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This
newsletter is written and published by members of Margarita Station, a
restaurant located in Angeles City, for the information of visitors to
Angeles City and for former & current residents of Angeles City
Philippines. The information is obtained from personal
observations, local newspapers and inputs from our friends and
customers. All individuals and local businesses are welcome
to submit items |
| THE
FRIENDSHIP-CARMENVILLE BRIDGE IS FINALLY OPEN |
| |
On
the afternoon of 6 Oct 2006, only about 16 years since lahar flows from
Pinatubo destroyed the bridge to Carmenville, Timog and west Angeles, a
permanent (we hope) bridge was finally open for traffic. Since
1991 there have been two temporary repairs to the damaged Friendship-Carmenville
bridge, but finally a new bridge was built and traffic is flowing
as good or better than pre-1991.
|
| JOLLIBEE COMES
TO CENTRAL FIELDS AVE AREA |
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The latest Jollibee in Angeles
will open on the 13th of October just a few feet off of Fields Ave (1/2
block from Margarita Station). This is located on the side street
connecting Santa Maria and Fields Ave to the main street entering the
Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ). This area is already
very congested with a traffic pattern that changes every day. It
is one of only two streets that allow cars coming down Perimeter road to
access CSEZ and/or Shoe Mart. Unfortunately, this road is usually
one way (toward Fields Ave) in the afternoon. The only other
street connecting to the main road (near Roadhouse) is one way toward
the main road and the park. It is listed as NO RIGHT TURN.
And despite the police station being located on this corner, about 50%
of the vehicles make an illegal left turn at this intersection.
Adding the Jollibee to this screwed up traffic flow will be real
interesting. |
| PACIFIC BREEZE
HOTEL |
|
|
The new Pacific Breeze Hotel is nearing the
end of construction. Current plans call for their "official"
opening on 1 December 2006. This hotel, just off of Santos Street,
will be operated by Guy & Roselle from Central Park Hotel. The
room rates are expected to be in the $40-50 range, but they have not
committed to a pricing scheme yet. Although they haven't established
room rates yet, they are already fully booked for the weeks of
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. That should be enough to
tell everyone that this will be another hotel where you will need to
book early. We can accept reservations, but it will be a few more
weeks until we can tell you the room rates. |
| THE ABC HOTEL IS
OPENING NOVEMBER 17th. |
|
|
In our September newsletter I reported that
the Angeles Beach Club Hotel would open in February
2007. But, on the 10th I was lucky enough to spot one of the
owners on the premises, so I stuck my head in for the real
information. Now this guy has built plenty of spectacular
buildings in the Philippines, but I was still amazed at the attention to
detail going into this new hotel. No funny looking cement walls
that were finished by some 18 year old kid. Smooth flat finishes,
flawless tiles and floorings. Expensive wallpaper in the rooms.
100% attention to detail.
When fully open it will have 53 rooms. The front section will
be open by 17 November. The rest in the back should be open before
Christmas.
Room entry is via electronic key cards, but not standard key
cards. Anytime a door is opened the computer will log what time it
was opened and what card number was used to open the door (customer,
maid, etc). Additionally, every time the safe in the room is
opened/closed the computer will log the times. This security measure
should quickly narrow down who was in the room if anyone ever says they
lost something from their room or safe while they were out of the room.
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All the rooms have both a shower and a separate bathtub
or jacuzzi. Now these aren't your basic jacuzzi's. They
have underwater lights in a variety of colors to match your
mood. |
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All the woodwork is being custom done on the premises. The
final products are far superior to any hotel I have visited
anywhere in the Philippines (including the 5 star hotels of
Manila). |
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 |
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STANDARD ROOMS: Pretty hard to call any of these rooms
"standard." Superior double windows so I
couldn't detect any street noise, top quality mattresses (no
cheap Angeles City specials where you can feel all the
springs). Light controls so you can dim the lights "to
make make your late night choice a little easier on the
eyes." Heavy curtains so you can't tell if it is
noon or midnight (Great for those day sleepers).
Wall-to-wall carpeting. And as stated above, an in-room
safe with computer record of opening and closing times. |
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So what is it going to cost to stay at the Beach Club?
