|
New Chonburi governor
urges bureaucrats to tackle garbage, other problems
Pramote Channgam
New Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem is urging top officials across
the province to get better organized and set out clear rules and procedures
to tackle the area’s problems.
 New
Chonburi Governor Senee Jittakasem addresses local government administrators
at Pattaya City Hall.
Chairing a May 26 meeting of 99 division chiefs of Chonburi local
administrative organizations at Pattaya City Hall, Senee urged officials to
use a provincial database information system to help draw up operating
procedures to address such problems as waste handling in Pattaya and other
cities.
“We know that Muang District, Sriracha, Banglamung, Pattaya, and Sattahip
still use antiquated (garbage-processing) systems,” he said. “All of these
areas have an increasing amount of garbage proportionate to the population.
We hope all units associated with this to urgently find a solution that
maintains tourists’ good impression of Chonburi.”
Senee further told the bureaucrats to pay closer attention to procedures and
be aware of the issues that concern the public; something especially
important in Chonburi where tourism plays such an important role.
U-Tapao airport upgrade
set to begin next year
Scheduled for completion in 2012
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Work to transform U-Tapao-Pattaya International Airport into a
modern international air hub could begin early next year, after the
government approved a 995 million baht budget to upgrade the Sattahip
facility.
 Rear
Adm. Surapong Aiyasanon, deputy director of the U-Tapao-Pattaya
International Airport, explains the redevelopment plan to Pichet U-thai
Watananon, director of the Pattaya Public Works Department.
Procurement plans for the military-run airport are expected to be submitted
to the government within two months. Once approved, construction will take
approximately 18 months, said Thai Royal Navy officials, who estimated work
would be complete by 2012 at the latest.
Plans call for construction of a 25,200 sq. meter passenger terminal capable
of handling 1,500 passengers per hour, greatly increasing the current
capacity of the existing 4,280 sq. meter facility. New parking facilities,
fuel depot, fire-fighting systems, x-ray machines and improvements to other
equipment and landscaping are also planned.
While upgrades to U-Tapao have been talked about for years, it wasn’t until
yellow-shirted anti-government demonstrators shut down Bangkok’s
Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang international airports in November that the need
for a third modern facility became clear. Because the facility normally
handles only about 30 commercial and military flights a day, thousands of
passengers trying to flee Thailand were subjected to six-hour waits after
landing, check-in lines stretching into the parking lot, insufficient food
and backed up toilets.
“The U-Tapao development plan came from the government, which realizes there
is a need to develop it to be a backup airport in case of an emergency
situation in Bangkok, as well as to drive future tourism,” said airport
Deputy Director Rear Adm. Surapong Aiyasanon following a May 27 planning
meeting with the Pattaya Public Works Department, Department of Civil
Aviation and Thai Airways International.
Surapong said the aviation department along with military engineers will
prepare the procurement plan and submit it to the Airports of Thailand
Public Co. Ltd. board in two months. Officials hope to begin construction in
the second quarter of 2010, he said.
Huay Yai police get drug-sniffing dogs
Tom Coghlan (right) and Sommai
Noensai (2nd left) donate two Labrador Retriever puppies to Huay Yai police.
Pramote Channgam
Police in Huay Yai are hoping to erase the scent of drug dealers
from the Pattaya sub-district by training two recently-donated Labrador
Retriever puppies as drug-sniffing dogs.
Tom Coghlan, managing director of CSP Construction in Huay Yai, and his wife
Sommai Noensai presented the pair of 3-month-old pure-bred females to Huay
Yai Police Station Superintendent Lt.-Col. Prakob Sangpring on May 27.
Coghlan said he purchased the puppies in Bangkok for 15,000 baht each to
help police eradicate drugs from the area.
Prakob said Huay Yai is a center for ya ba and marijuana distribution and
that, at nearly every drug bust, suspects hide the drugs in hard to find
places. Drug-sniffing dogs will change that, he said.
The puppies will be trained as police dogs at the Canine Special Protection
Co., Ltd. in Huay Yai for three months, after which they will be put through
a narcotics identification course. At 10 months old, the dogs will be put
into service, with one posted at Huay Yai Police Station and one remaining
on call at Canine Special Protection.
Storm pipes surface on Jomtien Beach
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Two large black drainage pipes, 50 meters long, recently became
exposed on Jomtien Beach, creating an unsightly mess and attracting
complaints all around.
The city is urgently seeking a budget to put the pipes back underground and
out of sight once again. The pipes are used to drain storm water into the
sea. They’ve become exposed due to heavy rain and waves at high tide.
