By Theodore Kalmoukos Special to The National Herald

BOSTON– It was revealed duringthe Holy Eparchial Synod’s meetingthat Archimandrite Gabriel Karam-bis, the former priest of the Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Cathedralof Houston, Texas, claims that hehas been a victim of blackmail by amasseur on February 18-19, 2009.

Archimandrite Karambis, was re-

moved from his priestly duties andwas placed on liturgical suspensionin December 2008.

Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver, ina letter to the Annunciation Cathe-dral Parish of Houston dated De-cember 26, 2008, informed theparish that Rev. Karambis was re-moved from his priestly duties,placed on suspension and sent tothe Spiritual Court of the DenverMetropolis.

He stated in his letter that “thereason I relieved him of his dutieshad to do with his own personal lifeand how it negatively reflected onthe holy priesthood.”

The Holy Eparchial Synod con-vened in a special meeting and act-ing as a Spiritual Court presidedover by Archbishop Demetrios ofAmerica, did not decide Fr. Karam-bis’ defrockment, as was initially ex-pected, but it simply verified theLiturgical suspension which hadbeen already placed on him sinceDecember by Metropolitan Isaiahand the First Instance SpiritualCourt of the Metropolis of Denver.

In an official Press Release is-sued on Thursday, February 19 bythe Archdiocese, it is stated that“The Holy Eparchial Synod, havingcarefully reviewed the case of Fr.Gabriel Karambis, with profoundsadness confirmed the decision ofDecember 23, 2008 of the SpiritualCourt of First Instance of the HolyMetropolis of Denver, by which thesuspension from all priestly dutiesand ecclesiastical functions was im-posed.”

The Synod arrived to this deci-sion despite the fact that there werephotographic images and also thatFr. Karambis himself admitted theevents.

According to the discussions inthe Synod and also the informationthat The National Herald has re-ceived from Houston, Archiman-drite Karambis found from the In-ternet a masseur and retained hisservices, since as he said, he wasfacing some problems of physicalanatomy and from time to time hadmassage therapy.

Archimandrite Karambis hadthree massage sessions at his resi-dence. Shortly after, Fr. Karambisalleges he was being blackmailed byhis masseur about photographs. Alittle later a former Antiochianpriest also allegedly blackmailed Fr.Karambis. The one time powerful

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By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald

NEW YORK – Greek Foreign Minis-ter Dora Bakoyanni was in Wash-ington this past week delivering anaddress at the Brookings Institutionconcerning Greece’s views onTrans-Atlantic relations and issuespertaining to the Middle East, Rus-sia and Southeast Europe (see textof her remarks on page 7).

While she was in Washington,Ms. Bakoyanni also met with keyofficials of the United States Gov-ernment – to include Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton, National Se-curity Advisor James L. Jones,House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen-ate Foreign Relations CommitteeChairman John Kerry and membersof the House Foreign Affairs Com-mittee.

Developments in the MiddleEast and the West’s relations withRussia were at the crux of her dis-cussions. Greek-Turkish relations; asolution to the ongoing Turkish oc-cupation of Cyprus; Greece’sthorny dispute with FYROM con-cerning the small Balkan country’sofficial name; and Greece’sprospective participation in theU.S. Visa Waiver Program were alsoexamined.

Ms. Bakoyanni was in Washing-ton while European Union officialswere trying to resolve a border dis-pute between Slovenia and Croat-ia. The spat between the Slovenia,which joined the E.U. in 2004, andCroatia, which hoped to join in twoyears, portends wider problems forother E.U.-aspiring nations in theWestern Balkans.

The dispute centers on sea rightsin the Bay of Piran, an inlet in thenorthern Adriatic shared by Italy,Slovenia and Croatia. Slovenia,whose coastal waters are blockedby its two larger neighbors, insiststhat Croatia must give it a channelto the open seas.

Greece now holds the rotatingchairmanship of the Organization

for Security & Cooperation in Eu-rope (OSCE).

With that backdrop, SecretaryClinton welcomed Ms. Bakoyannito the State Department this pastWednesday, February 25, for theirfirst meeting in her new capacity asAmerica’s top diplomat.

“I am so pleased to welcome afriend to Washington, and to theState Department. Dora is nostranger to me either, and it’s agreat honor for me to have her herein my new capacity,” Ms. Clintonsaid.

Both women said they lookedforward to working with each oth-er, and met privately for about halfan hour.

Ahead of the meeting, Ms.Bakoyanni said she planned to dis-cuss the Caucasus and Russian pro-posals to improve European securi-ty, and to ask Secretary Clinton tosupport OSCE talks on security pro-

Hillary and Dora DiscussWide Range of IssuesGreek Foreign Minister also Meets with Pelosi,Kerry and Gen. Jones during Stateside Visit

By Stavros MarmarinosSpecial to The National Herald

NEW YORK- Nick Andriotis keeps asmall plastic panel in his office withan inscription of a proverb hecoined: “It is better to go to bed witha gripe, than to wake up in themorning with regrets.” He smilesand explains that years ago when hewas struggling to build the St.Demetrios School in Astoria – thelone Greek American high school inthe United States – and comingacross countless problems, there

were people out there who did notbelieve in his vision and opposed hisideas. Mr. Andriotis decided not topay them back in the same way, andsometimes he went to bed angryover the thought that he shouldhave treated them in the same man-ner they treated him. The next day,however, he would wake up with aclear conscience because he did notstoop to their level.

“A lot of other things were goingon back then, instigated by peoplewho were against the work that wastaking place,” Mr. Andriotis re-

called. “There were a couple of peo-ple who wrongfully accused us thatwe didn’t dig as deep as we shouldwhen we were laying the founda-tions, so that we could pocket theextra money…”

Mr. Andriotis was the leadingforce behind the construction of theSt. Demetrios School in its present-day form. At the time, however, hewas widely criticized as being a“dreamer.” Today, he feels complete-ly justified by his decision to pressahead with the auspicious project.

In a previous interview with The

National Herald that he gave someyears ago, Mr. Andriotis had saidthat “most of all, it bothers me thatthere were a lot of people sayingthat we Greeks would never able tocomplete major projects. They wereproven wrong. We raised a total of$3.2 million, which covered thecosts of construction, and the St.Demetrios high school building wasnot only completed, but it remainstoday as the only Greek parochialschool of its kind here in the United

Nick Andriotis: The “Dreamer” and the Builder

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, right, greets Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni and welcomes her to the State Department thispast Wednesday, February 25. The two women met privately for half an hour, and discussed Greek, European and Balkans security issues.

Film Casts Light On Dark Chapter Of Turkish Past

A visitor looks at the taken-down photographs in an exhibition hall in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday, Sep-tember 7, 2005, a day after the exhibition was attacked by some Turkish nationalists. The photographyshow marked the 50th anniversary of anti-Greek riots in Istanbul. The two-day riots on September 6-7,1955, were eventually suppressed by the Turkish military, but not before thousands of Greeks fled thecountry leaving many belongings behind. Now a film entitled “Guz Sancisi,” or “The Pain of Autumn,” tellsthe story of that night more than half a century ago, the first time a Turkish movie has tackled the eventsthat Istanbul Greeks call their "Kristallnacht." See related story on page 3.

No Decision from the SynodFor Archimandrite Karambis

By Theodore Kalmoukos Special to The National Herald

BOSTON– Hellenic College–HolyCross Greek Orthodox School ofTheology will be confronted with ahuge financial problem exceedingsix million dollars for the next threeyears, according to an official pressrelease issued by Trustees ViceChairman Dr. Thomas Lelon onTuesday, February 17, 2009. Dr.Lelon was the School’s presidentfrom 1976 to 1986.

Dr. Lelon’s press release statesthe following:

“Like most other colleges anduniversities, Hellenic College/HolyCross School of Theology is experi-encing cash shortfalls caused by theworst economic downturn since theGreat Depression. At a specialmeeting on Friday, February 13,2008, chaired by ArchbishopDemetrios, Hellenic College, Inc.Trustees met for five hours dis-

cussing the financial challengescurrently facing the institution.

Reverend President NicholasTriantafilou, Trustee-Vice ChairThomas Lelon, Ph.D., Trustee-Trea-surer Robert Badavas, CPA, andChief Financial Officer CharlesKroll, CPA, projected that the col-lege/theological school will face atwo million dollar cash shortfall ineach of the next three years if theTrustees do not act to remedy thesituation. The shortfall stems fromthe fact that income from endow-ment earnings and annual appealsare down significantly, and fundshave yet to be raised to cover annu-al debt service costs.

At least one trustee from each ofthe eight Greek Orthodox Metropo-lises participated in the delibera-tions, as well as one trustee fromthe Archdiocesan Direct Districtand one trustee from the Antiochi-an Orthodox Christian jurisdiction.After a careful review of the fi-

nances and a lengthy and sober dis-cussion of ideas and options, thetwenty-seven trustees unanimouslydetermined to establish two taskgroups: one for short-term-urgentconcerns, namely: immediate fundraising and reduction of opera-tional costs; and the other for long-term strategic planning. Trusteesimmediately volunteered for taskgroup assignments and made per-sonal funding commitments.

Reassured by the Archbishopthat the Archdiocese and Leader-ship 100 would continue to fulfilltheir funding commitments, theTrustees are resolute in overcomingthe projected shortfalls.”

Dr. Lelon had not responded tothe Herald’s message for a com-ment by press time.

The National Herald has alsolearned that the whole deteriorat-ing situation in terms of student en-

Holy Cross Feels the Economic Pinch

By Steve Frangos Special to The National Herald

“Tarpon Springs’ by Dolores Kil-go is one of the many volumes inthe Images of America series thatfeatures a section of its images onGreeks in the United States (Arca-dia Press, Charleston, South Caroli-na: 2002). While visiting TarponSprings this past December, I canreport, that Ms. Kilgo’s volume wasto be found in virtually everytourist shop up and down Dode-canese Boulevard that runs thelength of the city’s sponge docks.

Only five volumes in the Imagesof America series are devoted ex-clusively to Greeks: Staten Island’sGreek Community; The Greek Pio-neer Women of Illinois; GrowingUp Greek in St. Louis; The Greeksof Phoenix and The Greeks ofChicago. However there are vari-ous other community volumes thatamong the other groups discussedfeature a few select images anddocuments related to local Greekssuch as Haverhill, Massachusetts;

The Greeks Of TarponSprings

Continued on page 7

Continued on page 6

By Mark FrangosSpecial to The National Herald

NEW YORK- A woman who hadbeen convicted of killing two GreekOrthodox while high on drugs waschosen by New York City mayoralcandidate and state representativeAnthony Wiener to highlight childsupport issues, during a January 25press conference.

Lisa Bongiorno appeared withWeiner at the news conferencewhere he announced his oppositionto a new $25 state fee to help par-ents collect child support. Bon-giorno, 43, supports herself and hercollege student daughter by sellingperfume, teaching aerobics andworking at Daytop, a group thathelps substance abusers.

What Weiner’s staff didn’t know– and what Bongiorno didn’t tellthem – was that she had been con-victed of vehicular manslaughter inthe deaths of two Greek Orthodoxpriests, the Revs. GermanosStavropoulos, 51, and DimitriosFrangos, 81. Fr. Germanos waschancellor of the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese in North and SouthAmerica, at the time. The priestswere two of Archbishop Iakovos’closest advisors.

She was high on angel dust andbehind the wheel on March 17,1994 when she lost control of herChevrolet Caprice on a ramp off theBrooklyn-Queens Expressway andcrashed into the priests’ car.

The priests were stopped at aQueens traffic light and obeying alllaws, were killed on impact. Bon-giorno, a legal secretary at the time,was sentenced to two to six years inprison. She was released in 1999.

Bongiorno admits that she didn’ttell Wiener’s staff about the acci-dent.

“It was a car accident,” she said.“I didn't set out to kill anyone. I'mdoing the right thing now.”

Bongiorno may have not beenforthcoming with Weiner's staff, buta quick search was all that wasneeded to find out.

The first search result for “LisaBongiorno” on Google is a New YorkTimes newspaper article that docu-ments the accident's tragic details.

“This is extraordinarily bad staffwork,” said Doug Muzzio, a politi-

Woman WhoKilled PriestsIn Spotlight

Continued on page 4Continued on page 4Continued on page 4

Continued on page 5

TNH ARCHIVES

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COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

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You have the chance to express your opinion on our website on animportant question in the news. The results will be published in ourprinted edition next week along with the question for that week.

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■ FEBRUARY 28CHICAGO, Ill. – The Hellenic Muse-um and Cultural Center cordially in-vites the community to its annual“Apokreas for Kids” celebration, atthe museum (801 W Adams St.) onSaturday, February 28, from 1:00 -4:00 PM. Children will make craftsassociated with Greek “Mardi Gras"traditions including mask making,kite making and much more. Specialactivities will include a magic showby Linda Eck of Eckcellent Entertain-ment. Apokreas is a traditional cele-bration which can be traced back toancient times. Scholars and re-searches speculate that it grew fromancient religious practices associatedwith Dionysus, the Greek god ofwine and feast. Today, it is a celebra-tion with religious significance(meaning "goodbye to meat") as it isobserved during the three weekspreceding the Great and Holy Lent.This event is recommended for chil-dren ages four and up and the cost is$5 per child. For more informationor to make your reservation, pleasecontact Vivian Haritos at 312-655-1234 ext. 21 or at vharitos@hel-lenicmuseum.org.

■ MARCH 1CHICAGO, Ill. – The Hellenic Muse-um and Cultural Center cordially in-vites the community to “Who KilledHistory?” a lecture by Dr. Michael G.Davros, author of “Greeks in Chica-go,” at the museum (801 W. AdamsStreet) on Sunday, March 1 at 3 PM.The lecture is part of the Dr. AndrewT. Kopan Memorial Lecture Series.The lecture begins at 3 PM withopening remarks and the presenta-tion. There will be a reception andbook signing at 4:15 with Dr. Davros.Dr. Davros is a native of Chicago. Hisinterest in the history of Greeks inChicago was prompted by the factthat his father and maternal grandfa-ther came to the United States earlyin the century and successfully estab-lished themselves in businesses onthe North Side. Dr. Davros helped hisfather and mother in their grocerystores until 1980. He received his un-dergraduate degree from TulaneUniversity, his Masters fromLouisiana State University and hisdoctorate from the University of Illi-nois at Chicago. He teaches in theEnglish Department and in the Hon-ors Program at Northeastern IllinoisUniversity. In the last several years,he has taken students on study toursof Greece providing instruction notonly in Greek American literature,but also in the classics. For more in-formation or to RSVP. Please call312-655-1234 ext. 28.

■ MARCH 5 – APRIL 2GREEN BAY, Wisc. –The Universityof Wisconsin-Green Bay?s LawtonGallery will host “Immigration Sto-ries and the Staff of Life,” an installa-tion by artist and filmmaker ApoTorosyan. An opening reception willtake place from 4:30-6:30 p.m.,March 5, 2009, with a gallery talk byApo Torosyan at 5:00 p.m. The exhi-bition runs through April 2, 2009.(The Gallery will be closed March16-23 for spring break). The LawtonGallery is located in Theatre Hall onthe University of Wisconsin-GreenBay campus, 2420 Nicolet Drive,Green Bay, Wisconsin. The exhibit isconnected to the artist’s Armenianheritage and the genocide of his an-cestors at the beginning of the 20thcentury in Turkey. In conjunctionwith University of Wisconsin-GreenBay’s 2008-09 campuswide Com-mon Theme, “Waging War, WagingPeace,” the exhibit also addresses is-sues fundamental to how we live ourlives within the global community, aswell as encouraging viewers to re-flect upon their own stories and ex-periences of movement and resettle-ment. Apo Torosyan was born andraised in Istanbul, Turkey, and afterreceiving a master of fine arts degreein 1968, he immigrated to the U.S.He has his artworks in several muse-ums including the Holocaust Muse-um in Florida. His documentarieshave been shown in several coun-tries around the world. As part of theexhibition, there will be severalscreenings of Apo Torosyan’s recentdocumentaries, including “The Mor-genthau Story.” In that film, he inter-views three grandchildren of HenryMorgenthau Sr. Morgenthau servedas the U.S. Ambassador in Constan-tinople (Istanbul) from 1913-16,and attempted to alert the world tothe massacres of the Armenian pop-ulation. For more information con-tact Lawton Gallery Curator StephenPerkins at 920-465-2916 or e-mailhim at perkinss@uwgb.edu.

■ MARCH 10NEW YORK – The Greek OrthodoxChurch of the Annunciation will

present Charles W. Calomiris, theHenry Kaufman Professor of Finan-cial Institutions at the ColumbiaUniversity Graduate School of Busi-ness in a discussion on: “Hope,Prayer and the Economic Crisis: TheReally Long Run” at New York’sHarvard Club on March 10 at 6 pm.Dr. Calomiris, who has been fea-tured in recent issues of The Nation-al Herald, will bring his singularknowledge of the global financialsystem and his deep Greek Ortho-dox spirituality to bear on the chal-lenges we will face in the comingyears and beyond. He will discussthe personal importance of his reli-gion and how an active prayer life isvaluable for coping with the stressand anxiety generated by the cur-rent crisis and for focusing on ac-tions that will protect one’s self,family and community, helping usall to move forward into a brighterfuture. Hors d'oeuvres will beserved. Admission is $30 in advanceand $40 at the door. Hosts recom-mend reserving seats in advance bysending checks for $30 per personto: Church of the Annunciation302 West 91st Street, New York, NY10024 or by contacting Staz Tsiavosat 516-960-8776 orstaz.tsiavos@prudential.com.

■ MARCH 22FALLS CHURCH, Va. – The HellenicSociety Prometheas & The HellenicOrganizations of the WashingtonMetropolitan area cordially invitethe community to a celebration ofthe 188th Anniversary of Greek In-dependence at St. Katherine GreekOrthodox Church (3149 Glen Car-lyn Rd) on Sunday, March 22, at 6PM. The Keynote Speaker will beDr. Evangelos Athanasopoulos, Pro-fessor of Education, and Education-al Media and Technology, Adjunctfaculty at the Department of Educa-tion & Social Policy (University ofMacedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece)and Lecturer at the National Schoolof Public Administration (Athens,Greece) on the topic of “The GreekWar of Independence: Timing andIdentity.” The speaker, utilizingmultimedia (power point slides, in-cluding: maps, paintings, excerptsfrom relevant films and music), willpresent and examine the local polit-ical and social conditions prior tothe beginning of the 1821 revolu-tion. The overall situation that theOttoman Empire faced during thenineteenth century will be also por-trayed to explain why the condi-tions were favorable for the Greekcause at that time. The lecture willalso cover some of the major devel-opments during the revolution it-self. The program will includegreetings by dignitaries, poems,songs by the Sts. Constantine & He-len choir and folk dances performedby the Return to Origins dancetroupe directed by Rena and ElenaPapapostolou. Reception to follow.

■ APRIL 2-6ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The HellenicNews of America and the 18th Her-mes Expo International cordially in-vite the community to The 18thHermes Expo from April 2-6, 2009.Starting from New York and goingto Philadelphia, The Expo will takeplace on the weekend of April 4-5,2009 with a 120 Booth Exhibits atthe Tropicana on the Atlantic CityBoardwalk, New Jersey. April 2,2009 - A Greek Food and Wine Tast-ing Mixer, Reception Press Confer-ence and B2B meetings based onprofiles at the Queens Art Museumin cooperation with the QueensChamber of Commerce. April 3,2009 - At the Governors MansionMixer, Drexel University Seminaron Tourism and New Technology.Reception and B2B meetings basedon profiles. April 4 - 5, 2009 - TheTropicana Hotel, Atlantic City, NJExhibition Conference - A majorhappening for Greek Americans,Americans interested in Greece andSouth Eastern Europe and otherEthnic Markets. SymposiumBrunch on Saturday 10AM-1 PM,Grand opening at 1 PM, 120 Boothsmeetings B2B, Dinner Awards En-tertainment and a Sunday BrunchNetworking. April 6,2009 - A GrandReception Mixer at the HonorableAris Melissaratos Estate, Baltimore,MD. For more information, pleasevisit Info@HermesExpo.com.

■ NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events section is acomplimentary service to the GreekAmerican community. All parishes,organizations and institutions areencouraged to e-mail their informa-tion 3-4 weeks ahead of time, and nolater than Monday of the week be-fore the event, toenglish.edition@thenationalherald.com

GOINGS ON...

By Robert LoPinto

The Queens Chapter - NYSSPEheld its annual MATHCOUNTSCompetition on Saturday, February7h, at JHS 189, Flushing. Nineschools from Queens registered inthe MATHCOUNTS Program com-peted in the competition. The com-petitions went off without a hitch,thanks to the help of the TeamCoaches, and the Professional Engi-neer Chapter members. At the endof the competition, an awards cere-mony with Chapter President ChrisPetallides, PE was held, and the tro-phies and other awards were pre-sented to the Queens Chapter win-ners.

Robert A. LoPinto, PE, PastQueens Chapter President andMATHCOUNTS Coordinator set upthe day's events and ran the Count-down competition. Chapter Mem-bers Christina Nickolas, PE, SalGalletta, PE, Bryan Flynn, PE, JohnSgouros, PE, and George Tavoular-eas, PE assisted in the competition.In addition to the Team Coaches,who assisted with the scoring,Michael Stritch volunteered hishelp through the national Volun-teerMatch organization.

MATHCOUNTS is a Math skillsbuilding and competition for 6th,7th & 8th grade students, spon-sored by the National Society ofProfessional Engineers, the CNAFoundation, Raytheon Company,

Northrop Grumman Foundation,Conoco Phillips, General MotorsFoundation, Lockheed Martin, 3MFoundation and Texas Instruments.

Competitions are held at the lo-cal Chapter level, followed by a

State competition. The top individuals from the

State competition then compete atthe National Competition, which isbeing held in Orlando, FL this year.The top winners of the NationalCompetition can win college schol-arships.

