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The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK-AMERIcAN PUbLIcATION April 28 - May 4, 2012 www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 15, ISSUE 759 $1.50 c v Bringing the news to generations of Greek-Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 NEWS By Constantine S. Sirigos TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK – Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney hosted a Town Hall Meeting at Astoria’s Stathakion Center on April 21 to discuss issues of importance to the Hellenic Community, includ- ing the agreement between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA) and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese regarding the rebuilding of the St. Nicholas Church at Ground Zero. The special guests were Patrick Foye, Executive Director of the PA, Father Alexander Kar- loutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ec- umenical Patriarchate and Arch- bishop Demetrios’ Assistant for Public Affairs. Foye announced everything is on track for the Church to open before the 100th anniversary of the parish in 2016. Karloutsos said that of the $20 million budgeted for the parish’s new home, $4 million has been received, including insurance payments. He said “the money is in sound investments overseen my financial specialists” and is confident the community will raise the rest. He announced that one benefactor has already de- clared that he will donate “as much or as little as you want. I will underwrite the entire cost if necessary,” to build the church. Elias Tsekerides, president of the New York Federation, wel- comed the guests and introduced Maloney, who thanked all the guests and the other Greek- American leaders attending. Mal- By Demetrios Tsakas TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK – Two prominent members of the Greek-American community have been placed on the at-large election lists of the New Democracy (ND) and PA- SOK parties. On April 24 it was announced that entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr. Sotirios Vahaviolos will appear on the ND ballot and the distinguished professor Dr. Theodore Kariotis of the University of Maryland will be on the PASOK list. A close look at the at-large lists of PASOK, ND, and the De- mocratic Alliance will reveal they are generality composed of distinguished men and women of science, literature, and other fields. They are not elected di- rectly by residents of electoral districts, but are chosen accord- ing to a formula based on the number of votes their parties re- ceive nationally. The lower down on the list, the less likely the candidate will win a seat in Parliament fields, but if anyone who is elected will have the same powers as the rest of the Parliament Members. At the head of the PASOK lists is Olympic Gold medalist Pyrros Dimas. Kariotis is number four on the PASOK list and has a good chance to be elected. On the other hand, Vahaviolos, who chose to be listed in tenth place on the ND list, is not likely to make the cut. Dimas was the Grand Mar- shal of the Greek parade in Boston this year and is idolized in Greece. He told TNH’s Boston correspondent, Theodore Kalmoukos, that he was very pleased to be so honored. A distinguished scientist, Va- haviolos is the Chairman, Presi- dent, and Chief Executive of the Mistras Group, a company that he founded. A member of the Friends of New Democracy association, he is the chairman of its Northeast- ern US committee (NODE). He For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] By TNH Staff WASHINGTON, DC – The Fed- eral Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced on April 20 that it has closed Fort Lee Fed- eral Savings Bank, FSB, in Fort Lee, NJ. The Associated Press (AP) attempted to contact Founder and Former President Haralambos S. Kostakopoulos, but he could not be reached for comment. The Bank has a single branch and approximately $51.9 mil- lion in assets and $50.7 million in deposits as of December 31 according to the AP, which also reported that Alma Bank of As- toria agreed to assume the Fort Lee Bank’s deposits and $15.7 million of its assets. The AP reported that “on Monday a locksmith was chang- ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria- based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered bank, which ac- quired Fort Lee Savings Bank's deposits and some of the assets in a competitive bidding. Alma also has agreed to service loans made by the failed bank, now held by the FDIC.” Alma Chairman Kirk Kara- belas told AP they will seek reg- ulatory approval to open an- other Fort Lee branch and one in Clifton, perhaps within a year, "Our plan was always to come across the river and to keep ex- panding in New Jersey.” The Bank had nine employ- ees and they now work for Alma. "We are going to evaluate everybody, but our plan is to go on with the staff that's in place," Karabelas told The Bergen Record. He also said Kostakopoulos will not be re- turning to the company. Kostakopoulos became well known in the Greek-American community when he was presi- dent of the Atlantic Bank in the 1980s. According to the website FDIC Shuts Greek’s Bank in Ft. Lee, NJ By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON, MA – The Greek- American community of New England held its 18th annual Greek Independence Day Parade in Boston on April 22. The heavy rains, along with the strong wind, a temperature of only 48 degrees, and some or- ganizational factors seemed to have been responsible for the low attendance, about 1200 people in total. About 45 groups represent- ing local Greek Orthodox parishes and associations took part in the Parade along with colorful floats and a Greek- American unit of Evzones. The highlight of this year’s Parade were the pupils of the Greek schools dressed in their colorful traditional costumes, holding the Greek and the American flags as a testimony of their Greek-American identity and pride. The Parade’s theme was the 100th anniversary of the lib- eration of Thessaloniki from the Turks. The Grand Marshal was Pyrros Dimas, an Olympic and world champion weightlifter, and there were also the two per- manent Grand Marshals: Met- ropolitan Methodios of Boston and Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino. The Honorary Grand Marshal was Theodore Spy- ropoulos, Chicago SAE’s Re- gional president, and U.S. Sen- ator Scott Brown. Also, the Consul General of Greece Elias Fotopoulos and Themis Karatzas, president of the Fed- eration of the Hellenic American Societies of New England, were present among the dignitaries. The Parade started at 1PM in front of the Boston Public Li- brary and continued along Boyl- ston Street before ending at the intersection of Charles Street Despite Bad Weather, Greeks Parade in Boston The Hellenic spirit of the Greeks of New England shone brighter than the sun hiding behind the clouds at the Greek Parade. The members of the Metropolis of Boston Youth Dance Group, adored by the crowds, did not mind the rain. Ground Zero Church to Reopen for its Centennial Russians Demonstrate in Support of Orthodox Church in Moscow Thousands gathered at Moscow's main cathedral in response to Patriarch Kirill’s call on wor- shippers to pray "for our faith, our church, our sacred objects, and our fatherland." Believers are outraged over actions perceived as blasphemous attacks on the Church. AP PHOTO/IVAN SEKRETAREV Two Distinguished Greek-Americans on Greek Ballot Mistras’ Vahaviolos For ND, and Prof. Kariotis for PASOK Continued on page 5 Continued on page 4 By Constantine S. Sirigos TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK – The Athenians’ Society, Inc. of New York pre- sented its “Exposition of Hel- lenic Writers of the Diaspora” at the Petros G. Patrides Cultural Center of Saint Demetrios Cathedral of Astoria on April 21. It is the latest event that spot- lights the talent and creativity of Hellenes during a challenging moment in Modern Greek his- tory that also encouraged indi- viduals and organizations to help Greece and its people. The eight-hour, one-day event presented the Greek- American community’s writers and their work and provided booths for publishers and au- thors. The five-minute readings and presentations ranged from Athenian Society of NY Exposition Continued on page 6 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 9 TNH/THEODORE KALMOUKOS

The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

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Page 1: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

The National HeraldA wEEKLy GREEK-AMERIcAN PUbLIcATION

April 28 - May 4, 2012

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 15, ISSUE 759 $1.50

c v

Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek-Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

S

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – CongresswomanCarolyn B. Maloney hosted aTown Hall Meeting at Astoria’sStathakion Center on April 21 todiscuss issues of importance tothe Hellenic Community, includ-ing the agreement between thePort Authority of New York andNew Jersey (PA) and the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese regardingthe rebuilding of the St. NicholasChurch at Ground Zero.

The special guests werePatrick Foye, Executive Directorof the PA, Father Alexander Kar-

loutsos, Protopresbyter of the Ec-umenical Patriarchate and Arch-bishop Demetrios’ Assistant forPublic Affairs. Foye announcedeverything is on track for theChurch to open before the 100thanniversary of the parish in 2016.

Karloutsos said that of the $20million budgeted for the parish’snew home, $4 million has beenreceived, including insurancepayments. He said “the money isin sound investments overseenmy financial specialists” and isconfident the community willraise the rest. He announced thatone benefactor has already de-clared that he will donate “asmuch or as little as you want. Iwill underwrite the entire cost ifnecessary,” to build the church.

Elias Tsekerides, president ofthe New York Federation, wel-comed the guests and introducedMaloney, who thanked all theguests and the other Greek-American leaders attending. Mal-

By Demetrios TsakasTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – Two prominentmembers of the Greek-Americancommunity have been placed onthe at-large election lists of theNew Democracy (ND) and PA-SOK parties. On April 24 it wasannounced that entrepreneurand philanthropist Dr. SotiriosVahaviolos will appear on theND ballot and the distinguishedprofessor Dr. Theodore Kariotisof the University of Marylandwill be on the PASOK list.

A close look at the at-largelists of PASOK, ND, and the De-mocratic Alliance will revealthey are generality composed ofdistinguished men and womenof science, literature, and otherfields. They are not elected di-rectly by residents of electoraldistricts, but are chosen accord-ing to a formula based on thenumber of votes their parties re-ceive nationally.

The lower down on the list,the less likely the candidate willwin a seat in Parliament fields,but if anyone who is elected willhave the same powers as therest of the Parliament Members.

At the head of the PASOKlists is Olympic Gold medalistPyrros Dimas. Kariotis is numberfour on the PASOK list and hasa good chance to be elected. Onthe other hand, Vahaviolos, whochose to be listed in tenth placeon the ND list, is not likely tomake the cut.

Dimas was the Grand Mar-shal of the Greek parade inBoston this year and is idolizedin Greece. He told TNH’s Bostoncorrespondent, TheodoreKalmoukos, that he was verypleased to be so honored.

A distinguished scientist, Va-haviolos is the Chairman, Presi-dent, and Chief Executive of theMistras Group, a company thathe founded.

A member of the Friends ofNew Democracy association, heis the chairman of its Northeast-ern US committee (NODE). He

For subscription:

[email protected]

By TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – The Fed-eral Deposit Insurance Corp.(FDIC) announced on April 20that it has closed Fort Lee Fed-eral Savings Bank, FSB, in FortLee, NJ. The Associated Press(AP) attempted to contactFounder and Former PresidentHaralambos S. Kostakopoulos,but he could not be reached forcomment.

The Bank has a single branchand approximately $51.9 mil-lion in assets and $50.7 millionin deposits as of December 31according to the AP, which alsoreported that Alma Bank of As-toria agreed to assume the FortLee Bank’s deposits and $15.7million of its assets.

The AP reported that “onMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrancesign was covered with a bannerbearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-oldstate-chartered bank, which ac-quired Fort Lee Savings Bank'sdeposits and some of the assetsin a competitive bidding. Almaalso has agreed to service loansmade by the failed bank, nowheld by the FDIC.”

Alma Chairman Kirk Kara-belas told AP they will seek reg-ulatory approval to open an-other Fort Lee branch and onein Clifton, perhaps within a year,"Our plan was always to comeacross the river and to keep ex-panding in New Jersey.”

The Bank had nine employ-ees and they now work forAlma. "We are going to evaluateeverybody, but our plan is to goon with the staff that's in place,"Karabelas told The BergenRecord. He also saidKostakopoulos will not be re-turning to the company.

Kostakopoulos became wellknown in the Greek-Americancommunity when he was presi-dent of the Atlantic Bank in the1980s. According to the website

FDIC ShutsGreek’sBank in Ft. Lee, NJ

By Theodore Kalmoukos

BOSTON, MA – The Greek-American community of NewEngland held its 18th annualGreek Independence Day Paradein Boston on April 22. Theheavy rains, along with thestrong wind, a temperature ofonly 48 degrees, and some or-ganizational factors seemed tohave been responsible for thelow attendance, about 1200people in total.

About 45 groups represent-ing local Greek Orthodoxparishes and associations tookpart in the Parade along withcolorful floats and a Greek-American unit of Evzones. Thehighlight of this year’s Paradewere the pupils of the Greekschools dressed in their colorfultraditional costumes, holdingthe Greek and the Americanflags as a testimony of theirGreek-American identity andpride. The Parade’s theme was

the 100th anniversary of the lib-eration of Thessaloniki from theTurks.

The Grand Marshal wasPyrros Dimas, an Olympic andworld champion weightlifter,and there were also the two per-manent Grand Marshals: Met-ropolitan Methodios of Bostonand Boston’s Mayor ThomasMenino. The Honorary GrandMarshal was Theodore Spy-ropoulos, Chicago SAE’s Re-gional president, and U.S. Sen-

ator Scott Brown. Also, theConsul General of Greece EliasFotopoulos and ThemisKaratzas, president of the Fed-eration of the Hellenic AmericanSocieties of New England, werepresent among the dignitaries.

The Parade started at 1PM infront of the Boston Public Li-brary and continued along Boyl-ston Street before ending at theintersection of Charles Street

Despite Bad Weather, Greeks Parade in Boston

The Hellenic spirit of the Greeks of New England shone brighter than the sun hiding behind the clouds at the Greek Parade. Themembers of the Metropolis of Boston Youth Dance Group, adored by the crowds, did not mind the rain.

Ground Zero Church toReopen for its Centennial

Russians Demonstrate in Support of Orthodox Church in MoscowThousands gathered at Moscow's main cathedral in response to Patriarch Kirill’s call on wor-shippers to pray "for our faith, our church, our sacred objects, and our fatherland." Believersare outraged over actions perceived as blasphemous attacks on the Church.

AP PHOTO/IvAN SEKRETAREv

Two Distinguished Greek-Americans on Greek BallotMistras’ VahaviolosFor ND, and Prof.Kariotis for PASOK

Continued on page 5 Continued on page 4

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The Athenians’Society, Inc. of New York pre-sented its “Exposition of Hel-lenic Writers of the Diaspora” atthe Petros G. Patrides CulturalCenter of Saint DemetriosCathedral of Astoria on April 21.It is the latest event that spot-lights the talent and creativityof Hellenes during a challengingmoment in Modern Greek his-tory that also encouraged indi-viduals and organizations tohelp Greece and its people.

The eight-hour, one-dayevent presented the Greek-American community’s writersand their work and providedbooths for publishers and au-thors. The five-minute readingsand presentations ranged from

AthenianSociety of NYExposition

Continued on page 6Continued on page 5

Continued on page 9

TNH/THEODORE KALMOUKOS

Page 2: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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

on an important question in the news. The results will be pub-lished in our printed edition next week along with the questionfor that week.The question this week is: Do you wish there was a choice

for president besides Barack Obama and Mitt Romney?o Yeso Noo Maybe

The results for last week’s question: Have any Greek-Amer-ican organizations to which you belong taken any action re-garding the Greek crisis?76% voted "Yes"34% voted "No"

Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com

n APRIL 27STAMFORD, CT – On Friday,Apr. 27, 2012, the StamfordAHEPA will hold its annualfundraiser, a dinner dance at theNorwalk Inn and ConferenceCenter. With the humanitariancrisis in Greece reaching direproportions, a portion of the pro-ceeds will support the NationalAHEPA relief effort for the peo-ple of Greece. Proceeds will alsobenefit the Stamford AHEPAScholarship Fund. The NorwalkInn is at 99 East Ave, in NorwalkCT. Cocktails from 6 to 7PM.Prime rib dinner. Greek dancingafter dinner to live music by Gre-cian Nights. $50 per person. Allare welcome. For reservations,please contact Nicholas Nikas,203-554-5570 or [email protected] by Sunday, April 22, atthe latest.

n APRIL 28MANHATTAN – “Movie Night atthe Annunciation” presents theromantic comedy “OPA!” star-ring Matthew Modine, RichardGriffiths & Agni Scott (in English& Greek). The suggested dona-tion of $15 supports the philan-thropic work of the PhiloptochosSociety which sponsors “MovieNight.” Refreshments will beserved. Film starts at 7PM De-mas Hall, Annunciation GreekOrthodox Church, 302 West 91stStreet, (at West End Ave.) inManhattan. 212-724-2070.

n APRIL 28MANHATTAN — The HellenicProfessional Women Inc., arehosting their annual career fo-rum at the Cornell Club on Sat-urday, Apr. 28. The event titledCareers in Challenging Times,will be moderated by NicolePetallides, a Fox Business Newsanchor. The Cornell Club is lo-cated at 6 East 44th Street, 4thfl, in Manhattan. Admission willrange from $35 for members to$45 for members, with studentspaying only $25. For more in-formation go to HellenicProfes-sionalWomen.org.

n APRIL 29ST. LOUIS, MO — The HellenicSpirit Foundation will be pre-senting Nicholas Karakas withits Lifetime Achievement Awardduring a testimonial dinner. Thedinner will be taking place atthe Missouri Athletic Club at 405Washington Ave., in St. Louis onSunday, Apr. 29 at 5:30PM. At-tendees are asked to make acharitable donation in anamount ranging from $175 to$3,000 to the Byzantine chair atthe University of Missouri at St.Louis. Checks should be madepayable to: Hellenic Spirit Foun-dation, and donations shouldnote the date of April 29 in thememo slot of the check. ContactChrysoula Tomaras at 314-447-0290.

n MAY 4MANHATTAN — THE Cyprus-USChamber of Commerce Inc. isholding their ninth annualawards dinner at which they willhonor Noble Energy and theirChairman and CEO Charles D.Davidson. The dinner will takeplace at the Hilton New York onFriday, May 4 at 6:30 PM. Formore info call 201-444-5609.

n MAY 7MANHATTAN - The AmericanHellenic Institute (AHI) BusinessNetwork and The New YorkChapter of AHI request the plea-sure of your company at ourMonthly Informal NetworkingReception for members andguests at the wonderful AvraRestaurant on Monday, May 7.141 East 48th Street (BetweenLexington and 3rd Avenues).212- 759-8550. CASH BAR &complimentary hors d' oeuvres.Please RSVP to Col. AndoniosNeroulias at [email protected] byMay 5.

n MAY 12SKOKIE, IL – Hellenic AmericanAcademy Honors Mothers atGala. "Mothers: Dedicating theirHearts, Nurturing our Minds" isthe theme of the Hellenic Amer-ican Academy's Spring Gala. Thisyear the Gala will be on Satur-day, May 12 at the Evanston GolfClub in Skokie. The HellenicAmerican Academy is a uniqueprivate elementary school offer-ing high academic standards ina dual language, Orthodox Chris-tian learning environment with

a focus on Hellenic culture andideals. The program at the Galaincludes musical and theatricalperformances by the studentsand teachers honoring theirmothers. Music for the eveningwill be provided by ApolloSounds, featuring Dimitris Mari-nos on the bouzouki. Specialguest speaker Polyvios Margiasfrom Athens will discuss the roleof the mother in Homeric times.A silent auction featuring someunique items will also be held. Afun evening of Homeric propor-tions is planned! The Academyis affiliated with Holy Trinity Hel-lenic Orthodox Church inChicago, Illinois. The SocratesDay School, founded in 1908, ispart of the Academy and is re-membered fondly by alumni allover the US. Tickets $150. Fordinner reservations or to becomea sponsor, please call 847-317-1063

CAMBRIDGE, MA — The GreekOrthodox Church of Cambridgeis holding a concert to benefitSisters Constantine and Helenon Saturday, May 12 at 8PM.The concert, an evening of Rem-betika and Laika, will be held atChurch Hill at 14 MagazineStreet in Cambridge. The con-cert will feature renownedartists: Makis Emmanouilidis,Yianni Mitaras, Kosmas Vrou-vlianis, Annemoon Van Erp, andJohn Bogis. Tickets may be pur-chased in advance or at the doorand cost $25, which includes theprice of food. For additional in-formation call Dimitri Arvanitisat 617-899-6865 or 617-492-6391 or Voula Angelaki at 781-721-7388. Space is limited.

n MAY 12MANHATTAN — The HellenicTimes Scholarship Fund presentsits 21st Anniversary Gala at theNew York Marriott Marquis Ho-tel on Saturday, May 12. A su-perstar concert will also be head-lined by Greek singing sensationGiannis Ploutarxos as well asGrammy nominated songstressMaxine Nightingale (“Get ItRight Back To Where We StartedFrom”). HTSF will honor Busi-nessman and PhilanthropistDennis Mehiel, Chairman andCEO of U.S. Corrugated, Inc.,and FOX News Channel’s ChiefCongressional CorrespondentMike Emanuel. Past honoreeswill be back to present work-shops to inspire students earlierin the day from 9am at the NYMarriott Marquis. Admission tothe workshop is free with thepurchase of a Gala ticket. Forfurther information, to receivean invitation or to purchase tick-ets, visit our Website atwww.HTSF.org or call 212-986-6881. Also visit the HTSF onFacebook.

n MAY 18MANHATTAN — AKTINA Pro-ductions invites all to join attheir annual benefit concertfrom the series GREEK MUSICJOURNEY at the Kaye Playhouseat Hunter College in Manhattanon Friday, May 18th at 8:30PM.The concert will celebrate a widevariety of traditional songs fromaround the Mediterranean aswell as the popular Greek blues(Rembetika). The concert willtake place at the Kaye Playhouseat E. 68th Street, between Parkand Lexington Avenues. To pur-chase tickets call AKTINA at718-545-1151, the prices rangefrom $25 to $75, with a $5 sur-charge.

n MAY 19MANHATTAN — On Saturday,May 19 the Annunciation GreekOrthodox Church will celebrateits 2nd Annual Greek Festival onWest 91st Street in Manhattan.During the hours of 11AM-7PM,we will celebrate our Hellenicculture with an abundance oftraditional foods, live music anda performance by a professionaldance troupe. This year there isan expanded “kids area.”

n NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events sectionis a complimentary service to theGreek American community. Allparishes, organizations and in-stitutions are encouraged to e-mail their information regardingthe event 3-4 weeks ahead oftime, and no later than Mondayof the week before the event, [email protected]

GOINGS ON...

