DATELINE RONDA THURSDAY MARCH 31, 2011

FRAY LEOPOLDO NEEDS A NEW MIRACLE


By David Eade – Costa del Sol News

Fray Leopoldo de Alpandeíre, named after his birthplace in the Serranía de Ronda village, was beatified last September 12 in Granada. The Capuchin friar served the poor of the city for many years - he is widely followed by Catholics in Andalucía and beyond.

The friar is now on the road to being declared a saint but one of the miracles that propelled him to be beatified has been discounted by the Vatican from the process. This is because it predates his being beatified and miracles for his sainthood have to have occurred after last September.

Fray Alfonso Ramírez Peralbo, who heads the cause towards sainthood, visited the Holy Office in the Vatican on February 9, the 55 th anniversary of the friar’s death. It was then he was given the news which he admits left him shocked.

The previously admitted miracle happened to Ileana Martínez who interceded to Fray Leopoldo and was cured of an aneurism in her aorta. Patrizio Polisca, the medical consultant to the Congregation for the Cause of the Saints and the pope’s personal doctor, had ruled her cure out because of the timing.

Fray Alfonso is not deterred. He says the process to have Fray Leopoldo made a saint continues and adds that many letters have been received from people who credit the friar with being responsible for miraculous cures. These will now be studied closely to see if any meet the strict requirements demanded by the Vatican.

PP LOSS

José Herrera has resigned from the Partido Popular in Ronda after 24 years on the council. He is angry that he is not on the PPs list for the elections saying the decision was personally motivated. Herrera has twice been mayor of Ronda and had his own party before linking with the PP. He is expected to stand as an independent in May.

NO APPEAL

A Málaga court has ruled that an appeal by the Asociación Silvema Serranía de Ronda against an earlier court decision not to proceeded with a case against the mayor of Ronda over the Merinos golf development would not be allowed. The Málaga Prosecutor had recommended the case be dropped as although the mayor had acted unethically he had not broken the law.

DIGITAL POLICE

Out go the walkie talkies. Local police in Ronda are now using a digital system pioneered in Andalucía which means the control knows the exact location of all its officers and can respond to emergency calls within minutes. The 70 officers will have what looks like a mobile phone which sends a signal that shows up on a screen in the command centre.

WELCOME SIGNS

Ronda’s delegate for commerce, British PSOE councillor Charlotte Wilmot, recently presented the 45 elements of the new specially created sign system for the town’s open commercial centre which is one of those officially recognised by the Andalucía government. Around 132,000 euros has been invested on signs including welcome notices, commercial directories, publicity hoardings for the 100 businesses that make up the CCA.

MILLION STEPS

Málaga’s health authority and Montejaque town hall have launched a scheme to improve the health of those living in the municipality. It’s part of the Andalucía health service’s “Por un millón de pasos” campaign aimed to getting the elderly and chronically ill to walk at least a million steps every month ideally in a group so it becomes an obligation and social activity.

BETTER ACCESS

The Ronda Norte health centre which serves 17,000 people in the town and Serranía has seen a number of recent improvements. These include better access including the installation of a lift plus the opening of a special unit for pregnant women. The 127,000 euros lift is specially adapted for the handicapped allowing easy use by those in wheelchairs or using other walking aids.

WIFI PARK

This summer sees the opening of the Edificio Neotechnológica in Ronda. Over 500,000 euros has been spent on the building which on its top floor will have 60 computers all with high speed internet connection. This is part of a campaign to ensure everybody has access to the internet - outside will be a park with Wi Fi installed permitting free access to users.

TO GAUCÍN

The name of Bernardino Gaona is well known in Arriate as he became deputy mayor in 1995 then mayor in 1999 to the coming elections. The Izquierda Unida politician is not standing in May – well at least not in Arriate –instead he pops up in Gaucín where he is one of the reserve candidates as the party looks to freshen up it appeal.

TAJO DEFENDERS

The project to have a raptor spectacular at the auditorium over the Tajo by Ronda’s famous bullring now has some serious opposition. A dozen associations and political groups have combined to preserve the gorge which they want declared a national monument and stop the demonstration of these hunters as they say they will threaten birds nesting below. They want the spectacular moved elsewhere.

