letters

I just read the article about Tom in Bocas and the corruption that he is involved in there.

I am an American who had bought titled property through a Realtor in Bocas. My plan is to build. My builder has fled with $17,000 of my money with no work being done.

The locals all say this is common and its the way it works in Bocas. From the Mayor all the way down.

I hope you continue to publish stories about people who are ripping others off in the Bocas area. It is truly the wild west --- no law, no recourse or protection.

Kent Johnson

Back from another 4 weeks on Contadora. Everything went well except for a really ugly event involving the French Survivors during the last week of our stay, which completely spoiled the stay for us and others. A group of us were over on the nude beach when "Jean-Claude," one of the production managers with the French Survivor series pulled in with a couple of boatloads of locals. He informed us that they had a license to use the beach from 1100 to 1500 on that day and the next. He insisted that we all leave immediately and then the workers started to take away all of the chairs we had gathered there. He told us that they would be returned. He also told us that he would make up for us having to leave by bringing us over some Survivor shirts, etc.

A few people tried to return to the beach at 1500 and were told that they could not return until 1500 the next day. In the evening I made a complaint to the Administrator of the Island. He became quite angry because the French had permission for over-flights with helicopters, but had no permission to remove people from the beach, or deny them to return. He soon got it straightened out and as a result we could return the next day and they "negotiated" a time with us to do their filming.

Jean-Claude lied to us about his "rights" to remove us, he lied to us about his rights to keep us off the beach, he lied to us about returning the chairs, he lied to us about giving us some shirts. I guess, when you realize that he and the rest of the crew there come from a nation where even the figure skating judges lie and cheat, you should expect it.

If you ever should see the French Survivors show, just realize that most of the beach shots of the wild virgin beaches with all the dangerous animals and rock outcrops were taken on the nude beach, 200 feet off the end of the runway. And in order to make it uninhabited they had to kick off a bunch of elderly nude Canadians. There are all sorts of uninhabited islands close to Contadora where they could have gotten spectacular footage, but I guess neither their imaginations or budget extended more than 25 feet off the shore of Contadora. Maybe they were afraid that their juvenile little film boys would get bitten by an Iguana.

The only thing dangerous on Contadora are the French running around in their long pants and coats of 100 pockets, with a cell phone in one ear, a radio in the other and a very self-important look on their face. For those of you visiting in the next while remember, never, ever, do anything that they ask of you unless they have a member of the Tourism Police with them.

Cliff Gunn

The Bay of Panama is being polluted every day because the sewer system flows directly into the Bay! When they built the sewer system they didn't make the sewer pipes go out far enough into the sea (the deep part), neither did they make a sewage processing plant to clean the water and use it for other useful things.

Every day I look at the Bay from my window I see it turn different colors. One day the Bay is brown, other days green, sometimes an ugly color of gray! It smells like diarrhea! There is garbage, sunken ships, even a bus in the Bay! You can imagine what the Bay was like when Balboa came, but now it's a disgusting piece of crap!

There could have been a great diversity of sea life right in the Bay! But that's never going to happen unless the Panamanian government does something about it. One time they spilled Coke dye in the Bay and the whole Bay turned red!

If people could help it would be great, so help out and who cares about the crappy government.

James Totty, 12 years old
Panama City

You make me proud; I am in Philadelphia and you are my link to Panama.

Caswell Carlton McFarlane Ford Myrie

A new Caribbean cooperation project entitled "Consensus Conference on Technical Building Standards in the Caribbean" is being implemented. It is being steered by the main organizations of the region: ACS, CARICOM, CDB, CDERA, CROSQ, ECLAC and PAHO.

The overall objective of the project is to provide, by mutual consent, and using currently available scientific and technical knowledge, the various Caribbean States with the technical knowledge and principles needed to implement appropriate standards with respect to building-related activities, in order to significantly reduce inappropriate building practices, thereby increasing people's safety and decreasing financial and economic losses.

Its specific objective is to organize a Conference to bring together engineers, professional bodies, regional organizations and government officials to agree on a Consensus Document incorporating information on natural hazards, technical principles common to the various national standards and codes in the Caribbean States and guidelines for publicizing, implementing and enforcing these principles. The following issues will be addressed: Hazards criteria, Design standards, Construction detailing and techniques, Certification of building materials, Enforcement methods, Insurance issues.

