Protesters Try to Clear Protected Mangrove Forest
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AV Eye Front Volume 17 Issue 26 News Desk - Tel: 076-273555 June 26 - July 2, 2010 Daily news at www.phuketgazette.net 25 Baht The Gazette is published in association with D-Day for passenger INSIDE helmet crackdown Kids climb for dogs HUKET City Police are Vachira Phuket Hospital for the set to begin enforcement period covering June 2008 to No- July 1 of a long-ignored vember 2009 revealed that some Plaw requiring all motor- 70% of motorbike riders involved bike riders – including pas- in accidents requiring hospital sengers – to wear crash helmets. treatment in Phuket weren’t Superintendent Wanchai wearing helmets. Ekpornpit said that stepped-up Riders between the ages of law enforcement could save 15 and 30 are the group at high- about 30 lives annually in Phuket est risk. City Police District, which cov- Young riders were also 2.9 ers Rassada, Wichit and Koh times more likely to be involved Kaew as well as Phuket Town. in motorbike accidents requiring A review by police of ran- hospital treatment and 2.6 times Two sisters are gearing up for a dom closed-circuit television more likely to die in motorbike 4,000-meter climb to raise (CCTV) footage taken in the dis- accidents, the researchers found. money for Phuket’s Soi Dog trict in February and March this Muang District is where Foundation. See page 14 year revealed that about 60% of 66.3% of all accidents in Phuket motorbike drivers wore crash hel- take place, followed by Thalang mets during the day, compared to (18.6%) and Kathu (15.1%). NEWS: Hero saves man just 4% of passengers. The vast majority of road from burning car; Guide Among drivers, helmet use accidents in Phuket, 87.6% over- abandons Chinese tour- Phuket City Police Superintendent Wanchai Ekpornpit (right) and Traffic plummeted to just 25.4% after Police Deputy Superintendent Athiwat Chaisrisuth. all, involve motorbikes. ists; New vice governor. dark, when fewer traffic police Research by the US-based Pages 2 - 5 are on duty, the survey found. than teenagers, while helmet use effective in preventing death and Advocates for Highway and Another disturbing trend among children and infants was 67% effective in preventing brain Auto Safety shows that per ve- AROUND THE ISLAND: revealed by the CCTV images described as ‘nonexistent’. injuries, the US National High- hicle miles traveled, motorcy- Halal celebrations com- was the correlation between Government statistics re- way Traffic Safety Administra- clists are about 21 times more mence; Eric Tomlin dies. helmet use and age. garding helmet use among mo- tion found. likely to die in traffic accidents Page 8 A higher percentage of torcycle riders in the US re- Statistics released by the than people in cars. adults don protective headgear vealed that helmets were 35% injury surveillance unit at – Pimwara Choksakulpan TRAVEL: The Gazette gets cultural on a trip to Ao Luk. Protesters try to clear protected mangrove forest Page 9 RMED with heavy equip- stretch of road that would finally They said the six rai of man- ingness to move forward, the pro- ment, some 400 people link Saphan Hin and Wichit, the grove forest that would need to testers began to disband around gathered on Sakdidet protesters said they were taking be sacrificed was a small price 5pm after police prevented all but AROUND THE NATION 6; A matters into their own hands and to pay for benefits in terms of one of the promised excavators HISTORY 10; EXPAT GAL- Road Soi 7 on June 19 to clear a planned to bring in five excava- savings on time and fuel costs, as from reaching the site. LERY 11; HAPPENINGS 12; six-rai swath through protected tors to remove mangrove trees. well as reducing traffic conges- The one backhoe present WHAT’S ON 15; BUSINESS mangrove forest that has held up Natural Resources and En- tion along Sakdidet Soi 1. was not enough to do the work & MONEY 16; TAKE A completion of a government road vironment Minister Suwit Khunkitti The road is currently the and the operator feared arrest if BREAK 17 & 18; TSOWN- project for over a decade. insists a flyover is built to protect only way for motorists coming he started digging, protesters said. DINGS, HOROSCOPES 19; Led by local politicians and the mangrove forest, but the pro- from the south of the island to The protest leaders continue EDITORIAL, LETTERS 20; village chiefs, the protesters gath- testers feel this would be too ex- reach Saphan Hin, where three to insist the project is needed, FIRST PERSON 21; SPORT ered on the dead-end road with a pensive and time-consuming. large schools and more than 10 however, a point