MONDAY, March 21st: CONTROVERSY ABOUT WINE STAND IN TRIER
Wine Stand on the Trier Main Market Square – Is that Still „Culture“ or Just Binge-Drinking?
TRIER. „Is there gonna be an inner city Volksfest every weekend now?“ a reader says with regard to the situation on the Main Market Square (Hauptmarkt) in Trier last weekend. Last Friday, March 18th, the traditional wine stand reopened on the Hauptmarkt (see here). More than 600 people seized the moment, partying and enjoying the beautiful weather as well as the return of the wine stand, which enjoys cult status among many Trier residents. But while many enjoyed the party, there is also criticism.
The wine stand was a place for exchange between residents and visitors, Norbert Käthler, director of the Trier Tourism and Marketing Company, declared at the opening on Friday. But the alleged „exchange between residents and visitors“ is not equally welcomed by all Trier residents.
Exchange Between Residents and Visitors or Simply a Huge „Boozer Party?“
„In my mind, what you saw at the opening of the wine stand on the Main Market Square this weekend has nothing to do with ‚culture and exchange between resident and visitors‘ – binge-drinking by residents is more what it was,“ writes one Lokalo reader, adding: „On Friday and Saturday evening, the Main Market Square resembled a battlefield of empty bottles, wine glasses and other garbage – including ‚visitors‘ urinating out in the open!“
„If this is supposed to be one of the figureheads of the City of Trier, I’m embarrassed vis-à-vis the ‚visitors‘ coming to see our beautiful city. How does this ‚boozer party‘ lead to an exchange?“, another reader comments on social media.
Restrooms Rented Out Again, Starting April 1st
As a matter of fact, there don’t seem to be enough restrooms available – the public restrooms on the Main Market Square were closed on the opening weekend. And that’s going to change in March. The city started looking for a new leaseholder for the restrooms in February – and found one.
„A new leaseholder has been found by now. The lease begins on April 1st. From that point on, the restrooms are going to be open again,“ explains Michael Schmitz, spokesman for the City of Trier, upon request by Lokalo. For the time being, people would have to use the restrooms of a neighbouring fast food restaurant, which has an agreement with the wine stand. At least in theory that’s what people are supposed to do.
Wanna read it in German? Click here.
+++
TUESDAY, March 22nd: TRAGIC ACCIDENT IN MAINZ
Three Year Old Girl Dies in Severe Traffic Accident
A child, accompanied by her mother, crosses a road in the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, gets hit by a car and dies. Police and prosecutors are investigating the accident.
MAINZ. A three year old child lost her life in a severe traffic accident in downtown Mainz on Tuesday.
The girl crossed the road at a traffic light on her balance bike when she was hit by a car turning right, a police spokesperson said. The girl suffered severe injuries and died on the site of the accident, just a little later. She had been with her mother at the time of the accident, according to the police. Several news outlets reported on the incident.
The site was closed for three hours, screened from the eyes of potential onlookers. Relatives of the child as well as the 63 year old driver of the car were taken care of by a pastor. The Prosecutor’s Department of the City of Mainz had the car and the balance bike seized and had an authorized expert come to the site to investigate the cause. For documentation purposes, a drone was used.
Wanna read it in German? Click here..
+++
WEDNESDAY, March 23rd: SMALL VILLAGE DEFIES FISCAL AUTHORITIES
Tax Dispute About Suspension Bridge „Geierlay“: Village in the Hunsrück Mountains Defeats Fiscal Authorities in Court
MÖRSDORF. The suspension bridge Geierlay, dithering high above the valley of a stream, is a honeypot. The small village of Mörsdorf has now won a court trial concerning the bridge at the federal level.
The suspension bridge Geierlay in the Hunsrück mountains attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year – now the local village of Mörsdorf has largely won a trial at the Federal Finance Court concerning parking fees. The village of 600 residents is now expecting to get back 300.000 Euros in taxes, as Mayor Marcus Kirchhoff explained to the German Press Agency. Great for a new kindergarten, great for the valorization of a new building zone. The Geierlay is a pedestrian bridge over the deep valley of a stream.
According to the ruling, the community may deduct value added tax on input from the sales tax on the fees it generates with a parking lot built specifically for visitors to the bridge (file number XI R 10/21).
The revenue office had only allowed the deduction for the construction costs of the parking lot: The costs incurred for the Geierlay itself and the visitors’ center were not directly related to the parking fees, the office argued.
The Finance Court of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, however, did see a relation between the ‚turnover‘ for the building of the bridge and the ‚turnover‘ of parking fees generated by visitors. Before the bridge was built, the village ‚lacked tourist attractions,‘ for which visitors would have paid parking fees, according to the court. That changed when the much-visited suspension bridge opened in 2015, the state court argued.
The Federal Finance Court in Munich now by and large followed that line of reasoning, after the finance authorities’ appeal. Only a minor detail was referred back to the state court for decision. It concerns the former parking lot for busses in Mörsdorf, which used to be free of charge for day visitors but isn’t anymore. According to Mayor Kirchhoff, however, this detail concerns only about five to ten percent of the sum in question.
