San
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Friday, July 3,
2009 Belize's Only Daily |
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Lionel "Chocolate"
Heredia Left Shaky
As we reported last night, the Ministry of
Natural Resources
has granted permission to survey three properties on Mapp Caye which is
a mangrove island the eastern edge of the Swallow Caye Wildlife
Sanctuary. Now there are some nature reserves like the one in Corozal
Bay that only protect the water – but we’ve checked, and Swallow Caye
isn’t one of them.
The law enacting the Swallow Caye Sanctuary states that it is comprised by, quote, “all that piece or parcel of land and water east of Belize City in the Belize District in including Swallow Caye and Mapps Cay, comprising of approximately 8,970.13 acres.” So it covers land and water and by the coordinates we’ve pegged in – the property is on Mapp’s Caye – within the reserve. That means that giving the permission to survey the properties is hopefully, an error and one the Ministry of Natural Resources would have to correct. If they do intend to correct it, they would have to give the three persons who’ve been given permission to survey property somewhere else. As we reported last night, the three parcels of land were designated as compensation for island property that Sharon Fraser, Wayne Fraser and Rurico Alvarado lost on the Montego Bay Development when the last government conveyed that to a developer with close ties to the PUP. But right now we don’t know for sure what the Ministry of Natural Resources will do because we were unable to reach the Minister who just returned to the country today, or the CEO who won’t be in until next week. We did speak with the Public Relations Officer who promised to get back to us but at news time, had not. And that uncertainty is rattling the man who set up the reserve, Lionel “Chocolate'” Heredia. The reserve is his passion and he’s worked for going on two decades to get it established. Now that a portion is on the block – the 79 year old says it’s driving him crazy. 
Lionel “Chocolate'” Heredia,
Activist
“In five days it is my birthday, I will complete 80 years but I left kinda of shaky. Why? Because if you don’t have a government that minds our natural resources and the mangroves, it is very important those mangroves, if they would ever get out there, the Minister, I would take him and show him what is in those mangroves and thing. I would do it so they have more courage to save the mangroves especially. Belize is rich in a lot of natural resources.” Jules Vasquez, When you meet with the Minister you will ask him to please not grant title or lease on that property? Lionel “Chocolate'” Heredia, “Jules you what I even will do, I will get down from my chair and kneel down and say please Minister don’t do that. I worked hard many years for this place.” Jules Vasquez, Right now how are the manatee populations in that area? Lionel “Chocolate'” Heredia, “The biggest population is there and then you can go right there and you don’t have to chase them, they come around the boat. So beautiful, there is not another place like Swallow Caye in Belize.” Chocolate' hopes he can have that meeting with the Minister by next week when his wife – who helped him set up the sanctuary – returns from the United States. We’ll keep you posted.CH7 Healthy Living looks at the causes of
osteoarthritis
Arthritis is a condition that affects more
women than men for
different reasons and in many forms. But it is generally the wear and
tear of the joints and spine. This edition of Healthy Living looks at
osteoarthritis.
Marleni Cuellar, Reporting There are over a hundred different types of arthritis, all of which have different causes and risk factors. Some of the more common types include rheumatoid arthritis, gout and the basic wear and tear of the joints, osteoarthritis also known as degenerative osteoarthritis. Dr. Francis Smith, Orthopedic Surgeon “It’s very important for people to understand that there are different kinds of arthritis. So the term arthritis is just a general term and you have to distinguish among all the different kinds of arthritis and there are very many. In general you may say arthritis involves all your joints, wear and tear of your joints and your spine. There are basically two kinds of degenerative osteoarthritis; primary or idiopathic which is medical jargon meaning we don’t know why you get it and secondary.” Secondary osteoarthritis is the result of a chronic or sudden injury to a joint, including sports and occupational injuries. Osteoarthritis can occur at any joint and is caused by the wearing out of the cartilage or gristle that covers the end of the bones. Dr. Francis Smith “A normal joint would have gristle or cartilage covering the bony surface and with arthritis this cartilage or gristle wears out. Older persons your muscles begin to waste away; it loses its firmness and its strength, it doesn’t provide enough support for the ligaments around the joint. After that then the gristle starts wearing out usually that’s accompanied by fluid buildup inside the joint because in all your joints you have synovial fluid. If you don’t have enough muscle support for your joints then there’s excess synovial fluid production and the knee start getting swollen and warm. You know that as a water knee. The diagnosis is made basically on clinical grounds. We’d notice a middle age person coming in complaining of pain in more than one joint. We’d immediately think wear and tear especially if there are other features like being overweight or secondary causes like jogging for years, especially if that person is not in shape trying to lose weight.” But age and obesity are not the only risk factors associated with osteoarthritis. Women experience arthritis