Lucainena de las Torres says no to noisy motorists

The Lucainena de las Torres town council has approved a new set of by-laws which will give the local police power to control noise pollution caused by motor vehicles. The byelaws make it illegal to circulate in the town without an exhaust pipe or with silencers which are inefficient, incomplete, inadequate or deteriorated. They also prohibit the use of musical equipment installed in vehicles with an exterior noise level of more than fifteen decibels. The town council has gone even further and has prohibited vehicles from emitting electromagnetic disturbances, gases or other contaminants in the town's streets. Fines for any of these offences range from thirty to three hundred euros and the local police can now also impound those vehicles the owners of which refuse to comply with the new emission controls.

Muchas Gracias, Bob Oppenheimer

Palomares is to hit the big screen soon in a Hollywoood production. The producer of Saving Private Ryan, Mark Gordon, is to start work soon on a new project for Miramax films called 'Muchas Gracias, Bob Oppenheimer'. The film centres on an American serviceman in the 1960s who is sent on an appeasement mission to a fishing town in Spain after a U.S. military plane crash results in the accidental detonation of four hydrogen bombs; in addition to his role with the locals, the serviceman also embarks on a relationship.
The project draws from the story of Palomares, where in 1966 an American B-52 bomber crashed and released more than 1,000 tons of nuclear material.

This will not be the first Hollywood production which makes reference to the Palomares incident.
While serving on the salvage ship USS Hoist during operations to recover the bomb which fell into the sea, navy diver Carl Brashear had his leg crushed in a deck accident. His story was the inspiration for the 2000 Cuba Gooding, Jr. film Men of Honor.

Cantoria march draws media attention

The march held last week in Cantoria was attended by more than three hundred people and drew wide media interest. It was held to draw attention to the situation in Cantoria where around 23 homes have a threat of demolition hanging over them and to the situation in the rest of the Almanzora valley area where planning irregularities have left many home owners in precarious situations. The marchers carried banners with slogans such as 'Justice Please', ' we are innocent victims' and 'a good government should protect the innocent' and their circuit of the town took them past the town hall where they delivered a petition to the mayor asking for the restoration of basic services to those homes without in the area. The march was reported sympathetically in the provincial and national press.

One killed and five injured in road accident in Turre

In an accident involving two cars on the A-370 Turre to Los Gallardos road one person was killed and five were injured, four of them seriously. The accident happened at about six in the afternoon on Monday and fire-fighters from Turre were on the scene almost instantly. One of the cars involved was carrying two occupants and the other four and according to eyewitnesses one of the cars caught fire after they were involved in a head on collision. Four intensive care ambulances and a helicopter attended the scene and the injured were taken to the Hospital de la Inmaculada in Huercal Overa. According to emergency services the person killed was an elderly woman.

Expert’s report declares Macenas built on protected land

    More evidence has been presented to the judge studying the case brought by the environmental protest groups Salvemos Mojacar and Salvemos Macenas against the macro-development next to Macenas beach in Mojacar. According to Salvemos Mojacar the report presented last week shows the development is built in the LIC (Lugar de Interes Comunitario) protected area of the Sierra Cabrera and affects several protected habitats. The legal action brought by the protest groups asks the court, presided over by the same judge who declared the Macenas hotal building licence illegal, for the paralysation of construction work until the case has been heard and that irrigation of the golf course be stopped due to it being watered with water destined for human consumption.

The company building the complex has reiterated that it has all the necessary permissions and licences to build in the area and has highlighted its efforts to respect the environment. Among the environmental protection measures it has taken are the installation of its own waste water treatment plant that will treat all the waste water produced by the resort. The plant features the latest biomembrane technology and will produce recycled water ideal for watering the golf course and green areas when the apartments are completed and have people living in them. The Macenas project also affected about half of the world's population of sea lavender (Limonium estevei) a critically endangered endemic species of the province of Almeria, of which there were only 11,500 remaining examples. The plants affected by the works were transplanted to a reserve area by scientists in an effort to preserve them although Salvemos Mojacar claims the plants moved since died.

Who was to blame for child abuser’s release?

In a case that has caused enormous debate in Spain somebody is being sought to take the blame for an error that could have contributed to the death of a five year old girl in Huelva. The girl, Mari Luz Cortes, went missing one afternoon and it wasn't until 54 days later that her body was found floating in the estuary near her home. A man was later arrested for her murder and when it was discovered that the accused man had more than one conviction for child abuse, including against his own daughter, and was not in jail despite having been sentenced to prison the public outcry was overwhelming.

