The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 2

PAGE THE HERALD 2A WEDNESDAY, APRIL: 28, 2004 FROM THE FRONT DAVANZATI COME SEE THE FINEST ITALIAN HANDMADE ALLIGATOR SHOES. $1475 enrico Bal Harbour Shops 9700 Collins Ave (305) 866-4117 www.enricoshoes.com The Sillian's but Diamond "THE WORld's MOST PERfEcTly Proportion Diamond" Your love deserves only the best. Exclusively at: WHolESALE JEWElERS IN KENDALL: TOWN COUNTRY CENTER 8304 Mills DRivE (BETWEEN Publix and Eckerds) Ph. (305) 279-8486 Toll FREE (800) 568-GEMS (4367) Florida's LARGEST LOOSE DIAMONd SOURCE Sri Sri Ravi Shankar "Love Moves the World" A Joyous Evening of Wisdom, Music and Meditation Tickets $15 (Student Seniors $10) Preferred Seating $25 Available Online Or at the Door (954) 793-1633 Ol En Espanol (954) 724-1913 www.artofliving.org/us2004 Wednesday, April 28 7:00 pm Signature Grand 6900 S.R. 84 Davie, (1-595, near University) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a world-renowned spiritual leader, visionary and humanitarian.

He is founder of the Art of Living Foundationa United Nations N.G.O. His message of love, wisdom and joy has touched the lives of over 20 million people in 142 countries. WEST KENDALL Religious school to close HOLY CROSS, FROM 1A of Holy Cross students were told of the sale Monday. "Everyone is just looking to find a place for their said Bjarne Vexlund, who has three children at the school. "The faculty was like a family." Before the murder, about 500 students were enrolled at the school; currently, there are about 340, according to records from the Florida Council of Independent Schools.

In August, the worn stone hallways and classrooms where black-robed instructors once taught Eastern Catholic ideals will become the new home of Archimedean Academy, a growing Southwest Miami-Dade charter school billed as "a conservatory of mathematics and the Greek language." An attorney for Archimedean would not disclose how much a group of investors paid for the property. Rev. Abbot Gregory Wendt, head of Holy Cross, could not be reached for comment. George Kafkoulis, president and chairman of the board for Archimedean, said he is "excited" about his school's new home and unfazed by the murder that occurred there. "This terrible thing happened long before us," Kafkoulis said Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, crime occurs in many places." The murder apparently wasn't random violence, though. Lewis, 39, Holy Cross' financial officer who was training to be a nun, was found dead in her room March 25, 2001, beaten and stabbed LEWIS move than 90 times. Miami-Dade police arrested a novice monk also training at the school. Mykhaylo Kofel, 18 and from Ukraine, set off another scandal, claiming he had been sexually abused at the school by Wendt and his assistant, the Rev. Damian Gibault.

The two priests have vehemently denied his claim. Other student monks have said they were not sexually assaulted. Kofel, now 21, is still awaiting trial for first-degree murder. The case has languished in the legal system; prosecutors are still investigating Kofel's allegations. Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Edith Georgi-Houlihan, Kofel's defense attorney, said it was too soon to know if the sale of the school and whether Wendt and Gibault would remain in South Florida could affect the case.

"I need a lot more information about what's going on before I can make such a judgment," Georgi-Houlihan said. "But I don't know why in the world they would be selling." Assistant State Attorney Gail Levine could not be reached for comment. Founded by Wendt in 1985, the school enjoyed a stellar academic reputation. But after the murder, staffers were laid off and "an expected drop-off' in enrollment took place, a school attorney said during a July 2001 hearing in the murder case. At the time, Holy Cross attorney Joseph Blonsky would not reveal the number of students who had left or how many teachers had lost jobs.

Holy Cross currently has 37 faculty members and charges $6,525 in annual tuition, according to accreditation records. Holy Cross, which started as a Byzantine Rite Catholic institution, most recently identified itself in accreditation records as "an independent, self-governing school in the educational tradition of the Catholic faith though not under the control of any church hierarchy." At Holy Cross Tuesday, some parents gathered at dis missal time, picking up their kids and exchanging information on possible new schools. Unlike Holy Cross, which offered classes from kindergarten through grade 12, Archimedean only teaches children through grade 4. Susana Barraque, whose two daughters attend the LEWIS academy, walked in to pick up her girls and had her hands filled with brochures advertising other schools. "I am very frustrated," Barraque said in Spanish.

"The news fell from one day to the next, and my two daughters were here since kindergarten." For some of the students, knowing they'll soon have to leave the school is unsettling. "I felt safe here, and I had a lot of friends," said fifthgrader Natasha Barraque. Herald staff writer Nathalie Gouillou and researcher Elisabeth Donovan contributed to this report. BOGUS ADVERTISING Hispanics main targets of fraud FRAUD, FROM 1A complaint was filed against smoking aid, for the past three itself, the FTC says. To get the American Dream Enterprises, years, the FTC said.

complete computer, buyers guage magazines and newspa- of 42 NW 27th Ave. in Miami. The company claimed the had to send in more money, pers and on Spanish-language The company offers a weight- X-Tox herbal supplements and those who did so, says the television stations. loss dietary supplement purified the body of chemical FTC, ended up with computTwo of seven recent FTC called "Fat Seltzer," which, toxins emanating from ers that didn't work. complaints were against when added to water, pro- today's industrial lifestyle.

