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| Puerto Vallarta | | March
23th - 29th, 2003 |
Taxis at It Again
It
appears that taxi drivers don’t care about how
they treat foreign tourists in town, despite the fact
that tourism is down as it is. One night last week,
the taxis stationed outside the Café des Artistes
restaurant "blockaded" vans transporting a
group of 75 American tourists lodged at the ritzy Four
Seasons Hotel in Punta Mita, Nayarit. They detained
the tourists for about an hour, stopping them from boarding
the vans.
Telmex News
Teléfonos de México
(Telmex) warned the public, and especially Internet
users, that there has been an increase of fraud perpetrated
as follows: when a user logs into a pornography site
on the Web, or sometimes a music site, a program automatically
downloads itself that generates International Long Distance
Calls, whose existence passes unnoticed in most cases.
Last week, without any advance notice
whatsoever, TelMex changed the numbers used for the
Municipal Public Security Department and for quite a
while, the emergency 060 number, free of charge to the
public, was out of service. Previously, the numbers
for Public Security were 221-2586, 87 and 88. As of
last week, these were changed to: 290-0502, 290-0503,
290-0504 and 290-0505 where one may report any anomaly
to individuals or in the public areas.
Getting Married Can Be Hard
Councilwoman Gloria Palacios brought
up the fact that the benefits granted by the Department
of Family Services and the Civil Registry leave much
to be desired with regard to marriages. She said, “I
am surprised by the high number of complaints being
lodged against the Civil Registry department. Besides
the fact that nowadays no one or very few people want
to enter into the institution of marriage, the authorities
are just complicating the matter instead of helping
the procedure.”
Such is the case in Jalisco, where
there is a regulation according to which couples must
attend a prenuptial talk, and that is a good thing.
The problem arises because many have been unable to
attend the talk as it is only given one day a week and
at one specific time that day.
Westin Regina Receives AAA Four Diamond
Award
The beautiful Westin Regina Resort
Gran Turismo hotel in Marina Vallarta will be awarded
the 2003 AAA Four Diamond Award for the 10th consecutive
year.
The AAA Four Diamond symbolizes that
an establishment has measured up to AAA’s uncompromising
standards of excellence during a comprehensive evaluation
by one of AAA’s inspectors. Extraordinary services,
quality amenities and superior surroundings are among
the benchmarks. All of the hotel’s staff - gardeners,
housekeeping, executives, etc.- contribute to this excellence
in service.
To honor the resort’s 10th
consecutive award, the Regional Manager of AAA National
make a personal presentation of the 2003 4-Diamond Award
plaque and the commemorative photo will be used to promote
the property to the travel press and throughout AAA’s
system of 1100 offices and 45 million members.
The Westin Regina obtained its ISO
9002 certification in November 1998, as well as many
other awards for its architecture and facilities, as
well as the service and guest satisfaction level achieved
through the efforts of the human team led by Haim Outmezgin,
General Manager of the resort.
Up to $6,400. Peso Fine for Burning Garbage
The lack of response on the part
of the population regarding the ban on burning garbage
in town will force the authorities to detain and fine
those who violate those regulations, and the fine may
be as high as $6,400. Pesos. The Commander of the local
firefighters group stated that people have paid no attention
to the warnings issued with regard to such illegal fires
in urban areas.
Bad Joke Causes Panic in Town
Four people were hospitalized for
clinical observation following a bad joke played by
four young Mexican tourists who left an envelope in
their Playa de Oro hotel Room, bearing the handwritten
word “Anthrax”. The Director of the Municipal
Medical Services Department that analyzed the contents
of the envelope stated that the white powder was not
anthrax.
It is expected that the youngsters
who were apprehended will be punished to the full extent
of the law.
MEMORIAL SERVICE - Spotlight Productions
Loses a Friend
FM Hennen, one of the founders of
Spotlight Productions, a local English-language theater
group, passed away in Dallas, Texas on Sunday, March
16, 2003 at the age of 70. FM and his wife Kathleen,
were the heart and soul of Spotlight Productions. While
Kathleen worked as the musical and theatrical director,
“FM” as he was known by all his friends
was the technical director, building sets, lights, sound
systems and whatever else was needed to produce a quality
show.
