ATHENS – It's quite likely that you'll arrive in Athens in the late afternoon, groggy and disoriented after a seriously long flight. The ride into town from the airport is unlikely to help your spirits. You'll whiz along an efficient but anony- mous highway before being fed in- to Athens' ferocious traffic. Somewhere, you know, not far away, must be the blue Aegean and the lofty Acropolis. But where? Surrounded by cars which are either stuck in gridlock or ma- niacally jockeying for position with no apparent respect for lanes, deafened by the explosions of hordes of mufflerless kamikaze motorcycles, you might even de- bate whether or not to ask your cab driver to make a U-turn and take you back to the airport. Don't despair. SYNTAGMA AND PLAKA When you get to your hotel, jump in the shower, take a nap, and then set off for an evening stroll through Syntagma (Consti- tution) Square past the House of Parliament. Take a few minutes to explore Syntagma's handsome new marble Metro station, with its display of finds from the excava- tions here. If it's warm outside, es- cape into the shade of the Nation- al Garden, and join Athenians feeding the pigeons. Then head in- to the Plaka, the old neighborhood on the slopes of the Acropolis which has more restaurants, cafes, and souvenir shops than private homes. If you get off the Plaka's main drags, Kidathineon and Adrianou, and follow one of the streets like Thespidos which run up the slope of the Acropolis, you'll find yourself in Anafiotika. This Plaka district, built in the 19th Century by immigrants from the Cycladic island of Anafi, re- tains much of its old village char- acter. From time to time as you stroll, look up. You're bound to see the Acropolis, perhaps floodlit – the best reminder of why you came. After you have your first Greek meal, perhaps washed down with astringent retsina wine, head back to your hotel and get a good night's sleep so that you'll be ready for your first real day in Athens. You can find out more about most of Athens's monuments and museums at the Ministry of Cul- By Marc Hopkins Dow Jones Newswires WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Adelphia Communications' bankruptcy case continues its slow wind-down, legal action for the ca- ble provider's founding family continues to simmer. Attorneys for the family have made another $600,000 request to tap the liability insurance policies of Adelphia's directors and offi- cers. According to the Rigas fami- ly's attorney, Lawrence G. McMichael, amounts disbursed under the policies have reached between $4-5 million over the past three years. McMichael, chairman of Dil- worth Paxson's litigation depart- ment, is defending the Rigases in an Adelphia lawsuit against the company's former auditor, De- loitte & Touche LLP. The case is scheduled for trial starting January 5, 2007. Adelphia is seeking several bil- lion dollars in damages from De- loitte & Touche, claiming the firm was aware of the Rigases' self- dealing and looting of the compa- ny. According to Adelphia, De- loitte failed to disclose corporate abuses which it knew, and should have known, were taking place to the audit committee of the compa- ny's board or to the board's inde- pendent members. Deloitte & Touche counter- sued, and in a statement on Au- gust 10, the firm said, "To the ex- tent that the allegations made by Adelphia are true, Adelphia was engaged in a scheme to defraud Deloitte & Touche, and that Adel- phia itself is responsible for its own wrongdoing. Deloitte & Touche further alleges that the Adelphia Board of Directors and the Adelphia Audit Committee were aware of conduct by Adel- phia management that Adelphia now alleges to have been wrongful and did nothing to stop it or reme- dy it." The Rigases are named as addi- tional defendants in the lawsuit. McMichael said that over the past two weeks, four members of the Rigas family have been deposed. He said Adelphia Founder John Rigas and his son Timothy exer- cised their Fifth Amendment rights and declined to answer questions at their depositions, on the advice of counsel, because of their criminal convictions. John and Timothy Rigas were convicted in 2004 of pocketing more than $2 billion from Adel- phia for their own use and mis- leading investors about the com- pany's finances and performance. Timothy Rigas, the company's one-time chief financial officer, By Evan C. Lambrou Special to The National Herald NEW YORK – A Greek Amer- ican truck driver, who allegedly caused a horrific crash which killed four people and robbed a lit- tle girl of her parents and sister on the New Jersey Turnpike, may face charges for spending too many hours on the road and over- loading his truck, investigators said. The terrifying crash came this past Monday, August 14, when Demetrios Tseperkas of Port Jef- ferson, Long Island slammed on the brakes; struck a median; and veered out of control across the busy highway, according to New Jersey State Police. A Queens couple, Charles Christmas, 40, and his wife, There- sa Foti, 41, and one of their young daughters were among the four people killed after the 18-wheel tractor-trailer, hauling bricks, spun out on the Turnpike, ca- reened across several lanes of traf- fic; clipped a Mitsubishi Eclipse; hit another truck; and rammed the Christmas-Foti family’s Nissan in Teaneck near the George Wash- ington Bridge, troopers said. Traf- fic backed up for nearly ten miles on the northbound side, and stretched across the bridge on the outbound side. After crushing the couple’s sedan, troopers added, the truck operated by Mr. Tseperkas By John F.L. Ross Associated Press ATHENS (AP) – Two years af- ter all the pomp and glamour, Athens is still struggling with its Olympic inheritance. The venues built for the 2004 Olympic Games were constructed at considerable cost. Now these ad- ditions to Greece's national her- itage generate criticism – and red ink. A recent visit to the equestrian venue at Markopoulo, east of Athens, revealed manicured grounds primed for competition. They're also empty. At the nearby shooting venue, two guards, a dog and concrete road barriers offered a dubious greeting. At both, en- trance was denied. According to a report in the newspaper Eleftherotypia, con- tractual disputes and extensive looting have beset the shooting center, while the equestrian cross- country facility awaits conversion as the capital's second golf course. International Olympic Commit- tee President Jacques Rogge called the Athens Olympics "unforget- table, dream games." Now, with the Olympic calendar halfway to Bei- jing in 2008, managing the after- math of the Athens Olympics has become deeply controversial in a land where the ancient games were first held 2,800 years ago. The domestic political blame game continues unabated. For years, the Socialists – now in oppo- sition after governing for most of Lawyers Ask $600K To Defend Rigases From Accountants Greek Trucker In Major Accident By Steve Frangos Special to The National Herald Every so often, incredibly valu- able Greek American historical documents float into public view. All we have to do is wait for the un- expected to rediscover these lost historical gems. The Chicago Daily News Pho- tographs – 1902-33 website on the Library of Congress’ National Digi- tal Library Program is one such treasure house of visual images. This vast collection consists of more than 55,000 images of urban life drawn from more than 30 years of news-related photography. In this vast collection of visual images, we find 28 photographs between 1906 and 1927 identified, in their meager accompanying documentation, as “Greeks.” Unfortunately, outside of the image, corresponding infor- mation is not always available. Readers, or perhaps I should say viewers, of this site are told that one must review the microfilms of the Chicago Daily News if they wish to learn about the news stories for which these photographs were first taken. But since many assigned news stories were never published, and many more photographs of a single event taken than were ever actually used in a published article, this digital collection offers a unique collection of historical im- ages. Greek images outside of those Photographs Outside of History: What they Reveal Struggling with Olympic Heritage By Rev. Dr. George D. Dragas Father Dragas is Professor of Pa- trology and Patristics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theolo- gy. He delivered the above address at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on the occasion of his receiving the University’s Aristeion (annual award for excellence in scholarship) this past Spring. Part I of II was pub- lished in last week’s edition. Part II is published here. 10. The Scientific and Theolog- ical Perception: I believe that this perception is the Anthropic Prin- ciple (the relation of man to the universe), which was recovered by modern physics in its natural cos- mic dimension through the theory of relativity. Einstein proved, when he produced the revolution- ary equation E=mcÇ, that energy (spirit) is not superior to matter, but that, in the final analysis, mat- ter is energy – energy which has been condensed or compressed, and can be decompressed and even transform. However spatially vast the material cosmos may seem to be, it modern astrophysics has proven that the cosmos is in con- stant motion and expectation to evolve and be transformed through expansion. Theologians call this, creation continua. More- over, however vast the space-time dimensions of the material uni- verse seem to be, they are ulti- mately quite limited, measurable and detectable and, more impor- tantly, are inferior to the spiritual Einstein and the Church Fathers The miracle of snakes on Cephalonia A nun kisses a small snake, tame and harmless, considered to bring luck in the village of Markopoulo on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, this past Tuesday, August 15, the feast day of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Each year on August 15th, the snakes crawl to a particular church in Markopoulo. See story on page 7. Two guards sit near the ancient temple of Parthenon as the moon is seen above them at Acropolis hill in Athens last Wednesday, August 9. Many archaeological sites in Greece were open for the public that evening for the full moon in August. Athens’ Rich History Available to All Visitors Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 5 Continued on Page 10 Continued on Page 2 By Philip Jackson The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLANTA, Ga. – Minor league baseball took Brad Bouras to locales as exciting as Greece and as pastoral as Boise, Idaho. But when the former Parkview standout had to retire two years ago because of a broken arm, he knew Georgia was where he want- ed to return. Bouras has come back to the area and started an instructional baseball company called Elite Athletics. He also coaches high school travel ball for players to showcase their talents in front of college and pro scouts. "I've been a hitting instructor on the side ever since college," Bouras said. "And I also made a lot of contacts along the way. So the idea came together at the right time." Elite Athletics is based in Winder, but also holds training clinics in Conyers and Loganville. Elite has instructional camps and lessons given by ex-pros. The trav- el squads, Team Elite, play in vari- ous tournaments to provide expo- sure for high school players and recent graduates. "Right now, we have three teams, but next year, we are look- ing to go to younger age levels and might have up to ten teams," Bouras said. If things had worked out differ- ently, Bouras might still be playing baseball instead of coaching it. Af- ter hitting .490 in 1998 and making all-county at Parkview, the first baseman went onto four stellar seasons at Columbus State. He was an NCAA Division II All- Continued on Page 3 Ex-Ball Player Finds Solace In Instructional Baseball Outfit ATHENS (AP) – Hundreds of mourners from Greece and Cyprus held a memorial service this past Monday, August 14, at the site where a Helios Airways plane crashed one year ago and killed all 121 people onboard. About 150 relatives flew to Athens from Cyprus to attend the ceremony on a hillside just outside the village of Grammatiko, some 25 miles north of the Greek capital. The remainder were relatives of the people who were aboard the plane when it crashed on August 14, 2005. The memorial was held outside a small newly built chapel dedicat- ed to the Greek and Cypriots who perished. Investigators say their report in- to Greece's worst airplane crash will be published early next month. The memorial was held less than a week after investigators found at least one of three missing bodies from the crash. DNA tests were be- ing conducted on the remains. Chief accident investigator Akrivos Tsolakis said three sets of human remains were located last Continued on Page 7 Families of Helios Airways Tragedy Commemorate 1st Year Since Crash The National Herald a b VOL. 9, ISSUE 462 A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION AUGUST 19, 2006 $1.00 - GREECE: 1.75 Euro www.thenationalherald.com *081906* AP/THANASSIS STAVRAKIS AP/PETROS GIANNAKOURIS
Transcript
ATHENS – It's quite likely thatyou'll arrive in Athens in the lateafternoon, groggy and disorientedafter a seriously long flight. Theride into town from the airport isunlikely to help your spirits. You'llwhiz along an efficient but anony-mous highway before being fed in-to Athens' ferocious traffic.
Somewhere, you know, not faraway, must be the blue Aegeanand the lofty Acropolis. Butwhere? Surrounded by cars whichare either stuck in gridlock or ma-niacally jockeying for position withno apparent respect for lanes,deafened by the explosions ofhordes of mufflerless kamikazemotorcycles, you might even de-bate whether or not to ask yourcab driver to make a U-turn andtake you back to the airport.
Don't despair.SSYYNNTTAAGGMMAA AANNDD PPLLAAKKAAWhen you get to your hotel,
jump in the shower, take a nap,and then set off for an eveningstroll through Syntagma (Consti-tution) Square past the House ofParliament. Take a few minutes toexplore Syntagma's handsomenew marble Metro station, with itsdisplay of finds from the excava-tions here. If it's warm outside, es-cape into the shade of the Nation-al Garden, and join Atheniansfeeding the pigeons. Then head in-
to the Plaka, the old neighborhoodon the slopes of the Acropoliswhich has more restaurants, cafes,and souvenir shops than privatehomes. If you get off the Plaka'smain drags, Kidathineon andAdrianou, and follow one of thestreets like Thespidos which runup the slope of the Acropolis,you'll find yourself in Anafiotika.
This Plaka district, built in the19th Century by immigrants fromthe Cycladic island of Anafi, re-tains much of its old village char-acter. From time to time as youstroll, look up. You're bound tosee the Acropolis, perhaps floodlit– the best reminder of why youcame.
After you have your first Greek
meal, perhaps washed down withastringent retsina wine, head backto your hotel and get a goodnight's sleep so that you'll be readyfor your first real day in Athens.
You can find out more aboutmost of Athens's monuments andmuseums at the Ministry of Cul-
By Marc HopkinsDow Jones Newswires
WASHINGTON, D.C. – AsAdelphia Communications'bankruptcy case continues its slowwind-down, legal action for the ca-ble provider's founding familycontinues to simmer.
Attorneys for the family havemade another $600,000 request totap the liability insurance policiesof Adelphia's directors and offi-cers. According to the Rigas fami-ly's attorney, Lawrence G.McMichael, amounts disbursedunder the policies have reachedbetween $4-5 million over the pastthree years.
McMichael, chairman of Dil-worth Paxson's litigation depart-ment, is defending the Rigases inan Adelphia lawsuit against thecompany's former auditor, De-loitte & Touche LLP. The case isscheduled for trial starting January5, 2007.
Adelphia is seeking several bil-lion dollars in damages from De-loitte & Touche, claiming the firmwas aware of the Rigases' self-dealing and looting of the compa-ny. According to Adelphia, De-loitte failed to disclose corporateabuses which it knew, and shouldhave known, were taking place tothe audit committee of the compa-ny's board or to the board's inde-pendent members.
Deloitte & Touche counter-sued, and in a statement on Au-gust 10, the firm said, "To the ex-tent that the allegations made byAdelphia are true, Adelphia wasengaged in a scheme to defraudDeloitte & Touche, and that Adel-phia itself is responsible for itsown wrongdoing. Deloitte &Touche further alleges that theAdelphia Board of Directors andthe Adelphia Audit Committeewere aware of conduct by Adel-phia management that Adelphianow alleges to have been wrongfuland did nothing to stop it or reme-dy it."
The Rigases are named as addi-tional defendants in the lawsuit.McMichael said that over the pasttwo weeks, four members of theRigas family have been deposed.He said Adelphia Founder JohnRigas and his son Timothy exer-cised their Fifth Amendmentrights and declined to answerquestions at their depositions, onthe advice of counsel, because oftheir criminal convictions.
John and Timothy Rigas wereconvicted in 2004 of pocketingmore than $2 billion from Adel-phia for their own use and mis-leading investors about the com-pany's finances and performance.Timothy Rigas, the company'sone-time chief financial officer,
By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald
NEW YORK – A Greek Amer-ican truck driver, who allegedlycaused a horrific crash whichkilled four people and robbed a lit-tle girl of her parents and sister onthe New Jersey Turnpike, mayface charges for spending toomany hours on the road and over-loading his truck, investigatorssaid.
The terrifying crash came thispast Monday, August 14, whenDemetrios Tseperkas of Port Jef-ferson, Long Island slammed onthe brakes; struck a median; andveered out of control across thebusy highway, according to NewJersey State Police.
A Queens couple, CharlesChristmas, 40, and his wife, There-sa Foti, 41, and one of their youngdaughters were among the fourpeople killed after the 18-wheeltractor-trailer, hauling bricks,spun out on the Turnpike, ca-reened across several lanes of traf-fic; clipped a Mitsubishi Eclipse;hit another truck; and rammed theChristmas-Foti family’s Nissan inTeaneck near the George Wash-ington Bridge, troopers said. Traf-fic backed up for nearly ten mileson the northbound side, andstretched across the bridge on theoutbound side.
After crushing the couple’ssedan, troopers added, the truckoperated by Mr. Tseperkas
By John F.L. RossAssociated Press
ATHENS (AP) – Two years af-ter all the pomp and glamour,Athens is still struggling with itsOlympic inheritance.
The venues built for the 2004Olympic Games were constructedat considerable cost. Now these ad-ditions to Greece's national her-itage generate criticism – and redink.
A recent visit to the equestrianvenue at Markopoulo, east of
Athens, revealed manicuredgrounds primed for competition.They're also empty. At the nearbyshooting venue, two guards, a dogand concrete road barriers offereda dubious greeting. At both, en-trance was denied.
According to a report in thenewspaper Eleftherotypia, con-tractual disputes and extensivelooting have beset the shootingcenter, while the equestrian cross-country facility awaits conversionas the capital's second golf course.
International Olympic Commit-
tee President Jacques Rogge calledthe Athens Olympics "unforget-table, dream games." Now, with theOlympic calendar halfway to Bei-jing in 2008, managing the after-math of the Athens Olympics hasbecome deeply controversial in aland where the ancient games werefirst held 2,800 years ago.
The domestic political blamegame continues unabated. Foryears, the Socialists – now in oppo-sition after governing for most of
Every so often, incredibly valu-able Greek American historicaldocuments float into public view.All we have to do is wait for the un-expected to rediscover these losthistorical gems.
The Chicago Daily News Pho-tographs – 1902-33 website on theLibrary of Congress’ National Digi-tal Library Program is one suchtreasure house of visual images.This vast collection consists of morethan 55,000 images of urban lifedrawn from more than 30 years ofnews-related photography. In thisvast collection of visual images, wefind 28 photographs between 1906and 1927 identified, in their meager
accompanying documentation, as“Greeks.” Unfortunately, outsideof the image, corresponding infor-mation is not always available.
Readers, or perhaps I should sayviewers, of this site are told that onemust review the microfilms of theChicago Daily News if they wish tolearn about the news stories forwhich these photographs were firsttaken. But since many assignednews stories were never published,and many more photographs of asingle event taken than were everactually used in a published article,this digital collection offers aunique collection of historical im-ages.
Father Dragas is Professor of Pa-trology and Patristics at Holy CrossGreek Orthodox School of Theolo-gy. He delivered the above address atAristotle University of Thessalonikion the occasion of his receiving theUniversity’s Aristeion (annualaward for excellence in scholarship)this past Spring. Part I of II was pub-lished in last week’s edition. Part IIis published here.
