HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

A question of golf

Farangs should know better

Not just the beaches

Scum driver

Nurturing seeds of hate

Congratulations

Congrats

A question of golf

Editor;
Having had a couple of letters published in the past in your paper on the subject of golf handicaps and scoring I am often involved in discussions on these subjects at the 19th hole. I recently raised the following question with some friends with mixed results. Would they prefer to shoot 33 points (3 over their handicap), win and get the 500/1000 baht prize money or shoot 40 points (4 under their handicap) and not get placed?
I have given some serious and honest consideration to this myself and have come to the conclusion that if it were an important annual competition here in Pattaya or at my old club in England I would prefer to win with whatever score I made. However, if it was one of the 2/3 times a week regular outings I play here, then scoring 4 under my handicap with no financial reward, would by far provide me with more satisfaction. I wonder what other golfers here feel.
Harvey S

Farangs should know better

Aloha;
In regards to the issue in your great paper, of July 20th, at last, I must take my hat off to the farangs like Roger Realm, who must smoke. If he would use the spell check and read all of my posters, he would find that it is written in Thai and English saying No butts-No garbage, as I look at garbage as being everything made by man and discarded improperly.
As far as an eye sore with my posters, not looking at the expense in which it cost me and my tireless efforts in putting them up in between picking up, I have made a tremendous difference in the thought process of many Thai and farangs alike. I do understand that most of the waste is from Thais that do not know better. Farangs should know better and farangs should set examples and not do the same as the unknowingly Thai. Wake up Roger and thank you for putting me to print, I need all the good, bad and ugly publicity that I can get, as I need to wake the village and tell the people.
All of the vendor’s ask for me to put up all of the posters in which you see. Thank you Buddha, thank you God for giving me the power to do what I do. Roger? What have you done? I also would like to thank Freddie Clark and the disappointed beach comber for their good inputs - Mahalo Nui Loa (thank you very much).
Remember the aina, “The life of the people is in the land.”
KOTO, Keeper of the ocean

Not just the beaches

Editor;
As a scuba diving instructor who has lived here for the past 2 and a half years I would like to add a different angle to the discussion about the state of Pattaya and Jomtien’s beaches and that is the plight of the surrounding islands and reefs.
Firstly I would like to tell Mr. Koto, as other responders to his complaints already have, that he is not the only one that cares. I am based at Mermaids Dive Center, in Soi White House, Jomtien Beach. As a PADI Career Development Center and Project AWARE Go ECO operator, Mermaids is committed to marine conservation and promoting environmental awareness. As part of their training, students at Mermaids take part in reef monitoring exercises and reef clean-ups on a monthly basis. The amount and variety of rubbish picked up from the reefs needs to be seen to be believed, particularly from around the far islands. The majority of it is beer and M-150 / Lipo bottles, plastic and tyres (which are used as buffers on most local boats). On recent clean-ups we have recovered various household appliances, boat parts, car parts, building materials, food packaging and even a smashed up laptop computer.
Roger Realm suggests (letters 20th July) “a more realistic explanation is … an illegal discharge of debris from a sea going vessel.” It may well be illegal and incur heavy penalties, but it does happen regularly. We often see huge trails of rubbish and oily scum on our way out to the far islands and at the dive sites. As Mr. Realm also quite rightly points out, the amount and type of rubbish that is ending up in the ocean, as well as on the beaches, poses a huge threat to local marine life. Discarded plastic sheeting and bags, as well as styrofoam, are a big problem. Not only are they not biodegradable, but many animals, in particular turtles, which are already an endangered species, often mistake plastic for jellyfish, which is a staple part of their diet. If they ingest it, it eventually kills them either through suffocation or starvation. It seems ironic that there are 2 turtle sanctuaries in this area dedicated to protecting the local species, yet the environment that the young are being released back into is detrimental to their wellbeing and survival chances.
To concur with Freddie Wright (letters 13th July) no one group of people is to blame or is blameless. It is everyone’s responsibility, whether farang or Thai, to do their bit to protect and conserve our local environment and encourage others to do so. Why not lobby the local authorities to do more to promote and encourage environmental awareness and conservation? Or, next time you buy one item from a shop, tell them you don’t need a plastic bag to put it in.
Sue H.
P.S. Where, if any, are the recycling facilities in this area? I assume there are some, otherwise what happens to the plastic and glass bottles that are taken from the rubbish bins around town?