Indications are that the standard rooms will be about $99 a night.
BUT, that is the one and only cost. No 15% fee added for VAT, no
extra fee if you want to pay by credit card. One price with no add
on's .... except they will add on breakfast for free. Got some
money burning a hole in your pocket? No problem, you can take the
elevator to one of the largest suites on the top floor. Huge main
room with dining table, comfortable sofas and chairs, private office
area, separate toilet/CR, plush bedroom and a huge jacuzzi room with a
sauna or steam room. This party room has everything from TV to
champagne buckets. Cost for the big suite about $500 a night and
the slightly smaller and less decadent suite will go for only about $300
a night.
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| MORE HOTEL
ROOMS: |
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The new wing of the Clarkton is scheduled to
open in mid October 2006. Details coming soon.
|
| DOLLHOUSE HOTEL
ROOMS: |
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This hotel across the street from the
Dollhouse has been open for several months. I still haven't talked
to anyone that has stayed there, but rumor on the street is they are
having a small problem with water from the roof-top jacuzzi leaking down
into the rooms. Additionally, the owners of the Dollhouse have
purchased the Vian Lodge. As of the other day the Vian Lodge had
been demolished and the lot is being prepared for construction of a new
building. |
| HOTEL PRICES
HAVE GONE OUT OF SIGHT! |
| |
I hear this complaint all the time right
after people say the drinks in the clubs are too expensive. All
you snivelers need to open your eyes. The most expensive clubs in
Angeles are still cheaper than drinks in go-go clubs in Bangkok or
Pattaya. Still plenty of places in Angeles with aircon and dancers where
you can get a drink for P 35 (that is 70 cents US). Where can I
get a drink in a dancing bar in Thailand for 70 cents?
Want to visit Angles and stay in a budget
hotel? B
U D G E T H O T E L S
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| GOLDEN NILE SLOT
MACHINES |
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Although the new Golden Nile building won't
be completed for some time, the secondary gambling area under Blue Nile
Executive Club has been ready for some time. The fist batch of
slot machines are due to arrive in mid-November. Time will tell
what impact this will have on Fields Avenue. I, for one, am
skeptical that gambling and girly bars can be mixed successfully under
one roof. But, if you asked me several years ago if Richard could
build more than six flashy & expensive clubs on lower Fields Ave and
make them successful, I would probably said you are NUTS. Never
underestimate Richard Agnew. Despite occasional "set
backs" he has been very successful. |
| AROUND THE CLUBS |
|
- Blue Nile Executive Club continues to pack the house night
after night
- Daytime Nero's is a bit slower than previous months. Not
much pizzazz directed at the customer to encourage a second drink.
- Misty's is now opening late afternoon (3 or 4 pm)
- La Pasha seems to have lost some of it's luster. Pretty
easy to get a seat the night I visited. The good music they played
when they were first open has been replaced by the garbage only
enjoyed by a Filipino teenagers with hearing loss. How often
the bars forget who pays for the drinks. And we could do
without the endless loop of X-rated cartoons.
- Viper Room is open early in the afternoon, but NO ESQ rum
so I moved on to another club. Years ago you could get ESQ in
any club in town and now it is becoming hard to find. Why do bar
owners stock hundreds of dollars in imported liquor but fail to keep
a 60 cent bottle of rum on hand for us local boozers?
- Dirty Duck has blacked out the windows so you can no longer
sit in the aircon and watch the girls wandering up and down the
street! Another bad move by bar management IMO. As the
old saying goes: "If it ain't broke, don't f--k with
it!"
- Champagne still ROCKS. Noi Noi is working in here and
the line up is as good as ever. if it is your first visit to
town, this is a must visit.
- La Bamba has been a little quiet on my visits, but still a
great Fields Ave club where the staff enjoys working. I can
never have just one drink in this club and it remains one of my
favorite places to start a Fields Ave bar hop.
