| Your "One Stop Italian America" |
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Giuseppe Verdi Lodge #2818
Order Sons of Italy in America
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| NEWSLETTER SONS OF ITALY GIUSEPPE VERDI LODGE #2818 BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE www.giuseppeverdilodge.com 3rd and 4th QUARTER 2008 |
Saluti a tutti,
This newsletter, for the first time since its inception, is covering two quarters in this one issue. The reason for this is the
mind-boglingnews that occurs on a daily basis. The big thing ,of course, is that we are in the midst of a history-making
election that will be written up in history books for years to come. Two congressional senators --one a young
well-educated man of color; the other, a highly respected 72 year old veteran and hero of the Vietnam War are vying for
the presidency of the United States. They have been campaigning for over 20 months, the longest time period ever. The
results will be available within a matter of days after the release of this newsletter. The other big event making headlines
is the collapse of the financialmarket due to greed, lack of governmental oversight, etc. First was the failure of
Countrywie Financial, followed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, insurance giant AIG, Merril Lynch, and others.
The precursor for this humongus disaster was a 262 page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill in 2000 by then
Texas Senator Phil Gramm. It forbade Federal Agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for
passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors. Graham also contributed to the "Enron Loopole" which
prevented federal oversight of Enron's electronic energy trading. We know what happened to Ken Lay and Bernie
Ebbers because of their greed. As a result of all this skulduggery, Uncle Sam had to pony up 780 trillion (that's 780
followed by 9 zeros) dollars to the various entities. This effort then triggered the collapse of Wall Streets financial markets
as well as foreign markets abroad. The stock market fell from a high of 14000 a year ago to a low in the 8000s. Alan
Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, once viewed as the "infallible architect of US prosperity"
actually said he made a mistake. All the rules and guidelines he set during his long tenure at the Federal Reserve
came to naught. People are losing jobs, homes, retirement funds, etc. Americans will be paying for this well into the 21st
century. Some of the culprits responsible for the financial collapse in addition to the two previously named include:
* CEO, Fannie Mae - Franklin Raines
* CEO, Bear Stearns - James Cayne
* CEO, Lehman Bros - Rick Fuld
* CEO, Countrywide - Angelo Mazilo
Now on a lighter note. Although we did experience another season of drought, we did have beautiful weather, sunny
days, blue skies and beautiful sunsets. Tennessee in this writers opinion is truly God's country. Our Lodge has seen
successful and productive meetings during the third and fourth quarters of this year with record turnouts. Our picnic
in October was a smash success. We had a great turnout of 70 people including members and guests and visitors from
Louisville and Cookville. Lots of food, good music and entertainment by our own Nick Allegro satisfied one and all.
Cooking was handled masterfully by our own Grille Kings, Vince Sanfilipo, Fred Besasie and Jim Ferraro.
Although there were no volunteers for the Italian Festival in Louisville, we did have two members from Louisville's Italian
Society who were kind enough to attend our picnic and to challenge "our aficionados" to multiple rounds of Bocce.
While the Bocce games were taking place, Sue LoCasto was busy with her Bingo games. My son Ken who was visiting
us was able to attend the picnic with his daughter and son-in-law and to renew old acquaintances with lodge members.
Ken was one of the founding members of the Lodge but had to relocate to St. Augustine, FL.
I am happy to report that our ailing members are recovering well. These include Tony Pellini, Rachel Berard, Michael
Berard, Linda Prater, Fred Besasie, Stephanie Johnson and Jeannie Rossi.
For those who attended Len and Jeannie Rossi's Anniversary Party and Len's concurrent Birthday Party, a great time
was had by all. Len and Jeannie are terrific hosts and the food and desserts were excellent.
We have added some members and lost some leaving us with a total of 77. Hopefully, in the coming year we will increase
our numbers.
At this time, I would like to bring to your attention the recent passing of two prominent Italian gentlemen who lived in
Nashville. The first is Mr. Vito Melfi, Jr. Vito was one of the original "Chili Kings" I wrote about in my last newsletter. Vito's
uncle, Nicholas Melfi, opened his first chili parlor in Nashville in 1897. Vito's father, Vito Melfi, Sr., had a restaurant on 21st
Ave. during WWll. He was known for serving the first pizza in the south-east. Vito started his restaurant "Melfis" on
Division St. in 1947 and ran it till 1970. The second gentleman is Dr. Nick Varallo, Jr. He was a member of the
famous Varallo clan I wrote about in my last newsletter. In fact, he was a first cousin to our own Geny Varallo. Nick
Varallo's dad Nick Varallo, Sr. had a BBQ restaurant at the split of Hwy 100 and Hwy 70 for many years.
That spot has now become West End Liquors.
In closing, I want to congratulate Dan and Pat Solomon on their reelect-
ions to their previous positions as Pres. and Treas. respectfully; on Linda
Prater's election as Sec'y and on Joe LoCasto's reelection to V.P. I want
to wish one and all a Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving. I am
looking forward to seeing all of you at the upcoming Christmas Party on
Saturday, Dec.13th.
Until Next Year,
Ciao
Until next time,
Ciao