Pattaya Mail — News

Wonder boy back on his feet

A-Lieng, the 14 month old boy from Pattaya who was the only person to survive the recent plane crash in Phnom Penh, recovered from his minor injuries and is now as well as any other kid his age. Father Sia Piak (owner of Piak Car Care on Siam Country Club Road) has also recovered from his shock.

"We all feel OK now," says Piak, "but I will always carry this terrible experience with me. A-Lieng is my first thought in the morning and when coming back home after work, I’m looking for the well-being of my son. I believe that in some way, somehow, inside me I have a certain guilt feeling about the whole incident, although I know it was not my fault at all. But I feel pity for my son for losing his mother at such a young age. What I know is that I care a lot about this child and will do my best to give him the best possible life I can. I have to thank my wife; she understands me and is taking very good care of him. She is spending a lot of time with the boy. But everything is back to normal now, and I would like to thank all friends who have supported me during this hard period of my life through your newspaper," concluded Sia Piak.

Experts predict health problems in Laem Chabang

Experts are predicting that sulphur-dioxide and noise pollution will result in major health problems for the populace of Laem Chabang within ten years time.

Laem Chabang is almost at crisis levels and cancer of the respiratory tract looms large on the horizon for the citizens. Hospitals have been keeping this secret, as they don’t want the people who support the institutions to be displeased.

A doctor at the Ao Udom hospital in Sri-Racha is preparing a mobile unit to test people’s hearing in the area and perform ear surgery. An otolaryngology unit is also being put together.

Doctors say the industrial sector is solely responsible for the ear problems which residents are suffering. Weaving machines, which are high decibel noisemakers, are especially culpable.

Students at schools in the area are also suffering from hearing problems.

Doctors say that pollution is a grave problem in Thailand but everyone is ignoring it. Pollution can harm the body, due to pollutants in the air. These nasty little particles come from factories and motor vehicle exhaust.

Even worse are the odours and particles escaping from oil refineries. The most deadly of these is Hydrogen Sulphide. When this substance mixes with water or rain it becomes a deadly and caustic acid. It kills indiscriminately, affecting plant, animal life and water sources.

The insidious thing about this substance is that effects are not seen immediately, but over a period of years. When conditions finally show, it is often too late for medical intervention.

Hydrogen Sulphide slowly destroys the respiratory system, with cancer being the end result, but it takes more than 10 years to develop.

As to avoiding the effects of these pollutants, doctors say one must first ascertain if one lives next to a factory or oil refinery. The magnitude of poisoning also depends on the altitude at which one lives. Any problems should be reported to the Ao Odium hospital or the mobile units in the area.

Pollution checks are being done regularly by doctors in these areas. Each check takes approximately 8 hours.

Amazing Thailand Grand Sale

Ms. Yiarayong Chaiyarat, Director Pro-Temp of the Pattaya Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said that the ‘Amazing Thailand Grand Sale’ would be held in the following cities during 1998-9:

Northern Region: Chiang Mai. Southern Region: Phuket and Had Yai. Isan Region: Khorat and Khonkaen. Eastern Seaboard: Pattaya and Chonburi.

Prices on goods will be reduced as much as 30% and the Tourism Authority of Thailand would support increased exports from the Province of Chantaburi and Pattaya City.

The sale will be held from November 14th-December 14th, 1997. The opening ceremony for the Eastern Seaboard will be held at the Pattaya walking street at 5:00 p.m.

Shops and shopping malls in the area will lower their prices 30% on the day of the opening ceremony.

Aside from this, there will be activities such as art and culture performances, fashion shows and the traditional Pattaya Loy Krathong Festival.

Everyone is welcome.

Police put telephone cable thieves on hold

The police busted a gang of thieves who were stealing telephone cable, melting it down and selling the copper residue. The gangs’ hide-out, on a mountain top in Sriracha, was stormed by police in a surprise raid.

Police investigators found a pick-up with dozens of metres of telephone wire in the bed of the truck. Walking past the truck, they spied the felons on top of the poles in a forest behind the airport. The investigators informed a commando unit, who ran the thieves down.

One of the men caught was an electrician with considerable knowledge of wire.

At the police station, the three men confessed to stealing the wire for resale, saying they received 40 baht a kilogram for the copper. They had managed to extract approximately 10 kilograms of copper from two million baht worth of telephone wire during their operation.

Any problems citizens are experiencing with their telephone service is probably due to the work of this gang.

Missing Mister misses Mister

An attempted murder in Pattaya last week was luckily aborted due to the poor aim of the gunman.

Police, carrying a warrant, went to arrest ‘Pek’, or Boonmee, 24, for attempted murder, after receiving a complaint from Mr. Nukul Saengkaew.

Nukul alleged that ‘Pek’ had shot at him from a pick-up truck while Nukul was riding his motorcycle along the streets of Pattaya.

Nukul also revealed that ‘Pek’ had been cuckolding him with his wife, Saibua, 42, and apparently the two wanted to get him out of the way so they could enjoy a life together with the money she would inherit.

Nukul said that his wife of three years was very free with her favours and her latest was ‘Pek.’

From investigations, police learned that ‘Pek’ was hiding out in an unnumbered gardener’s shed in Chantaburi. He was apprehended and charged.

Funding confusion puts Cultural Fair on hold

The National Cultural Festival, scheduled to open on November 5th, has not received funds to begin work.

