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Villagers protest latest
phase of canal project
Theerarak Suthatiwong
Pattaya officials have temporarily halted construction of a roadway
along Naklua’s Klong Nokkrayang to look at better ways to preserve the
area’s last mangrove forest while also solving the trash problem that
prompted the project in the first place.
About 100 Klong Nokkrayang area residents protested the scenery-adjustment
project Sept. 3, prompting Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn and city council
members too meet the villagers to hear their demands.
Village representative Supakit Baikloy said the latest phase of the Klong
Nokkrayang construction project - which began in 2006 with the eviction of
residents from public land in order to make way for a drainage canal - would
destroy the last remaining mangrove forest in Naklua and displace animals
living there. Supakit’s preservation group, which also has members of
Burapha University, wants to see the city keep the mangroves and provide a
nature walk so it can be studied.
 Unfortunately,
villagers have repeatedly used the woods to illegally dump trash and
polluted canal water and have not shown any interest in preserving nature
until now.
Wutisak said Pattaya did not want to wipe out the mangrove forest, but that
villagers have repeatedly used the woods to illegally dump trash and
polluted canal water and have not shown any interest in preserving nature
until now. Klong Nokkrayang is largely a slum, he said, and an access road
being built along the canal will provide essential access to police and
emergency services as well add convenience for residents.
However, the deputy mayor agreed to suspend construction of the roadway’s
final 250 meters while a compromise is studied.
Community reaches out to give child
corrective surgery
Pattaya Mail readers chip
in money and support
Staff reporters
Parents of a toddler born with an imperforate anus, a birth defect
resulting in a missing anus, dreamed of a day when their son could live a
normal life. Thanks to Pattaya Mail readers, they got their wish.
 Somporn
Pongkiew-Ngam and his mother Somjit Duchairom - thanks to Pattaya Mail
readers, the young boy received much-needed surgery.
Readers who read the tale of little Somphorn “Non” Pongkiew-Ngam in the Aug.
14 issue were shocked to learn the 1-year-old was living in a shack with no
water or power and parents too poor to afford the reconstructive surgery the
boy needed. After the story was published, promises of aid and financial
support poured in.
Non had been given a colostomy at Chonburi hospital after he was born so his
body could dispose of waste. But the hospital refused any more care, saying
the parents - who scavenge for recyclable trash - could not pay. The parents
claim they were similarly mistreated at Banglamung Hospital just across the
street from their hut. As a result, the boy was stuck with a less-than-ideal
solution which he stretched repeatedly until it bled.
What a difference public pressure and a bit of money makes. With community
support, a doctor from Chonburi Hospital agreed to perform the surgery at
Banglamung Hospital Aug. 31 to give the boy a normal anus.
Non’s mother, Somjit Duchairom said the surgery was performed by a team of
physicians led by Dr. Nitiwut Wong-sangiam, a pediatric surgeon at Chonburi
Hospital. The operation was successful and the abdominal opening for the
colostomy is now healing.
Nitiwut said no problems are expected, although the boy will need a checkup
in about three to four weeks.
“The patient now defecates normally, but he might have more constipation
than other normal children. However, that can be treated,” Nitiwut said.
“From now on, there should be nothing to worry about.”
Three firms join in massive
Sattahip reforestation effort
Saksiri Uraiworn
More than 1,200 square kilometers of land near Sattahip will become
a lush forest under a reforestation program sponsored by three large Thai
companies to honor HM Queen Sirikit.
 Thatree
Litkhanapichitkul (left), social activities manager for Siam Commercial
bank, and Somboon Chaidetchsuriya (right), senior head of a special project
for the Bureau of Crown Property, jointly plant trees.
Work began on the first 40 rai of property Aug. 29 with 200 people from Siam
Cement Co, Siam Commercial Bank Co, and Thewes Insurance Co, planting 8,000
trees on the Siricharoenwat land owned by the Bureau of Crown Property.
Chanoknat Simapalik, head of Siam Cement’s communications division, said the
project was initiated so that the entire 800,000 rai (1,280 sq. km) will be
budding with new life by the time the Queen turns 80 in 2012.
