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Pattaya donates 650,000 baht to 13 area temples
Pattaya
City provided 650,000 baht to support 13 temples in the area.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya officials handed out 650,000 baht, 50,000 baht
each to 13 area places of worship for construction, maintenance and other
essential projects.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome presented the award to religious
leaders at a Sept. 2 ceremony.
“Religion is a sacred belief of the entire nation that
allows us to live in peace with moral principles under the same standards of
high respect for the different faiths, texts, followers, symbols and
ceremonies,” Itthiphol said. “This money for religious maintenance is an
important benefit for Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, Brahman-Hindus and
Sikhs.”
Among the recipients was Budhi Wararam Temple, which
plans to use the funds for road repairs and repainting of the temple
monastery. Chonglom Naklua Temple plans to repair its monastery while
Sawangfa Prutharam Temple will build an abbot’s house and Nong Yai Temple
will renovate its restrooms. The other recipients have yet to announce for
what improvements they will use the funds.
Pattaya ups rent at Naklua Market to offset deadbeats, vendors complain
City Hall addresses the gathering of
irate Naklua market vendors.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Vendors at the New Naklua Market are outraged over an
unannounced rent increase and demand for key money.
More than 100 vendors converged on Pattaya City Hall Aug.
27, demanding to know why the city had changed the terms of the three-year
lease they had agreed to when the market opened.
New terms call for 400 baht a month rent and payment of
1,000 baht “key money,” or non-refundable deposit. While laughably low by
Pattaya retail standards, the rent increases caused hardships for many
vendors, group representative Supitchaya Limsriworakan claimed.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay admitted the city had
unilaterally changed the lease terms, saying it had no choice after many
sellers set up shop in the new market without permission while others simply
didn’t pay their fees. Meanwhile, he said, legitimate paying vendors were
locked out due to a lack of space.
He said disgruntled merchants were welcome to put their
complaints in writing and they would be passed on to the mayor’s office.
Tree planting continues on Koh Larn
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya officials continued efforts to reforest a 300-rai
section of Koh Larn by planting an additional 5,430 trees Aug. 26.
Mayor
Itthiphol Kunplome (left) plants Burmese rosewoods with Dujduan
Ruangwettiwong, head of the Dance Studio Pattaya.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome presided over the latest effort,
this time with employees of the Provincial Electric Authority, Sriracha
Office of Conservation, Chonburi Forest Management Bureau and Office of
Natural Resources and the Environment, and Royal Thai Navy getting their
hands dirty.
“Pattaya City has always realized the importance of
permanent reforestation,” Itthiphol said. He added the project was created
to honor HM the Queen, an advocate for conservation, and HM the King.
It was the second large tree planting by the city in
August. The first came Aug. 2 in a Mother’s Day ceremony. The project began
last year on Mother’s Day with the initial planting of 5,000 of the 19,500
planned trees to be added behind Wat Mai Samrai-in Samae Beach, along the
road connecting Tawan and Tian beaches, and the road from Nual Beach to
Samae Beach.
Trees planted this time included neem, rosa floribunda,
Burmese rosewoods, Golden Shower, and Moulmein lancewoods.
Rayong residents plant 40,000 trees
Hundreds
of Rayong residents turn up to plant trees
in honor of Their Majesties the King and Queen.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Rayong residents kicked off their part of a drive to
plant one million new plants to reforest Thailand and honor Their Majesties
the King and Queen.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop led the
planting of the first 40,000 trees Aug. 21 at the Chawae Plantation
Community in Nongbua. The campaign is being jointly sponsored by the
Ministry of Energy and PTT Public Co. Ltd. with a goal of planting a million
new trees across the country.
PTT President and CEO Prasert Bunsampun said the energy
conglomerate has been sponsoring the “Green Rayong Project” since last year
and has already helped plant trees on 2,000 rai in the Bankai, Plukdang and
Wangchan districts.
Last month’s planting was marred by rains that made it
difficult for volunteers to reach the site, but many Rayong residents still
turned out to beautify their neighborhood.
