Monday is designated day
for a vegetarian alternative


Stop eating meat on Mondays and it might just impact the world. Or at least the people at Humane Society International think so, as they team up with Costa Rica Beer Factory in Barrio Escalante to offer a weekly night dedicated to vegetarian food called Lunes sin carne, or "meatless Mondays."

Jenny Brown of the Humane Society International in Costa Rica said the collaboration begins this Monday with a private sampling event, but then becomes accessible to the general public every Monday starting the next week. She said if there are fewer people eating beef or chicken around the globe, not just their personal health but also the environment can be helped.

“The point of meatless Mondays is that its a simple way to make a big impact of what you're consuming,” Ms. Brown said. “Meat production and animal production in general can increase global warming. It's one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases in the world.”

She said this movement to be meat-free also contributes to eliminating water pollution and individual carbon footprints. Why the focus on Mondays? Ms. Brown said studies have shown that when people start things at the week's beginning they are more likely to continue with them after time.

Managers at Costa Rica Beer Company have prepared a menu with six different vegan and vegetarian dishes that will debut on Monday and be available for the rest of the week. Humane Society International leaders are trying to rally more restaurants and businesses around this green-friendly cause to promote vegetarian alternatives around Costa Rica.

Though the group mainly works within the country by helping marine and wildlife, Ms. Brown said her primary responsibility is towards cattle and farm animals. This is a worldwide effort on the part of Humane Society International, which estimates that about 70 million animals in farms around the world being prepped for food purposes.

“This campaign is new here to Costa Rica but its part of a global-wide movement,” she said.


Weekend high seas predicted
along the coasts of Pacific


A University of Costa Rica expert is predicting high seas with strong waves and possible flooding along the Pacific coast today and tomorrow.

The full moon also is a factor, said Omar G. Lizano Rodríguez of the Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología. He issued a warning Thursday.

In addition, the warning said that operators of small boats better think twice before heading out to sea. A major point of danger is where rivers discharge into the sea and meet the arriving waves, the warning said.

Lizano said a high pressure area over the south Pacific was part of the reason higher waves would be generated. The northern Pacific will be faced with rough and choppy seas generated by strong winds from the north, he said.

Some of the conditions are expected to last through Monday, he said.

Generally the waves will be in the two meter or six-foot neighborhood, said the warning.

In the central Pacific residents should be on guard between 3 and 5 p.m. for high seas and possible flooding, he said.


Supernatural middleman
detained on fraud charges


Judicial agents have detained a man who characterized himself as an astrologer and someone who can intercede with God to make life more pleasant.

Agents picked the man up Tuesday at his place of business, the Plaza de la Cultura. He faces two allegations of fraud and one of rape.

The victims are women he met in the plaza, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. The fraud allegation is that he claimed he could eliminate negative vibrations from the lives of the women. One women paid 400,000 colons for this service, about $720.

The rape took place during a session to eliminate vibrations, said the judicial agency.


Lawmaker proposes help
for teachers without money


As the strike by public school teachers completes its second week, a lawmaker has proposed a bill that would prevent creditors from taking legal action against victims of the government snafu.

Marvin Atencio Delgado proposed that Thursday.

Also Thursday, Sonia Marta Mora, the new  minister of Educación Pública told lawmakers that many more teachers have been affected by the failures on the ministry payroll system than had been cited previously. She put the number at around 12,000.

She also said that officials still do not know what went wrong.

The education ministry was transferring its payroll to a new compute system, and much of the data appears to have been incorrect. The exact reason still is unknown. Technicians have been working for weeks to figure out the reason.

Teachers have been marching, and most are ignoring classes as a way to pressure the administration.

The teachers have rejected an offer by the Luis Guillermo Solís administration for a series of three payments.

Officials said that they cannot guarantee that the same errors might not crop up in the next payroll deposit. Some teachers have been underpaid or not paid at all since January.

Delgado would impose the debt collection ban until August. The chances are that the payroll problems will be cleared up before the bill gets through the legislature, but the spirit of the bills sends a message to financial institutions and others who might consider legal actions for debts owed by teachers.


Children are the losers
in teacher strike over pay

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I notice that the teachers strike is still going on, even after our new president got involved. Apparently they were supposed to be paid on Monday last, and that didn't happen.

In my experience, a person who goes through the studying and certification process to become a teacher is truly interested in imparting knowledge to younger people, excepting the usual number of misfits who have weird ideas about children and somehow make it through the education and certification process.

I don't like strikes (huelgas), but this one may be justified. Really, these people need to eat also.

The government has seen fit to establish an education system in Costa Rica and has set forth taxation and revenue collection processes to collect the necessary money to pay these individuals and insure the continued education of the population's children. If this job was done with any sort of efficiency, then the money should have been allocated in this years budget. So, why haven't they been paid, and where's the money?

I would offer the opinion that a situation of this sort, lacking a rapid, firm, and lasting favorable disposition does not herald an auspicious beginning for our newly inaugurated president.

He unfortunately finds himself in the position of having to live down the scandals of former politicians who have held that office. Such things early in his term certainly don't bode well, especially considering his comments on graft and corruption in Costa Rican politics.

On the other hand, I suppose that politicians are used to this, or why else would they seek a thankless job like that?

Unfortunately, the real losers are the children, for the loss of education, and the lack of anything to do with all that energy that they have at that age.