A Memorial Service Was Held 10

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The following is a message delivered on CNN, ABC, KSFO and KGO radio by CEO Richard Theodor Kusiolek.

"These world class individuals and organizations from the richest valley in the world ought to be able to help the mothers, wives, grandparents, aunts, and the children of the 118 sailors who died. Frankly, this is the only Communist Nation that reached out to America's promise of a new market-driven world economy, unconditionally. The Great Thinkers who created this valley and its economic engine should not allow the courageous Kursk families to suffer for their faith and belief in Ronald Reagan and William Jefferson Clinton's promises of capitalism. Can this Valley which spent over 20 billion dollars for start-up ventures not afford to reach out and help our Fund? I think not. This is a simple fund without the politics of the high administrative non profit "traditional" organizations that we see in this valley. Our fund is not designed to last for more than one year. I believe that simple People to People nonprofit Funds in which the people receive all the money donated, can do more to preserve the peace and harmony in the third world IP and telecommunication markets that receive the "valley's technology". If people have no means of paying for our technology miracles, who will then pay for them. This is simple economics.I believe that individuals and corporations will help these relatives as the severe winter season approaches and these families find themselves without fuel, clothing, and hard currency. Governor Bush and Vice President Gore, both compassionate and honorable men, will not let the flame that was lit by Ronald Reagan and then became a torch held by Vice President Gore, go out. Small donations are coming in and we expect that strong support from the key leaders of this wonderful and giving Silicon Valley of the Bay Area of Northern California will respond before the end of this month."

A Memorial Service Was Held 10/29/00 in Severomorsk, Russia

SEVEROMORSK, Russia (AP)

Venturing further inside the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine, divers recovered more bodies Sunday from amid the jagged metal and silt that fill the wreck stuck in the Arctic depths. The number and identity of the bodies remained unclear, Russian naval officials said, apparently because the remains were badly damaged.

All 118 men on the Kursk were killed after it was shattered by an explosion and crashed to the Barents Sea floor on Aug. 12. As the slow, solemn recovery work continued, a mourning ceremony for the Kursk submariners was held Sunday in the closed Russian military town of Severomorsk.

Remains of four Kursk sailors were recovered last week, and four caskets, draped with the white-and-blue flag of the Russian Navy, were carried atop armored personnel carriers into a sea-front square under a cold, clear sky. Taking off their hats, Russian sailors dropped to one knee in the snow that had fallen on the Arctic town. A long, low horn of farewell sounded from the warships bristling with antennas and cannons in the harbor.

"This is very hard," said Zoya Dudko, whose 30-year-old son Sergei was among the crew. "But I think it is necessary. Our children deserved this."

The names and ranks of all 118 officers and sailors were read out, and Dudko burst into tears when she heard her son's name. A few steps away, the young widow of Lt. Dmitry Kolesnikov, Olga, looked out over the square, her eyes fixed on the sun hanging low over the horizon.

Unidentified relatives of Kursk's seamen grieve during a memorial ceremony devoted to the crew of the sunken Russian nuclear submarine, at the ship's home port of Severomorsk. (AP)

A note found in Kolesnikov's pocket when his body was recovered Wednesday told a horrifying story of 23 survivors gathering in the submarine's ninth compartment, hoping to get out through a jammed escape hatch.

Based on that note, Russian and Norwegian divers worked through Saturday night to cut a hole in the hull above the compartment at the stern of the submarine. But the thick rubber and steel would not yield, said Vadim Serga, a Northern Fleet spokesman in Severomorsk.

The divers were forced to enter through a hole they had cut earlier in the eighth compartment and grope their way along narrow passages into the ninth, he said. There, the divers found several more bodies.

"It is hard to imagine that no one will come back any more, will not step over the threshold of their homes, will not hug their parents, wives, brothers, sisters," Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said at the mourning ceremony. Tears welling up, he praised the submariners for serving their country "in these years of hardship for Russia."

The cause of the disaster has not been determined. Russian officials have focused on the theory that the blasts were set off by a collision with another, possibly foreign, ship. But others have said the most likely cause was a torpedo exploding in its tube.