and we have to givethem incentives. Otherwise,they won’t come here – they’ll

open their businesses some-where else. I am in favor of giv-ing tax incentives to businessesthat will create jobs in TarponSprings.”

Next, Alahouzos spoke aboutmarketing Tarpon Springs. “Weneed to tell the story of thistown – there’s no other placelike it.” He believes that if more

people know about TarponSprings, that would be a hugeboost to its tourism.

The third major initiativeAlahouzos hopes to accomplishis to improve the quality of lifefor Tarpon Springs’ seniors, whocomprise approximately onethird of the population.

“Many of them are too old todrive now, and so we need toimprove public transportation –so they can get out, shop, go tochurch, remain independent.”To that end, Alahouzos is push-ing the Pinellas Suncoast TransitAuthority (PSTA) to providemore services in Tarpon Springs,rather than to focus on Clear-water and St. Petersburg, whichalready receive a lot of atten-tion.

“As you can tell,” Alahouzossaid, “some of my ideas soundDemocratic, others Republican(he is registered as the latter).”And that is fitting, because inTarpon Springs, the mayoralrace is not partisan-based. “Thatallows Democrats, Republicans,and independents to work to-gether,” Alahouzos said.

“I’m not doing it for themoney,” Alahouzos said, regard-ing his mayoral run. Skepticswho think “yeah, they all saythat” might take him at hisword, though, when they learnthat that mayor’s annual salary,as he told TNH, is a mere$13,000.

and to enhance the message ofHellenism in this great country.”

“AHEPA will have its sightsset on its next ambitious effort– to help rebuild the St. NicholasNational Shrine at GroundZero,” he said.

As always, the Grand Ban-quet was an opportunity toshowcase the Order, outstand-ing Greek-Americans and note-worthy individuals and organi-zations.

After noting that along withGeorge Kalogridis, President ofWalt Disney Resorts, B’nai B’rithInternational was honored atthe Grand Banquet, he said “The latter reflected enthusiasmby AHEPANs for efforts by ourrespective organizations to en-hance a critical relationship be-tween the only three democra-cies in a highly volatile region –Greece, Cyprus and Israel – forthe benefit of the United Statesand those three countries.”

Frangos is very proud of the

fundraising efforts of the com-ponents of the AHEPA family.

“The Junior Orders raised

$60,000 for research on theneuromuscular disorder Friedre-ich ataxia…the AHEPA National

Housing program announcedthat a total of $360,000 hasbeen distributed to national andlocal charities by AHEPA Na-tional Housing entities duringthe past year. The AHEPANs ofDistrict 4 (Pennsylvania) pre-sented a check for $14,000 topay for the cost of shipping$600,000 medical supplies toGreece. This will be the seventhsuch shipment by AHEPA toMother Hellas.”

He believes the future of theGreek-American community isbright, “due, in part, to pro-grams such as the AHEPA Jour-ney to Greece as well as theplethora of other study abroadand heritage programs or over-seas internships offered byGreek-American organizations.The key, however, is keeping ouryoung engaged upon their re-turn to the States from thesestudy abroad trips,” he said.

Effective and innovative pro-grams are critical. He believes“AHEPA can help by supportingGreek language immersion

charter schools throughout thenation – much like AHEPA hasdone in Wilmington, DE, withthe Odyssey Charter School. Ob-viously AHEPA can do morehere to help these efforts to ei-ther take root or grow. It shouldnot be overlooked that AHEPAsupports many Greek schools inparishes with great success. Forexample, in my own parish,Holy Trinity of Lansing, MI, fol-lowing completion of the pro-gram upon graduating fromhigh school, our daughter re-ceived two hours of humanitiescredits at the University ofMichigan.”

He added that “to help withGreek identity, the AHEPA Jour-ney to Greece program is a ve-hicle through which we helpyoung people find and connectwith their Greek identity. Ourchallenge is to make this pro-gram more affordable. We wereable to accomplish this, in somepart, thanks to a very generousgrant from the Stavros NiarchosFoundation this year.”

Frangos most recently servedAHEPA as Supreme Secretary(2011-2013) and Supreme VicePresident (2013-2014). Duringthese three years Frangos un-dertook over 200 chapter visi-tations and meetings in 22 dis-tricts of the AHEPA domain,giving him a clear picture of itschallenges and potential.

Licensed as an attorney,Frangos is a former ChiefDeputy Secretary of State andCEO of the Michigan Depart-ment of State. In this capacityFrangos also served as ExecutiveSecretary to the Michigan His-torical Foundation.

Frangos has served hisparish, Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Church of Lansing,Michigan, for over 20 years onthe parish council including fouryears as president.

For 35 years he has beenmarried Tula (formerly Kackos)of Philadelphia, whom he metat an AHEPA dance. They arethe parents of Themistocles andMaria.

New Supreme President Frangos Speaks of AHEPA’s Significance to Community

Continued from page 1

Nancy Papaioannou, the new President of Atlantic Bank of NY, had a pleasant and candid dis-cussion with TNH’s reporters Demetris Tsakas and Constantine Sirigos (at edges of desk). KimonBakos, the Premier Banking Group’s public relations consultant, was also present.


Phillip Frangos, has served the Order of AHEPA and the com-munity in numerous leadership positions through the decades.

Chris Alahouzos Seeks to be First Greek-Born Mayor of Tarpon Springs

Two-time Tarpon Springs Vice Mayor Chris Alahouzos is run-ning for the city's top spot, “in order to give back." That he is

not doing it for the money sounds quite plausible, consideringthe annual salary is a mere $13,000.


New Atlantic BankPresident Nancy

Papaioannou will workwith a new Executive

Committee and continueto oversee private

banking operations,which she has run since

2001 and where personalrelationships are critical.New banking realities –customers are no longer

attracted by interest rates– inform her vision: “Wewant clients to feel that

this is their home.”

Nancy Papaioannou withthe Premier BankingGroup’s Kimon Bakos,public relationsconsultant, TheodoraGoulas, and MatildaEconomou at AtlanticBank’s Park Avenue Southoffices.

PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ

ter 36 years of marriage.”He may have inherited biblio-

philia from his parents, John andGeorgia Basbanes, both born andraised in Lowell, MA, life-longhard workers who built a linensupply business, and who had lit-tle time for books. But when itcame to their children, theyspared no expense for their edu-cation.

Love of learning was in the air,and a bit of imagination. “Mymost treasured object as a kid wasmy library card – my passport intowonder.” His brother George be-came another kind of wordsmith– an attorney.

“I can’t remember when Ididn’t want to be a writer,” he

said, but his dream was to writea book. That’s why he calls him-self a poster-child for latebloomers even though he wrotemillions of words before A GentleMadness as reporter from his col-lege days for the WorcesterEvening Gazette and the SundayTelegram.

His fellow famous Greekwriter from Lowell (he graciouslycedes first place among Lowellwriters to Jack Kerouac) NicholasGage, is not only a friend andneighbor but a mentor who rec-ommended him for a job at thePhiladelphia Inquirer – which wasabout to win a string of PulitzerPrizes .

That became one of Basbanes’great “what ifs.”

“I had just started dating mywife, so I chose love over work…but they began an investigativeteam and we won some prizestoo.”

In 1978 they appointed himto the Literary Editor position. “Ithink I was born for that job.”

His deep commitment to re-search that is the bedrock of hisbooks stems from his experienceas an investigative journalist. Heloves telling stories through fieldresearch, and his readers recip-rocate: They love him for thepower of his narrative and alsodelight in the facts he interspersesin his tales.

He informs, for example, thatpaper made literally from cottonrags – an Arab discovery – is stillthe best, and he tells of his visitto villages in China where paper-making has not changed in 18centuries.

Consciously deciding to reacha wider audience , only 4 of OnPaper’s 18 chapters deal directlywith books. “it’s a much broadercultural history of this extraordi-nary product and its social con-sequences.”

Paper’s 1800-year history canbe traced with precision he said,from the Chinese who inventedit, to the Arabs who developed itand became its major producers,to the Europeans who used it tocreate the modern world throughthe original information explosionfacilitated by the printing press.

The Arabs embraced paperand turned calligraphy into a ven-erated art form, but they refusedto take the next step. Printingpresses were outlawed for 300years, guaranteeing the Euro-peans would surpass them.

Basbanes has a chapter called“Fiery Consequences” about his-

torical conflagrations provokedby paper, and “Thinking on Pa-per” explores the power of paperas a tool – a device essential tothe creative activities of peoplelike Da Vinci and Beethoven.

His concluding chapter, “Elegyin Fragments,” is a meditation onthe aftermath on 9/11 inspiredby the mountains of paper andfragments thereof that were scat-tered throughout New York.

”Paper was hip deep in someplaces…it is hideously ironic thatthe only artifacts of any substanceto survive those attacks were pa-per.”

He discovered some remark-able things, including what isknown as the 84th floor docu-ment, a plea for help from a floorwhose inhabitants had been be-lieved to have died instantly. Asmudge on it was as yet uniden-tified blood when he finishedwriting the book.

But the writer was identifiedin time for the epilogue.

Basbanes told TNH that theconversation he had with hisdaughter, who suddenly learnedthat her father was both a heroand had suffered more than shehad believed, remains his tough-est interview after 50 years in thebusiness.

His next book will really be adeparture: A new biography ofHenry Wadsworth Longfellow.


www.GreekKitchennyc.com

for itself.”Once at the New York Cathe-

dral, Gounaris was accused ofanother altercation, duringwhich he reportedly took thecell phone of another employeeand threw it against the wall.“That never happened either,”Gounaris said. As to the motive?Sensitive to not disclosing per-sonnel details, Gounaris simplysaid it was a case of a “disgrun-tled employee.”

AS GREEK AS ANYONEGounaris responded to the

criticism some had made of him,that he is “anti-Greek” in thesense of wanting to “American-ize” the liturgy to the extent ofsubstantially if not wholly elim-inating the Greek language.“That is not true,” saidGounaris. “Again, the recordspeaks for itself. Why wouldArchbishop Demetrios send meto Tarpon Springs, one of themost passionately Greek com-munities in the country, if I wereanti-Greek?” Why would Metro-politan Alexios – who is asGreek as Greek can be, who wasa bishop in Astoria and knowsthe Greek community so well –want me to be in Tarpon Springsif I were anti-Greek?

“My wife is Greek – our fam-ilies are Greek, we taught ourchildren to speak Greek,” hecontinued, “and I am very inter-ested in preserving Greek-Amer-ican history” for future genera-tions. Gounaris mentioned thathe knows TNH columnist SteveFrangos, who writes a regularcolumn about Greek-Americanhistory and folklore, and ex-pressed interest in reconnectingwith him. “He is based inChicago, right?” he asked. “Ithink the National Hellenic Mu-seum [also in Chicago] is thefinest institution of its kind herein the United States in terms ofpreserving Greek memorabilia,and more people ought to do-nate their own items there.”

Though he is no relation tothe renowned Greek singerNikos Gounaris, “my father usedto say ‘we slept under the sameroof,’” because the two hadstayed – at different times – atthe same establishment.Nonetheless, he does have a col-lection of old Greek 78s, and

noted that Frangos “is an ex-pert” in that area.

TOUGH CROWDAlthough Gounaris wholly

denounced the aforementionedallegations, he acknowledgedthat there were indeed tensionsbetween him and the Archdioce-san Cathedral Parish Council.Gounaris attributes the prob-lems the Council had not onlywith him, but with his prede-cessor, Frank Marangos, ofwhom Gounaris modestly said“was even more qualified thanme” to be the Cathedral Dean,because “both of us replacedRobert Stephanopoulos, whohad been there 25 years. It istough to fill someone’s shoeslike that,” he explained. “Justlike Archbishop Spyridon had avery difficult time, because hereplaced [the highly-regarded]Iakovos.”

SPRINGING PLANS INTARPON

Nowadays, Gounaris countshis blessings for being trans-ferred to as wonderful a com-munity as Tarpon Springs. Infact, Gounaris believes one ofthe main reasons he was trans-ferred there was because of theease with which he alternatesbetween the Greek and Englishlanguages. “I plan to maintainthe homogeneity between thetwo languages, because my goalis to serve all of my parish-ioners,” he said.

Gounaris also wants to pre-serve the rich history of the St.Nicholas parish, which issteeped in Kalimnian rituals,

such as a Holy Thursday chant-ing of “what sounds like a com-bination of kalanta and Holy Fri-day lamentations.”

But not all traditions are sowell-received. Tarpon’s Greekstake their Easter celebrationsvery seriously, particularly at themidnight resurrection liturgy.Massive amounts of firecrackersand other holiday explosives areignited – often drowning out thechanting, and sometimes in un-supervised areas. That can be adanger to the celebrants and in-nocent bystanders, “and non-

Greek residents are often fear-ful,” Gounaris explained. “Onthe other hand, law enforce-ment has used police helicoptersand police dogs to monitor thesituation, making some localGreeks feel oppressed.

“I plan to take the lead onthis,” Gounaris said, “becausethe priest of a church should actas a leader.” He hopes to bringthe groups together and reacha reasonable consensus so as toprevent misunderstandings forEaster 2015 and beyond.

GOD ROLLS HIS EYESThe conversation shifted to

theology: does Gounaris believein universal salvation – meaning

that everyone eventually will bewith God, or will some bedoomed to irrevocable eternaldamnation? Gounaris answeredwith an analogy, drawing on hisown experience as a youth.“We’d [he and his siblings] dosome things wrong, and ourparents would punish us, andthen we’d plead with them toreconsider – to allow us to dosomething we wanted to do,”such as go to an event with theirfriends, etc. “My dad,” andGounaris choked up recallingthis, “would just roll his eyes,and say ‘okay.’ Well, God does alot of ‘eye-rolling,’ too.”

Accentuating his conclusion,Gounaris added: “could we, im-perfect humans practice forgive-ness, but our Father God, whoinvented love, would be sohard-hearted? He would haveto be a real sicko! If I thoughtGod was really like that, I wouldturn in my collar, because that’snot the kind of God I wouldwant to follow.”

