|
 |
Your daily
English-language |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
 |
|
Second news page |
 Click HERE for photo tour of 526 properties for SALE or RENT in Escazú, Ciudad Colón, Santa Ana, Rohrmoser, Curridabat, Heredia and the Pacific Coast. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
 |
 |
|
|
at Figueres estate blaze By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Guards at the Figueres estate La Lucha, attacked, beat and took a camera from a reporter who was trying to cover a fire that killed four persons there, the newspaper Diario Extra said Monday. Injured was the paper's Cartago correspondent, Oledmar Siles, who followed firemen to the scene in San Cristóbal, Desamparados, and began taking photos. The newspaper featured the reporter on the front page Monday. He was shown with his right leg in a cast. Fuerza Pública officers and firemen also said they had trouble getting into the estate to approach the fire scene. Siles was awake Sunday about 5:15 a.m. and at a service station when he heard the fire trucks, the newspaper said. He followed and entered the estate at the same time as the fire trucks. It was when he began taking photos that guards attacked him, the newspaper said. Other reporters who arrived later were kept from the fire scene even though such scenes usually are accessible to news people. Despite the attack, Diario Extra was able to locate a photo of the fire scene. The estate is occupied by Mariano Figueres, son of José Figueres, three-time former president and winner of the 1948 revolution. Mariano also is the brother to José María Figueres Olsen, who also was a president of the country. The dead are all members of the family of the wife of Mariano Figueres. Mariano Figueres is believed to have suffered burns and other injuries, as did his wife, Magaly Solano Solano. The woman's mother, Dora Solano Cerdas, and her brother, Henry Solano Solano, died in the flames. Also dead is Sandra Castro Solano, the niece of Dora Solano, and her child, Gabriela Castro Solano, 5. Those who died were visiting the estate for the weekend. Two funerals were Monday and two are scheduled for today. The location is some 40 miles south of San José. Our reader's opinions
She's not confidentgovernment's better Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I have been following the recent articles published in regard to hotel takeovers on both the Pacific, and now apparently the Las Palmas on the Carribean side of Costa Rica with great interest. Having read about the laws pertaining to structures within the 200-meter zone, and actually visiting just about every beach on both coasts, you can see that the law and the reality do not match. My brother-in-law and I were discussing the current situation in Punta Uva, he is a Tico from the province of Limón. He and my husband just sat back and listened to my animated story about the Costa Rican government taking over the Las Palmas resort, and how it was going to be used for some type of tourism school. They both just shook their heads, and my brother-in-law said “Oh yes, and so the government's use of the property is going to be better for the environment!” He is so right! We stayed at the Hotel Suerre’s right next door to the Las Palmas resort in February. One of the best parts of this resort in my opinion was the very secluded beach. Now mind you there are TWO resorts right next to each other, and the beach was STILL secluded. Now the government is going to put a school in it’s place? Well, let’s see that will surely decrease the abuse to the eco system. All that transit around the school, bottles and waste from meals and snacks that will be tossed on the beach and in the brush. We all need to work together to protect the environment, by the government using it’s strong hand to take over private business to only change the use “for the public good?” It’s just not right. On another note, reading about the evictions on the Pacific coast, another “shame on you” for the government. Utilize your resources by improving the infrastructure of Costa Rica, rebuild the towns destroyed by the floods, enforce the environmental laws. But for God's sake, stop destroying what is already there. Good luck Costa Rica, my favorite place in the world! Connie Gutierrez
Belmar, New Jersey EDITOR'S NOTE: The Sala IV constitutional court has frozen the eviction at Las Palmas until an appeal for judicial aid can be heard. He's sad that Carrillo is leaving government Dear A.M. Costa Rica: As a customer our company, I know Federico Carrillo pretty well, and I can tell you that the Ministerio de Hacienda's loss is the Central American Bank's gain. Notwithstanding his pushing the new tax law, which I think needs re-writing, Federico's problems with the Costa Rican government were basically threefold: He is too smart, too honest, and too outspoken to ever succeed as a member of government in Costa Rica — at least at the present time. And when he told the Asamblea that they certainly didn't need a new ivory tower - hoo boy!! I am sure that there are a lot of cooler (and smarter) heads in Costa Rica, that like me, are sorry to see him go. I wish Federico all the best in his new job, and buena suerte to his sucessor. Peter Todd
Pavas |
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
| PRECONSTRUCTION
& INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES from only $35K in Playa del Coco
& Limon. Loft Condos from $80K. Walk to
Beach! Easy Financing. Low $ Down. Many Homes & Townhomes available IN ALL AREAS for IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY. 954-245-7245   SKIP4848SKIP@AOL.COM WWW.COSTARICAHOMESWEETHOME.COM |
|
with the observations of Dr. Lenny Karpman Click HERE! |