10. The Scientific and Theolog-
ical Perception: I believe that thisperception is the Anthropic Prin-ciple (the relation of man to theuniverse), which was recovered bymodern physics in its natural cos-mic dimension through the theoryof relativity. Einstein proved,when he produced the revolution-ary equation E=mcÇ, that energy(spirit) is not superior to matter,but that, in the final analysis, mat-ter is energy – energy which hasbeen condensed or compressed,and can be decompressed andeven transform. However spatially
vast the material cosmos may seemto be, it modern astrophysics hasproven that the cosmos is in con-stant motion and expectation toevolve and be transformedthrough expansion. Theologianscall this, creation continua. More-over, however vast the space-timedimensions of the material uni-verse seem to be, they are ulti-mately quite limited, measurableand detectable and, more impor-tantly, are inferior to the spiritual
ATLANTA, Ga. – Minorleague baseball took Brad Bourasto locales as exciting as Greeceand as pastoral as Boise, Idaho.But when the former Parkviewstandout had to retire two yearsago because of a broken arm, heknew Georgia was where he want-ed to return.
Bouras has come back to thearea and started an instructionalbaseball company called EliteAthletics. He also coaches highschool travel ball for players toshowcase their talents in front ofcollege and pro scouts.
"I've been a hitting instructoron the side ever since college,"Bouras said. "And I also made a lotof contacts along the way. So theidea came together at the righttime."
Elite Athletics is based inWinder, but also holds trainingclinics in Conyers and Loganville.Elite has instructional camps andlessons given by ex-pros. The trav-el squads, Team Elite, play in vari-ous tournaments to provide expo-sure for high school players andrecent graduates.
"Right now, we have threeteams, but next year, we are look-ing to go to younger age levels andmight have up to ten teams,"Bouras said.
If things had worked out differ-ently, Bouras might still be playingbaseball instead of coaching it. Af-ter hitting .490 in 1998 and makingall-county at Parkview, the firstbaseman went onto four stellarseasons at Columbus State. Hewas an NCAA Division II All-
ATHENS (AP) – Hundreds ofmourners from Greece and Cyprusheld a memorial service this pastMonday, August 14, at the sitewhere a Helios Airways planecrashed one year ago and killed all121 people onboard.
About 150 relatives flew toAthens from Cyprus to attend theceremony on a hillside just outsidethe village of Grammatiko, some 25miles north of the Greek capital.The remainder were relatives of thepeople who were aboard the planewhen it crashed on August 14,2005.
The memorial was held outsidea small newly built chapel dedicat-ed to the Greek and Cypriots whoperished.
Investigators say their report in-to Greece's worst airplane crashwill be published early next month.
The memorial was held less thana week after investigators found atleast one of three missing bodiesfrom the crash. DNA tests were be-ing conducted on the remains.
Chief accident investigatorAkrivos Tsolakis said three sets ofhuman remains were located last
sheared the roof off an SUV,killing the driver of that vehicleand injuring her three passengers,one severely.
The couple’s daughter Victoria,2, died in the wreck, but their oth-er daughter Theresa, 4, miracu-lously survived.
Victoria was still sitting in hercar seat as desperate rescuersworked to cut her out of thewreckage after the 1:30 PM crash,troopers said, but they were un-able to save her.
A helicopter landed on thehighway to take little Theresa toUniversity Hospital in Newark,where she was being treated forher injuries, troopers said.
Also killed during the accidentwas Norma Ryan, 37, of Vorhees,New Jersey, who was behind thewheel of a Toyota 4-Runner.Three others in her car survived –her children, Peter and Samantha,and her friend Maria Rosado, 64,of the Bronx – and were taken toHackensack University Hospital.Peter, 12, and Samantha, 1, werelisted in good condition. Mrs.Rosado’s condition was listed as
critical.Drivers are legally required to
take a ten-hour rest after being onthe road for more than 11 hours.Investigators said the truck oper-ated by Mr. Tseperkas may havebeen anywhere from 500 to 6,500pounds overweight.
Investigators said they believeMr. Tseperkas, 46, had been driv-ing his brick-loaded rig for morethan 12 hours when he lost con-trol, sparking the fatal chain-reac-tion pileup.
The Christmas-Foti family wasdriving back from a weeklongbeach vacation in Ocean City,Maryland. They had planned tocome home last Friday, but decid-ed to extend their trip through theweekend to enjoy the gloriousweather, according to one of theirneighbors, Stephen Cirbus, whowas watching their apartment in
Astoria.Stunned neighbors recalled
Christmas and Foti as devotedparents who doted on their daugh-ters, who often played in thefenced front yard of their brickhome. “They were the most won-derful people, and the little girlsare just beautiful,” said VickyPotamitis, 43.
Mr. Christmas stayed at homewith the girls, and Ms. Foti workedas a speech therapist at a localschool, neighbors said.
Eva Trombetta, 75, struggled tohold back tears. “I’m shaking.They were beautiful people. Ifanybody is going to heaven, theyare.”
The surviving little girl’s aunt,Samantha Christmas, said littleTheresa was aware that her familyis gone, but said she is doing okay.
“She’s doing good. She’s a little
bruised, but she’s okay. She wasawake during the whole thing,”she said.
But two of the mother’s rela-tives said they feared the little girlis doomed to years of lonelinessand desolation – just like hermother.
The youngster’s devastatedgreat aunt, Loretta Dagliolo, 83, ofAstoria explained that little There-sa not only shares her mother’sfirst name, but also the devastatingearly loss of her parents (Ms. Fotilost her father at 17 and her moth-er at 21).
“Now, Theresa will be just likeher mom. She’ll be alone," Mrs.Dagliolo said.
was sentenced to 20 years inprison, while his father was sen-tenced to 15 years. Both men re-main free on bail pending appeal.
McMichael said Michael andJames Rigas – also sons of JohnRigas – testified at length underoath in a videotaped deposition.The pair are former directors andofficers of Adelphia and its formerspin-off, Adelphia Business Solu-tions.
In November, Michael Rigaspled guilty to making a false entryin the company's records. He wassentenced in March to ten monthsof home confinement.
James Rigas has never been in-dicted for any criminal offense. Heserved as a director of Adelphia, aswell as the company's executivevice president for strategic plan-ning, until May 23, 2002 when heresigned.
The latest request for legal-ex-pense reimbursement was madeon behalf of Michael and JamesRigas, who filed their request withthe U.S. Bankruptcy Court inManhattan.
The brothers are covered undera policy with Associated Electric &Gas Services LTD, which providesa primary layer of coverage worth$25 million, according to court pa-pers.
Adelphia has additional poli-cies with Federal Insurance of theChubb Group of Insurance Com-panies worth $15 million, and a$10 million policy with GreenwichInsurance.
So far, the Associated Electric& Gas Services policy has covered75 percent of the legal fees and ex-penses for the Rigases stemmingfrom civil matters. In April 2005,the Rigases and Adelphia reachedan agreement under which thecompany agreed not to object topayment of their defense costs un-der the policies.
If there are no other objectionsto the request, Judge Robert E.Gerber of the Manhattanbankruptcy court was expected toapprove the disbursement this pastThursday, August 17.
SSAALLEE OOFF AASSSSEETTSSOn July 31, Adelphia complet-
ed the sale of all its assets to TimeWarner Cable and Comcast Cor-poration for $12.5 billion in cashand about 16 percent of the equityof Time Warner's cable subsidiary.
As a result, Adelphia, whichhas been in Chapter 11 bankrupt-cy, will no longer operate as a ca-
ble company. Its 4.8 million cus-tomers will be distributed betweenTime Warner and Comcast.
With the completion of the as-set sale, thousands of cable cus-tomers across Western Pennsylva-nia will soon be getting servicesfrom Comcast.
That ownership transfer will re-sult in changes in cable television,Internet and telephone servicesfor people in more than 300 com-munities from Pennsylvania toWest Virginia.
Eventually, everyone who hasan adelphia.net e-mail address willsee it switched to comcast.net.And, sometime soon, Comcast willbe pushing new services, includinga new digital telephone service.
"We will start rolling out thephone service early next year,neighborhood by neighborhood,"said Doug Sansom, senior vicepresident of Comcast ThreeRivers Region.
The changes won't be immedi-ate.
"While the deal has closed, cus-tomers will not see a whole lot ofdifferences until late November orearly December," Mr. Sansomsaid.
Customers will start seeing theComcast name on the servicetrucks and on the letterhead ofmailings before the end of theyear, however.
"We need about four months toconnect their different Adelphiasystems to our network using somevery advanced technology," hesaid.
By November, he said, cus-tomers can expect to start receiv-ing their cable bills from Comcastinstead of Adelphia, and cus-tomers will see "a lot of local videoon demand, more movies, morehours of programming."
Once Comcast gets the systemup and running, Mr. Sansomadded, service calls will be an-swered in Pittsburgh, not in someother region.
In most cases, he said. Comcastplans to keep the local officesAdelphia operated in communi-ties such as Bethel Park, Pennsyl-vania He said some offices wouldbe improved.
"We would like to move cus-tomer lobby centers to strip malls,but that won't happen until nextyear," Mr. Sansom said.
NEW YORK –New JerseyGovernor Jon Corzine signed aNew Jersey State Legislature(joint assembly and senate) resolu-tion on August 2 urging the Turk-ish Government to stop racial andreligious discrimination, and im-mediately recognize the global re-ligious authority of the Ecumeni-cal Patriarch in Constantinople,spiritual leader of the world’s Or-thodox Christians.
The State of New Jersey is thefirst state in the Union to pass sucha resolution, setting the tone forother states to (possibly) follow inthe renouncing of Turkey’s de-plorable treatment of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate and otherminority religions within Turkey.
Legislators Steve Corodemus,Upendra Chmukula, Joseph Kyril-los and Bob Smith sponsored thelegislation, which states the follow-ing:
“The Governor and Legislatureof New Jersey call on the Govern-ment of Turkey to eliminate allforms of discrimination, particu-larly those based on race or reli-gion, and to immediately grant theEcumenical Patriarch appropriateinternational recognition, ecclesi-astic succession and the right totrain clergy of all nationalities.The State of New Jersey also re-quests the Government of Turkeyto respect the property rights andhuman rights of the EcumenicalPatriarchate without compromise,and to continue the advancementof processes and programs tomodernize and democratize itsown country, in light of its poten-tial accession to the EuropeanUnion.”
His Eminence MetropolitanEvangelos of New Jersey played akey role in mobilizing efforts forthe successful passage and signingof the bill. In a letter to GovernorCorzine, Metropolitan Evangelosnoted, “As talks of Turkey’s acces-sion into the European Union areunderway, the citizens of New Jer-sey, through their elected officials,have a unique and historical op-portunity to remind the TurkishGovernment of its intolerance re-
garding human, civic and religiousrights of the Ecumenical Patriar-chate and all minority religions, aswell as its obligation to positivelychange their strategy and policyregarding such.”
By passing and signing the reso-lution, the New Jersey Legislatureand Governor Corzine are helpingto advance the cause advance thecause of religious freedom, ac-cording to Dr. Anthony J. Limber-akis, National Commander of theOrder of Saint Andrew (Archons
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate),an organization of leading GreekOrthodox Christians in the UnitedStates dedicated to supporting anddefending the rights of the Patriar-chate.
By doing so, Dr. Limberakisadded, they are adhering to theprecepts and moral conscience of
America’s founding fathers.“As Americans, we are blessed
to live in a country founded on re-ligious freedom. We commend theGovernor and the legislators ofNew Jersey for following the con-science of our founding fatherswho championed the inalienableright of religious freedom,” hesaid. “We hope that every otherstate legislature will emulate NewJersey’s historic example and fol-low suit.”
The Ecumenical Patriarchate is
the historic spiritual center ofmore than 250 million OrthodoxChristians worldwide, and pre-dates the existence of Turkey bymore than 1,700 years.
His All Holiness EcumenicalPatriarch Bartholomew is the270th Successor of Saint Andrewthe Apostle.
John Aristotle Phillips once de-signed an atomic bomb to get him-self out of bother at Princeton Uni-versity. Now, his company, Aristo-tle International, pits its softwareagainst ruses of underageteenagers trying to gamble or buyalcohol or cigarettes online.
Phillips, 50, is not so muchpoacher-turned gamekeeper as heis a nuclear physicist turned web-nanny. “I was a physics major onacademic probation, and I neededto do something fairly drastic,” hesaid.
What had he done? “It’s what Ihadn’t done,” he chuckled.
“I hadn’t gone to classes. Theother reason was that I was con-cerned about the proliferation ofnuclear weapons. The convention-al wisdom was that you did notneed to tighten up security on ura-nium and plutonium because itwould be impossible to design an-other atomic bomb,” he said.
“What I did was show that youonly really needed to tighten theaccess to the raw materials neededto build a nuclear weapon because,if a student on academic probationcan design an atomic bomb, itstands to reason that many otherpeople could as well,” he said.
JJUUSSTT MMAATTHHEEMMAATTIICCSS“It took me about four months.
I didn’t build it. I just designed it.Most of it was just mathematics. Iput the paper in to see what otherswould think,” he added.
Now Phillips – the middle namecomes from his Greek ancestry –runs the world’s largest identity-and-age verification service. “Whydo I use my full name,” he replies,after being asked the obvious ques-tion. “Do you know how manyJohn Phillipses exist in the UnitedStates? I do. There are 3,621.There are 853 born between 1950and 1960, and 282 born in August.There’s only one John Phillipsborn on August 23, 1955. There’sonly one John Aristotle Phillips.”
Phillips formed his firm in Con-necticut to develop software forpolitical campaigns. The resultingproduct, Campaign Manager,helps organize fundraising, finan-cial reporting and public opinionpolls. It was recently used by Presi-dent Yushenko in the Ukrainianelections.
Five years ago, Aristotle Inter-national expanded.
“We were increasingly using thesoftware to verify the identities ofpeople making contributions topolitical campaigns online. It be-came apparent that some kind ofage verification was needed forkids going on the Net and trying topurchase tobacco or alcohol or us-ing online gaming sites,” Phillipssaid.
“It also became apparent thatwe could use the same software toverify the age of individuals withtheir consent,” he added. So In-tegrity was born.
Aristotle International’s flag-ship product collates age and iden-tity information provided by cus-tomers wanting to enter such sites,and verifies it against a database ofpublic record information.
The process takes less than fiveseconds, and has access to databas-es in 153 countries.
The company also supplieshand-held scanners for use inshops and casinos, which captureinformation on passports or driv-er's licenses and check it against adatabase.
Phillips says Integrity’s biggestoperation is verifying the ages ofonline visitors wanting to watch R-rated – extreme – trailers of newmovies on websites. Online gamingis growing rapidly, however, andpromises to be a huge market if itcan overcome a welter of lawsuitsand legislative assaults in the U.S.
Integrity is also used by banksfor Know Your Customer compli-ance – individual due diligence re-quired by U.S. authorities – andanti-money-laundering initiatives.Some airports use it for passengerscreening. It was even used duringthe World Cup.
PPEEOOPPLLEE LLIIEE AA LLOOTT“There are ways to beat identi-
ty-and-age verification,” Phillipssaid, “and banks are gettingdamned all the time with peopleassuming false identifies, but weensure protection against prosecu-tion or being sued. We do exactlywhat the law requires us to do.Consumers are wary of providingpersonal data, and if they think theinformation they provide is not be-ing verified, they will very often
provide false details. People lie alot. There's an awful lot of lying go-ing on.”
Aristotle International has a da-ta center in the United Kingdomproviding verification services forgambling websites.
“It depends on the country; itdepends on the product; and it de-pends on the law,” he said.
“In California, for example,people purchasing tobacco onlinehave to have their ages verifiedagainst a database. They have toshow that the address they provideis the same as the one on theircredit card, and the vendor compa-ny then has to make a phone call tothe residence after 5 PM sayingthat someone is trying to buy to-bacco online. When the tobaccoarrives, it has to be signed for,” hesaid.
“The market for online gam-bling is also growing very, veryrapidly. An area where there is uni-versal agreement is that actionneeds to be taken to keep minorsout of online gambling sites,” headded.
“There’s great rationale in theindustry cooperating. It wants toavoid draconian legislation; itwants to be legalized in America.When an industry chooses to self-regulate in a responsible manner, it
takes the wind out of the sails ofpeople who want to criminalize it,”Phillips explained.
“About 80 percent of licensedonline gambling sites rely on In-tegrity for identity-and-age verifi-cation and credit granting,'” hesaid.
“I wouldn’t say it’s complex, butto get it right millions of times amonth, you have to be able toquickly return an accurate dataset,and have the ability to spot fraudor other kinds of transactions thatindicate this may not be the personhe or she says they are. You haveto have multiple databases, andyou have to know what the laws arein different jurisdictions. You haveto be accurate,” he said.
“We’re the only ones who in-sure the merchant because we areconfident enough in the technolo-gy we use. If a merchant uses ourservice and is prosecuted for allow-ing underage access, we pay the le-gal fee, and we pay the fine. It hasnever happened,” he noted.
Aristotle International is 50percent owned by Phillips and hisbrother Dean, with the remainderbeing held by venture capitalgroups, including one linked toRupert Murdoch. Phillips says ithas revenues of $10-20 million, andis profitable.
TTHHEE GGOOAALL“We’re growing quickly. Our
goal is to be the first to build acomprehensive global identity veri-fication tool that protects the pri-vacy of consumers, and also allowsbusiness to be conducted withoutfriction,” he said. “It’s the equiva-lent of the human genome. Thereare all kinds of applications. Thinkof Internet voting. There is no realreason why you shouldn’t be ableto vote at an ATM. We have a longway to go, but we have made a lotof strides,” he added.
So what about Phillips’ ownmisspent youth? Did he have fakeidentification as a teenager? “I did-n’t have one fake ID,” he grins. “Ihad two.” He claims to have for-gotten where he got them. Whatdid he use them for? “I don’t thinkthere was anything I didn’t usethem for,” he smiles. “But I didn’tuse them for fraud, and I didn’t usethem for online gambling.”
And did his real-life rocket sci-ence pass muster with Princeton’sexaminers? “It did,” Phillipslaughs. “I got an A-plus. It was nev-er published. And when I wentback to pick it up, I was told it hadbeen classified.”
