Sufficient water supplies a priority

Pramote Channgam
The Ministry of Interior organized a conference at Ambassador City Jomtien on June 4 to discuss the new policy of administrative integration for 25 local administrative organizations.

Surapon Kanjanajitra, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior

Chairman of the conference was Surapon Kanjanajitra, deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior, with a total of 2,103 people from 25 local provincial administrative organizations in attendance.
Chonburi Deputy Governor Montien Tongnit and chairman of the Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization Wittaya Khunplome welcomed Surapon to the event.
Surapon said he had been assigned to take responsibility for three departments, namely the Community Development Department, the Department of Promotions for Local Administrations, and the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning. The Provincial Waterworks Authority also comes under his care.
The policy on integrative administration was designed to combine the tasks of these four organizations, and had been laid out during a conference on April 30 at the Rama Garden Hotel in Bangkok.
Surapon said that the overriding need was for cohesive development of infrastructure and public services, including the provision of sufficient water supplies.

Sattahip police and navy personnel raid drugs venues

Drug suspects rounded up in a Sattahip police raid are put on display.

Patcharapol Panrak
More than 200 police officers and naval personnel armed with search warrants from Pattaya Provincial Court raided 11 locations in the Sattahip area that narcotics dealers and users were believed to be using.
The raids took place during the early morning of May 30 and were coordinated by Pol Col Supathee Bunkrong, superintendent at Sattahip Police Station.
Personnel from the Guard Battalion and the Navy Marine Corps augmented the police team as they searched the 11 locations in Samaesarn Sub-district, Najomtien Sub-district, Bangsarae Sub-district, and Sattahip Sub-district, where investigations had indicated drugs were being trafficked and used.
The officers were able to arrest 21 suspects. One person had been named on an arrest warrant, one was arrested for harboring drug users, six were arrested for having narcotics in their possession, four were arrested for consuming drugs, and nine male and female illegal aliens were arrested. Amongst the items confiscated were 72 ya ba pills, one pistol, and one bullet.
Pol Col Supathee said the raids were undertaken as part of the crackdown being insisted upon by the national government.

German dies after fall from condo

Boonlua Chatree
A German man died when he fell from the Jomtien Complex Condotel on Jomtien Beach Road during the early hours of June 2.
Pol Col Nopadol Wongnom, superintendent at Pattaya Police Station led officers to the scene, along with Sawang Boriboon rescue workers.
The dead man, identified as 44-year-old German citizen Frederic Stuart Lofler was lying face down on the concrete in front of the parking lot. He was wearing a black T-shirt, olive green shorts, and black shoes. In his pocket was a Nokia cellphone, a number of keys, cigarettes, a broken watch, and a passport.
Police found signs of someone climbing out over a balcony, but there were no signs of a struggle or any weapons. Piroon Roongsawan, a 23-year-old security guard at the condo said that he had been walking around the outside of the building when he heard something hitting the ground outside the wall in the parking lot. He said the deceased was possibly a new tenant, as Piroon did not know him.
As there was no evidence of a struggle, police believe the man may have deliberately jumped to his death. The body has been sent for autopsy.

German engineer found dead in lake

Patcharapol Panrak
An elderly German engineer who was found dead in a lake in Bamphenbun Valley in Bangsarae is believed to have committed suicide.

Wilhelm Frömbgen was found dead in a lake in Bamphenbun Valley in Bangsarae.

