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Safety works

BENDINAT
WORK began last week to stop rocks falling onto the Bendinat road, which was only opened to traffic three years ago. Rocks from the high mountain which borders the road often fall down, even though when the road was constructed an iron gate was installed at the top of the mountain and also above the tunnel. The cause of the problem is the wild goats who ramble all over this part of the mountain. The Council of Majorca therefore started this project, which will cost them approximately 50'000 euros and will hopefully be finished by tomorrow. All the wire netting that is needed for this large scale job had to be transported by helicopter. It is expected that the wire netting will last 20 years and solve the problem of falling rocks.

Wave of crime

PORT D'ANDRATX
THE shop owners in the Port of Andratx have had to ask the local police officers to step up their evening patrols in the area, due to a wave of vandalism that has hit the port this week. Many bars and shops have had items stolen and broken. Take for example the workers at a newly opened cafeteria on Avenida Mateo Bosch, who arrived at work to find that many tables and chairs had been thrown into the sea. In addition, a bar on calle Brismar was broken into and various bottles of liquor were robbed. Further events were witnessed by a resident in Camp de Mar who notified the police as she had seen several cars driving on the golf course. The police arrived at the scene to discover that one woman driving a car on the golf course was over the drink driving limit.

Politicians attack

SES SALINES
IT all began back in December 2003 and now the internal crisis in the Ses Salines right-wing party (PP) has only got worse. Last Saturday on the eve of the Ses Salines Fair, boiling points were reached, when Bartomeu Galmés, ex-leader of the right-wing party, attacked the Mayor of Ses Salines, Sebastià Vidal, in order to protect his wife. Both sides tell a different story of events. It all took place at 4am in a bar in Ses Salines. According to Vidal, he stated that Galmés's wife pushed him, when he was trying to get through a crowded bar, he pushed back and was then hit by Galmés. According to Galmés, Vidal stuck his elbow into his wife, started laughing until Galmés warned him to stop, which he didn't so Galmés hit him.

No queues

PALMA
THE Balearic Government has decided to employ more personnel and increase opening hours in the Citizen Attention and Information Centres (CAI) so that there are no queues for those foreigners applying for the immigrants working rights. The centres will even be opened on Saturdays to deal with all the requests. All foreigners who want to legalise their working situation in the Balearics have to take all their paperwork to one of the CAI offices. In Palma there are three such offices, one at the old port, one at calle Pere Dezcallar y Net, and one in Calle Benito Perez Galdos in the Llevant industrial estate. All requests will be dealt with at pre-arranged appointments at the offices, which are open from 4pm to 7pm Monday to Saturday. The opening hours have been increased “as necessary” so that “nobody misses out on legalising their situation”, said a spokesperson from the Balearic Government. According to yesterday's figures, 16.881 foreigners have already presented their paperwork to these offices in the Balearic Islands, and 96.14 percent have been accepted.