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ISSUE NO. 1487
2 - 8 JANUARY 2014
Facing a nightmare
EWN FRONT EXTRA
Family drug arrests FIVE members of a family have been arrested in Torre del Mar for reportedly selling drugs to minors on their way to high school.
Car crash FOUR people, three women and a man aged between 26 and 37, were taken to Motril’s Santa Ana Hospital after the two cars they were travelling in crashed on the N340 road in Salobreña.
Savings bid VELEZ-MALAGA Town Council has decided to leave the Association for the Tourist Promotion of the Axarquia (APTA) in a bid to save €16,000 a year.
Paraglider fall GUARDIA Civil rescued a paraglider, aged 26, who fell 25 metres on Velilla Beach in Almuñecar. The man, who had lost the feeling in his legs, was admitted to a Granada hospital.
New Year uncertainty for ‘illegal’ homes THE residents of an urbanisation in Alcaucin who came to Spain to live a dream are facing a nightmare. The town council, under instruction from the regional government, revoked the building licences of the 13 houses comprising Las Huertas urbanisation. Now the residents, most of them in their 60s and 70s, fear they will have the threat of demolition hanging over their heads during 2014. “We bought our properties in good faith with full building licences and planning consent, and now these have been taken away from us for reasons we
cannot fully comprehend,” said resident Kathryn Ann Williams. The building licence for the urbanisation was granted in 2002, with the houses being built over the following two years.
All the buying contracts were made before the end of May 2003, and yet the Spanish Statute of Limitations, which limits action within six years, does not apply to them.
“We do live here, pay our taxes here, spend our money here, invite our friends and family to holiday here, employ local people, and yet the government is doing nothing to help us,” Kathryn added. As reported in the Euro Weekly News, in December more than 100 residents of Alcaucin demonstrated against the demands of the regional government to revoke these licences (pictured). They were summoned by Save Our Homes in Axarquia (SOHA), an organisation set up in 2008 to fight for properties in a similar predicament.
So near and yet so far LUCK almost struck the town of Almuñecar again during the last Christmas lottery draw. The local Borriquita Brotherhood sold almost 1,500 tickets with the number 42246, only one number away from the winning 62246. Members of the brotherhood showed both their excitement and disappointment for being
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so close to the coveted first prize. On a more positive note, each ticket holder won a €120 prize. This means nearly €180,000 went to Almuñecar, making it the biggest ‘pedrea’ (minor Christmas lottery prize) ever in the Costa Tropical town. Only one month ago, an
Almuñecar resident scooped the €100 million top prize in the Euromillions draw. Now the members of the Borriquita Brotherhood have pinned all their hopes on the ‘El Niño’ lottery draw to be held next Monday, which traditionally marks the end of the Christmas season in Spain.