A Quiet New Year’s Eve for Police, says Mayor

by Maureen Dietrich

3 Jan 15 

mazmessenger.com

 

Despite an influx of tourists and 100 percent hotel room occupation during the New Year’s Eve celebrations, Mayor Carlos Felton considered the holiday to have been very tranquil.

Police responded to 10 reports of people discharging firearms into the air. Seven people were detained and their firearms confiscated.

Municipal transit police arrested five drunk drivers after applying breathalyzers, considerably less than a normal weekend when approximately 40 are detained for driving while inebriated, said a transit official.

Police responded to 21 vehicle accidents in which five people were injured and one motorcyclist lost his life. Civil Protection confiscated eight kilograms of prohibited fireworks.

For his part, Official Mayor Salvador Reynosa Garzón assured media that this year the municipality did not authorize extended hours for establishments serving alcohol as had been the practice for many years.

 (from Noroeste)

Vaccine for Dengue Fever Possible by Next Year

by Murry Page

4 Nov 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

According to the results of a large clinical trial undertaken by Sanofi Pasteur, the drug’s manufacturer and the trial’s sponsor, the 20,000 people in Latin America, 10,000 of whom lived in México, who received three doses of the vaccine, reduced their overall risk of becoming infected by dengue fever by 60 percent. More significantly, the drug appears to be 95.5 percent protective against the most severe form of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever.

“There’s no vaccine for dengue currently, nor is there any specific treatment for managing illness in people who contract symptomatic dengue disease,” says Alain Bernal, a spokesperson for Sanofi Pasteur.

The researchers who conducted the first large clinical trial found that the vaccine was 56.6 percent effective against dengue, whereas results from a second clinical trial found that the vaccine reduced the incidence of dengue by 60.8 percent.

Scott Halstead, scientific adviser to the nonprofit Dengue Vaccine Initiative, told The New York Timesthat the results were “not anywhere close to what we had hoped, something that would reach up into the 90s.” And today, many researchers continue to express a need for a more effective vaccine.

According to Bernal, Sanofi Pasteur plans to file for registration of the vaccine in 2015, in countries where dengue is prevalent. That means that “the world’s first dengue vaccine could be available in the second half of 2015,” he says.

(from Milenio)

Rain, Humidity Brings Hoards of Mosquitoes

by Maureen Dietrich

7 Aug 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

The Sinaloa Secretary of Health has warned of an invasion of mosquitoes during the last four days due to a combination of rain, heat and humidity.

Mosquitoes have been detected in large concentrations in all areas of Mazatlán, he said. The main species is the culex mosquitoe which lives in water and feeds on plant life. Although that species is simply a nuisance, there are others that transmit serious viruses.

A mosquito hatches in 14 days but in this time of extreme heat they are hatching in seven days and maturing within one or two days, said the Secretary.

He stated their fumigation strategy is to concentrate on sports stadiums, hotels and El Centro where there is a high concentration of people and suggested citizens and tourists apply repellant when going outdoors.

 (from Noroeste)

Five Family members Saved from Drowning

by Murry Page

22 Jul 14  

mazmessenger.com

 

As well, Mazatlán’s Civil Protection Agency has been inspecting local hotels with pools to ensure that life guards are on duty.

Five family members vacationing in Mazatlán from Guadalajara got caught in a rip tide off the beach in Fraccionamiento Quintas del Mar. The family members were one adult and four children between the ages of 9 and 17.

Life guards on jet-skis and a speed boat came to their rescue, as they were being washed out to sea. One by one the visitors were brought on board the speed boat and returned to the beach where first aid was administered by the Red Cross and members of the Civil Protection Agency.

Sergio Rodríguez Cervantes, Commander of Aquatic Rescue Squadron, urged swimmers to be cautious when entering the ocean, noting that if life guards were not around, the results could be fatal.

Mazatlán’s Civil Protection Agency has been inspecting local hotels with pools to ensure that life guards are on duty. The swimming pools at two of the city’s hotels, El Quito Inn and Islas del Sol, were closed because of the lack of life guards.