Storm drainage pipes have
become exposed on Jomtien Beach,
creating an unsightly mess and scaring away tourists.
Residents and tourists on Soi 5 at Pratamnak Beach have
been complaining to the city about the two pipes snaking out into the waves,
upsetting their view.
The spot is a tourist swimming zone full of beach chair operators who agree
that these pipes are not exactly attracting customers to the beach.
Somchai Sapwichai, beach-chair operator, said that these pipes are for water
drainage during heavy rains and they have been there for five to six years.
They are not for wastewater and do not smell bad or contain any refuse.
Some swimmers, especially foreigners, are being informed that they are not
wastewater pipes and that they can continue swimming as usual.
Wirat Jirasripaithun, director of Pattaya’s Technical Sanitation Division,
said that his division has submitted a plan to the city council for an
emergency budget to solve this problem.
It is estimated that within two months the pipes will be back underground
again.
Som tam lovers rejoice: 500,000 crabs released into sea off Bang Saray
Wittaya Kunplome (2nd
right) leads navy officers
and local citizens in the release of half a million crabs.
Patcharapol Panrak
If your plans this week include a swim off Bang Saray Beach, you
might want to watch your feet as the Thai Navy and 10 local
organizations recently released 500,000 baby crabs into the sea there in
an effort to restock a crustacean population crushed by the well-known
Thai hunger for som tam and fish sauce.
During a May 22 ceremony, representatives from the Navy, local
community, teachers and students watched as Wittaya Kunplome, head of
the Chonburi Provincial Administrative Organization, marked the release
of the half-million sea crabs. Bang Saray was chosen as the marine
environment there has become nearly desolate with natural resources and
marine life declining.
The crab population has been especially hard hit and shorter supplies
have led to higher market prices. Officials said releasing new baby
crabs into the environment will not only bring more balance back to
nature but, in an ironic twist of logic, allow more to be caught,
grilled, smashed and consumed.
Wittaya noted that all Chonburi municipalities and administration
organizations have a budget of 1 million baht to devote to coastal
conservation. Returning marine creatures can be an important part of a
city’s conservation program, as it not only benefits the environment,
but the local fishing industry as well as seafood lovers.
Crabs are a key ingredient in many Thai favorites, such as som tam and
salty fish sauce. And, of course, grilled and steamed crabs are
favorites of foreign tourists as well as locals. With an eye toward
preserving this important food stock, local organizations have long
campaigned against the capture of pregnant crabs and the use of baby
crabs for cooking. Others have worked to build underwater “crab condos”
that provide shelter from predators - marine and human - for growing
crustaceans and seen good results.
Duty rise hits smokers
Saksiri Uraiworn
There will be bitterness in the smoke for smokers as the
government is set to increase duty on tobacco to send up the price of
cigarettes.
The Excise Department has moved to amend the law to allow it to charge a
maximum of tobacco duty up to 90% of retail cigarette price.
 Higher
prices may make it easier for smokers to quit for good.
Currently the duty is 80% and the new duty will be 85%, adding 10-13 baht to
the retail cost per pack of local brands and 15-17 baht more for imported
brands.
Well known imported brands will increase to 81 baht while Thai brands such
as Falling Rain, Krongthip and Krungthong cost 45-56 baht. Imported tobacco
such as Marlboro increases 16 baht per packet from 65 to 81 baht.
The state may also be allowed to charge 5% more duty later if it wishes.
Small wholesale cigarette distributor Wara Saetae said that due to the
current economic situation she couldn’t buy many cigarettes in advance
because the price was already too high. Her shop only buys enough tobacco to
sell each week as cigarettes generate little profit.
She sells it as a service to her customers so that she can sell other goods
at the same time. Some customers would leave her shop without looking for
other goods if she didn’t have tobacco to sell to them.
She said that even with the price increase, customers still continue to buy
as usual. But, like her shop, she is concerned that retailers may now order
less at the higher prices, causing possible shortages in the available
wholesale supplies.
Chaichana, a smoker, said that he would probably use this price increase as
an opportunity to stop smoking because he is not able to bear the cost.
Currently he pays 46 baht per packet and if the price increases to nearly 70
baht then he won’t be able to buy them.
In these bad times he has an unstable occupation and a low income and would
certainly have to spend less on tobacco to have something left for his
savings and living expenses.
Piya, a company employee, said that currently he spends 64 baht for tobacco
per pack. If it goes up to nearly 100 baht then he would certainly not buy
it as it means spending 200 baht per day for his two packets.
But he will not quit smoking even if the price increases and will smoke only
one pack a day of a cheaper brand.
