The National Herald€¦ · The National Herald A wEEkly GrEEk-AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON August 31 -...

The National HeraldA wEEkly GrEEk-AmEriCAN PuBliCATiON

August 31 - September 6, 2013

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 16, ISSUE 829 $1.50

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Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek-Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

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Cyprus Mail

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Representa-tives of Greek and Cypriot or-ganizations abroad, gatheredhere for their 17th annual con-ference focusing on two maintopics, the state of the economyand developments in UN-led ef-forts to find a political settle-ment.

Delegates from all over theworld also discussed their con-tribution and pledged to con-tinue their support.

President Nicos Anastasiadesopened the two-day meetingand during his speech said thatdespite trouble in the MiddleEast and the financial problemsfaced by Cyprus, the govern-ment’s priority remained a so-lution to the Cyprus problem.

“Our priority is to free ouroccupied territory, the reunifi-cation our homeland and thecreation of conditions which willallow Cypriots, both Greek andTurkish, to live together peace-fully within a modern Europeanstate which will allow prosperityand a promising future,” hesaid.

Referring to a governmentproposal for the return of Fam-agusta as a first positive andpractical step Turkey couldmake ahead of a new round ofnegotiations expected to beginin autumn, Anastasiades said itseemed the proposal was beingaccepted by the internationalcommunity.

“It is interpreted as a tangiblesign of our will to move theCyprus issue out of the currentdeadlock and create the condi-tions that will give new impetusand momentum to efforts for acomprehensive settlement”, headded.

The Director of the Divisionof Overseas and RepatriatedCypriots, at the Foreign MinistryAmbassador MariosIeronymides spoke about the re-sponsibility of Cypriot Hellenismaround the world to preservethe vision to liberate Cyprus andseek ways to take Cyprus out ofthe economic recession.

He commended the efforts ofCypriots abroad who were help-ing their homeland, and con-gratulated them on their suc-cesses in their adoptedcountries.

Katie Clerides, PresidentialCommissioner for HumanitarianAffairs and Affairs of OverseasCypriots, noted that the pres-ence of overseas Cypriots inCyprus showed their love fortheir homeland and their con-tinuous interest in pursuing the

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Diaspora Leaders ConveneIn Cyprus to Discuss Crisis

The Panepirotic Federation ofAmerica (POA) has sharply crit-icized an assault on a Greek Or-thodox church in the city of Per-met in southern Albania on Aug.16 by what it said were hiredgovernment thugs who smashedicons and crosses and beat upworshippers trying to defend theonly Christian house of worshipin the city.

“The attack on the Church ofthe Virgin Mary, on the morningafter her feast day, revived uglymemories of past attempts bygovernment agencies of outgo-ing Prime Minister Sali Berishato harass, intimidate and bru-talize ethnic Greek Orthodoxcommunities in Albania,” saidPOA President DemetriosKoutoulas.

“The conduct of municipalauthorities in Permet, with theobvious consent of the Berishagovernment, was outrageousand far from responsible behav-ior for a country seeking to en-ter the European Union.”

PanipiroticsBlast AttackIn Permet

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

ORLANDO, FL – The Order ofAHEPA held its 91st annualSupreme Convention at theLoews Portofino Bay Hotel atUniversal Orlando, FL August18 to 24. The Opening cere-monies on August 18 welcomedparticipants from across theUnited States, Canada, Greece,Australia, and Bulgaria and theweek culminated with theGrand Banquet on August 23and elections the following day.

The mission of the AHEPAFamily is to promote Hellenism,Education, Philanthropy, CivicResponsibility, and Family andIndividual Excellence. Duringthe week, well-planned socialevents were the sugar and spiceto the meat and potatoes of theorganizational meetings whereissues were discussed rangingfrom the Order’s charitable ac-tivities in the United States,Greece, and Cyprus, to the fu-ture of the organization.

The AHEPA Cyprus and Hel-lenic Affairs Committee passeda resolution adopted by the con-vention body backing all of thelegislation introduced thus farin Congress by the Congres-sional Caucus on Hellenic Is-sues, which is chaired by Rep-resentatives Gus Bilirakis andCarolyn Maloney.

The election of the officialswho oversee international orga-nization’s activities throughoutthe coming year took place onAugust 23. Anthony Kouzounisof Houston was electedSupreme President, and theother organizations that com-prise the AHEPA Family alsoheld elections. Joanne Saltas,Salt Lake City, UT, was reelectedGrand President of the Daugh-ters of Penelope; John Ververis,Southington, CT, elected Sonsof Pericles Supreme President;and Angela Armstrong, Chan-dler, AZ, was reelected Maids ofAthena Grand President.

As always, the Grand Ban-quet was a moving and enter-taining affair. Basile the Come-dian served up laughter as MCand the guests also received in-spirational words from His Em-inence Archbishop Demetrios,Congressman Gus Bilirakis, andHis All Holiness Ecumenical Pa-triarch Bartholomew I via videoclip.

Also present were the Am-bassador of the Republic ofCyprus George Chacalli and theConsul General of Greece inTampa, Antonios Sgouropoulos,who offered remarks andbriefed the audience on the lat-est developments in Cyprus andGreece.

All the speakers expressedtheir thanks to AHEPA for its as-sistance and effectiveness as anorganization over its 91 yearsand the Archbishop said “We arethankful to God for having this

AHEPA’s 91st AnnualSupreme ConventionShines in Florida Sun

By Andy DabilisTNH Staff Writer

ATHENS – Greek Prime Minis-ter Antonis Samaras has di-rected his ministers to find ex-amples where the governmentis helping people to push whathe calls the country’s “successstory,” but is facing the likeli-hood of teacher strikes and op-position in his government tothe lifting of a ban on foreclo-sures of homes.

Even while talk lingers of

whether Greece will need athird bailout, said to be 10-11billion euros ($13-$14.4 bil-lion,) Samaras said he wants topoint out how he has pushedthe economy toward recoveryand wants to counter-attack crit-icism from the major oppositionparty the Coalition of the Radi-cal Left (SYRIZA).

State officials plan to drawattention to initiatives such asthe granting of 50,000 tempo-rary jobs – at municipalities,schools, courts, social insurance

funds and hospitals – for collegegraduates struggling to findwork amid a deepening reces-sion.

Another “success story” to betouted is the fact that authoritiesthis year succeeded in securingadequate funding to accommo-date all the families that appliedfor a position for their child at astate day center.

Ministers will be asked tosubmit files containing outlines

Samaras Upbeat But Unrest Looming

Spirited Republican Mayoral Primary Debate Live from CUNYMayoral candidate John Catsimatidis responded to TNH reporter Eleni Kalogeras’ question abouthow he felt about this week’s New York Times’ endorsement of rival Joe Lhota by suggesting thatfor Republicans, Times endorsements are a kiss of death. CBS correspondent John Metaxas isseen holding a microphone. See related article on page 6.

Koumoutsos: Leader of the Port Authority Police

ATHENS - Greece’s Culture Min-istry has warned against “over-bold” speculation that an an-cient artificial mound beingexcavated could contain a royalMacedonian grave or evenAlexander the Great.

Site archaeologist AikateriniPeristeri has voiced hopes offinding “a significant individualor individuals” within.

Greek websites enthused thatit could hold the long-soughtgrave of 4th-Century B.C. war-rior-king Alexander the Great —thought to lie in Egypt.

A Culture Ministry statementsaid the partly-excavatedmound has yielded a “very re-markable” marble-faced wallfrom the late 4th Century B.C.It is an impressive 500 meters(yards) long and three metershigh.

But the ministry warned itwould be “overbold” to link thesite near ancient Amphipolis,370 miles (600 kilometers)north of Athens, with “historicpersonages” before the excava-tion is completed.

Greece Skeptical of Alexander Tomb Discovery

By Theodore KalmoukosTNH Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Thestalemate at the Greek Ortho-dox parish in Salt Lake City thathad kept the Churches of theHoly Trinity and Prophet Eliasclosed for a whole month uponthe directive of MetropolitanIsaiah of Denver has come to anend.

An email sent to the parishby the two priests, MichaelKouremetis and Mathew Gilbert,states that “with the blessing ofHis Eminence Metropolitan Isa-iah we will return to the Litur-gical Life of the community andthe clergy will resume officehours. During this past monththe Sacraments, Baptisms, Wed-dings and Funeral Services werenever stopped and any Ortho-dox parishioners who were inthe hospitals were ministeredto, if we were notified.”

The Liturgical Services re-sumed on August 29 with the

celebration of the Liturgy for theFeast of the Beheading of SaintJohn the Baptist. Also this Sun-day, Orthros and Divine Liturgywill be celebrated at the usual

scheduled time 8:30AM.Metropolitan Isaiah of Den-

ver had closed both churches amonth ago by prohibiting itsthree priests to celebrate theLiturgy, the Sacraments and anyof the Sacred Services becausethe parish council was forced toreduce the salaries of the clergyby 40% due to lack of funds ofthe parish.

In a letter dated July 31 toParish Council President Dim-itrios Tsagaris and its members,Isaiah wrote that “pursuant tothe motion voted on and ap-proved by your Parish Councilat your meeting on July 29,2013 to reduce clergy salariesby 40%, I have no other choicebut to direct your three assignedclergy to immediately suspendall priestly ministry to theparish.”

Isaiah made clear that theHoly trinity Cathedral is“closed” since he prohibited thepriests to even Liturgize. Hewrote that “they are not to cele-

brate any Liturgy, Sacrament, orService whatsoever, effectivethis date until further notice.This includes the Sunday Litur-gies, beginning this Sunday, Au-gust 4th, and all scheduled wed-dings and baptisms.”

Isaiah also wrote to theTsagaris to inform him afterthey restore the priests’ salariesin order to allow them to dotheir priestly duties: “Please in-form me in writing at such timeas you have put the financial af-fairs of the parish in order andrepresenting the General Assem-bly of parishioners in goodstanding, you are able to resumecompensating the clergy as re-quired by the Uniform ParishRegulations. Keep in mind thatyou must pay them the amountswithheld by you as of this date.As soon as I receive your assur-ance that matters returned tonormal, I will be very happy tohave the clergy resume their

Utah Churches Resume their Sunday Liturgies

Archaeologists at a tomb in the city of Amphipolis, near Serres, northern Greece, which theybelieve could belong to the wife and son of Alexander the Great, Roxana and Alexander IV.

Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver


NEW YORK — The Port Author-ity of New York and New Jer-sey’s portfolio of vital infrastruc-ture and services includes JFK,Newark, and LaGuardia Air-ports, and a 1,600-member Po-lice Department. That is why itcan be said that Louis Koumout-sos’ appointment as chief of thePAPD this summer was almostpreordained.

Koumoutsos was interestedin aviation and police worksince childhood, despite havingno family members in eitherfield. He had hoped to be a pi-lot, and worked for ContinentalAirlines at Newark Airport forseveral years, but as soon as theopportunity came to be a policeofficer, he took it.

Koumoutsos’ landing in thePAPD’s vast field of responsibil-ity was inevitable only becauseof his dedication to duty and ex-cellence during 20 years of po-lice service. It was probably alsocritical that his late father, Evan-gelos, was a proud Spartan.

“We say you do it the oneway and the only way which isthe right way,” Koumoutsos toldTNH, which he also conveys tohis children. “I tell them try todo it right the first time so youdon’t have to go back and wastetime.”

As the head of the policeforce that was at the heart ofthe tragedy and heroism of 9/11and works to prevent future at-tacks – the Port Authority ownsthe World Trade Center – thoseare reassuring words.

The facilities that the PAPDpolices “are vulnerable areasand prime targets…that’s whyour tactics change every day.

The tourists he encountersare impressed with his uniformthat is bedecked with the marks

Veteran Lawman isEpitome of Energy,Devotion, Vigilance

Continued on page 9

Anthony Kouzounis of Hous-ton, newly-elected SupremePresident. Continued on page 9 Continued on page 5Continued on page 4

Continued on page 9

Continued on page 6

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 6

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Vote on our website!You have the chance to express your opinion on our website

on an important question in the news. The results will be pub-lished in our printed edition next week along with the questionfor that week.

The question this week is: Question of the Week: Do youthink Greece should refuse another bailout from the EU?o Yeso Noo MaybeThe results for last week’s question: Do you think President

Obama was right to cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin af-ter Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden?62% voted "Yes"38% voted "No"

Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com

By Jim ArmitageThe Independent

Eric Parks could easily betaken for yet another SiliconValley tycoon. You know thetype: big personality, broadAmerican accent, talks incolourful tech jargon and callsyou Dude.

But, in fact, this 38-year-oldis one of a small but growingclan – the Athens technology en-trepreneur.

Mr Parks was brought up inthe city then globe-trottedthrough universities in the USand the UK, before settlingdown to work in America.

He explains: “I was workingin Colorado and just woke upone day and realised: I’m 1,500miles from the sea. I’m halfGreek. This is just not going towork!”

Back in Athens, he and hisweb-savvy friends founded amessaging app called Pinnatta.With no venture capitalists tospeak of in the city, they had tohead to Silicon Valley for funds,tapping Sequoia Capital amongothers.

That was in 2011. This year,the latest venture he’s involvedwith, Pollfish, secured its full,€300,000 (£ 257,886) seed fi-nance entirely from Greek ven-ture capital.

Thanks to a mixture of EUand private funding, plus red-tape cutting for start-ups de-manded by “the Trokia” – theEU, International MonetaryFund and European CentralBank – and the launch of col-laborative workspaces offeringsupport and guidance for youngentrepreneurs, Athens has de-veloped its own nascent silicon

scene. It now has four venture-capital houses in the city wherea couple of years ago there werenone.

“A few years ago you had toalmost emigrate to get fundingbut now we have a vibrant en-vironment. It’s a big psycholog-ical change,” Mr Parks says.“And, crucially, here I can hirebrilliant engineers of Silicon Val-ley quality for a quarter of theprice.”

It isn’t just Pinnatta and Poll-fish set to benefit from the newenvironment. Other Athens dig-ital startups include Bugsense,Taxibeat and Incrediblue – akind of booking.com for boatsand yachts.

It is the kind of story theGreek government desperatelyneeds to get out to its increas-ingly desperate and disenfran-chised youth.

So far, the political narrative

– and the reality in people’s paypackets, pensions and redun-dancy notices – has been of cuts,cuts, cuts: forced upon it by theTroika in return for bailoutfunds. Not to mention big risesin their tax bills.

Mr Parks evangelises abouthow his country needs to find anew story – one in which entre-preneurs lead the way to aneconomy in which the brightestwant to start businesses, ratherthan get easy, well-paying jobsin the state sector.

He is a fine antidote to theeasy German cliche of the tax-dodging Greek layabout.

There are more tech-savvyfolks like him in the city, whocould quite easily up sticks forSan Francisco or London tomake themselves rich butchoose to stay.

The fear has to be that, if theconditions imposed on Greeceget any worse, even these hardysouls will quit.

A Grexit would make such anexodus inevitable.

Less is definitely more forRussian computer nerds

Eric Parks says Greece’s grad-uates make bright, and cheap,programmers. But at GoldmanSachs, it’s Russian boffinsthey’re after.

So says the Muscovite mathsgenius Sergey Aleynikov, theformer Goldman algorithmictrading programmer convictedof stealing computer code fromthe bank last year. In thismonth’s Vanity Fair, as well asprotesting his innocence, he de-scribes how more than half theprogrammers designing Gold-man’s super-fast algorithmictrading programmes were Rus-sians.

The reason? They’re the beston Wall Street. Mr Aleynikovsays that, for his generation atleast, this is because their badly-kitted out universities don’t al-low them much time on com-puters.

“In Russia, time on the com-puter was measured in min-utes,” he says. The result being,he claims, an unmatched skillin creating programs that workfirst time without the need forconstant rewriting to eliminatethe bugs.

Given the events on WallStreet this week, featuring notone but two major episodes ofmajor computer glitches, onewonders: did the programmersinvolved at Goldman and Nas-daq spend too much time ontheir computers at college?

Georgia’s new leader has theWest worried

When you’ve got $6bn(£3.84bn) in the bank, it’s easyenough to speak your mind. ButGeorgia’s billionaire newishprime minister Bidzina Ivan-ishvili should perhaps be morecircumspect.

The man who made his for-tune in Russia before decidingto turn his mind back home wona bad-tempered coalition driveto push out the pro-Westernparty of outgoing presidentMikheil Saakashvili, picturedleft, last year.

Some in Western govern-ments fear he wants to turn thecountry’s allegiances back tomother Russia. He counters thathe wants to be friends with eastand west and still wants Georgiato join the EU and Nato.

But his government has de-tained dozens of MrSaakashvili’s officials on corrup-tion charges. Yesterday he saidMr Saakashvili himself couldface the same fate for presidingover a country “smothered bycorruption”.

The US has already voicedconcern at the arrests and willbe rightly concerned by this lat-est outburst.

If he is serious about keepingties with the West, he shouldstop threatening to use thecourts to silence his opposition.Such talk may wash withMoscow, but Western capitalsmight take a different view.

