AV Front Eye Volume 15 Issue 4 News Desk - Tel: 076-236555January 26 - February 1, 2008 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 25 Baht The Gazette is published in association with Chalong More tsunami- Circle under IN THIS ISSUE warning buoys NEWS: Cow meat cremated; threat Beach vendors grilled for cooking; Aiming for Marine By Sompratch Saowakhon tourism. Pages 2 & 3 CHALONG: Motorists in the INSIDE STORY: Too many to be deployed southern end of the island may tuk-tuks makes traveling tire- soon be missing their favorite some. Pages 4-6 By Natcha Yuttaworawit landmark as the provincial high- AROUND THE NATION: No clo- ways office is considering re- sure in War on Drugs probe. PHUKET CITY: The National moving Chalong Circle and in- Page 7 Disaster Warning Center stalling traffic lights in its place. (NDWC) has received 165 mil- Saroj Suwinchai, director of AROUND THE REGION: Infa- lion baht from the central gov- the provincial office of the High- mous expat freed. Page 8 ernment to install two more tsu- ways Department, told the Ga- AROUND THE SOUTH: Five nami-warning buoys in the zette that the idea behind the pro- years of Southern insurgency. Andaman Sea. posal is to relieve traffic conges- Page 9 They are to be installed by tion at the junction. the middle of this year, NDWC “Our plan is to remove the AROUND THE ISLAND: Coco- Director Dr Smith Dharmasaroja roundabout and install traffic nut Island a blast from the told a conference in Phuket City lights on the four main roads at past. Page 10 on January 21. The conference, the junction that lead to Kata- PEOPLE: Dutch boatman lives at the Royal Phuket City Hotel Karon [Patak Rd], to the bypass life in the fast lane. from January 21 to 24, was held road [Chao Fa East Rd], to Pages 14 & 15 to simultaneously update a total Phuket City [Chao Fa West Rd] of 77 key figures in the region. and to Rawai [Wiset Rd]. LIFESTYLE: Make all Czechs At the seminar were The National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) has received 165 “Vehicles entering the junc- payable to the Gazette. Phuket Vice-Governor Tri Aug- million baht to install two tsunami-warning buoys in the Andaman tion from Chalong Pier will be Pages 18 & 19 karadacha, the directors of 24 Sea in addition to the one that was installed in 2006 (pictured). forced to turn left onto Wiset Rd. SPORTS: Windsurfing; Boxing; schools in Phuket, Phang Nga, ing,” explained Dr Smith. from the government, although They must do a U-turn and come Tennis for kids; Golf tourney. Krabi, Ranong, Trang and “The buoys will confirm we have received many requests back and wait at the lights to en- Pages 34 & 35 Satun. whether a tsunami is approach- from Krabi, Phang Nga and ter the junction again,” he said. Also present were officers ing, and will be critical in making Ranong provinces for more However, before the plan PROPERTY: Construction: from Phuket office of the De- the decision whether to issue a warning towers,” he said. can go ahead, agreement must Rassada offices; Home of the partment of Disaster Prevention tsunami warning,” he added. “I still worry for villages be reached with the Phuket Pro- Week: Coconut crazy; De- and Mitigation (DDPM – “We must hurry because that are far from high ground. vincial Administration Organiza- sign: Kitchen capers; Garden- Phuket), the Provincial Fisheries there have been many earth- They should have tall buildings tion (OrBorJor) on what is to be ing: Bert swears he’s full of Office, Phuket Provincial Educa- quakes in the region and foreign- for tsunami shelters. done with the fountain that sits compost. Pages 37-42 tion Office, the NDWC and the ers trust our information more “We now have the budget in the middle of the roundabout. Ministry of Information and Com- than they have before,” he said. to build four tsunami shelters this “Although the roads are our PLUS munications Technology. “We have to open the bid- year, but we have yet to begin responsibility, the fountain is the Dr Smith confirmed that the ding for contractors to build and construction. OrBorJor’s and we must have GOOD LIVING 12; HAPPENINGS budget was approved the day be- install the buoys soon,” he said. “Koh Phi Phi Don has only their permission to remove it,” K. 16; WHAT’S ON 17; LARGER fore the seminar, on January 20. He also expressed concern one tsunami shelter. I think that’s Saroj explained. THAN LIFE, AMBROSIA 20; THE “The two buoys will be about the system of warning tow- not enough because there are Prasong Manokarn, chief GRAY AREA 21; TAKE A B REAK about 250 to 300 kilometers from ers throughout the six tsunami- many