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Korean restaurant goes up in smoke – finishes in much better condition
Thousands of six-legged casualties reported
Boonlua
Chatree
Pattaya firefighters and local residents were a bit red
faced last week when a “late night fire” at a local Korean eatery turned
out to be nothing more than insect extermination in progress.
Ten fire trucks and police units raced to the Korean
restaurant on Central Pattaya Road before midnight on July 10 after nearby
residents reported smoke coming from the windows of the three storey building.
“Better
safe than sorry” – firefighters were quick to the scene of a report of
smoke coming from this eatery, which turned out to be insect extermination in
progress.
Fireman rushed to the location to find smoke clouding the
eatery. Unable to gain immediate access, firefighters broke a small window and
entered the building to look for the cause of the blaze.
However, none was found. By this stage, a crowd of almost
100 people had gathered on the road to watch the scene unfold.
Shortly after, the restaurant’s owner turned up to inform
red-faced officials that he had hired an extermination contractor to eradicate
mosquitoes and insects from the restaurant, and there was no fire at all.
Once the truth was revealed everyone departed from the
scene with firefighters putting the experience down to a practice session.
Casualties, however, were believed to be in the thousands – all of which
had six legs or more.
City calls for beach chair and umbrella vendors to stage regular cleanups
Tourists favor Jomtien’s beach for fun and sun
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
City administrators would like Jomtien Beach kept clean,
and are asking vendors to help. This past week they called a meeting with
Jomtien beach-chair and umbrella vendors, calling for their cooperation in
maintaining a high standard of cleanliness in their operating areas.
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn and Pattana Boonsawat,
deputy mayor, met with the vendors at city hall to hand down the policy and
instill understanding.
Settapol Boonsawat, president of the vendors association,
also at the meeting said, “A large number of tourists, both Thai and
foreign, are using Jomtien Beach as their preferred beach. In the past we
have had some vendors who have failed to provide proper service and care for
their designated area. The city implemented an action plan and asked for
operators to take the last Wednesday of every month off. Since the beach
front is a window to the city, I suggest that vendors neatly stack their
chairs and umbrellas and carry out a thorough beach clean up, as proposed by
the city.”
Following the discussion, the vendors association donated
street and parking signs to the Pattaya police department for use along
Jomtien Beach Road. Mayor Niran accepted the signs on behalf of the
department.
PBTA touts Pattaya
as a sports city
Water sports and indoor games most favored
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
A myriad of items were discussed at the Pattaya Business and
Tourism Association (PBTA) monthly meeting, held last week at the Green Park
Resort. Discussions included the recent Highlight East promotional campaign, the
Colorful East exhibition at last weekend’s Pattaya marathon, and road shows to
Austria and the Czech Republic.
 Thanet
Supornsaharungsi, PBTA president said, “Pattaya is a good place for sporting
activities, especially water sports.”
However, atop the agenda were plans to portray Pattaya as a
center for sporting events. Thanet Supornsaharungsi, PBTA president offered his
opinion, “Pattaya is a good place for sporting activities, especially water
sports. I suggest that a Pattaya Sports Festival be held encompassing all water
sports or indoor sports. We will, however, need to consult with the Pattaya,
provincial and district administrations on theses matters due to the majority of
budgets coming from these organizations.”
Mai Chaiyanit, chairman of the Nongprue District Administration revealed,
“Very recently officials from the Thai Athletics Association visited Pattaya
and Chonburi to inspect the region to host the 24th SEA Games in 2006. Since
Chonburi is an ideal place to host outdoor and indoor sports and since the
indoor stadium will be complete by then, the bid could be quite successful and
will benefit Pattaya’s tourism industry greatly.”
Three public holidays for Buddhist Lent
The government has announced that
there will be three consecutive public holidays, not four, for this year’s
Buddhist Lent.
Deputy government spokeswoman Sansanee Nakpong announced that
the cabinet has agreed that the public holidays to observe the Buddhist Lent
would be July 31 - August 2.
The three consecutive public holidays are for the Buddhist
Lent Eve on July 31, the Buddhist Lent on August 1, which are Saturday and
Sunday, and a compensation holiday on August 2.