Tech Innovators Rewriting Greek Tragedy Script

Eric Parks, who is part Greek and grew up in Athens, has re-turned to the Greek capital. He is able to flash his high-techtalent there, thanks to some of the Troika reforms.

n JULY 13 – NOVEMBER 2TARPON SPRINGS, FL - Nightin the Islands also will be of-fered Saturdays, Sep. 7, Oct. 5,and Nov. 2 from 6-11 PM theCity of Tarpon Springs will pre-sent Night in the Islands – a freeevent on the world famousSponge Docks. Enjoy Greek mu-sic, dancing, and dining! Andwe will offer an hour of freeGreek dance lessons by the Lev-endia Dance Troupe from 6-7PM. The event features live mu-sic by Ellada, an exciting Greekband composed of three of themost accomplished Greek mu-sicians in the state. Ellada willperform nisiotika, the lively tra-ditional music of the Greek is-lands, as well as old and newGreek favorites. Ellada includesLeonidas Zafiris, bouzouki; EliasPoulos, vocals; and Dino The-ofilos, keyboard. The festival issupported in part by a grantfrom the National Endowmentfor the Arts.

n SEPTEMBER 4ASTORIA – Get-Out-The-VoteRally for John CATSimatidis!The 2013 Independent Repub-lican for NYC Mayor. A Mayorfor all New Yorkers and a ProudMember of the Omogeneia. JoinUs on Wednesday, Sept. 4th, 6-8PM at the Cretan House,32-3331st Street in Astoria. Open tothe Public. Everyone is wel-come. John will meet with usand share his passion and visionfor NYC. Appetizers and refresh-ments will be served. RSVP to:[email protected],917.856.3735 or, [email protected] is NOT afundraiser and no funds will besolicited.

n SEPTEMBER 10-11CARDIFF BY THE SEA, CA – BeGreek for the day and enjoy au-thentic food, music, live enter-tainment, dancing, and more forthe entire family at the 33rd an-nual Greek Festival held atSaints Constantine and HelenGreek Orthodox Church on Sat-urday, Sept. 10 from 10AM to10PM, and Sunday, Sept. 11from 11AM to 9PM. The eventis located ½ mile east of I-5 atthe Manchester Avenue exit inCardiff-by-the-Sea. Admission is$3.00 for adults and free forchildren under 12. Free parkingis available at adjacent MiraCosta College. For two days, thechurch grounds are transformedinto a quaint Greek village at-mosphere where you can expe-rience fine food, traditionalGreek dancing, and the warmthof Greek hospitality. Thechurch’s award-winning folkdance troupes, Armonia andNeo Kyma Dancers, will performin full traditional dress on theoutdoor patio. A live auctionfeaturing many valuable do-nated items will take place at5PM on both days. The annualdrawing for the 2012 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sedan will be heldon Sept. 11 at 7PM. Tickets areonly $10 each and limited to7,500 sold. Tickets can be pur-chased at the festival or on thewebsite at cardiffgreekfest.com.Winner need not be present.

n SEPTEMBER 15MANHATTAN – The Church ofthe Annunciation invites you to“Welcome Back & GodparentSunday,” on Sunday, Sep. 15.Now that the summer is slowlywinding down we are preparingto welcome the entire commu-nity back to the AnnunciationChurch. We will celebrate every-one's return by honoring ourgodparents and godchildren. Amemorial service will be heldfor our godparents and godchil-dren who have fallen asleep inthe Lord, and an artoklasia willbe offered for the health andwellbeing of those who are stillalive and with us. 302 West 91stStreet. 212-724-2070.

n SEPTEMBER 16ROSLYN, NY – The HellenicAmerican Networking Group in-vites you to their next gatheringat Limani Restaurant, 1043Northern Boulevard, Roslyn,NY on Monday, Sep. 16. Therewill be a cash bar and Limaniwill once again graciously pro-vide their delicious appetizers.The mission of this organizationis to create an environment thatfacilitates meaningful businessconnections with fellow Hel-lenes. It’s about unifying the

Hellenic professionals and theHellenic entrepreneurs, bringingtogether our like-minded com-munity to create a platform forthe growth and advancement ofHellenes.

n SEPTEMBER 19-22GREENLAWN, NY – The St.Paraskevi Greek OrthodoxChurch presents its Greek Festi-val 2013, Sep. 19. Come join usfor a little taste of Greece andenjoy homemade Greek special-ties such as gyro, souvlaki,mousaka, spanakopita, Greekbeer and more! Also featuringtraditional Greek dance perfor-mances, guided Church tours,flea market and vendors andGrand Raffle! Hours: Thursday,Sep. 19, 6 – 10 PM, Friday, Sep.20 and Saturday, Sep. 21, 11AM–11 PM, Sunday, Sep 22, 12noon–9 PM. Where: ParishGrounds, 1 Shrine Place, Green-lawn, NY. For more informationcall 631-261-7272.

n OCTOBER 3MANHATTAN – Please join usat the Inaugural Banquet forThe Hellenic Initiative on Thurs-day, Oct. 3 at 583 Park Avenuein Manhattan. “Investing in theFuture of Greece” featuringPresident Bill Clinton will honorthree outstanding individualsfor their service to people ofGreece and all funds raisedthrough the banquet will sup-port programs to support recov-ery and renewal in Greece.George Stephanopoulos will bethe Master of Ceremonies. Thehonorees include Andreas Dra-copoulos on behalf of TheStavros Niarchos Foundation;Muhtar Kent, chairman andCEO of The Coca Cola Com-pany; and Andrew N. Liveris,chairman and CEO of The DowChemical Company. We are de-lighted to celebrate their long-standing commitment and manycontributions to Greece, espe-cially in response to the eco-nomic crisis. John Catsimatidis,Dennis Mehiel, George Stamas,George Svokos are the event Co-Chairs. Visit THI’s website toregister to attend at: www.the-hellenicinitiative.org. Hotel Ac-commodations in Manhattan:Rooms have been reserved atthe following hotels in Manhat-tan for Oct. 2-4. If you wouldlike to make a reservation,please phone the hotels directlyand ask for the Hellenic Initia-tive Banquet rate. The Renais-sance Hotel ($369 per night)Phone: 212-753-8841; The Fitz-patrick Hotel ($329 per night)Phone: 212-355-0100. Banquettickets are $500 each, withpackages for hosts at $2500,supporters at 15k, patrons at25k and vice chairs at 50k.

n OCTOBER 31 –NOVEMBER 3

WASHINGTON, DC – DC-Greeks.com, in association withlocal and national Hellenic or-ganizations, invites Greek-American young adults fromacross the country to our Na-tion's Capital this November forthe 5th edition of the one of themost diverse and inclusiveGreek events on the calendar!Pan-Hellenism Weekend 2013will provide Greek-Americanand Philhellene young adults 18and over with an affordable,fun, classy, and quality eventwhich allows attendees from DCand over two dozen differentstates the opportunity to net-work in a relaxed and welcom-ing environment without theburden of meetings and agendasthat so often detract youngadults from attending othermore established Greek conven-tions. Highlights of the weekendinclude Thursday and SaturdayHappy Hours, Friday and Sun-day Night Greek Nights, andSaturday Late Night Bouzoukia!For full details including aschedule of events, visit the Pan-Hellenism Weekend 2013 pageon DCGreeks.com!

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...

Special Import / Export IssueOctober 2013

Place your ad by September 26th and be part of this culinary renaissance in our Greek Special Edition

This edition highlights the hottest trends in specialty foods and wines, combined with the most traditional Greek products and recipes. Don’t miss out!

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

COMING THIS FALL!

www.thenationalherald.com

The National Herald

Hurriyet

Justice Minister Sadullah Er-gin has signaled that the HalkiGreek Orthodox Seminary on Is-tanbul’s Heybeliada Islandmight be reopened as part of ademocratization package.

Ergin said the minority issueand the Halki Seminary were onthe table as part of the discus-sions over the democratizationpackage, during an interviewwith the private Haberturkchannel.

“It is among the discusseddebates. We will see its resulttogether. But it is on the tablenow. This is a political decision.If such a decision is taken thenof course the Halki Seminarycould be opened,” said Ergin.

In March, Defense MinisterIsmet Yilmaz told Parliamentthat a broad study was beingheld into reopening the HalkiSeminary.

“We are carrying out a broad

study about the HeybeliadaHalki Seminary in a positive ap-proach, by considering all theaspects of the issue along withthe related institutions,” Y?lmazsaid.

In addition, Deputy PrimeMinister Bulent Ar?nc said onMarch 5 the Heybeliada HalkiSeminary should be reopenedto educate clerics for the Ortho-dox community, saying “minori-ties have the same rights as us,”while speaking at a conferencein Berlin.

“We accept that there is a ne-cessity for clerics in the Heybe-liada Halki Seminary for theGreek Orthodox Patriarch or theOrthodox community, and aschool is needed for these (cler-ics) to be educated. We knowthere are (those needs,)” saidAr?nc at the conference.

“Therefore, this school cer-tainly has to be opened and cler-ics should be educated hereagain.

Turkey Hints That Halki Seminary Could Reopen

Halki Greek Orthodox Seminary on Heybeliada Island.

By James BarronThe New York Times

Angel Pelengaris led the wayto Table 14, saying it was thebooth to sit in “if you want tobe mayor for five minutes.”

It took longer than five min-utes — a lot longer — for Mr.Pelengaris, the manager of theViand Cafe at 1011 Madison Av-enue, between 78th and 79thStreets, to say everything hewanted to say about the regularcustomer who made Table 14famous, Mayor Michael R.Bloomberg. Mr. Pelengaris’s as-sessment of Mr. Bloomberg’snearly 12 years in City Hall? Arave. Six stars, maybe more, ona scale of one to five.

“We were hoping he’d bepresident,” said Mr. Pelengaris,60, whose restaurant is justaround the corner from Mr.Bloomberg’s town house. “Ithought he could go that way,but knowing the problems, hedidn’t.”

Table 14 — medium green,with darker, forest-green ban-quettes — is where Eliot Spitzerjoined the mayor when he wasthe governor, Joel I. Klein whenhe was schools chancellor and

Janet Napolitano when she wasthe governor of Arizona. ScottM. Stringer, who will face Mr.Spitzer in the Democratic pri-mary for city comptroller, hasfaced the mayor from acrossTable 14.

So what does the world looklike from the table where themayor has breakfast often anddinner sometimes? Not that dif-ferent than from the other tablesat Viand. It has a view of thedoor. You can see the V.I.P.’s asthey come in, and they can seeyou.

But not always. One morningMr. Bloomberg was seated withhis girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor,when, as Mr. Pelengaris put it,“guess who” walked in — Mr.Bloomberg’s predecessor,Rudolph W. Giuliani.

“The place was full,” Mr. Pe-lengaris said, and somehow thetwo mayors did not see eachother until Mr. Giuliani hadbeen seated at Table 12. “I hadtwo mayors sitting back toback,” Mr. Pelengaris said, “andfor a minute they didn’t knowit.” Had they not said hello, thepolitical world would have won-dered: Were they snubbing eachother?

For the record, Mr.Bloomberg and Ms. Taylor wereat Table 13 that morning, notTable 14, because someone elsehad been at Table 14 when theyarrived. Viand does not takereservations, does not even puta “reserved” sign to hold thegreen, silver-speckled table, thefourth of six booths along a wallwith photographs of famouscustomers like Mr. Bloombergand the country singer WillieNelson.

Willie Nelson? “That was along time ago” is all Mr. Pelen-garis says by way of explana-tion.

Mr. Bloomberg is said to likehis eggs soft boiled and his toast“well done,” which may or maynot mean almost burned. Table-hopping on his way out, hesometimes samples a French fryor two from another customer’splate, said Mr. Pelengaris. Nevermind that French fries containtrans-fats and that, at his behest,New York became the first cityto ban artificial trans-fats, whichhave been linked to obesity andheart disease.

Mr. Pelengaris, who was bornin Cyprus and studied mathe-matics and physics in Londonbefore he came to New York in1977, said Mr. Bloomberg “gavecharacter to the city.”

The affection seems to bemutual. In 2010, on his weeklyradio program, the mayor de-scribed “my favorite restaurant,”the place he would go “if I hadto eat all the meals the rest ofmy life.” And then he turnedViand into a metaphor.

“The food’s great,” the mayorsaid. “The people are nice. It’slow cost. Everything comes in-stantly. But you watch the guybehind the counter and you say,‘You know, I want a ham-and-cheese or B.L.T. or a tuna fishon toast or this and that.’ Bang.Bang. Bang. It’s there. You goelsewhere in the country, andit’s overstating it to say every-body, but they work a lot slower.And that’s just making sand-wiches. And that’s true of NewYorkers. There’s a pace of lifehere which isn’t for everybody.”

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 3

Mayor Bloomberg a Regular at the Greek-Owned Viand Cafe on East Side

By Paul Foer Capital Gazette

ANNAPOLIS, MD - The baklava,spanakopita and stuffed grapeleaves were delicious and thecrowd, a who’s who among thelocal Greek-American commu-nity, was enthusiastic when the“groom” rose to speak to theguests. It was a scene out of MyBig, Fat Greek ... uh, CampaignAnnouncement.

The groom was none otherthan Mike Pantelides, who iscourting the City of Annapolisto become its next mayor. Thethirtyish-Eagle Scout was as en-thusiastic as his audience, com-posed of both fellow Republi-cans and his dearly belovedextended family and friends.Pantelides made a strong im-pression with a passionate,forcefully delivered and thank-fully brief speech. He can wowa crowd and fire up an audi-ence, but of the table full ofwell-wishers I spoke with, mostwere not even Annapolitans.

The locally-connected Pan-telides will likely be pigeon-holed due to his youth and in-experience, and while I mightvote for a 30-year-old to become

mayor if he or she had signifi-cant real world experience inrunning a complex organiza-tion, he has not yet made a

strong case for his experience. Even an advance degree in

public administration would begreat, but while he is bright, ge-

nial, articulate and well versedin city issues, he’ll have to relyon his community service, fa-miliarity with the city and workin the campaign of former may-oral candidate David Cordle,who was noticeably absent fromhis party.

These campaign announce-ment parties excite and unitethe candidate’s closest support-ers. Republican Bob O’Shea andDemocrat Bevin Buchheisterclearly did that as well at theirrespective announcement par-ties atop downtown — as in thecity — restaurants.

Oddly enough, Pantelidesheld his about a mile outside ofcity limits, which seems to makeno sense to this columnist buthe did attract a lot of Republicanleaders.

O’Shea’s party was probablythe smallest of the three and theonly local elected official I sawwas Alderman Fred Paone, whointroduced him. Buchheisterpacked an elbow-room onlycrowd when she was introducedby longtime Democratic activistBeth Garraway of Eastport whoonce supported Mayor Josh Co-hen. Both Republicans, whomight be switching parties, and

long-time Democrats seemed tobe the makeup of the crowd.

Democratic Aldermen JoeBudge and Jared Littman werethere as were former Alderper-sons Louise and John Ham-mond, Republican Del. HerbMcMillan, and even — yes,O’Shea. What was most tellingwere the many leading civic ac-tivists, although many, if notmost, were from the activedowntown and Eastport wards.That’s no surprise.

The middle-aged O’Shea, abusiness consultant living down-town with his wife and youngchild, is high-energy, talkative,gregarious, full of ideas and likePantelides, seems driven by en-thusiastic passion for improvingthe city. His strengths appear tobe experience in the businessworld and a willingness to listenand bring people with diverseideas together.

Neither he nor Pantelidesseemed comfortable taking aposition on what I believe to beour No. 1 issue, which is tochange our style of governmentto a council-manager.

Bradley is running a morelow-key campaign and his latefiling and limited web presence

make it hard to follow what mayapparently be a campaign in-tended to raise awareness ofcertain issues, namely taxes andour economy, than to get himelected.

I have no information aboutany such announcement eventfor Bradley and was unable toattend Cohen’s party, but his in-cumbency and familiarity al-ready puts him ahead of othercandidates in terms of visibility,for better or for worse. Cohenhas likely been taken off guardby an apparently strong andgrowing campaign for Buchheis-ter.

It will come down to partylines, perhaps an “anyone butCohen” stance and basically per-sonal impressions of the candi-dates as they knock on yourdoor, shake your hand or appearat public events such as theSept. 12 Eastport Civic Associa-tion forum at Eastport Elemen-tary School.

Finally, since history and reg-istration suggests the Democra-tic nominee will likely capturethe mayor’s seat, the primary onSept. 17 is key. Will it be Cohenor will it be the “Bevinteenth”of September?

Republican Mike Pantelides Strives to Become Mayor of Annapolis, MD

HE WILL MAKE US ALL PROUD

A proud member of the Omogeneia and the FIRST Greek-American to ever run for

New York City’s mayoral seat.Together, we can make it happen!

For Mayor of New York, 2013JOHN CATSIMATIDIS

A NEW YORKER FOR ALL NEW YORKERS

www.cats2013.com

Michael Pantelides on the campaign trail running for Mayor ofAnnapolis, MD as a pro-local business environmental activist.His grandparents’ roots are in Greece and Cyprus.

Mayor Bloomberg has made Viand Cafe, near his townhouse, a place for power breakfasts.Bloomberg doesn’t always get his favorite, booth 14, however. Reservations are not taken.

PHOTOS: JAmES ESTriN/THE NEw yOrk TimES

The Greek-owned Viand opened in 1968.

association of AHEPA existing inAmerica.”

Chris P. Tomaras, the Chair-man of the PanHellenic Schol-arship Foundations was honoredat the Grand Banquet. OutgoingSupreme President, Dr. JohnGrossomanides, presentedTomaras with the 2013 Acad-emy of Achievement Award inBusiness.

In accepting the awardTomaras said "It is a huge andmost valuable award because itcomes from a huge and mostvaluable institution, AHEPA. Itis the organization which, since1922, has been the most effec-tive, the most contributive, themost accomplished, the mostadmired and deeply respectedGreek American civic organiza-tion in the world. I am trulyoverwhelmed and humbled bythis honor."

Continuing a recent tradi-tion, AHEPA’s Executive Direc-tor, Basil Mossaidis, who isbased at its headquarters inWashington, DC, kept membersaround the world that were un-able to attend informed aboutthe work and festivities through

his Basil’s Blog.“Our evening at Universal

Studios Orlando was a trulymemorable one,” Mossaidiswrote, adding, “Our convention-eers were treated to a night ofmusic, dancing and deliciousfood at Studio 33 of the themepark….the highlight of theevening was the outstandingview we were afforded of theUniversal’s Cinematic Spectacu-lar—100 Years of Movie Memo-ries…which was narrated byaward-winning Actor MorganFreeman and were accompaniedby fireworks, a light show, anda musical score that were simplyout of this world.”

He also noted that in supportof AHEPA’s “long-standing com-mitment to finding cures fordeadly diseases such as cancerand Cooley’s Anemia (Tha-lassemia major), there was arepresentative from DeleteBlood Cancer, a national bonemarrow registry, on-hand fortwo days to sign-up individualsfor the registry.”

The AHEPA Cultural Com-mission once again sponsoredits Hellenism Book Corner,which featured books such as“Constantinople: The Beautiful

City and the Destruction of itsGreek, Armenian, and JewishEthnic Communities” as well as“Demetrios is now Jimmy.”

The guests danced one of thenights away – some on tables –at Taverna Opa! and some com-peting in the convention’s golftournament as well as theAHEPA National Golf Champi-onship held at WindermereCountry Club and Grand Cy-press Golf Club, respectively.

One of the many highlightsof the week was the annualawards and scholarship lun-cheon of AHEPA’s National Ath-letic Department.

Nikko Koutouvides, whoplays for the New England Pa-triots, received the AHEPA HarryAgganis Award, and Toni Koke-nis, a basketball player at Stan-ford University, received theAHEPA William ChirgotisAward.

Gold Medal Olympic DiverLouganis headed the list of in-ductees

Into the prestigious AHEPAAthletic Hall of Fame and thecommunity’s outstandingscholar athletes received schol-arships.

Each year the Daughters of

Penelope Honor also two out-standing

Women for their athleticachievements. The Zoe Cav-alaris Athletic Award was pre-sented to Katherine VictoriaLane and the Athletic Hall ofFame Award was given to KathyBizoukas Zotos.NEW LEADERSHIP PLEDGES

TO CONTINUE AHEPAREJUVENATION, SUPPORT

FOR HOMELANDSSaltas, who is who is a mem-

ber of Daughters of PenelopeCharai Chapter 79, Salt LakeCity Utah, declared “It is hum-bling to be reelected GrandPresident…I look forward tocontinuing our work with theGrand Lodge and the member-ship to take our existing success-ful programs in education, phil-anthropy, and social services togreater levels to the benefit ofthe community.”

“I believe strongly in the phi-losophy of our organization’sfounder, Alexandra Apostolides,who championed empoweringwomen to be strong advocatesfor others and encouragedwomen to pursue ways to serve

the broader community,” Saltassaid.

After his election, Kouzounis,who is a member of Alexanderthe Great Chapter 29, Houston,said, “It is an honor to be electedAHEPA supreme president…Thecommunity continues to face amultitude of challenges that areimportant to address as theneed for community service isrelentless, both in the UnitedStates and abroad and the pro-motion of Hellenic ideals willalways be a priority."

He added, "I am excited towork with our seasonedSupreme Lodge and our mem-bership to address these chal-lenges and keep AHEPA on thesteady path set forth by my pre-decessors in a spirit true to ourmission."

He said reaching out toyoung people will remain a pri-ority but since it’s not easy forthe older generation to be onthe same wavelength with them,even if they are young at heart,he looked forward to workingwith the new presidents of theSons and Maids and the na-tional advisor and chairman of

the Sons of Pericles committee,Jimmy Kokotas of Brooklyn.

