The plaintiffs behind the said law suits were: La Asociación de Mujeres Ecologistas Sexitanas, which is headed by the the wife of CA Councillor, according to the Mayor. Also the former Councillor for Urban Planning, Emilio Pavesio and ex town-hall officials in the same department, José Luis Rodríguez Passolas Sánchez and Julio Roldán Fontana, all three of whom were recently removed from posts by the Mayor for failing in their posts.

The law suit brought out against the Mayor for unfair dismissal by Municipal Secretary, Arantxa Ibarreche, has also been shelved.

Relevant articles:
Ex Municipal Secretary Speaks Out
Town Hall Earthquake

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The construction company Tragsa y Porman has been busy levelling and compacting the track surface, prior to the laying of a concrete surface along 510 metres of track, which begins on Monday.

This work is the joint effort of the Junta and the Town Hall as part of the Encamina2 project. Finally the Coordinator for the Rural Environment, Francisco Alba, also announced that work on the access track for Río Jate will also be tarmacked and improved.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The scenario of the arrests was the sleepy village of Vélez-Benaudalla, just above Motril, whose inhabitants were surprised in the early hours of last Friday to find the village alive with police vans from the Drugs Squad and the Organised-Crime Squad.

The 1,500 kilos of hashish were found in a flat in the Urbanización Quality Sol during a search and one of those arrested was the Head of the Guardia Civil post in the village. The policeman had just been promoted from Sergeant to Police Inspector and was awaiting his transfer to a new posting when the raid took place.

Meanwhile, simultaneously, an ex-Policia Nacional was arrested over in the Axarquía in connection with the same drugs ring. All told, the police raid produced five arrests, one of whom was later released pending trial. However, the police have not issued a press release as the judge has placed a gagging order on the case.

Whereas the Sergeant-cum-Inspector was a ‘model policeman,’ much respected by both his colleagues and the villagers, the ex-guardsman, who is a Sergeant in the reserves, was reportedly keen to boast and throw money around. He and his Russian wife, 20 years his junior, one villager claims, were accustomed to eating in the best restaurants along the coast and had flashed 500-euro notes on more than one occasion.

On the same morning that the Drugs Squad was carrying out the raid in Vélez Benaudalla, down on the coast the police were waiting to intercept a shipment in a zodiac carrying several tonnes of hashish from North Africa. However, the smugglers were spooked by the police presence and beat a hasty retreat after unloading ‘only’ another 1.5 tonnes. The police believe, however that the inflatable launch was carrying up to five tonnes.

The Ideal newspaper ran articles on this incident two days running, and on the second day, hastily emphasised that their first article did not imply, or was meant to imply that the said Sergeant-cum-Inspector had been arrested in possession of the said drug, but that he had simply been arrested at the same time as the drug haul hidden in the flat had been discovered. They made this rectification at the request of the man’s family.

We shall bring later developments in the case as and when they are made public by the authorities.

(News: Velez Benaudalla, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Hundreds of people, mostly foreigners, lined the old N-340 to watch the procession on its way to the Cuevas de Nerja.

As far as prizes go, the 200-euro, First Prize was for the decked-out, Ox-drawn cart, Blanco y Colorao (White and Red). The 150-euro, Second Prize went to the Cofradía de Jesús Resucitado for their cart and the 125-euro, 3rd Prize went to the Asociación de Romeros y Romeras Pro-San Isidro 2012. Lastly in this category, the 100-euro, 4th Prize went to Academia de Baile de Elena.

As for the motorized vehicles, whose prizes were for the same amounts, 1st Prize went to Los amigos, 2nd Prize to Nuestro Barrio, 3rd Prize to Peña Romeros de Nerja and the 4th to Peña Flamenca La Soleá

Horse-drawn carriages and carts, again, received the same respective prize monies: 1st Prize was won by Javier Manzano, 2nd by Miguel Moyano, 3rd by Carlos Escobar and 4th by José Raya.

Lastly, the horse riders prizes were divided between single rider and groups of riders but it’s going to bore everybody’s pants off if we list each with their individual prize monies, so we’ll just list the names of the winners: Antonio Martín Ramírez, Fernando del Corral, Javier Pozo and Raquel Guerrero in that order, and then in the groups category, Antonio Rojas, Francisco Muñoz, Aurelio Novo and Luis Herrero.

(News: Nerja, Axarquía, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)

The original band that was billed was the Granada Big-Band Show, but they have been rescheduled for a later date and instead the Quinteto de Maria Romero and Kiko Aguado will play on Saturday.

The quintet comprises of Mary Romero-Voice, Kiko Aguado-Guitar, Arturo Serra-Vibraphone, Nicholas Medina-Bass and Julio Perez on the Drums. The group will be playing numbers from their new CD: After All We Gave.

(News/Events: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Thirty different businesses, mostly restaurants, will be setting up their stalls, vying to show off their best cuisine in the park. Readers might remember that last year the event was held along the Paseo de Velilla, as the stage construction in the park was being repaired – the roof was replaced.

The event kicks off at 13.00h on the Friday until midnight, Then on Saturday, it will be from twelve midday to twelve midnight, then on Sunday from noon until 19.00h.