August 3 will be a working day, not another public holiday. (TNA)
Condoms sniffing, barking dogs to promote safe sex
Best to place condoms in easy sight
A leading Thai politician and
personality has proposed using dogs to sniff out people who fail to carry
condoms on them.
The idea is to help promote “safe sex”, according to
Meechai Viravaidya. He was responsible for an earlier campaign in
Thailand’s promoting the use of condoms and family planning.
The condom-sniffing dogs project could be launched without
waiting for government support and funding, said Meechai.
It could begin with the selection of a few dogs which
could easily be taught to sniff for condoms, and bark when a person does not
have a pack of condoms on them. Meechai appealed to anyone who wanted to, to
donate dogs to the project.
Meechai made his suggestion at the 15th International AIDS
Conference in Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok on Friday. He saw
police dogs sniffing for drugs at AIDS conference. This, he said, gave him
the idea of using dogs to sniff for condoms.
The idea, he said, struck him as an interesting way to
keep people interested in AIDS prevention campaign activities, especially
promoting the use of condoms among today’s sexually liberal youths.
Meechai is an internationally renowned AIDS prevention
advocate, who is widely known as “Mr. Condom” in Thailand. (TNA)
Reforestation project slated for Larn Island
Part Queen’s Birthday celebrations
Suchada Tupchai
Plans are afoot to re-plant 200 rai of land on Larn Island as
part of the Queen’s 6th Cycle Birthday celebrations.
Pattaya administrators, National Electricity Production
Authority and Forestry Department representatives met at city hall last week to
discuss the plan, which will involve over 1,000 people assisting to plant a
variety of trees. The mass planting is scheduled for August 6.
 Manat
Saendech, assistant project director in charge of the project from the National
Electricity Production Authority, explains the aim of the exercise.
Larn Island (Koh Larn) has suffered severe deforestation over
the years and despite efforts by Pattaya City and the TAT, natural resources and
reserves are declining.
Officials at the meeting agreed there is an urgent need to
plant more trees throughout the island to bolster its position as a natural
environment destination.
The National Electricity Production Authority will supply the
trees, which are to be planted along the Saem Beach area, a popular tourist
spot. The target is to plant at least 130 trees per rai.
Species include a native type of mahogany, Indian mahogany,
Ormosia and Neem trees, most of which are used as construction materials and
grow quite large. Best of all, they require almost no intervention.
Sontaya Khunplome, tourism and sports minister will preside over the
ceremonies on August 6 at 10 a.m. in the Saem Beach area.
Pattaya cleans up in honor for HM the Queen’s 72nd Birthday
Pattaya residents join hands to clean the city
Suchada Tupchai
Residents, school children and business owners joined
forces with the Pattaya administration on July 14 to clean up Pattaya as part
of the celebration for HM the Queen’s upcoming 72nd birthday.
Promptly at 9.20 a.m. on July 14, Pisit Ketphasook,
Chonburi governor and Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn opened the proceedings at
city hall.
 Residents,
school children and business owners joined forces to clean up Pattaya as part
of the celebrations for HM the Queen’s upcoming 72nd birthday.
Before setting the crews off on their activities, Mayor
Niran said, “Pattaya is a well known tourist city and as such we must care
for the environment and keep our city clean.”
Cleaning crews from all walks of life and age groups began
the day cleaning the streets, storefronts, drains and gardens through out the
day.
Additionally, visitors to the Queen’s Cup Marathon were welcomed to a
cleaner Pattaya because the people’s love and respect for their queen.
Soi Chaiypruek residents and business fed up with construction delays
Months of unfinished road work creates havoc
Suchada Tupchai
As Pattaya grows so does the need to improve
infrastructure, especially the roads and drainage systems. However,
when these improvements take an inordinate amount of time,
frustrations abound and tempers run high.
Such is the case with residents and business
operators in Soi Chaiypruek who are fed up with the extended delays
during construction of their little piece of town.
 Soi
Chaiypruek residents say it is high time for the construction on this
road to be completed.
The stretch of road being worked on is only 2
kilometers long, but the installation of new wastewater drains is
already two months past the due date of completion.
The road has been dug up and left that way for a
number of months without action from the contractors. According to
the construction notice, the contractor, Bangsaen Mahanakorn Partners
Ltd. was to begin construction on February 21 this year, and a
completion date of May 16 was set. This has not been the case.
