Author: Chakhmakhchian Vatche

ARKA News Agency
July 12 2004
RA President and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen discuss present stage
of Karabakh settlement
RA Prsident Kocharian signs law on children and youth sport
RA President Kocharian signs some laws on making amendments to the
legislation of the country
Indonesian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia
finishes his diplomatic mission in Armenia
RA President Robert Kocharian signs a law on honorary titles of RA
*********************************************************************
RA PRESIDENT AND OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN DISCUSS PRESENT STAGE
OF KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian and OSCE
Minsk Group Co-Chairmen Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (USA)
and Anri Jakolein (France) discussed present stage of Karabakh
settlement, RA President’s press office told ARKA. The Ambassadors of
Russia, USA and France to Armenia also took part in the meeting.
Note OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen arrived in Armenia today, then they
plan to visit NKR. On July 15, the co-chairmen will arrive in Baku.
L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
RA PRSIDENT KOCHARIAN SIGNS LAW ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH SPORT
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. RA Prsident Kocharian signed law on
children and youth sport. According to RA President’s Press Service
Department, the law regulates programs of the state policy in the
field of children and youth sport, as well as relations referring to
education and development of physical training ands sport and healthy
life mode among children.
On May 11, 2004 RA NA in its third and final reading adopted law on
children and youth sport. The draft law is to encourage mass physical
training and sport as well as improve the quality of physical
training in schools and Universities of Armenia. Besides, separate
points of the law regulate the issues of involvement of mental
invalids into physical training and sport. The law also stipulates
physical training of the youth undergoing pre-conscription military
training. A.H. – 0 –
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RA PRESIDENT KOCHARIAN SIGNS SOME LAWS ON MAKING AMENDMENTS TO THE
LEGISLATION OF THE COUNTRY
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. RA President Kocharian signed some laws on
making amendments to the legislation of the country. According to RA
President’s press Service department, the President signed the law on
making amendments and novels to Civil Code, laws on diplomatic
service, on state service, on licensing , on physical training and
sport, and on notary. Kocharian also signed law on making amendments
to the law on state registration of juridical persons, on
organization of checks up in Armenia, as well as novel to the law on
payments for the ecology and nature management. A.H.–0–
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INDONESIAN AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA
FINISHES HIS DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. Indonesian Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Armenia Remi Momauli Siahani (headquarter in Kiev)
finished his diplomatic mission in Armenia. According to RA
President’s Press Service Department, in the course of the meeting
with RA President Robert Kocharian the Ambassador thanked him for the
support. During the meeting the sides discussed also the possibility
of enlargement of bilateral relations.
Remi Momauli Siahani was appointed as an Ambassador to Armenia in
March 2002. A.H. –0 –
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RA PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARIAN SIGNS A LAW ON HONORARY TITLES OF RA
YEREVAN, July 12. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian signed a law
on honorary titles of RA. According to RA President’s Press Service
Department, the law regulates the relations connected with conferring
honorary titles to famous figures in the fields of science,
education, literature, culture, journalism, healthcare, physical
training and sport, economy, as well as to groups of people. The law
also stipulates the order and the terms of conferring honorary
titles.
RA NA adopted draft law on honorary titles of RA on June 11, 2004 in
the third final reading. The law stipulates monthly additional money
bonus, the amount of which to be determined by the Government, to
those conferred upon the honorary title `national’, and the honorary
title is to be conferred by the RA President. The titles are lifelong
except of the cases stipulated by the legislation. A.H.–0–
*********************************************************

ARKA News Agency
July 13 2004
Armenia is interested in soonest retrofitting of Armenian companies
transferred to Russian in account of public debt redemption
RA Foreign Minister and CIS Executive Secretary note the necessity of
increase of the effectiveness of CIS structures activity
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen leave for Stepanakert
RA NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan receives USA Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Ordway in regard
with the completion of his diplomatic mission in Armenia
The agenda of the session of CIS Presidents’ Council discussed by RA
President and CIS Executive Secretary
*********************************************************************
ARMENIA IS INTERESTED IN SOONEST RETROFITTING OF ARMENIAN COMPANIES
TRANSFERRED TO RUSSIAN IN ACCOUNT OF PUBLIC DEBT REDEMPTION
YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. Armenia is interested in soonest
retrofitting of Armenian companies transferred to Russian in account
of public debt redemption, RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian
stated at the meeting with his Russian colleague Mihail Fradkov. At
this he said that Armenian party is ready to make everything possible
for assistance to realization of scheduled programs.