A woman at the next tableoverheard our conversation andjoined us. She is not Greek Or-thodox, but she liked FatherGounaris’ explanation of God’sforgiveness. “I don’t think GreekOrthodoxy is perfect,” he said,“but it makes things easier. Forinstance,” he said to her, “if youare a great baker and I’m only anovice, I could make a bettercake using your recipe, buteventually I’d figure it out onmy own, too. So, Greek Ortho-doxy is not the only path, but itis a better path.”

By Demetris TsakasTNH Staff

NEW YORK – Maria Mastoridis-Moschatou celebrated her 100thbirthday on August 3 sur-rounded by children grandchil-dren, great grandchildren,nephews, cousins, and friends,who gathered at the Sun & Surfrestaurant in Atlantic Beachfrom throughout the New Yorkarea and from as far away asSeattle, WA.

The celebration was simplebut rich in surprises and senti-ment. Her children, GeorgeMoshatos and Irene Moschatou-Vrahnas and her grandchildrenand great grandchildren pre-pared a video that told the storyof the family’s journey from theisland of Symi to Ohio, Manhat-tan and finally, Long Island.

The honoree smiled as guestsgreeted her, but she most en-joyed watching her great-grand-children photographing her withsmartphones.

John Koumpiadis, one of theleaders of the Kimisis parish ofIsland Park, was among the firstto contact TNH, said it was aspecial event for the Greeks ofLong Island, saying it is rare tofind someone that age in suchgood health and with such asharp mind.

He praised the centenarianfor "raising her children andgrandchildren with love forGreece.”

Mastoridis-Moschatou wasborn in Simi on October 17,1914, the third child of Michael

and Katerinio Mastoridis. Shehad four other siblings, Fotini,Nicholas, Foti and Nora(Evdokia).

Her father came to Americain 1913 with his brothers andsettled in Tarpon Springs, butjobs were scarce, so they de-cided to go to Campbell, OH towork in the mines and mills.

After a decade, Michael de-cided to bring his wife, Ka-

terinio, and their four childrento Ohio.

The Great Depression forcedthem to move in 1933 to in FarRockaway where they daughterFotini and her husband, An-thony, lived.

Maria Mastoridis marriedDemetrius George Moschatos,and bore two children, Georgeand Irene.

Her husband was in the ship-

building business and estab-lished his own company, ArgoBoat. He died in 2002 at age 90.

"We had fun, but most im-portantly, we showed our chil-dren and grandchildren the his-tory of our family," said GeorgeMoschatos, who expressed hisgratitude to TNH and everyoneelse who came to celebrate hismother’s 100th birthday.

Maria Moschatou’s 100th B-Day Rich in Emotions

(L-R) Scot Krempa, holding little Joseph Krempa, Mary Krempa with Rianna and Sophia, MargieMoschatos, George Moschatos (son of the honoree), Maria Moschatou, Renee Vrahnas, (Maria’sdaughter), Andrew Vrahnas, Demetrios Vrahnas, Peter Vrahnas and Donna Vrahnas.

Ex-Cathedral Dean Gounaris Tells TNH His StoryContinued from page 1

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Gounaris was “honoredand privileged” to bethe Archdiocesan CathedralDean, but above all, he just wants to be “a simple parish priest.”

agents from Homeland Security.“We were able to return to

Greece part of her cultural her-itage,” The National Herald wastold by Assistant District Attor-ney Col. Matthew Bogdanos, aGreek-American, who handledthe prosecution of the case.

He explained that the inves-tigation, which took more thana year, represents a shift in thestrategy for going after tradersin illegal antiquities.

“Historically, law enforce-ment has gone after the thievesand smugglers, but we don’thave jurisdiction in the coun-

tries where they were taken outof the ground, so we decided toprosecute the people who ownand illegally possess them inNew York,” he said.

Until now, they believed thatthey would get off scot free oncethe items left the source county.

They can be pursued on thesimple legal basis of criminalpossession of stolen property,however, but the investigationtakes a lot of work.

Prosecutors have to provethey were stolen and trace themany legs of the journey, anddemonstrate that final possessorknew or reasonably should haveknown they were stolen.

Five Ancient Coins ReturnedBy United States to GreeceContinued from page 1

Basbanes’ Bestselling BookAbout the History of PaperContinued from page 1

Nicholas Basbanes’ newestbook, is On Paper. Becausehe wrote his first at 52, hecalls himself a late bloomer.

The research for On Paper took Nicholas Basbanes to placeslike this 18th-century library in Passau, China and Japan.


people - that is a big plus.'With silk coming from the

small town of Soufli, in northGreece, and trimmings from afactory in Attica that has beenin business since 1864, Zeus +Dione taps into traditional Greekartistry and expertise and ishelping to keep them alive. Butthat is not always straightfor-ward. One of the brand's stand-out spring/summer 2014 piecesis a long embroidered kaftanthat is handwoven by nuns in aconvent on the island of Crete.After making hundreds of thedress (left), the nuns called Kolo-toura and Grabowski to explainthat they were bored andwanted to add gold and greento the design. 'We were scream-ing, saying, "No, don't changeanything, all of them have to bethe same,"' Kolotoura says,laughing. 'But you know, they'renuns, they don't know aboutmerchandising and fashion.'

The Phryne kaftan is a goodexample of the Zeus + Dioneaesthetic: clean lines, simplicity,muted tones and a modern takeon the heritage and folklore ofGreece. 'Greece has many storiesto tell because its history is sorich,' Grabowski says. 'We haveno difficulty in finding inspira-tion for collections. The endlessvariations of light, the naturalbeauty of the country, the hid-den energies in the places wehave been, the stone, the mar-ble, temples, costumes - thereare so many things to be inspiredby, it is never-ending.'

While this season is all aboutloose separates ideal for an is-land getaway, autumn/winter2014 will continue the blend ofthe ancient and the up-to-datewith a modern take on an au-thentic shepherd's cape. 'You seesomething on a hanger,' Kolo-toura says, 'but when you hear

that there is a story behind it, itimmediately makes it so special.'

It is fitting that the first Greeksymbol the jewellery designerIleana Makri incorporated intoher designs was the three-leggedtriskelion. According to Makri,the symbol means 'progresscomes with a lot of work and ef-fort. You have to have three legsto run, two are not enough.' It isa mantra that sums up Makri'scareer.

The daughter of a politician,Makri travelled around Greeceas a child and developed a loveof the natural environment. 'Ihave a deep sense of the Greekcountryside… I love nature: Ilive in the sea and I love the wa-ter, I love the mountains,' shesays on the phone from the is-land of Patmos, where she hasbuilt a house. This pull towardsher heritage is clear in the sim-ple details that run through eachof her collections: recurring mo-

tifs include snakes, and she hasan ongoing fascination with theevil eye, which has proved pop-ular with her growing band ofloyal fans.

Makri studied jewellery de-sign at the Gemological Instituteof America in Santa Monica aftercom-pleting a degree in businessadministration. Her shop,Mageia, opened in Athens in1987, selling a mixture of fash-ion, art and jewellery, and hasbecome a destination in itself forvisitors to the city. She launched

her own jewellery line in 1996and from the beginning she re-ceived orders from Barneys; to-day she has an international fol-lowing.

In her new collection Makriuses her favourite stone to createexquisite diamond beetle rings,safety pin midi-rings and glitter-ing lace cuffs. The result is 'jew-ellery for no special occasion,pieces that you are able to wearevery day from morning untilnight, jewellery that is part ofyour life'.

Christina Martini visited a lotof ruins as a child. 'It's kind ofnatural for Greek kids - they takeus to museums and ruins, we aretaught mythology and AncientGreek history. It's part of our cul-ture,' Martini, who has used pot-tery, ancient statues and theGreek evil eye as inspiration forher collection of sandals, says. 'I

wanted to be an archaeologistwhen I was younger. [At school]they took us to a lot of archaeo-logical sites. That was myfavourite thing, to get lost inthem - it still is.'

Two years ago Martini andher business partner, NikolasMinoglou, whose family ran a

footwear business in Greece,launched their brand, AncientGreek Sandals. 'I always wantedto do something with the touris-tic sandals you see in Athens andthe islands, but in good quality,and to make more intricate de-signs,' Martini says. They wantedto keep prices as low as possible- though locals were outragedby them (£95 for a simple pairof Thalias, high compared with

the usual tourist sandals).Martini left her home in

Athens in 1996 to do an artfoundation course in London,then studied shoe design atCordwainers. She went on towork in a factory in Italy, makingshoes for Chloé and VeroniqueBranquinho. She then designedshoes at Louis Vuitton and be-came Pierre Hardy's right-handwoman, based in Paris. When-ever she returned to Athens shebought local sandals, but shewould have to throw them awayby the end of the summer. 'Iwanted to make a more luxuri-ous version that could last formany summers,' she says.

In 2010 Martini moved fromParis to Corfu with her partner,Apostolos Porsanidis Kavvadias,who was a product designer inParis, to live in his farmhouseand produce olive oil. While shewas pregnant with their firstchild (the couple now have twochildren, aged one and four) sheand Minoglou, who met throughfriends and realised they had thesame idea, decided to launchtheir sandal business. Theystarted selling in one store inAthens; now there have 15around the islands and arestocked by Barneys New Yorkand Net-a-Porter. From the out-set the brand was a success,growing by 70 per cent from thefirst season to the second, and60 per cent in the third.

'Part of the concept was tomake in Greece. We had a bigfootwear industry in the 1980sand 1990s, and now, because ofthe crisis, a lot of factories haveclosed down.' They saved thefactory they are using from clos-ing but have upgraded the con-struction of their sandals by us-ing Italian leather rather thanpoorer-quality Greek leather,and the soles are made in anItalian factory that makes solesfor Chanel.

'The inspiration is unlimited,'Martini says. 'Every season I canresearch something else.' For theresort collection, which will bein store from the end of Septem-ber, they have made theirwinged sandals in fluorescentpink rubber - Ancient Greek jel-lies. Hermes would have ap-proved.

“Greece” is the Word, is the Time, is the Place, for Latest Summer Fashion

ACROSS1 Boxer Matthew ____ Muhammad3 Frankenstein's sidekick7 "Nice" cookie?11 Jockey Abbatiello12 Tribute13 Seinfeld creator David15 Tattered cloth16 Extra per. in sporting event (abbrev.)17 Limit18 Lindos is on this island20 Knicks' lge.22 Crosby's comedic partner Bob25 Greek prefix meaning new27 Book unit29 Malone of Cheers31 Greek iced coffee drink32 Orioles' Owner33 Royal Assn. of Sailors (abbrev.)35 Opposite of Yea36 Lrge. Liability Co.38 Veep Spiro41 ___ Paree43 Lion sign44 Northern constellation47 Ontario Nat. Resort (abbrev.)48 Out for Lnch. (abbrev.)50 Nickname for above-ground train51 Petroleum53 Int'. Assn. of Natural Reserves (abbrev.)54 Army vehicle56 Greek friend?59 Amer. Veterans Bureau Homes (abbrev.)60 Fall behind62 Nat'l. Education Online Assocation(abbrev.)63 Plural of am64 _____ with Paula, starred in The MagicGarden

DOWN1 Athenian statesman2 Michael Jordan's nickname3 Jethro Tull's lead sngr. (init.)4 Greek suffix meaning something writtenor drawn5 Felix Unger's sloppy roommate (init.)6 ___ de Janeiro8 Street9 The ____ of Night (soap opera)

10 Open Exchng. (abbrev.)11 One-eyed mythical ogre14 Ability-to-Benft. (abbrev.)15 Actor Lowe18 Bombers' Mr. October19 America's Uncle21 Saints honored on July 123 Greek's "ole!"24 Greek prefix meaning all26 Clear air agcy. (abbrev.)28 Author Cummings29 Charles Liston's nickname30 Geomet. Term (abbrev.)34 Film critic Leonard ______36 Greek marketplace37 Gillan of Deep Purple39 Appliance-making co. (abbrev.)40 Midday42 Fourth Greek letter45 Sneaker brand46 First Greek letter49 Played by John Cazale in The Godfather52 I'll homonym54 A Fonda55 First lady?57 Star of My LIfe in Ruins58 "Original Gangster" (abbrev.)61 George Washington's home st. (init.)

Solution:

F I N D E R S C A R M I N E

R O B N O D M E L I N A

A P M B G E

N M E T A X A I D

C O D A H O R S H A C K

E G E X I N O I

S T D E M E T R I O S N M S

D A C A Y E S

H S H O T Z V A I

A E K H O M E V F A N

R L O S N A R A G

C O N S T A N T I U S A P E

T A R N I M S P R

B M O N A O L Y M P U S

A B C T A K Y O V E R

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

www.CrosswordWeaver.com

been convicted of aiding awounded rebel and sentencedto 10 years in a Barbados prison.He escaped from prison to pur-sue life as a pirate and adven-turer. Captain Blood’s story wasmore suspenseful and dramaticthan any pulp story.

I hounded my siblings formore books. They brought mearmloads bought from sidewalkstalls for 25 cents apiece. Assoon as I finished one book, Ibegan another.

In the following months, Ibegan to read as soon as Iawoke, and I read through theday, pausing only for meals thatNaka brought me. Without planor design, my range of booksbroadened. White Fang and“The Call of the Wild, adventurenovels by Jack London led to abook that deeply influenced mylife. Martin Eden was Jack Lon-don’s story of an unlettered sea-man who falls in love with aneducated and lovely girl of theupper classes. Inspired by thatlove and by prodigious reading,he educates himself. Captivatedby the marvels of language andthe joy of stories, Martin Edenresolves and achieves becominga writer.

I finished Martin Eden burn-ing with such excitement that Iquickly read it a second time. Ivowed that I would also educatemyself, and someday write sto-ries of my own.

