High court orders freeze
on Parque Baulas building


The Sala IV constitutional court has ordered a halt to construction in the vicinity of the Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas and has annulled the environmental permits issued on properties there.

The court also ordered the Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicacion to continue with the expropriation of property there.

In addition, the court ordered a detailed study of the conditions in the area which seem to extend beyond the park and its 500-meter buffer zone. The Poder Judicial released the decision Wednesday.

The park on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula has been controversial. The government has failed to expropriate all the land for the park and development has continued. Land boundaries have been disputed.

The court was responding to an appeal filed by a woman identified by the last names of Padilla Gutiérrez and others.

The court also ordered the Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental not to issue any more environmental viability permits on properties inside the park. Such permits are required for construction.

The Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental, its parent ministry, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados and the municipalities of Santa Cruz, Nandayure, Hojancha, Nicoya and Carrillo were ordered to do the impact study. They were told to look at the impact of construction and tourism and urban development in the park's buffer zone and develop measures to evaluate if more expropriations are needed.

They were told to look at the impact of noise, the lights, the use of water by humans, sewage and the presence of humans on the entire ecosystem of the area and also on the leatherback turtles that nest there. The court set a deadline of six months for the study. The freezing of permits and construction is to last at least until the study is done. The Contraloría General de la República also has asked to investigate the case.

Passport file snooper
admits his guilt in court


A second former State Department employee pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally accessing hundreds of confidential passport application files, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The ex-employee, Dwayne F. Cross, 41, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C., to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized computer access.

According to court documents, from August 2001 through February 2008, Cross served as an administrative assistant in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Overseas Citizens Services, Children's Issues at the State Department. He returned to the State Department in March 2008 as a contract employee working as a contract specialist for the acquisitions office.

According to information contained in plea documents, Cross admitted he had access to official State Department computer databases in the regular course of his employment, including the Passport Information Electronic Records System, which contains, among other data, all imaged passport applications dating back to 1994. The imaged passport applications contain, among other things, a photograph of the passport applicant as well as certain personal information including the applicant’s full name, date and place of birth, current address, telephone numbers, parent information, spouse’s name and emergency contact information.

These confidential files are protected by the Privacy Act of 1974, and access by State Department employees is strictly limited to official government duties, the Justice Department said.

In pleading guilty, Cross admitted that between January 2002 and August 2007, he logged onto the database and viewed the passport applications of more than 150 celebrities, actors, musicians, comedians, models, politicians, athletes, members of the media, family members, friends, associates and other individuals. Cross admitted that he had no official government reason to access and view these passport applications, but that his sole purpose in accessing and viewing these passport applications was idle curiosity, the Justice Department said.

Cross is the second former State Department employee to plead guilty in this continuing investigation. On Sept. 22, Lawrence C. Yontz, a former Foreign Service officer and intelligence analyst pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing hundreds of confidential passport files. Yontz was sentenced Dec. 19 to 12 months of probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. Sentencing for Cross is scheduled for March 23.

Public salaries going up


Public employees will be getting a 6.9 percent pay raise for the first half of 2009. The increase was set by an agency in the Ministerio de Trabajo, and officials said the raise reflects the increase in the consumer price index.

Private employees already have gotten a 7 percent increase in their minimum salaries, an increase that takes effect with the first paycheck of the year Thursday.

Escapee finally detained


A murderer who escaped from the Tribunal de Heredia on the day he was to be sentenced finally was arrested Wednesday. He is Michael Rafael Aburto Hernández.

He was arrested in a slaughter house in Los Sauces, Guararí, Heredia, where he fled when confronted by police. He escaped a month ago.