TNH Staff Writer

Marilyn Stasinopoulos is anative New Yorker, a first gen-eration Greek-American, and asenior at Johns Hopkins Univer-sity studying Cellular and Mol-ecular Biology as well as Russ-ian. Given her love of languages,Stasinopoulos plans to be a pe-diatric neurologist and, in herwords “a stereotypical Greekmommy, cooking lots of Greekfood for my children, grandchil-dren, and patients!” But she isnot quite ready for “stereotypi-cal.”

Stasinopoulos will partici-pate in a 4000-mile cross-coun-try cancer ride in May thatraises hundreds of thousands ofdollars for cancer support pro-grams. The 70-day trip starts atBaltimore’s Inner Harbor andfinishes with a ride across theGolden Gate Bridge in San Fran-cisco. Route highlights includeriding up and over the Rockiesand cycling through GreatPlains.TNH: You are very devoted

to the cause of funding researchon the treatment of cancer. Howare you helping?MS: First and foremost this

year, by riding. Each rider mustraise a minimum of $4,500 andlast year, the ride raised$487,000. This year our goal isto hit $500,000! The programsinclude a national college schol-arship program for studentswhose lives have been impactedby cancer, a University OutreachProgram, and a Patient Naviga-tion Program that helps youngadults manage their diagnosisand cancer experience. A morerecent program, which I partic-ularly like, is called the Cancerto 5K. Basically, it’s a free 12-week training program wherecancer survivors get the support,training, coaching, and encour-

agement to complete a 5K(3.1mile) distance road race.

Before the ride, we also vol-unteer in the cancer community.One thing we do often is volun-teer and cook dinner at a localHope Lodge – facilities wherecancer patients and care giverscan stay for free when their besttreatment option is in anothercity. Our last dinner was actuallya Greek-themed night, and whilewe all ate, the riders sat withthe patients. The patients I’vespoken to always seem to havethe coolest stories to tell me!During the ride, we bike fromcity to city, and volunteer in thecities we bike through. Often,we volunteer for hours at localcancer communities and spendtime with patients and survivors. TNH: Has your life path been

influenced by your Ancient andModern Greek and Orthodoxheritage?MS: Definitely! From an

early age, I was involved in ourlocal Greek church – I did Greekdancing, volunteered at festi-vals, taught Greek, and tookpart in pretty much any Greek-American event in the area. Be-ing part of such a strong Greekcommunity taught me the realdefinition of community andthat each of us has a commit-ment to our community.Whether it’s helping your el-derly neighbor or biking acrossthe United States, it’s importantto always be giving back.

TNH: What has been yourgreatest achievement so far?MS: I’m not sure it counts as

my “greatest” achievement, butone of my favorite achievementsso far is my language studies. Ilearned Greek when I was veryyoung, and I have been studyingRussian since high school. Myclass is currently reading Masterand Margarita by Bulgakov, andit’s really interesting! I also

started studying Italian this yearand my goal is to become atleast quadrilingual! Languagesare really thought-provoking –you can really learn a lot abouta culture based on its idiomsand phrases. I really love theidea of traveling to a countryand being able to converse withthe locals in their language.TNH:What’s the greatest les-

son you've ever learned?MS: Life is very, very short –

shorter than most people myage want to realize. When Istarted to see people my age los-ing their life to cancer and acci-dents, I started to realize that Iwasn’t special or exempt fromthe laws of the universe. Thesame could happen to me or toanyone close to me. We have anobligation to ourselves to makeevery day as special as we can,because we’re not guaranteedanother. If you want to becomea better person, become moreathletic, or pick up a new hobby,why not make today the day

that you take that first step?TNH: Do you have role mod-

els?MS: Yes! My pappou was one

of the most incredible people Iever knew. He lived his life in avery specific manner that wasdefined by respect for yourselfand others. He was smart,charming, and very kind. At theend of his life, he was sur-rounded by people who lovedhim dearly. I can’t imagine a bet-ter model for my own life.TNH: What’s your ultimate

goal in life?MS: Just one? I have to say

that one day, I want to look backon my life and be really trulysatisfied with my accomplish-ments and how I went aboutearning them. TNH: What are your most

enjoyable pastimes?MS: In college, I really got

interested in rock climbing. Mymom’s convinced it’s dangerous,but I promise it’s a lot of good,safe fun! I also like to run, andlately I’ve been cycling a lot totrain for the 4K. I also really en-joy reading, so I’m always tryingto fit in new books betweenHopkins studies. Embarrassinglyenough, one of my newest pas-times is trying to learn how toknit. One of my friends is reallygood at it, but we’ll see if I everadvance past scarves. I'm reallybad at it!TNH: Share with us some

words of wisdom.MS: Well, they’re not mine,

but Dave Eggers once said "Wemust do extraordinary things.We have to. It would be absurdnot to." My sister brought thisquote to my attention, and Ithink it’s really perfect. Every-one has the power to do thesame amazing things they mar-vel at in the news or even intheir day to day lives. They justneed to believe that they can!

In the Spotlight: JHU’s Marilyn Stasinopoulos

Marilyn Stasinopoulos

HMS Symposium Honors Evi GiannakakouThe annual symposium in memory of Dr. Mary Kalopothakishonored Paraskevi Giannakakou – PhD as its Distinguished Fe-male Physician/Scientist. (L-R) Ioannis Tsevas – DDS, Evan-gelos Kyriakopoulos , Panagiota Andreopoulou – MD, the hon-oree, Nicholas Mezitis – MD, Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis– MD, and Stella Lymberis – MD with her daughter Olga.

The Boite Era is Revived in AstoriaGrigoris Maninakis fires up the crowd during “A Revival of theAthenian and New York Boite Era – The Golden Period of GreekMusic and Song,” presented by The Hellenic Cultural Centerin Cooperation with the Mikrokosmos. Young artists fromGreece and the community were featured along with guestartists. The program was narrated by Stelios Taketzis.

TNH/cOSTAS bEJ TNH/cOSTAS bEJ

WASHINGTON, DC – AHEPAFamily members and friends re-cently gathered to honor excel-lence in public service and thecommunity at a "Salute to CivicResponsibility" Dinner at theHart Senate Office Building.

The honorees at the augustevent included, U.S. Rep. JohnSarbanes (D-MD), who receivedthe 2012 AHEPA Pericles Awardfor excellence in public servicewhich was presented by U.S.Rep. Frank Pallone [D-NJ]);U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA),2012 who was given the AHEPAPericles Award for excellence inpublic service which was pre-sented by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis[R-FL]); Panicos Papanicolaou,president, Cyprus Federation ofAmerica who accepted theAHEPA Excellence in LeadershipAward which was presented byPSEKA-International Coordinat-ing Committee Justice forCyprus President Philip Christo-pher); and Nick Larigakis, pres-ident, American Hellenic Insti-tute who was honored with theAHEPA Outstanding Public Ad-vocacy Award which presentedby AHEPA Executive DirectorBasil Mossaidis.

The AHEPA OutstandingPublic Advocacy Award recog-nizes individuals who demon-strate unbridled passion in thecourse of advocating for a publicpolicy issue or cause. AHEPAcited Larigakis’ steadfast advo-cacy on Capitol Hill, in thegrassroots, and in the op-edpages of influential publicationsas the basis for his honor.

In his acceptance speech,Larigakis spoke about the im-portance of defending ourproud Hellenic culture and theinfluence his parents had uponinstilling these values in him asa teenager.

He said, “I take exceptionalhonor and humility to receive

an award tonight with such dis-tinguished honorees…There isspecial meaning for me to re-ceive this award tonight, thefirst of its kind, from AHEPA andto receive it on Capitol Hill be-cause when the American Hel-lenic Institute was founded in1974, its number one prioritywas that invasion of Cyprus.

“With AHEPA’s money wewere able to put into place anembargo against the Republic ofTurkey for its illegal invasion ofCyprus against extraordinaryodds at the time. It is not some-thing anyone of us should takelightly that victory.”

Larigakis called on the GreekAmerican community rededi-cate itself to the issues and chal-lenged the community to startresolving them, moving past the

introduction of congressionalresolutions. He also thanked theAHI staff for the support it pro-vides to him as AHI president.

The American Hellenic Insti-tute is an independent non-profit Greek American publicpolicy center that works tostrengthen relations betweenthe United States and Greeceand Cyprus, and within theGreek American community.

In acceptance remarks, theother honorees reflected uponthe importance of ancientGreece's contributions to West-ern Civilization, espoused themerits of public and communityservice, and encouraged citizenparticipation in the civic or ad-vocacy process; and in theprocess, the honorees expressedgratitude toward AHEPA for

promoting these principles. Inaddition, they emphasized theimportant impact younger gen-erations have in this process andencouraged their active engage-ment in civic responsibility.

“I want to thank the wholefamily of AHEPA. This is such awonderful organization...alwaysstanding for progress,” said Con-gressman Sarbanes. He added,“I’ve talked often of this idea ofHellenism in the Public Service;the idea of our community giv-ing back to the broader soci-ety…I will tell you that my in-terest in this idea was partlyinspired by AHEPA becausewhen you look at AHEPA…whatit has done over the years…itstands for the principle of givingback to the broader Americansociety.”

AHEPA Honors AHI President for Public ServiceAHEPA CORNER

Nick Larigakis, president of AHI, with the AHEPA Outstanding Public Advocacy Award, standswith AHEPA Exec. Director Basil Mossaidis (L) and Sup. President John Grossomanides.

Page 3: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – The Cyprus-U.S.Chamber of Commerce, in coop-eration with numerous commu-nity organizations, held its an-nual Career Fair at the ballroomof the Archdiocesan Cathedralthe Holy Trinity in Manhattan onApril 19.

Organized by the Chamber’sExecutive Director Despina Axio-takis and hosted by its presidentVassos Vasiliou, it was designedto bring job candidates and em-ployers together to discuss po-tential employment opportuni-ties. The candidates networkedwith each other and with the rep-resentatives of the numerouscompanies set up booths in theballroom.

Once again the highlight wasan entertaining and informativepresentation by Maggie Stavrian-idis, a Director of Human Re-sources at industrial giant John-son & Johnson where she isresponsible for providing HR sup-port to the Chief Quality Officerof the consumer companies.

The primary lesson she im-parts to people is the importanceof managing the impression onemakes on the interviewer: “Cre-ate a memorable experience withthe people you talk to.”

She then offered six tips basedon her years of experience “talk-ing, interviewing, rejecting, andaccepting job candidates.” Shesaid “If they fit your personalitykeep them, if they do not, dropthem.”

First: Research the Company.Not just what they do, but thecorporate environment and cul-ture. That will tell candidatesthe kinds of people the organiza-tion is looking for and how theyshould present themselves at theinterview.

Most importantly, “know whatthe company is proud about, andnot just their products.” For J & Jit is their credo and values, onwhich they base all their big de-cisions.

She also said it is best to tailorresumes to every single job ap-plication by basing it on the jobdescription, informing the gueststhat resumes are sorted electron-ically though the key wordswhich appear in job descriptions.

The second tip is: Differenti-ate Yourself. “Package yourself ina way that distinguishes you fromeveryone else in the room.”

Third Tip: Pay attention toBody Language. In American cul-ture it is important to have agood handshake and the abilityto look others in the eye. “Prac-tice in front of a mirror,” she said.

Fourth Tip: Energy. “The per-son with high energy wins andcontrols the room…High energyis memorable,” said Stavrianidis.

Fifth Tip: Ask Questions. Ask-ing good questions based on tipone is a good way of showingthat candidate has a genuine in-terest in the organization, whichis attractive.

Candidates must stay awayfrom inappropriate questions,however, the main ones being in-quiries about salary and vacationtime. That information can be ob-tained through research.

Stavrianidis said a good ques-tion is something like, “What areyou looking for in the applicants.What technical competences orcapabilities?”

The final tip is so simple andso basic, one would think it didn’tneed to be spoken, but Stavrian-ides said it is so important andso often forgotten, that she hasto state it: Say thank you. In ad-dition to being polite, it creates anew opportunity to present one-self in light of the informationthe one has gained during the in-terview, and to present you asdifferent from anyone else.

The candidate can say, for ex-ample: “I understood that youare looking for A,B, and C. Youcan see on my resume that withmy experience I can provide youwith A, B, and C.”

Vassos Vassiliou, the Presidentof the Chamber and ManagingPartner of Riverside Credit Invest-ments Corporation, welcomedthe guests and thanks those re-sponsible for the event, includingthe Cypriot Youth Committee ofAmerica (CYCA) Hellenic Ameri-can Chamber of CommerceYoung Professionals (HACC YP),American Hellenic Institute(AHI), Hellenic AmericanBankers Association (HABA),Hellenic American Lawyers As-sociation (HLA), and the HellenicOrganization of University Grad-uates of America (HOUGA).

Vassiliou noted the impor-tance for candidates to networkaggressively and make the most

of their contacts to learn aboutopportunities. He said “Don’t bediscouraged and things will comeyour way.” Stavrianides said thatdespite slow hiring, the jobs pic-ture has improved over last year.

She also said it would be good ifthe community’s organizationsand the church could set up sup-port groups for people who sufferfrom anxiety and depression,conditions that can become ex-

acerbated during periods of un-employment.

Greek Consul Evangelos Kyri-akopoulos acknowledged the im-portance of such events and con-gratulated the chamber and the

other organizations for creatingopportunities for people to comeinto contact with those offeringjobs and internships, noting,“That is part of their missionwithin the community.”

The companies that set up re-cruiting booths included: AlmaBank; Arc Technologies; Arch In-surance Group, Atlantic Partners;Financial Group; ComodromosAssociates; Eiseman; Levine;Lehrhaupt & Kakoyiannis; EthosProductions; Gristedes FoodsInc.; Hurwitz Strategic Staffing.Ltd.; Kreninc’s LLC; Lyons Mort-gage Services, Inc.; Mana Prod-ucts; Mary Kay Cosmetics; River-side Credit Investments Corp.;Unilever; and Veridien Energy.

Job Candidate Alexandra Pan-tazis was very pleased, tellingTNH “what better way to find ajob than through our fellowGreeks. Her experience and in-terest is in marketing but she alsowants to use her project manage-ment skills. She heard about theevent through Linked-In andHOUGA and she said she looksforward to sitting on the otherside of the tables representingemployers seeking Greek andCypriot American talent in thefuture. “I would love to give backwhat people have given me.”

[email protected]

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012 3

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – The annualAHEPA Family excursion cameto a joyous close as the delega-tion led by Supreme PresidentDr. Grossomanides celebratedPascha in Constantinople withHis All Holiness Ecumenical Pa-triarch Bartholomew afterspending part of Holy Week inthe sacred city of Jerusalem.The earlier legs of the trip in-cluded visits to Cyprus, and toAthens and Thessaloniki, duringwhich AHEPA’s efforts to aidGreece were discussed.

Last year, AHEPA conductedits first-ever official visit toJerusalem, and in another his-toric first for AHEPA, Grosso-manides met with President ofTurkey Dr. Abdullah Gül inAnkara on April 13 to continuea dialogue on matters of impor-tance to the Greek-Americancommunity.

“We thank President Gül forthe generous amount of time heafforded us today,” Grosso-manides said, who made his sec-ond visit to Ankara. “We appre-ciated the opportunity tocontinue our dialogue with theTurkish government that beganin October on matters of impor-tance to the community. Themeeting was insightful and pro-ductive, and we look forward tomaintaining an open line ofcommunication.”

Executive Director Basil Mos-saidis accompanied Grosso-manides to Ankara for the meet-ing where AHEPA discussedrelations between the UnitedStates and Turkey, Greece and

Turkey, and religious freedom. American Ambassador to

Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone,Jr. also met with the delegation.“We deeply appreciate the ef-

forts of Ambassador Ricciardoneand his fine embassy staff whohelped to coordinate our suc-cessful visit to Ankara,” saidGrossomanides.

In May 1997 AHEPA was thefirst Greek-American organiza-tion to visit Ankara to meet withTurkish officials. Subsequent vis-its occurred in April 1998, May2001, and October 2011.

EASTER IN THE POLISThe final leg of the excursion

found the delegation in Con-stantinople for the end of HolyWeek and Pascha. On April 14they had an audience withBartholomew where the patri-arch expressed his appreciationfor the AHEPA family's assis-tance on religious freedom is-sues, including the need to re-

open the Theological School ofHalki. Bartholomew was alsopleased that Grossomanides metwith Gül in Ankara on April 13(see below). The AHEPA familypresented Bartholomew with a$15,000 donation.

"We sincerely appreciate thegenerous amount of time andhospitality His All Holiness af-forded us," said Grossomanides."We reaffirmed our unwaveringsupport for the Ecumenical Pa-triarchate and pledged to con-tinue our efforts to lift the re-strictions placed upon religiousfreedom in Turkey. I also sharedmy experience meeting Presi-dent Gül with His All Holiness."

At a ceremony officiated byBartholomew on April 14,Grossomanides became an Ar-chon and was inducted into theOrder of St. Andrew the Apostle.“I am truly honored and hum-bled to become an Archon of theOrder of St. Andrew the Apos-tle,” he said. “I am blessed tohave been inducted by the Ecu-menical Patriarch at a ceremonyheld at the Ecumenical Patriar-chate. It was one of the mostmoving experiences of my life.”

On Easter Sunday, the dele-gation toured the closed Theo-logical Seminary at Halki es-corted by His EminenceMetropolitan of Bursa andExarch of Bithynia, Elpi-dophoros. Learning of trans-portation difficulties on the is-land, the delegation pledged topurchase two golf carts, whichthey were told would be veryhelpful. One cart will be do-nated by Past Supreme Gover-nor Peter Baltis, and his wife,

Katerina and the second will bea gift of the Order.

On April 13 the delegationmet with United States ConsulGeneral to Istanbul Scott Kilnerand State Department HumanRights Officer Hannah Draperat the delegation’s Istanbul ho-tel.

HOLY WEEK IN THE HOLY LAND

During their visit to the HolyLand the delegation had a pri-vate audience with His Beati-tude Patriarch of Jerusalem andAll Palestine Theophilos III, whoalso arranged to have a tourguide show the delegation allthe Holy places in Jerusalem.

"What an incredible experi-ence for all of us who were for-tunate to be on this leg of thetrip,” said Grossomanides,adding, “We sincerely thank HisBeatitude Patriarch Theophilosfor his time and assistance dur-ing our stay in Jerusalem. Whatan amazing city.”

A meeting scheduled with asenior Israeli government offi-cial was postponed due to apressing matter that arose thatday.

