DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY JANUARY 26, 2010

The normal full news service will return next week.

POLITICAL FILMS
Ronda will host over the last week of November and the first week of December an international film festival dedicated to political films. This will be the first such event in the EU. The director will be experienced film maker Piluca Baquero and the winner of the ‘Goyesca de oro’ will receive 50,000 euros. Leading international politicians are expected to attend.

BARRACK’S DEAL
The ministry of defence has already ceded the Concepción barracks to Ronda town hall. The intention is to demolish the large central complex and to construct a new town hall, underground parking and large plaza. The ministry has said Ronda can purchase the site for 3.6 million euros and to ease the strain on municipal coffers spread the payments over 10 years.

COUNCIL OFFICES
The outlying villages of Ronda at La Cimada and Los Prados now have their own local council offices to handle enquiries from residents. Each community has around 1,200 residents and they have had to travel to Ronda some 20 kilometres away to transact municipal business. Opening times could include afternoons and Saturday mornings with the majority of enquiries being the recent flood damage.

MURDER SENTENCE
The Málaga court has sentenced a Ronda man to 17 years in prison for murdering his wife at their home in the town in December 2006. He has also received a jail term for domestic abuse and is banned from seeing one child for five years and approaching the three others indefinitely. He also has to pay his children 450,000 euros in compensation.

DEATH CRASH
A motorist was killed on the A-397 between Ronda and San Pedro after his car left the road, hit a crash barrier then collided with an on-coming vehicle. The tragedy happened at 12.25 at km 25 last Monday within the boundaries of Igualeja. The traffic management centre said it was not yet known why the car left the road causing the death crash.

COKE ARREST
Ronda’s Guardia Civil have arrested a 40-year-old man in an Arriate bar. He is accused of trafficking in drugs and is alleged to have had 10 sachets of cocaine in his possession. The bar owner has also been implicated for allowing drugs to be sold on his premises. In the bar were found various weapons used in martial arts plus a large arrow.

DANGEROUS CAVE
The Andalucía federation of pot-holers has advised there is serious danger at the entrance of the popular Cueva del Gato located between Montejaque and Benaoján. Currently a team of cave experts is undertaking works authorised by the ministry of the environment to rectify the deterioration that has taken place. Improvements are being made for pot-holers but increased danger exists till they are finished.