A few words for Wayne

Editor,

Wayne Tischbern was just one Hell of a nice guy. We met through a mutual friend at Northrop Aircraft and he was always ready, willing and able to advise me during any of my Thai excursions.

Wayne was an Artist and ran the Graphics Department. It came under budget cuts and he had to layoff some people. One of them wanted out of Aerospace and “volunteered”, figuring to interview while on unemployment. This suited Wayne as he wouldn’t have to get rid of anyone who didn’t want to leave. But the world sucks and politics are everywhere. Someone “ratted” to Personnel and the guy was denied unemployment. Wayne fought long and hard but it was no use. It became a well-circulated story in the company as nobody in management ever went out on a limb for a grunt. But Wayne did - in rather memorable verse, which echoed throughout Corporate’s Ivory Halls. A short time later came the “suggestion” from on high for him to represent Northrop in Saudi Arabia.

His was a demeanor that rarely changed. Sitting and laid back in his chair at Nacho Noi’s, he advised me throughout my 1st trip to Pattaya. Wayne’s picture would be in the dictionary if only “mellow” were a noun.

Except that ONE time.

That 1st trip in ’83, I approached him with a heavy heart, asking his advice after my “honey” told me she was pregnant. Those almost always half-lidded eyes snapped open as he sat straight up while thrusting his finger across the table and snarling, “She’s LYING! Don’t you fall for it, Kenny!”

Where will the newly arrived naivet้’s go for enlightenment now?

Ken “SpriteKing” Clayton

Redondo Beach, CA 90277

PS - Ian, Steve or any of Wayne’s golfing buddies, PLEASE eMail me with an explanation of what happened! I’m sure you must have a damn good idea even if the Mail doesn’t want to speculate. [email protected].

PPS - I’d sent Wayne a proposal I wrote to USAID in Laos-do you know if he got a chuckle out of it?

More mangy dogs

Editor,

I wish to make a complaint about the stray dogs that litter Pattaya. It is getting just as bad a Bali and it is making me think twice about coming to Thailand again.

I am a regular visitor to Pattaya - on my recent trip I was bitten by a mangy dog and had to have rabies’ injections costing me nearly 2000 bt. The thought did cross my mind that it might be a setup or another way of getting tourist dollars, training dogs to bite tourists; just a thought.

I also saw on a couple of occasions children bitten or snapped at by mangy dogs that litter the back streets and beaches. What is the reason for all these vile, smelly, near deceased dogs? If the Tourist Authority doesn’t do anything about it, they are going to find that there will be a reduced number of visitors to their shores in future, including yours truly.

In Australia we must have a dog license to own a dog and the dog or cat has to be micro-chipped, so perhaps the government could take a leaf out of our book and introduce something on those lines.

Just a thought. Hope something is done by my next visit.

Sawadee,
Anthony Conibeer

Seeking enlightenment

Dear Editor,

I am not writing to express an opinion but merely seeking some enlightenment, perhaps from some of the ex and current servicemen who appear to be Pattaya Mail readers, on two issues currently to the fore in the news. How does one reconcile the policy of keeping ethnic Albanians apart from Serbs in Kosovo, in doing so keeping many from their homes - with allowing Protestants to march through a Catholic neighbourhood in Northern Ireland in what can only be described as a ritual celebrating an ancient battle victory?

Yours sincerely,
T. Crossley (perplexed)

More on beach trash and dog problems

Dear Editor

A while ago, one of your readers was writing about beach trash and dog problems in Jomtien. We live in Naklua and share more or less the same point of view. We are sorry to see tourists throwing their trash (bottles!) anywhere, we are not too sure that their Thai guests are showing a good example. There is a lot to do in educating all these people. Meanwhile giving fines for littering as in Singapore could be efficient.

Concerning stray dogs, the problem is serious. Serious because there are far too many dogs and serious because we don’t want them too suffer. We can’t help feeding some of them on the beach. They become friendly, watching us with their good eyes seeking for protection but they have more and more puppies as none of them are operated on or castrated.

Policemen shoot some of them on the beach once in awhile. That’s how we lost some dogs that could have been adopted. We heard also of the Issarn butchers where dogs are ripped off neatly for their skins. This is the worst; our friends from Germany and New Zealand were horrified.

As your reader said, dog owners have to be educated (use of a dog collar with a tag). Then, there should be an association to take care of stray dogs and to restrict their numbers.

We are sure that fund raising is possible among tourists, expats and dog owners.

International Vet. Organization could help efficiently. If this ‘Stray Dogs Association’ is well managed - no corruption, no dying rooms without food or water, no slaughtering by a dogcatcher or others - this could become an example for other cities. Some local vets we talked to feel concerned about the situation and they could supervise such an association. It won’t be perfect right away but if nothing gets started it will only become worse. Shooting or ‘ripping them off’ are no solutions and obviously not what we need to market this place.

K Marshall and all the Family

Hassle free in Penang

Editor;

I have just returned from a visa trip to Penang and there is a pub and hotel worth mentioning...

The pub is called the Co-Co Island Travelers Corner and is located right in the heart of Chulia Street. It is Carlsberg sponsored and has beer drinking competitions and all the usual fun and games. Good food and good prices, i.e., buy 4 beers and get the 5th one free, etc. The same owner has a hotel, albeit not seen by myself, but he assures me it is good, clean and hassle free. The guy’s name is Peter and he can be contacted by email at [email protected]. From what I saw and enjoyed I can honestly recommend this guy’s places. A significant point I noticed was the large number of solo Western women who were not hassled. That alone must be worth a mention.

Cheers,
Paul D.

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