the national herald 101...tnh staff astoria – greek prime minis- ter alexis tsipras visited saint...

12
TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According to sources who spoke to the Na- tional Herald, the refusal was mainly due to religious piety and his beliefs in the sanctity of the institution of marriage and the family. The incident might have gone unnoticed had the cover- age of Tsipras’ visit captured on video by TNH photojournalist Costas Bej not been posted on- line and shared through the newspaper’s social media. The video, however, soon went viral, sparking interest and comments in Greece and among the Greek media, and on social media. The refusal to shake hands was soon viewed by more than 250,000 internet users in Greece and the United States. Everyone from coast to coast and across the ocean in Greece wondered, “Who is the student who refused to shake hands with Tsipras?” The student was born and raised in Greece and is one of the 50 students who have moved to Astoria and enrolled at St. Demetrios School over the last two years. Sources told TNH that the student comes from a good family, and was raised with the values and beliefs that form the backbone of the Greek- American community. The student's reaction, as re- ported by our sources, “was not premeditated, but sponta- neous,” and was due to “mainly Alexis Tsipras’ and his govern- ment’s attitude on religion.” The same source said that the reac- tion was due to the fact that “Alexis Tsipras does not believe in marriage and religion.” St. Demetrios School Board President Nick Andriotis told TNH that the video and the stu- dent’s refusal to shake hands so widely discussed in the commu- nity and among Hellenes Abroad in general was hijacked by both passionate political sup- porters and detractors of Tsipras and his SYRIZA party. “If you carefully watch the video,” An- driotis explained, “you will see that the child was hesitant and ambivalent, and that at the last moment refused the handshake. I believe that an American-born Greek student would not have refused the handshake, it is not compatible with the Greek- American tradition and culture, generally speaking. We see visi- tors from the homeland as rep- resentatives of the motherland and uphold the integrity of the protocol,” he said. "And to put things in the real perspective, I invite everyone to visit the Petros G. Patrides Cul- tural Center to see that for the Diaspora and Astoria, the bas- The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK-AmERICAN PUBLICATION October 1-7, 2016 www.thenationalherald.com $1.50 c v O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 NEWS 101 anniversary st 1915-2016 VOL. 19, ISSUE 990 For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] By Vasilis Koutsilas LARISSA, GREECE – A 32-year- old Greek-American who lives in Larissa has been going through an incredible ordeal for some time now. For reasons still un- known, which he has anxiously been trying to ascertain, he has two official documents, each list- ing him with an entirely different name. His U.S. passport refers to him as Quentin Louin Joseph, while his Greek identification card indicates he is Ilias Tsotsas. Both documents are authentic. "I am bound by red tape and I cannot find a solution," he told The National Herald. "I'm a man with a dual identity," he says, and points out that while everyone recognizes that this is illegal, nothing has been done so far to restore legality which, besides all potential future problems, is al- ready creating problems in his daily life. He was born in Detroit, MI in 1984 as Quentin Louin Joseph. Never having met his father, he was taken to Greece five years later by his mother and grand- mother, specifically to the small town of Agia in Larissa. Once there, he was registered in the Municipal Roll with his grandfather’s name, Ilias Tsotsas. He does not know by whom, but suspects it was done by his grandmother, who is no longer alive. In 2003, when he was 19, he discovered the discrepancy when he tried to obtain his Greek iden- tification card in order to obtain a license for his motorcycle. The card was issued under his Greek name, completely ignoring the A Victim of a Dual Indentity Tells All St. Demetrios HS Student Refuses to Shake Hands with Tsipras By Eleni Sakellis NEW YORK – For those of us who studied ancient Greek drama at school, the play Antigone by Sophocles was es- sential reading. The fall season at the Onassis Cultural Center New York will host the second annual Onassis Festival of Arts and Ideas. The theme is inspired by Sophocles’ play and the tragic title character. Antigone Now opens on October 13 and runs through October 16 at the Onassis Cultural Center New York in the Olympic Tower in mid-town Manhattan. Antigone Now, free and open to the pub- lic, includes over 30 events for participants of all ages and in- terests, both on site and online. Exploring the myth through visual and performing arts, fam- ily programs, and digital media, the festival will also introduce the #iSTANDfor digital initia- tive. As Antigone stood up for her beliefs, #iSTANDfor encour- ages the youth of the world to share stories of inspiration and change via social media and a dedicated web site. #iSTANDfor highlights the achievements and celebrates young women and men everywhere whose individ- ual and collective acts of hero- ism and bravery are making the world a better place. During the Festival a video wall will project a live-feed of #iSTANDfor mes- sages as they appear on social media platforms, as well as quotes from #iSTANDfor ‘am- bassadors,’ and the #iSTANDfor video teaser. On October 15, back-to-back talks with notable participants on Antigone Now themes will Antigone-themed Onassis Festival AHEPA Gala Honors Judge Nicholas G. Tsoucalas AHEPA Supreme President Andrew Zachariades presents the proclamation to Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas at the dinner in his honor at the Central Park Boathouse on Sept 27. Story on page 6. A. Kaloyeros Arraigned on Corruption Charges By Eleni Sakellis Jerusalem, 1000-1400 Every People Under Heaven opened on September 26 at the Metro- politan Museum of Art (MMA). The exhibition presents an ex- traordinary collection of art- work and artifacts from the years 1000-1400 representing the incredible diversity in the art of the time period in the Holy City of Jerusalem. In the Middle Ages, Jerusalem took on a tremen- dous significance as a location, destination, and symbol for peo- ple of diverse faiths from Ice- land to India. The often com- petitive and sometimes complementary religious tradi- tions, focused their attention on the city, and inspired one of the most creative periods in the his- tory of Jerusalem. The landmark exhibition which runs through January 8, 2017 explores the role of the city, sacred to Judaism, Chris- tianity, and Islam, in molding the art of the time. In the cen- Jerusalem Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum TNH Staff ASTORIA – Astoria is a Mecca of Hellenism in America, mak- ing it an ideal place for our com- patriots from Greece who be- cause of the economic crisis were forced to leave home in search of a better life in Amer- ica. Many of the newcomers are American citizens who were born in the United States but had returned to Greece in the 1980s and 90s. Among them, the family of Christos and Lemo- nia Peikidis, who twenty years ago during the Greek prosperity period decided to return to the homeland. The history of Peikidis family is a familiar one. Like the hun- dreds of other expatriate fami- lies who have returned to Amer- ica in the last six years, their story would probably go unno- ticed except for the fact that in late July, they decided to buy Cafe Boulis, at 30-15 31 Avenue in Astoria. The cafe is centrally located, just one block from St. Demetrios Cathedral, near the 30th Avenue train station on the N and Q lines. Cafe Boulis was one of the newest cafes in Astoria, famous for its delicious loukoumades. The Peikidises, as the Daily News recently reported, up- graded the cafe. It has since be- come a destination for lovers of traditional pies and sweets that Lemonia makes with love. “All the pastries and pies made in the kitchen of Cafe Boulis are exactly the same as my mother, who was a cook all her life, made them. My mother had worked in New York as a cook and when we returned to Drama, she took up the same profession,” said her son, Pana- giotis, who runs the shop. “Cafe Boulis is a family busi- ness which operates seven days a week from 7AM until 10PM. You can enjoy all kinds of cof- fees here, including Greek and iced coffee as well as espresso, cappuccino, and American cof- Cafe Boulis: Greek-American Story Depicting the Crucifixion in the center, a triptych icon covered in jewels and intricate enamel- work is among the artifacts in the Jerusalem exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum. Consul General of Greece in New York Kostas Koutras vis- ited Café Boulis. Raised in East Beirut, Lebanon, Alain Kaloyeros was a 19-year-old American University student caught up in that coun- try’s then-roaring Civil War, join- ing a Christian militia before im- migrating to the United States and blazing a university trail that made him one of New York’s top power brokers, a wheeler and dealer who liked frayed jeans and a wardrobe by John Varvatos. Son of a Lebanese mother and Greek father, Kaloyeros, 60, used a gift of charm and unbridled con- fidence to woo politicians and business executives to invest in his vision of making upper NY state a high-technology heaven. “We’re out to put Stanford out of business,” he told the Albany Times-Union in 2002. He went about it by allying with powerful forces, such as for- mer State Assembly Speaker Shel- don Silver, convicted of corrup- tion. And like a Game of Thrones master, he played politicians against each other on his rise from a professor at the State Uni- versity at Albany to creating the State University of Polytechnic In- stitute. It also brought him down. One of the highest paid em- ployees in the state, a man who had the ear of the movers and shakers, prosecutors allege he used his power and position to award lucrative contracts to a se- lect few developers in Buffalo, Al- bany and Syracuse as part of a scheme that was so widespread it brought charges against nine people, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s closest former aide. In a detailed analysis of his rise and fall, the New York Times’ Vivian Yee followed the unlikely saga of a former Greek-Lebanese militiaman to the top echelons of power in New York State and how it may have ended, depending on the trial, overnight. Kaloyeros’ lawyer, Michael Miller, declined to comment about his client who liked to be referred to as doctor because of his doctorate although he’s not a medical doctor. He lured hundreds of millions of dollars in state economic de- velopment funds over a quarter- century but his end game seemed Scientist and Power Broker Connected To Albany Corruption TNH/COSTAS BEJ By Andy Dabilis TNH Staff Athanasia Landis knew about politics at an early age during her youth in Greece, a Thessa- loniki native whose parents talked it in the house. And in November, 2015, af- ter 186 years, the upstate New York town of Fredonia voted her its first female Mayor, 23 years after she and her family moved there. “I feel a lot of responsibility — it’s a big responsibility to be the first female Mayor,” she told the town’s newspaper The Leader then. “Not because I’m in any kind of competition with anybody else, but my father always said that in our family, women are leaders, and I have this in my mind all the time.” Landis is a physician married to another doctor, Andrew, a Greek-American from New Jer- sey whose parents were from Karpathos and who met her while the two were studying medicine. He has a private prac- tice in the town. With five children, she had to give up active practice and said she was moved into politics by her town’s Democratic party and after she thought it would be a good way to give back to the community she had grown to love – and which she wanted to change. “My mother’s family had peo- ple in government years before in the Venizelos government and my father’s family was much more with unions. Politi- Doctor Athanasia Landis’ Odyssey TNH Staff The Historical Society of Car- roll County's Emerald Hill in Westminster, MD presents a new exhibit on the Greek immigrant experience. The city’s Greek im- migrants first arrived in the early 20th century. The immigrants es- tablished themselves in business and became part of American society over the course of the century. Westminster’s Greek community though not large is vital to the county. The exhibit, entitled Yearning to Breathe Free: Westminster's Greek Immi- grants opened on Sept. 24 and will be open on Oct. 1 and 8 from 10 AM to 4 PM at Emerald Hill (old City Hall) 1838 Emer- The Greek Immigrant Experience Tsipras’ and his government’s attitude towards religion in- spired the student’s refusal. Continued on page 6 Continued on page 4 TNH/COSTAS BEJ Continued on page 2 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 5 TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS Continued on page 6 Continued on page 6

Upload: others

Post on 12-Jul-2020

3 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

TNH Staff

ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis-ter Alexis Tsipras visited SaintDemetrios in Astoria where ahigh school student refused toshake his hand. According tosources who spoke to the Na-tional Herald, the refusal wasmainly due to religious pietyand his beliefs in the sanctity ofthe institution of marriage andthe family.

The incident might havegone unnoticed had the cover-age of Tsipras’ visit captured onvideo by TNH photojournalistCostas Bej not been posted on-line and shared through thenewspaper’s social media. Thevideo, however, soon went viral,sparking interest and commentsin Greece and among the Greekmedia, and on social media.

The refusal to shake handswas soon viewed by more than250,000 internet users in Greeceand the United States. Everyonefrom coast to coast and across

the ocean in Greece wondered,“Who is the student who refusedto shake hands with Tsipras?”

The student was born andraised in Greece and is one ofthe 50 students who havemoved to Astoria and enrolledat St. Demetrios School over thelast two years. Sources told TNHthat the student comes from agood family, and was raisedwith the values and beliefs thatform the backbone of the Greek-American community.

The student's reaction, as re-ported by our sources, “was notpremeditated, but sponta-neous,” and was due to “mainlyAlexis Tsipras’ and his govern-ment’s attitude on religion.” Thesame source said that the reac-tion was due to the fact that“Alexis Tsipras does not believein marriage and religion.”

St. Demetrios School BoardPresident Nick Andriotis toldTNH that the video and the stu-dent’s refusal to shake hands sowidely discussed in the commu-nity and among HellenesAbroad in general was hijackedby both passionate political sup-porters and detractors of Tsiprasand his SYRIZA party. “If youcarefully watch the video,” An-driotis explained, “you will seethat the child was hesitant andambivalent, and that at the lastmoment refused the handshake.I believe that an American-bornGreek student would not haverefused the handshake, it is notcompatible with the Greek-American tradition and culture,generally speaking. We see visi-tors from the homeland as rep-resentatives of the motherlandand uphold the integrity of theprotocol,” he said.

"And to put things in the realperspective, I invite everyone tovisit the Petros G. Patrides Cul-tural Center to see that for theDiaspora and Astoria, the bas-

The National HeraldA wEEKLy GrEEK-AmErICAN PuBLICATION

October 1-7, 2016

www.thenationalherald.com$1.50c v

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915NEW

S 101anniversary

st

1915-2016

VOL. 19, ISSUE 990

For subscription:

[email protected]

By Vasilis Koutsilas

LARISSA, GREECE – A 32-year-old Greek-American who lives inLarissa has been going throughan incredible ordeal for sometime now. For reasons still un-known, which he has anxiouslybeen trying to ascertain, he hastwo official documents, each list-ing him with an entirely differentname. His U.S. passport refers tohim as Quentin Louin Joseph,while his Greek identificationcard indicates he is Ilias Tsotsas.Both documents are authentic.

"I am bound by red tape and Icannot find a solution," he toldThe National Herald. "I'm a manwith a dual identity," he says, andpoints out that while everyonerecognizes that this is illegal,nothing has been done so far torestore legality which, besides allpotential future problems, is al-ready creating problems in hisdaily life.

He was born in Detroit, MI in1984 as Quentin Louin Joseph.Never having met his father, hewas taken to Greece five yearslater by his mother and grand-mother, specifically to the smalltown of Agia in Larissa.

Once there, he was registeredin the Municipal Roll with hisgrandfather’s name, Ilias Tsotsas.He does not know by whom, butsuspects it was done by hisgrandmother, who is no longeralive.

In 2003, when he was 19, hediscovered the discrepancy whenhe tried to obtain his Greek iden-tification card in order to obtaina license for his motorcycle. Thecard was issued under his Greekname, completely ignoring the

A Victim of a DualIndentityTells All

St. Demetrios HS StudentRefuses to ShakeHands with Tsipras

By Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK – For those of uswho studied ancient Greekdrama at school, the playAntigone by Sophocles was es-sential reading. The fall seasonat the Onassis Cultural CenterNew York will host the secondannual Onassis Festival of Artsand Ideas. The theme is inspiredby Sophocles’ play and thetragic title character. AntigoneNow opens on October 13 andruns through October 16 at theOnassis Cultural Center NewYork in the Olympic Tower in

mid-town Manhattan. AntigoneNow, free and open to the pub-lic, includes over 30 events forparticipants of all ages and in-terests, both on site and online.

Exploring the myth throughvisual and performing arts, fam-ily programs, and digital media,the festival will also introducethe #iSTANDfor digital initia-tive. As Antigone stood up forher beliefs, #iSTANDfor encour-ages the youth of the world toshare stories of inspiration andchange via social media and adedicated web site. #iSTANDforhighlights the achievements and

celebrates young women andmen everywhere whose individ-ual and collective acts of hero-ism and bravery are making theworld a better place. During theFestival a video wall will projecta live-feed of #iSTANDfor mes-sages as they appear on socialmedia platforms, as well asquotes from #iSTANDfor ‘am-bassadors,’ and the #iSTANDforvideo teaser.

On October 15, back-to-backtalks with notable participantson Antigone Now themes will

Antigone-themed Onassis Festival

AHEPA Gala Honors Judge Nicholas G. TsoucalasAHEPA Supreme President Andrew Zachariades presents the proclamation to Judge NicholasTsoucalas at the dinner in his honor at the Central Park Boathouse on Sept 27. Story on page 6.

A. Kaloyeros Arraigned on Corruption Charges

By Eleni Sakellis

Jerusalem, 1000-1400 EveryPeople Under Heaven openedon September 26 at the Metro-politan Museum of Art (MMA).The exhibition presents an ex-traordinary collection of art-work and artifacts from theyears 1000-1400 representingthe incredible diversity in theart of the time period in theHoly City of Jerusalem.

In the Middle Ages,Jerusalem took on a tremen-dous significance as a location,destination, and symbol for peo-ple of diverse faiths from Ice-land to India. The often com-petitive and sometimescomplementary religious tradi-tions, focused their attention onthe city, and inspired one of themost creative periods in the his-tory of Jerusalem.

The landmark exhibitionwhich runs through January 8,2017 explores the role of thecity, sacred to Judaism, Chris-tianity, and Islam, in moldingthe art of the time. In the cen-

Jerusalem Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

TNH Staff

ASTORIA – Astoria is a Meccaof Hellenism in America, mak-ing it an ideal place for our com-patriots from Greece who be-cause of the economic crisiswere forced to leave home insearch of a better life in Amer-ica.

Many of the newcomers areAmerican citizens who wereborn in the United States buthad returned to Greece in the1980s and 90s. Among them,the family of Christos and Lemo-nia Peikidis, who twenty yearsago during the Greek prosperityperiod decided to return to thehomeland.

The history of Peikidis familyis a familiar one. Like the hun-dreds of other expatriate fami-lies who have returned to Amer-ica in the last six years, theirstory would probably go unno-ticed except for the fact that inlate July, they decided to buyCafe Boulis, at 30-15 31 Avenue

in Astoria. The cafe is centrallylocated, just one block from St.Demetrios Cathedral, near the30th Avenue train station on the

N and Q lines.Cafe Boulis was one of the

newest cafes in Astoria, famousfor its delicious loukoumades.The Peikidises, as the DailyNews recently reported, up-graded the cafe. It has since be-come a destination for lovers oftraditional pies and sweets thatLemonia makes with love.

“All the pastries and piesmade in the kitchen of CafeBoulis are exactly the same asmy mother, who was a cook allher life, made them. My motherhad worked in New York as acook and when we returned toDrama, she took up the sameprofession,” said her son, Pana-giotis, who runs the shop.

“Cafe Boulis is a family busi-ness which operates seven daysa week from 7AM until 10PM.You can enjoy all kinds of cof-fees here, including Greek andiced coffee as well as espresso,cappuccino, and American cof-

Cafe Boulis: Greek-American Story

Depicting the Crucifixion in the center, a triptych icon covered in jewels and intricate enamel-work is among the artifacts in the Jerusalem exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum.

Consul General of Greece inNew York Kostas Koutras vis-ited Café Boulis.

Raised in East Beirut,Lebanon, Alain Kaloyeros was a19-year-old American Universitystudent caught up in that coun-try’s then-roaring Civil War, join-ing a Christian militia before im-migrating to the United Statesand blazing a university trail thatmade him one of New York’s toppower brokers, a wheeler anddealer who liked frayed jeans anda wardrobe by John Varvatos.

Son of a Lebanese mother andGreek father, Kaloyeros, 60, useda gift of charm and unbridled con-fidence to woo politicians andbusiness executives to invest inhis vision of making upper NYstate a high-technology heaven.

“We’re out to put Stanford outof business,” he told the AlbanyTimes-Union in 2002.

He went about it by allyingwith powerful forces, such as for-mer State Assembly Speaker Shel-don Silver, convicted of corrup-tion.

And like a Game of Thronesmaster, he played politiciansagainst each other on his risefrom a professor at the State Uni-versity at Albany to creating theState University of Polytechnic In-stitute.

It also brought him down.One of the highest paid em-

ployees in the state, a man whohad the ear of the movers andshakers, prosecutors allege heused his power and position toaward lucrative contracts to a se-lect few developers in Buffalo, Al-bany and Syracuse as part of ascheme that was so widespreadit brought charges against ninepeople, including Gov. AndrewCuomo’s closest former aide.

