The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11...

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The National Herald A WeeKLY GReeK AMeRicAN PUbLicATiON September 10-16, 2011 www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 14, ISSUE 726 $1.50 c v Bringing the news to generations of Greek Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 Who We Lost on September 11 By Angelike Contis TNH Staff Writer NEW YORK- On that terrible day, we lost over 27 people from our community in the World Trade Center. Whether struck down before the prime of their youth, or in the middle of longer, fruitful lives, it was an blow that affected us in ways and to degrees and depths we cannot fathom. Among them were skilled firemen from the NYFD and other nonprofession- als whose instinct led them to sacrifice their lives to help oth- ers. Seven Cantor Fitzgerald em- ployees were among those lost in the towers on what they thought would be an ordinary day at the office. In the air, too, there were at least three Greek American sto- ries. On one hijacked plane, a man and his pregnant wife were flying to a wedding, while in an- other, a flight attendant flew with his colleague and fiancée, and a two year old was flying with her parents to Disneyland; beautiful little Christine Lee Hanson, whose grandmother was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem- ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000 people immor- talized on the new National Sep- tember 11 Memorial and Mu- seum, which will open its doors to the public on September 12. A decade later, many of these individuals – especially the youngest and brightest- are im- mortalized through foundations, events, memorials and online tributes. Others are remem- bered in another way, as their children grow, prosper – and look more like their lost loved ones daily. Still others have At least 27 Greek Americans Among Those Lost on 9/11 By Andy Dabilis TNH Staff Writer ATHENS – Once the unthink- able – firing public workers who’ve long enjoyed lifetime job protection – is set to happen in Greece after Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the rul- ing Socialist PASOK party will break with its traditional hard core support of labor unions and fire 150,000 of the country’s public workers over the next three years and cut their pay 40%. Under pressure from the so- called Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank to step up the pace of reforms as a condition to keep getting bailout rescue loans, the Administration of Prime Minister George Papan- dreou said it would slash the bloated public sector. After a recent visit, Troika of- ficials said Papandreou has dragged his feet on meeting promises to institute more re- forms, although the government has twice slashed workers pay, raised taxes and cut pension benefits, but has largely left un- touched the tax evaders costing the country about $40 billion a year in lost revenue. Venizelos recently declared the government would release on the Internet the names of businesses who are tax evaders, but has not done so, nor has he allowed the names of individual tax evaders to be released, rais- ing anger amongst workers and Greek Workers Face The Axe By Theodore Kalmoukos BOSTON - Metropolitan Maxi- mos of Pittsburgh, beloved spir- itual leader and distinguished theologian, has resigned from his position. His resignation was submitted to Archbishop Demetrios of America because of health problems that he has been facing in recent months. The National Herald has learned that Archbishop Demetrios visited Metropolitan Maximos on Wednesday, August 3 in Pittsburgh, where he stayed overnight. It was then that Met- ropolitan Maximos submitted his resignation. The Archbishop notified the members of the For subscription: 718.784.5255 [email protected] Metropolitan Maximos Resigns TNH Staff Writers NEW YORK – In the midst of a new round of UN talks aimed at resolving the decades-old Cyprus dispute and threats from Turkey regarding preparations for oil and gas exploration in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias, already weakened politically, was hammered fur- ther this week after his testi- mony Monday before a commit- tee investigating the July 11 explosion at Evangelos Florakis naval base at Mari on the island nation’s southern coast which killed 13 people and also wrecked the island's main power station. The multi-billion-dollar dam- age to the power station that will take at least a year to repair is expected to damage the Cypriot economy, prompting Moody's to downgrade Cypriot government bonds and declare that the outlook for Cyprus is negative. Meanwhile, the UN News Center reported that Christofias and the leader of the Turkish Cypriots Dervis Eroglu “held the first of two meetings this week devoted to property issues, among the thorniest in the on- going United Nations-sponsored talks to reunify the Mediter- ranean,” and the Cyprus News Agency reported that the Presi- dent of the European People`s Party (EPP), Wilfried Martens, “has reacted strongly to state- ments by Turkish officials against EU member Cyprus re- garding the start of oil and gas exploration by Cyprus: ‘I am very surprised by the recent statements of Turkish officials against an EU member state.” During his testimony Christofias absolved himself of personal blame by declaring the explosion was due to a “failure of the system” though he did ac- cept some responsibility as head of government. The Associated Press reported Christofias said “he was never told just how dangerous seized Iranian muni- tions were before they deto- nated and killed 13 people, trig- gering an economic and political crisis.” Public trust declined further in Cyprus and calls for Christofias to resign increased in number and intensity after the testimony, during which the President told the committee “he had complained to his de- fense minister that ‘he felt like Dramatic Explosion Testimony Further Weakens Christofias By Steve Frangos TNH Staff Writer Here is another life sketch of an immigrant couple whose de- scendants now attend St John the Theologian in Tenafly, New Jersey. As before I urged those I spoke with and who shared memories and various written accounts with me to lengthen them and publish them on their own. As before these individu- als are reluctant to do so know- ing that should friends or ex- tended family see this account and their names they could well be criticized for not including other individuals and other tales. The average Greek reader has not been exposed to the re- alities all newspaper writers and editors must face that published accounts can only be so long. In 1891, Theodoros Antonopoulos was born in the village of Vresthena, Kalavryta, Greece. Unlike many of the chil- dren his age, Theodoros was able to complete grammar school and three years of high school. In 1905, Theodoros came to the United States when he was 15 years old and was forced to alter his name to Theodore Anton. As with untal- lied other Greek workers of the 1890 to 1920 era, young An- ton’s fare was paid from monies borrowed by his mother, against the family property in Vres- thena. Ultimately settling in St. Louis, Anton worked for various railroad lines. Within a year An- ton had saved enough money to repay the loan on the Antonopoulos’ property as well as to send the fare for his brother Demitrios (later James) to join him in St. Louis. On September 6, 1917, Theodore Anton, enlisted in the United States army at Dillon, Montana. Anton’s enlistment record indicates he had brown eyes, black hair, a dark complex- ion, and was 5’ 3” in height. In time Anton became a Private, First Class, #2259783, with Company B, 362nd Infantry. At Camp Louis, Washington, on June 1, 1918, Theodore Anton became an American citizen, with the naturalized certifica- tion number of 886693. In little over a month on July 5, 1918, Private First Class An- ton left the United States for France. The young Private fought in the various engage- ments in the Meuse region of the Argonne Forest. During one of these sustained battles Anton was severely wounded by shrap- nel across his right forearm. The wounded man was not found for over 24 hours and subse- quently lost his hand and fore- Two Intrepid Hellenes: Theodoros & Evangeline Antonopoulos Continued on page 7 Continued on page 4 Continued on page 5 Continued on page 3 The images from that terrible day are seared into our brains and souls, but so are the memories, eternally, of those who fell, so in fact they are always with us. The Greek American Commmunity re- members, and stands united. We will rebuild our beloved St. Nicholas church (above). Continued on page 7 NEWS

Transcript of The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11...

Page 1: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

The National HeraldA weekly Greek AmericAn PublicAtiOn

September 10-16, 2011

www.thenationalherald.comVOL. 14, ISSUE 726 $1.50

c v

Bringing the newsto generations ofGreek Americans

O C VΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ

ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915

Who We Lost on September 11

By Angelike ContisTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK- On that terribleday, we lost over 27 people fromour community in the WorldTrade Center. Whether struckdown before the prime of theiryouth, or in the middle oflonger, fruitful lives, it was anblow that affected us in waysand to degrees and depths wecannot fathom. Among themwere skilled firemen from theNYFD and other nonprofession-als whose instinct led them tosacrifice their lives to help oth-ers. Seven Cantor Fitzgerald em-ployees were among those lostin the towers on what theythought would be an ordinaryday at the office.

In the air, too, there were atleast three Greek American sto-ries. On one hijacked plane, aman and his pregnant wife wereflying to a wedding, while in an-other, a flight attendant flewwith his colleague and fiancée,and a two year old was flyingwith her parents to Disneyland;beautiful little Christine LeeHanson, whose grandmotherwas of Greek origin, was theyoungest victim of the Septem-ber 11 attacks.

At least 27 names in total areGreek or Greek American fromthe nearly 3,000 people immor-talized on the new National Sep-tember 11 Memorial and Mu-seum, which will open its doorsto the public on September 12.

A decade later, many of theseindividuals – especially theyoungest and brightest- are im-mortalized through foundations,events, memorials and onlinetributes. Others are remem-bered in another way, as theirchildren grow, prosper – andlook more like their lost lovedones daily. Still others have

At least 27 GreekAmericans AmongThose Lost on 9/11

By Andy DabilisTNH Staff Writer

ATHENS – Once the unthink-able – firing public workerswho’ve long enjoyed lifetime jobprotection – is set to happen inGreece after Finance MinisterEvangelos Venizelos said the rul-ing Socialist PASOK party willbreak with its traditional hardcore support of labor unions andfire 150,000 of the country’spublic workers over the nextthree years and cut their pay40%.

Under pressure from the so-called Troika of the EuropeanUnion-International MonetaryFund-European Central Bank tostep up the pace of reforms as acondition to keep getting bailoutrescue loans, the Administrationof Prime Minister George Papan-dreou said it would slash thebloated public sector.

After a recent visit, Troika of-ficials said Papandreou hasdragged his feet on meetingpromises to institute more re-forms, although the governmenthas twice slashed workers pay,raised taxes and cut pensionbenefits, but has largely left un-touched the tax evaders costingthe country about $40 billion ayear in lost revenue.

Venizelos recently declaredthe government would releaseon the Internet the names ofbusinesses who are tax evaders,but has not done so, nor has heallowed the names of individualtax evaders to be released, rais-ing anger amongst workers and

GreekWorkersFace The Axe

By Theodore Kalmoukos

BOSTON - Metropolitan Maxi-mos of Pittsburgh, beloved spir-itual leader and distinguishedtheologian, has resigned fromhis position. His resignation wassubmitted to ArchbishopDemetrios of America becauseof health problems that he hasbeen facing in recent months.

The National Herald haslearned that ArchbishopDemetrios visited MetropolitanMaximos on Wednesday, August3 in Pittsburgh, where he stayedovernight. It was then that Met-ropolitan Maximos submittedhis resignation. The Archbishopnotified the members of the

For subscription:

[email protected]

MetropolitanMaximosResigns

TNH Staff Writers

NEW YORK – In the midst of anew round of UN talks aimed atresolving the decades-oldCyprus dispute and threats fromTurkey regarding preparationsfor oil and gas exploration in itsexclusive economic zone (EEZ),Cypriot President DimitrisChristofias, already weakenedpolitically, was hammered fur-ther this week after his testi-mony Monday before a commit-tee investigating the July 11

explosion at Evangelos Florakisnaval base at Mari on the islandnation’s southern coast whichkilled 13 people and alsowrecked the island's mainpower station.

The multi-billion-dollar dam-age to the power station thatwill take at least a year to repairis expected to damage theCypriot economy, promptingMoody's to downgrade Cypriotgovernment bonds and declarethat the outlook for Cyprus isnegative.

Meanwhile, the UN NewsCenter reported that Christofiasand the leader of the TurkishCypriots Dervis Eroglu “held thefirst of two meetings this weekdevoted to property issues,among the thorniest in the on-going United Nations-sponsoredtalks to reunify the Mediter-ranean,” and the Cyprus NewsAgency reported that the Presi-dent of the European People`sParty (EPP), Wilfried Martens,“has reacted strongly to state-ments by Turkish officials

against EU member Cyprus re-garding the start of oil and gasexploration by Cyprus: ‘I amvery surprised by the recentstatements of Turkish officialsagainst an EU member state.”

During his testimonyChristofias absolved himself ofpersonal blame by declaring theexplosion was due to a “failureof the system” though he did ac-cept some responsibility as headof government. The AssociatedPress reported Christofias said“he was never told just how

dangerous seized Iranian muni-tions were before they deto-nated and killed 13 people, trig-gering an economic and politicalcrisis.”

Public trust declined furtherin Cyprus and calls forChristofias to resign increasedin number and intensity afterthe testimony, during which thePresident told the committee“he had complained to his de-fense minister that ‘he felt like

Dramatic Explosion Testimony Further Weakens Christofias

By Steve FrangosTNH Staff Writer

Here is another life sketch ofan immigrant couple whose de-scendants now attend St Johnthe Theologian in Tenafly, NewJersey. As before I urged those Ispoke with and who sharedmemories and various writtenaccounts with me to lengthenthem and publish them on theirown. As before these individu-als are reluctant to do so know-ing that should friends or ex-tended family see this account

and their names they could wellbe criticized for not includingother individuals and othertales. The average Greek readerhas not been exposed to the re-alities all newspaper writers andeditors must face that publishedaccounts can only be so long.

In 1891, TheodorosAntonopoulos was born in thevillage of Vresthena, Kalavryta,Greece. Unlike many of the chil-dren his age, Theodoros wasable to complete grammarschool and three years of highschool. In 1905, Theodoros

came to the United States whenhe was 15 years old and wasforced to alter his name toTheodore Anton. As with untal-lied other Greek workers of the1890 to 1920 era, young An-ton’s fare was paid from moniesborrowed by his mother, againstthe family property in Vres-thena. Ultimately settling in St.Louis, Anton worked for variousrailroad lines. Within a year An-ton had saved enough money torepay the loan on theAntonopoulos’ property as wellas to send the fare for his

brother Demitrios (later James)to join him in St. Louis.

On September 6, 1917,Theodore Anton, enlisted in theUnited States army at Dillon,Montana. Anton’s enlistmentrecord indicates he had browneyes, black hair, a dark complex-ion, and was 5’ 3” in height. Intime Anton became a Private,First Class, #2259783, withCompany B, 362nd Infantry. AtCamp Louis, Washington, onJune 1, 1918, Theodore Antonbecame an American citizen,with the naturalized certifica-

tion number of 886693.In little over a month on July

5, 1918, Private First Class An-ton left the United States forFrance. The young Privatefought in the various engage-ments in the Meuse region ofthe Argonne Forest. During oneof these sustained battles Antonwas severely wounded by shrap-nel across his right forearm. Thewounded man was not foundfor over 24 hours and subse-quently lost his hand and fore-

Two Intrepid Hellenes: Theodoros & Evangeline Antonopoulos

Continued on page 7 Continued on page 4

Continued on page 5

Continued on page 3

The images from that terribleday are seared into our brainsand souls, but so are thememories, eternally, of thosewho fell, so in fact they arealways with us. The GreekAmerican Commmunity re-members, and stands united.We will rebuild our belovedSt. Nicholas church (above).

Continued on page 7

NE

WS

Page 2: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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

on an important question in the news. The results will be pub-lished in our printed edition next week along with the questionfor that week.The question this week is: Should the Orthodox Church re-

vive the ancient order of female deacons? (Please note femaledeacons have pastoral and administrative, but not priestly du-ties.) o Yeso Noo MaybeThe results for last week’s question: Would you vote for a

Greek American who was not a member of your political party? 50% voted "Yes"37% voted "No"13% voted "Maybe"

Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com

n SEPTEMBER 9-11BROOKLINE, Mass. - The aromaof grilled souvlaki and bakedmoussaka will once again fill theair when the largest Greek Or-thodox parish in Boston hostsits annual Greek festival. TheAnnunciation Greek OrthodoxCathedral of New England ishaving its three-day Greek Fest2011 on September 9, 10 and11 at the church’s communitycenter at 162 Goddard Avenuein Brookline Massachusetts. Fes-tival hours are Friday 3pm-10pm, Saturday 11 am – 11pmand Sunday 11 am- 9pm. Ad-mission and parking are free.Come enjoy live Greek musicand dancing. The Kymata Or-chestra will provide music onSaturday and Sunday evenings.

n SEPTEMBER 9-18STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – HolyTrinity – St. Nicholas Greek Or-thodox Church presents its an-nual Greek Festival on the twoweekends following Labor Day.All family, friends, and visitorsare welcome to attend and en-joy the delicious Greek food,lively music, fun, and philoxeniaof the Greek community. Friday,September 9 and 16 from 6 p.m.– 12 a.m; Saturday, September10 and 17, from 2 p.m. – 12a.m.; Sunday, September 11 and18 from 2 p.m. – 10 p.m. Thefestival is located at 1641 Rich-mond Avenue. For more infor-mation, call 718-494-0658.

n SEPTEMBER 12MANHATTAN, NY – The Ameri-can Hellenic Institute BusinessNetwork and The New YorkChapter of the American Hel-lenic Institute request the plea-sure of your company at ourMonthly Informal NetworkingReception for members andguests. Monday, September 12from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at AvraRestaurant, 141 East 48th Street(212-759-8550). Cash bar &complimentary hors d'œuvres.Please RSVP to Col. AndoniosNeroulias at [email protected] bySeptember 10.