Ban Amphur beachfront spoiled by illegal sewage dumping from nearby market
Local resident Chai Taweesinbunyakorn, 71,
points to where merchants at the Ban Amphur Market are illegally
releasing sewage and garbage into the sea, polluting the beach and
disrupting local restaurants.
Patcharapol Panrak
Residents and business owners in Sattahip’s Ban
Amphur community are complaining that merchants at the Ban Amphur Market
are illegally releasing sewage and garbage into the sea, polluting the
beach and disrupting local restaurants.
The beachfront near the popular Toi and Preecha
seafood restaurants was closed Sept. 6 with the area reeking of sewage
and a dark, oily substance staining the sand. Nearby, wastewater was
flowing out of a storm-runoff pipe that runs from the market to the
ocean.
Local resident Chai Taweesinbunyakorn, 71, said he
had complained to Najomtien sub-district officials, but to date, they
had done nothing.
Chai claimed market vendors have been illegally
dumping sewage, garbage, oil and other pollutants for some time without
repercussions. But the damage to the beach is obvious, as was the impact
on tourism and local businesses. No one wants to eat seafood when the
area stinks of refuse.
The complaint supposedly is before sub-district
president Piyasit Makmee. Only time will tell if local officials take
action to remedy an obvious environmental problem.
Red shirts rally in Pattaya
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Bowed, but not broken, up to a thousand supporters of the
anti-government “red shirt” movement gathered in Pattaya to gain
encouragement from fugitive, self-exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra and MP
Jatuporn Prompan.
MP
Jatuporn Prompan, out on bail after being indicted on terrorism charges for
leading the red shirts’ riots in Bangkok in May, addresses the gathering in
Pattaya.
The Sept. 4 United Front for Democracy Against
Dictatorship rally in a field off Soi Khao Noi snarled traffic on Sukhumvit
Road for hours, but caused no other problems.
The evening events featured music alternating with
rousing speeches from Col. Apiwan Wiriyachai, the Puea Thai Party MP who
serves as vice president of the House of Representatives, and Jatuporn, who
is free on bail after being indicted on terrorism charges for leading the
red shirts’ riots in Bangkok in May.
The highlight of the evening for those attending was a
call-in from deposed Prime Minister Thaksin. The red shirt leader reassured
his followers that his recent silence meant nothing more than he was trying
to maintain peace in Thailand.
“I am not dead. I kept silent because I wanted to see the
nation in harmony,” Thaksin said.
Thaksin claimed the only reason he has not returned to
Thailand is because it would be disruptive to society. He blamed the riots
on the government’s attempts to catch him.
“Trying to catch one mouse resulted in the burning of the
country, even through the mouse was not burned, it still continues.”
He pledged he’d continue to support the red shirt
movement from his self-exile and that he has given directions to Puea Thai
leaders.
“If Puea Thai gains the trust of the people, then it will
use my ideas to help people have better lives, income, and no debt,” he
said. “I thank all of the red shirts for their struggles up to now. If I
have an opportunity to go back, I will certainly pay back my obligations to
all united brothers and sisters.”
Apiwan brought the evening to a close, telling the red
shirts to be suspicious of this week’s revelations that Thaksin may have
been working with jailed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to bring illegal
weapons to Thailand last year. He also urged supporters to lay flowers
outside prisons around the country where red shirt rioters and leaders are
being held to pressure the government to release them.
Sattahip-based navy ships join Somali pirate-hunting effort
Royal
Thai Marines are drilled on how to handle piracy situations at sea.
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy has joined the international efforts
to combat piracy off Somalia, sending two ships from Sattahip Naval Base on
a 98-day patrol mission.
The warship Pattani and supply vessel Similan left for
the Gulf of Aden Sept. 10 where they will join the multinational patrol
effort off the Somali coast. Operations may extend as far as the Seychelles
Islands, about 700 miles southwest of Somalia.