In a detailed analysis of hisrise and fall, the New York Times’Vivian Yee followed the unlikelysaga of a former Greek-Lebanesemilitiaman to the top echelons ofpower in New York State and howit may have ended, depending onthe trial, overnight.

Kaloyeros’ lawyer, MichaelMiller, declined to commentabout his client who liked to bereferred to as doctor because ofhis doctorate although he’s not amedical doctor.

He lured hundreds of millionsof dollars in state economic de-velopment funds over a quarter-century but his end game seemed

Scientist and PowerBroker Connected ToAlbany Corruption

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

By Andy DabilisTNH Staff

Athanasia Landis knew aboutpolitics at an early age duringher youth in Greece, a Thessa-loniki native whose parentstalked it in the house.

And in November, 2015, af-ter 186 years, the upstate NewYork town of Fredonia voted herits first female Mayor, 23 yearsafter she and her family movedthere.

“I feel a lot of responsibility— it’s a big responsibility to bethe first female Mayor,” she toldthe town’s newspaper TheLeader then.

“Not because I’m in any kindof competition with anybodyelse, but my father always saidthat in our family, women areleaders, and I have this in mymind all the time.”

Landis is a physician marriedto another doctor, Andrew, aGreek-American from New Jer-sey whose parents were fromKarpathos and who met herwhile the two were studyingmedicine. He has a private prac-tice in the town.

With five children, she hadto give up active practice andsaid she was moved into politicsby her town’s Democratic partyand after she thought it wouldbe a good way to give back tothe community she had grownto love – and which she wantedto change.

“My mother’s family had peo-ple in government years beforein the Venizelos governmentand my father’s family wasmuch more with unions. Politi-

DoctorAthanasiaLandis’Odyssey

TNH Staff

The Historical Society of Car-roll County's Emerald Hill inWestminster, MD presents a newexhibit on the Greek immigrantexperience. The city’s Greek im-migrants first arrived in the early20th century. The immigrants es-tablished themselves in businessand became part of Americansociety over the course of thecentury. Westminster’s Greekcommunity though not large isvital to the county. The exhibit,entitled Yearning to BreatheFree: Westminster's Greek Immi-grants opened on Sept. 24 andwill be open on Oct. 1 and 8from 10 AM to 4 PM at EmeraldHill (old City Hall) 1838 Emer-

The GreekImmigrantExperience

Tsipras’ and his government’sattitude towards religion in-spired the student’s refusal.

Continued on page 6Continued on page 4

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 2 Continued on page 5

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 5

TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS

TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 6

Page 2: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

TNH Staff

MEDFORD, Mass. — Tufts Uni-versity in Boston is receiving a$15 million donation from theJaharis Family Foundation to ex-pand its anatomy lab wheremedical students dissect cadav-ers.

The foundation was foundedby pharmaceutical executive andformer Tufts trustee Michael Ja-haris, who died in February atage 87.

Tufts plans to build an ex-panded anatomy lab with newmedical imaging equipment androom for more than 200 studentsand faculty. The lab is expectedto be finished in 2018.

School officials say the labbolsters their commitment to dis-section as a critical part of med-ical education. Medical studentsat Tufts and many other schoolslearn anatomy by dissecting ca-davers.

The donation also provides$2 million for scholarships tohelp low-income and middle-in-come medical students pursuecareers in family medicine.

The gross anatomy laboratorywill be relocated, expanded andintegrated with state-of-the-artdigital imaging thanks the dona-tion the university’s newspaperTufts Now reported.

The scholarships funded bythe gift will go to middle- to low-income students committed topracticing family medicine, eas-ing student indebtedness in amedical specialty with a tremen-dous shortage of physicians.

Tufts President Anthony P.Monaco told the newspaper thatthe Jaharis family’s philanthropyaligns with a core value of theuniversity—to act as an enginefor social good.

“There’s nothing more noble

than an investment in educationand the health and well-being ofour society,” he said.

“Family physicians trained atTufts will play a critical role aswe confront the obesity epi-demic, opioid addiction andother great health challenges ofour times and work to resolvethem,” he added.

HUMAN DISSECTIONThe donation also means stu-

dents at Tufts, one of top medicalschools in the Boston area, whichis filled with them, will have anupdated gross anatomy lab sothey can practice hands-on dis-section to go along with advancesin diagnostic imaging technolo-gies offering virtual reality in thefield.

“Overall, the trend has beenfor schools to go away from phys-ical dissection, although manyhave come back to it,” JeffreyMarchant, Ph.D., Research Assis-tant Professor and Associate Di-rector of the Division of MedicalEducation at Tufts told the pa-per.

“In our view, in order to learnthe material, students have to gointo the lab and physically dissectthe parts of the body. Searchingfor structures is an important partof the learning process.”

The new gross anatomy labwill feature an enlarged spaceand world-class technology in ad-dition to hands-on physical dis-section. Using the Jaharis grant,the new lab will incorporate arange of new features, includinga 75-person classroom, an ad-vanced dissection lab and a spe-cial anatomy suite as well as aflexible design for more than 200students and faculty with surgicallighting and computer screens ateach dissection table;

The gift from the Jaharis Fam-ily Foundation enables Tufts to

maximize the use of one of itsoldest buildings on campus, theBiomedical Research and PublicHealth Building, which has beencentral to the School since the1950s.

Construction on the new labwill begin in fall 2016 and isscheduled to be completed insummer 2018. The laboratorywill run year-round, providinganatomical training for eachmedical, dental medicine, andphysician assistant class.

FAMILY MEDICINESCHOLARSHIPS

The $2 million from the Ja-haris donation will especiallybenefit family medicine during atime when many medical stu-dents are choosing specialties.

The American Academy ofFamily Physicians projects ashortfall of 21,000 family medi-cine physicians by 2025, a gapthe Jaharis gift hopes to partiallyfill.

Students facing hundreds ofthousands of dollars in debt areleaning toward specialties so theycan off their loans, leaving fewerchoosing family medicine.

“It’s our most underservedfield,” Dr. Amy Kuhlik, Dean ofStudent Affairs at the medicalschool said. “We have a criticalneed in this area, yet year afteryear, this is where we see thegreatest number go unfulfilled inthe match.”

Steven Jaharis, a 1987 grad-uate of Tufts University School ofMedicine, long-time family med-icine physician in the Chicagoarea and a Director of the JaharisFamily Foundation, said: “I rec-ognize that student debt is apressing issue for medical stu-dents today, and I don’t want thesize of a student’s loans to dis-courage future physicians fromselecting family medicine as their

specialty. The need for primarycare physicians in America isgrowing, and I hope that thisscholarship will help studentswho go into family medicinegraduate with less loan debt.”

Based on financial need, Tuftswill award a total of $100,000 inscholarships each year prior tograduation to students whomatch into a family medicine res-idency program, reducing loanprincipal and the correspondinginterest charges.

JAHARIS GENEROSITYThis gift is the latest in a long

history of transformative contri-butions the Jaharis Family Foun-dation Inc. has made to Tufts Uni-versity School of Medicine.

The Foundation previouslyenabled the near-doubling of re-search space at the medicalschool with the construction of anew building called the JaharisFamily Center for Biomedical andNutrition Sciences; endowed aprofessorship in family medicineat Tufts; funded a comprehensiverenovation of the School’s SacklerCenter and creation of the Clini-cal Skills and Simulation Center;

and established the Jaharis Fam-ily Scholarship Fund, which pro-vides additional resources for fi-nancial aid.

Michael Jaharis was commit-ted to medical education and formany years he held a leadershiprole at Tufts, serving as a univer-sity trustee from 1993 to 2003and as a Chair of the Board ofAdvisors to the School of Medi-cine and the Sackler School ofGraduate Biomedical Sciences.

In 2015, Tufts awarded himan honorary Doctor of Public Ser-vice degree in recognition of hislifetime commitment to the pub-lic good.

“This gift from the JaharisFamily Foundation will dramati-cally enhance the gross anatomycourse, a cornerstone of medicaleducation, where students getthe first glimmer of what type ofphysician they might become andwhere they first begin to work ina team,” Dr. Harris Berman, Deanof Tufts University School ofMedicine.

He added: “The latest gift en-sures that we continue to gradu-ate well-trained physicians whoseindebtedness does not dictate themedical specialty they choose.Most notably, the Foundation’sphilanthropy will have a muchbroader impact—helping to guar-antee a pipeline of physicianswho are prepared to providecomprehensive and preventativecare to patients who need it themost,” says

The School will be seeking$10 million in matching giftsfrom alumni, friends and othersupporters. “When we make agift, our family always wants toinspire others to do the same,”said Steven Jaharis.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

TNH Staff

NEW YORK– A transformative$1 million grant from theStavros Niarchos Foundation(SNF) to the Latin/Greek Insti-tute at the City University ofNew York (CUNY) GraduateCenter, will expand opportuni-ties for students of all back-grounds to participate in the In-stitute’s nationally renowned

summer language institute. TheStavros Niarchos FoundationScholarships will enable an ad-ditional 20-25 students to attendthe Institute’s introductory andupper-level programs annually.

The Institute, a joint collab-oration between the GraduateCenter and Brooklyn College,has been providing intensivesummer-term training in Latinand Greek for over 40 years.

SNF Scholars will receive botha substantial scholarship andsupport for living expenses dur-ing the summer in New YorkCity. They will also join an ex-tensive community affiliatedwith and supported by the SNF.

“This grant is transformativebecause it offers the opportunityto study Greek and Latin lan-guage and literature — thesource of so many fertile ideas

in global culture — to studentswho typically have not had ac-cess to the field,” said Joy Con-nolly, Provost and Senior VicePresident of the Graduate Cen-ter. “As a classicist, I can speakto the immediate impact thisgrant will have in both diversi-fying the discipline and sustain-ing its intellectual foundations.Thank you to the Stavros Niar-chos Foundation for having theforesight to provide such signif-icant support.”

The Latin/Greek Institute of-fers total-immersion programsin Latin or Ancient Greek thatenable students to master in onesummer the material normallycovered in two to three years.Classes meet all day, five days a

week, at the Graduate Center inMidtown Manhattan.

“Over the past twenty years,the Stavros Niarchos Foundationhas been committed to support-ing the study of classical cul-tures and civilizations globally,”said Sarah Needham, ProgramOfficer at the Foundation. “Weare proud to support such an in-novative and renowned pro-gram, and are excited to beopening the world of Greek andLatin to ultimately hundreds ofstudents who may have not oth-erwise had the chance. TheLatin/Greek Institute is a gemand one of New York City’s mostunique educational programs,with a long history of introduc-ing thousands of students to the

study of these classical lan-guages. We do hope thatthrough this support, studentsfrom all backgrounds will beable to participate and reap thebenefits of studying Greek andLatin.”

“The Institute’s beyond-inten-sive, rigorous approach equipsstudents to read Latin or Greekwith precision and confidence ina short time, but it also requiresa singular focus on their studies.For many, this is challenging be-cause there is a real need towork at the same time as goingto school,” said Katherine LuHsu, Director of the Latin/GreekInstitute. “This grant will allowstudents to come to New Yorkand dedicate their entire sum-mer to learning Latin and Greek,and prepare them for furtherstudies or research at top insti-tutions across the country.”

More details about the pro-grams and application informa-tion, are available on theLatin/Greek Institute’s website,gc.cuny.edu/lginst. Applicationsfor Summer 2017 will be avail-able online in December.

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Donates $1 Million to Latin/Greek Institute

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016

The Graduate Center, CUNY in Midtown Manhattan, location of the Latin/Greek Institute.

a b

1972 2016

The Boad of Directorswould be honored by your presence at the

Hosts of Evening

“Man of the Year”

“Volunteer of the Year”Eileen Baker

Saky Yakas, ALA

Honoring

Charles Capetanakis Constantina PapageorgiouArthur Cheliotes Stavros PlangetisEvangeline Douris Nicholas TjartjalisNikitas Drakotos Demetria TsagarisGeorge Mihaltses Dennis Yuelys

Partner, SLCE Architects, LLPArchitect of the George T. Douris Tower

Featuring the HANAC Youth Programs

Master of CeremonyBasile

Friday, October 21, 2016The Mandarin Oriental

New York City

44th Annual

Recertion 7:30 pmDinner 8:30 pm

Music by ALPHA OrchestraBlack Tie

RSVP & Information646-831-3844--646-735-7297

[email protected]

a b

T: 973.278.2800, F: 973.278.7943 |www.kontos.comKontos Foods, Inc. | PO Box 628 Paterson, NJ 07544find us on

/ Kontos Foods

MEDITERRANEAN FOODS

FLATBREAD

• Over 50 Varieties of Flatbreads• Mediterranean Pastries• Ethnic Meats & Imported Foods

SPECIALDISCOUNTSOFFERED TO:Communities, Organizations, Church Festivals and Other Events

The Original Pocket-Less Pita®

We Are Flatbread TM

Jaharis Family Foundation $15 Million Grant Expands Tufts’ Anatomy Lab

Philanthropists Mary and Michael Jaharis have donated millionsto charity. Though Michael Jaharis passed away on February17, his legacy of giving continues through the foundation.

tion of Hellenism of America hastwo symbols, Hagia Sophia andthe Parthenon representing ourfaith, the Church, and the his-tory and culture of Greece,” An-driotis added.

Regarding the video with thestudent who felt unwell duringthe reception of Tsipras, henoted that it was “not due tohours of choir rehearsals for thereception.”

“Our choir need not rehearseand is ready at any time to im-press visitors to our school,” An-driotis added.

Student Refusesto ShakeTsipras’ HandContinued from page 1

Page 3: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

By Penelope Karageorge

A decade ago, the first NewYork City Greek Film Festivalopened at Cinema Village, onEast 12th Street, an arty theatrebeloved for its kitschy am-biance. Last night, celebratingits 10th Anniversary, the Festivalpremiered at the MetropolitanMuseum of Art, one of theworld’s great artistic venues,and screened the long-awaitedMythopathy, introduced by di-rector Tassos Boulmetis. Thefilm was delightful, the audi-ence enthusiastic, and festivaldirector James Demetro wasboth relieved and elated.

“Ten years ago our budgetwas $17,000. Now it’s well over$100,000,” Demetro said. Hereadily admits that the popularfestival consistently losesmoney. “We don’t count profits.We control losses. That gives usa freedom that the businessmandoesn’t have. I don’t want thefestival to be an elitist event. IfI had the money, and if it wasup to me, I wouldn’t evencharge admission. I would likethe films and even the gala atthe Russian Tea Room to beavailable to everybody.”

An English professor,Demetro had just taken early re-tirement when Stamatis Ghikasof the Hellenic-American Cham-ber of Commerce approachedand asked him if he wanted tostart a Greek film festival. It wasstrictly a volunteer job. “Film

has been a life-long interest. I’vesaid repeatedly that being Greek

has enriched my life. I felt thiswould be a way of giving back

to my community. So I took itover 10 years ago, and startedvery cautiously. I would say overthe years we’ve been very for-tunate – people have supportedus -- donors, foundations, theprivate sector, shipping moneyand the audience, of course.”

Demetro had been a film fansince his childhood when hisparents would take himself andhis sister Carol to Greek films.“There were Greek films shownin every Greek neighborhoodthen,” Demetro says, “one ortwo nights a week. And growingup during the French NewWave, there was a fabulous littletheatre with 99 cents admissionand all they did was play doublebills of films. You could seeFellini and Godard on one night– so that was my education,even more than college.”

He attributes part of the fes-tival’s growing success to tim-ing. “We had just come on thescene when this new generationof Greek film makers was be-ginning to have impact on theGreek film industry. Suddenlythe Greeks were turning out in-teresting movies, and havingsome success in Europe, bookedin festivals and winning majorawards.

Unfortunately, there is no au-dience for Greek films in Greece.This is a tragedy, a serious im-pediment to the development ofthe Greek film industry. Ofcourse, there are exceptions, in-cluding this year’s Mythopathy

and Worlds Apart, a real winnerat the box office.”

Demetro has been the dri-ving force behind the festival,and it’s unlikely that it wouldhave flourished without hissmarts, enthusiasm, dedicationand serious commitment toGreek films and film makers.He’s passionate about wanting

Greek film to gain recognition.“It’s a very good year for Greekfilm. Last year I suffered. It washard getting films. This yearthere were more films, manymore good films than we couldshow. We want people to turnout. It is really for them. I knowthere are so many accomplishedyoung Greek-Americans whohave never seen a Greek moviein their lives. They don’t knowwhat they’re missing. I wantthem to come. I think they’regoing to be hooked.”

Demetro seeks out the bestGreek films and shows them inthe best venues. “My philoso-phy: we have to do it correctly.Otherwise, we shouldn’t be do-ing it at all. We’re all volunteers.We’re not professionals. I thinkwe do a damn good job, espe-

cially when it comes to theatres.You’ve got to respect the film –you’ve got to respect the audi-ence. You can’t bring them intoa dump and expect them to payfor a film that’s badly projected.So that’s one thing I insist on –the best theatres we can pay for– and that’s the philosophywe’ve been following.”

He’s enthusiastic about allthe films, but one double bill isclose to his heart. “We’re show-ing it twice, Athens from Be-neath, teamed with 1.4 Miles toLand. A young filmmaker fromBerkeley went on a Greek CoastGuard cutter and filmed thecrew rescuing refuges and mi-grants from the waters sur-rounding the island of Lesbos.It’s the agony and joy of salva-tion. You can’t see this film with-out crying. Athens from Be-neath tells the story aboutpeople who have lost their jobs,who are suffering while tryingto maintain their dignity. This isa program that has to be seen.If it’s not sold out, it will breakmy heart. It’s the best reason fordoing a film festival. It’s that im-portant to me.”

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016 3

James Demetro Celebrates 10th Anniversary of NYC Greek Film Festival

TNH Staff

LEXINGTON, MA– St. NicholasGreek Orthodox Church becamea crime scene after a break-ineither overnight or early in themorning on September 26. In-vestigators arrived on the scenearound 10 o’clock that morning.Father Demetri Costarakis said,”When I came in this morning,I noticed there was a break-inand immediately notified theauthorities.”

The church property is dot-ted with yellow crime scenemarkers and crime scene tapeon the front door. A missingwindow pane by the rectory en-trance appears to be where theperpetrators broke into the

church. Scratches mark thepavement where the 400-poundsafe was dragged out of thechurch, carving a trail directlyfrom the east side door of thechurch to the location of thestolen safe. The apparently un-opened safe, covered in a blackcloth, was found on a neighbor-ing property among the trees.Father Costarakis told reportershe is praying for the persons in-volved.

Costrakis told TNH “first, Iam glad that no one was hurtor here during the break-in.Sunday night or early Mondaymorning we had an unfortunateevent take place here at St.Nicholas. They broke in throughthe church damaging one of the

stained glass windows. They didnot take Sacramental/LiturgicalVessels or anything of value thatwe can see at this moment andthis is an ongoing investigation.As I mentioned in the news linkand will mention again to thefaithful of our Parish Family, weare praying for those who didthe damage and broke into thechurch.”

The break-in at this quietcommunity comes just a weekafter the church festival, A Tasteof Greece, A Festival of Flavors,which was held on September16, 17, and 18.

Lexington, Mass. Saint Nicholas Church 400-Pound Safe Stolen, Then Found Nearby

Saint Nicholas GreekOrthodox Church inLexington, MA.

James Demetro, director of the New York City Greek Film Fes-tival says: “There’s a developing taste for Greek film. As moreand more films become exposed to American audiences, wordof mouth helps build an interest that no press agent can do.”

Page 4: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016

Don’t miss this unique opportunity

to advertise your restaurant,

wine, or food business

in our special insert, dedicated to

the 50 Best Greek Restaurants

on the Eastern Coast.

