SCHWARZENEGGER RETURNS TO HOME CITY
California Governor ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER has returned to his Austrian home city for the first time since his name was removed from a local sports stadium.
The Terminator star upset residents and politicians in Graz when he refused to block the execution of convicted killer Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams in California in December 2005.
At the time, the 60-year-old said he no longer wanted to be associated with Graz and his request to rename the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium as Stadium Graz Liebenau was granted.
During the row, Schwarzenegger returned a "ring of honour" the city awarded him in 1999, and his name was also taken off the city’s main website and a local sports site.
However, on Monday (25Jun07), Schwarzenegger met with local officials and Alfred Gerstl, an 84-year-old who helped him early in his bodybuilding career.
The governor of Austria’s Styria region, Gerstl, told reporters he was sure any bad feelings had disappeared on both sides.
Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen in 1984, but still has Austrian citizenship.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
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