The participating businesses are: Antiguo Mesón, Reina Sofía, La Ventura, Mesón Juanjo, Mesón Mari y Miguel, Mesón Gala, restaurante D´Carmen, Taberna La Antigua 1948, Mesón El Tinao, Bodegas Espadafor, Denominación de origen de la Chirimoya, Comercial Los Rebites, Chambao de Joaquín, Casa La Parra, restaurante Pizzería Porto-Fino, Mesón Caza Mayor, Mesón Curro Muralla, CerveceríaGambrinus, restaurante Árbol Blanco, restaurante El Kiosko, restaurante Kairos de la Flor, la Boutique de la Carne, restaurante Clípper, productos Surgalgae (Algas), Freiduría Lute y Jesús, Pastelería Costa Del Sol de Nerja and la Megaradio & Latino FM.

So there’s plenty to chose from. Let’s home the weather behaves!

(News/Events: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

It was Costas (the coastal authorities) that closed this sea walkway that runs below the small cliffs between Playa Calahonda and Playa Burriana. The problem was the constant rockfall that presented a serious problem for users.

Whereas the pathway is well sign-posted, warning people not to use it, there remains the possibility of people reaching it from the sea and being unaware of the danger, which is why the Town Hall has called upon Costas, in the meantime, to put up warning signs, facing the sea, along the way.

(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)

Fernando and his French wife, Fleur, both of whom are 29, decided that they should show their two children, Aïsha (5) and Noah (1) the world aboard their trusty motor home over the next three years. When you have to reduce your worldly possessions to items that can fit into a motor home, then there is a lot to dispense with, if you don’t want to travel squeezed between boxes and packages.

What about schooling? Well, apart from all the 1st-hand knowledge that you won’t find in a classroom, they intend to follow a French teaching programme, designed to be followed via the Internet.

The crunch had come in 2011 when Fernando decided that enough was enough, after nine years as a civil servant, so he put it to Fleur that if they didn’t do something like this now, they never would, given their children’s ages. Of course, the state of the country’s economy and the employment market was another factor.

What they want is simply to travel, pass all the time that they can together as a young family and see new things.

Of course, you don’t just get up one morning and drive off – first you need a mobile home, for instance! No, they had their pre-flight list of things to achieve before D-Day, such as hand their notice to the employers, explain what they were going to do to their own parents, find a purchaser for their house and one thousand essential but often very minor things.

They also intend to work along the way to finance the each leg of the journey – good luck on that one! Their adventure has also attracted quite a lot of media attention, so they are also hoping to find sponsors along the way, too.

They set off, by the way, at the beginning of the second week of this month, on course for France, as the first country on their route across Europe and Asia, visiting Italy, Germany, Holland, Finland, Russia and Kazajistán before reaching China. All this should take about a year, they calculate.

The second leg is from Iran to Australia, and from their a ship to Argentina. From their, all the way up the continent. Again, they calculate that this leg will take about a year. The third and last leg, will be a tour of Africa.

If you want to know how they are doing, you can follow their escapades on www.viviendonuestravida.com

They know that the concept of giving up a stable job in these times and carting a young family around the globe is… not easily understood by many, especially their parents who took some convincing, but their minds were made up and they went for it.

Are they brave, naive, to be envied or pitied – only time will tell.

(News: Mijas, Malaga, Andalucia)

Now, this is an important event because it is valid for the World Championship in this field. The First Councillor for La Herradura, Juan José Ruiz Joya and the Chairman for the Federación Andaluza de Actividades Subacuáticas, Manuel have signed a deal so that the XVI Spanish National Championship can be held here.

So this is quite a ‘catch’ for the village as the best photographers, specialists in sub-aquatic photography will be present, enjoying probably the best underwater scenery in Europe.

This championship, by the way, will be incorporated with the 450th Anniversary of the sinking of the Spanish fleet precisely in this same bay, as a result of  a storm.

Now, whoever wins this will be packing his… or her, expectant bags and shipping out to Cuba in 2013 for the World Championship, as the Spanish representative.

La Herradura is bound to get plenty of media coverage, both general as well as specialised, and with around 80 people, between organisers and competitors, checking into hotels and other accommodation then there is plenty of reason to celebrate this scheduled event taking place in La Herradura.

Finally, but not least, a parallel but related event will also be taking place, which is an exhibition of sub-aquatic photography, entitled Andalucía Under the Sea, which will be held in the Centro Cívico, In fact, there is even talk of a diving fair involving national brands of diving equipment…

Enhorabuena, La Herradura

Marina has been over a month and a half in England, deep in a coma, with her parents in Atarfe unable to raise the funds to get her home. On the 10th of May her situation hit the provincial press and by the next day a wave of solidarity had begun to move the Spanish Government’s hand.

But that’s not the only good news because her mother, Trinidad Rodríguez, reports that she is showing signs of reacting to stimulus, where she is being treated in the Queens Hospital in Romford, Essex.

On the 22nd of March, Marina, suffered a brain haemorrhage, leaving her in a coma. She had been working as a Spanish teacher and was fully employed and signed up with a National Health Number.

The Spanish Consulate in London acted with alacrity, says the mother, acting as a go-between for the British Education Board and the National Health Office.

There is one other factor working in the favour of Marina’s repatriation: The National Health Service realise that it could cost them a lot more to keep the girl hospitalised for an indefinite period, than to offer to foot the 20,000 euros that the transfer would cost.

Finally, the Sub-Delegate for the Government, Sebastian Pérez, found out about Marina’s problem when he read it in the press, but hastened to inquire if the 20,000 euros needed was the family’s only problem and that he was totally at their disposition. The cynical might consider that his reaction has a lot to do with the Central Government’s recent butchery of the Spanish National Health System…

(News: Atarfe, Granada, Andalucia)