U.S.-WIDE - Golf 9/12, a simul-taneously played multi-coursegolf tournament aimed at reviv-ing the sense of unity felt onSeptember 12, 2001 will be heldon some 25 courses around thecountry. Submit a $12 charitabledonation and play at your localclub. Mobile phone apps let youcompare your score live withcelebrity players around thecountry or your friends. Fea-tured courses include the LongIsland National Golf Club, theCountry Club of Columbus(Georgia) the CongressionalCountry Club (Maryland). Formore info visit www.golf912.orgor contact Alex Zacharias at561-373-2697.

n SEPTEMBER 13MANHATTAN - AGAPW invitesyou to a Fashion Week Network-ing Party, Celebrating the Cul-ture and Fashion of ClassicalAthens! Please Join Dr. Kather-ine Schwab in a Presentation &Discussion of the Caryatid Hair-styles! The six Caryatids in thesouth porch of the Erechtheionon the Acropolis wear long hairarranged in a variety of braidsand patterns. Is it artistic inven-tion or inspired by real hair-styles? In 2009 Dr. Schwabteamed up with the professionalhair stylist Milexy Torres to seeif these beautiful hairstylescould be replicated. A gorgeousbracelet valued at $3000, de-signed by Greek jewelry de-signer Konstantino and gener-ously donated to AGAPW byKonstantino, Saks Fifth Avenuewill be raffled to benefitAGAPW. Tuesday, September13, at 6:00 p.m. at The WorldBar at the Trump World Tower,845 United Nations Plaza. NoRSVP is required. The event isfree. There will be a cash bar &guests can purchase food off alight dinner menu. For furtherinformation you may contact Dr.Olga Alexakos at 917-405-6833or [email protected]

n SEPTEMBER 18BROOKLYN, N.Y. - A memorialservice to honor the memory ofthe victims the Asia Minor Holo-caust - the Turkish genocidesagainst the Greek and Christianpopulations - and to mark the89th year after the 1922 AsiaMinor disaster. The service will

take place September 18, 2011at Three Hierarchs Church afterthe Divine Liturgy. The event issponsored by the HolocaustMemorial Observance Commit-tee, Chaired by Basilios Theo-dosakis of Brooklyn. The Holo-caust claimed the lives of anestimated 3.5 million Greek Or-thodox Christians & others inAsia Minor and Pontos. Formore information contact Mr.Theodosakis at 1104 East 17thSt, Brooklyn, NY 11230 Tel:718-377-4656.

n SEPTEMBER 21-22CHICAGO, Illinois. - Join hun-dreds of food lovers, culturalconnoisseurs and socialites tosample world class food at thenew National Hellenic Museumat Kouzina , a three day culinarycelebration showcasing Mediter-ranean culinary arts filled withChef Tastings, Food and WineDemonstrations and a premiumfour-course dinner prepared byFood-Network star DavidSchneider. Come join the cele-bration at the National HellenicMuseum, the only major Greek-American museum dedicated totelling the story of Greeks fromancient to modern immigrantstories. Food and wine demon-strations Wednesday throughFriday Sept 21-23 from 9am-5pm. Food and wine tastingsWednesday Sept. 21st, 6-9pm.Premium dinner on ThursdaySept 22nd 6-10pm. Ticket op-tions include $100 for one dayadmission, $200 for three daypass(includes premium dinner)$150 per person for premiumdinner only. Come to NationalHellenic Museum at 333 S. Hal-stead St. Chicago, Illinois. CallTel. (312-655-1234) for infor-mation/tickets.

n SEPTEMBER 22-25Myrtle Beach, S.C—Saint Johnthe Baptist Greek OrthodoxChurch presents its 20th AnnualGreek Festival This 4-day eventwill be held in the fellowshiphall and on the Church groundson the corner of Hwy 17 By-passand 33rd Avenue North, onThursday from 11 AM to 9 PM,Friday and Saturday from 11AM to 10 PM, and on Sundayfrom Noon until 7 PM. Admis-sion is only $1 for adults, andchildren 10 and under werefree. Thousands come out to en-joy mouth-watering Greek foodssuch as Gyros, Roasted Lamb,Greek Salad, Spanakopita andMousaka – as well as a wide as-sortment of Greek pastries andbreads. Soft drinks, beer andGreek wines are also available.

n SEPTEMBER 22NEW YORK – FOS presents itsWelcome Back Party on Thurs-day, September 22 at 7:00 –11:00 p.m. at Thalassa Restau-rant’s Gallery Loft Room (2ndfloor loft space for 200 guests)179 Franklin Street in TriBeCa(Between Greenwich and Hud-son Streets). There will be aCocktail Hour and a brief pre-sentation on the Fall SeriesTopic followed by a dance partywith music by DJ InternationalSounds featuring Greek & Inter-national Dance and Lounge Mu-sic, Savory Appetizers, Cash Bar,No RSVP required. EntranceGratis. FOS—Forum on Ortho-dox Spirituality—is a ministryof the Greek Orthodox Arch-diocesan Cathedral of the HolyTrinity. Conducted by Rev. FrankMarangos, D.Min, Ed.D, FOSwas created in response to theneed voiced by New York-areaprofessional men and womenfor deeper spiritual illuminationand nourishment. FOS aims totransform lives by drawing at-tendees into a fuller understand-ing of Orthodox faith and wor-ship, all in the context ofcontemporary society.

n SEPTEMBER 23NEW YORK, N.Y. - Cyprus Fed-eration of America presents aTestimonial Dinner HonoringHonorable Benjamin L. CardinUnited States Senator of Mary-land with its "Justice for CyprusAward". Honorary ChairpersonHis Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios of America; EventChairman George Tsunis. Friday,September 23, 2011. Cocktails:7:00 p.m. Dinner: 8:00 p.m. Ter-race on the Park, 52-11 111thStreet, Flushing Meadow Park,Queens New York. R.S.V.P. 201-444-8237.

GOINGS ON...

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – Eleni Savvidou isone of those many people in im-migrant communities whodidn’t just come to the UnitedStates to take advantage of theopportunities that were offeredto her. Rather, she arrived withthe intention to give back to thecommunity she would becomea part of. From the beginningthe electrical engineer fromGreece with a master’s degreein lighting became a volunteerand ultimately a leader in anumber of organizations, butmost of all she enriches the Cityof New York by participating inlife’s activities to the fullest. TNH: How does architectural

lighting design contribute to thequality of our lives?ES: I support architectural

spaces to enhance their charac-ter by highlighting what ismeant to be seen, creatingdepth, contrast and adding a 4thdimension to the space. I createlighting environments that af-fect the mood and offer comfort,making spaces that are inspiringto be in. I also do energy effi-cient lighting design, cost effec-tive, with a low impact in theenvironment (green lighting,but not green light!) Lighting ismy passion especially the artisticand creative aspects of thework.TNH: How do you help the

people you work with?ES: I have done projects to

help businesses grow by devel-oping attractive and pleasantenvironments. I have alsohelped friends give their per-sonal space a lighting characterthat offers comfort, interest andfriendliness. The people I workfor can count on my commit-ment and sense of responsibility.I am driven to listen to and un-derstand their needs and thento create environments that willinspire and make them happy. Ialso do a lot of volunteering ona professional and personallevel, by suggesting solutions,proposing lighting ideas and al-tering lighting spaces.TNH: Has your life path been

influenced by your Ancient andModern Greek and Orthodoxheritage? ES: Yes, it couldn’t be differ-

ent! Being Greek is somethingthat defines me! I live withDrama: Life must be lived to thefullest, nothing is ever enough.I am stubborn, but in a nice way- I will not give up an idea untilI make it come true! It soundspretty exhausting, right? Mycourage and persistence is some-thing I owe to my Greek heritageand the development of a greatcivilization, with its artistic andscientific achievements is thesource of confidence and pridethat I live with every day. Everytime I meet someone I first re-ceive a compliment for my ac-cent, but then they express ad-

miration for Greek culture andhistory and for the beauty of ourcountry! I was also raised tohave faith and have an appreci-ation for God, and to alwayslook to do good for my sur-roundings, for society and hu-manity. It is embedded in our re-ligion and I feel great that thereis no escaping from it!TNH: What has been your

greatest achievement so far?ES: In my professional life I

have done projects, internation-ally and in the States, that wereaward-winning, such as theVivocity Mall in Singapore, AliceTully Hall at Lincoln Center forthe Performing Arts in NewYork, The Virginia Museum ofFine Arts in Richmond, The Mu-

seum of Moving Image in Asto-ria and the Archdiocesan Cathe-dral of the Holy Trinity inManhattan. My greatest tri-umph is that is that I came fromGreece to follow my dream ofcoming to America, and I madeit. And if Sinatra’s song is true“if you can make it there youcan make it anywhere,” then Iam extremely Thankful to God! TNH:What’s the greatest les-

son you've ever learned?ES: “Things are not as they

appear to be.” I learned that lifewill take you to places you neverimagined and this is just life’sway of giving us a gift! No mat-ter what happens or how bad itseems today, life goes on and itwill be better tomorrow. And inthe end “Everything is going tobe OK.” You will become lighter

and brighter, braver andstronger for having movedthrough it all. Sometimes youjust need to push the rock evenif it doesn’t move, and to justput out your best self always.You should listen to your heart,ask for what you want, have per-sistence, put in the effort, andtrust in God for good results.TNH: Do you have role mod-

els?ES: Yes I do, Gandhi is one

of them. He did great things forhis people, showing them howto live in peace, justice and love.I learned from him that we areall responsible and capable ofinfluencing social change, andmoving towards a world ofpeace and harmony.

Mother Teresa also inspiredme with her sacrifice, love,warm heart and compassion,and for her belief in the powerof God’s grace. She began as justone person and affected lives ofcountless others. She becamethe bright spirit of goodness,compassion, selflessness andfaith and the light of love forthe millions she comforted. Imust also mention a very im-portant person who inspired mewith his humility, kindness andcommitment to God: My spiri-tual father James Moskovites.He passed away a year and ahalf ago, but his spirit is stillalive within me. His service wasfocused on people’s relation-ships, peace, love, trust and for-giveness, both within theChurch and throughout ourcommunities. And last but notleast are my parents. My fatheris a self made man. He had astrong work ethic and respectfor others. He supported hisfamily and taught me to followmy dreams without fear. Mymother taught me my sense ofresponsibility in the family andin society, to always do my best

and to be generous.TNH: What’s your ultimate

goal in life?ES: To have an international

lighting design firm and a beau-tiful family. I would like to havethe opportunity to enjoy lifewith my family and to be closeto my parents and my sister’sfamily as much as possible. Iwant to be an example in life, ifonly just a drop compared withall the above role models, andto show how one person'sdream of making a difference inthe world can change the world.The world needs each of us totransform our relationshipsfrom places of anger, regret,pain, jealousy and despair intoa realm of love, compassion,generosity, hope, joy and peace,so that we can live in a betterone. TNH: What are your most

enjoyable pastimes?ES: My most enjoyable pas-

time has been dancing. I havebeen a ballet dancer, and thenan argentine tango dancer. Mu-sic has fulfilled my life for years.I played the piano for 12 years,the saxophone, and studied mu-sical composition. I love water;it represents peace and tranquil-ity for me so I love sailing andscuba diving. My biggest passionthough is traveling. I love seeingdifferent countries, learningabout other cultures and meet-ing local people. One of my besttrips was when in Morocco I hadthe opportunity to make localfriends and they invited me totheir house for dinner! It wasthe most friendly, warm andhospitable feeling I ever experi-enced. TNH: Share with us some

words of wisdom.ES: Our life is what we make

of it. We always have the choiceof taking everything that hap-pens in our lives as an opportu-nity and benefitting from it, tak-ing things as challenges to meet,promises to fulfill. We can seelife as a game to play, an adven-ture, as a mission to accomplishand as a chance to discover our-selves through others, and toshow our best selves! I have re-alized that all opportunities areout there for us and we canreach them. It’s important ToKnow what we want, To Findthings that matter for us, to Relyin the power of our mind, ToBelieve in ourselves, To TrustGod, To Have Love, Compassionand Understanding. Think Big!Be the change you want to seein the world! Always Followyour Dreams!

[email protected]

In the Spotlight: Eleni Savvidou, Spotlighter

Eleni Savvidou came to the US with the intention to give backto her new country. Professionally, she lights up our lives.

If you'd like to nominate a no-table member of the GreekAmerican community for “Inthe Spotlight”, please [email protected] with your suggestions.

“My greatest triumph isthat is that I came fromGreece to follow mydream of coming toAmerica, and I made it.”

Back to School All Across America:Greek Programs Begin With Rise in Enrollment in NY

ABOVE: The bell rings as a new school year begins in Flushing.BELOW LEFT: Ms. Kiki Cheras and her students, includingNikoleta Ziosis, Elaine Frousios and Staphanie Szpylka, beginthe school year with smiles at the William Spyropoulos Schoolof the Church of St. Nicholas in Flushing. BELOW RIGHT: EvanKantlis, Olga Calderera and Sofia Tsatsaronis have already got-

ten down to the serious business of drawing in their Pre-Kclass at the school of the Church of the Holy Cross in White-stone. The schools of the community of St. Demetrios and St.Catherine and St. George also opened this week, includingtheir renowned high school. Enrollment is reportedly up at anumber of Community schools across the USA.

PHOtOS: tnH/cOStAS beJ

Page 3: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

Holy Eparchial Synod of theArchdiocese of America, and heforwarded the letter of resigna-tion to Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew.

TNH contacted the Metrop-olis' offices, but was told thatMetropolitan Maximos was in ameeting with the Chancellor,Deacon Ryan. Calls were alsoplaced to the Archdiocese ofAmerica, but staff members saidthat both Archbishop Demetriosand the Chancellor, Bishop An-donios of Phasiane, were absent.

Metropolitan Nicholas of De-troit has been named LocumTenens of the Metropolis ofPittsburgh until a new Metro-politan is elected for the See.Per the provisions and directivesof the Charter and Regulationsof the Greek Orthodox Archdio-cese of America, the Chief Sec-retariat, on behalf of the HolyEparchial Synod, will com-mence the procedure leading tothe election of a new Metropol-itan of Pittsburgh.

Archbishop Demetrios is ex-pected to support the candidacyof his spiritual son Bishop Savasof Troas, his former Chancellorwho now is the Director of theDepartment Church and Societyof the Archdiocese. Although hisprevious attempts to haveBishop Savas elected to a Me-tropolis were rebuffed by themembers of the EparchialSynod, the Archbishop may feelrenewed optimism, as both Met-ropolitans Methodios of Bostonand Evangelos of New Jersey,who in the past opposed BishopSava’s promotion to a Metropol-itan, may now feel beholden toHis Eminence since they bothare facing problems in their me-tropolises and need the supportof the Archbishop.

Metropolitan Methodios’tenure has been tarnished bythe turmoil over the annual as-sessment of the parish of St.George of Lynn, Mass. Not justthe Archbishop but the entire

Archdiocesan Council becameembroiled in a conflict that hasproven to be an embarrassment;they ultimately threw their sup-port behind the Metropolitan.

TNH has learned that the Ec-umenical Patriarchate favors theselection of Metropolitan Nikitasof the Dardanelles (currentlythe director of the PatriarchAthenagoras Theological Insti-tute in Berkeley, Calif.) to fillthis position. In the event thatthis wish is not supported by theEparchial Synod of the Archdio-cese, Metropolitan Nikitas maylikely be named the next Abbotof the St. Irene ChrysovalantouMonastery in Astoria.

His Eminence MetropolitanMaximos (Aghiorgoussis) waselected in March 1979, and en-throned on April 27, 1979 asthe first bishop of the then-Dio-cese of Pittsburgh. His elevationto the ecclesiastical rank of Met-ropolitan of Ainou by the Holyand Sacred Synod of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate of Constan-tinople was announced on No-vember 24, 1997, by His AllHoliness Patriarch Bartholomew"to reward his lengthy and ded-icated service, without takinghim away from the pastorshipof the Holy Diocese of Pitts-burgh."

As the Metropolitan of theGreek Orthodox Metropolis ofPittsburgh, His Eminence shep-herds fifty-two parishes, 29 inthe state of Pennsylvania, 17 inOhio and 6 in West Virginia.

His Eminence was born onthe island of Chios on March 5,1935 to Father and PresvyteraEvangelos Aghiorgoussis. Hestudied at the Patriarchal Theo-logical School of Halki where hereceived his degree in OrthodoxTheology in 1957.

He was ordained a deacon inHalki on April 28, 1957, and or-dained a priest on his native is-land on July 26, 1959. He pur-sued graduate studies at theUniversity of Louvain, Belgium,where he received a Doctoratein Theology and Baccalaureate

in Philosophy in 1964.In 1966 he arrived in the

United States and was ap-pointed Professor of SystematicTheology at the Holy CrossSchool of Theology in BrooklineMassachusetts where he re-mained until May 1979. Duringhis tenure at the school, he alsoserved as Vice President of Hel-lenic College and AcademicDean of the Holy Cross Schoolof Theology, as well as Chair-man of the Faculty Senate.From September 1979 to June1985, His Eminence served asProfessor of Systematic Theol-ogy at Christ the Saviour Theo-logical Seminary in Johnstown,Pennsylvania.

He is now visiting professor

of Theology at that institution.As of September 1991, the Met-ropolitan is also a trustee of St.Vladimir's Theological Seminaryin Crestwood, New York.

On April 11, 1978, the HolySynod of the Ecumenical Patri-archate elected him Bishop ofDiokleia. Archbishop Iakovosconsecrated him to the episco-pacy on Pentecost Sunday, June18, 1978, at the ArchdiocesanCathedral of the Holy Trinity in

New York City.Metropolitan Maximos has

participated in various NCCCmissions, including the fact-finding mission of a Blue RibbonNCCC Panel to the Middle-East(February-March, 1980), a cour-tesy visit of an NCCC special del-egation to the People's Republicof China (November 1981), asimilar visit of an NCCC delega-tion to the USSR (October1984), a World Council ofChurches (WCC) mission toLebanon at the time of the Is-raeli invasion (July 1982), anda peace conference in KarlovyVary, Czechoslovakia (December1984).

The Metropolitan also joinedthe Patriarchal delegation to theSixth General Assembly of theWorld Council of Churches inVancouver, Canada (July-Au-gust, 1983), and served on itsnominating committee.

In June 1988, MetropolitanMaximos returned to the USSRand Czechoslovakia for the cel-ebration of the Christian Millen-nium in the land of Kievan Rus.In April-May, 1992, the Metro-politan took part in a WCC fact-finding mission to Belarus andUkraine.