For advertising rates contact us at:

(718) 784-5255 ext. 101

e-mail: [email protected]

The National Heraldwww.thenationalherald.com

TH

E NATIONAL HERA

LD

THE

50 BESTGrEEK

rESTAurANTSON THE EASTErN COAST

Deadline: October 7, 2016

TNH Staff

WASHINGTON, DC – Congress-woman Carolyn B. Maloney(NY-12), co-Chair of the Con-gressional Caucus on HellenicIssues (CCHI), introduced a res-olution on September 26 callingon Great Britain to return theParthenon Marbles to Greece.The Marbles were removedfrom Greece 200 years ago byThomas Bruce, seventh Earl ofElgin and transported to GreatBritain. The Marbles were partof a frieze that wrapped aroundthe Temple of Athena. In 1816,the British Parliament voted topurchase the Marbles and theynow reside in the British Mu-seum. Despite years of effortsby the Greek Government forthe return of the Marbles, it hasbeen unable to negotiate anagreement with its British coun-terparts for the return. Mal-oney’s fellow CCHI co-Chair,Representative Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) and Representative DonaldPayne, Jr. (NJ-10) are originalco-sponsors of the ConcurrentResolution.

“The Parthenon marbles aresome of Greece’s greatest exam-ples of artistic expression andbeauty, and should be on displayin their country of origin,” saidRep. Maloney. “They are vitalpieces of Greek history that be-long to the Greek people. The

people of Greece as well as thevisitors who travel from allaround the world to experiencethe magnificence of the Acrop-olis should be able to enjoy theMarbles. This resolution callsupon Great Britain to finally re-turn these treasures to theirrightful home.”

“Art provides a window intohistory and its expression is lib-erty,” said Rep. Bilirakis. “TheParthenon Marbles were made

by the citizens of Athens underthe direction of renowned artistPhidias to celebrate the prideand majesty of the City ofAthens. To not house and viewthese citizen contributions in thecity they were originally in-tended does a disservice notonly to the people of Athens, butalso to the civilization thatpaved the path for moderndemocracy and freedom. I sin-cerely hope to see these original

works and other important ele-ments of Hellenic history finallyreturned to their rightful ownerfor future generations of proudGreeks to enjoy.”

“The Parthenon Marbles area national symbol and source ofpride for Greece,” said Con-gressman Payne. “These sculp-tures were taken from Greece,and that is where they belong.Great Britain should do the rightthing and reunify the Parthenontemple’s treasures in theirhomeland.”

BACKGROUNDThe Parthenon, one of the

greatest architectural wonders, isthe preeminent symbol of Greekcultural heritage, including itsart, architecture, and democracy,and of the contributions that an-cient community made to civi-lization. More than 100 pieces ofthe Parthenon Marbles were re-moved from the site between1801 and 1816 and are nowhoused in the British Museum.The Greek people have soughtthe return of these pieces since itwon independence from Ot-toman rule in 1830. Celebritieshave long supported the returnedof the marble, most notably, thelate Melina Mercouri, before herdeath in 1994. More recently,Hollywood actors GeorgeClooney and Matt Damon havespoken out in support of the re-turn of the Parthenon Marbles.

Maloney, Bilirakis Intro Parthenon Marbles Bill

ald Hill Lane, Westminster, MD.The exhibit includes histori-

cal background, photographsand memorabilia. Local Greekfamilies contributed items andtreasured, historical objects forthe exhibit in order to provideinsight into the lives of the im-migrants.

Visas in Greek and other lan-guages are also on displaydemonstrating how the Greekimmigrants began arriving in theUnited States in the 1880s insmall numbers. The large wavesof immigration took place be-tween 1890 and 1924, whenmost of Westminster's Greekfamilies arrived. Carroll Countywas likely not their primary des-tination, but the immigrantswho arrived eventually settleddown in the community.

Yearning to Breathe Free pre-sents the ephemera reminiscentof the exhibit at Ellis Island. Aninstallation in the exhibit atEmerald Hill recreates a typicalGreek bedroom with icons,handwoven blankets, and otheritems that made it across the At-lantic Ocean with the immi-grants. In many cases, the hand-woven blankets and small itemswere all that preserved memo-ries of home for the immigrants.

Greek sweets to taste andrecipes to try will also be avail-able at the exhibit.

Westminster's Greek veterans’experience serving in the U.S.Armed Forces during both WorldWars is chronicled as well. Mili-tary memorabilia from PeterSamios' service in World War I,letters, and uniforms belonging

to members of the Sharkey,Berbes, and Lefteris families whoserved in World War II are dis-played in the exhibit. Samioshelped establish the AmericanLegion post which continues tooperate today on East GreenStreet in Westminster.

Like many Greek familiesacross the country, the Greeks ofWestminster opened restaurants.The old cash register from theoriginal and extremely popularHarry's Lunch, along with chairsfrom the American Restaurantwhich was in business for morethan 50 years on East MainStreet, are also part of the ex-hibit.

Longtime residents of CarrollCounty will enjoy the trip downmemory lane. Those new to thecommunity will learn about thehistory of the area and about theGreek immigrant experience.The immigrant story includingefforts to continue the customs,language, and traditions of thehomeland while living andworking in a new culture is animportant part of the Americanexperience that must never beforgotten. The traditional foods,decorations in the home, and thepriceless items passed downfrom generation to generationtell the story of who we are as acommunity and the values weshare. As immigration continuesto be a hot button issue in thiselection year, the exhibit pre-sents a powerful reminder ofhow much just this one immi-grant community has done forthe United States.

More information is availableon the Historical Society web-site.

Vasilios Eleftheriou (Bill Lefteris) who left his native Greece in1920 and settled in Westminster, MD where he finished school,became a businessman, and served the US in World War II.

COurTESy Of BILL LEfTErIS

Greek Immigrant ExperienceExhibit Opens in MarylandContinued from page 1

TNH Staff

ORANGE, CT – The 36th An-nual Greek Festival of Saint Bar-bara Greek Orthodox ChurchCommunity in Orange, CT tookplace during Labor Day week-end. The largest Greek festival

in the State featured wonderfulfood, tasty Greek pastries, Greekfolk dancing, lectures on Ortho-dox iconography, a presentationof Orthodox Liturgical Hymnog-raphy, and Greek cookingdemonstrations. Generations ofparishioners ranging in age from

4-98 worked together as a fam-ily of faith for the benefit of theChurch. The Odyssey Greek Fes-tival was well-attended andraised funds for the church. TheOdyssey delighted the senseswith Greek cuisine, music, anddance. The marketplace and gi-

ant tag sale offered treasures onsale for shoppers. Activities forchildren included rides, games,and magic shows. Joy Morris,her daughter Bessie and grand-daughters presented cookingdemonstrations for those inter-ested in learning about Greek

cuisine. Steven Yates led a dis-cussion on Orthodox Iconogra-phy in the church.

As Yates noted about a pre-vious festival on the churchwebsite, “most special of all,perhaps, was the effect thatwalking into our Sanctuary had

on those who had never beeninside before. Jaws literallydropped as visitors beheld the‘earthly heaven’ that is so famil-iar to members of our churchfamily.”

The attendees look forwardto next year’s festival.

Food, Fun, Family at the Saint Barbara Annual Greek Festival in Orange, CT

CLOCKWISE: Three generations ofparishioners offer a cooking demon-stration. Pictured are Joy Morris, herdaughter Bessie, and granddaughters.• Steven Yates leads a discussion onOrthodox Iconography. • Members ofthe Saint Barbara Choir in Orange, CTperform a brief concert under the di-rection of Stacey Grimaldi. • AndreasStefanou helps prepare the lamb.•Members of the Saint Barbara SeniorOdyssey Dance Troupe performedduring the annual Greek Festival.

www.GreekKitchennyc.com

PHOTOS: PATrIC mArCHITTO

Page 5: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

COMMUNITY-ARTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016 5

By Vasilis Papoutsis

LOS ANGELES, CA – “TheHaunted House Party,” a com-edy written by Roman play-wright Titus Maccius Plautus iscurrently playing at OutdoorClassical Theater at the GettyVilla in Pacific Palisades, CA.

Plautus, who lived in 200BC,the time when Rome was in-volved in a military conflict withCarthage, was greatly influ-enced by the Greek New Com-edy style. That style was differ-ent from the famousAristophanes' comedies in con-text, as New Comedy had no po-litical or social commentary andthe focus was the father-son re-lationship that was instrumentalin a patriarchal society.

The play is produced by theTroubadour Theater Company,which has been performing inSouthern California since 1995.The company is known for thefreewheeling and loose adapta-tions of classic plays having pre-

viously produced at the Villa theAeschylus' tragedy Abbamem-non with music from Swedishgroup Abba and this perfor-mance is no exception. This thestory of an Athenian family,whose young son Philolaches(Nicholas Cutro) has borrowedmoney to free the courtesan heis in love with. When his fatherTheopropides(Michael Faulkner)returns Philolaches will need thesmart and conniving slaveTranio, played by Director MattWalker, to deflect the father's at-tention by telling him that thehouse has been haunted andthat his son has left, even thoughthe son is inside continuing hispartying.

It is worth noting that 250of the 270 names in the surviv-ing plays of Plautus are Greek.Director Matt Walker's explana-tion was that “the Greek theaterwas revered and naturally play-wrights would imitate it. Alsothe Roman public would be cu-rious to witness the tale of a

Greek family.” Roman audienceshad a basic understanding of theGreek language thus familiaritywith Greek names. Despite the

fact that New Comedy or Plau-tus did not mention politicalsatire in their plays, this one hasa few jokes about the current

political climate about DonaldTrump, Hillary Clinton, RyanLochte, and even the ongoingGreek crisis gets a mention.

Beth Kennedy, an actor anda producer of the play, whenasked she said that “in a yearwhen we experience the mostpolarizing presidential cam-paign of our time we felt that itwas appropriate to mix politicalhumor into the storyline.” Thisis more of a musical comedyrather than a scripted comedywith vaudeville elements. Abouta dozen musical acts are in-cluded in the 90 minute perfor-mance with classic hits such “IWill Survive” and “Our House”among others. Walker said that“the challenge of performingthose songs and adhere to thestrict noise code of the outdoortheater at the Getty Villa wasnot easy. We had to use allacoustic instruments with noamplifiers and the actors couldnot use any microphones.”There is a reconciliation at the

end but not a strong emotionaldisplay of conflict. When askedwhy there was lack of tensionbefore the forgiveness tookplace, the director said that“with all the conflict going onin the world right now we feltthat a happy ending was appro-priate. As a matter of fact in theoriginal the son isn't even sup-posed to be on the stage whenthe father forgives him. I feltthat the reconciliation would bebetter illustrated if the son wason the stage.” It is an entertain-ing play but you better not belate or you run the risk of get-ting serenaded by a chorus of“You're so Vain” as it was thetradition in Rome when audi-ence members would show uplate or talked during the perfor-mances reminding us that somethings never change. Prepara-tions are already underway fornext summer's presentation forIphigenia at Aulis by Euripides.

More information is availableat getty.edu.

A Roman Comedy Set in Greece Comes to the Getty Villa in California

Troubadour Theater Company. Photo: Craig Schwartz

be held on the #iSTANDforStage in the Olympic TowerAtrium. The session topics in-clude: I Stand for Gender Equal-ity: Fighting for Fundamentals:Jaha Dukureh and Masih Aline-jad, in conversation withRichard Lui; I Stand for the En-vironment: Our Fragile Eco-Sys-tem- Céline Cousteau, ErinSchrode, and ChristopherSwain, in conversation withDavid Schwab Abel; I Stand forEducation: Unlocking Potential-Jacob Lief and Ian Rowe in con-versation with Anya Kamenetz;I Stand for Women’s Rights:Women in War & Peace- GiniReticker, Joydeep Roy-Bhat-tacharya, and Kim Barker, inconversation with LeeWoodruff; and I Stand for anEnd to Violence- SarahClements, and Jessica Mindichin conversation with WesleyLowery.

Also on October 15, a screen-ing of clips from the world pre-miere of the short documentaryAntigone in Ferguson, followedby a live dramatic reading ofscenes from Antigone with RegE. Cathey (House of Cards, TheWire), Gloria Reuben (ER),Glenn Davis (24, The Unit), andSamira Wiley (Orange Is theNew Black). A town hall discus-sion will follow with commentsfrom community panelists in-cluding members of law en-forcement, activists, and con-cerned citizens, moderated byBryan Doerries. Among thegoals of the town hall are open-ing dialogue, fostering compas-sion, understanding, and posi-tive action. Developed byOutside the Wire and thePopTech Institute, Antigone inFerguson is co-presented by theOnassis Foundation USA.

President of the Onassis

Foundation Anthony Papadim-itriou said, “Focusing on thestory of Antigone to promote adeeper understanding of howancient Greek culture hasshaped and enriched our mod-ern value systems, AntigoneNow will foster a dialogueamong people from the UnitedStates and around the globeabout many of the problems weface in the world today.Antigone’s love for her brother,her sense of duty and hercourage to challenge powerfulforces, especially as a woman,makes her an admirable figure.Her heroic story applies to manyof today’s topical issues such aspower struggles, women’s

rights, societal laws, and immi-gration– only a few examples.”

Foundation Executive and Cul-tural Director Amalia Cosmetatousaid, “Sophocles’ Antigone speaksto the values and perils of our de-mocratic culture. In organizingthis Festival, it has been extremelyinspiring to see how artists andthinkers have responded so pas-sionately to this Greek tragedyand the questions it raises for ourfractious times, by creating worksthat call for positive action andunity.”

The festival opening nightpresentation is an extraordinaryperformance piece by CarrieMae Weems entitled Past Tense.Using song, text, projections,

and video to explore the mean-ing of Antigone in the presentday. Talented singers Alicia HallMoran, Imani Uzuri, and EisaDavis perform in the piece.Weems found she was inspiredby the ancient tragic heroine ina previous piece as well. Shenoted, “While working on GraceNotes for months it occurred tome that I was telling the storyof Antigone, wherein an inno-cent man dies by unjustifiedmeans and his sister fights forthe right to bury him honorably.But the wider community re-fuses her; her right to justice,and to peace, is denied.” MariaPapadimitriou, who representedGreece at the 2015 Venice Bi-ennale, is creating a site-specificart installation, LaboratoryAntigone which runs from Oc-tober–December. We, Antigone,a short film by Greek artist Ste-fanos Tsivopoulos, runs fromOctober 13–December, followsthe life of Rakeem Edwards, ahomeless 25-year-old gay, blackman, born in Georgia and raisedin Alaska. The Art Wall will re-main on view until January.Gold medalist in the pole vaultfrom the Rio Olympics KaterinaStefanidi will also appear at thefestival on October 15.

October 16 is Family Sundayat Onassis with Everyday Super-heroes focusing on Greek heroesand heroines, and exploring thelessons they can teach us aboutbecoming everyday heroes. Ap-propriate for children ages 5and up, the shadow play, Mina’sDream, is by renowned Iranianfilmmaker Hamid Rahmanian.Interactive storytelling, crafts,educational programs with mu-sician Magda Giannikou, andteaching artists who will engagechildren and families with edu-cational games.

More information is availableon the Onassis Festival website.

turies covered by the exhibition,Jerusalem was home to morecultures, religions, and lan-guages than ever before, asnoted on the MMA website. Thecity inspired beautiful, intricateworks of art drawing on themany traditions living side byside and influencing eachother’s creativity.

Featuring about 200 worksof art from 60 lenders world-wide, the exhibition offers awonderful glimpse into the pastand fascinating perspective onthe present. The way diversityfuels creativity is just one themeof this exhibition. Jerusalem’sdiverse religious communities,some of whom have neverloaned items before, haveloaned more than four dozenworks.

The exhibition presents sixfactors that led to the unprece-dented creative output of me-dieval Jerusalem. The Pulse ofTrade and Tourism examinesJerusalem as the thriving urbancenter with its people buying upgoods imported from as faraway as China and India, theirtastes not limited to the impres-sive goods produced in the cityitself.

The Diversity of Peoples pre-sents the Greeks, Persians,Turks, Syrians, Armenians,Georgians, Ethiopians, and In-dians, among many others whoinfluenced the art of the city. Onview are Christian Gospel booksin Arabic, Greek, Armenian, andSyriac, a Samaritan Bible in adistinctive Hebrew script, andthe biblical book of Kings inGe’ez, the language of Ethiopia,given by that land’s king to hiscommunity in Jerusalem whichdemonstrate the diversity. TheAir of Holiness offers a look at

the sacred monuments of thecity with medieval maps and il-luminated manuscripts giving asense of the layers of history inthe shared spaces of the city.The Drumbeat of Holy War ex-amines the increase in religiousextremism and the need to as-sert ownership over the HolyLand for one religion or another.The Generosity of Patrons pre-sents some of the real people ofthe time whose patronage ledto the creation of impressive art-work, churches, and illuminatedmanuscripts among many otheritems. The Promise of Eternityexplores the works of art in-spired by faith.

The exhibition brings me-dieval Jerusalem to life and alsopresents the present-day citywith videos featuring scholarsand clergy discussing theirwork. Jerusalem, 1000-1400Every People Under Heavenruns through January 8. Amongthe many sponsors of the exhi-bition are Mary and Michael Ja-haris. More information is avail-able online at metmuseum. org

Antigone-themed Onassis Festival Opens October 13

By Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK- O Mikros, O Megasa new work by award-winningcomposer George Tsontakis willpremiere in New York on Octo-ber 15 at the 92Y. Renowned pi-anist Jeremy Denk and the SaintPaul Chamber Orchestra(SPCO) will perform the workopening the remarkable2016/17 classical concert sea-son at 92Y. Tsontakis’ previouswork with the orchestra onthree world premieres earned aprestigious Grawemeyer Awardand a Grammy nomination.Denk, a 2013 MacArthur Fellowand an Artistic Partner of SPCOsince 2014, will also performMozart’s Piano Concerto in AMajor as a soloist. Also on theprogram, Schubert’s SymphonyNo. 2 in B-flat major will be per-formed by SPCO. O Mikros, OMegas premieres at Dartmouthon October 14.

Tsontakis spoke with The Na-tional Herald about his Greekroots and his new work. Hisgrandparents were from Chaniaand Sfakia in Crete, he toldTNH. His parents were bothborn in the United States,though he noted that while hisfather was “more Greek” thanhis mom, the language and tra-ditions were kept up by the fam-ily living in Astoria where Tson-takis was born and laterattended Greek school. He re-called that at the time thereweren’t as many Greeks in As-toria, though they soon arrivedin greater numbers. Reflectingon the changing neighborhood,Tsontakis mentioned his lateaunt who still lived in a housein Astoria up until her passingabout five years ago and thatsince then the house was razedfor a new luxury apartmentbuilding. When asked if he al-ways wanted to be a composer,Tsontakis said no, he started outplaying the violin, studied act-ing, and worked at various jobsbefore music became the prior-ity. His parents were both musi-cal, he noted, though not pro-fessionally trained, they would“harmonize Gounaris in thecar.” Tsontakis cited the restless“Greek spirit” that pushes himto try something else. He wantsto act more and write his mem-oirs, but classical composing hasbeen a lucrative business forTsontakis. Following the classi-cal composition path, he hasfound the commissions keepcoming in and working withgifted musicians like Denk andSPCO has produced wonderfulresults, awards, and Grammynominations.

Tsontakis has also had theopportunity to work with thetalented opera singer EleniCalenos early on in her career.She sang on the recording ofTsontakis’ Mirologhia in 2008.He noted her recent perfor-mance as Desdemona and ob-served that she has “blossomedinto a great opera singer.” In1982, the Greek Theater and theMetropolitan Chorale presentedthe sold-out premier productionof Tsontakis' Erotokritos at Lin-

coln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.Grigoris Maninakis, leader ofthe Mikrokosmos Ensemble,who Tsontakis called “the Xy-louris of Astoria,” sang Erotokri-tos. The Greek influences andespecially his love for Cretanmusic are strong even thoughthe poetry is perhaps more in-fluential lately rather thanGreek music directly.

The inspiration for his newwork is the poem Axion Esti byOdysseas Elytis.

