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18 Jan 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 18, 2006
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Missing Plane Found,
Two U.S. Citizens Dead
The search for the two U.S. citizens from Des Moines, Iowa, who had been missing since their airplane lost radio contact Sunday concluded in tragedy yesterday afternoon when a Red Cross search party discovered the wreckage of the airplane and the bodies of the couple. The plane was found at approximately 2:50 p.m. near the top of Irazú Volcano, in the Cartago province, east of San José.
(Click for more)
Development Institute Defends
Its Lunchtime Spending
Gerardo Vargas, Executive President of the Agricultural Development Institute (IDA), defended his organization yesterday against reports that its executives spend ¢ 14,000 ($28) each to eat during management meetings.
(Click for more)
Candidates Wage Numbers
War With Web Pages
Presidential candidates campaigning for the upcoming Feb. 5 elections are using their Web sites to gauge their number of supporters, according to a report yesterday in La Nación. However, they each use a different way of measuring how many visits their sites receive daily, and they all claim to be the favored candidate among Web surfers, according to the daily.
(Click for more)
January 18
Women's Club of Costa Rica Teas
Jan. 18, Rohrmoser, Pavas, Sabana, La Uruca ; Jan. 25, Santa Ana, Ciudad Colón; Feb. 1, Escazú, Bello Horizonte; Feb. 8, San José, San Pedro, Zapote, Curridabat, San Ramón de Tres Ríos, Cartago; Feb. 15, Coronado, Guadalupe, Moravia, Tibás; Feb. 22, Cariari, Alajuela, Heredia, San Pablo, Los Ángeles de San Rafael and others, all start at 2 p.m. Info: Mary Jo at 268-7367.
Cornell University Winds Ensemble Costa Rican Tour
Charity concert, 7:30 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, C.R.-North American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent. Info at www.cuwinds.com/Costa-Rica-Project.
Cuban Luis Nubiola in Concert
Cuban musician, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Missing Plane Found,
Two U.S. Citizens Dead
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
The search for the two U.S. citizens from Des Moines, Iowa, who had been missing since their airplane lost radio contact Sunday concluded in tragedy yesterday afternoon when a Red Cross search party discovered the wreckage of the airplane and the bodies of the couple. The plane was found at approximately 2:50 p.m. near the top of Irazú Volcano, in the Cartago province, east of San José.
Conrad Randell, 69, better known as Wesley, and his wife Nancy Randell, 68, were traveling from Panama to Nicaragua as part of a Central American tour by airplane, organized by the U.S.-based pilots' association Baja Bush Pilots. The couple encountered unseasonably stormy weather in Costa Rica, apparently contributing to the crash.
According to Red Cross spokesman Geovanny Monge, the engine of the plane was buried 50 meters into the side of the Irazú Volcano, and the couple likely died on impact. Because of the remoteness of the crash site, rescuers planned to wait until this morning to bring the bodies of the couple out, Monge said.
The small, single-engine Beech Bonanza aircraft had lost radio communication at approximately 10 a.m. Sunday, and around the same time a farmer from the area where the plane was found reported hearing a low flying aircraft followed by the sound of a crash or explosion.
Searchers had been combing the forested foothills around Irazú Volcano and its sides beginning Sunday afternoon, but called off the search early both Sunday and Monday because of poor weather conditions.
Wesley's son, Conrad, was among those seeking any sign of the aircraft or its passengers in the mountainside. Both Conrad and his wife, Erika Randell, a Costa Rican, were living in Costa Rica until December, when Erika moved to the United States. Conrad was finishing business in the country and was expected to return to the United States later this month, “but now we're not sure,” Erika told The Tico Times in a phone interview from Iowa.
According to Erika, this was Wesley's first time flying in Central America, but he had visited Costa Rica several times and “loved it.”
Development Institute Defends
Its Lunchtime Spending
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Gerardo Vargas, Executive President of the Agricultural Development Institute (IDA), defended his organization yesterday against reports that its executives spend ¢ 14,000 ($28) each to eat during management meetings.
The Comptroller General's Office made the allegations last week as it suspended the food budget for the IDA Board of Directors. The institute had requested a budget including ¢6 million ($12,000) for catering, which, according to the comptroller's calculations, works out to ¢14,000 per meal. For that amount, 155 children could eat the ¢90 ($0.18) lunches served in public school cafeterias (TT, Jan. 13).
According to Vargas, however, the Comptroller's Office miscalculated. Not only the institute's seven executives, but the entire staff of each attends these meetings, he said at the press conference following President Abel Pacheco's Cabinet meeting yesterday. When these additional attendees are taken into account, the per-capita meal spending is approximately ¢3,000 ($6.06).
Vargas also complained that the daily Al Día, which first published the figures from the Comptroller's Office, apparently received news of the Comptroller's decision before IDA.
Candidates Wage Numbers War With Web Pages
Presidential candidates campaigning for the upcoming Feb. 5 elections are using their Web sites to gauge their number of supporters, according to a report yesterday in La Nación. However, they each use a different way of measuring how many visits their sites receive daily, and they all claim to be the favored candidate among Web surfers, according to the daily.
For example, some candidates count each visit to their page, while others count the number of hits, or clicks, each visitor makes once they have opened the page. Some use an outside server to count visits or a Web site that gives site rankings. And still others don't count the number of visits they receive at all.
“We don't have a meter, but we now there are a lot of visits,” Citizen Action Party (PAC) Web site coordinator Luis Chacón told La Nación.
Candidates use their Web sites to post their political platforms, campaign news and agendas.
Fourteen candidates are vying for the presidency in the Feb. 5 elections. The top three in the polls are National Liberation Party (PLN) candidate and former President Oscar Arias, Citizen Action Party (PAC) candidate Ottón Sólis and Liberation Movement Party candidate Otto Guevara.