Donna and Perfecto RodriSouth Florida companies. duces bubbles. The efferves- Those toxins lodge in organs guez, of Richmond, said A 2003 poll of more than cent action, combined with and tissues, according to the they ended up paying U.S. consumers by the Fat Seltzer's ingredients, is company's website, ber more than $700 for what FTC's Spanish Language supposed to lead to perma: www.x-tox.com. turned out to be a 13-inch Media Monitoring Project nent weight loss without con- The FTC has asked a judge monitor.

determined that Spanish sumers having to exercise. to order AMT to stop making "The computer was supspeakers were more likely "With Fat Seltzer, you false claims about both prod- posed to be a present for the than other groups to be don't have to do strenuous ucts. A decision is expected in children," said Donna Rodriduped. exercise or unhealthy diets. the next few days, said Brenda guez, a stay-at-home mother Manuel Machado, presi- You take two teaspoons a day, Mack, an FTC spokeswoman.

of six. dent of the Association of preferably with a meal, and Last week, a California fedHispanic Advertising Agen- you are on your way to a 'FOREIGN SCIENTIST' eral court froze Unicyber's cies, based in Coral Gables, leaner body," reads one ad in who owns business assets and ordered said his association was aware the complaint. 70 percent of AMT and also the company to stop making of the problem and that it The FTC complaint, which appears as a "foreign scien- misleading statements to conmakes sure its members is pending, says American tist" endorsing the $30.95 sumers. The case is ongoing. refrain from using deceptive Dream's claim is "scientifi- products in the TV ads, did To publicize its concerns, practices.

cally unfeasible." not return The Herald's the FTC is launching a multiA fax tone answered the phone call Tuesday. media Hispanic Law EnforceSEVEN COMPLAINTS phone at American Dream The California- Uniment and Outreach Initiative Beales said the FTC had Enterprises on Tuesday. cyber Technology advertised offering warnings in Spanish levied seven complaints in Similar claims were made a complete computer system against consumer fraud and recent months against decep- by Alternative Medical Tech- for three payments of $199. advice to state and local tive Spanish-language ads for nologies, of 8001 W. 26th Ave.

Instead of delivering the com- police and prosecutors on products such as weight-loss in Hialeah, the FTC charged. puter at the time of the first how to pursue cases. pills and nonexistent work-at- AMT marketed X-Tox 10, a payment, Unicyber sent key- Herald business writer home opportunities. purported weight loss supple- boards and parts that are use- Christina Hoag contributed to One such federal court ment, and X-Tox 80, a quit- less without the computer this report. ATHENS GAMES Olympic committee buys insurance insurance OLYMPICS, FROM 1A have been troubled by construction delays and security worries.

The Athens Olympics the first summer games since the Sept. 11 terror attacks will be the most heavily guarded in history. The secu-' rity budget is nearing $1 billion, more than three times the amount spent on protecting the 2000 Sydney Games. Aside from terrorism, insurance experts say the main risk in Athens would be from earthquakes. The city straddles a fault line, and 143 people died in a quake in 1999.

The policy covers full and partial cancellation for a "whole range of issues, such as terrorism, earthquake, flooding, landslides, things like that," Rogge told The Associated Press by phone. The IOC will also negotiate individual cancellation policies for future Olympics, including the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Rogge said. Security has long been the IOC's "No. 1 priority," and Greece has done "everything humanly possible" to safeguard the games," he said. "More cannot be done.

Nobody can guarantee 100 percent security, but we can ISMARTI BOX THE COST OF PEACE OF MIND The International Olympic Committee has taken out cancellation insurance for the first time in its history. According to the policy: The games can be called off because of war, terrorism, earthquakes, flooding, landslides. The 202 national Olympic committees sending teams to the games will be covered. The policy does not cover or protect corporate sponsors or TV networks, venues that are not ready on time or teams not showing up for the games. guarantee that we've done everything that was available and possible," Rogge said.

Many corporate sponsors and TV networks have their own insurance, and host city organizers underwrite their own liability coverage. IOC finance chairman Richard Carrion, who led the negotiations, said possible cancellations if Athens' Olympic venues were not ready on time "is specifically excluded" from the coverage. The government is still building two vital transport networks to accommodate the estimated 1.5 million Olympic visitors, while frantic work is continuing at the main Olympic complex and several other venues. Regarding the insurance policy, Athens 2004 spokesman Stratos Safioteas said the organizing committee had no comment "on an IOC policy that concerns not just Athens but the Olympic games in general." The IOC is paying around $6.8 million for the policy, and the syndicate is led by New York-based insurance giant American International Group according to two Olympic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. AIG spokesman Joe Norton declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

The Athens policy also protects the bulk of the 28 international sports federations on the Olympic program and the 202 national Olympic committees represented at the games. Many of those organizations rely heavily on games-related revenue. The policy is to erkure that the IOC and Olympic sports bodies can continue to operate for another four-year Olympic cycle if the games are called off. Rogge said the IOC needs just over $200 million to keep running in the event of cancellation, and it has around $160 million in financial reserves. Rogge said the IOC began exploring insurance coverage in 2001, but the industry was reluctant to offer terrorism coverage after the Sept.

11 attacks. The IOC did not have coverage for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Carrion said the IOC also considered taking out a credit line to absorb the bulk of the risk, or a combined insurancecredit arrangement for both Athens and Beijing. The executive board decided in February to go with the standard contingency insurance. Meanwhile, Greece's new conservative government said cost overruns for the Athens Olympics have reached $1.19 billion.

"We are dealing with a bad budget," Christos Folias, the deputy finance minister, said. Folias did not say how this year's overruns will affect the government's overall games budget, which is targeted at $5.5 billion, but officials have already said the figure will be exceeddd..