Aristotle International’sSoftware Verifies ID Info
Chief Executive of Aristotle InternationalYYoouurr SSeeccrreett iiss NNoott SSaaffee ffrroomm tthhiiss MMaannAfter an early foray into A-bomb design, John AristotlePhillips now runs a leading U.S.ID-checking software group in San FranciscoMMaarrrriieedd ttoo PPaattrriicciiaa ffoorr 1133 yyeeaarrssOne daughter, Katherine FFaavvoorriittee mmoovviiee:: CCaassaabbllaannccaaFavorite book: Madame Bovaryby Gustave Flaubert FFaavvoorriittee hhoolliiddaayy ddeessttiinnaattiioonnss::LLoonnddoonn,, GGrreeeeccee
August 19-20PPaawwttuucckkeett,, RR..II.. The Church ofthe Assumption of the VirginMary celebrates its 79th AnnualFestival Grecian Festival thisweekend at 97 Walcott Street inPawtucket, Rhode Island. A festi-val of family fun. ExperienceGreek Culture in Pawtucket, rainor shine, under the tents. Admis-sion is free and open to the public.Ample parking. Shuttle bus ser-vice available. Enjoy Greek foodand pastries; traditional dancing& dance demonstrations; live mu-sic; Church tours and more. Spe-cial “kids activities” are planned.Greek Marketplace: indoor shop-ping with imported Greek gift-ware, Greek music, books foradults & children, cookbooks andmuch more. Enjoy aromaticGreek coffee and our specialty,Baklava Cheesecake. Sip a glass ofOuzo, Mavrodaphne or Metaxa.Sample the many traditionalmezedes (appetizers) and join usas we dance traditional Greekdances to the live rhythm of theBouzouki. Performances by theGreek Pride dance troupe, all infull ethnic costumes representingthe various regions of Greece, itsisland and mountain regions.Greek Island Trip Raffle: a 10-daytrip for two to Greece’s pic-turesque island of Skiathos at theNostos Luxury Hotel & Resort.Includes roundtrip airfare fromBoston, lodging and meals (dona-tion, $20 per ticket). Directions:Exit 28 off I-95 North or Exit 29off I-95 South. Follow signs. Formore information, call the churchat 401-725-3127, Elli Panichas at401-383-4711 or 401-943-1219, oremail [email protected].
September 7WWaasshhiinnggttoonn,, DD..CC.. The AmericanHellenic Institute is hosting aNoon Forum to commemorate the1955 Pogrom against the Greeks ofConstantinople at the HellenicHouse (1220 16th Street NW) onThursday, September 7, at 12-1PM. Topic: “The ForgottenPogrom of 1955 and Turkey’s Sys-tematic Extermination of its GreekEthnic Minority,” presented by Dr.Van Coufoudakis, rector of Inter-college in Nicosia, Cyprus. Lightrefreshments will be served. RSVPto AHI by Tuesday, September 5.Call 202-785-8430 or e-mail at [email protected].
September 14WWaasshhiinnggttoonn,, DD..CC.. The AmericanHellenic Institute is hosting aNoon Forum to commemoratethe Asia Minor Catastrophe andthe Burning of Smyrna in 1922 atthe Hellenic House (1220 16thStreet NW) on Thursday, Septem-ber 14, at 12-1 PM. Topic:“George Horton – An AmericanWitness in Smyrna,” presented byJames Marketos, AHI Chairmanand Attorney at Law. Light re-freshments will be served. RSVPto AHI by Tuesday, September12. Call 202-785-8430 or e-mail [email protected].
September 15-17BBrrooookklliinnee,, MMaassss.. The Annuncia-tion Greek Orthodox Cathedral ofNew England in Boston presents
Greek Fest 2006. Come and enjoydelicious Greek food and drinks,gyros, pastries, loukoumades andtaverna. Dance to the music of theKostas Taslis Orchestra. Watchtraditional Greek Folk Dances.Also enjoy DJ, raffle, imports,jewelry, kids activities, flea marketand religious books and icons. Fri-day, Saturday and Sunday,September 15-17, from noon to 11PM. Free Parking. Free Admis-sion. Rain or Shine. Location: TheCathedral Center, 162 GoddardAvenue, Brookline, Mas-sachusetts near Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School of Theology.For more information, call 617-731-6633.
September 18GGrreeeennllaawwnn,, NN..YY.. Rev. DemetriosMoraitis and the Saint Paraskevicommunity in Greenlawn, NewYork invite the public to attend theSaint Paraskevi 10th annual GolfOuting (Greater Greek Open) onMonday, September 18, at 10:30AM at the Calverton Links GolfClub. The event will feature “Beatthe Priest,” a long drive competi-tion. For more information, pleasecall Father Moraitis (631-261-7272), Paul DiConsiglio (212-606-2182) or Chris Christie (631-643-5204).
September 21-25LLaass VVeeggaass,, NNeevv.. 3rd annual OpaLas Vegas & Greek Festival Tripfrom Thursday, September 21 toMonday, September 25. Thurs-day: Greek Festival for Dinner &Dancing at Saint John the BaptistGreek Orthodox Church (5300South El Camino Road). Friday:12:45 PM, meet at Monte Carlolobby for 1 PM walk to the buffet;free time to explore Vegas and allit has to offer; 6:45 PM, meet atthe Monte Carlo Lobby, carpooland taxi to Greek Festival. Satur-day: 12:45 PM, meet at the MonteCarlo lobby for 1 PM walk to buf-fet, pool party afterwards, 5 PMcocktail hour and speed greeting;6:45 PM, meet at Monte Carlolobby, carpool and taxi to GreekFestival. Sunday: 10 AM, DivineLiturgy; lunch at Greek Festival,or 12:45 PM, meet at Hotel Lobbyfor 1 PM walk to buffet; free time;6:45 PM, meet at Monte Carlolobby, carpool and taxi to GreekFestival. Monday: If you are stillin Vegas, 12:45 PM, meet atMonte Carlo lobby for 1 PM walkto buffet. For more information,e-mail [email protected].
September 30GGaarrrriissoonn,, NN..YY.. Saint Basil'sAcademy will host its 4th annualFashion Show & Luncheon on Sat-urday, September 30, from 11 AMto 3 PM. Top raffle prize, $1,000cash. For information and reserva-tions, please call Roseanne at 845-424-8105.
NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events section is acomplimentary service to theGreek American community. Allparishes, organizations and institu-tions are encouraged to e-mail theirinformation on any Greek-relatedevent to [email protected].
JJoohhnn AArriissttoottllee PPhhiilllliippss
American every season, and wasdrafted by the Chicago Cubs in2001.
Bouras was an all-star his firstthree seasons of minor league ball,with stops in Boise; Lansing,Michigan; Daytona Beach, Flori-da; and Jackson, Tennessee.
An errant pitch broke his arm,however. A steel plate and sixscrews were inserted, but he neverfully recovered. The Cubs grantedhis release from Jackson, their AAaffiliate.
"He was a power hitter, but notin the traditional sense," saidKevin Meistickle, a coach ofBouras' with the Atlanta Crackers."He was a gap hitter, who wouldreally drive the ball and get a lot ofdoubles."
Not only did the arm injury de-rail his career, it also kept himfrom playing with the GreekOlympic team in 2004. Because ofhis Greek grandparents, Bourasqualified for the squad, which re-cruited a number of minor leagueplayers. Instead, he went to theAthens Olympics as an alternate.
"It was still an amazing experi-ence," Bouras said. "At first, the
Greek fans were skeptical, butonce the Games started, we weretreated like kings."
Although Bouras has officiallyretired from competitive baseball,he is again reunited with Meistick-le and playing with the AtlantaCrackers, a semipro team withwhich he originally played in 1997and 1998.
"Brad originally called meabout picking up a couple of hisguys last season," Meistickle said."But I told him he wasn't that old,and that I wanted him on theteam."
Although the demands of hisinstructional clinics and travelteam do not leave Bouras muchtime to play with the Crackers, hehas suited up for a couple ofgames. In addition to his baseballcommitments, Bouras recently gotengaged to Michelle Hannan. Thewedding is planned for later thisyear.
"I'm a Georgia guy by nature,"Bouras said. "I love being in theAtlanta area, and will probably behere for the rest of my life."
Ex-Ball Player is DevotedTo Instructional Baseball
Continued from page 1
4 ORTHODOXY THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006
dimensions of human existence.The “noetic” or “spiritual place,”as Saint John of Damascus says,“is not bodily, but spiritually(noetically) contained.”
The following text of JohnDamascene is particularly relevanthere (see “Accurate Exposition ofthe Orthodox Faith,” 13): “God isnot in place, for He is the place ofHimself, filling all things and beingabove all, and holding together allthings. But when He is said to be inplace, this place of God clearlyspecifies where His energy is atwork. This is because He pervadesall things without mingling, and isin all through His own energy, ac-cording to the fitness and receptiv-ity of each.”
In other words, the spiritual(noetic) place of God, which tran-scends the material (somatic)space of the created beings of theuniverse, is the divine energy. Forthis reason, John Damascene says,“Place of God is anyone who par-takes of His energy and grace.”
And who are those partaking ofthe energy and grace of God?They are the angels in Heaven,hence the description of Heavenas the “throne of God (Isaiah66.1)” because this is the placewhere the angels act according toHis will. The Earth is also a placeof God because God appeared andwalked on it with his flesh, hencethe description of the Earth as“footstool of His feet (Isaiah 66.1,Matthew 5.35).” The Church is al-so place of God because, in it,“God is praised, glorified and ispartaken through His uncreatedenergy and grace.” Generallyspeaking, according to John Dam-ascene, “places of God are thosein whom God’s energy is clearlymanifested to us.” Put otherwise,the noetic (i.e., spiritual and notsomatic) energy of God embracesand transcends the somatic space-time parameters of the universeand refashions them. This is theprinciple human nature, which isdeified through the Incarnation,actually confirms. This is also con-firmed by Einstein’s equation andgeneral theory of relativity. This iswhy the entire mass of the cosmosis actually measurable and its so-
matic existence contingent, eventhough it is seemingly infinite.
At this point, I wish to recallthat the ancients believed in a uni-verse which was infinite and eter-nal and a vast container containingall things. The Christian theolo-gians first, and modern scientistsmore recently, demonstrated thatthis is inaccurate. The universe isboth limited and relative. Its mys-tery is not its vastness, but ratherits expansion and, above all, its ba-sis. As regards to its basis, it seemstoday that it hangs in the air, orfloats in a void; that is, it is basedon an empty space which lacks ex-istence: the nothing, as it were. Wefail to make sense of this, ofcourse, because being and non-be-ing (nothingness) are rationallyopposite to each other and antino-mian. For theology, however, thebasis of the universe is the Uncre-ated Energy and will of God,which transcend nothingness, theempty space which lacks existence,and on which the limited existenceof the created universe is estab-lished and floats.
This is confirmed by the stun-ning event of the Incarnation ofthe Creator Word, whereby notonly God communicates with man,but also by which this communica-tion enters into the created fabric
of human existence, and is ex-pressed mystically with humanterms, human thought, languageand symbolism. It is with this as-tonishing connection of God andman that I wish to close this lec-ture, offering three examples fromOrthodox hagiography and Patris-tic theological doctrine, selectedout of the many which are firmlyembedded in the Orthodox Chris-tian tradition.
11. The Witness of Hagiogra-phy: At the outer narthex of theChurch of Chora (14th Century) inConstantinople, we encounter twoicons (mosaics) which reveal thetwo basic perspectives of the An-thropic Principle, as I have beenoutlining it on the basis of Patristictheology. The first icon is that ofChrist above the entrance to the in-ner narthex, and is called “Thedwelling space of the Living,” takenfrom Psalm 116:9. The other icon,which is directly opposite, abovethe entrance to the outer narthex(from the inside), is an icon of theTheotokos (Mother of God), andbears the name, “The dwellingspace of the Spaceless One (choratou achoritou).” The first Icon sym-bolizes the fact that Christ, as theIncarnate Creator, is the embodi-ment of life and the basis of all lifein creation. In other words, that hu-
manity, in Christ, has become thekey to all life in the universe. Thesecond icon symbolizes the instru-ment of the Incarnation, humannature, which has received thecoming of God, and has providedthe human basis for God’s tran-scendence, becoming immanent inhumanity through the birth ofChrist. Here, then we find a hagio-graphic confession concerning theopening up of the entire cosmos tothe divine energy from man, andthe condescension of God to manand, through him, to the entire cos-mos. This is indeed the case of es-tablishing the eschatological orbit,which leads to the recapitulationand restoration of all things in ac-cordance with the good, perfectand agapetic will of God.
12. The Witness of the GreatFathers Athanasios and Basil: Thehagiographic presentation of theAnthropic Principle is from a the-ological and ecclesiastical perspec-tive a reflection of Patristic dog-matics, which refers to the econo-my of Christ, the incarnated andinhominated Son and Word ofGod, with all its human and cosmiceschatological implications.
Following earlier theologians,Saint Athanasios expressed the An-thropic Principle very succinctly inseveral places in his writings. In aprofound text, which seems to bebased on a text from Saint Paul’sLetter to the Ephesians, SaintAthanasios states, “The Son ofGod had been laid as the founda-tion of the economy (dispensation)of our renovation before humanbeings were created… Our life wasestablished upon God’s design forthe Lord Jesus Christ,” whichmeans the Incarnation – that is, theassumption of human existence bythe Creator. “As Savior, JesusChrist is said to be ‘the Life of all,’even though he is like all men bynature.” In the same text, SaintAthanasios concludes with the fol-lowing well known statement:“Through the becoming man (in-homination) of the Word of God,God’s providence for the wholeuniverse is revealed, and also itsLeader and Creator, the Word ofGod Himself, through the Word ofGod Himself. Indeed He becameman that we may become gods.”
Saint Basil offers important for-mulations of the Anthropic Princi-ple, although he does not refer tothis term in his renowned work onthe Hexaemeron (The Six Days ofCreation). In my study of this work,I reached certain conclusions whichI may repeat here as a fitting wit-ness to what I have been articulat-ing as the Patristic (theological)Anthropic Principle. Saint Basil’snine Homilies of the Six Days ofCreation is one of the most impor-tant Patristic works on Christiancosmology. This work combinesBiblical revelation with Hellenicscience, yet the theological per-spective, with its anthropologicalcorollary, remains the fundamentalparameters of the entire course oflectures. Theology and anthropolo-gy are inter-related through scienceand philosophy. The magnificenceof the universe, and especially themagnificence of the Creator, is ex-pounded in a way that man retainsa pivotal position and supreme val-ue as the connecting bond betweenGod and the world.
First and foremost, Saint Basiltraces the existence of the worldbeyond itself to the free will andact of God. The universe is notbased on itself, but on the will ofGod. It is a divine miracle, andthere is no other basis for it but thewill of God. God wanted it andcreated it out of nothing.
By stressing this point, SaintBasil opposes cosmologicalmonism and dualism. Monismconsiders the world as being the
ultimate cause of itself – a point ofview which is often connected withatheists and agnostics who are ei-ther ignorant, or who deny the ex-istence of God and think of thecreation as a result of a big bang orsomething else like it. Dualismarises from the experience of goodand evil in the world, which is ex-plained through two ultimate prin-ciples or cosmic forces which op-pose each other, such as spirit andmatter, or physics and meta-physics, or the Gnostic theologicaldualism. These two principlesshare a common basis because theone often leads to the other, andvice versa.
But Saint Basil maintains a dis-tinction between God, Who is un-created, and the world, which iscreated, emphasizing the transcen-dence and eternity of God, and thetransient and temporary characterof the other. This distinctionmeans that the Creator does notneed the creation in order to exist,but that creation needs the Cre-ator. On the other hand, SaintBasil speaks of the unity of theworld, even though he distinguish-es two existential dimensions: onepertaining to angels and beingspiritual and invisible being; andthe other pertaining to things andvisible and material being. It is inman that these two dimensions areunited, not only because man par-ticipates in both, but also becausehis destiny is to be the key to theentire creation, according to theCreator’s design. This last point isabsolutely crucial and constitutes
the pivot to Saint Basil’s doctrine.The primacy of God and man in
the cosmos is Saint Basil’s lastinglegacy to Christian theology andChristian thought in subsequentgenerations. In the final analysis,this is the Anthropic Principle,which includes God’s providenceand the salvation in Christ of manand the world. As Saint Basil ex-presses it in the Hexaemeron,“there is nothing that is deprived ofGod’s providence and care, for allthings are watched by the SleeplessEye, and He is present before all,furnishing each with salvation.”
Saint Basil’s work is particularlyimportant for the relation betweentheology and science. It demon-strates that, far from being hostileor negative to science, theology isprompted by its divine-humanismto engage vigorously and decisive-ly in scientific enterprise. Indeed,man is a theologian in his relationto God, and scientist in his relationto the universe, while the universeis the laboratory of God in whichman has been placed as custodian.This combination of the theolo-gian with the scientist (i.e., theolo-
gy and science) is crucial and verysignificant because it allows manto bypass falsehood and recoverthe truth.
For example, the theologian-scientist transcends false astrologythrough true astronomy, or he is ina position of distinguishing the na-ture of light from the light of thestars, and to recognize the proper-ties of the former. In other words,he is called to demythologize theworld from fanciful theories whichdo not correspond to reality, andto perceive the transparency of theuniverse which, in turn, indicatesthe transcendental basis of its exis-tence, which is the ceaseless andinexhaustible energy of the Cre-ator Word. This is achieved whenman is not based on mere appear-ances, but on what is explained ra-tionally. In St. Basil’s words, whenone does not measure the moonwith his eye but with rationalthought and when the mind, asScripture teaches, does not fanta-size when it crosses the limits Godplaced for created existence. Sothe scientist finally becomes a the-ologian because he traces God’sprovidence, which provides salva-tion to every creature.
Saint Basil gives us two basicmessages in his Hexaemeron: A)That there can be no correct cos-mology without placing the Creatoras the ultimate and transcendentprinciple of all, and without placingman as its rational investigator andinterpreter; and B) That man hasthe God-given calling to be the sci-entist of the world – not as if theworld were the ultimate purpose ofhis existence, but as a means of hiscommunication and communionwith his Creator and God.
In other words, Saint Basil hasleft us with his theological and sci-entific exposition the AnthropicPrinciple of Creation.
CONCLUSIONS: From a theo-logical point of view, the AnthropicPrinciple, which today provides aconvergent perspective in the vari-ous sciences, and theology arebased on the Incarnation of theCreator, His becoming man. God’sbecoming man by uniting the di-vine and the human realities inChrist, is the key to our investiga-tion and understanding of the uni-verse. It reveals to us that the uni-verse has a human face; that it isthe natural home and natural envi-ronment of man, from withinwhich man is expected to commu-nicate with God. The Fathers ofthe Church regard man in this con-junction as the priest of the cos-
mos, who offers the universe to theCreator eucharistically. In thissense, man is the voice of the wholecosmos who gathers together andoffers the world to God, askingHim not only to sustain it, but alsoto renew it and to perfect it withHis divine energy and grace. With-out this prospect, we can not un-derstand the world and our posi-tion in it because, in that case, ourexistence has no meaning, but israther shrouded in darkness, in-comprehensibility and despair.The assurance for this perspectiveis granted not only by the provi-dence which pervades the universe,and which we investigate and rec-ognize with the help of science, butmainly and chiefly when we experi-ence, in our life, the mystery of theIncarnation and Inhomination ofGod our Creator in the person ofour Risen Lord Jesus Christ, as theFathers and Saints did. These arethe true theologians of the Churchwho reveal the astounding eventwhich gives the Anthropic Princi-ple – that is, to the conjunction ofman and the universe – its true ex-istence and perspective.
