DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY DECEMBER 15, 2009

SWITCH OFF OF ANALOGUE TV HAS STARTED


Since today (Tuesday) the process of turning off the analogue TV transmissions has started. The switch to digital is now underway and 20 municipalities in Málaga province are abandoning the traditional form of receiving their television programmes for the new TDT service.


The process has started in the Serranía de Ronda and the western Costa del Sol with Algotocín, Atajate. Benadalid, Benahavís, Benalauría, Casares, Cortes de la Frontera, Estepona, Faraján, Gaucín, Genalgaucil, Igualeja, Jimera de Libar, Jubrique, Júzcar, Montejaque and Parauta leading the way.


According to information issued by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce around 80,000 people will be affected by the switch. As the transmission and relay stations carrying the old signal are switched off the TV screens in those homes will go blank and owners will have to purchase new sets or the adapters required by the digital system.


However it would appear that some residents of these zones will be without TV whilst the engineers catch up on the installation programme. A number of people in the Serranía villages are complaining that whilst they have acquired the digital decoders nobody has yet turned up to install them.


RONDA’S PA MAYOR AND COUNCILLORS DECLARED TURNCOATS


The mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, and his eight fellow Partido Andalucista councillors have been declared political turncoats by the Comisión de Expertos Independientes del Pacto Antitransfuguismo.


In June they abandoned the party and joined PSOE although they now sit as non-aligned councillors. Previously Marín had entered in to a coalition with PSOE so that party now rules the town.


After studying the situation in detail the commission was unanimous in its verdict that PSOE had won control of the town hall without the councillors resigning and seeking re-election. Indeed although many people voted for Partido Andalucista councillors at the last election their voices and views are now totally unrepresented at the town hall.


On December 17 the Mesa Antitransfuguismo will decide whether to ratify the commission’s decision or to reject it. Mayor Marín says he is not over worried by the decision as it has to be ratified and declared that anyway he had Ronda’s interests at heart.


Such sentiments cut little ice with the opposition groups. The secretary general of the Partido Andalucista, Pilar González, called for the resignation of Marín and his fellow former PA councillors adding that Ronda should not have a mayor who is a turncoat.


The two opposition parties on the council, the Partido Popular and Izquierda Unida, claimed that the mayor and his councillors had cheated the people of the town and had assaulted democracy.

The local secretary of PSOE, Francisco Cañestro, remained silent on the commission’s findings and its verdict that its party had benefitted by the actions of the mayor and his PA team. Depending how the Mesa rules it could have a significant effect on the future of government in the town of the Tajo.

PEACE KEEPERS
The Tercio Alejandro Farnesio 4 of the Spanish Legion based in Ronda are preparing to go to Afghanistan in March. The force will consist of 600 Legionnaires backed by armoured units. It is not the first time that these crack troops have been to Afghanistan and they have also been sent to the Lebanon, Kosovo and Bosnia under the banner of the UN.

SERRANÍA BOOST
The Director General of rural development, a department of the Andalucía ministry of agriculture, visited Ronda to announce that 47 million euros will be assigned between now and 2014 for projects in the Serranía. This amount marks a seven fold increase over the previous budget. Some 192 projects will benefit creating 290 jobs, 88 will be for women and 40 for young people.

PUBLIC PARKING
The former military installations by Ronda’s sports complex close to the Renfe station will be demolished and resurfaced. The land covers some14,000 square metres and has been used for the parking of lorries. Now it will be converted into a parking area for cars with 60 spaces. The funding for the project will come from the Plan Zapatero and cost four million euros.

FULL HOUSE
The effects of the economic crisis seem to have passed Ronda by during the recent long holiday weekend. The tourist office reports that hotels were 90 per cent full and that 43.6 per cent of the visitors stayed two nights in the town. The tourist office received 2,410 enquiries, 2.5 per cent more than last year, 78.4 per cent of visitors being Spanish.

WOMEN SUFFER
Jobless figures for Ronda showed a 20 person increase in November over October but it is women who are the worst hit in the town of the Tajo. Not only were 18 of that increase female but of the 4,101 rondeños out of work 2,158 are women. The town hall is enacting various short-term work creation programmes but they only offer 166 jobs.

DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY OCTOBER 6, 2009

TAJO CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM
By 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

DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY AUGUST 11, 2009

STOP PRESS – FOUR PEOPLE RESCUED AS RONDA HIT BY DELUGE
By David Eade

The weather maps had predicted lighting for Ronda on Tuesday but the storm that hit the town at around 15.30 took everyone by surprise. Four people had to be rescued as the Met Office said 32 litres of rain per square metre fell in an hour although the town hall claims it was 50.