The man,
Santiago del Valle Garcia, now in prison awaiting trial for the murder of Mari Luz sexually abused his own daughter in 1998. The judge in that case took four years to find him guilty and sentence him to two years and nine months in prison, the defence appealed and it took another three and a half years before the prison sentence was confirmed. When the court tried to contact Santiago del Valle to execute the sentence he had moved and was declared 'whereabouts unknown'. He was actually living in Gijon with his wife where he was accused and condemned of abusing another young girl, in this trial the first sentence was taken into account but as it was still under appeal he was only found guilty of a first offence and so avoided jail but was ordered to present himself to the court on the first and fifteenth of each month, something he did diligently even while he was supposedly being searched for by the court he had been condemned to prison by and something he did only days before the death of Mari Luz.

The blame for this mess has been laid at the doors of the court in Seville where he was originally condemned. The judge in the case was found guilty of a 'falta grave' (serious misdemeanour) in his handling of the situation and was fined 1,500 euros. Now the judicial secretary of the court involved is to go before a disciplinary hearing in Almeria accused of negligence in allowing the delays in the execution of the sentence. The judge who will preside is Juana Alfonso Rodriguez who is the sister of Pilar Alfonso, the judge of the case looking into illegal construction in Zurgena.

Raising awareness of Alzheimer’s

Several events were held around the province as part of the World Alzheimer's day like for example the giant paella organised by the Huercal Overa Alzheimer's Association in the Plaza de la Constitucion last Sunday, asking for a contribution of five euros for a plate of paella ad a glass of wine to rtaise funds for the organisation which provides support for sufferers and their families.

The Torrecardenas hospital in Almeria capital revealed that in the first six months of 2008 the hospital attended to 1,200 patients with disease, 400 of whom were new cases and that a study carried out by the hospital and the University of Almeria put the incidence of the diseases in the province at 2.5 cases per one thousand people. Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative brain disease which affects memory, thinking, and behaviour. It usually appears in people over 65 years old although it can affect younger people as well. Its causes are not entirely understood yet but it is characterised by the formation of amyloid plaques on certain structures within the brain which interfere with their functional activity.

Although there is no known cure for Alzheimer's the onset of its effects can be delayed which is why early diagnosis is important. There exist various tests which are designed to detect the disease in its earlier, more subtle, stages and on detection treatments can involve therapy or pharmaceuticals. It was announced earlier this month that transdermal patches for treating the disease would become available in Spain later this year.

Tragic accident turns into drug investigation

Last weekend lifeboats and aircraft spent several days searching for a young man lost at sea off the coast of Carboneras. The alarm was raised when a fishing boat pulled another man from the water who told them he and his friend had tried to swim to shore when the motor of the boat they were in broke down. The situation was widely reported partly due to the fact that the missing man was the son of a local politician, the spokesman for the Popular Party in the town.

The plot thickened when it was discovered the boat the men abandoned had been reported stolen the day before the incident and the suspicions of the Guardia civil were heightened by inconsistencies in the different declarations given by the survivor. Now, as a result of the investigations carried out, there have been three arrests, including the man saved, for participation in an attempt to land hashish, for omision del deber de socorro which is the crime of not coming to the aid of someone whose life is in danger and for the theft of the boat.

Spanish man arrested for bringing immigrants

    A Spanish man was arrested and 14 Moroccans were detained to await their return to their country after the boats they were travelling in were spotted near Garrucha by a fishing boat and later intercepted by the authorities. The men were travelling in two small boats which were being sailed in parallel with one another, one with nine occupants including the Spanish man and the other with six. On being brought into Garrucha harbour the men were taken to the town's Guardia Civil installations but an unspecified number of them managed to escape. The Guardia Civil chased the escapees and one of the town's primary schools was told to lock its doors and close all its blinds to avoid the fleeing men from hiding there. The men were eventually found and taken back into custody.

The Spanish man assumed to be the 'patron' or skipper of the boats used will be charged with helping illegal immigrants to enter the country. Spain's president, Jose Luis Zapatero, has recently announced that one of the measures to be taken to try to reduce the numbers of Africans trying to enter the country will be the introduction of much more severe sentences for those found guilty of transporting people illegally into Spain.

Three marijuana finds in one day

    The Guardia Civil in Tabernas and Fiñana made three arrests and seized more than a hundred kilos of marijuana plants on the same day last week. The first was the arrest of a nineteen year old man who was stopped while driving along a forest track and several plants were discovered in his car. Subsequent investigations led officers to an area known as 'Los Baños' in the municipality of Senes where they discovered a marijuana plantation and arrested another man identified as Juan Jose C.F. aged 47.

In a separate investigation Guardia Civil officers patrolling in Montagon in the municipality of Abla discovered a plantation in an abandoned greenhouse, with an irrigation system set up to water the plants. The officers followed the water pipes to where they came out of a nearby garage where there were also parked two cars. More investigation led to the arrest of a 40 year old man and the seizure of more than 100 kilos of marijuana plants.

The subject of cultivation of marijuana is one laced with controversy as Spanish law only prohibits its cultivation when there is an intention to promote, favour or facilitate the illegal consumption of the plant cultivated, that is to grow it for later distribution. The quantity perceived by judges to be for personal consumption varies widely.

