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Friday, December 20, 2013
Official: No mechanical issues in Walker car crash
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Friday, December 20, 2013
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Page 8 The photo shows villas built near the rice field at Bali Island. Decline in the hotel occupancy rate in Bali causes a dilemma amid the rise of tourist arrival to the island. The Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) of Bali claimed it happened due to uncontrolled accommodation development.
LOS ANGELES — Investigators have found no evidence that the Porsche carrying actor Paul Walker had mechanical problems before it crashed, killing the “Fast & Furious” star. The investigation also has ruled out debris or other roadway conditions as causing the car in which Walker was a passenger to slam into a light pole and tree. ficial would not disclose the current speed estimate. It is calculated through a formula that uses factors including the arc of tire marks from the scene and how well the tires would grip the roadway, said Chris Kauderer, chairman of the California Association of Accident Reconstruction Specialists. The sheriff’s office has said speed was a factor in the one-car crash in an industrial park about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. A spokesman on Wednesday had nothing to add. Though the car exploded in flames, its three data recorders survived and may produce information to pinpoint the speed. If they produce usable data, the recorders would be able to tell investigators whether seat belts were fastened, air bags deployed and whether Rodas hit the brakes before impact. Because the car is so rare, investigators will need Porsche’s help to retrieve the data. A
AP Photo/Nick Ut
People stand around a roadway memorial at the site of the auto crash that took the life of actor Paul Walker and another man, in the small community of Valencia, Calif., Monday, Dec. 2, 2013. spokesman for the car company declined to comment. The official said sheriff’s investigators also have enlisted the help of California Highway Patrol accident reconstruction specialists, who tested the brakes on the wrecked car and found that at least one of the tires was made in 2004. The CHP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The official told AP that the Porsche appeared to have negotiated a curve in the road successfully before crashing.
‘The Voice’ champ quips about Jamaica’s bad roads Associated Press Writer
n this photo provided by NBC, Tessanne Chin sings during the season five finale of “The Voice” on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013, in Los Angeles. Chin was announced the season five winner. AP Photo/NBC, Tyler Golden
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Associated Press Writer
The car, a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, is notoriously hard to handle. “We’re looking at speed and speed alone,” a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Nov. 30 crash also killed the driver, Walker’s friend and financial adviser Roger Rodas. Rodas, 38, and Walker, 40, co-owned an auto racing team. Rodas also was a professional driver who competed in 10 Pirelli World Challenge GTS races this year. Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have calculated a range of the speed at which they think the car was traveling, but they won’t disclose that number until Porsche engineers come to California next month in the hope of extracting information from onboard data collectors. The of-
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KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaican singer Tessanne Chin just might motivate the government of her Caribbean homeland to fix the country’s chronically rutted roads. Chin became the season five champ of “The Voice” TV show Tuesday, eliciting jubilation in Jamaica. Her performances on the NBC singing competition were a big topic on the island for weeks and politicians lost no time in congratulating her. When Chin won a car with the other show finalists, she quipped to host Carson Daly that “we have the worst roads” in Jamaica. National Works Agency Deputy CEO Earl Patterson said Wednesday that he got the message, telling reporters: “Certainly the point that Tessanne made that the roads could do with more investment, that point is noted.” However, he quickly added that the island’s fiscal constraints must be considered.
Occupancy rate slumps amid uncontrolled accommodation growth
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Bali Post
MANGUPURA - Decline in the hotel occupancy rate in Bali causes a dilemma amid the rise of tourist arrival to the island. The Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) of Bali claimed it happened due to uncontrolled accommodation development. “Low occupancy is indeed inseparable from the uncontrolled development of accommodation and illegal accommodation. The development of illegal villas, tourist inns and other illegal accommodation exceeds the growth of tourist arrivals,” said Deputy Chairman of PHRI Bali, IGN Rai Suryawijaya. According to him, the occupancy rate of star hotel in 2013 only reached 56 percent and it decreased when compared to the occupancy rate in 2012 reaching more than 60 percent. Tourists visit in 2013 reached 3.279 million, while in 2012 only reached 2.892 million. This indicated the growth of hotel room in Bali was excessive. “With the amount of tourist arrival reaching 3 million more to Bali, the occupancy rate can reach 65-70 percent. However, it happens on the contrary where the occupancy rate is only 50 percent. This means that hotel room growth exceeds the foreign tourist arrival,” he complained.
According to him, the growth in tourist arrivals to Bali reaching 10 percent was far exceeded by the growth of hotel room reaching 15 percent. “By all means, the occupancy is low because the growth of hotel room exceeds the tourist arrival. Unavoidably, this condition will automatically trigger a tariff war that will harm the government because the taxes paid will be smaller because the hotel profits diminished,” he said. He advised the government to immediately form a regional tourism promotion board to offset the growth of
hotel room. Existence of this institution was expected to improve the image of Bali tourism, increase foreign and domestic tourist arrival and increase tourist expenditure during their visit in Bali and evaluate the tourist arrival. “With the number of rooms reaching over 80,000, ideally the tourist arrival reaches 4 million in order to cover the average occupancy of up to 70 percent. On that account, it is required to establish a tourism promotion board (BPPD) in this region,” he said. Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Tourism Industry Association GIPI) of Bali, Bagus Sudibya, admitted the hotel occupancy rate decline was not a new issue that happened in Bali. Even, this condition would continue to occur as long as the amount of supply and demand between the number of accommodation and tourist arrival was imbalanced. “The growth in the number of tourist arrival over 13 percent cannot pursue the growth in the number of room because the growth in the number of hotel room in Bali is very high,” he affirmed. Continued on page 6