The government-sanctioned program is one of a number of national sustainable
development projects being undertaken. In this case, a wide selection of
trees would be planted on watershed and marshland areas so as to curb floods
and mudslides, as well as improve air quality, slow global warming and
rebuild the country’s national resources.
Sattahip area residents, students plant mangroves on Klod Beach
Students, teachers and local
officials join with military personnel to plant mangroves on Klod Beach.
Patcharapol Panrak
The Royal Thai Navy, Sattahip district and city officials and area
students are jointly working to restore and preserve mangrove forests on
Klod Beach as part of the Marine Protection Project 2009.
The Navy-sponsored project aims to restore the region’s salt water and fresh
water balance and educate students about environmental protection and
preservation of natural resources.
Among those participating are teachers and students from the Science and
Technology department at Ratchapat Pranakhon University, the Navy’s First
Naval Area Command, Marines’ Amphibious Vehicle Battalion at Klod Beach, and
officials from Sattahip district and municipality, Samae San, Bang Saray,
Plutaluang and education units in Sattahip and nearby districts.
At last week’s initial planting, officials agreed that leaders must work
harder to reduce environmental damage and not deplete the region’s natural
resources.
The public and schools were encouraged to join in the 2009 project with the
hopes that younger people will take their training and teach the next
generation to protect the environment.
Thai, Khmer navies agree to joint patrols to battle terrorism, piracy
Officers from the
Cambodian Navy (left) and Royal Thai Navy (right)
stand at attention as Rear Admiral Prasit Chadbhandit (center)
makes an entrance to address the assembly.
Patcharapol Panrak
Thailand and Cambodia should begin jointly patrolling the Gulf
of Thailand to combat terrorism and piracy, Thai and Khmer navy
officials attending a joint workshop in Pattaya said last week.
During the 3-day workshop that began Aug. 30 at the Leelawadee Lagoon
Resort, military officials from both sides agreed that joint patrols,
particularly around the waters in Trat Province, were necessary for both
navies to effectively ward off enemies as well as assist in case of
accidents and rescues.
Terrorism tops the list of dangers faced in the region and members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should work together to
patrol the seas and share information, said Capt. Suphachai
Thanasarnsakhon, deputy chief of staff for the Thai Special Navy Warfare
Unit.
Rear Adm. Prasith Jadbundist of the Royal Thai Navy’s Region 1 command
said the seas pose special problems for anti-terrorism efforts,
including the ability to hide assailants and informants. ASEAN countries
also lack guidelines on sharing intelligence, he said. Therefore more
cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia would result in better
tracking of ocean traffic and help both navies to cope with unexpected
situations.
Capt. Arnond Darasawas, head of the Region 1 border patrol, said it was
important that both navies patrolled some waters regardless of national
borders. In Thailand, for example, he wanted to see the Cambodian Navy
patrol around Laem Ngorb and Khlong Yai south of Koh Chang and near the
Khmer border so that vessels will be better aware of the surroundings
and potential hiding places.
Prasith noted this would be come in handy in situations of
search-and-rescue, natural disasters in the border region and other
emergencies.
Residents complain about noise coming from bar on 3rd road
Sawittree Namwiwatsuk
For three months, residents in The Village housing development
have been complaining about the noise coming from a Third Road bar. So
far, their complaints have fallen on deaf ears. However, after residents
began moving out, top area officials are finally beginning to take
notice.
 Papon
Prayunhong, representative of the entertainment venue says his club would
cooperate, and that owners are installing noise insulation.
“Many people have moved out from The Village because they couldn’t stand the
loud noise,” resident leader Chantana Viriyasirikiet told Deputy Mayor
Ronakit Ekasingh and Deputy Chief of Banglamung District Phongthasit
Pijjanan Sept. 3. “There are 180 homes in The Village with both Thai and
foreign owners, but the problem remains unsolved, making many people move
away and those who stay have to take sleeping tablets at night.”
Chantana, who led a group of residents to Pattaya City Hall for a
long-awaited sit-down, said their neighborhood between Sukhumvit and Third
roads is also plagued by parking problems from the Thai music pub owned by a
group of influential locals. Three months of complaints to police, City Hall
and the Pattaya call center have done nothing to help.