The purpose of the missionwas to study the problem of Uni-atism and to report his findingsto the appropriate WCC Com-mittee. In October 1992, Met-ropolitan Maximos representedthe Ecumenical Patriarchate atthe IV Conference of the RomanCatholic Latin American Bishops(CELAM) in Santo Domingo, theDominican Republic.

Metropolitan Maximos hasbeen a very active participant ofthe Christian Associates ofSouthwest Pennsylvania, serv-ing as a member of the Council,

the Executive Committee, andthe Theological Advisory Com-mittee.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh hasbecome a member (judicatory)of the Pennsylvania, Ohio andWest Virginia Councils ofChurches, as well as of theChristian Associates of South-west Pennsylvania. His Emi-nence took part in the 12th Na-tional Conference of Christiansand Jews in Chicago (November1990), and served as a memberof the organizing committee ofthe 13th National Conference ofChristians and Jews, which washeld in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniain November 1992.

Upon the repose of BishopKallistos of Zelon (+1991), Met-ropolitan Maximos accepted theresponsibility of spiritual fatherand advisor of the OrthodoxPeople Together (OPT) organi-zation. He also served as advi-sor to the organizing committeeof the Pan-Orthodox Conferenceon Mission and Evangelism.

The Metropolitan has putspecial emphasis on Youth Min-istry, Religious Education,Monasticism and Spiritual Lifeand Renewal.

The Diocese sponsored thefirst Orthodox Christian Missionto Indonesia. The St. GregoryPalamas Monastery, a men'smonastery, was founded in1981. Two monasteries forwomen were also established:The Holy Nativity of theTheotokos Convent, with the St.Elias Retreat Center, in 1989;and The Holy Protection of theTheotokos Convent in 1994.

Metropolitan Maximos is flu-ent in French and Italian, in ad-dition to Greek and English, andhas authored publications ineach language.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011 3

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By Theodore KalmoukosTNH Staff Writer

BOSTON- The Orthodox Patri-archate of Moscow issued a“warning” to Ecumenical Patri-arch Bartholomew and of thePrimates of the ancient Ortho-dox Patriarchates who met as aSynaxis in Constantinople Sep-tember 1-3 and which includedthe Archbishop of Cyprus. Thehierarchs addressed issues fac-ing Orthodox Christians in theMiddle East, as well as thepreparations of the long-awaitedGreat and Holy Council of theOrthodox Church.

The fact that Ecumenical Pa-triarch Bartholomew did notalso invite the Patriarchs andPrimates of the other Patriar-chates and AutocephalousChurches of the Orthodox Worldbothered the Russian Patriar-chate as well as the Patriarchateof Romania and others. The Pa-triarchate of Moscow sent itshead of the External Affairs Met-ropolitan Hilarion of Voloko-lamsk to alert Patriarchs Ignatiosof Antioch, Theofilos ofJerusalem, Daniel of Romania,and even the Ecumenical Patri-arch that it was wrong that onlythe four ancient Patriarchatesand the Church of Cyprus wereinvited to the Synaxis and therest of Orthodoxy was excluded.

In an exclusive interviewwith The National Herald Met-ropolitan Hilarion warned Patri-arch Bartholomew and the fourother Prelates “not to take anydecisions that will threaten theunity of Orthodoxy.” The Ortho-dox Church of Russia numbers150 million faithful in and outof Russia. Within the State ofRussia there are 100 millioncommunicants, 222 hierarchs,150 Metropolises, 30,000parishes, 30,000 priests and 800

Monasteries.In the Synaxis at the Phanar

Patriarchs Theodoros of Alexan-dria, Theofilos of Jerusalem, andArchbishop Chrysostomos ofCyprus participated in personwhile Patriarch Ignatios of Anti-och was represented by BishopIsaac of Apameia. Patriarch Ig-natios of Antioch canceled hisparticipation in person at thelast minute after he received avisit from Metropolitan Hilarion.

The interview with Metropol-itan Hilarion follows:

TNH: What are the thoughtsand the positions of the Patriar-chate of Moscow concerning theSynaxis?

Hilarion: I was told by HisAll Holiness the Ecumenical Pa-triarch that this was to be aSynaxis dedicated to assess theMiddle East where the situationfor Christians is becoming in-creasingly difficult.

TNH: It was also announcedthat they will be discussingpreparations of the future Greatand Sacred Council of Ortho-

doxy. Do you have any com-ment?

Hilarion: Any formal deci-sions concerning the upcomingGreat and Holy Council will betaken by all Orthodox Churches,not by a particular group ofChurches.

TNH: Is the Patriarchate ofMoscow disturbed because Ecu-menical Patriarch Bartholomewinvited only the Primates of theancient Patriarchates and not allof the Patriarchates?

Hilarion: We regard this as alocal meeting. There were othermeetings recently. For example,the Patriarch of Jerusalem in-vited the Patriarch of Antiochand Archbishop of Cyprus andthe representative of the Patri-archate of Alexandria, they metin Jordan and they discussedvarious issues.

TNH: But what about the is-sues of Ecclesiology and Canon-icity? How do the other Patri-archs you have spoken to feelabout it?

Hilarion: As I said, any formof decision which relates to theOrthodox Church in general canonly be taken by the all the Or-thodox churches together. Anykind of informal discussion,however, is possible among twoor three or more churches.

TNH: Let us be clear: Assum-ing that this Synaxis arrives atcertain conclusions about eccle-siology - the canonicity of Dias-pora churches, the Diptychs, etc.- will the Patriarchate of Moscowrecognize those discussions ornot?

Hilarion: There is no mecha-nism for the recognition of thedecisions of a particular groupof churches by some otherchurch, so, I believe that if theycome to certain decisions theywill bring them in front of allthe other churches and if they

are adopted by all the churchesthen it will become a reality forthe Orthodox Church.

TNH: What did you tell thePatriarchs of Antioch and Roma-nia?

ILARION: I do not think thatI should disclose the content ofmy bilateral conversations withthe Patriarch of Antioch or withthe Patriarch of Jerusalem. Cer-tainly we discussed first andforemost the bilateral relationsbetween the Russian OrthodoxChurch and their churches. Alsomatters of inter-Orthodox con-cern were discussed and weshared our opinions about them.

TNH: Do you think that thenew Patriarchates of Moscow,Romania, Bulgaria and otherswill organize an anti-Synaxis?

Hilarion: I believe that firstof all we should wait for the de-cisions. After that we will seewhat type of strategy we willadopt. But I would like to re-spect what I was told by the Ec-umenical Patriarch that theywould discuss the situation ofthe Middle East, which I expectwas the main topic of discus-sion.

TNH: Why do you think Pa-triarch Ignatios of Antioch didnot go in person to the Synaxis?

Hilarion: That I do not know.TNH: What is your best wish

for the Synaxis?Hilarion: We are coming

closer to the Great and HllyCouncil of the Orthodox Churchand I very much hope that allthe churches will do what unitesus rather than what may poten-tially divide us.

TNH: How are the relationsbetween the Patriarchate ofMoscow and the Ecumenical Pa-triarchate?

Hilarion: I think the relationsare very good both on the per-sonal level between the two Pa-

triarchs and also on the officiallevel.

TNH: What is the position ofthe Patriarchate of Moscow onthe issue of the Orthodox Dias-pora?

Hilarion: In the Russian Or-thodox Church we believe thatin the Diaspora it is possible toestablish Canonical OrthodoxChurches if there is agreementin the Orthodox populations ofthe particular countries. On thisbasis we granted autocephaly tothe Orthodox Church in Americain 1970. But now the Orthodoxchurches are coming closer to-gether and we are commonlydecided that the granting of au-tocephaly should be a matter ofPanorthodox concern and thatTomes of Autocephaly should besigned by all the Primates of Allthe Orthodox Churches. In factwe agreed on a different modelfrom that which existed before.We also agreed to establish Epis-copal Assemblies in the Diasporato facilitate cooperation amongthe different jurisdictions.

TNH: With this new decisionare you saying that the Ecumeni-cal Patriarchate no longer hasthe historical and canonical priv-ilege of being the only one togrant Autocephaly?

Hilarion: This seems to bethe consensus of all the repre-sentatives of all the Orthodoxchurches, that autocephalyshould be granted with theagreement of all the OrthodoxChurches. It can be proclaimedby the Ecumenical Patriarch, butthe Tome will be signed by allthe Primates.

TNH: A final word about theSynaxis?

Hilarion: Let us see what theresults will be and I very muchhope that there will be nothingthat may create disunity be-tween the Churches.

Moscow Speaks to TNH About its Warning to the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the MoscowPatriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, ar-rived in Istanbul on August 20th, where he met with His Holi-ness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh Resigns, Beloved of Clergy and Laity

www.GreekKitchennyc.com

Continued from page 1

Reading is to the mind whatexercise is to the body. It iswholesome and bracing for themind to have its faculties kepton the stretch.Sir Richard Steele 1672-1729, British

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Born on the island of Chios in 1935, Metropolitan Maximoswas well known and respected in and out of the Community.

Page 4: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011

eluded media attention, withfamily and friends quietlymourning them every day.

Here are profiles of the 27people connected to our com-munity who perished in the at-tacks ten years ago.

Joanne Marie Ahladiotis, 27–Voted “best smile” at her NewYork high school, she was oneof the 658 employees of CantorFitzgerald that perished that day.In the company, she was a seniorproject manager, who was work-ing on the product eSpeed, Inc.She loved travel (including vis-iting her grandmother in Crete),dressing up and hosting parties.The week before she died, as theNew York Times reported, shetook her parents on a businesstrip to Las Vegas. Her mother,Helen Ahladiotis, passed awaythe following year. She was sur-vived by family including her fa-ther Milton and her sister EffieSalloum.

Ernest Alikakos, 43 – Hewas an employee of the NewYork State Department of Taxa-tion and Finance.

Arlene T. Babakitis, 47 -Raised in the Lower East Side,this Secauscus, N.J. resident wasan E-ZPass coordinator at theWorld Trade Center. Her familyremembers Arlene, who waspreviously married to a Greekman, for her passion for family,her faith and love of celebra-tions. She was survived by herson Vincent. Her youngest sonKevin, a college student, passedaway sadly in March 2011.

Katherine Bantis, 48 – Oneof three victims born in Greece,Bantis hailed from the village ofMikrokastro, whose school shehelped finance. She was an em-ployee of Marsh & MacLennan,which lost 295 people that day.Her cousin, who shares the samename, writes in one of the onlinetributes: “Imagine, we were 2Kathy Bantis's! Now God has oneliving in Heaven and one livinghere. Kathy with the generousheart and beautiful smile how Imiss you.”

Peter Brennan, 30 – Thisyoung but experienced fire-fighter, who was an FDNY em-ployee based in Ronkonkoma,died in the effort to rescue peo-ple from the collapsing WTC. Atthe time of his death, his wifewas expecting their second child.He grew up involved in activitiessuch as GOYA at St John's GreekOrthodox Church in Blue Point.His passion for firefighting beganas a high school student. Hejoined Squad 288 in Queens andin 1999 rescued three fellow fire-fighters. A few months before9/11, he was made a secondlieutenant and the First Respon-der Newspaper awarded him the2001 Long Island Gold Fire-fighter of the Year Award. Hewas filling in for a colleague onvacation when he perished.

Thomas A. Damaskinos, 33– This Cantor Fitzgerald em-ployee lived in Matawan, NewJersey, and was a vice presidentfor operations. He was a devoutYankees, Broncos and Simpsonsfan. A letter in the Staten IslandAdvance by his family (includingdaughter Jessica) says of his son,“Mathew looks more and morelike you every day. His smile isyour smile.”

Anthony (Andoni) Demas,61 – He was a managing directorof Aon Corporation, who livedin New York City and Madison,CT. A New York Times report af-ter the attacks reported that hewas one of the heroes helpingothers out. ‘His secretary toldMrs. Demas that he raced

through the 105th floor office inthe south tower on Sept. 11, en-couraging everybody to get out.‘He would never leave anyonebehind,’ Mrs. Demas said.’ Therisk management expert wasknown for his love of thingsGreek, of food and his 1960Mercedes convertible. He wassurvived by his wife Violetta andtwin sons, Nicholas and Andrew,who are today 18 years old.

Constantine (Gus)Economos, 41 – Perhaps 1,000people attended the memorialservice for this Brooklyn nativein October 2001 at the HolyCross Greek Orthodox Church.He was a partner at SandlerO'Neill & Partners and knownfor his zeal for life. He alsocoached football at the XavierHigh School in Manhattan andwas a member of his church’sparish council. He was survivedby his wife Audrey and childrenConstantine and Katherine.

Peter Burton Hanson, 32 –The father of the youngest 9/11victim, Christine Lee, was bornin Bridgeport, Connecticut. (Pe-ter’s mother, Eunice, was ofGreek origin.) Together with hiswife, Sue Kim Hanson, and their2-year-old daughter, all of Gro-ton, Mass., were traveling onUnited Airlines Flight 175 whenit crashed into the World TradeCenter. Peter, a Northeasterngraduate (not to mention a ma-jor fan of the Grateful Deadband), was vice president forsales at scheduling softwarecompany TimeTrade. As thefamily’s site www.petehanso-nandfamily.com says “after herdeath, Sue Kim Hanson, 35, wasawarded the post-doctoral de-gree in pathology and immunol-ogy she was working toward atBoston University; BU has estab-lished an annual lecture to beheld on Sept. 11 in her honor.”

Peter’s father, C. Lee Hanson saidof the family in a 2003 Bostonaddress: “My wife’s parents wereGreek immigrants, mine camefrom generations of New Hamp-shire people and Sue’s parentswere Korean immigrants. An allAmerican family.”

Vasilios G. Haramis, 56 –Born in Greece, Haramis was amechanical engineer for Wash-ington Group International wholived in Staten Island. He stud-ied at New York University andColumbia University. As the NewYork Times reported, in the 1993WTC bombing, he and his col-leagues waited until a helicopterrescued a pregnant woman be-fore descending 90 flights.

John Katsimatides, 31 – Ashis sister, actress/activist An-thoula Katsimatides notes, Johnlived life in Technicolor and was“the absolute life of the party.”She adds: “Everything about himwas alive and spirited and excit-ing.” The bond broker with rootsin Nissiros was raised in Astoriaand the St. Demetrios Churchcommunity. He worked hard,but was known for lighting upthe room with his sense of hu-mor and daring. Before being abroker, he worked in construc-tion – and liked nothing morethan visiting as many family andfriends on holidays as he couldsqueeze into his schedule. Hislegacy lives on a decade later inthe family’s JaM for Life, theJohnny and Mikey KatsimatidesFoundation for Life (www.jam-foundation.org ), which raisesmoney for a host of charities.

Danielle Kousoulis, 29 – Abond broker and vice presidentat Cantor Fitzgerald, Daniellegrew up in Haddon Township,New Jersey and was graduatedfrom Villanova with top marks.At work, she enjoyed mentoring

new brokers. At home, she de-voted her time to family andfriends – and loved running. Herlast communication from the104th floor was cut off so friendscould use her cell phone to reachtheir loved ones. She is survivedby two sisters, a brother, her par-ents, a brother-in-law, a nieceand a nephew. Her family’sDanielle Kousoulis ScholorshipFund (www.daniellekousoulis-fund.org) awards scholarships toHaddon Township High Schooland St. Thomas Greek OrthodoxChurch in Cherry Hill, NJ se-niors. In the future the fundaims to back the education ofchildren of other September11th victims. This past spring,the family sponsored a commu-nity center in her name at St.Thomas. Her colleagues formedthe foundation Danielle’s Spirit(http://daniellesspirit.org),which raises money each yearfor student scholarships.

George Merkouris, 35 – Anemployee of Carr Futures, acompany on the 92nd floor ofthe north tower which lost 69people, Merkouris is remem-bered by friends for his livelypersonality, his sense of humorand many talents (includingGreek dancing). In 2002, his sonJack wrote in an online tribute:“I thank God that I had you as afather for the 11 greatest yearsof my life.” Today the GardinersAvenue Elementary School inthe town where he lived, Levit-town, has named the GeorgeMerkouris Memorial Field afterhim.

James N. Pappageorge, 29– A member of the First Respon-ders, EMT expert Pappageorgewent to the scene of the WorldTrade Center attacks as a mem-ber of New York City Fire De-partment, Engine 23. With lotsof experience in New York hos-

pitals and with Queens LadderCompany #129, he had justcompleted his final fire depart-ment training. James grew up inJackson Heights, NY. He wassurvived by fiancée Gina Pinos,sister Helen Pappageorge andhis mother Olga Pappageorge.

George Paris, 33 –CantorFitzgerald employee GeorgeParis lived in Carmel, New York.He was survived by his wife,Christina, and their daughterConstantina, who was only threemonths old in September 2001.Paris grew up in Brooklyn andQueens and loved playing base-ball and football. He had musicaltalent too; before studying busi-ness, he played the drums withbands in venues throughoutManhattan.

Theodoros Pigis 60 –Greece-born, Brooklyn-basedPigis was employed by One-Source. He was at work paintingin the twin towers when thetragedy struck. He was survivedby his wife and two sons.

Daphne Pouletsos, 47 –Westwood, N.J. was home forthis Aon Corporation employee.She was known, as the familytold the New York Times, for herparty decorations and sociability– creatively decking out herhouse for big parties, whetherMother’s Day, Christmas or Hal-loween. Survived by her parentsJim and Irene Pouletsos and sis-ters Corinne Krachtus and ElaineMiller, she hailed from the Con-rad’s Confectionery family inWestwood, New Jersey.