I read Nathaniel Hawthorneand Edgar Alan Poe, enteringthe realms of their haunted fic-tion. I moved on to the greatRussian writers, Anton Chekhov,Ivan Turgenev and MaximGorki. Their passionate, sus-penseful stories made me sufferalong with their characters. Al-though I can no longer remem-ber just why, Maxim Gorki’snovel Mothers brought me totears.

Another book I remembervividly was Isaac Babel’s RedCavalry. His commissars, peas-ants, and particularly his Cos-sacks, magnificent horsemenand brutal overlords seemed toleap off the page.

The writing of Sholem Ale-ichem transported me into stillanother province of life withJewish peasants living in settle-ments called shtetls. Aleichem’simpoverished and persecutedpeasants were able to find thepatience and even draw on hu-mor to endure their suffering.

There were the Irish writerswith their druids, bards andvales. Sean O’ Faolain and SeanO’Casey were marvelous story-tellers. Their characters drew onhumor as well, but they werealso rebellious against both Eng-

land that ruled Ireland and theCatholic Church that hadloomed over their childhoods.

One of my most thrillingreading experiences came withmy discovery of Homer’s Iliad.The spectacle of a great fleettaking to sea to avenge the ab-duction of a lovely woman filledme with admiration and awe.Though I identified with theGreeks, I grieved for the deathof noble Hector. The Iliad firstprovided me an understandingof the deeper meaning of wordslike friendship, honor and glory.

Another novel with an enor-mous influence on me was AllQuiet on the Western Front, theheart-chilling story by ErichMaria Remarque about Germanyouths only a few years olderthan I was. Swept up in patrioticfervor at the beginning of theFirst World War, the young menenlisted in the Kaiser’s army. Re-marque describes their suffer-ing, despair and disillusionmentas they fight and die for thesame small desolate patch ofNo-Man’s-Land. His novel con-vinced me that however noblethe cause might appear, warcould never be justified becauseit resulted in the brutalizationof the human spirit.

At night my sleep teemedwith the characters I had en-countered during the day. Es-caping the novels where theybelonged, Cossacks merged withIrish pub-keepers, Jewish peas-ants with Trojan warriors andYiddish rabbis with English pi-rates.

But I also came to love thebooks themselves, as I held andtouched them. I relished thescent of a new book that I wouldopen carefully so as not to crackthe spine too quickly. The mustyink, paper and glue smells ofolder books somehow make methink of Ancient Greece.(Twenty-five years later, holdingmy first novel, I inhaled a spe-cial fragrance.)

During my illness, a frequent

visitor was my sister Tasula’shusband, John Thoman, whomshe had married a year earlierin 1933. John was a talentedartist and loving human beingwho not only brought me books,but also spent time with me dis-cussing them. Through my ado-lescence, John continued to helpeducate me, introducing me tothe work of Theodore Dreiser,James Farrell and the gargan-tuan novels of Thomas Wolfe.

My convalescence lasted fortwo years before I was deemedwell enough to return to school.Those years of reading had ad-vanced me in the areas of liter-ature and language, but left mesorely lacking in the realms ofscience and mathematics. De-spite emotional problems thatalso made it difficult for me toadjust to other boys and girls, Icompleted elementary school.

In high school my problemscontinued. I was impatient withsubjects that did not interest me,and I resented the regulatedclassroom hours. In my sopho-more year, angry and rebellious,I dropped out of school. My par-ents lamented for my future andmy siblings scolded me and pre-dicted my life would be a disas-ter.

Looking back on that turbu-lent period now, perhaps com-pleting high school and gaininga college degree would have en-hanced my life. Yet, to this day,eight decades after my confine-ment, when I see a boy or girlsecluded in a library alcove, en-grossed in a book, I am re-minded of my own greeningyouth. The hundreds of books Iheld on my knees set the com-pass for my life. Without illnessand those intensive days andnights of reading, I might neverhave experienced the joy andfulfillment I have known in writ-ing stories and books of my own.

Find more information on nov-elist Harry Mark Petrakis at har-rymarkpetrakis.com

How Illness Shaped a Writer's LifeContinued from page 1

Harry Mark Petrakis


By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO- I am often chal-lenged when I speak well of thehistory of Greeks in the UnitedStates. “Oh, the Slavs, Italiansor Polish immigrants couldmake the very same claims,” Iam told, as if what the Greek’saccomplished is nothing special.If no one group is “exceptional,”then this nation owes its exis-tence to all its citizens equally.And if that is the case, then weneed to reassess the Americanhistory we have been and arenow being taught.

Such reassessment is espe-cially timely since “it has beenestimated that nearly half of allAmericans today can trace theirfamily history to at least oneperson who passed through thePort of New York at Ellis Island(www.ellisisland.org).” TheNorthwest Europeans werenever alone in the Westernhemisphere, but if you read themajority of history books orother media outlets, that is typ-ically the underlining position.Or should I say, that is the pro-paganda line? Why do our his-tories start in New England?Didn’t the Spanish establishcolonies there in 1492, or wasthat elsewhere?

Certainly, this is not a newor original argument. In an1883 letter, Walt Whitman,wrote, “We Americans have yetto really learn our own an-tecedents, and sort them, tounify them. They will be foundampler than has been supposed,and in widely different sources.Thus far, impress’d by New Eng-land writers and schoolmasters,we tacitly abandon ourselves tothe notion that our UnitedStates have been fashion’d fromthe British Isles only, and essen-tially form a second Englandonly---which is a very great mis-take. Many leading traits for ourfuture national personality, andsome of the best ones, will cer-tainly prove to have originatedfrom other than British stock.As it is, the British and German,valuable as they are in the con-crete, already threaten excess.Or rather, I should say, theyhave certainly reach’d that ex-cess. Today, something outsideof them, and to counterbalancethem is seriously needed.”

The arguments about Greeksand other ethnics from the 1880to 1920 massive waves of im-migration wishing to becomeWhite, does not agree with ei-ther my personal memories orany stories I have heard fromfamily or community. In the1960s part of the Movement, asI remember and experienced it,

involved what was called theNew Ethnicity. This basicallywas a public reassertion of eth-nic pride that as far as I haveseen and was told never died.For the Greeks in America, dur-ing the 1960s, the success of thefilms Never On Sunday andZorba the Greek seemed to ig-nite a new awareness of and re-spect for the Greek communityat large.

Does that mean the newly ar-rived immigrants did not expe-rience racism and prejudice—ofcourse not! Yet recent writingson the 1880 to 1920 waves ofall these immigrant groups as-serts that all of these peoplewished only to become as muchlike the dominant societyaround them as they could. Thiswhole notion of wishing to ‘be-come white’ is not just wrongand fundamentally insulting itbasically reinvents in anotherway the effort to dominate thenon-English/Germans of Amer-ica.

Also, why is it that only theethnic people are changed bycontacts with the Anglos? Didn’tthe white folk adopt anythingfrom the millions of newly-ar-rived ethnic people? Why is thesocial and cultural adoption allone-way? Did the Greeks andall the other ethnic folk wish tobetter themselves? Yes. But thenext logical and mandatory stepfrom “bettering themselves” tobeing the agents who physicallybuilt America’s wealth and in-dustry somehow disappears. Iwonder who is served by thatomission. Why isn’t there anyextended discussion of social

classes, labor history and the at-tempted domination of thenewly arrived immigrants by theruling elite?

Among the Greek scholarsnow writing on Greeks in theUnited States the unanimousconclusion is we are not Greeks(as they are) but rather we arereally just immigrants or assim-ilated individuals of Greek de-scent. According to whichschool of thought? For Isocrates,and so Modern Greek culture,one is a Greek if that personsimply claims to be Greek. Pe-riod. In terms of contemporarysocial science research you firstwrite down and base all yoursubsequent work on what theindividuals in that communityclaim about them. So, why arethe Greek émigré scholars (be-cause no matter how long theylive here they are never immi-grants) not applying the firstrule of modern social researchon the Greek American commu-nities?

If you honestly think thatGreek-Americans are not “re-ally” Greek as they claim to be,then, my question is: what doesit mean to be Greek? I was toldin graduate school I could notask this question. I now realizethat I was told this so I wouldnot think to ask that most fun-damental, necessary and basicof questions.

This is also a fundamentalquestion about the Diaspora.While simultaneously one morehistorical and cultural point ofdifference from the general cat-egory of being just another“American immigrant.” Is there

a Greek Miss Manners who visitseach Greek community aroundthe world checking to see thateveryone is towing the line andbeing really Greek? And ulti-mately, and here I believe is thecore problem, who exactly de-cides what are the normativeboundaries of Greek social ex-perience?

May I not make the claimthat the Modern Greeks in thenation state of Greece are sim-ply another Balkan people try-ing to pass as Northern Euro-pean? Are the Greeks in Greecesimply trying to be White? Who

gets the authority to make thesedistinctions and have themstick? And toward what end?

Consider this example, solelybased on the personal claims ofindividuals questioned abouttheir identities. On July 20,1768, some 1,300 colonists ar-rived in the waters off of St. Au-gustine, FL at a time whenFlorida was a British colonialholding. These individualshailed from the island of Mi-norca, mainland Greece, andItaly. As indentured servantsthese individuals were hired toestablish the New SmyrnaColony some 75, miles south ofSt. Augustine to grow hemp,sugarcane, and indigo, as wellas to produce rum.

Gross mismanagementcaused the colony to collapse,after suffering major losses dueto insect-borne diseases, Indianraids, and savage mistreatment

of the colonists. During May andJune of 1777, the survivors,numbering some 600, all relo-cated to St. Augustine, wheretheir descendants live to thisday. In 1783, Florida was re-turned to the Spanish. Upon theSpanish return to St. Augustinea Catholic bishop (of Irish de-scent) took a census of the townand surrounding area. Outsideof the predictable Spanish,British, Minorca, Indian, Italianand Greek colonists a vast num-ber of Romanians appeared—asif out of nowhere.

While the arrival of the Ro-

manians remains unexplainedby all scholars involved in theregion or the New SmyrnaColony, I offer here once again,my explanation for their exis-tence. No one recorded whichlanguage or languages wereused during the Spanish Census.And as everyone knows, Greecewas not a nation state in 1783.Then, I asked myself, howwould a Greek, especially atradesman from the country-side, identify him or herself in1783? I offer for your consider-ation they would say, Romios.Which to an Irish-born Catholicbishop trained in Spain musthave sounded like Romanian.Now I can’t prove this point, butwhat do you think?

For those of you unfamiliarwith the phrase Romios orRomiosyni, that personal desig-nation has a complicated his-tory. It marks both our time un-

der Roman rule and when wewere the Romans, as in what isnow referred to as Byzantines –for well over a thousand years.Given the changing usages onecould well be served by consult-ing two books. Patrick Leigh Fer-mor in his Roumeli: Travels inNorthern Greece, where hespends some time defining thesetwo words, their history andtheir various meanings. As Fer-mor notes, “the word Romaioisoon meant a subject of the(Byzantine) Empire an Ortho-dox Christian in…contrast tothe Western Christians with

their spiritual capital in OldRome.” More is involved herebut, nonetheless, few would dis-agree that in 1783, a working-class Greek might well refer tohimself as a Romios. In HelenZeese Papanikolas, An Amuletof Greek Earth: Generation ofImmigrant Folk Culture (2002)we are offered insight into theusages struck here in NorthAmerica. As with most thingsGreek, the words and ideas be-hind these two words are hotlydebated.

So where does all this takeus? Whose “scientific” perspec-tive are we using? Toward whatends? What does it mean to beGreek in North America cannotbe answered from a point ofview that categorically deniesGreek Americans their own self-identity. And if it does, why?

[email protected]


America’s Colonists Not Just Westerners, There Were Greeks, as Well

Myles Standish

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

Dixon Cafeteria was espe-cially busy that Sunday. Patronsscrambled to find a seat. A gen-tleman, coffee in hand, pushedover a chair from an adjoiningtable and seated himselfamongst out little group muchto their discomposure. Dimoswondered if they’d be able tospeak Greek without the inter-loper finding it offensive. John,the more patient among them,remained silent, preferring towait it out. George, trying to re-lax, looked up at the high ceilingand began humming an uniden-tifiable tune, reminding himself

that it was a free country andthe man had the right to sitwherever he wished. After all,they didn’t own Dixon’s! Yian-nis, inwardly, annoyed, blinkedand started drumming his fin-gers at the table’s edge in tunewith George’s cacophony hum-ming. Irritated, the man gavethem a look of disapproval be-

fore taking his attention to thescenery outside the wide win-dow that faced the street.

Trying to distract himselffrom the collection of odditiessurrounding him he cleared histhroat and continued sipping hiscoffee with agitating slowness.Looking at his watch Kipreosasked the others in Greek, ‘Howlong does it take to drink a cupof coffee?” They didn’t dare re-spond as they stirred their cof-fees with the seriousness ofmonks at prayer. The silencewas deafening; the atmospheretense. When the stranger’s cof-fee was finally finished he didthe unthinkable. He took out hisnewspaper and began reading

it. That’s when the wheels inYiannis’ brain began spinning.He coughed. Then, he coughedagain – louder and continuously.He cleared his throat so rau-cously that patrons at the othertables turned, wondering ifsomeone was being strangled.John patted his back, soundly,asking in English, “are you al-

right, friend?” The strangerlooked up, too. But, returned hisconcentration to his newspaper,his face reflecting disdain. Then,noticing that his coughingwasn’t creating the dismissal hehoped for Yiannis began sneez-ing, repeatedly, oblivious to san-itary concerns. That enraged theintruder who grunted, ‘coveryour damn mouth!’ Fearing anargument – one that could endup getting physical – George de-fended Yiannis to the stranger,saying he was a war vet and notwell ‘up here’, pointing to hishead.

Disgusted and seeing the fu-tility of remaining he jumpedup, folded his newspaper andleft, muttering under his breathsomething that sounded like,‘jackass!’ Having heard the re-mark George grinned to himself,wondering if he knew Yiannis,personally.

