|
Navy begins dugong
conservation program
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy has embarked upon a program with local official
organizations to conserve the dugong and the sea grass upon which this
endangered species of marine mammal lives.
Rear Admiral Pachon Ramkomut, deputy commander-in-chief of the First Naval
Area Command at Sattahip, who is heading the project, announced the program
on January 21 in the conference room at Singsamut School.
 Rear
Admiral Pachon Ramkomut, deputy commander-in-chief of the First Naval Area
Command at Sattahip, who is heading the project, announces the program in
the conference room at Singsamut School.
The program, he said, is to provide knowledge and understanding to the
people of Sattahip and neighboring areas, and to the coastal fishermen of
Rayong and Chonburi.
The program especially targets students and youngsters, so that they grow up
with a love and concern for the dugong and its natural habitat. The dugong
is herbivorous, with a sharply downturned snout that has evolved for the
mammal to root out the sea grass that constitutes the bulk of its diet.
Sattahip Sub-district Administrative Organization has sent personnel to
attend the course, as have Sattahip Municipality, Marine Police Station 3,
Division 5, and the Marine Police Command. Singsamut School is also
represented. In total, there are 100 people on the course.
Instruction is being provided by personnel from the Institute of Marine
Sciences at Burapha University, the Marine Resource and Eastern Coastal
Research Center, the Faculty of Marine Technology at Burapha University’s
Chanthaburi Information Campus, and the Center of Educational Development in
Kung Graben Bay.
Rear Admiral Pachon said dugongs sometimes swim with the youngsters who
train in sailing boats in Sattahip Bay, and also comes for the sea grass in
the Bay of Air and Coastal Defense Command, including the area in front of
Apakorn Kiatwing Hospital at the Sattahip Naval Base, only 15 meters away
from the shore.
Sightings are, however, rare these days, said the Rear Admiral, and the
First Naval Area Command of the Royal Thai Fleet was therefore assigned by
its commander, Vice Admiral Chamnong Kittipeerachon, to draw up and conduct
the conservation program.
Underprivileged children taken on tour of Nong Nooch Garden
Deaf and mentally challenged
children visit with an orangutan
at Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens.
Patcharapol Panrak
Tourism Authority of Thailand Central Region 4 director Mrs Supakan
Yodchun led 40 deaf and mentally retarded children from Rayong Panyanukul
School in Rayong for an educational visit to Nong Nooch Tropical Garden on
January 23.
The visit came under a project organized by the TAT to give underprivileged
children the opportunity to visit one of the most popular tourist
destinations in the Eastern region.
Somdet Preechapongmit, director of Rayong Panyanukul School said that on
each annual National Children’s Day, there are many obstacles for taking
deaf and mentally retarded students to visit other locations that hold
Children’s Day activities, because the venues are crowded. Normally children
can always take care of themselves, but all of these underprivileged
children need to be closely watched, and they cannot be taken to any crowded
locations.
TAT Region 4 contacted Kampol Tansatcha, director of Nong Nooch Tropical
Garden to arrange visit facilities for the 40 children. They watched the
four regions cultural show and the intelligent elephant show, and toured the
beautiful gardens that cover an area of more than 1,000 rai.
The children also signed their names in the book of condolences for Her
Royal Highness Princess Galyani.
24 MAOs sign up to coastal protection plan
24 municipal administration
organizations in Chonburi have signed an agreement to conserve the coastal
environment.
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
A cooperation agreement has been signed by 24 municipal administration
organizations in Chonburi to keep a closer control over the conservation of
the coastal environment.
The signing took place on January 23 at Pattaya City Hall, led by Chatchai
Timkrachang, who is manager of Chonburi Coastal Integration Management and
with Wittaya Khunplome, president of Chonburi Sports Association, Mayor
Niran Wattanasartsathorn and Wannakiat Thaptimsaeng, representative of the
director general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.
Representatives of the 24 MAOs were also present to sign the agreement.
Chatchai said the agreement was to formalize the MAOs management of the
environment and coastal resources.
It is the duty of the municipal administrative organizations to protect and
maintain nature and environmental resources, said Chatchai, including
cooperating for municipal development according to the Coastal Strategic
Integration Management of Chonburi. The national sections and international
units also support and help in accordance with Chonburi Province’s joint
agreement under the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of
East Asia Project (PEMSEA).
Currently, Chonburi Coastal Integration Management has 22 municipal
administrative organization networks, and this time two additional network
members co-signed, namely Nong Maidang Municipality and Na Jomtien
Municipality, making the total 24 networks.
Chonburi was selected for the Coastal Integration Management project because
of its natural resources and for the potential for improving the lives of
municipal residents. In the beginning there were only five sea coastal
members consisting of municipal administrative organizations. A further five
members were added in the first year of the project, 2006, and in 2007 a
further 12 members joined. This year the figure has increased to 24.