New governor restarts
navy-police control
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Proclaiming public safety in Pattaya a priority, new Chonburi Gov. Senee
Jittakasem said joint police and military patrols ended due to insufficient
funding will be resumed.
In a May 26 briefing to Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome and city hall officials,
Senee stressed the importance of Pattaya as a tourist center and said more
work needs to be done to solve environmental and public utility issues and
speed the pace of city-improvement projects. He also urged municipal workers
to be focused, create a good impression and keep the interests of the public
as a whole in mind.
 Chonburi
Gov. Senee Jittakasem (right) has put public safety at the top of his
agenda.
It was the safety and security of tourists and residents, however, which
appeared foremost on the governor’s mind. After a meeting with Itthipol, the
governor said funding for the Military-Police Cooperative Patrol Project
would be restarted with a new budget and several volunteers.
“The city has made an important decision about security and will set up a
committee to strictly monitor the project,” Senee said.
Pattaya has 106,051 registered residents, but 300,000-500,000 unregistered
citizens and about 6.5 million tourists annually, Itthipol said during his
presentation to the new governor. However, he noted, the city received less
than 1.5 billion baht in government funding this year, down more than 12
percent from the year before, and, next year, the budget will be cut another
9.6 percent.
That, Itthiphol said, is hampering the city’s development.
“There is a large demand for urgent development and a larger budget is
required from the state,” the mayor said, noting the city suffered a budget
shortfall this year.
Senee acknowledged that next year’s budget doesn’t accurately account for
the impact of large numbers of tourists, but said the city must work harder
to convince provincial and national budget makers that more funds are needed
not only for residents, but to entice tourists to return after the country’s
many political troubles.
Swine Flu warning sent out to farms
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Chonburi Provincial Livestock Department has advised farmers to
separate other farm animals from poultry and pigs, and to be vigilant for
any sign of Swine Flu.
The authorities have advised farmers to regularly use disinfectants on their
farms as a precaution against the H1N1 virus.
 Rangsan
Rawangsamrong explains Swine Flu precautions.
Chonburi Livestock official Rangsan Rawangsamrong said that Chonburi is on
guard against any sign of the flu.
Pig and poultry farmers are being advised to provide proper sanitation on
their farms, clearly fence off areas, regularly use disinfectants and to
introduce new pigs into the farm by confining them first for observation
before putting them together with other stocks.
“Farmers should have medical check-ups and protect themselves by showering
and wearing protective hats, boots and masks before entering their farms.
Farm vehicles should be sprayed with disinfectants when entering and
exiting,” Rangsan said.
Even though Chonburi has not had any recorded incidents of the influenza
strain, precautions need to be taken, he said.
Buoy marking sunken
mystery containers lost
Fishing boats ordered to stay away
Patcharapol Panrak
Fishing boats have been ordered to keep out of an area off the coast
of Sattahip where eight shipping containers and their unknown contents were
found, but whose exact locations are again unknown because the buoy marking
their resting place was lost.
Navy aircraft have been told to adjust their patrol routes to again locate
the containers, which were first discovered in the early 1990s, but became
front-page news last month when divers near Juang Island, 30 nautical miles
off Sattahip, found a number of human skulls around the containers.
 Navy
vessels search for the missing buoy that once marked the spot where
mysterious sunken shipping containers lay at the bottom of the ocean.
The find sparked wild speculation that the cargo boxes contained everything
from bodies felled in the deadly 1992 Black May uprising in Bangkok to toxic
waste to illegal cargo dumped overboard by shipping companies. Put off by
the high costs of raising the containers and wary of opening the tightly
sealed units for fear they do indeed contain toxic chemicals, the government
was attempting to locate all of the containers and study them while still
submerged.
That effort, however, stalled when the buoy marking the spot around which
the eight containers are widely scattered disappeared.
Assuming the buoy’s line was severed by a fishing trawler, Navy officials
have ordered fishing boats out of the area for fear that a net might
accidentally snag and damage one of the containers, releasing their
potentially dangerous contents into the surrounding waters.
Pornthip Rojanasunan, director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science,
said samples of plants and soil from the seabed around some of the
containers showed no toxic contamination. But because the items inside the
sealed units have not been examined, she refused to confirm or deny the
containers held toxic materials or skeletal remains.
After again locating the containers, the Navy will take exact global
positioning satellite coordinates and launch a new survey of the sunken
cargo boxes.
Pair arrested for drugs,
assault on an officer
Boonlua Chatree
It took nearly 10 months, but Pattaya police last week finally
caught two admitted drug dealers accused of selling ya ba around Jomtien
Beach and assaulting a police officer.