During the meeting Prime Ministers also discussed perspectives of
deepening of cooperation in the sphere of small and medium business.
The parties paid attention to creation of joint companies in the
sphere of agriculture, involvement of Russian investments in food and
processing industry of Armenia and expanding of export-import volume
of agriculture products.
Serious attention was paid to cooperation in the sphere of transport
and communication. The parties stressed that today given sphere has
many unsettled issues that prevent development of cooperation between
the countries.
The Ministers also discussed one of basic directions of bilateral
economic cooperation – energy field and cooperation in the field of
gas supply. Margarian offred to discuss opportunities of
participation of Russian companies in realization of investment
projects in gas sphere of Armenia. L.D. –0–
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RA FOREIGN MINISTER AND CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY NOTE THE NECESSITY OF
INCREASE OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CIS STRUCTURES ACTIVITY
YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian met
today with CIS Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo, RA MFA told
ARKA. During the meeting the parties discussed issues included in the
agenda of the sitting of CIS Foreign Ministers Council that will take
place on Sep.15, in Astana. Basic accent was put on the issues
directed on strengthening of cooperation of CIS country-members,
realization of important programs in economic sphere. The parties
also noted the necessity of increase of the effectiveness of CIS
structures activity and cooperation of CIS with international
organizations. L.D. –0–
*********************************************************************
OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMEN LEAVE FOR STEPANAKERT
STEPANAKERT, July 13. /ARKA/. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen Yuri
Merzlyakov (Russia), Steven Mann (USA) and Anri Jakolein (France)
left today for the capital of NKR – Stepanakert. During the meeting
co-chairmen will meet with the administration of the republic.
Co-chairmen also plan to meet with NGOs of Nagorno Karbakh. L.D.
–0–
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RA NA SPEAKER ARTHUR BAGHDASARYAN RECEIVES USA AMBASSADOR
EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA JOHN ORDWAY IN REGARD
WITH THE COMPLETION OF HIS DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. RA NA Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan received
USA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John
Ordway in regard with the completion of his diplomatic mission in
Armenia. According to RA NA Public Relations Department, in the
course of the meeting Baghdasaryan wished the American Ambassador
success in his future activities, noting that a lot of work was done
to strengthen Armenian-American relations, including aid programs,
within the years Ordway was the USA Ambassador to Armenia. In his
turn Ordway attached importance to the development of democratic
processes in Armenia and continuation of the reforms. He noted that
the new Ameracn Ambassador to Armenia will keep contributing to the
process of development of friendly relations between Armenia and the
USA. A.H. – 0–
*********************************************************************
THE AGENDA OF THE SESSION OF CIS PRESIDENTS’ COUNCIL DISCUSSED BY RA
PRESIDENT AND CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
YEREVAN, July 13. /ARKA/. RA President Robert Kocharian received the
CIS Executive Secretary Vladimir Rushailo, who arrived in Yerevan in
the frames of the visit to the CIS states. According to RA
President’s Press Service Department, in the course of the meeting
Rushailo and Kocharian discussed issues connected with the agenda of
the session of the CIS Presidents’ Council to be held in September in
Astana. They also discussed some organizational issues connected with
the coordination of work of CIS Executive Committee, in particular,
issues connected with the reformation of the CIS Executive Committee
structure. A.H.–0 –
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Orlando Sentinel , FL
July 9 2004
Here’s a race we can still comment on

We’ll do Big Brother-Amazing Race updates every week (except for the
weeks we don’t do them), and we’ll try to keep them short because we
know all of you don’t watch the TV.
The reality shows, beacons in the vast wasteland of summer, both
began Tuesday night on CBS, introducing the players, two of whom
we’ve already bid bye-bye to on The Amazing Race (David Duchovny
lookalike Dennis and Erika).