Tsontakis spoke about hiswork in Broadway World, “My

title, O Mikros, O Megas was in-spired by the opening lines ofAxion Esti, by the great contem-porary Greek poet, OdysseasElytis: 'Aftos O Kosmos, OMikros, O Megas' ('This tinyworld, this enormous world').There are no direct literal con-nections to the words, only thefeeling of the intended ambigu-ity; certainly no superficial dy-namic nor density parallels. Infact, it is to me that within thequietest and most inwardly mo-ments of the work, the worldseems to fully impose its powerand enormity. At the same time,the figurative 'flip-side' of mywork's title could well be 'Thistiny fleeting life, this huge eter-nal life' - a reflection on recentworld circumstances includingthe tumbling world, loss offriends and my own personaladvancement into the foothillsof an ageless maturity.”

He told TNH about the con-nections to poetry in three of hislatest pieces, last year’s worldpremiere of the Boston Sym-phony Orchestra-commissionedwork Sonnets was inspired byseveral Sonnets by Shakespeare,this year’s new work by theElytis poem, and an upcomingpiece by the work of Anglo-American poet T.S. Eliot. Itseems Tsontakis is testing thequote by 19th century Englishcritic Walter Pater that “All artconstantly aspires towards thecondition of music,” by writingmusic inspired by the art of po-etry. Tickets to the New Yorkpremiere of O Mikros, O Megasat 92Y are available online atwww.92y.org.

O Mikros, O Megas byG. Tsontakis Premieres

George Tsontakis

ANdrEA CABANE

Continued from page 1

Jerusalem Exhibition at the Metropolitan MuseumContinued from page 1

ABOVE: Items from the Jerusalem exhibition at the Metropol-itan Museum of Art in New York. BELOW: The effigy of a Frenchnobleman from the time of the Crusades.

PHOTOS: TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS

Page 6: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

more personal.“Beyond money, the rewards

he sought appeared to be power,prestige and, perhaps most of all,the fulfillment of a long-helddream: reinventing upstate NewYork as a Rust Belt Silicon Valley,”the Times wrote.

The piece described him as be-ing a nanotechnology pioneerwho liked expensive cars, wasboldly opinionated, and trans-formed Albany into a growinghigh-tech research center. Prose-cutors said one of his goals wasto enrich and empower himself.

Earlier in his career he per-suaded a succession of politiciansand business executives to com-mit to his vision of making astruggling area a lightning rod forhigh technology and the jobs andprestige it would bring.

What Kaloyeros did “waspretty much a miracle,” said LloydConstantine, a top aide to EliotSpitzer, the former Governor toldThe Times. “From my standpoint,from the administration’s stand-point, he was doing a spectacularjob. Revitalization of the upstateeconomy was Job No. 1. And hewas doing it, and doing it reallywell.”

BIG EGO KISSEROften working with a lobbyist,

Todd R. Howe, a former aide toMr. Cuomo, Kaloyeros is accusedof personally drafting and revis-ing several requests for proposalsto favor certain developers, in-cluding one for a SUNY Polytech-nic dorm, another for a campusresearch building and two con-nected to huge economic devel-opment contracts in Syracuse andBuffalo.

The grants, rents and businesshe brought in to SUNY Polytech-nic “all benefited him personallythrough his compensation pack-age, and also added to his statusas a kingmaker and an importantperson in state government,” saidAttorney General Eric Schneider-man, who charged Kaloyeros withthree felony counts of bid-riggingat a news conference. AdditionalFederal charges were brought bythe US Attorney’s office in Man-hattan.

Kaloyeros had bragged abouthis ability to “write an RFP (bidtender) in such a way that onlyone company could win it,” ac-cording to the state criminal com-plaint. Kaloyeros did so, accord-ing to prosecutors, to preserve hishigh-paid status, draw more re-

search financing to SUNY Poly-technic and inflate his reputation.

“The job requires being a sci-entist, being a psychiatrist, beinga priest, being a cop, being a ne-gotiator, being a business devel-oper or manager, being a teacher,being an adviser and being anego-kisser,” Kaloyeros, who lastyear earned $1.17 million insalary and incentives, told the Al-

bany Business Review in 2011.“I’d like to think I do all of themvery well.”

“He worked the power, in asense, and knew what buttons topush,” said Ronald Canestrari, theformer Majority Leader of theState Assembly. “The more heproduced, the more he received.He was king of the hill.”

He was unconventional. HisFacebook page had off-color jokesabout women (“I bought a Ferrarifor my girlfriend,” read one imagehe posted. “Best trade ever.”) andDarth Vader memes. He was self-aggrandizing and worked thepress, with, critics said, an ulteriormotive to put himself first in aworld of big egos. His licenseplate read GEEK, and laterNONOGEEK and DRNANO on ablack Ferrari.

He steamrolled Albany withhis penchant for bringing in bigcontracts to an area in decline,ultimately totaling $14 billion. Itwas enough to open eyes andturn heads, and, along with hislifestyle the kind of scrutiny hecouldn’t charm away.

fee. You can also enjoy thespinach pies, cheese pies, and anumber of other traditionalproducts from Drama and otherareas of Northern Greece,”Panagiotis said.

His parents belong to the firstgeneration of expatriates andhave three other children:Chariton, Eva, and Eugenia.

Panagiotis and Chariton wereborn in the United States, whiletheir parents and younger sis-ters were born in Greece. Afterleaving for Greece,Panagiotis,who had studied Computer Sci-ence and worked as a program-mer in video games, returned tothe United States after fiveyears, along with Chariton, anelectrician who works for theMetropolitan Transportation Au-thority of New York.

The children invited theirparents and sisters and soon thefamily was reunited. After buy-ing Café Boulis, their story, andestablishment, pique the interestof the local mainstream media.

COMMUNITY6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016

BY Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK – The ManhattanChapter of the Order of AHEPADelphi # 25 hosted a Gala din-ner event in honor of the Hon-orable Judge Nicholas G. Tsou-calas, celebrating a pillar of theGreek-American communitywith more than 50 years of pub-lic service and 38 years on thebench. Judge Tsoucalas was alsohonored for his lifetime of ser-vice to the Order of AHEPA andhaving served as a past Presidentof the Manhattan Chapter. TheGala took place on September27 at the Loeb Central ParkBoathouse – East with over 200guests present to honor and cel-ebrate the achievements ofJudge Tsoucalas.

The invocation was deliveredby Father Nicholas Anctil of HolyTrinity Church in New Rochellewho noted, “We are here tohonor a great man from thegreatest generation.” GeorgeEliopoulos- Chairman of theevent organizing committee andmember of the Board of Direc-tors of AHEPA #25 welcomedeveryone to the event, thankingall those in attendance.

Chapter President Argyris Ar-gitakos also gave his greetingsand noted that the net proceedsof the events would go towardsscholarships for Greek-American

law students at the New YorkLaw School, Judge Tsoucalas’alma mater. The $2,000 schol-arship will be given in thejudge’s name ensuring that fu-ture generations of law studentswill continue his legacy. Another$2,000 was donated in thejudge’s name to veterans pro-grams of AHEPA, a cause nearto his heart since the JudgeTsoucalas is a veteran of WorldWar II and Korea. Keynotespeaker AHEPA Supreme Presi-dent Andrew C. Zachariadesspoke about movingly about thejudge who has mentored and in-spired so many lawyers andjudges, noting that he is “some-one to aspire to.”

AHEPA Chairman of theBoard of Trustees Nicholas Kara-costas presented the honoree,noting that Judge Tsoucalas,“never forgot where he camefrom and who helped him.”Karacostas also noted that JudgeTsoucalas was always “at theforefront of Greek-American is-sues” and those in the legal pro-fession “owe him a debt of grat-itude for all his efforts.” “I’m anattorney today because of JudgeTsoucalas,” Karacostas said.

The AHEPA #25 officers werecalled to stand up for the pre-sentation of the PresidentialProclamation which was read bySupreme President Zachariades.

Tsoucalas spoke briefly to thankeveryone for the event and thehonors bestowed on him. Hehanded the microphone to hisdaughter Georgia Argyrople whoalso thanked everyone for thebeautiful event that meant somuch to her father and the fam-ily. She held up her father’s orig-inal AHEPA certificate from1953 and a photograph of hergrandfather at an AHEPA event,noting that “Pappou was also amember of AHEPA.”

Also in attendance at theevent were several members ofAHEPA District 6 including Dis-trict Governor Ted Stamas, Di-rector of Hellenism Louis Kat-sos- President/Founder EMBCA,President AHI New York, Direc-tor of Membership James B.Zafiros, and Director of Philan-thropy Petros Ragoussis. AHEPAbrothers Dr. George Liakeas-President of the Hellenic Med-ical Society of New York (HM-SNY), Gus Lambropoulos- Chair-man of Partners in MedicalPractice, Executive Board Mem-ber HMSNY and Assistant Trea-surer of the Federation of Hel-lenic Societies, and Dr. SotiriosStergiopoulos were also presentto honor Judge Tsoucalas.

On December 18, 1953 ayoung attorney at the start of hiscareer in private practice andlater to become a prominent

Federal Judge in the U.S. DistrictCourt of International Trade,Nicholas Tsoucalas, was initiatedinto AHEPA # 25; he wouldeventually serve as President ofthe Chapter and continue as aLife member. The Delphi 25Chapter continues the tradition

of AHEPA’s ideals and values ofpromoting education and Hel-lenism through many efforts ofpublic service and philanthropy.

Judge Tsoucalas and his wifeCatherine (Aravantinos) Tsou-calas were married in 1954.They have two daughters,

Stephanie Turriago, a teacher inthe New York public schools, andGeorgia Argyrople, an attorneywho has worked for the Ameri-can Cancer Society. Judge Tsou-calas also has five grandchildren,Victoria, Nicholas, Catherine, Vi-vian, and Christina.

AHEPA Gala Honors Judge Nicholas Tsoucalas for Years of Public Service

Georgia Argyrople, daughter of Judge Tsoucalas spoke movingly about how much the honormeant to the family. She showed a photo of her grandfather who was also a member of AHEPA.

Alain Kaloyeros Facing Corruption Charges

THE CATHEdrAL SCHOOL

Cafe Boulis: A Greek-American Story

cal discussion was an everydaything since I was born,” she toldThe National Herald in an in-terview.

It took some years before shewas able to practice what theypreached though as she wasbusy with medicine and thenraising a family.

It’s been quite an odysseyand she didn’t plant herself inthe United States for good atfirst. “I went back and forth afew times,” she said. She prac-ticed anesthesiology in Greeceand then Internal Medicine inEngland before she and her hus-band moved to New Jersey City.

“We decided to move to up-state New York and take thingsslow, or slower,” she said. It wasidyllic but she said that, “duringthe last several years we experi-enced an economic downfallthat cost the area jobs and pros-

perity.”HAIL FREDONIA!

Fredonia – the butt of somejokes over the years after Grou-cho Marx took the name Free-donia for an imaginary countryin the 1933 Marx Brothers com-edy classic Duck Soup – is oneof those picturesque smallAmerican towns – Fredonia callsitself a village - that seem toevoke the perfect place to live,even if, like many, it ran intoeconomic problems.

With a state university and aprime location near Lake Erie,the community of some 11,230seems to have all the elementsof a place to raise a family.

Landis said it needed somehelp though. “I’m a very opti-mistic person. I work very hardand I don’t take no for an an-swer,” she said.

“My platform was economicand downtown development,taking full advantage of the fact

that we have a university. Mybelief is for new business tocome was to beautify the villageand make it more attractive topeople and make it safe and

have good schools,” she added.“My belief in a better future

was the main reason I ran foroffice, as was my family andlove of politics,” she added.

She got into politics, despiteher parents’ love for it, by acci-dent. “The economy went downin Fredonia in the last 10 yearsand I started talking to peopleabout some idea and by acci-dent I talked to someone whowas head of the Democraticcommittee and he said, ‘I wantyou to run for Mayor.’”

She told The Leader: “A fewyears back I started noticing thatthings did not look as good asbefore. Businesses left or closeddown and I realized that theyounger people were leaving …This is why I’m here. Not to goback — I don’t believe in goingback. Tomorrow is always a newday.”

Even in 2016, she said that awoman being elected in a small

American town is news. “Itshould not matter but it does. Iwas raised by father who neverallowed me to think because Iwas a girl that I couldn’t dowhat the boys do, like math andscience,” she told TNH. “Hepushed me into everything andanything.”

MADAME MAYORLandis, 54, said, “When I was

first elected the first questionwas ‘How do you feel?’ I said, ‘Ifeel great’ but nothing more. Icame to realize not everyonewas raised with the same valuesand by being the first woman(elected Mayor) I’m setting aprecedent.”

She said she’s still workingon trying to develop a biggertax base, fixing streets, bringnew businesses to Main Street,sustainable energy projects,

The person she replaced,Stephen Keefe, who didn’t runagain, said Fredonia has discov-

ered in Landis the ideal personfor the job. He told The Leader:“She’ll be the first woman ofGreek origin, who was raised inGreece, who has lived here for23 years … (she has) great ideasand things like that. I knew shewas someone who would do anoutstanding job,” he said.

Landis was ready from theget-go, just as she’s been all herlife. “I don’t believe in dis-cussing things and then forget-ting about it,” Landis told hertown’s paper. “We’re going tohave a calendar, (and) we’re go-ing to get things done.”

She and her family will try totake some time off to visitGreece, which they do as oftenas possible. She and her husbandraised their children to speakGreek and she said, “Being Greekis a big part of who I am andhave become, and influences tovarious degrees my decisionmaking process and my life.”

Dr. Landis’ Odyssey from Thessaloniki to Mayor of Fredonia, New York

American name. From 2003 until last year, he

continued to work, and contin-ued to use the Greek name, withhis American passport buriedsomewhere in his house; henever needed to use it.

Last year, however, due to fi-nancial difficulties, he decided torenew his passport in order totravel to the United States andenlist in the Army, as an eco-nomic solution. He had been aconstruction day laborer, but“eventually the construction busi-ness plummeted and I found away out working for the localmunicipality with short-term con-tracts. When they also ended, Iwas in despair. So, I decided toenlist in the U.S. Army," he toldTNH.

Last July, however, when hetold the officials of the U.S. Em-bassy in Athens that he also hasa Greek ID with another name,they could not believe their ears.They pointed out that this is ille-gal and that the United Statesrecognizes him not as Ilias Tsot-sas, but Quentin Louin Joseph.

"Right now, my situation hasalso created practical problemsin my daily life," he said. "For ex-ample, as a proxy, I have col-lected my disabled mother’s pen-sion from the United States foryears. But for some time now, be-cause the law has changed andthe pension can only be collectedthrough a bank account, I cannot open an account with myAmerican name, because theGreek bank considers me a for-eigner and will not open the ac-count. But when I go to the bankwith my Greek ID, I can not col-lect the pension because I appearto be Ilias Tsotsas. The result isthat for the past four months, Icannot collect my mother's smallpension."

As he confided to TNH, he isalready in a dire financial situa-tion and is, in fact, in immediatedanger of having his electricityturned off. "I am waiting for themto come. I don’t know what I willdo, how I will react," he says, theonly thing on his mind being howwill be able to feed his family, es-pecially his two little boys – onenine years old and the other eigh-teen months.

A Victim of a Dual Indentity

Continued from page 1

Cafe Boulis employee and cousin Eleni Lefkopoulou, withmother and son cafe owners Lemonia and Panagiotis Peikidis.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Athanasia Landis

Athens New York City-born Mayor Visits Students at The Cathedral SchoolThe Cathedral School received a visit from the Mayor of Athens on September 21. Middleschool students had a unique opportunity to hear from the Honorable George Kaminis aboutpressing global issues facing world leaders today. Among the issues discussed were the migrationcrisis and the complex response to an unprecedented series of humanitarian emergencies inrecent years.

Continued from page 1

Alain KaloyerosmIKE GrOLL

TNH/ELENI SAKELLIS

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Page 7: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

By Eleni Sakellis

Herbal teas have been usedfor millennia in herbal medicineto cure and even prevent ill-nesses. Ancient physicians pre-scribed herbal teas regularly toaid in digestion and help relievesymptoms of the common coldand flu. Before the advent ofcold medicines and antibiotics,herbal teas were often the onlyway to treat illnesses. Naturallycaffeine-free, herbal teas offerhealth benefits as well whenconsumed in moderation. Thosetaking prescription medicationsshould check with their physi-cian since some herbal teas canaffect the absorption of certainmedications.

Greek Mountain Tea is anextremely popular beverage inGreece. The scientific name ofthe tea is Sideritis which trans-lates from the Greek to he whois made of iron or he who has

iron. In English, it is known asironwort and shepherd’s tea.The flowering plant is commonin the mountains of Greece andthe herbal tea made from theplant has been known since an-cient times as a remedy for avariety of ailments, includingthe relief of upset stomachs, al-lergies, cold and flu symptoms,sinus congestion, pain, respira-tory problems, and mild anxiety.The tea is also thought tostrengthen the immune system.The health benefits are well-known and studies conductedin universities in Greece andother Balkan nations have doc-umented the anti-oxidant, an-timicrobial, and anti-inflamma-tory effects of Greek MountainTea.

Chamomile is another pop-ular herbal tea with a calming,

sleep-inducing effect. It is alsoknown for treating colds, upsetstomachs, and as an eye com-press for conjunctivitis (pinkeye). Those with allergies toragweed should beware, sincechamomile is in the same plantfamily it may cause symptoms.In Greece, it is also known asSt. George’s flower because itblossoms around April 23rd, thefeast day of the saint.

Fennel is another popularplant used extensively in cook-ing for its sweet licorice flavorand one of the oldest knownherbs. The ancient Greeks andEgyptians among the many peo-ple of the Mediterranean regionto use fennel in cooking and asan herbal remedy. The seeds areoften used to make tea whichhelps relieve upset stomachs. Inancient times it was thought torelieve many gynecologicalproblems. From easing child-birth to helping new mothers

produce more milk, fen-nel was recommendedby ancient physicians,including Hippocratesand Dioscurides, whoalso used fennel to com-bat nausea and vomit-ing. In Crete, popularfolk remedies for eyeproblems use fennel. Itis also popular in cook-ing several seafood,meat, and cheesedishes. Snails, cheesepies, vegetables, andsauces are often fla-vored with fennel.

To make GreekMountain Tea,chamomile, or fennel,bring a kettle of waterto a boil. Use the leaves

and flowers of the plant, andplace them in a tea pot, 1 tea-spoon of dried herbs per cupand pour the boiling water overthe herbs, as much as needed.Cover the tea pot and allow theherbal tea too steep for 5 to 10minutes. Strain through a finestrainer and serve hot withGreek honey, if preferred.

Another method for makingherbal tea is to use the woodystems as well as the leaves andflowers. Place the stems in a potand cover with fresh water.Bring to a boil over mediumheat, then reduce the heat tolow and simmer for 10 minutes.Remove from heat and add 1teaspoon of the leaves and flow-ers of the dried herbs for everyone and a half cups of water.Allow to steep for 3 minutes.Strain and serve hot with honeyif preferred.

Herbal Teas: Greek MountainTea, Chamomile, & Fennel

GREEK GASTRONOMYOUR EVERYDAY GREEK

By Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou

1. COUNTING FROM 1-1999Cover the Greek words and try to guess

them.

Number Greek word Pronunciation1 ένα Ena2 δύο DEEo3 τρία TREEa4 τέσσερα TEsera5 πέντε PEnte6 έξι Exi7 επτά ePTA8 οκτώ oKTO9 εννέα eNEa10 δέκα DEka20 είκοσι EEkosi30 τριάντα triAnta40 σαράντα saRAnta50 πενήντα peNEEnta60 εξήντα

exEEnta70 εβδομήντα evdoMEEnta80 ογδόντα ogdOnta90 ενενήντα eneNEEnta100 εκατό ekaTO200 διακόσια diaKOsia300 τριακόσια triaKOsia400 τετρακόσια tetraKOsia500 πεντακόσια pentaKOsia600 εξακόσια exaKOsia700 επτακόσια eptaKOsia800 οκτακόσια oktaKOsia900 εννιακόσια eniaKOsia1000 χίλια HEElia

2. BUY TICKETS TO TRAVELNow you can order and buy your tickets

in Greek. Give your answers in completesentences like in the given example andwrite the numbers in Greek words.-Καλημέρα. Πόσο κάνει/κάνουν έναεισιτήριο από τη Νέα Υόρκη για Αθήναστις 13 Οκτωβρίου στις 19.45; (1190)-Ένα εισιτήριο για Αθήνα στις δεκατρείςΟκτωβρίου στις δεκαεννέα και σαράνταπέντε κάνει χίλια εκατόν ενενήνταδολάρια.-Έχω χίλια διακόσια (1200). Έχετε ρέστα;-Ναι, ορίστε δέκα (10) δολάρια.