Nopporn Ing-am, who goes by the street name of “Nung Jomtien,” was arrested
by Pol. Lt.-Col. Chanapat Nawalak, deputy Pattaya Police station
superintendent, and a team of investigators for the August 2008 attempted
killing of an officer and on new drugs and weapons charges. Also arrested
shortly after was Noppom’s long-time transvestite partner in crime,
25-year-old Soraya Diloklap.
 Nopporn
Ing-am (left) and his long-time transvestite partner in crime, Soraya
Diloklap (right) are put on display behind the drugs and weapons police
confiscated from them.
At a May 25 press conference, Pol. Col. Theerapol Jindaluang said officers
also recovered 38 ya ba tablets, a 9mm Beretta handgun, ammunition and
holster during Soraya’s arrest at his Soi Nernplabwan home. Both men, he
said, admitted to slinging ya ba for some time.
The investigation into the 29-year-old drug dealer and his ladyboy cohort
dates back to Aug. 3 when a team of investigators working undercover
attempted to purchase ya ba from Nopporn near Soi Chularat off Thepprasit
Road. As police tried to arrest him, Nopporn escaped, assaulting one of the
police in the process. An arrest warrant was issued the next day, but the
pair weren’t found until last week, when police nabbed them at a house next
to Wat Sutthawat.
Both men were charged with possession of a Class 1 narcotic with intent to
distribute while Noppom was additionally charged with possession of a loaded
firearm and assault on a police officer.
Navy ends search
for missing dive instructor
PMTV-Patcharapol Panrak
After an unsuccessful two-week search, authorities have called off
the hunt for missing scuba diving instructor Wiwat Tiranakornkul, who
disappeared with a student in strong currents near Sattahip May 10.
Friends and family marked the death of Wiwat, 35, with seven days of
mourning and a funeral ceremony, with a rock from Rong Kohn Rong Nang
Island, near where he was last seen, as a proxy for the man’s body.
 The
Royal Thai Navy, assisted by local dive operators, searched in vain for the
dive instructor’s body.
Wiwat, of Bangkok’s Dive Evolution, was teaching an advanced diving course
with four students when one, 25-year-old Pote Sawangwongsaree, reportedly
panicked while trying to clear water from his mask. Three students surfaced
while Wiwat went to rescue Pote. The student’s body was found May 13 nearly
50 meters deep on a reef near the popular Hardeep shipwreck. The same day
one of Wiwat’s white dive fins was recovered.
The Royal Thai Navy deployed a plane, search vessel and divers in the
search, which was assisted by local dive operators. But after two weeks, his
body was not found. Wiwat’s relatives even invited a psychic from Trang to
pray for the sea to give up the body.
On May 25, the family conceded and held a funeral ceremony at a Bangkok
temple. After seven days of mourning, the rock from Rong Kohn Rong Nang,
seen as a vessel for the man’s soul, was to be cremated.
Police hunt suspected British drug dealer after Hollywood-style car chase
Boonlua Chatree
Taking a page out of a Hollywood script, a suspected British drug
dealer crashed through two police cars and led authorities on a chase
through South Pattaya that resulted in his escape, but the arrest of two
female acquaintances and the seizure of cocaine, marijuana and ya ice from
his home.
Troy Curtis, 56, is suspected by police to be hiding out with other drug
dealers after feeling from a police sting operation shortly after midnight
May 23. Two bar girls accompanying him, Wanpen Teenon, 41, and Anong
Sumdangdet, 29, were arrested at the scene of the arranged drug buy in the
parking lot of a South Pattaya pub.
Pol. Col. Theerapol Jindaluang, the deputy commander for Chonburi Provincial
Police, and three other officers had arranged for Curtis to deliver drugs to
a foreign “customer” outside the 93 Pub in South Pattaya. Curtis, however,
spotted the setup, ran back to his black Toyota Hilux Vigo Prerunner truck
and smashed through several police cars to escape.
Police pursued through small side streets off Sukhumvit Road with Curtis
again crashing into another police car near Sukhumvit Soi 71. With his truck
now too damaged to continue, police said, Curtis jumped out of the vehicle
at a railroad crossing near Soi Wat Thamsamakkee and made a successful
getaway into the bushes.
Wanpen and Anong, riding with Curtis, said they’d simply worked at South
Pattaya bar and did not know he was a drug dealer. They added, however,
they’d often seen Curtis do cocaine in their presence. Incredulous, police
took both into custody for further investigation.
Searching his home, police found 2 grams of ya ice, 17 grams of cocaine,
some dry marijuana, as well as various drug paraphernalia. They also found
several bankbooks detailing transactions of several hundred thousand baht
and his passport. Everything, including a locked safe, was confiscated as
evidence.