After six years in Puerto Vallarta,
they reluctantly returned to the U.S. for health reasons.
FM’s physical energy, emotional strength and perpetual
good humor endeared him to whomever knew him. He was
once described as the “sweetest, kindest man in
the world,” - and he was.
An informal memorial service will
be held at the Santa Barbara Theater/Restaurant on Wednesday,
March 26th at 6 o’clock in the evening. FM’s
friends and anyone who is and was associated with Spotlight
Productions are invited. We’ll play songs from
some of Spotlight’s musicals, share some recollections
of FM, and drink iced tea -his favorite beverage- in
his honor.
Fernanda's Wish Comes True
On March 10th Fernanda Valeria, a
fabulous 10 year old child with chronic leukemia, her
twin sister Fernanda Veronica, and their mom Maria went
to Disneyland thanks to the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION-MEXICO.
They returned 5 days later COMPLETELY
exhausted. We all know that is the best sign of a great
vacation.
Bob Mandel, foundation pres. wants
to thank everyone who help make Fernanda's wish come
true, ESPECIALLY, Sebastian Mendizabal, owner of PUNTO
NATURAL for sponsoring this wish.
For more info about the MAKE-A-WISH
FOUNDATION, please call us at 221-6212 or visit us at:
www.makeawishmexico.org
“Vets Across the Border”
Friends of the Animals is proud to
announce that we have had a very successful visit from
Dr. Larry Wallace of MN. Dr Wallace has a wealth of
experience and skill in all areas of veterinary medicine,
but he is an outstanding expert in orthopedic and spinal
problems/surgery. It was indeed our honor and pleasure
to have him participate in our “Vets Across the
Border” program of Friends of the Animals.
The three orthopedic surgeries, demonstrations
on many local dogs plus 2 days of seminars have been
extremely helpful not only to the local dogs who benefited
from Dr. Wallace's expertise, but also proved to be
very instructional and useful for our local vets (about
14 vets participated during the various sessions).
Dr. Wallace lectured and did numerous
useful demonstrations on many dogs for two days. In
addition to the seminars he did 14 consultations, performed
3 orthopedic surgeries, 1 orthopedic sling procedure,
3 neuters, and 1 throat surgery. Some of the consultations
included home visits on animals and making several trips
to the x-ray facilities since none of the vets here
in PV have on site x-ray available and there is only
one facility in the area which will allow x-rays on
animals.
We hope that Larry and his lovely
wife, Nancy (who is an RN and assisted Larry in many
of his cases here - thank you so much), will be returning
to PV one day soon to share more knowledge and once
again help the many needy animals of PV.
The animals, local vets and Friends
of the Animals extend their deepest thanks & love
from the bottom of their hearts to both Larry &
Nancy for all their kindness and help.
MUSIC NEWS
DONNA LEE RYAN:
"Did you ever know you were
my hero?" River Cafe fans of Beverly and Willow
were present for a very special moment recently when
songwriter LARRY HENLEY came to the mike and sang the
song which has touched people's hearts the world over
since it was sung by Bette
Midler in the early 90's.
Henley , who is a gracious and sweet
man, wrote the song in honor of his ex wife, and said
that his most gratifying moment was when he found the
lyrics posted on the wall of a church in Hawaii. He
has been a friend of Willie Nelson's for 40 years, and
Willie has recorded several of his songs with another
due out this year. Birds of a feather, he considers
Willie to be one of the sweetest men in the world and
noted that in addition to Farm Aid, Willie has always
been available to record with friends who were down
on their luck. As a result, Willie had so many friends
that they paid off the IRS in six months after the prosecution
that many people believe was shameful.
Henley was so impressed with Beverly's
singing and Willow's jazz guitar playing when he first
heard them that he immediately arranged for their first
CD to be recorded in Nashville. Many people came to
tell him what his song has meant to them and embraced
him with tears in their eyes.
Opened just last Friday was Club
Noche, a bar that intends to make music its leading
act. The place is located next to Libro Libros on 31
de Octubre, up the street from the McDonald's on the
Malecon.
The opening music group was
led by Bucerias-based blues harmonica player Richard.
He's a good player and decent singer. The exact schedule
of live music will be published as soon as we get it.
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