HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Great holiday ... Thanks to all

PAWS asks for help

Layman not convinced about statins

Family still looking for closure

The brat baht bus drivers

Great holiday ... Thanks to all

Editor;

As a couple we have just recently had a fantastic holiday in Pattaya. We were warned by the travel agent here in the UK that Pattaya’s image was one of a rather adult nature and that we should approach it with an open mind! Well, I would like to point out that we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Pattaya very much, the people are of the very best we have had the privilege to meet anywhere, we never once felt threatened in any way in fact quite the opposite, we found we were welcomed everywhere we went with true open arms. We loved the way it’s just so relaxed there. True it is of an adult nature, but not at all ‘seedy’. We did visit some of the go go bars etc, again as a couple, and found everyone respected that we were just there to enjoy the wonderful atmosphere together.

I think that things there are just right and truly unique in this ever controlling world we now live in. Well done Pattaya, you have found yet another couple of very happy tourists who are spreading the word as much as we can back here, and a huge and I mean huge thanks to all the staff at the Marriott Resort and Spa who made our time there even more unforgettable, we will be back!

P.S. Your paper made a very good read and we found many places that were of interest through your ads, great paper and web site - cheers all.

Mike and Julie

Nottingham, England

PAWS asks for help

Dear Editor:

The Pattaya Animal Welfare Foundation (PAWS), now an approved, registered charity, re-started up operations on 1 April 2002 at Wat Pothisamphan (Wat Po).

The PAWS objective for the next 12 months is to capture, transport, sterilize, give rabies and other medicinal vaccinations, temporarily recover, and provide identification to over 1,000 stray dogs. Required funds for the first full year of operation, including infrastructure, amount to B1,400,000. Direct cost per animal is expected to be B700.

Deal, the first of 12 male temple dogs rabies vaccinated, treated, sterilized, and recovered by PAWS.

If readers would like to give a little of themselves back to Pattaya in the form of stray animal welfare, gifts of financial help and volunteer service would be very much appreciated, please inquire C/O M.A. Language and Business School, 341/27 Soi 13, Central Pattaya Rd., Pattaya, Chonburi 20260.

In the corporate sector, the company with the largest annual contribution during the current fundraising year for each major service or product category will be designated the official PAWS’ corporate sponsor for the following respective calendar year. As an example, if the ABC Resort gives a gift of B500,000 in 2002, and that amount is the highest received for the “resort category,” the ABC Resort would be designated as the PAWS’ official resort corporate sponsor for 2003, and promoted as such in various ways.

All individual and company contributors, except for those desiring to remain anonymous, will be recognized in writing every year in the form of a foundation roll of honor.

Committed Thai and foreign volunteers, with some time to periodically serve, are also very much needed in the following areas: public relations and volunteer recruitment, project planning, fundraising, bookkeeping, and website and database management. Those interested may contact PAWS through the following email address: [email protected]

Sincerely,

Richard A. Kubiak

Pattaya Animal Welfare Foundation (PAWS)

Layman not convinced about statins

Sir,

I do not remember Dr Corness waxing as lyrical about any other substance as he did about statins on 26 April, with the possible exception of water. By coincidence I had spent quarter of an hour the previous day discussing with my physician at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital the need to continue taking Lipitor after three and a half years, armed with counter arguments obtained from the Internet. Unfortunately the language barrier prevented a full debate.

The studies to which Dr Corness refers were of patients who had already had an acute heart attack. The minority viewpoint appears to be that statins (a) do lower cholesterol and (b) do prevent cardio-vascular disease but that the two are not directly related. I am in no position to assess this contention; and there would appear to be little dispute about treatment following an “acute coronary event”.

As a layman, however, I am not convinced that this proves the advantage of the prophylactic use in patients with no heart problems, no family history of heart disease but with a LDL Cholesterol count deemed to be excessive. “Better safe than sorry,” perhaps; but the drug does have some known side effects, the cost of 60 baht a day for the rest of my life is something I can well afford in present circumstances but is not totally insignificant when there is no observable health benefit. I should be most grateful for any further comments Dr Corness may have.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Mitchell

Dr Corness replies:

The reason I am so enthusiastic about the Statins is that (for once) these were pharmaceutical agents that I could prescribe that really worked. Guaranteed! They do reduce LDL and to a remarkable degree. I am interested to read Peter Mitchell’s comment that I am expressing a “minority viewpoint” - that is the viewpoint of the majority of cardiologists, not a minority in any way.