Teams of 4 students and up to 4individuals from the schools spentabout 4 hours taking various writ-ten and oral tests. There was a 40minute, 30 question written indi-vidual test, followed by four sets oftwo written questions to be an-swered in 6 minutes each set. Thiswas followed by a 20 minute, 10-question team test, where the 4team members worked together toanswer the questions. There wasalso an oral countdown round,where the top 10 individual finish-ers competed head to head for tophonors.

The Queens Chapter Team Win-ners were:

1st Place MS 158- Marie CurieMS, 2nd Place MS 74- NathanielHawthorne MS and 3rd Place JHS190- Russel Sage JHS.

The top three teams now moveon to the State Competition inMarch.

Greek American Organizers make Math Competition a Success

FROM LEFT: Robert LoPinto, Christopher Chong, Chris Petallides(president of the Queens Chapter) and Bryan Flynn.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Repre-sentative Scott Garrett (R-5-NJ)joined he American Hellenic Edu-cational Progressive Association(AHEPA), a leading association forthe nation’s three million Americancitizens of Greek heritage, andcountless Philhellenes, yesterday,announced Supreme President IkeGulas. Rep. Garrett joined RamapoChapter 453, Wyckoff, N.J., whichis New Jersey’s largest chapter with135 members.

“We welcome with great enthu-siasm Congressman Garrett’s mem-bership in AHEPA,” said Gulas. “Heis a dedicated public servant whohas demonstrated a keen interest tolisten to the needs of his con-stituents, including the AmericanHellenic community. We’re proudto count him as a member and aPhilhellene.”

He added, “Also, I commendRamapo Chapter for its outreach tothe congressman that has led to afluid dialogue on all issues. Thisexample must be replicatedthroughout the community.”

Rep. Garrett spent more thanthirty minutes with Supreme Gov-ernor Louis Arvanitis, District 5Lieutenant Governor Phil Vogis,District No. 5 Treasurer Savas Tsivi-cos, and the chapter’s membershipto discuss issues of importance toAHEPA. These issues included pro-jects such as the formation of char-ter schools and the building of se-nior citizens housing projects.Moreover, Tsivicos, who is a mem-

ber of AHEPA’s National Cyprus &Hellenic Affairs Committee, led thepolicy discussion issues regardingGreece and Cyprus. Chapter 453President Jim Giokas , and Chapter453 Treasurer George Mellides, of-ficiated the induction.

In 2008, Rep. Garrett was givenan upper tier, 87% rating on GreekAmerican issues in AHEPA’s Con-gressional Scorecard. Moreover, heis a member of the Hellenic Caucus.A link to the scorecard can be found

on AHEPA’s Public Policy page,www.ahepa.org/policy.

In January, Rep. Garrett wassworn in to his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, repre-senting New Jersey’s Fifth Congres-sional District. He was first electedto Congress in 2002. Garrett serveson the House Financial Services andBudget Committees. He is a memberof the Financial Services Subcom-mittees on Capital Markets, Insur-ance, and Government Sponsored

Enterprises; Financial Institutionsand Consumer Credit; and Housingand Community Opportunity. Formore information on the Congress-man visit http://garrett.house.gov.

AHEPA Chapter 453 serves thecommunities of north-westernBergen County. In 2007, the chap-ter was voted the Most OutstandingChapter in AHEPA’s Fifth District.That year the chapter started anadult Greek language school that isnow entering its third year.

Veteran New Jersey Congressman Joins AHEPA

U.S. Representative Scott Garrett (R-5-NJ), seventh from left, with AHEPA Ramapo Chapter 453. In 2008,Rep. Garrett was given an 87% rating on Greek American issues in AHEPA’s Congressional Scorecard.

By Eleni KostopoulosSpecial to The National Herald

NEW YORK – What you pack on yourplate not only affects your weight butdetermines your longevity and abilityto combat diseases, according to thedistinguished Greek American physi-cians who discussed “The Benefits ofthe Mediterranean Diet and OliveOil” on Wednesday, February 25 atthe Greek Press and CommunicationOffice in New York City. Professor ofthe University of Athens’ Departmentof Hygiene and Epidemiology Dr. An-tonia Trichopoulou, M.D., along withDespina Komninou, M.D., Irini Niko-laides, R.D. and Apostolos Pappas,Ph.D. presented the panel discussionwhich examined the prudent diet—consisting of an ample intake oflegumes, vegetables and olive oil—and provided evidence that it modu-lates blood lipid levels, controls hy-pertension and is suspected to fightcertain cancers, among providingother health benefits. The event wassponsored by The Greek Trade Officein cooperation with the HellenicMedical Society of New York and theGreek Press and Communication Of-fice.

“The Mediterranean diet is a dietof the population of the olive-grow-ing regions in the Mediterraneanbasin at the end of the 1950s and be-ginning of the 1960s,” said Dr. Tri-chopoulou. She said the diet has itsorigins in these two decades becauseof the consequences suffered byWorld War II and the socio-economicchanges that did not hit that part ofthe world, causing residents of theMediterranean to rely heavily uponnatural, environmental resources. Atthe time, Greece was noted as thecountry with the highest life ex-pectancy rate in the world.

“The Mediterranean diet does notexist without olive oil. Eggplant, zuc-chini, okra, beans, lentils, fava,chickpeas, are among the character-izing foods. There is a high consump-tion of cereals, mostly refined, aswell as high consumption of fruits,cheese and yogurt, moderate to highconsumption of fish, low consump-tion of meat products and moderateconsumption of wine.”

She added, “Since the Greek tra-dition of diet is the prototype for theMediterranean diet, the Greek Min-istry of Health adopted these charac-

teristics in order to express the na-tional Greek dietary guidelines.”

Dr. Trichopoulou said there havebeen several studies conductedwhich have provided sufficient evi-dence suggesting the benefits of thediet, which emphasizes the con-sumption of olive oil, have beenboundless. In one study analyzingthe dietary habits of 28,000 Greeks,it was shown that those eatingMediterranean foods are more likelyto live longer.

“We found that there is 25 per-cent reduction in mortality, 33 per-cent reduction in coronary heart dis-ease and 24 percent in cancer mor-tality,” she said. “In an analyses ofstudies that took into account stud-ies conducted in the last 10 to 15years, they focused the role of theMediterranean diet on health anddisease. They found very similar sta-tistics to the original Greek study.”

Dr. Trichopoulou also noted thatmany of the foods the diet is com-prised of are Greek traditional foods.

“Given that the Mediterranean di-et is associated with the longest sur-vival, we find that this can be partlyattributed to the Mediterranean foodwhich this diet implies,” she said.She used examples of the abundant

consumption of capers in Santorinibefore it was a tourist island and pitacontaining greens, such as spanako-pita.

“You can see that the flavonoidcontent of these green pies, whichare made with white greens, aremuch higher than that in wine, blacktea, or apple juice, which are usuallyconsidered to have a high antioxi-dant content.

“I urge all of you to adopt thislifestyle,” she said.

Dr. Komninou noted that al-though Greece was once a countrywith the highest life expectancy rate,the obesity epidemic today affectstwo-thirds of Greek youth. Althoughit took man generations to evolve in-to a tall and lean human, she said, ittook a mere couple decades for theobesity epidemic to shoot up.

“The factors influencing the de-velopment of obesity are many andthey are interrelated in a very com-plex way,” Dr. Komninou said. “Theeffects of obesity are similar to 20years of aging. Aging is a risk factorof obesity, mostly abdominal obesityand chronic diseases, such as dia-betes, atherosclerosis and cancer,and the link between them is meta-bolic disharmony.”

She covered the scientific compo-nents of metabolism and the wayhealthy food is necessary in endingthe cycle of obesity and decreasedmetabolic efficiency.

“The Mediterranean Diet is an an-ti-inflammatory diet that enhanceslongevity and prevents chronic dis-eases by protecting against abdomi-nal obesity, against insulin and by re-ducing all the major players of in-flammation,” she said. “The diet re-duces cellular stress and all the indi-vidual components of cellular stress.When there are healthy nutrients ina healthy diet, then those nutrientscan maintain the normal expressionof genes, homeostasis and they giveus healthy signatures illustrated bynew microray technology.”

“Olive oil has been used since an-cient times for many things besidesculinary use- as a preserver of youthand beauty, it was a symbol of wealthand power and it had an endlesssource of fascination,” said Niko-laidis. “Hippocrates called it the‘great therapeutic’ because it wasused for 60 therapeutic conditionssuch as dermatological ones (trau-ma, scratches), ear infections, mois-turizer and to protect against poison-ing.”

Physicians Discuss Benefits of Mediterranean Diet

Distinguished Greek American physicians discuss “The Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet and Olive Oil”on Wednesday, February 25 at the Greek Press and Communication Office in New York City.

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009 3

By Ayla Jean YackleyReuters

ISTANBUL – Mihail Vasiliadis'sfriends warned the teenager to leavework early and go home to his fami-ly on September 6, 1955.

Within hours, mobs were attack-ing thousands of shops, churchesand homes throughout Istanbul in arampage against ethnic Greeks thateventually led thousands to leaveTurkey.

“It was the shock of a lifetime, butit was something that wasn't talkedabout for 50 years,” said Vasiliadis,who was aged 15 at the time and isnow one of just 2,800 or so Greeksleft in Istanbul. He is now the editorof Apoyevmatimi, Istanbul's lastGreek-language newspaper.

Now a film entitled “Guz San-cisi,” or “The Pain of Autumn,” tellsthe story of that night more than halfa century ago, the first time a Turk-ish movie has tackled the events thatIstanbul Greeks call their “Kristall-nacht.”

The fictional love story of Behcetand Elena, a Turkish man and aGreek woman, is set against the ten-sion that culminated in the real-lifedestruction of 5,300 businesses andhouses owned by Greeks, Armeniansand Jews.

More than 500,000 people haveseen the film since its release lastmonth, according to its distributorOzen Film.

Television talk shows and news-papers have covered both the filmand the discussion of the events onwhich it is based.

Its makers say the public debateis a result of an easing of curbs onfreedom of expression accompany-ing Turkey's drive to meet EuropeanUnion membership standards.

“This film couldn't have beenmade 10 years ago,” said EtyenMahcupyan, who wrote the screen-play and is editor of the Armeniancommunity newspaper Agos.“Though the laws on the books stilllimit free speech, the reality is there'sless and less that can't be criticized.”

PHOTOGRAPHS VANDALIZEDAs recently as 2005, demonstra-

tors stormed an Istanbul gallery andvandalized photographs on exhibitfrom a prosecutor's investigation in-to the 1955 events.

“Until now, we've either used si-lence or shouted to block out thepast,” said Murat Belge, literatureprofessor at Bilgi University and apolitical columnist, who was prose-cuted in 2006 for criticizing Turkey'streatment of minorities. “It's a majorshift that we're now using art to ex-amine it.”

On the night in question, thou-sands of protesters converged oncentral Istanbul, incited by news re-ports that Greeks in Thessaloniki

had bombed the childhood home ofMustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founderof modern Turkey. It emerged laterthat the reports were false.

Tension between Turkey and itshistorical rival Greece was high at

the time over Cyprus.Police and soldiers stood by when

the protest turned violent. Cemeter-ies were desecrated, churches werelooted and about a dozen peopledied, said Dilek Guven, a historian

and author of a 2005 book on thesubject, “The September 6-7Events.” Hundreds of women wereraped, she said.

Damage was estimated at $50million, or about $400 million in to-day's terms. Most of the attacks wereagainst Greek-owned targets, but al-most a third were aimed at propertyowned by Armenians and Jews.

More than 5,000 people were ar-rested and most were later acquit-ted.

Prime Minister Adnan Menderesand two members of his govern-ment, deposed in a 1960 militarycoup, were found guilty the follow-ing year of violating the constitutionand executed.

During the trial, one of the princi-pal charges the judges heard wasthat the Menderes government wasbehind the 1955 events.

Research by Guven and othershas shown the conspiracy ran deep-er, involving the military and the in-

telligence service, and was aimed atpressuring minorities to abandontheir property and leave the country.

NEVER DISCUSSED“A film like this might be just a

film in another country,” saidMahcupyan. “Because there's been avacuum and this issue was never dis-cussed, the film now fulfils an im-portant mission.”

Today, 60 percent of Greeks liv-ing in Istanbul, seat of the Greek-dominated Byzantine Empire for1,000 years until 1453, are agedover 55, says the Rev. DositheosAnagnostopulous, a spokesman forthe Greek Orthodox Church in Istan-bul.

One and a half million Greeks leftTurkey for Greece in 1923, when theTurkish republic was established,and thousands more emigratedwhen a “wealth tax” imposed on mi-norities in 1942 wiped out their for-tunes before it was repealed twoyears later.

About 120,000 Greeks were liv-ing in Istanbul in 1955, said Anag-nostopulous. After the attacks50,000 more left, and the final blowwas in 1964 after fighting betweenTurkish and Greek Cypriots. By1966, just 30,000 Greeks remained,he said.

Istanbul, a city of 15 million peo-ple, is also home today to about60,000 Armenians and fewer than20,000 Jews.

“September 6-7 was our Kristall-nacht,” Anagnostopulous said, refer-ring to the Nazi pogrom of 1938.“The chances of something like thishappening again are slim, becauseTurkish youth today are more criti-cal in their thinking. But to be sure,they need to learn that this catastro-phe occurred, that's why the film isimportant.”

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, thespiritual center of the world's 250million Orthodox Christians, is stillbased in Istanbul.

The EU has criticized the Turkishgovernment's refusal to recognizethe patriarchate's legal status and itsban on the training of Orthodox cler-gy.

Anagnostopulous said a 2006change in the law on non-Muslimfoundations has relaxed restrictionson Greeks' property rights. However,the government has returned onlyone of the handful of buildings thatthe European Court of HumanRights has ruled it had illegallyseized over the years.

The Turkish government has nev-er formally apologized for the state'srole in the violence 54 years ago.

“We are aware in Turkey of whatwe have done, but we fail to con-front it, and we keep repeating it,”Belge said. “This is a society that failsto bury its dead, and so you have alot of ghosts roaming around.”

Film Casts Light on Dark Chapter of Turkish Past

A film entitled “Guz Sancisi,” or “The Pain of Autumn,” tackles theevents that Istanbul Greeks call their “Kristallnacht,” when 5,300 busi-ness and houses owned by Greeks, Armenians and Jews were destroyedby a Turkish mob on September 6, 1955. The Turkish government hasnever apologized for the state's role in the violence 54 years ago.

cal science professor at Baruch Col-lege. “She wasn't vetted properly.”

Weiner spokesman John Collinstold the New York Daily News thatBongiorno's background is irrele-vant.

“Our policy is to help con-stituents, not run backgroundchecks on them. Anthony continuesto believe that child support pay-ments should not be taxed,” Collinssaid. “The tragedy of the car acci-dent is still real. We are all inspiredby the words of Father Frangos' son,who embraced Ms. Bongiorno's par-

ents at the wake and told them hisfather would forgive their daugh-ter.”

Collins was referring to the pub-licized incident at the wake for thetwo priests in 1994, where FatherFrangos's son, George Frangos, em-braced Ms. Bongiorno's parents atthe back of the church.

“They were stooped with grief,”he said at the time. “They looked al-most crushed. All they could say is,‘We're sorry, she is a good girl. Shedidn't mean to do this.’ My God,what a tragedy for that family. Lisawas reckless with her life, with herdaughter's life, but she wasn't out to

kill anyone. If you could cure her ofher drug addiction, then some goodwould come out of this.”

“The last thing my father wouldhave wanted was to make an exam-ple of [Ms. Bongiorno],” he said in aMarch 26, 1994 interview with NewYork Newsday. “This is a womanwho is anguished and troubled tobegin with and the drugs in her ownmind seem to keep her life together.She didn't set out to kill two priests.We have to look after the innocentone, the child. It is extremely impor-tant that her child be told that weforgive her mother.”

Frangos even offered to provide

a lawyer to help her fight the mur-der charges.

The priests’ families told the Dai-ly News that they bear no ill will to-ward Bongiorno.

Stavropoulos' sister said herfamily is preparing a memorial forthe 15th anniversary of his death.

“We only wish her well,” saidSylvia Christakos, 62, a professor ofbiochemistry at the University ofMedicine and Dentistry of New Jer-sey. “The bottom line is that shespent her time in jail. I'm glad thatshe's changed. Maybe the time injail gave her something to thinkabout.”

Weiner's office discovered Bon-giorno when she wrote a letter com-plaining about a $25 fee the statebegan charging in October 2008 tohelp parents collect child support.

She was invited to appear withhim at the January press conferenceto put a face on the issue, whichWeiner said unfairly penalizes al-ready-struggling parents.

WCBS-TV, WPIX and the Span-ish-language newspaper El Diariocovered Bongiorno's story aboutgetting child support from her ex-boyfriend. There was no mention ofBongiorno’s criminal past.

“In big-time politics, you shouldalways watch your tail,” said Mick-ey Carroll, director of the Quinnipi-ac University Polling Institute. “Itstrikes me as a pretty basic over-sight. If a reporter can find outabout someone's past with ease,why couldn't his staff?”

Additional reporting by the NewYork Times, New York Daily Newsand Newsday.

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

CCoommiinngg iinn MMaarrcchh......

Don’t miss...

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GGrreeeekkss iinn AAmmeerriiccaa

TheThe National Herald’’ss

priest who was one of the closest as-sociates and friends of former Arch-bishop Spyridon, paid $38,000 tohis blackmailers. It is suspected thatthe former Antiochian priest andthe masseur knew each other.

All the members of the Synodwere present except MetropolitanGerasimos of San Francisco whowas absent “due to illness” accord-ing to the Archdiocesan Press Re-lease.

The members of the Synodheard the information and saw thephotographic material. At somepoint, Archbishop Demetrios sur-prised them all by inviting Archi-mandrite Karambis into the Synod’sroom. Visibly contrite, he did not at-tempt to justify or to deny anything.On the contrary, he admitted thathe was getting the massage service,that it was him pictured in the pho-tographs, that he had been black-mailed and that he paid $38,000 tohis blackmailers.

After Fr. Karambis departedfrom the Synodal room, the ques-tion was what would be done withhim, and Archbishop Demetrios al-legedly said that “we do not haveevidence.” The members of the Syn-od agreed and simply verified theLiturgical suspension which hadbeen already placed on Fr. Karam-bis. Many attempts by The NationalHerald to communicate with Archi-mandrite Karambis were unsuccess-ful. A written request sent to Arch-bishop Demetrios of America tocomment on the Fr. Karambis caseand the Synod’s meeting wentunanswered.

The following is the entire NewsRelease sent by the Archdiocese.

“On February 18, 2009, the HolyEparchial Synod of the Holy Arch-diocese of America convened in aSpecial Session, in its capacity asSpiritual Court of Second Instancein order to review the case of the

Very Reverend ArchimandriteGabriel Karambis.

“His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios presided. Present werethe following Synodal Metropoli-tans: Iakovos of Chicago, Maximosof Pittsburgh, Methodios of Boston,Isaiah of Denver, Alexios of Atlanta,Nicholas of Detroit, and Evangelosof New Jersey. Metropolitan Gerasi-mos of San Francisco was absentdue to illness.

“The Holy Eparchial Synod, hav-ing carefully reviewed the case ofFr. Gabriel Karambis, with pro-found sadness confirmed the deci-sion of December 23, 2008 of theSpiritual Court of First Instance ofthe Holy Metropolis of Denver, bywhich the suspension from allpriestly duties and ecclesiasticalfunctions was imposed.

Following the Special Session ofthe Holy Eparchial Synod, the meet-ing continued with the added par-ticipation of Bishops Savas of Troasand Andonios of Fassiane, duringwhich discussion ensued and deci-sions were made regarding the

theme of the 39th Clergy Laity inWashington, DC, and the Regula-tions of the Holy Eparchial Synod.

“The following day, the Synaxisof the Hierarchs continued and re-viewed the following issues: Guide-lines for ecclesiastical courts re-garding ecclesiastical divorces, in-ternship of the celibate clergy of theArchdiocese at the Ecumenical Pa-triarchate, and policies and proce-dures regarding youth ministry pro-grams.”

The following is the initial letterof Metropolitan Isaiah of Denverdated December 26, 2008 in its en-tirety.

“Beloved in the Lord, In this life joys and sorrows are

always with us. Yet in our Christianlife, we know that no sorrow is last-ing, but only the joy which comesfrom our Lord and Savior JesusChrist. This is why our Lord cameinto the world: to do away with eviland sorrow and to grant to all be-lievers His joy and His peace whichwill be eternal.

“At this time your beloved parish

is experiencing sorrow which I prayand hope is only temporary. We areall members of the Body of Christ,His Church; therefore, no one canever take away the joy which ourLord Jesus Christ has given tous.Nevertheless, I am deeply sad-dened to inform you that your for-mer proistamenos, Father GabrielKarambis, was relieved of all hispriestly duties by me by letter onDecember 12, 2008. A SpiritualCourt of the Metropolis of Denver,convened on December 23, 2008,concurred with this action, and far-ther recommended that the case ofFather Karambis be reviewed by theSpiritual Court of Second Instance(Eparchial Synod).

“What I wish to share with you isthat the reason for Father Karambis’suspension had nothing to do withthe parish or the parishioners. Hissuspension does not pertain to anyfinancial improprieties against theparish, nor to any misconduct in-volving minors or parishioners.

“The reason I relieved him of hisduties had to do with his own per-sonal life and how it negatively re-flected on the holy priesthood.Since this is the only criterion I usedin my responsibilities as your Met-ropolitan to excuse Father Karambisfrom his duties - a decision which healso understands - please allow himto deal quietly and constructivelywith his issues, no matter howpainful they are.

“I urge each one of you to contin-ue to pray for the growth andprogress of your holy parish, so thatit will always be a shining beacon ofhope and of salvation for God's peo-ple who are members and who at-tend for purposes of prayer. Please,also pray for Father Karambis andall people of faith who continue tostruggle in this life to ward off thetemptations of evil ‘and the snare ofthe devil’ (1 Timothy 3:7), and toremain committed to Christ, HisChurch and His coming Kingdom.”