In addition to the general importance of such a project for the Caribbean, a further advantage for Caribbean countries is the fact that developing technical standards specific to each of the Caribbean islands would require substantial funding. The harmonizing of standards would therefore induce an overall saving. On the regional scale, a consensus would not only make possible the structuring of research and studies in the technical field but would also favor the growth of trade between Caribbean States.

The coordination of this project is ensured by the Association for the Prevention of Major Risks in Martinique (APRM), which is the main project sponsor, with the backing of the Regional Council of Martinique and other organizations and institutions involved in cooperation in Martinique. The proposal has been approved by the European Union, which has allocated funding through the Interreg program, by the French government under its Regional Action Program for International Development (PARDI), by the ACS Special Committee on Natural Disasters, which has formalized its collaboration on the project and by the CARICOM through CROSQ, which has accepted a partnership with the APRM to present the project to CARIFORUM for European Development Funding. A preliminary phase confirming the active involvement of a certain number of specialists and bodies in the Caribbean has been completed. These include AIBG, CARIFORUM, CCEO, the European Commission (Directorate General for Enterprise and EC Technical Committee for Eurocodes), FCAA and OAS.

The Consensus Conference will be held in Martinique on March 18-19th, 2004.

For further information, telephone: (596) 596 619 343; fax: (596) 596 616 220; or email: aprm@wanadoo.fr

Association for the Prevention of Major Risks in Martinique

It was announced yesterday [March 3] by the Mayor or Portland, Oregon, Vera Katz, that gay marriage licenses would be issued by our county, Multnomah, and gay unions will be recognized. There has since been a run on marriage licenses at city hall and a nasty right wing march screaming that the perverts will burn in Hell.

My curiosity about the situation is this; These people are worried about the erosion of marriage as an institution. If they're worried about it threatening the foundation of their own marriage then what are they really telling me about themselves? If they are worried about everyone else's marriages what are they saying their view is of others in sanctioned heterosexual marriages?

Why don't they march in communities where Mormon sects practice polygamy and the authorities look the other way?

A recent article in the New Haven, Connecticut newspaper, The Register, Reported the marriage of two canines. This custom has been practiced by humans and their canines for quite some time. If they are so worried about the things that erode the sanctity of human heterosexual marriage where are the marchers in New Haven against these degenerate canines and their owners.

Are these people saying the they can more easily tolerate married canines being hung up on any given street corner than married or unmarried gay people doing god knows what in their own home? They sound like the sad victims of their own perverted attitude who inflict this sickness upon others.

They hate gay people because promiscuous and less promiscuous gay people have spread aids to promiscuous and less promiscuous heterosexuals. At the same time they hate gay people for wanting monogamous unions that are recognized by law. They are obsessed with sodomy but never march against adulterers and thieves.

This presidential election will boil down to the the GOP saying "keep your eyes on those sex organs" while they swindle the nation out of its future. The last obsession was WMDs. The baby soon lost interest in that rattle. Now we must worry about how some people use blood, muscle, nerve endings and skin. Failure to maintain vigilance in policing the arena of sexual practices will surely send us to Hell along with these hedonistic evil doers.

Don
Portland, Oregon

Recently, a story – I use that term in the sense that connotes fiction – entitled “San Cristobal associate arrested” appeared in an electronic newspaper named “The Isthmian” operated by Okke Ornstein. I am asking you to publish this letter, since a great deal about my company has already appeared in your journal and since, as will be evident from the content of this letter, it is difficult to imagine that Ornstein would publish it on his website.

The gist of the tale, which may be found at www.isthmian.net, is that Leonard Adams, who purchased land from San Cristobal, is the alter ego of Homer W. Forster, who purportedly embezzled funds in Atlanta, Georgia, and that Adams/Forster is being held in the United Arab Emirates pending extradition to the United States. The story suffers from the rather significant defect that, although some of the facts are true, the statements made in the previous sentence are not only untrue, but also so unsupported that it is difficult not to consider that they were published as a knowing untruth or without sufficient (read “any”) research.

