|
Local voters overwhelmingly vote yes for new charter
Less than 50% turnout
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Voters in Banglamung district, which includes Pattaya, overwhelmingly voted
yes for the new charter during the August 19 elections. Results showed that
52,692 people (70.73%) voted Yes, whilst 20,544 people (27.58%) voted No.
1,251 ballots (1.67%) were found to be invalid.
Only 74,487 (47.75%) of the 155,969 registered voters in the area turned up
to vote at the 195 polling stations that had been set up throughout the
area. Voting went smoothly, and low turnout allowed for easier vote counting
with unofficial tallies coming in as early as 10 p.m. Sunday.
Pratheep Chongsubthum, Banglamung’s district chief, blamed poor publicity
for the low turnout. “Maybe there wasn’t enough publicity urging people to
come out to vote … people were not informed well enough about this
referendum.”
Pattaya Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn turned up early at the Pattaya Fire
Brigade polling station, cast his vote and publicly urged others to exercise
their right to vote.
Students and faculty from the Redemptorist Vocational School did their part,
turning up en masse at polling station No. 13 at St. Nikolaus Church.
In Chonburi, 480,701 (55.04%) of the 873,321 eligible voters turned up to
vote, with 363,427 (75.60%) voting yes and 109,346 (22.75%) voting no. 7,928
ballots (1.65%) were deemed invalid.
Nationally, 25,978,954 (57.61%) of the 45,092,955 eligible voters turned up
to vote, with 14,727,306 (56.69%) voting yes and 10,747,441 (41.37%) voting
no. 504,120 ballots (1.94%) were deemed invalid.
The constitutional draft received its highest approval in the south, whilst
the northeast voted overwhelmingly against the new charter.
The yes vote paves the way for national elections to be held before the end
of the year.
Cultural show at Bali Hai highlights the 5 regions
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Bali Hai Point became the venue of a cultural show highlighting five regions
of Thailand on Thursday, with the event continuing until the evening of
Saturday August 25.
The Chonburi Cultural Office organized the show in cooperation with Pattaya
City. There is a competition for the most attractive regional pavilion, with
trophies from His Majesty the King and Her Royal Highness Princess
Sirindhorn for the winners.
Deputy Governor of Chonburi Montien Thongnit announced the event at a
Pattaya City Hall briefing on August 10, together with Deputy Mayor Ronakit
Ekasingh and the head of Chonburi Cultural Office Saun Panomwattanakul.
Montien said the show, highlighting the arts of the Central, Northern,
Northeastern, Eastern and Southern regions of Thailand, was being held in
honor of His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday, which will take place on
December 5.
The Chanthaburi College of Dramatic Arts is performing regional dancing, and
amongst the attractions is a display of hairdressing and Thai country music.
Regional souvenir shops provide an opportunity to buy quality handicrafts.
There is the additional attraction of a pavilion organized by the Jordan
Ministry of Culture, displaying the heritage of that ancient kingdom. The
Jordan Minister of Culture and his wife will be participating.
Lady Khaisri Sri-arun opened the show on the evening of August 23.
Pattaya bakes world’s longest
golden apple cake
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn
(center) and honored guests make the first cut in the charity cake.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Pattaya made the world’s longest golden apple cake on Mother’s Day, with
city hall working jointly with Central Festival Center and the Amari Orchid
Resort to distribute funds raised by the record-breaking cake to students in
the rural areas.
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn, Central Festival Center general manager
Saran Tuntichamnun and Dominik Stamm, general manager of Amari Orchid Resort
and Tower all joined in the festivities.
The golden apple cake was 75 meters in length and was distributed at 600
baht per meter, with 12 pieces in total.
This year marks the fourth time a cake of this size was baked in Pattaya.
The net income from the distribution is donated to the Coin for Life
Foundation, set up to help children in remote rural areas. The fund provides
money for textbooks and school uniforms as well as teaching and learning
equipment for the schools. This year the funds will be donated to the Border
Patrol Police School at Baan-Klong-Hway, Surathani.
