A crash between two cars at about 9 a.m. Tuesday morning closed one lane of the A-370 Garrucha-Turre road for at least an hour. The crash between a Cirtoen XSara and A Volksagen Golf happened at the junction between the A-370 and the A-1203 road which goes up to the Mojacar petrol station. A fire engine from Turre had to attend the accident as well as several Guardia Civil. At least one person was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The problem is all in the title of the fair; if it is a Feria Comercial Oficial ('official' trade fair) the new legislation applies, if on the other hand the fair becomes a 'Feria de Muestras' (fair of samples or demonstrations) then it can be open to the public in its entirety.
At the moment Vera ayuntamiento is blaming the lack of a fair on the Junta de Andalucia for changing the law while the Junta is blaming the ayuntamiento for not simply changing the character of the fair to another type. Nobody seems to be mentioning the drop in the housing market which of course means the big construction companies don't want to pay the ayuntamiento for the privilege of a space in the fair this year, so the ayuntamiento might not make the profit it has become accustomed to.
The towns of Pulpi, Vicar and Adra will be holding 'Ferias de Muestra' this year
The APEA (Asociacion de Empresarios y Profesionales de Albox/Albox Businesspeople and Professionals Association), with the support of Cajamar have presented a new credit card, available to members of the association and their customers. The card is described by Luis Aurelio Perez Tapia, the president of the AEPA, as a magnificent system for rewarding customer loyalty which is going to permit joint actions, promotional campaigns, prize draws and gifts. The card comes in two colours in order to differentiate between those of associates and employees of associated businesses and the rest of the clients. The card will also allow businesses to offer advantages directly to one another in commerce between them.
One of the main advantages of the card is the four months interest free credit available on purchases made in associated businesses. A representative of Cajamar also commented on the fact that the whole process of emitting a card only takes three four days after the application is received.
The rumour that Walt Disney was born in Mojacar has existed for years now and it is this idea that the producers of this film want to convert from legend to reality. They say that they have several documents which have never before been made public and that they hope during the project to visit the F.B.I. archives to find declassified material, amongst which they hope to find proof of Walt Disney's Spanish nationality and more specifically his origins in Mojacar.
Guardia Civil in Roquetas de Mar have seized 2,300 articles of counterfeit designer clothes after a spending a month watching a private home in the El Parador del Asuncion area of Roquetas. The officers watching the house observed how a large number of people entered and left the dwelling, leaving carrying plastic bags containing articles of clothing.
The decision to search the dwelling came after the Guardia Civil stopped a car which had left the house under suspicion after being loaded with several boxes. The car was stopped and searched and the occupants identified. Inside the car were boxes containing clothing. A judicial expert in counterfeit goods was called to the scene to certify that that the clothing was fake and with this evidence the Guardia Civil was able to obtain a search warrant for the house. Inside the house the Guardia Civil discovered shelves full of shoes, trousers, jeans, shirts, polo shirts, jackets, towels t-shirts, and bags, all copies of well known, high prestige designs and all for sale for below the normal market value. A married couple was arrested in the house.
The merchandise found all came from outside the country, being introduced into Spain through Galicia.
One person was killed and four were injured in a head on collision on the AL-334. The accident happened at 8 a.m. when a car with one occupant was involved in a head on collision with a van carrying seven people. The driver of the car was killed on impact and four of the passengers in the van were injured, one seriously. The accident occurred on the main road that connects the A7 motorway to Albox, Purchena and Baza, at a time when the traffic is particularly heavy.
The accident was attended by the Guardia Civil, the Albox fire brigade, medical teams from the Macael and Olula de Rio medical centres and a helicopter based in Granada. The most seriously injured of the four people hurt, who suffered severe abdominal injuries, was the last to be evacuated due to the time needed by the firefighters to cut them from the remains of the van. The rescue operation took more than two hours to complete.
The driver of the car, who lived in Urracal, was not removed from the scene of the accident until death was confirmed and permission given to move the body by a judge. Not until then could the firefighters cut them from the wreckage of the car. The town of Urracal has announced four days of official mourning.
The cause of the accident is being investigated by the Guardia Civil accident investigation section.
A study from the Junta de Andalucia shows that that the age at which young people start using drugs is falling. The average age at which youngsters first use cannabis has dropped to 17.2 from 18.2 in 2006 and the age for first cocaine use has gone down to 18.6 from 20.3 in 2006. This negative trend is repeated in ecstasy and amphetamine use. Heroin use has shown a rise in the average age of first time users from18.8 years old in 2005 to 20.4.
The study, a result of interviews with more than 2.400 people aged between 12 and 64 living in 87 municipalities in Andalucia, does however show a slight reduction in the consumption of tobacco and alcohol, the most widely used substances. After the introduction of anti-smoking laws here in Spain, the number of people smoking habitually has dropped from 34.4% to 32.4 %. The proportion of risk drinkers, defined as those drinking more than four beers or two spirit and mixer combinations daily, has gone down by 0.8% in the last two years.
There are also more people recognising their addictions, with 18,000 having attended for the first time one of the 122 centres financed by the Junta.
The ex mayor and current mayor's lieutenant of Carboneras Francisco Ruiz Aguado (PSOE)(Socialist Party), Rosario Fernandez (PSOE), the councilor for tourism Josefa Cruz (PSOE), ex-councilor Josefa Ruiz and Juan Cruz have all been accused of fraud in the postal voting for the 2007 municipal elections. The judge in this case has called Ruiz Aguado to give evidence as he was allegedly seen by a local baker throwing a bag containing documentation concerning the postal votes of 40 residents among which were the voting slips of all the parties except the PSOE. The others will be called to give evidence at the beginning of October after their accusation as a result of the declarations of about thirty witnesses alleging coercion or promises to residents in return for postal votes in favour of the PSOE.
