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author
Chris Togneri

Spectacular Slovakia travel writer

List of author's articles, page 3

China beckons for 'green' Štiavnica

The central Slovak town Banská Štiavnica will be a finalist at the Nations in Bloom international environmental competition, also known as the 'Green Oscars', in Shenzhen November 29-December 3.Nations in Bloom awards communities around the world for exemplary environmental practices. Over 200 communities from 50 countries were involved this year. Banská Štiavnica heads to China as one of 41 finalists."The competition awards those who are really solving environmental issues: the local people. It's all very well for parliament to say 'we're going to make your city's air cleaner', but real people at local levels are going to make the changes," said Nations in Bloom's Alan Smith.

Easterners forced to leave for the west

VRANOV NAD TOPĽOU - Seventeen-year-old Lenka dreams of becoming a physicist, getting a well-paid job, perhaps teaching in university someday.But if those ambitions are to be realised, she says, it is not going to happen in eastern Slovakia."There's no future here, nothing works. I want to move west to study physics in the Czech Republic," she said."And when I move to Prague, nobody will ever force me to come back here."This is the eastern Slovakia maxim: no jobs, no money, no hope. Saddled with the country's highest unemployment rates, including 25% in Vranov nad Topľou, many young people say their only hope for a good life is in the west.

Bat catchers get tagging in Paradise

SLOVENSKÝ RAJ - How many bats live in Slovakia's Paradise? That was the question a group of zoologists tackled during a 'bat conference' held in this national park October 18-21.Slovenský raj (Slovak Paradise) is home to over 300 caves, making it a haven for the nocturnal flying mammals. But nobody can tell how many bats are in the park because none of the creatures have been tagged to assist in population studies."Only 10% to 15% of the caves have been checked, so I can't say how many batsare here," said Bedýich H jek, a zoologist employed by the park.

Two million Slovaks cannot be wrong

Irena Benedeková, 71, didn't get her first fixed telephone line until she was 40. Yet today she is one of nearly two million Slovaks who owns a mobile phone."Growing up, we never had a phone in the house, we never needed one. Life was very different. But times have changed. My daughter bought this mobile for me last year and I see now that it's necessary for communication. If I'm working or if I go to the pharmacist, people can always call me," she said.Benedeková runs a small flower shop in the eastern Slovak city Spišská Nová Ves. She uses her mobile to contact suppliers and take flower orders. It is an indispensable tool, she says, and she is not alone.

Lawyer harrassed by armed gang

An international human rights lawyer said he has been targeted by right wing extremists and denied police protection.Columbus Igboanusi, who lives in Bratislava, claimed an armed gang followed him to his home on the night of Saturday, October 20 and returned on Sunday, October 21.Igboanusi said that after he left his office on Saturday evening, he noticed that a man had emerged from the bushes and was following him.

"Pearl of the country" still untapped

The Tatra region is Slovakia's best known holiday destination but tourism experts say the area is not living up to its full potential.Although during this year's summer season hotels and pensions were filled from 77% to 96% of capacity overall tourism revenue has not increased significantly.The total revenue for accommodation in the Poprad district, which occupies most of the High Tatras area, rose from Sk319.8 million ($6.6 million) for the first half of 2000 to Sk327.4 million for the same period of this year.

Death and how to avoid it in the High Tatras

STARÝ SMOKOVEC - Štefan B., 55, died October 15 in the High Tatras when he fell 100 metres down a cliff in the Zelene pleso (Green Lake) valley. He was the 15th Tatra casualty of the year."Every year 15 to 20 people die in the Tatras. This year is no different," said Pavol Kuna, a rescue worker for the Tatranská Horská Služba (Tatras Rescue Service) in Starý Smokovec.Since 1990, 167 people have died in the Tatra mountains. Kuna said that the biggest factor was the often volatile weather at higher elevations.

Spiš industrial park approved

SPIŠSKÁ NOVÁ VES - The European Union has allocated two million euros (Sk87 million) for the construction of a wood processing industrial park in this eastern Slovak municipality."Officials in Brussels have approved the project. This will really help alleviate unemployment in Spišská Nová Ves," said Juraj Beňa, Spišská city superintendent and the head of the district office, on October 5.The project is expected to create between 800 and 1,000 new jobs by the year 2003. Spišská Nová Ves (population 40,000) has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates at 25.8%. The national average is 18%.