No Decision from the Synod for Archimandrite Karambis

rollment has even prompted an in-ternal study as to the feasibility ofHellenic College itself, with thequestion being if the school shouldcontinue to exist or to eliminate italtogether. Archbishop Demetrios,chairman of the Board of Trustees,is resisting the idea of closing Hel-lenic College because he doesn’twant his legacy as Archbishop to betarnished by it.

In 2008, the total number of stu-dents in both Hellenic College and

Holy Cross were just 178, 71 fromHellenic College and 107 from theSchool of Theology as was an-nounced at the Clergy-Laity Con-gress in Washington D.C.

The annual budget for HellenicCollege and Holy Cross is $10 mil-lion dollars. There is a plethora ofprofessors and in some instances,there are only 2 or 3 students insome classes which have full-timeprofessor. Some two years ago, Fr.Nicholas Triantafilou in a letter topriests, claimed that he had collect-ed $42 million in fundraising. Arch-

bishop Demetrios and the Board ofTrustees recently renewed Fr. Tri-antafillous’ contract for anotherfive years.

Hellenic College Dean LilyMakrakis, has been serving theSchool as an unsalaried volunteerthe last few years. Fr. Triantaifillouhad announced a long time agothat a search committee would beestablished to find a new Dean butnothing has been announced thusfar.

Three years ago, the School ofTheology purchased the Barletta

property which includes a housefor $5.4 million.

On Thursday, February 19, Fr.Triantafilou, speaking to the AlfaOmega Greek-American Organiza-tion of Boston blasted the GreekAmerican Press because it pub-lished the financial difficulties thatthe School experiences based onDr. Thomas Lelon’s press release.Rev. Triantafilou used varioussongs by Greek singers Yiannis Par-ios and Haris Alexiou to make apoint about love and cooperationfor the good of the School.

Holy Cross Feels the Economic Crisis

Woman who Killed Priests Makes Appearance with Pol.

Continued from page 1

By Theodore Kalmoukos Special to The National Herald

BOSTON – George Koutroubis, a 36year old Greek Canadian business-man from Toronto, Canada who hadbeen missing since Tuesday, Febru-ary 17, was found dead on February22 in an apartment parking lot onSteeles Avenue West in Bramptonjust 20 kilometers from the center ofToronto.

George Koutroubis is the son ofKostas Koutroubis, the former presi-dent of the Paneleian Federation ofAmerica and Canada and ZoeKoutroubis who immigrated fromAmaliada, Greece in 1964.

George Koutroubis who was co-owner of the “Six Steps” Restaurant,an upscale eatery in downtownToronto, proprietor of a UPS storeon Front Street West and ownednumber of rental apartment proper-ties in Ontario, had his very lastcommunication at about 4:45 p.m.on Tuesday afternoon and after thathis Blackberry went dead.

At around 4 p.m. he called hisolder brother Bill and told him thathe had left him some paperwork atthe UPS store. He also told his both-er that he was on his way to Whitbyto run some errands. At about 4:45p.m., Mr. Koutroubis spoke to afriend and told him that he waswaiting to meet someone. When hisfriend called him back, Mr.Koutroubis didn’t answer his Black-berry.

His family and friends consid-ered it odd because he was veryprompt in returning calls to familymembers, friends and business asso-ciates. His family and his newlywedwife Rhoda – the two were marriedon December 27, 2008 - becameworried and early the next morningnotified the police. He was pro-claimed as missing and the searchstarted everywhere in Toronto. Hisfriends established a Facebook pagetrying to collect as much informa-tion as possible, but no there was nosign of him anywhere.

The days went by and the disap-peared young man who was sup-posed to start his honeymoon withhis wife Rhoda on February 20 witha one-week Caribbean cruse wasnowhere to be found.

Mr. Koutroubis was a former em-ployee of the Revenue Departmentof Canada. He had left some yearsago telling his father that he wantedto be a businessman. His disappear-ance received wide publicity inToronto and across Canada.

Speaking exclusively to The Na-tional Herald his father, Kostas said,“Nothing had taken place in thepast; George is a very good boy. Allhis friends are astonished with hisdisappearance; they went out post-ing notices everywhere and distrib-uting fliers with information and hisphotograph on them. George wasdoing very well in business and withhis life, with everything. Two yearsago he opened a restaurant in

Toronto which is considered to beone of the best in the city; recentlyhe opened a UPS store. He was ini-tially working for the Ministry of Fi-nance. Then he became involvedwith real estate. He used to buy, re-model and sell some properties orhe would rent them. He did well inthe market and through the real es-tate transactions.”

Hs father also said that “Georgewas the perfect kid who every par-ent dreams of having as his son.”

Some Canadian Press reportedthat George Koutroubis was in-volved in sports betting and wasconsidered a bookie. Neither the po-lice nor his father confirmed thesereports, but the police did not ruleanything out. His body was found inhis new black BMW SUV X5, but hewas not behind the wheel. The po-lice refused to comment on that de-tail. It appears that Mr. Koutroubiswas killed in another location, prob-ably somewhere in the east side ofToronto, near Whitby where he hadarranged to meet someone, andthen he was brought to Bramptonoutside of an apartment buildingoverlooking the Shoppers WorldMall where he was found on Sundayafternoon.

The police called his brother Billand his wife Rhoda to the Police Sta-tion at around 7 p.m. on Sundayevening. His father was told at 1:15a.m. Monday night.

“When I saw my son Bill with oneof George’s friends who is a lawyerand came home I realized what hadhappened,” Kostas Koutroubis said.“We went downstairs to the base-ment because I did not want mywife to wake up. When she woke upafter a few hours she came downand saw the three of us and I begantelling her that we should be strongand courageous. She broke downand started crying.”

Now preparations are beingmade for the last farewell to GeorgeKoutroubis whose life was cut shortby vicious hands. His viewing isscheduled for Saturday and Sunday,and his Funeral Service will be onMarch 2 at Toronto’s St. DemetriosGreek Orthodox parish.

George Koutroubis’ was co-owner of Six Steps Restaurant in Toronto.Mr. Koutroubis was found dead in his car on February 22, 2009.

Greek Canadian fromToronto Found Dead

George Koutroubis, 36, wasfound dead in his car.

NEW YORK – The Greek OrthodoxChurch of the Annunciation willpresent Charles W. Calomiris, theHenry Kaufman Professor of Finan-cial Institutions at the ColumbiaUniversity Graduate School of Busi-ness in a discussion on: “Hope,Prayer and the Economic Crisis:The Really Long Run” at New York’sHarvard Club on March 10 at 6 pm.Dr. Calomiris, who has been fea-tured in recent issues of The Na-tional Herald, will bring his singu-lar knowledge of the global finan-cial system and his deep Greek Or-thodox spirituality to bear on thechallenges we will face in the com-ing years and beyond.

He will discuss the personal im-portance of his religion and how anactive prayer life is valuable forcoping with the stress and anxietygenerated by the current crisis andfor focusing on actions that willprotect one’s self, family and com-munity, helping us all to move for-ward into a brighter future. Horsd'oeuvres will be served.

Admission is $30 in advance and

$40 at the door. Hosts recommend reserving

seats in advance by sending checksfor $30 per person to: Church ofthe Annunciation 302 West 91stStreet, New York, NY 10024 or bycontacting Staz Tsiavos at 516-960-8776 orstaz.tsiavos@prudential.com.

Charles Calomiris on “Hope,Prayer and the Economic Crisis”

Charles W. Calomiris

Continued from page 1

Members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese at the Cler-gy-Laity Congress in Nashville, Tennessee in 2006.

Continued from page 1

LEFT: Three of the employees of Hellenic College and Holy Cross.From left: John Papson, James Karloutsos and Charles Kroll. RIGHT:Dr. Thomas Lelon, vice chairman of the board of trustees.

States – and maybe even the world.We have a state-of-the-art school fa-cility, fully equipped with all the lat-est technologies. St. Demetrios con-stitutes a model school by Greekstandards as well, and many Greekofficials have paid us visits and con-gratulated us over the years.”

Mr. Andriotis keeps a photo of hishometown of Nikia in the island ofNisyros up on one of the walls in hisoffice. He visits the village where hewas born regularly. A few years ago,he even opened up his own restau-rant in Nisyros, which he proudlysays has had its fair share of famouspatrons, including the President ofGreece Karolos Papoulias and theU.S. Ambassador to Greece. Allacross along his window, whichstares out into the Manhattan sky-line, there are photos of him and hisnephews, together with Steve Valio-tis’ children. Mr. Andriotis has beenworking with Mr. Valiotis, owner ofAlma Realty Company, for the past25 years. “I consider them [Mr. Vali-otis’ children] to my nephews aswell,” Mr. Andriotis added. Togetherwith Mr. Valiotis, Mr. Andriotis is afounding member of Alma Bank,where he serves as a top executive.

There are also photos of ancientGreece on his wall, along with twosmall replica chariots on a nearbytable. The Odyssey Award, withwhich the St. Demetrios Communityof Astoria honored him in the year2000 in recognition of his invaluableservice to the community – and es-pecially its school – is also set uponthat table.

The late Archbishop Iakovos ofNorth and South America had sent amessage for the weighty commemo-rative album that was issued on theoccasion of Mr. Andriotis’ receptionof the Odyssey Award. In trueIakovos fashion, the content of theletter sublimely expresses the Arch-bishop’s sentiments and regard forMr. Andriotis. The letter read “Dear-ly beloved, this is more than just astandard message of congratula-tions for an album. It is written, withan exuberant pen and a joyoushand, for Nick Andriotis – a most vi-brant man. Mr. Andriotis does notget much sleep. He is always wideawake, but he continues to dream.His dreams do not require nightfallin order to make their appearance.Dreamy Nisyros provides Mr. Andri-otis with his dreams. Astoria fills thedark sky of his restlessness withbright stars. This is the reason whyMr. Andriotis does not walk; heruns; ever conscious of the river andsea before him. He is not a personwho believes in dead ends. Andwhen the currents of life do not takehim where he wants to go, hechanges their direction. He does notlike still waters. He is always dis-turbing them with his bold plans.

Mr. Andriotis is ambitious, and hisdefinition of a job well done entailsmoving mountains that stand in hisway. These are his moments of glory.His aggressiveness is like a tempes-tuous wind; and when the wind diesdown, so does he. As you can see, Iam not praising him. I am simply de-scribing him, just as he would wantme to. He does not have muchchoice. If he did, he would be readyto burst, as usual. It is only when Icall him ‘President of Presidents’that he stays quiet, perhaps becauseI adequately summarize him withthis title. He is truly a President on ahill, climbing ever higher towardsnew goals, new initiatives, and thecompletion of his work. The mean-ing behind my message is that I al-ways want you to keep him on thefrontlines of your projects. Keep himjust the way he is: with his excite-ment and his outbursts. That is why Ijoin you in honoring him today. Hedeserves it. Onward to victory,Nick.”

Mr. Andriotis holds on to thismessage like a sacred charm, but headmits that “He [the Archbishop]surprised me and enthused me. Ididn’t expect him to write the letterthe way that he did. I did not expectthat Archbishop Iakovos would ana-lyze my nature so deeply, and pointout the way I act, the demands Ihave in life…”

Nick Andriotis admits somethingelse about Archbishop Iakovos aswell. “I looked at him with somenegativity at first, but I ended upforming the opinion that he is a manwho made history, and who was of-ten judged unfairly. At some point inthe future, history will tell the storythe way it really is. Archbishop

Iakovos is a person who does notcome around too often. He was oneof a kind. He combined a strong per-sonality, sharp intellect, good educa-tion, and an uncanny knack fordiplomacy. Despite what anyonemay think, it is a fact that Archbish-op Iakovos was a rare breed, whowas both credible and far-reaching.He was the only religious leaderwho had a vision, and who had thecourage to walk alongside Dr. Mar-tin Luther King Jr. in the 1960’s atthe march in Selma, Alabama todemonstrate for equal voting rightsfor African-Americans. It is too badthe Archbishop is not alive today tosee the results of that march. BarackObama is now the first African-American President of the UnitedStates.”

Nick Andriotis was born in Nisy-ros in November 1940, and came tothe United States in 1956. He hasbeen living in Astoria for over 50years. He got his first job working asan elevator operator in a hotel on49th Street in Manhattan, betweenSixth and Seventh Avenue. “Eleva-tors were not automated like theyare today,” he said. “We workedthem manually. You would use alever to lift them or lower them.” Mr.Andriotis thinks back and laughs. “Ididn’t speak much English backthen. In order for me to get a job op-erating the elevator, they taught meto count from 1 to 18, because that’show many floors the hotel had. Theyalso taught me to say ‘thank you,’and ‘watch your step,’ because since

the elevator was not automated itwould not always stop level with thefloor on each story. Sometimes itstopped a little above the floor, andsometimes a little below.”

One day, a funny thing happenedto Mr. Andriotis. “I was standing bythe entrance to elevator and some-one came up to me to ask me a ques-tion. I thought that he wanted me totake him to another floor. I told himto get inside, and the elevator start-ed going up. I asked him which floorhe was going to, but I could not un-derstand what he was saying to me.We ended up going up and down thehotel. The man was looking for therestroom, and I did not understandwhat he was saying, so I ended uptaking him up and down all thefloors. He finally managed to leavethe elevator and ran elsewhere toask where he could find a re-stroom…”

After the hotel, Mr. Andriotisswitched careers and joined therestaurant business, where heworked as a waiter. Soon after-wards, he had saved enough moneyto begin his first business ventureand start acquiring real estate.

Mr. Andriotis was a pioneer inthe establishment, operation, andprogress of the St. Demetrios schoolsystem. He was elected to the parishcouncil and served as President dur-ing the years 1976-77, and thenagain from 1979 to 1982. Over thelast six years, he has been offeringan invaluable contribution as Chair-man of the St. Demetrios schoolboard.

He himself said he considers hisgreatest accomplishment to be theformation of the first ever GreekAmerican high school in the United

States, which has been operating atSt. Demetrios Day School in Astoriasince 1982.

“When I first joined the commu-nity, I realized that building up ourschool would be the only projectthat would leave a lasting effect,”Mr. Andriotis explained. “I was notproven wrong, and I have never re-gretted my decision. The very firstyear I was elected to the parishcouncil, they appointed me AssistantGreek Secretary. When I was electedPresident, there were a couple ofparish council members who werevery much in favor of our school ex-panding to include a high school.However, because they consideredthis prospect to be nothing morethan a dream, they needed to findsomeone who would support thecause. That someone was me. Assoon as I became President in 1976,I lent all my support to the commit-tee that was formed to expand ourjunior high school grades. A fewmonths after my election, we passeda decision for our junior high schoolto gradually expand into a highschool. However, the major thingwas for a high school building to beconstructed, and colossal effortswere undertaken to achieve thisgoal. It was a big step, and it costmillions of dollars to accomplish, ata time when the community did nothave any money at all. There were alot of people who thought that wewere going to go bankrupt and thatthe community would shut down.Despite the difficulties, I believedthat we would be successful. I knewthat our mission was sacred, the waywere going about it was correct, andthat we were providing the commu-nity with a necessary service. I alsopersonally believed that we wouldnot be able to continue to exist if wedid not support Greek education.”

And all the while, the vision for abuilding to house the newly formedSt. Demetrios high school was beingundercut by growing pressure. “Thepeople wanted a high school, but theusual suspicions remained,” Mr. An-driotis recalled. “Some people wereasking themselves why I was soadamant about this project. Was Idoing it out of egotism? Was I over-come with a need for grandeur? Per-haps I was trying to steal money… Iwas willing to accept any kind ofcriticism they dished out, except thelast one. Those kinds of accusationsinfuriated me…”

The project was completed, the“miracle” happened, and Nick An-driotis was justified for his convic-tion and persistence.

“One day someone stopped meon the street and asked me how Iwas doing,” Mr. Andriotis said. “I didnot recognize him. He told me hisname, and reminded me that he hadonce spoken out very harshlyagainst my plans to build the school.‘I still feel guilty for what I did’ hesaid to me. He also told me that hechanged his mind and now recog-nized that I was 100 percent in theright. Another fellow – an elderlygentleman who is still around today– was openly against me at thattime. I met him two years ago at astudent art exhibition in our school.Don’t tell me that your grandchildgoes to this school, I said to him. Hereplied that ‘not only does my grand-son go to school here, but I owe youa debt of gratitude, because mydaughter sends her children hereand she says that she would notchange the school for any otherschool out there. She is very enthusi-astic.’ Certainly, I felt a certain senseof moral satisfaction from that con-versation. We put forth a major ef-fort on behalf of the school. No onecame and handed us money just likethat. The project was financed withwhatever funds each one of us couldset aside. Back then, we used to goasking for donations $20 at a time.Things are different today. Today,people come and see our completedwork. They come and go inside ourschool building, and they are pleas-antly surprised with everything thatthey see before them. Nevertheless,there are still a lot of people outthere who do not know just howgreat a school our community has.”

The efforts that everyone put to-gether back then were really touch-ing. We needed to come up with

every idea we could to secure themoney. “Two older ladies who weremembers of the Philoptochos Soci-ety started going from house tohouse, and to all the local stores, andbegan collecting pledges of $20 todedicate each brick that would beused to build our high school,” Mr.Andriotis said. “I remember one ofthem, her name was Lefkothea An-gelopoulos.”

At the behest and blessings of thelate Archbishop Iakovos, Mr. Andrio-tis spearheaded the purchase andrenovation of the Archdiocesan Hel-lenic Cultural Center, located in As-toria. This center has been opera-tional since 1986, and today Mr. An-driotis serves as President of itsboard of trustees.

“This is an important project thattouches my heart whenever I thinkabout it, just like the St. DemetriosSchool,” he said. “Do you think itwas an easy thing to convince Arch-bishop Iakovos – who really didn’tknow all that much about Greek As-toria back then – to move aheadwith a project like this. Unfortunate-ly, his advisors did not encouragehim to embrace the Greek AmericanCommunity and to spend time withaverage Greek Americans living inthe local community. This didn’t al-low for people to really appreciatehim as a leader, since they would on-ly see him at church or read abouthim in the newspapers. It was onlyafter I kept insisting that ArchbishopIakovos visit a Greek restaurant inAstoria that he actually went to eatat one for the first time. He ended up

liking it, and once he got used to go-ing, not only did he end up going torestaurants in Astoria to eat fre-quently, but he even went began togo to other Greek establishmentsand get personally acquainted withthe Greeks who owned them. Thepeople really started to love him to-wards the end of his life, but whenhe was at the apex of his career, hewas somewhat cut off, and limited tothe area surrounding the Archdioce-san headquarters on 79th Street.

One night, unbeknownst to any-one, Mr. Andriotis and the Archdio-cese CFO Mr. Demetriades tookArchbishop Iakovos to an aban-doned building on Crescent Street inAstoria. “In the end, I managed toconvince the Archbishop to turn itinto a cultural center,” Mr. Andriotissaid. “The purchase of the propertycost us $230,000. We spent another$750,000 to make the Hellenic Cul-tural Center into what it is today.This was a very large chunk of mon-ey at that time. I had told Archbish-op Iakovos that it was unacceptablefor the Archdiocese not to have apresence in the heart of Hellenism –Astoria. St. Demetrios Cathedral isone thing, but the Archdiocese wasnowhere to be seen. It was impor-tant for the name of the Archdioceseto appear on the building that wouldend up housing the Hellenic Cultur-al Center – as it ultimately did. Thiswas another dream come true. Backthen, I was considered to be part ofthe establishment by the media, theyouth and the so-called progres-sives, who had come to the U.S.from Greece to attend college.”

Mr. Andriotis considers both ofthese projects to be milestones in thehistory of the Greek American Com-munity, because they embody thepotential and the decisiveness of theGreek American Community.

When asked why he has re-mained at the helm of the St.Demetrios school board and theHCC board of trustees for so manyyears, Mr. Andriotis is quick to reply,“it’s not an ego thing. These are pro-jects that I strived and labored for,and they have been successful. Ihave never told anyone that theycannot replace me. I serve on thesecommittees to ensure that these pro-jects continue to run smoothly, andso I can teach others about what Iknow.”

The Ecumenical Patriarchate alsopublicly recognized Mr. Andriotis forhis longstanding service to theChurch, and bestowed him with theoffice of Archon Depoutatos. Mr. An-driotis is also a member of Leader-ship 100, an endowment fund affili-ated with the Archdiocese of Ameri-ca, which is committed to sustainingthe Church’s programs and min-

istries.At the time that he was honored

with the Odyssey Award by the St.Demetrios Community, Mr. Andrio-tis also donated $100,000 to formthe Nick A. Andriotis AssistanceFund, which aims at helping eco-nomically disadvantaged children.

Some of Mr. Andriotis’ detractorsaccuse him of being a dictator andhaving a big ego. Responding tothese accusations, Mr. Andriotis im-mediately flashes a wry smile andjokingly says that “I might be egotis-tical, but I’m not a dictator.”

“I would call myself egotisticalbecause I want to see a projectthrough, and I want to do as perfecta job as possible. I won’t stand forfoolishness, and I speak frankly. Ifthis is egotistical, then I am guilty ascharged. However, I don’t operatethe way I do simply because I wantto be the leader. Besides, I have notbeen parish council president at St.Demetrios since 1982. And for allthose who believe that I behave likea dictator, I want to say that I haveample proof that anything that wasdone in the community on my watchwas done democratically, and wasvoted on. This includes any changesthat took place involving the school,church, or the duties of the clergy. Inever sent anyone away by myself,to deserve to be labeled a dictator. Inever offended anyone through myown individual actions, and I nevertook decision on my own. Anythingdecisions that were made resultedfrom a democratic process, andthere was always a healthy majority.

I want to emphasize this point.”Nick Andriotis is widely heralded

as “the Prime Minister of Astoria.”He chuckles and explains that a jour-nalist from Astoria gave him thisnickname after he made a powerfulspeech at a Clergy Laity Conferencethat was held in San Francisco in de-fense of Greek Education.