Kouzounis will also stressfurther developing communica-tion within AHEPA and he wantsto further deepen their human-itarian aid collaboration withApostoli-Mission in Greece andwith the IOCC. He is very im-pressed at the latter’s resource-fulness, especially in deliveringmedical material. They are cur-rently preparing the fifth con-tainer they are helping to sendto Evangelismos Hospital inAthens. He is open to additionalDiaspora aid initiatives, he saidto TNH.

Kokotas told TNH the successof the membership drive of theSons of Pericles which hasboosted membership above 700,but although the declared targetis 1000, he will work to reach2000 within a few years. “It willrequire many people pitchingin…we have a strong nationalteam and Dr. John Grosso-manides will stay on as a mem-ber of the committee.”

The 2014 Supreme Conven-tion will convene July 21-26,New Orleans, LA.

AHEPA’s 91st Annual Supreme Convention Gleams in the Florida Sunshine


By Art DimopoulosSpecial to The National Herald

The National Hellenic Soci-ety (NHS) is a nonprofit foun-dation dedicated to the preser-vation of Hellenic heritagethrough innovative programswith particular emphasis on thenext generation. The NHS isvery concerned that a failure tofoster a sense of Hellenic iden-tity in the next generation ofyoung adults will be detrimentalto sustaining a connection to theGreek-American community,and ultimately to Greece.

Consequently, since the foun-dation’s inception four yearsago, the NHS developed theHeritage Greece Program—aunique two week educationaland cultural immersion programin Greece for students largelyfrom interfaith/interculturalfamilies that have never visitedGreece. The two-week program

pairs highly-accomplishedGreek-American students witha peer group of Greek students.Together, the students share aheritage that binds them andhelps them explore and redis-cover their Greek identity.

Heritage Greece was devel-oped by the NHS in collabora-tion with partner and host in-stitution, the American Collegeof Greece, Europe’s oldest andlargest American styled collegelocated on a modern 65 acrecampus in Aghia Paraskevi, anAthens suburb.

The objectives underlying theHeritage Greece Program are tocreate an awareness of Greekidentity amongst the group ofGreek American college partici-pants and to impart the pro-found richness of their respec-tive cultural legacy. TheProgram’s success has beenmeasured from feedback of Her-itage Greece participants in-

volved in a sociological study ofthe Program by Dr. Gregory Kat-sas, a Fordham Univesity soci-ologist, over four years since theProgram’s inception.

The research is unprece-dented in the Greek- Americancommunity and ripe for longi-tudinal study. Katsas’ findingdemonstrates the effectivenessof the Program’s different com-ponents and determines howthe Heritage Greece partici-pants’ notions of their respectiveGreek identity may havechanged as a result of the pro-gram. The recently publishedstudy has yielded overwhelm-ingly positive findings.

This year’s Program included26 Greek-American studentsthat shared their experienceswith a group of Greek studentsand received college credit forthe educational component. Thepresence of the Greek studentsis integral to meeting the goals

of the program providing for ameaningful experience. The re-sults of the study indicate thatHeritage Greece has left an in-delible mark characterized aspersonally fulfilling, memo-rable, and educational. Onesurprising fact is the sense of in-dividual accomplishment eachof the participants felt, some-thing clearly augmented by theinvolvement of the peer groupof students. Another surprisingfinding is the importance of theGreek language that within thecontext of the Heritage Greeceexperience is something the stu-dents desired greater profi-ciency and mastery of; theywanted an enhanced Greek lan-guage experience.

Katsas’ findings gauge theProgram’s success and effec-tively provide a barometer forbetter refining the Program’s ac-tivities and curriculum. Tweak-ing the experience to keep it dy-

namic, fulfilling, and a life-changing.

According to Katsas’ results,this year’s study of the HeritageGreece program met with suc-cess “in fulfilling the goal of con-necting the participants to astronger sense of who they arewithin the context of their cul-ture, heritage and languagewithin the backdrop and contextof modern Greece.”

Next, the NHS will assesshow the goodwill and positiveeffects of the Heritage GreeceProgram continue to play ameaningful part of the partici-pants’ lives as they move for-ward with their studies and re-spective careers.

The goal of Heritage Greeceis to have a significant impacton engagement and involve-ment in the Greek Americancommunity. Providing the stu-dents with a sense of belongingand appreciation of their Greek

identity greatly enhances thelikelihood that they too will con-tribute by becoming future com-munity leaders and ambas-sadors of Hellenic heritage.

Toward that objective, NHSwill host a reunion of HeritageGreece alumni during the an-nual NHS Heritage Weekendand Classic gathering in Las Ve-gas in early October.

The alumni will be provideinput and suggestions on devel-oping programs they deem im-portant toward the goal of keep-ing them engaged in the GreekAmerican community.

The NHS hopes that HeritageGreece will serve scores of stu-dents in the future and help turnthe tide of complacency aboutthe importance and relevance ofHellenic heritage.

A legacy passed on to us byour forbearers and incumbentfor us to pass on the future gen-erations.

Continued from page 1

Supreme President Anthony Kouzounis stands third from left in the first row surrounded byAHEPA’s new leadership in this commemorative photo at the order’s 91st Convention.

National Hellenic Society Shows Greek Heritage Program Effectiveness

The National Hellenic Society’s (NHS) Heritage Greece Program is the result of a collaborationwith the American College of Greece, which has a beautiful 65-acre campus, but the point of

studying in Greece is to experience as much of the country as possible, including the heart ofAthens in Syntagma Square (right) and the famed Greek seashore (left).

AHEPA Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees and Student-Athlete Honorees beam with pride and ap-preciation. Outgoing Supreme President Dr. John Grossomanides is 7th from the left.


NEW YORK – With two weeksto go before the primary elec-tion, Costas Constantinides,who is running to be the firstGreek- and Cypriot-American tobe elected to New York’s CityCouncil, focused on an issuethat is near and dear to thehearts of the community: theirchildren’s education.

Constantinides held a pressconference on August 26 at P.S.151 near the edge of Eastern As-toria to highlight conditions thatthreaten the quality of publicschool education in Queens –the gathering took place beforethe unsightly and uninspiringtrailers that were meant to be

“temporary” classrooms butwhich have scarred the school’splayground for 16 years.

He presented five pointsmeant to address the problemsthere and throughout WesternQueens and was joined byDanny Dromm, former teacherand City Councilmember fromneighboring Jackson Heights,and Dermot Smyth, who repre-sented the United Federation ofTeachers (UFT).

A product of Astoria’s publicschools, whose mother was a PTApresident and school district 30leader, Constantinides has beenan education activist throughouthis years as Democratic DistrictLeader. He remembers hismother stressing the importanceof education saying “this is what

is going to lift you up,” and alsourging him to fight for others toget a good education.

The stakes remain personal,however, because his own willbegin attending school the daybefore the September 10 elec-tion.

Constantinides said he was“proud to stand with the parentsand our community leaders,” in-cluding New York State SenatorMichael Gianaris, State Assem-blywoman Aravella Simotas,and Peter Vallone Jr, incumbentin the City Council, to keep theGifted & Talented Academyopen at P.S. 122 and to save hisalma mater Bryant High Schooland Long Island City HighSchool “that were on the chop-ping block for two yearsstraight.”

Term limits ended Vallone’sCity Council Service but he isnow running for Queen Bor-ough President. His campaignreceived a significant boostwhen State Senator Tony Avellarecently dropped out of the pri-mary. Among those running forhis old seat is Greek-Americanbusinessman Gus Prentzas.

Constantinides presented afive-point plan that extends be-yond the elimination of the trail-ers, which is point number one.The rest include: accelerateschool construction to meetgrowing needs of families; re-duce class sizes to allow formore individualized attention tostudents; encourage parental in-volvement in decision making;and invest in classroom technol-ogy and computers.

Alluding to battles betweenthe UFT and Mayor MichaelBloomberg and prior adminis-trations he said “I stand withour teachers. I’m not sure whenteachers became the enemy ofour City. I don’t believe that theyare.” He declared earlier that

“the members of the UFT arethe individuals who educate ourchildren every single day.”

He also believes that parentsalso feel excluded from the de-cision making. “I don’t think mymom’s voice would be welcometoday,” referring to meetingsthat dragged past 11:00 PM be-fore parents were allowed tospeak, an additional allusion themayor’s controversial decisionto take over the Department ofEducation in order to spur reor-ganization and reform.

Dromm wholeheartedly en-dorsed Constantinides’ pointsand thanked him for putting thefocus on education and to pre-sent a plan “because the DOEdoesn’t have a plan,” and added“unless you have a good educa-tion plan, New York City isdoomed.”

Smith said that after working

with Constantinides for severalyears, he and his organizationis confident that “he will bringa fresh enthusiasm to the CityCouncil… we have Peter Vallonewho has done a lot standing upfor education here and we lookforward to that mantle beingpassed on to Costa.”

Ann Adolino, who has livedin the area for 35 years and hasvolunteer in its schools, toldTNH “I believe in lot of thechanges he wants to make forour children.”

Colette Conlon is outragedover the trailers from a differentstandpoint.

“Since the Newtown mas-sacre I have been thinking aboutthe issue of student security ona daily basis. This doesn’t looksecure, and that’s above and be-yond the message the trailerssend to the children who are

stuck in them like prisoners yearafter year.”

Prentzas, a local business-man who was also served onschool boards and is currentlythe PTA president at Bryant toldTNH he does not believe Con-stantinides has gone beyond is-suing bullet points that “havebeen heard for the past 25years.”

He challenged Constanti-nides to a public debate, sayinghe wants to know “what’s thepath, how do you do it? Wemust discuss and analyze whathas worked and what has notworked,” in efforts to reform ed-ucation systems.

For example, Prentzas saidthat what must be addressed isthe fact that money is being mis-used, noting that in addition toover-crowded schools, there arefacilities that are underutilized.


Constantinides Emphasizes Education, Prentzas Invites Him to Debate

Costas Constantinides (L), City Council member Danny Dromm, and UFT representative DermotSmyth express outrage over “temporary” trailer classrooms (in background) that have beenparked in P.S. 151’s schoolyard for 16 years.

of rank and citations from twodecades of achievement, but heknows full well that one man atthe top or even his entire forceare not sufficient for the securityhe is pledged to provide to the20 million-person Metropolitanarea.

“We reach out to the publicas much as we can…we havetip lines where they can give usvery important information,” hesaid, adding that “we also reachout to the public and tell themthat their tips – such as report-ing somebody that should notbe in a certain area – can leadto something and certainly pre-vent a major event.”

But uniforms are important.“Visibility is a big deterrent, weknow that. My message to theofficers and supervisors is ‘bevisible and be safe out there,’and always be mindful of theunknown,” noting things maynot be what they appear to be.“It is not the entire picture,” hesays.

“They must be cognizant ofother variable and things thatmay happen.”

He says similar things tocivilians. “Question the car inthe driveway or across thestreet. Have that policeman’s in-stinct in you, because in today’ssociety everything is a chal-lenge.”

The officers listen closely be-cause Koumoutsos leads by ex-ample. “The example is huge,”he said of one of the principles

he learned from his Spartan fa-ther.

He spent a lot of time “in thetrenches” and although his com-mitments are now more admin-istrative and involves respond-ing to the needs of the public,“I like to get out there. I like tosee the guys,” he said.

As recently as this past May,before he was appointed Chief,he was an inspector assigned tothe PATH rapid transit lines,where he was the commandingofficer for four years.

“I got on the train – daily ifI could…I would pick a routeand ride the train wearing myuniform, interacting with theconductors, PA employees.”

The important thing is that“when the police officers andsupervisors see the boss doingthat…they say ‘we are going toget out there too.’” That’s whatit’s about: it’s about deterringactivity and crime. Being outthere. The uniform does deter.”

And it made an impressionon him as a child. While he wasalways fascinated by planes tak-ing off and landing, he knew hehad always wanted to be a po-liceman. As manager of opera-tions for Continental he got toknow well several PAPD officersat Newark airport, and when helearned the test was coming upin 1992 he took it.

THAT TERRIBLE DAYIt is not just any police force.

Koumoutsos had a day off on9/11 and was home with hischildren. His wife, Angela,worked for Continental Airlines

at the time called him and said”you might want to turn on theTV.”

When he saw the planes hitthe Twin Towers, he called hismother-in-law to come watchthe children and then reportedto Newark Airport.

“We didn’t know the num-bers but we knew several of ourofficers had responded…severalhad fallen and others weretrapped at the Trade Center.”

“It was an emotional roller-coaster, listening on the radio,you could hear the officers’voices and their concern. We re-covered one officer who wasalive and were cheering,” butmore information was comingin, “regarding unidentified offi-cers who had died and it be-came a grueling process emo-tionally.”

All their tours were extendedto 12 hours rotations to providethe necessary support. “We werethere for a couple of days;everybody was on board; therewere no complaints,” he said.

LEARN AND MOVE ON“We have changed the way

we do business every day,” after9/11 he said. “From normaleveryday policing where youcould almost pick out what agiven police officer was goingto do,” they now make their tac-tics and patterns as unpre-dictable as possible.

He works with local policedepartments, and noted “I haveevery one of them on speed dialon my personal cell phone sothat if there is an issue we candiscuss it, mobilize, and react asa cohesive group,”

In a crisis, Koumoutsos cansummon two decades of experi-ence and training. He is a recentgraduate of the FBI NationalAcademy.

He was the top-ranking offi-cer of the PATH Command andafter Superstorm Sandy and di-rected his team to make severalrescues, including saving 28people from a Jersey City apart-ment building.

GOD BLESS AMERICAHis father was a tailor, which

enabled him to settle his familywherever he wanted. After land-ing in Canada with his mother,Dimitra, who is from Kalamata,he said lets “try the UnitedStates,” for which his son is verygrateful. “This country has beengreat to me and my family,” hetold TNH.

Koumoutsos was born inMontreal and grew up inRochester, Astoria, and New Jer-sey, where he has lived the ma-jority of his life. He spent twoof his high school years inAthens. At home he spoke Greekand attended Greek School atSt. Demetrios St. Fanourios inElizabeth, NJ. When his parentsretired in Greece in 1984, theplan was for him to stay there,but although he loves visitingGreece – he used to go twice ayear – after a few months hethought “this is not for me.”

His sister, Fotini, however, re-sides in Athens with theirmother, and works for CocaCola. She just gave birth to a

baby girl.Asked what his favorite time

if the year is for visiting Greece,Koumoutsos responded “anytime the opportunity arises.”

As demanding as his profes-sion is, he also makes sure togive back to community andhomeland. Koumoutsos wasasked to consult with Greek of-

ficials regarding security for the2004 Olympics and the PAPDhad a liaison that went there.He is a Parish Council memberof the Church of St. George inOcean Township in New Jersey.

Koumoutsos travels to Asto-ria to support the community ofSt. Irene Chrysovalantou andthe Greek stores whenever he

can. His wife is an Italian-Amer-ican and a convert to Orthodoxy,and they try to maintain theHellenic values and traditionsin the family, but above all, heis an American. He is lookingforward to the completion of theWorld Trade Center.

“When it opens up, for me,it will seem like a resurrection.”

PA Police Chief Louis Koumoutsos: Dedication, Energy, and VigilanceContinued from page 1

BROOKLYN & QUEENS ROCK THE VOTE!for

JOHN CATSIMATIDISIndependent Republican

CANDIDATE FOR MAYORJoin Us at the Rally!

Come meet our friend, John CATSimatidis, who isrunning as the Independent Republican Candidate for Mayor.

He will share his passion and vision for New York City.

Primary Election Day is September 10, 2013

We hope you will join us and vote for CATS!This is not a Fund Raiser and No Funds will be Solicited

Paid for by Cats2013 Committee

Tuesday • September 3rd, 6:30pm - 8:30pmOmonia Cafe - Bay Ridge

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Louis Koumoutsos stands amid PAPD, state, and city flags in aroom where some members of 1,600-member force slept oncots during when they were on duty for Hurricane Sandy.

Gus Prentzas, who is challenging Costa Constantinides for theCity Council seat now held by Peter Vallone, Jr., stands outsidea school named for Vallone’s grandfather.


NEW YORK – John Lhota, JohnCatsimatidis, and George Mc-Donald did not seem to disagreeabout much on substance whenthey gathered on August 27 forthe Republican mayoral debate,but the verbal jabs and shovingturned the auditorium of CUNYGraduate Center in Manhattaninto more of a boxing arenathan a political forum.

The younger members of theaudience were delighted, but itwas not a surprise for seasonedpoliticos and reporters coveringthe next to last debate beforethe September 10 primary.When political horse races turninto the home stretch, they sel-dom become genteel affairs.Even philanthropists and publicservants – the candidates’ web-sites are chock full of evidenceof a lifetime of good deeds –cannot resist the temptation toturn nasty.

The most recent Marist Col-lege survey had Catsimatidistrailing Lhota 33 percent to 22percent. 30 percent of the re-spondents were undecided, andthe poll had a margin of errorof 8.5 percentage points.

McDonald, who was last at12 percent, became testy whenreporters brought up thosenumbers after the debate, insist-ing that with such a large mar-gin of error, the actual ordermight be different, and he dis-played apparently deep resent-ment towards Catsimatidiswhen he brought up that the lat-ter’s billions enable him to floodthe airwaves with ads.

Maurice Dubois of CBS’sChannel 2 was a deft moderatorand the a panel included1010WINS’ Juliet Papa, Channel 2political reporter MarciaKramer, and El Diario LaPrensa’s Marlene Peralta.

There was discussion on se-rious issues such the City’sschools, its preparedness in theface of chemical attacks by ter-rorists, waterfront development,safety at public housing andwhether it should be privatized,and the police department’scontroversial stop and frisk pro-gram.

When Kramer asked thethree to reveal personal medicalinformation, McDonald refusedto disclose what prescriptiondrugs he takes, but he turnedthe question into a chance to

demand that Catsimatidis re-lease his tax returns. The busi-ness mogul swatted the questionaway by saying McDonald was“back to his old tricks.”

DEJA VUOne of the strangest mo-

ments of the debate then fol-lowed when McDonald thoughthe could channel Lloyd Bentsenby paraphrasing his response toDan Quayle in their 1988 vicepresidential debate. After sug-gesting Catsimatidis consideredhimself a “special case,” likeMayor Bloomberg, regarding hisincome, McDonald jabbed, "Iknow Mike Bloomberg…MikeBloomberg is a friend of mine.You, sir, are no MikeBloomberg."

Catsimatidis laughed it off,saying, "He's certainly worth alot more money than I am."

During the Q&A with thepress, Kramer returned to thehealth issue and said to McDon-ald that people might think hewas hiding something, to which

he snapped “go after Catsima-tidis’ tax returns.” When it cameup again that the latter believedthey were friends, he becameagitated, and when he wasasked if he would join him fordinner he shouted, “No!”

He continued by saying,“He’s got a billion dollars so youtreat him like he’s a serious can-didate. I understand that,” asCatsimatides stood near. WhenMcDonald was asked if hemeant that, he shouted “no he’snot a serious candidate, and youknow he’s not a serious candi-date…but he’s got billions ofdollars and can advertise onTV.”

