European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Political Asylum for an adolescent Doilis Magazine by David smothers United press International can Walter Polovchak grow up in time to beat the sys tems the of the soviet Union and the United or vice Walter is a runaway who turned 13 last he is now an International whose ultimate destination is up to the state and Federal there Are so Many twists in the Law that Walter could become too old to be touched before the final decisions come Walters parents brought him from the russian along with his big sister Natalie and his Little brother to Chicago about a year mis Michael and did not like what they saw they decided to go Home with their Natalie and Walter refused to they ran away to a Cousin already established in Michael and Anna told now she wan old enough to make up her own they would return with Walter docs not want to go and so far he has the boy and his sister live with Foster parents of ukrainian origin on Chicago Northwest Walter goes to Gray elementary where he does Well in most courses except he likes to play soccer on a neighbor Hood team and is learning How to throw a Hes just an average Gray Princi Al Robert Kellberg if i didst know was from the soviet hed be just another kid on the totem his Julian Hes doing very Well in about a b aver he has about a 90 percent ability to understand English and maybe 70 percent to speak i took him to the notre Dame air Force game a while Back and he liked Kulas said the teenager met the presi Dent of notre Dame and the commandant of the air Force Academy and was Given an autographed football by the fighting Irish athletic it sounds like the nurturing and fulfil ment of a True Blue american the russian government and the russian press do not see or like it that in All would the american government or press if an american child sought Asylum in the soviet Union and Russia sent word Back the boy might or might not be be returned to his parents and Homeland if and when the user courts got around to the soviet foreign ministry has called the goings on in Chicago thoroughly Ille it denounced the entirely unseemly undertaking evidenced by the unprecedented absurd decision taken with the knowledge and by agreement of the department of state to Grant Asylum to the 12yearold the Witcra Turtuya Gazette called Wal Ter an american dismissing the 52 americans held in Iran As persons under the weekly Magazine said a tense and unbearable atmosphere has Ari sen about the Polovchak it is difficult to speak in detail of Wal ters future without getting into a legalistic what it boils Down to is that he is a Ward of the court of Cook possessing the political Asylum he ecu Cust de and and his Case is being fought through the state and Federal its disposition could wind up in the supreme court years from when Wal Ter has passed the age when he can be consigned to the care and will of his Par with a few Quick judicial Walter could be Back on his Way to Russia in a few by court cannot speak to the but he has been quoted by a Friend at Gray school As saying of his time on the judicial maybe  continue it until i grow he could be at he could claim emancipation from his provided he could prove Means of at he would cease to be a at the american government he could hardly be As Walter to All appearances grows More american by the his expressed Hopes of staying in Chicago or with an aunt in san James an authority on child custody id be very surprised if that child Ever goes Back to the More he adopts american characters the less Likely a court will be to re move him from that comfortable if i were his id make sure he became a Good old american in the All Michael and Anna Polovchak can do is Michael was Laid off his Job As a machine cleaner last Anna helps supplement his unemployment compensation by cleaning up at a Walter and Natalie visit them each week in the company of social some of the meetings have been described As Stormy and a couple of times Walter has refused to there was a time last summer when two immigration service agents per shift kept watch upon Walter around the their admitted purpose was to protect him from abduction by his parents or outside the constant guard is off but police cars cruise about Walters Home at stated lawyers on both sides of the Case arc ambiguous As to what they think the parents really have in the opposing lawyers Are an ambiguous lot Kulas has represented Walter from the beginning for he says he is acting pro Bono for the Public Good and Hopes to recover his expenses from a Wal Ter Polovchak disc Csc fund set up by the Chicago ukrainian his detractors say Kulas has political ambitions and is not shy of the publicity attendant on the the father indicated after the preliminary cases he was impatient to Kulas i suspect the soviets refuse to Issue a visa for the implication was that the user Thinka Michael Polovchak is Worth More to them for propaganda purposes in Chicago than he would be Back in the Ukraine at his old Job of driving a on the parents Side is the american civil liberties an organization which often winds up espousing unpopular Acle lawyer Richard Manucl said Walters Case involves the rights of All parents in a decision in Walters he would mean that for every Job if a Parent moved from Chicago to califor Nia or from Lake Forest to Flossmoor Chicago a kid could i dont want to i want a court to de Termine if i have to Harvey the Acle lawyer in indicated he did not care in a Legal what happens if Walter goes Back to his where they go is their just like any he i the heart of this Legal dogfight would seem to he what makes an adolescent boy desert and defy his parents and renounce the land of his there arc those who suggest that Wal Ter simply finds things in a a dish of ice a spell in front of television watching the Dukes of Hnz Zyrd one of his favourites could be temptations to any Walter has All that it int he has been its Freer its up to courts whether Walter Polovchak has to return to Uil february 1981 the stars and stripes Page 13