Vimolrat Singnikorn

HRH Princess Bajarakitiyabha will lead a July 6 ceremony and parade along Beach Road as part of her campaign to protect women against violence.

Chonburi Gov. Senee Jittakasem and Col. Tacharak Chanachai, senior chamberlain for the Royal Household Bureau joined police and military officers June 8 at Pattaya City Hall to organize the United Nations-sponsored event. About 10,000 whistles, t-shirts and stickers with the project’s logo were prepared to distribute next month.

The event is part of UNICEF’s “Say No to Violence Against Women” campaign. HRH Princess Bajarakitiyabha, who has been working on similar projects at the Pattaya Prosecutor’s Office for two years, is Thailand’s honorary chairwoman.

Other sponsors to the women’s protection effort include transvestite cabarets Tiffany Show Pattaya and Alcazar Show. They will be just two of 88 groups taking part in the July 6 parade that will run from Soi 4 to Chaimongkol Temple. About 5,000 people are expected to view the procession.

Pattaya police volunteers beat teenager over loud motorbike

Boonlua Chatree

A group of Pattaya Police Volunteers handcuffed and beat a teenager because his motorbike was too loud.

Pattaya Police investigator Lt. Col. Rerngvit Rakchart (right) apologizes for the incident and later called in the volunteers to remind them of the limits

Arun Saeju, 17, complained to police that he was stopped at the intersection of Third and South roads June 3 when he was approached by the group of volunteers who took his motorbike key, beat him and then handcuffed him. Corp. Ekachai Sripop, on duty at the time, did not deny the charges, saying he’d taken the key, but was unaware his volunteer assistants hand handcuffed and brutalized the young man.

Ekachai said his group had waved over Arun as he drove home from his job at the South Pattaya M.K. restaurant because the bike had been modified to be extra loud. The teen admitted he did not stop immediately, but instead pulled up at the red light at the corner.

Pattaya Police investigator Lt. Col. Rerngvit Rakchart apologized for the incident and called in volunteers to remind them of the limits of their powers and that they were only non-professional assistants.

Stuntman, special effects technician injured in Banglamung house explosion

Investigators inspect the wreckage after a bomb, allegedly part of a movie special affects specialist’s stash, destroyed his house, injuring four.

Boonlua Chatree

A stuntman, a movie special effects specialist and two children were injured when pyrotechnics kept in a Banglamung home exploded, all but destroying the house.

Police were called to the Mosque Nulunyakin Community 2 off Soi Nernplabwan around 2 p.m. June 6 along with a forensics unit and Royal Thai Navy bomb squad. Inside the badly damaged house were Watcharapol Sukthongsa, 35, his 9-year-old daughter, and stuntman Kittipat Palee, 48, and his daughter, 12.

Neighbor Chalerm Kamalee said she was talking in her house when she heard several loud explosions that caused her to fear for her own life. When the smoke cleared, she went to investigate.

Navy Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Songkrod Maneeruang said bomb experts found explosive material for a low-yield bomb, but that the main cause of the destruction was likely to be a larger explosive. Investigators will interview the injured film workers to determine if their special effects turned out to be a little too real.

Diver credits ghost in discovery of suicide victim’s body

Patcharapol Panrak

After searching two hours for the body of a woman who committed suicide in a Sattahip lake, a spooked rescue diver who believes he had help from beyond finally stumbled over the corpse while exiting the water.

Arocha left her motorbike and sandals at the edge of the pond, along with a suicide note asking someone to retrieve her body from below the nearby fishing pontoon.

Arocha Thainonwitchota of the Sawang Rojanathamsathan Foundation said he and fellow divers had called off the search for 48-year-old Ratree Wongyat June 1 when he felt a tug on his leg as he climbed out of the pond. Reaching down, he found Ratree’s arm. Already jumpy after searching for her body in murky water for two hours, Arocha said he was sure the dead woman had pulled his leg and wasted no time pulling the legs of bystanders with yet another Thai ghost story.

Police and divers were called to the Tasanapirom public pond at the Royal Thai Marine Corps Command in Sattahip after a report from Sub. Lt. Anupong Wongyat, 51, that his wife had drowned herself.

He said his wife long had been depressed and, after an argument the night before, she said she wanted to kill herself. Having heard the threat many times before, Anupong said he dismissed it until she failed to return the morning of June 1 after taking their child to school.