Sattahip Police Station received a call from a villager at 2:30 p.m. on June 4 to say that he had found the dead body of a foreign man when he had gone fishing.
A team of officers led by Pol Col Supathee Bunkrong, superintendent at Sattahip Police Station went immediately to the scene along with rescue workers from Sawang Rotchana Thammasathan Sattahip Foundation officials.
The dead man was found floating face down in the water. He was identified as Wilhelm Frömbgen, a 67-year-old construction engineer from Germany. The body was clad in a black T-shirt, black trousers, and black canvas shoes. Around his neck was a waterproof plastic box containing a photograph and his Pattaya Expat Club ID card. His left and right temples were scratched, but there were no signs of a struggle. On the bank of the pond was an empty Black Label whisky bottle.
Mrs Walee Frömbgen, 41, the deceased man’s wife stated that her husband had disappeared from the house at 6 p.m. on June 3. He was carrying a bottle of Black Label imported whisky, and told her that he wanted to go to a restaurant in Bangsarae.
Pol Col Supathee said that the death did not appear to be murder, because there were no signs of a struggle on the bank and no apparent injuries to the body. One possibility was that the deceased had become drunk and then fallen into the water. The more likely reason for his death, however, was suicide, because of the waterproof box that he had hung around his neck with his name and address inside. The corpse was sent to the Forensic Institute to find the cause of death.

Drunken man bottles it

Boonlua Chatree
An intoxicated foreign man, who said he was broken hearted because of a Thai woman, suffered severe bleeding after hitting himself on the head with a beer bottle.
Police received a call at 4 a.m. on June 3 to go to the Sanguanchai Bar located in the beer bar complex on Soi 10 and Pattaya Second Road where a customer was drunk and mad.
The man, said the caller, had used a beer bottle to hit himself over the head, causing him to bleed, and he was not allowing anyone to help him.
At the scene was a foreigner of unknown name and nationality, approximately 30 years old, covered with tattoos, wearing a black T-shirt with a skull and the word Misfits printed on it, and kaki slacks. He was in a state of drunkenness and shouting at everyone who tried to approach him. He had a cut on his head and a bloody face. The employees at the bar had run away.
Speaking to witnesses, police discovered that the man had been a regular visitor to the bar. On this occasion, he had become very drunk. He kept repeating that a Thai woman had broken his heart. He didn’t want to leave when the bar closed, and so had hit himself on the head with a beer bottle.
Officers managed to restrain the man, and Sawang Boriboon Foundation rescuers administered first aid and took him to Pattaya Memorial Hospital. The man eventually calmed down and was allowed to go back home.

Police hunt for man who set fire to his wife

Boonlua Chatree
A police hunt is underway for a man who doused his wife in benzene and set fire to her, causing burns to 80 percent of her body.
Pattaya Police Station received a call at 1 a.m. on June 7 from Ms Aumporn Posopha, 34, saying that her friend Ms Wanpen Pliansamut, a 25-year-old housemaid at James Gallery in North Pattaya had been injured.
Aumporn said that her friend’s husband, Nattapat Ketla, had first struck her with a bottle and then thrown benzene over her. He had then set fire to the benzene. Wanpen had been rushed to Banglamung Hospital, but physicians had transferred her to Chonburi Hospital for specialist burns treatment. Doctors have said her condition remains critical.
At the scene, officers found traces of something being burnt in the middle of the soi behind the James Gallery, opposite the entrance of the Bunsong Apartment.
Aumporn said that she also worked at the James Gallery. She said that Wanpen and Nattapat had been having problems with their relationship. Nattapat had asked for a reconciliation, but Wanpen had refused. Nattapat allegedly had become angry, and had attacked her.
Police have obtained an arrest warrant for 35-year-old Nattapat, who is a resident of Khon Kaen.

Redemptorist School will lay out gardens for the disabled

Designs to be voted on

Vimolrat Singnikorn
Redemptorist School is planning to build a public garden specially equipped for the disabled at the Elephant Village in Central Pattaya.
Duangdao Yothasri, finance manager at the Redemptorist School said that the garden would be designed for both the general public and the disabled community, but that its facilities would be such that the disabled could use it as an area of exercise.
The garden will be built on an empty area of 3 ngan beside Redemptorist Vocational School.
Pattaya City has already supplied a support budget of 1 million baht, and the construction plan is in the primary voting stage. There are three possible layouts, and the Vocational Redemptorist students will be allowed to vote for them. Each plan has an exercise area for wheelchairs, as well as for physical exercise for disabled people. Able-bodied people will also be able to use the garden, which will welcome everyone.
Once the final plan is agreed, the school will provide the budget and the completion date is expected to be at the end of this year.
Any organizations that wish to support the construction budget can make a donation at the Bangkok Bank Banglamung Branch under the account name of the Pattaya Vocational Redemptorist School, account number 342-4-25584-6.