City Scope :City councilors from Zone 4 meet the press
Promoting sports, environment
Members of Pattaya City
Council Zone 4 (L to R): Praiwan Arromchuen, Amnuai Somphongtham, City
Council Chairman Tavich Chaiswangwong, Vichai Rodpia, Phansak Sangchan and
Thongchai Ardzong.
Narisa Nitikarn
Members of Pattaya City Council Zone 4 recently met with the press to
discuss projects they’ve undertaken to increase the quality of life and
economic standing of their constituents.
Council Chairman Tavich Chaiswangwong led the group, which included
Thongchai Ardzong, Phansak Sangchan, Praiwan Arromchuen, Vichai Rodpia and
Amnuai Somphongtham. Each brings their personal knowledge and experience to
manage, oversee and solve problems for the people in the area. Their
responsibilities include tourism, education and bettering the community.
Near the top of their list is to promote sports amongst the city’s youth,
and to this end they’ve recently added windsurfing to the sports curriculum
at Pattaya City School 7 (Bannongpangkae). The program at School #7 is a
pilot project, and if successful, the program will be added to other schools
in the city.
Tourism is also important to the area, and whilst promoting tourism, Zone 4
councilors don’t want to do so at the expense of the environment. They have
therefore initiated the Fish Habitat Project to increase and protect natural
habitats for local sea life, thereby maintaining the ecological system.
Zone 4 councilors also realize the local populace works hard to make a
living, which often leads them to ignore the importance of exercise. To
address this, the city has built an indoor sports building in Soi
Chaiyapruek 2 and the Youth Sport Center in Soi Thepprasit 7.
Finally, members of Pattaya City Council want it known that they are always
pleased to listen to any suggestions, comments or problems, and invite
people to call the Pattaya City Call Center on 1337.
Plutaluang citizens
donate food to monks
Patcharapol Panrak
Mother’s Day at Plutaluang saw a special offering of food to 85 monks from
several temples in the area, organized by the Plutaluang Administration
Organization.
 Plutaluang
residents offer alms to monks on Mothers Day.
Head of the PAO Taweep Taengkaew invited the monks to the administration’s
offices, where they were welcomed and given food by a large gathering that
included Sattahip District chief Prakit Rotjanadilok, members of the
Chonburi Provincial Administration Organization, and officers from Sattahip
Naval Base.
Taweep said it has long been a tradition at Plutaluang to gather officials,
government servants and members of the public to donate food to the monks,
as the rainy season makes it difficult for them to travel beyond the
confines of the temple.
Victim snatches back as transvestite attempts getaway with wallet
Prasert (right) was unable to
get away after snatching a wallet from German tourist Manuel Schurich (back
left).
Boonlua Chatree
A transvestite who snatched a German’s wallet was unable to make his escape
when his victim fought back and prevented the woman of the second category
from fleeing aboard a waiting motorbike.
The crime took place at 3 a.m. on August 15. Pattaya Police Station received
a call from Kittiwet Panha, a 27-year-old motorcycle taxi rider stationed at
Soi 13 on Pattaya Beach Road to say that he and a foreign man were detaining
a transvestite snatcher at Soi 13/1, which is also known as Soi Post Office.
Officers led by Pol Col Sutin Suppuang, superintendent of Pattaya Police
Station, went to the scene.
They found Prasert Somprasong, aka Berm, a 26-year-old transvestite being
detained by Kittiwet and a 21-year-old German man named Manuel Schurich, who
was the victim. Schurich’s father was also present.
Searching the snatcher, police found the victim’s black wallet with 3,020
baht in cash. Schurich stated that he had gone out for some drinks at a bar
with his father. They were walking back along Beach Road to their hotel and
when they arrived at the entry to Soi Post Office they saw two
transvestites. The laddies of the night came up and fondled them and offered
sexual services. Declining, the two Germans were walking away when Schurich
checked his pocket and found his wallet missing.
Turning back, they saw the two transvestites starting up a blue Yamaha Mio.