Reading the article will also indicate that it suffers from a second defect that is not unconnected with the first: There is not a single source named for any of the allegations – only statements for the truth of which the reader has to take Ornstein’s word. Not a shred of evidence is offered and none of the incidents that Ornstein has “reported” have found their way into any media other than The Isthmian. Nothing on the internet – nothing in the English newspapers in Dubai – no announcement by the US Government as to the apprehension and extradition of an important criminal. Just a silence so profound that Ornstein, if he is to be regarded as credible, ought to explain it.

Against this story is the fact that I recently sought and found Adams. He is, as Ornstein stated, in Dubai, but, unless the UAE treats its prisoners unusually gently, not in jail. I found him in a local hotel to which I placed the telephone call. I know his voice and he was able sufficiently to recall the details of private conversations that I have no doubt of his identity. We have also corresponded via e-mail and by cellular telephone. But perhaps what has been printed about jails in that part of the world is untrue and Adams is permitted to have the equipment that our communication required.

According to Adams, he is not Forster and there are public records that will indicate that Adams existed before Forster would have needed to invent him. He stated that he was being held for being in possession of two walkie-talkies, which he acquired in a store in Dubai, and which are amazingly regarded under local law as terrorist equipment. He was not permitted to leave UAE until his trial, at which he was fined $750; he is now free.

It impossible for me to comment on the activities that Ornstein attributed to Forster. I do not know him or Wiant or Herr Heider or the “Icelandic attorney,” Gunnar Helgason or any of the odd dramatis personae that Ornstein has produced. He has not offered a scintilla of evidence beyond his word that these people are connected even to Forster and he has certainly failed to establish any connection between them and my company. In the interest of clarity, I should add that no link exists. The accusation that a man named Schömer was “most likely” looting the accounts of Jews who perished in the Holocaust is supported by no more than a statement that these accounts had aged more than 50 years and is despicable, even by Ornsteinian standards.

We do know Leonard Adams. He came to us with money and a passport that appeared to be validly issued, and, if Adams is to be believed, lawfully obtained. (Ornstein has criticized our due diligence with respect to employees, but even the cautious Panamanian banking superintendency does not require banks to verify the authenticity or the passports of their foreign customers or the circumstances of their issuance.) We sold him a property in Bocas del Toro. In connection with that sale, he made a number of suggestions about his individual contract that we carried over into all our contracts. He also indicated that he wanted to sell lots to others and there was some correspondence with him afterwards, but none of it resulted in any additional business. Because his work on his contract was useful and in anticipation of sales through him, we gave him a discount. He also sent us a lot of cartoons and jokes that he found on the internet. That was the entire relationship. We furnish all of our customers with a Panamanian corporation of which our personnel initially serve as officers. All of the correspondence with us that Ornstein attributes to Forster actually came from and was signed by Adams; Ornstein’s failure to distinguish between the two is misleading.

The next-to-last paragraph of his letter, which attempts to tie Forster to Tom McMurrain, is just plain wacko. Similarities between Forster and McMurrain don’t exist, that both are men and they may have been in Atlanta at roughly the same time; Atlanta is of sufficient size that nothing beyond mere physical presence should be inferred from the fact that two people were there at the same time. The “both of them are fugitives” argument doesn’t work, because Ornstein has yet to prove his libel that McMurrain is a fugitive or that the warrants of which Ornstein has so often spoken exist – they are somehow always, like the grapes of Tantalus, just beyond his grasp, but never materialize. (They were also beyond the grasp of McMurrain’s attorneys, who attempted in their capacity as such to verify their existence, but could not. But perhaps these lawyers were, like everyone who is not Ornstein, incompetent.) As for the FBI’s activities, all that we have is Ornstein’s word alone and his word alone shouldn’t be good enough to support charges of this nature. His entire article, with its lack of support or identifiable sources, is a display of bad reportorial technique. (He claimed, when he was promoting his Tulip Fund, that he “used to work as a journalist”; perhaps he learned nothing from his endeavors or perhaps he was trying to posit a fact not in evidence. In any event, we have his word that he is a journalist again – or for the first time. Who knows?)

I have read that Jayson Blair of New York Times fame is considering becoming a professor of journalism. It is now time for Ornstein, who asks his readers to take him on faith, either to provide support for his tales or to join Mr. Blair in his academic project, for which he seems unusually qualified; he certainly has no need to be Blair’s student. (It is rumored that Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Patricia Smith, Jay Forman and Michael Bellesiles have applied for teaching positions.) It would be a good start in the direction of rational discussion if Ornstein, who has just returned to Panama from Atlanta, either produce his warrants or talk about something else. In not so polite but appropriate American parlance, he needs to “put up or shut up.”

