Chiuko Warns About The Perils of Weakness

Oleskii Chiuko with President Patt Mayer

Left to right: Edith Hites, treasurer, Julie Lynch, luncheon chair, and Patt Mayer, president.

At the general meeting yesterday, Oleskii Chiuko, a local businessman and Republican activist who immigrated to the United States from Ukraine, described the peril of weakness both as it relates to Ukraine and this country.

“Weakness has a price and we cannot afford it,” he told the 65 members and guests who attended the luncheon at Zio Fraedo’s in Pleasant Hill.  “Weakness is not taking action when you need to (and)…that’s extremely hard,” said Chiuko, an Oakley resident who is the director of operations for Shriners International. He pointed out that when Russia moved into Georgia and later Crimea “nothing was done”, adding that in Afghanistan “a lot of mistakes” were made.

“It’s important today to project our strength….Both California and Ukraine started going downhill 20 to 30 years ago,” he said. Many are leaving California now but “soon there will be no place to run  We have to be brave, be strong and stand up for what is right.  And that is freedom, family and our home.”