One of the many designs for the public park
for disabled people that will be voted on.

Used car dealers change gear as market decelerates

Instigated by soaring cost of gasoline

Currently there are many used cars in stock that run on diesel.

Pramote Channgam
Used car dealers have been changing their sales techniques in response to the current unstable economy and the soaring cost of gasoline.
Bunpichat Urada, a 30-year-old salesman at Banglamung Auto Car said that on his lot there are currently more than 80 used cars. This high figure is due to the cost of gasoline and the rising cost of living, he said. The only bright spot is customers who are coming in to sell their vehicles or to exchange them for cars that run on benzene.
Teerasut Panich, 41, the owner of Pattaya Talad Rot said that he has about 30 vehicles on the lot. Because of the high price of gasoline, business is not good. Previously, potential customers were looking for cars that run on diesel, but now they want benzene-powered vehicles.
Teerasut said that he is now using a marketing promotion in which a down payment of only 5,000 baht is accepted and there is the option of free life insurance. This, he said, has had good response.
As to the future, Teerasut said that he doesn’t know what would happen if the cost of gasoline kept on rising, but that the world would have to find an alternative source of energy. In which case, he added, used car dealers would have to find another job.

New wing at Banglamung Hospital will be completed next year

Hospital receiving increasing number of patients

Governor Pracha Taerat (center) presides over the ceremony for the installation
of the pillar at the new Chalermprakiet Building at Banglamung Hospital.

Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
Chonburi Governor Pracha Taerat presided over the ceremony for the installation of the pillar at the new Chalermprakiet Building at Banglamung Hospital on June 2.
Amongst those attending the ceremony were Wittaya Khunplome, chairman of the Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization, Banglamung District chief Mongkol Thamakittikhun, and Itthipol Khunplome, mayor of Pattaya.
Governor Pracha said that the new wing of the hospital had been started in commemoration of His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday, and that the building is scheduled for completion next year.
The reason for the new wing is the increasing number of patients attending Banglamung Hospital. Statistics for 2007 show that there were 395,873 outpatients, an average of approximately 1,000 people per day. This is causing a problem in the provision of service, and as the current building is not large enough to cope with the increasing number of patients, a new building has to be constructed.
The Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization along with private donations are funding construction, the total amount required being 95,122,523 baht. However, the budget currently has a shortfall of 2,877,477 baht.
The ceremony for laying the foundation stone was held on November 18 last year. The Chalermprakiet Building will be seven stories in height, and is designed under a standard pattern from the design and construction division at the Ministry of Public Health. The new wing will have 150 beds.
P Construction and Material Co Ltd was awarded the contract to construct the new wing within a schedule of 400 days.

Thai music contest to be staged in August

Entrants vying for Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Trophy

Vimolrat Singnikorn
Banglamung Cultural Council will stage a music contest in August, with participants vying for the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Trophy.

Surat Mekawarakul
A meeting of the organizing committee was held on May 27 at the Mike Beach Resort, with head of the Cultural Council Surat Mekawarakul in the chair.
A specific date has yet to be set for the Thai Musical Contest 2008, and a decision has still to be made on the most suitable location.
Surat said the contest would be open to students and the public, and would be a celebration of Thai musical heritage.
Three competitor levels will be held to allow fair competition for children of primary school class and secondary school class ages, and for the general public.

Bangsaen residents enjoy shrimp bonanza

Making up for lost tourism revenue

Patcharapol Panrak
Bangsaen residents who had previously seen revenue from tourism drop when large numbers of dead jelly fish and sea worms started being washed up on the beach have been overjoyed to find a new source of income has quickly followed the disaster with large quantities of sergistid shrimp now being found on the beach.

