TAJO CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIMBy David Eade
The Tajo gorge in Ronda is one of Spain’s most visited tourist sites. Yet it has a more sinister side as it is the location where many people choose to end their lives or fall to their deaths accidentally.
The latest victim is Beatriz Román, the 35-year-old mother of two children, who disappeared last Friday from Campillos – a nearby town connected directly to Ronda by road. She was found by the National Police on Sunday and the news was announced by the local police in her home town where a search had been underway for several days.
Román left her home on Friday at around 18.00 in the plaza de San Cristóbal and went by car to see her mother who lives close by. On the following day her husband reported her missing and the search began.
The deceased woman had been a teacher in information technology at a college in Campillos. It is said that she had been suffering from depression and the emergency 112 service stated that her death was being treated as a suicide.
DEHESA PLIGHT
Families hoping to get one of the social housing units at La Dehesa in Ronda are in for a long wait. The company awarded the contract run up large bills with sub-contractors and hence they downed tools. The EPSA says the majority of those bills are now settled, and with 80 per cent of the project still to be done a new contract will be issued with work starting again in the New Year.
TREES PLEASE
Casares has asked the regional government to reforest the area of the Sierra Bermeja that was destroyed in the devastating fire of September 9. It has requested that the zone be included in the plans for the next project to recreate forest areas. It has pointed out that some 6,000 hectares of fir trees perished and these need to be urgently replaced.
HOSPITAL’S WELL
Málaga’s delegate for health, María Antigua Escalera, recently visited Ronda and was quick to assure residents of the town and the wider Serranía that work on the new hospital would not be subjected to any delays because of the financial crisis. She stated that the work had been contracted out and hence the money had been provided for in the regional government’s budget.
EQUAL CARE
The Málaga health authority has stated that it is important that residents of small communities have the same access to good medical care as those in towns. Hence in the Serranía 14,000 euros was being spent on upgrading the Cuevas del Becerro health centre with further investment planned for Algotocín, Arriate, El Burgo and Benalauría as well as new equipment being provided.
GAUCÍN HASH
Guardia Civil acting on information supplied by Gaucín local police carried out a joint raid on a dwelling in the village. Their suspicions proved correct as inside the house they found five cannabis plants up to three metres high, another three plants under cultivation plus 1.4 kilos of marihuana. A local resident was arrested and will face charges under the public health laws.
MUNICIPAL ROBBERIES
A wave of break-ins has hit Montejaque and Benaoján. Amongst the targets Montejaque town hall where a safe was stolen with a bar and a shop also victims. There were attempts on other bars in Montejaque and Benaoján. Investigations are underway; it is thought those who broke in to the town hall may have targeted other municipal offices in the Sierra de Cádiz.
DANGEROUS ROADS
A lorry carrying 4,000 litres of liquid gas overturned at midnight last Wednesday at El Colmenar tumbling down a ravine with the driver slightly injured. The Gaucín to Cortes road was cut whilst the gas was released by experts. Meanwhile in Ronda two women aged 43 and 69 were injured when their car left the El Burgo road on Thursday trapping them inside.
HOLY WORK
The regional government has started work on refurbishing the church in the Convento Santo Domingo that forms Ronda’s conference and exhibition centre. The project will take four months and has a budget of 320,000 euros under the Andalucía work creation scheme. The church dates back to the 16 th century and is the only part of the convent yet to be restored