As the remarkable journeydrew to a close and everyonereturned to their families andwork, Grossomanides said, “Icommend the members of thedelegation for taking the volun-teer time out of their profes-sional and personal schedulesto accompany me on this land-mark excursion. I appreciatedtheir support and their partici-pation that helped to make theexcursion a tremendous suc-cess.”

AHEPA Family Excursion in Historic Visit to Greece, Cyprus, Holy Land

Above: The AHEPA family del-egation with His Eminence Met-ropolitan of Bursa and Exarchof Bithynia, Elpidophoros atHalki. Left: The AHEPA delega-tion with His Beatitude Patri-arch of Jerusalem and All Pales-tine Theophilos III at thePatriarchate of Jerusalem.

Cyprus Chamber Job Fair Brings Together Job Seekers and Employers

TNH Staff

CLEARWATER, FL – U.S. Rep.Gus Bilirakis (FL) hosted a forumto highlight the treatment of Cop-tic Christians in Egypt, and topromote religious freedom in theMiddle East and worldwide.

The forum was held on April21 at the St. Mary & St. MinaCoptic Orthodox Church in Clear-water.

“It was an honor and privilegeto host this event with our localCoptic community. We had theopportunity to hear from a largegroup of passionate individualsabout the persecution of CopticChristians in Egypt,” Bilirakissaid. “As a Greek Orthodox Chris-tian, I have made it a feature ofmy service in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives to be a voice forall religious minorities wherever

they may be persecuted in theworld. The religious persecutionof Coptic Christians in Egypt isan issue in which we cannot re-main silent.

"Numerous incidents in recentmonths have shown that theEgyptian government continuesto disregard the basic principlesof human rights and religiousfreedom, particularly for Coptics,and has failed to protect against

attacks on their churches," saidBilirakis, a member of the HouseForeign Affairs Committee's Mid-dle East and South Asia Subcom-mittee, as well as the Interna-tional Religious Freedom Caucus.

Featured speakers includedformer Congressman FredGrandy, who now serves as Ex-ecutive Vice President of the Cen-ter for Security Policy and is anexpert on religious freedom and

national security issues, and Cyn-thia Farahat, a political activistand Coptic Christian, who haspersonally experienced the per-secution of Coptics in Egypt.

Late last year, Bilirakis spear-headed an effort to place condi-tions on annual aid to Egypt toprevent the military from usingU.S. taxpayer dollars to persecuteand attack thousands of religiousminorities.

Organizers and participants of the job fair are seen (L-R) Peter Kakoyiannis, Andreas Savva,Vassos Vasiliou, Despina Axiotakis, Peter Krekoukis, who just inaugurated a new commercialreal estate firm, Kreninc’s LLC, and guest, Anastasios Tsiavos.

FL Rep. Bilirakis Hosted Coptic Christian Forum in Clearwater on April 21

Page 4: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012

were the viewing stand of thedignitaries had been placed.

The reported 1200 attendeeswas a number accepted by somebut disputed by others, fuelingfears that if the participationdoes not improve the future ofthe Parade might be in jeopardy.

The marchers at the end ofthe Parade did not go into theBoston Common where greet-ings, speeches, dances andGreek food are usually offered,because the inclement weathercaused the people to leave im-mediately.

On Sunday morning, aMatins, Divine Liturgy, and aDoxology dedicated to the lib-eration of Hellas from the Ot-toman (Turkish) Empire wereoffered at the AnnunciationGreek Orthodox Cathedral ofBoston, officiated by Methodios.A reception followed at theCathedral’s Community Halland from there they all pro-ceeded to the Parade’s startingpoint, where the marchingunits, the schools, the GreekAmerican Evzones, and thefloats had gathered from earlyon.

The floats were the first ones

to arrive to the designated pointof Boylston Street at 10:30AM,while the parishes, the associa-tions and the schools begantheir arrival around noon.

The Parade was organized bythe Federation of the HellenicAmerican Societies of New Eng-land in cooperation with theGreek Orthodox Metropolis ofBoston, the Consul General ofGreece in Boston and theMayor’s Office of CulturalEvents.

On Saturday evening, theGala Dinner of the Federationwas hosted at the newly-reno-vated and renamed Revere Ho-

tel, the former Radisson Hotel,in Boston and was attended byapproximately 230 Greek-Amer-icans from throughout NewEngland.

Dimas was honored for hischampionship in the Olympics.The annual scholarships weregiven to Greek-American collegestudents Leonidas Stephanides,Anastasia Kourtis, and TheodoreKacavas.

Messages and greetings weredelivered by Dimas, Fotopoulos,SAE coordinators, Spyropoulos,Karatzas, and Methodios – whoconcluded with a prayer and thechanting of the hymn “Christ is

risen from the dead”. Dr. Maria Koulmanda, the

prominent diabetes researcherand Harvard professor, wasMaster of Ceremonies. Musicwas provided by the GeorgeKaminaris Orchestra.

On April 20, the annual cel-ebration of the Independence ofGreece took place at the Massa-chusetts State House in the offi-cial Senate Chamber Audito-rium. About 150Greek-Americans were presentat the event organized by agroup of the Greek-Americanlegislators headed by State Sen-ators Bruce Tarr and Ted Speli-

otis. The program was pre-sented by Tarr. ThomasNakopoulos and Spiros Stathas,students from the Hellenic-American School of the HolyTrinity parish in Lowell, offeredthis year’s essay in English andGreek.

Tar presented Methodiosand the Consul General ofGreece an official proclamationon behalf of the Governor ofMassachusetts Deval Patrick,who did not attend.

A reception followed at theConsulate of Greece located on86 Beacon Street within walkingdistance from the State House.

Despite Rain and Strong Winds, Greeks March Forth in Boston ParadeContinued from page 1

The statue of the hero of the War of Independence, Theodoros Kolokotronis, crowns the floatof the Arcadian societies, one of the floats that accompanied 45 groups of marchers.

The Order of AHEPA is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The big birthday cake on itsfloat marks 191 years since 1821 - The Greek Bicentennial is just nine years away.

Among the guests at the annual dinner were Ted Spiropoulos, Malamati and Thomas Boukouvlas,Elias Papadopoulos, George and Roula Papadopoulos, and Athanasios Boulgaropoulos.

The Greek Presidential Guard in the Massachusetts State House. The original Evzones were in-spired by heroes of the American Revolution who once stood on the same spot.

Greek-Americans and Philhellenes attended the reception in honor of Greek Independence andits heroes at the Greek consulate after the celebration at the State House.

At the head of the Parade was Olympian Pyrros Dimas, the Grand Marshal, marching with Met-ropolitan Methodios, U.S. Senator Scott Brown, Themis Karatzas, and Ted Spiropoulos.

Two little girls gracing the float of the Epirotic Society of N.E. disperse the wind and the rainwith their smiles. They can’t wait to hit the Greek beaches this summer.

The Evzones, the Presidential Guard of Greece, are always impressive and garner the loudestcheers. Some wear classic foustanelas, others garb from Macedonia and Crete.

The Pan-Macedonian Association’s float, with its model of Thes-saloniki’s iconic “Lefkos Pirgos – White Tower.”

The turnout at this year’s Greek Parade in Boston was poor,but nothing would have kept these three Hellenes away.

Giannis Nikolopoulos, singing and chanting, came all the wayfrom Lowell armed with his bullhorn and Greek pride.

PHOTOS: TNH/THEODORE KALMOUKOS

Page 5: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

Turkofamerica.com, his wife andco-president Yasemin Koyunogluis the only Turkish person in theUnited States who owns a bank.

The website reported that“after leaving Atlantic Bank,Kostakopoulos bought his firstbank, the First Savings Bank atthe Little Falls of New Jersey.And later on he sold this bankand founded the Fort Lee Fed-eral Savings Bank in 2000 withhis spouse.”

The Bank’s failure will costthe insurance fund $14 millionaccording to FDIC. It is the firstFDIC-insured institution in NewJersey to fail this year.

The Record reported that the“Fort Lee Savings Bank, whichhad operated from one office,had been under increased regu-latory scrutiny for years beforeauthorities shut it down Friday.”

An October 2010 order fromits main federal regulator de-manded that the bank stop op-erating with inadequate capitaland underwriting practices, andwith insufficient anti-moneylaundering controls, amongother discrepancies. The Officeof the Comptroller of the Cur-rency issued in March a moreserious enforcement order, a"prompt corrective action," be-fore shutting it down.

ALMA NOT JUST A NEW YORK STORY

Although Alma bank “isknown for serving the Greekcommunity in Astoria, it hasgrown beyond that niche,” Kara-belas told The Record, adding“we are negotiating to open [abranch] in Borough Park, Brook-lyn…There would not be aGreek to be found in that neigh-borhood.”

“Alma Bank started with acapital base of $50 million andhas grown to $819 million in as-sets and 10 offices. The bank'spresident, George Katsiaunis, isa resident of Tenafly, whereAlma opened its first New Jerseybranch more than a year ago.The bank's balance sheet re-ceived a $19 million lift last yearfrom the federal government'sSmall Business Lending Fund,which provides low-cost capitalfor banks that meet small-busi-ness lending goals,” accordingto The Record.

In January, 2011 Turkofamer-

ica.com last wrote that “theKostakopoulos couple says thatthey owe their strength in theface of economic crisis and mort-gage crises to a planned andconscious strategy. ...Koyunoglu

Kostakopoulos says, ‘What is im-portant is not the number ofbanks; how much business youdo. We took our steps slowly butsustainably.’ Not being impactedby the 'subprime mortgage' crisisthat has spread all around theworld due to the fact that theydid not have these types of in-vestments, Fort Lee Federal Sav-ings Bank have been able togrow their business through thecredits they loan to many Turk-ish businessmen in New Yorkand New Jersey.”THEY MET AT COLUMBIAThe couple met at Columbia

University when she was a stu-dent in International Relationsin graduate school and whereshe was the founder and firstpresident of Turkish StudentsOrganization of Columbia Uni-versity. Her family tree is filledwith illustrious Turkish namesfrom Ottoman times to the Re-public of Turkey.

Her grandfather “was among

the successful businessmen ofTurkey. He was one of the firstentrepreneurs who came to Is-tanbul from Eregli on the BlackSea, and built the first harborin Halic for his own cargo ships.When Ibrahim Koyunoglu hadpassed away at an early age,Yasemin Koyunoglu's father Ser-afettin Koyunoglu, who wasthen attending school in US,took over the running of thebusiness.” Koyunoglu's mother

Vedia is a graduate of theAnkara and Istanbul conserva-toires, studying singing and pi-ano. She is passionately devotedto music.

Kostakopoulos' mother’sroots are in Western Asia Minor.Turkofamerica.com did notmention whether her familywere refugees fleeing the mas-sacres of Greeks in Turkey, butmerely says they were part ofthe “commutation of 1922.” Cu-

riously enough, the exchange ofpopulations took place in 1923.In 1922 Greeks were fleeing theadvancing armies of Ataturk.

The website notes thatKostakopoulos’ nuclear familysettled in New York in 1968, but“the first person to have cometo the US from his family washis uncle. Having fled frompoverty in Greece in 1910 andcome to U.S., his uncle had runa restaurant in Chicago.”

FDIC Shuts Down Kostakopoulos’ Fort Lee Federal Savings Bank in NJ

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012 5

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

CHICAGO, IL – On a bright daywhose partly cloudy skies mim-icked the beloved blue and whiteof the Greek flag, the Greek-American community of Chicagoand surrounding states turnedout for the 48th annual GreekParade on April 27.

The chilly Northern climecalls for the celebration of GreekIndependence Day to be post-poned until almost May, but thatensured that more than 12,000people marched in 110 units,punctuated by 27 floats, accord-ing to the president of The Fed-eration of Hellenic-American Or-ganizations of Illinois – Enosis,Dimitrios N. Georgakoulos.

Tens of thousands of Greeksand Philhellenes were present asparishes came all the way fromIndiana and Wisconsin. Geor-gakopoulos credited Metropoli-tan Iakovos of Chicago for the

great success because he sent anencyclical to all the parishes ofhis Metropolis urging them to

participate. Among the benefac-tors Georgakopoulos expressedspecial thanks to for their con-

tributions were businessmenChris Tomaras and John P.Calamos, as well as numerous

community organizations. Judge Dimitrios Bouras was

the Grand Marshal, but the Fed-

eration chose to do somethingunique with the Honorary GrandMarshals. It chose all the parishcouncil presidents in the area –a total of 22 – and 10 Archons,along with the presidents ofother community organizations.He said it is important to honorthose who have dedicated them-selves to Hellenism and theGreek Orthodox Faith in Amer-ica.

The parade was organized bya seven-member committeeheaded by its president, FatherChrysanthos Kerkeris, the assis-tant priest and Youth Director ofthe Holy Taxiarhai and SaintHaralambos Greek OrthodoxChurch.

Georgakopoulos said AnnaHousakos was in charge of run-ning things on the on theground. One of the highlightswas the delightful performanceof her 7 year-old daughterAlexia, who sang both the Greekand American national anthems.

Greeks-Americans Warm Chicago with Greek Passion on Parade Day

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oney declared “St. Nicholas is aNew York landmark and it holdsa special place in our hearts andin our history.” In addition to em-phasizing its significance to theGreek-American community, shealso noted the importance of thenon-denominational bereave-ment center that will be a part ofthe complex.

Maloney told TNH she willhost a town meeting on the topicannually until the Church is builtto make sure it remains on track.

Before turning the micro-phone over to engineer StevePlate, Director of World TradeCenter Construction, Foye ex-pressed regret over the 10-yeardelays in the rebuilding of St.Nicholas, and that “before Gov-ernor Cuomo’s election thingshad gotten so bad that theChurch needed to resort to thecourts…that was a terrible thingand something governor Cuomofelt was inappropriate.”

Foye said that prior to his ap-pointment to the PA, when hewas a deputy secretary workingfor the governor, he got direct in-structions from the governor “tomake this happen,” referring tothe agreement that was finallysigned on October 14. In strikingcontrast to the often hostilewords and actions of Chris Ward,his predecessor, Foye said St.Nicholas was a special place,

“and we have a fiduciary respon-sibility to make it even more spe-cial.” He even announced thatthanks to “the power of persua-sion” of Karloutsos the site, at4500 square feet, will be biggerthan the Church expected.

He also expressed his appre-ciation to the Church for “em-bracing the conic sphere” – themetal sculpture that was at thecenter of the original WorldTrade Center – which many NewYorkers hold dear. It will be sited

near the front of the newChurch’s entrance, in the midstof an area of trees and bencheswhere visitors can remember the3000 who perished at the handsof terrorists on 9/11 “in a specialway and to meditate on how“good prevails over evil.”

When introducing Karloutsos,Maloney credited him with lead-ing the negotiation that culmi-nated in the agreement to rebuildat 130 Liberty Street, which wasmore accessible and thus pre-

ferred by the church. Karloutsosthanked Maloney for champi-oning the cause of St. Nicholasand all Greek issues.

He said that the day’s meetingwas possible because many mem-bers of the community did notlose hope and were steadfast,and because of the Demetrios’leadership, but he said the agree-ment – whose final details arebeing hammered out by lawyersand officials - would not havehappened without the New YorkGovernor. “Thank God for Gov-ernor Cuomo,” he declared andgave special thanks to Maloney,while also noting the vital roleplayed by Dennis Mehiel, and thework of other community leadersincluding George Tsunis, JimChanos and John Catsimatidis,and organizations like the Orderof AHEPA. He also cited the com-munity’s public officials, such asSenator Michael Gianaris and As-semblywoman Aravella Simotas,who were present at the meeting,and Senate Majority leader DeanSkelos and Nicole Malliotakis.

Karloutsos also expresseddeep gratitude to Foye for “takingthe time to be with the people,”to talk about status of the rebuild-ing, unlike the infamous Ward.He shared that Mayor Bloombergalso applied pressure throughoutthe process, sometimes actuallyshouting at Ward over the latter’sunwillingness “to hear the voiceof the people,” over the issue.

Regarding the building projectitself, Karloutsos acknowledgedthe work of architect NicholasKoutsomitis for his past and con-tinuing pro-bono efforts, workingwith the Church and the PA. Headded the latter is working withDemetrios to come up with theframework for the design andthanked pastor Father John Ro-mas and the parish council fortheir leadership.

Koutsomitis and PC presidentJohn Couloucoundis had ex-plained earlier to TNH that thefinal design has yet to be devel-oped and it is planned that it willbe presented to the parish andthe community at large for com-ment by autumn 2012. Kout-somitis told TNH they are in theexploration phase and are look-ing at different forms for theChurch.

In his presentations Koutsomi-tis stressed that the image of theChurch in the diagrams, a halfsphere on a cube, is a schematicdrawing of a Byzantine churchand is just a place holder in theplans which show how thechurch will be integrated into theGround Zero site, especially thenearby 9/11 memorial.

Koutsomitis said the Churchwill be properly oriented to theEast – the original church wasaligned North-South – and thattwo entry points are planned, oneat the park level and one at streetlevel.

The PA’s requirements con-strain the design at the complexsite – Koutsomitis said they areessentially putting up a buildingon the roof of another building –through height, volume andother restrictions. “We are tryingto be as clever as we can to utilizethe space and its opportunities,”Koutsomitis told TNH.

Plate said the PA originallyhad Church construction begin-ning in 2015-16, but he said that“as a result of working hand andglove,” with the Church andKoutsomitis and others, “we’vebeen able to accelerate that sig-nificantly” so that they wouldstart building possibly as early asnext year, with the Church work-ing alongside the PA. “As webuild the park you build theChurch,” which will open in timefor its 100th anniversary, he said,to loud applause.

After the St. Nicholas seg-ment, Maloney invited guests toremain to discuss other issues ofconcern to the community, espe-cially the dispute with FYROMover the name “Macedonia.” Twoweeks ago she and her HellenicCaucus co-Chair Gus Bilirakis in-troduced H. RES. 627 that ad-dresses the issue and she urgedFYROM to resolve the name dis-pute within the UN frameworkand not to expect to join NATOuntil a solution is reached.

[email protected]

Port Authority Clears New Ground Zero Church in Time for Centennial

The passengers on the float of Chicago’s Laconian societieswave their Greek flags with pride at the parade.

Chicago’s Greek-American youth turned out in big numbers,some on floats, some marching, some waving and cheering.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Former President HaralambosS. Kostakopoulos.

Father Alexander Karloutsos, Protopresbyter of the EcumenicalPatriarchate and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney .

Page 6: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

By Jeff SchultzChesterton Tribune

CHESTERTON, IN – Life. Love.Imagination. Petrakis. It wasthese elements that provided anevening of entertainment formore than 50 members of theDuneland Historical Society andthe public at the Westchester Li-brary Service Center last Thurs-day night.

The nimble, illuminating witof Harry Mark Petrakis withersnot, even as the local storytellerapproaches his 90th year of life.

“A lifetime of memoriesmakes a lifetime of stories,” saidPetrakis, who has written 24books, short story collections,and essays over the span ofmore than 50 years, some ofwhich have been the basis forfeature films.

When asked which work ishis favorite, Petrakis replies“that question is like asking aparent if you have a favoritechild.” Each work has its ownunique factor, he said, for ex-ample the wild humor in “ADream of Kings” and the histor-ical research in his two workson the Greek War of Indepen-dence; “The Hour of the Bell”and “The Shepherds of Shad-ows,” which were publishedmore than 30 years apart.

The evening’s lecture “TheStoryteller’s Golden Wheel” willbe one of his last, Petrakis an-nounced. For 60 years, Petrakis

has addressed different societiesand colleges and the rigors oftravel today are causing him toslow his pace. He said he willstill travel locally to places likeChicago. He and his wife Dianehave lived in Dune Acres for thepast 44 years.

Petrakis shared a fewpoignant memories of his life onthe road meeting students andbeing mistaken for “the manwho wrote ‘Zorba the Greek’”(which, in reality, is NikosKazantzakis, who coincidentallyemigrated from the same islandin Greece as Petrakis’ parents).

