E Merner News

January 17th is the day of san Anton and the tradition in Spain is that on this day animals are blessed by a priest in the name of San Anton.In Alicante this happened in the local bullring.It was filled to celebrate a tradition which goes back 500 years .

This year more than 1000 pets were blessed and the variety of animals was vast.There were the usual dogs and cats but also turtles,fish ,rabbits,horses,hamsters,ferrets,birds and many more.All of the animals were looking their best and many dogs were dressed for the occasion.

The event was used to raise money for Haiti with red Cross volunteers collecting monies from the crowds.

Several meetings will be hosted along the Costa Blanca over the next few months.Alicante,benidorm and Javea will host them because of the Spanish presidency of the EU.Hundreds of top government members and leaders of civil society from the two Mediterranean basins will be present at all of the meetings which will for the most part be organised by the recently created Casa Mediterraneo,led by Yolanda Parrado,in its three delegations.

The first meeting will be in benidorm in May when 70 members of of the Science and Innovation ministries of the EU and other Mediterranean countries  will meet to discuss plans for a common investigation and development strategy.

Also in May Alicante will hold the Euromed Civic Forum which will involve 300 delegates of NGO´s and civil organisations from both sides of the Mediterranean.Javea will have a seminary on urban development in the mediterranean.

The Valencia Council of Culture has a Heritage Department and it has informed the owners of Barxell Castle in Alcoy,near Alicante, that it has to get its house in order within the next three months ,if only to make it safe.Within that three months they either have to refurbish the castle or at least stop it falling into further disrepair.

Last September the ecological group La Carrasca asked the Alcoy council and town hall to intercede with the owners.In fact in 2007 the council authorised the owners to carry out the refurbishment project that they had presented claiming that the castle was in danger of collapsing.They gave them a three month deadline then stating that f the work wasn´t carried out then the council would carry out the work and send the bill to the owners.Nothing happened and now another three month deadline has been issued.

People who own buildings which belong to Valencia´s Cultural heritage have an obligation to preserve them and maintain their cultural value.Failure to do so can lead to expropriation.Thetown hall has to ensure that such buildings are at least safe.

A 26 year old resident of Rojales is in hospital after being stabbed during a road rafe incident on the A-37 road.It appears that the two drivers had an altercation on the road for some reason known only to people who are prone to road rage.Usually those running high on testosterone ,who are generally unwilling to “give-in”.

When the two reached the roundabout at Rojales they stopped and one driver emerged from his car and it is alleged he then stabbed the other driver in the head and chest.Then the injured man proceeded to withdraw the knife and he proceeded to stab the other man in the head and he killed him.The man with the original injury is still in hospital in a serious condition.

As soon as he is well enough he will be arrested and charged with manslaughter.The dead man was driving from Madrid but lived in Torrevieja.The killer is alleging self defence as an alibi in the case.

The police in Torrevieja were called to the scene of a domestic violence dispute last week.The call came from the 13 year old son of the couple in dispute.The husband had barricaded them inside their house and they had been there for three hours.The police made several attempts to get inside the house before the man opened the door and brandished the knife he was holding at the police.he was arrested and detained and will be charged with domestic violence against his wife,child abuse,threats to police officers and damage to property.

Once again Torrevieja has been the centre of a thwarted drug smuggling operation.An operation code named “Milor” was launched in 2009 when police seized almost 700 grammes of cocaine and arrested a man.Since then there have been several other raids  including the searching of eight houses in Elche and Torrevieja.Almost 2 kilos of cocaine have been acquired in the raids plus equipment which prepares the drug for use and sale.Cash and computer equipment were also seized.The operation has so far resulted in 9 arrests with those arrested being either Spanish or Colombian.