I’m in an office pool for TAR, and I have Charla and Mirna, two wild
and crazy cousins (though not identical cousins). They came in fifth
out of 11 teams Tuesday. Charla is famous for being the first
little-person contestant on TAR. Each woman is 27 and of Armenian
descent. Charla manages/co-owns sportswear stores in the Phoenix
area; Mirna is a lawyer in Maryland.
So already I can’t stand Marsha, who shunned Charla and Mirna when
they pitched a cooperation suggestion. Marsha, a law student at UF,
is in the game with her military man dad Jim. They came in 10th out
of 11. Let’s hope they stay in 10th.
Charla and Mirna talked one other time about how no one was helping
them, and it reminded me of a tour group I was part of in Italy years
ago and how others in the group were very rude to this one couple. It
was like being back in freakin’ high school. I reckon you just got to
accept that some people are creeps and there’s no changing them.
Anyhow, a couple of weeks after I got home from Italy, I received the
loveliest note from Nancy, the wife of the couple: “It’s someone like
you and [names of a few others on the trip] who helped make our trip
memorable. We enjoyed the laughs and good conversations.” I kept the
note because it was so unexpected and so sweet. You never know when
simple kindness will reap rewards, you know.
Also creepy on Amazing Race: brothers Lance and Marshall, pizza shop
owners from Dallas, and the Christian pair wearing their religion on
their sleeves (we’re sure God has favorites in this race and is
looking out for them only).
On Big Brother, I already picked a favorite, Jennifer, because she’s
not your generic bimbo (although she does prefer to be called
Nokomis!). On the show site, she says she is “artistic, stubborn and
odd,” which is good enough for me. There are already guys I can’t
stand, the so-called Alpha males, Scott with his stupid soul patch
and dumb-jock mentality and Jase (gag on that name alone!). They both
wear fancy headbands. There’s also a goober with really, really bad
teeth.
TAR is the best show on TV, at least this summer: travelogue (most of
Tuesday’s show in Uruguay, of all places), competition, lessons in
human nature.

Exodus Is New Chapter of Loss in Armenia’s Sad Story
By Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, July 12, 2004; Page A01
SEVABERD, Armenia — First, her son left for Russia. Then a daughter. Then
her other daughter. Last fall, her remaining son, daughter-in-law and three
grandchildren moved. One by one over the last decade, they fled this village
on a barren mountain peak, abandoning the rocky earth where the family has
lived for a hundred years.
Now it is Atlas Hadjiyan’s turn.
She has sold her two cows and no longer tends the vegetable garden that is
necessary to survive the brutal winter. In September, she plans to become
yet another reluctant emigrant, leaving the independent homeland that
Armenians dreamed of for generations for the uncertain welcome of an icy
Russian city a thousand miles north. “I don’t want to leave,” she said, “but
this is no place to live.”
For this village, whose name means Black Fortress, where there is no running
water, no telephones, no paid work and, for much of the winter, no access to
the outside world, Hadjiyan’s exit will be just another quiet
disappointment.
For Armenia at large, her impending departure is the latest result of a
slow-motion crisis of confidence that has left the rugged mountain country
hemorrhaging people for nearly all of its short history of independence. No
one knows just how many have left, but even the most conservative estimates
put the total at more than 1 million Armenians and counting — with a total
remaining population of no more than 3 million and perhaps as little as 2
million.
The exodus has made Armenia one of the fastest-disappearing nations in the
world. “I call it depopulation,” said Gevorg Pogosyan, a sociologist in the
capital, Yerevan. “It calls into question whether Armenia is a country with
a future. We are a weak society, weakened both politically and economically
by this migration.”
At the time of independence in 1991, Armenia’s mere existence seemed a
triumph over a tragic history. The world’s 4 million-strong Armenian
diaspora exulted at the idea of a national homeland less than a century
after the Turks killed between 500,000 and 1.5 million Armenians.
But instead of luring home successful Armenians who had made new lives in
the West, the post-Soviet country has written new chapters of loss into an
already sad story. Damage remains from the 1988 earthquake that killed tens
of thousands.