Petrakis regaled the audiencewith many anecdotes from hisyouth including a time playingkick the can with kids from hisGreek immigrant neighborhoodin south Chicago during theyears of the Great Depression.Petrakis vividly remembers free-ing 19 teammates from the con-fines of the goalkeeper who, Pe-trakis said, “was a friend ofmine until that day.”

It may just seem like a gameto a layperson but Petrakis knewthere was something more to itor he would not have remem-bered it so vividly after 70 years.“It was an unmatched momentof triumph,” Petrakis said andremarked he would never againrecapture such a feeling.

One more favorite memorycomes from a time when Pe-trakis was in the seventh grade.To paraphrase in a way that

does no justice to how Petrakistells it (the true version can beread in “Stelmark: A Family Rec-ollection”): A young Petrakisforgot his lunch one day and theteacher asked him about itswhereabouts. At that moment,his “imagination took flight”and, to keep from facing a dis-ciplinary action, Petrakis fash-ioned a lie asserting he gave itto “ragged old man sitting in thegutter.” The teacher was sotouched by the gesture that shehad Petrakis repeat the story tothe whole class. He made thelie even “juicer” the secondtime, he said.

“If an academy award wouldbe given for lying, I would havewon,” Petrakis said.

All the classmates, out of pityand admiration, doled out halftheir lunches to Petrakis“enough to equip a fruit stand”when his mother entered theroom carrying the bagged lunchhe forgot to take when he leftfor school.

What happened next was “anexperience so terrible, I haveblotted it from my mind,” saidPetrakis.

Happier memories havestayed with Petrakis and rankingat the top of his list are thebirths of his three sons, publish-ing his first short story and laterhis first book, and makingfriends, “many of them nowgone.”

Petrakis said he sums up his

long life into one word – great-ness. It comes from his parentswho gave him an understandingof people in the Greek Orthodoxculture and the value of loyalty.His taste for literature came atage 11, when he was sick in bedfor two years with tuberculosis.The rest is history.

Close friend Pete Flenner, ofMichigan City, said one impres-sive fact that Petrakis does notlike to gloat about is being the

recipient of the first GabbyAward for Arts and Culture in2009. The awards program isheld every year by the GreekAmerican Community to recog-nize their members who haveachieved excellence. Petrakiswas picked from a total of fivenominees who made a differ-ence in the American culture’s200-year history.

Petrakis has also received theChicago Public Library’s CarlSandburg Award and wasnamed one of the nation’s finestwriters by The New York Times.Many of his stories focus on theexperience of Greeks living inAmerica. He said it takes himone and a half to three years tocomplete a novel.

“I was once a young story-teller and now I am old story-teller. I am grateful for that,” hesaid, prompting applause and astanding ovation from the audi-ence.

INSULL TRIALREENACTMENT NEXT

Historical Society memberJim Jeselnick said the group willhold its next meeting on May17 with a reenactment of theSamuel Insull trial which tookplace in 1934. Insull owned anumber of railroads in theChicago area including theSouth Shore. He was chargedwith abusing finances and foundnot guilty on all counts, havingbeen defended by famedChicago lawyer Floyd Thomp-

son.The cast will include Bob

Welsh, Chuck Lukmann, MikeHarris and Thomas Webber.

In other announcements,Midge Rivers said there will bea dinner at Casa Del Roma Ban-quet Hall in Valparaiso on Sun-day, May 20, starting at 5 p.m.for the 100th year anniversaryof the Porter County HistoricalSociety and encouraged thosein the audience to come supportthe organization.

The Porter County HistoricalSociety has traditionally over-seen the Old Jail Museum inValparaiso and Rivers invitedDuneland Historical Societymembers to see the recent trans-formation the museum has un-dergone.

Running currently throughJuly is the Tools of the Tradetemporary exhibit.

The Westchester TownshipHistorical Museum is also prep-ping its next display, the Moth-ers of Westchester Township,which opens the first week inMay in time for Mother’s Day.Museum Curator Serena Sutliffsaid a slide show is being cre-ated for the exhibit featuring lo-cal mothers and asked for any-one wanting to submit a phototo contact the museum at(219)983-9715.

Each mother who visits theexhibit the weekend of Mother’sDay, May 12-13, will receive apink carnation, Sutliff said.

Author Petrakis Recounts Tales of Youth with Duneland Historical Society

COMMUNITY6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012

By Phyllis (Kiki) Sembos

EMERSON, NJ – Seated atDixon Cafeteria one sunny after-noon, Yiannis, in his early fortiesannounced to those there thathe intended to get married. Allfell silent, until Dimos phrasedappropriate words to his marry-ing without a job. “It’s not prac-tical!” Unless you can find awoman who’d agree to eat onlytwice a week at your sister’s,”quipped George, appalled at hisplans. Yiannis looked affronted.“Leave it to you to find my hon-est intentions suspect,” hepaused. “But, every man shouldhave a wife, and I intend to goto Greece to find that woman.”

“Even in Greece women liketo eat.” George continued his ob-jections. “And, all women likenice things, clothes, getting theirhair and nails done, and havinga husband who’ll be a goodprovider.”

Growing annoyed at the neg-ativity, Yiannis told them that hehad written to his mother andshe’s actively enlisting the mostsensible, biddable, practical wifefor him.

The month of April foundYiannis in his village where hewas treated like a visiting prince.In that impoverished village hewas fawned and fussed over,wined, and dined when hismother let it be known that hesought a wife.

Every proper, eligible, sensi-ble girl was invited to the housefor Yiannis to look over. Pavlina,23, the mayor’s daughter, worea dress of silk, her hair in a bun.But she had more opinions thanYiannis liked. Another girl of 24came dressed like a nun, a daz-zling cross on her chest, spokefive words during the entirevisit, as she had been warnedthat the “American” didn’t liketalkative females. During the

presentation of a third girl, onewho’d gone to school and knewhow to read and write, whichwas a definite deterrent, he no-ticed a gaunt, curly- haired girltoting a bucket of water, headingfor the house of the local elderlypriest.

“Who is she?” Yiannis in-quired, stroking his chin. Hismother looked up and laughed.“Areti? An orphan, extremelypoor and totally uneducated.Just look at those bare feet! Likea horse’s – large and clumsy.Good heavens, Yiannis! Poorgirl’s 18 with no family, no edu-cation - nothing but ignoranceand homely, too. Who knowswho her family was? Our goodpriest took her in to protect her.She’s all grown now, but…”

As his mother reverted on thevirtues of Pavlina, Yiannis con-templated Areti’s virtues. Nofamily – which meant no in-laws. No education – which

meant he’d be the sole voice inhis house. No dowry or decentclothes – which meant she’d beeternally grateful for clothesfrom the thrift shop. Another

great advantage was her curlyhair – which meant no beautyparlors or need for make-up.More importantly, Areti was pli-able, having worked for thepriest since childhood.

Interrupting his mother’s di-alogue on Pavlina’s qualities, heannounced that he’d made uphis mind – but not before attend-ing several more dinners givenin his honor by the mayor of thevillage who had not lost hopethat Pavlina would be chosen asYiannis’ wife.

Just before he was due to re-turn to the United States, Yian-nis went to speak to the priest,who was astounded and awedat his intentions for wanting forhis wife the lowly, ugly, skinny,uneducated Areti.

When he announced thisgreat privilege to his ward, thegirl, was frightened at first, shyand speechless. But the priest as-sured her that Yiannis was a

good man. “His mother is a de-vout member of our church.And, after all, he lives in Amer-ica. You have been chosen overthe finest girls of this village,Areti. Be grateful to God!”

And, so, she was married inthe humble church, wearing asimple white dress that Yiannis’mother made from a bedspread.The mayor refused to beKoumparo. A distant cousin wasdesignated while the rejectedfamilies cursed the expense ofthe elaborate dinners given Yian-nis and his mother those manydays. The priest bought Areti herfirst pair of shoes to at least, lookpresentable when coming off theship that was to bring her to thefabulously rich country of Amer-ica. Areti felt like she wasdreaming while Yiannis’ friendsat Dixon cafeteria wonderedhow long the honeymoon wouldlast before that poor girl realizedwhat she was in for.

fiction to poetry to nonfictionand social commentary. Thespeakers thanked the Societyand expressed their own appre-ciation for the works of their fel-low Greek writers. The readingswere interspersed with musicalpresentations that also delightedthe guests.

Archbishop Demetrios wasvery impressed both with theevent and its aim of honoringthe community’s writers, and hiswords were echoed by theGreece’s Consul Evangelos Kyri-akopoulos.

Panos Adamopoulos, thepresident of the Society, was thedriving force behind the en-deavor. His greetings and clos-ing remarks “bookended” thewell-organized event and he ex-pressed his thanks and appreci-ation for the collective efforts ofall the members of the society,its board, and the organizing

committee, “who worked fever-ishly and with dedication,” tomake the well-organized eventa success.

Apostolos Zoupaniotis,Martha Tomboulidou, and Ka-terina Andrioti-Baitinger werethe hosts and introduced thereaders and performers.

Guests were greeted at thedoor by the members of the So-

ciety and a box for the receptionof donations for the Bre-fokomeio Athinon (FoundlingHome) whose population hasnow swelled to 5000 children.It has also undertaken to feed4000 elderly and homeless peo-ple every day. Generous andthoughtful members of the com-munity filled it with tens andtwenties that totaled more than$1000 by the end of the day.

The Archdiocesan YouthChoir performed under the di-rection of Maria Koleva andthere was a recital by composerand pianist Athena Adamopou-los. Athena earned music de-grees at Harvard University andJulliard and is currently a doc-toral candidate at the New Eng-land Conservatory.

After being introduced byZoupaniotis, who has knownher since she was a 7 year-oldchild prodigy performing at Lin-coln Center, Athena playedBach’s Invention #13, the third

movement from Beethoven’sSonata No. 8, opus 13, which isknown as the Pathetique,Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharpminor and the Impromptu in E-flat major by Schubert.

The hushed opening passageof the Chopin was interruptedby the metronomic shoes – step-ping off the beat – of a late ar-rival seeking her seat, but the

all-too-brief performance hadthe guests wishing for more.

One of the highlights of theafternoon was a presentationand book signing for the bookabout the life of the mother ofbusiness mogul John Catsima-tidis, For the Love of Others,written by author Justine Fran-gouli-Argyris. The journalist De-spina Syriopoulou introduced

Frangouli, who in turn pre-sented actress Olga Zissi, whoread excerpts from the book.

Catsimatidis expressed his ap-preciation to the organizers andthe guests. He admitted – ascould many multi-generationGreeks present – that his Greekwas not as good as he would likeit to be, but he is happy to sup-port such events and “the educa-tion of our children,” in the Greeklanguage, culture, and religion.

Adamopoulos presented Cat-simatidis with a plaque andthanked him for being a bene-factor of the event and the So-ciety. He said he looks forwardto more cooperation betweenthe Society and Catsimatidis’family and foundation to pre-sent events that will also honorthe community’s painters, mu-sicians, athletes, and other highachievers.

Certificates of appreciationwere presented to the writersand the attractive bilingual sou-venir program contained their

bios and photos. The writersscheduled to make presenta-tions and whose works the So-ciety encourages the communityto explore included: NicholasAlexiou, Katerina Andriotis,John Antonopoulos, Irene Arc-holekas, Spiros Darsinos, Vasi-liki Filiotis, Stella ZampourouFollender, Andreas C. George,Vana Kontomerkou, Ekaterini Li-vanis, Maria Micheles, DimitrisMoustakis, Tassos Mouzakis,Elias Neofotistos, Gabriel Pana-giosoulis, Anastasios P. Pa-padonikolakis, Angeliki Stam-atopoulou-Pedersen, John G.Siolas, Olympia Psarraios-Spanos, Yiota Stratis, JoanneTombrakos, Aspa Papakonstan-tinou-Trigonis, Makis Tzilianos,Nikos Zavolas, Thei Zervaki.

Sylvia Adamopoulos toldTNH that 15 authors, regret-tably, had to be turned away thistime.

Hellenic Writers from the ageof Plato and Aristotle haveblended into both their litera-

ture and their scientific writingsguidelines for living the goodlife. Emmanuel Karavousanoscontinues that tradition. Afterretiring from the insurance in-dustry in 1990, he has dedicatedhis life to studying human con-sciousness, including mysticismand the mystical state of mind,which he said science has nowilluminated. In his 2007 bookThe Gift of Mystical Insight: TheSecret Unlocked, he shares hisbelief that “science and religionare very much compatible andwork together in the realm ofconsciousness.”

Karavousanos declared thatknowledge about the “how andwhy” the mystical experiencewill provide “the incentive foreach of us to reach for this mosttreasured of all gifts.” He hopeshis work will help “our childrenand future generations livemore secure, meaningful andhappier lives.”

The publishers and book-sellers who had impressive dis-plays included Greece in Print,the Livanis Publishing Organi-zation, the S.A., Pella Publish-ing Company, Psichogios Publi-cations, the Pan MacedoniaStudies Center, and TNH Book-store. John Fakazis, the ownerof Attica Editions which pub-lishes under their imprint Cos-mos Press whose books are dis-tributed along with those ofother publishers appreciated theevent and the booksellers werevery happy with their sales.

Adamopoulos told TNH ofhis appreciation for board mem-bers who made donations in-cluding Isabella Maniatopoulos,Society Vice President Harry Fil-ilpou, Sylvia Adamopoulos, andYiota Stratis. The Georgia Din-ner and Terrace on the Park do-nated the food for the receptionand Nikos Bardis the wine.

Adamopoulos also thankedthe following for promoting theevent: Michael Ignatiou andMEGA; Cosmos FM and its Di-rector of Operations Joanna Gi-annopoulos; Antenna TV, andthe Press and CommunicationOffice of the Permanent Missionof Greece to the UN and its PressCounselor Nikos Papaconstanti-nou.

The NY Athenians’ Society Spotlights Community’s Authors at Exposition

Acclaimed author Harry MarkPetrakis.

Above photo: Organizers and participants pause for a com-memorative photo in front of the stage of the Petros PatridesCenter. Left Photo: (L-R) John Catsimatidis, author JustineFrangouli-Argyris, journalist Despina Syriopoulou, and PanosAdamopoulos during the book signing presentation.

The Bridegroom

One way or another, Greek im-migrants found wives, Greekones or otherwise. Sometimesthey chose them only from aphoto and a letter.

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Continued from page 1

Page 7: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

By Steve Frangos

The arrival of AlexandrosRangavis in early 1867 as GreekMinister to the United States hasnot received the attention it de-serves. It is hard to believe thatsome enterprising graduate stu-dent has not already searchedthrough Greek and Americandiplomatic sources, private pa-pers, and published accounts inorder to chart that man's actionsin Washington DC as well asacross the nation. What has cap-tured the Greek-American imag-ination is the documented meet-ing between Rangavis andConstantino Brumidi, a painterfor the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

Charilaos G. Lagoudakis, ahistory professor of Athens Col-lege, shared his account of thatmeeting. The July 27, 1967, edi-tion of the Idaho State Journalreported that: "According to Mr.Lagoudakis' findings, Brumidi‘was not only aware of his Greekfamily background, but freelytalked of his Greek origin.’ Thefirst Greek diplomat to the U.S.who took note of Brumidi wasAlexander Rhizos Rangavis, aman of letters, a historian, nov-elist, poet and playwright. Hementioned the artist twice in thethird volume of his [personal]journal: First on page 216 hedescribed Brumidi as a ‘Greekartist,’ and further on page 234he designated him as ‘the GreekBrumidis.’”

Rangavis arrived in Washing-ton on May 31,1867, at six o'-clock in the morning of aWednesday. In the course of thesame day he visited the Capitol,and his description of its interiordecoration indicates Brumidi'sethnic reputation at that time:“The Central Hall (of the Capi-tol)...is covered by a very highdome which holds in its centera beautiful fresco worked out bya Greek artist.” Rangavis did notmention Brumidi's name. Appar-ently he did not meet the “Greekartist” on that occasion...Ran-gavis' second reference to Bru-midi is more specific, as in themeantime the two men were in-troduced to each other on or be-fore August 4, 1867, the daywhen the Greek diplomat visitedthe Capitol for a second time toattend a congressional meeting.He noted the “domed corridor”between the House and the Sen-

ate rooms, and described itsdecorator as the “Greek Bru-midis” reared in Rome, “whoseacquaintance I made with greatinterest."

Lagoudakis, in his 1976 arti-cle, "Was Constantino Brumidithe Michelangelo or El Greco ofAmerica?" found among the es-says in the 23rd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress commemorativevolume, adds yet another his-torical twist to that meetingwhen he notes that Rangavis"was introduced to Brumidi bya State Department official ofGreek origin, whom the Athen-ian diplomat styled in his Jour-nal as ‘the Greek Mr. Kimon.’"This passing meeting betweenRangabis and Brumidi was thevery first clue that Brumidi, whoAmericans always cited as anItalian, was in fact Greek.

Few who visit the Capitol Ro-tunda for the first time knowthe name Constantino Brumidi.Yet once they see his stunningfrescos, friezes, ironwork, anddecorative paintings, whichmake that building one of thegreatest art treasures in theworld, nearly all visitor ask hisname.

An immigrant who arrivedon our nation's shores in 1852,Brumidi was paid $8 per day forhis work in the Capitol building– that is until Jefferson Davisgave him a $2 raise. This inter-nationally- recognized artist isnow hailed as “the Michelangeloof America,” with seeminglyendless scholarly articles andbooks devoted to his work. Un-fortunately, not all of those aca-demic accounts are free of prej-udice.

Modern scholars have begungradually, and sometimes be-grudgingly, acknowledging Bru-midi’s Greek heritage. Since1950, scholars have been forcedto accept one source, written inBrumidi's own hand that can beread as the artist's own sense ofidentity. Upon his arrival in NewYork City, September 19, 1853,the American Bible Society gavethe new immigrant a free Bible.In the Birth section Brumidiwrote, "Constantino Brumidi(Broumides), born in Rome,July 26, 1805, by StavrosBroumides of Chiliatra (village),province of Arcadia, in the Pelo-ponnesus (Greece), and AnnBianchini of Rome." Clearly, that

is how Constantino Brumidi un-derstood his own heritage. Mostscholars who note ConstantinoBrumidi’s Italian identity ignorethe fact he was never a citizenof either the nation state of Italy,which did not exist in 1805, orRome, which was then nothingmore than the Papal States.

This academic argument isone strictly focusing on prestige.The prejudice at work here isnot one based on ethnicity butartistic traditions. Brumidi wasfirst trained at the Academy ofFine Art in Rome. Given that ed-ucation and his subsequentwork at the Vatican, art criticsimmediately associate him withthe giants of Italian art.

Following, in a sense, GiorgioVasari's, classic, "Lives of theArtists," those art critics largelyagree with the common threadof development presented inthis classic account that tracesthe Italian tradition beginningwith painters such as Cimabueand Giotto that continues in adirect line to the golden epochof the Renaissance withLeonardo da Vinci, Michelan-gelo and Titan. Brumidi's frescotraining clearly falls within this

broader historical tradition.Even in some of the latest writ-ings on Brumidi's art he is com-pared not to Michelangelo butrather (by a long drawn-out ar-gument) to Raphael. So whilethere is an implied correction ofperspective it is one only of de-grees, which is ultimately meantto reaffirm Brumidi's associationwith this very specific traditionof art. And following the inter-nal argument to its logical con-clusion, the Capitol Rotunda isa continuation of the Renais-sance tradition of supremeWestern art. Yet, the artistic tra-dition one chooses is not thesame as personal identity.

Interestingly, and to theirlasting credit, various Greek-American writers have not gonealong with that artistic argu-ment. Perhaps the most exhaus-tive review of this question isfound in “Constantino Brumidi:The Michelangelo of the UnitedStates Capitol From FiliatraMessinias Greece,” by Harry andJohn Fournier (Athens: Ska-pabaios, 1988). The father andson writing team investigateBrumidi's legal status as it wasunderstood in the 1800s. No

one denies that Brumidi'smother was born in Rome. Asno one denies that he was un-questionably trained in the Ital-ian style of fresco painting. Asfar as Brumidi's identificationwith the Catholic Church, de-picted by some scholars, it isalso the case that no artist everworked in the Vatican unlessthey were of the Catholic faith.Yet, regardless of Brumidi's birthin Rome, international laws ofthe 1800s, did not recognizehim as a legal citizen of the Pa-pal States.

