*5-v fr>V ;^C '‘’ '*'•*•* ■’♦ry .1 » a n > 40jyears old today USO isn’t always Bob Hope SALT LAKE CITY (UPl) - Entertainment military hospitals across the United States. the distance. I figured it was a hospital so I provided by the USO Isn’t always Bob Hope USO then sent him overseas to Italy where he decided to walk up and ask directions.” and pretty girls singing and dancing on the played what became known as the “foxhole Jelesnik said he started out walking across a flight deck of an aircraft carrier. circuit.” field and as he got closer to the building he Sometimes it’s Eugene Jelesnik and his “There were three of us in that troupe,” he noticed patients looking out of windows at violin entertaining half a dozen airmen in a said, ” ... a guitarist, a mind reader and me. him. People also poured oat of the doors and radar dome in the wilds of Alaska. “We were right at the front lines. We per­ lined up to watch. The USO celebrated its 40th birthday today formed on a flatbed truck and sometimes the “When I got to the hospital, a priest walked and Russian-born Jelesnik has worked for the troops were in foxholes around us. Being up on up to me and said, 'Son, we prayed.for you. organization for 37 of those years as an enter­ the truck bed made us a little nervous.” You just walked across a mine field.’” tainer and national board member. Jelesnik did a Victor Borge-type comedy- Over the years he has played to crowds Jelesnik, a short, balding man of 66, looks music routine, using a violin instead of a ranging in size from six men in an Alaska more like an agent than a performer. But he piano. He has a similar routine today, but has radar dome to 10,000 troops in Vietnam. He has been In show business since he was a teen­ replaced the mind reader with pretty girls. and a troupe of lady performers once spent ager. He had his own orchestra on Broadway, “One thing never changes,” he said. “The hours puddle-jumping across the Pacific to appeared on some pioneer TV programs In the guys want to see as many girls as possible.” reach Marcus Island “where we played for 18 1930s and has hosted a weekly TV variety show Jelesnik has fiddled and joked for troops in U.S. Coast Guard men.” in Salt Lake City for 26 years. three wars — Vietnam and Korea, in addition “They were thrilled,” he said. “They hadn’t He also has taken troupes of entertainers on to World War II. But he almost didn’t survive seen any girls in a year.” 19 tours for the USO. He calculates he has the first tour. traveled 2 million miles and performed in “We had done a show outside a small town For his troubles, Jelesnik has won a silver front of half a million servicemen. His tours in Italy and decided to sleep that night in the medal citation, a bronze medal and the have taken him throughout the Far East, the back of an ambulance. When we woke up the Civilian Service Award Ribbon, the highest The uniform still fits after nearly 40 years. Salt Lake City, Utah, musician and entertainer Eugene Jelesnik was required to wear Pacific, Europe and the Carribean — and to next morning the Army was gone. civilian award given by the military. He also remote outposts in Alaska and Iceland. “We had no idea where we were. I looked received the USO National Council Award in this uniform when he did his first USO tours during World War II. Jelesnik made his first tour in 1944, to !?rniind and saw a red cross on a building off in 1978. #Iaatottburij Cloudy^ cold Variable cloudiness and cold tonight. Details on E i i p n i WEATHER page 2. Vol. C. No. 106 Manchester. Conn.. Wednesday, February 4, 1981 YOUR HOMETOW!>l ISEfESHAPER Dagon wants end to burning By PATRICK REILLY cil vote on whether the town should Dagon said there are 41 towns Public Works will spend about $60,000 with a top capacity of about 2,000 system that has been used for years join the plan. within the map of the mid- this year alone to repair and main­ tons a day. Herald Reporter in Europe. He said there is a March 1 deadline (Connecticut project, but only seven tain the incinerator facility. Dagon said the refuse would be Mulligan said he is concerned EAST HARTFORD- H Mavor for towns wishing to participate ih towns have committed themselves to Corporation Counsel Stephen C. burned to produce steam to generate about the employees at the in­ George A. Dagon has his way tlw the mid-Connecticut project the project. Barron said