The thunder had rumbled as the storm approached, strong gusts of winds sent people scrambling to close their windows and shutters, the sky became black and then the heavens opened.

For half an hour rain and hail poured down on the town causing chaos and the main shopping street, La Bola, was flooded. Other areas of Ronda including Las Peñas, Padre Jesús, the UVA, the Baños Árabes were all awash and the police and fire brigade had to rescue four people trapped in their homes.

It was a busy afternoon for the fire brigade that answered 38 calls, the police forces, Protección Civil, the works department of the town hall and Sevillana-Endesa as they tackled the mayhem including collapsed walls in over one hundred streets and the resulting loss of power supplies.

NO PARKING IN THE OLD TOWN
By David Eade

Last Monday Ronda closed the car park by the town’s famous 200-year old bullring and the paseo de Blas Infante is now a pedestrian only zone. This caused anger amongst the businesses in the central town who fear they will loose customers but the town hall was forced to act after the Andalucía heritage ministry ordered the removal of vehicles from this historic site.

Now this Monday Ronda’s traffic department has started the first phase of making the historic quarter also pedestrian only. This means that even residents will be barred from parking on the streets and plazas of the old town.

The councillor responsible for traffic said the initiative was to preserve the heritage of the town and to make it easier for tourist to walk round the area to see the various sights.

First the pedestrian only areas are being introduced on the left side of the old town where the majority of the historic sites stand. Over the coming days the same measure will be put in force on the right side.

There will be one parking zone in this area at the former Castillo College. The patio has been converted in to a car park which can accommodate up to 200 vehicles although some of these spaces will be allocated to local residents. It is also close by the town hall so can be used by people who have business at the various municipal offices.

Visitors to Ronda are therefore urged to park their vehicles in the numerous car parks in the new town which are all clearly signed. Day trippers can travel on the tourist coaches and there are also frequent train or bus services from Málaga or the Costa del Sol to the town of the Tajo.

WOUND UP
It wasn’t so long ago that the Partido Popular in Ronda was part of the governing team. Then the coalition pact was broken by then Partido Andalucista mayor Antonio Marín who later led his councillors in to PSOE. Now the PP has wound up its existing party because of internal divisions and appointed a manager who will reorganize the entire structure in Ronda.


ROMERO HONOURED
Ronda’s feria dedicated to the father of bullfighting Pedro Romero will this year be held between September 2 and 6. The fair is one of the major events of its type in Andalucía and has been declared of tourist interest. The poster has been designed by local artist Antonio Valle and honours both Romero and Rondeña women who are shown in Goyesca dress.

CONSECUTIVE DROP
The jobless total for July in Ronda is down again, the only municipality in the province where a third consecutive month drop has been recorded. The total now stands at 3,700 which is 79 less than in June with 300 finding work in the last three months. In 2005 only 2030 were unemployed in July and the figure has increased every year since.

BRAILLE MAP
Ronda has become the first town in Spain to produce a Braille map so that blind people can find their way around the key tourist spots. It was designed by Juan Manuel Medina who is himself blind. The work has been funded by the tourism office and Unicaja. The map highlights 22 places of interest and gives a detailed description of each in Braille.

CAR RIFLED
Seprona, the environmental arm of the Guardia Civil, spotted a four-wheel drive vehicle acting suspiciously in the Peñón de Berruco nature reserve of Cortes de la Frontera. They stopped and searched the vehicle and found inside a rifle with a telescopic sight, silencer plus ammunition. Two men in the car did not have a licence for the rifle and are suspected of being poachers.

ON LINE
Adif, the infrastructure company of the Spanish railway system, is to spend nearly 28 million euros over 24 months up grading the line between Ronda and Estación de Gaucín. This will include installing new electronic signalling equipment to improve safety and the relaying of the track involving work at Ronda, Arriate, Indiana, Benaoján, Jimera de Líbar, Cortes de la Frontera and Gaucín stations.

DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY AUGUST 11, 2009

NO PARKING IN THE OLD TOWN
By David Eade

Last Monday Ronda closed the car park by the town’s famous 200-year old bullring and the paseo de Blas Infante is now a pedestrian only zone. This caused anger amongst the businesses in the central town who fear they will loose customers but the town hall was forced to act after the Andalucía heritage ministry ordered the removal of vehicles from this historic site.