Mr. Andriotis is passionate aboutGreek language and Greek educa-tion. He is constantly highlightingthe importance of Greek parochialschools. “I see the difference be-tween our school and other schools.I see how our children speak, act,and how much they know about ourhistory and religion. We didn’t es-tablish our school simply becausethere were not any other schools outthere for us to send our children. Weare not even arguing that our schoolis the best one around. In Manhat-tan, there are elementary parochialschools that charge as much as$18,000 in annual tuition. One

thing is for sure though. Thoseschools are not going to teach chil-dren what they will learn in ourschool – and in every other GreekAmerican parochial school outthere. We must continue to insist onGreek education. Ours is an educa-tional system with roots that go back3,500 years.”

When asked what he believes isthe importance of keeping our lan-guage, culture and traditions alive,Mr. Andriotis responds “so that wecan continue to be descendants ofthose people in whom we pride our-selves upon. We give our children aneducation so we can teach themabout where they came from. Maybeone of these children will one day goon to become President of the Unit-ed States. This is not ethnocentrism;it is a fact. Most nations out therepale in comparison to us.”

Aside from his longstanding tieswith the St. Demetrios Communityin Astoria, Mr. Andriotis has alsoserved as a past President of the St.John the Theologian Nisyrian Soci-ety. In addition, he has been a mem-ber of the Federation of Hellenic So-cieties of Greater New York, and theFederation of the Dodecanese Is-land.

“I did not get involved with toomany organization, because I foundthe work I was doing in my commu-nity rewarding enough. The service Ioffered there was much greater,much more longstanding, and muchmore productive.”

Speaking about the general stateof Greek Education in the United

States today, Mr. Andriotis believesthat “there is a ray of hope for the fu-ture.” He added that “this ray cangrow bigger and brighter, and canyield results. It might even serve tofurther highlight the need for us towork even harder and place an evengreater emphasis on teaching ourchildren Greek. However, measuresneed to be taken, and not just by uslaypeople, but by church leaders andmajor organizations. Our Churchhas always played the leading role inthe effort, and it will continue to doso, because it has the resources andfacilities with which to serve the in-terests of education. Let’s not forgetthat education is a costly undertak-ing.

Mr. Andriotis said he is of theopinion that things in the GreekAmerican Community today couldhave been a lot better today. “I re-gret the fact that we did not reachthe levels that we deserved to,” henoted.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009 5

Nick Andriotis: The “Dreamer” who Completes Major ProjectsContinued from page 1

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Nick Andriotis in his office. He is widely heralded as “the Prime Min-ister of Astoria,” a nickname he received after a powerful speech.

Nick Andriotis, left, at the dedication of the St. Demetrios School, withArchbishop Iakovos, current Metropolitan of Atlanta, Alexios and thenCounsel General of Greece to NY, Nikos Kapelaris (second from right).

Nick Andriotis with his family. Seated, from left, Nick Andriotis, his mother Maria, his father Antonios andhis brother Theodosis. Standing, from left, his brothers Michael, Constantine, Gabriel and George.

FEATURE6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

ALL HISTORY

Park City, Tennessee; Resorts ofBerrien County (Michigan);Steubenville, Ohio and others (seewww.arcadiapublishing.com).

Let me stress that this volume isnot exclusively about the Greekcommunity of Tarpon Springs Flori-da. Of the one hundred and ninety-five photographs, maps, and otherdocuments seen in this volume onlyperhaps a third overall deal withthe local Greeks. This volume is di-vided into an Introduction and sev-en chapters: ‘Early Settlers on theAnclote and the Bayous;’ ‘FromBayou Village to Winter Resort;’‘Bailey’s Bluff and the DevelopingSponge Industry;’ ‘Civic Pride andProgress:’ ‘Sponge Capital of theWorld;’ “Greek Community andCulture;’ and ‘Unique Local Attrac-tions.’ Significantly, the cover ofthis volume showcases a close-upof the 1934 photograph of thesponge diver and crew aboard the‘Georgia.’

I believe, for Greek-AmericanStudies, the importance of this par-ticular volume lies in the very factthat it is not solely focused on thelocal Greeks. What one predomi-nately sees in the initial chapters isthe local rural community that theGreek immigrants met upon theirarrival. The date to keep in mind is1905, for that is when the vast ma-jority of Greek sponge divers ar-rived in Tarpon Springs. Prior tothat date Tarpon Springs was reallyno more than a tiny vacation fish-ing and winter hunting camp forwealthy Northerners. Since the1800s, pioneer explorers andhunters were all that could reallybe found along the coastal watersaround Tarpon. The history of thestate of Florida closely follows thetransformations of this inland bay-ou community.

In the Introduction we learnof/and see Hamilton Disston(1844-1896), and the very originsof Florida land-deals so much astereotype of this state. Disstonpurchased four million acres of thestate for twenty five cents an acre.While still owning a huge amountof ‘swamp and overflow’ land, Dis-ston by draining and convertingswamp land, ended up with 70,000acres of prime real estate. This dealmade Disston, at the age of 36, thesingle largest land-holder in Ameri-ca. ‘Early Settlers on the Ancloteand the Bayous’ reports on andshows select adventurous individu-als (and later families) who firstsettled along the Anclote River justnorth of Tarpon Springs. These

would be the original ‘locals’ whomet the wealthy land-developers.For it was “the advent of the rail-road and the building of the An-clote Key Lighthouse [that]brought…wealthy Northerners [toTarpon] creating a winter havenwhile numerous fishing vesselsplied city waters.”

In ‘From Bayou Village to WinterResort;’ we meet Anson P.K. Safford(1830-1891), a business associateof Disston (in the Lake Butler VillaCompany) who in 1897 is said tohave helped to found TarponSprings as a winter resort. As thestory goes, this city received itsname because of the frequencywith which the tarpons (Tarpon at-lanticus), large silvery elongatedsport fish, were seen jumping out ofthe water in local bayous.

This volume is not focused onbig businessmen. As we see in thesefirst two sections, more was at

work. Rare historical images docu-ment (while captions identify) pio-neering adventurers, steam boats,ex-soldiers, fish-camps, early set-tlers, their homes and families,farmers of the first citrus groves,vacationers holding up fish, thefirst hotels and early stores, festi-vals, bayou scenes, mansions of thewealthy, street-scenes of the 1890s,businesses, celebrations, and locallandmarks.

Not insignificantly very few pho-tographs are present of African-Americans. The two that do appearin this first chapter report that, by1885, the African-American popu-lation was nearly 900 but growingdue to the local lumbering andsponging industry. What is omittedis always as important as what is re-ported. Local African-Americans, atthe invitation of the Greek immi-grants, worked the sponge boats.Consequently complex native-WASP fears concerning racism fu-eled the attacks against the earlyGreeks. To this volume’s credit, theburning of Greek sponge boats andarmed night raids by competingWASP sponge-fishers, known asConches, does see passing mention.

With ‘Bailey’s Bluff and the De-

veloping Sponge Industry’ we learnof John K. Cheyney (1857-1939)who came to the Anclote/TarponSprings area in 1886. Cheyneyquickly became interested in the lo-cal sponge industry. By 1890,Cheyney had built storage kraalsfor sponges at Bailey’s Bluff somethree miles along the bayou fromTarpon and a warehouse in the cityitself. With Safford’s deathCheyney took over in the Lake But-ler Villa Company. In 1891,Cheyney with financial backingfrom Hamilton Disston establishedthe Anclote and Rock IslandSponge Company.

For some 15 years Cheyney’s op-erations in Bailey’s Bluff were thecenter of Florida’s sponge industry.During this period, the village ofSponge Harbor sprang up acrossthe river from Anclote. Spongingoperations were ‘primarily byAfrican-American sponge men.’With the beginning of the Spanish-American War, the sponging hook-boats were restricted in their move-ments. Nevertheless, “by the early1900s, sponge fishing, employingthousands of people statewide, hadbecome Florida’s single most valu-able fishery resource.”

By looking at the photographs inthis section closely we see whichbuildings, churches, civic publicevents, organizations and peoplelived in Tarpon Springs before theirarrival of the Greeks in 1905. After1905, it was the sponge industrythat brought real growth and pros-perity to the local economy. A pointnot raised in this volume.

In ‘Civic Pride and Progress’ we

see the establishment of the city ofTarpon in its civic buildings such asthe city hall, train station, theSponge Exchange Bank, Board ofTrade Building, and scenes of prin-cipal streets. Group portraits of thecity police, school children, localvolunteer groups such as the RedCross and the Home Guard also seepresentation. Civic improvementssuch as bridges, bayou piers, andbeach fronts are offered as yet an-other extension of civic works andlife.

It is with the next two sections‘Sponge Capital of the World’ and‘Greek Community and Culture’that we see a focus on the local Hel-lenes. For the history of TarponSprings there is no more significanta figure than John M. Cocoris(1877-1944). Cocoris is alwayscredited with two critical accom-plishments: first he brought theGreek sponge divers to Tarpon.While the exact means by whichCocoris lured these men to Floridais not fully explained in this volumeit is unquestionably the case that“by late summer 1905, some 500Greek men were living in the city.”It is also specifically Cocoris’ busi-ness acumen, rather thanCheyney’s or anyone else involvedin the local sponge industry, that isalways cited as making TarponSprings the world capital of spongeproduction.

In ‘Unique Local Attractions,’ thedevelopment of local tourist attrac-tions sees discussion. That tourismwas the principal industry of thisremote hamlet even before theGreek spongers arrived is always

ignored in Greek-American Stud-ies. For tourism as much as spong-ing has been aided and abetted bythe local Greeks at all times since1905. First, the obvious ‘romance’of the colorful and exotic spongefleet with its Epiphany celebrationhas always brought Americantourists to this remote bayou town.Next, and I would argue no less sig-nificant, is that specifically Greek-American tourists have had more ofan impact on retention of local Hel-lenism that allowed to date.

I have heard the criticism thatthe stories told of Greeks aroundthe nation as well as the vintagephotographs seen in the Images ofAmerica series are no more thansimple picture-books of little last-ing historical worth. Were there avibrant field of Greek-AmericanStudies producing one historicalaccount after another, I wouldagree. With over 500 Greek Ortho-dox Churches in North America noone knows with certainty how mayparish histories exist. Faced withthis indisputable current reality allthese minor efforts gain newstature. Yes, both the Arcadia vol-umes and the parish produced his-tories may not be the work of uni-versity-trained academics. But, in10 years, 50 years or 100 yearswhat else will those Greeks whofollow us have to look back at? Ifyou have never thought about thismost basic of questions, my ques-tion is, why not?

Readers interested in contactingMr. Frangos are welcome to e-mailhim at greekwrite@yahoo.com.

The Greeks of Tarpon Springs Immortalized through Photos

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WRΑπό το 1915 για τον Ελληνισµό

The National HeraldBringing the news to generations of Greek Americans

By Pan. MastrogiannopoulosGourmed.gr

“If I fast only during the HolyWeek does it count?” “Why missfood?” “Since I don’t believe, whyshould I fast?” “Will I lose weight?”These are some questions that Iheard and what I have thought my-self. In the end I put all thesethoughts together and the winnerwas the one and only truth. Fastingis beneficial. When you do it withbalance. What is worth it quittingmeat and milk and for 40 days (orjust for the Holy Week?), you justconsume halva and taramasalata?

Let’s see it in a simple way. Fast-ing – apart from religious and moralvalues – is the abstinence for a spe-cific time period, from foods thatcome from animals – milk, dairyproducts, eggs and meat – and theirreplacement with fruits, vegetables,cereals and seafood. So what do Igain and what do I lose? I lose noth-ing and I gain a lot, without symp-toms of hunger and the need to eatsouvlaki secretly. We need a bit ofdiscipline. Fast without fear and en-joy, because food from animals (es-pecially dairy) are absent resultingin a drastic decrease of daily calo-ries taken, while fruits and vegeta-bles that are consumed freely, offer

valuable nutritional ingredientsand fibers that cause a feeling ofsaturation. But let’s be careful not tofall into the opposite side. Hyperconsumption of food like bread,spaghetti, rice and peanuts can leadto an increase of weight. Also, it isvery important to use olive oil ofgood quality. If the food we eat isswimming in olive oil or fried in asea of olive oil, I guess we won’t loseany weight at all.

The decrease of fat and especial-ly saturated fat, that comes fromdairy products and meat, detoxi-cates us, because it helps decreasecholesterol and lipoprotein (LDL)levels. And what happens with theiron that we miss when we are noteating meat? Iron that exists in veg-etables is absorbed only in smallquantities by humans, because ofsome elements that exist mainly inlegumes. Its consumption though –

as in cereals and seafood – in com-bination with vitamin C, found inmost fruits and vegetables, - likepeppers, oranges, and lemons –help our organisms absorb it better.That’s why pregnant women, chil-dren and generally those that lackiron, shouldn’t fast very often.

Another nutritional advantageof fasting is the increased consump-tion of fibers that can decrease thelevels of fat and glucose in blood.Fibers contribute in the good func-tion of the peptic system, while hasbeen proven to contribute to theprevention of cancer. Also, the con-sumption of fruits and vegetables,raw cereals and olive oil, is a goodway of guarding yourselves withcarotene-b, flavonoids and vita-mins, known for their anti-oxidat-ing action and the enforcement ofthe immune system.

The abstinence for a while fromcertain foods is not dangerous, ex-cept when there are health prob-lems involved. The bottom line isthat it’s only 40 days and they’llpass. They’ll leave us with a “clean-er” organism, where there will bespace for all the nutritional sinsthat we had to abandon. See it as agood chance for what’s best.

Fast therefore, even if you don’tbelieve!

By Panos GeorgountzosGourmed.gr

Did you stop fasting when yourmama stopped making you fast inorder to go for your Holy Commu-nion? Then you should probablychange your point of view and seefasting differently.

The meaning of fasting duringthe “Sarakosti” has multiple exten-sions and touches different age andsocial groups in various ways. In re-cent years, research has shown thatthe Orthodox fasting diary is themost appropriate nutritionalmethod.

“Sarakosti” is named after itsduration which is 40 days. It starts

on Clean Monday and lasts untilthe last Friday, before the HolyWeek. The Holy Week is not part ofthe “Sarakosti,” and it has a specialsignificance of its own. During“Sarakosti,” participants avoid theconsumption of meat and its prod-ucts, fish, dairy and olive oil, apartfrom some days.

According to scientists, absti-nence from meat, which is the maincharacteristic of fasting, is verybeneficial, since we detoxicate andcholesterol levels fall. Also, nutri-tion with fibers from fruits and veg-etables helps the good function ofthe peptic system and the intestinein particular. It also helps the de-fense of our system against cancer.

Bearing these in mind,“Sarakosti” offers a good chance forall to benefit. Whether we believeor not, fasting is what is missingfrom our nutritional habits. It does-n’t help to maintain just goodhealth and balance, but also liftsour psychology, which we all needso much. Also, the sobriety neededto achieve fasting, is an exercise,which according to ancient Greekphilosophers, strengthens our abili-ties in all sectors and trains our self-discipline. It’s not by chance, thatancient Greek generals fasted be-fore battles, while philosophers likePlato and Socrates followed a lightnutrition in order to keep a clearmind.

The Athenian gastronomic map,offers various choices for fastingmeals. There are several restau-rants that offer seafood and otherfood for fasting.

Also, in cookbooks you can findseveral fabulous recipes with theright ingredients for fasting, thatdon’t lack anything in taste andessence. All the prerequisites arethere. The only thing needed is thatyou make the right decision, whichis not hard to be made, if you thinkthat by fasting you can lose weightin a very healthy way. Thus, it istime to fast, whether we believe ornot. And in the end, there is theEaster lamb to reward our pa-tience!

Continued from page 1

LEFT: “Tarpon Springs’ by Dolores Kilgo is one of the volumes in the Images of America series that featuresa images on Greeks in the United States. ABOVE: A photo of the area around Tarpon Springs.

Fasting is not all about Religion

Fasting: Truth or Dare?

Greek Foreign Minister DoraBakoyannis termed 2009 a year ofchallenge for all, during a speech atthe Brookings Institution on thetheme of “Collective Security in the21st century; Building new bridges,”on Monday, February 23, 2009, inWashington, D.C.

By Dora BakoyannisGreek Minister Of Foreign Affairs

The whole speech follows:“Ladies and gentlemen,I would like to thank the Brook-

ings Institution and particularlyStrobe Talbot for their invitation. Itis an honor for me to address such adistinguished audience.

Let me begin with the obvious. Ithink we all agree that 2009 is acritical year. It could be the begin-ning of the end or the end of the be-ginning of an incredibly challeng-ing time.

The global financial and eco-nomic crisis casts a shadow over allof our efforts. And no doubt it con-cerns people not just numbers. Themassive economic downturn weare witnessing is dramaticallychanging the political landscapethus presenting a security concernall in itself.

In the wider European regionalone, just a few weeks, ago the gascrisis reminded us of the vulnera-bility of our energy supplies. Theafter-effects of the Georgia conflictlast August have not given way tolong-term stability. In Kosovo, theyear that has passed since its uni-lateral declaration of independencehas brought us no closer to a con-sensus on its status. In Transdnies-tria and Nagorno-Karabakh, long-standing protracted conflicts con-tinue to defy resolution.

One thing is clear. In our multi-polar world, security depends onmore than just power. It dependson building relationships and forg-ing ties. It depends on buildingbridges over troubled waters.

Global problems require globalsolutions. The need for global gov-ernance, the need for collective ac-tion and an international orderbased on common rules, has neverbeen greater.

We in Greece have developedthrough the ages the art of buildingbridges. Therefore, I am proud to

say that over the years Greece hasforged strong ties and built solid re-lationships with peoples close andafar that have withstood the test oftime.

Greece is present in the effortsmade by the international commu-nity for peace and security in re-gions as far apart, as Kosovo, Alba-nia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Western Sa-hara, Abkhazia, Eritrea & Ethiopiaand Sudan.

In the Persian Gulf and theMediterranean, Greece helps com-bat international terrorism. In So-malia we are assisting in the com-bat of piracy. In the Middle East wehave been active amongst others inassisting the women of the regionon their road to empowerment.And in Afghanistan our force thereis assisting in the reconstruction ofthe country.

With this in mind, I would like todescribe three bridges we see asvery significant.

First, the bridge over the At-lantic that brings Europe and theUS together.

Second, the bridge across Eura-sia that brings Russia closer to theUS and Europe.

Third, the bridge over the Euro-pean heartlands that brings theBalkans to the European family.

Ladies and gentlemen, The first and most obvious

bridge is the one across the At-lantic: the bedrock of our post-warsystem.

Europe and the US have a longhistory of interdependence as glob-al partners with global responsibili-ties.

As Vice President Biden said atthe Munich Security Conferenceearlier this month, “in sharingideals and searching for partners ina more complex world, Americansand Europeans still look to one-an-other before they look to anyoneelse”.

Now, there is a saying that goes“great winds blow upon high hills”.The European Union has guaran-teed peace and prosperity for itsmembers. But we must not forgetthat our era asks for greater en-gagement with the rest of theworld.

I strongly believe that the USwould benefit from a strong Europe

that stands as an equal and solidpartner.

Now is the opportunity to do so,with a new Administration that hasgenerated such popularity and en-thusiasm around the world.

Now is the time to think of waysto further deepen this relationship,including, but by no means limitingit to, the NATO framework.

We need to formulate the mostexpedient power-sharing possiblewith each side undertaking the re-sponsibilities it is most fit to bear.In this context, European soft pow-er is a desired corollary to US mili-tary might. Still, Europe must de-velop, as it has already started to doslowly, its own military capability,which is crucial, particularly in re-gions, where only Europe is an ac-ceptable mediator by all.

To be totally candid howeverthere are certain issues that EuropeUnion must resolve in order to keepour side of the bargain. We haveshown leadership, as in the crisis inGeorgia, but we still have someway to go.

The latest news from Ireland areencouraging and I am optimisticthat once the Lisbon Treaty iscleared, Europe will come closer tofinding its common voice. HenryKissinger may never get that onephone number to dial he asked for,but the US will have one reliablepartner.

Ladies and gentlemen,The second bridge is the one we

can build across Eurasia to Russia.As you probably know, in Janu-

ary 2009 Greece has assumed theChairmanship of the Organizationfor Security and Co-operation inEurope.

There are several challenges inEurope that bring to light the realpotential of the OSCE particularlywhen it comes to crisis manage-ment. The Georgia conflict showedthat a crisis in the wider Europeanregion is not a distant possibility.The fact is that the OSCE with 56participating States and 11 Part-ners for Cooperation remains a crit-ical part of international efforts inorder to establish security and sta-bility from Vancouver to Vladivos-tock.

Only last week after extensiveconsultations, the 56 OSCE partici-pating States agreed to extend until

30 June the presence of the Organi-zation's military monitoring offi-cers in Georgia. And in January,following the OSCE active media-tion, the Georgian government re-paired a pipeline and authorizedthe delivery of natural gas to the ar-eas in South Ossetia, after exten-sive consultations of my SpecialRepresentative.

The situation on the ground re-quires our presence.

Lately there has been a lot oftalk about the prospects of a dia-logue on European security.

Many are skeptical of the set ofideas put forward by PresidentMedvedev and President Sarkozy.But few would question the needfor joint cooperation in order to en-hance and further strengthen secu-rity in the wider European region.

The need to “press the reset but-ton” with respect to Euro-Atlantic,

and in particular U.S.-Russian, re-lations, has been widely acknowl-edged. At this point, there are morequestions than answers as to whatthis means practically, but we canall agree that a wide-ranging dia-logue on security, held in good faithand with a view to finding commonground, is long overdue.

Global challenges demand thatwe engage with each other in amore holistic approach. On “hard”security questions such as arms con-trol and “soft” security challengessuch as climate change, illegal mi-gration and human trafficking, theneed for global co-operation ismore pressing than ever before.

In this effort for a new conceptof European Security, three mainguidelines should be applied.

The first is modesty. We havecome a long way since the ColdWar. Walls have been torn down

and families reunited. But the job isnot done. Some European Statesfeel that we have still to overcomeall the dividing lines in Europe. Ifwe want to be honest with our-selves, we must admit that we cando more to foster indivisible securi-ty throughout the Euroatlantic re-gion.

A second guideline is consolida-tion. Even as we explore newpaths, our point of departure mustbe what we have already achieved.The area is rich in experience andwith organizations mandated todevelop common security. TheOSCE has a special place in this ar-chitecture. As we consider new ini-tiatives, let us build on the groundthat we have cleared already.