The Greek Voice of New YorkThe Greek Voice of New York
identified as Greek are definitely apart of the larger collection. Just byrandomly choosing subjects, I wasable to find a wide array of Greekimmigrant photographs. Only fu-ture research can determine the fullrange of images we would see andrecognize as Greek from those seenby American eyes. Since the collec-tion has little direct documentationaccompanying the 55,000 images, itis a triumph of painstaking workthat this array of visual materialshas ever seen the light of day.
In shifting through this randomlyassembled gathering of images, wefind the bare bones of Greek Amer-ican history. With our Greek Amer-ican eyes, we can see what theAmerican photographer and re-porter may have missed because wehave a cultural and historical senseof ourselves which those individualssimply did not.
Unexpectedly, we also find mo-ments lost to our collective con-sciousness of ourselves.
RRAANNDDOOMM AASSSSEESSSSMMEENNTTFor our first specifically “Greek”
image, which is dated as 1906, wesee an unidentified young man withan especially fine mustache holdinga dried octopus. Standing on a pub-lic street, this posed shot must haveaccompanied a story where the ap-parently new delicacy of octopuswas part of the news story. Its exis-tence suggests American stereo-types of persons Greek.
Next, we see two photographstaken on February 26, 1907 firstwith Celia Demitero alone, andthen another photograph of Celiawith her two parents. Only Celia’sfather, Angelo, is identified byname. The identification summaryaccompanying these two images of-fers the following startling report:“Celia was kidnapped by gypsies inLittle Rock, Arkansas and found inThornton, Illinois, after 11months.”
Another set of images from 1907illustrates how Greek images arepart of the wider Daily News collec-tion which is not identified asspecifically Greek. WrestlersGeorge Kareoris, Sam Best andNick Dares are seen in six separatephotographs. One shows Kareoris,Best and Dares standing with armscrossed on their chests while theothers show various posed wrestlingholds. These crystal clear pho-tographs are extremely valuable his-torical items since early pho-
tographs of Greek wrestlers are dif-ficult to locate in public collections.
In 1911, Captain SpiresMatscukas, a captain in the Greeknavy, is seen holding a ship modelhe either built, or which shows oneof the vessels he commanded.Chicago Greeks have long contend-ed that ship captains sailing up theMississippi River in the 1840’s werethe first Greeks to see the city. PeterPooley, from the island of Corfu,was one of these captains. In 1885,he brought his new bride Georgia(nee Bitzis) to Chicago, and so es-tablished the first Greek family inthe city. Greeks were already in thecity at this time, working along the
Chicago River, where they sold pro-duce, which was then arriving byships in their stands or by push cartsalong the streets of the city. WasMatscukas from this wider fraterni-ty of sailors?
Two photographs dated Novem-ber 15, 1915 show Chris Manti’sfruit stand in the Streetervilleneighborhood on Chicago’s NearNorth Side. This image is of ahand-built fruit stand with anAmerican flag on top. Streeterville,at this point in time, was a disputedregion of the city. Built on a land-fill, it was unclear who legallyowned this property. Manti’s fruitstand was eventually torn down.The images of this very primitivestructure are priceless, since theyare the only photographic evidenceavailable of early Greek vendor’sfruit stands.
Various other photographs showa host of Greek characters and situ-
ations. Among the notables we findare Prince Paul of Greece, GreekAmbassador CharalambosSimopoulos and George DePatta, aGreek counsel.
Half of all the photographs iden-tified specifically as Greek in theChicago Daily News Collectionshow Jerry Luvadis (1885-1938) asthe personal trainer of WilliamHarrison “Jack” Dempsey (1895-1983). Dempsey, the “ManassaMauler,” was one of the greatestheavyweight champions in history.In 83 professional fights, he had 62wins (50 by knockouts, 26in the first
round), 6 losses, 9 draws and 6 no-contests. He lost his title to GeneTunney in 1926, and lost again in a1927 rematch forever rememberedas “The Long Count.”
Little information exists on Lu-vadis. From what is available innews accounts, Luvadis was a longestablished figure in professionalboxing. While most newspaper re-porters refer to Luvadis as “TheGreek,” he is also sometimes inex-plicably called “Jerry the Rubber.”Time Magazine once offered thisconcise assessment: “Jerry Luvadis,is... incapable of reading or writing.He is a trainer of Jack Dempsey,(and) is famed for a perfumestronger than ammonia, which heuses in large quantities (August 20,1928).”
Dempsey and his immigranttrainer appear in 14 differentChicago Daily News photographsbetween 1926 and 1928. Other im-
ages of the two men together canbe seen in this collection by search-ing under Dempsey’s name.Eleven photographs of Dempsey,seen in the Daily News photographcollection with various people, aredated simply as 1927. While nopublished information is available,it is safe to assume that they wereall gathered to welcome Dempseyto Chicago. As we learn from thelittle documentation that does ac-company a few of these images,Dempsey was in Chicago to pro-mote an upcoming fight and totrain at the Lincoln Fields RaceTrack in Crete, Illinois.
These images were taken ofDempsey as he was in training campfor an upcoming fight. It seems thatthese photographs document theperiod just before Jack Dempsey’sinfamous rematch with Tunney inChicago on September 22, 1927.
Aside from what this grouping ofphotographs can report about thehistory of American sports, they si-multaneously document GreekAmerican history.
Jack Dempsey’s considerable in-volvement with the wider GreekAmerican community in America isregrettably lost to our collectiveconsciousness. Sometime between1926 and 1928, both Dempsey andLuvadis were inducted intoAHEPA as members of the Pull-man chapter in Chicago. A longphotograph of the Dempsey/Lu-vadis induction dinner, along withall their new Ahepan brothers, isheld by the Hellenic Museum inChicago.
Dozens of news stories, pho-tographs and other documents doc-ument the extremely close friend-ship Dempsey had with wrestler JimLondos. On numerous occasions,Dempsey would serve as referee forone of Londos’ wrestling matchesand, in turn, Londos would serve asreferee for the prizefighter.
As one might have expected,Dempsey also knew Nick Dandolos,the fabled gambler dubbed in hisown lifetime by the American pressas “Nick the Greek.”
One intriguing moment inDempsey’s relationship with Lu-vadis was when the two were onBroadway together. The drama,“The Big Fight” played for a total of31 performances at the MajesticTheater from September 18, 1928to the last show sometime in Octo-ber of that year. Dempsey playedthe role of Jack Dillon, a boxerknown as “The Tiger,” and Luvadis
played himself, and was billed as“Jerry the Greek.” While only alark, this production underscoreshow closely these two men werelinked in the American imaginationat the time, as well as how Luvadiswas instantly recognizable as “Jerrythe Greek.”
Jerry Luvadis died in New YorkCity’s Welfare Hospital in Septem-ber 1938, after a long battle withcancer. In the New York Times cov-erage of Luvadis’ death, it was not-ed that “Dempsey often spoke ofthe loyalty of the Greek trainer,rubber and second. He had paid forhis medical treatment for severalyears. After the fight, in which helost the title to Tunney in Philadel-phia in 1926, he gave Luvadis
$12,000 (September 7, 1938).”So what do all these photographs
potentially mean? With so little in-formation preserved for any of theChicago Daily News Greek imagesthey are, for the moment, largelyphotographs outside of history.Greeks need to actively engage withthe very documents which consti-tute their history in North America.If they do not – and with no one elsebothering to do so – it is only logicalthat a vast amount of historical in-formation will be lost forever. Ifthat proves to be the case, thenGreek Americans will only possessthese few and unidentified imagesin the future, never knowing whowe were or what we even thought ofour own ancestors.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006 FEATURE 5
Continued from page 1
II.. JJaammeessoonn’’ss CChhrroonniicclleessVVoolluummee II .................... $6.95
The enduring appeal of the artof the Eastern Mediterranean’searliest civilizations is enigmatic.The artists of prehistoric eras cre-ated works of extreme simplicityand beauty which served religiousand ritual functions, but we knowvery little of their ways of life andtheir social structures.
In a riveting exhibition at theN.P. Goulandris Foundation-Mu-seum of Cycladic Art in Athens,made possible by a generous grantfrom the Stavros Niarchos Foun-dation, sculpture and pottery fromso-called “primitive” civilizationsare presented side by side withworks by 20th Century artists.
The show, “Shaping the Begin-ning: Modern Artists and the An-cient Eastern Mediterranean,” isone of a series of special exhibitionsorganized by the Museum this yearto celebrate its 20th anniversary. Itis also the fulfillment of a dream byDolly Goulandris, president of the
Foundation, to present the ongoingdialogue between the art of the pastand the present.
Neolithic and Cycladic idols,Minoan pottery, Cypriot artifactsand Egyptian figurines are fea-tured side by side with the sculp-tures of giants like Picasso, Moore,Brancusi, Giacometti, Derain,Matisse, Rodin, Armitage andArchipenko. Also included areworks by Hans Coper, who de-signed everyday ceramic objectsand the contemporary Spanish ar-chitect Santiago Calatrava, whodesigned the Olympic Stadiumand other structures for the 2004Olympic Games in Athens, whichserve to illustrate the continuity ofearly themes and decorativeschemes such as the spiral and thegrid in modern art.
On display are 170 works from30 foundations and cultural orga-nizations in Greece and abroad, in-cluding the National Archaeologi-cal Museum, the British Museum,the Louvre and the Georges Pom-pidou Center in Paris. Organizedby Cycladic Museum CuratorMaria D. Tolis, in collaborationwith Dr. Friedrich Teja Bach, arthistorian and professor at the Uni-versity of Vienna, the exhibitionhas not only brought together greatworks of art, but also sends the visi-tor on a journey of discovery.
Up to now, similar shows havefocused on the ways modern artistshave been influenced by the tribalarts of African, North Americanand Oceanic cultures. But as Pro-fessor Bach states in his catalogueessay, “the importance of ‘archaic’art, the creations of early ad-vanced civilizations, to modernartists has not been fully appreci-ated nor understood.”
A visit to the exhibition makesit obvious that many pioneeringartists of the early 20th Centuryembraced the art of the Aegeanand the Eastern Mediterranean,admiring them for their elementalsimplicity and symbolic content.The works selected for the exhibi-
tion point not only to similaritiesbetween past and present, but alsoto their differences, which in manyways also reflect the close affinitiesbetween the ages.
This is not a show of easy com-parisons, and that is precisely whatmakes it so interesting. Art worksare not displayed side by side sim-ply because they resemble eachother. As Professor Nikolaos Stam-polides asserts in the prologue tothe catalogue, the exhibition focus-es on “the eternal dialogue be-tween tradition and renewal, theold and the new, stability and mo-bility,” and not only on the subjectof related shapes and figures. Itdelves into topics as diverse as sub-ject matter & materials and forms& textures, scrutinizing theachievements of the past in con-trast to those of more recent times.
In the early decades of the 20thCentury, artists found themselvescreating new ways of expression.The simple, pared-down contoursof archaic art were ideally suited toexpressing the needs of artists whohad turned away from the exhaust-ed, traditional forms of realisticsculpture.
Beyond abstract forms, modernartists also borrowed some of thethemes of ancient artists. Thus, themythical Minotaur became the fo-cal point of Picasso’s series of etch-ings entitled “Minotauromachy,”in which the artist condensed into asingle image the motifs and sym-bols which recur in his work. Themotif was also used to create sculp-ture of great simplicity, as in his fa-mous bull’s head made from a bicy-cle seat and handlebars.
While the female figure is auniversal form, it carried symbolicconnotations for the ancient artist,which are not lost on modern per-ceptions. Seen as a fertility symbolor as a goddess, the fascinationwith the feminine form indicated ashift away from male “heroes”who were so characteristic of Eu-ropean sculpture in the first threedecades of the 20th Century.
Loosely connected with this themeis that of the woman/vase, a bul-bous-shaped ewer which appearsfrequently in ancient art, and wasborrowed by Picasso and others increating ceramic vases.
Closely related to the subject ofthe female is that of the eye andthe gaze. From pre-DynasticEgyptian figurines and Sumeriandeities to Greek archaic goddess-es, oversized eyes, frequently in-laid with precious stones, were anexpression of a divine entity, or ofpower. Giacometti and Brancusiboth worked with this theme intheir sculpture.
Respect for the material is justone other common element whichcloses the gap between past andpresent. Numerous examples of
Minoan art reflect the interplay ofthe simple forms of vessels and thenatural veins of color runningthrough the marble from whichthey were carved. Similarly,Moore exploited the natural knotsand circular markings in wood fortheir expressive qualities.
Giacometti’s drawings of archa-ic sculptures indicate his personalencounter with ancient art, andthe verticality of his many stridingor standing figures attest to his in-terest in, and awareness of, ancientGreek and Egyptian art. The simi-larity with the latter is suggestedby the placement of an Egyptianfemale statuette next to the artist’sbronze, “Standing Woman,” from1956.
Matisse, who also studied an-
cient Greek and Egyptian art atthe Louvre, once said, “In the an-tique, all parts have been consid-ered. The result is unity and re-pose of the spirit.” The artist alsohad a small collection of antiqui-ties, to which he referred frequent-ly in his paintings, as well as in hissculptures. His cutout patterns ofleafs, made at the end of his life,reflect decorative leaf motifs onearly Cycladic vases.
Ancient objects which have ac-quired a certain “aura” because ofbeing removed from their culturalcontext and isolated in a museumdisplay case, assume new qualitieswhen re-interpreted by modernartists.
As an epilogue, the exhibitionends with the installation of threecube-shaped display cases whichserve to question the process ofviewing.
One of the cubes contains a Cy-cladic figurine, transforming thework into an object of “art,” dis-tancing it from its historical con-text and ignoring the reasons forwhich it was originally created.
The second display case dis-plays a reconstructed Cycladic idolwith painted details, such as facialfeatures and hair. To our eyes itlooks garish and false, but this ishow the ancient sculptor had origi-nally conceived it.
The third display case demon-strates how drawings and photogra-phy help to create affinities be-tween archaic and modern forms.By grouping disparate artifacts indrawings, conclusions are drawnwhich may, in fact, not be valid. Thesame holds true for photographywhere, through the manipulation oflighting and the choice of angle toemphasize certain features, aes-thetic connections can be made be-tween past and present art workswhich are not necessarily truthful.
The show, which runs untilSeptember 16, provides an oppor-tunity to enjoy the works for whatthey are, aside from their histori-cal and stylistic associations.
AALLIIKKAAKKOOSS,, JJAAMMEESS TT.. – TheChicago Tribune reported on Au-gust 11 that James T. Alikakospassed away. He was the belovedhusband of Maria (nee Dami-anakos); cherished father of Tim(Susan) and Spiro; fond grandfa-ther of Sophia; dear brother ofGus (Litsa), Aphrodite (DemetrisKontzamanis) Magdalini (Louie)Terzis in Greece, and Vasiliki(Christopher) Nikolakakis andKathy (George) Anastasopoulosin Australia; and dear uncle ofmany nieces and nephews. He wasa friend to many. Visitation washeld on Friday, August 11, at theOlsen Burke/Sullivan FuneralHome in Chicago (George Ver-gos, funeral director). The funer-al was held on Saturday, August12, at Saint Harlambos Greek Or-thodox Church in Niles, Illinois.Burial was at Town of MaineCemetery in Park Ridge, Illinois.In lieu of flowers, expressions ofsympathy to the American HeartAssociation (208 S. LaSalle Street#900, Chicago, IL 60604) wouldbe appreciated. For more infor-mation, call 773-774-3333.
CCOOCCLLAANNIISS,, JJAAMMEESS PP.. – TheChicago Tribune reported on Au-gust 7 that Jimmy Coclanis, 76,passed away. He was a UnitedStates Army veteran of the Kore-an War and recipient of the Pur-ple Heart. He was the belovedhusband of Artemis; loving fatherof Janet (Wally) Johns, Catherine(Harry) Nickel and Christina(Brett) Loding; proud grandfa-ther of Diana (Jared) Price,Maryann Johns, Greg and SteveTonsul, Colleen, Brett Jr.,Alexander, Lucas and LaurenLoding; dear brother of Christina(the late Peter) Giannikas andAngelo (Katherine) Coclanis;fond brother-in-law of Nina (thelate Peter) Mouzakis; and lovinguncle of many nieces andnephews. “And when at last ourstrength has failed, we make ourlast long ride. We leave this worldand take the trail across the greatdivide.” You will be missed Cow-boy. Visitation was on Tuesday,August 8, at Smith-Corcoran Fu-neral Home in Glenview, Illinois.The funeral was on Wednesday,August 9, at Saints Peter & PaulGreek Orthodox Church in Glen-
view. Burial was at the AbrahamLincoln National Cemetery in El-wood, Illinois. Memorial dona-tions to the Salvation Army (5040N. Pulaski Road, Chicago, IL60630) or to the Midwest Pallia-tive & Hospice Care Center,(9701 Knox Avenue. Skokie, IL60076) would be appreciated. Ar-rangements were by John G. Adi-namis, funeral director (TEL:847-901-4012).
CCOOPPEENNHHAAVVEERR,, ZZOOEE – TheChicago Tribune reported on Au-gust 11 that Zoe Copenhaver (neeFrangos) passed away. She wasthe dear sister of John (Kathy)Frangos in Greece; and lovingaunt and cousin of many. The fu-neral was held on Saturday, Au-gust 12, at Saint HaralambosGreek Orthodox Church in Niles,Illinois. Burial was at ElmwoodCemetery. Kindly omit flowers.Memorial donations to GreekAmerican Rehab & Nursing Cen-ter (220 N. First Street, Wheeling,IL 60090) would be appreciated.Arrangements were by John G.Adinamis, funeral director (TEL:773-736-3833).