Yiannis experienced a mirac-ulous cure; he leaned back andasked George what the strangermuttered. George shrugged, ‘hejust called your name.’ Yianniswas puzzled. “I don’t knowhim.”

“Well, he knew you.” Theothers laughed feeling the re-turn of the familiar cama-raderie. But, at that moment,having forgotten to remove theextra chair a frail, elderly gen-tleman arrived, set his coffeedown with trembling hands,spilling some onto the table. Heleaned his cane against the tableand looked forlorn as the canefell to the ground. Kipreospicked it up for him. He noddedhis thanks and sent acknowledg-ing greetings to the men aroundhim hoping to start up a con-versation. Seconds later the el-derly man began coughing. Atfirst it was a few coughs – then,they became clamorous until heappeared to be choking. John,concerned, got up and slappedhis back. But, the coughing con-tinued until they sounded vio-lent. Sensing a tragedy about tounfold George nervously got up

and left followed by Yiannis andKipreos.

John got the man a papercup of water, called the manager

and walked out leaving hisnewspaper behind. Dimos, find-ing it a good excuse for escape,snatched it and went after John.

Outside, George, sending hishands up in the air told a verydisgruntled Yiannis, “What goesaround comes around.”

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American history schoolbooks are replete with stories about English Colonial settlers like MilesStandish, but there is virtually no mention of early Greek settlers, such as the founders of whatis now the Florida city of New Smyrna Beach.

DEATH NOTICES

n ALExOPOULOS, ARISTIDISELIZABETH CITY, NC (From theVirginian Pilot, published on Jul.29) – Aristidis Grigorios Alex-opoulos of 100 Hunters Trail,Elizabeth City, NC died Thursday,July 24, 2014 at his residence.He was born in 1940 in Lamia,Greece, the son of the late Grig-orios and Maria Karathanos Alex-opoulos and the husband ofEvangelia Delistathis Alexopoulosfor over forty-seven years. Hewas a Sergeant in the GreekArmy, serving near the Albanianborder. With hopes of a betterlife, he moved to America in1974 with his wife, son, mother,sister and her family. Discoveringhis entrepreneurial spirit, he andhis brother Van started Van'sPizza on the Outer Banks in1975. After building the businesson the Outer Banks, he and hisbrother moved to Elizabeth Cityin 1980 to start Van's Pizza onHughes Blvd. There he and hiswife worked tirelessly to build athriving business beloved by localpatrons. He retired with his wifein 2001. In retirement, he andhis wife embraced gardening andbuilt a manicured lawn and gar-den admired by many. He lovedspending time with his son andgranddaughters, cheering on hisOlympiacos Football Club andhelping his brother's family at BigDaddy's Pizza. He was a memberof the Annunciation Greek Or-thodox Cathedral in Norfolk, VA.In addition to his wife, he is sur-vived by a son Grigorios (Greg)

Alexopoulos and wife Joni of Rye,NY; two brothers, AthanasiosAlexopoulos and wife Voula ofGreece and Evangelos (Van)Alexopoulos and wife Aspasia ofElizabeth City, NC; a sister, Ner-antzia (Rita) Alexopoulos Vlahosof Kitty Hawk, NC; three grand-daughters, Evangelia, Maria andAristea; and many nephews andnieces. In addition to his parents,he was predeceased by a brother-in-law, Dimitrios (Jim) Vlahos.Funeral services will be con-ducted Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at11:00 a.m. at AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Cathedral, 7220Granby St., Norfolk, VA officiatedby the Rev. Fr. George Bessinas.

n ARGES, STEVEHIGHLAND, IN (From the Times,published on Jul. 23) – Steve J.Arges, 88, of Highland IN, passedaway peacefully with his familyby his side. Steve was born inTripolis, Greece, to the late Vasi-liki and Dimitrios Arges (Argy-ropoulos). He leaves behind hisdarling wife Helene whom hewas blessed to spend 67 years to-gether. Loving father to Betty(Gus) Voukidis, George (Pat)Arges, Demetria (George) Bakris,and son Peter who who precededhim in death. Proud grandfatherto Marika (Rick) Brooks, George(Jenny) Voukidis, Steve Voukidis,Athena Bakris, Louis Bakris,Christopher (Hiral) Arges, JasonArges, Joe Merryweather (Sarah)and Dan Merryweather; andgreat- grandfather to Phoenix &

Alanna Voukidis, Eleanor Brooks,and Jack Merryweather Dearbrother to Christos (Ismini) andGus (Dimitria) Arges. Beloved bymany nieces and nephews as wellas friends. Veteran of World WarII Army Air Corps. Retired fromInland Steel after 42 years. Stevewas a member of the Pan-Arca-dian Federation, AHEPA andserved on the board of St.Demetrios and St George GreekOrthodox Church. Funeral onThursday,July 24th at 10 a.m. atSt. George Greek OrthodoxChurch, 528 W. 77th Ave. Scher-erville, IN, the Rev. ConstantineAliferakis officiating.

n FRANTzIS, ARISTOTELISSYRACUSE, NY (From the Syra-cuse Post-Standard, published onJul. 17) – Aristotelis (Themistok-lis) Frantzis passed into God'shands on July 15, 2014, at theage of 91. He was surrounded bythe love of his family when hepeacefully went to Heaven to re-unite with the love of his life andwife of 60 years, Katina. He wasa beloved father, grandfather andgreat-grandfather. He was bornin Serras (Agio Pnevma) and em-igrated with his wife and threechildren from Greece in 1967 toSyracuse, NY. He made many sac-rifices and worked very hard tosupport his family. He had manyfriends throughout the Greekcommunity and from his work atSyracuse Housing Authority. Hewas a strong supporter and con-tributor to the Greek Church, of-

ten helping with the annualGreek Festival, as well as otherchurch events. He was an activemember for many years of thePan-Macedonian Association. Hewas a man whose presence wasfelt rather than heard, whose ac-tions spoke much louder than hiswords. He was diligent in a waythat demanded respect, selflessin a way that earned him admi-ration, and generous in a waythat solidified his impeccablecharacter. He was a man of trueintegrity. He was a dignified manwho loved his family, people andlife all the way around. He was avery intelligent and inquisitiveman who was also great workingwith his hands. Most notably fix-ing the many cars that his chil-dren (in particular the youngest)crashed, smashed and demol-ished. He was famous for hisGreek culinary abilities and cre-ations as he loved to cook andexperiment with different foodsand recipes. In particular, roast-ing of the whole lamb - whiledrinking ouzo, listening to Greekmusic and having all the kidshelping him. Other favorites werehis stuffed peppers, meatballs,tarama, tzatziki, rice pudding,baklava and his 101 ways to useolive oil. Only his dancing rivaledhis cooking abilities having beenknown as one of the most expres-sive and energetic Greek dancersand most enjoyable to watch."Opa". His love for playing tavliand his ability to always "some-how" win was legendary amonghis grandchildren. He is survivedby his three children, Peter "Pana-giotis" (MaryBeth) Frantzis, Celia"Vasoula" (Ken) Paulin and Iliana(Tony) Ghanem. He was adoredby his 10 grandchildren, Karen,Sharon, Shirley, Markie, Donna,Christopher, Louis, Ryan, Alexan-dra and Nicholas and five great-grandchildren, John, Natalie,Christopher, Sean and Amara. Heis survived by his sister, EvagelitsaEvagelidou in Greece and manynieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws in Syracuse and Greece. Hewill be tremendously missed andalways loved and honored by hischildren, grandchildren andgreat-grandchildren. He exempli-fied everything a person shouldwish to be. He came into thisworld on April 25, 1923, and, inthe 91 incredible years that hewas alive, he carved his perma-nent place in history. Funeral ser-vices will be 10:30 a.m. on Sat-urday, July 19 at St. Sophia'sGreek Orthodox Church, 325Waring Road, Syracuse, NY13224.

n GABRIEL, DEMETRIS P.DRACUT, MA (From the LowellSun, published on Jul. 20) –Demetris P. Gabriel, 76, of Dra-cut, MA, passed away unexpect-edly July, 14, 2014, in Kalloni,Lesvos, Greece. A son of the latePanagiotis and the late Despina(Iatropoulos) Gabriel, he wasborn November 8, 1937 inKalloni, Lesvos, Greece. He wasraised and educated in village ofSkalohori, Lesvos and latermoved to Athens and served asan officer in the Greek Navy. Afterhis discharge from the military,he moved to America, settlingfirst in Connecticut before mov-ing to Boston area where he wasa restaurateur and professionalbusinessman until he retired.Demetris loved cooking, garden-ing, visiting the beach and swim-ming in the ocean. He loved todiscuss politics, the economy andhistory. Most of all, he enjoyedspending time with his familyand friends. He was a communi-cant of the Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Church in Lowell. He issurvived by his three children,Dana E. Ross and her husband,Brian of Chelmsford, Greg P.Gabriel and his wife, Dianne ofLowell, and Anna C. Snyder andher husband, Ryan of Lowell; hisbeloved granddaughter, Effie Lu-cille Gabriel; mother of his chil-dren, Lucille Samaras; and hissiblings, Stavros Gabriel and hiswife, Nikki of Athens, Greece,and Panagiota Rahoneli and herhusband, Pari of Skalohori,Lesvos, Greece. His funeral ser-vice will be offered at Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church, 62Lewis Street, Lowell, MA at 11a.m. Please visit www.mcdo-noughfuneralhome.com to sendthe family an e-condolence.

n MARTIGOPOULOS, CONNIE

CORTE MADERA, CA (From theMarin Independent Journal, pub-lished on Jul. 23) – Connie Mar-tigopoulos Passed away peace-fully on Friday, July 18th 2014.She will be deeply missed as aloving wife, mother, yia yia, aunt,nouna, relative and great friendto so many people. Connie wasborn May 22nd, 1935 in SanFrancisco, CA to parents JohnMalandaras of Halkida, Greeceand Lucy Triantos of San Fran-cisco. Connie was preceded indeath by siblings Grace Spadiniand Nick Malandaras. Connie, anative Californian grew up in the

Greek neighborhood of San Fran-cisco, graduating from MissionHigh School. Connie resided hap-pily in Corte Madera with hus-band Harry for the past 54 yearsparticipating in many local orga-nizations, including the CorteMadera Recreation Center, whereshe was often asked to "call out"the weekly bingo games. Bothshe and Harry were past SeniorCitizens of the year. Connie wasthe ultimate hostess, her homewarm and welcoming, wherefamily, friends and even friendsof friends gathered often. Shewas an amazing cook, and bakerand could mix a mean Manhat-tan. She loved getting togetherwith her "Big Fat Greek" familyand never turned down a chanceto celebrate an event. She lovedto dance and was usually the firstperson to lead the line in a tradi-tional Greek dance. Connie is sur-vived by husband of 61 yearsHarry, son Nick and wife Mary,grandchildren Nicholas, John,and Olivia; and by numerousnieces, nephews, godchildren,cousins, relatives, and friends.Connie's smile, humor, and herability to light up a room will bemissed by all who knew her. Re-member her not with sadness butwith how she always left you feel-ing happy to have spent the daywith her. Funeral: Friday, July25th, 10:00 AM at Nativity ofChrist Greek Orthodox Church,1110 Highland Drive, Novato, CA94949. In lieu of flowers, pleasemake donations to Nativity of

Christ Greek Orthodox Church,in Novato.

n VLAHOS, JULIATUCSON, AZ (From the ArizonaDaily Star, published on Jul. 24)– Julia Eva Vlachos was born inChicago, Illinois on August 10,1912. She was married to ArthurVlachos for many years and hepassed away. She moved to Tuc-son, Arizona over 30 years ago.She was very involved in St.Demetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch in Tucson, Arizona. Shewill be missed by her family inthe United States and in Greece.She will be missed especially byher loving sister-in-law, AntoniaCyrus, of Danville, CA. Precededin death by her brothers, Tomand Jim Psiris and her sisters,Rose (Clarence) Drake and Bar-bara Brashers. Julia passed awayon July 20, 2014. Church Fu-neral on July 25, 2014 at 10:00a.m. in St. Demetrios Greek Or-thodox Church, 1145 E. FortLowell Rd., Tucson.

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Notice of Formation of BOSSE HOMESERVICES, LLC (DOM LLC). Articles of Orga-nization filed with the Secretary of State ofNew York, (SSNY) on 05/14/2014. Office lo-cation: NASSAU COUNTY. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom process against the LLCmay be served. SSNY shall mail process to:UNITED STATES CORPORATION AGENTS,INC. 7014, 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn,NY 11228. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273914/19163

956 ATLANTIC AVENUE LLC a (DOM. LLC).Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on07/23/2014. Office location: Kings Co. SSNYis designated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shallmail process to: PO Box 380529, Brooklyn, NY11238 . Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

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VYND MANAGEMENT, LLC a (DOM. LLC). Ar-ticles of Organization filed with the Secretaryof State of NY, (SSNY) on 06/24/2014. Officelocation: Kings County. SSNY is designated asagent upon whom process against the LLC maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to: 82 Flan -ders Rd., Westborough MA 01581. Purpose:Any Lawful Purpose.

273878/19138

9 K’S PROPERTIES INVESTOR LLC, a do-mestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on9/18/12. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, 657Snediker Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11207. GeneralPurposes.

273870/10709

241 86TH ST. LLC, a domestic LLC, filedwith the SSNY on 6/4/14. Office location:Kings County. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to JohnEconomos, 9120 Ridge Blvd., Brooklyn, NY11209. Latest date to dissolve 6/3/2044.General Purposes.

273869/10709

Notice of Formation of LOVE KITTY LLC a(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 03/17/2014. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: LOVE KITTY LLC,3115 Clarendon Road, Basement Apt.,Brooklyn, NY 11226. Purpoce: Any LawfulPurpose.

