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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 12, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 50 | |||||||||
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Our readers' opinions
It's not all about money Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Thank God, not everyone thinks like Mr. Khalsa with regard to motorcyclists wearing helmets. There are certainly many level-headed motorcycle riders who cherish life and will conform to wearing helmets to prevent injury, often fatal, to themselves. I ask Khalsa if he has ever seen a person with severe brain injury and the debilitating life those with injuries of that type are forced to live with. Many motorcyclists are diligent about maneuvering the traffic patterns in Costa Rica, but there is also a population of risk takers who weave in and out with no regard for the safety of others. If every driver (motorcyclists and car drivers) became more aware of others on the roadways, perhaps the need for helmets wouldn't be a necessity. Of course, bicycles should be included in the helmet requirement. I urge Mr. Hari Singh Khalsa to visit a brain injury unit and see what he thinks after listening to some of the stories of why the people are in that unit. It is NOT all about the money! Ann Boyd
Santa Ana There's little oil-based plastic Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Had a real good laugh this morning, reading the tirade against motorcycle helmet laws. I guess the writer simply doesn’t recognize the safety element. As for his contention that oil = plastic = more money for big business, he is likewise unaware that there may well be other ingredients in the manufacture of these helmets, such as epoxy resins, various metals, polycarbonates, etc., with, in fact, little oil-based plastic used at all. Maybe he would change his mind if he just one time had to scrape some unknown hero’s brains off the pavement, following a simple choque involving one of the aforementioned motorcycles. John G. Dungan, R.N.
Aguacate de Tilaran Three-wheelers, too Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Sir, In response to Mr. Hari Singh Khalsa comment on helmets! I have a Piaggio APE and am on my second Bajaj Torito. About a year and a half ago, I and another Tico were ticketed for not using helmets while driving our Toritos. We appealed the tickets (through a lawyer). About 10 months later we got the answer that these vehicles are in a class not covered by the Ley de Transito! In other words, due to the fact that they have bodywork, front windshields, and tops, helmets are not required with these vehicles! Of course on Feb. 16 last, I got another ticket for no helmet! The officers computer had the new law in it, so I got a ticket, even though the new law had not gone into effect (the old law did not cover three wheels) and the fact that I had a written answer saying that I did not need a helmet from transit officials. Of course, I filed an "impugnacion"! Since 1 March, of course, I have been using a helmet. Every one should be aware that Transito has the ability, under the new law to determine their own regulations concerning unique vehicles. I would like to suggest that everyone with the concerns of using helmets with these three-wheel vehicles, get ahold of transito to hopefully push for the new classification of these vehicles! Paul Meister
Miramar An insurance conspiracy Dear A.M. Costa Rica: The helmet law in the U.S.A. was contrived by the insurance companies. It is another example on how big corporations control how we live. They bribe, oh I mean lobby, our elected officials to pass laws to favor them. Example: A corporation lobbies Washington spending $10 million on bribes. In return they make $40 million on savings from medical claims and not keeping people alive under comas, netting a hansom $30 million profit. This is a common practice in U.S.A. politics. The helmet law added gross amounts of profits for the insurance companies. BUT my major complaint was why hasn't my insurance premiums gone down, if we were the ones saving all of that money for the insurance companies? Now the dysfunction of all this, there is a lot less riders in comas. These people were excellent donors for organs. Lots of them young riders, with fresh organs. The inexperience riders on crouch rockets. In retrospect there has been a shortage of organ donors since the helmet law in California and other states where the law exists. Which opened up the arena of the organ black market. I have been a rider for over 35 years. I live to ride and ride to live. With or without a helmet. Steve Petretti
Coronado, Osa
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 Photos by Leslie Zelinsky
Passerby takes in the sprawling mural that mimics the beach |
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| An
ugly wall becomes a work of art in Playas del Coco |
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 Lucas Rivera in front of his mural
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Playas del Coco residents have turned an eyesore wall into a work of art. The project came about because Ocotal resident Dean Anderson dislikes the wall, which is on private property in the Pacific beach community. Lucas Rivera, the man who oversaw the mural project, said that Anderson considered the wall, which had become a garbage collection point, to be smelly, dirty and just plain ugly. So the Ocotal resident pressure washed the wall and applied stucco in preparation for the mural. His original idea was embellished by local artists, children, foreigners, and residents who painted a view of the ocean with silhouettes of people, fish, boats, islands, plants, blue sky, and the sea. The project had the effect of sensitizing residents to beautifying the town. There is a lot of community interest in Coco now, residents report. There are many young Ticos and foreigners who are putting their heads together for ideas regarding beautifying the town, they said. |
| Erosion of the language makes usage more complex |
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| Isn’t it wonderful? Nobody has
