June 14 - KONK Network

KEY WEST
LOU
LOU PETRONE
| Continued from page 8
Catherine is lovely in appearance. A
typical Grecian beauty. Tall, thin and
blond. Hair swept up and somehow tied
in back. Interestingly, I have yet to find a
Grecian woman who wears her hair
down. Catherine also has high cheek
bones. Another trait of Grecian women.
e bill for the manicure was 20
euros. About $28. I was out of euros. I
asked Catherine if she took credit cards.
No. So I took out one of my $100 bills
and told her to hold it while I went to
the ATM machine for euros. She would
not take the $100. Strangers though we
were, she trusted me. In a tourist town.
Typical of the Greeks here.
Which brings me to Nikos and Maria.
Proprietors of my cave accommodation.
Nikos and Maria are around 60. Own
the Filotera Cave Houses aka Filotera
Villas. A superior accommodation. Consistent
with historical Santorini.
ey and son Adonis work their asses
off. ey have staff, but work along with
staff from very early morning to late at
night.
When I first arrived and met Maria,
she was in dress and apron. Smiling always.
She does not speak English. I no
Greek. Yet we have had several conversations.
Each of us has spoken our native
tongue. We understood each other!
I figured after first meeting Maria she
was the typical Mama Mia. A dress and
apron. Always cooking and cleaning. Always
watching the grandchildren.
Was I wrong! e next time I saw Maria
she was in pedal pushers and T-shirt. Directing
the employees.
Nice people these two.
It was Maria’s birthday the day I arrived.
She sent a piece of birthday cake
to my rooms. Nikos picked me up at the
airport. Nikos drives me wherever I have
to go. And picks me up. eir caves are
lovely and clean. Very clean. Take a look
at them — www.filoteravillas.com
ese sites will give you a flavor of
cave living. ey will surprise!
e second day here, their son Adonis
showed up with a bottle of wine. He said
it was from his father’s vineyards. A special
brew. Please enjoy it. I did, the next
day. A cross between a white and red. A
distinctive special taste. Yes, besides
owning the cave villas, they also own a
vineyard and wine producing facility on
Santorini. ey ship worldwide.
Coral Camp Key West now until August
C oral Camp for 6- to 12-year-old youths explores the marine environment
through educational activities at Reef Relief Environmental
Center. Each day campers
experience hands-on learning,
interactive games, group activities
and state of-the-art videos of
life at the living coral reef.
Activities include science and art
projects and field trips around
Key West. ree days of snorkeling
Fort Zachary Taylor State
Park for snorkel school and then
off to explore the reef with Fury
Water Adventures and Sebago
Watersports. ey tour marine life at Key West Wildlife Center and Key West
Aquarium, go on an interpretive shoreline walk, scavenger hunt at Florida Keys
Eco Discovery Center. INFO Reef Relief, (305) 294-3100, reefrelief.org
Nikos and Maria live across that
street I mentioned earlier. In a small
apartment less accommodating than the
caves. In November, it gets cold on Santorini.
ey move to their home on the
other side of the island. When it gets
colder, they move to their home in
Athens. During the winter months, they
generally take a one- to two-month trip
to the Caribbean or South Pacific.
It gets better.
Santorini and the Greek isles are not
the United States. Many amenities we
are accustomed to do not exist. Like my
clothes getting washed and ironed.
I was warned before I embarked on
this odyssey that such would be the case.
I came prepared. Purchased shirts and
shorts at Orvis. at special material
that is light, easy to wash and dry. Generally
requiring little or no ironing.
I wash my own clothes. For real. Easy.
In the bathroom sink. Drop some dishwashing
fluid on the clothes. A bit of
water. Wash with my hands. en shake
dry. e clothes still need hanging. Dryers
are not common place on the island.
Could not hang the clothes in front of
my cave accommodation. It would not
be proper.
ere are clothes lines across the
street at the cheaper accommodation. I
hung my first washing there to dry.
When I returned that evening, Maria
came out to greet me. She insisted on
ironing my clothes. My savior in disguise!
If you ever plan to come to Santorini,
stay with Nikos and Maria. You
cannot do better. Telephone number is
003022860 71110, Filotera@otent.gr
Enough for today. is afternoon I go
www.konklife.com 19
to a beach somewhere on this island
where I am guaranteed bare-breasted
women. And, if I am lucky, some bare
assed ones. Enjoy your day!
e
KEY
NEWS
LARRY MURRAY
| Continued from page 5
to affect the level of education the students
are receiving?
LM Budget cuts always affect the final
product, and the final product in education
is the kids. Unfortunately there is
no silver bullet out there. I need to know
more about the totality of the budget
from the ground up. Bear in mind we
have an $80 million a year budget which
is the highest entity in Monroe County.
It is double that of the Sheriff’s Department,
but of that $80 million it is estimated
80 percent goes into salaries and
wages. When you start talking about cutting,
you are almost automatically into
the human dimension as well.
GD Do you feel you can talk to the
Teacher’s Union about actually taking a
salary reduction opposed to the furlough
days the current administration keeps
forcing onto teachers to save money?
LM e furlough days constitute a salary
reduction — teachers approximately 4
percent and administrators 3 percent.
More importantly, I think it is time for
the district to talk to the teachers. We
have a virtual state of war existing right
now. We are in litigation. at is no way
to run a school district. I think we all
need to catch our breath and take a step
back, sit down and work together, because
we all ultimately have the same
common objective.
GD When you look at the distrust between
the two sides here, is there a way
you feel you can start communicating a
change of trust?
LM Certainly. You have to extend the
hand of welcome to the teachers. Obviously
you do that through the Teacher’s
Union and the collective bargaining
process, but I’m reasonably confident if
the board extends the hand along with
the administration to the teachers that
they will respond in kind. Right now,
considering how they have been treated
the last couple of years, they signed the
contract in good faith with the school
district. e school district has not come
through with it. We can argue about
whether it has met the terms of the contract
or not, but the bottom line is that
the school district has not come through
with what the district had promised
when the teachers signed that contract.
GD When you say that the district has
not followed through with honoring the
contract, what are the areas you feel they
are holding back on?
LM I think we all know it’s primarily
salaries. e district promised there
would be certain salary increases for
teachers. e first year when Dr. Joe
Burke was superintendent of schools
money was paid, but last year and then
again this coming year money will not
be paid. I asked Joe Burke at the time if
we had the money to pay this contract,
and he assured me that we had the
money. I asked that question of him
more than once. It doesn’t make sense
that in February we had enough money
to pay all district employees a 3 percent
raise and then in May we were talking
furlough days. ere is something wrong
with the budget process if you are flushing
fat in February and in May you are
broke.
GD Do you think Dr. Burke may have
been spewing a false hope?
LM You would really have to ask Dr.
Burke why he said what he said. I can
only say I was leery at the time about
whether or not the district had the
money from what I had read and learned
on the Audit and Finance Committee.
Unfortunately, the superintendent was
adamant to all of us we had the money.
e