Catsimatidis responded not-ing what he brings to the cam-paign, including common sensesolutions and 25 years of politi-cal activism. He brought up hisnegotiations with unions over a40-year period and said theirrepresentatives say “John istough, but he’s fair.”

He added to his resume that

he has served the Greek Ortho-dox Archdiocese as its highestranking layperson and noted“New York City politics is easycompared to Church politics.”

Lhota also got in somepunches. When Catsimatidesproposed that policemen shouldbe stationed at each of the 20percent of the apartment build-ings that he said collectively ac-count for most of the crime inthe projects, Lhota blurted, "Iwas budget director of the Cityof New York…Don't make upnumbers."

Catsimatidis bristled at thecharge, prompting Lhota to ask,"Why are you so angry?"

"I'm not," Catsimatidis saidloudly.

WHY CAN’T WE BEFRIENDS?

Ironically, the journalistsseemed to be trying encourag-ing good will among the com-batants. Dubois asked them tosay some nice things about theirrivals, but the best they couldmanage was to praise theirwives and children.

McDonald and Lhota refusedto accept Catsimitidis character-izing them as his friends. Mc-Donald, showing discomfort,said Catsimatidis only consid-

ered him a friend because he al-ways made the payments at 11percent interest on million dol-lar mortgage Catsimatidis held.

The debate concluded withone minute closing statementsby each candidate.

Catsimatidis began by speak-ing passionately about growingup in the poor side of town. “Iowe New York City for every-thing I have. I made a lot ofmoney – I don’t hide from it. Ihave a great family and kids. Iowe everything to New York andI just want to give back.”

He said he wants to create100,000 jobs and that in generalhe wants to build atop the plat-form that Mayor Bloombergbuilt “and make it an even bet-ter city.”

Lhota also stressed his hum-ble origins. He is the son of apoliceman and grandfatherworked as fireman and taxi dri-vers and concluded by saying“I’m running for mayor becauseI have the vision, the principlesand I have the experience to getthe job done.”

McDonald shifted the ambi-ence of the venue once again –it was almost like being inChurch when he spoke of theDoe Fund, which began by help-

ing the homeless and of whichhe is the founder and president.“Over these past 25 years…I puta quarter of a billion dollars intothe pockets of these men andwomen who lifted themselvesup and followed my leadership.I will do that as mayor of NewYork.”

During the Q&A TNH askedCatsimatidis how he felt aboutthe New York Times’ endorse-ment of Lhota. He said “TheNew York Times picked MarkGreen over Mayor Bloomberg,so when it comes to RepublicansI think it’s an advantage,” thatit didn’t endorse him. He added“the New York Post kicks meevery chance they get. Theycaught me yawning the otherday and they wrote a wholestory about it.”

He called on the Obama Ad-ministration and the U.S. Con-gress to pressure the Albaniangovernment to return theChurch to the Orthodox Chris-tians of Premet, who venerateit and whose ancestors built it.

The Church served OrthodoxChristians in the area fordecades until 1967 when Stal-inist dictator Enver Hoxha out-lawed all religious worship inthe country and it was turnedinto a cultural center.

After the collapse of Commu-nism in Albania in 1991 and theOrthodox Church was re-estab-lished in the country, it becamea church once gain and used forworship until Aug. 16 when se-curity forces hired by the Mayorof Premet Gilberto Giatse movedinto the Church, beat up priestsand worshipers, smashed iconsand crosses and announced themunicipality was reclaiming thebuilding as a cultural center.

The actions were immedi-ately blasated by the Greek gov-ernment, the Orthodox Churchof Albania, political actiongroups representing ethnicGreeks in the country and hu-man rights organizations in theregion.

Greek Foreign Minister Evan-gelos Venizelos sent a demarcheto Tirana protesting the actionsof municipal authorities inPremet and calling for the re-turn of the Church.

Archbishop Anstastasios, theprimate of the Orthodox Churchof Albania, called the brutal ac-tions in Permet an attack notonly on the Orthodox Churchbut also on Albania itself.

“We are moved to ask if wefind ourselves in 2013 where weenjoy democracy and havehopes of entering the EuropeanUnion or if we are reliving thenightmare of 1967 when anatheistic party believed that itcould uproot forever the reli-gious faith of the Albanian peo-ple,” he said in a statement.

OMONIA, the political actiongroup representing the ethnicGreek minority in Albania, dis-puted the claims of Permeti mu-nicipal authorities that they hadcourt sanction to return thechurch to a cultural center. “Aquestionable court decision can-not be used as an excuse to des-ecrate in such a violent way anestablished holy site,” the groupdeclared.

KEAD and MEGA, two polit-ical parties in Albania supported

by ethnic Greeks and OrthodoxChristians in the country, alsoprotested the attack on the Per-meti Church.

Evangelos Doules, the Presi-dent of KEAD and a member ofthe Albanian Parliament, saidthe attack reminds the worldthat Albania is the only countrythat declared war on God “turn-ing into stables, warehouses andcultural centers the houses ofworship of its religious commu-nities.”

Kristaq Kristaqis, the Presi-dent of MEGA, said the violenceagainst the Church of the Verginin Permet “reflects the rage withwhich certain political groups inAlbania view everything that isGreek or Orthodox.”

Human rights groups in theregion called on Albanian au-thorities to end the occupation

of the church and find otherspace for a cultural center. TheAlbanian government blamedthe Greek Orthodox communityfor the tension.

Berisha, who is leaving of-fice, dismissed Greece’s officialcomplaint as “unacceptable andunreasonable interference in Al-bania’s internal affairs.”

It was the clergymen andchurchgoers that “broke the po-lice cordon, removed the pro-tective barriers and entered thebuilding,” Albania’s ForeignMinistry said in a statement.

Responding to allegationsthat unknown assailants threwstones at the Greek Consulatein Gjirokaster, the ministry saidthat police investigators onlyfound one stone, “which couldhave been kicked up by thewheel of a passing vehicle.”


priestly duties.”In a general assembly held

on August 25th at the ProphetElias Community Center, a slimmajority of 220 parishioners(versus 215 against) voted in fa-vor of the motion “to reinstatefull clergy salaries with back-pay and request the reassign-ment of one of our priests assoon as possible”. The ParishCouncil communicated the As-sembly’s decision to Isaiah. Afteran entire month during whichthe Divine Liturgy was not cele-brated, the doors of bothchurches were opened andparishioners went lit candlesand listen to chanting from atape recorder.

Tsagaris told TNH that “theparish doesn’t have the moneyto reinstate the clergy salariesbut we are planning to have theGreek Festival from September5 to 8 and from the festival’sproceeds we will pay them andalso the assessment of the Arch-diocese because we haven’t payfor more than one and one halfyears.”

The local American presspicked up the story of the parishand also a broader discussion istaking place in the social media,including Facebook, which is attimes nasty and of very lowlevel. It is indicative the conver-sation that a priest’s wife hadwith the wife of a former presi-

dent of the Parish Council,which includes opprobriouscomments even about Metropol-itan Isaiah. Out of respect to theChurch and the Greek-Americancommunity TNH will not pub-lish them verbatim.

TNH revealed last week thatGilbert and Kouremetis hadopen benevolent funds accountssupposedly to assist discreetlyand confidently people in need,but instead Gilbert wrote checksto his sons and Kouremetis paidhis secretary’s rent. He had alsoauthorized her as a cosigner onthe account.

According the documents ac-quired by TNH and had beensent to Demetrios and Isaiah, 11checks were paid to Gilbert’ssons over 9 months totaling$4,637.18 for car repairs, assist-ing with church services, school-books, and undetailed reasons.Also a check of $75.13 was is-sued payable to Gilbert for alunch with another cleric namedMaximos.

Gilbert opened the benevo-lent account in February, 2006and he closed in May, 2013 afterthe Parish Council had startedauditing the finances of theparish and requested to examineall the accounts that use theChurch’s tax ID number.

From Kouremetis’ benevolentaccount, 14 payments weremade for household rent for theChurch secretary’s benefit total-ing $12,835.00 ($600 of this

was a cash payment – says forrent).

Also, the records show that4 cash payments to the Churchsecretary totaling $1,337 plus $215.49 in other miscellaneouspayments.

The documents show that$13,787.49 expenditures fromthe benevolent account went tothe Church secretary.

According to the records sentto Demetrios and Isaiah, an-

other $7,212.70 or another 25%of the total contributions madeto the benevolent account wereunidentified, including a $2,000payment to law firmScally&Reeding.

Parishioners, donors, andalso the parish were contribut-ing to the benevolent accountsof the two priests trusting thattheir contributions would beused for philanthropic purposesassisting people in need.

Isaiah, in a letter to theParish Council dated August 8,provided “cover” to his twopriests Gilbert and Kouremetisof the Salt Lake City communityin Utah for what appears to bedubious dealings of the benev-olent accounts which they con-trolled, as TNH revealed in lastweek’s edition.

He finds nothing wrong thatthe priests were using thebenevolent accounts to writechecks one of them for his sonsand the other for his secretary.Isaiah calls the audit “witch-hunt” and is asking is the auditcommittee members “have anysense of morals.”

Isaiah also wrote “On the ba-sis of this information, I wouldsay that this is nothing morethan a witch-hunt to embarrassyour priests. Does the currentaudit committee not have anysense of morals. What is its pur-pose regarding this procedure?And if these funds are confiden-tial, since they have only onesignatory on the checks, are notthe Zions Bank and the ChaseBank of Salt Lake City liable fordivulging confidential informa-tion? Can this happen to otherpeople who do business withthese banks?”

Members of the Archdio-cese’s legal team are in closecontact with the officials of theSalt Lake City parish trying toprevent intervention by the In-ternal Revenue Service.

Salt Lake City Churches Have Resumed their Sunday LiturgiesContinued from page 1

Catsimatidis, Lhota, and McDonald Battle it out Live on the CUNY Stage

NYC MayoralRace Update:GOP DebateBy Constantinos E.Scaros

A debate sponsored byCBS News New York fea-tured the three Republicanmayoral hopefuls live on thesame stage: frontrunner JoeLhota, strong contenderJohn Catsimatidis, andtrailer George McDonald. Itwill be interesting to seehow the polls fare after thisone, as McDonald, last ofthe pack, was the most fluid.Debates, after all, are moreabout style than substance,and of the three candidates,McDonald looked andsounded the most states-manlike.

Catsimatidis’ diction be-came smoother as theevening progressed, and helimited the coached “ohyeah, it’s time for me tosmile” moments as well. Tothe extent that substancecounts, however, Catsima-tidis was most on point. Hiswords were measured, di-rectly focused on the issuesat hand, and he had no an-noyingly disingenuous mo-ments – the type candidatesoften repeat like parrots be-cause their “guru” handlerstold them to. Not Catsima-tidis; he is as real as real canget.

As for Lhota, he escapedunscathed. His opponentsdid not do enough to bringhim down any notches – Mc-Donald, in fact, focusedmore on attacking Catsima-tidis, in what appeared to bean obvious personal animus(for a high interest rate Cat-simatidis charged him in amortgage loan) – and Lhotahimself did nothing to hurthis own cause. Not only didLhota work for Giuliani, helooks like Giuliani. Takeaway the mustache and theunseemly chin stubble, andit’s Rudy the Second.

The real challenge forany of these guys is to beatthe Democratic nominee inthe general election. Butfirst things first: there’s aprimary to be held on Sep-tember 10, and from thelooks of Tuesday night’s de-bate, it’s anybody’s to win.

At an August 25 General Assembly, members of the Churchesof the Holy Trinity and Prophet Elias voted 220-215 “to rein-state full clergy salaries with back pay and request the reas-signment of one of our priests as soon as possible.”

POA Condemns Church Attack in Premet

ABOVE: John Catsimatidis, who was a target at the debatessince he is within striking distance of frontrunner Joe Lhota,handled most of his rivals’ attacks with humor and grace.RIGHT: An ebullient Margo Catsimatidis, who observers saywould be an excellent First Lady, stood to the left of her hus-band when the candidates spoke to the media after the de-bates.


By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

PART ONECHICAGO- The man fishermenacross the Great Lakes wouldknow simply as “Mathon” wasborn Nicolas Konstantinos Ca-pogiannis on September 1, 1901on the Aegean island of Milos.

Sorting out historical eventsfrom a vibrant fisherman’s talesis always a difficult business.Consequently, in the news ac-counts left to us, Mathon’s per-sonal recollections of his past donot always agree over thedecades. Still, with so manypublished sources includingcivic documents, radio showrecordings and even a documen-tary film available for referenceon this incredibly active publicfigure, a broad outline of hismany accomplishments (as wellas his inventive showmanship)can be readily offered.

Without question, Mathonduring the course of his lifetimedirectly altered the Great Lakes’natural environment. FewGreeks of Mathon’s generationare recognized today for havinginitiated environmental legisla-tion passed at the state and na-tional levels. Yet, without ques-tion, this lone Greek fishermanfirst led a gathering of fishermenand officials from the states bor-dering the five Great Lakes toIllinois’ capital, Springfield.Then, Mathon led the way toWashington and back, all to savethe largest freshwater fishinggrounds in North America forfuture generations. That he isalso credited with “talking” tothe fish of Lake Michigan is an-other tale all onto itself.

To begin with, one of themany fallacies of Greek-Ameri-can studies is that Greeks thatarrived in the United States be-tween 1880 and 1920 did notbring any of their traditionalskills or commercial trades toAmerican shores. That is a to-tally erroneous belief easily

whisked aside by any numberof examples. In terms of fishing,by the late 1800s, Greeks werefound in every port along thecoastline of the United States,including Hawaii and Alaskalong before those two regionsbecame states in the Union. Thecontributions of Greek fisher-men to the American fishing in-dustry are plentiful. Aside fromtheir obvious skill in fishingmany unique contributions re-lated to structural changes inboat designs are also docu-mented as being due to Greeks.The very term “fishing” must becarefully unpacked to includenot simply fish but also clams,lobsters, shrimp, oysters andsponges. Even the locations forthis commercial trade were notlimited to the open seas or the

Gulf of Mexico but also to riverssuch as the salmon of the GreatNorthwest as well as the Missis-sippi River and the Great Lakes.

As the story goes, NicolasKonstantinos Capogiannis ar-rived in the United States tohelp his brother Louis fish thewaters of Lake Michigan.Eleutherios (Louis) EvangelosKyritsis was born on June 22,1898 and by the time of hisbrother Mathon’s arrival in 1919or 1920, the elder brother wasthe proud owner of his owncommercial fishing boat basedout of Waukegan, IL a port cityof Lake Michigan. The elderbrother had already legallychanged his name to Louis Car-rison. Legal documents exist re-porting that on March 8, 1934,Capogiannis changed his name

to Mathon Kyritsis. Even afterthat change the young Greekfound it was best just to telleveryone to call him Mathon.

Little is available on the next17 years of Mathon’s life otherthan he was a commercial fish-erman. The changes in Mathon’slife were not restricted solely tothe land. One story that seesrepetition in later published ac-counts is Mathon’s first outinginto the tempestuous LakeMichigan waters, “the roaring,raging, tossing icy waters of theGreat Lakes were not for thisson of the sunny Mediterranean.“I can’t fish, I’m too seasick. AndI’m cold all the time,” he com-plained. “So are we,” his fellowcrewmen said. “But what elseare we to do?”

On January 5, 1937, Mathon

is listed in maritime documentsfor the first time as theowner/operator of a fishingboat. By 1939, at the latest,Mathon had his own small standalong Clayton Street not morethan a block and a half fromWaukegan’s port where hewould sell his daily catch tocommercial dealers and the gen-eral public alike. At some pointMathon, just before World WarII, began to fry and boil some ofhis daily catch and sell it fromhis stand now called “Mathon’sFish and Chips.” Still, the masterof his own fishing tug Mathongradually expanded his standinto a fully-appointed restau-rant.

Now, to be sure, Mathon andLouis were not the only com-mercial fishermen out ofWaukegan harbor and far fromeven the only Greek fishermenwho sailed from that port. Dur-ing the years of World War IIsome 200 fishermen mannedthe fishing tugs of Waukegan’scommercial fleet. Given thephysical requirements of main-taining the fishing tugs, thedaily drying and repairing of thegill nets and the processing ofthe daily catch in an array ofscattered out-buildings the 17fishing tugs occupied a space inthe harbor all their own givingthe physical appearance of anisolated fishing village with thecity of Waukegan built on thebluff above it.

During the season, the aver-age fisherman’s day began justbefore dawn as the fleet set outfor the fishing grounds. Eachboat had a skipper, usually theowner and a crew of two tothree. Beginning some 15 to 20miles out the fleet began to lo-cate their individually buoyswhich marked where they hadset their gill nets. The netswhich were laid across the lakebottom, 250 feet below, in par-allel east-west so as to avoid be-coming entangled with one an-other. Bringing up the nets,

processing the fish, storing themin the ship and resetting thenets, in broad outline, was thedaily cycle of each vessel.Waukegan was, prior to WorldWar II, one of the largest com-mercial fisheries in the GreatLakes ordinarily supplyingChicago area with half the chuband a quarter of the lake troutannually consumed, or about800,000 pounds of each.

The destruction of breedinggrounds for freshwater fish isnot some kind of imaginary non-sense. It is a fact of history thatliterally thousands of pounds oflake and river fish readily (andcheaply) available to the aver-age American as fresh pure foodis simply no longer available.Over-fishing is now a catch-phrase to obscure the dumpingof raw garbage into the GreatLakes (and elsewhere) by thecities found along their borders.As if this were not bad enoughthe garbage scows would oftendump their loads directly intofish breeding grounds. Indus-trial development along theGreat Lakes only added to theamounts of manufacturing gen-erated toxic wastes pumped outinto the waters in massivewaves on a daily basis. Add therefuse, inclusive of gas andother oil-based wastes, thatships plying the Lakes spreadand you have some idea of whyfew Great Lake’s fish are avail-able even to the most avid ofsportsmen.

In 1949, “eighty commercialfishermen from Chicago andWaukegan yesterday formed theIllinois Co-operative Fishermen’sMarketing Association at ameeting in Fishermen’s Hall onthe Waukegan city docks.Mathon Kyritsis was namedchairman (Chicago Tribune Au-gust 8, 1949).” And so began abattle to save America’s naturalfishing resources few now evenknow took place.

[email protected]


Mathon Kyritsis: Great Lakes Fish Whisperer and Chef to Ichthyofagists

The photo appeared on March 19, 1959. Mathon Kyritsis is the man in herringbone overcoatand hamburg hat. The man with the capt's hat and cigarette in his mouth is Pete "the Greek"Prevenas skipper of the fishing tug Marguerita W. They are showing the largest perch catch in15 years some 5,000 pounds of perch.

By Phylis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

When the group met atDixon that Sunday Yiannis hadbeen explaining about his visitto the doctor. “A month ago hetold me I was overweight,” hesipped his coffee before contin-uing. “For my height I should betwenty pounds lighter. He gaveme a diet that was ridiculous.”

“Why ridiculous, Yiannis?He’s anxious that you live longerand better,” Dimos told him.Yiannis wrinkled his forehead, “Iknow that! But, I can’t eat like

sheep – grazing – eating saladsand vegetables. I can’t tell mywife she can’t cook my favoritefoods anymore. It’ll hurt her feel-ings – and, mine,” he stared atthe donuts on the plate. “Theremust be another way - but,how?” George, grinning, said,“You can grow another two feet.Then, your weight will be per-fect.” Yiannis ignored him. In-stead, he, absentmindedly,reached for the frosted donut butKipreos snatched it up, explain-ing, “Not good for you, Yiannis.I’m just thinking of you.”