With broad support from its public, Armenia fought and won a war with
neighboring Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the
1990s, capturing and holding a large swath of Azeri territory. The Armenians
in the enclave supported the war. But Armenia has never concluded a peace
deal and remains under economic blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey.
In a country with no significant natural resources, a collapsed Soviet
industrial infrastructure and an economy just now showing signs of recovery,
many Armenians had little choice but to leave. About 80 percent headed to
Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union; the rest joined the
earlier diaspora in the United States or Western Europe.
Russian experts have calculated that $1 billion from migrants in Russia
flows home annually to support Armenian families — nearly double the
Armenian government’s entire budget. “If not for these billions, we would
have had riots and revolutions here,” Pogosyan said.
The wave of departures, which hit a high of about 200,000 a year in the
mid-1990s, has stabilized in recent years, but the cumulative effect
remains. Far more Armenians now live outside their homeland than in it. The
society that stayed has far fewer working-age men, fewer marriages, fewer
births. Women outnumber men 56 percent to 44 percent. About 1.5 million
people, or nearly half the official population, live on pensions or other
government handouts.
There’s hardly a family untouched by the shifts — from the government
official charged with stopping the migration, whose own relatives decamped
for Moscow, to the television host whose wife and two children moved to
California 11 years ago without him.
Lawyer Hrayr Tovmasyan has watched his circle of friends and family dwindle
with each passing year. From his graduate school class of four in 1998, one
lives in Paris, one in Heidelberg and one in Moscow. His wife’s siblings
have all left for Russia; his uncles are in the United States and Denmark.
“I’m the only one here,” he said.

The Advertiser
July 8, 2004 Thursday
Games official attacks Australia
Olympic drugs battle widens
By PAUL CARTER in Sydney
WORLD sport’s top drugs czar yesterday launched a scathing attack on
Australia’s handling of the Mark French cycling affair as evidence
emerged of doping allegations in weightlifting.
The Australian Weightlifting Federation has launched an investigation
after being told by the Australian Sports Drug Agency an unnamed
lifter had refused to take a drug test. The Court of Arbitration for
Sport is expected to hear the case next week.
Australia’s Olympic weightlifting team is due to be named tomorrow
with Caroline Pileggi and Armenian-born Sergo Chakhoyan expected to
be the only two weightlifters going to Athens.
“There is an incident that is causing us some concern which is being
looked at right now,” said AWF president Sam Coffa, who would only
identify the athlete as being an AWF member.
The average penalty for such an offence is a two-year ban. The
Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Sports Commission are
monitoring the situation and have offered to help the federation
present its case against the athlete, who is contesting the charge.
World Anti-Doping Agency president and International Olympic
Committee member Dick Pound, meanwhile, said the ASC should make
public the results of former judge Robert Anderson’s investigation
into allegations against five Olympic cyclists.
“What’s going to happen if some of these people go to Athens as part
of your Olympic team,” Mr Pound told the ABC. “Australians are going
to wonder if they have sent athletes who are guilty of doping
offences. The rest of the world is going to say how is it that
Australia deals with all these things in secret.
ASC chief executive Mark Peters said he was disappointed at Mr
Pound’s criticisms which came only weeks after he welcomed the
Anderson investigation.
“One has to wonder what has changed in those two weeks that now has
him saying, without any supporting evidence that ‘Australia has badly
handled numerous drug inquiries’,” Mr Peters said.
Mr Pound said his organisation was considering writing to federal
Sports Minister Rod Kemp in a bid to force the release of the
Anderson investigation into world champions Graeme Brown, Jobie
Dajka, Sean Eadie, Shane Kelly and Brett Lancaster.
