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HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Tourist police need urgent English language training to effectively communicate with foreigners

Banglamung ‘one stop service’ bureau started this month

City set for “Pattaya Music Festival 2003”

Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel reveals the true story of Nopparat Ballroom incident

Children from Redemptorist School for the Blind flee for their lives as smoke from nearby scrub fire engulfs the school

French tourist causes major car accident on first day in Thailand

Broken-hearted Englishman falls to death

Husband and wife shot dead while their year-old daughter slept

Chonburi casino concept getting international scrutiny

Tourist police need urgent English language training to effectively communicate with foreigners

Suchada Tupchai

Pol. Lt. Col. Naradej Klomtuksing, investigation officer superintendent, Pattaya Tourist Police Division 3, chaired a two-day conference on the topic “Strategies to improve and develop coordination amongst police department in tourism sector”.

Speaking to the large number of tourist police who turned up on the first day, Pol. Lt. Col. Naradej said currently there are only 80 tourist police who are in charge of various tourist destinations in 9 provinces, which is obviously inadequate.

Pattaya Tourist Police investigation officer and the meeting’s commentator, Pol. Maj. Col. Wasu Seangsuksai pointed out that one of the major problems that prevent tourist police from effectively helping tourists who get into trouble is the language barrier. He said police officers do not have adequate English language skills and need urgent training.

Pol. Maj. Col. Wasu Seangsuksai said that in the past police did their job only for the safety of people’s lives. But times have changed and now citizens and tourists see police officers as problem solvers and information providers. This has created a necessity for tourist police to have some background of foreign languages - especially English.

During the lecture, attendants were provided with English, Chinese, and Japanese language manuals.


Banglamung ‘one stop service’ bureau started this month

Suchada Tupchai

Sujarit Pachimnan, director general of theDepartment of Local Administration recently opened the Banglamung ‘One Stop Service’ Bureau at the Banglamung District Office, with the presence of Somsak Yonokphan, Banglamung district chief, heads of various governmental offices and the general public.

Sujarit Pachimnan, director general of the Department of Local Administration, cut the ribbon to officially open the Banglamung ‘One Stop Service’ Bureau at the Banglamung District Office.

Sujarit disclosed that the ruling department created the bureau to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior and the government policies in order to combine as many services and facilities as possible to effectively provide people with efficient service, help them save their transportation expenses, and more importantly to reduce the old hierarchical sluggish system usually present in governmental offices.

Currently 8 offices are operational including Banglamung District Chonburi, Muang District Nakornpathom, Muang District Udornthani, Sansai District Chiang Mai, Bangrakam District Phitsanulok, Sadao District Songkhla, and Muang District Nakorn Rachasima.

Services included in the one stop service offices are identity card and house registration, payment of water, electricity, and other governmental services bills, One Village, One Product promotion, information on HIV transmittable disease, drug use, and other public health and welfare information.

The 8 one stop service bureaus will be evaluated for effectiveness after a period of operation and in 2004 similar bureaus will be applied to other 800 district offices throughout the kingdom.


City set for “Pattaya Music Festival 2003”

Authorities apprehensive about traffic jam crisis during 3-day event

Suchada Tupchai

The spectacular “Pattaya Music Festival 2003” is scheduled for March 21-23 from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight, and shows will be performed on 3 separate stages areas. Two stages will be set up on Beach Road and another will be located in North Pattaya near Dolphin Circle.

However, Police Major Somchai Phongsai, Pattaya’s traffic police inspector is worried about traffic jams becoming a crisis in Pattaya during the festival. Last year traffic was grid locked and Dolphin Circle was a problem. This year, he says, the organizing committee and police should aim for more coordination, or traffic in Pattaya will be backed up again.

The traffic inspector brought up his concerns at a recent meeting held at city hall to discuss the upcoming festival. Chonburi Deputy Governor Phisit Boonchaung, Pattaya Mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat, Suntichai Aurjongprasit, vice governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and more than 100 officials from the TAT office, Pattaya city officials and organizers participated in the meeting.

Logistical plans for the festival, such as sponsors, locations, traffic system, security system, public relations, and cleaning topped the agenda.

To help combat the traffic problem, parking places will be designated in advance and traffic police ask for cooperation from hotels in Pattaya to provide for parking places for tourists who join in the Pattaya music festival.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor Suntichai was much more upbeat about the upcoming music fest. He said, “I think the program should be similar to the previous Pattaya Music Festival 2002, because it was an amazing festival and more than 200,000 tourists attended the concert. Ten million baht generated an economic boost to many of the hotels and local businesses in Pattaya. This year we will emphasize various music styles such as pop, rock, dance, jazz, Hindi, hip-hop from popular singers and musicians from Thailand and foreign countries.”

Manit Boonchim, director of TAT (Region 3) was also upbeat. “The purpose of the festival is to boost the economy and tourism in Pattaya and Thailand. The music will change the image of Pattaya city from a sex city to a musician and beautiful city.”

Advance distribution of brochures for the festival will be available for visitors. Information will include parking places, location of stages and Pattaya routes to promote easier traffic flow.


Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel reveals the true story of Nopparat Ballroom incident

On January 18, the Nopparat Ballroom hosted about 1,000 attendants at the Amway (Thailand) meeting. Anusak Rotboonmee, deputy general manager revealed that on that day a group of around 300 people who attended the meeting flooded into the Nopparat Ballroom, which had the capacity of only 150 persons, and caused the cement floor to expand and crack causing a loud noise.

The incident at the Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel’s Nopparat Ballroom was no big deal, and it is now back to “100%”.

Anusak said the floor was paved using professional and advanced technology to bear extra weight and the metal work was laid under it to also support the overloaded floor. The loud noise was caused by the pounding between the cemented floor and the metal work.

Anusak said people calmly walked out of the room and continued their meeting in another room. The hotel engineering staff rushed in to inspect the cause of the noise and closed down the room for repairs. They have since brought it back to a 100% ready condition.

Anusak insisted that the structure of the room did not break and parts did not fall apart and the hotel did not receive damage because the Nopparat Ballroom was situated outside and unconnected to the hotel building.


Children from Redemptorist School for the Blind flee for their lives as smoke from nearby scrub fire engulfs the school

Fire units take over an hour to respond to call

Boonlua Chatree

A fire that broke out in a vacant lot next to the Redemptorist School for the Blind in North Pattaya created panic among the children, teachers and volunteers as smoke engulfed the dormitories making it difficult for the children to breathe.

Blind children gathered at a safe spot outside the school when smoke and heat from a nearby fire frightened them out of the school. Although constantly being reassured that the fire wasn’t in the school, the children could not see that this was true.

The incident occurred last Saturday afternoon and firefighters were called to assist in extinguishing the blaze.

During this time smoke and debris from the scrub fire had drifted into the dormitories which house children between 7 to 16 years of age. Unable to the see the blaze but feeling the heat and the smoke the children began to panic. Teachers, volunteers and visitors acted quickly to bring the children to the center of the sports area as some were suffering from smoke inhalation.

After an hour of frantic calls, Pattaya fire fighters arrived on the scene, but only after teachers and helpful bystanders had already extinguished the flames.

Still waiting for the fire department to arrive, staff and volunteers grabbed hoses and began to fight the fire themselves, eventually succeeding in putting it out.

Finally one fire truck arrived at the scene of the already extinguished fire - more than one hour after the first phone call.

Visitors to the center were visibly distressed at witnessing such a slow response from the fire fighting team. They proceeded to verbally abuse the firemen for their complete lack consideration for the children and accused them of having a very poor work ethic by taking over an hour to respond to genuine call for help.


French tourist causes major car accident on first day in Thailand

Learns expensive lesson: don’t drink, steal and drive

Twenty-nine year-old French tourist Tony Andr้ Marichaud learned a valuable lesson on his first day in Thailand - don’t drink, steal and drive or you will end up in jail.

Police drag the drunken and bruised Frenchman out of the bushes and bring him back to face the trouble he caused.

After their flight from Paris, Marichaud and his friend, 28 year-old Richard Henri Detroit hired transport to Pattaya from the Comfort Hotel in Don Muang to make their way to Pattaya on the morning of February 6.

According to Maj. Gen. Tawee, a retired military officer and the owner of the car they hired, the pair was partially drunk when they called him to drive them to Fun City. From Bangkok to the city outer limits they proceeded to consume a bottle of Vodka between them.

When the driver stopped for a toilet break, Marichaud obviously decided he didn’t want to wait for the driver to return and apparently crawled into the driver’s seat and drove off.

It must be thanks to modern technology, like air bags, that no one was actually killed in the accident.

In his drunken condition, and according to witnesses, the heavily inebriated man drove straight out of the car park, onto Sukhumvit Road and into an oncoming car at around 10 a.m.

The driver of that vehicle was Pattaya’s own Jan Olav Aamlid and his wife Mio, who had just taken their children to school and were on their way to breakfast.

What ensued following the accident was nothing short of something out of the TV show ‘Cops’.

The owner of the Citroen ran out and forced the driver back into the car to wait for police to arrive. But the soused Frenchman attempted to make a getaway. He crawled through a broken window, then wove his way on foot across the nature strip and across the northbound side of Sukhumvit, as cars were forced to swerve to avoid hitting him.

Fortunately, a Banglamung police officer was quick on the scene and gave chase to the tourist, with the aid of local residents.

Meanwhile, shaken and slightly injured from the accident, Mio Aamlid was taken by local residents to the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Jan Olav ran after the drunken driver, camera in hand, intent on bringing the culprit back to the scene.

Throughout the initial stages, Richard Detroit, still drunk and unable to speak much English, watched in total disbelief as the first day of his holiday, which he had saved money for two years to take, had turned into a complete nightmare.

Back on the road, police and a local resident managed to restrain and cuff the French runner before dragging him back across the busy road to the accident scene.

Marichaud was unable to speak any English and was barely understandable in French, so officers calmly restrained him and waited for back-up to take him to the Banglamung police station.

The pair was taken to the station where cops then took the cuffed French tourist to Banglamung Hospital for treatment of cuts sustained from broken glass as he pulled himself out of the car window.