For the full text of Ms. Bakoyan-ni’s speech, please visit the web atwww.thenationalherald.com.

FEATURETHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009 7

posals by Russian President DmitryMedvedev, who says Europe shouldrethink security organizations cre-ated during the Cold War.

Ms. Bakoyanni said the Westcould listen to Russia without un-dermining organizations like NA-TO.

Speaking in Greek afterwards,Ms. Bakoyanni told reporters shefelt the meeting with SecretaryClinton was productive, and thatshe wasn’t just saying that.

“The discussions were positive,held in an especially good and com-municative climate, and I’m notspeaking with a diplomatic dialect,but from the standpoint of sub-stance. I really do believe that thisis the beginning of a good coopera-tive relationship, which willprogress and blossom in themonths ahead,” she said.

“I was encouraged to hear Sec-retary Clinton’s strong support forOSCE, in particular for the organi-zation’s work on the ground inGeorgia before, during and afterthe crisis,” she added. “It’s clearfrom my discussions with SecretaryClinton and others in Washingtonthat there is broad agreement thatOSCE’s presence in the region isneeded more than ever.”

The two women did not discussGreece’s dispute with FYROMspecifically, opting to discuss the“future of the Balkans” in generalterms and refrain from discussing“concrete issues.”

They did broach the subject ofCyprus, however, and SecretaryClinton said the U.S. agrees withGreece that the current reunifica-tion negotiations should continue.

Afterwards, Ms. Bakoyanni satdown to a working luncheon withUndersecretary of State for PoliticalAffairs William Burns, and thenmet with Deputy Secretary of StateJames Steinberg.

Greek Foreign MinistrySpokesman George Koumoutsakosemphasized the significance of Ms.Bakoyanni’s meetings at the StateDepartment, and stressed Greece’sefforts to be included in the VWP,adding that Greece hopes a solu-tion will be reached well before theend of the current year.

“The waiving of visa require-ments for Greek citizens wishing tovisit the U.S. is a necessity, for sub-stantive as well as for symbolic rea-sons. It goes without saying thatGreece must be admitted into theU.S. Visa Waiver Program. This isonly fair,” he said, referring to reso-lution of this issue as a “step attest-ing to the traditional friendship be-tween two modern, democraticstates that share common princi-ples and values.”

Ms. Bakoyanni met with Gen.Jones, House Speaker Pelosi (D-California), Senator Kerry (D-Mass-achusetts), Senator BenjaminCardin (D-Michigan), who chairs

the Senate Judiciary Committee’sTerrorism & Homeland SecuritySubcommittee, and other membersof Congress this past Tuesday, Feb-ruary 24, before President Obamadelivered his address to a joint ses-sion of Congress that evening,which Ms. Bakoyanni also attend-ed.STATEMENTS TO THE HERALD

General Jones, CongresswomanPelosi and Senator Kerry each gavestatements to the National Heraldabout their respective meetingswith Ms. Bakoyanni, expressingtheir gratitude for her leadership inEurope and the Balkans.

NSC Spokesman Mike Hammer

said General Jones and Ms. Bakoy-anni discussed the upcoming 60thanniversary NATO Summit inStrasbourg, France and referred toGreece as a key U.S. ally. The twomet for approximately 45 minutes.

“General Jones welcomed theopportunity to meet with the GreekForeign Minister for discussionswith an important U.S. ally. Themeeting underscored our commit-ment to strengthening cooperationto confront global challenges, andto deepening bilateral ties. Theydiscussed preparations for the NA-TO Summit, and General Jones ex-pressed appreciation for the For-eign Minister’s leadership as chair

of the Organization for Security &Cooperation in Europe,” Mr. Ham-mer said.

The House Speaker said she dis-cussed U.S.-Greece relations andthe challenges confronting Presi-dent Obama with Ms. Bakoyanni,and said she appreciates the GreekForeign Minister’s insights on glob-al matters.

“I was pleased to meet with Do-ra Bakoyanni, the Foreign Ministerof Greece, in the Speaker’s office onTuesday. We discussed the closepartnership between the UnitedStates and Greece; the challengesand opportunities for the ObamaAdministration; and issues related

to international security and stabil-ity. Ms. Bakoyanni is a strong andimpressive world leader, and I ap-preciate her ideas and perspectiveon international affairs,” Rep.Pelosi told the Herald.

Senator Kerry said Ms. Bakoyan-ni clearly articulated Hellenic is-sues and concerns to the SenateForeign Relations Committee, andsaid his time with her was well-spent.

“We had an excellent meetingwith Foreign Minister Bakoyanni.She highlighted the important is-sues Greece is dealing with as chairof the Organization for Security &Cooperation in Europe, and provid-ed valuable insights into ongoingregional conflicts,” he said.

During her meetings with mem-

bers of the House Foreign AffairsCommittee, which was not attend-ed by Committee ChairmanHoward Berman (D-California),Ms. Bakoyanni discussed the OSCEand Greece’s role as chairman ofthe organization this year, as wellas the renewal of OSCE’s mission inGeorgia, which goaded Russia intoa conflict over Ossetia last August.

During that meeting, Ms. Bakoy-anni stressed the need to abolishthe visa requirement for Greek citi-zens wishing to visit their familiesand friends in the U.S., and forGreece’s entry into the VWP, assoon as possible.

Speaking to the National Heraldafterwards, the Greek Foreign Min-ister said she felt General Jones andthe members of Congress she metwith had a good grasp on Hellenicissues, and indicated a desire forbetter cooperation with Greece.She also said her meetings withSenator Kerry and members of the

Senate Foreign Relations Commit-tee were “very useful and construc-tive.”

While she was in Washington,Ms. Bakoyanni took some time towith members of the Greek Ameri-can community who had gatheredfor a reception held in her honor atthe Greek Embassy. She urgedGreek Americans to continue sup-porting Greece’s just causes and en-deavors, and conveyed Prime Min-ister Costas Karamanlis’ commit-ment to securing the expatriateright to vote in Greek national elec-tions.

“We are fully aware of our inter-national responsibilities. Bystrengthening the voice of Greece,we are strengthening the impact ofits policies and positions. You are

well aware of how much greatercredibility and outreach our posi-tions have when they are tied intoissues of greater international in-terest,” she said.

“I have said it before, but I willnot tire of repeating it. The Greeksof the Diaspora are our nation’smost powerful driving force. Withthis in mind, the Prime Ministerand our entire Government as-sumed the pledge to secure votingrights in national elections forGreeks living abroad,” she added.

This past Friday, February 27,Ms. Bakoyanni addressed the Unit-ed Nations Security Council in NewYork, and outlined the 2009 Greekchairmanship’s priorities for OSCE.And this past Thursday, February26, she met with Matthew Nimetz,the U.N. Secretary-General’s spe-cial mediator for the Greece-FY-ROM dispute, and held talks withU.S. Ambassador to the U.N. SusanRice.

Dora Meets with Hillary, Jones, Pelosi, Kerry and Community MembersContinued from page 1

Collective Security In The 21st Century: Building New Bridges

U.S. National Security Advisor James L. Jones Jr., right, met with Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannithis past Tuesday, February 24. The two discussed the upcoming NATO summit, among other issues.

Dora Bakoyanni is flanked by U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, left, and Senator Ben-jamin Cardin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Terrorism & Homeland Security.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, welcomes Greek Foreign MinisterDora Bakoyanni to the Speaker’s office this past Tuesday, February 24.

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OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

■ BISKAS, MARYANDOVER, Mass. — The AndoverTownsman reported that Mary(Maistrellis) Biskas, 91, wife of thelate William Biskas, passed away onSunday, February 15, 2009 at theAcademy Manor Nursing Home inAndover. Mrs. Biskas was born inPeabody on Aug. 10, 1917 thedaughter of the late William andAthena Maistrellis. Mary was theloving and devoted daughter andcared for her mother until the timeof her death. Raised in Peabody shegraduated from Peabody HighSchool, Class of 1935 and was alifelong resident of the city. Mrs.Biskas began her working career af-ter completing her high school andwas employed as a sales person atthe Empire Clothing Company inSalem. She later worked in thesame capacity at Adasko's Boutiquereturning to Empire's Clothingstore. She retired in 1986 after 50years of employment. Mary enjoyedspending time with her nieces andnephews whom she dearly loved.She was a member of the Daughtersof Penelope at St. Vasilios also en-joyed traveling, reading and cross-stitching as a hobbies. Mary is sur-vived by her many nieces andnephews. She was the Godmotherof her grandnephews, Stephen Za-imes of Andover and JasonBuchanan of Beverly andgrandaunt to a special grandniece,Andrea Zaimes of Andover whowas her caretaker for many yearsand great-grandaunt to severalgreat-grandnieces and great-grand-nephews. Her brothers Stephen W.Maistrellis, George “Lefty” Maistrel-lis and Charles “Boobie” Maistrellispredeceased her. The funeral washeld on February 18 at St. VasiliosGreek Orthodox Church inPeabody. Memorial donations tothe Alzheimer's Association (311Arsenal St., Watertown, MA02472). Burial was at Cedar GroveCemetery.

■ DEMAS, WILLIAMCHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Tri-bune reported on Monday, Febru-ary 23, 2009, that William “Bill”Louis Demas, 61, passed away. Hewas the adoring husband of Paula,nee Nichols; loving father of Dana,Brian (Amanda) and Gregory; de-voted son of Sophie and the lateLouis; dear brother of Nancy (Sam)Bouboutsis, Annette (Jim) Grama-tis, Maria Demas and Frank (Jean)Demas; fun-loving uncle to hisnieces and nephews; and a wonder-ful friend to many. Bill passed awaysuddenly while vacationing in Puer-to Vallarta with the love of his life,Paula. Bill owned and operated Or-chid Foods in downtown Evanstonfor 20 years. He then entered thecorporate world, where he appliedhis entrepreneurial spirit for 10years, before retiring in 2007. Billloved the game of baseball, espe-cially his White Sox; rock Ϊn roll;traveling with his family; and hisred horn, which he blared downDavis St. in Evanston and at hisriverfront home in Chicago. Hisproudest achievement was the fam-ily he built with his wife and threechildren. He was an incredibly self-less person who found great joy ingiving to others. He was truly lovedby all who knew him and will begreatly missed. The funeral washeld at SS. Peter & Paul Greek Or-thodox Church in Glenview. In lieuof flowers, please donate to yourcharity of choice.

■ KOTTIS, CONSTANCECHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Timesreported that Constance Kottis (neeMorikis), 76, born September 8,1932, passed away on Friday, Feb-ruary 20, 2009. Beloved wife of thelate Christos; loving mother ofMary (Savvas) Sidiropoulos, Ange-line (George) Koukouvanis, Elaine(Ted) Matsoukas, Nick (Linda) Kot-tis and Kristine (Bogdan)Vraniskoski; dearest grandmotherof nine: cherished sister of George(Lucy) Morikis, Katherine Morikis,the late Nick (Ethel) Morikis andthe late Bessie (Spiro) Papageor-gakis; beloved daughter of the lateMary and Peter Morikis; and fondaunt and cousin to many. The fu-neral was held on February 24 at St.Demetrios Greek Orthodox Churchin Chicago. Memorial donations tothe American Diabetes Association.

■ MARGOS, ETHELBROCKTON, Mass. – The Enter-prise reported that Ethel Margos, ofBrockton, passed away on Thurs-day, February 19, 2009, at Signa-ture Healthcare Brockton Hospital.Born March 29, 1925, in Brockton,she was a daughter of the late LouisA. Margos and Bessie (Bravacos)Margos. Raised in Brockton, Ethelwas a graduate of Brockton HighSchool, class of 1943. She was amember of her class reunion com-mittee. She was also a graduate ofPierce Secretarial School of Boston.Ethel was a member of the Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Church inBrockton, Ladies Philoptochos Soci-ety, Brockton Womans Club, Brock-ton Historical Society and theBrockton Council on Aging. She re-tired from Massachusetts CasualtyInsurance Company as an officerand as a former member of theboard of directors. She is survivedby her sister, Sadie Margos ofBrockton. She was also the sister ofthe late Ann Margos and EmilyMargos. The funeral was held onFebruary 24 at the AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Church in Brock-ton. Burial was at Melrose Ceme-tery in Brockton.

■ PAZOS, PAULINETOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo Bladereported that Pauline Pazos, 98, for-merly of Toledo, passed away onThursday, February 19, 2009, in herBryan, Ohio residence. For overthirty years, Pauline and her hus-band, James owned and operatedthe White Star Lunch. She was alongtime member of the Holy Trini-ty Greek Orthodox Cathedral.Pauline was an avid gardener, lovedto travel, and will be rememberedfor her needlepoint and quilting.Her greatest joy in life was her fam-ily, especially her grandchildren andgreat-grand-children. She is sur-vived by her loving daughters, An-gelike Schreder, Joanne (John)Copetas, Christine Papalekas; 6grandchildren, 14 great - grandchil-dren; sisters, Anastasia Bartzi. Shewas preceded in death by her hus-band, James, and sisters, DimitraBiniari and Poliyeni Karamani.Pauline's family wishes to extendspecial thanks to Rev. AristotleDamaskos, as well as the nurses,aides, and volunteers of CHWCHospice for their care and compas-sion. The funeral was held on Feb-ruary 23 at Holy Trinity Greek Or-thodox Cathedral. Burial was atToledo Memorial Park Cemetery.Memorial donations to Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Cathedral, orCHWC Hospital Hospice, (433 W.High St., Bryan OH 43506).

■ ROUSSOS, NICHOLASNEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Stan-dard-Times reported that NicholasRoussos, 81, of New Bedford, son ofthe late Mike and Eudoxia (Billis)Roussos, passed away peacefully atSt. Luke's Hospital on Sunday, Feb-ruary 22, 2009, surrounded by hisfamily. He was the husband ofJosephine (Pyne) Roussos withwhom he had been married for 53years. A native of Brooklyn, NewYork, Mr. Roussos was the son ofGreek immigrants who believed inthe values of hard work and educa-tion. He was the product of the NewYork Public School System andgraduated from William CullenBryant High School in 1945. Afterhigh school, Mr. Roussos enlisted inthe U.S. Navy, served as medic forthe Marine Corps, and was honor-ably discharged at the end of WorldWar II. He attended the Institute ofApplied Arts and Sciences at theState University of New York(SUNY) where he was awarded anA.S. in Industrial Technology. Hewas awarded a Fulbright Scholar-ship to attend Ruskin College at Ox-ford University in England where hecompleted readings in Politics, Phi-losophy and Economics. It is duringthis time that he met and fell in lovewith Josephine, an Englishwoman,who was attending a nearby nurs-ing school. Upon returning to NewYork in 1955, Mr. Roussos marriedJosephine. He became a member ofthe IBEW Local 3 and worked onstreet light maintenance and con-struction and became an activistwith the Union. He then beganworking with the InternationalLadies Garment Workers Union (IL-GWU) as a staff member and wasassigned to work in the New Eng-land area. In 1964, Mr. Roussos setup and administered a U.S. Depart-ment of Labor Program for disad-vantaged local youth known as the"Neighborhood Youth CORPS." Ayear later he was recruited by theRodman Job Corps, a federal OEOresidential program designed toprovide academic as well as voca-tional training for disadvantagedyouth nationwide. He was responsi-ble for the recruitment, placement,counseling and residential workstudy programs for the center untilit closed in 1970. He returned to theILGWU where he became a businessagent responsible for servicingshops and members in upstate NewYork before eventually returning toSoutheastern Massachusetts. In1975, Mr. Roussos was appointedby Governor Michael Dukakis as aCommissioner of Labor and Indus-tries for the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts. He was responsiblefor issues including workers' com-pensation, public employee collec-tive bargaining and minimum wagelaws, labor relations assistancethrough state mediation and arbi-tration and occupational injury andillness. Mr. Roussos was then ap-pointed as a member of the StateCivil Service Commission and wasresponsible for hearing and decid-ing appeals of public employees un-der the protection of the civil ser-vice laws. Mr. Roussos was a strongadvocate of labor unions and theworking class. He spent his careerfighting for the rights of his mem-bers and was proudly arrested anumber of times on picket lineswhile defending the rights of hisworkers. Amongst his many accom-plishments were as Vice Presidentof the State AFL-CIO, President ofthe United Labor Council of GreaterFall River, Steering CommitteeMember of the Dubin Labor Educa-tion Center at UMASS/Dartmouth,a member of the Board of Directorsof the Fall River Office of EconomicDevelopment, a member of theBoard of Directors of the GarmentWorkers Federal Credit Union,Chairman of the Southeastern MassHome Health Aides Inc. and Chair-man of the Watson Bells' Restora-tion Committee. He was a memberof St. George's Greek OrthodoxChurch. Mr. Roussos will be remem-bered as a devoted husband, fatherand Papou, an avid reader, a stu-dent of history and a great conver-sationalist. He was extremely proud

of his Greek Heritage and tookevery opportunity to share that in-formation with those around him.Mr. Roussos will be fondly remem-bered by his family for his creativeutilization of black electrical tapeand epoxy. He is survived by hiswife, Josephine D. Roussos; oneson, Michael J. Roussos and hiswife, Deborah L. Fernandez of Prov-idence, RI; two daughters, Cather-ine A. Roussos and her husband,Kevin D. Akin of Assonet, MA. andStephanie E. Roussos and her signif-icant otter, Michael A. Salvatore ofWatertown, MA.; two grandchil-dren, Nicole P. Akin and Nathan T.Akin of Assonet, MA; two brothers,Peter Roussos and his wife, Inge ofNuremberg, Germany and JamesRoussos of Pittsboro, North Caroli-na; as well as a nephew, DimitriRoussos; and three nieces, SharonPlisko, Claudia Roussos and CarolaRoussos. Memorial donations to theUMDF/LEC Scholarship at theArnold M. Dubin Labor EducationCenter c/o UMASS Dartmouth,(285 Old Westport Road, NorthDartmouth, MA 02747, Attn: JoseSoler).

■ SARRIS, GEORGEST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The St. Au-gustine Record reported thatGeorge T. Sarris, 76, of Duluth,passed away on Friday, February20, 2009. He was a kind and gener-ous man who was admired by allwho knew him. He was a lovinghusband, father, and grandfather.He is survived by his wife of 51years, Athena; his two daughters,Stacey Sapp and husband, RichardSapp, Gia Hanna and husband, JimHanna; and grandchildren, Christieand Erin Sapp and Steven andNicholas Hanna. He was born inTarpon Springs, Fla., and raised inSt. Augustine, Fla., where he gradu-ated from Ketterlinus High School.He graduated from the University ofFlorida in 1954, where he playedfootball for the Florida Gators from1951 to 1954. He worked for theArmy Corps of Engineers for 35years at several locations includingthe Kennedy Space Center, Atlanta,and two assignments in FrankfurtGermany. After retiring in 1990 hebegan to work full time with hisown small business, Sarris Con-struction Co. He was an activemember of the Greek OrthodoxCathedral and AHEPA. He loved totravel and play bridge, and spendtime with his family. He was a life-long student of Greek language,heritage, and religious studies. Thefuneral was held on February 23 atthe Greek Orthodox Cathedral ofthe Annunciation. Memorial dona-tions to the Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral of the Annunciation Endow-ment Fund in Atlanta or Holy Trini-ty Greek Orthodox Church in St.Augustine, Fla.

■ SAVVIDES, JIMMYEAST HANOVER, N.J. – The Star-Ledger reported that Jimmy E. Sav-vides, beloved husband and father,born on December 14, 1934 inYialousa, Cyprus, passed awaypeacefully in his hometown of WestOrange on February 20, 2009. Lov-ing husband to Helen for 49 yearsand devoted father to Louis, Athy,and Thomas and his wife, Lynne, heis survived by his brother, Floros;sister, Effie Papas, and manycousins, nieces, nephews, extendedfamily and friends. He was prede-ceased by brothers, Sammy, Peter,Andreas, John, Philip and Savvas.Jimmy traveled to the United Statesin 1951, settling in East Orange,where he attended high school. Hewas very proud of his military ser-vice in the U.S. Army from 1952 to1955. A self-made man, Jimmyowned and operated Jimmy's Bar-ber Shop in East Orange through1968 and then National Travel Ser-vice from 1969 to 2006, when he re-tired. Jimmy was a hard-workingand dedicated family man. He willbe remembered by many for hiscontagious smile, endless jokes andaltruistic outlook on life. He will bedearly missed by all who knew andloved him. He truly was one of akind. The funeral was held on Feb-ruary 23 at Ss. Nicholas, Constan-tine and Helen Greek OrthodoxChurch in Orange. Burial was atRestland Memorial Park in EastHanover. Memorial donations to Ss.Nicholas, Constantine and HelenGreek Orthodox Church “BuildingFund,” (510 Linden Ave. Orange,N.J. 07050).

■ XERICOS, GEORGEPHOENIX, Ariz. – The Arizona Re-public reported that George M.Xericos, 74, of San Diego, Califor-nia, passed away on January 27,2009. He was preceded in death byhis father and mother Michael andSophia and sister Tacia Archond ofDenver, Colorado. He served in theArmed Forces in the Korean Warfrom May 20, 1953 to April 27,1956. He was able to do a lot oftraveling throughout Europe dur-ing that time. He was a classical pi-anist and he had an appreciationfor all forms of music. His fatherwho was a chef, along with hismother, cooked all of the favoriateGreek recipes, passed on the love ofcooking to George, which led himto his career in therestaurant/nightclub business inArizona, Colorado and San Diego.His first restaurant was Pepino's Pa-tio on N. Scottsdale Road whichwas built with his father-in-law,Robert Sutton. He is survived by hisex-wife of 15 years, Charlotte, 5children and 8 grandchildren all re-

siding in the Phoenix area. Georgeshared his Greek heritage and hestressed the importance of having agood education, and his apprecia-tion for all cultures and languages.He shared his love of all types ofmusic with a family already in-clined that way. After separatingfrom his second wife Anne, Georgemoved to San Diego and continuedto use his skills through his retire-ment years with restaurant plan-ning, set-up remodeling and laterhome remodeling. He also had theoccasion to travel to Greece andItaly during that time, especially tothe Mediterranean Islands. He con-tributed greatly to the building ofthe new Greek Community Center.The memorial service was held onFebruary 22 at Holy Trinity GreekOrthodox Cathedral in Phoenix.Memorial donations to Hospice ofSan Diego, Veteran's Administra-tion or the James A. Speros Com-munity Center.