Surat re-elected to
president of Banglamung Cultural Council
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
Surat Mekavarakul has been re-elected president of the Banglamung
District Cultural Council, the result being announced on January 22 at the
Mike Beach Resort Hotel.
The election was held in accordance with the regulations laid down by the
Office of the National Cultural Commission at the Ministry of Culture.
 Surat
Mekavarakul was re-elected president of the Banglamung Cultural Council for
one more term.
Before the election of the new committee members, the draft of the
constitutional law for the Cultural Council of Banglamung District for 2008
was announced. Mrs Nipa Jiamkosit of the Chonburi Cultural Office chaired
the committee for drafting the constitution in cooperation with Banglamung
District Cultural Councilors.
This was done before electing the new president and committee members for 34
positions. Three candidates were proposed for the position of president,
namely Pisai Panomwan na Ayutthaya, Atthawut Phokae, who was former vice
president of the Council, and Surat Mekavarakul, former president of the
Council.
Surat received the majority of the votes and will continue as president for
one more term. He is expected to be the first president under the Banglamung
Cultural Council’s new constitutional law. The new committee members will
have three-year terms.
Surat said that he was very happy so many people had faith in him to elect
him once again to lead the Cultural Council, but that there were other
people well qualified for the position and he didn’t want to be considered
as being the permanent president.
Surat is also one of the candidates in the next election for mayor of
Pattaya.
TAT road show aims to tempt more
tourists to Isaan
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Korat office brought a road show to
Chonburi Province for the second time over the past year to encourage more
people from the Eastern region to visit Isaan.
 Atthapol
Wannakit, director of the TAT in Northeast Region 1.
The TAT said that the response to the first marketing campaign was good and
that Eastern Thailand holds the potential for strong tourism growth, hence
the second road show was organized.
Meetings and seminars also form a potentially large growth sector, said the
TAT, and there are many hotels in Isaan that have the facilities to cater
for meetings.
Atthapol Wannakit, director of the TAT in Northeast Region 1, Nakhon
Ratchasima-Buriram-Surin-Chaiyaphum spoke about the project that is creating
a Pattaya-Udon Thani-Nakhon Ratchasima tourism route. He said it was being
organized by the TAT in Central Region 3, Chonburi.
Isaan business people who traveled with the road show and had booths
displaying their products and services said they had received good response
in Chonburi.
Atthapol said that the route to Isaan from the Eastern Seaboard runs along
National Highway 304. It is not too far to travel by road, he said, and
there is attractive scenery along the way.
Discussions were held with representatives of the industrial sector about
the possibility of them staging meetings and seminars in Isaan. Nakhon
Ratchasima in particular has both the facilities and the trained staff.
Course held for Thai traditional medicine
Saksiri Uraiworn
Pattaya City Public Health Department has conducted a training
scheme to prepare medical and healthcare personnel for examinations in the
therapeutic field that are organized by the Institute of Thai Traditional
Medicine.
 Deputy
Mayor Verawat Khakhay
Training began on January 23 in the meeting room on the 4th floor at the
Public Health Center, with the sessions being formally opened by Deputy
Mayor Verawat Khakhay and with Mrs Wannaporn Jaemjamras, director of the
Pattaya City Public Health and Environment Department also present.
Wannaporn said that despite the use of modern medical treatments and
technology, there is still a very strong role for Thai traditional medicine
to play in the healthcare sector.
Five or six years ago, she said, we began to see a real revival of interest
in traditional medicines and treatments using herbs, and the government and
the private sector have been promoting this as an alternative form of
medicine. One of the official organizations working on this is the
Department of Development for Thai Traditional Medicine and Alternative
Medicine.
This department is now promoting training courses to prepare personnel for
work in the therapeutic field at the Institute of Thai Traditional Medicine.
The course is being conducted every Wednesday, and will continue through
April 24.
Jordanian father and son sold
hookah tobacco without license
Ali (left) and Yazan (right)
have been remanded to custody
for selling a tobacco product without a license.
Boonlua Chatree
Police have arrested a Jordanian man who was selling the Middle
Eastern tobacco named Baraku to customers in South Pattaya’s Arab quarter,
in the Walking Street area.
Pol Col Nopadol Wongnom, superintendent at Pattaya Police Station led
officers to the Omakayam on Soi Sansamran at 5:30 p.m. on January 24, where
they apprehended a man identified as Ali Abdel Rahman Ali Dabash, a
56-year-old Jordanian national.
Officers accompanied him back to his room, number 411 at the Naza Orchid
Apartment in Nongprue. Searching the room, they found 15kg of Baraku,
packaged into three cans weighing 1 kg, two cans weighing 500 grams, 250
grams in 22 boxes, and 250 grams in 22 packs.