- Insomnia has the best drinks in town. You might think
it is hard to screw up a rum & coke, but I have had some ghastly
drinks around town. When the bartender makes your R&C with
the warm bottle of coke they didn't finish yesterday it just turns
to sugar water as they pour it over ice. Totally destroys the
P 1.72 shot of rum in the glass (Yeah, that is what a 1 oz shot of
ESQ costs). But, back to Insomnia. They use a good "man
sized" glass and I've never got a bad drink in this club.
If I'm passing by, I always pop in for that perfect drink, good air-conditioning,
comfortable seating, unique (good) club layout, and staff with a
good attitude. Now if Dennis will just get a few cute
spinners!
- Alaska Club just ain't the same without Kim in town.
Always seems a bit too big for me, but the staff have great
attitudes. Another mandatory stop on a stroll down the street after
6 pm.
- Cherry's Club on Perimeter Road has a great door girl, good
aircon and most importantly is open early in the afternoon.
- Gentleman's Club is the most improved club in the last
month. By 3:15 pm they have about 15+ dancers on stage and
another shift of 15 standing by to replace the first group.
They are going to need lots of customers to support a staff this
large even at the P 130 a day they pay their dancers.
- Dr Holms is a small club below the Gentleman's Club.
This week they changed their dancers from 3-11 to 5 pm to 2
am. However, the club is open by noon if you just want to
drink.
- Touch of Class is up and down since Ted sold out and
returned to Australia. Some days it is almost empty and then
another day it is packed with some dancers wearing costumes from
Emotions next door.
- Neville's wife is still at the helm of the Nifty's group
despite rumors last month that they had sold all the clubs to help
Neville get out of country. In fact, things can't be going too
bad since she has opened TWO new clubs and remodeled the C.R. in
Nifty's since he
fled the Philippines. [NOTE: only in the PI can you spend
hundreds of dollars remodeling a bathroom - new tiles, shiny new
toilet, etc. And the new toilet is just like the old one
-- NO FLUSH MECHANISM! LOL] Perhaps she is paying for these new
clubs by cutting down on the air-conditioning in Nifty's &
Rio's. Been a little warm in these clubs lately. If it
gets any hotter in these two clubs the dancers will have to take off
their costumes!
- The club below Limited Edition finally has it's own name. Now the Top
Hat Club. Lots of energy in here for such a small club.
Shot of two of the tequila girls in the column to this section.
- Foxy's on Perimeter is a quiet little club with a few
surprises. Music isn't too loud and no rap when I've been in there.
may become a regular stop on my afternoon runs.
- T-Times is back to running their generator for power.
This club is up & down, but the last time I was in there when
they were running the generator the fumes & noise were a little
hard to take.
- Honey Ko's remains the #1 bar for EXPATS on the Perimeter
Road.
- The Hang Out next to Honey Ko's isn't a girly bar, but
needs to be reported this month. Dave White has sold out and is
moving to the Subic Area. The new owners have gutted the
interior. It will be interesting to see what they do with this as
all the customers sat outside before. They have put a new
canvas cover over the outside and there seems to be more people
hanging out in the Hang Out than ever before. Good luck guys.
- Harro must have found another investor. LOST in ASIA will
open soon where Blue K was a few years ago.
|
| ATTN MILITARY
RETIREES |
| |
The Defense Manpower Data Center will have a
team at the Oasis Hotel in Angeles from 16 to 21 Oct 2006.
They will issue ID cards and do assorted documentation like adding or
removing a spouse, adding children to your records and lots more. For
details and times see the notice on the Margarita Station bulletin
board. |
| SOME NEWS
CLIPPINGS |
|
|
US Military exercise this month
on Clark AB. Will be interesting to see how often
the boys get out on liberty with the Subic Rape Case still
pending. |
|
Wow, this one looks like a set up for someone
to start hitting the places on base at night that now have
reduced security personnel. MERRY CHRISTMAS! |
|
| ONE MORE
SECURITY WARNING - - Internet Cafe's with keystroke recorders in
Angeles. |
| |
Several reports this last month of guys
getting ripped off after using some of the cheap internet cafes popping
up around town. Thailand has had a problem for over a year with
"key stroke loggers" in internet cafes. They record your
passwords or account information and later use them to drain your
accounts, buy stocks, etc. When in Angeles use the bigger, well
established internet cafe and always use the same one. Then if you have
a problem you can be certain where it occurred. I can recommend
Rick's Internet Cafe behind Margarita Station. He has assured me all his
CPU's are clean. I'm sure if you wanted you could bring in a
program that detects key stroke recorders and other spyware and he would
let you run it on any of his machines. I doubt the internet cafes
across the street would let you do that if they knew what you were
doing. |
| EFREN REYES WINS
ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP |
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The Philippine team of Efren Reyes and
Francisco Bustamante defeated the American tandem of Earl Strickland and
Rodney Morris 13—5 in the 2006 International Pool Tour World Open
8-Ball Championship. After winning the IPT World 8-Ball Open
tournament (the largest prize money tournament in the history of pocket
billiards) on Sept. 10th in Nevada, Efren “Bata” Reyes went
home had another $10,000 in his pocket which was the same amount
he won in topping the SMB Tour’s kickoff leg in Vietnam last May.
