(Editor’s note: Longtime columnist Frank Shatz shared this memory of former Lake Placid summer residents Artur and Halina Lilpop Rodzinski. Artur, a famous Po
Letter to the editor: Is immigration issue solvable? dailypress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailypress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Columnist
While watching the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump on Jan 6. 2021, on TV, I had a vivid flashback on the Communist coup d’etat in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In late February 1948, the Communist party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, performed a coup d’etat, taking control of the government of the country. This was the onset of four decades of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia and the start of the Cold War. I was there, witnessed and reported on every aspect of the Communist takeover of the country. Following World War II, the Communist party of Czechoslovakia had a favorable reputation in the country. Its wartime record was clean, it cooperated with non-Communist parties and its identification with the Soviet Union, the country’s main liberator from the Nazis, was advantageous.
Columnist
Nanci Bond of Williamsburg, Virginia, is an aficionado of figure skating. She can tell you when an axel jump was perfect, a Waltz jump not adequate, or a toe loop only so-so. Whenever an important international competition is taking place and is broadcast on TV, she brings it to my attention. After all, my wife, and I lived in Lake Placid, known as the winter sports capital of the United States, the site of two Winter Olympics and the training ground of many U.S. figure skaters who became Olympic champions. What made Lake Placid so well-known across the country is the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game. The American team, consisting mostly of college students, defeated the seemingly unbeatable Soviet team of professional players and won the gold medal during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.