Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/641079
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2016 7 News After 11 months of silence, a derailed chaotic taped meeting run by the Honorary President of the Royal Malta Yacht Club, Mr John Ripard Sr. discussing with a normal full paying frustrated member, who has repeatedly tried to communicate the grave incident committed by a previous long standing Commodore, who physically assaulted and spat on various members, and who consequently has been protected by the Executive Committee, which did not find the incident strong enough to warrant the invocation of the disciplinary clause 10.2 of the statutes, which warrants expulsion from the club. Now, the executive Committee of the Club does find that the member that brought the complaint forward, does merit the application of clause 10.2 on to him and have asked him to render his resignation as a member of the RMYC, which will not happen. This, in my view, is a very strange interpretation and rather than sanctioning the culprit of the original and very grave incident, the Committee decided to act in their own interest rather than in the interest of the Club and its members. This is a very decadent dictatorship revealing style in the way the Royal Malta Yacht Club treats its members who rightly dare to complain about other members showing abhorrent behaviour in a totally unacceptable way, which in this case refers to no other than the clubs previous Commodore, Mr Georges Bonello Dupuis. The clubs Honorary President and the executive Committee interpretation of the clubs statutes in their own interest rather than in the members interest, and the incompetence to inform their members in a timely and truthful manner is only damaging the clubs reputation and image. Nothing Royal about the behaviour of the clubs authorities! Actually, quite pitiful and disgraceful. Following is the threatening last letter sent to a full club paying member, that clearly shows the RMYC, UN BEFITTING BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDE. Carlos Noriega Notice for Royal Malta yacht club members This is a paid advert The government is planning to 'tweak' boundaries without extending the total area of development zones simply by swapping public land which is presently within development zones for private land parcels which are presently outside the zones, ODZ. But will it risk doing so before the next general election? asks James Debono But is there enough land? But it remains doubtful wheth- er there are enough publicly owned ODZ lands to offset the demands made by landowners to have their land included in development schemes. This may be one of the unofficial reasons why the completion of the new local plans has been postponed. Last Sunday MaltaToday re- vealed that MEPA has postponed to a later date, which is yet to be announced, the presentation of local plans which was due last year. According to MEPA, the Local Plan Review process is still on- going and "considering the scale of the exercise and the complex- ity of the issues involved, no fixed date has been set for its completion". It is doubtful whether the new local plans, which will include the tweaked boundaries and the zoning and height limitations in the various localities, will be in place by the next general elec- tion. For the new local plans will effectively re-open a Pandora's box, resulting in more intense media scrutiny on the benefici- aries of the new local plans. It could all be attributed to Machiavelli: the promise of in- clusion in tweaked boundaries after the next election may be enough to secure the vote and backing of the land owners who may benefit from the ODZ swap. parenting courses for separated couples The Labour Whip later told MaltaToday that the country must tackle the reality of moth- ers falsely registering their chil- dren's fathers as anonymous, so as to claim social benefits appli- cable for single mothers. He warned that separating couples also abuse the marriage system – when the main bread- winner refuses to cough up maintenance to the ex-spouse, and when couples separate on paper but still live together so as to claim social benefits. He added that some parents are abusing the milk grant – the social assistance due to moth- ers on the poverty line whose babies require weaning or who cannot breastfeed for medical reasons. "Some of these beneficiaries are obtaining milk from other sources and using the milk grant money on other items," he said, while calling for the grant to be replaced by a voucher sys- tem. Farrugia was recently elected chairperson of the family affairs standing committee, succeed- ing Deborah Schembri follow- ing her appointment as parlia- mentary secretary for planning. During his adjournment com- ments, he said he intends to convene committee meetings to discuss these and other parent- ing issues with experts in the field, with the intention of pro- posing legislation in the House.