Oldřich Sobek

"I was a state conservation officer for a while, and my director at the road maintenance, he lived it and he also brought the road maintenance up high, and he was really bothered by the curves on those roads, when you had to avoid something, he wanted to straighten it all out. He was bothered by the situation in Kunín, going around the castle - the University of Agriculture in Brno was farming there at the time and it was something terrible, the castle was falling into disrepair, there were pigsties, the urine flowed into the park, where there were important plants, there was a naked tree, it was a rarity - so he came up with the idea to cut it straight. I didn't know. He had to get approval from the Department of Transportation of the ONV, I was there all the time. So he asked for it. The Department of Transportation had to get an opinion from the Department of Culture, because no matter how bad the park looked, it had legal protection. And there was already this commission, where I was. So I got it done. Of course, I issued a negative opinion and sent it to the official at the Department of Culture and he had to call a meeting and the applicant was my boss, Ing. Štěpánek, who gave me permission to do this job, and suddenly a meeting. I went there, I knew what was going on, but I didn't speak up. The clerk, who started it, said: 'So the modification is rejected, this is a protected park and the state nature conservation officer, who is present here, does not allow it.' And I was sitting opposite my director, he turned pale, he became a statue... 'So I have a man in my ranks...'"