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LI Confidential > Stop
scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots Unite to Restore a Church and a Bond
KONTEA,
Cyprus — In the days before this island was cleft between Greek and
Turkish control, the church of St. Charalambos in this tiny village was a
gathering place for all. But after decades of division, and fruitless
talks between political leaders, local people grew tired of watching its
paint peel and its altar decay. They took matters into their own hands.
Like
the church, relations between the two communities had crumbled after
the island was partitioned after the Turkish military invasion of 1974.
But this month, Turkish artisans’ drills buzzed. Greek woodworkers
carved flourishes into the altar. After two years of work, craftsmen
from both communities hurriedly polished the church in time for a grand
rechristening that united nearly 500 Greek and Turkish Cypriots in a
celebration under its lofty vaults — the first time the church had been
used in 40 years.
“After
all this time, the people are ready to reconcile,” said Xenios
Konteatis, 79, a retired Greek Cypriot who lived in Kontea before the
Turkish invasion forced his family into a tearful flight to what is now
the Greek-controlled south.
TURKEY
GREECE
CYPRUS
CRETE
Mediterranean Sea
TURKISH-
controlled
Nicosia
Kontea
GREEK-
controlled
CYPRUS
40 miles
“Of
course there are still a lot of painful memories,” added Mr. Konteatis,
who must drive past Turkish guards and barbed wire to reach the
village, where his former home remains occupied by Turkish settlers.
“But we have the will to come together.”
The
extraordinary grass-roots effort to restore St. Charalambos is one of
at least 40 cooperative projects that have been begun across the island
to restore Greek and Turkish monuments, including mosques, that have
deteriorated in divided Cyprus.
Like
the one here, these projects are perhaps the most tangible sign that
the long-festering recriminations in the island’s small communities have
softened into a desire for healing that has far outpaced any progress
by Greek and Turkish Cypriot political leaders.
Last
week, President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot
leader, Dervis Eroglu, met in Nicosia, the capital, for the first time
since talks were last halted in 2012. They declared that the status quo
was unacceptable.
Many
agree. “We cannot accept that in the 21st century, when Europe has been
united after two bloody world wars, and when apartheid has been
abolished in South Africa, that Cyprus is a country still divided,” said
Theofilos Theofilou, a Greek Cypriot who helps run the Committee on Missing Persons with a Turkish counterpart investigating the hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who disappeared in the conflict.
But
others are not holding their breath. After Turkish forces invaded
following a Greek military-inspired coup, Ankara declared the northern
third of the island a separate republic. It remains unrecognized by any
state but Turkey, while the Greek south has joined the European Union.
United Nations forces still patrol a buffer zone along the so-called
Green Line, which runs through the island like a scar.
Multiple
peace talks have collapsed amid disputes over power sharing, the
redrawing of property boundaries and the claims of thousands of
displaced people. Yet even as political efforts stumble, citizen-led
peace projects like the one in Kontea are blossoming.
“Kontea
represents a genuine grass-roots effort to find a common purpose,” said
John M. Koenig, the American ambassador to Cyprus. “It’s an inspiring
story, and more of them are happening.”
East
of Kontea, Turkish Cypriots in the port city of Famagusta have joined
with displaced Greeks to demand the opening of Varosha, a
once-glittering beach resort that lured Elizabeth Taylor and other
stars. Today, it has decayed into a veritable ghost city under barbed
wire and the rifle points of Turkish troops.
Any
renewal would hinge on a breakthrough in peace talks. But locals are
busying themselves with plans to turn Varosha into an ecological city in
the hope of spurring economic development.
In Divided Cyprus, a Common Goal
Angelos Tzortzinis for The New York Times
“Before,
there were accusations on both sides — who destroyed what, who is
responsible,” said Takis Hadjidemetriou, a Greek Cypriot who leads the
United Nations Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage with a Turkish
counterpart. “We decided to change the climate from confrontation to
cooperation, for the sake of all Cypriots.”
“The
Cypriot people have no hatred in our hearts,” he continued. “Each one
understands the pain of the other, which is considered the pain of
Cyprus.”
Such
is the case in Kontea, a village that bustled with activity until the
invasion drove out Greeks. In 2003, travel restrictions across the Green
Line were first eased, and Charalambos S. Pericleous, a former
resident, was captivated by the possibility of working with the Turks
now living here to restore the village to its former glory.
“It was the first time we came into contact with Turkish Cypriots at that level,” said Mr. Pericleous, now president of the Kontea Heritage Foundation. “We feared they might respond negatively. We were surprised that their response was very positive.”
Not
everyone was on board. “We had some problems, because not everybody
thought like we did,” said Ali Tayip, a Turkish Cypriot who is a
supervisor of the restoration. “There were people who were against
peace, and against any interaction between Greeks and Turks. But the
project helped form a bond, and now they are closer to each other.”
In
2010, the community planted a Peace Park, an oasis with 1,100 carob
trees and a playground. Soon after, the group restored a dilapidated
Frankish cloister abutting the church, less than 500 feet from a Turkish
mosque towering in the sun.
Then
came St. Charalambos, symbolic to all the villages in the area and the
site of a large marketplace where Greeks and Turks mingled before the
division. Restoring it was an idea “that started from the bottom up — we
didn’t wait to be led from above,” said Mr. Pericleous, who urged
villagers “to open our minds and our hearts to peace.”
As
workers put the finishing touches on the church this month, Mr.
Konteatis, the retired Greek Cypriot, eagerly showed before and after
photos of the reconstruction, while Mr. Tayip passed around homemade
wine.
A
young Turkish artisan with a broad smile presented a cake with cream
and ground pistachios. A Greek carpenter cut oranges picked from nearby
trees, and poured vodka into tiny cups.
On
Sunday, as people from all corners of Cyprus jammed into St.
Charalambos, Muslim and Christian clerics recited prayers at the
restored altar. Turkish Cypriots sold doughnuts in stalls outside, while
older Greek Cypriots patiently waited to light candles and bow before
icons.
“Look at us,” Mr. Tayip said. “It can be this peaceful, if everybody wants it. After all, we are all human beings.”
Correction: February 21, 2014
An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misidentified the building shown. It is of a mosque near the church of St. Charalambos in Kontea, not the church itself.
An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misidentified the building shown. It is of a mosque near the church of St. Charalambos in Kontea, not the church itself.
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