Ronakit acknowledged the problem and promised solutions to both the noise
and parking issues “as soon as possible.” Police have started patrolling the
area from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. with the fire department monitoring the pub to
make sure it closes when it’s supposed to: at midnight.
“Closing times for nighttime entertainment on Third Road is midnight and
bars are not allowed to open after that,” Ronakit said. “If they do, they
can have their business license suspended.”
Bar representative Papon Prayunhong said his club would cooperate with the
investigation. He said owners are installing noise insulation and planned to
invite residents to inspect and test the system this week. He also said more
staff will be added to better control parking.
Navy searches for source of
oil spill that soiled Soh Beach
Navy officials are puzzled
about where an oil spill
is coming from that’s polluting Soh Beach in Sattahip.
Patcharapol Panrak
Royal Thai Navy officials are hunting for the source of a mysterious
oil spill that blackened a Sattahip area beach. They are now scrambling to
prevent the slick from fouling sea turtle nesting grounds on Koh Khram.
Officials were unable to determine the source of the diesel fuel and engine
lubricant discovered Sept. 4 that soiled about a kilometer of Soh Beach and
was drifting toward popular Toey Ngam Beach, mangrove forests in Thungprong
Bay and delicate coral off Koh Kai Tia. Most alarmingly, oil is also
threatening Koh Khram, where sea turtles go to lay eggs.
Navy Region 1 officials are trying to determine how the oil spilled while
staff in the Armament Department are checking and cleaning the beach and
trying to keep the slick off the islands.
Thailand’s 2-time WBC
boxing champ’s career
KO’d by drug arrest
Boonlua Chatree
Despite winning two world boxing championships, Thailand’s
Sirimongkol Singwancha never managed to rise to the level of Philippine
lightweight great Manny Pacquiao. Now, it appears, he never will.
 Sirimongkol
Singwancha’s boxing career comes to an inglorious end with his arrest on
drugs charges in Banglamung.
The former World Boxing Council bantamweight and super featherweight champ
was arrested by Chonburi Police Aug. 29 while allegedly delivering more than
28 grams of ecstasy to a customer for 10,000 baht. While knocked down by
legal charges before, the drug dealing arrest likely has KO’d the boxer’s
up-and-down career for good.
Sirimongkol, whose real name is Oh Iamtuom, was busted around 8 p.m. in his
bronze Chevrolet pickup truck outside a drug buyer’s home in Banglamung. He
told police he was delivering the ecstasy tablets for a man named “Lek”
because - despite being scheduled to fight in a K-1 match in Mexico this
week - he no longer could earn enough money from boxing.
With a record of 63 wins, just two losses and 37 knockouts, it shouldn’t
have been that way. Just 32 years old and standing 171 cm. tall, the Pathum
Thani native shared many characteristics with the slightly heavier Pacquiao
and other top fighters. But the breaks never seemed to fall his way.
Sirimongkol’s career got off to a fast start, defeating Mexican great Jose
Luis Bueno in 1996 for the WBC bantamweight title in just his ninth match.
He defended the title three times before losing it by technical knockout to
Japan’s Joichiro Tatsuyoshi the next year.
Continually struggling with weight issues, the fighter managed to put
together another impressive winning streak and won the vacant WBC super
featherweight title, beating Kengo Nagashima by knockout in 2002. He held
that title for a year.
The son of Singmanasak gym owner Manop Iamtuom, Sirimongkol also held at one
time the World Boxing Union super flyweight and bantamweight titles as well
as the Progressive Amateur Boxing Association super lightweight crown.
His career stalled in 2005, however, after a seventh round knockout victory
in a WBC eliminator in Las Vegas. Shortly after, he falsely tested positive
for Hepatitis B and lost an all-but-certain interim lightweight crown before
doctors could prove he did not have the virus. By that time, the damage was
done and Sirimongkol’s career never got back on track.
Later the same year he was arrested by Thai authorities for full-frontal
nudity photographs published in gay magazine “Heat.” The charges were
dropped on condition of “good behavior,” but matches at that point were in
short supply.
