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Respect a person’s right to be reasonably quiet and peaceful

If you really want to be a great humanitarian…

James W. Ashton (1941 - 2010)

Changes to UK passport applications overseas

Respect a person’s right to be reasonably quiet and peaceful

Editor;
I’d like to address this letter to Pattaya Patty.
Patty, if I had you in my class when I was teaching school years ago I would have tried to steer you in a different direction. Your letter was down right mean and personal (Drunk on whine, Feb 5). You mentioned my name five times. It was Mr. Ray this and Mr. Ray that. I notice that you and other anti whiners always forget to sign your name. Please let us know who you are.
What you wrote in your letter was certainly unreasonable and not true. You tried to portray me as a bigot and intolerant, which I’m not. If you read my letters you will find they are about noise not religion. People, whether religious or not have the right to keep noise out of their living room. I do not respect loud speakers. They are a curse on civilization. You should also note that I objected to DVD music on South Pattaya Road from 1 to 7 a.m.
You mentioned that I should move on. That’s a phrase that all anti whiners love to use. I don’t move because in my old age I don’t drive and it’s “location” that counts. I’ve lived here 15 years and I am optimistic that things will change. If you don’t respect a person’s right to be reasonably quiet and peaceful you are the one to move on.
Ray Standiford

If you really want to be a great humanitarian…

Editor;
“Koto”, from the “Pollution Solution” group has sent me a sincere message, so I will afford him the same courtesy.
First of all, when you approach the Immigration office in Pattaya, you will find that over to the far right hand corner there is a smoking area, with an ashtray placed there to keep smokers away from non-smokers in front of the office. If one or two smokers ignored that area in order to smoke in front of the door, I have no doubt that one of the officials there would have reprimanded them. How you located the few butts that you did in one of the plants must have taken some real detective work.
To the gentleman who wrote the letter just prior to yours regarding the 400,000 deaths from smoking and 100,000 deaths from second hand smoke, I can only say that anyone can say anything that they like, but that doesn’t make it true. The fact of the matter is that nowhere in the world will you find one single death certificate that states that someone died from second hand smoke and if someone did prove that any baby died from ingesting a cigarette butt, I assure you that it would be headline material worldwide.
This is what irks me about anti-smoking activists. They quote the statistics of groups who release such statistics but never explain how they come to the figures that they do. If they don’t have a group to quote, they simply conjure up situations like babies swallowing cigarette butts in order to put more heat on smokers. The result is that we are taxed, harassed, restricted where we can go and maligned by an ever growing assortment of rock throwers who seem to relish having someone to harangue who are popular targets.
Just for once, try considering something. I have been smoking two to three packs of cigarettes a day for almost fifty years and I am still here. My house has ashtrays filled with cigarette butts, but I am still here. And by the way, a cigarette butt is nothing more than a piece of paper, which comes from trees, and a plant that grows from the ground.
Now if I, and a multitude of others who are living exactly as I and have been living just as long are still here, than how are all of these people dying from coming into contact with our cigarette smoke or butts?
If people like you would just for once try a little logic, instead of making up statistics which are unprovable, maybe we could get a little peace. If you really want to be a great humanitarian, please consider the above.
John Arnone
Yasothon

James W. Ashton (1941 - 2010)

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,
On behalf of Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard I regret to convey a sad message from our President Peter Schlageter regarding the tragic accident on the final day of the Adamas Trophy at Polo Escape, whereby Mr. James W. Ashton, interim president of the Polo Federation sadly lost his life.
I did some research on the internet and found out that he was a truly remarkable man.
Our thoughts are with his family and many friends at Polo Escape: Robin & Susy Lourvanij and of course our president Peter and his wife Ivy.
With sincere regards,
Jan Abbink
Assistant Governor 2009 -2010, District 3340 Zone 4, Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard
********
Dear Friends,
We have lost a friend, a great horseman and respected personality. I have shared with Sir James the love of horses and Polo and the evening at Polo Escape with Sir James dancing away and enjoying himself in our company will remain in my memory.
Peter Schlageter
President, Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard
********
It is with great sadness that we have to inform of the death of the FIP Interim President, Mr. James W. Ashton following a fall during a 10 goal match in Thailand.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Susan and the Ashton Family - he was a polo legend and gentleman and will be hugely missed by all the polo community.
Federation International Polo

Changes to UK passport applications overseas

What is changing and how does it affect me?

Passport changes leaflet & press lines release documents are available for download from this link: http://members.bccthai.com/asp/view_doc.asp?DocCID=1586
These documents include frequently asked questions - new passport arrangements for British nationals overseas
From 8 March 2010 the British Embassy will no longer issue passports locally. From that date you will need to send your application to the Passport Processing Centre in Hong Kong, either through the British Embassy in Bangkok or, in the case of straightforward renewals, directly to Hong Kong.
The new application procedures will be posted on this website http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk when the changes take effect in March.

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