273865/19132

Notice of Formation of NEW JOB EMPLOYMENTAGENCY LLC (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organi-zation filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork, (SSNY) on 06/18/2014. Office location:Kings County. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Mr. RicardoCastro, 463 56th St, 2 Floor, Brooklyn, NY11220. Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

273861/19227

EMUNAH EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING LLC,a domestic LLC, filed with the SSNY on6/9/14. Office location: Kings County. SSNY isdesignated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shallmail process to The LLC, 1010 Cleveland St.,Brooklyn, NY 11208. Purpose: EducationalConsulting Services.

273853/10709

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITYCOMPANY. NAME: TREESPROUTS LLC. (DOM.LLC ). Articles of Organization were filed withthe Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on05/01/14. Office location: Kings County. SSNY hasbeen designated as agent of the LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shall mail acopy of process to: c/o Treesprouts LLC, 245 16thStreet, Apt. 4, Brooklyn, NY 11215. Purpose: Forany lawful purpose.

273851/19118

Notice of Formation of BLACK SPRINGS LLC a(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filed withthe Secretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/27/2014. Office location: Nassau County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whom processagainst the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mailprocess to: BLACK SPRINGS LLC, c/o Nicolas N.Chai, 18 Prospect Ave., Port Washington, NY11050. Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

273858/19225

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITYCOMPANY. NAME: HIEROFALCON, LLC (DOM.LLC ). Articles of Organization were filed withthe Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on04/08/2014. Office location: Kings County. SSNYhas been designated as agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it may be served. SSNY shallmail a copy of process to: Melissa Loseby, 850 Man-hattan Ave., Apt. 4R, Brooklyn, NY 11212.Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

273848/19115

Notice of Formation of LS TEXAS, LLC (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/12/2014. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served. SSNYshall mail process to: LOU SCHEINER 3839FLATLANDS AVE , BROOKLYN , NY 11234.Purpoce: Any Lawful Purpose.

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Notice of Formation of MAXONO,LLC a (DOM.LLC). Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York, (SSNY) on06/18/2014. Office location: NASSAUCOUNTY . SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: 7014 13th Ave.,Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any LawfulPurpose.

273892/19148

Notice of Formation of SOULBROVAS LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 06/04/2014. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Mathew Woodruff,855 Blake Ave., 2D, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Pur-pose: Any Lawful Purpose.

273900/19155

Notice of Formation of NEW YORK OFF ROADLLC (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,(SSNY) on 03/17/2014. Office location: NAS-SAU COUNTY. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: NEWYORK OFF ROAD LLC ,60 BROAD ST.,STE3502 NEW YORK NY, 10004. Purpose:Any Lawful Purpose.

273902/19154

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OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014

What comes up with equalfrequency is how must peoplevalue his ability to make peoplelaugh in the most stressful ofsituations.

Maniatis born in Pittsfield,MA, was the eldest son of Johnand Ann (Bicoules) Maniatisand he had two younger broth-ers, Peter and Jimmy. He re-ceived his Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Economics from Illi-nois Wesleyan University, con-tinued his education at Tuftsand Harvard universities, andreceived his MBA from BostonUniversity in 1966.

Maniatis worked as an insur-ance consultant until 1977,when he was hired to be the Ex-ecutive Director of the Order ofAHEPA. He moved to Washing-ton, DC, where he met his bride,Stacie. They have two daugh-ters, Stephanie and Jenna.

As Executive Director of theOrder of AHEPA for 15 years,Maniatis was instrumental inraising funds and overseeing theerection of the Tribute Statue inAtlanta's Centennial Park inhonor of the Atlanta Olympicsand of the George C. MarshallStatue on the grounds of theU.S. Embassy in Athens.

He established a consultingpractice and became one of thepremier service providers forevent management and produc-tion.

Maniatis managed more than175 major events throughoutthe United States and Europe,including every Clergy-LaityCongress since 1984, and all thevisits of Ecumenical PatriarchsDemetrios and Bartholomew.

Actively involved with thegovernments of Greece andCyprus since 1974, he traveledto Greece, Cyprus, and Constan-tinople more than 35 times onthe behalf of the Greek Ameri-can community.

He was an active member ofthe American Hellenic Institute(AHI), Leadership 100, whoseannual conference he managedfor more than 25 years, the firstacting Executive Director of theNational Hellenic Society, andan active member of SaintSophia Cathedral.

The Church honored Mani-atis by making him an Archonof the Ecumenical Patriarchatein 1991 and he was presentedthe Archdiocesan Medal of St.Paul by His Eminence Arch-

bishop Iakovos in 1988. Mostrecently, he was presented withthe AHI’s Hellenic Heritage Na-tional Public Service Award.

AHI President Nick Larigakiswas deeply saddened by Mani-atis’ passing. “Tim Maniatis leftan indelible mark on the Greek-American landscape. By work-ing with all segments of ourcommunity...he displayed theunifying example of what ourcommunity can accomplish byworking together,” he said.

On a personal level, he toldTNH “I knew Tim for over 25years…He was the ultimate pro-fessional, a good friend, and amentor. The most important les-son I learned from him waswhen he would tell me, "Niko,do the best you can and don'tworry about anything…the sunwill always rise tomorrow."

AHEPA Executive DirectorBasil Mossaides said “Timmyserved the Order of AHEPA formany years as our Executive Di-rector as well as serving theArchdiocese and also as theNHS Executive Director formany years. He was a pioneerin association management inthe Greek Community. Person-ally I will miss his sense of hu-mor and outlook on life. He willbe missed by all who knew him.Our sincerest condolences to hisfamily. May his memory be eter-nal.”

Andy Manatos, the Presidentof the Coordinated Effort of Hel-lenes, told TNH the community“will miss Tim Maniatis and hisextraordinary ability to stay coolin difficult and frustrating situ-ations. He said he could see hu-

mor in circumstances thatwould lead most people to walkaway in anger. “Tim was a de-cent and honest person who wasdeeply dedicated to his family,his Church and his ethnicity,”Manatos said.

Rev. Alexander Karloutsos,Presbyter of the Ecumenical Pa-triarchate, was deeply saddenedby Maniatis’ death, but he feltcompelled to share some thingsthat Maniatis preferred to cloakwith modesty. “I want people tounderstand that each of us inour lives,” can be bridges andcatalysts for good things. “Weall have untold stories about thegood things that we do,” hesaid.

At a time when there was di-vision between arguably thecommunity’s two most impor-tant institution, the Archdioceseand the Order of AHEPA, “TimManiatis decided to go to theAHEPA leadership and con-vinced them to invite a youngpriest to accompany them ontheir annual journey to Greece,Cyprus and the Patriarchate.

They had never before in-vited a clergyman. “It was 1985and that young priest was fatherAlex” – himself – a still-appre-ciative Karloutsos said.

But the story doesn’t endthere. When they were in Con-stantinople – it was Fr. Karlout-sos’ first visit – he saw that mostof the Patriarchate was in ruinsdue to the fire of 1941. PatriarchBartholomew was a Metropoli-tan at the time and told himthey were hoping that a voicein America could be raised tocall for its rebuilding.

It so happened that JimmyCarter’s trip to Greece was beingplanned at the time – which wasa vital show of support forGreece because the Regan Ad-ministration, angry at AndreasPapandreou, had imposed acrippling travel advisory. Kar-loutsos told Patriarch Dimitriosthat he would try to get Carterto visit the Phanar.

“Jimmy Carter is the onewho got the Turks to allow therebuilding of the Patriarchate…for which Greek industrialistPanagiotis Angelopoulos pro-vided the funds,” he said, “butif it weren’t for Tim Maniatissetting it all in motion, the Pa-triarchate would not have beenrebuilt, because Jimmy Carterwould have never gone there…this is one of the great thingsTim Maniatis did.”

Community Pillar Timothy Maniatis MournedContinued from page 1

Timothy Maniatis was theconsummate professional buthe was proud to be called afamily man.

(L-R): Nick Larigakis, President of AHI, Timothy Maniatis, recipient of AHI’s Hellenic HeritageNational Public Service Award, and Spiros Spireas, President of the AHI Foundation.

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014 9

ATHENS (AP) – Moody's ratingsagency late Friday upgradedGreece's government bond rat-ing, predicting a gradual declineof its massive national debt.

The agency is also citing acontinued commitment by thebailed out country's conserva-tive-led government to improvepublic finances.

In Friday's announcement,the agency said it had raised theGreek rating by two notchesfrom Caa3 to Caa1 — still belowinvestment grade.

Greece is set to emerge fromrecession this year for the firsttime since 2008 after being res-cued by an international bailoutfour years ago and imposingyears of severe austerity mea-sures.

"The first factor behind theupgrade of Greece's rating isMoody's strengthened expecta-tion that the general govern-ment debt to GDP ratio will startdeclining in 2015, after peakingthis year according to Moody'sestimates at around 179 percentof (gross domestic product),"the agency said.

"Moody's considers thatGreece's fiscal outlook is moreresilient than in the past."

Friday's action follows a sim-ilar move made by rating agencyFitch in May.

Greece was rescued from the

brink of bankruptcy in 2010 byan international bailout thatwas eventually worth 230 bil-lion euros ($308 billion).

But rescue creditors fromother Eurozone countries andthe International MonetaryFund forced the country tomake drastic spending cuts thathave seen levels of poverty andunemployment soar.

Lawmakers this week begandebating legislation to overhaulGreece's tax administration —reforms due to be voted nextweek and demanded by credi-tors for the country to continuereceiving bailout loan install-ments.

"Fiscally, we have alreadytaken most of the beating, butthe road ahead remains tough,"Finance Minister Gikas Hardou-velis said earlier Friday at a par-liamentary committee debatingthe legislation.

Jean-Claude Juncker, presi-dent-elect of the European Com-mission, is due to visit Athenson Monday in his first trip sincehis election by the new Euro-pean Parliament last month.

He is due to meet GreekPrime Minister Antonis Sama-ras, a fellow conservative, to ex-press support for the country'songoing effort to make its publicfinances sustainable.

TNH Staff

When the words “Greeks,”“Turks,” “Invasion,” and“Cyprus” appear in the samesentence, the year in questionusually is 1974. But a decadeearlier, on August 10, 1964,Turkish jets had dropped 750lbs(340 kg) of bombs and napalmon their strongholds in North-west Cyprus.

"The whole area is on fire,"said a spokesman for theCypriot government, the BBCreported.

"We cannot estimate casual-ties but there must be hundreds.Whole villages have been wipedout." They also accused theTurkish government of landingtroops on the Northwest coastof the island.

Then-Cyprus President Arch-bishop Makarios issued an ulti-matum to Turkey, threateningto attack every Turkish Cypriotvillage in Cyprus if the air raidswere not stopped, the BBC re-ported. The raids also broughtconcern from the Greek govern-ment in Athens, which stayedout of the conflict.

Then-Greek Prime Minister,George Papandreou called theair raids "crucial", and said, "thisis a purely aggressive action

which Greece cannot tolerate,”said the BBC.

“The air raids were in re-sponse to vicious fighting whichhas been raging for the lastthree days around the TurkishCypriot village of Kokkina,”wrote the BBC. “The decision bythe Turkish government to getinvolved militarily has causedinternational consternation.”

This Week in Greek History:

Greek-Turkish Sides Fightin Cyprus in 1964

Then-Cyprus President Archbishop Makarios

Moody’s Upgrades Greece’sCredit Rating, Eyes Debt Dip

ATHENS – Greek Prime Minis-ter Antonis Samaras’ prospectsof getting a debt cut as part ofplans to restructure what itowes international lendersdidn’t get support from visitingEuropean Commission Presi-dent-elect Jean-Claude Junckerwho said that decision won’t behis.

Juncker was head of the Eu-rozone from 2005-13, duringwhich he backed harsh austeritymeasures insisted upon by theTroika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) in return for 240billion euros ($327 billion) intwo bailouts to save Greece’seconomy from collapse.

Those created record unem-ployment and deep poverty butalso, said Samaras – who ini-tially opposed the conditions –led to a primary surplus andhopes of a burgeoning recoverylater this year. Still, he wantsGreece to have a longer repay-ment period and lower interestrate, or to be able to walk awayfrom a big chunk of what itowes.

That so-called “haircut”would force the taxpayers in theother 17 countries of the Euro-zone to pick up the tab for gen-erations of wild overspendingand runaway patronage bySamaras’ New Democracy Con-servatives and his coalition part-ner, the PASOK Socialists.

The haircut is also opposedby the IMF and German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel, whosecountry puts up much of theloans and who insisted on, andgot, big pay cuts, tax hikes,slashed pensions and worker fir-ings in Greece in return.GREECE WANTS A BREAKTalks on further debt relief

for Greece are expected laterthis year, and Greek and Euro-pean officials have indicatedAthens is likely to get lower in-terest rates and extension ofloan maturities rather than out-right write-off of debt.

Asked about whether Greekdebt could be sustainable with-out a discount, Juncker said hewould not consider the issue be-fore taking office but said:“When it comes to Greece, thequestion you’re mentioning isnot part of my meditation.”

Juncker will take office onNov. 1. He was speaking to re-porters after a meeting withSamaras, to whom the ex-Lux-embourg premier referred to asa “friend and a brother,” but towhom he didn’t offer a financiallifeline.

Juncker said he was proudthat he “fought like a lion” tokeep Greece in the Eurozonewhen he was its leader, and dur-ing which there was much spec-ulation Greece would defaultand be forced out of the finan-cial bloc.

Juncker, who supportedharsh austerity measures de-manded by international lendersin return for bailouts – whichcreated record unemploymentand deep poverty – said he nowwants to help Greece.

Ahead of his visit, Juncker

said that he wanted to showsupport for Greece. “My prior-ity… is jobs, growth and invest-ment and I am pleased to be go-ing to Greece to discuss thesepriorities,” the former Eu-rogroup chief said in a state-ment. He didn’t say why thoseweren’t his priorities when heheaded the Eurozone.