more frequently than men and some congenital conditions contribute to the early development of arthritis. The type of work you do also plays a role. Dr. Francis Smith “Otherwise, as well you’d have to consider occupational factors meaning simple sitting around a desk, book keepers, lawyers people working around computers develop arthritis in the neck in the lower back, arthritis in the shoulder. It really takes a toll; it affects the work force tremendously. It can’t be cured but you can get away from osteoarthritis if you simple watch your diet maintain weight and maintain proper muscle tone by exercising. If you’re overweight you probably don’t want to be jogging. You don’t want to be beating up your joints so we would prefer to recommend quadriceps strengthening exercises knee extensions to build quadriceps. You want to be doing some weights for your upper limbs, you want to be doing especially stretches to keep your ligaments and you limbs stretchable because then they don’t tear so easily.” And as a tip to cope with the pain, just think RICE Dr. Francis Smith “Usually if it’s just insipient osteoarthritis, just beginning usually they say just RICE the limb. Rest; get off it, Ice it; chip ice put it in a plastic bag and you apply it over the region fifteen to twenty minutes on and off as often as you can. The C would be compression and elastic bandage or the cylindrical type knee support that you put on and E would be for elevation. We’re seeing people in their twenties terribly overweight already with degenerative joint disease. So of course, it’s important that they realize that this is happening and they take precautionary measures. So someone that age could perhaps lose weight and halt the advance of the disease.” The basic idea is take charge of it before it takes charge of you. CH5 BELIZEANS NO LONGER NEEDS VISAS TO
TRAVEL TO MEXICO
The
Government of Mexico has eliminated the visa requirement for Belizeans
traveling to Mexico. This means that Belizeans are no longer required
to obtain a visa or a consular stamp to travel as a tourist or in
transit through Mexico to another country. Mexican Ambassador to
Belize, Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno explains.
Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno; Mexican Ambassador to Belize “We were working for one year in order to lift the Visa for Belizeans to enter into Mexico. We believe that this new process and the mediatory aspect for Mexico and Belize will help with the people that are crossing the border every day from Belize to Mexico City. Starting from the first of July Belizeans will no longer be required to have Visa to cross the border to Mexico. It is very important to note that only Belizeans who can show their passport at the border or at the point of entries in Mexico.” According to a release issued by the embassy yesterday the change benefits the bilateral relation by deepening the ties of friendship, cooperation, understanding and exchange, and it will also increases the migratory flows between both countries. The release also said that the Embassy of Mexico has sent a diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Ambassador Moreno says that over seven hundred thousand Belizeans travel to Mexico every year. Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno; Mexican Ambassador to Belize “That showed Belizeans only go to some place in Mexico and come back to Belize again. We worked together with the immigration in Belize and the immigration in Mexico and finally we obtained the permit from the immigration office; the high level officers approved. Now that we have stopped issuing Visa’s to Belizeans some Belizeans can now go to Mexico now with a permit can go anywhere in Mexico, not only Quintana Roo. If they are using the mediatory forms for crossing is valid. They will have no problem to cross the border with that document but the people that are to pass and to catch a plain, for example in Can Cun, they will obtain the transit permit to got to that place or any place in Mexico but they need to pay 265 pesos; that is very important. The other people who want to travel to Mexico like tourists; if they are going for less than seven days they do not have to do anything. But if the trip is more than seven days they need to pay at the bank 262 pesos for the trip.” Forma Migratoria de Visitante Local cards are still valid and can be used in the usual manner to travel exclusively to Quintana Roo with a maximum stay of 72 hours. But Belizeans that wish to work, study or do business in Mexico, will need to apply for the appropriate forms at the consular section at the Embassy. Any wishing to obtain further information can call the Consular Section of the Embassy of Mexico, at telephone number 2-2-3-0-1-9-3 or 2-2-3-0-1-9-4 LoveFM NOTICES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SCHEDULED POWER
OUTAGES
All that area north of the river Saturday, July 4, 9:00 to 2:00 Sunday, July 5, 9:00 to 2:00 Vacation Bible School
will be held at Holy Cross Anglican School every
week day in July. VBS is open to all children in the community from
ages 5 to 12 and is free of charge. The program starts at 9am and
finishes at 11:30am. A mid-morning snack will be served to the
children. Please send your children to this exciting time of learning,
arts and crafts, Bible stories, sports, singing and dancing! For
additional information call Holy Cross School at 226-3456. The Office
is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am until 2pm.
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages Friedrich Nietzsche
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© SAN PEDRO DAILY, PO Box 45, San Pedro Town, Belize. Inquiries to editor@sanpedrodaily.com |
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