Stephen Emanual Poulos,45 – Music and computers –both were careers of anotherAon Corporation employee ofGreek descent. Poulos per-formed as a baritone for twodecades – with a passion foropera. He grew up in Montvale,N.J. and was based in BaskingRidge. He was survived by hiswife Lisa Brown Poulos, sistersLaurette Simmons and Carol Op-pelaar, and mother Mary Poulosof Maryland.

Anthony Savas, 72 – In avideo report, his son John re-ports how his father, a Port Au-thority construction inspector onthe job miraculously got out ofan elevator on the 70th floor,only to spend his remaining timehelping others exit. Savas, whohailed from Astoria, had servedin Korea. He was survived bywife Phaedra and three children.

Muriel Fay Siskopoulos, 60– The Keefe, Bruyette & Woods,Inc. employee loved to knit forher son, three daughters andtwo grandsons, the New YorkTimes reported. She was sur-vived by husband Mark. Herpleasures included frequent tripsto Disney World. Her twindaughters were born on Septem-ber 11, 1972.

Andrew Stergiopoulos, 23-This young Cantor Fitzgeraldemployee and athlete was bornin Great Neck and lived in NewYork. The overachiever’s nameon the memorial is placed nextto colleague William P. Tselepis,Jr. (see below). His legacy livesin The Andrew StergiopoulosFoundation, which offers acad-emic and athletic scholarships“to students who exhibit thequalities that Andrew embodied– leadership, achievement,sportsmanship, diligence, empa-thy and vision.” Www.sterg.comis the site. The George Washing-ton University alum excelled inice hockey, football and lacrosse.Though only 23, he worked on20 patents and was named asan inventor on eight of them. Hegrew up in the St. Paul’s GreekOrthodox Church parish ofHempstead, L.I. His Foundationhas also made donations to thatchurch and the fund to rebuildSt. Nicholas.

Michael C. Tarrou, 38 –Tar-rou and his fiancee Amy King,both United Airlines flight atten-dants, were on fateful UA 175,the second plane to crash intothe WTC. Remembered as ahappy, peaceful man who lovedplaying the guitar and compos-ing music, Michael was survivedby his daughter Gina and par-ents, the late James and PatriciaTarrou of Florida.

Michael Theodoridis, 32 –His death as a passenger onAmerican Airlines Flight 11 wasa triple tragedy. He died along-side wife Rahma Sali, who waspregnant with their first child.Theodoridis, a technology con-sultant of Greek descent raisedin Switzerland, had converted toIslam, according to the New YorkTimes, before the Massachusetts-based couple’s 1998 wedding.His wife was a Muslim of SriLankan descent. They were ontheir way to a wedding.

William P. Tselepis, 33 –Born in Berwyn, Illinois andbased in New Providence, N.J.,Billy worked as a foreign ex-change broker at Cantor Fitzger-ald. He was survived by his wife,Mary, daughter, Katie (who wasfour at the time). His son Willwas born less than a month afterhe died. Other survivors in-cluded his elder brother, PeterTselepis.

Jennifer Lynn Tzemis, 26 –A vice president at Fred AlgerManagement, this dynamicyoung woman was survived byher sister Sophia Tzemis and fa-ther Stamatios (both in finance)and her mother, Nancy Tzemis.

Prokopios Paul Zois, 46 –Athens-born Zois was based inLynbrook, N.Y. He was a Marsh& McLennan consultant fromAmerican Express, but alsofound time to coach his chil-dren’s soccer and basketballteams. He was survived by hischildren Stefania and Theo andhis wife, Dorota. At the time hischildren were high school stu-dents; today they are in their20s.

Did you know these or otherGreek American victims?Readers are encouraged to sendmore memories of them for fu-ture publication to us at [email protected]

Who We Lost September 11 - A Community Remembers 10 Years LaterContinued from page 1

By Constantine S. SirigosTNH Staff Writer

NEW YORK – It is 10 years since thebeloved little church at the feet of theTwin Towers was crushed by the SouthTower that was felled by the machi-nations and commandeered flying ma-chines of terrorists. The members ofthe parish of St. Nicholas still do notknow when they will be able to returnhome, though optimism is growingthat the political and legal processesthat will determine the church’s fatewill soon yield good results. The situ-ation is akin to reading tea leaves – orGreek coffee cups – as observers in-terpret the actions of the Federal Judgeassigned to the case –Harold Behr –and the region’s leading politicians,most notably recently elected NewYork State Governor Andrew Cuomo.MEMORIAL SERVICE ON SUNDAY

In the meantime, the parish, theGreek American community andfriends will gather at Ground Zero this

Sunday, September 11, for a TrisagionService to honor the departed, tenyears after that terrible day. ParishCouncil President John Couloucoundistold The National Herald that theschedule is in the hands of NYC offi-cials but as of presstime, participantsare being asked to gather at 2:30 p.m.at the sites’s gate seven, near the cornerof Greenwich and Liberty Streets,mindful that services may not com-mence until 3:30. ArchbishopDemetrios of America, who will presideover a memorial service after the Di-vine Liturgy at the Archdiocesan Cathe-dral of the Holy Trinity earlier in theday, intends to be at the Trisagion bar-ring any timing problems, as will St.Nicholas pastor Fr. John Romas.

Among the positive signs are is thestatement by Judge Behr’s former lawclerk that the pre-trial conference thatwas scheduled for August 9 was scaleddown to a conference call because thePort Authority of NY and NJ, whichthe is charged with reneging on an

agreement to build a new church at130 Liberty Street, not far from itsoriginal site, had begun to respond tothe judge’s admonition by to supplythe representatives of the Archdioceseand the St. Nicholas parish with nec-essary documents.

The next pre-trial conference be-tween the lawyers for both sides be-fore the judge is scheduled for Sep-tember 15. TNH has also been toldthat independent of the court proceed-ings, PA and Church officials have alsoheld meetings.

St. Nicholas parish council presi-dent John Couloucoundis told TNH“The judge has forced the PA and theChurch’s representatives to sit downand work on a feasibility analysis” andit was previous reported by TNH thatGovernor Cuomo’s office has hired in-dependent consultants to look at plansfor the site.

Couloucoundis said “The study isin progress and suggests the Churchcan be built. The engineers of the Port

Authority and the Church are lookingat it.” He said the parties are “in themiddle of it as we speak but I’m notprivy to the details,” but he has beeninformed that the PA, which had saidbefore a lawsuit was filed that achurch simply cannot be built wherethe parish wants, has been less blackand white in its statements since theviews of the engineers began to bemade known. He believes that “the en-gineering aspects will be hashed outby the end of September and that “oneway or another, through the court orout of court with the judge’s oversight,[the relevant people] will be able todiscern how to proceed.”

If the engineers declare that it’s fea-sible to build a church on top of theVehicle Security Center that is now un-der construction at the site – a buildingthat is crucial to the building processat Ground Zero – the PA’s legal casewill be undermined. “Their main ar-gument [for not letting the churchbuild at 130 Liberty Street] is that it

can’t be built.” Couloucounis acknowledged that

what that PA has done in the timesince the breakdown of talks will prob-ably result in some unforseen con-straints in the final design of thechurch, but those should not pose se-rious problems for the architecturalteam.

Timing issues are becoming critical.The VSC must be ready in time for thecompletion of Freedom Tower andCouloucoundis believes Silverstein isputting enormous pressure on the PAto keep moving forward. He also reit-erated that the Church will do its partto ensure the overall project is not de-layed or badly impacted by theChurch’s plans. “We are looking to getthat piece of paper, the title to ourland” so they can proceed. The build-ing of the Church need not start rightaway but foundations for it must beengineered and then built into the VSC,so the resolution of the dispute is be-coming a Ground Zero imperative.

St. Nicholas Parish Still Waiting to Rebuild; Trisagion Service Sunday

Joanne Marie Ahladiotis Ernest Alikakos Arlene T. Babakitis Katherine Bantis

Peter Brennan Thomas A. Damaskinos George Merkouris Anthony (Andoni) Demas

Vasilios G. Haramis John Katsimatides James N. Pappageorge

Coming Next Week: 9/11, Ten Years Later, a special issue devoted to how the terrorist attacks affected our community

Page 5: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011 5

arm up to the elbow. TheodoreAnthon returned to the UnitedStates on February 12, 1919.During his extended hospital re-covery Anton was ultimately fit-ted with a prosthetic forearmand was subsequently honor-ably discharged on June 18,1919 from General Hospital No.26 then located in Des Moines,Iowa. The United States Armyissued Anton a Certificate of Dis-ability on June 11, 1919. As wasnoted at the time Anton wasnever AWOL and his militaryservice was judged ‘honest andfaithful.’

Theodore returned to St.Louis, Missouri, weak in bodybut strong in spirit. On October24, 1923, through hard workand considerable sacrifice he ob-tained his city license to conductbusiness. Clearly possessed of asteady work ethic, frugal, andwith a sure daily purpose, in1924, Theodore traveled toGreece to find a bride. Antonmet and married Evangeline Ar-giropoulos, the daughter of Har-alambos and Katherine, who allhailed from the village ofSouthena which is found in thedistrict of Kalavryta. The new-lyweds returned to the UnitedStates in 1925 already pregnantwith the first of their four chil-dren. Rather than settle in St.Louis, the Antons instead choseNew York City because Evange-line knew people there fromSouthena.LIFE IN NEW YORK CITYTheodore worked for a news-

paper vendor, carefully invest-ing his savings in the stock mar-ket. As with the rest of thenation with the stock marketcrash of 1929, the Antons lostall their savings. Yet, such wasthe nature and fundamentalcharacters of Theodore andEvangeline Anton that by thelate 1930s they were able tosave enough money to buy acandy store on the East Side ofManhattan on Second Avenuebetween 111th and 112thStreets. Along with the newowners came a new name, ‘An-ton’s Candy Store,’ which intime became known (in thismostly Italian neighborhood) asthe Greek’s candy store.

For Theodore this new busi-ness meant long hours andseemingly endless work and atfirst little profit. While this is tobe expected in any new businesssomething was amiss. When hestarted the new business, Antonkept in his employ a womanwho had worked for the previ-ous owner. With the help of asalesman friend Anton was ableto prove the woman was steal-ing from him so she was let goand Evangeline was broughtinto the business.

For Evangeline working atthe candy store meant shewould be able to learn English.Not many people, today, wouldfeel the same way Evangelinedid because aside from workingat the store she had four chil-dren, Gus (Constantine), Harry,Nicholas and Catherine, to raiseas well as all the cooking andhousework. Theodore taughthimself to read and write Eng-lish, never having the opportu-nity to attend school in theUnited States. Family memoriesstill recall that even with aheavy workload and family re-sponsibilities Theodore still,

somehow, found the time to reg-ularly read newspapers and allmanner of books.

All in all it was a hard lifefor both Theodore and Evange-line given that the store wasopen almost 24 hours a day,seven days a week, so they soonbegan taking shifts just to man-age all that was demanded ofthem. Filled with life, the fewtimes Theodore and Evangelineclosed the store was to go toGreek dances late at night.Evangeline loved to dancewhenever she could and alwaysfound the energy to attend adance even after working hardall day.

Compounding all the hard-ships of balancing work andfamily life from the startTheodore had trouble with thelocal Mafia. These street thugsdemanded protection moneyand Anton refused. The Mafiatried at every opportunity to in-timidate him. There was a pub-lic telephone in the back of theAnton candy store that thesestreet thugs would use fromtime to time. Theodore knewsomeone was stealing cookies,which were displayed in thatpart of the store, but he just wasunable to catch the thief.Theodore took matters into hisown hands and planted amousetrap in the display box ofcookies. The thief was caughtwhen the mousetrap closed onhis hand and he screamed, “Fora cookie you’d break a man’shand!?” No one ever stole acookie, again.

Facing the pressures of every-day chores, a family, the relent-

less pressure from the Mafia,Theodore and Evangeline Antondid the only thing they coulddo, they worked! Given all thesedemands it is understandablethat in an effort to try and cutback on some of the daily ex-penses Theodore cancelled a fireinsurance policy on his store.Within a matter of days thecandy store was burned to theground. A clear case of arson,at first, the authorities accusedthe Anton’s of setting the fire.Unintentionally the cancellationof the fire insurance, prior tothe fire, proved their innocence.Like an unstoppable force of na-ture Theodore Anton rebuilt hiscandy store and no sooner wasit completed than the Mafia, inthe dark of night, broke his win-dows. But without proof of whodid the damage, no chargescould be filed.

Theodore Anton continuedto refuse to pay the ‘street tax’the mobsters regularly re-quested. Fearing that they in-tended to damage the interiorof his store Anton, on seeing theapproach of the mobsters,would rush to the front doorand refused to allow them toenter. In the inevitable con-frontation that followed one ofthese front-door meetings twostreet thugs ended up beatingTheodore Anton going so far asto kick him in the groin. Yet An-ton stood his ground.

All four Anton childrenworked in the family store. Asfate would have it his twoyoungest children Nicholas andCatherine witnessed the ruthlessattack. Evangeline went so faras to run to aid her husband.But the Mafia did not know whothey were dealing with. ForTheodore Anton could offer hisfamily no greater testament ofhis love, devotion or his funda-mental character as a man thanthe day he fought several mob-sters for their livelihood withjust one hand.

This vicious attack was ab-solutely the last straw andTheodore Anton pressedcharges. The police had no otherrecourse but to arrest those re-sponsible. But, as everyone whohas ever watched television, mo-tion pictures, or read a newspa-per knows, at this period oftime, the Mafia in New York City

had corrupted the police depart-ment. So, an agreement wasmade. Theodore Anton wouldnot press formal charges and theMob would no longer harasshim or even step foot in his storeever again.

LATER LIFEPutting all this behind them

the Antons were able to makethe store an economic success.At the end of this period of trou-bles Theodore finally was able

to send money to his sisters inGreece for their dowries. Send-ing monies, clothes, tools orwhatever they thought theirfamilies might need was anearly constant feature forGreek Americans in this era.During World War II, Theodoreand Evangeline Anton, likeevery other Greek he knew, alsohelped their extended familiesin Greece as best they could,given wartime conditions.

Tragedies abounded in wartorn Greece. For the Anton fam-ily an oft told tale is the one thattook place on December 13,1943. This was the day theNazis massacred all the menand boys 12 years and olderwho lived in Kalavryta in retali-ation for then recent killings ofGerman soldiers by Greek

guerilla forces. Theodore’sbrother George was amongthose massacred that day. TheNazis set the town of Kalavrytaablaze killing along with all therest, Evangeline Anton’s agedmother who could not get outof her own house due to blind-ness.

During World War II, Gusand Harry served in the UnitedStates navy. Nicholas served inthe US Army during the Korean

War. Troubled by worries fortheir children and extendedfamilies the Antons neverthelessstayed true to form and contin-ued to work. Theodore andEvangeline were very patrioticand ardent boosters of all thingsAmerican. Theodore was a Re-publican who didn’t likeFranklin Roosevelt because ofthe tax increases he initiatedduring the Depression; Evange-line, however, was a strong De-mocrat who loved Roosevelt be-cause of all the workers’ benefitshe signed into law. At retirementEvangeline took the time tostudy and pass all requirementsto become an American citizenand was always justly proud ofthis accomplishment.

Ever steady in his life andlabors, in time, Theodore was

able to eventually buy the build-ing in which his store was lo-cated. The building was com-posed, in total, of six apartmentsand two commercial stores, onebeing his own. Some years laterTheodore sold this property tohis brother James and then pur-chased a 20-unit apartmentbuilding at 116th Street wherehe lived with his family formany years.

Around nine years afterWorld War II, Theodore was fi-nally able to make the arrange-ments to bring his brotherGeorge’s daughter, Irene, to theUnited States. The young niecelived with the Anton’s for twoyears before she married GeorgeMallis.

All Theodore and Evange-line’s children came to live theAmerican Dream. Gus, becamea commercial artist, marriedBertha Leventy and the couplehad three children Theodore,Stephanie, and Rhea, who inturn are grown and have sevenchildren between them. Harrybecame a mechanic, marriedSabena Georgian, and becamean entrepreneur selling motor-cycles and equipment from twostores. Nicholas became alawyer, worked for the City ofNew York and never married.Catherine married James Millas,had three children Eva, Timi,and Athena (and later in life be-came a banker) the couple havetwo grandchildren.

Evangeline Anton passedaway at the age of 70 on July13, 1966. Two years and twodays later Theodore passedaway at 77, a proud Americanand ever a steadfast Greek. Thecouple left behind not only theirfour children and six grandchil-dren but hundreds of memoriesand oft-told stories of two im-migrants who loved their familysuch that they simply neverstopped caring for them, nomatter what the sacrifice orchore.

[email protected]

Two Intrepid Hellenes: Theodoros and Evangeline Antonopoulos

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ALL HISTORY

Continued from page 1

By James R. Hagerty The Wall Street Journal

Andrew Liveris, chief execu-tive of Dow Chemical Co., has ato-do list that includes two itemshe considers closely related:Keep profits rising at the globalchemical company and fixAmerica's economy.

The 57-year-old Australian,who has been Dow's chief since2004, published a book this yearcalled "Make It in America," pre-scribing policies to boost high-tech manufacturing, includingfree-trade agreements and sim-pler regulations.

In June, President BarackObama named him co-chairmanof the Advanced ManufacturingPartnership, a government pro-gram to encourage developmentof job-creating technologies.

Mr. Liveris, recently labeled"Obama's Aussie" by an Aus-tralian newspaper, says crusad-ing for more effective U.S. eco-nomic policies is synonymous"with the interests of Dow, whichhas about 24,500 employees inthe U.S., around half its globaltotal.

After earning a chemical-en-gineering degree at the Univer-sity of Queensland in Brisbane,Australia, Mr. Liveris joinedDow in 1976. He held posts inAustralia, Thailand, Hong Kongand the U.S. before becomingCEO.