problems any more. Instead, we have issues. I’ve decided, however, that this substitution really isn’t so wonderful. It seems to me that it makes us even more contentious than we have been. Now, that’s a problem. In my dictionary, the first definition of problem is “a question proposed for solution or consideration.” The second definition is “a question, matter, situation or person that can be perplexing or difficult.” The first definition of issue is: “An outgoing or outflow.” It is only when we get to the sixth definition that we get “matter or question to be disputed or decided.” Our new words are becoming less and less real. They don’t bring to mind any concrete pictures or meaning — just vague suggestions. Yesterday I heard a newscaster describe a teenager as “cognitive delayed.” Question: Should this be “cognitively”? (It’s obviously not a serious condition since I was cognitive delayed in grasping his meaning.) I won’t mention other words that have changed. You can think of them yourself. Have we already entered a Brave New World? We seem to be afraid of more and more real and imagined threats, and now even words are seen as threatening. Right now the bravest people in the world seem to be the Iraqis. They faced and endured real threats in order to vote. Lest I begin to sound like the grammarian William Safire in his nitpickingest days, let me say I don’t mind the introduction of new words. Technology has made them necessary, and some are wonderfully descriptive — or become so quickly because they are unique. Google, the verb, for instance, is self-descriptive if you are Internet savvy. My complaint is that we are eliminating simple, direct words for words that already have a heavy load of definitions. There are other overburdened words like awesome, absolutely, and, well, the word like. But I won’t criticize the use of that word because I think it is a substitute for you know, a conversational habit I have been trying to break for like, you know, years. |
Even in Spanish the word for problem (problema) is simple and translated means problem. Issue (cuestion, tema) on the other hand, just as in English has multiple meanings, some involving a series of words to define. So now I don’t have medical or psychological problems that my health provider and I could solve. I have medical issues about which my doctor and I can dispute and hopefully, eventually decide. Not a bad idea — unless you’ve tried disputing a doctor lately. Many words in Spanish have to do double duty, too. But every now and then the language makes it easy to grasp. After nearly two weeks of cold, cloudy and windy days, not a joy to walk in, the weather suddenly changed, and the sun appeared with demanding intensity. Someone once told me you could tell the difference between a Tico and a foreigner because Ticos walked on the shady side of the street and Gringos walked on the sunny side. I became one with the Ticos this week, searching for every bit of shade I could find, whether from trees or awnings or buildings. I would use a hat except that the comforting breeze would mean clutching it constantly. I have decided to get a sombrilla. I already have a paraguas, which is an umbrella for rain. A sombrilla is an umbrella for the sun, smaller than a paraguas so you don’t have to dodge every other pedestrian. So now I have a sombrilla for the summer season (aka tourist season) and for the winter (aka green season). Pura vida. A phrase that has more meanings than a cat has lives. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 12, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 50 | |||||||||
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| Birds of a feather Humans have the walls and the concrete chairs as well as places around the fast food exits. But where do pigeons hang out? The answer, it seems, are the skylights for the Museos del Banco Central that for some reason the well-fed pigeons prefer. |
 A.M. Costa Rica photo
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| Agents block new sea route north for
cocaine shipments |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Investigators have confiscated 840 kilos of cocaine that was being moved north along the Pacific coast. Some 440 kilos were located in a launch that the Guardacosta intercepted near the eastern shore of the Nicoya peninsula. The local agents Thursday found 400 kilos buried in a pit. Three persons were detained, and officials are seeking others. They said the operation was a joint Costa Rica-Colombian effort. The investigation also disclosed a new two-step route for drugs. The drugs were believed to have been hiding along the Río Sierpe in the Osa Peninsula. The boat that was |
intercepted
was moving drugs
north to a property that the Judicial Investigating Organization said
was at Playón on the Isla Jesusita in the Gulf of Nicoya. The sparse population, the heavy cover and the many inlets make the Osa region a prime area for offloading drugs. The three persons detained were the captain of the boat, 50-year-old Luis Loría Granados and two men on the island, Aniel Camareno Vivas, 34, and José Esquivel Barrantes, 19. Agents said that another man, also believed to have been involved in drug trafficking, vanished while making a run from the Osa north. They are not sure what happened. They suspect foul play. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
Stiff
traffic penalties may have a soft spot By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The new traffic law may have a heart after all. The new law, which went into effect March 1, provides for stiff fines and jail for violators, although lawmakers are watering down some penalties. So naturally without regard for social status or business connections, the Tribunal de Flagrancia has approved an alternative sentence for a man who was caught after his car was in a collision at Parque Nacional Wednesday. He only tried to flee a little bit. Traffic police said he scored 2.47 grams of alcohol per liter of blood, well above the drunk threshold of .75 grams. But a judge decided Thursday that because the man had no convictions for the last five years he would be eligible for suspending the judicial process. Instead, the man has to do 100 hours of community service and pay a 500,000 colons fine, about $925. The fine should not be a problem. The man, José Rafael Brenes Vega, happens to be the general manager of the Bolsa Nacional de Valores, the national stock market. Perhaps judges felt that having his photo splashed full width Thursday on the front page of El Diario Extra was sufficient punishment. Country's splendor placed on exhibit in Turrialba By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza in Turrialba has opened a new exhibition hall that is seen as the beginning of a scientific and educational park. The research center is also known as CATIE. José Joaquín Campos, director general of the institution, said that the hall is important to tourism and cultural development of the region, according to the center. “Costa Rica Objetivo Pura Vida” is the first exhibition. The show is some 60 images of the country's natural splendor taken by four well-known Spanish photographers: Eduardo Blanco, José Benito Ruiz, Isabel Díez and Cristóbal Serrano. The exposition was produced by the Spanish Embassy and is being presented in conjunction with the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio). The Jardín Botánico of CATIE will host the exposition until April 30 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, the center said. Admission is 1,000 colons for residents and $6 for foreign visitors. The center is two kilometers south of Turrialba. |
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