Daughter honours father's brave legacy

BANSKÁ BYSTRICA - Joseph Morten gained a reputation as a brave man and a fearless reporter during World War II. A correspondent for the American Associated Press (AP), he was lauded for his exclusive war stories from northern Africa, Italy, Yugoslavia, Romania and Slovakia.While in Europe he interviewed Yugoslav President Marshall Tito, was the only Allied reporter to reach Bucharest in time to cover the arrival of the Red Army in August, 1944, and the first to have an interview with King Mihai of Romania.In a New York Times editorial, the interview was described as having "all the elements of glamour, romance, comedy, dramatic suspense and rapid action."

Housing project gets Roma building

SVINIA - When American Craig Johnson first visited this Roma settlement in Slovakia's 'far east' two years ago, he was appalled by the desperate living conditions."It was shocking. I had seen a video about the Svinia Roma before I came, so I was somewhat prepared. But it was still shocking," he said.Today, the settlement remains a miserable scene. Gaunt dogs scavenge among heaps of refuse in the nearby creek; a man with one leg and no crutch hops around a puddle clotted with trash; a naked child, his face and upper chest crusted with mucus, brandishes a three-inch knife.

Spiš newspaper rejects market consolidation

SPIŠSKÁ NOVÁ VES - Kvetoslava Kucharovieová is back where she started, editing the tiny independent Spišské hlasy (Spiš Voices) weekly newspaper after a failed 1999 cooperation with a foreign publishing house. She has three full-time employees, prints around 5,000 copies of her paper a week, secures precious few revenue-generating ads, and is forced to cover her annual losses from her other business activities."The paper is not profitable and I have to run other businesses to keep it going, such as the flower stand I have in town," she said in her office September 3 in this sleepy eastern Slovak town of 40,000. "But it's a tradition, and I have to keep it going."Slovakia's economically downtrodden east has known many struggling papers, but few current titles that are not put out by the powerful Petit Press publishers. One of two publishing houses created after the 1999 merger of what were then two most influential publishing groups in the country, the Slovak VMV and the German Verlagsgruppe Passauer Presse, Petit Press enjoys a virtual monopoly of print media in eastern Slovakia, with daily papers in Košice, Prešov, Spišská Nová Ves, Rožoava, Poprad and Michalovce.

White Bike transport experiment ends in failure, reproach

Bratislava's first attempt at alternative public transport has been declared a failure one week after its launch.The Biely Bicykel (White Bike) initiative, aimed at relieving traffic congestion, was to provide the Old Town district with public bicycles which could be used by anyone, provided they were later returned to one of eight designated bike racks. Eight white bikes were put out September 21. One week later all the bikes were missing or had been destroyed, said White Bike organiser Miroslav Koziel."I give up," he said, standing next to the last remaining white bike, which was chained to a rack on Františkánske námestie in the downtown core. "I haven't seen them [the bicycles] around, and I've heard few reports from others who have. We found one bike in Palisády [a residential area near the Bratislava castle] with broken wheels and the seat missing."

Culture Shock: In praise of easterners

Three years ago in Bratislava, I asked the editor of a sports newspaper for the phone number of a Slovak NHL star. He eyed me suspiciously, snubbed out his cigarette and folded his hands across his bulging belly."Anything is possible," he grunted, twiddling his walrus moustache, "for the right price." Journalists selling contacts, I thought to myself in disgust as I left empty-handed. Welcometo Bratislava.

Students scrambling for housing

PREŠOV - As public schools in Trenčín, Košice and Nitra regions faced disconnection from electricity mains last month because of unpaid bills, a new crisis surfaced for the country's cash-poor university system in this eastern Slovak town of 95,000.Half of all students that requested accommodation at eastern Slovakia's Prešov university were rejected this year. Students have blamed the shortage on a new school regulation which was intended to improve living standards in dormitories, but which, school officials admit, in practice exacerbated a housing shortage.Until now, up to five people at the university dormitories have been permitted to live in rooms designed to house two to four students; with more bodies than beds, some students have slept on the floor, or three to a double bed.