The boxer was simply too good for up-and-coming fighters and promoters eager
for quick, easy wins were scared of his record. The Bangkok Post in May
called him Thailand’s “forgotten fighter,” someone uninterested in
meaningless local bouts and too impressive to land the matches necessary to
fight his way up the WBC ladder again.
After his arrest Sirimongkol apologized to his fans but acknowledged that he
will not participate in this week’s Mexican K-1 match and that his fighting
career is likely over.
Englishman arrested
for selling ecstasy
Boonlua Chatree
Pattaya Police have arrested a 48-year-old Englishman who sold drugs
to Pattaya club goers along with two Thai partners.
 Bickel
(left) and his alleged accomplices Samart Chaibamrung and Thanathorn
Chaoraina were arrested for drugs.
Nigel William Bickel was caught with 100 ecstasy tablets in his room at LK
Apartment on Soi Batman Sept. 2.
Two Thais working with Bickel - Samart Chaibamrung, 32, and Thanathorn
Chaoraina, 32, were later arrested on Soi Siam Country Club holding 6.3
grams of ecstasy. Both men confessed they’d been selling drugs for Bickel
for years.
French drug dealer out on bail
caught slinging crystal meth again
Boonlua Chatree
A French man selling crystal methamphetamine from a Soi 6 guest
house will be sleeping in jail after a police sting operation caught him red
handed for the second time.
 Vignerow
is brought in for processing.
Julien Vignerow, 21, was caught dealing 2.2 grams of ya ice by a team of 12
Drug Enforcement Administration officers at the Lion King guest house and
beer bar Sept. 4. The arrest is the second for Vignerow, who was busted on
the same charges in 2008 and was out on bail.
Investigators said Vignerow was known to sell drugs on Walking Street and
set up a sting to catch him selling ice for 6,000 baht per gram.
Police arrived at a top-floor apartment at the Lion King where Vignerow
opened a door and handed out two plastic bags containing the ya ice.
Officers broke into the room and arrested him before he could flee.
Affair with brother-in-law led to
Huay Yai widow’s murder, police say
Police arrested Wan
Phaetkratok (seated) for her alleged involvement
in the murder of her sister-in-law, Larn Island resident Anong Phaetkratok.
Boonlua Chatree
A wealthy Huay Yai widow who began an affair with her dead husband’s
brother was killed by the man’s wife and her family, police say.
Reported missing four days earlier, Anong Phaetkratok, 45, was found Sept. 1
in a wooded area in Huay Yai Sub-district with a bullet wound to the head.
Shortly thereafter, records show people making large daily bank withdrawals
using her automated teller machine card.
Police on Sept. 5 arrested Wan Phaetkratok, the victim’s 48-year-old
sister-in-law and have issued an arrest warrant for her 21-year-old nephew,
Korat resident Thanomphong Kingsukhon. Police are also looking for several
others believed to have plotted to kill Anong, who investigators say was
having an affair with Wan’s husband, 46-year-old Sitthiporn Phaetkratok,
brother of Anong’s former spouse.
In addition to owning several properties, Anong operated a food and
beach-chair umbrella business on Koh Larn, a business she took over after
her husband died a year ago. She was last seen Aug. 28 when she went to pay
some bills at a Naklua bank and visit her monk father in Sriracha before
planning to return to Koh Larn that evening.
Security cameras show she’d arrived at the Government Savings Bank as
planned and her mother reported getting a telephone call about the visit to
her father. But when she failed to show up at the temple or back on the
island, her relatives filed a missing person’s report at Pattaya and
Banglamung police stations. Her body was discovered in a Ban Sak-Ngaew patch
of jungle by a Huay Yai woman who noticed the smell four days later. She
still had more than 3,000 baht and a gold ring on her.
Police initially suspected the woman was killed for her large inheritance or
because of an affair with a married man. It turns out it may have been a bit
of both.
Suspicions were aroused when it was learned the two women had fought a day
before Anong disappeared over her being Sitthiporn’s minor wife. They were
confirmed when bank records and security footage showed young Thais
withdrawing 20,000 baht a day from Anong’s account via ATM.