-Πόσο κάνει/κάνουν ένα εισιτήριο απόΒοστώνη για Παρίσι στις 5 Νοεμβρίου στις10.30; (855 δολάρια)-Ένα εισιτήριο για Παρίσι στις …………………………………-Έχω ……(900). Έχετε ρέστα;-Ναι, ορίστε, ……(5) δολάρια.

-Πόσο κάνει/κάνουν δύο εισιτήρια απόΟυάσινγκτον για Λονδίνο στις 20 Ιουλίουστις 22.10; (1852)-Δύο εισιτήρια για Λονδίνο ………………………………

-Έχω …. (1860). Έχετερέστα;-Ναι, έχω. Ορίστε ….. (8) δολάρια.

-Πόσο κάνει/κάνουν τρία εισιτήρια απόΣικάγο για Λος Άντζελες στις 10Αυγούστου στις 8.50; (930)-Τρία εισιτήρια για Λος Άντζελες ……………………….-Έχω …. (950). Έχετε ρέστα;-Ναι, έχω. Ορίστε …. (20) δολάρια.

--Πόσο κάνει/κάνουν πέντε εισιτήρια απόΑθήνα για Ρόδο στις 16 Αυγούστου στις12.55; (630)-Πέντε εισιτήρια για Ρόδο ……………………….-Έχω …. (650). Έχετε ρέστα;-Ναι, έχω. Ορίστε …. (20) δολάρια.

3. REVEAL THEIR AGE3.1. Give a complete answer about

their age. O κύριος is Mr. and η κυρία isMrs. in Greek.Πόσων χρονών είναι ο κύριος Γιάννης; (52)Ο κύριος Γιάννης είναι πενήντα δύο χρονών.

Πόσων χρονών είναι η κυρία Μαρία; (76)Πόσων χρονών είναι η κυρία Ελένη; (37)Πόσων χρονών είναι ο κύριος Πέτρος; (88)Πόσων χρονών είναι ο κύριος Δημήτρης;(59)Πόσων χρονών είναι ο κύριος Γιάννης;(75)

3.2. Please answer in complete sen-tences the questions about their age.

Πόσων χρονών είναι ο μπαμπάς σου;Ο μπαμπάς μου είναι 70 χρονών.

1. Πόσων χρονών είναι ο μπαμπάς σου;Ο μπαμπάς μου είναι …………………2. Πόσων χρονών είναι η μαμά σου;

Η μαμά μου …………………….

3. Πόσων χρονών είναι ηγιαγιά σου;

Η γιαγιάμου ………… … … …

….4. Πόσων χρονών

είναι ο παππούς σου;Ο παππούς μου …….

7. Πόσων χρονών είναι ο φί-λος σου;

Ο φίλος μου…………………………..8. Πόσων χρονών είναι η φίλη σου;

Η φίλη μου……………………………..9. Πόσων χρονών είσαι εσύ;Εγώ είμαι ……………………………….

4. THREE AND FOUR FIGURE NUMBERS4.1. Match the correct Greek word for

each number.1540 Χίλια επτακόσια είκοσι δύο1138 εκατόν ογδόντα πέντε1962 τετρακόσια είκοσι οκτώ1302 Χίλια τριακόσια πενήντα επτά1125 Χίλια τριακόσια δύο185 Χίλια εννιακόσια εξήντα δύο1722 Χίλια διακόσια τριάντα έξι428 Χίλια εκατόν τριάντα οκτώ1357 Χίλια εκατόν είκοσι πέντε1236 Χίλια πεντακόσια σαράντα

4.2. Write the numbers. εφτακόσια είκοσι οχτώ=πεντακόσια εβδομήντα εννέα=τετρακόσια σαράντα τέσσερα=χίλια εξακόσια δέκα έξι= χίλια τετρακόσια σαράντα τέσσερα= οκτακόσια ενενήντα έξι= χίλια δυακόσια δώδεκα= εννιακόσια οκτώ= χίλια εννιακόσια εννέα= χίλια εννιακόσια είκοσι τέσσερα= χίλια επτακόσια εβδομήντα επτά= χίλια εννιακόσια εβδομήντα έξι=

5. IT’S ABOUT HISTORYThese are important years of the World

History. Can you write them in Greekwords?1453=1776=1789=1940=1821=1920=1964=

Dimitra Kamarinou, PhD, has studiedphilology and archaeology at the Universityof Ioannina,Würzburg and Bochum in Ger-many. She has been honored with the Acad-emy of Athens Award in Archaeology andHomeric Philology.

Review: Buy Your Tickets, Εισιτήρια Για Αθήνα in Greek

By Phyllis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

Have you ever been in a traf-fic jam so thick on a hot, muggyday, inching along an endlesshighway that resembles theGreat Wall of China when a wiseguy in a Lexus comes speedingdown on the shoulder alongsideyou and without a signal, buttsin? Now, I’m a reasonable,peaceful, passive person, akindly yiayia who pays my taxeswithout a grumble, never saysanything when the neighbor’sdog deposits his calling card onmy lawn or when the garbagemen toss my garbage can coversinto the street where passingcars trample them. So, I politely,honk my horn at this pond scumwho then gives me the famousfinger – a finger with a huge di-amond ring. Well, that’s when Iget angry! Very angry!

But, I try to recall what acounselor once told me to do atsuch times. Think of a prettyscene - like a mountain stream

with cool, clear water rushingover rocks under a blue sky, ameadow where a host of wildflowers are growing. But, themethane menace in front of meis now on his cell phone, laugh-ing like the gold medal idiot he

is. That’s when I wish I hadbought that hand grenade thatsome kooky pan handler in Man-hattan tried to sell me. I picturepulling the pin; counting to nineand tossing it under the turd’scar– then, kaboom! I watch as

his car becomes confetti and Ihave to turn on my wind shieldwipers – he’s now a well dressedpuddle on the highway, his cellphone - a pan cake. Heh hehheh! I wave good bye and whizby the scene, going 60 miles pr

hr. looking for an exit, hoping Iget to K-Mart without a hitch.Then, I start to think - ask my-self, was it so very important –getting so angry like that? Imean, was it more importantthan the Ozone disappearing?The approaching hurricane? TheNuclear threats? Not having re-newed my subscription to TheNational Herald?

Everybody gets angry atsome time. Married couples whohad promised to love and cher-ish and honor - and all thatother jazz – get angry, so angrythat they wish they had boughtthat hand grenade I refused tobuy - and toss it under the sofawhere hubby is watching a soc-cer game for hours, waiting forhis lunch, while I’m gettingready to scrub the kitchen floor,watching the roast in the oven,while the third wash is in thespin cycle and the phone is ring-ing and I’m the only one withmoving parts. But, I wouldnever really do that! No! And,ruin my oriental carpet?

I guess it’s a part of life – get-ting angry. I’d bet even SaintFrancis of Assisi got angry whenone of his animals ate his cricketsandwich, or chewed his onlypossession - his smelly blanket.I’d bet Mother Theresa got an-gry when she got the milk bill.I’d bet Donald Trump got angrywhen he learned a mob of ille-gal Mexicans are mowing hisgolf course and painting therooms in his 250 room hotel.

So, when I’m on the highwayat a quarter to two and it’sjammed up for forty minutesand I have an appointment witha kidnapper who is about tomurder my canary if I don’tshow up at exactly two o’ clockwith the fifty dollars ransomand I have only a quarter of atank of gas left, I just pause andthink! Not on that mountainstream with the cool clear waterrushing over rocks, or themeadow with the wild flowers.I think to myself: why didn’t youbuy that hand grenade, youprize idiot?

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Anger

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016 7

By Eleni Sakellis

NORWICH, CT – After twoyears of researching and accu-mulating material from the de-scendants of Greek-Americanveterans, from all over theUnited States, the Rose of NewEngland Chapter 110, Order ofAHEPA proudly announced thattheir Greek history book, AStory That Should Be Told, isfinished and at the printers. Ad-vance sales of the book for thosethat would like to reserve a copyhave begun and are coming insteadily. The organization is veryencouraged by the support re-ceived for this effort. The focusof the story was originally onthe Greek-American veterans ofWorld War II who were associ-ated with the Norwich, CT com-munity, but eventually ex-panded to include veterans ofWorld War I and the AmericanCivil War.

According to Norwich AHEPA110, the effort to write the bookbegan with a big question. Howcould it be that over six millionAmericans from all walks of life,willingly donned a uniform andwent off to fight for their coun-

try, yet there is no central placewhere you can look up theirnames, or find their pictures, ortheir military history?

These veterans risked theirlives - some made the ultimatesacrifice - and yet, their namesare not recorded in one place.The Norwich AHEPA 110 tookup the task of telling the story

of the veterans of ourcommunity- so that theywill not be forgotten.

The chapter donated$10,000 to fund andpublish the book out ofrespect for all our veter-ans. All the proceedsfrom the book sales willbe donated to the HolyTrinity Greek OrthodoxChurch of Norwich, CTin the memory of all ourveterans of both WorldWars. During the re-search process the chap-ter found that Norwichhad 97 Greek-Americanveterans from the WWIIera. Among past recordsand old newspapers theyfound 27 Greek veteransof WWI and decided toinclude them in the book.

Another remarkable find wasthe story of one Greek veteranof the American Civil War. Thechapter was able to include pho-tographs of 88 WWII veterans,most of them in uniform fromthe 1940s. Of the 27 WWI vet-erans, photographs of about 8or 9 of them – some taken inuniform in 1918 are also in-

cluded in the book.Greek communities through-

out the country had similar sto-ries. It was reported that therewere approximately 71,900Greek-American veterans ofWWII. A Story That Should BeTold is an extraordinary recordof how the chapter was able toresearch the names, photos, andmilitary information of all ourveterans, searching througharchives and databases andcompiling this book on the im-portant contributions of the vet-erans of three major conflicts inworld history.

AHEPA 110 celebrated its90thanniversary at its AnnualAwards Banquet on June 28 atthe Pappas Community Center atAHEPA 110 Apartments. TheChapter also created a com-pendium edition commemoratingits 90-year history. The AHEPAHistory Book Committee is com-prised of John Louziotis, GeorgeMaistrelis, Peter J. Hominski, Pe-ter Pappas, CPA, Ernest Pool,Cleon George and Tony Petros.The proceeds from the sales ofthe 90-year history also went tothe Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch of Norwich.

LITERARY REVIEW

Book on Greek-American Veterans by AHEPA Norwich, CT

Page 8: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016

DEATH NOTICES

n ALIMONOS, VASILIOS A.WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (fromThe Berkshire Eagle, publishedon Sept. 13) – Vasilios A. Al-imonos, 89 of Williamstown,MA died Sunday, September 11,2016 at his home. He was bornin Magoula, Greece on Decem-ber 1, 1926, son of Anastasiosand Stavroula (Haralambakos)Alimonos. He attended schoolsin Greece and was a veteran ofthe Greek Army serving in themilitary police. Vasilios came tothe United States in 1967 andsettled in Chicago, IL. There hewas employed by the PurexSoap Corp. for about 23 yearsuntil his retirement. He was anavid gardener and enjoyedsports, cooking and travel. Vasil-ios especially enjoyed spendingtime with his family and grand-children. His wife was Eleni "He-len" (Koutoulas) Alimonos whodied on September 26, 2004.They were married on October19, 1953. Survivors include onedaughter Voula Minick and herhusband, Michael of OrangePark, FL; and two sons includingTaso Alimonos and his wife,Kathy of Orange Park, FL andJames Alimonos and his wife,Rebecca of Williamstown, MA.He also leaves four grandchil-dren- William Minick, DimitriMinick, William Alimonos, andAlyssa Alimonos; and two broth-ers- John Alimonos and his wife,Nikki and George Alimonos andhis wife, Voula both of Magoula,Greece; and nieces andnephews. Memorial donationsmay be made to the AmericanDiabetes Association or theAmerican Heart Association incare of the funeral home.

n ANAS, HELENPeacefully at University Hospitalon September 15, 2016, HelenAnas of London in her 96thyear. Beloved wife of the lateSam G. Anas (1967). Lovingand devoted mother to George(Reta Wammes) of London,James (Ann Kinmonth) ofBurlington, Patricia Mitsis(John) of London, and Peter(Demetra Economos) of Po-tomac, Maryland. Cherished“Yiayia” to her eight grandchil-dren Matthew(Beth Cameron),Rebecca (Jeff Sammut), Mark(Julaine Hall), Kiersten Byrick(Wil Byrick), Eleni Mitsis (JimKontogiannis), Demytra Mitsis(John Mihailidis), Georgia, andSam. Dearly missed by her tengreat-grandchildren Constan-tine and Elisa Kontogiannis;Hannah, Charlotte, and AlexieAnas, Cameron and Kyra Anas;Annie Byrick; Lucas and JacobAnas-Sammut. Daughter of thelate James P. Katsikas (1966)and Panayiotitsa (Bertha Heos)(1969). Predeceased by herdear sister Vasiliki (1928). Bornin St.Catharines Ontario on De-cember 30, 1920, Helen movedto London as a young motherwith her husband, Sam. Herethey raised their four childrenin the family home on PrincessAvenue where Helen continuedto live following Sam’s untimelydeath. Family meant everythingto her. Helen took great pridein maintaining her home forover 68 years. Helen was afounding member and the firstPresident of the Orpheus Chap-ter 297 of the Daughters ofPenelope in 1961 and also along standing member of theLadies Philoptochos Society ofLondon. When she was young,Helen’s dream was to pursue ahigher education but due to theDepression she had to forgo her

studies. Helen’s proudest mo-ments were to see all of hereight grandchildren achievetheir full potential as universitygraduates. Helen was the Ma-triarch of the family and she willalways be loved and forever re-membered. Family and friendswill be received at Logan Fu-neral Home, 371 Dundas St,London, ON N6B 1V7, on Sun-day, September 18th, 2016 from6pm-9pm, prayers at 8 pm. Afuneral service will be held atHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch, 133 Southdale RoadWest, London, ON N6J 2J2 onMonday, September 19th, 2016at 10am with MetropolitainArchbishop Sotirios, FatherDemetrios Tselonis, and FatherElias Drossos officiating. Sym-pathy may be expressed throughdonations to the Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church of Lon-don and Vicinity or to a charityof your choice.

n ASLANES, POLINIKI D.CANTON, OH (from The Repos-itory, published on Sept. 14) –Poliniki D. (Adamides) Aslanesage 76, passed away Saturday“Together Again” evening, Sept.10, 2016. Born in Filota, Greece,to the late Haralambos and Tim-oklia (Kouces) Adamides; shewas also preceded in death byher husband of 35 years, James“Dimitri” Aslanes. She was amember of both Holy Trinityand St. George Greek OrthodoxChurches. She is survived by hersons: John (Kristin), Harry(Mary), Anthony (Barbara)Aslanes; grandchildren: Aubrey,Jacob, Naomi, A.J., Athena D.,John Thomas; great-grandchil-dren: Emily Poliniki, ElizabethAlexandria and Ethan Haralam-bos; she is also survived by herbrother, Aristofanes Adamides.Family and friends will be re-ceived on Thursday from 5 to 7p.m. with Trisagion service at6:30 p.m., at the Rossi FamilyFuneral Home. Funeral serviceswill be Friday at 11:00 a.m., inHoly Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch, with Rev. Dr. DanielRogich and Rev. Fr. ConstantineShiepis officiating. Family andfriends will also be received inChurch one hour before servicesbegin. Internment will be in For-est Hill Cemetery. In lieu offlowers donations may be madeto Holy Trinity Greek OrthodoxChurch, 4705 Fairhaven Ave.N.W., Canton, OH 44709.

n BOGDANOS, JOANNE G.SAN LEANDRO, CA (from theEast Bay Times, published onSept. 23)– January 17, 1933 -September 20, 2016 Joanne G.Bogdanos, of San Leandro, CA,passed away on September 20,2016 at the age of 83. Joannewas born in the village of Mer-tidi, near Aigion, in Greece. Herhusband Fr. George M. Bog-danos preceded her in death in2004. She is survived by her 4children, Michael (of Lodi),Demetrios (of Alameda) andAntonia and Panayiotis (of SanLeandro) and many relatives inthe Bay Area and in Greece. Vis-itation will be held at Santos-Robinson Mortuary 160 Es-tudillo Ave. San Leandro fromnoon to 5:00 PM on Sunday,September 26th. Funeral ser-vices and Interment will be pri-vate. In lieu of flowers, dona-tions to the MS Society,Parkinson's Research, or to theGreek Assembly of God Church(1771-36th Ave, Oakland, CA94601) is preferred.

n DANOU, CONSTANTINE C. (DAN)

MARSHFIELD, WI (from theMarshfield News Herald, pub-lished on Sept. 12) – In the latesummer of 1950, a San DiegoState University-bound, seven-teen-year-old Greek boy arrived

on the shores of the UnitedStates to forge a new life that,in total, spanned more thaneighty-three years. ConstantineC. (Dan) Danou was born onSeptember 20, 1932, in Thessa-loniki, Greece; at age twelve, heserved as an English interpreterfor the British forces afterGreece was liberated from Nazioccupation. Coming to theUnited States as a student, Danlater enlisted in the MarineCorps and was stationed inJapan during the Korean War.Dan's military service facilitatedhis becoming a U.S. citizenwhereupon he moved toChicago to work as a depart-ment manager for the home of-fice of an insurance company.After a few years there, he relo-cated with the company toBloomington, Illinois, where hemet his future wife, NancyHitchings. They were marriedin 1964, and Dan became a non-traditional student, earning hisB.A. and M.A. in political sci-ence and sociology at IllinoisState University. He then taughtat University High School inNormal, Illinois, and began along career as a sociology pro-fessor. After the birth of theirfirst two children, Dan andNancy spent a year living andteaching in Greece. Thereafter,the couple settled in Marshfield,Wisconsin, where they raisedthree children, Chris (Kate),Erika, and Niki (George). Dantaught sociology at the Univer-sity of Wisconsin,Marshfield/Wood County fortwenty-seven years and activelyserved the campus and commu-nity in manifold ways. On cam-pus he founded and advised thePhi Theta Kappa chapter; healso served on innumerablecommittees, even performing ina UW theatrical production. Inthe community, Dan chaired theCommittee on Aging and wrotethe grant to establish the WoodCounty nutrition program. Hewas an active Rotarian in bothMarshfield and LaCrosse. Retir-ing as Professor Emeritus, Danmoved with Nancy to LaCrossewhere they later welcomed sixgrandchildren (Orion, Rowan,Kiyan, Kiera, Pente, and Liliana)who enriched their grandfa-ther's retirement. On September7, Dan died peacefully at home.A celebration of Dan's life willbe held in LaCrosse within thenext several weeks. His asheswill be interred in Crescent City,Illinois. Memorials can be di-rected to the University Foun-dation of the University of Wis-consin, Marshfield/WoodCounty, 2000 W. Fifth Street,Marshfield, WI 54449 or the Ro-tary Works Foundation, P.O. Box1571, LaCrosse, WI 54602-5171.