“It’s not what you eat, Yian-nis, it’s how much,” said John.Yiannis watched the slimKipreos munch the delectable,frosted donut. He worked aspastry chef at a high class hotel.George, a mechanic, was thin,too. Swallowing his pride he,nonchalantly, inquired abouttheir regimen. Kipreos was verystraight forward. “I never touchthe deserts at work. Too richand sugary! I eat a sandwichand tea for lunch and a fruit. Athome, I’ll have eggs or make asimple stew with whatever veg-etables are in my small refriger-ator while watching TV. Then, Igo for a long walk to digest myfood before going to bed. That’sit!” He suggested, “Maybe youshould move more – walking orexercising.”

“Or working!” added George,

earning a chuckle from the oth-ers. Yiannis narrowed his eyes.“I move plenty”

“Besides moving a spoon orfork to your mouth, what else?”asked George, smugly. “I moveto get my daughter from school,I food shop every Saturday, I…”he fumbled, trying to think ofan activity he could mention -

but came up empty. George,looking concerned, said, “Youdon’t have too much time beforeyou see that doctor, again.You’ve got to do somethingsoon. I know TWO ways you canpositively lose a lot of weight,yet let Areti cook whatever youdesire – and, you don’t have todo any walking or running and

I guarantee you’ll not gain oneounce! I promise!” Yiannislooked up, his interest piquedbut with suspicious reservations.He asked how that can be done.George, slowly, shook his head,“I don’t know if you’ll go aheadwith it, Yiannis. You’ll need a lotof will power – a lot of resolve.But, the results are absolute!

The secret will cost you ten dol-lars.”

“I have will power! I have re-solve!” but the ten dollars wasnonnegotiable, grumbled Yian-nis, but didn’t say so. He won-dering what the bane of his ex-istence will tell him. Taking histime, George began to outlinethe plan Yiannis would have tofollow in order to lose weight.“WAY #1 - Areti can cook allyour favorite foods – as usual;then, fill your plate with what-ever catches your eye, asusual…” he paused, noticing hehad everyone’s avid attention.“…then, you pick up your forkor spoon, as usual…” Yiannis,impatient, waved his hand, sig-naling George to hurry it up. “…then, you fill your mouth withas much as you can and chewwell,” all heads bent forward,as George paused to allow hisnarration to be absorbed before,finally revealing the secret tothe successful diet, “…but, youmust be careful not to swallowany of it.” The others laughedbut Yiannis exhibited annoyanceat his nemesis’ irritating senseof humor; but George decidedto add WAY # 2. “Or, you caneat using a special spoon – onewith a hole in it!” Hand ex-tended, George said, “Now, payup!” Yiannis, leaning back in hisseat, reached for a donut andtold him, “Put it on my tab.”

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Katerina Angelos Christopou-los and John Benjamin Wardwere married Saturday eveningat the InterContinental ChicagoMagnificent Mile Hotel. RebeccaHendrickson, a friend of thecouple who became a UniversalLife minister for the occasion,officiated.

The bride, 41, is keeping hername. She is an assistant pro-fessor in the H.I.V./AIDS divi-sion of the department of med-icine at the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco. Shegraduated cum laude from Yaleand received a medical degreeand a Master of Public Healthfrom Columbia.

She is the daughter of Dr.Maria Balkoura and Dr. AngelosC. Christopoulos of Chicago.The bride’s father, a psychiatrist,retired as a clinical assistant pro-fessor of psychiatry at the Uni-versity of Illinois. Her mother, acardiologist, retired last yearfrom her practice in Chicago.

The groom, 43, is a seniortechnical consultant and soft-ware programmer at Recom-mind, a search engine developerin San Francisco. He graduatedfrom Connecticut College andreceived a master’s in informa-tion management and systemsfrom the University of Califor-nia, Berkeley.

He is a son of Judith Allenand Dr. Stephen D. Ward ofJenkintown, Pa. The groom’smother, a writer and lecturer, isthe author of “Virginia Woolfand the Politics of Language.”His father, a gastroenterologist,retired from Abington MemorialHospital in Pennsylvania.

New York Times

ChristopoulosWeds Ward inChi., OfficiatedBy their Friend

n ANTONELLIS, ASIMINANEW HAVEN, CT (From the NewHaven Register, published on Jul.31) – Asimina (Mina) Antonellis,79, of Fountain St., New Haven,passed away July 29, 2013 inMasonicare, Wallingford after abrief illness. She was the belovedwife of the late Konstantinos(Gus) Antonellis. Born inCorinth, Greece on Oct 31, 1933,she was the daughter of the lateJohn & Irene Gaitanou. She mar-ried and came to New Haven in1963. She has been a NewHaven resident ever since. Aseamstress by trade, she assistedher late husband in the operationof The College Spa on CollegeSt. in downtown New Haven formany years. She was a loyalmember of St. Barbara Greek Or-thodox Church and an activemember of the Odyssey Commit-tee, particularly in the Louk-oumades booth. She is survivedby two sons, George (Donna)Antonellis of Orange andTheodore Antonellis of Bethany;two sisters, Sophia & Anna, bothin Greece; and 5 grandchildren,Michael, Steven, Sylvia,Stephanie & George Antonellis.She was predeceased by abrother, George Gaitanou. Inlieu of flowers, contributionsmay be made to the AntonellisScholarship Fund, c/o St. Bar-bara Greek Orthodox Church,480 Racebrook Rd., Orange. Toleave condolence messages,please visit www.celentanofuner-alhome.com

n DEMETRIOS JAMESATHANASOPOULOS

JERSEY CITY, NJ (From the Jer-sey Journal, published on Aug.12) – Demetrios "James" Athana-sopoulos, 97, of Jersey Citypassed away peacefully on Sat-urday August 10, 2013. He wasoriginally from Greece but livedin Jersey City all of his life. Af-fectionately known as "Jimmythe Chef" from Tippy's, Jimmyworked there for over 50 years.He was a chef all of his life andalso owned his own business.Walking in his garden was liketaking a trip to his homelandGreece. He was at his happiestamong the fig trees, peach trees,tomatoes and beautiful roses.When not in his garden andsinging songs from his home-land, he enjoyed trips to AtlanticCity & watching the Game ShowNetwork with his youngestdaughter Sharon. He was trulyloved and will be sorely missed.Loving father of Georgia, Tzane-tos, Anastasia, Paula, Sharon;beloved grandfather of 7 andgreat grandfather of 9.

n LAZAROPOULOS, MATINA MEDFORD, NJ (From the Med-ford Courier-Post, published onAug. 9) – Matina LeonidaLazaropoulos (nee Xidis), 83, ofMedford, New Jersey diedWednesday, August 7, 2013 athome. Mrs. Lazaropoulos wasborn in Poulakida, Nafplion,

Greece and emigrated to theUSA in 1973, before moving toMedford over 20 years ago. Shewas preceded in death by herhusband Leonidas in 1997. Mrs.Lazaropoulos is survived by herson Pete (wife Krissa); grandchil-dren Leonidas, Taso, Michael;sister Sophia Mavrogiannis;brother Michalis Xidis. Memorialdonations in memory of Mrs.Lazaropoulos may be made toSaint Irene Philoptochos Societyof St. Thomas Greek OrthodoxChurch 615 Mercer Street,Cherry Hill, NJ 08002.

n NICHOLAS, VRYSULACOUCOUVITIS

PORTLAND, ME (From the Port-land Press Herald, published onAug. 4) – Much beloved, VrysulaCoucouvitis Nicholas, 100, thedaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anas-tasios Coucouvitis of Ellasona,Greece, died peacefully of nat-ural causes at the home of herdaughter Susan and husbandRichard Johnsen in Louisville,Ky., on July 25, 2013. Born onAug. 6, 1912, Vrysula, alsoknown as Sue, emigrated withher older sister, Chrysoula, to theUnited States from Greece, spon-sored by her uncle, NicholasCoucouvitis, who had previouslyemigrated to this country. Shelived in Haverhill, Mass., withfamily relatives and attendedMount Hermon Academy, andBradford Junior College. Overthe next 20 years, Sue becamean active member of the growingGreek-American communities ofHaverhill, Mass., Manchester,N.H., and Portland, where hersister, Chrysoula, had establishedher home and family. While vis-iting in Portland, Sue met her fu-ture husband, Lt. Nicholas JohnNicholas, USN. In 1912, at theage of three, Nick came to Amer-ica via the Greek community inIstanbul and settled with his fam-ily in Portland. Nick graduatedfrom the United States NavalAcademy in 1932, and NavySubmarine School in 1935, andthey were married later thatyear. During the early years ofmarriage, Sue lived in China andthe Philippines where her hus-band had been assigned to sub-marine duty on board the S 36,one of the Navy's aging 'pigboats' With the onset of WorldWar II, Sue returned from Chinato the United States to live nearher husband's and sister's fami-lies in Portland. Sue remainedthere and raised her family offour children while her husbandNick skippered submarines in thePacific Theater and became a lo-cal Portland war hero havingearned several campaign medalsand Bronze and Silver Stars withOak Leaf clusters for courage andbravery in action. Sue and Nickretired to St. Croix in the U.S.Virgin Islands, a paradise thatNick had discovered and cameto love during WWII when hevisited Crown Bay Navy Base inSt. Thomas, USVI on shakedowncruises of newly minted sub-marines that were destined foraction in the Pacific Theater.While living there, Sue lost herbeloved husband who suc-cumbed to war-related injuriesin 1970, and shortly thereafter,she moved to Fort Lauderdale

where she lived until joining herdaughter Susan and her husbandDick in Louisville, Ky. As the ma-triarch of the Nicholas family,Sue was instrumental in arrang-ing for the installation of theWWII Submarine Memorial atthe U.S. Navy Memorial Founda-tion Center in Washington, D.C.The Memorial was given to ourCountry by her sons, Nicholasand Peter. This gift honors thememory of her beloved husbandNick. On June 10, 2003, at thededication ceremony, Sue waspresented a plaque by Rear Ad-miral Henry C. McKinney, USNRet., President and CEO of theU.S. Navy Memorial Foundation,in recognition of her tireless ser-vice as a Navy wife. For Sue, theinscription on the plaque meanteverything: 'Those Who WaitAlso Serve.' Sue's life reflects thebest of all those who came to thiscountry working hard to attainthe American Dream. Having lefther parents behind in a small re-mote country village in northernGreece at the age of 14, Sue trav-eled to America where she re-ceived a superb education,proudly became an American cit-izen, and successfully raised afamily of two sons and twindaughters. She leaves behindfour children: Nicholas J.Nicholas Jr. and wife Lynn ofNew York City and Nantucket,Mass., Peter M. Nicholas andwife Ruth of Concord, Mass., andBoca Grande, Fla., SusanNicholas Johnsen and husbandRichard of Louisville, Ky., andSara Nicholas Monroe and hus-band Kenneth of Staunton, Va.She also leaves behind sevengrandchildren: Hilary NicholasSteinert, Alexandra Nicholas Ca-puto, John Kirby Nicholas, PeterMichael Nicholas Jr., KatherineNicholas Ronan, Nicholas Trim-ble Monroe, and Kenneth R.Monroe III; and 13 great-grand-children. Sue will be laid to restin Arlington National Cemeteryalongside her husband, CaptainN. J. Nicholas, USN Ret. Memo-rial donations may be made to:Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch 133 Pleasant St. Port-land, Maine 04102 207-774-0281 Contact: Fr. ConstantineSarantidis E-Mail:[email protected]

n PAPATHANASIOU, LEMONIA

MANCHESTER, NH (From theManchester Union Leader, pub-lished on Aug. 22) – Lemonia"Nitsa" Papathanasiou, 86, ofManchester, NH, passed away onAugust 20, 2013 surrounded byher loving family and friends.Mrs. Papathanasiou was bornJan. 6, 1927 in Ikaria, Greece, adaughter of Nikos and Maria Fi-olou and had been a Manchesterresident for many years.Prior to retirement, Mrs. Pap-athanasiou was employed withPandora Industries and in lateryears with the Jac Pac Company.Mrs. Papathanasiou was a loving,dedicated and devoted motherand grandmother as well as aloving Yia Yia to all.She was predeceased by her hus-band, Costas Papathanasiou.Family includes two sons,Nicholas Papathanasiou and hiswife, Debra and Evangelos Pap-

athanasiou and his fiancé, Debra;as well as four grandchildren, Ar-ianna Papathanasiou, Emily Mer-cer, Christopher Mercer andStephen Mercer. Memorial con-tributions may be sent to Man-chester Animal Shelter, 490 Dun-barton Road, Manchester, 03102.Family and friends may visitCateJohnson.com.

n THEOHAROS, HELENNEWARK, NJ (From the Star-Ledger, published on Jul. 22) –Helen (Mamoukaris) Theoharis,89, of North Plainfield, N.J.,passed away on Saturday, Jul.20, at her home. Born and raisedin New York City, Helen went tolive in Greece during the Germanoccupation. Upon returning tothe U.S., she lived in Brooklyn,Jersey City, N.J., and Nutley be-fore moving to North Plainfieldin 2000. She was the owner ofNeptune Liquor & Deli in JerseyCity from 1970 to 1990. Thebeloved wife of the late NicholasTheoharis, she is survived by herloving daughter, Irene Tantaros,and her husband, Nick; hergrandson, Gregory Tantaros, andher siblings, Christine Demosand Nick Mamoukaris.

n TRIFON, DESPINA FLINT, MI (From from Flint Jour-nal, published on Jul. 31) – De-spina Trifon, of Burton, age 69,died Monday, Jul. 29 at her resi-dence. Those desiring may makecontributions to AssumptionGreek Orthodox Church 2245East Baldwin Road, Grand Blancor Gentiva Hospice. Despina wasborn in Rhodes, Greece, thedaughter of Emmanouil IoannisGiannouris and Andrianna Ha-zoglou. On October 8, 1961 shemarried Everett Trifon and hepreceded her in death in 2010.Despina was a member of As-sumption Greek OrthodoxChurch. Surviving are children,Georgia (Alex) Kocoves of WestBloomfield, Andrea (Dave) Gor-don of Milford and Nick Trifonof Grand Blanc; grandchildren,Lauren, Dean, Evan, Drew,Chloe, Alex and Ethan; siblings,Anastasia Kleanthis, George andAnna Giannouris, Stergoula andDimitri Potsos, Ioannis Gian-nouris, Vasilia Varvoudakis andbrother-in-law, Nick (Anna)Georgiou; many nieces,nephews; Godchildren, familyand friends. Your condolencesmay be shared with the familyat swartzfuneralhomeinc.com

n TSAMARDINOS, ZENOVIAALBANY, NY (From the AlbanyTimes-Union, Aug. 12) – ZenoviaTsamardinos, entered into eter-nal rest on August 10, 2013 atEvergreen Commons NursingHome. Zenovia was born inChios, Greece on February 28,1917. She was the daughter ofthe late Maria and George Galli.Zenovia was educated in Greeceas a nurse. She met her husbandTheodore Tsamardinos there andthey came to the United Statestogether in 1966. They weremarried for 62 years. Zenovia de-voted her life to her family,friends and her faith in God. Shewas a member of St. Sophia'sGreek Orthodox Church and apast member of the PhiloptocosSociety. Zenovia was prede-

ceased by her husband,Theodore Tsamardinos. She wasa devoted mother to Maria(William) Spears, Eftihia (Joy)(Nicholas) Toppses, Stella(Thomas) Koleci, and Dimitrios(Michele) Tsamardinos. She wasthe beloved grandmother of thelate Anthony (Yvonne) Toppses,Father Theodore (Vicki) Toppses,Carolann Koleci, Nicole (John)Quackenbush, Vasil Koleci,Sabina (Jeb) Breece, Jane EmilyTsamardinos, and Lea RoseTsamardinos. She is also survivedby seven great-grandchildren,many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, step-grand-children and step-great-grand-children, a goddaughter andmany loving friends. Zenovia issurvived by her sister, DemetraRetos. She was predeceased byher sisters, Marika Pagoulatos,Mimika Reskakis, Despina Gur-guli, Eftihia Galli; and herbrother, Apostoli Galli. The fam-ily wishes to express their sinceregratitude for the dedicated andloving care Zenovia received atEvergreen Commons NursingHome and for the love and sup-port of Niki Colydas. In lieu offlowers, donations may be madeto St. Sophia's Greek OrthodoxChurch, 440 Whitehall Road, Al-bany, NY 12208. Published in Al-bany Times Union on August 12,2013

n VANIAS, STEPHENNICHOLAS

RICHMOND, VA (From the Rich-mond Times-Dispatch, publishedon Aug. 13) – Stephen Nicholas,79, of Richmond, passed awayon Sunday, August 11, 2013. Heis survived by his devoted wifeof 54 years, Virginia "Smaro"Prokopis Vanias; loving son, NickVanias and his wife, Elli, of Rich-mond; loving daughter, TheaKanos and her husband, Johnny,of Fayetteville, N.C.; five grand-children, Stephen (Katherine),Pamela, James, Billy and Alexis;one great-grandson, Owen; abrother, Taki (Barbara); and asister, Soula Sitaras (Stelios), allof Thessaloniki, Greece; andmany loving and devoted sistersand brothers-in-law, cousins,nieces and nephews. He was pre-ceded in death by his brother,Dino, in Thessaloniki, Greece."Steve" was born in Kavala,Greece and came to America in1955. He was an active memberof Sts. Constantine and HelenGreek Orthodox Cathedral,where he faithfully volunteeredhis services and cooking skills fornumerous years at the Greek Fes-tival, and he was a loyal memberof AHEPA. He chaired the 1976Bicentennial Celebration at theHotel John Marshall. Steve wasa Mason in Hellenic Lodge No.249 A.F&A.M. and served twiceas a Worshipful Master of the

lodge. He graciously donatedand prepared Thanksgiving din-ner for many years at the Ma-sonic Home of Virginia. He wasa partner with his brother-in-law,Louis Velitjelos, at Pop's Restau-rant and then opened Steve'sRestaurant at 110 N. 5th St., in1978 until his retirement in2002. He held a great compas-sion for his church and his Greekheritage. He enjoyed gardening,reading the Bible, and spendingtime with his family and closefriends. A heartfelt thank you tothe staff at Gayton Terrace Mem-ory Care Unit and the Medi Hos-pice for their care and lovingsupport. Memorial contributionsmay be made to Sts. Constantineand Helen Greek OrthodoxCathedral, 30 Malvern Ave.,Richmond, Va. 23221, or theAlzheimer's Association , 4600Cox Rd., Suite 130, Glen Allen,Va. 23060.

n WOUTAS, NICHOLASTHE WOODLANDS, TX (Fromyourkingwoodnews.com, pub-lished on Jul. 24) – NicholasWoutas, 78, a retired geologistwho is remembered for his joy-fulness and zest for life, died un-expectedly Friday, Jul. 12, at hisbrother's home in Merrimac,Wisconsin. He was there to at-tend his 60th high school re-union in nearby Madison. Bornin Patras, Greece, Mr. Woutaswas in his teens when he immi-grated to Madison in 1952 andgraduated from high schoolthere. He earned his Bachelor ofScience degree in geology fromthe University of Wisconsin, alsoMadison, and received his mas-ter's degree in geology from theUniversity of North Carolina atChapel Hill. Mr. Woutas had abrief stint as a science teacherat Biloxi (Mississippi) HighSchool and biology lab professorat the University of SouthernMississippi in Hattiesburg. Hethen became a geologist withExxon, and worked for the com-pany for 29 years in Lafayette,Louisiana, New Orleans, Lon-don, and Singapore. He retiredfrom the company in Houstonin 1994. In 2004, Mr. Woutaspurchased a home in Staten Is-land, New York in order to becloser to his sons and grandson,and since then had divided histime between there and Hous-ton. Family members said helived life to the absolute fullest.His boundless energy, enthusi-asm and playful sense of humordelighted others. He enjoyedtraveling, playing golf, photog-raphy, and genealogy, and hadcompiled a well-researchedrecord of his Greek heritage. Mr.Woutas volunteered for theGolfers Against Cancer Organi-zation, and was a member andpast president of the Exxon Mo-bile Retiree Club, serving aspresident in 1999. His first wifeof 39 years, the former EffieApostolou, died in 2004. Surviv-ing, along with his grandson, areBetsy, his wife of six years; hissons, Nicholas and wife Donna,and Alexis, and his brothers,Dean and Dimitri. In lieu offlowers, donations may be madeto Golfers Against Cancer atGolfersAgainstCancer.org or281-348-2280.