■ YANKOPOLUS, KONSTANTINENEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Stan-dard-Times reported that Konstan-tine G. Yankopolus, M.D., 92, son ofthe late George and PolixenyYankopolus, passed away peaceful-ly in his home on February 16,2009. He was the devoted husbandto his loving wife of 65 years, MaryMamatseo Yankopolus, formerly ofBristol, CT. A native of the village ofVotani in the prefecture of Kastoria,Macedonia, Greece, Dr. Yankopolusimmigrated to the United Stateswith his mother in 1922 to join hisfather, a New Bedford, MA mer-chant and subsequent proprietor ofthe National Ice Cream Company. Aproduct of New Bedford publicschools and after-school studies ofGreek language, culture and clas-sics at St. George Greek OrthodoxChurch, he graduated from HarvardCollege in 1938 and the Boston Uni-versity School of Medicine in 1942.He interned at St. Luke's Hospital inNew Bedford prior to mobilizationfor active service in the US ArmyMedical Corps in 1943, where he re-ceived initial surgical training. Hisnext assignment took him to the 4thAuxiliary Surgical Group in 1944,with follow on training in anesthe-sia. Dr. Yankopolus served with thatunit as the anesthetist on a six-per-son surgical team assigned to 3rdArmy evacuation and field hospitalsin Europe until the end of WWII. Heattained the rank of Captain and hiswartime experience instilled a pas-sion for surgery that he pursued af-ter the war. It led him to complete asurgical residency, become boardcertified, and operate a generalsurgery practice based in his homeoffice in New Bedford's North End.He served as Chief of Surgery at St.Luke's Hospital from 1969 to 1974and left private practice in 1980.The following year, until his retire-ment in 1987, Dr. Yankopolus wasChief of Staff of the New BedfordVeterans Clinic. He ended his med-ical career in the service of veterans,a fitting end to its wartime start. Dr.Yankopolus entered combat withthe 4th Auxiliary Surgical Group inNormandy, France in June 1944.His team was later assigned to sup-port the 3rd Army under the com-mand of General George S. Patton.Dr. Yankopolus chronicled his ser-vice, from his first stateside dutystation, to 3rd Army advance acrossEurope, in some 500 letters writtento his bride. She preserved thoseletters, which later formed the basisof his memoir, “An Odyssey of aMedical Officer in the E.T.O. WWII,”a private printing made for familyand friends in 2000. His writingsare a collection of almost daily jour-nal entries of observations, reflec-tions and descriptions of the per-sonal experience of a young,thoughtful medical officer at war.They include expressions of loveand devotion to his wife and family,personal and professional admira-tion for his teammates, descriptionsof pioneering medical procedures,and treatment of waves of casual-ties, friendly and enemy alike, dur-ing the push of each offensive. Heexpresses gratitude, as do so manyimmigrants, for a life in the UnitedStates that might have otherwisebeen different. It presented himwith an opportunity for a first classeducation and profession, and gavehim the satisfaction, as he wouldwrite, to contribute to his nation “asa healer, not a killer.” Dr. Yankopo-lus was a lifelong, active and devot-ed member of New Bedford's St.George Greek Orthodox Church. Hewas present for its dedication in1937 and served as parish vice-president in 1958-59. Togetherwith his wife, he was recognized forhis services to the Church and thecommunity with the 1994 AnnualLaity Award of the Greek OrthodoxDiocese of Boston. It was presentedto him by his eminence, Metropoli-tan Methodios, of Boston. Ultimate-ly, he became a major benefactor forthe new St. George Greek OrthodoxChurch now under construction inNorth Dartmouth, MA. He main-tained a close, lifelong friendship

with his spiritual leader, Archiman-drite Rev. Constantine Bebis, St.George Parish priest, a man withwhom he sustained his Orthodoxfaith and shared his passions forlearning, the local community andGreek culture. In retirement, Dr.Yankopolus was an avid reader anddevoted many hours to the study ofGreek classical texts in their originalancient Greek script, particularlythe works of Homer. He valued edu-cation and often spoke fondly of histeachers and his scholastic achieve-ments in his formative years. Hewas valedictorian of his NormandinJunior High School Class and grad-uated with highest honors at NewBedford High School. He remainedinspired throughout life by thewords spoken at his Normandin Ju-nior High School baccalaureate ad-dress by former New Bedford May-or, Charles Ashley, who urged hisgraduating class to "Dig for Gold" intheir back yard. He did just that. In2005, he was recognized by the Hel-lenic Medical and Dental Associa-tion with the Hygia Award for hiscontributions to medicine. A sum-mer resident of Mattapoisett, MA,his home by the sea was his person-al paradise for over 55 years. It washis place of immense solitude andrelaxation that he generouslyshared with family and friends. Anavid tennis player, Dr. Yankopolusonce wrote that his greatest joy was

playing tennis there with his wifeand children, and later, his grand-children. The sport was a passionthat replaced golf. A self-described"hacker" he often recalled with de-light and amusement his one-timehole-in-1. His other pastime,Bridge, occupied many moments ofenjoyment, as he would partnerwith his wife. Part of the “GreatestGeneration,” he fulfilled the Ameri-can Dream. His contribution to hisfamily, to his many friends, to hischurch and his community will bemissed. He passed peacefully in hishome, surrounded by family andfriends. He is survived by his wife,Mary M. Yankopolus; three sons,George K. Yankopolus, DMD ofGlens Mills, PA; Konstantine K.Yankopolus, MD of Ft. Myers, FL;and Demetrius K. Yankopolus, ofTampa, FL; two daughters, PaulaTroupos of Gaithersburg, MD andAnna King of Edmonds, WA; ninegrandchildren; and his sister,Athena Procopion, of Waterbury,CT. He was predeceased in 2002 byhis sister, Angelica “Kiki” Alexion, ofFairhaven, MA and Ft. Myers, FL.The funeral was held on February26 Thursday at St. George GreekOrthodox Church. Burial with mili-tary honors was at Acushnet Ceme-tery. Memorial donations to the St.George Greek Orthodox ChurchBuilding Fund, (87 Ashley Blvd.,New Bedford, MA 02746).

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GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009 9

Hidden Greece will present pictures of the country that tourists don'tsee, the main streets but also the back streets and balconies and theway of life of people outside the normal spotlight: workers, the home-less, ordinary citizens and some more celebrated, and the places theylive and work and define modern Greece, as well as its legacy.

HIDDEN GREECE

Fruits Today

One of the best parts about living in Greece is the abundance of freshfruits and vegetables, not the sealed-in-plastic gassed tomatoes inAmerican supermarkets, but right out of the fields and in cornerstores and the traditional street laiki's.

ATHENS, Greece (AP)- A Greekcourt has convicted a prison guard af-ter two inmates staged a daring heli-copter escape from prison for a sec-ond time.

The court early Thursday handedthe guard a three-year suspendedsentence for failing to follow properprison procedures, allowing the es-cape to occur. He was released fromcustody.

Three other guards arrested afterSunday's breakout and the pilot ofthe hijacked helicopter were clearedof all charges.

There has been no trace of bankrobber Vassilis Paleokostas and con-victed murderer Alket Rizaj sinceSunday's spectacular prison break —their second helicopter escape fromKorydallos prison in less than threeyears.

Authorities were searching moun-tain hideouts in central and southernGreece believed to have been used byPaleokostas in the past, and also weresearching for the man and womanwho hijacked the chartered heli-copter.

The escape, in which the heli-copter swooped down onto Korydal-los prison and whisked the two menaway, despite gunfire from guards,

was deeply embarrassing for the gov-ernment. It rushed to announce anoverhaul of the prison system and aseries of measures designed to pre-vent future escapes.

"This was a blow to the prestigeand stature of the state, but rest as-sured that those responsible will bepunished. This has already started,"said Deputy Defense Minister Con-stantinos Tassoulas.

Eight prison guards have beensuspended over the prison break.

Four appeared in court for a sec-ond day Wednesday, along with thehelicopter pilot. All face misde-meanor charges of failing to preventthe escape.

Two defense lawyers representingthree of the guards resigned from thecase late Tuesday, complaining of in-terference in the trial and saying theproceedings were skewed againsttheir clients. They quit after the courtrejected their request for the guardsto be released from custody.

Two other lawyers were appoint-ed for Wednesday's proceedings, dur-ing which about 15 defense witness-es were expected to be called. It wasnot clear how long the proceedingswould take.

After their previous escape in

June 2006, Paleokostas remained atlarge until last August. Rizaj was re-captured in September 2006.

Justice Minister Nikos Dendiashas said the government believes thetwo could not have managed Sun-day's escape without inside help, andhas ordered an examination of thebank accounts of all prison guards inthe section where the two were beingheld.

Paleokostas, 42, has been chargedwith kidnapping a prominent indus-trialist last year while on the run, andis believed to have hidden much of amultimillion-euro ransom paid forthe man's release.

The chartered helicopter's pilot,who was found bound, gagged andwith a hood over his head, has saidthe aircraft was hijacked by a manand a woman who threatened himwith an assault rifle and a handgrenade.

Paleokostas was serving prisonsentences of more that 25 years for a1995 kidnapping, several robberiesand arms possession.

Rizaj, 34, was serving a life termfor murder. He also has been chargedwith carrying out two contractkillings while on the run after theJune 2006 escape.

Guard Convicted over Greek Chopper Escape

Police forensic experts investigate a helicopter used in the escape of convicts Vassilis Paleokostas andAlket Rizaj from Athens' high-security Korydallos prison, at a clearing north of Athens on Sunday, February22, 2009. Paleokostas and Rizaj both escaped from the same prison using the same means on June 4,2006, but had been apprehended separately after committing more crimes.

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Fivepeople are to go on trial in a Cypri-ot court on charges connected withthe 2005 crash of a passenger jetwhose pilots lost consciousness.

The Cypriot plane flew on au-topilot and hit a Greek hillside nearAthens on Aug. 14, 2005, killing121 people.

Greek investigators have saidhuman error was to blame for thecrash. They established that a cabinpressure failure knocked out the pi-lots of the Boeing 737-300 soon af-ter takeoff from Larnaca airport.

The five defendants face chargesof manslaughter and causing deathby recklessness.

They will appear Thursday at adistrict court in the capital Nicosiafor a preliminary hearing. Theirnames have not been released.

Manslaughter carries a maxi-mum life sentence.

ATHENS, Greece (NET, NET105.8)- The opposition parties inthe Greek Parliament voted down abill granting voting rights to Greekexpatriates at the Standing Com-mittee on Tuesday.

To pass, the bill needed a super-majority approval by two-thirds ofParliament members. Justifyingtheir 'no' vote, the main opposiitonPASOK (Socialists) describing thebill as shoddy.

At the same time, Interior Minis-ter Prokopis Pavlopoulos accusedthe main opposition of attemptingto deny expatriate Greeks the rightto vote. The government's proposalgives Greek national living abroadthe right to vote, provided they areincluded in the municipal and elec-toral rolls of Greece. The bill calledfor political parties to include atleast three expatriate Greek candi-dates in their national electoraltickets.

Wrangling has broken out be-

tween the government and the op-position at the Public Administra-tion Committee on the occasion ofPASOK's voting down of the Interi-or Ministry's bill for expat votingrights. On the basis of the Constitu-tion (article 51), the bill that settleseverything related to the electoralright from voters, who are livingabroad at the time of elections, "isapproved by the majority of 2/3(200) of the total number of MPs."PASOK's stance today sends a mes-sage to the future opposition par-ties to behave similarly, stated Inte-rior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos.PASOK is telling us that if its viewsare not accepted for the creation of"electoral regions abroad" and for"mail-in ballots", it will not approvethe bill, said Mr Pavlopoulos.

Mr Pavlopoulos stressed that"Greeks expatriates should knowthat whoever adopts this positiondoes not wish to give them the rightto vote." Ruling New Democracy

party (Conservatives) speaker St.Keletsis said that the bill is the re-sult of a dialogue and allows threeexpatriate Greeks to be included inthe parties' election tickets acrossGreece.

From PASOK's side, spokesmanTilemahos Hytiris said that the ex-patriate Greeks' vote is a very seri-ous issue, adding that the bill isshoddy. The government asks forconcession and despite the opposi-tion's objections it tables a bill thatis transitional.

"What are we going to do? Testto see if it works and then go onand try something else?" wonderedMr Hytiris, who raised the issues ofconstitutionality, such as the ques-tion as to whether the principle ofproportionality of vote is adheredto. I am afraid that the bill is just toimpress and tell expatriate Greeksthat the government is making atransitional effort for them to vote,said Mr Hytiris.

KKE (Communist Party ofGreece) speaker A. Skyllakos saidthat Greeks who had been livingabroad for years and do not knowthe conditions in Greece cannot de-termine Greece's fate. "Imaginewhat will happen if some hundredsof thousands of people vote. Thenthe Greek people's real will wouldbe affected," said Mr Skyllakos.

SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radi-cal Left) MP Fotis Kouvelis said heis voting against the bill, proposingto establish an institution of expa-triate MPs and set up foreign con-stituencies. Additionally the num-ber of expatriate Greek MPs shouldbe subtracted from the overallnumber of MPs in Greece.

Finally, LAOS (Popular Ortho-dox Rally) Athanasios Plevris re-quested that the first position onballot papers should be occupied byexpatriate Greek candidate MPsand expressed his objection tomail-in ballots.

ATHENS, Greece (AP)- A Greekmilitant group that opened fire out-side a television station in Athenslast week issued a statement pub-lished Saturday in which it threat-ens to kill journalists.

The group, Sect of Revolutionar-ies, first appeared earlier thismonth when it opened fire with asubmachine gun on an Athens po-lice station, spraying the precinctwith bullets but injuring nobody. Itclaimed that attack was to avengethe death of a teenager killed bypolice in December in an incidentthat sparked Greece's worst riots indecades.

On Tuesday, the group carriedout a similar attack in the parkinglot of the private Alter televisionstation, again causing no injuries.

In a statement published by thedaily Ta Nea, the group says its lat-est attack was a message to journal-ists that "the time that you were'untouchable' is over."

It accuses the media of manufac-turing news and attempting to en-sure the public remains obedient tothe state.

"They manipulate our mindsdaily so that we fill the reserves ofour disciplined time with valuesand functions that feed the system,"the group says, adding: "Let theslugs of media journalism knowthat apart from the mucus theyleave behind them ... soon they will

also leave blood."During the TV shooting, the

gunmen warned a television tech-nician who was in the parking lot toleave before they opened fire. Inthe group's statement, it said thegunmen would not have sparedhim if they had recognized him as ajournalist, in which case "be surethat one of our bullets would havefound his head."

"Mister journalists, this time wecame to your door, but next timeyou will find us in your homes," itsaid.

Greek far-left militant groupshave become increasingly aggres-sive following the December policeshooting of the teenager and the ri-ots that followed. Nobody has beenkilled so far, but authorities arealarmed that the terror tactics ap-pear to demonstrate a desire to car-ry out indiscriminate killing.

Sect of Revolutionaries said itsfirst two attacks were "low intensitymoves, a prelude of what will fol-low."

On Wednesday, police destroyeda car bomb planted outsideCitibank offices in northern Athenswhich they said contained enoughexplosives to crumble a four-storybuilding. There has been no claimof responsibility.

Police received no warning callabout the car bomb – a break withextremists' usual practice inGreece.

Last month, a far-left groupcalled Revolutionary Struggleclaimed responsibility for a Jan. 5shooting that seriously wounded a21-year-old riot policeman in cen-tral Athens.

The group is best known for fir-ing a rocket-propelled grenade intothe U.S. Embassy in Athens in2007.

Greek Militants Threaten to Kill Journalists

Greek far-left militant

groups have become

increasingly aggressive

following the police

shooting of a teenager

and riots that followed.

5 go on Trial for 2005 Helios Air Crash

In this August 14, 2005 file photoa firefighter looks at the tail of aCypriot Helios Airways jet thatcrashed near the town of Gram-matikos, killing all 121 on board. T

NH

AR

CH

IVES

ATHENS, Greece (AP)- Greek po-lice say they have arrested a mansuspected of throwing acid in theface of a union organizer and forc-ing it down her throat.

A police statement says the sus-pect is a 48-year-old Albanian im-migrant but it provided no furtherdetail. Tuesday's statement said theman has been charged with partici-pation in attempted murder.

Police said two men took part inthe Dec. 23 assault on BulgarianKostadinka Kuneva. She is a unionofficial with the Athens associationof cleaners. The 44-year-old wasambushed outside her Athenshome on her way back from work.She is in a serious condition in hos-pital.

Her friends and family say shehad received threats over her unionactivities. The attack sparked a se-ries of protests by human rights andleft-wing groups.

Man Held forAcid Attack onUnion Official

Bill on Greek Expat Voting Rights to be Rejected

VILLARREAL, Spain (AFP) —Greek side Panathinaikos grabbed arare good result on their travels toSpain on Wednesday as they held2006 Champions League semi-fi-nalists Villarreal to a 1-1 draw.

Greek international playmakerGiorgios Karagounis scored for thevisitors - who had lost nine UEFACup matches in Spain in the pastdecade - in the second-half only forthe hosts to level from the penaltyspot through former ManchesterUnited striker Giuseppe Rossi.

Villarreal were the more activeside in the early stages forcingPanathinaikos Croatian 'keeperMario Galinovic into saves fromJoseba Llorente in the sixth minuteand then from Rossi's freekick inthe 19th minute. Karagounis finallybrought Villarreal 'keeper DiegoLopez into the action in the 26thminute as he got down to save fromthe visitor's midfield general. Theirrepressible Rossi was at it againshortly after Karagounis's effort butagain was thwarted by Galinovic.

Karagounis seemed to be themost likely source for the Greeks toscore a goal and it was the 31-year-old who once again tested Lopez inthe 32nd minute with a freekick af-ter Marcos Senna had been pe-nalised.

However, the Greek side suf-fered a blow seven minutes fromhalf-time when Yannis Goumas wasbooked meaning the 33-year-old -like Karagounis a member of theGreece side that won the Euro 2004

title - is suspended for the secondleg in a fortnight's time.

Panathinaikos coach Henk TenCate perhaps fearing that Goumasmay well pick up a red card re-placed him at half-time with Brazil-ian defender Gabriel.

Galinovic was again the busiestof the 'keepers as twice in the open-

ing five minutes of the half hesaved from Santi Cazorla andRossi.

However, the hosts were hitwith a sucker punch as the irre-pressible Karagounis was on handto slot past Lopez for his third goalof the campaign. This promptedVillarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini

to throw on former France interna-tional Robert Pires and Turkish starNihat Kahveci for the final half-hour. Pires had an immediate im-pact as he was felled in the area byPolish defender Jakub Wawrzyniakand Rossi kept his nerve to convertthe penalty for his third goal of thecampaign.

Panathinaikos in Pole Position with Draw at Villarreal

Villarreal's Marcos Senna, second left, duels for the ball with Panathinaikos' Simao Mate, from Mozambique,during a Champions League, Round of 16, first leg soccer match in Spain, Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

AP PHOTO/PHASMA, MIHALIS KARAYIANNIS

AP PHOTO / ALBERTO SAIZ

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

The Greek Orthodox Archdioceseis on the Road to Self-Destruction

Dear Orthodox Faithful:The editorial “Unraveling at the

Seams,” by The National Heraldshows how our GOA has deteriorat-ed in the years after the death ofArchbishop Iakovos. The formerarchdiocese has been chopped intosmall pieces, each under the directtutelage of a Patriarchate thou-sands of miles distant. This has re-sulted in a leadership vacuum, lackof responsibility and transparency,an increase in favoritism by theU.S. clergy and hierarchs and adangerous decline in membershipof those born in the Orthodox faith.

Many of us are too preoccupiedin serious local church matters andare oblivious or too trusting of ourdiocese leaders to question the ac-tivities and actions of the nationalchurch.

While some Orthodox jurisdic-tions are gaining converts becauseof serious efforts in outreach activi-ties, the GOA is on a no holdsbarred drive of self-destruction. Itis to the credit of the wealthy mem-bers of the faith who continue tokeep the GOA from drowning in itsown secrecy, sloth and misconduct.However, they seem unable or un-willing to demand a complete reor-ganization of the GOA. Their lameand condescending attitude has al-lowed the hierarchy to continueand expand its secret and sinisterpractices.

After you review the “Unravel-ing at the Seams” article in the Na-tional Herald, you may find your-self in agreement that the GOA can-

not be restored by a return to theclerical prerogatives of the past.Episcopal authority is essential, buta better way must be found to em-brace lay leadership and lay min-istry into the GOA.

Sindiaconia should begin in thepews; making it possible, in factnecessary to effectuate institutionaltransparency, especially in financialand pastoral matters, as the first

step that the laity needs to havesome role in the selection of theirbishops, early on a traditional prac-tice, needs to be seriously consid-ered again.

America has produced the besteducated and most generous Or-thodox in the world and expectstheir priests and bishops to teach,but also to listen.

It is true that many Orthodox

have drifted from the GOA andthose that remain are often polar-ized. But no church can take enjoy-ment in learning that the church haslost almost a third of its members.The GOA is obligated to give a betteraccount of itself and the expecta-tions that are within the faithful.

Yours in Christ,Nicholas Karakas

St. Louis, Missouri

Striking a new chord?After Dora Bakoyanni, the foreign minister of Greece, met with Secretary of

State Hillary Clinton this past Wednesday, reporters had a chance to askHillary’s spokesman a few questions. His response to one of the questions wasparticularly significant: Asked whether there were any unresolved problemsbetween the two countries, State Department Spokesman Robert Wood said,“There are many problems in the world which need Greece-U.S. cooperationfor peaceful results.”

