Citing differences of opinion with the government, Norberts Klaucēns has resigned from his post as Latvia’s honorary consul in Chicago. The Latvian Foreign Ministry now is searching for a new honorary consul to serve the American Midwest, but is not limiting its search to the Chicago area, according to one diplomat.

Klaucēns, who served six years as honorary consul in Chicago, said that his resignation was offered and accepted in late March. But it’s only in the past week that it has become wider known.

“My views simply began to differ from the government’s,” Klaucēns said of his decision to quit, adding that his opinions were more in line with the people of Latvia rather than its politicians. His views on issues such as NATO’s war on Yugoslavia, which the Latvian government supported but Klaucens did not, caused uneasiness in the Foreign Ministry.

What particularly troubled diplomats were Klaucēns’ outspoken articles in the daily newspaper Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze and, more recently, Jaunā Avīze.

“We always have had regard for Mr. Klaucēns,” said Pēteris Viņķelis, counselor for public policy and economic affairs in the Embassy of Latvia in Washington, D.C.

No official candidates for Klaucēns’ replacement have been named, Viņķelis said. The Foreign Ministry is researching possibilities, he said, adding that a new honorary consul would not necessarily be based in the Chicago area nor would the person necessarily have to be of Latvian heritage.

Latvia has three other honorary consuls in the United States: Pēteris Jurjāns in Cleveland, Stephen P. Payne in Houston and Alfreds Raisters in Los Angeleles.

For his part, Klaucēns said he will remain busy with his financial interests in Latvia, but has no desire to become involved in the nation’s politics.

“I have a very low regard for politicians,” he said, “and that’s universally, not just in Latvia.”

A new Milwaukee-based charity has chosen the Bulduri Family Care Centre as one of the first recipients of its funding plans. The Kids First Fund Inc., whose board of directors includes a former Latvian ambassador and a Latvian hockey player, announced its formation April 21.

“Every dollar donated to Kids First will go to abused kids in developing countries such as Latvia, because we are entirely a volunteer organization,” Jay Sorensen, president and founder of the Kids First Fund, said in a press release. “We passionately believe that the development and care of children should be our first and primary concern.”

Among board members of the fund are Ojārs Kalniņš,the former Latvian ambassador to the United States and now director of the Latvian Institute in Riga, and his wife, Irma. Also on the board is Artūrs Irbe, a goalie for the Carolina Hurricanes professional hockey team. Dr. Valdis Rande, the retired director of the Bulduri center, also serves on the board.

According to the Kids First Fund, the Bulduri center in Jurmala is the only one of its kind in Latvia serving sexually and physically abused children.

A memorial to 10 American airmen whose plane was shot down off the coast of Latvia was unveiled April 8 in Liepāja.

The plane was shot down April 8, 1950, by the Soviet military. What happened to the crew,however, is unclear. Some reports suggest that eight of the airmen survived and were kept as prisoners by the Soviets, according to an Associated Press story.

American military personnel and the U.S. ambassador to Latvia, James Holmes, attended the dedication ceremony, according to the Liepāja newspaper Kurzemes Vārds.