JJOOAANNNNOOUU,, RROOSSEE – The RenoGazette-Journal reported thatRose Joannou, 97, of Sparks,Nevada passed away on Tuesday,August 8, at St. Mary’s RegionalMedical Center in Reno, Nevada.Born in Newark, New Jersey, sheresided in Queens and Toms Riv-er, New Jersey before coming toSparks in 2005. She was an activemember of Saint Barbara’s GreekOrthodox Church in Toms Riverand a member of Saint Anthony’sGreek Orthodox Church inReno. She was a devoted wife,mother, grandmother and home-maker. She was preceded indeath by Charles, her husband ofalmost 62 years. Surviving are herbrother Frank Marinella; a son,Thomas (Susan) Joannou; adaughter, Stel (Robert) Woods;five grandchildren; one greatgrandson; and many nieces andnephews. Visitation with a Trisa-gion prayer service was on Fri-day, August 11, at Walton’s Fu-neral Home in Sparks. The funer-al was held on Saturday, August12, at Saint Anthony’s Church inReno.
KKAATTSSIIKKAASS,, FFRRAANNCCEESS – TheSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel re-ported that Frances Katsikas, 89,of Wilton Manors, Florida passedaway on Monday, August 7, atManor Pines Convalescent Cen-ter. She is survived by her daugh-ters, Popi Lianoudis and Billie(George) Theoharis; her son,John (Sue) Katsikas; sevengrandchildren; and three greatgrandchildren. She owned andoperated Egg & You Restaurantfrom 1955 until 1969. She waspredeceased by her husband,Gus. Calling hours and a Trisa-gion prayer service were held atthe Baird-Case/Jordan-FanninFuneral Home in Fort Laud-erdale, Florida on Thursday, Au-gust 10. The Funeral was held onFriday, August 11, at SaintDemetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch in Fort Lauderdale. Buri-al was at Lauderdale MemorialPark Cemetery. In lieu of flowers,memorial contributions may bemade to St. Demetrios Greek Or-thodox Church (815 N.E. 15thAvenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL33304).
LLIIAAPPIISS,, PPEETTEERR JJ.. – The Chica-go Tribune reported that Peter J.Liapis, 43, of Racine, Wisconsinpassed away on August 8. He wasa member of Saint DemetriosGreek Orthodox Church inWaukegan, Illinois. He is sur-vived by his loving wife, Susan(nee Burke); his beloved children,Theodore, Helen, Robert,Katherine Grace and Noah; hisfather Demetrios; his sisters,Maria (George) Frangos and Am-prini (Timothy) Golaris; and ahost of nieces, nephews andcousins. He was predeceased byhis loving mother, Theodora Li-apis. Visitation was on Thursday,August 10, at the Marsh FuneralHome in Gurnee, Illinois. The fu-neral was held at Saint DemetriosChurch on Friday, August 11,with Rev. Cosmas Halekakis offi-ciating. Burial was at Saint SavaCemetery in Libertyville, Illinois.In lieu of flowers, donations can
be made to his children (C/O St.Demetrios Church, 1217 NorthAvenue, Waukegan, IL 60085,TEL: 847-623-0190).
MMBBOORRIIAA,, MMAARRGGAARREETT MM.. –The Portland Press Herald re-ported that Margaret M. Mboriaof Biddeford, Maine passed awayon Sunday, August 6. Callinghours were held on Wednesday,August 9, at the Cote FuneralHome in Saco, Maine. The funer-al was held on Thursday, August19, at Saint Demetrios Greek Or-thodox Church in Saco. Burialwas at Laurel Hill Cemetery inSaco.
CCAATTHHEERRIINNEE MM.. PPAAPPPPAASS – TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution re-ported that Catherine M. Pappas,90, of Sandy Springs (formerly ofSavannah), Georgia died onThursday, August 10. The funeralwas held on Saturday, August 12,at Saint Paul’s Greek OrthodoxChurch in Savannah. Arrange-ments were by H.M. Patterson &Son Funeral Home-OglethorpeHill Chapel in Atlanta.
TTHHEEOODDOOSSSSOOPPOOUULLOOSS,, SSTTEEVVEE– The Chicago Tribune reportedon August 1 that Steve Theodos-sopoulos passed away. He was theloving father of Sophie, Tim andJim Theodossopoulos; deargrandfather of Nathan; fondbrother of George (Vasiliki) andthe late Nick (Betty) Theodos-sopoulos; and is also survived bymany nieces, nephews andcousins. Visitation and a Trisa-gion service were held onWednesday, August 2, at theDamar Funeral Home in Justice,Illinois. The funeral was held onThursday, August 3, at HolyCross Greek Orthodox Church inJustice. Burial was at BethaniaCemetery in Justice. For more in-formation, please call 708-496-0200.
TTSSUUCCAALLAASS,, EERRAASSMMIIAA – TheSarasota Herald-Tribune report-ed that Erasmia Tsucalas, 92, ofSarasota, Florida died on Thurs-day, August 3. She was born onAugust 14, 1913 in Sparta, andcame to Sarasota in 2000 fromNew York. She was a homemak-er, a member of the Eastern StarParthenon Chapter and a GreekOrthodox Christian. She is sur-vived by her daughter, MariaOleck of Nokomis. Services andburial were at Mount HopeCemetery in Hudson, New York.Arrangements were by ToaleBrothers Funeral Home in Sara-sota. Memorial donations may bemade to Tidewell Hospice andPalliative Care (5955 Rand Blvd.,Sarasota, FL 34238).
6 OBITUARIES/CLASSIFIEDS THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006
DDeeaatthhssALIKAKOS, JAMES T.
COCLANIS, JAMES P.
COPENHAVER, ZOE
JOANNOU, ROSE
KATSIKAS, FRANCES
LIAPIS, PETER J.
MBORIA, MARGARET M.
CATHERINE M. PAPPAS
THEODOSSOPOULOS,STEVE
TSUCALAS, ERASMIA
vviiaa tthhee ppoosstt--ooffffiiccee ❑ 1 Month for $$99..9955 ❑ 3 Months for $$1199..9955❑ 6 Months for $$2299..9955 ❑ One Year for $$5599..8855
vviiaa hhoommee ddeelliivveerryy ((NNYY,, NNJJ && CCTT))❑ 1 Month for $$1122..9955 ❑ 3 Months for $$2299..9955❑ 6 Months for $$4433..9999 ❑ One Year for $$8800..0000
vviiaa hhoommee ddeelliivveerryy ((NNeeww EEnnggllaanndd,, PPeennnnssyyllvvaanniiaa && WWaasshhiinnggttoonn DD..CC..))❑ 1 Month for $$1155..9955 ❑ 3 Months for $$3377..4455❑ 6 Months for $$5511..7755 ❑ One Year for $$9999..0000
OOnn lliinnee SSuubbssccrriippttiioonn www.thenationalherald.com❑ Non subscribers: ..........................❑ One Year for $$2299..9955 ❑ One Month for $$33..9955❑ Subscribers: ..................................❑ One Year for $$1199..9955 ❑ One Month for $$11..9955
APOSTOLOPOULOSApostle Family - Gregory, Nicholas, Andrew - Funeral Directors of RIVERDALE FUNERAL HOME Inc.5044 BroadwayNew York, NY 10034(212) 942-4000Toll Free 1-888-GAPOSTLE
CONSTANTINIDESFUNERAL PARLOR Co.405 91st StreetBay Ridge - Brooklyn, NY 11209(718) 745-1010Services in all localities - Low cost shipping to Greece
ANTONOPOULOS FUNERAL HOME, INC.Konstantinos Antonopoulos - Funeral Director38-08 Ditmars Blvd.,Astoria, New York 11105(718) 728-8500Not affiliated with any other funeral home.
FUNERAL HOMES
To place your classified ad, call (718) 784-5255, ext. 106, or e-mail: classifieds@ thenationalherald.com
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE
This is a service to the community. Announcements of deaths may be telephoned
to the Classified Department of The National Herald at (718) 784-5255,
LONDON – James Atkinson,known as Jim, was a fine exampleof the old school-leaver entrant tothe British Diplomatic Servicewho worked his way up to con-clude his service as Ambassadorto the Democratic Republic ofCongo and the neighboring Con-go from 2000 to 2004.
He was born on October 20,1944. He died of motor neurondisease on July 20 at 61 years ofage.
Atkinson had transferred tothe Diplomatic Service from theBoard of Trade in 1966 andserved in junior posts in Nicosiaand Gaborone before obtainingdiplomatic rank as second secre-tary (commercial) in Damascus in1976.
After four years at home, he
went to Athens) he was half-Greek on his mother's side, andwas born in Constantinople – pre-sent-day Istanbul), thence toJakarta as first secretary (politicaland information).
He was posted to Kampala in1993 for four years as deputy headof mission.
He helped civilianize and re-laxed tight security arrangementsof 14 years' standing to put a mis-sion, which had subsisted in adangerous environment for years,on a regular footing, and playedan important part in the collectiveobservation by outsiders of Ugan-da's constituent and, later, firstproper elections of the YoweriKaguta Museveni era.
Atkinson also had a particularresponsibility for maintaining the
High Commission's informal linkswith the Rwandan Popular Front(RPF) during the period in whichit conducted its political cam-paign from Uganda, and whenceit launched its invasion of Rwan-da.
These links were important,but sensitive because the Frenchregarded the Rwandan PopularFront as a Ugandan and Britishinstrument for subverting part oftheir claimed francophone sphereof influence.
The British High Commission-er, and Atkinson's boss at thetime, was simultaneously accred-ited on a non-resident basis to theold regime of ex-President Hab-yarimana.
It was his violent death in 1994which launched his regime's
planned systematic exterminationof their Tutsi compatriots andother domestic opponents, andled to the full-scale civil war fromwhich the Rwandan PopularFront emerged victorious.
From that followed a violentperiod in the history of the GreatLakes region, to whose bloodyand complex evolutions Atkinsonlater returned.
Atkinson returned to Londonin 1997 and was invited to join theConsular Division as its deputyhead.
He took some persuading toovercome his fear that he was be-ing typecast for a departmentwhich had traditionally beenthought a cul de sac.
But he relished his role at atime when the office sharply
raised the profile and importanceof consular work.
The reputation of being coolheaded in hot spots brought aposting as Ambassador to Kin-shasa and (on a non-resident ba-sis) to Brazzaville, so that noteven swimming the Congo Riveroffered an escape from a twin as-signment most of his colleagueswould have avoided.
In his four years there, Atkin-son saw local suspicions of GreatBritain as irredeemably pro-Rwandan give way to an apprecia-tion of Britain – thanks to ClareShort's drive – as an influentialdevelopment partner. He wouldhave been pleased to see the Con-go advancing towards its ownelections this week.
Atkinson had good political
and common sense; his humor,speech and writing were of thedriest; he had done almost everykind of job the Foreign Office af-fords before becoming an ambas-sador.
He was appointed CMG(Companion of the Most Distin-guished Order of Saints Michaeland George) in 2004.
His wife, Anne Mieke, marriedhim in 1980, from her own careerin the Netherlands public service;she not only supported her hus-band in his role, but also herselfworked as a locally recruitedmember of the British mission.
PEORIA, Ill. – First and fore-most, Dr. Nicholas J. Cotsonas Jr.was an educator who spent his ca-reer helping students not only ex-cel in medicine, but also in becom-ing partners with their patients.
"He taught them to not only begood physicians, but also to begood human beings working withpatients," said Dr. Joe Flaherty,dean of the College of Medicine atthe University of Illinois at Chica-go Medical School and a formerstudent.
"Knowledge of medicine is anabsolute prerequisite for being agood doctor, but by itself is insuffi-cient. To be a human and com-plete physician, one has to listenand understand and value the pa-
tient, and that is what he did, andabsolutely tried to convey that tohis students."
Dr. Cotsonas, the son of aGreek immigrant, dedicated hislife to the advancement of stu-dents at University of Illinois med-ical schools.
In 1970, he was asked to begin amedical school in Peoria. With justa secretary to help him, Dr. Cot-sonas established what is now theUniversity of Illinois College ofMedicine at Peoria, which todayoffers students a quality educationin the west-central part of thestate.
TTHHRRIIVVIINNGG PPRROOGGRRAAMM"It is a very strong thriving pro-
gram, which is a tribute to his ini-tial plans and designs for theschool," said Michelle Thompson,secretary of the board of trustees
for the University of Illinois.Dr. Cotsonas, an internist and
cardiologist, died of congestiveheart failure on Friday, July 28, inPlymouth Place in La GrangePark. He was 87 years old.
"He was an educator throughand through," Thompson said.
Born and raised in Boston, Dr.Cotsonas graduated from BostonLatin School and received his un-dergraduate degree from HarvardCollege.
He went onto GeorgetownUniversity Medical School, gradu-ating in 1943, the year he marriedhis first wife, Dorothy Johnson.
World War II interrupted hisresidency in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Cotsonas, a captain in theArmy Air Forces, served in theSouth Pacific, certifying pilots. Af-ter his discharge, he returned to
District of Columbia GeneralHospital. He became board-certi-fied in internal medicine with asub-specialty in cardiology.
He entered academic medicinein 1949, when he joined the staff atGeorgetown University as an as-sistant professor. He remainedthere until he joined the Universi-ty of Illinois.
"He discovered, while he was aresident, that he had a knack forteaching, and enjoyed it," said hisstepson, Thomas Westbrook.
And looking back, it was a verygood decision.
Former students are telling methat he was hard; he knew his stuff,but it was fun to be around him.Not easy, but fun."
Dr. Cotsonas became a full pro-fessor in 1962.
After he completed his tenure
in Peoria, he returned to theChicago area, moved to Hinsdale,Illinois and became associate vicechancellor of academic affairs atthe medical center in Chicago.
During that time, he and associ-ates also founded and started thegeriatric section of the departmentof medicine. While he was in hisearly sixties, he became board-cer-tified in geriatrics.
He retired in 1989 only because70 was the mandatory age for re-tirement, his stepson said.
He and his first wife divorced in1965. In 1970, he married BettyBorge, who died in 2001.
Dr. Cotsonas was a past presi-dent and board member of the Illi-nois Heart Association and a for-mer board member of the IllinoisCentral Health System Agency,Planned Parenthood of Greater
Peoria and a member of theStatewide Health CoordinatingCouncil.
He was also an editor for theperiodical, Disease-a-Month.
"My father was a gentleman inevery sense of the word," said hisdaughter, Elena.
"He was a very professionalman who always tried to do theright thing."
Other survivors include twosons, Nicholas III and Bruce; astepdaughter, Lisle Jackson; a sis-ter, Annie Welles; three grandchil-dren; and a great grandson.
A memorial service was heldlast Sunday, August 13, in DoleHall at Plymouth Place in LaGrange Park.
Dr. N.J. Cotsonas, who Established Medical College in Illinois, Dies at 87
THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006 GREECE/CYPRUS 7
By Evan C. LambrouSpecial to The National Herald
NEW YORK – Tens of thou-sands of Athenians left Athens infavor of beaches and cool moun-taintops, some beginning their an-nual leave and others set to enjoy along weekend ahead of the reli-gious holiday, this past Tuesday,August 15, the feast of the Dormi-tion of the Theotokos (the FallingAsleep of the Mother of God).
Vacationers departed fromAthens in tens of thousands of au-tomobiles, stepping up a tradition-al migration which begins in earlyAugust and leaves the capital prac-tically deserted each year.
Movement was brisk at the Atti-ca ports of Piraeus and Rafina, withthousands of vacationers estimatedto be sailing on hundreds of islandferry departures this weekend.
In the north, residents of Thes-saloniki and Kavala also headedout of their cities, many opting forthe northern Aegean island ofThassos.
Traffic police were on alert ataccess points to the country’s twomain motorways linking Athens tothe Peloponnese in the south, andto Thessaloniki in the north.
The annual Dormition religiousholiday – one of the most signifi-cant on the ecclesiastical calendar,and the unofficial culmination ofthe summer vacation season inGreece – again witnessed a virtualexodus of urbanites towards thecountry’s numerous beaches, is-lands and mountain villages.
The Greek leadership also tookthe opportunity to participate inservices, especially on the Cycladicisland of Tinos, where the highholyday is celebrated in distinctByzantine splendor.
Each year, the country’s pre-mier represented the Greek Gov-ernment at ecclesiastical services inTinos at the island’s cathedral,which is dedicated to theTheotokos.
Prime Minister Costas Kara-
manlis, who was accompanied byhis wife Natasha and several high-ranking government officials, not-ed that this year’s religious com-memoration “is even more timely,as fellow human beings in Lebanonare losing their lives, or are forcedto abandon their homes. An imme-diate end should be given to thistragedy, and we are working in thisdirection with all our strength, andat all levels.”
Hellenic Republic PresidentKarolos Papoulias was on hand forthe festive church service in thetownship of Agiasos on the easternAegean island of Lesbos, officiatedby Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew of Constantinople,the primus inter pares (first amongequals) of Orthodox patriarchs,who commenced a nearly weeklongvisit to the island last weekend.
Bartholomew called for peacein the Middle East, stating that“the weak, the defenseless, thehelpless and the innocent haveonce again become the tragic vic-tims, with children and young peo-ple most dramatically affected.”
The Patriarch visited the is-land’s Mount Olympus this pastMonday, where he helped releaserehabilitated wildlife back into itsnatural habitat. A reception wasgiven in his honor by the munici-pality of Mytilene, the island’s cap-ital, that evening.
In northern Greece, the Pana-gia (Virgin Mary) SoumelaMonastery in the foothills ofMount Vermio, the Pontic Greeks’most revered religious site, wasagain host to celebratory events,officiated by ArchbishopChristodoulos of Athens & AllGreece, and attended by thou-sands of pilgrims and almost allmembers of the Hellenic Parlia-ment and elected officials repre-senting the province of Macedoniaand Greater Thessaloniki.
On the island of Paros, MainOpposition Party ChairmanGeorge Papandreou attended ser-vices on that Cycladic island’s
renowned Ekatontapyliani Cathe-dral. Mr. Papandreou also referredbriefly to the Mid East crisis.“While the guns have silenced, theroad to peace is long,” he said.
A ceasefire took hold on Mon-day morning, officially ending 34days of brutal combat, Israeliairstrikes and Hezbollah rocketbarrages. The Israeli army with-drew part of its force from southLebanon on Tuesday, andLebanese troops were expected tostart moving across the Litani Riv-er on Thursday to eventually takecontrol of the war-ravaged regionwith the help of 15,000-strongUnited Nations peacekeepers.
MMIIRRAACCLLEE OONN CCEEPPHHAALLOONNIIAAIn the village of Markopoulo on
the Ionian island of Cephalonia(Kefalonia), every year in mid-Au-gust, people see numerous smallbut harmless snakes crawling to-ward a particular church.
Every August, just before thereligious festival, the snakes ap-pear all around the church of theVirgin Mary. The island has manychurches, but on the actual day(August 15), the snakes go only tothis church and climb onto the iconof the Virgin Mary. The church isnormally filled with faithful, andthe priest continues holding theservice, but neither the snakes northe congregants demonstrate anyfear or apprehension.