That answer can be read any number of ways. Under the Bush Administra-tion, it usually meant, “Greece had better do what the U.S. wants, or suffer un-pleasant consequences.”

It’s still a little too early to tell, but the Obama Administration sounds likeit’s trying to strike a new chord. Perhaps there’s hope for genuine bilateral,rather than unilateral, improvement in U.S.-Greece relations, after all. Andsince it takes two to tango, that not only has to do with the Obama/HillaryState Department, but also with Greece and its experienced and sensible for-eign minister.

There’s no question that, under President Bush, U.S.-Greece relations weremarred by the Mr. Bush’s decision to recognize Skopia (Skopje) as the “Repub-lic of Macedonia.” That duplicitous act not only strained our country’s rela-tions with Greece, it cast an undeserved shadow on the Executive Branch’s re-lationship with the Greek American community, as the Bush State Departmentmade that unwelcome and unnecessary announcement just two days after theNovember 2004 election, and just a few short weeks after Greek Americansraised millions for Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign.

On other major Hellenic issues – e.g., the ongoing Turkish occupation ofCyprus, the continued persecution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the relent-less intrusions of Turkish military aircraft into Greek airspace, and Turkey’s re-fusal to respect Greek maritime boundaries in the Aegean – nothing changedunder President Bush. If anything, things deteriorated, particularly in the caseof Cyprus.

We don’t want to belabor the past, but it’s important to reflect on it in orderto maintain a proper and balanced perspective for moving forward. Havingthe right perspective also means figuring out how one’s specific concerns fit inwith the larger picture. And this is precisely where Dora comes in, with wis-dom, charm and grace.

Before she came to Washington at the beginning of this past week, Doraasked to meet with our new Secretary of State from the start, and it’s very sig-nificant that she also met with General Jones, the new head of the National Se-curity Council, as well as with key members of the Senate and House.

In Dora, the Greek Government under Prime Minister Karamanlis clearlyunderstands that such meetings are crucial; that they are vital to establishinga good working relationship from the get-go, so that old misunderstandingsare cleared up and future misunderstandings can be avoided.

Now a seasoned diplomat and political leader, Dora did not go to Washing-ton to ask for American help. She came to offer Greece’s assistance, and toonce again indicate that Greece is siding squarely with the United States. Andthat is both a sea change and intelligent strategy for Greece.

Greece has assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Se-curity & Cooperation in Europe, the world’s largest regional security organiza-tion, which brings comprehensive and cooperative security to a region stretch-ing from Vancouver to Vladivostok.

Dora understands OSCE’s significance: “For over 30 years, OSCE hasbrought together the United States, Canada and Europe, including the RussianFederation and the rest of the former Soviet Union, to bridge differences, pro-mote democratic standards and address common security concerns. The orga-nization remains the natural forum for a discussion on the future of Europeansecurity,” she said. “The assumption of the chairmanship of an organizationwhich brings 56 nations to the same bargaining table is a major challenge forGreece and Greek foreign policy. The way we exercise these demanding inter-national responsibilities that have been entrusted to us by the other membersof OSCE will afford us the opportunity to further strengthen our good name,and our nation’s international credibility,” she said.

Dora clearly understands that Greece has an important role to play in inter-national affairs, and that in today’s increasingly complex world, America coulduse some help. She did not come to raise issues the new Administration is notprepared to deal with yet. The time for that will come. She came to lend a handthrough OSCE, NATO, the E.U. and the United Nations.

As the oldest E.U. and NATO member in the Balkans, she said, Greece feelsa heightened sense of responsibility to assist its neighbors on their road toprogress through necessary change and reform.

In her speech at the Brookings Institution this past Monday (see page 7),she clearly demonstrated that Greece understands the need to cultivate rela-tionships among friends and neighbors, speaking in terms of “building newbridges, forging ties, global governance and collective action.”

Dora clearly sees the larger picture: “The global financial and economic cri-sis casts a shadow over all our efforts… The massive economic downturn weare witnessing is dramatically changing the political landscape, thus present-ing a security concern all in itself… In our multi-polar world, security dependson more than just power. It depends on building relationships and forging ties.It depends on building bridges over troubled waters… Global problems re-quire global solutions. The need for global governance, the need for collectiveaction and an international order based on common rules, has never beengreater,” she said.

And judging from the statements we received from people like Hillary Clin-ton, General Jones, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, Dora was received exception-ally well. So we are happy to see America and Greece working hand-in-handon issues pertaining to global security and peace, and on their bilateral rela-tions. Dora is also right about one more very important thing: The GreekAmerican community is here to facilitate and help foster good relations be-tween two great countries. Let’s try to understand the issues, so that we canplay a more supportive role and do our part.

High marks, so farAs President Obama closed out his first month in the Oval Office and en-

tered his second, the American people are giving him very high marks, and forvery good reason: The new President inherited an enormous financial mess,and he is doing something about it.

Some people – ourselves included – worry about the effect all this newdeficit spending will have on inflation, but we are encouraged that Mr. Obamaplans to cut the deficit in half within four years.

Moreover, we see no alternative to the Obama Administration’s stimulusprograms at the moment. The country needs to invest in infrastructure,schools, hospitals, railroads, bridges, roads and other public works in order toget the economy going again.

We’re keeping good company in holding to that opinion. For the last 3-4months, Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman has been consistently re-minding his readers in the New York Times that, for every dollar of publicspending, standard estimates indicate the GDP increases by $1.50. Thatsounds like a pretty good return to us.

In fact, Mr. Krugman argues that the Obama stimuli are not yet big enough,and that the new Administration needs to do even more, citing the success ofFDR’s public spending projects during the Depression as evidence.

The point is, times of crisis can also be opportunities for bold, decisive ac-tion to put the country back on course for the next American century. Let’shope the President succeeds. Otherwise, we will all pay the price, Democratsand Republicans alike.

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CHRYSANTHI LIRISTIS / SPECIAL TO THE NATIONAL HERALD

LOGOΣ

The 81st Annual AcademyAwards were presented by theAcademy of Motion Picture Artsand Sciences on February 22, 2009.Held at the famous Kodak Theatreon Hollywood Boulevard in Califor-nia, the Oscar ceremony was seenon televisions around the world.The gala event was masterfullyhosted by Hugh Jackman, whoshowed off both his talent (he’s aTony Award-winning singer anddancer) and a sly sense of humor.And although this was described asthe “recession Oscars,” the ceremo-ny did not appear to suffer from theeconomic downturn.

Did you know that, like the ac-tors who receive Academy Awardsfor their outstanding perfor-mances, each of us plays the lead-ing role in our own life's movie?And, just like these Award-winningactors and actresses, we're respon-sible for assuming the role that hasbeen assigned to us and playing itout to the best of our ability.

We all know that playing ourpart in life is not always easy. Evenwhen we think that we've “memo-rized” our lines, we often find thatthey don't come out the way thatwe had wished. Or, we may say ourlines in the “right” way but our mo-tions don't seem to be in sync withwhat we are saying. It's as if ourmind is telling us one thing and ourbody is doing something else!Have you ever experienced a situa-tion like this? Have you ever won-dered if you were playing your partto the best of your ability? And, im-portantly, if you didn't think thatyou were doing a good job “acting”out your role in life, did you askyourself why, and how you could

improve?Like actors intent

on winning an Oscarfor their performancein a film, you must bewilling to work hard—“practice, practice,practice”—at improv-ing your knowledge,skills, and attitudeabout what you do all,not just some, of thetime. And in real life,the challenge is evengreater since our“script” isn't asstraightforward andchanges over time!Consequently, we've got to learnhow to “roll with the punches” andbe prepared to improvise whenthings don't seem to be going ac-cording to our script. I'm sure thatyou can relate to what I'm saying,since, like me, you've probably ex-perienced unplanned or unexpect-ed situations before, whether athome or at work.

Some people think “life” has away of letting us down. Or so theythink. Believe it or not, by viewinglife as something that “just happensto us,” and ourselves as relativelypowerless in life as a result, we ef-fectively lock ourselves into ourown mental prisons. In turn, welose sight of our own natural poten-tial, as well as that of others. View-ing life as inherently meaningfuland literally unlimited in potential,on the other hand, requires newways of thinking and responsibleaction to deal in a positive way withthe changes in our life's script, nomatter how disappointing or hurt-ful they may actually or appear to

be.According to the fa-

mous psychiatrist andconcentration campsurvivor, Dr. ViktorFrankl, “Life remainspotentially meaningfulunder any conditions,even those which aremost miserable.” Andplease take note: Dr.Frankl not only sur-vived but was able tofind meaning (i.e.,?????? under the mosthorrific circumstancesimaginable. DuringWorld War II, he spent

over three years in various Nazideath camps, including Auschwitz,where his parents, his brother, andhis wife perished. Trust me, in noway did Dr. Frankl intend or expectto experience such horror as part ofhis life's “script.” Yet he chose tolive a life with meaning right up tohis last breadth and gave us richand ample evidence that the keys tofreedom from life's “prison cells—real and imagined—are within,and within reach.

Whether we choose this path ofliberation, however, is a decisionthat only we, as the “lead actors” inour own life's movie, can make andfor which only we can be held re-sponsible. When we search out anddiscover the deeper meaning of ourlife's experiences, as did Dr. Frankl,we discover that life doesn't justhappen to us. We happen to life;and we make it meaningful.Against this backdrop, rememberthe words of Socrates, “the unex-amined life is not worth living.”

Even film actors, especially

those who are serious about receiv-ing an Oscar, must follow a similarpath of meaningful self-discoveryand personal development. In-deed, if actors truly expect to im-prove their skills and performanceto meet Academy Award-winningstandards, then they have to con-tinuously learn and grow from allof their experiences, even thosethat they would rather forget—such as messing up their lines,missing a cue, failing an audition,and so on.

And as someone who is playingthe leading role in your own life'smovie, the same standard applies.In this connection, I challenge youto keep track of your “performancein a leading role” by detecting themeaning of life's moments as youexperience them. By remainingaware of the need to detect andlearn from the meaning of life's mo-ments, you make sure that you donot become a prisoner of yourthoughts. At the same time, your“performance in a leading role” willalso improve dramatically. And theOscar goes to...YOU!

Dr. Pattakos is the author of theinternational bestselling book,Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Vik-tor Frankl's Principles for Discov-ering Meaning in Life and Work,and the founder of the Center forMeaning, based in Santa Fe, NewMexico, USA. His column is pub-lished weekly in The NationalHerald. Readers interested incontacting him with questions,comments, and/or suggestionsfor topics can send emails to:alex@prisonersofourthoughts.com

And the Oscar Goes to…You!

by Dr. ALEX

PATTAKOS

Special to The National Herald

By Christopher TripoulasSpecial to The National Herald

Several weeks ago, the island ofIcarus lost one of its own. Dimitris D.Miliadis passed on, leaving the re-mote Aegean island – known mostlyfor its underutilized hot springs andstaunch support of the Greek Com-munity party bereft of its greatest ad-vocate. His passing saddened theMuses most, whom he servedthroughout life with due devotion.

Miliadis was born on the island ofIcarus in 1946. He came from a jour-nalistic background and was thenephew of Parthenon curator Yian-nis Miliadis. In 1979, he took part inthe International Theater Festival inSitges, Barcelona, where he tookfirst prize for directing Euripides’tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis.” Hespent his last years on his native is-land, to which he devoted all hiswork.

His countrymen in the U.S. willprobably be the first to disrespecthim with the float they will choosefor the Greek Parade. As they do al-ways, I expect that they will convincesome unsuspecting toga-clad lad todon a pair of wings and play theADD-affected son of Daedalus whodisobeyed his father’s wishes, flewtoo close to the son and crashed inthe Icarian Sea (to the consternationof Samians, who hate the fact thattheir smaller neighbor has a seanamed after it).

What these well-meaning youthsdon’t realize is that their action is an

act of irreverence towards theirmotherland. As Miliadis eloquentlypoints out in his works (one of whichhas already been translated intoEnglish), the “standard” myth ofIcarus is completely different thatthe traditional myth that prevailed inIcaria.

The island’s ancient patron –Icarus – was not the son of Daedalus.He was a “local prince” who flew toCrete, wed the local princess(Chiona, after whom the island ofChios is named) and fell to his deathon the flight home. Besides, whywould the son of a fugitive engineerbe proclaimed a hero, and have an is-land and sea named after him, all be-cause he disobeyed his father’s in-structions?

There would be a tremendousproblem in understanding what theword Icarus means if it wasn’t for theHesychios the lexicographer: Icar =close, and almost arriving. In otherwords, Icarus is the one “who cameclose and almost made it.”

We must now ask ourselves whymighty Samos, Naxos and all Hel-lenism accepted an entire section ofthe Aegean Sea being named afterIcarus, the one “who almost madeit.”

Factoring-in the ancient accountby Athenaeus - “in the island ofIcarus, the Grapevine emerged frominside the earth for the first time; itswine is called Pramneian (Deip-nosophists, Book I, 25-55) - andwith the aid of mythology, it be-comes evident that Icarus was one

and the same with Dionysus. Grapes– and their divine by-product wine –were first discovered on Icaria, andfor the grateful islanders, Dionysuswas the grapevine and the “divinespirit” that resulted from it.

Icarus’ fall must have coincidedwith the eruption of the volcano inthe island of Thera circa 1627-1600B.C., and was attributed to a powerstruggle between his father Zeus andhim. Just as Cronus swallowed hischildren to avoid being overthrownby them, Zeus tried to swallowDionysus – as he had already swal-lowed the Titans and Metis. The en-suing drunkenness left Zeus vulnera-ble, but when the god of thundersobered-up, he managed to strikethe one who “almost made it” to hismother island with a thunderbolt.

The blow (the eruption at Thera)was deadly. Dionysus then took onthe epithet Icarus. However, thename would not accompany him fortoo long. The consequences of theexplosion were colossal. Zeus’ angerwas excessive and led to his own un-doing. In his attempt to kill his son,his very own kingdom of Crete wasdestroyed.

However, the gaps created byCrete’s obliteration and the fall ofDionysus, who was by now, “the onewho almost made it,” needed to befilled. Time had stopped for both is-lands, and the moment was ideal forevery opportunist. On the eve of1500 B.C., while the “throne ofIcarus” - as pious Aeschylus called it– disappeared, the throne of the Cy-

clopses appeared in Mycenae.Athens, too, was slowly abandoningfarming and turning its attention tothe sea. Erectheus’ clan claimedDaedalus as the originator of theirlineage, after converting the title ofthe Lemnian daedalus (craftsman)Hephaestus into a proper name. Andso, to assume control of Dionysiancults, Icarus was presented as the im-petuous son of an Athenian crafts-man, forever altering history.

Undoubtedly, Icarians have nochoice but to promote their home-land as the birthplace of wine, if theywant to be faithful to their genuinehistory.

Miliadis’ work was not only limit-ed to this major identity issue for hishomeland. His Internet postings citea study by Ioannis Sykourtis, one thegreat Greek academics of the 20thcentury, on the role oral tradition inCyprus and Icaria and the preserva-tion of the Greek language.

Some of his Greek texts are avail-able online, others in his Icarianhomeland, and still others unpub-lished. The challenge remains for usto take our paddles and keep on row-ing to Colchis, now that he hasjoined his ancestors in their belovedland.

Christopher Tripoulas is an ad-junct professor of Speech and In-terpersonal Communications atSt. John's University. He also spe-cializes in translation, and sever-al of his translations from Greekto English have been published.

COMMENTARY

Dimitris Miliadis, the Myth of Icarus and the Discovery of Wine

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009 11

Every American and, to some ex-tent, every person around theworld, will be affected by the recent$789 billion economic stimuluspackage that was written by a heav-ily Democratic Congress, to whichonly three out of 219 Republicansconsented. President Obama, whosigned the bill into law, was electedon a platform that pledged to re-store bipartisanship. But in this, thefirst major initiative of his presiden-cy, Obama experienced the samebitter partisan divisions thatplagued several of his recent prede-cessors, save a brief respite of unitydisplayed shortly after 9/11.

Our nation is facing a once-in-a-century economic crisis that re-quires if not a miracle, then at leasta solution long on brilliance andshort on miscalculation. RaisingLazarus from the dead was a mira-cle; safely landing an airplane onthe Hudson River was a human feat,albeit a brilliant and near-perfectone. Our country may not need amiracle to reverse its economic im-plosion, but it does require a near-perfect pilot at the helm. And theAmerican people cannot afford tostand for partisan bickering that ob-fuscates our common interests forthe sake of political aggrandizing.

Democrats maintain that the on-ly way to achieve economic recov-ery is to pour government (i.e., tax-payer) money into the private sec-tor and thereby create jobs andboost consumer confidence. Repub-licans insist that the tried and trueway to stimulate the economy is tocut taxes. Actually, both politicalparties are to blame. Over theyears, both Democrats and Republi-cans have gotten us out of economic

jams, or into even big-ger ones. PresidentHoover did too littleabout the Great Depres-sion, and President Roo-sevelt did too much.Our economy thrivedunder both PresidentReagan – who kept gov-ernment out of the way– and President Clinton,who got government in-volved.

So, which party isright this time? At thispoint, it doesn’t matter,because the Republi-cans never had a chanceto influence the decision, anyway.Just like the Democrats never had achance six years ago to keep us outof war with Iraq.

Those who hope that Obama’splan fails, just so they can say “I toldyou so,” are every bit as unpatrioticas the bunch who hoped our effortsin Iraq would fail for the very samereason. An intellectual disagree-ment is not unpatriotic, nor shouldit be discouraged. But once a deci-sion has been made by the country’sleadership, rooting against it for thesake of pride, ego, or spite borderson treason.

When the Democrats were theparty in exile only a few years ago,they seethed with contempt andvengefully lambasted presidentBush at every turn. They never gotover the fact that the Republicanswon and they lost. Maybe if theyhad moved beyond the bitterness,then the two parties could haveworked together instead of againstone another, and the problems thatwe face today, both foreign and do-

mestic, would havebeen miniscule bycomparison. Hope-fully, today’s Republi-cans can learn a les-son from their coun-terparts’ sour-grapesmentality and not tryto topple Obamaevery chance they get.If America needs anear-perfect landing,the last thing the pilotneeds is to be distract-ed by sore losers.

When GeorgeWashington retiredfrom politics, he

warned the country against formingpolitical parties. In his famousFarewell Address, Washingtonwarned that partisanship inspires“ill-founded jealousies and falsealarms; kindles the animosity of onepart against another…and opensthe door to foreign influence andcorruption, which find a facilitatedaccess to the government itselfthrough the channels of party pas-sions.”

In defiance of our first presi-dent’s words of wisdom, his succes-sors, John Adams and Thomas Jef-ferson, become lifelong bitter rivals,each obsessed with obtaining pow-er for himself and denying it fromthe other. Two centuries later, “ill-founded jealousies and falsealarms” endure.

This is not to say that politicalparties should not exist, or that animpassioned rivalry is always a badthing. In fact, a good, old-fashionedpolitical fight can be healthy, andeven fun. But when a particularlyserious crisis unfolds, it is the moral

and professional obligation of everyone of our elected officials, regard-less of political party, to join togeth-er to land that plane safely.

Perhaps our best remedy for per-ilous partisanship is to shop aroundfor different candidates. After all,what’s the best way to get a grocerystore to lower its prices? Shop atthe one across the street. Why,then, should we limit ourselves totwo options: Democrats and Repub-licans?

Historically, sweeping changesin America, such as the abolition ofslavery and women’s right to vote,were generated by third parties.More recently, in the 1990s, Democ-rats and Republicans alike madedeficit reduction their top priority.Why? Because Ross Perot came outof nowhere to capture 19 percent ofthe vote as a third party candidatein the 1992 presidential election.

As for our present condition, is ashame that we are in this mess tobegin with, but it is an even biggershame that we are hearing two rad-ically divergent sides of the story –and because partisanship hastrumped credibility, we really donot know whom to believe.

If we make a concerted effort tovote for more third party candi-dates, then our complacent electedofficials might finally get the mes-sage.

Constantinos E. Scaros is a pub-lished author and expert in Ameri-can presidential history, with abackground in Ancient Greek his-tory. He teaches history, politicalscience, and law at New York Uni-versity, and is the Dean of CriminalJustice at Katharine Gibbs College.

The Perils of Partisanship

By Nicos A. RolandisSpecial to The National Herald

I recall it was May 1978, threemonths after I had taken over asMinister of Foreign Affairs. I was inNew York with President Kyprianouto attend the First U.N. Special Ses-sion on Disarmament.

During my stay there, I ad-dressed a gathering of overseasGreeks and Cypriots and I thankedthem, inter alia, for the solidarity ofthe “Greek Americans” with Cyprusand her cause. When my speechwas over, the president of one ofthe associations which participat-ed, approached me and discreetlysuggested that Greeks in the U.S.would rather be called “Americansof Greek origin” than “Greek Amer-icans”. They were first and fore-most “Americans” and their originfollowed.

When I went back to the hotel Ipondered over what was suggestedto me. I wondered how manyCypriots feel to be Cypriots first,and then Greeks or Turks. My mem-ory flew back to the hard years wewent through in the 1960s, when anegligible number of citizens onlybelieved in their country and hernational symbols…Years duringwhich Greeks and Turks consideredCyprus as a § transit station § tounion with Greece (enosis) for theGreeks and to partition or totalTurkish occupation for the Turks.

“I do solemnly affirm faith to,and respect for, the Constitutionand the laws made thereunder, thepreservation of the independenceand the territorial integrity of theRepublic of Cyprus”. This is theoath taken by the leaders, this is theoath of all Cypriots, Greeks andTurks.

The President of the Republic,however, in December 1963 at-tempted to redraft and amend theConstitution, to which he hadpledged his allegiance. Further-more the House of Representatives(consisting of Greek Cypriots onlyat the time) voted unanimously onthe 27th June 1967 that it will notdefer the struggle, presently car-ried out with the solidarity of allGreeks, until the union, withoutany intermediary stations, of thewhole unified Cyprus with mother-land Greece is implemented §(Minutes of the House of Represen-tatives 1966-1967, page 1274).

