Bethlehem, PA and Corfu partnership signifies ongoing strong diplomacy between America and Greece
By George Sitaras
For only the 18th time in United States history has an American city united with a Greek city. The process began on Friday March 22nd at Bethlehem's city hall in uniting both Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the island of Corfu, Greece.
This all came about last September when Bethlehem native and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral counsel member Bill Argeros contacted Billy Kounoupis of the greek historic society of Bethlehem about such an agreement. Argeros visited the island of Corfu over the previous summer and proposed the idea to the mayor of Corfu, Ioannis Trepeklis. Talks between the US ambassador to Greece, Greek dignitaries, the mayor of Corfu, and the mayor of Bethlehem, John Callahan, put the proposal into action as both parties found similarities with the two cities from different sides of the world.
MIGHTY MIKE, THE 800-LB, 14-FT AMERICAN ALLIGATOR, RETURNS TO ADVENTURE AQUARIUM
Families Invited to Get Up Close and Personal with the Largest Alligator on Exhibit Outside of Florida
Camden, N.J. – Heʼs huge and heʼs hungry. Mighty Mike – Americaʼs biggest, baddest alligator – is returning to the Camden waterfront on Friday, March 22.
Heʼs the largest American alligator in the country outside of Florida. At 14 feet and 800 pounds, Mighty Mike is longer than most cars. He can swallow an entire turkey in a single gulp.
BOOK REVIEW
“OUT OF ARCADIA” by Nicholas D. Kokonis
(St. Basilʼs Publishers, P.O. Box 1155, Deerfield, IL 60015)
I had recently the good fortune to read Nicholas Kokonisʼ new novel “Out of Arcadia,” a sequel to his award-winning “Arcadia, my Arcadia.” Despite its length, over 420 pages, I found this book an absorbing, compassionate and compelling story of a young Greek immigrant, looking for the Promised Land in the 1960s. The hero, Angelo Vlachos, portrays one of the best pictures of post-WW II immigration of Greeks to the United States. His tenacity and perseverance to achieve his goal, i.e. to get a college education at an American University, is the manifestation of the secret dream harbored by thousands of Greeks that came to America for the same purpose.