of view known 23; PROPERTY WATCH 24; truck-mounted public address sys- Leaders took turns reading government offices are located. to be shared by Phuket Gover- PROPERTY NEWS 25; EARTH tem at about 2pm. prepared statements denouncing The narrow road is the site of nor Wichai Phraisa-ngop. MATTERS 26; PROPERTY Frustrated with the Ca- Mr Suwit for his failure to ap- daily rush-hour traffic jams. See Editorial, page 21 27; CLASSIFIED ADS 28-40. binet’s failure to approve a re- quest to complete a 600-meter prove construction. Despite their apparent will- – Pimwara Choksakulpan 2 PHUKET GAZETTE NEWS June 26 - July 2, 2010 V/Gov Nivit back in Provincial Hall HERE was change near the top in Phuket this month as new Phuket TVice Governor Nivit Aroonrat replaced departing Vice Governor Smith Palawatvichai on BAGGED: Theft suspects Santi Toela-wee (left) and Halem Kha-mi-duay. June 21. V/Gov Nivit comes to Phuket from Sukhothai, where he Baggage thieves nabbed served as provincial vice gover- WO baggage staff at The two men, employed by nor for almost a year. Phuket Airport are to be a sub-contractor of Thai Airways, The 59-year-old native of T charged with theft after confessed that the phones had Phuket brings 35 years of public allegedly stealing two cellphones been taken from the Australian’s service experience to the job. from an Australian tourist’s lug- bag by Mr Halem, police said. V/Gov Smith has moved to gage on June 22. Mr Halem reportedly gave Sukhothai to serve in V/Gov When Bret Drinkwater ar- one of the phones to Mr Santi, Nivit’s former position. rived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in who took it home. V/Gov Nivit is no stranger Bangkok aboard a Thai Airways Police searched the two to Phuket Provincial Hall. flight from Phuket, he noticed his men’s houses, finding the iPhone Prior to taking up his post in iPhone and Nokia cellphone were in the pocket of a pair of jeans at Sukhothai, he served as Chief Phuket Vice Governor Nivit started work by paying respect before the missing from his bag. Mr Halem’s house and the Nokia Administrative Assistant (Palad) statue of King Rama V at Phuket Provincial Hall. After he informed police in on Mr Santi’s bed. in Phuket from December 2005 Bangkok, at around 4pm, they Police also found a num- to December 2006. charge of many fractious disputes out by the Administrative Court. contacted colleagues in Phuket. ber of other items including a Despite being a Phuket na- on the island, including the evic- A law degree graduate Officers at Phuket Interna- hard disk, a pair of brand-name tive, he applied for and was tion of squatters from Soi Phra from Ramkhamhaeng University, tional Airport checked the duty sunglasses, watches and other granted a transfer off the island Barami 8 in Patong and the evic- he also holds a master’s degree roster and found that 18-year-old cellphones at Mr Santi’s house in 2006. tion of the vendors in front of in public administration from the Halem Kha-mi-duay from which they suspect were also At the time he told the Ga- Laguna on Bang Tao Beach. prestigious National Institute of Songkhla and 24-year-old Santi stolen. zette he had applied for the trans- He was heavily involved in Development Administration. Toela-wee from Nakhon Sri The two men were being fer because he was tired of the the introduction of a new set of He received an award for Thammarat had been responsible held in Thachatchai Police Sta- hard work the Phuket job entailed. regulations for dive businesses excellent public service in 2001. for loading baggage onto Mr tion after their arrest. As Palad, Mr Nivit was in that were subsequently thrown – Pimwara Choksakulpan Drinkwater’s flight. – Atchaa Khamlo Failed Thai-foreigner marriages dominate divorce court HAI-FOREIGNER rela- of a total 36 cases for the year. erty for her own benefit. husband was allegedly unfaithful. The majority of juvenile tionships accounted for well There have been eight Thai-for- In many cases an estranged Around 80 to 90% of con- cases in the PPJFC involved 13- Tover half of all contested eigner cases so far this year. wife sold property registered in tested divorces in 2009 were suc- 18-year-olds from broken homes divorces in Phuket last year, ac- In Thailand, divorcing can be her name and refused to give her cessfully arbitrated by a PPJFC- without the understanding and cording to the new chief justice of as simple as going to the local dis- husband his share, leading him to sponsored mediation process, re- warmth that can prevent delin- the Phuket Provincial Juvenile and trict office and signing divorce pa- file for divorce in order to be prop- moving the need for litigation.