Now this Monday Ronda’s traffic department has started the first phase of making the historic quarter also pedestrian only. This means that even residents will be barred from parking on the streets and plazas of the old town.

The councillor responsible for traffic said the initiative was to preserve the heritage of the town and to make it easier for tourist to walk round the area to see the various sights.

First the pedestrian only areas are being introduced on the left side of the old town where the majority of the historic sites stand. Over the coming days the same measure will be put in force on the right side.

There will be one parking zone in this area at the former Castillo College. The patio has been converted in to a car park which can accommodate up to 200 vehicles although some of these spaces will be allocated to local residents. It is also close by the town hall so can be used by people who have business at the various municipal offices.

Visitors to Ronda are therefore urged to park their vehicles in the numerous car parks in the new town which are all clearly signed. Day trippers can travel on the tourist coaches and there are also frequent train or bus services from Málaga or the Costa del Sol to the town of the Tajo.

WOUND UP
It wasn’t so long ago that the Partido Popular in Ronda was part of the governing team. Then the coalition pact was broken by then Partido Andalucista mayor Antonio Marín who later led his councillors in to PSOE. Now the PP has wound up its existing party because of internal divisions and appointed a manager who will reorganize the entire structure in Ronda.

ROMERO HONOURED
Ronda’s feria dedicated to the father of bullfighting Pedro Romero will this year be held between September 2 and 6. The fair is one of the major events of its type in Andalucía and has been declared of tourist interest. The poster has been designed by local artist Antonio Valle and honours both Romero and Rondeña women who are shown in Goyesca dress.

CONSECUTIVE DROP
The jobless total for July in Ronda is down again, the only municipality in the province where a third consecutive month drop has been recorded. The total now stands at 3,700 which is 79 less than in June with 300 finding work in the last three months. In 2005 only 2030 were unemployed in July and the figure has increased every year since.

BRAILLE MAP
Ronda has become the first town in Spain to produce a Braille map so that blind people can find their way around the key tourist spots. It was designed by Juan Manuel Medina who is himself blind. The work has been funded by the tourism office and Unicaja. The map highlights 22 places of interest and gives a detailed description of each in Braille.

CAR RIFLED
Seprona, the environmental arm of the Guardia Civil, spotted a four-wheel drive vehicle acting suspiciously in the Peñón de Berruco nature reserve of Cortes de la Frontera. They stopped and searched the vehicle and found inside a rifle with a telescopic sight, silencer plus ammunition. Two men in the car did not have a licence for the rifle and are suspected of being poachers.

ON LINE
Adif, the infrastructure company of the Spanish railway system, is to spend nearly 28 million euros over 24 months up grading the line between Ronda and Estación de Gaucín. This will include installing new electronic signalling equipment to improve safety and the relaying of the track involving work at Ronda, Arriate, Indiana, Benaoján, Jimera de Líbar, Cortes de la Frontera and Gaucín stations.

DATELINE RONDA TUESDAY JUNE 23, 2009

LOS MERINOS MAKES ANOTHER MASSIVE PAYMENT
Almost 9 million euros paid to town hall to date
By David Eade

Work at the site of Los Merinos in Ronda may have been halted because of the economic crisis but that has not stopped the owners of the controversial golf development from paying 866,258 euros to the town hall. Copisa have now handed over nearly nine million euros in eight payments to date as part of its town planning agreement with the town hall.

It is proposed that apart from two golf courses Los Merinos would also be home to a major luxury urbanisation and a number of hotels. There has been widespread opposition from environmentalists and surrounding communities including Cuevas del Becerro town hall who fear that the development will steal their valuable water resources and damage the ecology of the area.

There are also a number of court cases pending in which the mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, has been accused of giving the go-ahead for the development decree flying in the face of the environmental laws. The regional government is also trying to have the project legally halted on the water resources issue.

Copisa avoided an immediate clash last year by halting work because of the slump in the construction market. It also laid off the majority of those working at the site as well as sub-contractors just keeping a skeleton staff for essential maintenance. This week 14 new workers have been contracted and they will be employed on fire prevention over the hot summer months.

Once construction starts in earnest Copisa say they will invest around 100 million euros in the project. In recent weeks directors have met with the mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, to discuss the future restarting of work. As Marín has now switched from the Partido Andalucista to PSOE he could find himself in conflict with his new party at Andalucía government level over the future of the controversial development.