Rear Adm. Chaiyot Sunthornnak, commander of Frigate
Squadron 2, said Thailand is just one of many nations that have suffered due
to the hijacking of cargo ships by Somali pirates. Both Thai ships and
government property have been affected, he said.
Fleet commander Adm. Supakorn Buranadilok said the sea
lanes from the Arabian Sea through the Red Sea into the Suez Canal are used
for shipping to and from Thailand. As such, they need to be protected, he
said.
The two Thai ships are manned by Royal Thai Marines and
Navy officers from the Sattahip-based ordnance, aviation, medical and naval
battle departments.
Somali pirates hold merchant vessels and sailors
demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms for their release. Most of the gangs
are based in northern Somalia’s Puntland region. The latest two cargo ships
released came Sept. 9.
Two grenades found near Naklua school
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Police are searching for two teenagers who may have
dropped two grenades outside a Naklua school.
Police
evacuated the area after a villager found these two hand grenades near a
Naklua school.
A witness reported that the teens, dressed in vocational
school uniform, appeared to drop something out of a bag as they sped away on
Sukhumvit Pattaya 27 Sept. 6. The witnessed picked up the parcels, wrapped
in newspaper, then hurriedly set them down after realizing they were bombs.
Investigators speculate the owners of the bombs, one of
which was said to be an M61 grenade, likely had plans to cause unrest
somewhere. Unlike three other grenades found in Bangkok last week, the two
in Naklua did not have timers attached.
Police dispatched to the scene quickly placed tires
around the grenades to shield any explosion and cleared out cars parked
nearby, students and parents. No one was injured.
Cartoon drug dealer busted in late-night police drama
Boonlua Chatree
A well-known South Pattaya drug dealer was arrested for
the fourth time, admitting he chose to sell on the street because he earned
more that way.
“Toon
Japan” and a clueless customer are paraded before the media after both were
busted for ya ba, the former for dealing.
Covered in flower tattoos, 24-year-old Santichai “Toon
Japan” Sonjaidee was taken into custody after midnight Sept. 2 by a team of
Pattaya Tourist Police on a side street linking Walking Street and Sunee
Plaza. He set up shop there most nights, freely selling individual ya ba
tablets to tourists and bar girls at 250-500 baht a piece, officers said.
Undercover officers with a marked 500-baht note made a
quick purchase from Santichai, then locked him up without much protest.
Officers also netted a clueless customer, 36-year-old Nongnooch Pandee, who
wandered up to the dealer for a fix even as cops were busting him. She was
booked for consumption after flunking a urine test.
The good-natured Toon freely admitted he’d been dealing
drugs since dropping out of school in third grade and that he’d been
arrested three times already. He admitted he’d probably stood a better
chance of remaining a free man had he sold methamphetamines wholesale to
other dealers, but said he got more money in the tourist-retail trade. By
now, he said, he and his cartoon moniker were well known.
He’ll have to see if he enjoys the same celebrity in
prison, as Tourist Police hauled him away to face another round of charges.
Smokey pulls over bandit trucker on drug-dealing charges
Patcharapol Panrak
A Huay Yai truck driver has been arrested for allegedly
selling uppers to sleepy truckers and bus drivers.
Chamnan
Chom-Ngern has been arrested for selling ya ba to truck and bus drivers.
Sattahip District Chief and Sattahip Naval Station
narcotics officers locked up 54-year-old Chamnan Chom-Ngern in a Sept. 2
undercover buy operations. Officers set up a meeting to purchase 50
methamphetamine tablets on Soi Jomtien 17, opposite the Ambassador City
Hotel, then cuffed him when he took the 10,000 baht in marked notes.
Also arrested were 28-year-old Wandee Charoenklang and
her 16-year-old daughter who were waiting in the truck’s cab and charged
them as accomplices.
Chom-Ngern confessed he’d long made a living selling ya
ba to long-haul truckers and bus drivers.
Rayong residents shake off the rust
Theerarak Suthathiwong
A Chinese company that allegedly was storing iron oxide
illegally in a Rayong warehouse has contracted a cargo ship to remove the
rust after complaints from nearby residents.