Sittiporn told police he had come to Koh Larn to help Anong manage the beach
business after his brother died, but had became romantically involved with
her about seven months ago. He said his decision to support Anong as a mia
noi enraged his main wife, who suddenly said she wanted to bring her nephew
Thanomphong down from her Nakhon Ratchasima hometown despite not having
spoken with him in some time.
Wan confessed she had arranged for Thanomphong and his teenage girlfriend
Jieb to kill her husband’s mistress. The young couple followed Anong in
their pickup truck into Naklua, then offered her a ride to Sriracha. Once
they reached a secluded stretch of road, the woman was dragged from the
truck and killed.
Investigators said the withdrawals were the keys to solving the case. As
soon as Anong disappeared, people began withdrawing 20,000 baht a day from
her account. The most recent ATM pull was done by Thanomphong on Koh Samet.
But authorities are also searching for a 30-year-old man seen in ATM camera
photos.
Norwegian restaurateur arrested on heroin, gun charges
Former foreign tourist police assistant
Boonlua Chatree
A foreign tourist police assistant kicked out of the volunteer group
six months ago is facing narcotics and gun charges after being arrested with
40 grams of heroin and a loaded handgun.
 Norwegian
John Martin Johansen (left) has been arrested on drugs and gun charges.
Norwegian John Martin Johansen, who also owns the John in Pattaya travel
agency and Ingo’s Restaurant on Third Road, was taken into custody by
Narcotics Suppression Unit officers Sept. 3 inside the El Paso Steakhouse
restaurant in Pattaya.
Police said Johansen claimed he was a foreign police volunteer and tried to
use his connections to police officials to wriggle out of the arrest.
Officers from the drug unit, which operates semi-independently from the main
Pattaya police force, was having none of it and transported the 39-year-old
directly to Bangkok for prosecution.
A 10-year Pattaya resident, Johansen is well-known in the European community
for both his Carre Four-area travel-and-visa business, his new Scandinavian
restaurant and for a number of questionable incidents while serving as a
tourist police assistant.
Howard Miller, group leader for the foreign tourist police assistants, was
quick to put distance between his association and Johansen, who was expelled
from the group based on the results of more thorough background checks
earlier this year.
“Over the last 12 months the foreign tourist police assistants have
completely overhauled their entrance procedures and conducted detailed
investigations into all FTPA, myself included,” Miller said in a statement
released by the FTPA. “Unfortunately, with any volunteer organization,
regardless of nationality, some will try and join for their own gain and
others will use their position as a cover for activities outside of the
law.”
“I am pleased that our stricter vetting procedures appear to have worked, as
if he was a current member of the FTPA and had been caught, this would have
been devastating for our group and its members who tirelessly assist
tourists on Walking Street 7 nights a week,” Miller added.
Two dead, 13 injured when impatient driver loses control of Pattaya-Ubon bus
Boonlua Chatree
Two people were killed and 13 injured when the impatient driver of
an overloaded Pattaya bus bound for Ubon Ratchathani trying to pass a
slow-moving car lost control and slammed into a rice truck.
 Rescuers
needed to use the “jaws of life” to free some of the passengers.
Passenger Viyada Saemthong, 22, and assistant driver “Lon”, 25, both
suffered broken necks in the Sept. 7 crash that occurred on Highway 304
between Chachoengsao and Panom Sarakham.
Rescuers arrived to find Bus 549-44 on the side of the road with its front
smashed and passengers dead and injured inside. Medics had to use “jaws of
life” to free some of the passengers who were transported to Chachoengsao
Hospital for treatment.
Injured passenger Malisorn Sawanngam, 28, said most of the bus riders were
going back to Nakhon Ratchasima, Ubon and areas in between for local
elections. The bus was packed, with many people being forced to stand.
Malisom said she saw the crash coming and that many passengers were thrown
forward into the windshield.
Investigators determined that the driver, 46-year-old Udom Klomklaing of
Rayong, had been trying to pass a car on the right side of the road. The car
would not move and while attempting to overtake it, he lost control of the
bus, smashing into the back of a heavy Isuzu rice truck driven by Buriram
resident Ong-ard Marasri. The bus driver sustained only minor injuries.
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