“I want to send a message ofhope and optimism by recogniz-ing the efforts of the Greek peo-ple and the Greek governmentin reforming their country,” hesaid. That comes too late for 1.4million people out of work.CRY FOR ARGENTINA, NOT

GREECEJuncker said the reforms car-

ried about by the country overthe past few years could haveserved as a model for Argentina,which last week defaulted on itsdebts for the second time since2001.

“Greece could have been agood example for Argentina toavoid the problems it was notable to avoid,” Juncker said. “SoGreece is not Argentina.”

After Samaras noted that Ar-gentina had defaulted, Junckersaid that Greece would have suf-fered the South American coun-try’s fate if it had not taken mea-sures.

Juncker, who headed the Eu-rogroup of finance ministers forthe large bulk of the Europeandebt crisis, did not name thosehe claimed were intent onGreece leaving the euro.

Juncker, who succeeds, JoseManuel Barroso, declined tocomment on options being con-sidered by Eurozone countriesto make Greece’s national debtsustainable and refused to givedetails on his choices for thenext European Commission.

In his first trip abroad sincebeing elected to head the Euro-pean Commission, Junckerpraised Greek efforts to improvepublic finances, and insistedthat he played a key role inkeeping the country in the euro

currency zone.IMMIGRATION INUNDATION

The two men had lunch withDefense Minister DimitrisAvramopoulos, who will beGreece’s representative at theCommission, which is due to benamed in September.

Juncker insisted that hewould not be pressurized overhow the portfolios will be dis-tributed among the 28 member

states. “I will decide on the port-folios,” he said. “You will not bedisappointed.”

Samaras wants Greece to getthe important newly-created po-sition overseeing immigrationpolicies in the 28-country bloc.

Greece has complained bit-terly that the European Unionhas done too little to help thecountry deal with ongoingwaves of illegal immigrants whoare seeking asylum or want touse it as a jumping-off point toget to other countries.

As the EU’s southernmost en-try point, Greece has been tar-geted by immigrants from theMideast, especially those fleeingthe Civil War in Syria, as wellas those from Africa who try tocross on rickety, overcrowdedcraft, many of which have sunkwith a great loss of life.

Avramopoulos, from the rul-ing New Democracy Conserva-tives, will replace MariaDamanaki from his coalitionpartner the PASOK Socialists.She holds the lesser-importantposition of European Commis-sioner for Maritime Affairs andFisheries and said she will leavepolitics.

Juncker is expected to namehis Cabinet next month in Brus-sels. Samaras pressed his casethat Greece deserves the immi-gration job because it alreadymost has to deal with it.

This comes on the heels of aGreek court acquitting theowner of a strawberry farm andhis foreman of charges in theshooting of 28 immigrants lastyear, and allowing two otherworkers who were convicted ofbeing able to buy out their jailsentences.

That coincided with a Greekprosecutor deciding to stop aprobe into the death of 11 im-migrants who drowned in theAegean Sea last year when aboat full of migrants went un-der. Survivors blamed the GreekCoast Guard but the govern-ment decided not to prosecute.

NICOSIA – Despite recently get-ting good grades from interna-tional lenders for pressing re-forms in return for a 10 billioneuro ($13.34 billion) last year,bad bank loans and reliance onRussia could derail the country’srecovery, the International Mon-etary Fund has warned.

The IMF, along with the Eu-ropean Union and EuropeanCentral Bank make up the Troikaof the EU-IMF-ECB that put upthe rescue monies but they de-manded tough conditions in re-turn, including austerity mea-sures as well as confiscation of47.5 percent of bank accountsover 100,000 euros ($133,400).

But Cypriot President NicosAnastasiades has stuck to theTroika recipe despite anger that

he reneged on a promise not togo after bank accounts and evenas austerity has sent unemploy-ment soaring.

While that has hurt Cypriots,it has helped the government getback on keel after the country’sbanks were brought to the edgeof ruin by bad loans to Greekbusinesses and when the Greekgovernment hit private investorswith 74 percent losses.

The IMF alarm bell came onlydays after Troika envoys checkedCyprus’ books and gave athumbs-up to progress in theirfifth review.

The IMF, one of the lendersthat stepped in with a 10-billion-euro bailout for the Mediter-ranean island nation last yearalso said it expected Cyprus

would require additional fiscalefforts to achieve a sustainableprimary surplus target of 4 per-cent by 2018, the news agencyReuters reported.

It said a “growth-friendlyconsolidation” should focus onfully unwinding spending in-creases introduced beforeCyprus plunged into crisis in2013, while protecting capitalexpenditures but that there waslikelihood that there would bemore cuts to the public payroll.

Salaries in the public sectorhave already been scaled backunder the bailout agreement,and a freeze on pay raises is inplace until 2016.

“While significant progresshas been achieved, overcomingthe legacy of the crisis will be

challenging,” the IMF said in astaff report, part of a regular an-nual consultation by the Fund.BAD LOANS RISKY BUSINESS

“Risks remain significant, re-lated to the uncertainty aboutthe magnitude and pace of pri-vate sector deleveraging and theability of banks to address NPLs(non-performing loans), as wellas to geopolitical tensions ofUkraine-Russia,” the IMF said.

Cyprus had been accused be-fore the crisis of being a money-laundering haven for rich Rus-sians and mobsters and despitethe confiscations and capitalcontrols that only now are beinglifted, many foreigners still holdbig deposits in the island’sbanks.

Cyprus’ largest bank says it

bolstered its capital base by rais-ing 1 billion euros ($1.34 bil-lion) through a private place-ment of new shares.

Bank of Cyprus said in astatement that the new shareseach valued at 0.24 euros($0.32) went to institutional in-vestors from Europe, NorthAmerica and Russia.

It said existing shareholderswill get a chance to buy back upto 20 percent of those shares,but that the total capital raisedwould remain at 1 billion euros.

The bank said this will speedup its restructuring plans andhelp it pass European tests thisyear gauging its health.

Bank of Cyprus figuredprominently in the country’smultibillion-euro rescue last year

that sanctioned a grab of unin-sured deposits in its two biggestlenders.

The Troika has given Cyprusfive consecutive good reviewsbut continued to press for no let-up in reforms it said are liftingthe country to recovery soonerthan expected.

Later this year all capital con-trols put in place last year to pre-vent a run on the banks after theaccounts confiscation are ex-pected to be lifted, providingmore liquidity for businesses andaccess to cash by customers.

Anastasiades has said he willadhere to the admonitions fromthe Troika although austeritymeasures have sent unemploy-ment soaring and hurt working-class Cypriots.

SANTORINI, Greece (AP) —Whitewashed houses stacked likesugar cubes on the cliffs. Colorfulsunsets and black-sand beaches.Donkeys, windmills and a localwinemaking tradition that goesback to ancient times.

These are some of the thingsthat stood out on a visit to theCyclades, a Greek island chainin the Aegean Sea. Little wonderthe place draws gaggles of visi-tors — enough to make evencrowd-loving extroverts long fora peaceful island paradise.

Oh, wait — that's why wewere there. And that's why,whenever we could, we avoidedbusy town centers in favor of ly-ing in the sun with a lazy glassof wine.

First stop was the island ofMykonos. My boyfriend and I ar-rived by ferry from Athens, then

took a bus to the island's centerof activity, the town of Mykonos,also known as Chora. It's a busyplace: long lines, picture-takinggalore and overpriced trinketsbulging from store shelves. I wasglad we'd opted to stay in an-other village, Ornos, about 2miles (3.2 kilometers) away, ina hotel five minutes from thebeach and a handful of restau-rants. There we soaked up thesun by the sea and by the pool,drank wine and met some Britishtravelers who also treasured thecalm and quiet.

Early morning turned out tobe a relatively tranquil time tosee Chora — even if the walkthere from Ornos meant dodgingcars on the sometimes-minusculeshoulder of the road. We spotteda donkey on the way, and intown, with the few other tourists

there that early, we admiredlarge windmills on hilltops thatare among the island's most pho-tographed and visited features.Windmill construction on the is-land dates to the 16th century.

Then it was off to the windingroads of the Little Venice neigh-borhood to get lost amid thewhitewashed buildings withtheir colorful balconies. Goingearly also offered a chance to seea bit of local life behind-the-scenes: shopkeepers mopping upconcrete slabs outside their store-fronts and arranging their mer-chandise before the busy day be-gan. We also stopped by to seethe ancient urns and memorialstatues at the Archaeological Mu-seum.

Mykonos is known for itsnightlife, and we had every in-tention of experiencing it at least

once. But staying in laidbackOrnos with a glass of wine at arestaurant each night proved tooappealing.

Next we visited the island ofSantorini. Our hotel was in thevillage of Perissa, known for itsblack-sand beach but far lesscrowded than we expected. Onemorning, we got a cliff-top viewof the island after a hike up MesaVouno mountain to AncientThira, the site of an excavatedcity dating to the ninth centuryB.C.

Later on, we decided for onceto brave the crowds and visit thetown of Oia, known for its dra-matic sunsets. The town is lo-cated on steep cliffs offering apanoramic view of the San-torini's caldera, a volcanic craterthat's partly under the sea. Weheaded to find a good vantage

point with thousands of othervisitors eager to watch the sundip down to the horizon. A sliverof rail space at a parking lot was

as good as we could get.But it didn't matter. The sun-

set was so glorious, I didn't mindthe crowds.

Greek Debt Cut Hope Down, Illegal Immigration Up

Whitewashed homes stacked like sugar cubes on the seasidecliffs of Santorini, part of Greece’s Cyclades island chain in theAegean Sea. The Cyclades are known for panoramic waterfrontviews, black-sand beaches and dramatic sunsets.

IMF Warns of More Cyprus Pay Cuts, and Russia Reliance Could Hurt Recovery

Greek Isles: Views, Beaches, Sunsets, and Crowds

AP PHOTO/kriSTi EATON

Greece's Prime Minister Antonis, right, hugs Jean-Claude Juncker, president-elect of the Euro-pean Commission at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, Monday, Aug. 4, 2014.

AP PHOTO/THANASSiS STAVrAkiS

AP PHOTO/THANASSiS STAVrAkiS

A boy wears his father's policecap, during a protest orga-nized by the Police, FireBrigade and Coast Guard fed-erations in Athens, Wednes-day, Aug. 6, 2014. About1,000 protesters took part inthe rally against governmentplans to reform their pensionschemes as part of austeritymeasures needed to securethe next tranche of thebailout. Greece is poised tosoon emerge from its savagesix-year recession.

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014

I left behind a piece of my heart in everyregion of Greece that I visited in the pastmonth.

Such is her natural beauty, the weather,the culture, the history.

But my heart also bled for what I sawand heard.

In short, the situation is even worse thanit was last summer. People are on the edgeof despair. The social safety net is on theverge of disintegration. The youth are leav-ing, especially the educated ones. After all,six years is a long time to be in a state ofdeep crisis, especially when there is no lightof hope on the horizon to help the peopleendure.

I will convey to you the situation in ourhomeland as I experienced it and as it wasdescribed to me by dozens of my knownand unknown interlocutors, from all socialclasses, but especially from the common folk.

I will convey the real situation. The hardtruth.

That is our obligation to you, but also toourselves.

On the contrary, the presentation of afrivolous and pretty picture of the situationwould make me an accomplice, because Iam now convinced that the hour is gettinglate.

In short, the country is in a “war" mode:the people are against the politicians, themany – the poor – against the few – therich. And the state against all.

The links that are holding society to-gether today are the accumulated resent-ment, defeatism, discouragement, and de-spair.

And that is not surprising when the un-employment rate is 26 percent, and whenthe standard of living declined by 25% dur-ing the past six years.

That is why the number of suicides arenow counted in the thousands, and a portionof the population is now living a ghettolifestyle.

FOOLISH ATTITUDES Nevertheless, confirming the rule that it

is difficult for people to change their habitsin any period of time, even long-term unem-ployed Greeks refuse to become “Albanians,”to work more hours for less pay.

The result is that the foreigners work –mainly the Albanians – and Greeks sit.

And the educated, the skilled, and ambi-tious, migrate – mainly to Germany. Over7,000 doctors have immigrated to Germanythus far.

The situation cannot continue for too longlike this.

The numbers do not look good and every-one knows that, regardless of what the gov-ernment says. The country needs vision,ideas, and inspiration.

A change in policy is needed, starting withthe reforms.

The troika cannot remain on hand foreverto do the job that the Greeks should do.

The state of bankruptcy cannot continue.All major issues must be analyzed with

bold realism. Even the sensitive issue ofwhether Greece can remain – not merely ifit should – in the Eurozone.

In noting that "a part of the populationhas become ghettoized,” I am referring tothe Greek who stubbornly refuses to “becomean Albanian” but instead remains unem-ployed for a long period of time unless hefinds "employment" either in the public sectoror on the same terms that prevailed beforethe crisis.

This is a major problem, and dealing withit is crucial for the country, but it is in-tractable.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, a his-torical “leveling” ideology has been embed-ded that made an all-too self-evident rightthat the state has the responsibility to takecare of its citizens, no matter what.

The decreasing of the self-dependence of

the citizen and his accompanying depen-dence on the state has consequently in-creased the utility of the politician, who inexchange for the citizen’s vote, turns himinto spineless client.

On the other hand the state, a consumerof the resources of the people, is thought ofas a producer of wealth, with predictable re-sults.

The ideology of holding the individual re-sponsible for his life – which is the basic wayof life in here in the United States – andwhich promotes dignity and self-improve-ment, and as a result the minimal possiblestate interference in the lives of the citizens,has been demonized in Greece. It has onlytaken root in the Greek mind in times of ne-cessity, that is, when people were suffering.

For example: The Greek immigrants whoarrived on our shores with suitcase in hand,lacking knowledge of the language and therelevant qualifications for the job market,had to take responsibility for their lives fromday one. And they went to work, and theyprospered.

The ideology of the state-dependent citi-zen, the client, and the all-too powerful politi-cian granting favors was promoted and pre-sented as morally superior by AndreasPapandreou.