In an interview with TheWall Street Journal, Mr. Liveristalked about his agenda, the cli-mate of dysfunction and gov-ernment incentives for corpora-tions. Edited excerpts:WSJ: How do you feel about

being dubbed "Obama's Aussie"?Mr. Liveris: It's a compli-

ment, I think. This president hasdeployed the Dow CEO to dosome things important to Dowand important to the U.S.WSJ: Why did you decide to

go public with your politicalagenda?Mr. Liveris: I grew up with

Dow in Asia, and in Asia work-ing with governments is the waythings get done. People like mein business are very used to go-ing into the corridors and talk-ing with governments aboutwhat they need for job creation.

The idea surfaced at Dowthat, look, rather than just givespeeches and write occasionalop-eds, why don't we put thisall together in a book? The onlytwo considerations I had werethat it would take no time awayfrom my day job, and any pro-ceeds would be donated to char-ity. The most important thingwas to begin a national conver-sation. WSJ:What is the Obama ad-

ministration getting right interms of encouraging manufac-turing?Mr. Liveris: It's put a spot-

light on manufacturing. This isn't about recreating

yesterday's jobs. It's about takingmodern technology coming outof our research engines—uni-versities, government depart-ments, the private sector— andmaking that technology avail-able to manufacturers in awhole plethora of different in-dustries.WSJ:What is the Obama ad-

ministration getting wrong inmanufacturing policy?Mr. Liveris: I'm not in the

business of criticizing the cur-rent administration because Ithink they've come a long way

on manufacturing, and I thinkit's too early to say they've got-ten anything wrong.WSJ:What about in terms of

creating the right climate forbusiness?Mr. Liveris: What we're see-

ing in Washington today is dys-functionality. And the output ofthat is lack of confidence. I thinkeveryone is culpable for that,not one part of government.Please, let's tone down therhetoric and get our sleeves upand go to work.WSJ: Your prescription for

more Singapore- or German-style government intervention

and subsidies for investmentmay offend some of your cus-tomers and shareholders whohave different political views. Isthat a concern?Mr. Liveris: I did not ask for

subsidies. I asked for incentives.What's the difference? That's arecognition that companies andcountries work together to say:What can I be good at?

When Germany after WorldWar II rebuilt its economy, it be-came an engineering nation,and it preserved its engineeringexcellence, for example,through incentivizing tradeschools. Sure, there were re-bates for employers for trainingprograms.

I'm not worried about the ef-fect of my views on Dow Chem-ical if they're fully explained. AllI do is point out that it's not alevel playing field, that othercountries offer these subsidiesand tax incentives and are at-tracting investment.

Let's not be living in a fantasyworld; that is happening. We dosubsidize defense, we do subsi-dize parts of agriculture. So whyare we afraid of the conversa-tion when it comes to manufac-turing?

Should we incentivize certainsectors for the national interest?It may well be the answer is"no." But at least let's not walkaway from the topic. We needto open up our eyes and under-

stand why so many other coun-tries are taking our jobs.WSJ: About how much of

your time are you devoting tothis public-advocacy role?Mr. Liveris: In terms of at-

tending committee meetingsand telephone conference calls,maybe a couple of days amonth. As I go around theworld, public policy is on myagenda—lowering trade barri-ers, getting consistent energy-policy treatment, working withgovernments to do joint ven-tures, like in Saudi Arabia andBrazil. The intersection of gov-ernment and business is almostcomplete. WSJ: Is there a risk all this is

going to distract you from yourjob at Dow Chemical?Mr. Liveris: Not that I've

seen nor felt. The minute I feelthat [it is a distraction] is theminute I'll come off committees.I don't count hours. I count out-put.WSJ: You get about two-

thirds of your sales outside theU.S. Can you thrive even ifAmerica doesn't?Mr. Liveris:We have become

an investor in America againwith our shale-gas investmentsin Texas and Louisiana. We'veannounced $4 billion of invest-ments down there. Three-quar-ters of Dow's research is donehere in the U.S. The creativityof America is still alive and well.

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris, shown in March, is cru-sading for more effective U.S. economic policies.

Andrew Liveris: ‘Obama's Aussie’ Touts Vision for Dow Chemical & America

blOOmberG newS

ABOVE: Evangeline andTheodore Antonopoulos.LEFT: Theodore Antonopou-los standing outside of hiscandy store. RIGHT: The An-ton Hotel.

Page 6: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

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By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald

ITHACA, N.Y. – Dr. John E.Keshishoglou, 79, Ithaca, passedaway due to complications frompancreatic cancer on August 24.Born in Thessaloniki, he studiedAncient Greek History and theNew Testament, graduatingfrom Anatolia College in Thes-saloniki. He then worked as aphotojournalist for the Greekand foreign press. He served inthe Greek Army for two years,attached to the NATO Registryin Athens. Following his honor-able discharge from the GreekArmy, he went to the UnitedStates for further studies. Heearned his bachelor’s degreefrom Morningside College inSioux City, Iowa; his master’s inmass media from the Universityof Iowa; and his doctorate fromSyracuse University.

While at the University ofIowa, Dr. Keshishoglou met hisfuture wife, Barbara Steele.They recently celebrated their48th wedding anniversary.

Dr. Keshishoglou, fondly re-ferred to as “Dr. Kesh,” joinedthe faculty of the Television-Ra-dio Department at Ithaca Col-lege in 1965. The followingyear, he established its Instruc-tional Resources Center, andserved as its first director. Hereceived several grants to pur-chase of a variety of photo-graphic, cinema and audiovisualequipment. He installed over-head, slide and 16mm film pro-jectors in all IC classrooms. In1969, he was elected chair ofthe Television-Radio Depart-ment. One of his first officialacts was to extend an invitationto Rod Serling to join the De-partment as a visiting professor.

Mr. Serling agreed, and the twobecame lifelong friends.

Determined to “liberate”TV/Radio from the IC’s school ofArts & Sciences, John set out toestablish IC’s School of Commu-nications. After two years of ex-tended meetings, discussions andmore meetings, the Division ofCommunications was estab-lished, later renamed the Schoolof Communications. He pro-ceeded to establish the Depart-ments of Cinema Studies andPhotography (now Cinema, Pho-tography & Media Arts) and Ed-ucational Communications (nowCorporate & Strategic Commu-nications). The School acquiredstudio color cameras and colorrecording equipment, and Dr.Kesh received approval for anMA program in communications,which he implemented in 1974.

Dr. Kesh obtained FCC ap-proval to upgrade the facilitiesand the signal of WICB-FM, andestablished the professional pro-duction unit (now Park Produc-tions). As an educator, hetouched many student lives.Many of his former studentscontinued to visit him, andstayed in touch regularly. In1979, he received the first ofthree senior Fulbright researchawards, and the Keshishoglousspent the next 18 months inAthens, Greece where Dr. Keshserved as an advisor to theGreek Ministry of Education.

While in Greece, Dr. Keshwas hired by UNESCO, and wassent to Iraq for a 13-month as-signment under the Iraqi Min-istry of Education & ScientificResearch. He became quite flu-ent in Arabic. During the nextthree decades, he received as-signments from United Nations,the U.S. Department of State,

U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, and Local/Re-gional Embassies of the UnitedStates and other Governmentswhich required extensive traveloverseas. Major two-week to ayearlong assignments includedworking and living in the fol-lowing countries: Brunei, Eng-land, Egypt, Ethiopia, France,Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq,Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia,Nepal, Thailand and Singapore.Minor one-week assignments in-cluded visits to Australia,Bangladesh, Dubai, Hong Kong,Jordan, New Zealand and SaudiArabia.

His second senior researchFulbright award was a six-month stay in Ethiopia, and histhird was a six-month stay inNepal. He served a three-yearstint as the chair of CommitteeA to screen Fulbright faculty ap-plicants for senior Fulbright re-search and teaching awards un-der the Council for InternationalExchange of Scholars. He re-ceived (among other things) an

international grant from the Na-tional Endowment of the Hu-manities, and produced a 60-minute documentary on themonastic community of theHoly Mountain: “Mt. Athos, TheFirst One Thousand Years,” wasshown on NBC, BBC and otherinternational networks.

The author of three books,over 100 articles, and presenta-tions and some two dozenfilm/video documentary pro-ductions, Dr. Kesh received nu-merous awards and citations.He has inducted and served aspresident of Phi Kappa Phi, thenational honors society, and wasalso inducted to the Phi BetaDelta Honor Society for Inter-national Scholars.

Dr. Kesh retired from IthacaCollege in 2000, and spent thenext five years as a visiting pro-fessor at the WKW School ofCommunication & Informationat Nanyang Technological Uni-versity in Singapore. In 2003,John was awarded the honor ofprofessor emeritus at IC. The

Keshishoglous returned fromSingapore in 2005 for a peacefulretirement, which eluded Dr.Kesh. International assignmentskept coming, and local assign-ments from IC made true retire-ment hard to achieve. But heenjoyed every minute of it.

In his honor, Ithaca Collegeestablished the Dr. JohnKeshishoglou Center for GlobalCommunication Innovation, ascholarship fund for foreign stu-dents and a fund for interna-tional scholars.

Dr. Kesh was also known lo-cally for his work in the localCoast Guard Auxiliary, the civil-ian branch of the U.S. CoastGuard. He joined the Auxiliaryin 1976, serving the boatingpublic with his work as a na-tional officer, as well as a districtand division officer. ElectedFlotilla Commander on four dif-ferent occasions, he authored aweekly column on boatingsafety, which was published bythe Ithaca Journal and othernewspapers in the Finger Lakesregion.

For his 35 years of volunteer

service in the Auxiliary, U.S.Coast Guard Rear AdmiralMichael J. Parks pinned a 35-year meritorious service awardon him. He was also awardedthe 2010 Outstanding FlotillaCommander award for the Aux-iliary’s Division II.

Dr. Keshishoglou is survivedby his wife Barbara; his sonElias Keshishoglou of San Jose,California; his grandchildrenJonathan and Meredith; hisbrothers in-law Thomas andBob Steele; and several cousins,nieces and nephews. He waspredeceased by his parents Eliasand Areti, and his youngerbrother Michael.

Calling hours were held atBangs Funeral Home, with fullCoast Guard honors. The fu-neral took place at Saint Cather-ine’s Greek Orthodox Church onSeptember 3. In lieu of flowers,memorial donations can bemade to the Keshishoglou Cen-ter for Global CommunicationInnovation at Ithaca College, orto Saint Catherine’s Church(120 W. Seneca Street, Ithaca,NY 14850).

Dr. John Keshishoglou, Multi-talented Professor of Communications, is Mourned

DEATHS

n ABOULHOUDA, DEMETRAREADING, Penn. – The ReadingEagle reported that Demetra(Roussis) Aboulhouda, 83, for-merly of Reading, passed awayAug. 25 at 12:30 p.m. in CarlisleMedical Center. She was takento the hospital from ManorCareHealth Services in Carlisle. Shewas the wife of the late HarryAboulhouda who passed away in1999.Born in Athens, Greece, shewas the daughter of the late Kon-stantinos and Pana-giota (Tsit-siris) Roussis. She was employedas a seamstress and was a mem-ber of St. Matthew's Greek Or-thodox Church. She is survivedby her cousins Dimitrios andVoula Tsitsiris of Mechanicsburg;goddaughter Areti Tsitsiris Alafo-giannis, wife of Billy Alafogian-nis, and their daughter, DemetraAlafogiannis, of Virginia. She isalso survived by Maria TsitsirisTheodoratos, wife of DennisTheodoratos, and their son, Dion-isios Theodoratos, of Carlisle. Shewas preceded in death by broth-ers George and ConstantineRoussis. Funeral services wereperformed at the Saints Constan-tine and Helen Greek OrthodoxChurch and the family receivedfriends at the church. In lieu offlowers, contributions may bemade to St. Matthew's Greek Or-thodox Church, 8477 AllentownPike, Blandon, PA 19510. WhelanSchwartz Funeral Home is incharge of arrangements and on-line condolences may be madeat www.whelanschwartz.com.

n AMPRAZIS, HELENCLEMMONS, N.C. – The Win-ston-Salem Journal reported thatwith a vigor for life matched byher exuberant love for family,Mrs. Helen Amprazis, 70, passedaway peacefully Saturday night,August 27 at her Clemmonshome, with relatives by her side.She bravely battled brain cancerfor two years. Helen was bornon the island of Andros, Greece,to parents Demetri and MaroulioMandarakas in 1941. Helen im-migrated to the United States asa teenager. She met her husbandHercules, also a Greek immi-grant, in New Jersey in 1958.The hard-working couple estab-lished a thriving diner businessand a beautiful life filled withfamily and friends before movingto Clemmons in 2001 to becloser to their only daughter,son-in-law and two granddaugh-ters. Helen's contagious laughterand playful personality exudedan undeniable warmth to every-one near her. For seven years,she was the sassy "Mama" withthe big heart at Lisa's Diner inWinston-Salem, scooping cus-tomers into hugs just as often asshe dished out delicious home-made soups and daily specials.Her natural ability to developrapport with all people led toclose-knit ties throughout her lifewith friends, relatives and com-munity. She opened her home toeveryone. Helen was an activemember in the Greek OrthodoxChurch. Despite hardships dur-ing her illness, Helen maintainedan energetic presence and tena-cious, unwavering spirit. She wasmoved by others' strength andjoy, both characteristics shehumbly possessed herself. Helenlived a rich and full life sur-rounded by loved ones, con-

stantly making sure to care forothers, even in her final days.She enjoyed dancing to Greek is-land violin melodies, especiallywith her granddaughters, withwhom she was very close. Theyremain grounded in memories oftheir "yiayia", reminding them ofwhere and who they come from.Helen had the opportunity totravel in the last two years tovisit her home village, family andfriends in Greece and New Jer-sey. Helen is survived by her lov-ing and grateful family: husbandHercules Amprazis, daughterLisa Bouloubasis and son-in-lawGus, granddaughters Victoriaand Elina Bouloubasis of Clem-mons, N.C.; seven siblings:Laskaro Mandarakas, GeorgeMandarakas and his wife Anna,Anna Daniolou, Maria Harharosand her husband Michael,Zafiroula Tsilionis and her hus-band Demetri, Nick Mandarakasand his wife Valerie, and AdamMandarakas and his wife Geor-gia; and her special nieces, whooften referred to her as a secondmother: Maria Dolinsky, SophiaStathis, Lisa Cosmas and MarieProkos. Funeral services wereheld at the Greek OrthodoxChurch with Fr. Demetri Kange-laris and Fr. Thomas Guerry of-ficiating. The family receivefriends the church where a Tris-agon service was help. Memori-als may be made to the Annun-ciation Greek Orthodox Church,435 Keating Drive, W-S, N.C.27104 or to Hospice and Pallia-tive Care, 101 Hospice Lane, w-S, N.C. 27103. On behalf of He-len Amprazis, the family wouldlike to thank Dr. Tom Ellis, Dr.Michael Chan, Dr.Glenn Lesser,nurse Jennifer MacLean and theteam at WFU Baptist Compre-hensive Cancer Center; nursesJennifer Cohen, Tammy Furr andthe Hospice team. A sincerethank you to Father DemetriKangelaris and Father ThomasGuerry for their love, guidanceand support. Online condolences

may be made at www.hayworth-miller.com

n KANDARAKIS, JOHN C.TALLAHASSEE, Florida – ThePanama City News Herald re-ported that Dr. John C. Kan-darakis, 78 of Tallahassee, passedaway Monday, August 22. Fu-neral Services were held at theBeggs Funeral Home, where thefamily received friends in theChapel. He was the beloved hus-band of the late Margaret LouiseKandarakis and a devoted fatherto his twin daughters Dina An-drews (Mark) and Maria (Calla)Stephens both of Virginia. He isalso survived by his youngerbrother Spyros Kandarakis ofAthens, Greece, and many lovingfriends. Dr. Kandarakis, son of Lt.General and Mrs. ConstantineKandarakis of Athens, Greece,was born in Athens, Greece. Healways had a smile for everyoneand a quick wit. John C. Kan-darakis received his PhD. degreefrom The Florida State University.After graduation from XIII Gym-nasium for Boys, Athens, 1954,he enrolled at College of PoliticalScience in Athens (Panteios Sc-hole). The same year, under pri-vate sponsorship, he came to theUnited States and enrolled atYuba College, Marysville, Califor-nia, where he received an Asso-ciate in Arts degree in 1956. Twoyears later, in 1958, he receiveda Bachelor of Arts degree fromSan Francisco State College. InNovember of 1958, he marriedthe former Margaret Louise Can-non of Memphis, Tennessee. Heentered the business world in1958. In 1963, John began histeaching career with the BayCounty, Florida, public schools.The next summer he wasawarded a three-summer gradu-ate scholarship from the Interna-tional Paper Fellowship Founda-tion and in 1967 he received hisMaster's degree from AuburnUniversity. In 1967, the Kan-darakis moved to Madison,

Florida, where Dr. Kandarakiswas appointed instructor atNorth Florida Junior College. Heentered Florida State Universityin 1973 and, while teaching fulltime, pursued a Ph.D in Educa-tion. Dr. Kandarakis retired fromthe Florida Department of Edu-cation as a Bilingual EducationConsultant and was a member ofHoly Mother of God Greek Or-thodox Church in Tallahassee. Inlieu of flowers, the family sug-gests memorial contributions inJohn's name to: Holy Mother ofGod Greek Orthodox Church.

n KANETOS, APOSTOLOSCHERRY HILL, N.J. – TheCourier Post reported that Apos-tolos "Kenny" Kanetos of Black-wood, passed away at age 60, onAugust 25. He was the belovedhusband of Margaret (nee Ochs)and devoted father of Michael(Kim) Kanetos, Sofia Kanetos,Kostantinos Kanetos and KaterinaKanetos all of Blackwood. Kennywas the dear son of KostantinosKanetos of Greece. He was a lov-ing grandfather of 4 grandchil-dren and is also survived by 2brothers and 2 sisters in Greeceand best friend and cousinGeorge (Nina) Kalogerakis ofMarlton. Relatives and friends at-tended Funeral Services at theSt. Thomas Greek OrthodoxChurch where a viewing was alsobe held. Arrangements were byMurray-Paradee Funeral Homeof Cherry Hill. To share condo-lences with the family please vis-itwww.murrayparadeefh.com

this is a service to the community.