Residents reported that they began in earnest in June, already past
the deadline for completion.
The extended delays have affected businesses at
all levels; one motorcycle taxi rider said he was forced to move to
Jomtien Beach Road for business and was fined for operating outside
his defined rank.
Whatever the case, the extended construction process has caused a
multitude of problems for residents. One can only hope the new
Pattaya administration will rectify the situation, and the public
works department be held responsible for their actions, or lack
thereof.
Frenchman arrested for shoplifting
Jailed for 109 baht worth of cheese
Boonlua Chatree
William Demunter, 71, from France was arrested on July 11
after refusing to pay for a packet of cheese worth 109 baht from a South
Pattaya supermarket.
 Perhaps
it was all a misunderstanding, but William Demunter, 71, from France would
rather go to jail than cough up 109 baht for cheese.
Police were called to the Friendship Supermarket at 9.30
p.m. on July 11 after security guards detained the elderly Frenchman for
theft. The guards told police that the man had placed the cheese in his
pocket and left the supermarket after paying for other groceries.
The store manager said that Demunter was a regular
customer, and that he did not want to bring charges of theft against him.
The manager told officers that he tried to reason with Demunter after he had
bought and paid for other items, but Demunter refused to pay for the cheese
stuffed in his pocket. He said he had no choice but to call in local law
enforcement.
Demunter was charged with theft and placed in a holding cell pending
judicial proceedings.
Police continue crackdown on lascivious entertainment venues
Cops bring the curtain down on sex shows
Boonlua
Chatree
Pattaya police had a busy night on July 12 as they raided
two entertainment venues in Pattaya, and arrested 5 performers and 14 tour
guides.
The first raid took place at the Bluebird Bar in North
Pattaya. Officers stormed the bar where a lewd show was in progress and
approximately 300 Chinese tourists were receiving an eyeful. Shocked at the
sight of police, the tourists fled the bar.
Police detained the ‘performers’, confiscated their
stage props and busted the 9 Pattaya-based Thai tour guides. All were
charged with their involvement in the show and the guides received extra
charges for taking tourists to such venues.
In another raid, officers moved in on the Juno Bar,
located on Pattaya Second Road. During the raid a single performer was
detained while the bar manager and a further 5 tour guides were arrested.
In both venues, the managers were charged with illegally
operating an entertainment venue, the performers were fined for lewd public
behavior and the guides were taken into custody, fined, and officials moved
to have their guide licenses revoked.
British national dies in car after
night on the town
Banglamung police were called to a location in Nongprue on July 12
following the reported death of a foreign resident inside a car.
Officers and Sawang Boriboon personnel arrived on the
scene to find Eric Dodd, 67, from Great Britain dead inside a pickup truck.
Dodd’s friend Eddie Hodson, who lived a few doors away,
told police that he and his friend had gone out the night before, drinking
in a South Pattaya bar. At around 3.30 a.m. the pair were apparently quite
inebriated and were driven home by the bar owner, Bunterng Sawangchai, who
left them in the vehicle.
Hodson told officers that he managed to get home to
sleep, just 10 meters from where the vehicle was parked, leaving his friend
in the car to sleep off the night’s activities. He was unaware of his
friend’s death until a neighbor told him.
Eric Dodd’s body was sent to the forensic institute for
a post mortem examination. Police suspect that a heavy night of drinking and
sleeping in a locked vehicle with the windows up might have exhausted
Dodd’s oxygen supply, which coupled with his age may have contributed to
his death.
Tourist seriously injured
in motorcycle accident
Loses lower leg
Boonlua Chatree
Banglamung police and Sawang Boriboon rescue personnel
were called to the scene of a horrific accident at 1.30 a.m. on July 13
involving a foreign tourist. The foreigner, later identified as Shawn Outram,
41, from Australia, lost control of the 1900 cc motorcycle he was riding on
a sharp corner in Pattaya-Naklua. Outram slid out of control slamming into a
power pole. The force of the impact crushed his right lower leg, severing
his foot.