CONGRATULATIONS Efren Reyes, the BEST of the best pool player in the
World!
The prize money for winning the IPT World 8-Ball Open tournament is
$500,000. Unfortunately, Efren hasn't received any cash yet
(despite the photos) as the IPT was recently bought by Macau gambling
tycoon Stanley Ho causing a "slight delay" in the payment.
In his early days Efren lost much of his prise money to his sponsors.
Let's hope he gets all of the promised $500,000 to deposit in his
personal bank account. I bet he has relatives showing up that he
never met before.
Filipino billiards champions Efren "Bata" Reyes and Francisco
"Django" Bustamante have been given special Philippine
national honors for their achievements in the game. Mr Reyes
received the Order of Lakandula with the rank Champion for Life while Mr
Bustamante was given the presidential Medal of Merit. At the awards
ceremony, the two billiard champions and the Pampanga provincial
government presented President Gloria Arroyo with a championship pool
table which was used in the first Philippine Challenge Billiards
Tournament in 1994.
|
Career
titles |
|
2006 San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour Jakarta Leg
2006 IPT World 8-Ball Championship
2006 World Cup of Pool
2006 San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour Vietnam Leg
2006 Derby City Classic One-Pocket Championship
2005 IPT King of the Hill
2005 Derby City Classic Master Of The Table
2005 Derby City Classic - One-Pocket Championship
2005 Derby City - 9-Ball Championship
2005 IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Championship
2005 San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour Stop
2005 Japan Open
2004 Derby City Classic Master of the Table
2004 Derby City Classic One-Pocket
2004 World 8-Ball Championship
2003 Mid-Atlantic 9-Ball Championship
2003 Las Vegas 9-Ball Open
2002 Challenge of Champions2002 World Pool League Champion
2001 World Pool League Champion
2001 IBC Tokyo 9-Ball Championship
2001 Color of Money II Challenge Match (Reyes vs Earl Strickland)
2001 Masters 9-Ball Championship
2000 U.S. Open One-Pocket Championship
1999 ESPN Ultimate 9-Ball Challenge
1999 ESPN Ultimate Shootout
1999 Victor Chandler World Pool Championship |
1999 Derby City Classic - One Pocket Championship
1999 Derby City Classic Master of the Table
1999 Sands Regency Open 29 9-Ball Championship
1999 World 9-Ball Championship
1998 World 8-Ball Championship
1998 Camel South Jersey 10-Ball Open
1997 PCA Shooters Challenge
1997 PCA Treasure Island Resort Event
1996 The Color of Money 9-Ball Champion (Reyes vs Earl Strickland)
1996 PBT World 8-Ball Championship
1996 PBT Legends of 9-Ball Championship
1996 PBT Western Open
1996 PBT Florida Flare Up III
1995 Sands Regency Open 21 9-Ball Championship
1995 PBT World 8 Ball Championship
1995 Pro Tour Championship 9-Ball
1994 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship
1994 PBT Bicycle Club Invitational
1992 International 8-Ball Classic
1992 World 9-Ball Open (Tokyo)
1990 World Cup (Taipei)
1988 PBA McDermott Masters 9-Ball
1986 Sands Regent 9-Ball Championship
1985 Sands Regent 9-Ball Championship
1985 Red's 9-Ball Open
1985 Tar Heel Open
1985 Willard's Open |
VIDEO OF FINAL GAME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76j8ACYxwfM |
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| ANGELES HAS LOST
ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS |
|
Photos of Hans coming as soon as I get to my storage
drive
|
Sadly Hans Braun
died suddenly in the first week of October 2006. I first met Hans
when he was managing Cleopatra quite a number of years ago. Over
the years I followed him to numerous clubs including Mirrors, Kitten
Club, Viper Room and most recently Angels Club. He could
always be counted on to send a free drink or three. If I was too
slow, it wasn't uncommon for him to invite a girl to the
table and buy her a ladies drink on the house! (The only manager I
have ever had do that). And if you thought you were safe, he
would break out the B-52's. Hans is survived by his
wife (location unknown) and a teenage daughter. Angels Bar is
having a fund raiser for his daughter this week. |
| BARRY EDWARDS
CASE DISMISSED |
| |
I was surprised in mid-September to see a news report on
the TV in Ireland about the case against Barry Edwards being dismissed.