In 1805 Brumidi was, con-sidering his father's place ofbirth, a legal subject of the Ot-toman Empire. Under the Lon-don Protocols of February 3 andJune 16, 1830, which amongother things established the na-ture of citizenship and immigra-tion rights of the Christian mi-norities of the Ottoman Empire,Brumidi was legally a Greek na-tional. Civil strife that causedBrumidi to leave Rome forNorth America was due to thelengthy process of the unifica-tion of Italy – the Risorgimento– which eventually united mostof Italy by 1861.

Rome, however, did not be-come part of that new nationstate until 1870. The point isthat simply because ConstantinoBrumidi's mother was born inRome did not automaticallymake Brumidi an Italian citizen.

If more New York City Greeksknew Brumidi’s Greek heritage,perhaps more of them wouldvisit St. Stephen's RomanCatholic Church, where Brumidipainted an especially striking al-tar fresco. Professor GeorgeSideris has been valiantly at-tempting to get the New YorkGreek community interested inthat artwork for many years.

A broader aspect of theRangabe-Brumidi meeting be-tween Rangabe and Brumidi ishow did Greeks in the Diasporafind one another? How werenotable Greek ministers,painters State Department per-sonnel and others understoodby American society overall?What about the wealthy Greekmerchants arriving on Americanshores in the 1830s? Theselarger questions are certainlyworth exploring, too.

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COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012 7

When Greek Meets Greek: A Summer 1867 Encounter in Washington DC

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ALL HISTORY

Alexandros Rizos Rangavis

Constantino Brumidi “Apotheosis of George Washington” by Constantino Brumidi in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

Page 8: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

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DEATH NOTICESn ALEXION, JAMES

NICHOLASVIRGINIA BEACH, VA (From TheVirginian Pilot, published on Apr.18) – James Nicholas Alexionpassed away peacefully into thearms of the Lord on April 14,2012 at his home. "Nick" or"Jimmy Nick" was born inStaunton, Va., on February 6,1938 to Greek immigrant parents,Nicholas and Constantina Alex-ion, who predeceased him. Hegrew up in Waynesboro, Va. andwas loved by everyone who knewhim. Nick was an exceptional ath-lete who attended Virginia Com-monwealth University on a base-ball scholarship. He also attendedDunsmore Business College inStaunton, Va. His gift was hissense of humor and his ability tobring laughter into the lives ofeveryone around him. Nick wasalso an avid tennis player andloved spending time at VBTCCwith his friends. He is survivedby his sister, Helen James andhusband, Gus; nieces Dr. Mary-Margaret James of Charlotte,N.C., Nicole Phillips and husband,George and his favorite great-nephew, Alexander of Houston,Texas; his aunt, Stella Dikos andher family of Richmond; hiscousin, Apostoli Boukourakis andhis family of Charlottesville; andhis uncle, Stelios Dikos of Athens,Greece. He also has many cousinsalong with a large group offriends who love him dearly. ATrisagion service will be held onThursday, April 19, at 6 p.m. atHollomon-Brown Funeral Home,1264 N. Great Neck Road, Vir-ginia Beach, VA. The funeral willbe held Friday, April 20, 11:30a.m. at the Annunciation GreekOrthodox Cathedral, 7220Granby Street, Norfolk, VA. Offi-ciating will be the Very Rev. Archi-mandrite Ambrose Bitziadis-Bow-ers. In lieu of flowers, donationsmay be made to the HellenicWoman's Club Scholarship Fundof Annunciation Cathedral, 7220Granby Street, Norfolk, VA23505. Interment will be Satur-day, April 21, 1 p.m., RiverviewCemetery, Waynesboro, Va., offi-ciated by Father Peter Rexinis.

n ALEXIOU, PAULANNAPOLIS, MD (From TheCapitol, published on Apr. 18) –Paul E. Alexiou, 80, a longtimeresident of Annapolis, died April16 after a lengthy illness. He wasborn on January 29, 1932 in Pi-raeus, Greece to the lateEfthemios and Maria Alexiou.Paul departed for the UnitedStates in 1952 in search of theAmerican Dream. Upon arrivingin Annapolis, he soon beganworking in the restaurant busi-ness with his late dear brother,George Alexiou. In Annapolis,Paul also met the love of his life,his beloved late wife Penelope"Penny" Reid Alexiou. Paul andPenny came to be known as theowners of the famous Timmy'sCarryout located on Bay RidgeAvenue with a secondary locationon historical Maryland Avenue.Paul will always be rememberedby customers, friends and rela-tives as a vibrant, warm, and gre-garious man with a generousheart of gold. Paul is survived byhis beloved son, Tim Alexiou.Friends are invited to Paul's LifeCelebration from 2 to 4 p.m. and6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April19, at the George P. Kalas FuneralHome, 2973 Solomons IslandRd., Edgewater. A funeral servicewill be held at 11 a.m. on Friday,April 20, at Saints Constantineand Helen Greek OrthodoxChurch, 2747 Riva Rd., Annapo-lis. Interment St. DemetriosGreek Orthodox Cemetery. In lieuof flowers, donations in Paul'smemory are recommended to theNational Kidney Foundation ,1301 York Rd. Suite 404,Lutherville, MD 21093 or by vis-iting www.kidney.org.

n GREGORATOS, CHRISTINE LAKE STATION, FL (From thePost-Tribune, published on Mar.31) – Gregoratos, Christine "YiaYia" Our beloved mother, CHRIS-TINE "YIA YIA" GREGORATOS,of Lake Station, passed away athome surrounded by her lovingfamily, Thursday, March 29,2012. Our beloved mother had afull life that ranged from themountains of Eprius to Athens,to the Island of Kefalonia and fi-nally immigrating to the UnitedStates with her children. She wasborn in the Village of Eleftheri-ous, Conchia, a mountainous vil-lage in Greece. During WWII, herparents, Despina and GorgiousManthos were killed leaving be-hind six small children to carefor themselves. Without the loveand support of family they werescattered throughout war tornEurope. Later in life she reunitedwith her brother, Timothy. Ourmother met our father, DennisGregoratos, in Athens. They weremarried on the Island of Kefalo-nia, Greece. Christine had beena resident of Lake Station for over50 years and was employed as aCustodian for Alexander Hamil-ton School for 28 years. She wasa hard worker and will be re-membered as a strong, selflesswoman who was loved by all thechildren. She is survived by her1 son, George (Mary) Gregoratosof Winter Park, FL; 4 daughters,Emily Gregoratos of Lake Station,

Angela (Douglas) Arndt of Flem-ing Island, FL, Alexandria Grego-ratos of Sarasota, FL, and De-spina (Dave) Mills of Cincinnati,OH; brother, Timothy (Maria)Manthos of Melbourne, Australia;3 grandchildren, Barbie Christine(John Steven) Smolinski of Yuk-ouska, Japan, Jack Arndt of At-lanta, GA, Jake (Jessica) Arndtof Savannah, GA; 2 great grand-children, Alexander Smolinski,10 years old and Sophia Arndt, 11/2 years old. Christine was pre-ceded in death by her husband,Dennis; her parents; 4 sisters,Katina, Katerina, Persephone,and Marianthy. She was a mem-ber of Philoptochos Society andSenior Citizen Group at Ss. Con-stantine and Helen Greek Ortho-dox Church. A funeral service forChristine was Wednesday, April4, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Con-stantine and Helen Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral, 8000 Madison St.,Merrillville, with Father TedPoteres and Father Jason Dickeyofficiating. Burial will follow atRidgelawn Cemetery. Visitationwas on Tuesday, April 3, 2012from 2:00 8:00 p.m. with a Tris-agion service at 5:00 p.m. at ReesFuneral Home, Hobart Chapel,600 W. Old Ridge Rd., Hobart,(219) 942-2109.

n HORN, WAYNE L.SPOKANE, WA (From TheSpokesman-Review, published onApr. 8) – Wayne L. Horn: bornJuly 19, 1920; passed away April1, 2012. Wayne was born andraised on a farm in Auburn, NewYork. After Pearl Harbor, in De-cember, 1941 he enlisted in theArmy Air Corps as an aviationcadet. In 1942 he graduated as apilot and 2nd Lieutenant. He wasa charter member of the 385thBomb Group (B-17's) which wasactivated at Geiger Field in early1943. He flew B-17 bombers overNazi Europe in 1943 and 1944and made Captain in November,1943. He received many decora-tions, including DistinguishedFlying Cross, several PresidentialUnit Citations and five Airmedals. He served as B-17 in-structor pilot/flight commanderfor several years upon his returnto the U.S. After attending intel-ligence schools he served as As-sistant Air Attach�© to Greecefrom 1948 through 1952, duringthe Greek/Communist War. Uponthe start of the Cold War he re-turned to his bomber back-ground, becoming one of the firstpilots in the B-47 and B-52 jetbomber program. As a B-52 in-structor pilot he flew many 24-hour airborne alert missions.Subsequently, he held severalstaff positions at Wing, Air Divi-sion and Air Force level. He retired in 1969 and soon re-ceived his Master's Degree in Po-lice Science and Administration.In "retirement" Wayne founded ahorse/stock trailer business andsaddle shop. He also owned andran two cattle ranches, one inJoseph, Oregon and one in theSpokane area. He is survived byhis wife, Lillian; sons: Gary(Ellen), Glenn (Stephanie) anddaughter, Janice (Bill). Waynewill be dearly missed by everyonewho knew him. We love you. Vis-itation was Monday, April 9, from12:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the funeralhome. A graveside service withfull military honors was heldTuesday, April 10, at 11:15 at theWashington State VeteransCemetery, 21702 West EspanolaRoad, Medical Lake, WA.

n KERATZIDES, ALECSAN FRANCISCO, CA (From theSan Francisco Chronicle, pub-lished on Apr. 1) – Alec AndrewKeratzides Alec passed awaypeacefully in San Francisco onMarch 25, 2012 at the age of 84.Dearly beloved husband ofJoanne; also survived by hisnieces and nephews in Greeceand the US; his loving sisters-in-law, Electra and Katy and

brother-in-law James. Alec, whowas also known as Mr. K, was adedicated teacher of math, in-cluding AP Calculus, at GeorgeWashington High School for 34years. Friends and family visitedon Wed. April 4th, 2012 4:30PMto 6:00PM at SULLIVAN'S FU-NERAL HOME 2254 Market St.bet. Noe and Sanchez Sts. S.F.and attended the trisagion thatevening at 7:OOPM at Holy Trin-ity Greek Orthodox Church 999Brotherhood Way, S.F. as well asthe funeral on Thur. 11:00AMalso at the church. Interment tofollow at the Greek OrthodoxMemorial Park, Colma, CA. Do-nations preferred to the Ameri-can Cancer Society.

n KOUTSARIS, ELIAS J.BINGHAMTON, NY (From theBinghamton Press & Sun-Bul-letin, published on Mar. 25) –Elias John Koutsaris, who wasborn on Tuesday, February 8th,2011, passed away unexpectedlyon Thursday, March 22nd, 2012(He was 13 Months and 2 weeksold) He is survived by " MaMaand BaBa", John and Karyn Kout-saris, Endwell; his grandparents"YiaYia and Papou" Louis andArgie Koutsaris, Endicott, "MiMi"Diane Ryan, Endicott, DanielRyan, Binghamton; Aunt GeorgiaKoutsaris, Arlington, VA; UncleMark and Aunt MaryKay Ryanand their children, Mark, Mason,and Megan of Endicott; UncleMichael and Aunt Jennifer Ryanand their children, Quinn andDeclan, Lindenhurst, NY; UncleJohn B. Ryan, Endicott; manyaunts, uncles, cousins, friends,classmates and teachers and oth-ers too numerous to mention. Hewas an angel sent from abovethat touched so many peoplewith his smile and kindness. Eliasloved music, Elmo and differentgadgets. Special thanks to allwho helped with the benefit inJanuary and thanks to all thestaff of Golisano Children's Hos-pital (11G) in Syracuse, NY. Fu-neral Services for Elias will beheld on Wednesday, March 28,2012 at 10:15 a.m. from theGreek Orthodox Church of theAnnunciation, 4121 Ohara Dr.,Vestal, with Father MichaelBahlatzis officiating. Burial willbe in Riverhurst Cemetery,Endwell. The family will receivefriends on Tuesday from 3:00 to7:30 p.m. at the church with Tris-agion services to be held at 7:00p.m. The family is asking forfriends and family to wear yellowon Wednesday in honor of Elias.In lieu of flowers, donations canbe made to Golisano Children'sHospital 750 E. Adams St., CABRoom 326, Syracuse, NY 13210;The American Cancer Society ,13 Beech St., Johnson City, NY13790; or the Jorge Posada Foun-dation for Cranial Surgery, 27West 20th St. 9th floor, NY, NY10011 in Elias's honor. Arrange-ments are with the Coleman &Daniels Funeral Home, Endicott.

n LOUNTZIS, ALEXANDRA J. READING, PA (From The Read-ing Eagle, published on Mar. 26)– Alexandra J. Lountzis, 85, ofPennside, passed away on Satur-day, March 24, 2012, at KindredCare of Wyomissing, where shehas resided since 2006. She wasthe widow of John A. Lountzis,who passed away May 28, 2004.Born in Katouna, Greece, she wasa daughter of the late John andVasiliki Kalliga. She was a mem-ber of Sts. Constantine and HelenGreek Orthodox Church, Read-ing. Mrs. Lountzis was a very ac-tive member at church and alsowith the Philoptochos Society.Mrs. Lountzis is survived by twosons: Paul J., husband of KellyLountzis of Sinking Spring, andJohn J., husband of SharonLountzis of Pennside; and twodaughters: Christine J., wife ofJoseph Conrad of Reading; andElaine J., wife of Lee Kissinger ofFlying Hills. Also surviving are

eleven grandchildren: Jessica,Adrienne, Tina, Alexandra,Zachary, Tyler, Lauren, Ryan, An-drew, Alex and Nick; and a great-grandson, Brian. She was prede-ceased by a daughter, Mary J.Lountzis, July 17, 1999. Funeralservices were held Friday, March30, 2012, at 11 a.m. at Sts. Con-stantine and Helen Greek Ortho-dox Church, 1001 E. WyomissingBlvd., Reading, PA 19611. Burialwas at Charles Evans Cemetery.Visitation was held at Sts. Con-stantine and Helen Greek Ortho-dox Church on Friday from 9a.m. to 11 a.m. In lieu of flowerscontributions may be made to thechurch at the above address. LutzFuneral Home Inc., Mt. Penn, incharge of arrangements.

n PAPPADOPOULOS, CHRISTOS

ANDOVER, MA (From the LowellSun, published on Mar. 31) –Christos Pappadopoulos, 71, ofAndover, passed into eternal lifeon Wednesday, March 28th, inFort Lauderdale, Florida. He wasborn September 4, 1940 inSparta, Greece, a son of the lateSperos and Helen (Aliferopoulos)Pappadopoulos, Christos came tothe United States at the age ofsix. Christos attended school inLowell schools, and graduatedfrom Lowell Technological Insti-tute. He was passionate aboutgardening, fishing, politics andGreek history. He believed inhelping people always -- family,friends, and strangers in need.An optimist in the human spirit,he often saw the potential in peo-ple others did not. Christosserved his country in the Armyduring the Vietnam War, and washonorably discharged as a firstlieutenant. Following a long ca-reer at both Honeywell and Dig-ital Equipment, he embarked onhis true passion as the owner ofPasta Villagio, Glory Restaurant,and currently Andolini's Restau-rant, all in Andover. He was amember of the Holy Trinity GreekOrthodox Church of Lowell. Heis survived by his beloved wife of40 beautiful years, Eileen(Saulnier) Pappadopoulos; theproud father of Adrienne and herfiancé, Michael Schlow, and son,Spiro and his fiancée, MeganElmstrom. He is also survived byhis loving granddaughter, Petra,he was simply Papou to grand-daughter, Petra, and she was theapple of his eye. He is also sur-vived by a sister, Mary Daiopu-losand her husband, Arthur, andmany, many loving family mem-bers and lifelong friends. He waspredeceased by his sister the lateEdith Christopulos and her hus-band, Andrew, PAPPADOPOU-LOS -- Friends will be receivedat the M.R. LAURIN FUNERALHOME, 295 Pawtucket St. Lowellon Monday from 4:00 to 8:00pm. His funeral took place fat theFuneral Home on Tuesday at9:00 am with services at the HolyTrinity Greek Orthodox Churchof Lowell at 10:00 a.m. Intermentwas in Westlawn Cemetery, Low-ell. In lieu of flowers, donationscan be made to the Christos Pap-padopoulos Memorial Fund, ben-efiting Massachusetts GeneralHospital Transplant Unit. Checksmay be mailed to EnterpriseBank, 8 High Street Andover, MA01810. Funeral arrangementsunder the direction M.R. LaurinFuneral Home, directors, LouisM. Fazio III, M. Richard Laurin,and Scott Laurin, please visitwww.laurinfuneralhome.com fordirections and condolences.

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LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — Aspolitically charged court pro-ceedings began in Cyprus onApril 23 into last year's explosionof confiscated Iranian gunpow-der that killed 13 people, Cyprus'finance minister said that moreausterity measures will beneeded to meet a deficit targetof 2.5 percent of gross domesticproduct this year.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says GreekCypriot and Turkish Cypriotleaders have not made sufficientprogress during talks on reuni-fying Cyprus to call an interna-tional conference at this time.

The July 11, 2011explosiontriggered a political crisis thatdamaged the presidency of Dim-itris Christofias.

Eight people face charges ofmanslaughter and negligencecausing death, including ex-For-eign Affairs Minister MarkosKyprianou and ex-Defense Min-ister Costas Papacostas. Themanslaughter charge carries amaximum life in prison.

Both men resigned in thewake of the July 11 blast thatnearly ruined the island's largestpower station and touched offweeks of street protests overwhat many saw as his govern-ment's botched handling of theaffair.

Kyprianou and Papacostas ap-peared in a Larnaca courtroomalongside all the co-accused thatincluded senior National Guardand Fire Department officers, ex-cept former National GuardChief Petros Tsalikides, a Greeknational.

The court approved a stateprosecutor's request for an arrestwarrant against Tsalikides andpostponed all proceedings untilMay 18. All the accused were re-

leased on €150,000 ($198,000)bail.

Police officers had to restrainsome victims' relatives fromcharging the accused's vehiclesas they arrived at the courtscomplex. One black-clad manshouted "murderers" while beingheld back by police.

Kyprianou had previouslysaid that he believed the case tobe a politically motivated witchhunt aimed at finding scape-goats for the disaster.

A public inquiry into the is-land's worst peacetime militarydisaster found that the gunpow-

der packed in some 98 contain-ers had spontaneously com-busted after becoming unstablefrom prolonged exposure towide temperature swings. Thecontainers had been left piled inan open field inside a naval basefor more than two years.

The munitions were confis-cated in February 2009 from aCypriot-flagged ship suspectedof transporting them from Iranto Palestinian militants in Gazathrough Syria in breach of aUnited Nations ban on Iranianarms exports.

The inquiry's 650-page report

detailed a complex and confus-ing web of meetings and consul-tations at the top echelons ofgovernment about what to dowith the gunpowder so as notto upset either Syria or Iran.

It concluded that Christofiaswas primarily to blame for thecircumstances that led to the ex-plosion. Christofias rejected thenonbinding findings.

MORE AUSTERITYVassos Shiarly, Cyprus' fi-

nance minister said that moreausterity measures will beneeded to meet a deficit targetof 2.5 percent of gross domestic

product this year. He said he'llstart talks with trade unions onways of covering the €150 mil-lion-€200 million ($198 million-$264 million) needed to makethe target and convince investorsthat Cyprus can pull through thefinancial crisis. Shiarly said theshortfall — which represents lessthan 1 percent of GDP — is rel-atively small thanks to better-than-expected revenues andtight spending controls in thefirst quarter this year.