Francisco Ruiz Aguado became mayor of Carboneras in November 2006 after Cristobal Fernandez (PSOE) resigned the post as aresult of being condemned to six months disqualifiaction from any political post for the electoral crime of coercion of a municipal employee in the postal voting, commited in 1999.
The robbery took place at 9.45 pm. in the Huercal Overa Mercadona supermarket when two masked men threatened staff with a revolver and made off with 30,716 euros. When the Guardia Civil arrived on the scene they soon discovered the make of the getaway car, a Renault Megane, and its registration number thanks to eyewitnesses. The registration plates were later discovered to have been stolen.
Guardia Civil and local police immediately set up roadblocks in the area and initiated an exhaustive search. As a result of the police efforts a car identical to that described by witnesses was found at about 1 a.m. that night and the Guardia Civil proceeded to interview the owner of the car. After the owner contradicted himself over his use of the car that night the officers searched the suspect's home, discovering hidden inside a wardrobe a bag containing an air pistol, a balaclava and a Mercadona bag containing coins in blister packs and about 13,000 euros in notes as well as the stolen number plates used in the robbery.
After the first suspect's arrest and subsequent interrogation the Guardia Civil discovered the identity of the accomplice who turned out to be an employee of the supermarket, who, thinking himself undiscovered, went to work as normal the next day where he was arrested at 9.20 a.m.
The two men arrested; Javier P.C. and Jaime A.G. have been officially charged by the Juzgado de Instruccion nº 1 in Huercal Overa.
In a demonstration in La Azohia area of Cartagena a Madrid businessman, Francisco Angulo, showed that a normal diesel car could run on the new bio fuel he has invented. The new fuel, called Ecofa, can be made from organic household rubbish or agricultural waste. The process involves mixing shredded waste with water and a bacteria and allowing the mix to ferment for seven days. The result is ecological crude petroleum which can then be used to produce bio-fuel and plastics. During a presentation given to potential investors in the Hotel La Azohia de Isla Plana, Francisco Angulo, aged 30, said that at the moment ten kilos of organic waste generates one litre of ecological crude but with more research that production figure could be tripled. He said that the production cost would not be more than 20 cents a litre which after commercialisation would allow a price of 70 cents a litre at the pumps. The new fuel is free of polluting sulphur, mercury or lead, all present in conventional fossil fuels. If successful the new fuel could free Spain of its dependence on imports from Arab countries and even lead to exports.
Almeria has a total of 78 chiringuitos (beach bars) of which 31 are permanent, not having to be dismantled in winter, the other 37 are taken down at the end of each summer. The Direccion General de Costas is the provincial organisation which ensures that these establishments do not occupy more space than they are allowed or carry out unauthorised activities and that none are opened without permission. There were a total of 30 chiringuitos that were prosecuted for some kind of infraction last year half of which were in mojacar, with the others shared between Vera, Cuevas del Almanzora, Nijar, Carboneras, Garrucha and one in Roquetas de Mar. The most common infraction was that of unauthorised works or installations on public land.
The other 16 sanctions were against unauthorised sun-lounger rental areas or those that exceeded the area designated to them.
Despite the fact that two of Mojacar's beaches have been awarded blue flags this year none of the town's beaches have lifeguards or flags to show the level of safety. This lack of vigilance is due to the fact that the Mojacar Red Cross organisation is still waiting for the ayuntamiento to sign the contract needed to guarantee payment of the professionals involved. the president of the Red Cross in Mojacar, Beatriz Gomez, said that although the Red Cross treats from its base in Mojacar all the cases that arise and will continue to do so, it was highly negative that the beaches do not have protection against possible events and added that last year the Red Cross had to attend to more than thirty very serious cases. The cost to the ayuntamiento for the protection needed is around 130 thousand euros.
Mojacar's beaches have a total of six lookout and rescue posts each of which is staffed by three people plus a lifeguard, these are supported by ambulances and their crews. The team provided by the Red Cross for the beaches consists of 27 people as well as 80 volunteers whose number include health professionals.
The Rural and Marine Environments Ministry has ordered the restoration of the beach La Fabriqilla, and the area of the old mineral loading area in Las Salinas, bothe in the Cabo de Gata natural park. These beaches had both been seriously affected by the storms which affected the coast of Almeria at the beginning of this year with the disappearance of virtually all of the sand. The restoration works involve transporting four thousand cubic metres of sand of the correct characteristics and grain size from quarries in Nijar. The works have a total cost of 60,000 euros.
The national television channel Telecinco is working on a new project, due to begin at the end of July, a big brother style show called La Caja Roja (The Red Box) is said by its production company to be 'the only television programme capable of changing your life in only fifteen minutes.'
Although they have the first ten participants they are still looking. They want people who are suffering; who have recently lost a family member (and still haven't got over their period of mourning, then they would be of no interest), people who have been abandoned by their partners in the last 30 days and even those who have been diagnosed as having a terminal illness.
The red box of the title is a 36 square metre capsule that will 'revolutionise your emotions', according to the production web site. If you go in happy you come out a thousand times happier, if you go in depressed you reach rock bottom even faster. A team of engineers and psychologists have been working on it two years and have developed pioneering technology that allows a domination of the emotions. 'The results are spectacular' we are assurred.