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

DEATH NOTICES

This is a service to the community.

Announcements of deaths may be telephoned to the Classified Department of The National Herald at

(718) 784-5255, monday through Friday,

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST or e-mailed to:

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

LC OPERATORS, LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec.of State (SSNY) 7/15/13 Office in Kings Co. SSNYdesign. Agent of LLC upon whom process may beserved. SSNY shall mail copy of process to The LLC2040 E 3rd St Brooklyn, NY 11223. Purpose: Anylawful activity. Registered Agent: Edward Dayan2040 E 3rd St Brooklyn,NY 11223.

272899/18588

PGN PROPERTIES LLC, a domestic LLC,Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on6/13/13. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: TheLLC, 6807 11th Ave., Brooklyn, NY11219. General Purposes.

272927/10709

CONOVER BOWNE EXPRESS LINE LLC, adomestic LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SS-NY on 7/23/13. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: JosephSpagna, 70 Hamilton Ave., Brooklyn, NY11231. General Purposes.

272965/10709

FRESH NEW ANGLES PRODUCTIONSLLC, a domestic LLC, Arts. of Org. filed withthe SSNY on 5/13/13. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY is designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC,61 Oliver St., Apt. 3M, Brooklyn, NY 11209.General Purposes.

272926/10709

Notice of Formation of limited liability company(LLC). Name: 1372 Dean St. LLC. Articles of Orga-nization filed with Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 07/15/13. NY office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agent of theLLC upon whom process against it may be served.The post office address to which the SSNY shallmail a copy of any process against the LLC servedupon him/her is : 1372 Dean St. LLC, 150 DekalbAvenue, Brooklyn, New York 11217. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose.

272928/18711

LORTIN REALTY LLC, a domestic LLC,Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on8/5/13. Office location: Kings County.SSNY is designated as agent upon whomprocess against the LLC may be served.SSNY shall mail process to: Ira Levine,320 Northern Blvd., Ste. 14, Great Neck,NY 11021. General Purposes.

272957/10709

SABOR BROOKLYN LLC, a domestic LLC, Arts. ofOrg. filed with the SSNY on 4/17/13. Office loca-tion: Kings County. SSNY is designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 577th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11217. General Purposes.

272887/10709

FENNEL REALTY LLC Articles of Org. filedNY Sec. of State (SSNY) 6/21/13 Office inKings Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC uponwhom process may be served. SSNY shallmail copy of process to The LLC 231 SuydamSt Ste 2L Brooklyn, NY 11237. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

272898/18588

Notice of Formation of COLLECTIVE CRAFTNYC, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of Stateof NY (SSNY) on 08/01/13. Office location:Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 248 DriggsAve., Apt. 1F, Brooklyn, NY 11222. SSNY des-ignated as agent of LLC upon whom processagainst it may be served. SSNY shall mailprocess to Corporation Service Co., 80 StateSt., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Anylawful activity.

272952/17976

Point Cutters Salon, LLC. Articles of Org. Filedwith SSNY 04/18/13. Office loc.: NassauCounty. SSNY designated as agent uponwhom process may be served. SSNY shall mailprocess to c/o: THE LLC, (1375 Jerusalem Av-enue, Merrick, NY, 11566). General Purposes.

272946/18714

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of similar upbeat initiatives toSamaras’s aides who are to han-dle the initiative, sources toldthe newspaper Kathimerini.

The public relations cam-paign is being planned, it wassaid, because Samaras is uneasyover the aggressive tactics ofSYRIZA and its leader, AlexisTsipras, who opposes the bailoutmemorandum with the coun-try’s international lenders andthe attached austerity measures.

Officials in the coalition gov-ernment of Samaras, the NewDemocracy Conservative leaderand his partner, PASOK Socialistleader/Deputy PrimeMinister/Foreign Minister Evan-gelos Venizelos have describedSYRIZA’s tactics as “scaremon-gering.”

With the economy in thesixth year of a deep recessionand the debt growing underSamaras’ one-year tenure to 321billion euros ($425.64 billion,)the government is keen to pointout highlights of what it believesis what it’s done right.

Samaras’ cheerleader is Fi-nance Minister YannisStournaras, a technocrat wholeft a highly-regarded think tankto take on the job of overseeingthe fight to right the economy,and who has said recovery couldbegin by the end of next yearand that Greece might even beable to return to the markets forborrowing.

“The latest developments inthe economy are definitely on apositive keel and I hope theywill continue to remain posi-tive,” Stournaras told Parlia-ment. “Fiscal developments arein line with the targets, but alsoproduction data – particularlyin tourism – allow for optimismthat if we continue on thiscourse, the national product thisyear will exceed projections,” headded.

Alternate Finance MinisterChristos Staikouras presenteddata to Parliament showing thatGreece’s public debt would havereached 380 billion euros,($503.64 billion) or 208 percentof Gross Domestic Product if aprevious government in which

Venizelos was finance ministerhadn’t imposed 74 percentlosses on investors, includingthose in the Diaspora who lostmost of their money trusting inGreece.

Staikouras said that the debtwill keep climbing as long asGreece continues to have pri-mary deficits that are coveredby borrowing. Additionally, “aslong as the recession deepens,public debt as a percentage ofGDP will also increase,” he ar-gued.

The country is surviving ontwo rescue packages of $325 bil-lion from the Troika of the Eu-ropean Union-InternationalMonetary Fund-European Cen-tral Bank which has insisted onbig pay cuts, tax hikes, andslashed pensions, creating arecord unemployment rate of27.4 percent.

Now the government is mov-ing ahead with a so-called mo-bility scheme in which 25,000public workers over the nexttwo years would be paid 75 per-cent of their already reducedpay and then fired if another job

can’t be found for them. Administrative Reform Min-

ister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who ischarged with finding 12,500workers this year for transfer,admitted that many of them willbe fired, and that he might needmore time to find another12,500.

Mitsotakis said the govern-ment wants to root out discipli-nary problems and wrongdoersin the system and as mass casesof workers faking their creden-tial are being uncovered.

Alternate Interior MinisterLeonidas Grigorakas said onSKAI TV that under former pre-mier and then-New Democracyleader Costas Karamanlis, whoserved from 2004-09 that850,000 new hirings weremade.here

“Of these, more than 10 per-cent were on the basis of falsequalification certificates, whichhad not been approved by theSupreme Council for PersonnelSelection (ASEP),” Grigorakossaid, referring to the body re-sponsible for appointing civilservants.

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 9

Samaras Rosy about Economy, But Unrest Looms

common struggle for justice inCyprus.

“To achieve our goals wemust act collectively and uniteforces. We need your supportalso” she stressed.

For the first time, the Turkishinvasion and occupation ofCyprus did not feature at thetop of the agenda of the meet-ing, because of the economic cri-sis, Executive Council of theWorld Federation of OverseasCypriots (POMAK) PresidentHaris Sophoclides noted, addingthat Cypriots from abroad hadgathered to exchange viewswith the government and thepolitical leadership on the bestway to contribute to the recov-ery of the country’s batteredeconomy.

Philip Christopher, Presidentof the International Coordinat-ing Committee Justice forCyprus (PSEKA), said that al-though Cyprus was faced with

an economic recession it shouldremain focused on the Cyprusissue.

He urged President Anastasi-ades to continue buildingbridges with Israel, the USA andthe EU and “stick to the solutionthat we want”.

He also said that big corpo-rations were interested in in-vesting in a European country.

“Cyprus’ struggle is our strug-gle. We take part in the strugglefor economic recovery, we takepart in the struggle to end theTurkish occupation, secure the

withdrawal of the Turkishtroops and settlers from the is-land and the return of refugeesto their homes” said ChristosKaraolis, head of the ExecutiveCouncil of the Organisation ofYoung Overseas Cypriots, NEPO-MAK.

In Cyprus, Diaspora Leaders Discuss the Crisis

“The finding of Amphipolisis certainly very important, butlinking the site with the identi-fication of historical figureswithout scientific justification isrisky,” the Culture Ministry saidin a press release.

Alexander, who was edu-cated by the ancient Greekphilosopher Aristotle, con-quered most of the worldknown to the ancient Greeks.

By the age of 25 he had de-feated the Persians and his en-tire eventually included Egypt,Anatolia, Syria, Gaza andMesopotamia, even stretchingas far as India. At age 32 he diedin Babylon, possibly as the resultof malaria or typhoid fever.

Last year, researchers fromthe 28th Ephorate of Antiquitiesunearthed a tomb in the city ofAmphipolis, near Serres, north-ern Greece, which they believecould belong to the wife and son

of Alexander the Great, Roxanaand Alexander IV, Archaeology& Arts reported.

The circular enclosure sur-rounding the tomb located in anurban area close to the smallcity of Amphipolis is three me-ters (or nearly 10 feet high) andits perimeter is about 500 me-ters (or 1,640 feet). The headof the team, Katerina Peristeri,noted that it is too soon to talkwith certainty about the identi-ties of the discovery.

“Of course this precinct isone we have never seen before,neither in Vergina nor anywhereelse in Greece. There is no doubtabout this” she said. However,it is too early, as she told jour-nalists, to speak with certaintyabout the identities of the peo-ple at the tomb site. Further ev-idence was required.

Nevertheless, local authoritiesand media rushed into claimingand believing that the tomb be-longs to Alexander’s wife and

son, who, according to legend,had been ostracized to Macedo-nia after Alexander’s death.There the 12-year-old Alexanderthe IV and his mother Roxanawere murdered. Tradition has itthat the two victims were buriedin Amphipolis but no evidenceso far has proved this.

Alexander remains one of theenduring figures of world his-tory and with Greeks and theirneighbors in the Former Yu-goslav Republic of Macedoniaboth claiming him. He has beenthe subject of countless booksand films and with Greeks say-ing he’s a hero and critics thathe was one of the first majorimperialists trying to conquerthe world.

The exhibition The Greeks:Agamemnon to Alexander TheGreat will be hosted in four mu-seums in Canada and the USAfrom December 2014 to Sep-tember 2016.

The exhibition will be pre-

sented at the Royal Ontario Mu-seum, the Canadian Museum ofCivilization, The Field Museumand The National GeographicMuseum.

More than 560 ancient ob-jects, as well as some models,casts and copies, from Greekmuseums, as the NationalArcheological, the Numismatic,the Epigraphic Museum, theAcropolis Museum, the Archae-ological Museums of Thessa-loniki and Heraklion, will travelto the other side of the Atlanticaiming at be included in the ex-hibition.

The exhibits will chronologi-cally cover the period from pre-history until the late Hellenisticperiod. The exhibition will bestructured in nine sections,which aims at helping the visitorget familiar with the Greek civ-ilization.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

Greece Skeptical of Alexander Tomb Discovery

As the United States andUnited Kingdom were debatingwhether to take military actionagainst Syria for the alleged useof chemical weapons that killeda reported 355 civilians, a U.S.Navy base on Crete and UK airbase on Cyprus were being pre-pared for use in possible attacks.

Washington has reportedlyasked Greece for permission touse its military bases in Kala-mata and Souda for a possiblestrike. The two bases in Pelopon-nesus and on Crete would beused by the American Air Forceand Navy for transportation pur-poses.

The Greek government hasgiven the green light but statedthat it will not take part in anydirect military action in Syria forfear of reprisals, the Interna-tional Business Times said.

According to reports, the U.S.authorities are reluctant to useTurkish military bases becauseof Ankara’s strong support forthe Assad opposition.

A buildup of warplanes andmilitary transporters was also re-ported at the British airbase atAkrotiri in Cyprus, less than 100miles from Syria. C-130 trans-port planes were spotted by twocommercial pilots and the air-base has been much busier thannormal, according to theGuardian.

Greek Prime Minister AntonisSamaras, who got U.S. President

Barack Obama’s support for ef-forts to reform the Greek econ-omy during a White House visiton Aug. 8 reportedly returnedthe favor by allowing the use ofinstallations in Greece.

That drew fire from majoropposition Coalition of the Rad-ical Left (SYRIZA) leader AlexisTsipras who said he was upsetthat the United States wantedthe use of Greek military basesand air and sea access.

Be called for an emergencysession in Parliament regardingGreece’s position ahead of theintervention. In a letter to Par-liament Speaker EvangelosMeimarakis, Tsipras asked for a

report to be delivered by Sama-ras.

“The briefing is absolutelynecessary as reports suggest thatthe country is under pressure tofacilitate a military interven-tion,” the leftist leader said.

President Karolos Papouliasnoted simply that “those takingthe decisions should carefullyconsider the matter of an inter-vention in Syria.”

PROTECTING CYPRUSThe UK is sending six RAF Ty-

phoon jets to Cyprus to defendthe strategically important baseson the island against potentialretaliatory attacks from theregime of Bashar al-Assad, the

Guardian reported.The Cypriot Ministry of De-

fence stressed that the jets werenot being sent to conduct poten-tial ground-attack missionsagainst Assad’s regime, but werethere as a precautionary mea-sure.

The UK has two sovereignbase areas on the former Britishcolony at Akrotiri and Dhekelia.The aircraft will be based at theAkrotiri base, which has been akey staging post for militaryflights to and from Afghanistan.

The bases are also home tolistening and surveillance sta-tions that provide the British andU.S. militaries, and Western in-

telligence services, with vital in-formation about what is goingon across the Middle East.

Military analysts have ex-pressed concern that Cyprusmight be in range of Syria’s Scudmissiles. Assad also has a strongair force.

An RAF spokesman told TheGuardian the fighter jets werefor Cyprus’ protection as well asthe base in case Syria tried toattack in response to their coun-try being hit.

“This is purely a prudent andprecautionary measure to ensurethe protection of UK interestsand the defense of our sovereignbase areas at a time of height-ened tension in the wider re-gion,” the spokesman said.

The statement added that,“This is a movement of defensiveassets operating in an air-to-airrole only. They are not deployingto take part in any military ac-tion against Syria. The PM hasmade clear no decision has beentaken on our response and thegovernment has said that therewill be a Commons vote beforedirect military involvement”.

Prof. Michael Clarke, the Di-rector General of the defensethink tank the Royal United Ser-vices Institute, told the paperthat there was a threat to Britishinterests in Cyprus whether ornot it was used to launch strikeson Syria.

“If the Syrians wanted to re-taliate, they would retaliateagainst British bases whether ornot it had been used,” he said.

“The safety of Cyprus is notan issue here but you would takesensible actions to keep Cyprusproperly defended. DefendingCyprus is not a problem butthere will be measures taken tobe on alert,” he said.

The base at Akrotiri is hometo 84 Squadron, a search-and-rescue helicopter and a range ofother units. A number are in-volved in providing air transportlinks and other support to oper-ations in Afghanistan, includingdecompression for personnel re-turning from operations there.

Another 270 UK personnelare based in Nicosia on peace-keeping duties, as part of the UNforce in Cyprus.

As U.S. Ponders Strike on Syria, Greece and Cyprus Prepare for it as Well

NICOSIA, Cyprus- Cypriot Pres-ident Nicos Anastasiades hastold a committee investigatingthe collapse of the country’sbanking sector that he had toaccept an onerous 10 billion eu-ros ($13 billion) bailout dealfrom international lenders be-cause of intense pressure and tokeep the economy from implod-ing, too.

Anastasiades said not goingalong with the terms, thatwound up including confisca-tion of 47.5 percent of bank ac-counts over 100,000 euros($130,000) would have beencatastrophic but denied he hadsuggested the so-called “bail-in”scheme that he had campaignedagainst before the February elec-tions.

Anastasiades conceded thathe reneged on his pledges notto accept a so-called “haircut”on deposits, but said he had nochoice.

“I opted to be useful insteadof likeable,” Anastasiades said,the Cyprus Mail reported. Healso said the pressure exertedon him by Brussels had been un-precedented.

To a remark by one of thepanel judges that it was “like aknife to the throat,” Anastasi-ades said it was more like “agun to the head”.

He was talking about a meet-ing of Eurozone officials inMarch, which decided on thescheme to seize private bank ac-counts to pay for the mistakesof the country’s banks, whichlost 4.5 billion euros ($5.9 bil-lion) in bad loans to Greek busi-nesses that went broke duringthat country’s economic crisis,and in large holdings of Greekbonds that were devalued 74percent.

“The truth is that anythingproposed was done on the ini-tiative of the Eurogroup direc-torate and adopted by the ma-jority of the members,”Anastasiades said. At one pointduring the discussions, therewas talk about going after in-sured deposits under 100,000euros, violating the country’sbanking laws that protected ac-counts.

Even if the Cypriot govern-ment had suggested the haircutof insured deposits, “since theyclaimed it was illegal, why didthey accept it?” the presidentasked. Yet he presented thatplan to the Parliament which re-jected it unanimously, forcingthe Troika of the EuropeanUnion-International MonetaryFund-European Central Bank(EU-IMF-ECB to come back withthe alternative to go after largeraccounts that weren’t insured. BANKS BLEEDING AWAYThe Eurozone also ordered

the closing of the island’s sec-ond-biggest bank, Laiki. Banksremained closed during the 10days between the first and sec-ond Eurogroup meetings to pre-vent a bank run and capital con-

trols have been in place sincebut the banks are still losing anestimated 30 million euros($39.73 million.) They had 24.6billion euros ($32.57 billion) be-fore the crisis began.

According to a statementthat Anastasiades submitted tothe committee, the closing ofLaiki worsened the uncertaintyand compounded the economy’sproblems “unfortunately con-firming the concerns I expressedafter the first Eurogroup deci-sion.”

“Imports froze while supplieswere running out and thousandsof businesses could not function.Many started suspending theiroperation,” Anastasiades said.

Despite the closure, bankbranches overseas were stillopen while people could with-draw the maximum allowedamount from ATMs, but only300 euros ($394.47) per day.Businesses were allowed to takemore but for a time had detailany proposed transaction inwriting.

Anastasiades said not accept-ing the haircut would have ledto the collapse of the economy,although critics said what’s hap-pened is almost just that andwith additional austerity mea-sures sending unemploymentsoaring and businesses closingall over the island.

