[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 129 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING HULET HORNBECK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2005

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay 
tribute to Mr. Hulet Hornbeck, a long-time friend and strong advocate 
for the East Bay Regional Park District in California, on the occasion 
of his 86th birthday and the dedication of the Hornbeck Trail at 
Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline.
  The East Bay Regional Park District is bestowing the honor of naming 
a segment of the California Hiking and Riding Trail at Carquinez Strait 
Regional Shoreline in recognition of Hulet's many and significant 
contributions to the East Bay Regional Park District as well as to the 
environmental and trails movement throughout the United States.
  Hulet Hornbeck, a Contra Costa County resident, has been a leader in 
the grassroots citizen's movement, which resulted in the annexation of 
most of Contra Costa County to the East Bay Regional Park District in 
1964. He served the East Bay Regional Park District as Chief of Land 
Acquisition from 1965 through 1985 leading land acquisition efforts 
during one of the Park District's greatest expansion period. During 
this time the Park District grew from 8 parks totaling 13,000 acres to 
46 parks encompassing 62,000 acres at his retirement in 1985.
  During his tenure with the Park District and continuing over the next 
20 years, Hulet was a leading force in the initiation of the East Bay 
Regional Park District's regional trail system as well as being an 
active volunteer advocate for the acquisition and development of trails 
locally, nationally and internationally. He has been a life-long 
conservationist, outdoorsman, and environmentalist who has provided 
leadership for such organizations as the California Conservation 
Council, the American Hiking Society, the National Trails Council, the 
Martinez Land Trust, the Trails and Greenways Foundation, American 
Trails, Heritage Trails Fund, Amigos de Anza, the California 
Recreational Trails Committee, the East Bay Area Trails Council, the 
American Trails Association, Solano County Farmlands and Open Space 
Foundation, and the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club.
  I am pleased to have this opportunity to recognize Hulet Hornbeck for 
his vision and leadership in providing trails and regional parks 
throughout Contra Costa County and congratulate him on the occasion of 
his 86th birthday and the naming of the Hornbeck Trail at Carquinez 
Strait Regional Shoreline.

  TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MIKLOS VASARHELYI, HUNGARIAN PATRIOT AND MAN OF 
                               PRINCIPLE

                                 ______
                                 

                               TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 6, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues in the Congress of 
the United States to join me today in paying tribute to the late Miklos 
Vasarhelyi, a Hungarian of great courage and integrity who played a 
critically important role before and during the 1956 Hungarian 
Revolution, and again in the 1970s and 1980s, in the struggle to 
transform Hungary from a one-party communist state into a multi-party 
democracy.
   On October 14, Mr. Speaker, members of Miklos Vasarhelyi's family, 
friends, and admirers will gather in the city that was called Fiume, 
Hungary, when he was born there on October 9, 1917, and which today is 
Rijeka, Croatia. They will place a plaque honoring him on the wall of 
the very house where Mr. Vasarhelyi was born.
   Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize his significant contributions 
to the cause of freedom and democracy. After university studies in Rome 
and Debrecen (Hungary), he became involved in anti-Fascist political 
activities. As a result, he spent two years in a forced labor battalion 
during World War II, and he joined the anti-Nazi resistance.
   From 1953 to 1955, Mr. Vasarhelyi served as press secretary to 
Hungary's reform-minded Prime Minister, Imre Nagy. In that capacity, he 
successfully fought for more freedom of the press from central control. 
During the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he again assumed a key role in 
the Imre Nagy government that was established after the uprising broke 
out. He was one of three high-ranking officials who convinced Prime 
Minister Nagy to open a dialogue with the freedom fighters.
   When the Soviet Union crushed the 1956 Revolution, Mr. Vasarhelyi 
was one of the senior government officials who with Nagy accepted an 
offer of asylum at the Yugoslav embassy. They left the embassy under a 
guarantee of safety by the Hungarian government, but he and the others 
were immediately seized by Soviet troops and taken to Romania. In a 
secret trial he was given a five-year prison term, and he remained in 
prison until an amnesty in 1960.
   In the 1970s and 1980s, Miklos Vasarhelyi continued the struggle 
against repression. Combining courage and personal charm, and 
maintaining a unique sense of optimism about the future, he was a 
leader of the democratic opposition that brought immense changes in 
1989.
   In the late 1980s, Mr. Vasarhelyi was the founder of the Hungarian 
Open Society Foundation. He was one of the leaders who laid the 
groundwork for a vibrant civic society in his country.
   He not only worked through the Open Society Foundation in Hungary, 
but he became one of the leading figures in the democratic opposition 
that began to emerge in the late 1980s. In 1990, a grateful nation 
elected him to serve in Hungary's free parliament as a reprsesentative 
of the Association of Free Democrats.
   I am pleased to add that Mr. Vasarhelyi was not only a genuine 
democrat but also a true friend of the United States and of Hungarian-
American cooperation.
   Mr. Speaker, I welcome the commemorative event that is taking place 
on October 14 at the house in Rijeka/Fiume where Miklos Vasarhelyi was 
born. I invite my colleagues to join me in commending his family, 
friends, and colleagues to celebrate the memory of this quiet, 
persistent, and effective man who kept faith with his ideals under the 
most difficult of circumstances.

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