ular plantings are in violation of the sectionrnof the Code. . . . Please trim thernplantings.”rnNow my wife and I were both furiousrnand fighting mad. Who, we wondered,rnwould complain about our forsythia?rnWhen they were in bloom, many peoplernwalked by to admire them. People drivingrndown the street stopped to look.rnSome even took pictures of them. Wernbegan to photograph dozens of villagernhedges in violation, which we planned tornregister with the village government.rnPaulette went door-to-door asking thernneighbors if they felt threatened by thern”killer” hedge. One did not like thernhedge, saying “it looks like a jungle.”rnThe only person my wife did not ask—rnbecause he was never home—wasrnRupert Brook.rnAfter her neighborhood canvas, Irnwalked to the Village Office and asked ifrnthe second complaint was also anonymous.rnIt had been filed by Dr. Brook, anrnindividual allegedly in the business ofrnhelping patients handle personal conflict.rnMy wife left a few phone messagesrnon the Brooks’ answering machine, butrnwhen the calls were not returned, shernwent directly to the Brooks’ front door tornask why the hedge was so frightening tornthe doctor, and further, why he wouldrnnot have first discussed it with us beforerngoing to the authorities. He could not bernfound at home.rnMy wife talked to both the former andrnthe current “tree warden” and both visitedrnour property: both said they did notrnfeel threatened by the forsythia. Fromrnthem, we learned that a neighbor,rnPatrick Kelly, a member of the VillagernBoard, had sponsored the change in thernlaw. Paulette visited Kelly and asked whyrnhe sponsored the change. He responded,rn”What’s going to happen when someonerngets picked off on that corner?” Myrnwife said we had lived there with six children,rnplus visiting friends, that both shernand I were home all the time, and therernhad never been so much as a dead duckrn(there were lots of ducks in the neighborhood)rnnear our property.rnEariy in the evening of April 3, 1993,rnwith my list of hedge violation addressesrnin hand, I walked to Tom Troy’s house tornpresent the list to him. I wanted him torntake immediate action, and I was preparedrnto tell him that after he sent merncopies of letters mailed to all the violators,rnI would trim my hedge. His wiferngraciously invited me in to their homernand led me into the dining room, wherernTroy and two guests from England werernabout to have dinner.rnTroy introduced me to his guests:rn”This is Paul Likoudis. He and his wifernare two of Western New York’s leadingrnpro-life activists, and his father, James, isrnan ultraconservative Catholic rightwinger,rnthe founder of Credo.” He wasrnobviously prepared to continue, so I interruptedrnhim: “I’m not here to talkrnabout my background and my family,rnbut to deliver a letter containing addressesrnof all properties in Williamsville thatrnare in violation of the new village ordinance.rnWe are concerned about the flagrant,rnlife-threatening abuses that exist.”rnTroy responded that the village couldrnno longer be passive about violations,rnand that all violators would be broughtrninto compliance. I responded that Irncould not understand why the village wasrnso intent on harassing us for our hedges.rnHe, perhaps a mite tipsy, replied: “It’s allrna plot to get you, Mr. Likoudis, and yourrnwife, out of Williamsville.”rnDisregarding his inane comment, I explainedrnthat before we planted thernhedge, we received the advice on wherernwe could plant from village authorities,rnand in 1992, after receiving the first complaint,rnthe mayor and three other authoritiesrntook measurements and determinedrnthe hedge was legal. “Why,” I asked,rn”did the village have to change the law?”rn”The law was changed,” he affirmedrnagain, “in a plot to get Paul and PauletternLikoudis out of Williamsville.” Irncontinued the line of questioning, andrneach time he gave the same answer.rn”What is this, the People’s Republic ofrnWilliamsville?” I asked. He raised hisrnwine glass. “Long live the People’srnRepublic of Williamsville.”rnI then asked him to let me know whenrnhe had sent letters informing all violatorsrnof the hedge law to comply. He answered:rn”Haven’t you sold your house?rnAren’t you moving out of Williamsville?rnYou’re going to be causing a lot of difficultyrnfor people on your way out,” tornwhich I replied that it did not matter.rnHe insisted again that the law wasrnchanged specifically to “get Paul andrnPaulette Likoudis out of Williamsville.”rn”Is this the People’s Republic of China?”rnI asked. He again raised his wine glassrnand toasted: “Long live the People’s Republicrnof China.” “Tom,” his wife interjected,rn”you really shouldn’t say thingsrnlike that.”rnOne month later, I went to the VillagernBoard Meeting and reported the conversationrnbefore the entire board. The majorityrndefended Troy and the new policy,rnbut one member asked the other boardrnmembers why Paulette and I were not invitedrnto the board meeting, since the lawrnwas rewritten specifically with us inrnmind. No one had an answer. Twornmonths later, we shook the dust from ourrnfeet and moved from Williamsville. Onernyear later, Troy was replaced as VillagernAttorney. Three years later, the hedgesrnin front of our old house are magnificent,rnand the new owners, apparently, are notrnbeing harassed about the forsythia.rnPaul Likoudis is news editor for thernWanderer.rnRELIGIONrnPravoslavophobiarnby fames George JatiasrnJtern: An American of Greek originrncalls a congressional office to protestrnUnited States policies in Bosnia thatrnwould place Christian Serbs at the mercyrnof a hostile Muslim regime. “SocalledrnChristians,” corrects a member ofrnthe congressman’s staff, ignorant of therncaller’s religion.rnItem: A national opinion magazinerncarries on its cover a harsh caricature ofrnRussian “nationalism” personified byrnthree vicious bears, costumed as a peasant,rna “czarist” officer, and an Orthodoxrnbishop in liturgical vestments!rnItem: In another issue of that magazine,rnone writer, for whom Orthodoxbaitingrnhas been a preoccupation, conjuresrnup an “Orthodox revanche”rninvolving Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, andrnRussia that has “drenched” Eastern Europernin “Muslim blood.” And in yet anotherrnissue of the magazine the “nearrngenocide” of Muslims in Bosnia is citedrnas “virtually consecrated by the Orthodoxrnchurch.”rnItem: A distinguished retired Americanrngeneral, commenting on possiblernNATO expansion, states his view thatrn(traditionally Roman Catholic) Poland,rnHungary, the Czech Republic, and,rnmaybe, Slovakia should be rapidly admittedrnto the Western alliance, but (Or-rnFEBRUARY 1997/43rnrnrn