LUCKY’S FAMILY PRESENT A 16,000 SIGNATURE PETITION

The family of Luis Alberto Ramírez, known to his friends as “Lucky”, have presented a 16,000 signature petition to the Andalucía Ombudsman, José Chamizo.

As was extensively reported in the Costa del Sol News at the time in April 2008 the youngster from Gaucín died of peritonitis after having been discharged on a number of occasions by staff at Ronda’s hospital.

The petition calls for an investigation in to the causes of “Lucky’s” death and demands an improvement in the general level of medical services in the Valle del Genal.

Speaking after handing over the signatures “Lucky’s” sister, María José Ramírez, stated: “The hospital has said it was going to hold an internal investigation, but at the moment nothing has been done and the situation is the same.”

The family also have a case in the Ronda court, a ‘curso de reforma’ which prevents it from being filed by the judge. They have also issued legal complaints against five medical staff at the hospital and one at the medical centre in Gaucín.

Luis Alberto Ramírez died in April 2008 whilst being driven in a family car from the health centre in neighbouring Algatocín to Ronda hospital as an emergency ambulance was not available. Previously he had been sent by the local medical staff to the hospital but had been discharged without receiving the appropriate treatment. It is also alleged that the local doctor refused to visit him at his home stating there was no cover at the health centre.

BODEGAS LA SANGRE HONOURED
The Ronda wine producer – Bodegas La Sangre – has been awarded a major prize for its wine by Radio Turismo. Its gold medal for 2009 was given to the wine Espinel 2007. In the competition 300 bodegas in Spain presented 1,300 wines. Sergio Flores the director of Bodegas La Sangre stated: “this is an important recognition and is welcomed by our project.” To visit the vineyard’s website click on the Bodegas La Sangre banner on the right side of this web page.

POWERFUL ROW
The regional government has given the go-ahead for a power line from Buitreras sub-station in a protected environmental zone to Corchado-Casares. This will pass through Gaucín and Casares and as previously reported here has been strongly opposed by the town halls and Gaucín residents’ groups. The Andalucía government says it has approved the scheme because of public need but protestors say no such need exists.

POISONING FINE
The Málaga provincial court has ordered a campsite in Algatocín to pay over 20,000 euros to four members of the same family who ate tortilla there in September 2006 contracting food poisoning causing them to require medical treatment for three weeks. A Ronda court first ruled the compensation should be paid and that decision was upheld on appeal by the higher court.

IMPROVED ACCESS
Work has started on creating new access routes and roundabouts in Ronda to improve the road network from Sevilla, San Pedro, Campillos, El Burgo and Algeciras. The major road improvements are being funded by the regional government in a 17 million euros scheme that will take some 30 months to complete. The IU has complained that no environmental impact study has been carried out.

CORK HARVEST
Ronda owns nine fincas in Los Montes de Propios that each year produces a large quantity of cork that is then sold at auction. This year’s harvest is reported to be of less quality than in recent years and the economic crisis has also seen a drop in prices. None-the-less the municipality expects to earn between 500,000 and 600,000 euros from the harvest.

HEALTH AWARENESS
Twenty children from the infant’s school in Benaoján have visited the village health centre to learn more about the services on offer. The five-year-olds had the chance to meet the staff, talk about their work and how they could look after their own health. They also saw demonstrations of the electric medical equipment including heart machines and visited the emergency service ambulance.

LIGHTNING STRIKE
The Serranía de Ronda has had its first forest fire of the summer and the culprit was a lightning strike. The flash ignited ten hectares of scrubland at Parauta in the Sierra de las Nieves last Monday and took four hours to control. Two fire-fighters were hurt after being hit by the water from a fire plane and were treated at Ronda hospital.

CASH BLAZE
There was alarm in Ronda on Friday when a security van delivering cash to the Banco Santander in the avenida de Málaga caught fire close to a petrol station. The blaze started after a fault developed in the van’s engine. The three security guards fled the van the called the fire brigade and the traffic was held up on the town’s busy main road.

WINE WORKS
Work has now started on a one million euros multi-functional wine centre in Ronda. The project has been organised by the town’s agricultural department in the old water deposits complex that dates back to the 18 th century. Once completed there will be a wine bodega in the old cellars, a museum, a teaching centre for wine growers and a research unit.

NO CHANGE
PSOE in the Andalucía Parliament has rejected a call by the Partido Popular to reduce the limits on building homes, farm or industrial units or rural tourism complexes in Los Alcornocales national park. The PP argued that the current rules are far stricter than in other protected green zones in Andalucía and need amending to allow economic development. The IU abstained in the vote.