Banglamung police were unable to make any sense from either of the two Frenchmen and waited until they sobered up before questioning them. Marichaud spent the night in the Banglamung jail.

The following day, Jan Olav went back to the police station to finalize details, with the aid of local restaurateur Pascal, who could relay information in French. Apparently Tony Marichaud had very little recollection of the previous day’s events.

Marichaud was charged with being drunk and disorderly, car theft, causing an accident and injury, resisting arrest and violence against police.

The expensive lesson cost 20,000 euros. Much poorer and still in jail, Tony Andr้ Marichaud awaits a money transfer from France to pay for the damage caused by his drunken rampage, while his friend, Richard Henri Detroit was taken to a local hotel where he could at least salvage some of his holiday.


Broken-hearted Englishman falls to death

Suicide note revealed he was ready to die for love

Boonlua Chatree

Police were called to Jomtien Plaza Condotel to examine a suicide on the night of February 7th. On the deck of the 5th floor, police found the body of a foreigner later identified as 45 year-old British citizen Christopher John Prees.

Near the body police found an exercise machine with blood marks and pieces of his shirt on it. Police concluded that the deceased tied himself to the machine and intentionally flung himself over the balcony.

On his left arm there were minor slash wounds. Officers suspect that he cut himself before jumping.

Prayong Srithabutr, aged 28, Christopher’s girlfriend, led police to their room on the 25th floor. In the room police found bloodstains on the floor and bits of marijuana on the table and a cigarette stuffed with marijuana.

Police also found a farewell note expressing his great love towards his girlfriend. He explained in the note that he was willing to die if Prayong wanted him to. Prayong told police that they have been living together for about 5 years and admitted that Christopher had a mental disturbance that triggered many quarrels between them.

On the evening of the 7th, Prayong said they had an argument and Christopher said he did not want to live anymore. Prayong said she felt sad because she did not try to stop him from attempting to kill himself.

Prayong explained that she went out to buy some food and left Christopher alone in the room, obviously in an anxious and irritated mood. Apparently he smoked some marijuana, wrote a farewell letter to his girlfriend and then plunged to his death.


Husband and wife shot dead while their year-old daughter slept

Boonlua Chatree

The latest shootings connected with Thailand’s ongoing war against drugs left a 1-year-old girl orphaned last weekend. Tragedy struck when the child’s mother, 41-year-old Choosri Ketsuwan and father, 39-year-old Supalert Insaweechier were found dead in their house in Soi Kor Pai in the early hours of last Saturday morning. Both had been gunned down in an execution-style double murder.

Residents in the village heard the child’s pitiful crying and went to investigate. Discovering the corpses of the little girl’s parents, they called the police.

Criminal investigation officers arrived and conducted an examination of the house, where they found shell casings from an 11mm weapon. The dead couple had been shot two and three times each in the head and chest.

Neighbors told police that they had heard several shots fired at around 12.30 a.m. and the sound of a 2 or 3 motorcycles speeding off after the gunshots. Everything was silent after that until they heard the child crying. They found the child weeping over the body of her mother and obviously hungry.

Police suspect that both Choosri and Supalert were killed in order to keep silent about drug dealings. Both the man and his wife had police records, including prior arrests for selling methamphetamine, a class one illegal substance.

The infant was placed in the care of neighbors until relatives come to collect her.


Chonburi casino concept getting international scrutiny

Do it properly from the outset is the message

The Thai government needs a strong regulatory foundation for casino operations, was the message given in Pattaya last week by Fredric E. Gushin, the managing director of the Spectrum Gaming Group, an international gaming consultancy with an American client base looking at assisting Thailand in the possibility of a foray into legal casinos.

(L-R) Murray Hertz, president of Skๅl International Pattaya and East Thailand, Montree Ratanasakha, MD of Baan Suriyasai Co., Chatchawal Supachayanont, GM of Dusit Resort Pattaya and Fredric E. Gushin, Esq. MD of Spectrum Gaming Group, the latter an international gaming consultancy with an American client base looking at assisting Thailand in the possibility of a foray into legal casinos.

He recommends the extremely strict regulations as applied in Nevada in the USA should be used as the basis. He went on to say, “International style gaming needs international style operations, but at the end of the day, it is a structure that the government sets up.”

Gushin believes that if correctly set up, a Thailand casino has the possibility to attract an international clientele, bringing with them overseas capital and investment, all leading to an economic benefit for Thailand through increased tourism and taxes.

According to Chatchawal Supachayanont, the general manager of the Dusit Resort in Pattaya, “Thai people are internationally minded these days and Chonburi (Province) is ready.”

Gushin also said that he does not believe that Thailand would want to follow the Cambodian or Burmese model as far as the running and organization of a possible casino is concerned, neither of which are attractive from the foreign investment point of view and best described as ‘gambling dens.’ He admitted that he had American clients who were interested in assisting any regulatory body in Thailand by sharing their expertise with Thailand, and that one aspect of his brief here was a ‘country assessment’ as part of the due diligence process that was required by international groups before they would consider investment in this country.