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In an effort to
make driving safe in the Czech Republic, the police set
up thousands of road checkpoints
to see whether motorists had their licenses, first aid
kits, spare tires and all the other accessories required
by law. Operation Kryątof, as the weeklong action was dubbed,
ended up netting millions in fines for Interior Minister
Gross to crow about at his press conference. And then he
got into a helicopter and flew across the country to attend
the first of three funerals held for police officers killed
when their cruiser was rammed by a Mercedes with a drunk
businessman behind the wheel. Their deaths, along with
a record 23 other people who died on Czech roads during
the first weekend in October, didn't make it into the
statistics even though Kryątof was scheduled to run up
through Sunday.
To the surprise of everyone, including rank and file officers,
police president Kolář explained that Kryątof had officially
ended on Friday. The extra police presence on Saturday
and Sunday was simply a "Traffic Safety Action", which
was Gross-speak for saying that the fatalities would wind
up in the overall statistics instead. That way Kryątof
would be considered a success and the minister could get
on with launching another highly publicized operation,
this one aimed at the hundreds of brothels dealing in white
slavery and child prostitution. The name he chose for it
was Fantine, like the prostitute in Les Misérables,
which incidentally is being revived on the stage right
now by
Gross' sugar daddy, promoter Frantiąek Janeček. One of
the original stars of the show, Lucie Bílá, threw a bash
to launch her first album in years. Václav Klaus showed
up, as would be expected after all the support she has
given him before every election. He made another appearance,
his first as president, before parliament and proceeded
to criticize the government for running up a record deficit
and not going far enough with reforms. He had often criticized
Havel for doing the same as president, although Havel never
felt the need to defend himself afterwards the way Klaus
did. Klaus also made excuses for not returning to parliament
to award the nation's two highest honors to Havel. He claimed
that he was in another city at the time, he thought it
was going to be on another date, etc. Also making excuses
is David Rath, the president of the Czech Medical Chamber.
The Chamber's own inspection commission discovered that
he had falsified the information he used to obtain his
medical license. Rath, like Gross, rose to the top of his
profession through political agitation and making sure
his name stayed in the headlines. His connections to an
emergency care service run by former informants of the
secret police didn't seem to be a problem for him. After
all, his father worked for the same people. His response
to the latest charges was typical: Sue everybody. The Chamber
board released a statement saying that Rath was the victim
of a smear campaign, then went on to declare that the journalist
behind the story had taken a bribe to write it. And the
reason for the bribe? Allegedly Rath told Premier ©pidla
that he has no confidence in health minister Marie Součková.
Few if anyone has confidence in Mrs. Součková, but Rath
wants to make sure everyone knows that, forgery or no forgery,
the issue is a government conspiracy out to get him. The
charges and counter-charges couldn't have come at a better
time. Czech Television began running new episodes of the
series "Hospital on the Edge of Town." Viewers were
anxious to know what these people with the soap opera lives
have
been up to since the show went off the air twenty years
ago. The answer? Not much. Dr. Blaľej, who left his wife
after knocking up a nurse, is in a sour mood, not least
because of an old injury to his operating hand. The injury
was caused when an ambulance driver, the boyfriend of the
nurse, crashed into his car (there were no Kryątofs in
those days). Now the driver is the mayor of the town and
has no hard feelings. Not yet anyway. As for that doctor
who showed up in the Mercedes from Germany, he wants to
buy the hospital. Sure, he used to be a drunk but he kicked
that habit, and all that medicine he's taking is proof
of it. Producers admit that things are slow for the moment,
but wait till you see what became of that one doctor who
kept causing all the trouble. He works for the Ministry
of Health now. Just let Rath try to take him on. The airing
of the first episode captured three-quarters of the viewing
public and Gross could finally say, with a straight face,
that all was quiet on the streets outside.
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