Announcements of deaths may be telephoned to the classified Department of the national Herald at

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Dr. Keshishoglou speaks during a conference at Ithaca College.

Page 7: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

the poor who said they believemany of the country’s rich andpolitical elite are among them.

Reeling under a $460 billiondebt and 8.6% deficit – nearlythree times the ceiling set by theEU, Greece is relying on theTroika for a first bailout of $157billion and has asked for a sec-ond package of $152 billion al-though Venizelos admitted eco-nomic targets will not be meteven as the austerity measureshave created a deep recession,creating 16% unemploymentand the closing of more than65,000 businesses, leaving somedowntown and neighbourhoodstreets filled with empty store-fronts.

That has created nearly 18months of protests, strikes andriots, culminating in an attackby police on protesters in theheart of the city’s downtown inJuly.

Venizelos’s policy switch fol-lowed warnings by Greece’s in-ternational lenders that foot-dragging on structural reformwould no longer be tolerated be-cause the Greek crisis is threat-ening to bring down the 17countries of the Eurozone whouse the euro as a currency.Athens is already lagging behindon this year’s fiscal targets andpressure is mounting on Euro-zone nations to address its debtcrisis, even as speculationmounts Greece will yet have todefault despite a package pushedthrough the EU in July whichwould allow Greece to pay in-vestors 21% less than borrowed,a so-called “haircut.”

Venizelos told Parliament:“The message is that we’re rais-ing the flag of structural change... public sector reform is goingto happen right now. The coun-try has to gain momentum anda sense of purpose in order tobecome competitive, to have afuture.” The governmentpledged to cut 150,000 publicsector jobs, almost 20% of thetotal, by 2014 under the termsof the second international bail-out agreed in July. But the Fi-nance Ministry had adopted de-laying tactics aimed atpostponing the cuts until latenext year.

Greek officials are scramblingto meet a Sept. 14 deadline –the same day Troika inspectorswill return - for shutting downmore than 150 state organiza-tions, and transferring workersmade redundant to a “strategicreserve” on 60% of their previ-ous salary. The pay cuts, closuresand transfers are unprecedentedfor Greece, where public sectorworkers have enjoyed full job se-

curity for decades, and are ex-pected to trigger strong reactionfrom public sector. The Athensnewspaper Kathimerini said de-spite passionate infighting thatmost of the Cabinet is behindVenizelos on trimming the statesector. Health Minister AndreasLoverdos told a Parliamentarycommittee that, “one million em-ployees have been burdening theother 10 million.” “The fact thatcivil service positions are perma-nent is what got us into this messin the first place,” he said.

Social unrest has amped upprospects for further demonstra-

tions and riots and a slew ofstrikes – by taxi drivers, doctors,garbage collectors and tax in-spectors – set off the likelihoodof a further breakdown in Greeksociety, especially after laborunions that were PASOK’sbiggest supporters said Papan-dreou has betrayed them andvowed to fight back. “The gov-ernment pledged that public sec-tor employees would be trans-ferred to other jobs, not maderedundant ... but this reserve is

just a waiting room for peopleto be fired,” said an official atADEDY, the civil service union.The labor union leaders said thatVenizelos’s announcement sig-naled “immediate sackings” inthe civil service and that the gov-ernment’s broader austeritydrive would lead to “the break-down of public services andwhat is left of the welfare state.”The major opposition conserva-tive New Democracy (ND) partyalso stepped up its attacks on thegovernment’s policies. ND partyspokesman Yiannis Michelakisaccused the government of “sud-denly rushing to implementeverything that it had been try-ing to avoid but had previouslycommitted to” with the country’sinternational creditors.IS THE MONEY COMING?German Finance Minister

Wolfgang Schauble said thatAthens would not receive an$11.2 billion loan installmentdue this month unless the Troikagives its approval after the Sept.14 visit. The previous inspectionled to a near-breakdown in co-operation after the Troika saidPapandreou has not met the re-forms he promised, apart fromthe austerity measures, includingprivatizing to sell off or leasestate-run entities and propertiesto raise $71 billion, but none ofthat has happened yet. Venizelosalso said that a unified paymentsystem for civil servants wouldbe launched this month, 13months later than had been

agreed under Greece’s firstTroika bail-out but in time forsignificant spending reductionsto be recorded in fourth-quarterbudget figures. The schemewould streamline pay grades atdifferent ministries and slash al-lowances across the board. It hasbeen strongly opposed by fi-nance ministry employees, in-cluding the powerful tax officials’union.

The head of the Eurozone,Jean-Claude Juncker, also Lux-embourg’s Prime Minister, saidthat Greece must meet all theconditions of its assistance pro-gram for the country to receivethe next loan disbursement.

“Conditionality is of utmostimportance and before decidingon the next loan payment toGreece in mid-September, it isnecessary that all the conditionsset out by the Eurogroup are re-spected. If this isn’t the case, itisn’t a given that the payment ofthe next loan disbursement cantake place,” he said, amidstgrowing concern within the Eu-rozone that Greece was fallingbehind on its budget, privatiza-tion and other policy targets.

The European Central Bank’schief Jean-Claude Trichet saidGreece must be rescued to pre-serve the integrity of the Euro-zone, a position backed by Ger-man Chancellor Angela Merkel,whose country is the biggestlender to Greece. “The euro can-not be allowed to fail, it won’tfail,” said Merkel. Greece expects

to receive the next installmentof international aid despite a dis-pute with the EU and the IMFon fiscal slippages, and it evenhopes to win a softer deficit tar-get from its lenders, Greek offi-cials said, according to Reuters.Without that money, there wouldnot be enough funds to payGreek workers.

Athens faces no immediatedanger of bankruptcy though itmust repay about $14 billion ofmaturing bonds and interest bythe end of the year, but any de-lay in the installment could joltthe financial markets again.Lenders complained about de-lays in implementing reformssuch as cutting the public sectorpayroll, opening up professionsto competition and privatizingstate assets. Klaus Regling, thehead of the European FinancialStability Facility (EFSF,) saidGreece’s rescue program was notworking, and that Athens wouldnot be able to return to the mar-kets as planned and that its citi-zens may have to accept a de-cline in living standards.

A European Commissionspokesman welcomed Venizelos’call for an about face to startspeeding up reforms the Troikasaid the government has delayed

doing for months. “It shows thatsome additional work did needto be done,” said AmadeuAltafaj-Tardio. “The EuropeanCommission is pleased that workunder way has been speededup,” Papandreou has set a num-ber of deadlines to meet condi-tions apart from austerity mea-sures but has not implementedthem. EU President Herman VanRompuy ruled out today anyquestion of Greece leaving theEurozone. “This would createmore problems than solutions,”he told VRT Flemish radio. De-spite the Greek crisis that hasweakened the Eurozone, he in-sisted that, “The euro has neverbeen stronger than it is today.The first thing to do is to put inorder the affairs of countries thatimplemented bad policies in thepast and face problems today,”Van Rompuy said. There werealso reported discussions thatthe crisis has become so bad andthe Greek economy deterioratedto the point where Greek offi-cials are considering asking theTroika for a “political solution,”because the financial measuresaren’t working, effectively a de-claration that Greece is throwingin the towel and can’t solve thecrisis.

the husband who had beencheated on and was the last toknow,’”

Investigator Polys Polyviouwas reported to have asked thePresident if the foreign and de-fense ministers and the NationalGuard commander had respon-sibility, and the President said“certainly. They have all as-sumed their responsibility and

have resigned.” Polyviou thensaid to Christofias “it is an oxy-moron for them to be responsi-ble while their superior wasnot.” The Cyprus Mail quotedthe President responding, refer-ring to himself: “How can he beresponsible if he did not know.”Polyviou replied “Either youknew and you did not take mea-sures or you did not know be-cause you did not ask; thus, ei-ther based on knowing and lackof decisions or based on notknowing and lack of decisions,”he implied Christofias was “se-riously exposed.”

The Mail wrote, “It was the

first time in the history of theRepublic that an incumbentpresident appeared before apublic inquiry.” The AP reportsthat “A second, police-led crim-inal probe is also being con-ducted concurrently.”

The source of the explosionwas munitions seized underheavy pressure from U.S. andUN officials in 2009 from a shipsailing from Iran to Syria, twocountries with which Cyprus

was anxious to maintain goodrelations. Syria wanted the shipto be allowed to sail to its desti-nation.

The munitions, carried on aCypriot-flagged ship, weredeemed illegal Iranian arms ex-ports and it was believed thattheir ultimate destination wasPalestinian militants in Gazaand. Christofias said they wereconfiscated to show that“Cyprus fully complies with U.N.directives.”

Christofias also said, accord-ing to the Mail, that “he had notbeen briefed of the outcome ofa February 7, 2011 meeting,

which discussed the possibilityof destroying the cargo, neitherwas he informed about a meet-ing that took place a week be-fore the blast “after the greatrisk was identified.”

According to the AP,Christofias said of the muni-tions, which consisted mainly ofgunpowder and nitroglycerine,that “the risk the munitionsposed was initially ‘underesti-mated by all’ and that subordi-

nates never told him how un-stable they had become inside85 containers left exposed to theelements at a naval base formore than two years.” He saidhe was assured by senior mili-tary officers that the materialwas safe.

Tensions rose afterChristofias completed his testi-mony when some of the victims'family members shouted at him,"you destroyed us, murderer"and "you're responsible, mayGod forgive you," the AP re-ported, and the Mail added “Po-lice intervened to protect thePresident, threatening the son

of one of the dead naval officerswith arrest. It was only the in-tervention of investigator PolysPolyviou that stopped the situa-tion from escalating further. Therelatives had been angered byChristofias’ total denial of anyresponsibility for the debacleduring his questioning.”CHRISTOFIAS GETS MORE

RESPECT FROM UNMeanwhile, the UN News

Centre reported that Christofiasand Eroglu met in United Na-tions-sponsored talks aboutCyprus’ future. Secretary-Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon’s Special Ad-viser on Cyprus, AlexanderDowner, told reporters “In anoverall sense, the meeting washeld in a good atmosphere –again, an example of both sidescontinuing to work hard to tryto build convergences,” andnoted there would be furthermeetings this week with UNproperty experts.

The UNNC noted that “TheGreek Cypriots say those withproperty in the north should beable to seek reinstatement,while Turkish Cypriots say thatif all property owners were al-lowed reinstatement, it wouldbe impossible for Turkish Cypri-ots to secure bi-zonality. Theywant a ceiling on those who canhave properties reinstated in-stead of compensation.”BLASTS FROM TURKEYThe political crisis fueled by

the investigation into the explo-sion and the pressure to makeprogress in the re-unificationtalks has been accompanied byescalating threats from Turkeyover Cyprus’ plans to start oiland gas exploration in its exclu-sive economic zone (EEZ) by theAmerican contractor `Noble`with whom it has a productionsharing agreement.

Ankara’s behavior has unset-tled the EU and the CyprusNews Agency reported that “ThePresident of the European Peo-ple`s Party (EPP), WilfriedMartens, has reacted strongly tostatements by Turkish officials,”saying “Turkey, an EU candidatecountry, must refrain fromthreats against an EU memberstate that also undermine EU`senergy security.” Experts believeCyprus has huge natural gas re-serves.

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011 7

Greek Workers Face the Axe, Troika Demands Stepped-Up Reforms

ATHENS, Greece (JTA) - Jewswho left Greece during WorldWar II can have their citizenshipreinstated after the passage ofa new law.

The Greek government onSept. 2 passed an amendmentto a new foreign resident law,which will automatically rein-state Greek citizenship for allJews that were born in or before1945.

The number of Greek Jewsaffected by the amendment islikely no more than 300-350,according to reports.

Their descendants, althougheligible, will not receive citizen-ship automatically. They willhave to apply and if they meetthe proper criteria will receivetheir Greek passports and citi-zenship.

The amendment comes after65 years of appeals, applicationsand behind-the-scenes efforts bythe Greek Jewish community.

The problem was createdduring and after WWII. Duringthe war a number of Jews wereable to escape to Turkey wherethe Greek consular officer triedto persuade them to join theGreek Army in Egypt. Thosewho refused and wanted toreach Palestine were stripped oftheir citizenship.

Another group of Greek Jewsfought with the communist par-tisans' organization against theNazis. After WWII and duringthe civil war in Greece from

1946-1951, the members werehunted down as communistsand either executed, imprisonedor exiled in concentration campsthat mirrored the Russian gu-lags. In order to avoid that fate,many Jews accepted the govern-ment's offer to go to Palestineand be stripped of their citizen-ship.

During the debate in the Ju-dicial Committee of the Greekparliament, Justice MinisterHarry Kastanidis said "it is anhonor to Greece [to have thesepeople requesting their citizen-ship back], an honor that Greecewould be obligated to reinstatetheir citizenship no questionsasked."

The far-right LAOS Partyfought against the amendment,saying: "The law will raise manyserious issues from other ethnicgroups, a thing we of course alldeprecate, such as Bulgarians,Muslims, Armenians, Albanians,Skopje, and maybe even Chams(a sub-group of Albanians whooriginally resided in the coastalregion of Epirus in north-west-ern Greece, an area knownamong Albanians as Chameria.)What will you do then?"

As expected the communistparty was also against theamendment, saying that thiswas one step closer to formingclose ties with Israel in order tofurther the "imperialistic plansregarding the natural gas re-serves."

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greekpolice say they have arrestedeight more people in connectionwith a clash between rival foot-ball fans on the island of Cretein which a 21-year-old man wasfatally stabbed.

A police statement says twopeople are suspected of murder,including one of the youthstaken into custody Tuesday. An-

other six people were arrestedshortly after Monday's pre-dawnfight at the island's main townof Iraklio.

Police say the clash involvedat least 30 fans of Cretan topdivision club OFI and Irodotos,a small local team. The incidenttriggered new governmentpledges to crack down on rifefootball-related violence.

Cypriot president Dimitris Christofias, center, walks by the pictures of people who were killedin a July 11 explosion of seized Iranian munitions during his testimony before an investigatingcommittee looking into the blast in Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011.

Greek Jews Forced to FleeHave Citizenship Restored

New Arrests in Greece overSoccer Fan's Fatal Stabbing

New Greek Friend and Ally, Just in TimeDefence Minister Panos Beglitis, met with Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Monday on the secondday of his official visit to Israel, and termed cooperation be-tween Greece and Israel a strategic option for both the Greekgovernment and for Israel, as he ascertained during his meet-ings with the government and the country's political forces.

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

Dramatic Testimony Weakens Christofias

AP PHOtO/PetrOS kArADJiAS

A pedestrian walks by a store advertising sales in Athens on Sept. 6 as debt-crippled Greece'sborrowing costs reached a new record high amid fears the country's austerity program hasbackfired and as Prime Minister George Papandreou chaired a cabinet meeting on acceleratingdelayed structural reforms demanded by international investors.

AP PHOtO

Social unrest has ampedup prospects for furtherdemonstrations and riotsand a slew of strikes set off the likelihood of a further breakdown in Greek society

Page 8: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

EDITORIALS LETTERS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011

History and its Accounts AreAlways in Dispute

To the Editor:A good week ago I read the

first instalment of the book re-view and sent you a comment.

For the sake of historicaltruth and accuracy a few cor-rection of numbers. On thememorial stone in Kondomari23 names are engraved, i.e. 23people were shot (not 60). Thismassacre was not ordered byStudent, it was a "private" re-venge by a Nazi youngster(Trebes). In Kandanos 5 oldpeople lost their lives (I havethe names). Whoever had beenable to walk had left the villageand gone into hiding. Floria wasnot destroyed.

There are more inaccuraciesin the text.

If Student had been the Nazi-general as he is described in thearticle, how come that the NewZealand veterans of the battleof Crete made him honorarypresident of their organizationin the late 1950s?

Prof. Dr. Heinz A. RichterHistorical Institute

University of MannheimGermany

Its Time for Ward to Go andSt. Nick’s to be Rebuilt

To The Editor: As we approach the 10th an-

niversary of evil's sneak attackon America, only one buildinglost on that day of infamy is stillbeing denied the right to re-build: Saint Nicholas Greek Or-thodox Church.

On that terrible Septembermorning, Americans were in-spired to see a humble whitechurch standing against theblack smoke of the burning tow-ers. A decade later, it remainsour national obligation to en-sure that what's become knownas "The 9/11 Church" rises fromthe ashes so people can againsee God's footprint at GroundZero -- and know that Al-Qaedafailed to remove the cross fromour land.

Unfortunately, Port AuthorityDirector Christopher Ward hasstonewalled reconstruction.Combined with MayorBloomberg's refusal to inviteclergy of any denomination tothe 2011 Commemoration, peo-ple of faith rightly feel shunned.

A year ago, I stood with for-mer Governor Pataki at Ground

Zero and we called on the PortAuthority to stop obstructing St.Nicholas Church at GroundZero. But sadly, Ward has con-tinued to resist every reasonableeffort to rebuild.