The snakes move all aroundpeople’s feet and crawl onto theicon. As soon as the festival is over,the serpents retreat and resumetheir normal behavior, after theyhave paid their customary visit in-side the church.
The snakes also typically have across design on their heads. Thismystery, which has been takingplace for generations, is unex-plained and completely unsolvablefor scientists, thus far.
the past two decades – enduredridicule over an Olympics buildingspree they launched late, and withminimal post-games planning.
Socialist Spokesman NikosAthanasakis has accused the gov-erning conservatives, elected inMarch 2004, of "idly watching thedecay of the precious Olympic in-heritance." The current GreekGovernment retorts it was dealt apoor hand. Little wonder thatAthens 2004's chief organizer, Gi-anna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, haskept a low profile.
In any event, the 2004 Games'formidable bottom line – set in the2006 budget at $10.9 billion, but es-timated by officials as high as $16.8billion – is being inflated by annualupkeep costs of $128.8 million.
While praising the 2004 Games,organizers for Beijing 2008 andLondon 2012 have pointedly avoid-ed the Athens trap by getting a faststart and planning for after theOlympic Flame is out. Denis Os-wald, now reprising his 2004Athens role as chief IOC overseerfor London, has urged such a strat-egy.
"Greece did not let us down,"
Oswald told the Associated Pressin a statement. "One of the keylessons from Athens is that it is im-portant to get out of the startingblocks early in order to avoidvenues being finished late."
BBRRIIGGHHTT SSPPOOTTSSUnquestionably, the Athens
Games left bright spots. Tourist ar-rivals are up sharply, while theGreek economy is expanding at a 4percent clip, defying predictions ofa post-games bust.
New transit infrastructure, andthe capital's brighter facade, re-vamped hotels and archaeologicalsites, linked by cobblestone walk-ways, benefit residents and visitorsalike.
Greece's international reputa-tion has "vastly improved" since the2004 Games, insists Stratos Safi-oleas, who consulted for both theLondon and Seoul Games bids,and worked for Athens 2004.
Athens has drawn track, rowingand cycling competitions this sum-mer.
And alongside events like theEurovision song contest in May,the main Olympic complex hashosted a stage of the Acropolis carrally, Pan-Athenaikos and AEKhome soccer games.
Next month, it will host track's
World Cup and, next year, theChampions League final.
But longer-term uses are stillelusive. Many Olympic facilitiesthreaten to become white ele-phants because of slow conversion;resistance to opening the new na-tional heritage to private money;or downright neglect.
Options for commercial seekersare limited to long-term leases.Outright sale is ruled out.
Hellenic Olympic PropertiesSA, headed by lawyer ChristosHadji-Emmanuel, is developing 22Olympic venues across Greece outof a sketchy plan he inherited andcalls a "nonstarter."
Six offers have been publishedand three contracts signed: one fora cultural-entertainment center atthe former badminton arena; a sec-ond for the table tennis and rhyth-mic gymnastics venue; and a thirdfor the International BroadcastCenter, for commercial use. Part ofthe IBC will house two sports mu-seums.
Expected deals this Autumn in-clude the coastal beach volleyball,sailing and canoe-kayak whitewa-ter facilities. The taekwondo facili-ty awaits Government approval asAthens' first convention center, inone of several public-private part-
nerships to come.The Hellenikon site hosted
baseball and softball – since elimi-nated from the Olympics – andfield hockey, which remains virtu-ally unknown in Greece. The facili-ties are cavernous and largely un-used, while plans to reinvent thesite as Europe's biggest metropoli-tan park have been mired in quar-rels over a housing project.
Other indoor venues forwrestling, judo, boxing andweightlifting all face major conver-sion work. A planned Health Min-istry move to the Main Press Cen-ter has been delayed, while theecologically vulnerable Skiniasflatwater rowing and canoeingvenue attracts more reeds than in-vestors.
And history often takes prece-dence. The marble horseshoe sta-dium in Athens, centerpiece of the1896 Games, and used two yearsago for archery, has been restored.At Olympia, site of the 2004 shotput, however, archaeologists thisSpring nixed proposals for a one-day track and field competition.
While Athens would prefer anOlympic legacy of heroically over-coming obstacles, the lesson drawnby others seems to be this: Don'tcreate so many in the first place.
GGrreeeeccee SSttrruugggglleess wwiitthh iittss OOllyymmppiicc IInnhheerriittaanncceeContinued from page 1
By John F.L. RossAssociated Press
ATHENS (AP) – Hundreds ofvacationers in Greece had theirtravel plans disrupted after allflights from Athens to airports inthe London area were canceledlast Thursday, August 10, follow-ing the heightened terrorist alertin the British capital, after Britishauthorities foiled a major terror-ist plot to blow up multiple com-mercial aircraft with liquid explo-sives.
Four British Airways, threeOlympic Airlines and two by easy-Jet flights were all canceled, au-thorities at Athens InternationalAirport said.
Long lines formed at the BA'sairport ticket counter, as travelerssought alternatives, with some ten-tatively assigned to other flightslater that day and others advisedto come back the next.
"It's pretty scary to think of allthat could happen.
That's pretty horrific," saidAustralian Nicole Spiller, 18, whohad been waiting for five hours atthe airport. "But security comesfirst."
New Yorker Stergio Bekas, 26,had flown halfway to London fromAthens when his flight went into ahalf-hour holding pattern, andthen returned to Athens. "It'scrazy, but what can you do," hesaid.
Flights from Thessaloniki,Greece's second-largest city, toGatwick were rescheduled for lat-er in the day, while no hand lug-gage was allowed in aircraft cabinson any flights.
It was unclear whether flightsfrom dozens of charter flightsfrom Greece's popular islandswould be affected. Such destina-tions include the islands of Crete,Cephalonia, Corfu, Mykonos and
Rhodes.In Cyprus, authorities stepped
up security at both the island's air-ports for all flights to the UnitedKingdom.
Civil Aviation DirectorLeonidas Leonidou said all pas-sengers were being body-searched,and all hand luggage was beingcarefully scrutinized. He said au-thorities decided that large handluggage would not be allowed inaircraft cabins.
"Anything larger than a brief-case or bag will be sent to the car-go hold," Leonidou said.
Many expressed sympathy forBritish Airways. Joanna Spence,48, a Greek living in Dar esSalaam, Tanzania, said she trustedBA. "I know they'll do the rightthing."
Londoner Alan Rawbone, 57,said, "There's no point in gettingupset about it. I sympathize withBA staff."
Flights Canceled in Greece, Cyprus
Wednesday, August 9, near the sitewhere the Cypriot airliner crashed.Rescuers had recovered 118 bodiesfrom the site, near Grammatiko.
"We have hopes that at least oneor two of these skeletons belong tothe three missing persons," Tsolakistold the Associated Press. He saidthe remains were found lodged un-der a wing section of the wreckage,in a gorge outside the 10-acre maincrash site. "Some of them were verybadly burned," Tsolakis said.
Chief State Coroner PhillipKoutsaftis said police would askrelatives of the three missing vic-
tims – all Cypriot nationals – toprovide DNA samples to cross-check with the remains.
"But the results will take a verylong time, as the remains have de-teriorated," Koutsaftis said.
Tsolakis said the process couldtake up to two months, adding thathe expected to submit his final re-port on the causes of the crash inearly September.
Tsolakis handed Cypriot au-thorities a draft report in May onthe causes of the accident, but hedid not make the findings public.
"It's a very delicate affair. Weare working very intensely on thiscase," he said.
The ill-fated Boeing 737-300,which was en route from Larnaca inCyprus to Athens, flew on autopilotfor over two and a half hours afterreaching cruising altitude. TwoGreek fighter jets tailed it until itcrashed.
After a re-enactment in Decem-ber of the Helios flight from Lar-naca to Athens, investigators saidthe plane apparently had lost cabinpressure, incapacitating the pilots,and eventually ran out of fuel be-fore crashing.
A flight attendant wrestled withthe controls for at least 10 minutesbefore the Cypriot airliner crashed,investigators said.
MMoouurrnniinngg tthhee VViiccttiimmss ooff TTrraaggeeddyyContinued from page 1
8 EDITORIALS/LETTERS THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006
Each August 15, Orthodox Christians celebrate the greatest of all thereligious festivals the Church has established in honor of the VirginMary (Panagia), the All-Holy Mother of God: the feast of the Dormitionof the Theotokos (the God-Bearer), which just passed us by this pastweek.
The feasts of the Virgin Mary are of primary importance in the annualcycle of festivals observed by the Church, second only to those of ChristHimself.
Pascha (Easter) is the Lord’s greatest feast, the feast of His redemp-tive death and Resurrection. His mother’s greatest feast is associatedwith her death and metastasis (i.e., translation or transposition) to Heav-en. The reason for this rooted in the basic Christian perception of salva-tion: the re-entry of human beings into God’s Kingdom, transcendingdeath and regaining the gift of eternal life.
In the Orthodox tradition, the blessed person of the Theotokos is in-separable from the Person of Christ. This is exactly what the name,“Theotokos,” constantly declares: namely that the Virgin Mary’s placeand significance in the Church can not be understood apart from her re-lation to the Lord.
The feast of the Dormition was established in the 6th Century, but itshistorical roots are in earlier centuries, especially the 5th Century, fol-lowing the dogmatic decision of the Third Ecumenical Council of Eph-esus (431 AD) to accept and use the term, Theotokos, as the most impor-tant and defining description of the All-Holy Mother of our Lord.
The details of the celebration of the Dormition are based on an apoc-ryphal narrative concerning the circumstances of the Mary’s death,which dates back to Saint John the Theologian, the Beloved Disciple, inwhose care the Theotokos had been entrusted by the Lord Himself.
The narrative tells us the story, which is depicted by the holy icon ofthe Dormition: The Archangel Gabriel visited the Theotokos and fore-told about her approaching death; thereupon, the Theotokos returned toher home and prepared for this event, praying that the Apostles shouldbe notified accordingly. John is said to be the first to arrive, and then allthe rest follow. Finally, the Lord Himself appears in His divine glory, es-corted by a myriad of angels, and takes her pristine soul, which iswrapped like a newborn babe in swaddling clothes, into His arms in or-der to transport it to Heaven.
The yearly miracle involving snakes on the island of Cephalonia (seestory on page 7) only serves to reaffirm the significance of the Dormitionand the Theotokos’ role in humanity’s salvation.
Scientists can investigate the snakes’ mysterious behavior all they like.But let’s face it, even dogs, the most trainable of animals, can not betrained to go to a particular place at a particular time of year after such alengthy interval. The fact that snakes, which are basically untrainable, ex-hibit this behavior is testament to the mystery, and should serve as ahumbling realization.
There are also many Biblical passages concerning snakes; in particu-lar, we will refer our readers to Exodus 4.2-3 and John 3.14 for the rele-vant perspective.
A moral voiceWhile a fragile ceasefire was being observed at press time, and while
the United Nations was assembling its latest peacekeeping force for theMiddle East, we thought it was important to reflect on Greece’s role inthe peacekeeping process.
From the onset of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, Greece persistentlycalled for an immediate ceasefire. Athens sent about 70 tons of aid toLebanon during the fighting, and evacuated more than 2,200 people, us-ing Hellenic Navy vessels in that effort.
Greece is not a major military or economic power, but the HellenicRepublic has troops serving in international peacekeeping forces inBosnia, Albania, Kosovo and Afghanistan, and the Greeks have an im-portant moral voice:
“The image of helpless children and mothers; wounded, sick and de-spondent victims on either side of the conflict; untold destruction andunimaginable pain has haunted all of us. It has shown, once more, howmuch, as an international community, we have failed the hopes anddreams and aspirations of all these people… War is not, and can not be,the answer to anything. Violence never solved any problem. It onlyserves to breed more violence, and to create a new generation full of ha-tred, devoid of hope and keen on revenge – a nurturing field for extrem-ism and terrorism,” Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni told theU.N. Security Council last Friday, August 11.
Dora’s statements fully exemplify the Greek attitude, which is consis-tent with Greece’s humanitarian spirit from ancient times, and Greece’sconduct during the crisis was acknowledged by her American counter-part, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who sent a let-ter on August 9 thanking Dora for Greece’s assistance in evacuating peo-ple from war-ravaged Lebanon.
“Dear Dora, I thank you for the help which Greece offered to Ameri-can citizens who wished to evacuate from Lebanon. Please convey myappreciation to the Greek officials in Athens, Nicosia, Beirut and Wash-ington, as well as to the commanders and crews of the Greek ships, theefforts of whom had, as a result, the speedy and safe transfer of Ameri-can citizens from Lebanon,” Dr. Rice wrote, expressing particular appre-ciation for “the solidarity which the Greek Government showed toAmerican citizens with its decisive and timely actions.”
At press time, Greece was considering a request to send a contingentto the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, and Cyprus offered to serveas a transit point for the transportation of international peacekeepingtroops and humanitarian aid to Lebanon (having already served as amain hub in efforts to evacuate thousands of civilians from Lebanon dur-ing the 34-day war).
The above-mentioned statements and facts only reconfirm thatGreece and Cyprus are playing key roles in efforts to bring peace to theMiddle East and restore stability in the region, and that Hellenism is stillan important bridge between East and West.
The Dormition of Mary
Disparaging theSchool Will NotHelp it Improve
To the Editor:Needless to say, I was disturbed
by the disparaging remarks HisEminence Metropolitan Gerasi-mos directed toward HolyCross/Hellenic College in his in-terview with TheodoreKalmoukos, published in your July29 edition.
That there was a paucity of peo-ple at the Nashville, Clergy-LaityCongress attending the committeemeeting chaired by His Eminence,and which specifically dealt withthe college, must have been disap-pointing to him, and to anyoneelse associated with the school.But to imply, as he does, that theinstitution is somehow failing in itsmission to serve the Archdioceseand the Diaspora itself seems tome unwarranted, to say the least.
In my view, HC/HC has, sinceits inception, educated manybright and talented students whohave gone onto become leaders inthe faith, as well as hierarchs ofour Church itself. And I am confi-dent it will continue to do so.
If, in the aforementioned inter-view, His Eminence was attempt-ing to encourage his own almamater to achieve greater things,some of his answers could havebeen justified, but the doom-and-gloom scenario which comesthrough in the interview is hardly apicture which would encourageany student to attend the school,or a major donor to gift with his re-sources what is painted as a falter-ing institution.
And there’s no escaping the im-plication that, if major deficienciesdo exist at HC/HC, then it wouldappear that His Eminence himself,in part, had contributed to that sit-uation during his many years spentat HC/HC in his capacity as deanof student life.
We can not put blame for theperceived shortcomings of anyschool exclusively on the adminis-tration and faculty. One must alsolook at its constituency for an-swers. And in this case, the greater
Greek community of this countryshould, in large measure, be heldaccountable for any dissatisfactionwith low enrollment figures; ques-tionable outcome standards; orbehavior and actions which areperceived to be shortcomings.
As a Greek Diaspora commu-nity, we have always had the op-tion of remaining disengaged fromHC/HC, or committed to makingit whatever kind of institution wewant it to be. We need only look atanother immigrant group for anexample of what our possibilitiescould have been.
On viewing the website ofBrandeis University, one readsthat the institution “was foundedin 1948 as a nonsectarian universi-ty under the sponsorship of theAmerican Jewish community toembody its highest ethical and cul-tural values, and to express itsgratitude to the United Statesthrough the traditional Jewishcommitment to education.” Andin his April 1995 inaugural ad-dress, the current president, Jehu-da Reinharz, stated that the iden-tity of Brandeis “rests on four solidpillars: dedication to academic ex-cellence, non sectarianism, a com-mitment to social action, and con-tinuous sponsorship by the Jewishcommunity.”
As a result, Brandeis Universitytoday is a university of more than5,000 students, with 105 buildingsand an endowment exceeding 500million dollars, all of which was ac-complished by a dedicated JewishDiaspora no larger or wealthierthan ours. All it took to achievethis result was money and a will tosucceed.
We Greeks could have donethe same, and still can if we chooseto do so, for we have everything ittakes to make such a thing hap-pen: a great campus, good people,capable students and even a noblemission, provided that we elect tosee it.
For any perceived failures, weneed not blame an archbishop, acollege president, its staff or itsstudents. We need only to look atourselves and our own unwilling-ness to adequately support the oneand only institution of higherlearning we have.
On a personal note, after sever-al visits to HC/HC, I can attest tothe presence of many outstandingand gifted faculty members there,and I have the greatest admirationfor the work its president, FatherNicholas C. Triantafilou, has donein his efforts to take the school to ahigher level.
As an institution of higherlearning, HC/HC is unique to us.We can help it grow, or we canstand on the sidelines and see itfalter. We can be proud of what wehave, or we can make disparagingremarks about it at will. We canlend our support to its faculty andstudents, or we can actively de-moralize those who are its heartand soul through needless and un-justifiable carping.
There is no way of telling whatHC/HC could become with ade-quate funding and the vigoroussupport of the entire Greek Amer-ican community. It could developinto an institution not necessarilycompeting with any other institu-tion of the greater Boston Area,but into a special center of Byzan-tine Studies and thought instead.Or it could continue to exist as is,but on a steady path of improve-ment.
Let’s not forget, however, thatwhatever road is taken depends onall of us.
Respectfully submitted,John C. Rouman
Professor Emeritus of ClassicsUniversity of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire
Increase LegalImmigration, NotMinimum Wage
To the Editor:The press clipping from the
New York Times, “A Simpler Al-ternative: Raise Wages, NotWalls,” which was published inyour July 29 edition, had two basicflaws.
First, a national minimum wagemakes no sense. The cost of livingvaries dramatically across thecountry. A wage that supports a
comfortable life style in RapidCity, South Dakota would not paythe rent for a decent house inWashington DC, for example.
Setting a minimum wageshould be the responsibility ofstate and local government. Not tomention the fact that increasingthe minimum wage only causes in-flation.
The low-wage earner ends upwith more money, but with exactlythe same buying power. Increasingthe standard of living for low-wageworkers requires increasing pro-ductivity.
Second, increasing the discrep-ancy in wages between the UnitedStates and the rest of the worldwould only increase the incentiveto immigrate legally and illegally.If wages in the U.S. and Mexicowere the same, we would not havean illegal immigration problem.
The unemployment rate in theU.S. is only about 4.8 percent.There is not a large pool of unem-ployed U.S. citizens to fill low-wage jobs, no matter how high thewage is. The only solution to the il-legal immigration problem is to in-crease legal immigration, and todo everything possible to improvethe economies of Latin Americancountries.