And so, during this period of crisis, whenthe State is unable to provide them with thecomfort and security of a position in the gov-ernment, or with generous pensions whichwas the reward for their “work,” the averageGreek prefers to sit in the streets of the neigh-borhood with coffee and a cigarette in handand laments that he will not accept becomingan "Albanian."

Thus, despite an unemployment rate of26 percent, jobs in the fields, hotels, andrestaurants are taken by foreigners, mostlyAlbanians, who perform them worthily, witha smile and in good Greek.

This condition, however, leads to newpossibilities, as we know: Albanians who arecurrently working and saving will tomorrowbe those who will buy the properties and be-come the bosses.

And why not?The fact is that the six long years of crisis

have not changed the Greeks’ way of think-ing.

And this is a major and difficult problemto solve.

Perhaps it will be solved on its own, as aresult of the all-too dire necessity.

Meanwhile, the leaders, politicians, intel-lectuals, and the media should tell the truthto the people: Greece will not return to itsprevious state anytime soon.

That hard work is directly linked to theway out of the crisis.

That there needs to be a seismic changein the conception of state-citizen relations.

That participation of two to three Dias-pora Greeks in the government, and the Di-aspora’s right to vote, will help to changethe mindset of the locals.

Then, finally, the vicious cycle that beganwith Andreas Papandreou will end.

GREEK EXCEPTIONALISMOn the other hand, when you visit Greece,

you find a very noticeable discrepancy be-tween the place and the state of affairs. Thereis the rare natural beauty, the weather, andthe incomparable culture and history.

I will focus now on the positive elements,which fill the sails of the soul with fresh aro-matic air and the mind with deep wonder,as vast as the deep blue Aegean Sea. Youcome to feel that frequent pilgrimages tohomeland are not only priceless, but essen-tial.

One example: We boarded a boat in a vil-lage in Crete along with 20 other passengerswhich took us to a distant (and incrediblybeautiful) beach.

The young but experienced captain – let'scall him Sifis – polite, and speaking good

English, turns on the motor and the boatslips away playfully, as if skimming upon oil,over the crystal clear sea, which is its long-time acquaintance.

Just before we reach our destination, Sifisasks for the fare – four euros per person.

We were the only Greeks. "Why not collectthe fare when we entered the boat?" I askhim. "If someone does not pay you now, whatwill you do? “

"It’s ok," he replied, surprised. "Let himnot pay. What, should I do, as soon as some-one sets foot on my boat I ask him formoney?”

Find, if you can, this romantic beauty,subtlety of soul and hospitality elsewhere.

Another example: In the center of anAthens basin dead from the lack of buildingactivity, at the site of the old racecourse atthe Faliron Delta, a huge undertaking is un-derway, a miracle of vision, scale, and exe-cution: The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cul-tural Center.

Arriving there, you momentarily feel thatyou were suddenly, mysteriously transportedto Manhattan, to a construction project span-ning several blocks.

Bulldozers, cranes – 500 different typesof equipment are in use.

About 1100 people are working therenow!

Olive trees with thick trunks, decades old,about 1,200 trees in total and 320,000 shrubswill be planted, selected with great care fromdifferent parts of the country, the soil alsowell-chosen and arranged perfectly.

When the gates of the Cultural Center areopened, the visitor will think that these treeshave been there forever.

Above all, what most impressed me is thefeeling of perfection that prevails, as a phi-losophy and a way of working, that encom-passes everything and everywhere.

The three components of the CulturalCenter, The National Library of Greece, theGreek National Opera, and the Stavros Niar-chos Park will not only rival the best of theirkind, they will be better than the best of thebest.

This colossal project, worth 566 millioneuros – the biggest project in Europe at themoment – could not have come at a bettertime. Beyond the valuable jobs it has offeredto so many people – it is reminiscent of theconstruction of the Empire State Buildingduring the depths of the Great Depression –it also has the potential to inspire the massesand the authorities to set new, high nationalgoals that will lift the country up, high abovethe current misery and even make them anexample for the rest of the world.

Final example: High atop a restaurant, Iadmire the unbelievable views of the illumi-nated Acropolis.

That God-sculpted rock upon which man,the Ancient Greeks, deposited the productsof his highest self, logic, knowledge, and val-ues.

This hill, and its environs, says all thatcan be said about man, his character, mind,consciousness, and art.

Since then, man has occasionally createdmore representations of his wisdom. Theyadded to the Greek contributions.

There is no comparable view in the world.Nothing, no place can be compared with it.That’s it. And it is in Athens.

The next time you get depressed aboutthe situation in the country – as melancholysometimes overcomes me – when you feelthe powerful dissonance between what was,what is and what could have been for Greece,talk to Sifis, visit The Stavros Niarchos Foun-dation Cultural of the Stavros Niarchos Foun-dation, and drink some ouzo as you gazeupon the Acropolis on a perfect summernight.

You will feel like a new person. You will be filled with optimism and hope. And you will renew your faith – and your

determination – for a better Greece.

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

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There’s More to WriteAbout than the Church

To the Editor:Is it really necessary for every

edition of your newspaper tohave an article or a commentaryabout the Church. I mean nodisrespect to the Archdiocese orany of the parishes you writeabout, but there is so muchmore to the community thanthat.

A few years ago I read a ref-erence in the paper, or maybe itwas in a subscription renewalletter, that the Herald considersitself the newspaper of recordof the community.

That’s what the New YorkTimes calls itself. The Timescomes out every day. In oneweek there are seven editions.

And in America there arehundreds of thousands ofChurches, compared with, what500 in the Archdiocese?

I swear, weeks go by withoutmy seeing an article in theTimes about a Church or a syn-agogue. Does the Times have anaxe to grind? I doubt it. Theyjust have more important thingsto do, and so does TheodoreKalmoukos, whose articles I en-joy.

Thomas MarkosLos Angeles, CA

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

GEOrGE SArAFOGlOu / SPECiAl TO THE NATiONAl HErAlD

AGORA – THE ORIGINAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

GEORGAKAS PRESENTS HIS POINT OF VIEW

Dino, These past few weekswe have discussed what condi-tions warrant direct or indirectAmerican military action in in-ternational affairs. The currentcrisis in the Ukraine is the latestfocus of such consideration.Americans need to ask if our vitalnational interests or national se-curity is at stake.

The economic interactions be-tween the United States andUkraine are miniscule. Indeed,the largest sums involved are thebillions in financial and militaryaid by the U.S., sums that wouldbe better spent at home. The oilpipeline that runs throughUkraine is vital to Europe, butnot to us. Our general meddlingin the social unrest in Ukraineinvolves an outdated Russopho-bia that was previously evidentin our actions in Georgia, Kyr-gyzstan, Belarus, and other statesbordering Russia.

In contrast, Russia’s interestsin the Ukraine are vital. Thespecter of NATO bases inUkraine, a proposal raised bysome American politicians, isequivalent to having Russianbases in Canada or Mexico.We’ve already shown that it wasintolerable for us to accept Russ-ian missiles in Cuba. Russia feelsthe same about the military pos-ture of its neighboring states.

Surely, Ukraine needs to keepfree of military alignments withthe West if it wishes to normalizerelations with Russia.

The EU’s vital interests inUkraine are not limited to thefact that the bulk of gas and oilused by the EU comes from Rus-sia via Ukraine. The EU andRussian have numerous andbroadly-based economic connec-tions. That economic reality as-sures that the EU will not imposeserious sanctions on Russia.American hawks have suggestedsuspending all flights betweenRussia and the United States. Youcan bet the farm that no suchcessations will occur in Europe.

Ukraine, of course, is con-cerned about its national in-tegrity. Crimea, once unilaterallyceded to Ukraine by Russia, hasbeen reclaimed. A section of east-ern Ukraine has been seized bypro-Russian separatists. What-ever the specific outcome of thatconflict, Ukraine remains totallydependent on Russian oil andgas. In due course, Ukraineneeds to find a path that allowsit to trade with the West and Rus-sia without being absorbed by ei-ther.

President Obama has kept acool head and refers to the down-ing of the Malaysian plane as anaccident. In contrast, former Re-publican presidential nomineeSenator John McCain has led the

call to escalate the violence byshipping more military hardwareinto the area and tougheninganti-Russian sanctions. Republi-can presidential hopeful SenatorRand Paul urges immediate re-straint while advocating that theU.S. replace Russia as the EU’smajor provider of gas and oil.This works nicely for Americaninterests but is unlikely. Euro-peans are wary about being dom-inated by the U.S. and have thelonger-term prospective of inte-grating Russian and EU interestsin a mutually profitable manner.

Pro-Russian rebels in Ukrainelikely shot down the plane. Justas likely, it was an error. Downinga commercial aircraft only servesto strengthen rather than weakeninternational support of the cen-tral government. Rebels probablythought they were targeting aUkrainian supply plane. What-ever the details, resolving the cri-sis must allow all involved tosave face in some diplomaticmanner.

The air route affected con-cerns transport between Europeand southeast Asia The Dutchsuffered the highest loss of life.This offers Europe a chance totake a leadership role in shapinga reasonable dynamic betweenEurope, Russia, and Ukraine.Prudent American politicians, inturn, need to turn their backs oninflaming anti-Russian hysteria

and allow us to behave like a ma-ture and responsible Great Powerrather than an insecure and pu-gnacious adolescent.

SCAROS RESPONDSDan, your argument would

make perfect sense if we lived ina decent, rational world in whichfolks played by the rules andthere was some semblance of or-der and mutual respect. If wehad a true United Nations orga-nization, instead of one that, thatsave for the noble and importantpurpose of helping indigenouspopulations, say, obtain cleardrinking water, is a disgrace toits very name.

Diplomacy without teeth –make that, fangs – is not evenworth the effort, and militarymisadventures usually lead tomore trouble ahead.

I have written often in the re-cent past why going to warshould be our last resort, but thata limited war is a disastrous oxy-moron that only gets us into adeeper hold in the long run. Ihave also written why in thiscrazy world of ours we remain,if only by default, “the last besthope of earth,” as Abraham Lin-coln said, and so there is nomoral equivalency here: yes,Ukraine may be to Russia whatCanada or Mexico is to theUnited States, but we as a nationare morally superior to Russia,

period. And that gives us theright to live by a double stan-dard.

On the other hand, RandPaul’s brand of “New Normalcy”does sound tempting, just asWarren G. Harding’s original ver-sion did 94 years ago, when inone fell swoop America divorcedWilsonian globalism and electedHarding to the presidency by anastounding 60.3 percent of thepopular vote. Even Ronald Rea-gan, who won 49 out of 50 statesin 1984, didn’t prevail by thathigh a popular vote percentage.The only problem with isolation-ism is, pardon the pun, when itis taken in isolation.

If we decide, once and for all,to mind our own business, thenwe really need to mean it. Wecannot continue to meddle inworld affairs so long as we donot commit troops to the cause.We need to bring home not onlyour soldiers, but also our diplo-mats and most of all, our check-books. Until a new and improvedinternational organizationemerges, let someone else pickup the tab for foreign aid.

And then comes the hardpart: refocusing on Reagan’sStrategic Defense Initiative(SDI). There are few partisan-motivated cheap shots that I con-sider more preposterous than thesuggestion that President Obamawas born in Kenya – and that his

birth certificate is not real. Butone even worse than that,though, is a reference to Reagan’sSDI as “Star Wars.” That impliesan aggressive, belligerent maneu-ver, rather than a means of secu-rity and protection. It would beas absurd as if you or I had state-of-the-art alarm systems installedin our homes and, as a result,others accused us of planning toburglarize some homes on theother side of town.

And then, there is step three:a bona fide moratorium on im-migration until we can get ourducks in a row. A “Sorry, Filledto Capacity” sign hanging fromthe Statue of Liberty.

Because this is not 1920 andwe can no longer afford the lux-ury of being isolationist unlesswe truly have “two oceans pro-tecting us,” as we did back then.That means rendering potentialnuclear missiles headed our wayobsolete, and pouring somequick-hardening cement to fillthe holes of our porous immigra-tion system.

If we can make all of that hap-pen, Dan, then I’m all for fencingin our American backyard, tend-ing to our cookouts, baseballgames, and Fourth of July cele-brations, and leaving the rest ofthe kooky world to its own de-vices.

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION?

America’s Role in the World: Time to Move Past Ukraine and Declare New Normalcy?

By Dan Georgakas and Constantinos E. Scaros

From time to time, an issue emerges and inspires various minds toconverge, often at odds with one another, to discuss it. Hopefully,collective enlightenment will result from such conversations. The An-

cient Greeks did that in the Agora, the original marketplace of ideas,and we, their modern-day descendants, aspire to continue that tradi-tion.

We respect one another’s opinion very much, but often times wewill disagree on particular issues. We would never fabricate a differenceof opinion for the sake of writing an interesting column.

Rest assured, anything we write here are our sincere, heartfeltthoughts.

We will share them with you every two weeks. We hope you enjoythem, and we look forward to your taking part in the discussion aswell – by contributing letters to the editor in response, and/or com-menting on our website: www.thenationalherald.com

[By TNH Publisher-Editor Antonis Diamataris, on his recent trip to Greece]

What I Saw in Greece

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014 11

New Democracy Capitalistersatz mouthpiece/pit bull Ado-nis Georgiadis, who honed hissalesmanship skills peddling re-visionist history books on TV in-fomercials before being elevatedto the position of Health Minis-ter – then was replaced – had aglib answer why 28 immigrantswere wounded last year by twoworkers at a strawberry farm inthe Peloponnesian area ofManolada when they wereprotesting being unpaid.

He said the hired gunmen,much like the shotgun bulls onchain gangs in the AmericanSouth, fired in the air and thebullets somehow came downand hit only the immigrants.Must have been Cretan marks-men.

Unfortunately, the shooterssaid they had fired at theground and the bullets rico-cheted, hitting the immigrants,making them the first to usesmart bullets.

This fiction was believedunanimously by a seven-judgepanel in the Western Greek cityof Patra, who acquitted thefarm’s owner and foreman, con-victing the fall guy shooters, oneto a sentence of 14 years andseven months and the other toeight years and seven months.