The Church has now beenforced to file a lawsuit - aprocess that drags on as theWorld Trade Center is con-structed with no plans to rebuildthe Church. Meanwhile, the si-lence from our elected officials,

many of whom were eager todefend the rights of the Mosqueat Ground Zero, has been deaf-ening.

The time has come for Gov-ernor Cuomo to fire ChristopherWard, so that the little whitechurch can rise again at GroundZero -- in honor of the souls lostthat day and in honor of Amer-ica.

George DemosBrookhaven, New York

The price of FreedomIt is not easy to write about 9/11 in a personal way. It is not easy,

not even a decade later. That nightmare is still so fresh. And painful.Yet one must. After all this is an event of such historical importance,

a “Black swan” event, that changed, perhaps forever, our way of life,the country and perhaps the world. It is an event whose repercussionsare felt strongly even today. And who knows for how much longerand what the ultimate cost will be.

It was a little before 9:00 am, a brilliant morning, on Tuesday,September the 11th, 2001. I was asked to take an urgent phone call.I was not too happy about the interruption of my work.

I was sitting in front of my computer, in the open newsroom ofthe old offices of the paper, on Crescent Street, going through myregular schedule. I was catching up with the news on the AssociatedPress, when I picked up the phone.

“Turn on the TV”, my friend yelled urgently. “One of the TwinTowers is on fire.” The Twin Towers? But I had dinner there, with afriend who was visiting from Greece, at the famous Windows on theWorld, not too long ago.

Amazing, I thought as I turned the TV set on. How on earth couldthis possibly happen? How could an airplane go so wrong as to diveinto the tower, on such a crystal clear day? “Could it be a kamikazeattack,” crossed my mind.

It was now a few minutes before nine. And then out of the bluesky a second aircraft took aim and hit the other tower. Then, I knew.

America was under attack. But from whom?A short time later I could see black smoke, huge clouds, billowing

from the Towers into the skyline of Manhattan from the window ofmy office in Queens. It was all so incredible. How could this happen?

A friend called from the Wall Street area: “It is so dark here in thestreets, it is like night, from the dust. People are jumping from thewindows of the towers to their deaths. God help us.”

I had to see the sight first hand. The clouds of smoke coveringManhattan could now be seen from as far away as Long Island. Thetens of photos that I was going though each day, in the course of mywork, the other media coverage, were not enough. I had to be there.To see it first hand. But how?

The security was ironclad. No journalists allowed. Period.How about engineers or construction people. They had to be al-

lowed in. Right?That did it. A friend of mine in the construction business managed

to get me in. It was on Saturday the 15th. Four days after the event.I still see it all in front of me. But can it be described? How do you

describe the incredible mountains of debris, the sheer magnitude ofthe destruction, the policemen, and others still searching franticallyfor people who might still be alive in th debris, the huge columns ofsteel beams, twisted by the fire, the smoke in my eyes that madethem hurt, the dust. But worst of all the smell... Yes, it was beyonddescription.

And there, somewhere, was Mayor Rudy Giuliani, leading as fewcould in that terrible moment in history.

I searched for the church. It had to be there, over there I thought.Right next to the overpass. I knew it was there. Yet, it was no more.

It had to be the worst day of my life. After a few hours I wenthome. I could not stand it any longer. I washed thoroughly. And Ivomited...

The depth of the destruction was unveiled as the days passed. Es-pecially when the time came for the funerals of our Greek Americanswho perished there. That is one of the few times when you could notjust be a reporter. You are a human being. It is too much to bear.

Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda became household words in notime. But who was this madman? How was he able to do it? Willthere be more attacks? Where and when? Is anyone safe anymore?Is the country safe?

One thing was certain: Osama bin Laden had to pay for his crime.Before too long America was chasing him, as well she should have,in Afghanistan. But invade Iraq?

Life changed in big and small ways after that. Going, for instance,through security at airports became unpleasant. Things in generalchanged for the worse.

The sense of vulnerability, for the first time hit us all. America wasnot protected any more. It could happen again. It looked as thoughOsama bin Laden had won by exerting some degree of influenceover our lives.

In the end though, he underestimated America. You cannot destroythe spirit, the resolve, the unity, the strength, the determination, theideals, the power of America. Terrorism, the forces of darkness, bar-barism, can never win over American’s democratic system, its idealsand beliefs. Never.

Yet, looking back over the events that have taken place over thelast ten years, one has to conclude that the scars are deeper thanmight appear. Such events make people change, life takes on a dif-ferent meaning. People act in ways that result in tsunamis of differentkinds long after the event.

This has been a tumultuous decade. First the devastating impactof terrorism that led to two wars that are still going on. Does this sayit all? Then, seven years later, the horrific damage of the financialnear-meltdown from which we have not yet recovered.

Yes, Osama bin Laden paid the ultimate price for his murders, ashe should have. Yet we, too, paid a price for our freedom, dignityand our way of life.

The Big Absentee The country will honor the memory of the nearly 3,000 people

who died tragic and unjustifiable deaths on that day with memorialservices and other fitting events.

There were at least 27 Greek Americans among those victims.The St. Nicholas Church, which was founded in 1916, and stood

under the shadow of the Twin Towers, was another one of the "vic-tims".

And while there is nothing anyone can do to bring back the peoplewho were lost among the rubble of the buildings, the rebuilding ofthe St. Nicholas Church - aside from being a sacred duty - shouldhave been a relatively simple matter. Certainly, city officials shouldrecognize that they have a duty to do so.

The joy our people will experience from seeing the new beautifuland "eternal" buildings, at the site of Ground Zero, will be temperedby their grief that there is one thing missing: The Greek OrthodoxChurch.

Why? How did that happen? The answer to the question is simple,but painful: Failure of leadership. This will go down in history as oneof the biggest failures of the Greek American Community. And that issomething that should concern us all.

Antonis H. Diamataris

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald

NEW YORK – George Mat-soukas’ viewpoint in the August20 edition is replete with inac-curacies concerning the “Ortho-dox Church in America,” morecommonly known as the OCA.The OCA’s true canonical statusremains an open question, andthe fact that Metropolitan Jonahparticipates in the proceedingsof the new Episcopal Assemblyof canonical Orthodox bishopsin America, essentially as thelast among equals, fully demon-strates the OCA’s true ecclesias-tical position both here andabroad. Despite its self-declaredstatus, the OCA is not, in actu-ality, an autocephalous Church.

The attendant caption statedthat Metropolitan Jonah “par-ticipated in the proceedings asa simple bishop, without assert-ing his position as a Church pri-mate.” But Jonah did not havean ecclesiastical choice in thematter, and he has ArchbishopDemetrios to thank for beingable to participate in the Assem-bly at all.

Jonah deserves some com-mendation for accepting hisproper place in the Assemblywithout causing unrest amonghis brother bishops in Americaor overseas, but any grumblingabout it after the fact – whetherit’s done openly or behindclosed doors – creates unneces-sary discontent which, in turn,disrupts ecclesiastical harmony.

Furthermore, it is simply in-correct to refer to the Church inAmerica – which does notequate to the OCA, and neverhas – as a “National Church.”The agenda pursued by thegroup Orthodox Christian Laity(OCL), of which Mr. Matsoukasis executive director, endeavorsto establish an autocephalousChurch in America. It is a spuri-ous agenda, however. For theChurch to be “national” andtherefore autocephalous inAmerica (i.e., to be the ChurchOF America, rather than theChurch IN America), the vastmajority of Americans wouldhave to be Orthodox, which isobviously unlikely to happen.

The many canonical and lo-gistical impediments to estab-lishing an autonomous or auto-cephalous Church anywhere inthe Western Hemispherenotwithstanding, I actuallyagree with OCL to a certain ex-tent: All Orthodox Christian ju-risdictions in America musteventually come under the aus-pices of one bishop. But con-trary to Mr. Matsoukas’ erro-neous arguments, the OCA isnot “creating a model structureof how a unified American Or-thodox Church should function,with servant bishops adminis-

tering to the needs of the faith-ful in this geographic area,rather than monarchal bishopsbeholden to the defunct RomanEmpire.”

That’s an astoundingly mis-leading statement, which couldsteer us toward a whole otherdiscussion. But the issue at handis whether the OCA is a goodmodel for Orthodox Christianunity in America, and given itscanonical limitations – not tomention the magnitude of therecent scandals MetropolitanJonah has inherited – the OCAis clearly not the right model.

Some Greek American mem-bers of OCL like to proclaimthey are “Orthodox Americansfirst, and Greeks second,” butthat’s frankly a defective way topropound one’s identity as anOrthodox Christian in America.In his dogmatics class at HolyCross, Rev. Dr. Alkiviades Cali-vas taught that Hellenism wasthe “crucible” in which theChristian faith was cultivated,and the vehicle by which it wasdisseminated throughout theknown world. He never impliedthat Greeks are in any way su-perior to non-Greeks. He simplytaught that the Church and theChristian faith She guards havea definite historical and culturalcontext. Was Father Calivaswrong?

Anyway, we’re all Americanshere. And we’re all Orthodox.Some of us happen to be ofGreek heritage; others of Ser-bian, Russian or other ethnicorigin; still others of “mixed”background. But no one is more(or less) American than any-body else. Moreover, if theChurch in America is to achievecanonically valid unity underone bishop, shouldn’t thatbishop be the Greek OrthodoxArchbishop of America? He isthe Ecumenical Patriarch ofConstantinople’s exarch inAmerica, after all, and the GreekOrthodox Archdiocese is by farthe largest individual OrthodoxChristian jurisdiction in thiscountry. Seriously. Why couldn’tthat bishop be the Greek Ortho-dox Archbishop?

Here’s another suggestion:Other Orthodox jurisdictions inAmerica could fairly easily con-tinue to function as vicariatesunder the Greek Orthodox Arch-diocese. That means they couldfreely – and independently –minister to their respectiveflocks, while their metropolitanssimply provide status reports tothe Greek Orthodox Archbishoponce or twice a year. That way,no one could “interfere” withanyone else’s internal affairs,while all would ultimately beunder the Ecumenical Patri-arch’s spiritual and ecclesiasticaloversight. Several precedentshave already been set for that

type of ecclesiastical arrange-ment in America, and they areworking just fine (e.g., theCarpatho-Russian OrthodoxDiocese). The specifics wouldneed to be ironed out, of course(not the least of which are fi-nancial in nature), but what’swrong with that platform as abasis or starting point for honestnegotiations leading to canoni-cal Church unity?

Having asserted that pro-posal, I should note that Mr.Matsoukas errantly, and ratherflippantly, alludes to theChurches of Constantinople,Alexandria, Antioch andJerusalem as “old world’churches, but the Holy AncientSees are not tyrants which aresomehow “out-of-touch” withAmerica’s multicultural reality,and there’s no discomfiting dis-tinction between Old and NewWorlds where the Church is con-cerned. In some countries, the

`Orthodox Church is the na-tional Church because the Or-thodox faith is the historicallyestablished faith there, and theclear majority of people thereare baptized Orthodox. In otherlands, the Church sojournswhere Orthodox Christians area clear minority. But whether wereside in America or elsewhere,all Orthodox Christians partakeof the same Cup, and Churchcanonicity can function in anycontext – multicultural or oth-erwise, autocephalous or not.

In other words, the variousOrthodox jurisdictions in Amer-ica ultimately need to come un-der one bishop, and they needto determine who that bishopought to be from a canonicalstandpoint. But the Church inAmerica doesn’t need to be au-tocephalous in order to functionunder the “administrative” unityOCL seeks, nor is autocephalyeven necessary for an “Ameri-can” Orthodox Church’s ecclesi-astical framework and identity.

OCL’s unsound arguments tothe reverse are voluminous, andfirmly rooted in its bizarre questfor autocephaly, but those whoare properly instructed andcomprehensively versed in mat-ters of Church canonicity haveobjectively refuted those argu-ments.

I know several members ofOCL to be intelligent, decentand genuinely caring individu-als, so I don’t want to denigrateanyone on a personal level, but

since others may try to attackand vociferously discredit mefor presenting a valid perspec-tive, I will pose a few questionsfor their consideration ahead oftime:

If OCL really stands for Or-thodox Christian Unity, howdoes its push for ecclesiasticalsecession not exemplify divisivebehavior? Why does OCL insiston injecting improper and spe-cious terms into discussions con-cerning ecclesiology? Does thatnot misinform the faithful andthereby destabilize the life ofthe Church?

Finally, why doesn’t OCLpractice the unity it preaches?Why hasn’t OCL spoken outmore forcefully on behalf ofSaint Nicholas Church onGround Zero? Where is OCL’spublic outcry against the hostil-ity toward that innocent andhistoric house of worship? Ifthere is any issue which criesout for active Pan-Orthodox co-ordination in America, it’s thelong-overdue reconstruction ofSaint Nicholas Church on a fu-ture national monument. OCLhas sporadically posted a fewarticles about this issue on itswebsite, but that’s hardly a mea-suring stick for promoting Or-thodox Unity. Here I would alsonote that neither the OCA northe Antiochian Archdiocesehave offered any substantive –or even moral – public supporton this issue, and that’s very dis-appointing.

IOCC (International Ortho-dox Christian Charities) remainsa bright spot for Pan-Orthodoxcooperation, but the need to re-build Saint Nicholas Church onGround Zero is a tangible andconcrete Pan-Orthodox Christ-ian issue in this country, and thefact that OCL has not taken vig-orous action to defend thatblessed church indicates a re-sounding pragmatic failure tostand by its own stated ideals.I’m not interested in any excusesfor that failure. I simply wantOCL, and all Orthodox Chris-tians in this country, to energet-ically support the need to re-build Saint Nicholas Church.

In conclusion, I hope OCLviews what I’ve written herewith an open mind, and treatsit as a sincere challenge to mod-ify its attitude toward OrthodoxChristian issues going forward.Solving the multi-jurisdictionalproblem among Orthodox inAmerica requires a factual ap-proach. That implies droppingunreasonable demands for au-tocephaly.

Mr. Lambrou was managing ed-itor of The National Heraldfrom 2004 to 2009, and is a dis-tinguished graduate of HolyCross Greek Orthodox School ofTheology in Boston.

Autocephaly Not Necessary for Church Unity in America

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

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Finally, why doesn’t OCLpractice the unity itpreaches? Why hasn’t OCLspoken out more forcefullyon behalf of St. NicholasChurch on Ground Zero?

ANTILOGOS

The National Herald websitereaders, apparently tired of allthe Greek-bashing, liked a com-mentary by a Greek Americancollege student urging the Dias-pora, particularly those in theUnited States, to stand up andembrace their identity insteadof feeling embarrassed becauseof the Greek economic crisis andstories portraying Greeks as lazy,corrupt tax evaders.

TIME FOR GREEKS TOEMBRACE IDENTITY

• Greece needs patriots, butthey won't find it among thecynical, elected elites in Athens.

Those swine (with few excep-tions) have treated Greece andGreeks with contempt fordecades. Without a completehousecleaning in the govern-ment Greece is doomed.

– Philip Vorgias • Bravo Niko! You sound like

a real, very proud patriot! Point-ing fingers and assigning blame,by themselves, will not resolveanything. There is a passage inmy book, "Prisoners of OurThoughts" (I'm returning toGreece this week-end to, amongother things, support the releaseof a new Greek edition!) that

says: "The best way to realizeyour dreams is to wake up!" Inother words, complaining,blaming, and "dreaming" aren'tsufficient to make the kind ofsocietal changes that are neces-sary. Patriotism must translateinto action! I contend thatGreece is on the cusp of its "Sec-ond Golden Age" and that, as alaboratory of democracy (whatbetter place for such?!), she willlead the way out of the abyssfollowed by other countries, in-cluding the USA. OPA! (see:www.theopaway.com)

– Alex Pattakos

• Sorry to say but the Patrio-tism is fast falling to Individual-ism. Gone are the true patriotsof yesteryear with the ELLADAfirst attitude

– George Magoulas

A Call to Patriotism

CORRECTION

the VFw Post in Somervillemass. is 81 years old, not 80as we published in Steve Fran-gos’ article in our September3rd issue.

Page 9: The National Herald€¦ · was of Greek origin, was the youngest victim of the Septem - ber 11 attacks. At least 27 names in total are Greek or Greek American from the nearly 3,000

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011 9

Omar Gaddafi’s rule overLibya has come to an end andthe people of Libya will have theopportunity to determine theirown future. However, the stakesare high because few in theWest are familiar with the dis-parate groups and leaders thathave coalesced into the rebelforces over the course of thecivil war.

At the same time, there willbe the tendency to compareLibya to Egypt and try to ana-lyze how events in Cairo couldcompare with those in Tripoli.A better example, of course, isSyria where the demonstrationsare facing violent repressionfrom the armed forces of theBashar al-Assad.

Libya, in contrast to Egyptand Syria, is not a natural state.Indeed, Libya is a British cre-ation that came about in 1951.The country is an amalgamationof Cyrenaica and Tripolitania,two former provinces of the Ot-toman Empire, and at the timeof its independence was charac-terized by a rural tribal culture.

In 1969, Gaddafi, with ahandful of officers, overthrew aweak monarchy and establisheda dictatorship that followed er-ratic domestic and foreign poli-cies. Over the past forty yearsof brutal dictatorship, Gaddafiimposed a variety of politicalsystems such as “Islamic social-ism” that culminated with“amahiriya”, a neologism mean-ing a mass state or governmentby the masses. He offered him-self as a great Arab leader andwhen that found little resonancehe stilled himself as a greatAfrican ruler. In effect, Libya hasbeen ruled by the whims of anincreasingly unstable dictatorand his family.