 |
 |
| 'Cinderella Man' is a comeback movie worth seeing |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
James J. Braddock's boxing career crashed a few months before the stock market. In July 1929, Braddock lost a 15-round decision for the light-heavyweight title to Tommy Loughran in Yankee Stadium. Four years later a six-round fight against Abe Feldman in some dank gym in Mount Vernon, N.Y., was so bad, officials declared it a no contest and denied Braddock the $50 he was promised whether he won or lost. The boxing commission revoked his license, and like 25 percent of the rest of the United States, he found himself unemployed. Thus goes the beginning of "Cinderella Man," a Ron Howard-directed film starring Russell Crowe as Braddock. Like all based-on-a-true-story movies, the ending is fixed so the draw has to come from somewhere else. Cinderella Man relies on change. The opening scene shows Braddock knocking some hapless opponent to the Madison Square Garden canvas. In the taxi ride back to the upscale New Jersey home he shares with his wife Mae (Renée Zellweger) and their three children, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti), his manager pays Braddock more than $8,000 in winnings. He goes home, sets his jewelry and cash on a bedside table, and when he picks it up again, five years have passed. The jewelry is a false tooth, the upscale house is a tenement, and he and Mae are excited that he's managed to get a $50 win-or-lose fight. The swings continue throughout the movie. Crowe does an excellent job playing Braddock, the washed-up, down-on-his-luck dockworker who never complains and will do anything for his family. It's hard not to feel for Braddock after the power is turned off in their New Jersey apartment in the dead of the winter and he's forced to go to the promoters who once adored him to beg for the few dollars it costs to turn the power back on. And it's hard not to smile as he eventually starts fighting again and claws his way back to a heavyweight title bout against Max Baer. Baer's character (Craig Bierko) may be one of the few weaknesses in the movie. Baer was reportedly a bit cocky, but in the movie he's a swaggering, |
 Universal Studios photo
Russell Crowe as Braddock receives money from his former
promoter after the power is turned off in his New Jersey
apartment.arrogant jerk who, before the fight, asks Mae if she's ready to be a widow. Baer did indeed kill at least one opponent, Frankie Campbell, in the ring, and may have been responsible for one more. An autopsy showed that Baer hit Campbell so hard that Campbell's brain was knocked loose from the connective tissue holding it to his cranium. The film portrays Baer as proud of the act, but Baer reportedly cried over the incident and had nightmares for decades afterwards. He also gave much of his winnings from subsequent bouts to Campbell's family and put his children through college. But regardless of the truth, Bierko plays the villain well. All in all, it's worth seeing the portrayal of the man who gave Americans a reason to hope when there wasn't much to hope for. Through every fight and every low blow, viewers will dodge and duck with Braddock and when it's over, their hands may hurt from clenching their fists for two and a half hours. —Jesse Froehling
|
| Policemen provide a dream for a 4-year-old victim of cancer |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers fulfilled a young cancer victim's dream of being a police officer Monday when in a patrol car with lights blazing and siren screaming, 4-year-old Ashley Castillo Cabrera rode with officers to a restaurant near the Rotunda de Alajuelita in south San José. There Walter Navarro, Fuerza Pública director genera, waited with a police bonnet embroidered with the young girl's last name, books, colored pencils and |
various
other toys. The encounter was part of Programa a Pinta
Seguro is a Fuerza Pública program for local schools. “This is the best compensation we can receive after extensive days of hard work, the smile of a young girl,” said Navarro. Police surprised Ashley with the gift Monday afternoon after her two-week stay in the Hospital Nacional de Niños. The prognosis of physicians is guarded. |
| Boca de Toro land owners worried about proposed law, online
paper says |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A legislative committee in Panamá is to hold a hearing today on a new land law that some expats think will authorize land grabs in Bocas de Toro from foreign investors and small farmers. Noriegaville, an online daily newspaper, reported this today and said that foreign retirees and investors who have purchased "rights of possession" on the various islands in the Bocas archipelago may lose the property |
if they have not built
a house on it, are not farming it or not seeking to make it a tourism
development. A U.S. citizen who lives in the area was quoted saying that locals and foreigners from the area in the northeast section of Panamá close to the Costa Rican border are traveling to Panamá City today to attend the hearing. Rights of possession are something less than property deeds, but the ownership situation in the area has been mismanaged and confused, the newspaper said. |
 |
 |