Schurich ran after them and shouted for help. He was able to pull Prasert
off the bike, but the other made his escape. Kittiwet witnessed the event
and helped to detain Prasert. Then he called the police.
Prasert said that he often snatched from foreigners on Pattaya Beach with
Bung, his accomplice who had fled. This time, he said ruefully, he was not
fast enough and was pulled off the motorbike by his victim. Police have
charged Prasert and are now seeking Ms Bung.
Drunken bus driver causes accident
Boonlua Chatree
Six people were injured, three of them seriously, when the drunken driver of
a tour bus crashed into a van during the afternoon of August 13.
The bus had been taking a group of Chinese tourists to their hotel when the
driver attempted to cut in front of the van and caused the collision.
Officers from Dongtan Sub-Station along with Sawang Boriboon Foundation
rescuers and doctors from Bangkok Hospital Pattaya were called out to the
scene of the accident, which had occurred at the U-turn area of Sukhumvit
Road near the Pupen Seafood Restaurant.
A bronze colored Kia van heading in the Sattahip direction had had its front
and side crushed from a collision with a red and yellow tour bus belonging
to SC Somchai Services Co Ltd, which had been traveling from Central Pattaya
and had crossed at the U-turn to enter a soi.
In the wreckage of the van were three people, the driver and his passenger
along with a woman passenger who was unconscious on the back seat. All were
in serious condition. Rescuers used cutting gear to free them, and they were
transferred to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.
Inside the tour bus, which had suffered damage to its left side, were 17
Chinese tourists together with the bus driver and his assistant. Two female
tourists had suffered head injuries, as had 53-year-old Thaworn
Chanterdchai, assistant to the driver. The injured were transferred to
Banglamung Hospital, while the tour company sent another bus to take them to
their hotel, the Sigma Resort.
Bus driver Thongchai Sawangkam, age 50 and a resident of Nakornnayok, was
questioned by police and showed obvious signs of intoxication. He said he
had taken the Chinese tourists to Cheejan Mountain, and that they had then
eaten at a restaurant in Pattaya City. He was taking them back to the Sigma
Resort and he drove across the U-turn junction to enter a soi on the other
side. The van had been traveling at speed and crashed into the left side of
the bus.
Police carried out a breathalyzer test on Thongchai and established a
reading of 183 milligrams, exceeding the legal alcohol level. He has been
charged with drunken driving causing accident and injury.
Two youths shot in motorcycle gang war
Boonlua Chatree
Two youths were shot and injured in a clash between motorcycle gangs in the
early hours of August 13.
Banglamung police and Sawang Boriboon Foundation rescuers were called out to
the scene of the shooting, which occurred in front of Bunsampan Temple on
Soi Kao Noi. They found a capsized motorcycle and two injured youths.
Adisorn Tong-On, 19, an Aksorn Technology level 3 student, had been shot in
his right hip and the bullet was embedded inside him. Pichet Khunwattana,
20, had been the passenger. He was shot once to his right hip. The two were
transferred to Pattaya Memorial Hospital for treatment and were later
pronounced to be out of danger.
Adisorn told police that they had been traveling on the motorcycle and were
accompanied by friends on four other motorcycles. Suddenly another four
youths appeared on two motorbikes, and he heard six shots. He and Pichet
were hit, and came off their bike. Their friends fled, while their attackers
made a U-turn and rode away.
He said he didn’t know the wrongdoers or why they had fired the gun.
Personally he didn’t have enemies or disputes with anyone. The attackers
were probably enemies of his gang, and had been lying in wait to shoot at
them. Police say they will more closely question the two injured gang
members to find out the truth.
Slip-up by Cambodian
ya ba dealers
Boonlua Chatree
Two Cambodians who attempted to carry a consignment of ya ba hidden in their
slippers were caught by police as they disembarked from a bus in Pattaya.
Investigations having indicated that suspected drug dealers were arriving at
Pattaya by bus to deliver ya ba to a customer, police blockaded the area
around the bus terminal at Sukhumvit Road, in front of Nongyai Temple and
the mouth of Soi Pothisan.