The large numbers of sergestid shrimp now being shoveled up from Bangsaen Beach can be made into shrimp paste, or fried and sold at Nongmon Market.

The residents, many of whom made their living as shallow fishermen or beachside merchants, said that tourists had stopped coming as they were concerned the water might be polluted and be a danger to their skin.
However, the large numbers of sergestid shrimp that can now be shoveled up from Bangsaen Beach can be made into shrimp paste, or fried and sold at Nongmon Market. Previously, the shrimp had made only rare appearances on this beach.
Nares Hompleum, a 57-year-old resident of Soi Nuchkasem in Saensuk Sub-district said that the death of a large quantity of marine life appeared to have been a natural event, but that tourists had stopped using the beach. The local people had seen their incomes fall, and many were facing financial problems. But the change in the marine ecology had resulted in huge numbers of the sergistid shrimp in the ocean, and the ebb tide, which lasts for about two hours, was depositing huge numbers of them on the sand.
Residents are collecting the shrimp at every tide, and many are making an income of about 400 baht a day from selling shrimp paste, fried shrimp, and other derivatives.
Local politician Sontaya Khunplome said that the natural disaster that had befallen the jelly fish, catfish and marine worms had spelled danger for local fishermen as well as a fall in the tourism business, but that the shrimp harvest was compensating for that and that local families were once again facing a profitable season.

Concert helps mangosteen growers after dispute with wholesalers

Score one for the little guys

Mangosteen growers were successful in cutting out the middle man,
 selling 3,000kg of their fruit during a concert at Prince Chumporn
Public Park in Sattahip.

Patcharapol Panrak
Actors and singers helped the Chantaburi mangosteen growers sell 3,000kg of their fruit at a concert at Prince Chumporn Public Park in Sattahip on May 30.
Well-known actress Naowarat Yuktanan emceed the performers for the event, in which the growers sold their produce direct to the buyers, following a dispute with the fruit wholesalers.
Chokchai Pratheep-Usanon, a representative of Boonrawd Trading Co Ltd said that the Chantaburi mangosteen growers had contacted him, saying that they were in trouble. They had kept their mangosteens back for the wholesalers, as agreed, but the wholesalers were refusing to pay the agreed price of 9 baht per kg and said they would pay only 7 baht per kg, due to the high gasoline prices. If the fruit growers disagreed with this price, then they wouldn’t take their fruit.
Chokchai told the growers to bring their harvest to the Blue Sky, Nice Sea, White Road Food Festival, at Prince Chumporn Public Park, an event that was being organized to raise funds for female prisoners in Chonburi. He said that the growers should ask for 10 baht per kilo, a price that by cutting out the middleman would be a bargain for the public and a better price for the growers.
The growers were kept busy throughout the event, selling more than 3,000 kg of their fruit.
Amongst the performers at the food festival were Ou-Panu Suwanno, the Fasai Band, the Rain Bow, Sathian, Thammue, Earn, The Star, Taktan Chonlada, and Rasi Thanu.

Divers clean coral line at Samaesarn

Giant clams released

Patcharapol Panrak
Personnel from the Naval Special Warfare Group, the Royal Thai Navy SEALs, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources along with volunteer divers and members of the public worked with the Samaesarn Sub-district Administrative Organization on June 2 to clean up the beach and the marine environment of Chong Samaesarn.

Divers ready to submerge into the depths to clean the area of refuse.

Samran Rakchat, deputy director general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department opened the event.
Capt Apakorn Yookongkang, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Group at Sattahip, Prasert Pitakkorn, chairman of the Samesarn Sub-district Administrative Organization, and Bamrungsak Chat-Anantawet, director of conservation of coastal resources at the Marine and Coastal Resources Department in Rayong also took part in the cleanup.
Bamrungsak said that volunteers were diving to collect refuse from the ocean bed and to clean the coral line at the Samaesarn Islands. Giant clams were also released amongst the coral.
Samran said that the eastern coast is an important fishing area, has sea tourism, and is a well-known international diving location. Preservation of the sea resources is therefore vital on several fronts, and a high-profile cleanup such as this helps to educate the public and youngsters in particular how important it is to respect the ocean.