| Ultra-light plane will migrate this year with Monarchs |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Like all butterflies, the Monarch begins as a caterpillar, inching along on tiny legs, feasting on leaves. Then comes the slow transformation inside the chrysalis: from worm-like creature into a thing of wings -- and beauty. Monarch butterflies, instantly recognizable for their gold and black markings, are found in many places around the world. But only those east of the Rocky Mountains in North America make the annual autumn migration. From their summer habitats in the north, 300 million butterflies fly south — more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) -- to a few small forests in Mexico. And that’s the path that an unusual ultra-light aircraft will follow this year — piloted by a crew of documentary filmmakers, including lead pilot Francisco Gutiérrez. At a stop in Washington, D.C., Gutiérrez said he’d designed the plane’s Monarch-like wing markings himself. The purpose of the flight, he said, is to raise public consciousness about the environment. “Basically, the idea is to make people aware that we have to take care of our world,” he said. “And I found in this incredible insect, the Monarch butterfly, a very magic and amazing phenomenon.” Pilots from all three countries will take turns flying the motorized glider from Canada through the United States to Mexico. The butterflies will determine the flight schedule. “If the Monarchs fly, it’s because we have good weather,” Gutiérrez said. “If they don’t fly, it’s not good, so I’m just trying to follow their rules. So, if I fly with them, I will be ready. . . . when they have a thunderstorm, they stay somewhere, I don’t know where. And when the weather is good again, they fly.” “To me, the Monarch is a symbol of the interrelatedness of all animals and plants,” said Lincoln Brower, a Sweet Briar College professor. Now a fellow at the World Wildlife Fund, Brower has studied Monarch butterflies for 52 years. He says that large-scale agriculture’s herbicides and gene-engineered crops are killing off everything else, including the plants that butterflies eat -- with |
 disastrous consequences for biological diversity. In Mexico, meanwhile, illegal logging is also destroying the high-altitude forests that the Monarch butterflies shelter in over the winter. “The Monarchs depend on the trees to get through the winter,” Brower said. “If they lose that over-wintering habitat in Mexico, at some point the straw will break the camel’s back and we’ll lose the whole migratory phenomenon.” While the Monarch species itself isn’t endangered, Brower said that the butterflies’ migration is both a beautiful natural resource, and a well of scientific knowledge. “For example, right now there’s a current controversy as to whether the Monarch is capable of detecting magnetic lines of force,” he says. “The fact that these little guys can fly from Toronto to a pinpoint on the map in Mexico, nearly 2,000 miles, how do they do it? What clues are they using? How is their brain processing this information? I mean, the brain of a Monarch is about the size of a small steel pinhead, and yet within it is the capacity of navigation comparable to the highest humans have, or even higher, for that matter.” The pilots of Papalotzin, as the motorized glider is called -– the word means “little butterfly” in the ancient Aztec language -– must depend on cruder navigational tools as they track the clouds of butterflies south. The flight began in August in Canada, and will end in November in Central Mexico. |
| Animal refuge in Heredia begins classes today for area
youngsters |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Asociación Humanitaria para la Proteccion Animal de Costa Rica in San Rafael de Heredia is opening a school today to teach the youngest generations to care for their furry, four-legged friends as well as the natural world around them. The school plans to use mostly kittens and puppies in the shelter to teach students how to care for their pets and other animals and also the importance of spaying and neutering programs, said Leigh Monahan, the refuge's vice president. Today also is World Animal Day. “We want them to know that animals have feelings too,” said Ms. Monahan. |
Another
instructor will teach children about the importance of the environment,
Ms. Monahan said. Students will learn such necessities as throwing
garbage in trash cans and how to planting seeds. The refuge worked with the education system in the Central Valley to set up the school. The classes of 25-30 students will meet three times a week from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Ms. Monahan said. The refuge has anywhere between 50 to 200 animals at any given time that all need homes, Ms. Monahan said. Adoption is free. These animals are mostly cats and dogs but police and other people bring the refuge injured cows, horses, monkeys, sloths, toucans and many other animals that need medical attention and homes, Ms. Monahan said. |
| Sex case fugitive and two suspects detained by police in
separate cases |
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers caught one convicted sex-offender and two suspects in three separate operations Monday. Police arrested a man near a soda in the center of Orotina who they say had an 8-year-sentence hanging over his head. The man, identified by the last names Irías Méndez was convicted of sexual abuse against a minor in 2003 and had been on the run since. Another man, identified by the last names Irías Palacios, was arrested in Tárcoles de Garabito, |
Puntarenas.
Police said Irías, 25, raped a
75-year-old disabled woman who was alone in her house. Officers
captured him in the room he rented from the woman in the same house,
they said. A third man, identified by the last names Mora Castro, was arrested near the school in San Rafael Arriba de Desamparados. Officers said the 25-year-old suspect raped an 11-year-old girl minutes before they detained him. Officers said they had to guard the man from enraged neighbors who were attempting to hit him as they led him away. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
