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<p>Dominik Uher is well aware of the scars left behind by the coal mining industry. In northeastern Pennsylvania we deal with polluted water, culm banks and underground mines collapsing properties, to name a few. Uher also knows what it&#8217;s like to live in an area where the mining industry built towns and defined cities. For as strong as the coal mining heritage is in Wilkes-Barre, it&#8217;s just as strong and familiar in Uher&#8217;s hometown of Ostrave in the Czech Republic.</p><p>And just like our area, there&#8217;s a strong tie to World War II in Ostrava as it was one of many areas in the country occupied by Germany. For better or worse, Wilkes-Barre is a lot like Ostrava, Uher said, which has made his transition to the Wyoming Valley a smooth one.</p><p><strong>Player:</strong> Dominik Uher</p><p><strong>Hometown:</strong> Ostrava, Czech Republic</p><p><strong>Type:</strong> Urban</p><p><strong>Population:</strong> 294,200</p><p><strong>Distance from Wilkes-Barre: </strong>4,285 miles</p><p><strong>What kind of town is Ostrava?</strong> &#8220;It&#8217;s pretty similar to Wilkes-Barre, which has made it a little easier for me. The only thing that&#8217;s different is the language. It&#8217;s not such a big difference for me to adjust to a city like this.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Like here, coal mining is a big part of Ostrava&#8217;s history. Is it recognized as such?</strong> &#8220;There are still places that are working, and there&#8217;s also mines and structures that don&#8217;t work anymore after Communism went away. They try to keep it around as part of the culture of the city. Mining is how a lot of the cities around Ostrava grew and built up because they needed places to house the coal miners. But there&#8217;s also a lot of buildings falling apart right now because of the mines underground. There are the similar problems with the industry here and there.&#8221;</p><p><strong>How has the loss of coal mining impacted the Ostrava area today?</strong> &#8220;Around Ostrava there&#8217;s a lot of cities built basically on the coal mining industry. One city used to have 100,000 people in it. There were all these apartments and they shut it down and no one wanted to live there. You can get a flat for $7,000 that&#8217;s pretty big because no one wants to live there. David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins is from there and he&#8217;s got a 4,000 square-foot apartment that is huge. He bought it cheap. The price in North America for that would be like $800,000. There&#8217;s a lot of cities like that.&#8221;</p><p><strong>In Wilkes-Barre the Susquehanna River has been impacted by mining. In Ostrava there is the Ostra River. Was that impacted as well? </strong>&#8220;I&#8217;ve tried to fish it, but part of having the coal industry is the river isn&#8217;t the cleanest. There&#8217;s also lakes that you literally can&#8217;t jump in otherwise you&#8217;re going to get some sort of a rash. It&#8217;s cleaner around here with the mountains. In Europe, you&#8217;ve had people living there for 3,000 years now. There&#8217;s not so many wild animals in the forests and the lakes aren&#8217;t as clean as here.&#8221;</p><p><strong>What was your childhood like in Ostrava?</strong> &#8220;My parents were sort of strict about me being at home playing computer games. That was good. All my friends were playing computer games, and when I look back I&#8217;m glad I was always outside playing soccer or street hockey. I always wanted to be goalie. I was happy when I got my first glove and blocker, they looked like they were from the 1940s. I was basically outside every day and that was a fun childhood.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Do you like going back to visit Ostrava?</strong> &#8220;I love it. I get this from a lot from people who live in Ostrava saying I&#8217;m fortunate to be here. I know that, but at the same time I always love to come home. I know a lot of guys that moved and never came back, but I really enjoyed my childhood and I love home.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Uher </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Uher.jpg</photo0><caption0>Uher </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Dominik Uher talking about his hometown in the Czech Republic, visit the online version of this story on timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">XUhcW6QMHXk </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhcW6QMHXk </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> My hometown series with Dominik Uher</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Tom Venesky | Times Leader</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

My Hometown with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Dominik Uher