tourists on the island, and of OrBorJor’s department of 23 & 24; LOOKING BACK, Phuket, closer to shore than the affected provinces. don’t forget what we owe to civil works, told the Gazette, “I HOROSCOPES 26; MOTORING 27; one already installed, which is “Many areas still need tourism,” he warned. have talked with K. Saroj about EDITORIAL, LETTERS 28; FIRST about 1,000km from the coast. PERSON, ISSUES & ANSWERS 29; more warning towers and some “Currently, we have only 79 the plan twice within the past two BOOKS, WORD C OURT 30; PUSH- “They will give us better islands still do not have any warn- warning towers in the six Anda- months. It’s possible because we ING BUTTONS 31; BUSINESS AND and faster information than the ing towers at all. man provinces. It’s not enough don’t need a large budget to do it MONEY 32 & 33; CLASSIFIEDS old buoy; the Meteorological De- “But it’s difficult for us to because many danger areas are and it can been done quickly – 43-55. partment will be responsible for do anything now because we still isolated. and it will reduce the number of making sure they are function- have to ask for more budget Continued on page 2 serious traffic jams there. 2 PHUKET GAZETTE NEWS January 26 - February 1, 2008 from page 1 Tsunami 2 tonnes of smuggled beef incinerated By Gazette Staff The shipment was smuggled into Phuket are strict about enforcing the law against precautions to through the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint. It was people who import meat without permission PHUKET CITY: Nearly two tonnes of discovered on December 20 in an outdoor from the Department of Livestock Develop- receive boost smuggled beef went up in smoke at the Phuket freezer on Soi Siangtai, off Thepkrasattri Rd ment. “Also, Patong has only three tow- Incinerator in Saphan Hin on January 13. The in Phuket City, he said. “We are concerned about the safety and ers and they are not loud enough. meat, worth an estimated 153,600 baht, was Somboon Intharat, the owner of the quality of food. It is very important for tour- Patong should have at least five from cattle infected with foot-and-mouth dis- storage unit, was found to have brought the ism, business and our people,” said K. towers. ease, said Phuket Vice-Govenor Smith Pala- meat into Thailand without a permit or cor- Sakchai. “If we have more towers, watvichai. rect health certification, and without follow- Between October 2006 and September we will not have problems with Most smuggled meat was from diseased ing Customs regulations, he said. 2007, 650 arrests were made nationwide for people not hearing the warning. animals and was of low quality, he added. Somboon, who will be fined an as-yet animal and meat smuggling. We are also currently improving According to a Department of Livestock undisclosed amount, has been charged under During the same period, Customs seized the language used in the warn- Development (DLD) press release, the meat the Animal Epidemics Act of 1956. more than one million ducks, 25,000 chickens ing,” he said. arrived from India and was packaged under This was the sixth time that smuggled and almost 2,000 goats, as well as more than However, Dr Smith warned, the brands Allana, EatCo and ALM. meat had been incinerated in Phuket since 40,000kg of poultry meat. “I’m not satisfied with warning DLD Director General Sakchai Sriboon- November 2007. The total value of animals and meat tests. It’s not good enough. We sue said that the meat came in 96 packs “We have a network of 70 animal-quar- seized was estimated at 92.3 million baht, should hold tests more often and weighing 20 kilograms each. antine checkpoints across the country. We added K. Sakchai. not warn people that a test will be held. Key organizations and fig- PITO calls ures, such as the Ministry of In- Patong beach food terior and local leaders, must de- velop evacuation routes, he for added. “We will inform people of voluntary the warning system through TV crackdown launched and through public notices in tour- By Natcha Yuttaworawit ist areas. price freeze “People in risk areas should PATONG: Patong Municipality has warned Patong beach ven- be warned as soon as possible PHUKET: The Phuket Provincial dors against cooking and selling and be able to react quickly,” he Internal Trade Office (PITO) on food on the beach, saying viola- said. January 15 called for shops and tors will be arrested. Dr Smith repeated his call restaurants to join its Blue Flag, “If we find any vendors for the NDWC to be an indepen- voluntary price-freeze program, cooking food on the beach we will dent body. aimed at giving consumers some arrest them.