Archive of articles - November 2004, page 2

Storms topple Tatras

WINDSTORMS levelled entire forests in the Tatra Mountains, toppling the nation’s pride along with them. The disaster left two people dead, billions of crowns in damages and Slovakia’s most popular tourist destination badly scarred.Wind speeds were clocked at 170 kilometres per hour. The force of the gale knocked down the equivalent of 2.5 billion cubic metres of timber, or nearly a year’s worth of coniferous logging in one day.

A dose of holiday jeer

Bad SantaStarring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Lauren TomDirected by: Terry ZwigoffRunning time: 91 minRating: 8 out of 10CHRISTMAS, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: roasted chestnuts, crackling fires, mistletoe, caroling, and good old-fashioned holiday cheer. It just makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it? Or maybe that’s just the alcohol.

Slovakia backs sugar reform

Heritage before money

ĽUBICA Trubíniová knows a thing or two about the environment. A former Greenpeace activist, Trubíniová is currently project manager at the Regional Centre of Environmentalists in Bratislava.Trubíniová took time out to talk with The Slovak Spectator about the recent windstorm that destroyed huge swathes of forestland in the Tatra mountains and the Tatras National Park.

Dirty laundry aired in public

THE NATIONAL Memory Institute stirred things up after publishing files from the former communist secret service on the Internet. Opponents say the information comes too late to be of any use. Others say former communist spies should own up to the past or clear their names legally.At the heart of the debate is what the publication means to Slovakia 15 years after the fall of communism, and whether former ŠtB collaborators should hold political positions in modern-day Slovakia.

Skiing in Slovakia

WITH each passing year, the ski and snowboard scene in Slovakia gets better and better. In the past two years, major ski centres such as Jasná, Donovaly, and Skipark Ružomberok have constructed new, modern lifts. Nearly every important resort has purchased new snowmaking equipment, and several now boast renovated or new hotels.The “apres ski” also continues to improve.

I understand, really

OVER the phone, a Slovak friend once told me to meet her at kút, the corner. I assumed she meant the one outside her apartment in Devínska Nová Ves, a far-flung suburb a good half hour from the centre of Bratislava. I was just getting onto the bus when she called to ask where I was. Kút, the café in the Old Town where she was waiting for me, was just a short walk from my office. Rather than feeling like a trpák (half-wit), I took this mistake in stride.

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Around Slovakia

Slovakia remembers victims of communism and fascismPrecious diamond disappearsAbandoned rodentsRam raiders spark police huntLion cub in a flatSon dies in explosion at parents’ houseStill fit at 106

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Fuel duel

CORPORATIONS say the high cost of fuel in Slovakia discourages business and they blame it on Slovnaft and excise taxes imposed on fuel.The government argues that Slovnaft, the country’s dominant fuel producer, is guilty of unscrupulous profiteering and should be prevented from inflating prices at the pump.Slovnaft claims that rising international oil prices are the cause of recent price spikes. The result is much finger-pointing and an audit.