Scum driver

Dear Sir;
I would like to tell of the scum person that killed our pet English bull terrier on 9-7-2007. Our daughter’s dog slipped out of the gate unnoticed. He made his way to some vacant land opposite our home, and on his return he had to cross the busy Soi Koi Noi. As he did so a pickup truck was coming down the soi. According to an eyewitness, when he saw our dog crossing the road he accelerated and crossed the road to the opposite side with the intention of killing our dog, which he did. The eyewitness said the driver and his passenger were laughing. For two nights we had to console our 6-year-old daughter who couldn’t understand why her dog was dead. It could have easily been a child crossing the road. May he meet Buddha soon.
Thank you,
John Gal

Nurturing seeds of hate

Editor,
It is a sad indictment when people must exaggerate, fabricate or speculate on poor education to disparage an opposing view. Letters in recent weeks have used such tactics and I believe I should be given chance to reply.
Jeff Rosner (6th July) infers I suggest that people who complain go home. This is untrue. If being charged B10 “fleeced” him he is in a bad way and I’ll donate a tin cup. Mabprachan Barry makes dual-pricing an Asian v farang issue, irrespective that Japanese, Korean and Middle-eastern visitors pay tourist prices. His “shot yourself in the foot” cliché self-applies. ‘Colonel’ (retired) Lloyd Bonafide’s “Americans my age have a wealth of knowledge” infers only his nationality learns. In these days of search-engines, an ex-officer invited onto a reality show to example blinkered extremism and ravings should perhaps think twice about raising his profile where some of his audience might be sane. Because Bobbi Dooley’s and her husband had a bad experience, she snipes and blames all Thais. A few weeks ago, The Bangkok Post reported how five US soldiers raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before shooting her and her family. Pause a moment and think how that poor girl spent her last hour in this life. Are all Americans monsters? No, but those who nurture “they’re all the same” seeds of hate that make atrocities inevitable are potential ones. I recall similar carnage at Mi Lai in Vietnam, which repeated what was described by a judge as “cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter” of Native Americans at Sand Creek. And the officer leading that attack, John Chivington, was a colonel. My ignorance of US history is not total, you see.
Rather than telling Pattaya’s misbegotten to go home, their windy excesses not only provide me with amusement but a nice little earner. A corrupt condo committee chairman moved me to write a book exposing scams, and which now sells throughout Thailand. My new book emphasises Pattaya’s plus side, but contains examples of farang wallowing in negativity and self-importance (what else but latter is clinging to a years-old military rank?). Petty whingers are a mine of material for amusing features like: “Pattaya’s Moaning Muppet Show” and “The Lunatic’s Graveyard” (for which I now have a real champion). They also serve to remind me how many people are less fortunate than I am and make me grateful for my sunny disposition.
Incidental to the stinginess of the B5 or B10 baht bus fare gripe, there is a sign in the back of many which tells the Dept. of Transport decrees a regular fare is not more than B10. Most drivers usually charge only what they are entitled to and accept less from ‘bread and butter’ users. Entertainment venues merely give ‘their own’ discount and why not? It should settle the matter, but the life of some people is predicated on petty peeing contests. Even if it was settled, moaning is a character trait and gripers would find another issue to be angry about.
Tony Crossley

Congratulations

Dear Peter,
Congratulations to you and your dedicated team for the great achievements with your excellent Pattaya Mail & Pattaya Blatt over the past 14 years!
Furthermore, thank you very much for the publication of the PR about our AEHL Stamm - Dinner - it is greatly appreciated.
Best personal regards and good wishes,
Robert Jaermann

Congrats

Pattaya Mail,
Congratulations on your fourteen years. I read your online paper to keep up on the news between visits to Thailand.
Bill Morgan
Texas, USA

Letters published in the Mailbag of Pattaya Mail
are also published here.