Forest Fires: Action Needed

Once again emergency services were battling several wild fires across the island. Throughout Greece more than 100 fires have broken out this summer, the most dramatic of these being on Rhodes where several foreign tourists were evacuated. Depressingly, many of these fires have been the result of arson or negligence. In Malia recently an Irish tourist was given a three month suspended sentence for fire raising. In Rethymnon, the Fortezza had a lucky escape when fire broke out on the 23rd July as the result of a carelessly discarded cigarette. However, once again the main culprits would appear to be unscrupulous property developers starting fires for land clearance.

Meanwhile, an independent watchdog has seriously criticised the government for dragging its feet after the fires last summer which resulted in many fatalities in the Peloponnese, and for failing to take sufficient measures to prevent uncontrolled fires from breaking out in the region this year. You will find an online petition urging the Greek government to take action on this issue at http://www.petitiononline.com/forestgr/

Summer Sport: 24th Vardinoyannia Athletics Meeting

On Monday 14 July the 24th Vardinoyannia International Track and Field Meeting (a European Athletics Association Premium Meeting) took place at the National Stadium of Gallos (3km South West of Rethymnon). As ever it was a successful meet, though not quite as high profile as last year. Highlights included the Triple Jump, with Cuba’s Yargelis Savigne extending her personal best to 15.20 metres, a discus throw by Olympic champion Alekna of 70.86 metres and a season’s best for Russia’s Olga Komyagina of 8 minutes 51.72 seconds in the 3,000 metres. Controversial sprinter Katerina Thanou finished fifth in her heat of the 100 metres, qualifying for the Greek Olympic squad. However, as we were going to press she was still waiting to hear from the IOC whether she would be allowed to compete in Beijing.

AGOR (the local basketball team) have been spending money and have replaced most of their team members. The team will be known as ‘Rethymnon Aegean’ this season, due to renewal of sponsorship by Aegean Airlines. The new season is still some way off — competition is due to start in mid October, but players will be meeting for pre season training from August 11th.

Asteras Rethymnon (the football team) have been relatively active in the transfer market. Last season their aim was just to survive in the ‘Γ’ Division, this season they are setting themselves new heights. They have bought a couple of highly experienced Greek players and also three foreign players—An Argentinean, Uruguayan and a Croat. We wish them all the best for the start of the season in mid September!

The Paleontology Museum is Open!

The New Paleontology Museum in the recently restored Masataba mosque has now opened. The Bugle team recently paid the museum a visit and came away with somewhat mixed feelings about the place. We weren’t convinced that it actually lived up to all the hype. The collection is ‘compact and bijou’ - housed in just one room, and curation is slapdash in places. There are fewer exhibits from the Rethymnon region than we were expecting. Still, the building is beautiful, the grounds have potential, and it is nice to see those specimens that are on display. The museum is open daily (except Sundays) 10am to 2pm, and 6.30pm to 9.30 pm.€4, €2 for students.

Waste Management Initiatives

As a result of problems that have been experienced with the Maroulas landfill site, regional authorities are looking for Crete wide solutions to waste management. A steering committee has narrowed down the list of possible locations to four sites, three in prefecture of Heraklion Nomos, one in Geni in the Rethymnon Nomos. A number of options are being examined, however use of incinerators has been ruled out. The Rethymnon location operation cost-wise is the most expensive. Many people are also unhappy with the choice of location—which is close to the Amari Dam—a source of water for both the North and South of the island. Furthermore, it is estimated that at least 80 trucks a day would be making the journey—or to put it another way, an additional truck every six minutes on the road to Spili. Consultation with local officials is ongoing, and we will update you with further information as and when we get it.