Weeks of work on parade in Laujar

    The procession announcing the start of the Fiestas de Nuestra Señora de la Salud (Our Lady of Health) in Laujar de Andarax this year featured Betty Boop, the European Cup, and Pocoyo (a popular children's TV character). These were three of the themes of the town council's procession floats and all made with the collaboration of a group of around fifty locals under the direction of Francisco Lopez, a self taught expert in float fabrication. The mayor of Laujar, Emilio Romero, is one of those who participated during the month the floats took to make and he explained that the tradition dates back to the beginnings of the last century. Apart from the municipal floats there are always several made by other groups in the town who all compete for the cash prizes awarded to the best.

The floats are all made from a wooden framework covered with newspaper and cardboard and finally decorated with coloured paper. There are always two children's characters; this year Betty Boop and Pocoyo, a float reflecting recent events; this year the European Cup to celebrate Spain's victory and the other is the one where the queen of the fiestas is carried and this year is decorated with a giant blue and white flower with the town's coat of arms. Apart from the cash prizes; 150, 100 and 50 euros for the top three, each of the teams making a float receive a ham as a gift for their participation.

Unfavourable opinion of Jews and Muslims on increase in Europe

That ethnocentric attitudes are increasing is one of the discoveries of a survey of almost 25,000 people in 24 countries around the world conducted by the Pew Research Centre as part of their Global Attitudes Project. Since its launch in 2001 the Global Attitudes Project has conducted a series of worldwide public opinion surveys on an array of subjects, from people's assessments of their own lives to their views on the current state of the world and important issues of the day.

Great Britain stands out as the only European country included in the survey where there has not been a substantial increase in anti-Semitic attitudes. Just 9% of the British rate Jews unfavourably, which is largely unchanged from recent years. The survey shows that 46% of the Spanish rates Jews unfavourably, 36% and 34% of Poles and Russians respectively have a negative opinion also. Opinions about Muslims in almost all of these countries are considerably more negative than are views of Jews. Fully half of Spanish (52%) and German respondents (50%) and a quarter of British (23%) rate Muslims unfavourably. In Europe views about Christians have remained largely stable in recent years, although anti-Christian sentiments have been on the rise in Spain – about one-in-four Spanish (24%) now rate Christians negatively, up from 10% in 2005.

When asked about their own religiousness the survey shows a clear relationship between wealth and religiosity: in rich nations fewer people view religion as important than in poor nations. In the current survey, people who live in the poorest nations almost unanimously say religion is important to them, while the citizens of Western Europe and other wealthy nations tend to say it plays a less significant role although Americans – who tend to be religious despite their country's wealth – continue to be a major exception to this pattern.

Three killed one lost in pipe-laying accident

Three workers were killed, one lost at sea and four others injured in an accident off the Almeria coast on board the vessel laying the gas pipeline destined to transport natural gas from Algeria to Almeria. The accident aboard the Saipem 7000, the second largest crane ship in the world, apparently happened due to a mechanical failure resulting in a length of pipe, 12 metres long and weighing twenty tonnes, being dropped by a crane and crushing the workers beneath it. Three workers died in the accident and three others were taken by helicopter to Torrecardenas hospital in Almeria where they were admitted to the intensive care unit with multiple injuries, the fourth man's injuries were only minor. An exhaustive search was launched for a man lost overboard but was called off after the area had been combed with no sign of him.

The Saipem 7000 arrived in Almeria earlier this summer to lay a 120 km. gas pipeline from Beni Saf in Algeria to Almeria at a cost of 900 million euros. It was originally built as a semi-submersible crane vessel capable of lifting and installing offshore structures up to 14,000 tonnes in weight. In 1999, the vessel was converted to accommodate a "J" Lay Tower and pipe handling equipment for laying pipelines in deep water. The tower is the largest in the world with a height of 135 meters, while the overall weight of the complete pipe-laying facilities is 4,500 tonnes. 

Algarrobico construction company announces appeal

The company which built the polemic hotel on the Algarrobico beach in Carboneras, Azata, has announced that it is going to appeal against the court ruling made public at the beginning of the month which declared the building licence for the 22 floor, 411 room hotel illegal. The construction company insists, despite the court's ruling, that all the steps taken since June 1999 when they bought the land where the hotel is built have complied scrupulously with the legislation in force at the time. Antonio Baena, the spokesman for Azat, has told the press that the company still believes in the project, which was supported and promoted by the public administrations.

The regional minister for the environment, Cinta Castillo, has also commented on the sentence saying that she feels enormous satisfaction at the sentence annulling the building licence but that the judge's ruling that the case should be studied by the public prosecutor as there were clear indications of collusion to act illegally or pervert the course of justice does not form part of the verdict but is instead the opinion of the judge and is an opinion she does not share.