n ELLINIKIOTIS, JOHNSAN MATEO, CA (from the SanFrancisco Chronicle, publishedon Sept. 21)– Yianni (John) El-lenikiotis Apr. 28, 1931 - Sept.19, 2016 Yianni Ellenikiotis, aproud husband, father, grandfa-ther (Papou), and great grand-father, passed away Monday,September 19, 2016 at 85 yearsof age. He leaves his daughter,Pauline Alevizos, his son-in-lawTim Alevizos, his two sons An-thony Ellenikiotis and Jim El-lenikiotis, his seven grandchil-dren, Kate Alevizos-Ramacciotti,Eleni Alevizos, Eleni Ellenikiotis,Soula Ellenikiotis, Yianni El-lenikiotis, George Ellenikiotis,and great-grandaughter, AthenaRamacciotti. Yianni adored themother of his four grandchil-dren Georgia Ellenikiotis, cher-ished Jim's significant other,Bridget Peterson, and his grand-daughter's husbands, John Ra-macciotti, Scott Robson, andDavid Soleimani-Meigooni.Yianni was born and raised in

the Greek village of Monokariaby his mother Polixeni, who heloved and adored. Yianni mar-ried his beloved wife Eleni sixty-one years ago in Istiaia, on theisland of Evia in Greece. Duringhis service in the U.S. military,Yianni went to Greece to marryEleni. Together, they returnedto the United States to begintheir new life together. Yianniproudly worked for the UnitedParcel Service for 35 years as aFeeder Driver. Yianni was be-yond proud to be an American,especially in San Francisco, Cal-ifornia. He was an outstandingfather and provider who tooktremendous pride in his family.His life's mission was to help hischildren and grandchildren be-come educated and successful.His sacrifice and incredible workethic were an inspiration to hischildren and grandchildren.Coming from humble begin-nings, Yianni wanted nothingmore than for his children tohave a better life than he had.His grandchildren consideredhim a second father. Yianni wasthe backbone of his family. Hegave the best advice and con-sistently encouraged everyoneto be the best they could be.Yianni was known for his gre-garious personality, loud voice,and great sense of humor. Forthe past 45 years, Yianni andEleni lived happily in San Ma-teo, where they were blessedwith the constant support andaffection of lifelong friends andfamily. Yianni's passions in-cluded gardening, hunting, andsports. Throughout his life, hespent his summers in Edipsos,Evia, Greece taking care of thehotel he built. A favorite quoteof Yianni's was "Kanis kalo, kaithe vris apo to Theo." Performgood deeds, and you will findgoodness from God. Trisaigonwill be held at 7:00pm on Fri-day, September 23rd & FuneralService will be held at 10:30amon Saturday, September 24th atthe Holy Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch, 900 Alameda de lasPulgas, Belmont, CA. Intermentat Greek Orthodox MemorialPark, Colma, CA. Donations canbe made to the Church of theHoly Cross Greek OrthodoxChurch.

n ELIOPOULOS, CONSTANTINE "GUS"

ASBURY PARK, NJ (from the As-bury Park Press, published onSept. 9) – Constantine "Gus"Eliopoulos, a restaurateur anda longtime resident of AsburyPark, passed away Monday aftera long illness. He was 84. Mr.Eliopoulos was born in Davies,Greece, in the mountainous re-gion of Arcadia. As a youngman, he served as a Private inthe Greek Armed Forces andthen worked for the public tran-sit system in Athens. He emi-grated to Canada then movedto Asbury Park shortly there-after. Like many of the Greekyoung men of the era, he foundemployment and a beautifulyoung bride while working onthe Asbury Park boardwalk. In1961, he married Katina Pa-padopoulos, who was from aneighboring village in Greecebut who also was working onthe boardwalk at the time. Mak-ing a home and a family withKatina, Mr. Eliopoulos workedas a counterman, waiter andmanager at notable Asbury Parklandmarks such as the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel and afterwards,the Howard Johnson's restau-rant. During the 70s, 80s & 90s,Mr. Eliopoulos owned and op-erated the Laurelton Diner andRestaurant on Route 88 in Brick-town, later worked at numerousother restaurants and diners inthe area. He retired in 2013 andcultivated his interests in gar-dening, woodworking and

painting. Mr. Eliopoulos is sur-vived by his wife Katina, his chil-dren Christina and George, hisbeloved granddaughter Elena,his son-in-law Kenneth anddaughter-in-law Jennifer. He isalso survived by his siblingsJohn, James, Helen andPanayiota, and numerous niecesand nephews. For condolences,please visit www.fiorefuneral-homes.com.

n FASSULIOTIS, THEODORAGREENWICH, CT (from Green-wichTime, published on Sept.23)– Theodora Fassuliotis,beloved sister and sister-in-lawof longtime residents of Green-wich, CT William and DespinaFassuliotis, passed away on Sep-tember 21 at King Street Reha-bilitation Center at the age of94. Born March 29, 1922 toMaria and Constantine Fassuli-otis, Theodora was a life-longresident of Sheepshead Bay,Brooklyn. With a family homefacing Sheepshead Bay and thefishing boats that lined itsshores, she loved the water andwas an ardent swimmer. Herfamily was well known in thegrowing Sheepshead Bay com-munity of Greek families andTheodora was proud of her Hel-lenic roots. Sundays afterchurch were "drop-in" days andit was not unusual for familyfriends to drop in unannounced,seeking the sea breeze as theysat on the family porch andcaught up on the local news Hermother was one of the foundingmembers of the Three HierarchsGreek Orthodox Church ofBrooklyn and Theodora was aconstant member of its choir forall of the adult years that shelived at home. She taught Sun-day School and at one time hadthe present pastor, Father Eu-gene Pappas, in her SundaySchool class. During World WarII, with two brothers in the mil-itary, she served as a volunteernurse's aide. She entered Fed-eral Service with the State De-partment and was assigned tooffices in lower Manhattan.When World War II ended,Theodora received overseas as-signments in JUSMAG (Joint USMilitary Assistance Group). Sheserved the military as a civilian

employee in Leghorn, Italy,Ankara, Turkey and then spentmany years at JUSMAG officesin Athens, Greece. She loved totravel and used her vacationtime while working abroad tovisit European and Africancountries as they opened up totourism. When she returned tothe States, she was assigned tothe Army Corp of Engineers of-fices in lower Manhattan whereshe received many serviceawards. Theodora was prede-ceased by her parents and herbrother. Dr. George Fassuliotis(Helen) of Charleston, SouthCarolina. She is survived by herbrother, William (Despina), hernieces Dr. Karen Fassuliotis,Constance Fassuliotis, Dr. Bar-bara Rogers (Robert), hernephews George Fassuliotis(Anastasia), Dennis Fassuliotis(Elaine), and Dr. Thomas Fas-suliotis (Ginger), two grandnieces and five grand nephews.In lieu of flowers, donationsmay be made to the Greek Or-thodox Church of Our Saviour,2195 Westchester Avenue East,Rye, New York 10580.

n FOTINOS, ANNA (KARIDAS)

CROWN POINT, IN (from theNorthwest Indiana Times, pub-lished on Sept. 19) – Anna Foti-nos (nee Karidas) age 86, ofCrown Point IN peacefullypassed away Saturday Septem-ber 17, 2016. Anna was thebeloved wife of the late Kostadi-nos; loving mother to Kalliopiand Dimitrios Fotis; Pete andLoma Fotinos; proud grand-mother to MaryAnn and Bryan(Michael), Brianna, Gena. andTheodore. She was the devoteddaughter of the late Evagelosand Maria Karidas. Anna was amember of Ss. Constantine andHelen Greek Orthodox Cathe-dral, Philoptochos Society, andAgia Markella Society of ChiosGreece. Anna was the owner ofthe Grecian Bakery in Glen Park(Gary IN) from 1979 until 1994.She enjoyed baking, cooking,and helping anyone who was inneed. Friends may visit with thefamily on Tuesday September20, 2016 at Burns FuneralHome and Crematory, 10101Broadway, Crown Point IN46307 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00p.m. Funeral services will beheld Wednesday September 21,2016 at Ss. Constantine and He-len Greek Orthodox Cathedral8000 Madison St., MerrillvilleIN 46410 at 10:00 a.m. with Fr.Ted Poteres and Fr. George Pap-pas officiating. In lieu of flowersdonations may be made to Ss.Constantine and Helen GreekOrthodox Cathedral. Anna willbe greatly missed.

This is a service to the community.

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

(718) 784-5255, monday through friday,

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

[email protected]

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

Notice of Formation of 428 Route 146, LLC,Art. of Org. filed with Sec’y of State (SSNY)on 10/18/13. Office location: Kings County.SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shallmail copy of process to 1648 Madison Pl.,Brooklyn, NY 11229. Purpose: any lawful activities.

275408/10834

Notice of formation LISA GALANO, LLC.(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filed withthe Secretary of State of New York, SSNY on08/05/2016. Office located in Nassau County.SSNY has been designated for service ofprocess. SSNY shall mail copy of any processserved against the LLC to: c/o United States Cor-poration Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

275404/20112

Notice of Formation of 340B ADVANCEDGROUP OWNERS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/29/16.Office location: Kings County. SSNYdesignated as agent of LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shallmail process to the LLC, 192 Geldner Ave.,Staten Island, NY 10306. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275400/17976

Notice of formation TCG EVENTS, LLC(DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York,SSNY on 08/23/2016. Office located inNassau County. SSNY has been designatedfor service of process. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served against the LLC to: c/oUnited States Corporation Agents, Inc., 701413th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275395/20104

Anonie LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY8/30/16. Office in Kings Co. SSNY desig-nated for service of process and shall mailto Reg. Agent: Thomas Law Firm PLLC,175 Varick St, NY, NY 10014. Purpose:Any lawful activity

275393/18796

Notice of Formation of McCartney HR, LLCArts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY(SSNY) on 08/18/16. Office location:Kings County. SSNY designated as agentof LLC upon whom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mail process to c/oKatten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Attn:Shannon Traylor, 575 Madison Ave, NY,NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275382/17976

Notice of formation LITCHFIELD THIRDPARTY ASSOCIATES L.L.C. (DOM. LLC). Articles of Organization filed with the Secre-tary of State of New York, SSNY on11/13/2012. Office located in Kings County.SSNY has been designated for service ofprocess. SSNY shall mail copy of any processserved against the LLC to: Colin Octave, 520Madison Street, Brooklyn, NY 11221.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275371/20093

Object Territories Architecture PLLC.Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY 8/18/16.Office in Kings Co. SSNY designated forservice of process and shall mail to: ThePLLC, 49 Withers St. FL 3, Brooklyn, NY11211. Purpose: Architect.

275381/18796

The Powers Collective, LLC. Art. of Org.filed w/ SSNY 8/3/16. Office in Kings Co.SSNY designated for service of processand shall mail to: The LLC, 143 SkillmanAve. Ste. 5B, Brooklyn, NY 11211.Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275368/18796

Fiorenza Consulting LLC. Art. of Org. filedw/ SSNY 8/17/16. Office in Kings Co.SSNY designated for service of processand shall mail to: The LLC, 70 WashingtonSt. Ste. 2P, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Purpose:Any lawful activity.

275369/18796

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

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

FUNERAL HOMES

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

CLASSIFIEDS

John J. Tsucalas, 76, ofPhiladelphia, a former Pennsyl-vania deputy auditor general inthe Casey administration, diedWednesday, Sept. 21, of pneu-monia at Pennsylvania Hospital.

He served from 1989 throughJuly 1991, when he resigned.

In recognition of his contri-butions, he received commenda-tions from the state Senate andHouse for "outstanding publicservice."

In 1992, he considered run-ning on the Republican ticket forauditor general, but decided "itwould better serve my party if Idid not," he told the Inquirer onJan. 31, 1992.

In the private sector, Mr. Tsu-calas was a chartered financialanalyst and principal for 26 yearsof John James Tsucalas & Co.,investment bankers at 15th andChestnut Streets in Center City.

At various times, he served asvice president of leveraged buy-outs and private placements forButcher & Singer in Philadelphia,and as an investment officer forJohn Hancock Mutual Life Insur-ance Co. in Boston.

Mr. Tsucalas wrote on eco-nomic, financial, and politicaltopics in regional, national, and

international publications.For a time, he broadcast on

Philadelphia radio station WFLN-FM each Sunday about the stockmarket, and he lectured widely.

Until 2000, he welcomedguests each Greek IndependenceDay, which was celebrated hereon or about March 25 - when-ever foreign dignitaries wereavailable. The festivities wereheld at the Liberty Bell on Inde-pendence Mall.

The child of Greek immigrantparents, Calliope and James Tsu-calas, Mr. Tsucalas was a native

of Everett, Mass.He graduated from Boston

Latin School and while there, ranthe mile in track. At that time,his class had the largest numberof offspring from Greek immi-grant parents in the school's his-tory, his family said.

He received a bachelor's de-gree in economics from what isnow Columbia University andpledged Sigma Chi fraternity. Hewas coxswain of the heavy-weight varsity crew. Mr. Tsucalasreceived his master of businessadministration from the Wharton

School of the University of Penn-sylvania.

He served as a personnel of-ficer in the Air Force from 1962to 1966 and was awarded theNational Defense Service Medaland the Air Force CommendationMedal. He was honorably dis-charged with the rank of firstlieutenant.

He is survived by his wife of23 years, Joanne Crane Tsucalas;two sisters; a niece; and anephew.

A viewing starting at 8 a.m.will be followed by a funeral at9, both at St. George Greek Or-thodox Cathedral, 256 S. EighthSt. Interment with full militaryhonors will be at 1:30 p.m. atWashington Crossing NationalCemetery in Bucks County.

Donations may be made tothe Boston Latin School Associa-tion, 27 School St., Suite 300,Boston, Mass. 02108, or to Co-lumbia University Office ofAlumni Affairs and Develop-ment, 622 W. 113th St., MailCode 4525, New York, N.Y.10025. Checks should be markedfor "Crew shell in memory ofJohn Tsucalas."

Source: philly.com

Veteran John J. Tsucalas, Served in Casey Administration

TO PLACE yOur CLASSIfIEd Ad, CALL:

(718) 784-5255, ExT. 106, E-mAIL:

[email protected]

Page 9: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016 9

TNH Staff

ATHENS – Despite howl ofprotests from lawmakers fromruling Radical Left SYRIZA party– who voted for it – the Parlia-ment approved development ofthe former Hellenikon interna-tional airport site on the city’ssouthern coast.

The government earlier hadtried to stop the project, claim-ing the abandoned land was anarchaeological site, before with-drawing the measure.

A real estate consortium hasthe land as part of the country’slargest privatization package,which Prime Minister AlexisTsipras vowed to halt before re-lenting to international creditorswho demanded it proceed.

The bill, described as “a com-promise” by Finance MinisterEuclid Tsakalotos, passed intolaw with the support of all par-ties in Parliament – includingSYRIZA and its partner, the pro-austerity, far-right jingoistic In-dependent Greeks (ANEL) – butnot the ultra-extremist GoldenDawn and the Communists.

Culture Minister AristidesBaltas – who voted for it – calledit “a defeat” for SYRIZA but did-n’t explain why Tsipras didn’torder his party’s 144 lawmakersto vote against it and stop theplan apart from saying the gov-ernment gave in to “more pow-erful alliances” without statingwho they were.

Baltas said, according toKathimerini, that “We want adifferent type of investment inHelliniko,” but didn’t offer anydetails or what it should beother than to state his generalobjections.

Alternate Environment Min-ister Yiannis Tsironis said thatthere “is still concern,” aboutElliniko and called on activisits“to do their job” without ex-plaining what he meant either.

Adonis Georgiadis, the Vice-President of the former rulingNew Democracy Conservativessaid they backed the plan “sothe country can go forward.”

Greece’s Lamda Develop-ment increased its offer by 25percent to 915 million euros($1.26 billion) for the project atHellenikon, the Greek capital’sformer airport that hosted sixOlympic events, the Hellenic Re-public Asset Development Fund

(TAIPED) said earlier.Lamda’s bid is backed by the

Chinese Fosun Group and AlMaabar of Abu-Dhabi. The pro-ject would include the creationof a 200-hectare (494-acre) park,sports and recreation facilitiesand other commercial areas.

But obstacles still remain, in-cluding an environmental studyand relocating the greaterAthens’ only casino.

A timetable extending to No-vember 2016 was cited, thenewspaper said, with the firstpayment by the consortium of300 million euros ($334.77 mil-lion) to the Greek state readyfor disbursement only once thepending issues have been re-solved.

Another issue deals with therelocation of several state ser-vices from the current site,which for decades hostedAthens’ airport, a couple of mil-itary bases, including a facilityonce used by the USAF, the cur-rent civil aviation authority, apolice precinct and even a de-tention center. The large tractof land also hosted facilities,most now abandoned, for the2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Minister of State AlekosFlambouraris claimed that thecurrent government “signifi-cantly improved” the terms ofthe contract in negotiations withthe consortium, led by theAthens-based Lamda Develop-ment.

The minister said the govern-ment increased the investment1.5 billion euros ($1.67 billion)in relation to the previous deal,“during a time where we have1.5 million unemployed, andwhere austerity reigns, wechoose to support fair (eco-nomic) growth.” He didn’t citeany evidence to back up hisclaim that the government hadessentially doubled what itwould get.

The plot, on the sea, wassupposed to become the biggesturban park in Europe beforesuccessive governments saidthey wanted the money devel-opment would bring.

SYRIZA figures have fre-quently objected to austeritymeasures they said the partywould overturn, only to keepvoting for them with critics say-ing it wants to have it bothways.

Compiled byEraklis Diamataris

SEPTEMBER 26, 1687The Parthenon is partially destroyed by

Venetians soldiers attacking Ottoman forcesthat were seeking shelter there. The Ot-

toman Turks used the Parthenon as an am-munition storage facility and when thevenetians used mortars to lay siege to thestrategically important Acropolis, the impactof the mortars set off the magazines of am-munition and caused a devastating explo-sion. In addition to approximately 300 livesbeing lost, the more than 75% of theParthenon’s structure was destroyed on im-pact and that is the reason why theParthenon is in the state that it is today, notso much the passage of time.

SEPTEMBER 27, 1922King Constantine I of Greece abdicates

his throne therefore elevating Crown Prince

George II to King ofthe Hellenes.George II becameascended to thethrone due to thefact that Greece hadjust lost the battle ofBattle ofDumlupinar whichwas the decisive bat-tle in the GrecoTurkish War (1919-1922) that lead tothe collapse of theinvading GreekArmy in Asia Minor.The military gaveConstantine I nochoice but to abdicate, and he obeyed.George II would go on to reign from 1922-1924 and then again from 1935 until hisdeath in 1947.

SEPTEMBER 29, 1949Greek singer Giorgios Dalaras was born

in Piraeus, Greece. Dalaras’ legendary whichcontinues today has lasted for 40 years. In

that time he has released over 70 solo al-bums and has sold more than 15 millionrecords. He is often credited with bringingthe stadium-centered concerts to Greece ashe had a combined crowd of 160.000 peo-ple come to his shows over a two day pe-riod at the Athens Olympic Stadium. Gior-gios Dalaras is a Goodwill Ambassador forthe UN Refugee Agency.

OCTOBER 1, 331 BCAlexander the Great defeated the Per-

sian Army of Darius III at the Battle ofGaugamela near present day Mosul, Iraq.Significantly outmanned, Alexander the

Great’s forces of about 47, 000 soldiers de-feated Darius’ forces that were almost100,000 strong. The key to the triumph atGaugamela was the ingenious employmentof light infantry by Alexander. Because ofthe victory, Alexander won Babylon all ofMesopotamia that wasn’t already his andhalf of Persia. The defeat for the Persians atGaugamela led to the fall of the AchaemenidEmpire.

TNH Staff

ATHENS – Reneging on anti-austerity campaign promises hascost the Radical Left SYRIZAdearly, with a poll showing themajor opposition New Democ-racy has galloped out to a 12.5percent lead.

That was a jump of five per-cent from a previous poll thatalso showed Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras getting hammeredfor surrendering to internationalcreditors and breaking hispromises to restore pay and pen-sions, cut taxes, stop privatiza-tions and protect workers, pen-sioners and the poor.

New Democracy has alsobenefited from new leadershipunder young Kyriakos Mitso-takis, who has galvanized sup-port in the party and from thedisaffected even though theConservatives in an earlier coali-tion had also imposed austerity– with his backing – but whichhe now says he opposes.

New Democracy was favoredby 31 percent to SYRIZA’s 18.5percent in the survey publishedin the Athens daily EleftherosTypos, done by the firm OpinionPoll.

Even worse for SYRIZA andTsipras was that 61.2 percentexpected New Democracywould win the next electionscompared to only 14 percent forthe Leftists, showing a rout.

The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn,as it has in previous polls, kepta stranglehold on third with 6.5percent although all its leadersand lawmakers are on trial fac-ing charges of running a crimi-nal gang, which they deny.

