Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501040043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge and two members of the county staff traveled to Poland last month as part of a government exchange program to help the city of Opole. For the Roanoke contingent, it also was a cultural exchange.
Virginia government managers have been helping Polish cities make the move to decentralized, democratic government for the past four years, since the end of Communist rule. Roanoke County is paired with Opole, a city in the southwest part of the country.
"In earlier years, we were of more help to them," Hodge said. "I think now, they're of much more benefit to us. We saw some things we really liked."
Lorraine Lange, supervisor of language arts for Roanoke County schools, said she was impressed with the Opole schools' commitment to arts and culture. Opole is the capital of one of Poland's 49 regions.
"Seven-year-olds were constantly playing the violin for me," she said.
Most students take two foreign languages - one of which is English, begun in the fifth grade - and Lange sat in on a senior English class. No conjugating verbs for these students; they were carrying on a discussion in English on the topic of whether organ transplants were ethical.
She also spent a lot of time explaining to Polish high school students that most American teens were not like those depicted on "Beverly Hills, 90210" and that she didn't live in a house like they'd seen on "Dallas."
"There's a big misperception of what Americans are like," she said. "All they see is the leisure aspect [on TV]; they don't see Americans working."
Anne Marie Green, Roanoke County's director of community relations, learned that the media in the Roanoke Valley are scarce compared with the Polish media. Opole, with a population of 130,000, has five newspapers and state-of-the-art radio stations with huge news staffs. The media, however, still are unused to criticizing the government, she said.
This is the third Roanoke-area group to visit Opole in recent years. This time, the Poles asked Hodge to bring staff from the schools and from public relations. Green worked with Opole officials on press relations and getting citizens involved in government, while Lange shared information with the schools.
The trip was paid for by the U.S. Information Agency.
In a ceremony during the two-week trip, Hodge and Opole Mayor Leszek Pogan signed an agreement on future exchanges of people in such fields as education, science, development, tourism, environmental education, unemployment and social services. The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors ratified the agreement before Christmas.
"In this trip, we tried to formalize our goals for the future - education, tourism, youth athletic groups, economic development," Hodge said.
Now Hodge wants to promote more business and student exchanges. With the help of grants and local business matching funds, he hopes to bring five to seven students from Opole to Roanoke County. Lange said all the students there want very much to come to America.
The pairing of the county and the Polish city stems from a program started by the Virginia Local Government Management Association after the first popular election for president was held in Poland in 1990. Polish groups have come to Virginia twice so far.
While the newly democratic cities in Poland can use help in things such as budgeting - which they didn't have to handle under a centralized government - Roanoke County can benefit from the exchanges as well.
Of the Opole arts program, for example, Hodge said: "I was most impressed with what a medium-sized city can do."
Green said she was struck by the number of babies she saw. "Society is real optimistic about the future," she said. "There's a feeling that things are going to get better."
Opole made such an impression on Hodge that, despite his nervousness about flying, he and his wife plan to go back this summer on vacation.
by CNB