ILLEGAL ROAD

Ecologists in the Serranía de Ronda have reported works to create an illegal road by the arroyo del Algarrobo in Genalguacil to the Andalucía environment ministry. They say its invaded the public domain on the river bank. They are also angry over the extraction of filling material from a nearby site – an action which they say has not been licensed by the authorities.

PIG KILLINGS

Residents of the rural areas of Puerto Saúco and Ronda la Vieja are alarmed after for the third time in a year seven farms were raided on one night. Seven Iberian pigs were killed at a farm and in all farm equipment worth over 20,000 euros was stolen. One raid was prevented when the dogs alerted the owner who turned on security lights.

DATELINE RONDA THURSDAY MARCH 25, 2011

PLEA TO REOPEN CASE OF LUIS ALBERTO RAMÍREZ


By David Eade – Costa del Sol News

In April 2008 the Costa del Sol News gave wide coverage to the case of 24-year-old Luis Alberto Ramírez who died in Ronda’s hospital from peritonitis.

The Gaucín youth had been correctly diagnosed at Algatocín health centre on March 31 and sent to the hospital with the expectation that he would be operated on. However he was twice discharged from the hospital with doctor’s insisting he had a virus or food poisoning. He was eventually admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack as his family attempted to transport him to hospital in traumatic circumstances after lengthy delays as no ambulance was available.

Since then his family led by his sister, María José Ramírez, and their lawyer Luis Ferrary, have campaigned to have those they deem responsible brought to trail for medical negligence. However the judge provisionally filed the case in March 2009 without any of those involved being questioned.

Although both María José and her lawyer insist there is clear evidence of negligence involving the hospital and Gaucín health centre they cannot take the case forward as it is in judicial limbo. Until the judge makes a judgement it cannot pass to the provincial court on appeal because there is nothing to appeal against.

The Alberto Ramirez family have appealed to the Andalucía Ombudsman, José Chamizo, asking him to intervene. He says he has now power to say whether there was or was not any negligence in the medical staff’s actions.

However Chamizo has been highly critical of two aspects of the case. First over the report that stated only one ambulance served the Valle del Genal area and this was not available for Luis Alberto because it was attending an emergency in Ronda. Secondly the ambulance did not return to serve the area it was allocated to for over 90 minutes leaving the widespread villages without any ambulance cover.

Now the pressure is on for the case to be re-opened so what happened to Luis Alberto can be judicially examined. There have also been widespread demonstrations in his home village of Gaucín for an independent enquiry. In addition all the town halls have been united in a campaign for ambulance over in the Serranía de Ronda.

PEOPLE PLAZA

The plaza Carmen Abela in Ronda is to be converted into a pedestrian zone. The square with the calles Lorenzo Borrego and Sevilla is in the heart of the open commercial centre based on the called Espinel known as La Bola. Over 800,000 euros has been assigned from an ICO tourism loan for the work with 23 companies keenly bidding for the contract.

SUMMER HOSTEL

The first youth hostel to serve Ronda and the Serranía is to open this summer. It will have the capacity to cater for 74 people who will be housed in 15 rooms. It’s located on the El Fuerte industrial estate between the calles Guadalcobacin and Fernando de los Rios. The building is self-sufficient in power terms and is totally adapted for handicapped people.

CASH CRISIS

Asprodisis in Ronda caters for handicapped people and is in crisis as the town hall has not paid 142,000 euros in grants. It cares for 243 people but will have to lay off 90 in its employment schemes and cut services. Over 84,000 euros is the 2011 grant, 22,000 comes from the Andalucía health service with the balance owed by Ronda from 2010.

SAD FAIRWELL

The parents of 13-year-old María Esther who was murdered in Arriate on January 20 allegedly at the hands of a 17-year-old youth from the village have now left for Paterna de la Rivera. Over the weekend they collected up all their possessions, bade a sad farewell to their neighbours and friends and returned to the home village to start a new life.