In fourth with 5 percent isthe Democratic Alignment, acenter-left group led by the for-mer PASOK Socialists who

nearly disappeared after back-ing austerity in a partnershipwith New Democracy. It alsobrought down then-Socialistleader Evangelos Venizelos.

A surprising entry at fifth wasthe new Sailing for Freedom

party of former Parliament Pres-ident Zoe Constantopoulou,once close to Tsipras but whowas ousted after she refused togo along with austerity andbreak the party’s alleged princi-ples.

Tsipras’ partner, the far-right,pro-austerity, jingoistic Indepen-dent Greeks (ANEL) didn’t meetthe 3 percent threshold to enterParliament, punished by votersfor also reneging on its promisesto help workers, pensioners and

the poor.BAD MOVE BY TSIPRASSYRIZA’s resistance to aus-

terity made it worse because thepopulist rhetoric caused delaysin imposing reforms, EuropeanCommission Vice-PresidentValdis Dombrovskis said.

He took dead aim at Tsipraswho vowed to reverse pay cuts,tax hikes, slashed pensions andprivatizations only to relent andimpose more, but too late toworsen the effect on the econ-omy, Dombrovskis said.

Tsipras also reversed some ofthe reforms implemented by theprevious ruling coalition led bythe New Democracy Conserva-tives and its partner, the then-PASOK Socialists who werepushed almost into oblivion fordoing so and are now a mar-ginal party although once dom-inant.

As new loans were frozen,Greece defaulted on the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF)in July 2015 and had to intro-duce capital controls to preventits banking system from col-lapse.

They are still in place andTsipras is dragging his feet againwith the creditors over reformsattacked to a third bailout of 86billion euros ($96.72 billion)while telling beleagueredGreeks he’s making their livesbetter.

“Populism doesn’t solve prob-lems. Populism creates prob-lems,” Dombrovskis told around-table in Riga in a discus-sion on the growing support forpopulist parties in many EUcountries, the news agencyReuters reported.

“We could see that in the …classic example of Greece. Anew government came with apopulist stance, that we don’t

need any austerity regimes, wewill spend as much as we want,”he said.

“And, in fact, Greece now im-plements tougher austerity mea-sures than it would have beennecessary if (reforms) of theprevious government were con-tinued at the time,” he said.

Dombrovskis blamed Tsiprasfor taking Greece back into re-cession in 2015 instead of ac-celerating growth to 2.5 percentforecast had reforms been con-tinued.

TOUGH TALKS DRONE ONGreece has been locked in

hard negotiations with its inter-national lenders who are press-ing for yet more austerity beforereleasing more funds from astaggered 86-billion euro($96.39 billion) third bailout.

The IMF piled on, sayingGreek pensioners hammered re-peatedly with cuts got off tooeasy and should have their ben-efits reduced more.

The IMF, along with the Eu-ropean Union, European CentralBank and European StabilityMechanism make up the Quar-ter of international lenderswho’ve put up 326 billion euros($366 billion) in three bailoutsthat haven’t worked.

At the same time the IMFwants to be paid in full it hascalled for its European partnersto take a big hit and grantGreece debt relief although a cutin what is owed would force theother 17 countries in the Euro-zone to pay for decades of wildGreek overspending and run-away patronage.

In its annual report on theGreek economy, following so-called Article Four consultationsin Athens, the Fund called thecountry’s pension system as “un-affordable” despite reforms.

TNH Staff

ATHENS – Greek Prime Minis-ter Alexis Tsipras reportedly stillbacks Education Minister NikosFilis’ changes to religion classesbut is peeved at him for ques-tioning the Greek Church’s roleduring the 1967-74 junta.

Tsipras, said to be an Atheist,has tried to keep a good rela-tionship with the Church afterreneging on a promise to sepa-rate Church and State but, likeFilis, wants religions other thanGreek Orthodoxy taught inschools.

Archbishop Ieronymos hastangled with Filis and the twohave exchanged angry wordsand letters including the Minis-ter telling the cleric to stay outof his affairs in setting schoolcurricula.

Tsipras is anxious that thefeud could influence the pro-ceedings of the upcoming HolySynod, Kathimerini said, whichis expected to take a stand onthe ministry’s decision to tweakreligion classes at schools andcould be used as a pulpit to slamthe Premier, who’s fading fastin popularity after reneging onanti-austerity promises.

Besides other religions, Filisdoesn’t want Greek Orthodoxyto be taught on the basis of cat-echism, but on purely informa-tive and educational grounds.

Tsipras’s decision to backFilis’ is said to be based on pollsthat the majority of SYRIZA vot-ers are in favor of the reform,the newspaper said.

But Tsipras’ coalition partnerleader and the country’s Defense

Minister, Independent Greeksleader Panos Kammenos op-poses the changes although hehas publicly been against otherSYRIZA policies only to thensupport them. Kammenos wasscheduled to holds talks withIeronymos on Sept. 28.

On Sept. 25 PresidentProkopis Pavlopoulos stood withthe Church. “The Church has al-ways been present in the na-tion’s struggle, like it has in allstruggles for liberty, democracyand social justice,” Pavlopoulossaid in a statement on the an-niversary of the liberation ofTripolitsa in the Greeks’ 1821war of independence against Ot-

toman Turks.BRING IT ON

Earlier, Ieronymos didn’tbacking down from his battlewith Filis over the Church’s de-mand only the Greek Orthodoxreligion be taught in schools.

The two exchanged fiery let-ters, the newspaper Kathimerinisaid, over the decision by Filisand Tsipras, who came to powervoting separation of Church andState.

Filis wanted religion classesto be taught in a secular mannerinstead of proselytizing but theChurch doesn’t want other reli-gions in the curricula.

This prompted a reaction

from the Church, which thentriggered a backlash from Filis,who questioned the Church’srole during the 1967-74 militarydictatorship.

The Archbishop fired backthat, “The matter of the Churchis one for the people and not fora minister,” also denying theChurch was tight with the re-pressive junta.

He said the Church’s role hadbeen “consistent and irreproach-able,” and claimed criticism wasprompted by the “ideological in-terpretations” of critics.

Filis said that the debate re-garding the Church’s role duringthe junta was one for “scientificand broader public debates”that should happen “calmly sothat we can all learn from ourmistakes.”

Deputy Education MinisterSia Anagnostopoulou tried tobring a truce in the feud and saidthat, “It is a dispute that shouldend here, for all of our sakes.”

Anagnostopoulou said “thereis no cause for conflict betweenthe Church and the politicalleadership of the EducationMinistry over religion classes,”but said the government, notthe Church, decides what’staught in schools.

Anagnostopoulou said thatthe curriculum was developedby a committee that includedtheologians and education ex-perts.

“I don’t understand why theChurch feels threatened whenthe education minister decidesto implement the recommenda-tions of theologians them-selves,” she said.

New Democracy Opens Runaway 12.5% Lead Over Fast-Fading SYRIZA

This Week in Greek History

Greek Lawmakers OKHellenikon DevelopmentOver SYRIZA Objections

Peeved Tsipras Backs Filis’ Religion Class Reforms

Education Minister Nikos Filis has told Archbishop Ieronymosto stay out of his affairs in setting the school curricula.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses Greek parliament while Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras sits in the background facing declining poll numbers for his SYRIZA party.

EurOKINISSI

Page 10: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016

In Response to the OutburstAgainst Tsipras

To the Editor:The recent outburst against

Tsipras was disheartening at theevent on September 22, Archiv-ing the Hellenic-American Ex-perience in the 21st Century -The Hellenic American Projectat Queens College.

The presence of the PrimeMinister of Greece should have

been treated with more respecteven if we disagree with his pol-itics, that shouldn’t interferewith an event that was so posi-tive for the Greek community.We have to show we can worktogether in spite of our differ-ences for the good of everyGreek person living abroad orin the homeland. I hope we cando better next time.

Anna Z. PapasQueens, NY

Assessing the Greek PM’s TripAs the Greek prime minister departed from New York, let us

take stock of his trip.Certainly, the main purpose of his visit was to participate in

the official opening of the UN General Assembly.There were a series of routine meetings, with the exception

of that with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.He also spoke at the Summit for Refugees and Migrants, an

issue which is, of course, a major concern to Greece.And he participated in the customary reception held by Pres-

ident Obama for foreign heads of delegation, but this year, un-like last year, we did not see a photo of the two together re-leased. Perhaps they decided to avoid releasing a photo, afterlast year’s not-so-pleasant appearance.

Now as far as the Greek-American community is concerned…The prime minister spent almost an entire day, out of his

five days in New York, with the Greek-American community.Not an inconsiderable amount of time. On September 21,

he visited the St. Demetrios School in Astoria. Afterward, hemet with Archbishop Demetrios, and later participated in anacademic presentation by supporters of his party, SYRIZA. Onthat same evening, he attended a dinner hosted in his honor bythe Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce in collaborationwith professional organizations in New York.

However, there was ultimately no mention of any issue con-cerning the Greek-American community, with blatant and ofcourse deliberate oversight regarding the right of HellenesAbroad to vote in Greek elections.

In fact, during his speech at the Harvard Club, he did noteven mention the name of the school he visited earlier that day,and even omitted, during the chronological narration of hiscontacts, his meeting with the archbishop, which he added inlater.

(Fortunately, Dr. Spyros Mezitis gave him a document statingthe positions of the Greek-American community, which I hopehe will read).

Nor did he mention anything substantial in his speech. Itwas filled with the same old generalities, what he must considerappeasements for the “ignorant” expatriates.

Of course, he asked for “not only economic, but mostly moralsupport.” I am sure everyone is doing whatever they can forthe Greek people. But moral support is based on moral founda-tions. Do they exist?

Some of my acquaintances at the dinner expressed their dis-appointment because so many of the attendees rushed to bephotographed with Mr. Tsipras, despite the harsh criticism thatthey often convey about him.

That should not be regarded as a show of support, becauseit is not. It can be attributed to the vanity of human nature.

Ideology & Fundamental ValuesMuch praise has been justifiably expressed and written about

what was stated by Greece’s main opposition party leader Kyri-akos Mitsotakis in Thessaloniki. The practical and concrete mea-sures and the realistic vision and clear perspective he elaboratedare the unprecedented elements of speeches such as this. How-ever, with few exceptions, the major part of his speech was nothighlighted enough and certainly not in the proper manner.

Mitsotakis saw the Greek reality for what it truly is. Greecetoday faces not only an economic crisis but, above all, a complexcrisis of values. No matter how much the economy improves,and even if the much-needed investments eventually materialize,if the country does not address this deep values crisis – the can-cer of corruption, dishonesty, and lack of solid moral foundations– it will revert to new misery and deterioration, perhaps after asuperficial period of prosperity.

Mitsotakis therefore emphasized the need for Greek societyto return to the fundamental creative values of life: merit, hardwork, creative ambition, solidarity, cohesion, the encouragementof excellence, the rewarding of entrepreneurship and innovation,and to a well-governed state. To ignore, that is, lectures on de-grading and disproportionate equality, and to embrace minimaleffort and continuous criticism.

But at this point, an important distinction must be made.Mitsotakis did not speak only as the leader of a bourgeois party,nor did he simply refer to a so-called “bourgeois-liberal envi-ronment,” as some have described this part of his speech. Be-cause all the values to which he referred, namely, hard work,striving for the best, the reward of excellence, innovation and awell-governed state are timeless and, above all, genuinely Greek.

Hellenism has always relied on these in order to proceed inits every endeavor, these are the weapons with which the expa-triate Greeks demanded and earned prosperity and respect inevery corner of the Earth. It is true that the moldy and bankruptleftist mentality still finds its voice against such values, oftenapplied as official government policy. The fact is that the dem-agogues have always addressed, and managed several times toimpact, the humblest instincts of human nature, namely, interalia, laziness, envy for anything superior and false equality.

But Mitsotakis’ call for the return to our fundamental valueshas more than a “bourgeois-liberal” ideological character. Thevalues he mentioned are the star that led Hellenism throughoutits age-long history and is the only way for Greece to emergefrom the heavy, multifaceted crisis. He did not ask the Greekpeople for anything more than a renewal of faith and the com-mitment to the basic ideology of the Greek tradition, just as itwas born in the motherland and endured for centuries. Thethings he spoke about are not only the principles of a bourgeoisparty, but the timeless provisions of the nation.

Only with these weapons can the Greek people continuetheir path onward.

The Benefit of DebatesThe usual question after a general election presidential de-

bate is: who won?The better question would be whether it was beneficial to

the interests of the country.In this case, I believe that the answer is yes, it was.It has been said many times – and it is a fact – that this

year's election campaign is different from the previous ones.What makes it different is the presence of Donald Trump, a

billionaire, as he proclaims, who has never been elected to anyoffice but managed to get his finger on the pulse of tens of mil-lions of Americans and found himself in the position of the Re-publican Party nominee in the debate.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

With the contest betweenHillary Clinton and DonaldTrump now a virtual tie, the im-pact of the Libertarian and theGreen Parties may prove deci-sive in determining who be-comes the next president of theUnited States. This is an uncom-mon but not unique moment inAmerican political history.

Third parties often revolvearound a powerful personality.The most obvious example isTheodore Roosevelt. His Pro-gressive Party of 1912 was asplit from the Republicans ledby William Howard Taft. The di-vided Republican vote resultedin the election of WoodwardWilson, a Democrat.

More recently Ross Perot’sReform Party (1996) and RalphNader’s bid as a Green (2000)affected the national outcome.Perot’s vigorous campaign tookconsiderable attention awayfrom Bob Dole. Their combinedvotes did not quite equal that ofwinner Bill Clinton, but Perothad drained critical energy fromthe Republican Party effort.

Ralph Nader is often blamedby Democrats for Al Gore’s nar-row loss to George Bush inFlorida. This assertion discountsthe impact of unchallenged vot-ing irregularities and a failed re-count effort. Not all of Nader’s97,488 Florida votes wouldhave gone to Gore. Neverthe-less, absent Nader, Gore wouldlikely have won Florida and be-come president.

The present third party can-didates are less illustrious thantheir predecessors, Gary John-son, former governor of NewMexico, heads the Libertarianslate. He has a congenial man-ner but during an interview onforeign policy, he shocked votersby asking, “What’s Aleppo?”Running-mate William Weld, atwo-time governor of Massachu-setts, also has a congenial man-ner but even in Massachusetts,he has no broad base of sup-port.

Jill Stein, the presidentialcandidate of the Greens, is aphysician. She presents her left-of-center views like a laundrylist of wishes rather than as anagenda for action. Her runningmate Ajamu Baraka, a human

rights activist, es-pouses civil rightsissues in an unat-tractive, hectoringstyle.

Despite the lackof dynamic leaders,the Greens and Lib-ertarians have abase of hard coresupporters whoview the Americanpolitical system asa plane with twocooperating wings.They believe thoseinterchangeablewings need to bereplaced by genuinely differingparties. The Greens, who havewon some local offices, hope toget 5% of the national vote inorder to qualify for public fundsthey would use to build a na-tional grass roots organization.

The Libertarian blend ofsmall government, laissez-fairecapitalism, and maximal per-sonal liberties has brought themvictories in various statewideand local elections. The Lib-ertarians hope to hit the

15% polling mark which will getthem into the national presiden-tial debates, but like the Greenswould be satisfied to win 5% ofthe national vote. The financialaid that would generate is fed-eral spending Libertarians sup-port.

Most people vote third partyto send a message to their pre-ferred major party. In 1924, Re-publican Senator “Fighting” BobLa Follette tried to dent the con-servative support for Republican

Calvin Coolidge. In1968, George Wal-lace hoped to re-assert the power ofs e g r e g a t i o n i s tthinking. Bothfailed.

Third partycampaigns in 1948had more lastingc o n s e q u e n c e s .Henry Wallace, for-mer vice-presidentunder FDR, wascertain his Progres-sive Party would atleast show Democ-rats they could not

win without hard left-wing sup-port. Democrat Strom Thur-mond was sure his States RightsParty would show the Democ-rats they could not win withoutthe segregationist South. HarryTruman withstood both chal-lenges.

After the failed Wallace bid,the Democrats began to rely less

and less on orga-nized labor and

ideologica l lyd r i v e n

voters. HubertHumphrey’s support ofthe war in Vietnam, fervently

opposed by masses of Ameri-cans, especially young peo-ple, was a major factor inhis loss in 1968. Bill Clintonwould alienate many work-ing class Democrats by

launching NAFTA in 1993.Today, Hillary Clinton has luke-warm labor support and a chillyrelationship with students.

The strong showing of theState’s Rights Party in 1948 ledmany Republicans to concludethey could successfully competein what for decades had beenthe Democratic Solid South.They began to court conserva-tive southern Democrats, ulti-mately building a RepublicanSolid South that has become themajor base for Republican pres-

idential candidates. Large numbers of Democrats

and Republicans are unhappywith their party’s nominee yetdisdain the other party’s candi-date. How many vote third partyto send a message of “we wantour party to change” is criticalto the fate of Trump and Clin-ton. Dissident Democrats, espe-cially students mobilized bySanders, may opt for theGreens. These voters are mostnumerous in states with over-whelming Democratic majori-ties, but they could cost Clintonpotential victories in swingstates such as Colorado, NorthCarolina, and Florida.

Dissident Republicans tilt to-ward the Libertarians whosecandidates won their governor-ships as Republicans. ProminentRepublicans such as Mitt Rom-ney have spoken highly of bothWeld and Johnson. Libertarianstrength in New Hampshire,North Carolina, Colorado, andFlorida could be high enough totip those states against Trump.

The Libertarians have a goodchance of emerging from theelection with 5% of the totalvotes while the Greens are likely

to obtain 2-3%. Just as possi-

ble is that the third party votewill be significantly higher. Ifthat is the case, both major par-ties would be forced to rethinkhow they select their presiden-tial candidate and what perspec-tives are embodied in their partyplatforms.

Prof. Georgakas is Director ofthe Greek American StudiesProject at Queens College –CUNY and Consulting Editor ofCINEASTE magazine.

In this Election Year, Third Parties Really Do Matter

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

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

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

Executive Editor Constantinos E. ScarosAssistant Executive Editor Eleni SakellisReligion Editor Theodore Kalmoukos

Production Manager Chrysoula Karametros

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

Tel: (718)784-5255, Fax: (718)472-0510, e-mail: [email protected]

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

[email protected]

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

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

TO OUR READERS

The National Herald welcomes letters from its readers intended forpublication. They should include the writer’s name, address, andtelephone number and be addressed to: The Editor, The NationalHerald, 37-10 30th Street, Long Island City, Ny 11101. Letters canalso be faxed to (718) 472-0510 or e-mailed to [email protected]. we reserve the right to edit letters for publicationand regret that we are unable to acknowledge or return those leftunpublished.

Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

Who will I vote for? Don’t ask.Here in the US, the country where indif-

ference toward politics usually dominates,we have reached a low which is more rem-iniscent of the Europe of yesterday than theAmerica of today.

We have reached the point at which weeither hide our preference on whom to votefor, or we avoid political discussions withacquaintances and friends altogether so asto not create problems in our relationships.

We have reached the point of treatingour preference for a presidential candidateas a test of character, as proof of intelligenceand patriotism.

This is how intense the feelings are inthis election campaign.

And this was expected to drive an esti-mated 100 million Americans and a greatnumber of foreigners to watch the televiseddebate that are scheduled to be televisedtonight.

The discussion about the elections –when it takes place – usually starts with theobservation that both candidates are un-suitable.

That surely a country like America, withits international standing, should and couldhave two better candidates.

“What can I tell you?” an acquaintancesaid to me yesterday. “Who of the twoshould I vote for? I feel like not voting atall. But can I let my vote go to waste whenthe country is in danger of falling intoHillary’s hands?

Is it not enough that we had her husbandas president, who did whatever he did? NowI should vote for the woman who is lyingall the time?

I am not saying that Trump is so muchbetter but – take notice – if anyone canchange the course of the country, if someonecan do something for the country and itspeople, that someone is Trump, who is nottied hand and foot by powerful interests,

such as Hillary.”A professor at a well known University

recently expressed the opposite:“Only the lower class, the unskilled

workers, will vote for Trump. They are theones who do not understand that the manis a narcissist, that the only thing that in-terests him is himself and no one else.

