According to prosecutors, crew members of the Agios Emilianos, a 738-foot cargo ship that carried grain from New Orleans to ports across the world, have repeatedly discharged oil waste into the sea and falsified documents to cover up the pollution from April 2009 to April 2011.

The Greek company was fined, therefore, to pay a $2 million criminal penalty for violating a federal pollution law and obstruction of justice.

The ship’s master, Valentino Mislang, and chief engineer, Romulo Esperas, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.

According to MarineLog, the master of the cargo ship, Valentino Mislang, and the chief engineer, Romulo Esperas had both previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, including destroying computer evidence and instructing crew members to lie during a Coast Guard inspection in April 2011, and falsifying the oil record book and directing the oil waste directly into the sea respectively.

Both men revealed that a senior manager of Ilios had directed them to do so.

Can you sense the sarcasm in my voice? Don’t get me wrong I have lived the whole “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” story with my father working at four different Greek diners and my mother telling me every day of my life to find “a nice Greek boy to marry.” But I don’t think, I can say that every Greek-American reading this believes the same thing, that this is not the way to promote Greece. The person responsible for this brilliant idea is the deputy minister of tourism and culture Mr. George Nikitiadis. His idea goes as follows, to grab a bunch of Greek artists put their work on these placemats, which as well know that these very same placemats get crumbled, doodle and wipe off everybody’s spills and leftover food daily. The sad part is not just the idea but that commercial sponsors from Greece, like ΟΠΑΠ and the restaurant association are giving money for this idea to blossom and come alive.

About 6 million euro’s are being given for 7 million throwaway placemats to be printed and distributed to diners across America. It doesn’t end here also plastic throwaway cups are going to be given to the customers of these diners as well. What happened to posters, art exhibits with various Greek or Greek-American artists, concerts and dance festivals to raise money to promote Greece? You can just shoot a commercial in Astoria, Queens in New York City and you have your promotion right there.

I might be the only one angry and annoyed about this “awesome”, “brilliant”, “extraordinary”, and “wonderful” tourism idea but I believe Greece deserves better than throwaway placemats and plastic cups, especially in the times that we are in now.

The tradition of the Greek Festival is a celebration of the Greek culture and an educational event as well. However, the parish is formed by more than just one ethnic background including Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish.

Father Stelios Sitaras, who has been leading the Church for the past 11 years, will lead tours of the church and will be welcoming questions on the Greek Orthodox faith.What started decades ago as a small bake sale, has grown to a key church fundraiser. Proceeds from the festival will help fund a local, national and international ministry.

“The Greek Festival is our parish’s opportunity to display our cultural and spiritual warmth with the Corpus Christi area,” Father Sitaras said.

The 2011 Greek Festival is November 4, 5 & 6, 2011 at 502 S. Chaparral St. , Corpus Christi , TX.

Admission is free to everyone.

Friday, November 4- 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 5- 12:00 noon to 11:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 6- 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.

Mediterranean cuisine will be served including souvlaki, moussaka, pastitsio, gyros, kalamari, roast lamb, salads, cheeses, and bread.

Desserts will include loukoumades (honey-dipped doughnut holes made fresh as you wait, baklava and cookies).

The marketplace will feature gift items such as jewelry and art; Greek food products; souvenirs; Greek music CDs; and clothing such as pashmina shawls.

Children, dressed in authentic Greek costumes, will perform traditional Hellenic folk dances.

The loukoumades eating contest is new this year. Door prizes will be offered.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the West Valley Child Crisis Center.

The drama department will present “The Iliad, The Odyssey, and All of Greek Mythology, in 99 Minutes or Less,” Thursday through Saturday.

The production is truly hilarious. It is very fast-paced and full of jokes that appeal to both those who know the mythology and those who don’t. In fact, for those who are unfamiliar with the subject, it serves as a painless introduction to Greek mythology and Homer’s epic poems.

The cast has been quite busy, with 24 actors filling 135 roles. While the production originally called for five actors, it was expanded to include everyone interested in appearing on stage.