Residents who heard the accident rushed the man to the
Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. Emergency staff stopped the man’s profuse
bleeding as quickly as they could, but Outram was in critical condition due
to excessive blood loss. Doctors discovered that they would be unable to
re-attach the Outram’s foot due to extensive damage to his leg after it
had been crushed by the force of the impact.
A nearby resident who saw the incident told police that
the man was traveling at high speed and failed to negotiate the corner.
Police recorded the details of the accident. The injured man was last
reported to be in a critical but stable condition.
Songkran shooter arrested
Admits to shooting victim for calling him a bad name
Boonlua Chatree
Police have arrested the perpetrator of a murder that
occurred on April 19 (Pattaya’s Songkran Day) this year. The shooting that
occurred on Second Road in North Pattaya left one man dead and three
injured.
The deceased, a musician named Apichart Jaemsawang, was
the son of the Imam of the Mapiliyia Mosque.
 Anurat
Rungsook, aka “Chaiyar ‘S’ New World” re-enacts the crime for police
at the Second Road location.
Criminal investigators caught up with Anurat Rungsook,
aka “Chaiyar ‘S’ New World”, 19, in Sriracha, where he had been in
hiding since the shooting.
Anurat was armed with a loaded 9mm pistol at the time of
his arrest, but officers surrounded him in the middle of a pineapple field
and convinced him to accompany them to Pattaya police station for
questioning.
Anurat confessed to shooting Apichart Jaemsawang out of
anger and revenge after Apichart had verbally attacked him, calling him a
Mafioso of the garbage class.
Anurat said that after the shooting, he and his
accomplice, Manus Saegung, 20, the driver of the motorcycle, split up and
fled in different directions.
Following the statement, officers took ‘S’ to the crime scene to
re-enact the shooting before returning him to his cell. Manus Saegung is
still at large. Officers are continuing their investigation.
American resident
dies - suicide suspected
Police treating case as suspicious
Boonlua Chatree
Local photographer Howard Greene, 56, from the USA, died
last week, the result of an apparent suicide.
Police were called to the Niran Condominium complex at 2
p.m. on Monday after receiving a report of a foreign resident falling from
his 12th floor rented apartment.
Police arrived at the scene to find Greene’s body on
the concrete. No blood was found at the impact site, which led police to
suspect something was amiss.
An inspection of Greene’s room led to further
suspicion, as it was immaculately clean, there was no evidence of a struggle
and Greene’s personal belongings, including passport and wallet were
missing.
However, a signed suicide note was found on the coffee
table.
Police and a doctor from Banglamung inspected the body
and suspect that Greene may have died at least one hour prior to his body
landing on the concrete.
Greene’s body was sent to the police forensic institute
for further examination, which is standard procedure for deaths of
foreigners, while officers investigate the case.
Howard Greene was known among the community as a pro
photographer and worked on a number of charity and high profile projects
during his years in Pattaya.
Englishman found dead
in apartment
Suicide over business failure suspected
Boonlua Chatree
Police were summoned to an apartment block in South
Pattaya following the report of a death of a foreign national at around 7.30
p.m. on July 11. The dead man, Paul Anthony Savill, 36, from the United
Kingdom apparently committed suicide following a string of mishaps and
business troubles in the UK.
Offices arrived on the scene to find Savill lying on the
floor of the apartment with a curtain chord wrapped around his neck. The
curtains from the large window nearby had been pulled from the wall.
Maneeya Savill, 32, the dead man’s wife who reported
the tragic find, told police that her husband was due to fly back to the UK
to attend to an urgent business matter. However, the chain of events leading
up to her husband’s death may have also been a contributing factor.
She revealed that Paul had been drinking the previous
night and on his way home crashed into a baht bus and was forced to pay
12,000 baht in compensation to the driver. Enraged, he arrived home to
continue his libation, at which time he consumed around 65 Valium tablets,
after which he began throwing things around the room and put his fist
through a window, causing him to require stitches.
According to Maneeya, they returned from the hospital in
the early hours of the morning, after which she left to carry out some
personal business. When she returned to the apartment she found her husband
dead on the floor. She called for help to resuscitate him, but these proved
unsuccessful.
Police transferred the man’s remains to the forensic
institute for a post mortem examination and informed embassy officials to
notify his next of kin.
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