U.S. Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey is being sued for failing to restrain her pit bull, a Kentucky paper reported last week. The pit bull allegedly attacked two other dogs, The Courier-Journal wrote. The Baileys are in violation of an earlier settlement to remove the dog from their residence, Eric J. Haner, the man who initiated the suit, told the paper. A lawyer for Ambassador Baily, however, claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity 's the dog seen was not the same one in question during the legal case. The settlement was reached after the pit bull allegedly mauled a schnauzer and Haner's own dog, a pug.
Former Integration Minister Nils Muiznieks began work on a new education project called Personalities in Latvia's Democracy. The project will pick 15 - 20 influential democrats in the state's history from the interwar period, the Soviet occupation and the independence-era. Historians will later develop educational material for subsequent distribution in schools. The project is aimed at integration issues and is being funded by Olegs Fils of Aizkraukles Banka. It is one of the few times that domestic business has provided integration resources.
The neophyte political entity New Center said they could turn to the judicial system after it was denied a seat on the City Council's education committee. This is against the law, the leadership of New Center believes, since the law requires a distribution of seats based on the percentage of votes received during the election. New Center took five out of 60, with nearly 8 percent of the vote. The committee has 11 seats, although only 10 have been filled.
Riga Mayor Aivars Aksenoks said on April 4 that the statue to Russian Field Marshall Barclay De Tolli could be removed from downtown. The statue, erected in 1913, stood for only two years before it was removed during World War I. The monument fell to the bottom of the Baltic Sea when the ship carrying it sank. The statue of De Tolli was re-erected on its pedestal in Esplanade Park after businessman Yevgeny Gomberg repaired it and the City Council allowed the monument to be returned to its former location in 2002. Aksenoks also touched on the equestrian statue of Peter the Great, which was located where the Freedom Monument now stands during the czarist period. "A nation erects monuments to people who have given significant political contribution and who it wants to remember and commemorate. I do not see any reason to erect a monument to Peter I in Latvia or Riga," he reportedly said.
A dozen talking stone instillations will be placed in the main squares of several French cities, in attempts to introduce Latvia to the French people during the Etonnante Lettonie festival, said Eriks Stendzenieks, the festival's concept author. The talking stones will be placed in Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. With the help of a projector, each stone will acquire individual features indirectly representing a prominent Latvian personality or an image characteristic of Latvia. Before they are transported to France, the talking stones will be displayed in Riga's Dome Square. The festival will begin Nov. 1 in Paris.