Dabash stated that his son Yazan Aedabdel Rahman Dabash, 24, who resided in
a house in Nongprue, was bringing the Baraku into the country. He bought it
for 750 baht per can, and distributed it for 1,500 baht, or divided it into
100 baht tokes.
Police searched the son’s room, and found Baraku contained in eight cans
each weighing 1 kg. Three of the cans had the tobacco flavored with grape,
and five with apples.
Baraku is a blended tobacco that is subject to tax duty in Thailand, with
only 1 kg of the substance allowed into the country per person. Usually it
is flavored with fruits, herbs and spices, and is smoked in a hookah.
Charges have been made concerning possession of a blended tobacco smoking
mixture without a tobacco stamp.
British householder chases down and kills burglar who attacked him with an axe
Boonlua Chatree
Three intruders who broke into the home of a British man and
attacked him with an axe fled when the man fought back, with one of the
robbers being killed when he was run down by the victim’s car.
 Panthip
points out where armed thieves tried to break into the house safe.
Banglamung police were notified at 4:10 p.m. on January 21, and went
immediately to the scene, a single-story house standing on about one rai of
land at Moo 4 in Nongprue.
Waiting for them on the road leading to the house was John Jones, a
48-year-old British citizen. He was injured, with a deep gash on his head
from an axe blow, and the tendon in his left wrist was torn. With him was
Mrs Nikorn Jones, his 25-year-old Thai wife, and Mrs Panthip Liangphupa,
Nikorn’s 35-year-old sister.
They were standing beside a gold 4x4 Toyota pickup. The front portion of the
pickup was damaged, and one unknown Thai man approximately 20 years old was
lying dead in front of the vehicle. The deceased had been hit by the pickup,
and blood had issued from his nose and mouth. There was no evidence or
documents on the deceased that identified him.
Nikorn stated that the dead man was one of the burglars who had robbed the
house, and had injured her husband and her sister. Nikorn said she was eight
months pregnant, and she and her husband had been to see a doctor. When they
arrived back home she waited in the car while her husband and her sister
went to open the door to the house. They discovered the burglars trying to
force open the safe with an axe.
The intruders hit Jones with the axe, and Panthip tried to help him. A
burglar kicked and punched her and knocked her down. Then they took a bag
containing 45,000 baht and fled. There was a motorcycle waiting for them in
the cassava field behind the house, and they drove off in the direction of
Mabprachan.
Jones jumped into his pickup to chase down the criminals and hit their
motorcycle. One of them fell off, and was killed. The other two were also
injured, but were able to escape on the motorcycle.
Police discovered that the criminals had climbed up the 2-meter-high wall
into the house, and had broken in via the back door. In the bedroom were
traces of blood and a struggle. The criminals left several items at the
scene including an electric screwdriver and a hammer.
Police believe that the criminals are most likely workers in the area, and
knew about the house and the movements of its occupants. An investigation is
being conducted of the work camps in the area.
Sad death of German man with money and love problems
Boonlua Chatree
A German man with money problems committed suicide by hanging
himself at his house on Soi Naklua 1.
Banglamung police received a report at 6:30 a.m. on January 21 to say that a
foreign man had been found dead, and went immediately to investigate. The
property was a leased single-story house with a fence.
The house had two bedrooms and one bathroom. Both of the bedrooms were in
disarray, and on the floor were drops of blood. Behind the house was a
storeroom, and the door was open. Inside this storeroom was the dead body of
a man identified as Burkhard Hans-Joachim Fritz Lange, a 65-year-old native
of Berlin.
The body was in a seated position on top of a knocked over chair, and around
the neck was a nylon rope approximately 5 meters long. The end of the rope
was tied to iron bars installed at the window for protection against
burglars. There were no signs of a struggle. Officers estimated that the man
had passed away more than 20 hours ago. They transferred the body to the
Forensic Institute for autopsy, and informed the German Embassy.
Mrs Chai Hasoongnern, a 48-year-old neighbor stated that Lange had leased
Thanasek Thanachotnitinan’s house for a monthly rent of 9,000 baht, and
lived there with Ms Duangdae Luanglad, age 27. He had run out of money, and
Duangdae had left him one month ago. He was clearly under stress, and a week
previously he had cut his wrist. On that occasion, his Thai and foreign
neighbors tried to calm him down.
Close friends told police that the deceased had spoken about Duangdae
longingly after she had left him, and that he drank heavily every day in the
period leading up to his death.
Transvestite arrested with
drugs consignment
Boonlua Chatree
Police have arrested a transvestite who was carrying a large
quantity of the narcotic ice from Bangkok to distribute to Pattaya
customers.
Investigations having revealed that a drug dealer had made an appointment to
deliver a consignment in front of the TN Apartment on Soi Korpai in South
Pattaya at 3 a.m. on January 20, police officers lay in wait.