 The
Cambodian perpetrators (seated left) watch as police count up the ya ba
previously hidden in the Cambodians’ slippers.
Officers waited in the passenger hall, and upon the arrival of the
Chonburi-Pattaya-Rayong bus they saw two men wearing slippers disembark and
begin to look around in a suspicious manner. The officers identified
themselves and asked to search the two men.
During preliminary questioning it was evident they could speak only limited
Thai, and they were carrying no identification. They admitted to being
Cambodian.
The officers found nothing during the initial search but the two men were
taken to a room and a more thorough search was undertaken. Finding that the
weight of the slippers both men were wearing seemed abnormal, the officers
questioned the men about them. Their nervous response prompted the police to
take the slippers apart for examination, and all four items of footwear were
found to have false bottoms. Hidden inside were four large plastic bags
containing 6,100 tablets of orange colored amphetamines, or ya ba.
At Pattaya Police Station the men were identified as La, age 18, and Wern,
age 24, both Cambodian nationals. They admitted to having illegally crossed
the border at Aranyaprathet in order to deliver ya ba to a man named as Ek.
They had previously made two successful deliveries.
The men said they had traveled from Kabinburi and taken the Nakhon
Ratchasima-Chonburi bus. They then took another bus from Chonburi to
Pattaya, where they were arrested. They said they had invested the money
themselves in buying this consignment of 6,100 tablets for 600,000 baht, and
if they had sold it they would have made more than 1 million baht profit.
Police charged them with possession for sale of a Class 1 narcotic, and
illegal entry into Thailand.
City’s mobile unit provides services to Wat Thamsamakkee community
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn
and a team from city hall begin the city’s mobile community service in the
Wat Thamsamakkee community.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Pattaya City Hall’s mobile community service unit rolled into the Wat
Thamsamakkee community on August 15, delivering supplies and providing free
services to residents there.
Mayor Niran Wattanasartsathorn, Itthipol Khunplome, the mayor’s chief
advisor, and Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn along with Pattaya City
Council members handed out the necessities, which included rice, dried food
and consumer products. The city received support from both Tesco Lotus
branches.
 Redemptorist
Vocational School provided a team to repair electrical appliances.
Mayor Niran said that the city organizes the mobile service unit every month
with an aim to provide basic services to the people of all 27 Pattaya
communities.
Ketsiri Beauty School and Banglamung Vocational College provided free
haircuts and beauty treatment services, while Pattaya’s Social Welfare Unit
provided 30 masseuses who performed free foot massage.
Redemptorist Vocational School provided a team to repair electrical
appliances, and Pattaya City Public Health Service Center provided general
health check-ups plus free dental checkups, eye examinations, blood pressure
checks, diabetes checks and family planning advice.
Banglamung Hospital also provided health advice, checked people for risky
chronic diseases, and issued free Health Welfare Cards. Inexpensive items
were also on sale during the day.
85 turtles born at conservation center
Patcharapol Panrak
Eighty-five sea turtles were born at the Royal Thai Navy’s Sea Turtles
Conservation Center on Mother’s Day from eggs that had been rescued from a
waterlogged area of the beach and incubated in a glass cabinet.
 People
watch excitedly as turtles hatch on Mother’s Day.
The center had earlier decided to remove the eggs from the beach where the
mother turtle had laid them before slipping back into the ocean, as
conservationists were worried about the possibility of the eggs rotting in
the wet conditions.
Careful nurturing of the eggs in their temperature controlled cabinet led to
a predicted birthday of August 12. After checking the eggs during the
morning of August 11, Admiral Chaiwat Sriakkarin, commander of Air and
Coastal Defense Command directed Captain Kosit Jeumsuppakit, who was in
charge of the project, to prepare for the eggs to hatch on the following
day.
Students, tourists and members of the public visited the center on Mother’s
Day in a state of excitement to witness the event, which intensified as the
eggs cracked and the baby turtles emerged into the world on this auspicious
occasion.
|