PSOE CHOICE

It’s already known PSOE would be led in to the local elections in the key municipality of Gaucín by Teodoro de Molina who for a short period after the last poll was mayor with the support of the PP. De Molina will head a list with Maribel Casas as number two plus another eight candidates which includes foreign resident Jorrian Van Der Chaaf.

WALKER FEST

Keen mountain walkers should head for Genalguacil over the weekend of March 26-27. Enrolment is free and can be carried out by email by contacting encuentrosenderista@genalguacil.es. The programme will start with a gathering of the walkers in the plaza on the Saturday, the inauguration of a new walk and an expert talk on walks in the Valle del Genal and Serranía de Ronda.

HORSE SCHOOL

In July Ronda will have a 320,000 euro equestrian school housed at the Parada de Sementales on the road to Llano de la Cruz. The objective is to open to the public a sport that is traditionally associated with the elite. There will be a covered area for riding practice, 19 horse boxes plus an equine therapy unit for use by handicapped people.

ASTON SUNDAY

On Sunday the latest Aston Martin model was presented in Ronda. The internationally renowned British car was to be seen in the plaza Duquesa de Parcent in the centre of the old town. The new Aston Martin has also been a common sight on the roads around Ronda in recent days as it is filmed and photographed for the world wide publicity campaign.

DATELINE RONDA THURSDAY MARCH 17, 2011

COURT FILES LOS MERINOS CASE AGAINST RONDA’S MAYOR


By David Eade – Costa del Sol News

After the Málaga prosecutor recently announced it had no case to put against the mayor of Ronda over the case on the proposed Los Merinos golf course development the court has now followed up by filing the proceedings.

The court ruled that Antonio Marín had not obstructed justice by approving the project by his own decree to build a luxury golf, residential and tourism complex at Los Merinos. The prosecutor had stated that it believed the mayor had acted unethically but could not find grounds for a legal case.

The case was brought by Izquierda Unida in 2007 when it complained to the Málaga prosecutor that the mayor had committed an offence against the town planning laws, the natural resources of the area and the environment.

The mayor had given the go-ahead for the two golf courses, 800 luxury homes and three hotels even thought the Andalucía water authority had produced a report stating the site did not have its own water resources to sustain such a development.

The water issued has seen widespread protests by environmentalists and residents of Cuevas del Becerro the nearest village to Los Merinos which is many kilometres from the centre of Ronda. Residents and farmers fear the development will drain the water aquifers on which they have depended for generations.

After the court announced its decision the spokesperson and candidate for mayor for the IU in Ronda, Rafael Ruíz, announced they would appeal against. Ruíz labelled it a bad decision and intends to call the former provincial delegate for the environment, Ignacio Trillo to give evidence.

Los Merinos covers around 1,000 hectares near the boundary of Ronda with Cuevas del Becerro. Although the developers have maintained the scheduled payments to Ronda town hall demanded by the planning accord work has been halted since 2008 because of the economic crisis in the construction sector.

APPEAL AGAINST THE GO-AHEAD IN THE TAJO STABLES CASE

The decision by Ronda’s court to proceed to the pre-trial stage in the ‘Caballerizas” case has been appealed by the lawyers acting for the ten councillors from a former administration implicated in the investigation.

The case revolves around the illegal construction of a house and a stables complex in the Hoya del Tajo area of Ronda – a zone that enjoys strict environmental protection.

In the dock are the promoter plus the ten councillors from PSOE, PP and GIL. They are accused of breaking the town planning laws and also offences against the administration of justice.

In 2005 the councillors were all members of municipal commission of works that approved the construction despite the lands protected status. However they insist all they agreed to was the refurbishment of a building that already existed on the site.

The judge has called on the Málaga prosecutor and the individuals presenting the case to formally request the opening of oral hearings or the case would be shelved.

The majority of the councillors implicated in the case have now quit public life. Three are still on the council and the socialist Isabel María Aguilera has since become director general of the regional government’s rural sustainable development authority.