A member of the 17-countryeurozone, Cyprus is relying on a€2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) Russ-ian loan to see it through thisyear after a string of credit ratingdowngrades have left it unableto borrow from internationalmarkets.

"As result, keeping ourpromises and sticking to ourpledge that we'll in no way movefrom the 2.5 percent of GDPdeficit target is essential," Shiarlytold reporters.

The downgrades were mainlydue to the large Cypriot bankingsector's huge exposure to Greekdebt. Shiarly said Cypriot bankswould need around €1.5 billion($1.97 billion) overall to meettheir recapitalization targets.

Shiarly said most of that sumwould likely go to one the is-land's top three commercialbanks, which he didn't name. In-dependent analysts say CyprusPopular Bank is the most ex-posed to Greek debt and is cur-rently in talks with strategic in-vestors.

Shiarly repeated that the gov-ernment is ready to step in andsupport the banking system as alast resort, but didn't specify onhow it would do so. He said theministry is considering an arrayof options, including tapping the

European Financial Stability Fa-cility, the eurozone's bailout fund

NO NEW CYPRUSCONFERENCE

U.N. Secretary-General BanKi-moon's spokesman made theannouncement about the pro-posed international conferenceon April 21following the secre-tary-general's meeting Fridaywith Alexander Downer, theU.N. special adviser on Cyprus,and telephone calls earlier Sat-urday with Greek Cypriot Presi-dent Dimitris Christofias andTurkish Cypriot leader DervisEroglu.

Ban has been pressing thetwo leaders to reach a settle-ment, and Downer said lastmonth he had planned to call aninternational conference by earlyMay, bringing together Britain,Greece and Turkey with the aimof putting the finishing toucheson an accord.

But Downer said the twosides have not yet convergedclosely enough on key issues. Hesaid talks are stalled on how ex-ecutive power would be sharedunder an envisioned federationand on how to deal with privateproperty lost during the inva-sion.

Ban's spokesman said that onthe basis of the meeting withDowner on Friday, "the secre-tary-general shared his assess-ment that there is not the suffi-cient progress on core issues thatwould provide a basis for callingan international conference atthis time."

"He urged the two sides totake bold and decisive action inorder to move the process for-ward," the spokesman said.

Compiled from stories from theAssociated Press

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012 9

Cyprus Explosion Trial Begins amid Calls for New Austerity Measures

told TNH that was pleased thatAntonis Samaras, the presidentof New Democracy and hisfriend for 35 years, honored himby placing him on the ballot.

"I love Antonis Samaras andI thank him for the great honordone to me personally, and byextension, to the Greek-Ameri-can community. He is among theGreek leaders who want to havegood advisers who knows thevalue of their advice and will ac-cept it. He is a man who wel-comes the opinions of others. Iwill help him personally becauseone of the areas of greatest needfor the homeland is the devel-opment of science and technol-ogy, an area which I know verywell through my work. Greecehas brilliant children, as hasbeen demonstrated to methrough their employment in mycompany in Athens. They arehard-working and well-educatedand the government must helpthem to progress," he said.

He said Samaras’ decision toinclude him on the ballot is agood sign, saying it marks thebeginning of a better apprecia-tion by Greece of the unlimitedresources of the diaspora.

ND officials whom TNH con-tacted were also pleased withthe decision of their Party’sleader to include a top scientistand entrepreneur on the ballot.

A former chairman NODE,Peter Galatoulas, also told TNHhe was pleased, adding, amongother things, that "Dr. SotiriosVachaviolos is a serious and re-markable person and a success-ful businessman who doeshonor to the community.”

He said that “Antonis Sama-ras, with his decision to includeDr. Vahaviolos on the ballot, re-inforced the message he sent tomark the opening NODE’s officein Astoria that he fully under-stands that outside of Greecethere is another Greek worldwhose people can unselfishly of-fer much in support of Greece’snational interest ."

"I am especially delighted be-cause Dr. Vahaviolos is a goodfriend of mine who has workedwith me on the parade commit-tee of the Federation and forNODE, is honored by ND and

its president Antonis Samaras,"concluded Galatoulas.

Vahaviolos studied electricalengineering at Fairleigh Dickin-son University, where he gradu-ated first in his class, and earned

a doctorate as well as an MAand an MS in electrical engi-neering at Columbia University.

He founded Mistras in 1978under the name PhysicalAcoustics Corp. Prior to joiningMistras Vahaviolos worked atAT&T Bell Laboratories. Mistrasemploys 3,500 people in 85 of-fices around the world and isconsidered a pioneer in the pro-tection and maintenance of in-frastructure. The company islisted on the New York Stock Ex-change and its share price hasdoubled since its IPO three yearsago.

Vahaviolos through the yearshas been a benefactor of theChurch of St. George in Trenton,NJ, and has received a numberof awards acknowledging his ser-vice to the community and fight-ing for its causes. He was mostrecently honored at the awardsdinner of the American HellenicInstitute in Washington, DC.

Kariotis is a DistinguishedProfessor of Economics at theUniversity of Maryland, and is

an expert on the Law of the Seaand the issues pertaining to Ex-clusive Economic Zones (EEZ).He told TNH that he was hon-ored to be chosen for the PASOKballot by its leader his friend ofmany years, Evangelos Venize-los.

"Evangelos Venizelos’ deci-sion to include me on the ballotfor PASOK is a great honor. Thisdecision is constitutes a recog-nition my efforts regarding thedelineation of the Exclusive Eco-nomic Zone (EEZ) of Greece, ofwhich the current president ofPASOK is a strong supporter.

"I firmly believe EvangelosVenizelos is currently the mostcapable and intelligent Greekpolitician to both highlight theissue of the EEZ and to lead thecountry out of the crisis. Iwould also like to point out thatmy participation on the PASOKballot is a further recognition ofthe Greek-American commu-nity’s support and contributionsto the homeland through theyears,” said Kariotis.

Two Prominent Greek-Americans on Ballot in Upcoming Greek Election

By Andy DabilisTNH Staff Writer

ATHENS – With only a week be-fore Greeks choose a new leaderand Parliament, the two partieswho have taken turns rulingGreece for nearly 40 years, theNew Democracy Conservativesand PASOK Socialists, face theprospect not only of neitherwinning outright but not havingenough combined support toform a new government in an-other coalition government, andwould have to woo anotherpartner.

In what is perhaps the coun-try’s most critical poll since thefall of the rightwing militaryjunta in 1974 and the restora-tion of democracy, the electionstake place amid an atmosphereof uncertainty as fury over aus-terity measures and growingverbal attacks on unlawful im-migrants by a number of partieshas amped up the tension andthe stakes.

Greece has been ruled by ashaky hybrid government ofNew Democracy and PASOKministers over the past sixmonths after another coalitionpartner, the far rightwing LAOSparty, dropped out in a disputeover whether the countryshould adhere to more of thepay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pen-sions, and fire 150,000 workersas demanded by the Troika ofthe European Union-Interna-tional Monetary Fund-EuropeanCentral Bank (EU-IMF-ECB),which is loaning the country$152 billion in rescue loans andreadying to disburse a secondpackage of $173 billion more.

New Democracy leader An-tonis Samaras, whose party isleading, has rejected workingagain with PASOK, now led byformer Finance Minister Evan-gelos Venizelos, who doubledincome and property taxes andtaxed the poor. With Greeks en-

raged over austerity, both par-ties are trying to distance them-selves from the measures theysupported. Samaras said hewould try to renegotiate theterms and cut taxes and raisepensions, although he backedhigher taxes and reduced pen-sions. The Troika has warnedthat any attempts to tinker withreforms will lead to the moneypipeline being shut off.

Trying to capitalize on a frag-mented political landscape, anti-bailout parties and extremists inthe neo-Nazi Golden DawnParty, known for racist, anti-Se-mitic and anti-immigrant views,are rising in the polls, raisingthe likelihood the new Parlia-ment could have as many asnine parties. With most main-stream political leaders stayingout of public view for fear of be-ing assaulted or harangued,Golden Dawn has taken to thestreets to make appearanceswhere Greeks gather to preachanti-immigrant platforms andvigilante stances against thosethey blame for crime. GoldenDawn is hovering around 5 per-cent in polls, enough to winseats in Parliament.

That has pushed Samaras toalso say he wants to rid thecountry of unlawful immigrantsand block citizenship for sec-ond-generation immigrants whowere born in Greece and speakGreek. Public Order MinisterMichalis Chrysochoidis from PA-SOK, in what critics said was acampaign ploy, ordered theroundup of unlawful immi-grants and said the state willbuild 30 detention centers tohouse 30,000 of them. Thereare an estimated 400,000 un-lawful immigrants in Greece buttheir presence has been toler-ated for years and has appearedas an issue only ahead of theelections.

Communist (KKE) leaderAleka Papariga blasted the anti-

immigrant stance. “We cannotthrow them into the sea,” Pa-pariga told SKAI TV, adding thatthe migrant population has con-tributed to the Greek nationalwealth. “The immigration issuecannot be solved; KKE does nothave a solution to propose,” shesaid, adding that Greece shouldnevertheless build decent recep-tion centers and provide unlaw-ful immigrants with travel doc-uments.

IT’S THE ECONOMYBut austerity is still on the

minds of most Greeks, especiallywith projections from the Troikathat the new government willhave to make an additional $12billion in cuts and raise $3 bil-lion in new revenues, althoughthe country is in the fifth yearof a deep recession, which hascreated 21.8 percent unemploy-ment and led to the closing ofmore than 111,000 businesses.

Bank of Greece GovernorGeorge Provopoulos said theeconomy will shrink 5 percentthis year on top of a 6.9 percentslump in 2011.

Venizelos said there wouldbe a “huge problem” if the nextgovernment does not have atleast 50 percent of the vote.Speaking to the Newsit website,Venizelos said three parties mayneed to join forces in a coalitiongovernment. A Public Issue sur-vey indicated that PASOK andNew Democracy would get acombined share of the vote to-taling 35.5 percent, which couldbe enough for a slim parliamen-tary majority. While another PA-SOK-ND coalition seems likely– unless Samaras holds true tohis changing promises – theywould need to find a willingthird partner.

The Democratic Left andLAOS, whose leader George

Karatzaferis has seen his for-tunes slump after serving in thecoalition, want no part of an-other. Former ND Minister DoraBakoyannis, who was kicked outof the party in a dispute overausterity, said her DemocraticAlliance would, under certainconditions, join a coalition buthas only four seats.

Venizelos focused on present-ing his plans for political reform,which included each partyputting forward one candidatefor each constituency ratherthan a list of them. He also pro-posed a cut in state funding forparties and the reduction of thenumber of ministries to 14.Venizelos said that PASOK MPswould give up their right to im-munity from prosecution. Healso recruited former Olympicweightlifting champion to jointhe PASOK ticket to boost itschance. Meanwhile, sources told

the newspaper Kathimerini thatSamaras will attempt to set outa vision for Greece. This is likelyto include an effort to “removetaboos” around the idea of Godand the homeland. Samaras,moving farther to the right, saidthat “homeland should not be aforbidden word” and that “inthe foxholes, there are no athe-ists.” The leader of the fast-ris-ing nationalist party Indepen-dent Greeks, Panos Kammenos,also booted out of New Democ-racy for opposing austerity, saidthat that he wants to nationalizethe Bank of Greece and forcethe IMF’s man in Athens, PoulThomsen out of the country.Speaking to SKAI TV, Kammenossaid that Greece has to rejectthe terms of the new bailout itagreed with the Troika andwarned that new Greek bondsissued after Greece imposedlosses of 74 percent on investorsis being governed by British law.“If during the next month wedo not get rid of Thomsen andhis employees, the repossessionsof homes will begin because ofUK law,” said Kammenos, whoearlier drew fire from Greekshipowners for suggesting thattheir vessels could be seized byGreece’s creditors.

Kammenos also said heplanned to renationalize theBank of Greece and create aGreek investment bank thatwould protect the country’sproperty from being seized byits lenders. His party was stand-ing at about 11 percent but hehas not said whether he wouldhelp form a coalition. Venizelossaid he wants all pro-Europeanforces form a government toprevent the prospect of Greecebeing forced out of the Euro-zone of the 17 countries usingthe euro as a currency. Samarasinsisted New Democracy willwin more than 50 percent andsaid that he wants to rule out-right with no partners.

New Democracy, PASOK, May Need Third Party to Form a Government

Police officers restrain relatives of one of the 13 people who were killed during the explosionof seized Iranian gunpowder at a naval base last year as they shout at a car ferrying one of theaccused to the courts complex in Larnaca, Cyprus, Monday, Apr. 23.

AP PHOTO/PETROS KARADJIAS

Continued from page 1

Entrepreneur and philan-thropist Dr. Sotirios Vahavioloswill appear on the ND ballot.

Dr. Theodore Kariotis of theUniversity of Maryland will beon the PASOK list.

Central bank governor George Provopoulos presents the annual report to the bank's annualgeneral assembly in Athens, Tuesday, April 24, 2012. The Bank of Greece is forecasting a 5 per-cent contraction in the crisis-hit country's economy in 2012.

Page 10: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012

Reader Enjoys EasterServices, TNH Articles

To the Editor:Christos Anesti! Kalo Pascha!This Holy Week I was in

church for Holy Thursday, GoodFriday, and Holy Saturday. MostHellenic-Americans, includingme are either participants orspectators when it involves ourbeautiful Orthodox faith. Justimagine if the pews were filledwith the faithful every Sunday,instead of just during HolyWeek.

Good Friday was especiallypoignant, featuring “TheLamentation O Epitafios Thri-nos.” It was a beautiful andmoving experience honoring Je-sus Christ, our Savior. Holy Sat-urday was being as one, waitingat the stroke of midnight, andchanting Christos Anesti on apeaceful night.

As always, several TNH arti-cles caught my interest. Thoseby Steve Frangos and MelanieGrayce West were enlightening.The letter written by NicholasGeorgios was inspiring. AndyDabilis’ letter was informativeand meaningful, as was Christo-pher Tripoulas’ article on themeaning of celebrating Ortho-dox Easter for Hellenes. A greatarticle.

I hope that all the Orthodoxfaithful rejoice in following

Christ in their hearts.John VasilakosBethpage, NY

Attica Inmate GiamagasThanks TNH Staff for Visit

[We have received numerousmessages from readers of both theEthnikos Kirix and TNHexpressing their concern forVasileios Giamagas (See TNH,April 21) and inquiring abouthow they can help him. In thespirit of Pascha, we print Mr,Giamagas’ letter, hoping thatmore of us will be inspired toreach out to people in need.]To the Editor:

[Specifically addressed toTNH Staff Demetrios Tsakas,Dean Sirigos, and Kostas Bej]

First and foremost I wish you

Christos Anesti kai Kalo Pascha.I would like to thank you

from the bottom of my heart forthe time and effort you took tocome and visit me in this place.You can’t understand what thatvisit meant for me, specificallybeing visited by my fellowGreeks. All three of you throughyour visit have strengthened myfaith again. You cannot imagineif you’re not in this situation. Iwant to thank you also for con-tacting my mother and for giv-ing her strength in believingthat there are still people whocare about their fellow humanbeings. To me, that means morethan anything else. I wake upevery day with new hope andfaith, and believe that justice,true Justice, will be on my sidevery soon, and that is becauseof you, Mr. Tsakas, and your two

friends who came to visit me. Because of your visit, all of

the officers here have beentreating me even better, andthat means a lot in a place likethis. However I don’t want tobother you too much. I am onlywriting you to express my deepgratitude to you and yourfriends, to wish you all the bestone can have, to enjoy the GreekEaster with your families andfriends .

Once again, thank you somuch for your visit and your of-fer to help me. I wish you thebest and for all of you and yourloved ones to be blessed ineverything you will do in yourlife. I submit this letter respect-fully and with my deep grati-tude.

Vasileios GiamagasAttica, NY

Greek-Americans in PoliticsThere are scores of stories depicting many wonderful accomplish-

ments here in the United States by persons of Greek descent. Greek-Americans have achieved success in a myriad of fields, not least ofwhich in politics. The vice presidency of Spiro Agnew, the presidentialcandidacy of Michael Dukakis, and the advent of GeorgeStephanopoulos as an influential advisor to Bill Clinton underscorethe role that the descendants of the land widely referred to as the“birthplace of democracy” have played in the governance of thenation Abraham Lincoln called “the last best hope of earth.” But wecan do more.

By our count, there are currently no Greek-American state gover-nors, and only three members of the House of Representatives: ShelleyBerkley (NV), Gus Bilirakis (FL), and John Sarbanes (MD). OlympiaSnowe (ME) is the only Greek-American U.S. Senator, but she isstepping down at the end of the year. In fact, if there are any that wemissed, please let us know; we would be happy to be wrong byhaving counted too few. There are also some Greek-Americans instate and local government, and in appointed positions in the execu-tive and judicial branches. But there ought to be more.

In the United States and Greece alike, the people have become in-creasingly dissatisfied with their elected officials. Although thingshave not gotten quite as out of hand here as in Greece, each of thetwo major parties – the Democrats and the Republicans – understandsthat it is one scandal or failed policy away from losing power to theother.

John Kennedy challenged all Americans to “ask not what yourcountry can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Weissue a similar challenge, calling upon our best and brightest Greek-Americans, encouraging them to enter the field of public service dili-gently, enthusiastically, and above all, honorably.

Not every Greek politician has served with dignity: some have re-signed in disgrace, and others probably should have. But the sordidexamples of some bad apples should by no means be a reflection onthe entire Greek orchard. That is another reason why Greek-Americansshould run for office: to vindicate the reputation of their heritage,both here and in Greece.

Besides, politics is in our genes. In fact, America’s Founding Fathersbased this nation’s government on principles formulated in AncientAthens and Sparta. Many of them studied Greek extensively, andeven considered adopting it as America’s primary language. WeGreek-Americans have roots in both nations, and we are the stewardsof our heralded political histories, particularly as they intertwinedduring the Colonial age.

It is important, then, for Greek-Americans who are dissatisfiedwith the status quo to do something about it, personally. Ratherthan shrugging our shoulders from the sidelines, we need to lead onthe front lines.

After all, Greek political talent doesn’t have to end with Pericles.

Kostakopoulos: Rise and FallShortly after Andreas Papandreou ascended to power in Greece,

on one bright morning in America at Atlantic Bank – the bank thatstarted in the 1920s as Athens Bank, the bank that did more tohelp the Greek community stand on its feet and flourish financiallymore than any other institution did – emerged a man as its presi-dent called Bob (Haralambos) Kostakopoulos. A smart and well-educated young man, a close friend of a very good friend of thePapandreou family, but a man with no banking experience.

It was the beginning of the end for Atlantic Bank as a Greek-American institution.

The precedent that was set was followed by others, who withthe exception of Peter Venetis, were quite ineffective at their jobs.They could not accept Atlantic’s declining fortunes, and either leftfor other financial institutions or opened new ones like the BobBakalis’ Olympian Bank of or Marathon Bank, with Paul (Apostolos)Statholopoulos the main force and brains behind it.

On April 20, the banking authorities shut down Fort Lee FederalSavings Bank to protect its depositors. The man behind that bankwas none other than Kostakopoulos.

We are sorry to see one of our own suffer such a loss.The only consolation is that the bank’s assets – or what is left of

them – were bought by Alma Bank, which is owned by Greek-Americans.

Ongoing Greek Tragedy at AtticaWhat a tragic story: a young Greek is sentenced to 15 years in

prison at the infamous maximum-security Attica prison in upstateNew York for serious crimes.

This is a story that once again shows the absence of an organizedcommunity. The Babiniotis Dictionary defines community as "theunion of persons who have a common origin."

Vasileios Giamagas – read one of the most significant journalisticpieces TNH has done in last weekend's paper – came to New Yorkfrom Germany.

The New York State Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years inprison for kidnapping, theft, robbery, and threats of violence.