“Everyone gets the jokes and we are all working together to help each other through what is a very involved show. Our biggest challenge is coming to terms with the number of characters. The entrances, exits and character changes are complex. Who needs to be on stage and when do they have to be there has been our biggest struggle so far. We are working in a broad presentational style,” Paul Miller, drama sponsor at Johnston High School stated.

One woman from Austin, Texas is bringing theater to many schools to bring Greek Mythology to life.

Judy Matetzschk-Cambell is the founder and Artistic Director of Pollyanna Theater Company.  Julie Linnard is a principal actor in the company. They joined the KVUE virtual channel in the studio Tuesday morning to describe how their company is helping education.

The festival will open on Friday with OPA Hour in which visitors will learn to dance Greek. There will be cooking demos, an area just for kids, a marketplace, plus music and dancing all weekend. The highlight of the weekend will be performances by Tony-nominated singer Constantine Maroulis, each night.

Aravella Simotas is a lawyer from Kelafonia, Greece.  She has been elected as the State Representative for the Democratic Party of Astoria, New York.  The Brooklyn and Staten Island areas have elected Nicole Malliotaki.

Since her teenage years, Simotas  involved herself with of the Greek Diaspora within and beyond her local community. Provoked mainly by environmental organizations, she worked with politicians in her region promoting issues of ecology, education, health and safety.  “The Greek Americans, in previous years, were not very active in the political sector and it was very difficult to be elected previously,” stated Simota to ANA-MPA.  She notes that: “In recent years Greek-American participation in the American political life has increased dramatically and not only in terms of candidacy, but also in many regions, Greeks have considerable power.”

Republican Nicole Malliotaki, who had been working in the office of former New York Governor George Pataki, won the election Tuesday for the Democratic Party for Brooklyn and Queens in New York. “It was difficult, however I had the support of many expatriates of my constituents,” said Malliotaki to ANA-MPA.  She also claimed: ”It is gratifying that more and more Greek-Americans are involved in politics.”

Malliotaki’s father is from Crete and her mother was exiled from the dictatorship of Fidel Castro in Cuba. She studied economics and has worked locally in New York on many social issues.

Another Greek- American who participated in last Tuesday’s elections is lawyer Marianna Spyropoulos of Chicago.  Spyropoulos was elected to the Democratic Party of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Region for the Restoration of Water in Greater Chicago, with a six-year term. This is the biggest water control region in the world and annually manages approximately two billion U.S. dollars. Marianna Spyropoulos received positive acknowledgment from the voters of Cook County, Chicago who brought her to victory.

Marianna Spyropoulos is the daughter of Theodore Spyropoulos, Coordinator of SAE USA and the cousin of Alexis Giannoulias. She studied political science and law and has served as a prosecutor. She has worked on a research program in London and worked on research and analysis of the economics and politics of Russia and Central and Eastern European nations.

According to the announcement that was made about the program, the grant to the University was made by the “Theodore and Erica Spyropoulos Foundation”. There will be twenty scholarships given to expatriate teachers for training purposes and preparations to meet the needs of  Greek schools in America.  Deputy Minister of the Department of Education and Religion in Greece Fofi Gennimata, in her communication to  Education Coordinator Nick Nikolidaki in Chicago, explicitly expressed the intentions of her department.  The department’s intentions are to proceed with the legislation which allows teachers who are currently certified by a recognized university abroad to teach Greek as a second or foreign language to meet the needs of Greek schools abroad.

The training program is scheduled to begin next September and according to Nikolidaki, shortly there will be an announcement for the acceptance of applications from interested certified expatriates.  Currently a joint committee that includes members from the University and from the Department of Education of Greece, will be reviewing all applications.

“This is an important step that should also be adopted by other states in America” said Nikolidakis.  He stressed that this initiative demonstrates the continuing relevance of the education of the Greek-speaking Diaspora and the effective support of the Ministry Education of Greece.

She indirectly sent another message to the Skopian Republic with the option of using the term “Makedonia”, referring to the northern neighborhood.  Clinton has strongly supported the Greek “2014 Agenda” for the accession of the whole Balkan network of Serbia, Bosnia, and Kosovo into the E.E.