SUSPECTED SUICIDE

A 45-year-old man disappeared last Wednesday in Montecorto after having drinks with a friend then going to move earth near the village square. On the way back from another property in search of a more powerful machine his tractor slid into a ditch but despite a widespread search there was no sign of him. On Saturday his body was found near his home and police suspect suicide.

NO PROJECT

The controversial toll motorway between Ronda and San Pedro officially doesn’t exist. Proposed by PSOE before the last elections it was due to be completed next year but work never started. PSOE in Ronda have been featuring it on their election material but when IU asked the Andalucía ministry of works for details of this phantom motorway the answer was it doesn’t exist.

NEW PARISH

Ronda is to have a new parish in fast growing San Rafael district. The Bishop of Málaga has allocated two million euros for the church and is due to lay the first brick shortly. The faithful in the zone have had to worship in San Cristóbal. The new church will be built on land donated by the municipality and will accommodate 500 people.

POPULAR MAYOR

Benalauría’s Eugenio Márquez is a much sought after politician. He sits as mayor as an independent but both the centre right PP and centre left PSOE wanted him to head their lists at the municipal elections. However he has rejected their advances and will stand again for the independent Agrupación de Electores de Benalauría which last time received 13 votes more than PSOE.

BLIND TOURISM

The tourist office in Montejaque in the Serranía de Ronda has presented a special tourism plan of the municipality designed for people with impaired sight. Montejaque is only the second municipality in Europe to make specific provisions for visitors who are partially sighted or blind. Montejaque is a key walking centre and a special route has been created for those with eyesight problems.

FOOD FAIR

Ronda Abierta wants to help integrate foreign residents living in the municipality with the local population. On April 15, 16 and 17 it’s organising at the Casino the first Feria Gastronómica Internacional where food from various countries will be on display and can be sampled. Currently there are 22 participants in what is billed as an international celebration of the arrival of spring.

DATELINE RONDA THURSDAY MARCH 10, 2011

CASA DEL REY MORO TO BE SAVED


By David Eade – Costa del Sol News

The historic Casa del Rey Moro in Ronda is to be saved after the town hall reached agreement with the property’s owners. The 18 th century palace that sits on the edge of the Cornisas del Tajo is in danger of collapse after years of neglect.

Jochen Knie, who owns the Casa del Rey Moro SL, has agreed to undertake immediate restoration works and in return the town hall will grant a licence for the property to be converted in to a hotel. The German has accused the administration of paralysing for 14 years his plans to create a five star hotel.

The councillor for public works and town planning, María Jose Martín de Haro will in the next month register the project to urgently refurbish the building which is in a ruined state. Martín de Haro said any work would have first to be approved by the Andalucía culture ministry as the building is a protected historic site.

The town hall has been waging an on-going battle with Knie over the property and has fined him 60,000 euros for not keeping it in order. In addition it has had to close the staircase that descends to La Mina. This deep stairway goes down to a natural chasm in the rock below the bed of the Tajo. The entry to La Mina is in the Jardines de Forestier that were declared of cultural interest in 1943.

The restoration of the site has been held up by the provisions of the Plan Especial del Casco Histórico that was only approved last year. Knie says the company offered to restore the building before the project was paralysed but he seems content with the new accord.

Knie owns the five-star hotel Casa Imperial in La Alfalfa in Sevilla and wanted to turn the Casa del Rey Moro in to a similar establishment in Ronda. The original project would have required an investment of 21 million euros and would have employed 200 people directly and indirectly.

STOLEN COMPUTERS HIDDEN AT MURDER SITE

Arriate was in a profound state of shock at the end of January when 13-year-old María Esther Jiménez was found murdered in the pump house of a swimming pool on land behind the village. A 17-year-old youth, one of her friends, has since been arrested for her murder.

Those raw wounds were re-opened this week when three people were arrested by the Guardia Civil in Arriate for the theft and receiving of stolen computers. Another four have also been implicated. Although the two cases are not inter-related the stolen computers were hidden in the pump house where María Esther was slain.