the one drawback to the electricity for the Hartford Electric cinerator who will lose jobs if the town will be out of the business of proposed by the Connecticut What it would cost the tovim to join project is the price per ton for refuse Light Company. Energy sales would town joins the regional plant. He said burning rubbish by 1985, instead Resources Recovery Authority and the project would be less that what it can’t be guaranteed. He said under the offset most of the cost of operating the Metropolitan District (Commis­ the system and the remaining cost jobs would be provided if East Hart­ supplying its refuse to a regional takes now to operate its incinerator. plant contract, the town would be waste plant that would bum it to sion. would be paid by the sale of ford is chosen as a site for one of the guaranteed its refuse would be transfer stations. generate electricity. What is being proposed is a central Under the proposal it would cost brought to an alternative landfill if recovered materials such as plant located in Hartford’s South the town between $10 and $15 per ton aluminum and other metals. The the regional plant closes or breaks He said under the plan, the town After explaining the pros and cons Meadow that would accept refuse to bum refuse at the plant in 1985. local town tipping fee would also down. would travel no further than 11 miles of the town’s jjartlclpatlon. in the from transfer stations located )n the Town officials said this is a bargain offset costa of the system. to reach a transfer station. regional plant Iw sday nig&t to Towh region. There would be six transfer because it costs more than that now Town officials said' to make the Director of Public Works, Arth&r Barron recommended the town Cknincilmen, Dagon said he would stations in the region, Dagon said, to bum here. plant a reality, it would have to burn J. Mulligan, said the system of bur­ sign the contract and join the return in two w e ^ to have the coun- and possibly one in East Hartford. Dagon said the Department of at least 1,400 tons of refuse a day. ning refuse for electricity is a proven regional facility. Hundreds 0 Fate of bill to kill grant refuse aid may delay budget speech to victim RICHMOND, Va. (UPl) - A heart- HARTFORD (UPl) - The uncer­ tributed to reporters and legislative colleagues did too,” said deBear. ' attack victim lay on a rainy street tain fate’ of a measure to kill $23.8 leaders on the eve of delivery. O’Neill has directed that copies of for nearly an hour and eventually million in state aid to towns may However, a spokesman for O'Neill the budget be made available at 1:45 died — bMause hundreds of passing force a delay in Gov. William said the governor wanted the p.m. Wednesday — 15 minutes before motorists refused to stop and help, O’Neill’s much awaited budget ad­ Legislature as a whole to see it first. deliver to the Legislature. He will not says the Good Samaritan who w ork^ dress. Press Secretary Larrye deBear brief legislative leaders until shortly frantically to keep her alive. O’Neill was scheduled to make the said O’Neill, when he was a House before delivery. “The wonderful display of apathy address today at 2 p.m., but an about- member, used to get angry when “the A briefing for reporters with we witnessed yesterday morning face by ranking House Democrats whole world” saw the budget before Anthony Milano, secretary of the Of­ taros my stomach,” Doug Waldrop over the bill to ax the urban grants the rank and file were given copies. fice of Policy and Management, will said Tuesday after he learned could bring about a delay of several “He resented it and a lot of his not be held until 3:30 p.m. Thelma Qualls had died of the heart hours or even a day. attack in a Richmond hospital. The bill had been approved by the Six times the woman’s heart House earlier. But it suffered a stopped as she lay on Richmond’s defeat in the Senate, which instead Unmentionable tax Main Street in the rain Monday. Six granted O’Neill the authority to cut times the 30-year-old former 10 percent from the budget. Medevac pilot in. Vietnam revived Last week House Majority Leader V't heads for hearing her. John Groppo, D-Winst^, seemed to HARTFORD (UPl) - A state in­ "Raising the bill does not indicate But Mrs. Qualls lay on the street k seal the measure’s fate by announcing come tax, once a political unmention­ support," said Stoiberg.