An arrest warrant on charges of possession, with intent to distribute,
classes 1, 2 and 5 narcotics has been issued for Curtis, who, Theerapol
said, had been under investigation for some time.
80-year-old grandmother arrested for heading marijuana-dealing ring
Boonlua Chatree
Pattaya police last week arrested an 80-year-old grandmother as the
unlikely ringleader of a marijuana-sales operation that has been operating
for some time out of an unmarked grocery store in Pattaya’s Nong Yai
neighborhood.
 80-year-old
granny Muan Bunman has been remanded to custody for allegedly running a
marijuana selling drug ring.
Muan Bunman and eight others were arrested and more than 2 kg. of dried
marijuana seized, including about 100 ganja-filled plastic bags packaged for
sale.
Muan told police she’d been jailed for selling drugs previously, but had
been back on the streets for about two years. One of those arrested in the
raid, 22-year-old Song Pingwong, purchased the grass for her in the Huay Yai
sub-district for 14,000 baht per kilogram, she said.
Pol. Maj. Kamol Taweesri said Banglamung police had been planning a sting
operation targeting the elderly woman for some time. Investigators had been
using a police informant to make repeated marijuana buys from her for a
while to earn her trust.
On May 27, officers laid the trap, having the informant use a marked
100-baht bill to purchase two bags of weed from Song outside the unmarked
Soi Golf Course shop where Muan’s gang got high and sold grass. Once the
sale was complete, police immediately arrested Song and raided the building.
There they arrested Saichon Dangyam, 32, Apichai Wong-in, 30, Komon Bunman,
56, Narongwit Anuchit, 30, Bandit Tongtab, 30, Sanya Noonoi, and Kung
Pingwong, 47. All were under the influence of drugs.
The police then searched the house and found 2 kg. of dried marijuana and
more than 100 packed plastic bags and various paraphernalia, all of which
was taken back to Banglamung Police Station as evidence.
Mrs. Muan was charged with the possession and sale of a Class 5 narcotic and
her network will be further investigated.
Swedish Admiral visits Royal Thai Marine Corps in Sattahip
Patcharapol Panrak
Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Swedish Navy, Rear-Admiral Anders Lennart
Grenstad visited Vice-Admiral Suwit Thararoop, Commander-in-Chief of the
Royal Thai Marine Corps on May 21.
 Commander-in-Chief
of the Royal Swedish Navy, Rear-Admiral Anders Lennart Grenstad (left)
visits Vice-Admiral Suwit Thararoop, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai
Marine Corps.
Vice-Admiral Suwit and Thai senior officers welcomed the Swedish military
team on an official visit to the Royal Thai Navy. The visitors then laid a
wreath at the Royal Thai Marine Corps Monument in Sattahip to the salute of
a military guard of honor.
Both groups later met for discussions on various topics including the
situation in the three southern provinces. The separatist bombings there and
support being provided by the Thai Navy to residents living under its
jurisdiction was also discussed.
Thai-Swedish relations date back to 1868 when both countries signed the
first Treaty for Relations, Commerce and Navigation.
His Majesty King Carl Gustav XVI reigns over the Nordic country on the
Scandinavian Peninsula that borders Norway to the west, Finland to the
northeast and is connected to Denmark via the Öresund Bridge in the south.
Sweden has an area of 486,601 square kilometers and 8.9 million inhabitants
including a small group of approximately 15,000 indigenous people. Swedish
is the official language and 80% of the population is Christian from of the
Lutheran State Church.
Shoppers donate blood
Blood donors make their
donations at Mike Shopping Mall.
Saksiri Uraiworn
Mike Shopping Mall cooperated with the Thai Red Cross to receive
blood donations from shoppers on May 21, a charity project it organizes
every year.
The Red Cross from Queen Savang Vadhana Memorial Hospital organized the
blood donations at the mall.
Surat Mekawarakul, chief executive of the mall, Santana Mekawarakul,
president of Mike Group Co., Ltd., members of Banglamung Red Cross, and
staff from the hospital were on hand to receive the blood donors.
Surat said that this was the 17th year the mall has received blood donations
for the Red Cross, participated in by many donors who see it as making-merit
for deceased relatives.
“Donated blood will be stored at the Thai Red Cross blood bank ready to be
used by hospitals for their patients. All services can contact the blood
bank for such needs,” Surat said.
As in previous years many donors were ready to generously give their blood,
filling 147 blood bottles of 300cc each for a total of 44,100cc.
|
