MAYOR IN HOT WATER OVER MARINA
YEROSKIPOU Mayor Tassos Kousapos has angered council members by issuing statements on a decision he made without consulting them.
The stand- off has arisen over the subject of the construction of a small new marina, which local authorities had hoped would be created within the municipality.
But it appears as if Kousapos has agreed to the building of the marina within an area, which although borders the boundaries of the municipality of Yeroskipou, is in fact in the municipality of Paphos.
Local councillor Andreas Michael said that this subject had never been brought up with the council by the Mayor and so had never been discussed.
Michael added: “It would have been the correct course of action for the mayor to discuss the matter before making any decision.”
The matter will be brought up at the next council meeting where councillors say they will demand answers. He added that if the council had been aware of the situation, objections would have been raised.
Yeroskipou councillor Christos Palios agreed. “Any statement or actions which have been made are those of an individual and not collectively by the council, as it should be in these matters,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Kousapos said that nobody could “deny him the right to express his opinion as the Mayor of Yeroskipou”.
POLIS PRIMARY SCHOOL REOPENS AFTER ALLERGY INCIDENT
SOME 300 pupils have returned to Polis Chrysochous primary school in Paphos, despite the fact that the reason for the mass allergy, which closed the school for three days last week, has still not been found.
A meeting was held with all the relevant government departments, municipality representatives and the mayor of Polis Chrysochous, Angelos Odysseus. He confirmed that the reasons for the outbreak, which caused patches of red itchy skin and sore red eyes in many of the children, had still not been found. He assured that all measures to combat the problem had been taken. This included the pruning and clearing of gum tree in the area, which are currently blossoming, and the thorough cleaning of all classrooms and equipment. He also said the possibly that the outbreak had been caused by the spraying of pesticide in a nearby field had also been ruled out.
CYPRUS TOPS EUROPOL INPUT DATA
CYPRUS POLICE have come first out of 45 states and international organisations for their Information System record in a Europol evaluation report for 2009.
According to police, the Cypriot Europol unit, called the Information Management Operations unit (IMT4) was evaluated for the quantity and quality of cases recorded, as were the 26 other EU member states and another 18 international organisations and states that cooperate with Europol.
Cyprus scored 72 per cent in the evaluation, putting it in first place among 45. A special mention was made of the fact that the Cypriot unit recorded a large number of data into the system, compared to the size of the population, while having a low number of cross-border cases involving international and organised crime. Cyprus was also singled out for its timely recording of information into the system, compared to other member states.
The Europol Information System has been in operation since October 2005, collecting and recording information on various cases, with the aim to support Europol members fight terrorism, drug trafficking and other forms of cross-border, organised crime.
BAR OWNER IN HOSPITAL AFTER ASSAULT
A 45-YEAR-OLD man from Paralimni who owns a bar in Protaras is receiving treatment in hospital, after being attacked by two drunken British tourists, police said yesterday.
“The 45-year-old was injured at 2.30am yesterday after being attacked by two young British tourists, a 23-year-old and a 19-year-old who were patrons at his bar. The two men refused to leave when they were told that it was closing time,” said Yiannos Kapnoullas, Director of Paralimni Police Station.
Although the two men refused to leave, at some point the bar owner managed to send them away. “However, the two men returned and attacked the Cypriot owner of the establishment, punching him on the face and then hitting him with a bottle on the head. As a result, the owner lost three teeth, sustained a large wound to the head and is receiving treatment at Paralimni hospital for a mild concussion,” Kapnoullas added.
Shortly after the incident police searched the area and located the two men at a Protaras hotel. The suspects were arrested and placed in remand.
CYTA DEFENDS PENSION PAY-OFFS
THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) yesterday defended its voluntary early retirement policy as being “indispensable” for attracting new employees “who are capable of meeting the demands of continuous technological, commercial and other developments in electronic communication”.
The semi-governmental organisation issued a press statement in response to press reports of criticism by Auditor General Chrystalla Yiorkadji in her report to the House Oversight Committee last week. Yiorkadji had said that the practice of allowing senior managers to take “early retirement” between six and twelve months before their scheduled retirement – often involving a last-minute promotion to bump up the value of the pension package – was unjustified, especially when this resulted in the pensioners receiving large tax-free sums equivalent to the salary they would have received by serving out their full contract.
CyTA suggested yesterday that press reports selectively quoted certain figures and views “in such a way as to create the wrong impression that this pension scheme represents a waste of public funds and is a burden on the taxpayer.”
It said that its voluntary early retirement policy was “a legal practice which serves CyTA’s needs very well, which of course are not the same as other public sector organisations”.
SUICIDE JUMP THREAT CAUSES NICOSIA TRAFFIC CHAOS
TRAFFIC GROUND to a halt in central Nicosia yesterday afternoon, when four members of a family of Asian migrants threatened to jump from the window of an insurance company’s offices in Omirou Street.
The four were protesting against the company’s refusal to pay out €500,000 in compensation to a young family member involved in an accident four years ago.
According to reports, the family member, who was in the country on a student visa, had only €5,000 in healthcare cover instead of the €500,000 he believed he had, and reportedly was not covered against accidents.
Traffic ground to a halt after police, ambulance and fire-ladder units arrived in response to an emergency call.
Police negotiators and representatives from the protestors’ embassy succeeded in convincing the four protestors to climb down peacefully around 5.00pm, some two hours after starting their protest.