Look at how many of his workers he leftunpaid. He did not release his tax returnsin order to hide the business he does withRussia. But he also does business withTurkey, from where he orders the furniturefor his hotels.

Notice how easily he lies, notice how of-ten he changes positions. This man, I tellyou, is dangerous.”

Unbridgeable gap.And yet, we will have to vote for one of

the two. With both their good and bad sides.And let’s hope that whichever of the two

we vote for, we will not regret it the verynext day.

by PROF. DANGEORGAKAS

Special to The National Herald

By “X”

Mostly after WWII, all na-tions have come to realize thecrucial importance for all peo-ples, ethnic groups and individ-uals of knowing their descentand origins, as well as the pro-tection and preservation of theircultural and intellectual her-itage.

The United States proudlyencourages all ethnic groupsthat constitute the Americanmosaic to respect and maintaintheir traditions and heritage asthis diversity, which is supportedand protected by the powerfulAmerican state and political in-stitutions, has formed the mira-cle of the American federation.

The European Union, withthe “Europe of Nations” as itsbanner, was based from the be-ginning on the principle of re-spect for the rich cultural her-itage of each of its members. Itrequested that all MemberStates contribute whatever long

history and achievements theyhave made over the centuries tothe Union.

At the individual level ofeach nation, ethnic group, aswell as family, the study of the

traditions and cultural heritageof each, the respect for onesroots has been established notas a source of a barren and ag-gressive nationalism but as amandatory preservation of time-less memory, of the contributionto world heritage and mainly asolid base of self-knowledge. Be-cause individuals, groups, andnations can only make their waythrough the history based onself-awareness.

Respect for roots and tradi-

tions, without unnecessary ar-rogance, is self-evident for na-tions with millennia of historyand great contributions to theworld such as the Greeks.

This is why what is happen-ing today in Greece regardingeducation is not only laying thegroundwork for a nationaltragedy, but also conflicts withinternational practice and globalawareness of the importance ofnational tradition and heritage.

In Greece today, children arecalled upon to regard AncientGreek as a “dead language” andthe faith of their ancestors as an“optional” lesson, for the sake ofan outdated leftist internation-alism and a misguided sense ofpracticality. The responsible of-ficials, who are evidently lackingacademic and intellectual skills,are deciding on the implemen-tation of changes and reformswhich make the Greeks distancethemselves from and forget ex-actly that which everyone elseis trying to integrate into their

historical memory and use as ashield for their future course.The ultimate irony is that, eventhough Greece’s neighbors notonly invoke their historical pastbut also distort it by arrogatingpages of Greek history and cul-ture to themselves, Greece withits unique timeless language andheritage proclaims AncientGreek as a “dead language” andan optional course!

It is no exaggeration to pointout that one day Greece willovercome the economic crisisthat concerns us so much today,but the damage that will havebeen done to education will beirreversible. Because it deprivesthe Greek children of their roots,it makes them forget their iden-tity and destroys the work whichbegan with so many sacrificesfrom the era of Adamantios Ko-rais and Ioannis Kapodistrias.

“X” is a former foreign affairssenior executive who chooses toremain anonymous.

Roots

One day Greece willovercome the crisis, butthe damage that will havebeen done to educationwill be irreversible...

Page 11: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016 11

If you put money in a Greekbank, good luck trying to get itout under capital controls lim-iting withdrawals to 420 euros($471) a week or getting a loan.

If it was put into certainbanks, much of it was handedover to political parties, the rich,privileged, business executivesand scam artists who are laugh-ing all the way to another bank,likely in Switzerland.

Overlooked in the last fewyears by the country’s crushingeconomic and refugee crises hasbeen another: banks who wereteetering and needed fuel injec-tions of money from the coun-try’s international bailouts andthose which handed out billionsin bad loans, often at low inter-est or without collateral, or notexpecting it to be paid back.

The bad loans included 250million euros to the former rul-ing New Democracy Capitalistsand its then-partner, the PASOKAnti-Socialists, a once dominantparty that faded into oblivionafter supporting austerity andreinvented themselves as Demo-cratic Alignment.

They got the money – at thesame time they decided whetherbanks would get the bailoutfunds – using only as partial col-lateral taxpayer money politicalparties get free, without havingto account for how it was spent.And they’re still both broke.

They aren’t paying it back,have no intention of doing soand aren’t being chased at thesame time banks and collectionagencies are hounding peoplewho can’t pay because the gov-ernment buried them with aus-terity measures.

So it’s not surprising thatother people with connectionsor using other nefarious mea-sures were able to get pretty

much what theywanted out of anumber of bankswithout having toworry about thepesky problem ofpaying it back.

They won’t haveto worry about los-ing their homes orproperty either.That’s the fate ofworkers, pensionersand the poor be-trayed by the rulingLooney Left SYRIZAof Prime MinisterAlexis “Heartless”Tsipras who reneged on promisesto block foreclosures and not letbanks sell bad loans to merce-nary collection agencies.

You need a scorecard and apencil to keep track so get ready.

AGRICULTURAL BANK OFGREECE (ATE)

• Minister of State for Com-bating Corruption PanayiotisNikoloudis said the now-defunctstate-backed bank – with boardsappointed by politicians –handed out 5 billion euros ($5.6billion) in bad loans, with thecapital coming from suckerswho made deposits thinking itwas a real bank and not a slushfund with a drive-by window forthe corrupt.

• He said the bank perpe-trated “the biggest scandal sincethe modern Greek state wasfounded,” but it’s already fadedfrom the headlines becausescandals pop up in Greece fasterthan politicians running for afree food reception.

• The results of a preliminaryinvestigation said ATEbank waslittle more than a front to createa free ATM to supporters of gov-ernments, that some 1300 peo-ple got money and have never

been identified norprosecuted.

• Nikoloudistold Kathimerinithat the loans werenot given ran-domly, but to spe-cific people, includ-ing “media owners,select businessmenand agriculturalcooperatives.”

HELLENICPOSTBANK:• The former

chairman of theHellenic Postbankwas accused of is-

suing dubious loans to be-friended business partners underpreferential terms, costing morethan 400 million euros ($448.06million). The charge was madetwo years ago. Nothing has hap-pened, no one’s been prosecutedand no one will go to jail.

• Prosecutors are examiningallegations the bank’s formerChairman Angelos Filippidis,who was caught in Constantino-ple, approved numerous loansto failed companies and tookbribes for it.

• He put up a 2-million-euro($2.24 million) bail – two yearsago - walked away and hasn’tbeen prosecuted. Neither have38 other people implicated inthe scandal although DeutscheWelle reported then that prose-cutors were looking into allega-tions of secret accounts inSwitzerland and Montenegro.

PROTON BANK:• Greek tycoon and former

main shareholder of ProtonBank Lavrentis Lavrentiadis stillhasn’t been prosecuted fouryears after being charged withfraud, embezzlement, moneylaundering, breach of faith,forming a criminal gang but ap-

parently not for being stupidenough to get caught.

• Prosecutors said that hiscompany got some 700 millioneuros ($783.36 million) in loansfrom his bank. Nice deal, try get-ting the same one at your bank.

• Two years ago he was re-leased from 19 months in pre-detention because he still hadn’tbeen put on trial. He also saidhe was sick, apparently of beingin jail, but that’s a claim richscapegoats and politicians whoare jailed use as a Get-Out-of-Jail Card.

• He denied the charges al-though a Bank of Greece auditfound that 40 percent of thebank’s commercial loans wentto - his company.

ATTICA BANK:• An audit of Attica Bank re-

portedly found it gave hugeloans without collateral at lowinterest rates and was used es-sentially to fund money to fa-vored people.

• An inspection was con-ducted jointly by Greek officialsand one of the country’s lenders,the European Central Bank,which found serious financialwrongdoing, Kathimerini re-ported, including that the bankgave out money to dubious in-debted business executives andunqualified applicants

• Some 60 percent of thebanks loans aren’t being repaidand a share increase of 70 mil-lion euros ($78.11 million) wasuncovered.

Why go through the charadeof investigating these people?Just open Corruption Bank,siphon off deposits from honestpeople and fund it. The peoplewho steal from it won’t be sub-ject to capital controls of course.

[email protected]

In 1960, President Eisen-hower cautioned Richard Nixon,his vice president and that year’spresidential nominee represent-ing the incumbent administra-tion, not to debate. Ike said thatdebates favor the challenger be-cause they give him a forum tocriticize the status quo. ButNixon debated, and the chal-lenger, John F. Kennedy, wonthe debate season and the en-suing election.

A great number of people callthe 1960 debates the first tele-vised debates, but few peoplerealize they were the first de-bates between major party pres-idential candidates at all. “Butwhat about the Lincoln-Douglasdebates?” some might wonder.Those debates, between Abra-ham Lincoln and Steven A. Dou-glas, were not for the presidencyat all. They were for the 1858U.S. Senate race from Illinois,which Douglas won. Nevermind that two years later, theRepublican Lincoln squared de-feated the Democrat Douglas inthe presidential election. Thetwo didn’t debate that year, andno presidential contenders de-bated at all until 100 years later,when Kennedy and Nixon didin 1960.

But this year’s de facto in-cumbent, Democrat Hillary Clin-ton, who although neither thesitting president or vice presi-dent, served as secretary of statein the first of the incumbentBarack Obama Administration’stwo terms, did not shirk the de-bate challenge. She stood onthat debate stage against Repub-lican Donald Trump on Septem-ber 26, and it did not matterthat with her 5-foot-4-inchframe she didn’t measure up tothe 6-foot-3-inch Trump, be-cause the networks nevershowed the height disparity.

Quite interestingly, the vari-ous networks didn’t have aproblem showing the significantheight difference between the1988 major party candidates, 5-foot-8 Democratic challengerMichael Dukakis and 6-foot-2incumbent Vice PresidentGeorge H.W. Bush.

This time around, though,the networks simply could notallow such a height differentialto stand. They leveled the play-ing field, whether it was appro-

priate or not.As for the de-

bate itself, neithercandidate struck afatal blow. Trumpwas his usual bom-bastic self, inter-rupting and brow-beating Clinton tothe punch. She, inturn, didn’t takeadvantage of thatby showing right-eous indignation,but instead smiledthrough it all. Thatgave her an edgewith the split-screen feature that most net-works utilized all night long:Trump displayed his usual arrayof sarcastic smirks, while Hillarystood stoically whenever heblasted her, seemingly brushingit all away.

In 1984, the aforementionedfirst President Bush, then vicepresident under Ronald Reagan,debated New York Congress-woman Geraldine Ferraro, thefirst female major party vicepresidential nominee. WhenBush showed the slightest bit ofaggression, she let him have it.But in Clinton’s case, she simplyhadn’t earned that support; sheremained too unlikable to playthe gender card.

The last major knockoutpunch delivered in a presiden-tial debate was in 2000, whenGeorge W. Bush (the younger),exceeded expectations by stand-ing toe-to-toe with formidabledebater and incumbent Vice

President Al Gore.Bush made Gorelook silly when thelatter crowded theformer in theirTown Hall debate,and Bush shamedthe encroachingGore into retreatingback to his own cor-ner.

But in 2004,2008, and 2012, anyadvantages wereminor. Paper cuts,not lethal swordslayings. And in thefirst debate of Sea-

son 2016, the same seems to bethe case.

Trump brought his AlphaMale game to the table, unafraidto mix it up with a woman, lesthe be castigated by the politi-cally correct police. GivenHillary Clinton’s low likabilityratings, career credentials, andbristly personality, however, sheis the least likely female politi-cian to be considered a damselin distress needing rescue froma male bully.

Trump took the attack toClinton, chastising her for nothaving done anything over thelast 30 years about the problemsshe says she wants to correct.She, in turn, kept referring tothe factchecking service on herwebsite, and accusing Trump ofliving in his own world.

Trump called out Clinton onnumerous occasions, and par-ticularly about the Trans-PacificPartnership, pressing her to ad-

dress: “is President Obamawrong?” To which she smiledand cited a “difference of opin-ion.”

Repeatedly, Trump wore thepopulist, anti-establishmentmantel, berating Clinton for be-ing a career politician, and evenblasting her husband, PresidentBill Clinton, for singing theNAFTA trade agreement.

Clinton, in turn, criticizedTrump for tax policies thatwould drive up the deficit, la-beling them “Trumped-uptrickle-down economics.” Shealso attacked him for his vitriolabout certain women who criti-cized him.

Expanding on Eisenhower’s1960 observation about the de-bates, the late, great New YorkTimes columnist William Safireopined a few decades later thatwhen the challenger ties, hewins. By not losing the debate,therefore, Donald Trump helpedhimself.

Hillary Clinton’s mission wasto demonstrate that despite thefact that a majority of Americansthink that the country, headedby a president of her party, andwhom she served as Secretaryof State for four years, is headedin the wrong direction, she willbring positive change. DonaldTrump’s mission, comparativelyeasier, was to show that he’s notcrazy.

With a far lower hurdle toclear, it seems that Trump, bydefault, did better for himself inthis first skirmish.

The next debate is on Octo-ber 9, but the running mates,Tim Kaine (D) and Mike Pence(R), square off on October 4,and don’t let anyone tell youthat debate is not important.

The bottom line is, the firstpresidential debate was not aknockout punch for either can-didate. It helped Trump more,because of the low expectations,but he neither sealed the elec-tion nor wrote himself out of itas a result.

There is a whole lot of de-bating left. Stay tuned!

Constantinos E. Scaros' latestbook, Grumpy Old Party (aboutthe 2016 presidential election),is available for purchase onamazon.com and in bookstoresnationwide.

The First Debate: No Real Bloodbath, Just Paper Cuts

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Greece’s Rich & Connected Use Banks As Private ATMs

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

Islam for manyEuropeans has be-come synonymouswith terrorism. Be-yond this percep-tion, Europe’s his-tory is replete withlong memories ofwar and destructioncommitted in thename of Christian-ity or Islam. Afterthe eighth centuryAD, Muslim con-quests of Spain andNorth Africa, aswell as the incur-sions of Arab cor-sairs into the north coast of theMediterranean, generated con-siderable animus between Mus-lims and Christians.

Seven centuries later the un-thinkable happened: the greatcity of Constantinople fell to theOttomans. The European monar-chies, despite the Great Schismthat divided Christianity intoCatholic and Orthodox parts,were shocked. Saint Sophia, thegrandest structure in the Christ-ian world, became a mosque.

Perhaps, if Saint Sophia hadreverted back into a church, itmight have led at least the be-ginning of reconciliation. How-ever, another factor that inhibitsreconciliation is the Crusades –that is within the context ofmemory, history, and mythology.

The brutality of the First Cru-sade and subsequent onesagainst the Muslims is an ongo-ing theme that divides Christiansand Muslims. This is not the casefor every Christian and Muslim,but for a sufficient number tomake it part of the prejudice andfear that has driven extremistsfor centuries.

Although the Crusades andthe fall of Constantinople are notrelated – the Ottomans had littlecontact with the Arabs in Pales-tine – they are integrated intothe cultural construct of manyChristians and Muslims. Richardthe Lionhearted has been cast asa noble warrior in Christian lore,while in Muslim stories he is de-picted as a butcher.

The European monarchies, forthe most part, gave way to secu-lar governments. Almost concur-rently, European societies tradedthe influence of religion for sci-ence and created secular spaces.

Over the centuries fundamen-tal changes altered the realitiesof the Middle East, Indian sub-continent, and Indonesia – thehomes of most Muslims – whileEurope underwent a major trans-formation.

The Muslim Middle East, forbetter or for worse, has remainedunder the grip of religion. In-deed, some argue that the Mid-dle East is undergoing its ownwars of the Reformation or itshould.

Some Muslim states experi-mented with secularism, but theabsence of secular infrastruc-tures, both intellectual and po-litical, made it very difficult forthese societies to maintain theircohesion without each nations orstate’s version of Islam.

There have been revolutionsin the Muslim world – mostlymilitary coups – yet so far therehas not been a French-style rev-olution to counterbalance the in-fluence of the mosque.

The Europeans and Muslimsdid not remain segregated overthe centuries. There were Mus-lims in the Balkans from the four-teenth century, and Muslimscame to Europe from NorthAfrica. Later, in the twentiethcentury after the Second WorldWar, large numbers went to Ger-many, particularly from Turkeyand from the former Frenchcolonies.

Effectively, Muslims went toEurope primarily as low-paidworkers, and as long as the Eu-ropean economies were growingthere was a need for people todo the jobs that most Europeansdeemed beneath their dignity.

Over time theMuslims formed anunderclass of com-munities that stucktogether and madelittle effort to inte-grate into Europeansocieties. Besidesthe Europeans didnot want them to –at least not as longas the Muslimsbrought their cul-tural and religiousbaggage.

Yet the Muslimsmaintained theircultural and reli-

gious baggage because withoutaccess to mainstream Europeansociety that was their only iden-tity. This segregation cycle con-tinued and remains a factor ofthe current “Muslim problem”that is prevalent especially inFrance, Belgium, Germany, andHolland.

There are nearly five millionMuslims in Germany and almostthe same number in France. Infact, the Muslim population ofthe EU countries now numbersthirteen million. To a great ex-tent, these thirteen million Mus-lims are unwanted collectively bythe Europeans but have been ac-cepted individually.

The Muslim minorities, con-sequently, have evolved as mi-cro-societies and developed a cul-ture that is parallel to that oftheir non-Muslim neighbors.Meanwhile, when Europe’seconomies took a downturn, itenhanced the poverty of the Mus-lims and further alienated theyounger generation in particular.

Thousands of young men andwomen found themselves withminimal education, skills, or afuture. Then came the allure ofa strain of Islam that offered re-demption and revenge. Manyyoung men, as a result, sought acause and personal glory andheaded to Syria and become ji-hadists. Others were entrancedby the siren’s call to martyrdomand inflicted death and destruc-tion in Europe.

The Europeans have refusedto confront the problem of ter-rorism and at the same time can-not find a way to address the seg-regation of their Muslimminorities. EU laws designed fora civil society of a bygone ageare not capable of combating ter-rorism. For example, a wall ofpolitical correctness and civil lib-erties protects Muslim clericswho profess extreme interpreta-tions of Islam and inspire youngpeople to terrorism.

Equally significant, the lead-ers of the Muslim minorities havebeen impotent in purging theirranks of the fanatics. Remarkably,the original home countries ofthe Muslim minorities have re-fused to help their compatriotsin Europe, and they have theymade any effort to stamp out theextremism in their own coun-tries.

Turkey is a case in point. Al-though a large number of theGerman Muslims are fromTurkey, that country’s govern-ment has been criminally respon-sible for facilitating the travel ofjihadist recruits to Syria and Iraq.Ankara only slowed down theprocess when ISIS struck at Turk-ish targets.

Making matters worse, par-ticularly at a time of expandingIslamophobia, the Turkish Gov-ernment is trying to manipulateTurkish-Germans to become ad-vocates of Ankara’s policies.

Tragically, the allure of ISIS isgrowing, while the Europeans re-main unable to address the prob-lem of integrating Muslim mi-norities, which has been furthercompounded by the arrival ofhundreds of thousands of Muslimrefugees and migrants from theSyrian Civil War.

As long as the two solitudescontinue, terrorism and the ji-hadist plague will endure. How-ever, this is no longer a Europeanproblem. The infection of terror-ism and its appeal to alienatedyoung Muslims has come toNorth America. It is no longer aEuropean problem but one thatimpacts across the globe.

André Gerolymatos is Director ofthe Stavros Niarchos FoundationCentre for Hellenic Studies at Si-mon Fraser University in Van-couver.

Europe’s Two Solitudes:Islam and Secularism

by DR. ANDREGEROLYMATOS

Special to The National Herald

The Europeans haverefused to confront theproblem of terrorism andat the same time cannotfind a way to address thesegregation of theirMuslim minorities.

by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democ-ratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at their first presi-dential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, LI, NY.

AP PHOTO/dAvId GOLdmAN

Page 12: The National Herald 101...TNH Staff ASTORIA – Greek Prime Minis- ter Alexis Tsipras visited Saint Demetrios in Astoria where a high school student refused to shake his hand. According

12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, OCTOBER 1-7, 2016