The island’s banks wouldhave collapsed because the Eu-ropean Central Bank (ECB)would have stopped providingthem with emergency liquidity(ELA), Anastasiades said

The state would then have tocover insured bank depositsworth €19.7 billion, €11 billionin ELA owed to the ECB, andaround €5.8 billion in govern-ment debt – some €36 billion intotal, the committee heard, al-though there was not enoughcapital to do so.

The Bank of Cyprus, whichtook on the assets and liabilitiesof Laiki, which has hamperedits ability to operate next monthwill elect a new board and fi-nalize a restructuring plan.

Until its liquidation Laiki –including its so-called toxic as-sets area – is being managed bya special administration ap-pointed by the Governor of theCentral Bank of Cyprus, PanicosDemetriades, who functions asthe supervising Resolution Au-thority.

One of the plans being ex-amined is the setting up of aboard to manage the bad partof Laiki which will include rep-resentatives of its creditors. Thegovernment wants Laiki’s depos-itors to have a say in the man-agement of the 18 percent ofBank of Cyprus.

In the meantime, Cyprus isstruggling to get back on its feetbut hopes for a good tourismseason have been dashed withwould-be visitors staying awayin large numbers, fearing theywould not have access to cash.


Anastasiades Says BailoutIs Like a Gun to the Head


Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades prepares to testify at ajudicial inquiry in Nicosia, Cyprus, Tuesday, Aug. 27.

AP PHOTO/PHiliPPOS CHriSTOu


Nicos Anastasiades, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, converses with guests at a receptionduring a conference of representatives of various Diaspora organizations.

A British Typhoon fighter jet comes in to land at a British air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus on Thurs-day, August 29. Britain's Ministry of Defense that it was deploying six Typhoon jets at the baseas a “purely a prudent and precautionary measure to ensure the protection of UK interests”.

AP PHOTO/PAVlOS VriONiDES

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

Church Scandals ShamefulBut Might Be Criminal, Too

To the Editor:Theodore Kalmoukos’ article

“Isaiah Covers up Priests’ Sus-picious Dealings” (TNH, Aug.24) brought to light disturbingissues at the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese, by far the most in-competent and worst-run orga-nization in America.

If, in fact, the allegations ofcheck writing by the two priestsat Salt Lake are true, thereshould be some serious discipli-nary action taken and perhapsMetropolitan Isaiah should re-sign.

But it seems to be quite pe-culiar how quickly the Archdio-cese is throwing Isaiah underthe bus without waiting for all

this to play out by suggestinghe resign now. In the mean-time, the Archdiocese has cov-ered up much worse as docu-mented by your series of articlesin regard to St. Demetrios Ja-maica.

If we are to use Salt Lake Cityas a guide, ArchbishopDemetrios should have resignedyears ago and Bishop Andoniosshould have been removed fromthe bishopric. While roughly$20,000 in misused funds is be-ing investigated in Utah, whichhas caused concern even in Con-stantinople, the Jamaica situa-tion has been totally ignored.There is no doubt in my mindlaw enforcement need to get in-volved.

Thomas BletsosBrooklyn, NY

Catsimatidis for Mayor!We are endorsing John Catsimatidis in the Republican primary

for mayor of New York City, and fully intend on endorsing him inthe general election as well. That much, we are sure you couldhave guessed. As a newspaper in the business of serving the Greek-American community, our endorsement is hardly breaking news.In fact, what would have been breaking news is if we had endorsedone of his opponents, instead.

And it is important to note that we certainly would have donejust that if we did not believe in John’s candidacy. Surely it meansa great deal to us – as we are sure it means a lot to many of you –that Catsimatidis is the first Greek-American to run for mayor ofarguably the greatest city in the world. We do not deny that weare particularly jubilant that John “is one of us.”

If we were to endorse him solely because of his Greek heritage,however, that would be a dishonor to our integrity as a newspaper,and a supreme disservice to you, our readers.

Instead, we hope that you will indulge us, and read the followingwords about why we would have endorsed John Catsimatidis formayor of New York City even if he wasn’t Greek.

John was born on the tiny island of Nisyros and came to NewYork when he was toddler. His family struggled as his immigrantfather worked hard but in the usual types of thankless jobs an im-migrant of that time was destined to occupy.

John made the leap to New York University, and stopped justshort of graduation, because the overwhelming passion of his en-trepreneurial ambitions could wait no longer. He worked in a smallsupermarket, which he bought and from there he bought anotherone, and another one, and so on, and always tried to buy the landon which the store sat, too. Later on, as John’s grocery businessexpanded, he went into the energy business and then. Later on, heventured into real estate development.

Therefore, to associate John Catsimatidis solely with Gristedes,his supermarket chain, would be like saying Ronald Reagan wasan accomplished Hollywood actor, and leaving it at that.

John archived the American dream in a big way. He became notonly a billionaire but a multi billionaire. But he has always remainedhumble. He never forgot where he came from.

Accordingly, he became involved with the Greek-American com-munity to an extent that few successful Hellenes have matched.He donated his time and his money to the Archdiocese. He startedbroadcasting the Greek Independence Day Parade. He providedscholarships, helped struggling families, and was there, along withhis wife, Margo, for countless community events.

John said neither “no,” nor “oxi”. When it came to Greece and Cyprus he would visit, try to invest,

use his considerable contacts with our political leaders on their be-half. He recently revealed that he visited Greece once at the behestof President Clinton.

But John would make a great mayor for reasons far beyond hisself-made success story.

We know the state in which New York City was in and theamazing progress it made these past 20 years thanks to the greatleadership of Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg. Johnplans to perpetuate that Giuliani-Bloomberg mode.

We cannot risk another setback. John’s opponents – along withall three major New York City newspapers – accuse him of lack ofpolitical experience. He has not run for office before, they say.

Then again, neither had another fellow, who made quite a namefor himself as New York City Mayor: Mike Bloomberg.

John Catsimatidis has what it takes to leave his mark on NewYork with the same bold, confident approach he has done in thebusiness world. He understands what it takes to do it, he knowsthe people and the streets.

And he is the Republican candidate that can be elected in No-vember.

It is for these reasons that we urge our readers, those Republi-cans living in the city of New York, to come out in droves and votefor John on primary day, September 12th. And if each of you canconvince two of your fellow Republican friends and family membersto do the same, then our candidate will be one step closer to CityHall.

This is a monumental historic opportunity – the power is in ourhands. Let’s not waste it – let us seize the moment!

A Vote for Dual CitizenshipFor most immigrants, American citizenship is a dream fulfilled.

But many defer it too, for anxious reasons that make them feel lessattached to their original homeland.

A large percentage of legal immigrants in this country – 40 per-cent of those who have a green card according to the New YorkTimes – choose not to become American citizens.

This percentage might surprise American-born citizens, as wellas many of the undocumented immigrants who will do anythingto gain the world’s most sought-after citizenship: American, in themost powerful country in the world. So the question is, why hassuch a large percentage of the people who decided to leave theirhomelands chosen not to get U.S. citizenship?

Obviously, each will have his own reasons.We believe, however, that the most common answers are the

following three.The first reason is that reported by Italian immigrant Jonathan

Wajskol a who realized the American dream. “I would feel that ifI get the American citizenship, I would feel a little less Italian,” hetold The Times. It is a feeling that many of us have faced beforedeciding to become American citizens. Possessed by a feeling ofguilt, that if you do it you're not a good Greek and also feel youare not a good American either.

This is not so and of course you do not lose your Greek citizen-ship and are confirming both dimensions of your lives as Greek-Americans, for which we should be very proud.

The second reason is that a some believe that the acquisition ofU.S. citizenship amounts to the final act of the abandonment ofthe dream of returning to the homeland. Tens of thousands ofGreek-Americans who are living in Greece without losing any rights- or obligations are a proof of the opposite.

Third, some people believe that there is no difference betweenthe holder of a Green Card and a citizen, which is true but for oneexception: they do not have the right to vote.

Perhaps nothing helps the land in which we choose to spendour lives or the land of our birth more than our power to vote inthe U.S.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

By Seth CropseyHudson Institute

The strategic and energy-richregion beginning in the easternMediterranean and stretching600 miles east into Central Asiastraddles three continents, fromLibya to Azerbaijan. The regionis undergoing changes as largeas those that Dickens describedbetween London and revolution-ary Paris. Huge energy depositshave been discovered at the sametime that political upheavals roilthe area. In this cauldron, theUnited States faces serious chal-lenges and opportunities.

Politics and alliances in theeastern Mediterranean are shift-ing, and the region's securityframework is splintering. The re-gion is now divided as muchwithin the Muslim world as be-tween it and the non-Muslimstates.

A new order is emerging as aresult of three major events: theredrawing of the region's hydro-carbon map, with the discoveryof substantial hydrocarbon de-posits in the Cypriot and Israeliexclusive economic zones;Turkey's adoption of a hostileneo-Ottoman ideology to guideit in the 21st century; and the"Arab Spring." At the mid-pointof this political shift, Greece andCyprus — coordinating with Is-rael — have remained the prin-cipal states in the region that arefriendly to the West. Whenvolatility and fear are on the rise,predictability becomes especiallyprized.

The roles of Greece andCyprus in the West's political andsecurity framework offer U.S.policy makers an arc of stabilityin the eastern Mediterranean,and bring the EU to within 45minutes of Israel's borders. Portusage, naval facilities, and strate-gic airbases that Cyprus andGreece have long extended to theUnited States permit a U.S. SixthFleet — if the U.S. should decideto return that once-powerfulnaval force to even a fraction ofits former strength — to safe-guard the region's sea lines ofcommunication. The region's in-creasing volatility has elevatedthe strategic roles of Greece andCyprus, and offers an incentivefor American statesmen to pro-mote a new order that establishesstronger relations with bothcountries and bolsters their re-gional standing.

Yet the eastern Mediterraneanis witnessing new political, mili-tary, and energy centers of gravityjust as the U.S. administrationwants to "pivot" to Asia.

While China and India will re-quire U.S. attention for at leastthe remainder of this century, theUnited States cannot abandon itsinfluence in the eastern Mediter-ranean without risking NATO'ssouthern flank and the allianceitself if Iran becomes a nuclearpower (leaving Israel to fend foritself), and without further un-derlining the appearance of agreat power in strategic retreat.

The U.S.'s interest and in-volvement in the Mediterraneandates to the Jefferson adminis-tration. The United States hassought a stable region since theU.S. Navy battled the Barbary pi-rates in the early 19th century tokeep them from preying onAmerican commercial interestsfrom their ports in North Africa.The ascendance of radical Islamas the region's most dynamic po-litical force, and the deepeningconnections of the radicals withthe "Arab Spring," is a greatthreat to U.S. interests — as therecent closure of 19 U.S. em-bassies from North Africa to theMiddle East and as far south asMadagascar demonstrates. Is-lamist and authoritarian regimeshave emerged after the demiseof the region's ancien régime. Theregional drift toward authoritar-ian Islamism is a reminder of thelate Harvard professor SamuelHuntington's warning about aclash of civilizations, and sug-gests a struggle as long and dan-gerous as the one that occupiedEurope's attention throughoutthe centuries-long reign of impe-

rial Ottoman rule.The Ottomans' successor,

modern-day Turkey, has aban-doned the Kemalist enterpriseand is governed by an increas-ingly repressive, hostile, and Is-lamist regime. Turkey's economicgrowth has encouraged PrimeMinister Tayyip Erdogan to hewto his ideology, casting asidemodern-day Turkey's westward-looking and secular characterthat succeeded the collapse of theOttoman Empire. In its place, Mr.Erdogan has reoriented Turkeytowards the East, emphasizingSunni Muslim solidarity and hos-tility towards the U.S.'s non-Mus-lim allies in the region. Erdogan'spolicy looks to reestablish thehegemony that his Ottoman pre-decessors achieved. There aremany examples of this policy,such as the Turkish navy's recentinterference with the efforts ofIsrael and Cyprus to consolidateefforts to extract hydrocarbonsfrom the sea beds within theirexclusive economic zones; Turk-ish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davu-

toglu's March promise to "againtie Sarajevo to Damascus, Beng-hazi to … Batumi" (on Georgia'sBlack Sea coast); and the Lon-don-based International Institutefor Strategic Studies' observationthat "in March 2012, the Turkishgovernment introduced a five-year strategic plan to make thecountry's armaments industryone of the world's ten largest by2016."

A combination of Islamistrule, a neo-Ottoman, ideologyand Turkey's attempt to return asthe region's hegemon opposes theU.S. goal of a democratic andpeaceful region. It threatensAmerica's allies — Greece,Cyprus, Israel, and new EU mem-ber Bulgaria, which has com-plained of Turkey's control overboth supplies and prices of thenatural gas it transits to the EU.

Current Turkish policy runscounter to the traditional goal ofU.S. grand strategy that seeks toprevent hegemony on theEurasian landmass. Americafought two world wars and onecold war to prevent the rise of ahegemon on the European con-tinent. Because the U.S. retainsits interest in a balance of powerson the continent, Greece andCyprus have become far moreimportant to U.S. foreign and se-curity policy. Both states have astrong interest in regional energysecurity, as does Israel, whosenavy in April of this year askedfor a $760 million budget in-crease to help defend the new-found hydrocarbon deposits inIsrael's territorial waters. Israel'snaval capabilities complement itssuperior air force; together, theyhave a regional impact.

Increased Israeli navalstrength demonstrates serious-ness about taking a larger role inthe annual tripartite naval exer-cise "Noble Dina," in which U.S.,Israeli, and Greek forces haveparticipated since 2011. The ex-ercise is designed to rehearse thedefense of offshore drilling plat-forms, to promote the level of op-erational coordination betweenthe three navies, and to improvethe participants' ability to deterregional conflict. The U.S. lead-ership of this exercise is positive— U.S. policy is starting to ac-knowledge the Eastern Mediter-

ranean's growing importance.Furthermore, under the leader-ship of the current Cypriotregime, U.S.-Cyprus relations arethe closest they have ever been.The United States has supportedCyprus's right to explore and uti-lize energy resources in its ownexclusive economic zone, andCyprus seeks to join NATO's Part-nership for Peace.

The Cypriot government's de-sire to join NATO's Partnershipfor Peace and begin the processof becoming a NATO membershould be welcomed. PromotingCyprus' NATO accession will re-inforce the alliance's security.Cyprus' entry into NATO wouldextend the alliance's borders intothe eastern Mediterranean, di-minish Russian leverage overCyprus' defense sector, and de-crease the possibility that Russiacould gain a strategic foothold inthe region. Overturning the U.S.'santiquated ban on exportingweapons to Cyprus will encour-age U.S.-Cypriot military-to-mil-itary interoperability, and this in

turn will lessen Cyprus's relianceon Russia as its guardian againstsuch threats as may come fromTurkey. Ankara is indeed likely tooppose the accession of Cyprusto the Partnership for Peace, as ithas frequently counteredNicosia's accession to such otherinternational organizations as theOECD and IEA.

As a member of the EuropeanUnion and Partnership for Peace,Cyprus would flourish and likelybecome a hub for stability in thesecure Eastern Mediterraneanthat U.S. policy seeks. IncreasingCypriot security would also helpsafeguard the massive hydrocar-bon deposits in which U.S. com-panies have a direct stake. RecentGreek-Israeli air force drillswithin the Cypriot exclusive eco-nomic zone and their use of thestrategic airbase at Paphos onCyprus show how the threemight coordinate to secure theresources in the future.

The EU currently dependsupon three major energy corri-dors to supply its growing naturalgas demands. In 2012, Norway,Russia, and North Africa suppliedtwo-thirds of the EU's natural gasconsumption. The risk associatedwith the many jihadist groupsstriving for influence in theHobbesian state-of-war left by de-posed leaders in North Africa iscreating an increasingly uncer-tain future for the security of re-cently discovered energy re-sources as well as those thatmight be found in the future. Thelast three years have seen dozensof attacks on oil and gas facilitiesby jihadists in Algeria, Libya, andEgypt. These have disrupted sup-plies to both the EU and Israel.

In 2011, U.S. based Noble En-ergy discovered seven trillion cu-bic feet (TCF) of natural gas inCyprus' Block 12. One hundred-seventy-five miles to Cyprus' east,Israel has found an even largerdeposit: 31 TCF of natural gas.Cyprus believes it holds up to 60(TCF) of natural gas in its 12blocks, which, if proven, wouldmake Cyprus the EU's secondlargest energy source after Nor-way. Cyprus has recently signeda memorandum of understand-ing with U.S.-based Noble Energyto begin the construction of a liq-uefied natural gas (LNG) facility

on its southern coast at Vassilikos.The unprecedented joint devel-opment projects between Israeland Cyprus to develop their re-sources and consolidate themwill transform the two states intomajor regional energy exporters,and improve their already strongrelations.

The Israeli ambassador toAthens, Arie Mekel, has empha-sized regional energy coopera-tion: "We've told the Greek gov-ernment on the highest level thatwe would be happy to makeGreece a hub for this gas that willcontinue to Europe; it can bebrought here by pipeline or byliquefying it and bringing it bytanker; we also want Cyprus tobe involved in this because theyalso found gas and we believethat these three countries, Israel,Greece, and Cyprus, if we worktogether and use our power likein the area of natural gas, wecould become together a regionalpower that will be able to standup to other regional powers."Greece's position at the cross-roads of three continents and asan EU member makes it the pri-mary transit state for both the Is-raeli and Cypriot natural gaswhen it comes online later thisdecade. Export options include aproposed "East-Med pipeline," re-gassification terminals on an is-land near the Salamis NavalBase, and, in the future, re-gassi-fication terminals at the northernport of Kavala to supply bothWestern Europe and the Balkans.

Recent Turkish naval incur-sions in and around Cyprus' ex-clusive economic zone, threats touse military force to prevent fur-ther drilling, and its 40,000troops occupying the north of theisland constitute a direct threatto these ventures and U.S. inter-ests. Setting "red lines" withTurkey enforced by a greater U.S.naval presence in the area wouldassure stable commerce, andmore effective diplomacy wereany state to interfere with the de-velopment of the joint hydrocar-bon projects of Cyprus and Israel.Bolstering the U.S. presence atSouda Bay, Crete, as well as ad-ditional military-to-military navaland air exercises with the Greekand Israeli militaries, would con-tribute enormously to the unin-terrupted export of the area'slarge hydrocarbon deposits aswell as its general security.

John Maynard Keynes oncesaid: "The difficulty lies not somuch in developing new ideas asin escaping from old ones." TheU.S. will find it difficult to influ-ence events in the region's futureif it continues to view Ankara asthe ally it surely was during theCold War. In 1910, WinstonChurchill declared that the in-evitability of war between Britainand Germany was "all nonsense."In July 1911, the German gun-boat Panther docked at the Mo-roccan port of Agadir, and trans-formed his view of Germany. TheAgadir crisis erased any ofChurchill's doubts that Germanywas a threat. Turkey's naval in-cursions in the eastern Mediter-ranean and over-flights of Greekairspace in the Aegean and as farsouth as Rhodes should also beregarded as warning signals. Ifhistory is a guide, the Interna-tional Institute of Strategic Stud-ies report on the large expansionof Turkey's armaments industrynoted above is no less a cause forconcern.