German ambassador bids a fond farewell

Auf wiedersehen, Dr Brümmer

 

Wolfram Reda
German Ambassador to Thailand Dr Christoph Brümmer and his wife Antje welcomed ambassadors of other countries, leading figures in business and society as well as the staff of the German Embassy to their residence on May 27 to mark the end of his period of service in Thailand, and indeed in the diplomatic corps, for Dr Brümmer will now go into retirement.

Well-known pianist and composer Bruce Gaston provides classical entertainment.

In his address, His Excellency Ung Sean, Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand and dean of the diplomatic corps in Bangkok, outlined the career of his distinguished colleague.
Christoph Brümmer had been born in 1943, during World War II. After he had graduated from school and finished military service, he entered university and read Slavonic Studies, American Studies and Eastern European History, and received a PhD.
During his diplomatic career he served in Osaka, Kobe, Washington, Cairo, Tokyo and Moscow, and after his term as German Ambassador to Pakistan came to an end, he became the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bangkok. That was on August 26, 2005.
Dr Brümmer thanked Ung Sean for the cordial words and said how much he had appreciated the spirit of camaraderie among the diplomatic corps in Bangkok. He also thanked the numerous guests for celebrating the farewell with him. Last but not least, Dr Brümmer expressed his gratitude to the staff of the German Embassy for their loyal services.

Ung Sean, Dr Christoph Brümmer, Antje Brümmer and Karl-Heinz Heckhausen pose for a souvenir shot.
Due to the political developments in Thailand, said Dr Brümmer, he had found himself in some unusual situations during his term here. He had traveled through the whole country, where he saw everything from the troop camps at the Burmese border to the mountainous North. The nation’s beauty, strength and its economic boom provide enough reasons for him to return as a tourist. The ambassador regrets not being able to speak Thai.
Dr Brümmer will spend his golden years in Berlin, where many of his friends live. Germany’s capital has more museums and restaurants than any other city in the world, and its three operas are constantly packed. Still, he admitted he would miss Bangkok and the people that he has met.
His successor will be installed in October. Dr Brümmer wouldn’t reveal his name, but he guaranteed that it would be a person with a pleasing personality. In the meantime, Dr Michael Banzhaf, head of the consular department, will direct the embassy.
Pianist Bruce Gaston played Chopin and Beethoven, while the kitchen prepared stout German and Thai cuisine and served fine wine from Southern Germany.
This was not quite the ambassador’s last day in Thailand. On June 10 at the Montien Hotel, Dr Brümmer and his wife were due to be guests of honor at a meeting organized by DSU-Treff, the German-speaking business meeting and the Rotary Club of Phönix Pattaya.

New law comes into effect for women’s marriage title

Mrs or Ms - up to you

Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
A woman now has the right to choose her marriage title, selecting Mrs or Ms as she prefers.
A new marriage law went into effect June 4 concerning a woman’s marriage title and her rights to choose whether she wants it to remain as Ms after her marriage or change it to Mrs.
Married women have full rights to use Ms again by bringing their marriage document, house registration and identity card to city hall or their nearest household registration department. Divorced women can take their divorce papers, house registration and identity card to these locations too for an alteration back to Ms.
Married women can also choose to use their own family name or her husband’s name. The official arranging the marriage will ask women who are getting married whether they want their family name to be printed on the official marriage certificate or their husband’s name.
The law also states that women wanting to change their titles must be aware that they would also have to change their names on their bankbooks, land deeds, passport, and other official documentation.
Banglamung District chief Mongkol Thamakittikhun said that Banglamung is fully ready with the new legislation.