I was more surprised that many people in Angeles City hadn't heard this
news that was rebroadcast half a world away almost every hour, all day
long.
RETIRED math teacher Barry Edwards has walked
free from court in the Philippines, despite local police
claiming they had video evidence of him abusing children.
Police said they found Edwards in his bedroom with a 14-year-old
girl and claim in his possession was a box of photographs and
videos of him abusing underage girls.
Some of the video footage was even aired on television in the
Philippines. The trial collapsed after a key witness
failed to turn up to the trial, and video evidence was not
submitted by the prosecution. Edwards was tracked down by
anti-pedophile campaigner Father Shay Cullen, who claimed he had
to pay police to assist him. Edwards denies the charges
against him and says he has been framed by the police. |
| As of mid-September 2006, all charges against
Barry have been dismissed. Barry has rarely commented on
the case publicly, on the advice of his lawyers, since
several of the interviews he did grant to various media outlets
(BBC, Reuters, GMA-7 TV) were heavily edited and presented a
rather biased, sensationalist point-of-view. |
| The info below was originally post by Big Al on
an adult members site ............
On 11 October Barry gave a copy of the comments below.
Here, then, are Barry's own comments and replies
(in brackets, [ ]) to some
of the statements and accusations that, to date, have gone
unanswered and uncontested:
__________________________________________________________________
(1) On 24 July 2003, Barry Edwards trawled the bars on Fields
looking for under-age girls [BE had not
been to a bar for three days]
(2) He took three girls back to his hotel [Around
4 pm, three girls knocked on his apartment door, uninvited and
unexpected. Two of them, E and R, he knew slightly as well-known
street (that is, not from the bar) prostitutes. The third girl,
M, he had never seen before. All three have since become
notorious for set-ups]
(3) He raped M while E and R waited in another room for their
turn to be raped [E and R
asked him to give M money for sex. He said no but after a
hard-luck story agreed to talk to her. E and R waited outside
(below) with the police.]
(4) The police caught him in bed with M, aged 14. [After
only about 5 minutes, he answered a knock and stepped outside,
fully clothed, onto the walkway, where squatted R. Two men in
ordinary clothes jumped on him from behind the door. He threw
them off and called out for security. A third man, also in
ordinary clothes, put his gun to BE's head and said "Let us
in or I'll kill you." A dozen hotel staff finishing duty
witnessed this from below.]
(5) A sex video featuring the girl E was showing "in plain
view on a TV" [A
complete invention and a coincidence worthy of Doctor Zhivago
and a belief in fairies.]
(6) Many "sex videos" were found in the apartment
[The police, who had not announced themselves as such and forgot
in their excitement to arrest BE, had no arrest warrant and no
search warrant. Many things were stolen from the apartment, such
as TVs, a DVD player, a very pornographic electric fan (which
even appears on the official list!) shoes and clothes (some of
which were given to the girls!) through to about 200 pounds in
cash (which strangely did not appear on the list).]
