Tribune Excerpts
The following article appeared in the October 2006 Edition of the Macedonian Tribune
Delegates juggle busy morning
Saturday was quite a busy morning for MPO convention delegates. It was up early for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast followed by the dedication of the memorial display as a tribute to the late Ivan Lebamoff. His son Jordan accepted the honor for the family.
As he lifted a picture of his father with Governor Mario Cuomo, Jordan told the group, “The reason I like this picture harkens back to the convention where Governor Cuomo spoke (Pittsburgh, 1987).
“Governor Cuomo said, ‘The theory of a melting pot is an inappropriate way to look at the world. What we ought to do is to consider the world (and in this case the Republic of Macedonia) as a mosaic where each individual is a piece of the whole.’
“Whether we think of ourselves as Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Yugoslav or Albanian, we are only one piece of the mosaic. Our focus must be on the whole mosaic.”
The meeting began with the usual formalities and then an address by The Honorable Gillian Milovanovic, US Ambassador to Macedonia. Then, The Honorable Elena Poptodorova, Bulgarian Ambassador to the US, spoke for a few moments expressing her great pleasure at attending the hallmark 85th Annual MPO Convention.
Outgoing MPO President Chris Evanoff reflected on his years as president. Board terms also expired for Sandy Zajack and George Rochette.
Newly elected members of the board are George Lebamoff, Fort Wayne; Janice Chachoff, Columbus, and Nick Nicoloff, Detroit. During the weekend the entire board met to determine offices.
For the second year in a row, delegates voted not to sell the Macedonian Tribune Building, a matter that came to the forefront when an offer was made to purchase the building earlier this year. Some delegates voiced opinions that the MPO needs a decent home, others want to see efforts made to rent available space while a third group wants to see money raised to pay off the mortgage.
Resolutions written by Michael Sarafin, assisted by Boris Chaleff and Paul Simoff, were approved and are printed below.
Chris presented past TRIBUNE Managing Editor Paul Simoff with a Macedonian of Distinction plaque for his years of service as a podglasnic, board member and TRIBUNE editor.
Next year’s MPO convention will be in the Hyatt Regency, Dearborn.