Respectfully submitted,Dr. Nicholas G. Demas
Professor EmeritusTennessee Technological
UniversityCookeville, Tennessee
TO OUR READERS
The National Herald welcomes let-ters from its readers intended forpublication. They should includethe writer’s name, address, andtelephone number and be ad-dressed to: The Editor, The Nation-al Herald, 37-10 30th Street, LongIsland City, NY 11101. Letters canalso be faxed to (718) 472-0510 ore-mailed to [email protected]. We reserve theright to edit letters for publicationand regret that we are unable toacknowledge or return those leftunpublished.
TThhee NNaattiioonnaall HHeerraallddA weekend publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC. (∂£¡π∫√™ ∫∏ƒÀ•),
reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest to the Greek American community of the United States of America.
Home delivery New England States, Pennsylvania & Washington DC:1 year $99.00, 6 months $51.75, 3 months $37.45, 1 month $15.95
On line subscription: Non subscribers: 1 year $29.95, 1 month $3.95;Subscribers: 1 year $19.95, 1 month $1.95
Periodical postage paid at L.I.C. NY and additional mailing offices.
Postmaster send change of address to: THE NATIONAL HERALD, 37-10 30th Street, LIC, NY 11101-2614
By John GreenwoodThe Sunday Telegraph
With an average 340 days of sun-shine a year, a low cost of living andgenerous tax breaks for pensioners,it is no wonder that thousands ofBrits are retiring to Cyprus.
Cyprus has bent over back-wards to make itself attractive towealthy retired expatriates. Unit-ed Kingdom pensioners can expectto receive up to a third more pen-sion income than they would athome because of the low taxeslevied on retired people in Cyprus.They will also avoid death dutiesaltogether if they live there longenough.
The island's capital, Nicosia, re-mains the only militarily dividedcity in Europe, with the ceasefireline running right through it sincethe Turkish army invaded thenorth of the island in 1974, just 14years after Cyprus gained inde-pendence from the UK. Despitethis border dispute, which remainsa diplomatic stumbling block be-tween Greece and prospective Eu-ropean Union member Turkey,residential developments haveflourished on both sides of theUnited Nations-administeredGreen Line, which divides theTurkish-occupied north, and theGreek south of the island. If youwant to settle in the northern partof the island, you need to seek spe-cialist advice, as the rules are quitedifferent from the Greek south,which became a member of theEU in 2004. It is to this part ofCyprus that the vast majority ofUK expatriates go.
Cyprus is a country with strongties to Great Britain, with a signifi-cant UK military presence, andwhere English is very widely spo-ken. Add to that probably the mostattractive tax regime for pension-ers in the EU, and it is plain to seewhy Cyprus will continue to growas a retirement destination.
In our latest look at retiringoverseas, here are the main pointsto consider if you are consideringpacking your bags for the warm cli-mate of the eastern Mediterranean.
PPEENNSSIIOONNSSCyprus has a flat 5 percent in-
come tax rate for all overseas pen-sions, whether state, company or
personal, paid to expats. This putsCyprus head-and-shoulders aboveall other EU states in terms of taxon pensioners. Although there areno plans to abolish this tax break,some experts warn it could be toogood to last, so make sure youhave a contingency plan if therules are changed at some point inthe future.
According to Bill Blevins, di-rector of Blevins Franks, an IFA(International Franchise Associa-tion) specializing in expatriate fi-nance issues, "Some years ago,Cyprus made a policy decision tostimulate the economy by attract-ing foreign retirees into the coun-try with very low tax on pensions.But they are now approaching acritical mass in terms of numbers,so you could see this tax break be-ing removed in years to come.''
This low tax rate means it is def-initely worth getting your UK pen-sion paid gross and paying incometax on it in Cyprus, increasing yourpension income by up to a third ifyou are a higher rate taxpayer.
Cyprus also scores pluses ontwo other issues which can ad-versely affect people retiring out-side the UK. It recognizes theUK's 25 percent entitlement to atax-free pension lump sum, and itis a country where the British Gov-ernment pays annual inflation in-creases to expats' state pensions,something it does not do for thoseBritons who retire to countriessuch as Australia, Canada, NewZealand and South Africa.
IINNCCOOMMEE TTAAXXEESSOn top of the incredibly low in-
come tax rate for pensioners, an-other advantage of the Cypriot taxregime for retirees is the lack of in-come tax on bank interest andshare dividends once you becometax resident, which kicks in afterliving in the country for 183 days.Instead, Cyprus residents pay aspecial tax which is a hangoverfrom the recent political history ofthe island. The patriotic DefenceContributions tax was introducedafter the occupation of the north-ern part of the island by the Turk-ish army to fund military hardwareto protect the country's borders. Itis still charged on bank interest,dividends and rental income. De-fence Contributions tax is charged
on income from interest in savingsaccounts at a rate of 10 percent,while tax on dividend income is 15percent. Rental income is taxed at2.25 percent. Defence Contribu-tions tax falls to a flat rate of 3 per-cent if total relevant income is lessthan 5,600 pounds ($10,575) ayear.
The only revenue UK pension-ers are at all likely to pay incometax on is rental income. Cypriot in-come tax has a top rate of 30 per-cent, and no tax at all is paid on thefirst 8,000 pounds ($15,110) youreceive a year.
Cyprus is also one of the fewcountries in Europe to have no in-heritance tax, at all, since it wasabolished in 2000, although you willhave to be able to prove you havecompletely severed all links withthe UK before HM (Her Majesty's)Revenue & Customs will let you offthe hook. As is the case with othercountries which do not have deathduties, satisfying the Revenue thatCyprus is your domicile can takemore than five years, and involvesclosing down all accounts and sell-ing all UK property – and cancelingyour registration with your UKdoctor and dentist.
It takes slightly less time to befreed from UK eligibility for capi-tal gains tax, but the Cypriot rateof only 20 percent is half that paidon capital gains in the UK. Thismeans that people wanting to real-ize capital from second homes orportfolios of buy-to-let propertiescould benefit by waiting until theybecome assessable for capitalgains tax in Cyprus rather than theUK, although this can take up tofive consecutive years in the coun-try to qualify.
Properties are still relativelycheap in Cyprus but you still needto be aware of stamp duty, whichstarts at 3 percent and rises to 8percent on property valued atmore than 80,000 pounds($151,000). The vast majority ofUK pensioners retiring to Cyprusbuy newly built homes, many ofwhich are bought off-plan.
"While these homes may seemaffordable when compared withUK housing prices, they are diffi-cult to sell should you want tomove. There is no market demandfor second-hand properties of this
type,'' says Robert Reid, a directorof Syndaxi Financial Planning, anIFA.
HHEEAALLTTHHCCAARREEUK citizens who become resi-
dents in Cyprus are entitled to thenational health system in the sameway Cypriot locals are. But expertsrecommend taking out privatemedical insurance, which will al-low you as much flexibility onwhere you are treated as possible.
"You should always get the bestmedical insurance that you can af-ford,'' Blevins cautions. "Makesure you get evacuation coveragethat will allow you to be flown backto the UK for treatment in case ofemergency, and not just to thenearest specialist hospital whichcould be in Greece, where Englishwill not be the doctors' first lan-guage.''
Overseas private medical insur-ance plans are complex and mayexclude or limit cover for outpa-tient treatments, which can be ex-tremely costly. Anybody movingabroad should sit down with an in-dependent health insurance advis-er and make sure they understandthe full extent of the cover they aregetting.
CCUURRRREENNCCYY RRIISSKKThe value of the Cypriot pound
has fallen by over 25 percentagainst sterling in the last fiveyears. The Turkish lira, which isthe currency in use north of theGreen Line, has seen its value col-lapse by around 20 percent just inthe last few months. As with anymove out of the UK, emigrating toCyprus means you will be tied tothe local currency, but most ex-perts recommend keeping the ma-jority of your savings in sterling oreuros because of the weakness ofboth economies.
When moving large amounts ofcash to Cyprus, whether to buy aproperty or purchase that dreamyacht, always use a specialist for-eign exchange company. They willgive you better rates than the highstreet banks, and will be able to fixa rate in advance so you can moveyour money across confident youwill not have to top it up with morecash if exchange rates suddenly fall.
By Dr. D.G. KousoulasSpecial to The National Herald
A few weeks ago, Defense Sec-retary Donald Rumsfeld, testifyingbefore a Congressional commit-tee, acknowledged that we are fac-ing a new form of warfare, the typeof warfare which is likely to be thenorm during the 21st Century. Hewas referring to terrorism, ofcourse, a fairly inexpensive way toinflict damage and loss of life, us-ing a small number of individuals,many of them prepared to blowthemselves up in carrying out their“mission.”
Mr. Rumsfeld’s assessment wascorrect.
It is an axiom that the type ofthe threat is what should deter-mine the strategy which offers thebest hope to combat and eventual-ly eliminate the threat.
More than half a century ago,we faced an expansionist ideologywhich claimed to be the “wave ofthe future.” This Marxist-Leninistideology was sponsored by the So-viet Union, one of the victors inthe Second World War. We werefortunate at that time to have, atthe highest levels of leadership inthe United States, men of the cal-iber of Harry Truman, Secretary
of State Dean Acheson, GeorgeMarshall, Senator Arthur Van-denberg (R-Michigan), GeorgeKennan (the “father of contain-ment”) and, across the Atlantic,Winston Churchill, who craftedthe strategy which eventuallybrought about the collapse of theSoviet Union and the end of thethreat posed by the expansionistideology of communism.
This time, the threat is differentand, in some ways, more difficultto combat. In our conventional un-derstanding of warfare, war meansstrong armies using the bestweapons technology can devise.Wars are to be fought betweensovereign states, across fairly iden-tifiable frontlines. By contrast, thisnew threat does not use largearmies; does not identify withsovereign states; does not use ex-pensive weapons; and has no iden-tifiable frontlines.
It has one more feature of cardi-nal significance. Compared to theerstwhile “communist threat,” thethreat of Muslim terrorism is muchmore potent because it is so closelytied to a religion: Islam. Suicidebombers are promised by their reli-gious leaders that, when they diekilling infidels, they become mar-tyrs in the eyes of God (Allah), andthey are assured an eternal life ofbliss in Paradise. Stalin or Maocould never make such a promiseeven to their most fanatical follow-ers. It is therefore not surprisingthat we have no cases of commu-nists blowing themselves up insearch of eternal life in Paradise.
In dealing with this new type ofa threat, we find that expensiveand highly sophisticated weaponsare of little use, if not totally irrele-vant. We can not take actionagainst countries whose govern-ments give the terrorists tacit sup-port while, on the surface, appearto be uninvolved. The UnitedStates has the capacity to inflictterrible punishment – horrendousloss of life and resources – on thepeople of any sovereign statewhich would engage in traditionalwarfare against us. Yet Americafinds it almost impossible to wagewar against terrorists and their
backers using sophisti-cated, state-of-the-artweaponry.
We know that mostof the terrorists areyoung men who grew uplistening to their reli-gious leaders inmosques, and to theirteachers in religious oreven public schools intheir countries. Peopleare not born with a reli-gion implanted in theirbrain. They accept a re-ligion only after years ofindoctrination. Terror-ists do not materialize from thinair. They are the end products of aprocess which started years ago,and which has been fueled by thedoctrines of their religion. Yet asof now, we can not stop this pro-cess. Some people are alreadycoming to grips with this threat,and try to articulate its basic andmost troubling features. But a co-herent, comprehensive and effec-tive strategy has yet to emerge. Ourreactions are spasmodic, unfo-cused and, oftentimes, contradic-tory. Yet the need for a clear strat-egy which fits the threat is obvious.As of this moment, neither the Re-publicans nor the Democrats havedeveloped such a strategy.
Few people will disagree thatterrorism, by its very nature, callsfor effective intelligence and policework designed to uncover and pre-vent any specific actions of destruc-tion the terrorists are planning.
Ten days ago, cooperation be-tween Pakistani and British intelli-gence thwarted a horrendous planto blow up some ten commercialairliners while they would fly overthe Atlantic.
OOUURR KKEEYY WWEEAAPPOONNCooperation among the intelli-
gence establishment of manycountries; infiltration of terroristcells; and electronic and humansurveillance, disinformation andpenetration are just some of thetools. In fact, intelligence is ourfirst line of defense, our keyweapon. The recent detection ofthe terrorist plot also implies thatany Muslim government which
does not want to be re-garded as an enemymust cooperate in therealm of intelligence.
Obviously, our focusshould be on Islamicterrorists, not on everyMuslim. The ultimateachievement will bewhen we are able to iso-late the terrorists, evenwithin the Muslimworld, and bring Mus-lims everywhere to ac-cept that fanaticism andsupport of the Islamicterrorists is against their
own progress and interest.After the September 11
tragedy, we acted wisely. We iden-tified al Qaeda and its leaderOsama Bin Laden as the chief cul-prits; we established that they weregiven every protection and supportby the Taliban government inAfghanistan; and we used the rightkind of forces and the cooperationof local anti-Taliban fighters toeliminate the al Qaeda bases inthat country.
But then we unwisely embarkedon the Iraq misadventure. BinLaden was able to escape, and heremains at-large almost five yearslater. From now on, such devia-tions from the main target, Islamicterrorism, need to be avoided.
It is estimated that more thantwo million Muslims live in theUnited States, having establishedtheir mosques and religiousschools. Many of them have re-ceived their green cards, even theirAmerican citizenship. Many maybe law-abiding citizens.
But as the identity of the sus-pected terrorists of the latest plotin Great Britain showed, even be-ing born in Britain is no guaranteeof a Muslim’s loyalty.
Part of our strategy may be newrules which provide for close mon-itoring of what is being taught intheir mosques and religiousschools in this country, and a swiftdeportation of those who preachhatred. A naturalized Americancitizen takes an oath to respect theConstitution and laws of the Unit-ed States. Anyone who does not
do so has violated his oath, and hisdeportation can not be considereda violation of his civil rights. Simi-lar treatment of hate peddlersamong Muslims who now live inWestern countries is a legitimateaction of self defense.
In practically all Muslim coun-tries, mosques and religiousschools are known to serve asnurseries for future terrorists, or atleast for future supporters of theidea that Islam should eventuallyprevail everywhere. Sooner or lat-er, the West will have to face up tothe dire necessity of dealing withthe problem.
Muslim governments that wishto interact peacefully and prof-itably with the rest of the worldwill have to take the initiative torein in the mullahs, imams and re-ligious schoolteachers. The Mus-lim world needs a Martin Lutherand an age of enlightenment totone down the effects of their reli-gion in everyday life. This will behard to achieve as long as anyMuslim who dares to question anyof the backward doctrines andpractices of Islam is likely to be vil-ified and threatened with death(e.g., Salman Rushdie). But at thevery least, encouraging such achange in the Muslim worldshould be part of our strategy.
Most commentators in theUnited States reject, or at leastquestion, the notion that thePalestinian conflict with Israel isone of the causes for the emer-gence of Muslim terrorism. Theevidence indicates otherwise.
It does not matter how justifiedor irrational Muslin opposition isto Israel. Islamic terrorismemerged initially as part of a Mus-lim reaction to the establishmentof the Jewish state. For the first 30years, Muslim terrorists associatedthemselves with the cause of thePalestinians even when they werenot Palestinians themselves. Thereis ample evidence that, for mostMuslims, Israel is the red flag. Inmosques and religious schools,from Morocco to Indonesia, theexistence of Israel is the first andforemost argument used in ped-dling the doctrines of hate against
the West and, especially now, theUnited States.
If this conflict was taking placein a remote corner of the globe, itwould not matter as much. But thisprotracted conflict takes place in asensitive region (where there is alot of oil), and involves two majorreligions. Sooner or later, it willhave to be settled through a com-promise: The Muslim world willhave to accept that Israel is thereto stay. The Palestinian refugeescan not go back.
On the other hand, the Jewishsettlements in the so-called WestBank will have to be dismantledand the borders drawn along thelines of 1967. Jerusalem can notbe exclusively a Jewish city. Eitherpart of it will become capital of thePalestinian state, or the city andthe holy places of three religionswill become an international entityopen to all.
Neither side will be satisfied, ofcourse. But the conflict has beengoing on now for almost 60 years.
In the course of the past sixdecades, it has become abundantlyclear that the two sides can not re-solve the problem by themselvesthrough negotiations and a mutu-ally accepted compromise. Per-haps the only way is to draw up afair solution agreed upon by themajor players on both sides, bothWestern and Muslim powers.Then have this fair solution im-posed upon the two warring peo-ples. In time, peace and eventualprosperity will remove one of thekey issues which fuel Muslim re-sentment.
A newspaper commentator cannot devising a winning strategy forthis new form of warfare we face isnot the task of, but only presentsome tentative suggestions. It is upto those in high places to chart thecourse.
In Search of a Strategy – After Almost Six Decades of Conflict
Once again, Muslimterrorists raised thestakes in the war of ter-ror. This time, it wasLondon’s Heathrow air-port. The first reactionby American and Cana-dian airport security of-ficials was to join theirBritish counterpartsand prohibit passengersfrom carrying any liquidsubstances onboard air-planes. The consensusand fear among securityexperts is that the ter-rorists, having failed tostrike at Heathrow, would shifttheir attack to another location;hence the sudden and heavy-hand-ed inconvenience imposed on un-fortunate travelers. No doubt theminions of Osama bin Landen willstrike again, but it is unlikely thatthey will adopt the same tactic.
Chemistry and explosive ex-perts have stated that, under thebest of circumstances, it is ex-tremely difficult for anyone to mixtwo or more chemical componentsin the washbasin of an airplane inorder to produce a bomb. Most ofthe proposed chemicals are easilyavailable, but very unstable whencombined in sufficient quantitiesto create a bomb, and to avoid de-tection, these chemicals wouldhave to be carried onboard an air-plane by several individuals.
Consequently, two or three ter-rorists would then have to meet inone of the restrooms and proceedto mix the components withoutblowing themselves up in the pro-cess. For those who have used theaverage airplane washroom, it isinconceivable that two, let alonethree, people could squeeze in thattiny space. Finally, the size of theproposed detonation would belimited by the small amount ofchemicals which could realisticallybe carried on the airplane.
Another (and very serious)probability is that the terroristscould easily bring a large amountof explosives in luggage which isstored in the belly of the aircraft,thus ensuring much greater dam-age to the aircraft and passengers.The question is, why are the secu-rity officials at North Americanairports so fixated with banning allliquids (and soon, all electronic
components) and, inthe process, further ex-asperating the tiredtraveler? It is unlikelythat these measures willdeter the terrorists, whowill soon adapt and getaround the new securitymeasures; moreover, inthe near future, we willbe confronted with yetanother diabolical plotto kill innocent people.