The investigation followed French’s allegations the five had injected
legal vitamins in his room at Del Monte, the Australian Institute of
Sport’s track cycling headquarters in Henley Beach.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Azeri leader urges world public to increase pressure on Armenia
Lider TV, Baku
7 Jul 04
The Azerbaijani leader has urged the international public to increase
pressure on Armenia over the Karabakh conflict and to step up efforts
aimed at finding a speedy solution to the problem. In an interview
with the French magazine Le Lettre Diplomatique, he said that
organized international crime groups are active in Karabakh and
described the area as a great source of threat to security in the
South Caucasus. Aliyev added that peace and security in the region
could only be restored after solving the Karabakh conflict and
removing foreign bases from the South Caucasus. The following is the
text of report by Azerbaijani TV station Lider on 7 July. Subheadings
have been inserted editorially:
[Presenter] The international public should increase pressure on
Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in an interview
with the French magazine La Lettre Diplomatique. The head of state
urged international organizations to actively express their positions
on the Karabakh solution.
Leader calls for international attention to Karabakh conflict
[Correspondent, over video of Aliyev, giving interview in his office]
The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh has turned
into an obstacle to stability not only in our country, but also in the
South Caucasus region, which generally plays an important role in
Europe’s security structure. This is the greatest source of threat to
the region. For this reason, the international public should devote
more attention to a settlement of the conflict, President Ilham Aliyev
said in an interview with the French magazine La Lettre Diplomatique.
According to him, organized international crime groups are active in
the territories which are beyond the international public’s control
and have turned the area into an area of lawlessness. Armenia is
continuing its aggressive policy today as well.
The head of state did not conceal his dissatisfaction with the OSCE
Minsk Group’s activities. Despite the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group,
under the chairmanship of the USA, France and Russia, is dealing with
a settlement to the conflict, no changes were recorded in this sphere
and the conflict remains unresolved. From this viewpoint, we hope that
other international organizations will pay more attention to the
issue, end of quote.
The Azerbaijani president said that the fact of occupation of
Azerbaijani lands has been recorded in numerous resolutions, decisions
and other official documents adopted by the Council of Europe, the
European Union and other international organizations. However, it is
important that all foreign organizations, and the international public
step up their efforts to reach a speedy solution to the conflict.
Peace in South Caucasus impossible without Karabakh solution
President Ilham Aliyev said that the problem should be resolved within
the framework of international legal norms. Armenia’s claims that the
conflict should be resolved in line with the right of nations to
self-determination cannot be accepted, because the Armenian people’s
right to self-determination has already been ensured and the state of
Armenia has been set up. It is easy to imagine what may happen if the
Armenians living in different countries in the world would want their
right to self-determination to be ensured by those countries, end of
quote.
President Aliyev said that the Armenian leadership often calls for
economic ties with Azerbaijan. However, this is absurd. No state in
the world can cooperate with another state which has occupied part of
its territory. Armenia is on the sidelines of international economic
projects carried out in the region as a result of its aggressive
policy only. No country’s foreign bases exist in Azerbaijan, President
Aliyev stressed, adding that if the other countries of the South
Caucasus could do the same, we would soon be able to establish peace
and security in our region. We want to live in peace and develop our
economy and country. We wish to live in an atmosphere of peace,
stability and prosperity in the South Caucasus region.
It is impossible to achieve this until the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh is resolved. Therefore, the
international community should increase its efforts to stop Armenia’s
aggression against Azerbaijan, end quote.

PawtucketTimes.com
Armenian Leader Stresses Need to “Refine” Constitution in Holiday Address
BBC Monitoring Central Asia
07/05/2004
Text of report by Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan It was a powerful impulse
for radical reform in Armenian legislation, for consolidation of the
people’s power and for confirmation of the supremacy of the law. “In
celebrating Constitution Day, we citizens are celebrating our rights and
freedoms.
Text of report by Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan
Yerevan, 5 July: The presidential press service has sent Noyan Tapan news
agency President Robert Kocharyan’s message on Constitution Day. It says:
“Dear Fellow Citizens,
“I congratulate you on Constitution Day.
“The adoption of a constitution has historic significance for any people and
state. It was a powerful impulse for radical reform in Armenian legislation,
for consolidation of the people’s power and for confirmation of the
supremacy of the law.
“In celebrating Constitution Day, we citizens are celebrating our rights and
freedoms.
“The current constitution has shown its viability many times. Its unswerving
application guarantees legality and stability in the country. On the other
hand, the need to refine the constitution has arisen in our society, to
bring it into line with the contemporary demands of development.