It was in October of last year that the Guardia Civil opened operation Guadalinix after computers were stolen from the school in Arriate. During the investigation in to María Esther’s murder the fingerprints of two of the youths involved in the thefts were found in the pump house. One of them has since confessed to stealing the computers.

According to the Guardia Civil one of those involved hid in the school after it closed then later gave access to the other. They then hid the stolen computers in the pump house before handing them over to a third person who sold them for 200 euros each. Around 1,000 euros was earned in this manner which they split equally.

JOBLESS DOWN

A glimmer of good news in Ronda where February saw a fall of 78 in the unemployment figures. However at the end of that month the town hall contracted 86 people to work on its latest project to reduce the jobless and it is not clear if that number is included in the February totals. There are now 4,680 on the dole.

RECYCLING THEFTS

Local police were called to the Punto Limpio in Ronda last Wednesday afternoon after three people were seen in the locked premises. Officers caught them in the act, arrested the woman but the two men fled although one was detained later. All are said to be non-Spanish; they were stealing items such as small electrical domestic appliances left at the site for re-cycling.

DRUGS BUST

The National and local police in Ronda have broken up a drugs distribution operation from a house in El Fuerte arresting a 56-year old woman and a man aged 31. Officers had noticed a large number of people going to and from the property. Suspecting they were dealing in drugs they stage a raid on the house and seized 1.5 kilos of hashish.

PAY UP

Mayors in the Valle del Genal and Guadiaro have called on the regional government to pay the 60 students studying at courses run by their consortium. The whole project appears to be in chaos because not only are the pupils owed 1,000 euros for two months but the lack of funding means the staff have been unable to purchase materials for the courses.

LESS INTENSE

An intriguing project in Ronda where the town hall claims it’s reducing the energy bills by 50 per cent. Five hundred thousand euros has been spent installing a system controlling the intensity and reporting faults in the street lighting. Lighting is more powerful in the evening and reduces after midnight. It is operational in calles Jerez, Ollerías, San Molino, Pozo and San José.

SEWAGE PROJECT

The regional government is spending two million euros installing a sewage plant in Cuevas del Becerro. The cash comes from Feder funds and the work will take 14 months to complete. The system can handle 471.8 cubic metres of waste water a day which is not only sufficient for the present population but also allows for growth in the size of the village.

HOMES LOST

According to Izquierda Unida 255 families in Ronda have lost their homes in the last five years. They all have been embargoed by financial entities because the owners could not meet their mortgage repayments. IU blames the calamity on the economic policies of the PSOE government in the financial crisis because it has refused to declare a moratorium for families on the dole.

PALMS SAFE

The Serranía de Ronda is the only zone in the province of Málaga where the plague of red beetles that attacks palms trees has not taken a hold. The coastal areas have been the worst affected by the beetle which destroys the trunks. Some palms in the Serranía have been affected but these are isolated and the disease has not spread to others.

MOLINA AGAIN

Gaucín’s PSOE have again nominated Teodoro de Molina to head their list at May’s town hall elections. De Molina was elected mayor after the last election in a pact with the Partido Popular to keep the Partido Andalucista from power. However PP withdrew; took power itself with the support of the PA. De Molina is an economist, useful as the town hall’s bankrupt.

ASTON LAUNCH

The famous British car manufacturer Aston Martin has chosen Ronda to present this month its latest model to the world. Ronda competed against Sevilla for the launch which will take place in the old town at the plaza Duquesa de Parcent and by the bullring. Three hundred journalists will flock to Ronda –events are also being held in Chicago and New York.

DATELINE RONDA THURSDAY MARCH 3, 2011

PROSECUTOR SAYS RONDA’S MAYOR ACTED LEGALLY BUT UNETHICALLY


By David Eade - Costa del Sol News

Good and bad news for the mayor of Ronda Antonio Marín over the controversial golf and leisure development at Los Merinos.

The environmental prosecutor has recommended that the case brought against Marín for obstruction of justice in the approval of the complex be filed. Although the project is currently halted because of the financial crisis when it proceeds there will be two golf courses, 800 luxury homes and hotels built in the open countryside.