This year, Chonburi was chosen by the central government to be the site of the annual National Cultural Festival. Stage performances, cultural shows and other activities from all areas of Thailand were planned, but Pattaya has not yet received any of the 10,000,000 baht budget to begin organising. The various committees do not know where to go for disbursement of funds.

Work has not begun and at this late date, considerable confusion will probably be the result.

The cultural festival was discussed at the last meeting of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association and the members are totally confused as to what they should do. They do not know how they are going to begin any of the planned projects. They do not know who is the organiser and who is disbursing funds for the festival. They do not know who is co-ordinating work with the Chonburi Cultural Council and the National Cultural Council. They have not yet received any details from the organising committee.

The only information they received was when Seri Wangpaijit, the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, spoke about ‘Amazing Thailand’ and the ‘Revival of Tourism in Pattaya’ on September 24th, 1997.

At that time, Seri said there would be a National Cultural Festival to encourage tourism in Pattaya. He said the Festival would be held between November 5th-19th, but gave no details. Before that time Chonburi province had sent an official letter saying it would supply a budget, to which the PBTA replied.

Reporters asked the Chonburi Administrative Office about this problem and were told that the National Cultural Council and Chonburi Cultural Council and Pattaya City were equally responsible for the event.

The National Cultural Council would provide 5 million baht with Chonburi providing the other 5 million. The provincial government had set up a committee to oversee the festival and had set up sub-committees to oversee the various events.

The problem was that the National Cultural Council had not yet approved the budget for the year 1998. The budget was only a suggested figure and had not been considered for disbursement.

This various committees therefore could not meet to plan something for which there was no budget.

As for promotion in the media, this had not begun yet.

As it is now, the Festival may not happen.

Little British girl starving in Pattaya

Lena Young, who is almost 4 years old, is the daughter of the late English actor from Birmingham, Stanley Young, who passed away in 1994. Lena is now living with her indigent Thai mother in Pattaya.

Lena’s mother, Mrs. Anongnart, the 35-year-old widow of Stanley Young, earns 1,000 Baht per month by washing clothes for two foreigners.

The widow told us that she first met Stanley in 1990 at Jindee Inn, Soi 3, where she was working as a housemaid. Stanley stayed 3 months in Pattaya and left for England. 3 months later he came back and stayed for another 3 months, and continued travelling back and forth 3 months at a time.

"My husband tried hard to convince me to go to England and stay there with him on a trial basis, under the condition that if I didn’t like the place he would move down and stay here in Pattaya," the widow said. "I got my visa to go to England, but when we were to go, we found out that I was pregnant and should not travel. But my husband continued to travel back and forth."

"In March 1994, I received a letter from the British Embassy that said my husband expired of heart attack on 16 February 1994. I contacted the British Embassy in Bangkok to get help for the rights of my daughter, for I have nothing at all. But, they refused to assist us, telling us to get a lawyer and go to England. I hardly had any money to survive my daily life, how could I then get this accomplished? I then went to a lawyer in Soi Post Office, where I explained my situation. He promised to help me, but asked me to pay him 2,000 Baht in advance. I went to Rayong to one of my relatives and could borrow the sum, but after receiving the money, the lawyer still couldn’t do anything."

"I have continued to fight to get my daughter’s rights back, but I haven’t been able to get anywhere. My daughter deserves to live in better surroundings, and to get an education as all other kids. But look at me now, I earn 1,000 Baht per month. How long do you think I could go? My daughter is now very sick, thank God that a foreigner whose clothes I wash lent me 1,000 Baht so I could take her to see the doctor."

"I was married to Stanley; I have everything on paper. My daughter carries a British passport, issued at the British Embassy in Bangkok. She also has a birth certificate, yet here we are, sitting and worry about the daily expenses for food, clothes, and medicine for my child. This is unacceptable. My husband used to tell me stories about his great England, that he would like me to move up there with Lena where we would live happily, where Lena would get the best possible education in the world. And now everything has just fallen apart. Here we are without getting any concern from the British authorities at all. If my daughter will have to continue living like this, at least let me announce it to the world how cruel the British are."

"No one knows if Stanley has a will or not but there is paper work to show that he had a bank account and there is possibly a chance of helping. Who is in charge? Who can show charity?"

"We asked family of my husband’s and nobody even wants to know that we exist. Where is justice, where is the compassion and love and sympathy for this 3 yr. old small child of British blood? I’m Thai, I’ll survive, but let history register that the British have abandoned her and let one of their flesh and blood here to rot and to be cast into the garbage pile, as they would have branded us to do to our children."

Police Briefs

Cloth thief collared

An irate cloth store owner reported to police that one of his employees had been pilfering cloth from the store and selling it. The thief had pulled the wool over the owner’s eyes and he had just discovered the theft, which had been going on for a long time.

The thief, who tried to bolt, was buttonholed by police, and confessed to the crime. He wove a sad tale, telling police that his salary was not enough and he felt that stealing cloth was a very petty reason for arresting him. He reminded police of the adage ‘as ye sew, so shall ye reap’ and that his boss was really at fault.

Police caught the thread of his excuse but told him he was just spinning his wheels with all his wool-gathering.

The employee had stolen over 70,000 baht worth of cloth.

Small time speed bust

In their continuing war on small time amphetamine dealers, police arrested two men, ages 34 and 16, with 60 bottles of ‘pep-tonic’ laced with speed and 60 tablets of the drug. The police, worried about the rising use of speed among teenagers, have stepped up their efforts to apprehend the misguided teenagers.

There have been no recent busts of makers or major dealers of the drug.

Copyright © 1997 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
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