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Angeles City news
From THEVILLE
Nov 2006 |
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| Around the Clubs |
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- FIRE & ICE
will open in a few days. It will replace the Limited
Edition club. Limited Edition Hotel will remain open with
the same name.
- TOP HAT
continues to be one of the better Perimeter Road clubs.
They open early in the afternoon, but the main group of staff
start at 5 pm.
- THE GENTLEMAN'S CLUB
is another popular spot on Perimeter Road. Now with over
30 dancers starting at 3 pm, you need to be there before 3:10 to
get a good seat. After that you will be stuck in the corner
where the dancers get dressed!
- INSOMNIA
remains one of my favorites. They have the biggest drink
glasses of any where in town. And the drink is always
mixed to perfection. So many clubs in town pour warm Diet
Coke into a glass of ice causing it to go flat, or worse yet
they use the leftover from a can they opened yesterday!
None of that here. Fresh "Ice cold" mixers and a huge rock
glass.
- HONEY KO's
on Perimeter opens at 3 pm and is usually packed with the
local EXPATS for the first 3-4 hours.
- BEDROCK
is a overlooked club on Fields Ave. Since it has been
taken over by the Blue Nile Group (Technically Asian Fields) it
has a great line up. Now if we could just get them to open
early afternoons when small intimate clubs like this are much
nicer than the stadium sized Nero's.
- GECKO's
bar has a new look from the street. Nice Job Angelo. And,
for those of you that haven't been inside, they have one of the
largest lineups of any small bar in town.
- DMZ.
Last month I announced that the DMZ was for sale for $500,000.
Shortly after that there were signs of renovations. Rumors
of a sale were flourishing. But, it appears that Tick is
just sprucing the place up to try and get his price from a
prospective buyer.
- LOST IN ASIA
opened near the Clarkton last month. Time will tell
if this club can survive with a 5 pm opening so far down the road
from the entertainment area.
The few times I was in there since it opened I saw lots of customers disguised as
empty seats. Roadie's Truck Stop opening next door should bring
more customers into the area soon. I'll bet the opening time is
moved up in the next few months.
- ROADIE'S TRUCK STOP Roadslut & Joe Kerr (aka Greg from Blue Fox) have
teamed up and are building a bar next to Lost in Asia.
This new club should open in December or early January.
Rumor is there will be no barfines or EWR's! But, they may
have "body guards" available for hire.
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| FIELDS AVE BARRIERS |
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In mid October the city decided to put up
barricades to prevent traffic from entering lower Fields Ave (Mac
Arthur Highway to the intersection just before Margarita Station). For
years the clubs have asked for this area to be made into a walking
street, but the 24-hour no entry caused problems for many of the
businesses inside the barricaded area (everything from ice
deliveries to guys trying to check into hotels became a new
logistics problem). Within a short period the barricades were
moved back two block from the north so only the heart of Fields Ave
(Mac Arthur Highway to Sub Delicious & south to Wild Orchid) was a no traffic area. When questioned, some city officials
said it was due to a terrorist threat and the closure was directed
by officials in Manila. Impossible to believe that the
businesses on Santos Street and Real Street are in danger of a
terrorist threat, but places like the Roadhouse, Sub Delicious,
Alaska Club, Insomnia & Margarita Station are in no danger! At the
last meeting with the city (Thursday), the city officials said the
barricades would not be removed until a new mayor was in office (May
2007). At that, The Orchid Inn walked out of the meeting
and said it was withdrawing from the ACTA (Angeles City Tourist
Association). Three more major
bar groups also announced they would withdraw from ACTA. Unless the
situation is resolved, this will mean the end of the Tourist Police
(and a significant step back for Angeles City Tourism)
as The Orchid Inn paid a large monthly sum to support the Tourist
Police.
News clipping #1
News clipping
#2
| NOTE: Some versions of Windows will reduce
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Put your mouse in lower right corner of image and when
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With all the above to consider, the
rumors "the barricades will come down today" has been
stated by different EXPATS "in the know" every day for over a week.
Now, they say the barricades will come down and they will turn lower
Fields into a one way street! Boy that will trick those
terrorists!
EDITORS NOTE: Terrorism is a serious thing in
our current time. But, just like you don't say things like "bomb" on
an airplane, individuals, especially government officials should
never say there is a terrorist threat when they are really trying to
accomplish some obscure political agenda. The whole Fields Ave
barricades episode just doesn't stand up to an effort to prevent a
terrorist incident. Under pressure from trike drivers and
businesses the original "protected area" was quickly reduced by
about 50%. Margarita Station, undisputedly one of the biggest
and busiest establishments on the strip, was never in the protected
area (even when it was full of US Marines the day after the
barricades were installed). Hopefully, someday we will learn
the real reason for the barricades. A walking street would be
nice for tourism, but even in places where it is successful (like
Pattaya) the street closure is only during peak nighttime hours. The
street is open in the day time so establishments can be serviced. |
| TRICARE FRAUD IN THE PHILIPPINES |
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Who could have guessed? Well, that is
simple. The answer is "Every retiree that was using Health Visions!"