In fact, the applica-tion of another level ofscrutiny at airports will,more than likely, be ex-
ploited by the airline industry.Most air carriers, no doubt, willsoon be charging exorbitant pricesfor water, juice or toothpaste, aswell as further crowding alreadyover-packed airplanes. Com-pounding this is the failure of be-leaguered and unimaginative gov-ernments to find practical andconvenient measures to guaranteeairport security.
Indeed, after 9/11 the UnitedStates Government’s response tothe tragic failure of airport securi-ty personnel, who had let the ter-rorists slip past them five yearsago, was not by to fire them, but torecruit them as federal employees.Prior to 9/11, most airport securitywas in the hands of private compa-nies who paid their barely trainedpeople minimum wage. Now theyhave guaranteed employment,health insurance and all the otherperks of federal civil servants. Butare they better trained to copewith the variety of sabotage tech-niques that al Qaeda and othersuch terrorist organizations are ca-pable of using to cause death anddestruction on a mass scale?
Both after 9/11 and the recent at-tempted terrorist act at Heathrow,the reaction of American and Cana-dian authorities charged with air-port security was almost instantparalysis, followed by a ban based asmuch on whimsy, as well as com-mon sense. After 9/11, on Canada’snational carrier (Air Canada), forexample, nail clippers were not per-mitted onboard all flights, but mealswere served with plastic knives andsteel forks. I suspect the theory isthat the terrorists would be toosqueamish to kill someone with afork.
In February 2002, RichardReid, the so-called “shoebomber,” attempted to blow a holein an American Airlines flight withan explosive hidden in his boot.Regardless of his epithet as the‘shoe bomber,” he was wearingboots because only a boot couldhouse enough explosion to causeserious damage. This, of course,has not prevented airport securityin the U.S. from compelling mil-lions of travelers to remove theirshoes before passing throughscreening machines.
For the most part, such mea-sures appear as a useless exercise,but are essentially imposed to givethe appearance that security offi-cials are in control of airport safety.In fairness to airport officials, thereis little else they can do to convincethe public that they are in a positionto provide secure travel by air. Thesad truth is that no one can provideany such guarantee. This, ultimate-ly, is the actual victory of the terror-ists. They have the ability to unset-tle an entire industry, as well aswreak havoc on millions of travel-ers – effectively, demonstratingthat they, not the governments ofthe West, are in control.
Fortunately, the last plot to de-stroy the British aircraft en routeto the U.S. failed, but the crueltyof this state of affairs is a very realpossibility that, next time, the ter-rorists will destroy their target.
The human consequences of9/11 are incalculable, but the eco-nomic fallout was no less devastat-ing on the airline industry, and onstock exchanges around the world,resulting in the loss of billions ofdollars and sparking the U.S. in-tervention in Afghanistan andIraq. A similar disaster would beequally catastrophic, and the rip-ple affects will shake most stateeconomies, regardless of religiousaffiliation.
Again, the first industry to suf-fer will be tourism, and this willhave implications for Greece. Thecombination of increased security,fear and the rise in fuel costs willraise the price of airline tickets,making it very expensive fortourists to visit Greece. It will alsobe a burden on Greek Americansand Greek Canadians, as well asGreeks in Australia, to make theannual pilgrimage to the “old
country” to see relatives andfriends.
This will not only affect Greece,however. It will also impact onthose countries whose GNP alsorelies on tourist dollars. Unfortu-nately, there will be little net bene-fit for domestic tourism becauseair travel within North America orEurope will be just as expensive.Following this debacle, economicdecline will cascade across mostindustries which are directly or in-directly dependent on transporta-tion.
How can the West counter theincreasing level of terrorism andits debilitating human and eco-nomic consequences?
First, it is necessary to addresswhy Islam has sprouted such viru-lent offshoots. Of course there arethe issues of Iraq, Palestine and
Iran, as well as the incredibly cor-rupt regimes ruling Muslim coun-tries. Secondly, there is the mis-conception in the West aboutMuslim societies and, concurrent-ly, the misperception of Muslimsabout the West. A history of West-ern imperialism and negative in-tervention in the region has taint-ed our relations with Muslimcountries throughout the 19th and20th Centuries. This poor trackrecord is compounded by the lackof knowledge and fear of the un-known which, for years, has fueledmistrust and hatred in the MiddleEast towards the United Statesand Europe.
These sentiments are also sim-mering in second generation Mus-lims in Europe, and eventually inNorth America. Some of theseyoung people are easily seduced by
organizations like al Qaeda, andconverted into suicidal terrorists –as events have demonstrated in theUnited Kingdom and other places.The clarion call of the al Qaeda re-cruiter is that the West is commit-ted to the destruction of the Islam-ic faith and the enslavement of itsadherents.
Al Qaeda and its ilk have castthe U.S. and its allies as modern-day bloodthirsty crusaders, andthey have depicted Israel as theforward American base in theMiddle East. The primary motivefor these contemporary crusadersin the region is to satisfy their un-quenchable thirst for petroleum.
If we believe, “Beyond the Val-ley of the Wolves,” the recentTurkish movie about Iraq, thenthe U.S. is also in the market forMuslim body parts to be removedby Jewish doctors to supply organsfor Americans. The fact that sucha motion picture could be madeand achieve mass hysteria inTurkey, as well as in the MiddleEast, without any interferencefrom local regimes is indicative ofthe obstacles the West continuesto face in trying to “win the heartsand minds” of Muslims.
This campaign can not succeedwithout the active participation ofthe governments of Muslim coun-tries. Pakistan has recently playeda critical role in foiling the plot atHeathrow, but it and all the otherMuslim regimes must also go be-yond quiet cooperation with theWest and openly challenge the ter-rorists’ twisted version of historyand recent events.
Surely the royal government ofSaudi Arabia, the keeper of the sa-cred cities of Mecca and Medina,can openly espouse positive rela-tions with the West and begin tocurtail the efforts of the Wahhabiclerics to fund terrorists. At thevery least, this will make a seriousdent in the propaganda arsenal ofterrorist organizations, and per-haps spare a few young Muslimsfrom the fate of “martyrdom.”
The National Herald welcomesmanuscripts representing a vari-ety of views for publication in itsView Points page. They should in-clude the writer’s name, address,and telephone number and beaddressed to the View Points Edi-tor, The National Herald, 37-1030th Street, Long Island City, NY11101. They can also be faxed to(718) 472-0510 or, preferably, e-mailed to [email protected]. Due to consid-erations of space we enforce astrict 1,400-word upper limit. Wereserve the right to edit for repet-itiveness, diction and syntax. Weregret that we are unable to ac-knowledge or return manuscripts,published or unpublished.
by DR. D.G.KOUSOULAS
Special to The National
Herald
AP/KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH
10 TRAVEL & TOURISM THE NATIONAL HERALD, AUGUST 19, 2006
ture's website, www.culture.gr, butkeep in mind that the website isnot updated with any predictableregularity. The Hellenic Parlia-ment also has its own website,www.parliament.gr.
Ticket prices for many monu-ments and museums may vary. Asthere is no fixed policy on cheapertickets for students and seniors, besure to ask about a discounted tick-et if you fall into either category.Often these discounts apply only tomembers of Common Marketcountries. Also, make sure to askfor the handy information brochureavailable at most sites and muse-ums; ticket sellers do not alwayshand it over unless reminded.
Strikes can close museums andarchaeological sites without warn-ing. Decide what you most want tosee, and go there as soon as possi-ble after your arrival. The fact thatsomething is open today says noth-ing about tomorrow. If you're visit-ing in the offseason, check with theGreek National Tourism Organiza-tion (EOT, also known as the Hel-lenic Tourism Organization) forwinter hours. The main EOT officeis located at 7 Tsochas, Ambelokipi(tel. 30-210-870-0000;www.gnto.gr), well out of centralAthens. The office is officially openMonday through Friday from 8AM to 3 PM, and is closed onweekends. The opening hours post-ed at sites and those listed at theEOT often vary considerably, butno information is utterly reliable.
AARRCCHHAAEEOOLLOOGGIICCAALL PPAARRKKAANNDD AAUUGGUUSSTT FFUULLLL MMOOOONNOne of the great pleasures in
Athens is strolling through what'sbeen dubbed the "ArchaeologicalPark." It takes visitors past themost important of the city's an-cient monuments. Thanks to the2004 Olympics, the city laid outwalkways stretching from Hadri-an's Gate past the Acropolis onDionyssiou Areopagitou to theAncient Agora, and onto the Ker-ameikos. Athenians use the walk-ways for their evening volta(stroll); the walkways have trans-formed much of central Athensfrom a traffic-ridden horror to adelight.
And for the past few years, 55ancient sites throughout Greece –
including the Acropolis, of course –were open to the public on the nightof the August full moon. The Cul-ture Ministry plans to do this everyAugust – and to stage free concertsat some of the moonlit sites.
AANNCCIIEENNTT AAGGOORRAAThe Agora was Athens's com-
mercial and civic center. Peopleused these buildings for a widerange of political, educational,philosophical, theatrical and ath-letic purposes – which may be whyit now seems such a jumble of an-cient buildings, inscriptions andfragments of sculpture. This is anice place to wander; enjoy theviews up toward the Acropolis;and take in the herb garden andflowers planted around the 5thCentury BC Temple of Hephaistosand Athena (the Theseion).
Find a shady spot by the tem-ple; sit a while; and imagine theAgora teeming with merchants,legislators and philosophers – butvery few women. Women did notregularly go into public places.Athens' best-known philosopher,Socrates, often strolled here withhis disciples, including Plato, inthe shade of the Stoa of ZeusEleftherios.
In 399 BC, Socrates, accused of"introducing strange gods and cor-rupting youth," was sentenced todeath. He drank his cup of hem-lock in a prison at the southwestcorner of the Agora – where exca-vators centuries later found smallclay cups, just the right size for afatal drink. Saint Paul also spokein the Agora; he irritated manyAthenians because he chided themfor being superstitious when hesaw an inscription here to the "Un-known God."
The one monument you can'tmiss in the Ancient Agora is the2nd Century BC Stoa of Attalos,built by King Attalos of Pergamonin Asia Minor, and completely re-constructed by American archae-ologists in the 1950's (you may begrateful that they included an ex-cellent modern restroom in thestoa). The museum on the stoa'sground floor contains finds from5,000 years of Athenian history, in-cluding sculpture, pottery and avoting machine, all labeled in En-glish. The stoa is open Tuesdaythrough Sunday from 8:30 AM to2:45 PM.
As you leave the stoa, take amoment to look at the charminglittle 11th Century ByzantineChurch of the Holy Apostles, alsorestored by the Americans. Thechurch is almost always closed, butits delicate proportions are a reliefafter the somewhat heartless – toonew and too well restored – facadeof the Stoa of Attalos.
KKEERRAAMMAAIIKKOOSS CCEEMMEETTEERRYYAncient Athens' most famous
cemetery, located just outside thecity walls, is a terrific spot. Manyhandsome monuments from the4th Century BC and later still linethe Street of the Tombs, which hasrelatively few visitors. You can sitquietly and imagine Periclesputting the final touches on his Fu-neral Oration for the Atheniansoldiers killed during the first yearof fighting in the PeloponnesianWar: Athens, Pericles said, was
the "school of Hellas" and a "pat-tern to others rather than an imita-tor of any." Offering comfort tothe families of the fallen, he urgedthe widows to remember that thegreatest glory belonged to thewoman who was "least talked ofamong men either for good or forbad" – which must have caused afew snickers in the audience, sincePericles' own mistress, Aspasia,was the subject of considerablegossip.
Ancient Greek words very of-ten hide familiar English words,and that's true of Kerameikos. Thename honors the hero Keramos,who was something of a patronsaint of potters, giving his nameboth to the ceramics made here,and to the district itself. The Ker-ameikos was a major crossroads inantiquity, rather like today's Omo-nia Square, where major roads
from outside Athens intersectedbefore continuing into the city.
You can still see remains of themassive Dipylon Gate, where mostroads converged, and the SacredGate, where marchers in the Pan-Athenaic Festival gathered beforeheading through the Ancient Ago-ra and climbing to the Parthenon.What you can't see are the remainsof Plato's Academy, which was lo-cated in this district but has thusfar eluded archaeologists.
The Oberlaender Museum,with a collection of finds from theKerameikos, including terra-cottafigurines, vases and funerarysculptures, is usually open whenthe site is. Be sure to see the hand-some classical statue of a youthknown as the Kerameikos Kouros,and the lion and sphinx pieces.You may also want to visit Athens'enormous First Cemetery, near
Athens Stadium; it has acres ofmonuments, many as elaborate asanything you'll see at the Ker-ameikos.
RROOMMAANN AAGGOORRAAOne of the nicest things about
the Roman Agora is that, if youdon't want to inspect it closely, youcan take it in from one of the Plakacafes and restaurants on its pe-riphery.
In addition to building a num-ber of monuments on the Acropo-lis and in the Ancient Agora, Ro-man leaders, beginning with JuliusCaesar, built their own agora, orforum, an extension of the Greekagora. Archaeologists want to ex-plore the area between the Greekand Roman agoras, though Plakamerchants and fans of the districtdo not want any more digging. Atpresent, the Roman Agora is apleasant mélange of monumentsfrom different eras, including amosque built here after the Ot-toman Turkish sultan, Mehmet II,conquered the Byzantine Empirein 1453.
The Roman Agora's most en-dearing monument is the octago-nal Tower of the Winds (Aerides),with its relief sculptures of eightgods of the winds, including Bore-as blowing on a shell. Like so manymonuments in Athens – theParthenon itself had a church in-side it for centuries – the Tower ofthe Winds has had a varied history.Built by a 1st Century BC as-tronomer as a combination sundialand water-powered clock, it be-came a home for whirling dervish-es in the 18th Century. When LordByron visited Athens, he lodgednear the tower, spending much ofhis time writing lovesick poetry tothe beautiful "Maid of Athens."
You can usually find the re-mains of the Roman latrine nearthe Tower of the Winds by follow-ing the sound of giggles to peopletaking pictures of each other in theseated position. The less well-pre-served remains of the enormousand once-famous library of Em-peror Hadrian go largely unno-ticed.
Draw your own conclusions,but ultimately, you should findAthens a delightful place to visit.
ATHENS – Any city which winsthe competition to host anOlympic Games expends a greatdeal of energy and money to getready for this world-class athleticcelebration, and a visit to a city inthe throes of the Olympic Gamesundoubtedly brings a certain ex-citement and energy.
It also brings difficulties withaccommodation and transporta-tion and crowds. For me, there aretoo many headaches to make itworth my while. Instead, why notplan your vacation to a city after ithosts an Olympic Games when it isstill spruced up and the amenitiesare plentiful?
I recently took a trip to Athens,scene of the most recent summerOlympics. Before we went toGreece, my husband Minaswarned me, from previous experi-ences, that the city would be dirty;the traffic chaotic; and the servicein hotels and restaurants poor.
It was not so, and he had to eathis words. Instead, I found cleanstreets lined with Seville orangetrees laden with fruit; happy peo-ple ready to engage with thetourist; and history jumping out atme from every corner.
We stayed in a hotel at the footof the Acropolis and walked fromone amazing archeological site tothe next. The evidence of ancientGreek civilization is everywhere,and the museums are chockfull ofartifacts from 5,000 or more yearsago, some in perfectly preservedcondition.
It was humbling to stand on theenormous granite blocks of thePan-Athenaic Way in Kerameikosat the outer walls of the old cityand look straight up the hill pastthe Agora – where the ancientAthenians met to shop, debate andteach – to the Parthenon crowningthe Acropolis.
I could see clearly in my mind'seye what it must have been likethousands of years ago, with chari-ots thundering along the paved
road lined with the tombs of fallenwarriors and important citizens,past the potters' workshops,through the shops and stoas, andonto the theaters and temples atthe top.
The view of Athens from theheights of the Acropolis is quitebreathtaking, as the city has grownoutward from the hill as far as theeye can see. It is hard not to thinkof Sophocles and Euripides, whowrote plays for performance in theTheatre of Dionysios which stillmounts spectacles today; ofSocrates and Plato, who taught theyoung so many truths still valid inour education systems; and ofAristotle and Hippocrates, whodeveloped scientific principleswhich formed the basis of so muchof modern science and medicine.
All of Athens could be anarcheological dig. When they wereexpanding the metro and the trainstation, they came upon many arti-facts and graves dated from 500BC. Part of the main metro stationis now a free mini-museum of
found artifacts. Glass plates overpart of the sidewalk outside give aglimpse into an area which was abathhouse, and the train companyhas agreed to finance the excava-tion of the area adjacent to its newplatforms.
As well as touring the city, wemanaged to drive up to CapeSounion and the ancient temple ofPoseidon by the sea, and to thePeloponnesian Peninsula to thelovely town of Nafplion. In bothplaces, we had lunch right on thewater.
We ate well in Greece. TheGreeks have a much more variedcuisine than the souvlaki, moussa-ka and tzatziki which they exportto the rest of the world.
The diet is heavily slanted to-ward meats, however. My favoritekind of dining experience was theweekend lunches where, in a largefamily group, we would have"mezedes," a variety of appetizers.The fried cheese balls, braisedsquid, vegetable patties andstuffed red peppers were among
my preferred dishes. My motherused to say that a little of what youfancy does you good. I don't knowabout that with regards to thewaistline, but I did enjoy thosekinds of meals in Greece.
We did not finish with all of thearcheological sites and visitedeven fewer of the museums. Thelatter have so many rooms of an-tiquities that you eventually be-come inured to their beauty andtheir worth.
I was amazed to see a metal gy-necological instrument datingfrom 400 BC, which is about thesame size and shape as the ones to-day's women are subjected to on ayearly basis for most of our adultlives. I guess that shows the an-cient Greeks were an advancedcivilization, or perhaps it onlyshows that we haven't advancedmuch since.
The Benaki Museum, a person-al collection of a wealthy Greekhoused in a magnificent building,was especially interesting. Besidesa host of artifacts, he had collected
paintings, clothing, furniture andparts of churches which were alldisplayed in room settings withcostumed mannequins.
One day, while walking near theAcropolis, we met an Americanwho had lived for 25 years in a love-ly little house tucked into a very oldpart of the city under Acropolis hill.When I commented that he mustlike Athens, he replied, "It is home.You don't have to like it. You justhave to be there."
Well, I liked Athens, and I willhave no trouble visiting hereagain.
Modern Athens – with its easy-to-use subway system which weeven took right to the airport; itsmany streets of beautiful shopswhich are always open; its side-walk cafes which are always busy –is a friendly and welcoming cityworth a visit even without its fasci-nating history.