(from El Debate)

SCT creates new disaster protocol

Tuesday, 15 July 2014 11:45

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thenews.com.mx

The Communications and Transport (SCT) designed a protocol that allows different levels of government to act in coordination to ensure connectivity in the risk of possible disaster and to effectively manage emergencies that impact the sector. The SCT general coordinator of centers José Antonio Rodarte Leal said that disaster risk is latent. Due to its geographical position, Mexico is exposed to a wide variety of risks by hydrometeorological phenomena and geological issues impacting the population, such as tidal waves, fires, floods, landslides or drought. He said that acting on the instructions of the head of the SCT, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, the first actions presented are to restore connectivity and communication between the affected areas, ensure the arrival of help services and the supply of inputs, as well as the mobility of people. He said that the heads of the SCT in all states are tasked with acknowledging any incident or situation that arises in the federal road network, ports and airports to the central authority.
This also includes any other areas that are directly relevant to this department or other federal agencies where their support can help contribute to the peace and welfare of the population. It is reported that recently the SCT delegates met with the directors of the National Bank of Public Works and Services (Banobras), to implement more agile payment mechanisms of estimates through the Natural Disasters Fund (Fonden) This is so that, after the declaration of disaster come, payments estimates are generated in five days instead of 25, to restore normal conditions in the affected populations. In a statement, Rodarte Leal recalled that last year 42 disaster declarations in 23 states were enacted. He said only in Guerrero had the SCT implemented actions that allowed the rehabilitation almost immediately for Acapulco Airport to ensure more than 5,000 passengers were evacuated to Mexico City through 50 flights.
THE NEWS

Police Agent Rescues Four from Drowning

by Maureen Dietrich

11 Jul 14  

mazmessenger.com

 

In an heroic act, a policeman rescued four young tourists from Zacatecas from drowning in the ocean across off the Malecón yesterday afternoon at 1.50pm.

The police agent, a former member of Mazatlán´s lifeguard squad, was passing by when he saw the four swimmers calling for help having been caught in a rip current. Removing his uniform, agent Roberto Mendoza dove into the water and successfully brought the four back to the beach. Cruz Roja paramedics reported none of the rescued were injured, just tired.

Onlookers applauded Mendoza when all were safely brought back to shore.

 (from Noroeste)

Municipal Public Security wants to Amend Traffic Laws

by Murry Page

4 Jul 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

Alcántar Renato Ocampo, Chairman of the Municipal Public Security, said the city needs to increase the fines for traffic violations. He said the city’s current road safety campaign “We are Building the Future for a Safe Mazatlán” has highlighted the need to increase the fines for those that break the city’s traffic laws.

Renato Ocampo said too many people are talking on cell phones while driving, driving while intoxicated and under the influence of drugs.

To more effectively combat these violations, he said the city needs to increase the fines for these violations from 100 times the minimum daily wage to between 100 and 300 times the minimum daily wage. That would increase fines for these violations to between 6,000 to 15,000 pesos.

He noted that the change would put the city more in line with the traffic fines imposed by other cities throughout the country.

The head of Municipal Public Security added that the enforcement of the city’s traffic laws will continue throughout the summer tourist season.

(from El Sol de Mazatlán)

Closing Olas Altas?

by Murry Page

9 Apr 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

With just days before the start of Semana Santa the city has still not decided how it will handle the heavy traffic expected during the holiday.

Up until yesterday all of the discussion has been about rerouting traffic north of Valentino’s. But yesterday Mazatlán’s mayor, Carlos Eduardo González Felton, said there was the possibility of closing Olas Altas, as is done during Carnaval.

The mayor said, “It is very likely that we will close a stretch of Olas Altas to give citizens and tourists  a secure and wide area where 20, 30 thousand, 40 thousand people can have fun and stay until 4:00 am.

Felton said that the traffic flow for the Golden Zone will be decided within the next day or two.

(from Noroeste)

Sinaloa Receives 183,507,000 Pesos for Public Security

by Maureen Dietrich

28 Mar 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

The Federal government has assigned 183,507,000 pesos to seven Sinaloan municipalities to be used for public security measures. The amount is similar to that of 2013.

Mazatlán (25,305,000), Guasave (11,500,000), and El Fuerte, Navolato and Salvador Alvarado each with 10,000,000 pesos.

The funds, a subsidy from the Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública (Subsemun) must be designated to strengthen public security, safeguard citizens´ rights, and preserve liberties, order and public peace.

 (from Noroeste)

City Hall Offers Free Motorcycle Helmets

by Maureen Dietrich

 14 Mar 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

In an effort to promote the use of helmets for motorcycle drivers and passengers and diminish the number of injuries from accidents, the Municipal government will begin a helmet giveaway campaign in May.

Mayor Carlos Felton advised that a portion of the five million peso budget for preventative programs will be used to acquire the helmets. For each helmet an adult motorcyclist purchases, the municipality will give him or her a free child´s helmet. In this way, said the Mayor, they are helping the motorcyclist economically and fostering the culture of safe protection when motorcycling.

 (from Noroeste)