Blocked sidewalk

Dear Editor,
Would it be possible to get some intervention over here in Na-Jomtien? As you can see from the attached photo, the Restaurant (next to Suttangrak) has totally blocked the sidewalk and actually put out cones so people have to walk in the road! I am pretty sure this is a public sidewalk. Maybe the mayor or someone can come here and help out the pedestrians so we can walk safely? Thank you.
Concerned Pedestrian

Tough to walk.

Pitch in on St Patrick’s Day

Editor;
Re: Father Ray Foundation plans St. Patrick’s Day parade (PM Friday, 22 February 2013) - Sure and it will be another great day for the Irish. Fr Ray gave his whole life to the Thai people. Coming from America and born of Irish parents he was told he would be going to Thailand even before he was ordained. (His Mother was known to have said, “And it is him that is the only one of us that likes rice.”)
Arriving here, he spent some time at Sriracha and then to Loei, where he became proficient in the local Lao language. Then he turned up in Pattaya and by chance he started his orphanages.
There could not be a better cause for a parade than to use this sainted day as a fund raiser for his dedication. So dig deep as some of us have short arms and deep pockets.
I lived my early life in Thurles Ireland and I cannot remember seeing a leprechaun or men dressed up in green clothes with ginger beards. Our family went to church and thanked God St Pat sent all the snakes to Pattaya. So even if your name is Wolfgang or Claus and you wouldn’t know a leprechaun from troll doll, join in the fun and give a thought to the poor tykes who but for the Redemptorist movement might be sitting at the kerb with a cup saying “kaw hi tang”.
Sean.

Finally, maybe something happens

Editor;
Re: Disabled, sports enthusiasts loom as next frontiers for Pattaya tourism market (PM Friday, 08 February 2013) - Finally, maybe something happens but I guess it will be some show-off building somewhere and the real problems left where they are today.
As a father with small kids in a baby stroller, I can only imagine the difficulties sitting in a wheelchair, trying to get around in Pattaya. There are hardly any pavements; if there are they are jerky, full of holes, poles, motorbikes, street sellers and stairs, stairs which make it real hard to roll around in the city.
I would be really scared if I was in a wheelchair and wanted to cross a street; no one stops at the pedestrian crossings. There are no buses and hardly any taxis where a disabled can get help with their wheelchair. The baht buses are impossible (extremely dangerous and have nothing to do in the city described in above article).
The Royal Thai Police could for a change start checking driving licenses for the inhabitants and force them to educate themselves on traffic rules so basic rules and considerations will be followed instead of “here I come, I will go first, I do not care about anybody else but me”. The actual racism must stop; farangs have same value as the inhabitants, not lower, not higher. But police stop farangs - who most often have a good education - so they can ticket them for not having international / Thai driving license.
The traffic situation in Pattaya will only be worse and worse if not any real and good education is introduced. In the west it takes months, sometimes years, for people to get their driving license. Here it is about attending to a lecture half a day and then take a drive on a safe course with no traffic. It is a joke.
I have been living in Pattaya for years now and I love the city but above are the things really annoying me.
Tom Beck
 

Government & religion

Editor;
Re: John Nielson’s letter to P.M. 1-15-13 “A church isn’t an individual” - According to J. Nielson, the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religion, so much so that the “government cannot interfere with churches in any fashion.” Mr. Nielson evidently thinks the church is a law unto itself. I don’t give a hoot for that viewpoint. Some taxing authorities are evidently on Mr. Nielson’s side. He wants us to know that the church isn’t an “individual”, so it would have to be subject to business taxes, and businesses are only taxed on profit. By definition of profit by taxing authorities churches don’t make a profit so tax on churches would amount to zero. It seems there is always a way of getting to do what it not right. The tax experts I read about say that churches most certainly are businesses. Their definition of business is an organization that sells services or products. Churches sell hundreds of these, even including indulgences. (Some of these services may be intangible.)
Good tax attorneys say that if churches were taxed it would reduce a person’s personal tax by 50%, finance a national health insurance program, and it would bring in more than a trillion dollars in revenue to local, state and federal governments.
Government has done a great deal for churches; it has nourished and protected the good and the bad.
The U.S. needs financial help. Churches should reciprocate with charity. Business relations between church and state must change. Churches need to be taxed.
And yes, Mr. Nielson, the U.S. is on the verge of having a theocratic democracy. A lot of antiquated morality comes along with that.
Ray Standiford

Blocked sidewalk

Pitch in on St Patrick’s Day

Finally, maybe something happens

Government & religion