(7) BE was the center of a gang supplying Europe with "sex
videos" [A fantasy
from a repressed mind. Tens of thousands of people around the
world make films of their love-making with a consensual partner.
These are private and nobody else's business.]
(8) Thousands of "pornographic" photos of women were
found. [Many normal
remembrance photos were stolen. Millions of people around the
world take glamour photos of willing models. Normal heterosexual
men get pleasure from seeing an attractive female body nude. It
is not "dirty" and no big deal. When private it is,
again, nobody else's business; when commercial, such
things are freely available in supermarkets and other places in
the Philippines, where there is, in fact, no legal definition of
"pornography".]
(9) BE faced charges of Pedophilia [The
three charges were of rape (which then carried the death
penalty) with all three girls, on separate occasions. They were
dismissed at preliminary hearing. This was because the charges
were preposterous, and there was no evidence of rape nor
interest (by the girls) in pursuing them.]
(10) BE escaped justice by bribing the police to drop the case.
[It was not an option for the police;
the case was in court! In fact, soon after the dismissals, they
were so frustrated that they raised new charges, using the
same incident and personnel, completely at the other end of the
scale. These were of "being in the company of a
minor...in a public or private place" (amazing that such a
bad law--Political Correctness gone mad, since its only logic is
the presumption of an intended crime in a person's head--can
exist) and "showing pornography to minors".
Unlike rape charges, these are bailable.]
(11) He then ran away and hid. [BE
lived openly in Puerta Galera for ten months and visited Angeles
several times.]
(12) Expeditions to Palawan and Boracay failed to find him.
[A simple message to his lawyer that new charges were extant was
all that was needed for him to report to the Court.]
(13) A dramatic operation by fearless channel GMA 7, re-arrested
him. [Melodramatic,
unnecessary, and a waste of public money, but providing scenic
footage for TV.]
(14) The last trial ended in a fiasco of provisional dismissal
of all three charges on 14 September 2006.
[It was the Prosecution case that was a fiasco. From June 2004
to September 2006 there were 42 Hearings over 27 months, all of
which BE attended.
At only 3 did any business take place--the central witness, M,
twice gave evidence for 5 minutes: it was so confused and
contradictory (and obviously coached) that the judge ordered a
site inspection of the apartment. It took 8 attempts to do this.
Later, M repeatedly failed to turn up and her supposed mother
told the court that she did not want to testify. She was at this
time operating openly as a pick-up girl around Santos Street and
twice stayed at BE's hotel with different men. The judge had the
three policemen subpoenaed to give evidence, but three times
they too failed to appear.] |
Additionally, Barry had this to say:
Eventually, the judge announced that
the defendant too had rights, including that of a speedy trial.
It was clear that the prosecution had nothing to offer.
These set-ups are regular occurrences in Angeles but they are
not intended to appear in the media or become trials. The
foreigner victim, once a girl is inveigled into his room, is
expected to open the door in a towel then, when told he is
trouble, to hand over P50,000 or so and quietly leave the
country. This one seems to have been bungled and the
victim (BE) stood up to it.
He is still doing so despite a "Trial by Media" which
is no less than a perversion of justice and a contempt for the
Judicial Process.
How can it be lawful to hand over alleged evidence--illegally
obtained-- to TV channels and NGOs who have nothing to do with
the proceedings beyond their presumptuous, arrogant, bigoted and
self-appointed importance?
This pressure on the Court is a
ghastly and ugly mixture of political correctness, malice,
sanctimonious prurience and sensationalism, in order to push
political agendas and gain a gullible audience. Fair-minded
people should oppose it and support due process.
|
The management of Margarita Station has no opinion about
whether Barry was or was not guilty. No one here knew Barry more
than to see him in passing. Throughout the course of this case there have
been many rumors. BUT, Angeles City seems to thrive on rumors.
We absolutely do not condone pedophilia. That said, here are a few more
links to other stories about Barry Edwards arrest & trial.
http://www.preda.org/work/resolution/invest-pedo-sus.htm
http://www.inq7.net/reg/2004/jun/20/reg_2-1.htm
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/121790/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060913/wl_nm/crime_philippines_dc_1
http://www.preda.org/archives/2004/r04061801.html
|
