POLLENSA
T HE Guillem Cifre de Colonya secondary school; the Port of Pollensa college; and the Joan Mas public school are to have security cameras installed to keep a watch on any acts of vandalism perpetrated outside school hours.

The Education and Citizen Safety departments at Pollensa Town Council which will begin work on installing the cameras over the next few days, intend that such a measure will enable authorities to focus on and control such acts which have been damaging the premises.

The system will also serve to reinforce the work being carried out by police education officer Rafael Covas who is anxious to avert any illegal activity on school grounds in the district.

The cameras are connected to the central police station and will only be switched on when there are no students in class. However, those which are installed out on the public road will be operating permanently.

School and health centre

MARIA DE LA SALUT
THE new municipal school and health centre in Maria de la Salut are coming closer to reality. The Town Council has reached an agreement with the owners of land situated in the Es Clot den Mayol area, in front of the post office, where both the school and the health centre are now scheduled to be built.

Refrigeration facility

VILAFRANCA
THE cemetery in Vilafranca is shortly to be given its first refrigeration facility. The installations, which are necessary at any morgue, have long been called for by local residents and the ruling Majorcan Socialist Party in Vilafranca who have twice made application to the Council of Majorca.

The cold store never materialised however, so now the Town Council has allocated 7'000 euros to cover istallation costs. The old part of the cemetery is suffering from a number of deficiencies which have to be rectified.

Economic Crisis

MANCOMUNITAT DEL PLA
THE Council of Majorca is to collaborate with the Mancomunitat (combined districts) of the Pla (plain) of Majorca on social service issues so that the group will have a chance to overcome its current economic crisis.

Financial difficulties have resulted in some of the mayors of the districts falling within the Mancomunitat, suggesting that the group be dissolved. They claim that the contributions they have to make as individual districts to the Mancomunitat are simply too high.

The president of the Mancomunitat and mayor of Llubí, Tomas Campaner, announced two weeks ago that the deficit which the group is now facing is running at 430'000 euros. He said that a study will have to be made of which services can feasibly be maintained and what should be left out.

On Friday, a group of mayors from the Pla met up with Antoni Serra, director of the Institute of the Council of Majorca to discuss the position. Following the meeting, Serra declared that “the Council would help the Mancomunitat in all essential aspects, as it is the users that matter. Financial help for Social Services will be provided”.

New education centre

SANTANYI
THE first school for infant and primary education in Calonge will be up and running by the start of the 2006-2007 academic year.
This is the intention of Santanyi Town Council who presented the project at the end of last week along with the Chief director and other senior figures of the Balearic Institute of Educational and Cultural Services (Ibisec).

The future school is to be located on 2'600 square metres of municipal ground located behind the building housing the Calonge Pensioners Club.
The budget for completion of the works stands at more than a million euros which will be paid by the regional ministry of Education and Culture.
Live demonstration

SA POBLA
THE Tardor Fair in sa Pobla which is being held this coming weekend, is including a brand new feature: a live recreation of the traditional Majorcan matances or (licenced) “pig killing”. This is a social event, held in the country which brings together friends and families to help process the meat of the slaughtered pig into black puddings (butiferones), Majorcan sausage (sobrasada) and other cuts of meat. The recreation, in which the slaughter itself will not be practiced in public, is a homage to those who have kept the tradition going over the years.