Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502200086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
But eight months later, 17 of the freighter's crewmen are still here, evicted by the ship's new owner and waiting for approximately $100,000 in back pay that's tied up in federal court.
``These men are almost like zombies now,'' said Lynn Latham, president of the board of trustees that operates the International Seamen's Friend House, a church-founded organization that has been caring for the displaced sailors.
``It's just been months and months,'' Latham said. ``As nice as they have all been, there's still that uncertainty of the future.''
``They have been so patient, and yet impatient to get home,'' said Marie Griffin, a volunteer at the Friend House.
The Taxiarchis, carrying a load of sugar from South America to Canada, docked in Newport News in June with an engine problem. A Coast Guard inspection revealed serious safety hazards, and the owner, Kent Trading Corp. of Piraeus, Greece, soon fell behind in paying for the expanded list of repairs.
In the meantime, the crew stopped getting paychecks. On Dec. 2, they filed a claim in U.S. District Court in Norfolk for back wages.
But the freighter's owners had accumulated other debts. Total claims reached about $2 million, including a $900,000 mortgage on the ship held by a Greek bank, said Benjamin M. Mason, an attorney for the ship's crew.
Under court order, the ship was sold Feb. 3 to another Greek shipping company. The sale price: $310,000.
Last week, the ship's new owner ordered the men off the freighter so a new crew could come aboard. Since then, the men have been staying at a local motel that donated rooms and are spending much of their time at the Friend House, which provides a TV, magazines, games and the use of telephones.
Arshad Hussain, a Pakistani crewman who is married to a Colombian woman, said his wife makes only enough money at her job selling movie theater tickets to feed herself and their 8-month-old daughter that he's never seen. She hasn't been able to pay rent since December, he said.
``My wife, she is very, very upset,'' Hussain said. ``She is always asking to send money, but I have no money to send. I am very frantic.''
Julian Chitiga, a Romanian with a wife and 4-year-old daughter, said he sent his last $1,000 paycheck to his family, but the bank kept the money.
``I don't know what happened,'' he said. ``They have some reason, new rules. I don't want to go home without money in my pocket.''
by CNB