Hungarian Heritage Review, 1988 (17. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1988-06-01 / 6. szám
too late for young students to sign up for “SUMMER ABROAD: The Experiment in International Living” being sponsored by the School for International Training in association with Outbound Education Travel. Made possible by a youth exchange agreement between the United States and Hungary, students will live with “host families” in and around Budapest, while participating in a cultural and language orientation program, person-to-person meetings with Hungarian students, sightseeing tours, and other activities. For more information, contact Kat Peterson, Associate Director of Admissions, Kipling Road, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301-0676 or phone toll-free 1-800-345-AWAY. NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND - Lt. Com mander Peter Varsányi of Newark, New Jersey, recently assumed command of the ocean minesweeper USS Affray home-ported here. The son of Mrs. Elizabeth Varsányi of Newark, New Jersey, he graduated from the Essex Catholic School in 1971, where he was an All- State Fencer, and from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1976. Lt. Commander Varsányi served aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Barney, the guided missile cruiser USS Harry E. Yamell, and, after graduating from the Surface Warefare Officer School in 1981, he served aboard the guided missile frigate USS Doyle of Beirut, Lebanon, during the TWA hostage crisis. Prior to the assumption of his new command, he was assigned as Lead Combat Systems Instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School Command here in Newport. He is married to the former Jeanette Drobilits of Washington, D.C., and is the father of three children. The HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW salutes Lt. Commander Peter Varsányi! Lt. Cmdr. Peter Varsányi SOUTH RIVER, NEW JERSEY - The political and bureaucratic powers-that-be here call him a “gadfly” in public and much worse in private. That’s because Joseph Bodnar dares to stand up to be heard about environmental pollution attributable to landfill emissions in his area. Recently, he took on the Middlesex County Ulitilies Authority for violating their own ordinances and won in Court. Before that, he filed a complaint against the same agency with the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection and was proven right. As comes naturally to most politicians and bureaucrats when caught with their pants down around their ankles, the Middlesex County Utilities Authority is going to appeal the fine posted against them in the Superior Court. This, however, doesn’t bother Joseph Bodnar in the least. He is ready to take them on again, acting as his own lawyer. “I don’t need legal assistance,” he said, “I do all my own research. If you’re right, then you’ll take on anyone.” And, chances are he is going to win again!------^Neíne ^Nuggets ................. Joseph Bodnar stands in Varga Memorial Park near the Edgeboro landfill, which he claims fouls the air of his South River neighborhood. LONDON, ENGLAND - Granted. Hungarian women are reputed to be the most beautiful in the world. But, how they do it, is a wonder to behold! Hats off, click the heels, and kiss the hand to them, of course. Melissa Lady Stevens, a Hungarian-born Countess, is the wife of British press tycoon Lord Stevens of Ludgate. A former concert pianist, she recently authored a book under the “pen name” of Melissa Sadoff titled: “Woman as Chameleon: Or How to Be an Ideal Woman” that was published by the Quartet Books in England and, in the U.S., by Salem Books. The book reveals her secret formula for keeping a husband happy. No wonder why it is that Lord Stevens, one of the most powerful men in England, has been walking around grinning like a Cheshire cat for the past 12 years! NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - There is a book coming out soon that has a good chance of hitting the “Best Seller” list. Authored by Dr. Bernard Wasserstein of Brandeis University and published by the Yale University Press, its title is: “The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln”. Trebitsch Lincoln, who was born in Hungary, was a triple agent, an Anglican clergyman, a Buddhist monk, a member of the British Parliament, an oil promoter in the Balkans, and an adviser to Chinese warlords. He also served time in a Brooklyn jail, was charged with high treason in Austria, helped to organize a right-wing “putsch” in Berlin, and emerged out of nowhere as “The Abbot Chao Kung” in China. Some of the other incredible stunts he pulled, was an attempt, in cohoots with the “White International”, to subvert the Versailles Treaty and the Treaty of Trianon. When Trebitsch Lincoln found out that his confederates in this scheme were planning to bump him off, he peddled their secrets to the highest bidder among the Allies. He died unknown and forgotten in 1943. His, is an incredible story worth reading. Trebitsch Lincoln in 1901 NEW YORK, N.Y. — During the first week in May, the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University celebrated its 75th anniversary with and industry-wide salute, seminars in the future of Journalism, and a bang-up reunion of grads from all over the world. Founded by a Hungarian, Joseph Pulitzer, the press tycoon, the graduates of this school have achieved great successes in the field of communications, while the school itself now enjoys a global reputation as one of the finest of its kind in the world. BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — The “Young Turks” have taken over the reins of government in Hungary! In this process of political “musical chairs”, Janos Kadar has been “ousted up” to the presidency of the Hungarian Communist Party, while the “reform-minded” Karoly Grosz has replaced the old-timer as bossman and is now touted as being “in the mold of Mikhail Gorbachev. Moreover, Hungary has been zeroed-in-on by the world press, TV, and radio as being the living model for Gorby’s “glasnost” and “perestroika”, and as an example of “communism with a human face”. Be this as it may, the quality of life in Hungary may look good in print and as heard to be over TV and on radio, but the “Young Turks”, who recently took over from the old “iron-pantsers", have a lot of problems con—continued next page JUNE 1988 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 5