He queries whether he should take the Statin he has been prescribed as he states “there is no observable health benefit.” Since he also admits that he has an elevated LDL level and this is a precursor to coronary artery disease, I would certainly recommend the use of a Statin in this clinical picture. The observable health benefit would be a reduction in LDL to “safe” limits. In a case study of one person, it is impossible to predict whether Mr Mitchell’s life will be extended, better, heart attack free, etc., but from the number of studies done throughout the world comparing those on Statins to those who are not do show that the Statin group do very much better than the control groups. With his elevated LDL I would be taking Statins for that reason alone. However, I do also say that the choice of treatment always remains with the individual and we all have to die of something. Personally I hope the final shuffle will be a long time coming. Life in Pattaya is so much fun!

Family still looking for closure

Dear Sir:

His name was Joe Gaal, a 29-year-old Canadian photojournalist. To his mother, family and close friends he was known as Joey. His love for photojournalism led him to the battlefields of Afghanistan, taking his last roll of film during a horrendous fight to overtake the Kandahar airport in mid March of 1989.

As dangerous as the war scene was, Joey did not die in Afghanistan but instead lost his life while a guest at the Ocean View Hotel in Pattaya, April 30, 1989. A victim of murder at the hands of assassins, an ordered hit by the “mafia’” bosses of the day, perhaps “fearing he had found something out,” or perhaps providing a favor for “someone wanting Joe Gaal eliminated.”

The event was staged to appear as an accidental drowning, but the many injuries and ‘state of rigor” in his limbs and other evidence shown in photos obtained by the family and taken by the Rhuamkantanyu Foundation proved otherwise.

Joey was severely beaten, drowned in the toilet or similar receptacle and placed in Ocean View Hotel pool some hours later. Those responsible assumed it to be “case closed.” However, private investigations proved “murder.”

Perhaps you worked at Ocean View Hotel in April of 1989 and learned of the event, or maybe you are one the many persons seen in the recovery photos (Ocean View staff, Pattaya police, media person, hotel guest or the one taking pictures in the bushes behind the steps). Or just maybe you feel remorse for being part of the cover-up or for withholding information told to you. Either way, someone still living in Pattaya knows the truth about this case.

If this is you, and you are interested in the reward being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction, please feel free to contact me by e-mail: [email protected] or telephone/fax: (collect) 250 765-9960 or regular mail at the address below.

As a family, we will never find peace until the truth is made known. I leave you with this quote by Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Sincerely,

Arlene Gaal (Canadian mother seeking truth)

1035 Neptune Road,
Kelowna, B.C.
Canada V1X 3E4

The brat baht bus drivers

Editor;

It is interesting to notice that not as many baht buses still have signs about the fares now that the tourist season is over. Not that it matters, very few baht bus drivers actually understood what was written and just as many more ignored what was written anyway. There are still a lot of renegade drivers who regard every foreigner (and any Thai with a foreigner) as eligible for an inflated fare.

I personally speak enough Thai to be able ask which way the baht bus is going yet 9/10 the driver will ask me where I’m going. I know that if a Thai person asks (sans farang) the driver will answer the question. It is amazing that even when using Thai these drivers don’t realize that some of us actually know how much we should be paying. I carry a mobile phone and I have offered to call the tourist police many times for the sake of Mafioso drivers who think they can charge me double when I alight.

One of the most probable reasons that the drivers overcharge whenever possible is because there are simply too many baht buses in Pattaya for the amount of patronage that they receive.

There are also a lot of baht bus drivers who think nothing of using their mobile phones while driving.

It is difficult for the tourist police and the Tourist Authority to be able to monitor what is going on.

One possible way in which the public with the support of the proper community groups could assist Pattaya and the Tourist Authority would be by partaking in a reward and punishment program. Hopefully some kind individual or community group might allocate some money each month which could be awarded to one or more drivers who would receive nominations from the public for good service, courtesy, honesty, etc. These nominations could possibly be submitted to either the Pattaya Mail, the sponsor, or the Tourist Authority.

A further spin-off from this motivator could be adding the drivers’ names to a list so that communities or the public could hire them when required, i.e. for outings off the beaten track, furniture moving, group excursions etc. As well as this, the public could submit complaints and if enough are received against a driver then a reprimand or punishment could be issued.

Also, with the ever increasing traffic that Pattaya is getting as the region expands, baht bus drivers should be made to drive more considerately of other traffic in built-up areas, i.e. they shouldn’t stop beside each other and hinder the flow of traffic especially on 2nd & Beach Roads. Passengers can walk 20-30 metres if need be.

And finally, when are we going to get baht buses that serve Thepprasit Road and possibly link South Pattaya, 3rd Road and Thappraya Road? With Lotus, The Outlet Mall, the night markets as well as Duck Square and expansion in Jomtien it must be in some ones’ interest to arrange a service along a similar kind of route.

S. Martin

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