Giamagas insists that he is innocent. "I am one-thousand percentinnocent and ready to prove it in court," he told TNH. "All I want isjustice, the truth. I have no doubt that the truth will come out.”

We have no way of knowing if he is telling the truth. After all,the system of justice has spoken. His 15-year sentence speaks vol-umes.

Nonetheless, as we often read, this won't be the first time thatthe authorities have made terrible mistakes. Nor the last.

Yet he is a Greek. And we are deeply saddened by the fact thatno one came forward to visit him in prison, for God’s sake, no onelent him a helping hand. "They wouldn't give me a lawyer for twoyears," he tells us. "Greek-American lawyers are welcome. Everyonewho is interested in the truth and will fight for it is welcome to help.Anyone who wants to just make a name for himself is not welcome."

It is good that the Hellenic Lawyers Association will help him,but why not form a permanent committee to provide pro bono helpfor situations like these involving poor Greek-Americans?

As far as our priests serving in that area, read Giamagas’ wordsfor yourselves: "I read the Bible and I have requested the Bible inGreek from the Greek Orthodox Church but I have not received one.A priest did not even come to give me communion..."

What else can we say?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PRESS CLIPPING

By James MorrisonThe Washington Times

WASHINGTON, DC - The Turk-ish ambassador this week ac-cused the top Democrat on theHouse Foreign Affairs Commit-tee of a cynical assault over thedivided island of Cyprus in anelection-year political stunt.

Ambassador Namik Tan crit-icized Rep. Howard L. Berman,California Democrat, for chargesthe congressman made in a let-ter last month to Secretary ofState Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mr. Berman denouncedTurkey for “bullying” the GreekCypriot-led government aboutan undersea oil-and-gas explo-ration plan and for “colonizing”the Mediterranean island bysending thousands of Turks tolive with Turkish Cypriots innorthern Cyprus.

Mr. Tan, in a letter to Mr.Berman, rejected both charges.

“We fully understand that theold and obsolete ‘line of attack’on Turkey… continues to pleasecertain constituencies and com-munities inside the UnitedStates, especially during a livelyelection year,” the ambassadorsaid.

“Your most recent letter [toMrs. Clinton] seems to be an-other episode within this long-standing and well-establishedpractice.”

The division of Cyprus be-tween ethnic Greeks and ethnicTurks has bedeviled Americanpresidents and diplomats sincecommunal violence erupted onthe Mediterranean island in1963.

Eleven years later, Turkey de-ployed troops to northernCyprus, after Greek nationalistsin Greece and Cyprus launcheda military coup in a failed at-tempt to unite the island withmainland Greece.

Turkey justified its invasionas a move to protect ethnicTurks, who later declared an in-dependent nation on about one-third of the island in 1984. How-

ever, only Turkey recognizes theTurkish Republic of Northern-Cyprus, while the ethnic-Greekgovernment is intentionally rec-ognized as the Republic ofCyprus.

In the United States, the issueremains a hot topic among

Greek-Americans, who make upa potent voting bloc.

In his letter to Mrs. Clinton,Mr. Berman called on Mrs. Clin-ton to “clearly and forcefully”reprimand Turkey for recentthreats over plans by Cyprus andIsrael to explore for undersea oil

and gas.Turkey claims the explo-ration would trespass on TurkishCypriot and Turkish waters.

“By any interpretation,Turkey’s threats constitute bul-lying and are way out of line,”Mr. Berman said.

He also complained aboutTurkey’s “increasingly draconianefforts to alter the demographiccomposition of Cyprus” by set-tling “hundreds of thousands” ofTurkish citizens in the north.

Mr. Berman added that theUnited States “should be uncom-promising in opposing Turkey’sefforts to trample on the sover-eign rights of the Republic ofCyprus - whether through mili-tary threats or colonizing Cypruswith Turkish citizens.”

Mr. Tan replied that his coun-try never has had a policy ofsending settlers to northernCyprus. He also called for a“comprehensive solution” to theCyprus problem, and expressedhopes for progress in U.N.-ledtalks between Cypriot PresidentDemetris Christofias and TurkishCypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

However U.N. Secretary-Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon this weekcalled off a proposed interna-tional conference on Cyprus be-cause the two sides have madetoo little progress in their talks.

Embassy Row – Dueling Over Cyprus

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f o t o g r a f f i t i

I Never Saw a Tax I Didn't Like...PASOK Socialist leader Evangelos "Mr. Tax Man" Venizelos finally admits what everyoneknows: "Okay, okay, I admit it, I'm lying through my teeth just to get elected!"

AP PHOTO

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By Constantinos E. Scaros

Mitt Romney went five-for-five, sweepingTuesday’s delegate-rich primary contests withwins in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Penn-sylvania, and Rhode Island, and even Newt Gin-grich has begun to see the writing on the walland expects to drop out of the race soon. RonPaul is still hanging in there, and even the ghostof Rick Santorum’s candidacy took second placein his home state, even though the Pennsylvan-ian dropped out weeks ago.

The larger issue for some time has not beenthat Romney would win the Republican race,but that he would hobble to the finish line unim-

pressively. Such was the case again on Tuesday,when he failed to capture at least 60% of thevote in two states, and did not reach 70% inany. At this point, Romney is the only GOP can-didate with any money and steam. That oneout of three Republicans is still not sold on himshould be a major concern.

Meanwhile, President Obama maintains asomewhat comfortable lead over Romney in thenational polls, including a commanding advan-tage among women voters. As this Update haslong predicted, Romney is the perfect candidateto mount a respectable challenge that is boundto end in defeat.

Stay tuned!

2012 Presidential Race - Update

Turkish Petroleum Company (TPAO) workers stand in front ofa drill ahead of a ceremony marking the start of exploratoryoil and gas drilling by Turkey in breakaway Turkish Cypriotnorthern half of ethnically split Cyprus, near Sinirustul/Syn-gkrasi, village, on Thursday, April 26, 2012. The move countersan offshore gas search by rival Greek Cypriots in the island'sinternationally recognized southern half that has touched offvociferous protests from Ankara and Turkish Cypriots.

AP PHOTO/PETROS KARADJIAS

Page 11: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012 11

I have seen this movie twicebefore. Wag the Dog was a 1997farce about politicians going towar with Albania. Wag the DogII was a 2003 farce about politi-cians invading Iraq. It now ap-pears that politicians want toproduce Wag the Dog III (Iran).Perhaps a few questions and an-swers might help our readers de-cide whether they will like themovie.

IS IRAN BUILDING ANUCLEAR WEAPONS

CAPABILITY?Does it really matter? Israel

insists that Tehran will have theability to nuke Israel within ayear. U.S. intelligence admits itlacks concrete evidence. Iran’sSupreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei (like the Pope inCatholic circles) stated that nu-clear weapons are sinful. TheAmerican media and public haveswallowed the hype hook, line,and sinker (as in Iraq) and Pres-idential candidates have madeit into a test of masculinity.

The proven facts: Iran has auranium enrichment program,to which it has every right (forpeaceful purposes) under theNuclear Non-ProliferationTreaty, but Iran violated theTreaty by concealing its exis-tence. Everything else is guess-work or hype.DOES A NUCLEAR-ARMEDIRAN THREATEN THE

WORLD?Israel insists Iran will have

the bomb within a year and that,driven by a messianic suicidalleadership, will then use it onIsrael. Frankly, the Israeli theo-logical argument is nonsense;nothing in Shi’a theology orIranian history supports it. Iranposes an existential threat to Is-rael only if either or both theIranian and Israeli leadership aresuicidal.

A nuclear Iran, however,complicates American foreignpolicy. Iran’s ambitions to domi-nate the region, especially the

Arab Gulf neigh-bors, have notchanged sinceXerxes regardless ofwhether Shahs orMullahs rule. Werethose states not thesource of most ofthe world’s oil andgas exports, theU.S. would notcare. Unfortunately,they are, and keep-ing them indepen-dent from Iran is avital American in-terest. Iran has toomuch respect forAmerican military power to in-vade them openly. Iranians,however, have millennia of ex-perience at subversion short ofwar. In Classical times, the Ira-nians ran circles around theGreek city-states diplomatically.An Iranian nuclear arsenal de-ters American military action(e.g., North Korea) short of acataclysmic threat.WILL SANCTIONS FORCE

IRAN TO STOP?Our experience with eco-

nomic sanctions does not en-courage optimism. Sanctionshave failed to change nationalbehavior since World War II.Some cite South Africa as a pos-sible exception. That case differsfrom Iran. The West imposedsanctions to force a minorityregime to stop oppressing themajority. In Iran, sanctions haveprovoked a unified nationalistbacklash. An Iranian oppositionfigure once told me, “The ma-jority of Iranians do not wantnuclear weapons, but they rejectAmericans demanding that theygive them up.”WILL ISRAEL ATTACK IRAN

IF WE DON’T?The short answer is that if it

could have launched a successfulattack on Iran, Israel would havedone so already. It attacked Iraqiand (alleged) Syrian nuclear fa-cilities without warning and

with success. Thetechnical and mili-tary obstacles to anIsraeli attack are fartoo many to enu-merate here; sufficeit to say that Israellacks the numbers,the reach and intel-ligence to do anyserious damage toscattered, hardenedand well-defendedinstallations. Is-rael’s only hope isto stampede the USinto attacking.SHOULD THE

UNITED STATES ATTACKIRAN’S NUCLEARFACILITIES?

It depends on a cost-benefitanalysis. If we can strike quicklywithout suffering heavy Ameri-can losses, destroy Iran’s militarycapability, prevent any indirectlosses, secure widespread inter-national approval and support,and deal a long-term fatal blowto Iran’s nuclear program thenthe answer is yes, we should.

The American media havebeen inundated with rosy-eyedbest-case scenarios arguing thatwe can achieve all of the above.We have not heard much aboutthe more likely worst-case sce-nario.

Experienced U.S. military of-ficers tell us that to achieve theabove objectives we will need asustained air offensive muchlarger and longer than the 1999operation against Serbia. Iranhas told its neighbors that it willretaliate asymmetrically againstAmerica’s economy by destroy-ing the Arab oil and gas exportfacilities inside the Persian Gulf.Iran possesses a naval attack ca-pability (hundreds of Chinesesurface to surface missiles andsmall high speed commandocarriers) optimized to surviveU.S. air attack and destroy oiland gas export facilities. U.S.planners and Gulf defense

forces accept that Iran could de-stroy 50% or more of the re-gions export capacity, thus push-ing oil prices to $400 to $600 abarrel and dislocating theworld’s economy for severalyears. Iran would also sendweapons to the Taliban andforces in Iraq targeting ourtroops and our interests.

The best way to stop the Iran-ian nuclear program would bechanging the Iranian govern-ment and replacing it with onethat will do our bidding. We lastdid that in 1953, creating a pop-ular hatred for the U.S. Govern-ment that led to the 1979 over-throwing of the Shah. No one Iknow believes that even themost devastating attack will de-stroy Iran’s long-term nuclear ca-pabilities unless we invade withground troops, kill all the scien-tists, and destroy all the univer-sities as well.

Finally, absent some outra-geous Iranian provocation, wewill lack international support.Expecting Sunni regimes of theGulf to support another Ameri-can attack on a Muslim state toplease Israel is an oxymoron.Nor can we expect enthusiasticapproval from our allies andtrading partners as theireconomies implode because ofour actions. Putin, on the otherhand, will be doing a victorydance as we make Russia intoworld’s biggest oil-exporter.

Please keep that in mindwhen the next political candi-date demands that we attackIran.

The Hon. Ambassador Theros ispresident of the U.S.-Qatar Busi-ness Council. He served in theU.S. Foreign Service for 36years, mostly in the Middle East,and was American Ambassadorto Qatar from 1995 to 1998. Healso directed the State Depart-ment’s Counter-TerrorismOffice, and holds numerous U.S.Government decorations.

Greece's Financial Problems are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

When it comes to politiciansrespecting no bounds of decencyregarding the truth, opting in-stead to manipulate informationfor the sake of attaining andmaintaining power, few topicsare as misrepresented as taxes.If we chronicled the universe ofmyths perpetuated about theAmerican tax system, we couldprobably gather enough mater-ial to fill not only a book, butvirtually an entire encyclopediaset.

This column has devotedmuch attention to those mythsover the years, most recently tothe ludicrous notion that tweak-ing the tax rates by 3 or 4 per-cent would either stifle eco-nomic growth – as theRepublicans insist – or even be-gin to make the tiniest of dentsin the federal deficit, let alongthe significant difference thatthe Democrats purport.

One such myth that has beenperpetuated for a long whilenow but has been gaining steamas of late is that “the top 10%of income earners pay 70% ofthe taxes.” The deception is not

in the accuracy of the actualwords themselves, but in the all-but-literal implication that therich are somehow being over-taxed.

Let us imagine that thosenumbers are in fact true – thatthe wealthiest 10% actually dopay 70% of all income taxes. Bigdeal. Those numbers, in and ofthemselves, mean absolutely

nothing. Many folks will notbother to look into the numbers.Instead, they will simply nodtheir heads in agreement basedon which talk show host toldthem that they need to be out-raged. If 70% is so prohibitive,what would be a fairer number?How about 25%? Imagine thatthe wealthiest 10% would only

pay 25% of the na-tion’s tax bill in-stead of 70%, thatsounds better forthem, doesn’t it?Alas, those num-bers are meaning-less, too.

Beginning withthe “top 10% pay70%” example, let’ssuppose that theUnited Stateschanges its taxrates to stimulatethe economy. Ittaxes most Ameri-cans at 30%, andlowers taxes for everyone earn-ing $1 million or more to only5%. Just 5%? Why, that numberis so low, not even Rush Lim-baugh would have the audacityto complain. If millionaires onlypaid 5% in taxes while everyoneelse paid 30%, then surely their“70% of the entire tax bill” bur-den would be lowered. Orwould it.

In a simple scenario, using acountry of 10 people (that canbe expanded to include whatever

number of peoplewe would like, ofcourse), supposethat 9 out of 10each earns $50,000per year and one,Walter, earns $6.3million. Taxed at30%, each of the 9folks pays $15,000in taxes, for a totalof $135,000. Walter,who is taxed at anobscenely low 5%(which most folkswould agree is anincredibly sweetdeal for him), will

pay $315,000. The total tax billis $450,000 and Walter pays ex-actly 70% of it. Working classfolks are taxed at 30% and Wal-ter the millionaire is taxed at anunbelievably low 5%, yet he stillwinds up paying 70% of all in-come taxes.

So if Walter has such a greatarrangement and yet pays 70%of the entire tax bill, if that wereto be reduced to 25% under thesecond scenario, then his dealwould be even better, wouldn’t

it? Not necessarily. Here’s why.Let’s take those same 10 peo-

ple, 9 of which earn $50,000per year, and are still taxed at30%, thus paying the samegrand total of $135,000. Butfolks who make over $100,000are taxed at 40%. Walter, in thisexample, makes $112,500 peryear, and so his tax bill is 40%of that, or $45,000. The totalnational tax bill is $180,000,and Walter’s $45,000 is exactly25% of it.

Which scenario would Walterprefer? Paying only 25% of alltaxes, by turning over 45% ofhis $112,500 to the govern-ment, or paying 70% of all taxeswhile keeping 95% of his whop-ping $6.3 million annual incomein his pocket and paying ameasly 5% of it in taxes? The“top 10% pay 70% of all taxes”argument, therefore, is utternonsense.

Why is it so easy to conjurearguments based on percent-ages that utterly deceive theAmerican people? Because thereal issue is not numbers, and itis not percentages: it is income

inequality. In the example whenWalter earns $112,500 per year,he is making more than twiceas much as everyone else. Butin the original example, Walterearns a whopping 126 times asmuch as the rest of them. Nottwice as much, or 3 times, or 5,or even 10. But 126!

But if the circumstances weresuch that Walter earned, say,only 50 times as much – if theyearned $100,000 apiece and heearned a “mere” $5 million –then whoever would dare topropose such a suggestionwould be branded a “socialist”and accused of “spreading thewealth.” The wealthy earning“only” 50 times as much as theworking class? Why, that’s be-yond socialism – that must becommunism! Bring back JoeMcCarthy to clean house.

So the next time someonemakes the “top 10% pay 70%of taxes” argument, let us pro-pose the alternative, where theypay only 25% of all taxes. Butwe get to determine the num-bers as we like, as long as thepercentages are correct.

“Top 10% Pay 70% Of Taxes” Argument Is Nonsense that Masks the Real Issue

As the May 6elections loom toreplace the shakyhybrid McCoy-Hatfield govern-ment of PASOKAnti-Socialists andNew DemocracyCapitalists that hehas been trying tohold together, thehappiest man inGreece has to beinterim PrimeMinister Lucas Pa-pademos, the tech-nocratic formerEuropean CentralBank (ECB) Vice-President, whonow gets to leave the nut house.

He must be wondering whyhe accepted the appointmentfive months ago when then-PA-SOK leader George Papandreougave up as Premier in the faceof incessant protests, strikes,and riots against the austeritymeasures he imposed on the or-der of international lenders tokeep rescue loans coming toprop up the bankrupt country’sdead economy. Greece was sur-viving on a first series of $152billion in rescue loans that Pa-pandreou begged for.

Papademos came into officewith a nearly 75 percent ap-proval rating and now justabout that many Greeks wanthim out as fast as possible be-cause he engineered a secondbailout of $173 billion from theTroika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-ECB that came with more of the

same pay cuts, tax hikes, andslashed pensions that sent Pa-pandreou packing before hecould be tarred and feathered,and pushed out of the Party hisfather founded.

New Democracy and PASOKsupport the austerity measuresand say they’ll keep them com-ing, and are poised to finish 1-2in the elections, so Greeks aregoing to get snookered again ifthey think anything will changefor them by bringing back theGreat Imposters. So for whomshould they vote? Here’s an easyvoter’s guide of the top candi-dates that you won’t see thegovernment putting out, insteadproviding just enough informa-tion to make voters abstain,puke, or buy a ticket to theUnited States, Canada, Aus-tralia, or someplace sane. ANTONIS SAMARAS – The

New Democracy head was a col-lege roommate of Papandreou,who dismantled Socialism andthrew Greek workers and pen-sioners to the bank sharks.Samaras, a/k/a Mr. BeanCounter, created the “SamarasFlip,” in which politicians canboth support and oppose issues,take credit for them if they suc-ceed, and blame others if theyfail. It came from his frequentchange-of-heart in which he op-posed austerity as part of thebailouts, then supported it to bein a coalition and get his namein the paper more, then opposedit with the realization that 80percent of Greeks hate him. Hewants to change the NewDemocracy logo, which shows afist holding a bag of money –uh, torch – to a weathervane but

nixed the idea of in-cluding a dead pea-cock because he did-n’t want to show histrue colors. In 1993he brought downthe party and waskicked out but itwas so desperate tofind someone whowouldn’t fall asleepwhen campaigningthat he was broughtback and made itsleader. When hespeaks, though,everyone else fallsasleep. Like most

Greek politicians, he has neverhad a real job and if you men-tion the word “work” aroundhim he burps like Maynard G.Krebs.EVANGELOS VENIZELOS –

The new PASOK leader, whoalso answers to Emperor orCaligula with a nod of the head,spent much of his career beingthe second dog in the sled be-hind Papandreou, which didn’tgive him a good view. After fail-ing ignominiously to dethronePapandreou, who had lost twicein the Prime Minister’s race toNew Democracy’s Costas Kara-manlis, a man so bland he car-ries jello in his wallet for identi-fication, Venizelos knew aspanking when he saw one andshut up for a few years, al-though it took a muzzle to makesure because he likes the soundof his own voice even more thanthe accolades thrown his waythat he’s a brilliant orator. Sowas Hitler. As Finance Minister,Venizelos doubled income andproperty taxes and taxed thepoor while ignoring tax cheatscosting the country $72 billion.He oversaw the reduction of theminimum wage by 22-32 per-cent, cut unemployment bene-fits to less than $500 a month –before taxes – and when toldthe rising protests against hismeasures included a Metrostrike, was surprised to learnGreece had a subway and rec-ommended it be replaced withlimousine service. He haspromised if that he wins, he willundo everything he did, thenundo that because he likes thestatus quo almost as much asblaming Papandreou while ab-solving himself. ALEKA PAPARIGA – The

leader of the Communist partydislikes the title because itmeans she’s above everyone elseand prefers all people be thesame and be paid the same, al-though she hasn’t turned downher $10,000 a month salary asa Member of Parliament and noone has seen her vacationing inthe sugar cane fields of Cuba,working with the masses. Shedoesn’t want to win or rule, justto keep opposing everything,and would like Greeks to drive1957 Chevrolets and stand inlong lines for bread, and for theOrthodox Church to beatifyStalin.