The U.S. will advance its com-pelling interest in greater Euro-pean energy independence, Mid-dle Eastern stability, and NATO'sfuture as an effective alliance byre-examining its old idea ofTurkey, and reinforcing its al-liances with Greece, Cyprus, andIsrael. The alternative — the pas-sivity of "leading from behind" —offers nothing but weakness andadditional evidence that we areslowly withdrawing from theworld.

Seth Cropsey is a Senior Fellowat Hudson Institute. Previously,he served as Deputy Undersecre-tary of the Navy during both theRonald Reagan and George H.W.Bush administrations.

Gas Find in Med. a Chance for U.S. to Break with Turkey

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GEOrGE SArAFOGlOu / SPECiAl TO THE NATiONAl HErAlD

The redrawing of the Mediterranean's hydrocarbon map comeswith the discovery of substantial hydrocarbon deposits in theCypriot and Israeli exclusive economic zones.

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 11

Many years ago when Ibought my home, it was re-quired to meet the president ofthe bank, a former U.S. Navy of-ficer who was a cautious manindeed and liked to look you inthe eye and shake your hand,gauging the mettle of your char-acter before he’d let loose anickel.

It was more than a littlenerve-wracking wondering whathe thought and whether themortgage would be granted sothe American dream could be re-alized, even after he said that allthe math worked out but the fi-nal decision came down to whathe thought.

He saw I had served as a U.S.Air Force officer but still therewas no discernible sign of whathe was thinking until he liftedhis head from the pile of papersand said, “okay, it’s approved.”

I had to ask why. “At thisbank,” he said, talking about thesmall cooperative institution inBoston, “we never lend moneyto people who need it.” So themath had added up, but he saidthere was more.

“You pass the smell test,” hesaid, meaning that he believedthe loan would be repaid. It was,and that bank is still doing wellbecause it didn’t veer from thosebasic principles the way Greekbanks and so many othersaround the world have over thelast five roller coaster years ofrecession and economic crashes.

Some 80 percent of Greeksown their homes, 10th highestin the world, (the US is 18th at65.4 percent) which has prettymuch saved the country’s run-away recession from being a flat-out depression worse than 1929

in the United States,with 1.4 millionpeople out of workand more than110,000 businessesclosing the last threeyears in the wake ofharsh austerity mea-sures.

Successive gov-ernments – first thatof former PASOKAnti-Socialist leaderGeorge Papandreou,and now the coali-tion of Prime Minis-ter and New Democ-racy Conservativeleader Antonis Samaras and hispartner, current PASOKleader/Deputy PrimeMinister/Foreign Minister Evan-gelos Venizelos – have imposedwaves of pay cuts, tax hikes, andslashed pensions that have cutdisposable income an estimated46.8 percent.

Now here’s the question youhave to ask yourself if you’re liv-ing in the USA: what would youtell your bank if your pay hadbeen cut 30 percent, propertytaxes doubled and one or bothof you were out of work?

Many Greeks tried restructur-ing their mortgages, making therather valid argument that sincethe government and private em-ployers had broken their con-tracts by cutting their pay thatthere was no alternative for thecustomer to do the same to thebank.

Many banks didn’t listen anddidn’t care. They wanted it allbut that backfired when the rateof Non-Performing Loans(NPL’s) went through the roofand hit an estimated 42 percent,

including 22.9 per-cent of mortgagesthat were in de-fault.

Greece threeyears ago put aban on foreclo-sures until it couldfigure out how thehell to right theeconomy butVenizelos, as fi-nance minister un-der Papandreou,stiffed banks andprivate investors –including those inthe Diaspora –

with 74 percent losses, drivingfinancial institutions to the edgeof ruin in Greece and Cyprus.

Greeks now owe 63.6 billioneuros ($85 billion) in unpaidloans, including mortgages, astaggering amount that matchesthat of tax evasion, a nationalsport.

The government is injectingbanks with 50 billion euros ($65billion) in recapitalization fundsbut that’s enough for them. Thebanks – as does Greece’s inter-national lenders, the Troika ofthe European Union-Interna-tional Monetary Fund-EuropeanCentral Bank (EU-IMF-ECB)wants homes confiscated too, anice humanitarian touch.

Samaras and Venizelos,who’ve never had to worryabout missing a mortgage pay-ment, are happy to go along be-cause no politicians will be puton the streets although an esti-mated 15,000 people could beleft homeless once the govern-ment lifts the ban on foreclo-sures at the end of the year.

Speaking out of both sides of

their mouths, a double ventrilo-quism trick only politiciansknow, they said first that onlytwo percent of homeownerswould be affected because thegovernment was going to iden-tify what Venizelos called “trick-sters” who can afford to pay butaren’t, from those who gen-uinely can’t.

Then it was said the percent-age would be much higher, sowhich is it? If 98 percent of peo-ple in default on mortgages can’tafford to pay – and will be ex-empted and protected as Sama-ras vowed – how does that helpbank balance sheets? It doesn’t.

This is political chicancerywhich solves nothing. If you takeout a mortgage you are obligedto pay or the bank has to rightto take your property – unlessyour pay has been cut 30 per-cent by the government, taxesdoubled and the supermarkethasn’t cut prices.

There is an answer but Sama-ras set it aside when he tabledhis own proposal to allow debtrelief to households that couldprove they were genuinely un-able to pay, which would haveforced banks to restructure loansto where they could.

Politicians and bankers beingof the same species as sharksand snakes, that didn’t matterbecause all that does to them ismaking other people pay nomatter the cost, even if they can’tafford it because banks andpoliticians put them in an un-tenable position.

In this case, it’s the govern-ment that doesn’t pass the smelltest.

[email protected]

Those of you who, like me,are old enough to rememberNew York City in the 1970s and80s, but either too young or notyet born to remember it in the40s and 50s, might havethought that we would never getto experience those wonderful“safe streets” of yesteryear aboutwhich we heard through ourolder relatives’ and friends’ fondrecollections. And then came1993, and the election of MayorRudy Giuliani.

Emblematic of the adage“success has 100 fathers, butfailure is an orphan,” the amaz-ing renaissance that New Yorkexperienced – leading the na-tion in a spectacular reductionof crime – is attributed to manyfactors, with virtually everyonerushing to take the credit. Moreso than anyone else, however,it is Giuliani who deserves thelion’s share of the accolades.

Sure, there were problems,but when in the history of theworld has a policy been imple-mented without some nega-tives? Were some police officersemboldened by a renewed city-wide focus on crimefighting thatthey misused their power by be-rating innocent people – namely,persons of color? To some ex-tent, yes. On the other hand,how many thousands of addi-tional lives were saved, of NewYorkers of all races, nationalities,shapes, and sizes?

From the 1960s forward, theNew York City streets becameincreasingly dangerous underMayors John Lindsay, AbeBeame, Ed Koch, and DavidDinkins. It took Giuliani to cleanthem up, and current MayorMike Bloomberg to keep themthat way. But, alas, this wonder-ful 20-year run of streets safe

enough to walk on,even after dark, isperilously close tocoming to an end.It was nice while itlasted.

The New YorkCity Council haso v e r r i d d e nBloomberg’s sensi-ble veto of restric-tions on the Stopand Frisk policy. Inother words, thepolice are going tohave less powernow. Granted, thatdoesn’t mean thatmurders and other horriblecrimes are going to quadrupleovernight. But it is a recklessfirst step that, if indeed is onlythe tip of the iceberg, might turnthe clock back to the pre-Giu-liani days, when our belovedcity was one big, filthy, bullet-riddled crack den.

Do you have trouble remem-bering those awful times? Justwatch the film Death Wish, star-ring Charles Bronson, made in1974, and maybe a couple of the

sequels, and yourmemory will be re-freshed in no time.

As for the inno-cent, law-abidingpersons of colorwho feel ostracizedand humiliated,and often fearphysical repercus-sions simply be-cause of what theylook like, it is trulya shame that suchracism continues toexist in our so-called evolved soci-ety in the year

2013. A great deal must be doneto combat that, beginning witheducation. A more educatedNew York means less xenopho-bia to begin with, reduced evenfurther because of a lowerpropensity to commit crimes.Another solution is better train-ing of police officers: holdingthem to higher standards over-all. The problem is not stoppingand frisking, it is the perceptionthat such tactics are often rootedin misguided profiling based too

much on race and nationality.Are there still white racist copsout there who take pleasure incracking open the heads ofblacks and Latinos? Unfortu-nately yes, there are – but prob-ably not nearly as many as someCity Council members mightthink. And better training willreduce the number even more.

Indeed, there is hardly any-thing worse than a segment ofNew Yorkers walking aroundtheir hometown feeling vulner-able to harassment by publicservants that are purportedlythere to protect them. Worseyet, having the verbal abuse es-calate to physical assault, andonce in a while to serious bodilyinjury, or even death, becauseof a cop prematurely firing hisweapon.

But “hardly anything” worseis not the same as “nothing”worse. One thing that is un-doubtedly worse is murder, bythe thousands, because the po-lice can no longer keep us safe– as they have been doing, par-ticularly over the last 20 years.Yes, it was nice while it lasted.

Farewell, Safe New York City Streets, We Hardly Knew Ye

By William Thayer Barron’s

Have you read anywhere thatthe Greeks will soon be request-ing a third bailout? Probably not.Thus far this summer, the euro-zone leaders and the EuropeanCentral Bank have successfullypapered over the real problemsin the south of Europe.

If only denial, smoke, andmirrors could solve the euro-zone crisis. The euro wasn't abad idea, but the euro zoneshould have been limited tothose countries that can make itwithout bailouts. That list prob-ably does not include Greece,Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy,and Cyprus. Those countries willhave to leave the euro, defaulton at least some of their debts,and institute their own devaluedcurrencies. Then they can re-form and hope to rejoin the euroat some future date.

In the middle of 2011, I pub-lished a book, Euro: How toSave It, in which I predicted thatthe first Greek bailout would notsucceed, and that the Greekswould run out of money in early2012. That's exactly what hap-

pened. I also predicted that theeuro zone would collapse be-cause of the Greek default. I waswrong on that one—so far.

What I completely underesti-mated was the willingness of thestronger European countries tobail out every troubled country.They operate on classic Keyne-sian assumptions: If you can justthrow in a little more money, de-mand will increase, and every-one will live happily ever after.It's not working out that way,not even in Greece, which hasreceived huge bailouts.

In mid-2010, the country hada gross domestic product ofabout $320 billion, a nationaldebt of $390 billion, and ayearly budget deficit of $30 bil-lion. The first Greek bailout wasfor $143 billion for over threeyears. It was easy to predict thatthe country would fail again, inearly 2012, because the Greekshad to roll over about $40 billiona year in existing debt, pluscover the $30 billion annualbudget deficit. Sure enough, theGreeks went through $140 bil-lion in two years, and they wereinsolvent again by the first halfof 2012.

The Greek debt had grown toabout $490 billion, but the Eu-ropean Central Bank, the Inter-national Monetary Fund, andthe European Union (oftencalled the troika) let the Greeksdefault on 25% of it, a loss ofroughly $137 billion to privatebondholders. Then the troikagave the Greeks another, evenlarger bailout of $220 billionthat all sides said should last un-til 2020. How much of that $220billion is left? Just $14 billion,barely enough to get the Greekspast the German elections inSeptember. Few things in fi-nance are more likely than a re-quest from the Greeks for a thirdbailout.

The trend is not good. Con-sider: Bailout 1: $143 billion Default 1: $137 billion Bailout 2: $220 billion Total: $500 billion

Nearly half a trillion dollarshas gone down the Greek drainin three years—the three yearsduring which the Greeks weresupposed to restructure theireconomy and return to the pri-vate capital markets. In thosethree years, the Greek GDP has

shrunk from $320 billion in2010 to about $250 billion in2013, a drop of nearly 25%. Un-employment has gone up, from10% in 2010 to 25% in 2013.These numbers are just aboutthe same as the numbers for theU.S. in the worst year of theGreat Depression.

Unfortunately, Greece is notthe only problem country in Eu-rope. Ireland and Portugal havenational debts at 120% of GDP,and they continue to run bigbudget deficits. There's littlechance they will be off bailoutsand back to the bond market byChristmas. A second bailout ison the horizon for both coun-tries.

Italy has a national debt of132% of GDP, a continuing bud-get deficit, and a divided gov-ernment. Its bond rating is twonotches above junk, but some-how its 10-year bond rates arejust 4.2% (versus U.S. rates of2.7%). The inconsistency may

be explained by some kind ofsub rosa purchasing of Italianbonds by the European CentralBank.

Spain has a national debt thatis in control, a budget deficit thatis not in control, and a real-es-tate bubble that is about to pop.Spanish real estate tripled whenU.S. real estate was doubling.What happened to our real-es-tate prices and our banks hasonly just begun to play out inSpain.

Thus far, ECB ChairmanMario Draghi has postponed aeuro-zone crisis by printingbailout and bond money as fastas he can. When it becomes ob-vious to investors in Europe thatthis can't continue, money willflee to safer places. To get thatmoney back, the ECB will haveto allow interest rates to rise—alot. That is what governmentshave to do when their debts be-come unsustainable. As every-one knows and nobody remem-bers until it's too late, bondprices fall when rates rise. Eventhe bonds that survive the crisiswill be cut in value. The princi-pal losses and the losses fromdefault could total $4 trillion, or

even more if the Europeans con-tinue to put off their days ofreckoning.

What should have the Euro-peans been doing the past threeyears to truly solve their prob-lems? They should have beenworking harder, marketing ag-gressively, and innovating more.If they cut their cushy six-weekvacations to the two-week U.S.standard, they would be work-ing 50 weeks instead of 46weeks. Simple math (50/46=1.087) suggests they could po-tentially be growing theireconomies at better than 8% peryear versus 1%. Of course, youhave to be working on what theworld wants to buy. That's mar-keting. Compare Korea and sim-ilarly sized Spain. Korea sellscellphones, cars, ships, and elec-tronic chips to the world, whileSpain sells—what? Finally, theEuropeans need to innovate asthey once did during the firstand second Industrial Revolu-tions. Since World War II, theymissed the arrival of the com-puter, lasers, the Internet, fiberoptics, oil/gas fracking, cell-phones, and just about every-thing else.

Inevitably, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Cyprus Will Have to Leave Euro

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Samaras, Venizelos Have Signed the Foreclosure Notices

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

The feast of theDormition shineslike a pharos in theshimmering sum-mer sea, guiding ustravelers on ourcommon journeyfrom the waves ofthis life to the safeharbors of the next,where the embraceof the Mother ofthe True Life wel-comes the wearypassengers like animmigrant return-ing to his nativehome. And this offers sweet so-lace to heal the unavoidablepangs of pain that accompanythe death of a loved one – espe-cially a mother. It is this imagethat this column hopes to pro-ject to the children and grand-children of a dearly belovedGreek-American, fellow parish-ioner, and compatriot who trav-eled all the way from the islandof Ikaria in Greece to the me-tropolis of New York, raised afamily, bequeathed a rich spiri-tual legacy to all that knew her,and managed to retain all thevirtues of her Hellenic home-land despite the thousands ofmiles that separated her fromher birthplace.

The sudden passing ofMoschoula Stenos plungedthose who knew and loved herinto a sorrow that can only betempered by the lasting memo-ries she imparted and the prayerthat her strong faith and noblesoul will constitute her journeytireless and will earn her warmgreetings at the heavenly har-bor. Her Ikarian heritage andever youthful personality left uswith the worldly “complaint”that she still had good yearsahead of her, but the Lord inWhom she placed her ultimatetrust and hope found her worthyof the great journey now.

It is only human to want tokeep one’s (grand)mothernearby in this life for as long aspossible, but who can say if thatis best? Mothers know that les-son best of all, when they mustovercome their innate instinctsand let their children go out intothe world and start their ownfamilies, to ensure that the circleof life continues. By the sametoken, the passage into the nextlife requires prayers and com-memoration, which must bedone by responsible childrenand grandchildren to ensure thecontinuation of the spiritual cy-cle and smooth arrival into ourtrue spiritual homeland.

And just like the Theotokos,who, like the hymn says did notabandon the world during herfalling asleep, so too do themothers of the world follow thisprototype. After all, they sharenot only flesh and chromosomeswith their apogeny, but also apiece of their very soul, whichwe all carry with us throughoutour lives and pass on to thosethat follow.

In a wider context,Moschoula’s life personified thesuccesses and challenges ofmany Greek-Americans, and inthat sense it presents an oppor-tunity for some thought. To-gether with her husband,Stamatis, who preceded her onthe journey into the afterlifenearly a decade ago, they raised

two daughters bothof whom received asolid education at aGreek-Americanday school andwent on to earncollege degrees anddistinguish them-selves in the jobworld, while givingback to their localcommunity at thesame time. And theStenoses managedto perform stellarparental duties andprovide for their

children without the benefit offluency in the English languageor the advantages that nativesinherently enjoy over immi-grants, who start off their newlife with nothing to their namebut dreams and a desire for hardwork.

Like most other immigrants,Moschoula faced the obstaclesof economic hardships and so-cial unrest from a young age.And similarly, these problemsdid not magically dispel withher arrival to America. But onewould be hard pressed to everyhave heard her utter a com-plaint or display any righteousindignation. Hers was a life ofthanks. Bearing a wit that wasas sharp as a tack and a senseof humor that would not aban-don her even during the mosttrying moments in life, she wasable to successfully handle life’sproblems with remarkable en-durance. Her diplomatic skillswere unrivaled, and she couldspeak with the same ease to afriend or neighbor as she couldto the three Archbishops whomshe served during her tenureand the many VIPs who wouldvisit her place of work. Clergyand laity would gain a lot if theytook a page out of her book.And from a social standpoint,her service to her parish or localsociety was a constant. The im-portance of “belonging” to acommunity of persons served asthe impetus for her lifetime ofcivic service. Even during her fi-nal days, overrun with weak-ness, her sense of “philotimo”reigned supreme, as she worriedwhat the archbishop wouldthink when he would not seeher at her parish’s feast day…

Like so many other Greek-American immigrants,Moschoula’s life reflects that ofthe community at large. Ca-reers, titles, increased economicaffluence, a higher standard ofliving, etc., are all useful advan-tages, but they don’t seem torepresent the core of what con-stitutes a “well rounded” life inthe Hellenic outlook. People likeMoschoula carried about thema noble “paideia” that existedindependent of degrees, a re-finement and politeness thatwas overwhelming in its sim-plicity and genuineness, and alove for the world, people, andthe community that remains es-sential to leading a “whole” lifein today’s individualized mate-rialistic society.

According to the HellenicChristian understanding of lifeas loving others and beingloved, Moschoula’s memory re-mains eternal and shines as abeacon for all of us who wantto overcome today’s problemsand lead a more genuine life.And if the circle is to continuerevolving as it has for so manythousands of years, we perpet-ually need to remember and tryto resemble the Moschoulas ofthe world, praying for them andasking for their blessing – in thislife and the next.

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

Remembering the PeopleThat Were Here Before Us

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS


by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS


Maybe those sixnations can rejointhe Euro someday

As the Greek Christianunderstanding of life asloving others and beingloved reflects,Moschoula’s memory is aneternal, shining beacon.

Remember killers David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz and Colin Ferguson? Their murder sprees werenot during Rudy Giuliani’s or Mike Bloomberg’s mayoral watch. Apparently, the New York CityCouncil has forgotten those days, and has weakened the police’s ability to fight crime.

12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

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