The prosecutor says that having studied all the documentation relating to the mayor’s decision it does not appear that any law has broken but he believes Marín did not follow the moral or environmental code.

When he gave the go-ahead for the development by his own decree Marín was a member of the Partido Andalucista. He and his fellow PA councillors have since left the party, sit as non-aligned but he will lead PSOE in to the elections this May.

In February 2006 Marín issued his decree for the development to proceed although an environmental impact report had already raised questions over the lack of water resources on the site. This has led to major protests by environmentalists and the residents of nearby Cuevas del Becerro that fear the complex will drain their own water aquifers on which they and farmers have depended on for generations.

Curiously the prosecutor says there is more than a simple suspicion that irregularities have taken place but says that alone is not sufficient to determine whether illegal conduct has taken place. So Marín stands condemned of unethical behaviour but seemingly spared prosecution.

The battle over Los Merinos will continue not least because the ecologists will not give up even though the Andalucía High Court will ask the regional government to lift any hold-up on its final approval for the scheme.

However this is the second blow suffered by Ecologistas en Acción and Silvema Serranía de Ronda in a matter of days. Last week the regional government’s environmental ministry said it was dropping the complaint against the developers for carrying out works that damaged the environment. This complaint was laid in 2006 and the environmentalists will contest the decision.

In the end a lot may rest with politics and not the courts starting with whether Marín is re-elected mayor in May for PSOE and whether PSOE remains the government of Andalucía in 2012.

SEVILLA ACCESS

The new intersection on the road from Ronda to Sevilla has been opened as part of the Andalucía government’s 14 million euros investment in creating three new access points to the town. Two other flyover - underpass links are being created from the San Pedro and El Burgo – Ardales roads and despite financial hold ups they should be completed in around two months.

ARTS BOSS

José Garasino, currently the director of the Media Business School in Ronda has been unanimously appointed as director general of the Acadmia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España in Madrid. Born in Paris Garasino has worked for 18 years in the film business and films include Torrente 2, La niña de mis ojos, Soldados de Salamina and Pasos de baile.

NOT TALKING

Ronda’s councillor for employment, Josefa Valle, who also happens to be the mayor’s wife, has broken off relations with the Apymer small and medium business association. Valle has accused Apymer of criticising the administration’s handling of the economic crisis and being opposed to the Eroski commercial centre. Apymer says the Eroski report was signed by Los Verdes and Valle should learn to read.

STREET WORKS

You can tell the local elections are approaching as Ronda has given work to 50 people and ordered them to put the town’s streets in order in the shortest possible time. Thirty streets will benefit with work starting in the Cruz Verde - 500,000 euros is being allocated to pavements; 600,000 euros to repairing the road surface and the filling in of potholes.

EROSKI CLOSER

Ronda’s council has approved its fourth amendment to the local development plan (PGOU) to allow the Eroski commercial centre to proceed on the site of the old sports stadium and fair ground. The change was required by the Andalucía government to allow the project to proceed. It’ll see a 120 million euros investment and create 1,200 jobs. The opposition PP and IU abstained.

MAY TRIAL

In February 2007 we first broke the news four National Police and a Guardia Civil officer in Ronda had been arrested for extorting money from brothels and having sexual relations with the girls. The case will finally come to trial this May in Málaga’s court with the prosecutor seeking a total jail term of 39 years for the five.

GIVING BIRD

Ecologists have given the bird to the spectacular of raptures from Ronda’s Blas Infante auditorium. The tourism initiative was launched at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid. The ecologists say they don’t oppose the spectacular rather consider it a positive initiative but point out the proposed location will have the raptures flying over breeding nests and the Murallas del Carmen would be better.

TARMAC ROW

Angry confrontations in La Indiana as work crews ordered by the Andalucía environment ministry tried to remove tarmac from the right of way through the Ronda enclave. Tarmac had been laid by Adif after heavy lorries had broken the surface during the works on the Ronda to Algeciras line. The tarmac cost 60,000 euros. Adif will be fined 150,000 if it’s not removed.