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Seven days after the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) unveiled the Trafigura Beheer scandal involving a $31 million transaction between the governing People's National Party (PNP) and the Dutch oil trading company, the Office of the Contractor General has launched an investigation into the Trafigura contract. In a letter dated October 9 to Phillip Paulwell, the Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Contractor General Greg Christie said in light of significant public interest in the Trafigura affair, he would now be initiating a formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the award of a contract by the Government to the Dutch firm. The Trafigura debacle has so far resulted in the resignation of Colin Campbell, Information and Development Minister and PNP general secretary.
PASCAGOULA, Miss. A Florida contractor is facing an embezzlement charge stemming from a hurricane restoration project. 55-year-old Don Gene Clemons of Pensacola, was being held today (Thursday) on 50-thousand dollars bond in the Jackson County jail. The sheriff's department says Clemons allegedly entered into a contract with Jackson County homeowners and was advanced 45-thousand dollars to rebuild a home after it was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The contract was drawn up in September 2005 and work was to start immediately. On March 29th, the homeowners filed a report with the sheriff's department alleging embezzlement. Clemons was arrested in Florida on an outstanding warrant and extradited to Mississippi. Copyright 2006 Associated Press.
Q: I have a property in Santa Venicia. I want to build a second unit on the property and was wondering if you could recommend any contractors for this project. - C.A. A: At work my husband is in upper management, but at home, he actually enjoys landscaping and home-improvement projects. Whenever I need a contractor, I just ask him. Planning consultant Carol Whitmire provides this information. "Your property is under the jurisdiction of the county of Marin. You should visit the planning and building departments first. In any jurisdiction in Marin, a second unit requires a second-unit permit, which is a planning permit. Subsequent to the planning permit, you will need a building permit, including plumbing, electric, etc. In the county, you may also need a septic permit, although I think Santa Venicia is sewered.
HUNTINGTON BEACH Negotiations have crumbled in a lawsuit challenging a city ordinance that could force mobile home park owners to pay residents millions of dollars if they shut down their parks. Mayor Dave Sullivan on Monday night told a crowd of mobile home residents that the city would defend the law in court. "I'm just about tickled speechless," mobile home resident Steve Gullage, 54, said at the City Council meeting. "There are parks all over the state that are going to be affected by this council," said Gullage, president of the Huntington Beach Mobile Home Association. "If we are successful, similar ordinances will be sprouting up all over the state." Owners of three area mobile home parks are among a group that sued the city in June -- less than two years after the law was adopted to protect the city's roughly 6,000 mobile home residents and to preserve the 17 mobile home parks as low-cost housing.
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