They all knew they were required by law to pay a percentage of the
bill, but Health Visions paid 100% just to get their claim. I
voiced my concerns about Health Visions and PIH when they opened and
other individuals disagreed with me and continued to sign their
bills. The US Government is now going after
the director of Health Visions. Wonder if the next step will be to
make all the retirees pay 25% of the inflated claims submitted by
PIH and Health Visions?
October 18, 2006
Peter M. Jarosz
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Madison, Wisconsin – Erik C. Peterson, United States
Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin,
announced the unsealing of a seventy-five count
indictment yesterday charging Thomas Arthur Lutz, DOB
04/24/1967, of Olongapo City, Republic of the
Philippines, and the Health Visions Corporation, a
Philippine corporation, with defraudingthe federal
TRICARE program.
The indictment had been previously returned by a federal
grand jury sitting in Madison on July 13, 2005, and was
unsealed in conjunction with the appearance of Lutz in
Guam, after his arrest in the Republic of the
Philippines.
TRICARE, formerly known as CHAMPUS, is the Department of
Defense's worldwide health care program for active duty
and retired uniformed services members and their
families.
According to the indictment, between October 1, 1998 and
August, 2004, Lutz and the Health Visions Corporation
devised a scheme to defraud the federal TRICARE program.
Specifically, as part of the scheme, Lutz on behalf of
the Health Visions Corporation entered into a kickback
agreement with a medical provider in the Philippines in
which the provider, at the request of Lutz, paid 50% of
the amount of the bills for medical services rendered to
TRICARE patients referred by Health Visions back to the
corporation.
In addition, Health Visions and Lutz inflated the bills
of other providers by one hundred percent or more before
submitting the bills for payment by the United States
Government.
The defendants also created a sham insurance program to
circumvent TRICARE's requirement that beneficiaries pay
a deductible and cost share, and they also submitted
fictitious and fraudulent TRICARE claims falsely
claiming that beneficiaries had been hospitalized and
had been rendered services when, in fact, they had not.
The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than
$900,000 owed to the government.
Lutz and Health Visions Corporation are specifically
charged with 32 counts of mail fraud, 41 counts of
filing a false claim, one count of conspiracy to violate
the laws of the United States, and the forfeiture count.
If Lutz is convicted, each violation of the mail fraud
statute carries a maximum sentence of twenty years
imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy and
false claim counts each carry a maximum sentence of five
years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
The Health Visions Corporation, if convicted, is subject
to a fine on each count of conviction of $500,000, or,
in the alternative, potentially two times the amount of
gain to the defendant or two times the loss to the
government.
The charges were the result of an investigation by the
Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the Department
of Defense's Office of Inspector General, the Naval
Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.
The charges were brought in the Western District of
Wisconsin because Wisconsin Physicians Service, the
fiscal intermediary which processed and paid these
alleged fraudulent claims, is located in Madison,
Wisconsin which is in the Western District of Wisconsin.
The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Peter M. Jarosz and Daniel J. Graber.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation
and that a defendants are presumed innocent until and
unless proven guilty. |
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| RIP Sadly we lost two
long term EXPATS from the Angeles Community this month. |
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[I covered this briefly in last
months newsletter, but I wanted to mention it again with
several photos of Hans] Hans Braun died this month from
respiratory problems. He knew he was ill and did
as many Angeles EXPATS do, he waited too long to head for
the hospital. Hans was an AC landmark. He had
worked in many clubs including Cleopatra, Kitten Club,
Viper, Angeles and many more. The only "papasan"
that would often buy a ladies drink to introduce me to
some new girl in his club. And anyone that met
Hans will remember how he loved to shout a round of
those B-52's! I've personally lost a good friend.
I'll miss his gravelly voice greeting me and his
mischievous smile as he ordered yet another round of
B-52's. |
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| Another long time EXPAT,
Gary Wiley, known on the various Angeles Boards as Vegas
Gary died on 23 October from liver problems. As
with Hans, Gary knew he was ill and refused to see
medical assistance. Reportedly his girlfriend
called an ambulance and he refused to get in the
ambulance and go to the hospital. |
Sadly
both of these EXPATS fit into a too common Angeles city
EXPAT mold:
- They died way too young
- They ignored their health.
Hans had asthma and yet he chain smoked (not to
mention he could drink most of us under the table)
and Gary drank heavy despite knowing he had liver
problems.
- Both waited too long to seek
medical attention.
- Both left behind loved ones with
no means of support. Hans had a teenage
daughter and Gary had a long term girlfriend
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| NEWS CLIPPINGS -- Thanks
Rick. If you see a good news article, send it to
manager@theville.com |
Pride & dignity in the dump |
Now illegal for Philippine businesses to charge extra if
you use a credit card! |
Another new mall to be built in Angeles |
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Previous
newsletters are still available at
http://www.margarita-station.com/letters.html
The index contains some
police/crime articles not in the recent newsletters
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Last
month I had a note that the new Pacific Breeze Hotel
would open their main building (56 rooms) on 1 Dec.
I'm happy to report that it is on track and they are now
accepting reservations through our office