Finally, I’d like to correct a statement made in your journal. I am General Counsel of San Cristobal International Limited, a BVI company which is the parent of San Cristobal Land Development, a Panamanian corporation, for which I do not serve as an attorney. I am not a Panamanian attorney and I do not hold myself out as being one. Where legal assistance is required for the latter company, we retain members of the local Bar.

Barry Miller

I realize that with the present situation for journalists in Panama, especially you, that a captive monkey rates slightly below the possibility of your pending captivity. Be that as it may, you may have some recourse as opposed to critters of lesser genius. I wrote to you and sent a picture of a mono chained in Guadalupe, Chiriqui --- just one year ago and unfortunately, it is still there, chained to a cement block, drinking from pesticide-contaminated drainage ditches --- one year later. The poor beast is still there! You were the ONLY person who wrote back in reference to it.

I've seen another captive monkey, a Central American Spider Monkey, chained on another highly visible road --- and sent off e-mails and pictures to no avail. I'm NOT an animal rights vigilante, but I would think that someone might, with all the activist groups out there, might DO something. It's not like they have to seek out the creatures --- someone can just drive there and see what I've already pointed out. Nothing is hidden!!! God, I can meet them and give them freaking lodging for the night! I am not a citizen here, and I don't know good Spanish, or the laws (not that that means anything here, or in the US) but I feel utterly hopeless in the fact that this type of behavior begets similar behavior.

On another, happier note, I enjoy your online news. Reminds me of the Village Voice in NYC. Irreverent and slightly scathing and necessary! Someone needs to say it after all!

Vicki Lansen
Costa Rica and
Piedra Candella/Santa Clara, Panama

I would like to thank the many people who sent me emails of support, sympathy and encouragement in regard to my legal confrontation with the Public Ministry and the fraud artists whom Attorney General José Antonio Sossa supports, and in regard to my bout with bipolar depression.

The criminal defamation charge which San Cristobal Land Development has brought against me and which Sossa is pursuing promises to be protracted and expensive. For example, creating a four-inch-thick file that mostly pertains to things published in El Siglo rather than in The Panama News, and which makes reference to many documents which are not included in the file is an abuse clearly designed to greatly increase the amount of work that a defense attorney will have to do. Considering that San Cristobal's publicist has made an "offer" to buy The Panama News on behalf of "undisclosed principals," whom the Journalists Against Corruption correspondent for Panama Michelle Lescure has identified as the principals of San Cristobal Land Development, what we are apparently dealing with is financial gangsterism on the part of Tom McMurrain and José Antonio Sossa, for the purpose of muzzling independent journalism. But this time next year Sossa will be out of office I and suspect that McMurrain will be out of business, and I fully intend to fight and persevere.

So are "they" --- our modern local analogues of the Sheriff of Nottingham and his cronies and henchmen --- "out to get me?" I didn't attend the prosecutors' Carnival Friday ambush, despite my instinct to do so. I am not underground. When the Public Ministry gets around to serving me with a proper notice of a proper proceeding I intend to show up and stand up to McMurrain and Sossa.

I especially cherish the notes of understanding and support about dealing with depression. In some times past, and with many people even now, this chronic and sometimes life-threatening illness is a social disgrace, and an opportunity to dismiss anyone affected or whatever he or she might say with the two words "You're crazy." But it's an inherited condition, apparently related to the body chemistry's ability to retain certain salts, and a condition that can be controlled. I really do admire Tipper Gore --- with whom I do not share musical tastes or philosophies about free expression ---- for going public about her battle with bipolar depression, and I feel the same way about my former congresswoman when I lived in Michigan, Lynn Rivers, for her similar candor. I am really not one to put much stock in "identity politics," but I do believe that it's a matter of good citizenship and the promotion of public health for those of us who are afflicted with bouts of depression, with or without the manic episodes, to help one another understand and control this condition despite the senseless social stigma that stands in the way of health and happiness.

And by the way, I have had a few rough moments in the past few weeks but I'm feeling fine.

Eric Jackson
the editor

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