A gold BMW 325i driven by a transvestite arrived and parked in the area. The
officers presented themselves and found three packs of ice, also known as
crystal meth, in the pocket of the driver. In the car itself they found
another four packs in a clear plastic bag in the glove compartment beside
the driver. There were 8.2 grams of ice contained in a total of seven packs.
The transvestite was identified as Suparom Phunsiriwisai, also known as Emmi
and aged 34. Suparom, a resident of Tawwattana, in Bangkok, said that he had
received the ice from his friend in Bangkok, and intended to sell it in
Pattaya. He has been charged with illegal possession of class 1 narcotics
intended for distribution.
Mobile clinic visits Nernplabwan communities
This will only hurt a little
bit…
People in the Nongprue
municipality community receive free health checkups.
OTOP products are distributed
to the community for additional income.
Dogs and cats in the community
are sterilized and vaccinated.
Pramote Channgam
City hall’s mobile clinic rolled into Nongprue on January 17, where
it provided services for the Nernplabwan communities 1 to 5.
The service, which was based at Sawang Boriboon Wittaya School on Mabyailia
Road, is part of the policy that says everyone should have easy access to
health and welfare.
Sanga Yuthanava, city councilor for Nongprue Municipality Zone 2 said the
service visits the communities every year, and has been operating for three
years now.
The service works in cooperation with other medical institutions. Medical
checkups were performed by Banglamung Hospital and Pattaya Memorial
Hospital. Consultations for cervix cancer and breast cancer were performed
by the Chonburi Cancer Center. A mobile library service was provided by the
Education Section, along with a children’s art corner for painting and
drawing.
Food was provided for all attendees, and donations were made to impoverished
people, disabled people, and elderly people in the area. OTOP products were
distributed to the community for additional income, dogs and cats were
sterilized and vaccinated, and free haircuts given by Niranrat Pattaya
Dressing and the Hairdressing School.
The next mobile service for Nongprue Municipality is scheduled for
Rattanakorn 7 Village on the Mabyailia-Kaonoi Road.
Free haircuts come from the
Niranrat Pattaya Dressing
and the Hairdressing School.
Navy stages parade
on Armed Services Day
Naval seamen march as air
support flies overhead.
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy held a military parade in front of the
Regimental Flag on Thailand Armed Services Day, January 18, led by Admiral
Sathiraphan Kaeyanon, commander- in-chief of the Navy.
Units under the Royal Thai Navy and senior Navy officers attended the
parade, held at the multiuse field at the Royal Thai Marine Corps in
Sattahip. Vice Admiral Chanchai Charoensuwan, deputy commander-in-chief of
the Royal Thai Fleet and Vice Admiral Sriwisut Ratarun, commander-in-chief
of Sattahip Naval Base were responsible for 12 battalions in the parade.
Navy parachutists gave a display of parachuting, and there was a display of
armaments, a performance by a Navy band, and an exhibition by the Royal Thai
Marine Corps concerning their duties for peace in the South.
Capt Apha Chapanon, commander of the HTMS Similan, was the commandant of the
Military Parade Regiment, the 12 battalions from Sattahip that took part in
the parade.
Private sector keen to recruit
ex-Navy personnel
Patcharapol Panrak
A number of private companies have sent representatives to the Navy
Base at Sattahip looking for personnel to recruit after their military tour
of duty is finished, saying that the Navy’s strategy produces personnel who
are self-disciplined, fit, and with a highly positive outlook on life and
what they can achieve.
 Navy
training has helped make navy personnel sought after as employees in the
private sector.
Ms Jarunan Taranon, manager of the business development section of the Lucky
Dragon Co Ltd, located at the Maptaput Industrial Estate in Rayong, and
Somkid Bunyarat of the Total Line Air-con Center Company, Rayong branch are
two people who visited the base on January 15.
They went to Prince Chumporn Camp at Toeyngam Bay to give a presentation.
Amongst the jobs on offer were assistant warehouse chief, forklift drivers,
and warehouse employees. Wages ranged from 7,600 to 8,500 baht for
applicants with primary school class 6 certificates, 8,500 to 10,000 baht
for those with secondary school class 3 certificates, and 10,000 to 13,000
baht for applicants with vocational school certificates and higher levels of
education.
A number of personnel at the base have applied in advance for jobs before
their tours of duty in reserve unit Type 1 are completed.
Jarunan said there has been close cooperation recently between the Ministry
of Labor, the Department for Skills Development, the Royal Thai Navy and the
private sector to present more opportunities to military personnel who will
soon be leaving the forces.
Those with vocational training are especially sought after, said Jarunan,
but the personal qualities and values that are learned through serving in
the military does overall make them very valued employees.
|