Residents finally complained enough to inspire the owner of this illegally
stored iron oxide to remove the offending material.
Residents in Taphong complained to authorities about
noxious odors coming from the CK Plas-Tec Co. warehouse Sept. 6. Upon
inspection, factory control chief Adisak Uraken ordered the facility closed
after it was determined CK Plas-Tec only had permits for plastic smelting at
the site.
Residents said a Chinese businessman had rented the
warehouse and stored the rust powder, which created a foul odor and stung
the eyes of nearby residents. After neighbors complained, the foreigner
allegedly boasted he was connected to high-ranking Industry Ministry and
police officials, and refused to remove the powder.
The owner of the iron oxide could not be reached for
comment.
Public pressure, however, may have forced a change of
heart, as the exporter was said to have hired a cargo ship to take the rust
back to China.
Laotian man high
on meth threatens suicide
Boonlua Chatree
A Laotian man high on methamphetamines created a stir in
South Pattaya as he wandered into traffic, threatening to slit his own
throat.
High on
methamphetamines, Vatthana Keola threatens to slit his own throat.
Police discovered Vatthana Keola on South Road near
Sukhumvit Road after noon Sept. 6. In one hand held a long-handled knife to
his throat. In the other was a pair of sharp wire cutters. The man was
rambling about someone supposedly wanting to hurt him, so he threatened to
kill himself to prevent that.
Officers blocked off traffic as they tried to get the
Laotian to calm down. After about 30 minutes, the migrant had officers call
his parents. At that point, they arrested him.
Drug tests showed Vatthana was under the influence of a large amount of
ya ba. He was charged with illegal consumption of a Class 1 narcotic.
Fire erupts at Sriracha oil storage tank
It took
firefighters 30 minutes to extinguish this fire
at a Thai Oil Refinery facility in Sriracha.
Theerarak Suthathiwong
Firefighters took 30 minutes to extinguish a fire at a
Thai Oil Refinery facility in Sriracha. No one was injured.
The blaze broke out around 8:30 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Thai
Lube Base Co. storage facility in the Thungshikla District. The fire
occurred far from any homes and no fumes or smoke affected residents.
Royal foundation, Navy, Red Cross aid 300 Pathum Thani flood victims
HRH
Princess Soamsawalee’s secretary, Somthawin Yangyoo (left),
oversees the loading of relief bags destined for flood victims in Pathum
Thani.
Patcharapol Panrak
HRH Princess Soamsawalee’s Princess Pa Foundation helped
deliver first aid supplies and food to more than 300 victims of flooding in
Pathum Thani.
The Princess’s secretary, Somthawin Yangyoo, oversaw the
loading of the relief bags at the Royal Thai Naval Air Division 2 Sept. 6.
Contributing to the effort was the Thai Red Cross.
Aid was destined for victims on the Rin Thong Village,
which saw their homes devastated by two meters of water from heavy rains.
The Princess Pa Foundation was begun in 1995 to help close the gap
between victims’ needs and support from existing charity organizations.
Pattaya officials consider reviving failed Naklua Walking Street
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Pattaya officials are considering reviving the failed
Naklua Old Town project, promising to fix the things that led to the walking
street’s failure in January.
Deputy
Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon discusses reviving the failed Naklua Old Town
project with city officials.
Deputy Mayor Wattana Chantanawaranon and Pattaya City
Council members met Sept. 1 to discuss the idea, agreeing that if the market
is revived, vendors will have to adhere better to rules, dress more
traditionally and wrap items in old-style banana leaves, not plastic bags.
A pet project of Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome, “Naklua Old
Town” was supposed to harken back to the fishing village’s early years,
offering locally made goods and an old-time atmosphere. But it quickly
devolved into the typical Thai street market with the same products sold in
the same manner as everywhere else.
In January, officials acknowledged the walking street was
never organized well enough and that local residents complained bitterly
about the weekend traffic that clogged Pattaya-Naklua Road.
If revived, the Old Town would be born again weekends
from Nov. 6 to Feb. 27.
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