Those were fake convictionsto find scapegoats to appeasecritics who aren’t buying it, andneither is the country’s highcourt, which is going to reviewthe decision. They should checkwhat the judges were smokingwhile they’re at it.

The two convicted weregiven the option – common inGreece which goes easy on con-victs unless they’re immigrants– of buying out their jail time atthe rate of 5 euros a day. Now

we know the valueGreek authoritiesput on the lives ofillegal immigrants.

The two con-victed have to comeup with 22,950 eu-ros and 15,650 eu-ros respectively andcan avoid jail, carryguns and keep firingaway at immigrantsif they want becausethe lives of immi-grants in Greece areworthless.

It doesn’t matterthat they do the me-nial work that Greeks won’t,even in a crushing economic cri-sis with record unemploymentand deep poverty. If Greece stillhad triremes, the immigrantswould be shackled to the oars.

Greece is being overrun withillegal immigrants, with littlehelp from the European Unionto stop it, but that’s a differentstory. This one is about whathappens to those who are here.

They shouldn’t be allowed tostay, although if Barack Obamawas the Greek Prime Ministerhe’d give them free passes, butwhat’s at stake here is howGreece treats human beingswho don’t have any advantagesin life and shouldn’t be shot at,assaulted or chased down thestreet.

Predictably, the verdict set offoutrage among immigrants anddecent Greeks as well as theirlawyer, Moisis Karabeidis, whosaid the decision was “shame-ful” and would give a license toGreek bosses to mistreat mi-grant laborers.

“This is an inhuman, shame-ful decision... I am ashamed tobe Greek,” Karabeidis told re-

porters, as dozensof migrants andtheir supportersstaged a protestoutside the court-room. “You canimagine what kindof (working) con-ditions will prevailin the area fromnow on,” he said.

The immigrantswere working intemperatures upto 104 degrees,toiling for manyhours a day for 22euros, or about

$30, but said the owner stillwouldn’t pay them for long pe-riod of time. There was anothercrime here: hiring illegal immi-grants, but the owner wasn’tprosecuted for that either.

Earlier this summer, anothercourt, apparently with judgeswho have some humanity, con-victed two men of the murderof another immigrant who waskilled while riding his bicycle towork, so hopefully not all is lostyet.

That’s what you’d think ex-cept that a Greek prosecutor,days after the Manolada deci-sion, showed again the prevail-ing attitude of the governmentof Prime Minister Antonis Sama-ras, whose campaign two yearsago included a promise to ridGreece of illegal immigrants.

The prosecutor decided tostop an investigation into aCoast Guard operation in which11 immigrants drowned off theAegean islet of Farmakonisi inJanuary.

That showed Greece is will-ing to look the other way insuch cases, European Union Hu-man Rights Commissioner Nils

Muiznieks said.“Impunity risks covering

these serious human rights vio-lations. This would be a gravemistake,” said Muiznieks.

“Greek authorities have totake more resolute efforts to en-sure accountability for thistragedy,” he said. Instead, it’smaking none and the smell ofcover-up is strong indeed.

The small fishing boat over-loaded with 28 passengers en-tered Greek waters illegallyfrom Turkey on January 20. TheCoast Guard said it was towingthe boat to Farmakonisi when itcapsized and sank, causing 11passengers – eight women andthree children, all fromAfghanistan – to drown.

“We want the investigationto be reopened. The people whoare responsible for the death ofour loved ones must be broughtto justice,” the families of thevictims said, to deaf ears.

Survivors claimed the boatwas being towed at high speedback into Turkish waters, an un-lawful “push back.”

Merchant Marine MinisterMiltiadis Varvitsiotis and CoastGuard officials said the survivorsweren’t believable, mabye be-cause they were water-logged.Lost is the brave effort of theCoast Guard in other cases tosave immigrant lives when boatscapsized.

The survivors said CoastGuard crew members ignoredtheir pleas to take the womenand children on their boat be-fore the accident, and then al-legedly stood by as passengersstruggled in rough seas.

That’s Greek justice for im-migrants.

[email protected]

Torture, rape, murder andmass killing – it is not a pagefrom the Roman Empire or theOttoman Turks; but life forChristians under the current Is-lamic State of Iraq and Syria(ISIS). Shockingly, crucifyingChristians, forcing them to paya head tax to keep their lives,destroying religious structures,are daily practices in Iraq andSyria. This is the first time thatterrorists have acquired a phys-ical space where they can prac-tice their perverted versions ofIslam. Indeed, finally George W.Bush and his associates can saythere is truly a terrorist state inIraq.

The crisis in Iraq and Syria isunfolding on two levels: the per-secution of Christians and otherreligious denominations and theredrawing of the borders of theMiddle East. It is remarkablehow the media in the UnitedStates and Canada pay scant at-tention to the plight of Chris-tians trapped in the land of ISIS.Even Obama’s righteous indig-nation is reserved for VladimirPutin rather than aimed at thecrazies who have taken overlarge tracks of Syria and Iraqand who are committing massmurder.

Maybe if the situation werereversed the American media,particularly CNN, would bewaxing eloquently about the in-justices committed by Christiansagainst Muslims. Newspapers,radio, television, and the Inter-net go out of their way to cata-logue the crimes perpetrated bythe West against Muslims andexcuse the unwillingness ofmany Muslims to acculturatewhen immigrating to NorthAmerica and Europe. But theyfail to mention that most Mus-lims – through no fault of theirown – come from countries thatare intolerant of non-Islamic re-ligions.

How many churches or syn-agogues are in Iran, Saudi Ara-bia, Qatar, Yemen and otherMuslim countries? Saudi Arabiais a Wahhabi-dominated statethat persecutes its Shia minorityand forces Westerners to adoptthe customs and norms of Saudisociety. Imagine any Westerncountry imposing a dress codeon a Muslim. France, out of ex-asperation, forbids the Muslimheaddress for women but coun-tries such as Canada, motivated

by the allure of po-litical correctness,bow to the will ofthe unreasonableand idiotic.

For example, atYork University inToronto a maleMuslim student re-fused to write anexam in a roomwith women. Mus-lim women wear-ing the burka havebecome common inAmerican andCanadian cities –this is their right,but why do they not make theslightest effort to adapt to NorthAmerican society? Earlier immi-grants kept their traditions anddressed apart from mainstreamsociety, but their childrenadopted the culture of the newcountry. They honored the tra-ditions of their parents but atthe same time wanted to respectthe society that gave them ahome.

One factor that keeps manyMuslims segregated from main-stream culture is Islam has notheological mechanism to guideMuslims living in a non-Muslimcountry. There is a committeeof Muslim scholars working onhow to address the problem buttheir work is slow and they have

to proceed withcaution not to bringthe wrath of fanat-ics on them.

In the meantime,the persecution ofChristians, particu-larly Orthodox, inthe Middle East isproceeding un-abated. In regionsunder ISIS control itis horrific but also inthe so-called mod-erate countries suchas Turkey andEgypt, Christiansface administrative

persecution – the best exampleis the encumbrances placed uponthe Ecumenical Patriarchate inConstantinople.

The Orthodox Church inTurkey cannot train priests,build churches, or even repairthem except under the moststringent conditions. The situa-tion for the Orthodox is gettingworse as the Recep Tayyip Er-dogan regime is become pro-gressively more Islamic and au-tocratic.

In effect, the modern MiddleEast is rapidly changing and theObama Administration is inca-pable of guiding events or, forthat matter, fully comprehend-ing that the world is undergoinga major shift. The fixation with

Russia, Ukraine and Putin hasbeen at the cost of losing controlin the Middle East.

The borders of the region es-tablished by the 1916 Sykes-Pi-cot Agreement and solidified bythe Treaty of Versailles are col-lapsing. Tragically, instead of anorderly change, Muslim fanaticsand madmen are dictating thepace of events. The UnitedStates has only Israel as astaunch ally in the Middle East,while Greece is the other solidfriend close to the region. SaudiArabia and Qatar, ostensiblyAmerica’s allies, have beenfunding ISIS as has Turkey with-out regard for the consequencesof the stability of the MiddleEast. For them the stakes areSunni versus Shia control of theMuslim world and everythinghas little relevance. Indeed, thereal conflict in the region is areligious struggle, with all theviciousness and horror that suchwars invoke on those consideredthe “other.” In the case of ISIS,Turkey and even Egypt, the“other” is Christian, who willpay a dear price for their faithand for being part of the West.

André Gerolymatos is Directorof the Stavros Niarchos Founda-tion Centre for Hellenic Studiesat Simon Fraser University inVancouver.

Christianity on the Edge: The Crisis in the Middle East

LETTER FROM ATHENS

In Greece, the Lives of Immigrants are Just Worthless

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

By Dean Argiris

Aldous Huxley, the author ofThe Brave New World, one said“that men do not learn verymuch from the lessons of historyis the most important lesson ofhistory.”

When it comes to the Chris-tians of the Middle East, wemust learn from history and notrepeat the same mistakes again.

What is occurring in Iraq andSyria is nothing new, in fact it isa violent repetitious carbon copyof an event nearly one centuryold. The Asia Minor genocide,more commonly known as theArmenian Genocide, was carriedout by the Ottoman TurkishCaliphate against 3.1 million Ar-menian, Greek and AssyrianChristians. In the seven years itwas carried out (from 1915 –1922), nearly 1.6 million werekilled and another 1.5 millionGreeks were ejected from theirancestral home.

Then, as is now, Christianswere crucified or beheaded,their churches and relics lootedand burned. Concentrationcamps were built deep withinSyria and Iraq and many wereforced to make the trek acrossthe desert, in death marches.Those who were not murderedor raped by nomadic raidersdied from the severe desert cli-mate or within the camps them-selves.

Then as now, the inaction ofthe Great Powers only helpedfuel the actions and actuallyhelped lay the groundwork forthe Holocaust.

In his 1939 Obersalzberg

Speech, Adolf Hitler said, “who,after all, speaks today of the an-nihilation of the Armenians?”

There are always two geno-cides. The first is the physicalact and the second is the denialthat it ever existed.

The growth of the IslamicState of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) isa brutal lesson to the world thatpast and present is clashing withviolent force. Combined, thesetwo countries have 3,195,000Christians, of which 2,429,740(76%) are of the OrthodoxFaith. Christianity in this regionhas existed since the Pentecost,when Saints Peter, Thomas andThaddeus (Jude) brought theGospel to this region. For 2000years, they have been a pres-ence here and now they are onthe verge of extinction.

Forced expulsions, behead-ings, crucifixions, a the destruc-tion of Holy sites all demon-strate the vitriol of this extremistgroup, bent on realizing OsamaBin Laden’s dream of restoringthe glory of the OttomanCaliphate.

There are moral imperativesand when we are faced withtests of our moral character,they must be answered or wefail in our humanity. Neveragain must mean never again,and those words must haveweight behind them.

Constantine (Dean) Argiris hasbeen affiliated with political op-erations on the local, state, andnational levels. For over adecade he has been an advocatefor the recognition of the AsiaMinor Genocide.

by DR. ANDREGEROLYMATOS


Murder, rape, and torture, particularly for religious reasons, seems like a horrific tale of Ancienttimes, but is an unfortunate reality in today’s Middle East for Christians, at the hands of Islamicextremists, such as ISIS.

For Middle East Christians,Past and Present Collide

As the U.S.economy grows ata reasonable butcertainly not im-pressive rate, onesometimes gets thefeeling we live in a“normal” world.The memory of the2008 financialmeltdown and thesubsequent GreatRecession is start-ing to fade into adaily routine ofpositive businessnews that offsetCongressional grid-lock and partisan politics.

The innovations in oil andnatural gas extraction and themassive acquisitions originatingfrom Silicon Valley seem to bethe order of the day. Overall,corporate sentiment rings opti-mistic, as many multinational

firms are benefitting

from pro-ductivity gains,whether from tar-geted cost cutting orfrom big data investments.To top everything off, theAmerican economy possesses aninherent “hedge” in its omnipo-tent Federal Reserve Bank,which will postpone raising in-terest rates from their current,extremely low levels if the econ-omy shows any signs of moder-ation or weakness.

This “return to normalcy,” ofcourse, is not reflective of thewhole economy. The employ-ment gap between skilled andunskilled workers, for example,points to a noticeably differentcomposition of economic activ-ity subsequent to the financialcrisis, while the much-reportedwidening of income inequalityspeaks to the dominance of bigbusiness and the difficulties fac-ing small businesses. Neverthe-

less, as far as mar-kets are concerned,this state of affairssuffices to keepthem elevated be-cause they areskewed towardslarge corporationsand the holders ofcapital, particularlyin a low-rate envi-ronment. We arethus observingrecord-level equityprices even thoughI doubt many of ussense the wealth isbeing trickled

down. It is therefore only appropri-

ate, in my view, to be experi-encing a variety of market jittersof late. In fact, there is growingconviction in the investmentcommunity that volatility is tostay elevated for awhile. Most of thefocus has been

on junkbonds,i.e. non

i n v e s t -m e n t -

grade cor-porate debt,or on Euro-pean sover-

eign debt. Ar-gentina’s mostrecent bond de-fault, whiletechnical in na-ture is a re-

minder that ex-ternalities can emerge from

less anticipated places. And oneof those places may very wellbe China: positive economicdata releases are the result ofChina’s State Council counteringslowing growth with morecredit growth-boosting policies,such as targeted interest-ratecuts and bailouts to prevent cor-porate defaults. The misalloca-tion of capital inherent in thisprocess will no doubt come tohaunt China (and us) if reformsare not implemented, and thatmay be sooner rather than later.

Stefanos Kasselakis is aninvestor and entrepreneur; Hehas traded commodities atGoldman Sachs and foundedcvfromgreece.com.

by STEFANOSKASSELAKIS


Economy & Politics

American Economy BackTo Normal? Yes and No

12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 9-15, 2014

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