“Once again congratulating you on Constitution Day, I tell you of my belief
that our country’s basic law will be refined and will long serve the people
of Armenia.”

Agence France Presse
July 2, 2004
Azeri teenage soldier held prisoner by Armenia:
defence ministry

BAKU (AFP) Jul 01, 2004
Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry said Thursday that one of its soldiers
was being held prisoner by Armenian forces, apparently after he
wandered across the front line which separates the two neighbours. A
statement from the ministry said the 19-year-old private went missing
while serving in Azerbaijan’s Agdam region, close to disputed
territory which has been occupied by Armenian forces since a war in
the early 1990s.
The statement said the serviceman may have been taken by Armenian
troops after he got lost on the heavily-militarised front line, which
is dotted with landmines.
The Red Cross was helping negotiate the soldier’s release, the
statement added. There was no immediate confirmation of the report
available from the Armenian side.
Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a
five-year war for control of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
which cost the lives of an estimated 35,000 people.
A ceasefire was signed in 1994, leaving Armenian forces in de facto
control of Karabakh and surrounding Azeri regions.
Skirmishes along the ceasefire line are a frequent occurrence. Dozens
of soldiers are killed each year in landmine accidents or by snipers
on the opposing side.

Macon Telegraph, GA
July 2, 2004
Successful artists gain notoriety outside gallery circuit
By Ariella Budick
Beyond the cozy network of museums, auction houses and New York
galleries that establish the market value and reputations of the
contemporary artists they dub “important,” there is a vast world of
artists with followings that make Picasso’s seem piddling.
Hawaiian marine artist and long-tressed surfer Christian Lassen paints
throbbing Pacific sunsets above preening waves. Jane Wooster Scott’s
placid folk tableaux of snowy New England villages have made her the
“most reproduced artist in America,” according to the “Guinness Book
of World Records.” Scotsman Jack Vettriano plies his fans with
fantasies of aristocrats frolicking in evening dress, attended by
liveried servants. And, of course, Thomas Kinkade’s cozily glowing
cottages and riotous gardens have brought forth a multimillion-dollar
franchise.
Buying even original works of popular art doesn’t require an excursion
to the forbiddingly chic precincts of Chelsea or SoHo. They can be
purchased aboard cruise ships or on the Internet, at upscale malls and
in hotels. A Wooster Scott oil sells for $15,000 to $20,000, and a
typical Lassen goes for $225,000. That’s peanuts compared to what a
Vettriano can fetch: The art world was stunned in April, when the
original of his widely disseminated “The Singing Butler” sold at
auction for $1.3 million.
Aficionados don’t necessarily have to shell out that kind of
cash. Images can be found on calendars, mugs, screen savers and
lottery tickets. There are lithographs, serigraphs and, most
eye-fooling of all, giclees – hand-retouched digital prints that can
cost thousands. Lassen’s limited editions start at $2,950 and go to up
$20,000.
These artists ply their trade outside of what is commonly known as the
“art world,” beneath the radar of critics and curators. While the
museum is the pinnacle of achievement for those who aspire to a place
in history, popular artists appeal directly to the paying public.
So separate is this parallel art world that its inhabitants see the
museum not as a temple of quality, but as a public relations vehicle
of marginal usefulness. “I could put a Lassen in any museum,” says
Paul Olson, the director of Galerie Lassen Las Vegas, the largest of
the artist’s six franchises. “He’s just not interested in that kind of
promotion. He’d rather give a $100,000 painting to charity than (to) a
museum.”
If curators control the prestigious but limited institutional wall
space, the market for popular art is driven by casual shoppers
furnishing a home. While many galleries keep themselves out of the
public eye, operating from the upper floors of office buildings and
dealing mostly with a small coterie of collectors, popular-art dealers
aim for the fortuitous encounter with the passer-by. Their goal is to
exude an aura of anti-elitism, to make novice buyers feel as if they
can trust their own taste.
