Life next to the range
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| The damage to a car and the neighbour’s house |
The range’s neighbours, who say they have put up with the flying ball menace for the past 10 years, posted on FB about their plight on April 16.
The family, which was not named in news reports, said balls from the Kiatthada Golf Range in Lat Phrao fall on their home daily, damaging the roof, breaking windows and shattering drainage pipes. They posted images of a golf-ball sized hole in the windscreen of their car and window of the house.
The complainants say they live in fear of stray balls hitting someone on the head. They had contacted one of the owners, they said, identifying him as Lydia’s younger brother, asking him to close the business while the range makes repairs to the nets.
“We asked them to pause the business while repairs were done, but he said they could not afford to stop,” the post said.
The publicity upset Lydia, as the post also named her and her husband even though they are not tied to the dispute.
“I understand the neighbours want to draw publicity to their plight and find a solution, but it is wrong to drag our names into it,” she wrote on FB.
Earlier, news reports said the company owning the golf range was controlled by her father, mother and younger brother. Lydia said while her father indeed started the business, the family leased it to an outside party to run many years ago, and is not involved in its day-to-day operation.
Critics who persist in dragging their name into the dispute could face legal action, she said.
Lydia did not explain how her younger brother entered the dispute with the neighbours if the family was indeed no longer involved.
A FB post by the golf range on April 17 confirmed the range had been leased out to a variety of operators over the years. The author said the present operators had been running the place since Jan 30 last year, so were not involved in what had taken place before.
The neighbours say they have complained repeatedly about the flying balls to no avail.
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| Lydia |
“We have spoken to them for 10 years, but nothing gets any better. The bloody things drop all day. They run their business unethically...the attitude is, anything that happens to people, let it be, because the balls have fallen now.
“They make just basic repairs to the structure... when we tell them a ball just missed someone’s head, they are not interested. Five minutes later, another one lands.
“We’re sure if it’s golfers hitting the ball poorly, faulty nets, or nets that aren’t thick enough.
“The person who took calls was a sly one; she kept claiming she would contact the owner on our behalf. We found out later we had been talking to one of the owners all along,” the post said.
Citing Lydia’s brother, the post said the owners told them they could do nothing as the netting was torn.
“If we go outside we have to take an umbrella; we can let the kids play outside only briefly as we worry they will get hit,” the poster said.
The family had also contacted the environmental division of Lat Phrao district office, but made no progress.
While some netizens criticised the family for buying a home so close to a driving range when they must have known about the risk of flying balls, most were sympathetic.
In her reply, a woman from the driving range said the new operators found the place in a dilapidated state when they took over a year ago and had to make extensive repairs.
“When we found out about the problem (of stray balls), we didn’t sit idly by. We have put in extra layers of netting to make it thicker and raised the level to make it taller. We have tried to respond as fast as we can,” the post said.
“We took advantage of a one-month closure during Covid-19 to make repairs, and also took out insurance to cover accidents. We are happy to take responsibility for any damage which occurs,” she added, without identifying the names of those behind the post. The saga continues.
Fraud victim meets good Samaritan
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| The young labourer getting help |
Businessman Kosin Sritanee saw the young man, Kai, 26, from Prachuap Khiri Khan, wandering about outside his shop in Muang district last week. The young man carried a backpack and had asked someone to buy him some drinking water.
Taking pity on him, Mr Kosin asked what happened and Mr Kai told him he had been working as a labourer in Loeng Nok Tha district, Yasothon, when his employer fled without paying him wages owed.
Mr Kai said he was owed two months’ pay but with barely any money to his name decided to head home to Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Mr Kai thumbed over a lift from Yasothon to Ubon, and was dropped off at the bus station. A staff member there urged him to contact Muang police, which he did, despite a lengthy walk. However, they were unable to help, as he had not signed a contract with his employer.
“He walked about idly and ended up in front of my shop by the fountain roundabout near the Moon River. My friends and I decided to help. We took him to the railway station and paid for his fare back to his home province and gave him some money for food,” Mr Kosin said. “He was well-spoken and polite,” he added.
Before they left, a labourer putting in underground wiring nearby on behalf of the district walked into the shop. Mr Kosin, hoping to find Kai some work, told him about the young man’s story.
The labourer said his team was short-staffed and he was happy to talk to his supervisor on Kai’s behalf. Mr Kai, however, while grateful for the offer, decided he would rather head home.
“I was cheering for him to find some work as he no doubt had run out of money by now, but I understood how he was feeling,” Mr Kosin said. “He was probably scared he would be exploited again and decided he would be better going home so he could start again.
“At home his parents can support him and he will feel safe. So I told him, let’s get you home first and talk about the rest later,” he said.
An event organiser, Mr Kosin also runs a fitness studio and restaurant. Since Mr Kosin posted his story, many netizens, warming to the tale and impressed with his generosity, have come forward with offers of help.
However, Mr Kosin said he did not have time to ask for Mr Kai’s number, as the train for his journey back home was about to leave when they arrived. If he missed it, he would have to wait until 5am the next day for another. Images accompanying his post show Mr Kai running towards the carriage, which he managed to board.
The story of these big-hearted Ubon Ratchathani folks helping out the unlucky labourer was popular with Thais. By mid-week the saga had notched up over 30,000 shares and thousands of likes.
Purple pickup trips up burglar
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| Sarawut |
Nong Kham police in Si Racha on Wednesday arrested Sarawut Humha, 23, originally from Phitsanulok, after spotting his purple pickup, modified for street racing, outside his apartment.
Neighbours had reported seeing the vehicle in the vicinity at the time his victims were burgled. While Mr Sarawut said he used to park it at some distance, and walk the rest of the way to places he had targeted, he was nonetheless caught as the vehicle is so distinctive.
They arrested Mr Sarawut at his home, where they found stolen goods including phones, Buddha amulets, clothes he had been spotted wearing in CCTV footage of a previous burglary, and drug-taking gear.
Police also seized a skeleton key which Mr Sarawut used to let himself into about 100 apartments in a crime spree going back 12 months. He said he made the key on the instructions of a friend from Phitsanulok who had taught him how to do it. He tried it out on a padlock and found it worked.
Armed with that key and a few other simple tools of the trade he targeted rented rooms in the area, always choosing those with a padlock. He would let himself in, steal the goods, and lock the padlock again on his way out.
Police were aware of the burglar’s rampant offending as they received so many complaints. They also knew he targeted padlocked rented rooms and were on the lookout for the vehicle.
Mr Sarawut said he used to take a motorcycle to burglaries, but when they started to pay off, upgraded to a pickup. He is a factory worker, but said he turned to crime after getting into debt via internet gambling. He faces various charges including theft.
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