The neo-Nazi Fascists ofGolden Dawn are a special caseof looniness, but the other can-didates are just so much flotsamand jetsam, leading an array ofPASOK-Lite and New Democ-racy-Heavy parties who are ir-relevant despite their anti-aus-terity populist claims, whichthey seized upon to scam anelectorate so gullible it keepselecting people like Venizelosand Samaras and is ready tobring them back.

To change the Who’s song ti-tle to fit the state of the Greekelectorate:

“WILL get fooled again.”

[email protected]

A Guide to Greek ElectionCandidates: Hold Your Nose

LETTER FROM ATHENS

This quick guide tothe Greek election’s candidates reveals one common theme:is there anyone amongthe bunch worthy ofbeing elected?

The people of Greece will beheading to the polls in less thana month in an election that willattract worldwide attention. Theresults of the election will provejust how much austerity and“self-inflicted wounds” a peopleare willing to withstand andperhaps serve as a gauge for justhow far this “weird science” ofimpoverishing the people cango. After two years of endlessmeasures and a tsunami of taxraids, the Greek citizens will fi-nally have a chance to speak.

The people are at a cross-roads. On the one hand, thereis this three-headed monstercalled the troika (IMF-EuropeanCentral Bank-EU) that representGreece’s creditors and are usingevery possible method to impov-erish the people of Greece. Fromchildish metaphors like thecountry needing to take all ofits medicine to get better, whichthe current IMF chief ChristineLagarde did not refrain from us-ing on national television, de-spite the phrase being coined byher infamous predecessor, tofear-mongering like promotingscenarios where citizens will notbe able to find a carton of milkto feed their children in a bank-rupt Greece, to flagrant med-dling in Greece’s internal politicswith statements from troika of-ficials calling for the election ofa government supporting thepolicies outlined in the memo-randum signed by the Papan-dreou/Papademos governmentsthat have left the current andcoming generations of Greekswith their hands tied and pantsat ankle length for arguably therest of the 21st Century, the

troika has madeevery attempt toensure that the peo-ple do not votefreely on May 6th.

Greek votershave exercisedsome pretty badelectoral judgmentin the past. Theysent home Chari-laos Trikoupis in1895, after twentyyears in politicsduring which hemodernized thecountry, advancedauspicious projects, and com-pelled the king to choose theparty with the greatest numberof votes to form a government.In 1920, they sent home Eleft-herios Venizelos, who had suc-cessfully led Greece to victoryin the Balkan Wars and WorldWar I, tripling the country’s sizeand successfully concluding atreaty granting Greeks ancientlands in Asia Minor, includingSmyrna. They sent homeVenizelos again in 1932, afterwhat is widely considered to behis most successful four years inoffice in terms of domestic pol-icy. These decisions were all metwith disaster including losing awar with Turkey in 1897, theAsia Minor catastrophe of 1922,and a dictatorship in the mid-1930s.

Despite each tragic decision,there always seemed to be somecounterbalance that appeared.Venizelos sprung up to fill thevoid left by Trikoupis. The in-tellectual and spiritual enlight-enment of the famous genera-tion of the 1930s came to heal

some of thewounds caused bythe Asia Minor cat-astrophe, and themiracle of October28, 1945 offered aresounding showof Greece’s valor tothe entire world, ina true David vs.Goliath moment.

On the contrary,when the militaryjunta came alongin 1967 to makedecisions for thepeople, it caused

wounds that have yet to heal.Four decades later, many of theexcesses in today’s Greek societyare still attributed as a sort ofjustified reaction to the junta.And so, it seems that bad deci-sions by the voters are betterthan no decisions at all.

If the country leaves in thehands of the troika without ex-ercising some sort of judgmentregarding its future (right orwrong), the consequences maybe much longer lasting and farmore systemic. Besides, the EU-ECB-IMF not famous for theirdedication to democratic prin-ciples.

Greek voters deserve the op-portunity to judge Greek politi-cal parties and their European“saviors” on the issues. Besidestaxation, what has the troikaand its Greek mouthpieces doneto address the crisis? Why havethere been no reforms to cut bu-reaucracy and lessen govern-ment, in contrast to the easewith which Parliament haspassed legislation regarding thebudget and taxation? Why

should politicians who havebeen ruling Greece all theseyears, bringing it to its present-day condition, be entrusted tosave the country during this ma-jor crisis? As citizens of the EU,don’t Greeks deserve a say onthe growing rift between thecentral states and the peripherycaused by the present policies?Can’t they protest the decisionto save Europe’s big banks bydumping their debts onto thebacks of the working class?

Only the inferiority complexplaguing Greece and imposedby Western European wannabeswho are ashamed of their her-itage can stop the people fromexpressing themselves. Irish vot-ers did not hesitate from block-ing the Lisbon Treaty severalyears ago, nor did the Polishgovernment worry that it wasupsetting its European partnerswhen clashed with Germany orRussia over issues dating backto WWII. Brussels – the verycapital of the EU – routinelygoes months without being ableto form a government becauseof party splintering between itsFrench and Flemish speakingcitizens. Israel, with its pureform of proportional represen-tation, has a multi-party Parlia-ment that often requires a com-plex and delicate balance tokeep the government opera-tional. Life goes on in all thesecountries, and none abandontheir traditions or silence theircitizens’ voices in the interestsof pleasing technocrats.

The Greeks would do well tospeak their minds. It is thevested interests that have some-thing to lose.

Let the Greek People Speak… Without a Muzzle

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

by AMB. PATRICK N.THEROS

Special to The National Herald

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS

Special to The National Herald

by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

Percentage of totaltaxes has nothing to do with being over-taxed or undertaxed. The real issue is vast income inequality.

Page 12: The National HeraldMonday a locksmith was chang-ing door locks and the entrance sign was covered with a banner bearing the logo of Astoria-based Alma Bank, a 5-year-old state-chartered

THE BACK PAGE12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2012

After 30 years since itsfounding and in the vision of it'sdynamic Pastor of blessed mem-ory, Father John Limberakis,to-day, with Father Peter Thorn-berg at the helm along with adedicated Leadership team andParish, wonderful miracles con-tinue to occur in historic ValleyForge, a special place, in theMetro Philadelphia Environs.

"It's hard to believe that webroke ground just a year ago,with site beginning immediately,and the building commencingin late June" Father Peter re-flects.” We have moved with in-credible focus and resolve increating a beautiful landmarkdedicated Orthodox Faith andthe Glory of God, we have beenblessed with pastoral support re-ceived from His Eminence, Met-ropolitan Evangelos and theTeam work of our BuildingCommittee led by Chair , DeanLaskaris , and the Parish Councilwith it's President John Pa-padimitriou "

Metropolitan Evangelosnotes “I am astonished and soproud of the parish of StSophia... For their resolve, speedand quality achieving suchbeautiful results in a magnifi-cent Building and IncredibleIconography, an example for allto behold”

Given Fr John Limberakis'founding vision in the plantingand development of the Parishover 30 ago, sons Anthony andCary rejoice at what a parish ofless than 200 families have ac-complished, ..." Our Father isbeaming from above ,and work-ing overtime with our Lord inblessing the works of this dedi-cated group " Anthony muses,and Presvyteria says "FatherJohn, was obsessed with havingArchitect Christ Kamages cometo Valley Forge to design theChurch when we saw his hand-iwork in Las Vegas, now Father’svision has become real! "

Parish Council President,John Papadimitriou adds "Wehave been blessed with ourParish Team along with the De-sign and Construction Team,who have been amazing, cre-ated a product of such qualityand value in very short periodof time. These efforts and resultsare amazing, we have been trulyblessed”

Building Committee ChairDean Laskaris, who met andmarried his wife Nina (with FRJohn Limberakis' "guidance")has been involved with theBuilding project since 2004 andnotes “Our parents set the toneand example of our connectionand support of the Church , Weas a leadership felt, after yearsof circling the runway , withoutclosure that we had to pursue arealistic path that met the cur-rent and future needs of our

community.....in an economicpackage that could be achieved, that would be appropriate forour parish"

When asked what were thekeys to achieving the superlativeresults of St Sophia, Laskarisnoted: "Firstly, Understanding,in a realistic manner, the oppor-tunities and constraints; Sec-ondly, Having a Professional Re-source, as Christ Kamages AIAand his CJK Team, as the sourceof all design, management andtechnological guidance as partof the core of your team; andlastly Systematic and PersistentPursuit of The Mission andGoals of the Plan and not takingNO as an acceptable answer. "

The construction of the 4million dollar edifice, which willaccommodate about 450 wor-shipers, began about one yearago and in recent months itsunique façade with its now cop-per-clad domes and golden

crosses has become a familiarlandmark to passers-by on heav-ily traveled Trooper Road justnorth of Historic Valley ForgePark. The special AXIOS design

is the work of a. Kamages andhis CJK Design Team of SanFrancisco, Kamages and HisFirm specializes in working withOrthodox Parishes and has more

than 100 such projects to theircredit within North America.The Byzantine Rooted design isrooted back to the 6th centuryof Christianity and is typical ofchurches commonly found inthe Mediterranean and Asia Mi-nor. In keeping with the Byzan-tine church tradition, the inte-rior of the sanctuary has beenadorned with fresco iconogra-phy. From the Apex of the 55foot high dome which depictsJesus Christ and the Old Testa-ment prophets, to the lowerpendentive regions which dis-play large, colorful murals de-picting important scenes fromthe life of Christ, worshipers willfind themselves surrounded bya heavenly panorama.

World renowned Iconogra-

pher Dr George Kordis was soenergized in working with StSophia that he offered the fol-lowing:

First of all, I would like tothank from my heart His Emi-nence metropolitan Evangelosfor giving us the permission towork in St. Sofia Parish, thefaithful members of St. SofiaParish in Valley Forge, thechurch parish council and theparish council president, JohnPapadimitriou; Fr. Peter Thorn-berg, the Architect Christo Ka-mages for his masterpiece of acreation; and naturally, all ofyou who are with us today toshare the joy of presenting thechurch’s wall paintings.

Before I proceed to a briefpresentation of the work we did

here during the last 6 weeks Iwould like to expresses my grat-itude to Mr. Dean Laskaris AndHis wife Nina, not only becausethey sponsored the main part ofthe Iconography, but also be-cause they were the people whoinspired this project. Their atti-tude is really the best examplewe can have as Orthodox Chris-tians because Iconography, thenarrating of an Orthodoxchurch, is something muchmore than the decoration of thespace. It is not simply an at-tempt, to place religious themeson the wall with a didactic orinstructive purpose and the cre-ation of a pleasing and beautifuleffect."

Long time Parishioner andCommittee Member Dr PeterPatukas, reflects “The initiationof the Iconography programcame from Nina Laskaris, whodid not want their son Leo,growing up in a Church Envi-ronment with bare walls void ofIconography, this a great gestureof vision and generosity”

The results speak for them-selves and achieving not only abeautiful authentic ByzantineChurch Temple, but a transfor-mative environment, generatedby an incredible process, wherethe local, regional and nationalaudience were exposed to thefusion of Architecture andIconography, including media,lectures and celebrations,heightening awareness and ap-preciation of Byzantine Theo-logical and Artistic Traditions,and that Iconography is muchmore than mere interior deco-ration.

Tom Cox, Chair of the Capi-tal Campaign, notes “While thebuilding program has witnessedgreat generosity of the Parish,the Phase 1 Iconography hasbeen in almost in its totality fos-tered by Dean and NinaLaskaris.....the process has beencontagious with many other do-nations coming forth and in thewings. In addition, from outsidethe Parish a series of major do-nations have provided by somefantastic friends of the Parish …. The Bell Tower, Geothermal“off -prime time “ supplementalheating system and CJK de-signed Stone Flooring , by Tomand Pamela Papadopoulos,Owners of Colonial Marble andGranite.”

"We are all looking forwardto celebrating Easter or Paschain our beautiful new church", Fr.Peter exclaimed "and of coursewe offer thanks to God and allwho are contributing to makingwhat was once just a dream, areality for this community".

For addditional informationplease contact: Dean W.Laskaris CPA, (410) 246-2672,www.stsophiavf.org.

By Rita Wilson The Washington Post

LOS ANGELES, CA – As theEastern Orthodox, whosechurches follow a different litur-gical calendar than Christianchurches in the West, observeEaster on Sunday, On Faithlooks back at a favorite columnfrom Greek Orthodox actressand producer Rita Wilson:

Here are some of the thingsthat non-Greeks may not knowabout Greek Easter: We don’t dobunnies. We don’t do chocolate.We don’t do pastels.

We do lamb, sweet cookies,and deep red. The lamb isroasted and not chocolate, thesweet cookies are called Koulo-rakia and are twisted like abraid, and our Easter eggs aredyed one color only: blood red.There is no Easter Egg hunt.There is a game in which youcrack your red egg againstsomeone else’s red egg hopingto have the strongest egg, whichwould indicate you getting a lotof good luck.

Holy Week, for a Greek Or-thodox, means you clear yourcalendar, you don’t make plansfor that week at all because youwill be in church every day, andyou fast. Last year, in additionto not eating red meat and dairybefore communion, my familyalso gave up sodas for the 40-day Lenten period.

During one particularlystressful moment, there weremany phone calls amongst ourkids as to whether or not acanned drink called TING, madewith grapefruit juice and car-bonated water was, in fact, asoda and not a juice, which ourthen 10-year-old decided it was,so we had a Ting-less Lent.

No matter where I find myself in the world I never missEaster, or as we call it, Pascha. Ihave celebrated in Paris, Lon-don, New York City, Los Angeles,and in Salinas, California at asmall humble church that waspure and simple.

When we were kids, our par-ents would take us, and now asparents ourselves we take our

children to many of the HolyWeek services including theGood Friday service where youmourn the death of Jesus bywalking up to the Epitaphio,which represents the dead bodyof Christ, make your cross, kissthe Epitaphio, and marvel athow it was decorated with athousand glorious flowers, rosepetals and smells like incense.

Some very pious people willcrawl under the Epitaphio. Ihave always been so moved tosee this. There is no self- con-sciousness in this utter act offaith. There is no embarrass-ment to show symbolic sorrowat the death of our Saviour.

At a certain point in the GoodFriday service, the Epitaphio iscarried outside by the deaconsof the church, as if they are pallbearers, followed by worship-pers carrying lit candles pro-tected from dripping on yourclothes and on others by havinga red plastic cup that sits belowthe flame to catch the wax drip-pings. Every Greek personknows all too well the smell ofburning hair.

One time, in London, I

smelled something and turnedto look at where the smell mightbe coming from, only to be hor-rified that it was coming formme and my head was on fire.But I digress.

It is somber and quiet as wefollow the Epitaphio, in candle-light, from the altar to the out-doors, in order for it to circlethe church before it returns backto the altar. We sing beautifullamentations that make yourheart break with their pure ex-pression of sadness and hope.

One of my favorite servicesduring Easter is Holy Unction.This happens on the Wednesdayof Holy Week. Holy Unction is asacrament. It is for healing ofour ills, physical and spiritual.It is preparing us for confessionand communion. This sacra-ment has always been so hum-bling to me.

When you approach thepriest for Holy Unction, you bowyour head and as he says aprayer and asks you your Chris-tian name, he takes a swab ofblessed oil and makes the signof the cross on your forehead,cheeks, chin, backs of your

hands and palms. It is a power-ful reminder of how, with faith,we can be healed in many ways.

The holy oil is then carefullydabbed with cotton balls pro-vided by the church so you don’tleave there looking as if you’reready to fry chicken with yourface, and before you exit thechurch, you leave your cottonballs in a basket being held byaltar boys, so as not to disposeof the holy oil in a less than holyplace. The church burns theused cotton balls.

There have been times whenI have left church with my cot-ton ball and have panickedwhen I am driving away. Athome I take care of it. Imaginea grown woman burning cottonballs in her sink. But that is whatI do.

Midnight Mass on Saturdaynight, going into Sunday morn-ing is the Anastasi service. Wewill arrive at church at around11 p.m., when it starts, and lis-ten to the chanter as he chantsin preparation for the service.My kids, dressed in their suitsand having been awakenedfrom a deep sleep to come tochurch, groggily sit and waitholding their candles with redcup wax catchers.

As the service progresses, themoment we have all been wait-

ing for approaches. All the lightsin the church are turned off. Itis pitch black It is dead quiet.The priest takes one candle andlights his one candle from theone remaining lit altar candle,which represents the light ofChrist’s love ( I believe).

From this one candle, thepriest approaches the congrega-tion and using his one candlehe shares his light with a fewpeople in the front pews. Theyin turn share their light with thepeople next to them and behindthem. In quiet solemnity, wewait until the entire church islit with only the light of candles,the light that has been createdby one small flame has now cre-ated a room of shared light.

And at a moment that canonly be described as glorious,the priest cries out, “XristosAnesti!” “Christ is Risen!” We re-spond with “Alithos Anesti!”“Truly, He is Risen!” We sing ourglorious Xristos Anesti song withthe choir. That moment, whichhappens about an hour, to anhour and half into the serviceand seems as if the service isover, actually marks the begin-ning of the service. The servicethen continues for another hourand a half.

When I was a kid, after theservice was over, we would go

to the Anastasi Dinner that thechurch would throw in thechurch hall, where we wouldbreak our fast, drink Cokes at2:30 in the morning, dance to araucous Greek band and not gohome until our stomachs werefull of lamb, eggs, Koulouraki,and we saw the sun rise. Or wasit the Son rise?

But usually now, after Mid-night Mass, we drive home withour still-lit candles. I always loveseeing the looks on peoplesfaces as they pull up to our carseeing a family with lit candlescalmly moving at 65 m.p.h.down the highway. When we gethome, we crack eggs, eat cook-ies, drink hot chocolate (so notGreek) and I burn a cross intoour doorways with the carbonfrom the candle smoke to blessour house for the year.

There have been many timeswhen painters touching up thehouse have wondered why therewas this strange black crossburned into our doorways. Thenext day is usually followed bya late sleep in, then getting upand doing the same thing youjust did but in the daytime atthe Easter Picnic, usually heldat a local park.

I have to say, the Greeksknow how to do Easter. Makeno mistake. This is the most im-portant holiday in our church.It is a beautiful week. I haven’teven begun to touch on whatthe week is really like. This is asampling of a sampling of whatit is like. It is so much moredeep, so much richer than I havewritten here.

But one thing is clear. It is apowerful, beautiful, mysterious,humbling, healing and movingweek. It is filled with traditionand ritual. It is about renewaland faith. And even though it isstill too early to say, XristosAnesti! Alithos Anesti!

Actress Rita Wilson, whosemother and father both wereborn in Greece, produced MyBig Fat Greek Wedding. Wilsonand her actor husband TomHanks had their own “Big FatGreek Wedding” in 1988. Theyhave two children.

Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks Celebrate their Big, Fat, Greek Easter

Rita Wilson, who debuted as an actress in a Brady Bunchepisode, with her husband Tom Hanks. Right: Tom Hanks, re-cruited for as much for his size as for being a Philhellene, car-ries the epitafion at a Good Friday procession

The Dawn of a New Light of the True Faith on the Horizon

Clockwise from top: 1) The new sanctuary of the Valley Forgeparish of St. Sophia, Sts. Faith, Hope, and Agape 2) Parishionershold the “Justinianic cross” that will crown the 55-foot highdome. 3) The frescos in the dome depict Christ and the OldTestament prophets 4) Scenes from the life of Christ and theTheotokos adorn the area under the dome.


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