Like many of the older lead-ers of the Middle East, bothGaddafi and his son have failedto appreciate two critical factorsthat are pushing for change inthe region – mass communica-tions, particularly social media,

and the youth.Sixty percent of thepopulation of theMiddle East is un-der the age ofthirty. In Libya thepopulation is bothyoung and concen-trated in cities. Theurbanization inLibya came as a re-sult of petroleumwealth and eventu-ally became abreeding groundfor organized oppo-sition.

The danger inthe post-Gaddafi Libya is politi-cal fragmentation. So far theglue that bound all the rebelsgroups was the overthrow ofGaddafi. Subsequently, it willtake considerable skill and po-litical acumen to bring togethera significant section of the rebelalliance into a coalition govern-ment. A critical factor is whowill win the loyalty of the south-ern tribes and that will give the

leader of a futurecoalition a strongbase of support.

Unfortunately,Gaddafi did notpermit any form ofopposition both inand out of govern-ment - what hadpassed for govern-mental institutionswas a system moreakin to the struc-ture of an orga-nized crime family.Gaddafi’s chaoticregime guttedLibya’s political in-

stitutions and governmental ap-paratus leaving a major chal-lenge for the victorious rebels.

On the other hand, it is onlya matter of time before the newgovernment of Libya will haveto deal with Gaddafi and his fol-lowers. How they do this willindicated the type of regime thatwill oversee the transformationof Libya from gangster-ruledstate to a democracy. The newrulers will have to make a criti-cal decision – turn Gaddafi overto the International Court or ex-act vengeance? But it may be amute point. The inexperiencedand barely trained forces ofwhat used to be the rebel forcesmay not have the disciplineeven to arrest the former dicta-tor but simply dispatch him onthe spot.

Certainly, the future is uncer-tain. In the euphoria of victoryrebel soldiers and supportershave been waving British andFrench flags expressing theirgratitude to both countries fortheir support. However, there isno such sentiment displayed forthe United States. The bestmeans of trying to ensure sta-bility and maintain law and or-der in Libya is to deploy NATOor UN troops until a new Libyangovernment can assume control.

However, boots on theground will depend on theUnited States, which under the

current financial and politicalcircumstances is unlikely. Unfor-tunately, the pervasive influenceof the Tea Party and the obses-sion of its leadership with thepolitics of the absurd combinedwith the weakness of the ObamaAdministration have placed se-vere limitation on US foreigncommitments.

Without American financialand military support the otherNATO members do not have thecapability of bringing and main-taining peacekeeping troops inLibya. The French and British,both depend on Libyan lightcrude oil, should assume theburden of stabilizing the coun-try. But it is unlikely that eithergovernment can provide anypeacekeeping operations. Libya.

The absence of a stabilizingforce will mean that securityand stability will be left tochance. Will the rebels be ableto craft the necessary compro-mises between Gaddafi loyalistsand revolutionaries? If they failand the post Gaddafi eraplunges the Libyan people intochaos, eventually a secular orIslamic authoritarian regimewill undoubtedly impose order,which may not be to the likingof the West.

Another scenario is forLibya’s neighbors to step in andhelp with the stabilization of thecountry. Countries such asGreece could have taken thelead in assisting the Libyansemerge from the chaos of theGaddafi era? The US and theEU could have provided thefunding and the Greeks, Italians,and Turks provided the boots onthe ground. Unfortunately, itmay now be too late. The rebelalliance is quickly coming apartas the struggle over control ofLibya is underway.

Dr. Andre Gerolymatos is Direc-tor and Professor of the StavrosNiarchos Foundation Centre forHellenic Studies at SimonFraser University.

Gaddafi is Gone. Good. Will Good come of it?

One of the pret-tier features ofAthens and Greekcities is thequadrillions of un-lawful posters plas-tered everywhere:death notices onlight poles, politicalads on walls, bill-boards banned bythe EuropeanUnion but whichinclude ads forGreek tourism andproducts galore. AsGreece essentiallyis a lawless country– if you have laws but don’t en-force them, that’s lawlessness –and as the police are still tryingto solve minor crimes such aswho killed three innocent bankworkers during a protest march15 months ago as well as variousmurders and acts of terrorism,people who put up posters arepretty much ignored. That wasuntil a couple of kids put upspoof posters in Thessaloniki ofPrime Minister George “Sellout”Papandreou, who has prettymuch handed the keys to theKingdom of Greece over to theso-called Troika of the EuropeanUnion-International MonetaryFund-European Central Bank inreturn for cutting workers pay,raising taxes and slashing pen-sion benefits. The poster felons’crime? Their posters showedphotos of Papandreou and thecaption, “Wanted by the GreekPeople … for Selling off Greece.”It’s hard to argue that’s not accu-rate as Papandreou is about togive the orders to sell off or lease

$71 billion of state-run entitiesand properties, among themsome of the few moneymakingventures, such as Hellenic Petro-leum. But truth isn’t a defense inGreece so the two young men,20 and 21, were charged with …. well, apparently with puttingup posters, although politicalcampaign posters that include Pa-pandreou’s smiling face are stillallowed because they are not crit-ical of the government if techni-cally unlawful. As the AssociatedPress noted in a brief report onthe incident: “Putting up postersin public areas is a petty offense,but the law is extremely rarelyenforced and illegal posters -mostly political or advertising -proliferate.”

This is the slippery slopewhere democracy starts to slideaway: you charge people withparodying your leader and youthen arrest them? Isn’t that whatthey do in China and Belaruswhere they have one-party sys-tems and dictatorships? It’s notreally a surprise though as Pa-pandreou, the one-time hippie ofAmherst College in Massachu-setts won’t show his real stripesbecause they keep changingcolor. His Administration requirespeople who buy prepaid phonechips to show identity cards andyou can bet those go straight topolice files. Under Papandreou,police will also soon have theright to know who anonymousbloggers are and if you can bearrested for putting up a spoofposter, you can be arrested forcriticizing Mr. Transparency on-line as well. Curiously, no onehas been arrested for putting upposters of the Members of Par-liament who’ve gone along withthe austerity measures, eventhough they show the faces ofthe guilty and have a headlinecalling them “Bandidos” and saythey are …. wanted for sellingoff Greece. You want posters? Goto the University of Athens,where students-for-life have cov-ered most every square inch ofavailable space on some build-ings with posters declaring their

love for Che Gue-vara, Communism,the right to drive1957 Chevrolets andstand in bread lines.Those are unlawfultoo, as are theirother-end-of-the-spectrum counter-parts from RightWing loonies whowant all immigrantsshipped out of thecountry now, exceptfor the ones who areselling cheap knock-off goods next to theuniversity, alongside

junkies shooting up dope inbroad daylight. That’s unlawfultoo, but you won’t find anyonebeing arrested for that unless thedope fiend is trying to put up aposter of Papandreou that’s un-flattering.

It seems there’s no end towhich this Administration won’tgo to stifle dissent while sayingjust the opposite. Consider thecurious case of Stella Balfousia,a top budget researcher who re-signed (translation: fired with alittle bailout of her own) aftershe did the math and said Papan-dreou’s Administration has asmany liars as those that precededit and faked the numbers soGreece could get into the Euro-zone of countries using the euro,thereby insuring its economicdemise. Balfousia headed a panelof experts appointed by Parlia-ment in March to provide law-makers independent economicassessments on the progress ofGreece’s major austerity pro-gram. Because she did her job,

she accurately warned thatGreece would likely miss 2011budget targets because of monthsof austerity delays by the govern-ment and sluggish tax collection(translation: Papandreou is afraidto collect taxes from his rich taxevading friends who cost thecountry $40 billion a year.) Theresponse? Shoot the messenger.THIS IS ATHENS! Finance Min-ister Evangelos Venizelos – whohas no real background in fi-nance - criticized the report aslacking “validity” and argued thatmembers of the panel — knownas the State Budget Office — hadyet to acquire the “knowledge,experience and responsibility” re-quired for the job. Neither has heand maybe he didn’t know thatbefore heading the four-memberpanel Balfousia held a senior po-sition at a separate researchgroup that advises the govern-ment, and at the state statisticsagency. She could have told himto count to 10 first but he can’tcount that high.

Her resignation drew sharpcriticism from the opposition con-servatives of New Democracy, al-though their Administration wasin power from 2004-09 and wasjust as big a bunch of liars. “Thegovernment has reached thepoint of forcing out officialswhich itself chose ... What moredoes it need to finally understandthat its financial policy is wrong?”said New Democracy spokesmanYiannis Michelakis, although thesame could have been said of hisparty, which is just as woefullyincompetent. Papandreou hasdismissed the idea of a coalitiongovernment but maybe he andhis former roommate at Amherst,Antonis Samaras, who nowheads New Democracy, could atleast sit down for a coffee to talkthings over, although it’s goingto be a lot more expensive be-cause Papandreou hiked the taxon coffee to 23%. Maybe Papan-dreou can order the sign takendown and have the shop ownerarrested.

[email protected]

Wanted By the Greek People– For Selling Off Greece

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Dr. John PsarouthakisSpecial to The National Herald

Without effective higher ed-ucation that includes significantR&D, it is very difficult forGreece to achieve economic de-velopment and social progressat rates that will accelerate herconvergence with the other Eu-ropean Union partners.

The picture at Greek univer-sities is very disappointing. Uni-versities in Greece do not havethe necessary autonomy. Theyhardly conduct any R&D. Theyhave no continuous “dialogue”between universities and soci-ety. The universities producegraduates without the education/ training required to work forthe country’s progress. Gradu-ates are not absorbed by the la-bor market while the country islosing ground in both educa-tional level and competitiveness,holding down its growth ratesand undermining convergencewith the other EU countries. Theuniversities should continuouslysearch for the trends and re-quirements in society and eco-nomic life with a view to theirgraduates’ integration.

Progress and developmentshould not only be measured bywhether Greece has, for in-stance, more roads or cars thanin the 1970’s, but also by its pre-sent situation in relation toother countries. Greece’s posi-tion on this comparison is notat all flattering, but what isworse is the inability of the sys-tem to adapt and keep abreastwith present requirements.

Greece in the EuropeanUnion Context -the situation ofR&D, higher education, and eco-nomic productivity should notbe approached outside of theframework of the EU, which in-creasingly influences the pat-terns of education and researchin all the member states.

Any reform of the existingsituation in Greece demands acareful and critical look at thebroader socio-economic situa-tion at the national level. Thestate structure, and particularlythe way in which the state in-teracts with the private sector,form the national framework inwhich any reforms will fail orsucceed.

An examination of higher ed-ucation in Greece reveals an un-even and unproductive relationto the national and globaleconomies.

The university system is char-acterized by a high degree of'peripheralization’ in relation tothe global system of higher ed-ucation. This is closely relatedto the development of the Greekeconomy as peripheral, in rela-tion to the global and Europeanmarkets.

The present international ed-ucational equation has certaininstitutional and intellectual'centers' that give direction, pro-vide models, produce research,and in general function as pin-

nacles of the academic system.At the opposite end of the spec-trum are universities that are'peripheral' in the sense thatthey produce little that is origi-nal, and are generally not at thefrontiers of knowledge. Becausethe world knowledge system isstructured according to suchcenters, then the gravitation ofresearch towards these centersis of little surprise."The braindrain” illustrates a more com-plex form of internal misbalanc-ing. Professional emigration isbasically a consequence of thereproduction of the technicalapparatus of advanced nationsin underdeveloped ones. Im-planted institutions come tofunction in accordance with theneeds and requirements of theadvanced nations rather thanthose in the receiving ones.

In modernizing countries,education often focuses on es-tablishing a proper competencewith 'modem' forms, which be-comes a 'paper competence', i.e.focusing only on creating paperqualification. That is- thediploma which is the passportto a “secure” job in an ever ex-panding state bureaucracy, apassport to status and income.In the case of Greece the depen-dent economy which is initiallycharacterized by the industrialdevelopment of decades pastraises a demand for local 'mim-icry’ of foreign structures, inboth production and education.In this case in Greece engineersare primarily qualified for thesimple application and mainte-nance of the products of foreigntechnology, rather than originaldevelopment.

The higher education systemin Greece continues to be char-acterized by, importantly, the in-ability of the economy to absorbgraduates. A more relevant partof the policy should thereforeinclude not only the number ofpositions available, but the fitof the education with such po-sitions. Unemployment of grad-uates has severely worsened inrecent years. It exceeds 40%graduates currently and it is notonly due to the present eco-nomic crisis but also due to theimbalance referred to previ-ously.

What has been made clearup to now is that the percentageof graduates with qualificationsthat can raise economic produc-tivity (industrial or agricultural)is very low. The public sector inGreece is primarily staffed bythe graduates of the massiveschools of economic and socialsciences without any furtherspecialization. In such a situa-tion, the state becomes the pri-mary-absorption point for over-educated but under-specializedgraduates and becomes a Wel-fare State.

The challenges faced byGreece in the development ofthe Information Society include:

Negative infrastructure con-ditions; Dysfunctional state ap-

paratuses; Telecommunications- slow growth in a liberalizedframework; Relative lack ofskills necessary in today's mar-kets; Lack of incentives and op-portunities for retraining andcontinuous learning; Traditionalbasis of many economic forms;Low absorption and low absorp-tion rate for new technologies;Insufficient research and invest-ment in new service technolo-gies, and so on.

Some brief recommendationson the assumption that univer-sities will become autonomous:

First: Very briefly, create aBoard of Trustees with a definedfour or five year tenure. TheTrustees should not be membersof the internal university com-munity. They should be selectedby a committee of no more thanseven professors, the president,and an elected student repre-sentative. Each trustee could benominated by other trustees,professors, administrators, or

community leaders and votedby the faculty and approved bythe Board. The seven professorsshould be selected by the facultysenate through a vote.

The President should be se-lected from five finalists that acommittee composed by sevenprofessors, one student, and af-ter a specialized consulting firmhas conducted a world-widesearch to find qualified candi-dates from which the best fiveare submitted, after a detailevaluation, to the Board to vote/ select for the best one in theirjudgment. The president is anon-voting member of theBoard. A chairman is elected bythe voting board members (De-tails of how the above takesplace is beyond the space allot-ted for this article).

Second: At the design phaseof needed actions / policies itmust ensured that the specificcharacteristics and needs per-taining to Greece economic andsocial progress be given top con-sideration. These include the al-ready severely marginal positionof R&D in the national arena,and also the marginal positionof existing Greek R&D in the Eu-ropean context.

Third: Government depart-ments, higher education estab-lishments, and the private sectorshould follow closely the devel-opments as they unfold in orderto be ready to submit proposalsand implement the required ac-tions.

Fourth: The new plans-poli-cies should offer the opportunityto redraw the rules and alter theconditions that govern the lim-

ited R&D efforts that take placein Greece. The framework is de-fined (generally) by archaic leg-islation, and traditional patron-age relationships between thehigher education and researchinstitutions, the state and theprivate sector has managed tostop significant R&D develop-ment in Greece. The redraftingof the new framework shouldallow participation of all sectorsand industries. This in turncould contribute in the emer-gence of successful new tech-nology businesses, an increasein employment and the liftingof the majority of the Greek re-gions from the lowest ranks ineconomic performance.

Fifth: In view of the EU R&Denlargement process Greeceshould seek to facilitate this ex-pansion in the south-east Euro-pean wider region. Appropriatehandling of the issue could re-sult in the transformation ofGreece to a major regional cen-tre rather than a marginal entityon Education and R&D. Thus,Greek efforts should offer trans-ethnic, trans-cultural; trans-na-tional avenues of involvementin in Education and R&D. Thismay require to make the Englishlanguage an operational part ofthe Universities.

Sixth: in parallel Greecemust make changes in Labor Re-lations Laws, Contract Law, andestablish a politically Indepen-dent Judiciary. Also the countryneeds to institute an effectivetax law and infrastructure andstart giving emphasis on com-petence and not only on the po-litically connected persons re-gardless of their abilities.Reduce the size of the stateeconomy relative to the private,and give incentives to attract,preferably private, investments,and promote Entrepreneurshipto exploit, commercially speak-ing, the R&D results.

At minimum these are theneeded changes before invest-ments can be seriously consid-ered for Greece that will havelong term economic effect andnot for a quick profit and thengetting out!

Dr. John Psarouthakis: Distin-guished Visiting Fellow/Profes-sor, Institute of AdvancedStudies in the Humanities, Uni-versity of Edinburgh, Scotland;Professor, Postma Chair of En-trepreneurship, Nyenrode Busi-ness University, TheNetherlands; Professor, RossSchool of Business, Universityof Michigan, USA; Sr. Lecturer,MIT. Member of DevelopmentBoard, MIT; Board of Trustees,Carnegie Mellon University;Chairman of the Strategic Fundof Michigan (the economic de-velopment agency of the State)in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s;Founder and CEO, JPIndustries,Inc. (a Fortune 500 industrialcorporation); Sr. SpaceScientist, the Martin Co.(Lock-heed-Martin Corp.).

The Greek Economy And The Greek Universities

by ANDYDABILIS

Special to The National Herald

by DR. ANDREGEROLYMATOS

Special to The National Herald

“An examination ofhigher education inGreece reveals an unevenand unproductive relationto the national and global economies”

Omar Gaddafi’s rule overLibya has come to an end.

Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos gestures as he ad-dresses the media during a press conference on the state ofthe Greek economy in Athens on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011.

AP PHOtO/kOStAS tSirOniS

GUEST EDITORIALS: the national Herald welcomes manuscriptsrepresenting a variety of views for publication in its View Pointspage. they should include the writer’s name, address, telephonenumber and be addressed to the View Points editor, the nationalHerald, 37-10 30th St., lic, ny 11101. they can also be e-mailedto english.edition@thenational herald.com. Due to considerations ofspace we enforce a strict 850-word upper limit. we reserve theright to edit.

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10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2011


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