On the other side of the fence

the Turkish Cypriots, through ex-tremist and unlawful organizations( in parallel to the Greek Cypriotones), were trying to overturn theconstitutional order and achievepartition.

We really had beautiful peoplein Cyprus in those years, fully dedi-cated to their motherland! A moth-erland in which they never believed- they employed all possible meth-ods to exterminate her… Whichthey eventually achieved.

The mentality of many peopleremains unaltered since then. As Iwrote in the past, the more we suf-fer the less we learn in this country.

Each community has built itsown cause through its own sepa-rate angle. It firmly believes thatjustice and principles are on its ownside. And each one has erected itsown ideological castle along thefollowing lines:

Greek Cypriots: They fought in1955-59 for union with Greece, avenerable and sacred right. In 1960they were compelled to veer to in-dependence, which however wasnot just and balanced. So, they en-deavoured to make the necessarycorrections in 1963, keeping alive,in parallel, their irrepressible desirefor union with Greece. In the mean-time the Turkish Cypriots kept un-dermining the Cyprus Republic andthey revolted in 1963. Later on, thetreacherous junta came to power inGreece, it destabilized Makarios

and together with EOKA B it carriedout the coup in 1974. Turkey invad-ed and brought havoc to Cyprus.She still occupies 37% of the terri-tory of the Republic. There are1500 Greek Cypriot missing per-sons. The various Plans of the Unit-ed Nations cannot be accepted be-cause they do not safeguard in ajust way the rights of the GreekCypriots. The Turkish Cypriots andTurkey are to blame for whatevergoes wrong in Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriots: The GreekCypriots fought in 1955-59 forunion with Greece, ignoring therights of the Turkish Cypriots.Eventually the Republic of Cypruswas established, which the GreekCypriots incessantly undermined.In 1963 Makarios tried to destroythe constitutional order. In the1960s the Turkish Cypriots wereforced to live in enclaves and theGreek Cypriots were aiming at theirannihilation. In 1974 the GreekCypriots and the Greek Junta triedto achieve union with Greecethrough the coup d’etat. Turkey in-tervened to save the Turkish Cypri-ots but still many of them perishedand 500 are missing. Because of theabove, the Turkish Cypriots believethat the two communities must liveapart under a very loose federation.The Greek Cypriots and Greece areto blame for whatever goes wrongin Cyprus.

The international communitykept, in general terms, a distancefrom both communities. It recog-nized on the one hand the Republicof Cyprus under the leadership ofthe Greek Cypriots. On the otherhand, through its stance and reso-lutions, it supported pragmatic po-sitions which are not palatable tomany Cypriots.

In regard to justice, which arereally the criteria which apply inthis world? A world where youhave the Gaza Strip, Darfour andthe 40.000 children who die ofhunger every day on the one handand the mega-yachts and theprovocative abundance, waste andluxury on the other. Where did jus-tice prevail in real terms, so thatCyprus could seek to have it aswell? And what constitutes justicein this unjust world?

It is in this unstable atmospherethat the talks are carried out inCyprus. And although I am not con-versant with all details I wouldmake some preliminary remarks on

what is under negotiation:1. I do not believe that the Greek

Cypriot position of electing thePresident and the Vice President ona single list by the whole electorateis correct and sustainable. In such acase the Greek Cypriots will deter-mine who the Turkish Cypriot Pres-ident/ Vice President will be, be-cause they constitute the majorityof the electorate. Such a GreekCypriot privilege did not exist evenin the 1960 constitution.

2. The Turkish Cypriot side can-not insist that Turkey should havethe right to a military interventionin Cyprus, which is a member of theEuropean Union and to whichTurkey aspires to accede. Besides,such a § right § is prohibited by theUnited Nations Charter and by Eu-ropean laws and regulations. Un-der such an arrangement shall wenot legalise the aggression of onestate against another?

3. As far as the question of prop-erty rights are concerned, I believethat neither the absolute positionsof Talat nor those of Christofias willlead anywhere. There are manyresolutions of the United Nationswhich propose a methodology onthis issue. But most importantly wehave the 1977 Makarios – DenktasAgreement, which provides thatmatters of principle, like “the rightto property are open for discussion,taking into consideration the fun-damental basis of a bicommunalfederal system and certain practicaldifficulties which may arise for theTurkish Cypriot Community”. ThisAgreement, if there is good faith,may constitute the golden mean.

Aeschylus had said that “whenone listens to one of two sides, helearns only half the truth”Christofias and Talat must listencarefully to each other and seekjustice after taking into account thearguments, the mistakes, the omis-sions and the sins of all Cypriots.Otherwise, Cyprus will remain di-vided into two parts, which doesnot serve the interests of either theGreek or the Turkish Cypriots.

Mr. Rolandis was the CypriotGovernment’s Foreign Minister(1978-83) and Minister of Com-merce, Industry & Tourism(1998-2003). He was also amember of the Cyprus House ofRepresentatives (1991-96) andchairman of the Liberal Party(1986-98).

Beautiful People, Enosis, Partition And Our Bloody Mess

By Nikolaos A. StavrouSpecial to The National Herald

During the past 15 years, Ameri-can economic policies entailed lit-tle more than an insidious processto perfect and legalize the art oftheft of public wealth. Once per-fected, this major “accomplish-ment” of American capitalism wasexported to the rest of the devel-oped world and advertised as evi-dence of the superiority of capital-ism over socialism. But in the re-curring cycles that define the “freeenterprise” process, thieves usuallycry “fire” first and rush for the exits.They leave to a bankrupt state thetask of extinguishing the fires andto the taxpayers the cost of theirravages. As usual, private thieves ofpublic wealth are too busy hidingtheir loot to be concerned with thesocial havoc they have caused.

While policy-makers scramble

with improvisation to avert a globalcatastrophe, our naturally grownswindlers patiently wait for oncethriving economies to "bottomout,” for poor countries to beg for"investments” and for governmentsto forgive and forget all criminalacts. To search for causes and cul-prits, the argument goes, will havea negative psychological impact onstock markets and thus prolong thecrisis.

If history is any guide, weshould expect the perpetrators ofthe current economic calamity tore-emerge in a few years as “philan-thropic saviors” – pretty much likeGeorge Soros, Warren Buffet, andBill Gates. By then, the brother-hood of scoundrel, a.k.a. global fi-nanciers with standing invitation toDavos, would have their choice of:places to invest, educated servantsat their disposal, corrupt govern-ments to protect them, local con-

duits to facilitate future theft, andprivate security forces to guardtheir villas. Voltaire was absolutelyright when he observed, “show mea big fortune and I will show a big-ger crime.”

Calling modern day – financiers“a brotherhood of scoundrels” isnot simply a reflection of popularoutrage, even though outrage ispalpable. There is wholesale crimi-nality traceable to board rooms,back rooms, and high public of-fices. Former cabinet members,Senators, Congressmen, Generals,and even former Presidents as wellas assorted influence peddlers havebeen at the center of the current fi-nancial crisis that was dumped intothe lap of a popular President tohandle.

A Chairman of the Senate Fi-nance Committee, Phil Graham (R-Texas), singlehandedly demolishedthe regulatory system of Franklin

Roosevelt and legitimized specula-tion in features markets and “finan-cial derivatives.” With “mission ac-complished” in the U.S. Senate,Graham joined a Wall Street Bankto reap the rewards of his legisla-tion. Similarly, former TreasurySecretary Bob Rubin presided overthe evaporation of Citigroup,picked up a huge exit reward, andleft it to be rescued by the govern-ment. Former President Bill Clin-ton, on the other hand, lords overhis “Clinton Global Initiative” withfinancial contributions of overt andcovert thieves of public wealthfrom all four corners of the world.Among his “donors” are destituteBalkan states, Central Asiandespots, Canadian magnates,Greek social climbers and the in-digenous thieves who hide theirdeeds behind the mask of celebrity.How else could he explain fees of-ten exceeding one million dollars

for speeches before businessgroups?

The evidence is overwhelmingthat an orgy of illegality precededthe collapse of the financial systemlast September. The Bush adminis-tration was asleep at the switch. Atleast 2,300 investigations into sus-pected illegal financial activities—euphemism for fraud—have beenopened by the FBI, "including 38probes specifically linked to the cri-sis.” In testimony before the SenateJudiciary Committee, the FBI andthe Justice Department, noted thattheir resources are too limited todeal with the dimensions of the fi-nancial fraud. Though SenatorPatrick Leahy (D-Vermont)promised more “support” to ad-dress the problem, Neil Barofksy,Inspector General of the govern-ment’s Financial Rescue Plan, anappointee of the Bush administra-tion, offers a well practiced solu-

tion. Given the lack of investigativeresources, he would make an ex-ample of some high profile culpritsto teach the rest of them a lesson ingood behavior. “They have themost to lose,” he argued. “They’rethe most likely to flip, and theymake the best examples.” Mean-while, the personification ofcrimes, Bernard Madoff, remainsunder “house arrest” in his $10 mil-lion dollar Park Avenue penthouse.Apparently, he does not make agood example. After all, he onlyswindled $50 billion. The latest or-gy of financiers leaves our newPresident scrambling to deal withthe human tragedies that greed hasproduced. As for the thieves, theyare busy seeking foreign diversionsfrom the crime scene.

Dr. Nikolaos A. Stavrou is Profes-sor of International Affairs(Emeritus), Howard University.

Perfecting and Globalizing the Art of Theft

Now we knowwhere the phrase, “Foolme once, shame onyou, fool me twice,shame on me,” origi-nated. The same daythe Academy Awardswere being handed outin the United States,perhaps the best film ofthe year was develop-ing outside of Athenswhere two notoriouscriminals who had useda helicopter in 2006 toescape from the al-legedly maximum-se-curity prison of Kory-dallos prison did it again, coolly step-ping onto a ladder hanging from an-other helicopter that landed on theroof and plucked them from a deten-tion yard where they had been exer-cising.

Kidnapper and armed robber Vas-silis Palaiokostas and Albanian crim-inal Alket Rizal absconded fromAthens’ highest security jail the sameway they did before in what is thedefinition of embarrassment and in-competence. The breakout came theday before they were to head tocourt to face charges for the first es-cape, so letting them out for some airprobably wasn’t a good idea, eventhough they were caught the lasttime. Let’s hope the Greek Army andNavy has better training than prisonofficials and guards, but then again,law enforcement and the intelli-gence services in Greece are so laxthat even Ethniki Yperisia Asfaleias(EYP) the National Security Service,is known to foreign agencies as “TheSieve.”

That’s apparently what happenedin this case too, as officials said it wasan inside job that couldn’t’ have hap-pened without the help of prisonguards, a few potshots taken at thehelicopter notwithstanding.

It’s not really hard to bring down ahelicopter, especially a small com-mercial one used for joy rides, but theguards – who allowed a helicopter toland in 2006 in a central yard be-cause they thought it was an officialvisit – this time resorted to apparent-ly putting their hands together andyelling, “Na!” as it flew away, whileinmates cheered. Part of it was evencaptured on camera by a neighborwho now has the beginnings of nextyear’s Oscar-winning movie.

In typical fashion – just as theydid nearly three years ago – officialssaid they would, as the Greeks like tosay, “dig the knife to the bone,” tofind out what happened, but thechances of that really happening areabout the same as a Greek civil ser-vant not taking a bribe or working a40-hour week, so you know therewill be a brief furor, some screamingand yelling, a few scapegoats beingcharged, some shuffling of person-nel, and the same dolts will be backin charge of the system again be-cause most appointments in Greecearen’t made on the basis of merit, butpatronage or political payoffs forother favors.

But, in a show designed to foolthe public into thinking they care,Greek officials made a rapid, tokendisplay of outrage and belated, ham-handed attempts at finding out whathappened when Justice MinisterNicholas Dendias, said to be fuming,dismissed the director of the prisonand two other officials, ordered four

prison guards held andcharged them with in-competence, a danger-ous indictment since itapplies to virtually theentire government, andordered the freezing ofthe bank accounts of allprison employees. Thepilot of the helicopter,owned by a tour com-pany offering “Escapesto Idyllic Destinations,”said he was ordered byan armed man to fly tothe prison and was laterfound bound andgagged inside it where

he told officials the men got out andescaped in a getaway car when helanded, but he’s being charged too,as the net of embarrassment is beingthrown over everyone. Officials aretaking no chances this time. Really,they said that, just as they did thelast time this happened.

“This was an insult which I willnot accept,” Dendias said. “I will takemeasures as harsh as necessary.” Uh-huh, yes, we’ve heard that beforetoo. You can’t really blame the au-thorities, because they immediatelyscrambled cars to chase a helicopter,and, after all, it was a Sunday andeveryone is allowed to take a nap inthe afternoon, even guards. This isn’tplaying well at top levels either, asPrime Minister Costas Karamanliscalled a session to find out how ithappened, although you don’t haveto look too far because there were re-ports that some prison guards wereeven selling mobile phones to in-mates, so now we know the answerto another question: yes, prisonershave cell phones, and they probablyaren’t using them to send text mes-sages of love to the guy in the nextcell…meet me in the shower…but,meet me in the yard by the heli-copter.

The architect of the 2006 escape,Palaiokostas’ brother Nikos, was cap-tured and jailed after that , but un-fortunately for him he wasn’t in Ko-rydallos and now will probably faceheightened security measures, suchas guards asking him to stay awayfrom any approaching helicopters.Vassilis Palaiokostas, 43, was servinga 25-year sentence for the kidnap-ping of a Greek businessman thatnetted him some six million Euroransom which some officials thinkbankrolled this escape, while Rizai,35, was serving a life sentence formanslaughter. They were beinghailed on Facebook for their daringescape, which shows you all youneed to know about the mentality ofpeople who rely on that site.

There have been other prison es-capes by helicopter around theworld, including in France and Bel-gium two years ago, where the es-capees were later caught, and theFrench Alps in 2005.

The escapade has made Greece alaughingstock in the internationalpress again, as if the killing of a 15-year-old boy shot by a police officer afew months ago in Exarchia, whichspurred furious riots, didn’t doenough public relations damage.

If the police officer charged inthat shooting is found guilty though,he could ask to be sent to Korydallosand just wait for the next helicopterout. There’ll be one coming alongany time now.

Mr. Dabilis was the New Englandeditor for United Press Interna-tional in Boston, and a staff writerand assistant metropolitan editorat the Boston Globe for 17 yearsbefore relocating to Greece. Hiscolumn is published weekly in theNational Herald. Readers interest-ed in contacting him can send e-mails to andydabilis@gmail.com.

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In Greece, Prison Break is reality, not a TV show

LETTER FROM ATHENS

by ANDY

DABILIS

Special to The National Herald

The escapade has made

Greece a laughingstock

in the press, as if the

killing of a 15-year-old

by a police officer didn’t

do enough damage.

by CONSTANTINOS E.

SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

Aeschylus had said that “whenone listens to one of two sides, helearns only half the truth”.

By Annabelle ThorpeTimes UK

Lazing on the sands on Otziasbeach, a horseshoe-shaped bay onthe tiny Greek island of Kea, I was alittle confused.

It was Sunday afternoon and thebeach was empty; not another tow-el to be seen. Only when westrolled the short distance throughthe silent village to Anna's, a taver-na that had been recommended tous, did things become clear.

There, almost every table wastaken, filled with Greek familiesdiving into platters of fresh fish andsalad - talking, gesticulating andsmoking between mouthfuls. Di-rected to a small table for two, myfriend Sara and I realized gleefullythat we were the only English peo-ple in the place.

When we thought about it, how-ever, we decided we were probablythe only English people on thewhole island.

Kea is that rare thing, the holygrail of Mediterranean travel: anunspoiled Greek island. Better still,there is every chance that it will re-tain its authenticity - Kea's resi-dents appear uninterested in masstourism and the one small car ferrythat ploughs its way between theport of Lavrio, a 45-minute drivesouth of Athens, and the tiny har-bor at Korissia can bring only asmall number of visitors.

The island is the preserve of lo-cal people and wealthy Athenians.Instead of hotels dotting the island,the hills are scattered with villasbuilt of local stone, second homesfor those who long to escape thecity at weekends.

Only one British operator,Sunisle, a web-based company, of-fers holidays on Kea, with stays incottages, studio apartments andtwo small hotels, both in Korissia.

After a lengthy journey, includ-

ing a three-hour wait at Lavrio forthe ferry, our small sun-drenchedterrace at the Hotel Keos felt likeheaven. The comfortable rooms arerendered special by the spectacularsunset views from each terrace.

There are several traditionaltavernas on the harborfront at Ko-rissia, but the neighboring villageof Voukaria, just around the head-land, is where the best restaurantsare found. We parked the car andstrolled along the slim road thatseparates a handful of upmarkettavernas from the multimillion-pound yachts that seemed almostsurreally opulent next to the bat-tered fishing boats.

It is an egalitarian shorefront: atone end lie a couple of bars, all tan-gerine-colored furniture and cock-tail menus, that look as if they havebeen imported straight fromMykonos, Kea's brasher Cycladicsister.

At the other lies Thalia, an ouze-ria that serves up superb Greekfood - aubergine roasted with gar-lic, plump mussels doused in butterand flat-leaf parsley.

On Kea you eat like the Greeksdo: order a few plates to share,drink a little wine, sit for a while,order a few more. After severalGreek holidays when I came homenever wanting to see a block of fetaagain, the heaps of baby calamari,home-made meatballs and honeycake were something of a revela-tion.

In between all the eating, we setout to discover the island. When wearrived I had been concerned thatthere might be little to explore, butKea packs a considerable amountinto its 130sq km area.

One morning we drove up to the18th-century monastery at Kas-trani, perched high above the sea,pristine in white and blue, with acentral courtyard bedecked withflowers.

When the afternoon heat haddissipated, we headed to Ioulis, theisland's capital, set high on themountain slopes. The ramshacklenetwork of cobbled alleys, court-yards and stairways held hiddentavernas, boutiques and dimly lit

grocery shops, like Mykonos Town30 years ago, before the party peo-ple came to stay.

One evening we walked fromIoulis on one of the paved footpathsthat cross the island, down to theLion, a huge stone sculpture thatdates to 6BC. We walked onthrough the countryside, meetinggoats, sheep and pigs, and stoppedby a well just as the farmer broughthis cows to drink.

The walk was blissful - the set-ting sun drenched Ioulis in a lightthe color of honey, and the air wassilent but for the sounds of the ani-mals. We planned to do morewalks, and would have done if wehadn't been distracted by thebeaches, which were empty, withsoft, clean sand giving way to wateras clear as sheet glass.

We lazed away a morning onone of the tiny bays that link to-gether beyond the village of Kon-douros and returned twice to thesilent bay at Otzias. Toss a couple oftowels in the back of the car, parkunder the trees, and the beach wasours - no search for a sunbed orhaving to dig around for change topay for a parasol.

On Kea, everything seemed sim-ple. Mornings on the beach, late af-ternoons by the pool at our secondhotel, the Porto Kea Suites, andsupper just a short stroll along toKorissia's harborfront, pausing for acold beer or a browse around oneof the small shops that sold jewel-ery and sarongs but seemed merci-fully free of day-old British newspa-pers and gaudy lilos.

Free of the internet and any oth-er English voices, it was the firsttime that Greece felt truly foreignto me. I can see why the Athenianswant to keep it to themselves.

TOURISM12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 28, 2009

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Kea: The Quiet Little Sister of Mykonos

By John ClarkeTimes UK

For those who think that theidea of finding a Greek island thatis unspoiled, quiet and beautiful isan impossible dream, there is goodnews. Ithaca, one of the smallest ofthe Ionian Islands, has miraculous-ly managed to retain an innocenceand an ambience unsullied by high-rise hotels, breeze-block divingschools or anything resembling afast-food outlet.

Indeed, the fastest food to beseen was at a beachside restaurantin the tiny port of Frikes, where alone fisherman brought ashore theoctopus he had just caught, slappedit hard on the quay several times,and then delivered it up to one ofthe restaurants that edged the peb-ble beach in a setting so ridiculous-ly picturesque that you might havewandered on to a film set.

Half an hour later the island'srush hour began when a ferry ar-rived from Ithaca's larger neighborCephalonia. For a full five minutes

a few cars, some cyclists and ahandful of foot passengers disem-barked, then an equal number em-barked and the boat sailed off.Tranquility reigned once more.

Most holidaymakers are basedin the island's main town of Vathy,only 20 minutes from Frikes by car,but on a road that for part of theway clings, leech-like, to the moun-tainside. Although the island hasan area of approximately only 40 sqmiles, the landscape changes withevery turn. Two large mountainsdominate the skyline - in fact oneguidebook sums the island up astwo mountains joined by an isth-mus - while at sea level, blue, per-fectly clear water, washes against asuccession of pebble beaches.

The island's main claim to fame,of course, rests with Homer and theepic tale of Odysseus, althoughthere is precious little that still ex-ists to link it with the fabled adven-turer. Historians claimed recentlythat Cephalonia, was actuallyHomer's Ithaca, although in thetiny archaeological museum at

Stavros there is a small piece of aclay mask found in one of the is-land's caves that bears Odysseus'sname. An early piece of hero graffi-ti perhaps.

Lord Byron was so taken withthe island when he visited in Au-gust 1823 that he tried to buy it.Since then the view may havechanged slightly - much of Ithacawas rebuilt after an earthquake in1953 razed entire towns and vil-lages, killing hundreds of people -but the views that beguiled the poetstill remain.

Some of the most reasonableprices to this island paradise are atthe beginning of the summer inMay, when the sun is not as fierceas in high season.

Simpson Travel has severalproperties on the island, includingthe Yellow House, which is wellequipped, with three bedroomsand on the slopes leading up fromthe centre of Vathy. It has a pooland terrace that offer views of thedeep-water bay and the island ferrythat steams in each morning.

Ithaca: The Unspoiled Star of the Ionian Islands

The Kastriani Monastery on the island of Kea (Tzia) is located on an isolated cliff overlooking the water.

Unlike other islands, Kea isn’t lined with many hotels, but insteadwith pictoresque villas made of local stone and churches.

A photo of the main port of Kea (Tzia) during a beautiful, sunny summer day. Kea is a short ferry ride from the port of Lavrio, which is a 45-minute drive from Athens.