“When you’re talking about avant-garde artists, people look to others
to tell them if it’s good or not,” says Rich O’Mahony, who runs the
Wentworth Gallery, a chain with 31 outlets throughout the
country. “Here, though, people can walk into a setting and say, ‘I
like that, it makes me feel good.’ ”
The artwork that O’Mahony sells tends to be easy on the eye, and the
goal is not to challenge but to soothe. The roster includes Salvador
Dali and the ever-popular Peter Max, but also names that are
completely unfamiliar. In the same way that Pottery Barn imports
foreign handicrafts, Wentworth recruits painters from countries such
as Croatia and Armenia and puts them under contract.
Wentworth’s sales strategy is to chip away at the intimidation and
insecurity that could inhibit customers from spending several thousand
dollars on a work of art.
“As long as millions of people are going to have pictures on their
walls, there will always be a market for pictures that are agreeable
and easy to enjoy,” says Robert Rosenblum, an art historian at New
York University. “Business offices, hotel lobbies, hospital corridors
– art’s just like furniture, part of necessary decor.”

Portland Maine Press Herald, ME
June 29 2004
On a mission
By BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON — Mormon missionaries Donald and Jeanette Christensen
have left their home in Preston, Idaho, to spend the next two years
in Maine putting fragile, aging probate documents onto microfilm.
Since April, the retired couple has been spending about eight hours a
day in an upper room of the Franklin County Courthouse with the
shades drawn, microfilming more than 6,400 documents listing the
estates and assets of people who died here between 1838 and 1915.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through its
Genealogical Society of Utah, has long collected names from
government and church documents worldwide to preserve genealogical
records and also add them into its enormous database of names.
In return, hosts are given a copy of the film. Mormons place great
emphasis on genealogical research so that living members may undergo
baptismal rites on behalf of deceased ancestors, a practice known as
posthumous or “vicarious” baptism.
But the practice has come under fire. In the process of amassing
names from town halls, parish churches and government files, millions
of other names not connected to church members have been harvested —
from Jewish Holocaust victims to Catholic popes to 18th-century
Russian Orthodox and Armenian Christians. Millions of those have been
baptized as Mormon.
“For them to come in and baptize deceased relatives without the
family’s permission is very unbecoming, is un-American, is illegal
and could lead to a court case. I think it is invading territory that
is private, and unless they get permission from the family, it is
none of their business,” said Rabbi Harry Sky of Temple Beth-El in
Portland.
“If my family had wanted to be baptized, they would have done it
centuries ago. They decided to remain Jewish, so don’t do it to us
now,” Sky said.
The genealogical society’s 6 million names on digitized and
microfilmed copies of records from more than 100 countries are stored
in a climate-controlled vault beneath 700 feet of solid granite
outside the church’s Salt Lake City, Utah, headquarters. It is
available on certain Web sites — for a fee — or can be seen at
computer banks at Family History Centers in Mormon churches.
“The primary purpose is to preserve vital records worldwide and make
it available to everyone,” said church spokesman Paul Nauta.
He said published reports about the extent of the baptism-by-proxy
practice are over-blown.
“Members of the church are encouraged to identify their ancestors as
part of our doctrine because we believe families are eternal and ties
and bonds exist beyond death,” he said.
He said that if deceased who are not related to living Mormons have
been baptized, it was done unintentionally by a small number of
overzealous church members out of a caring expression of faith. He
said it was very difficult to police all proxy baptisms, but
regardless, a change of religion is not forced on anyone.
In 1995, the Mormon church came to an agreement with Jewish leaders
that it would stop posthumous baptisms of anyone known to be Jewish.
It also agreed to remove about 6 million names from the International
Genealogical Index if they are presented to church officials.
In Maine, many small county probate offices still have paper files of
the assets and estates of the deceased.
The church just completed Oxford County’s documents and did Kennebec
County’s years ago.
The Christensens have temporarily moved into an apartment in Wilton
while they work at the Franklin County courthouse. They pay all their
own living expenses.
“We are going to every state and every place where there are people,”
Donald Christensen said.
Jeanette Christensen said she has been told not to discuss the
church’s religious use of the names.
Franklin County’s register of probate, Joyce Morton, said the
microfilm offer means she can finally preserve her records, some so
brittle they are turning to dust. “This is being done at no cost to
the taxpayer,” she said.
Betty Jespersen