IPC Refractories finds key to survival

KOŠICE - A tiny company in this eastern Slovak city has not only found a way to survive Slovakia's corporate lean years, but is even managing to turn a profit. In creating a symbiotic relationship with the steel giant US Steel Košice, the IPC Refractories firm says it has created sufficient financial stability to allow them to pursue plans for expansion onto foreign markets.Ian Robson, IPC marketing manager, said that the key to success for his firm of 12 employees - besides "riding the coat tails of US Steel" - was its ability to bend to meet client needs. "We've got an advantage over a lot of Slovak companies because we are very flexible," he said. "We don't turn anything down. If somebody asks if we can do something differently from how we usually do it, we'll take a look and see if it's possible."IPC produces refractories, made of a concrete-like material with a high melting point, which serve as high-temperature linings for containers used in steel production. The company was established in 1993 in Košice; the site was chosen by owner Ivan Prisor so that IPC could feed the colossal demands of the Eastern Slovak Steelworks (VSŽ), which was last year acquired by US Steel.

Donation lifts hopes in neglected Gelnica

GELNICA - This town of 6,500 may be poor, plagued by 30% unemployment, and cut off both from the rest of the country and its own history in a remote pocket of the Hlinec river valley. But following the construction of a new 350,000 Slovak crown ($7,000) playground, financed mainly by a Dutch couple, Louis and Marina van Emmerik, local children at least seem in high spirits, swinging, sliding and eagerly posing for photographs.The Van Emmeriks put up 302,000 crowns last April for the Gelnica playground; the town picked up the remaining 48,000 crown tab and promised to pay for maintenance. Today, swings, see-saws, a slide and a large wooden jungle-gym sit in a lot that four months ago was overrun by weeds and littered with garbage.

'Roma solution' fails at polls

MATEJOVCE - The citizens of this small hamlet just three kilometres outside the eastern Slovak city of Poprad were called to cast their vote September 8 on a proposal which, if successful, would have seen a group of Roma (Gypsies) relocated outside the town centre into publicly-funded housing.However, following the failure of over 50% of registered voters to cast ballots, as is required under Slovak law for the results of referenda to be binding, the village must think again about where the Roma are to be housed.The Roma are living just off Matejovce's main square in a crumbling two-storey manor house which they say has no heating, electricity or running water. The aged structure is packed with approximately 150 Roma who want better living conditions.

Enviro chapter could be closed by February

The 'environment chapter' - a list of environmental laws Slovakia must pass on its accelerated march to membership in the European Union - may be closed within half a year. The country's current environmental legislation is widely regarded as one of its greatest obstacles to EU entry.The chapter is one of 29 in the acquis communautaire, a document laying out the legislative changes new members have to make before acceptance. Slovakia has already closed 19 chapters, and is currently negotiating with the EU on the remaining 10.September and October will be key months for talks as the Slovak Environment Ministry begins a series of 'technical meetings' with the EU commission, during which concrete plans for the passage of EU environmental requirements will be drawn up. If all goes well, say ministry officials, the chapter could be closed by February.

Voters calm as ethnic party battles

ŠAMORÍN - While the leadership of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) wrestled with the question of whether or not to abandon the government over a regional reform dispute, 60 year-old Bukor Géza offered some calm advice from a park bench in this predominantly ethnic-Hungarian town of 14,000 in southern Slovakia."[SMK Chairman Béla] Bugár and [Prime Minister Mikuláš] Dzurinda should just sit down and talk it all out," the retired Geza said with a gentle wave of his hand, as if brushing the political turmoil aside. "The parties can all come to an agreement - they just have to try."

Survey: Slovaks still against Roma neighbours

The preliminary results of a comprehensive European-wide study called the European Values Survey - conducted in 32 European countries from 1999 to 2000 - suggest that Slovaks, more than any other European citizens, do not want Roma (gypsies) as neighbours.The survey, which was headed by the Dutch Tilburg University and involved cooperation with the Slovak Academy of Sciences as well as professors and university heads from around Europe, asked 1,331 Slovaks how they would feel about having a Roma neighbour; 77.2% said that they would be opposed to the idea.Slovaks were followed in the survey by Hungarians (68.6% against having a Roma neighbour) and Lithuanians (63.3%). In the Czech Republic, the number stood at 39.9%.

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