Anupong found her blue motorbike and sandals at the edge of the 5 m. deep pond, along with a suicide note asking someone to retrieve her body from below the nearby fishing pontoon.

Rescuers didn’t find the body below the pontoon and searched the lake for two hours before deciding to wait and let the body float to the surface. Apparently it had already begun to rise, as Arocha bumped into it while exiting the pond.

Drunken Aussie fires gun into uncle’s hotel room door

Boonlua Chatree

A 21-year-old Australian man is behind bars after shooting a handgun into the door of his uncle’s north Pattaya hotel room while in a drunken rage.

Talaat Majed Hawatt is captured on hotel footage shooting into his uncle’s hotel room door.

Talaat Majed Hawatt was arrested around 3 a.m. June 6 at the Pattaya Empress Hotel on Soi 1 near Second Road. He was still holding the World War I-vintage Mauser .25-caliber pistol that a hotel security camera captured him shooting twice into the third floor room of uncle Rodney Hawatt’s room.

Hawatt, 45, said he did not know why his nephew had shot his door, although he admitted they had quarreled earlier that night. Both Hawatt’s were taken to Pattaya Police Station for further questioning. The shooter was charged with illegal firearms possession and illegally discharging a gun in public.

Lt. Col. Kritsakorn Thong-In said the suspect got into a fight with his uncle because he was drunk and could not control his anger. The gun, he believes, was purchased from an unknown Thai dealer.

Fake bomb found outside Tourist Police Station

Theerarak Suthathiwong

Pattaya Tourist Police officers are looking for those responsible for leaving a fake bomb outside their Pratamnak Road headquarters.

The Royal Thai Navy’s bomb squad inspects the suspicious decoy.

Police found a black box with protruding wires and wrapped in tape in the parking lot June 6. After initially dousing the device with water, police officers inspected the box to find only eight dry batteries connected to a small speaker with electrical wire. There was no explosive.

To be sure there was no danger, however, officers contacted the Royal Thai Navy bomb squad to verify their findings.

Col. Arun Prompan said the fake device was likely planted to create a panic and investigators plan to track down the perpetrators.

Map Ta Put environmental panel expects to complete fact-finding within 2 weeks

Theerarak Suthathiwong

The four-party committee charged with overseeing and recommending solutions to the environmental problems that prompted the court-ordered suspension of 67 investment projects in Rayong’s Map Ta Put industrial zone is expected to complete the fact-finding phase of its mission within two weeks.

Former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun is heading a fact-finding panel looking into the environmental problems that prompted the court-ordered suspension of 67 investment projects in Rayong’s Map Ta Put industrial zone.

Former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, chairman of the panel comprised of public officials, residents, community leaders and business interests, reviewed progress on action being taken to resolve the area’s environmental woes at a June 5 meeting in the factory district.

The committee has been working since early this year and, based on its recommendations, the ministries of Energy, and Natural Resources and Environment have already issued regulations to minimize the causes of pollution that prompted the lawsuit that has sparked worry among foreign investors and outrage from Thais who lost their jobs due to the shutdowns.

Anand said the next step is to establish a permanent, independent body to monitor the situation and explore ways to alleviate the impact of industrial pollution in the future. A temporary agency comprised of six members of the private sector and six from education was set up in May and is awaiting endorsement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Approval of the permanent organization is expected in about six weeks, Anand added.

The former premier noted that while halting construction and operation of various industrial projects has dealt a temporary blow to the region and its economy, there are many measures available to promote Map Ta Put investment in the future. However, Anand said, approval of future projects will have to meet three key criteria.

First, in its final report, the committee will make clear the kinds of industries it feels will pose severe hazards to the environment, natural resources and public health. Such projects will have to undergo an entirely new evaluation process prior to approval. The subcommittee drafting the new vetting process is expected to make its report this month.

Second, efforts to need to be made to reduce existing air and water pollution and cut waste. Anand noted, however, that such problems are not restricted to Map Ta Put, but are prevalent around the country. The public will be expected to step up its role in preserving the environment once oversight committees are disbanded, he said.

Lastly, Anand said, a proper city plan is needed for the Map Ta Put area. Both the government and local organizations will need to take part in drafting zoning regulations that protect both public health and business interests.

Completion of the committee’s work as well as development of zoning plans, pollution control measures and other necessary measures still need to receive budgetary support form the national government, Anand noted.