The village of Mörsdorf claims to have taken in roughly 700.000 Euros in parking fees in each of the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, while at the same time having to pay for security personnel to channel the visitors in a way consistent with Covid restrictions. For the time being, the Geierlay, surrounded by a fence, is only open on Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – without a mask mandate, but under the so-called 3G rule (admission only for people fully vaccinated, convalesced or tested negative) and with a two Euro entrance fee.
Wanna read it in German? Click here.
+++
THURSDAY, March 24th: FORMER CABINET SECRETARY ATTACKS MINISTER-PRESIDENT
Because of Revoked Pension – Convicted Former Finance Minister Deubel Attacks Minister-president Dreyer
MAINZ. The former Finance Minister of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Ingolf Deubel, has attacked Minister-president Malu Dreyer (both Social Democrats/SPD) personally in an interview with the weekly newspaper „Die Zeit.“ „Malu Dreyer tried in September 2020 to take away my pension,“ Deubel told Die Zeit“ in the issue published today. „That was the foulest play in all these years.“
The former minister, who was convicted of embezzlement and false testimony and sentenced to time in prison, said that he assumed that he could keep his monthly pension of 7.000 Euros net. But an employee of the State Chancellery told him over the phone that Dreyer and the head of her State Chancellery, Clemens Hoch (Social Democrats/SPD), had decided to revoke his pension.
„Quite obviously, Malu Dreyer wanted to throw me under the bus so as to not endanger her reelection campaign,“ Deubel told „Die Zeit.“ „I got angry: Malu, you stop at nothing! Three days later, the pension was gone.“
The State Chancellery told the German Press Agency upon request that in the spring of 2020, the department in charge had reached the conclusion that Deubels conviction had no bearing on his pension. However, the State Office of Finances, under whose authority the matter fell, came to the conclusion that Deubel was to lose his pension when the verdict became final. This conclusion concurred with the contents of the decision of the State Court Koblenz as well es the Federal Court and was confirmed by the court of first instance, also in Koblenz. „That is the only reason the payments stopped,“ according to the State Chancellery.
In early 2020 the State Court Koblenz had sentenced Deubel to two years and three months in prison. In 2009, his pet project of private investments for the upgrading of the Nürburgring racetrack had failed spectacularly. It sunk 330 million Euros in costs. When no investor was found, the State of Rhineland-Palatinate had to bail the racetrack out. Deubel stepped down.
According to a verdict by the Higher Administrative Court Koblenz, Deubel is allowed to keep his pension for the time being. The former politician had not lost his privileges as a retired civil servant until the end go the main proceedings. In its decision, the court pointed to the fact, that the law makes a distinction between crimes committed by civil servants while on active duty and while in retirement.
Prison sentences could therefore not be added up, the Higher Administrative Court declared, thus nullifying an earlier decision by the Administrative Court. Deubel hat been sentenced to 16 months for false testimony committed after retirement, a sentence that stayed below the two year threshold for crimes committed in retirement.
Wanna read it in German? Click here.
+++
FRIDAY, March 25th: BOY HERO COURAGEOUSLY PUTS OUT WILDFIRE
Rubber Boots Instead of Fire Hose: 12 Year Old Boy Puts Out Fire in Trier!
TRIER. Even the professionals of the Trier Fire Department were amazed: This Friday afternoon, at 3.45 p.m., the firemen of Firehouse 1 received an emergency call. The caller said that passers-by had seen smoke rising an a hillside over the exhibition center at the banks of the river Mosel in Trier-West. A little later, another emergency call came in, reporting „burning forest soil“ – a highly dangerous occurrence, given the present dry weather.
With a fire truck, a suporting fire truck and a truck equipped with fire extinguishing powder, the firemen immediately began their search for the seat of fire in the surroundings of the Irrelbach stream. Since the area is partially very hard to access, they approached it from two directions, from Trier-West and the Markusberg mountain. They swiftly found the sport, at which roughly 100 square meters of vegetation has been on fire – and they had to learn that they were too late, despite sirens and flashing blue lights. „When we reached the site of the fire, it was already under control and mostly put out,“ says Christoph Reuter of the Trier Fire Department, who was the officer-in-charge.
Twelve year old Frederick, who had been strolling around the area, had also noticed the fire and had acted immediately, while the person accompanying him had called the fire department. „He ran to the next water source, took off his rubber boots, filled them with water and started to fight the fire right away.“ He continued to do so until he brought the fire under control. „All we had to do was put out some minor seats of fire and secure the site,“ the surprised officer-in-charge explained. The firemen conducted the dampening-down operations side by side with Frederick, who was equipped with the proper gear for the task.
„After all, he has proven to be a professional himself,“ says Reuter, who praises the level-headed and sober-minded actions of the boy. „He put neither himself nor others in danger and possibly prevented worse by using the means at his disposal.“
The Fire Department points out, that vegetation and forest fires can be very dangerous in the present dry weather. Should you see a fire, please call the Fire Department’s emergency hotline unter 112; if you attempt to put out the fire yourself, take care not to put yourself in danger.
Wanna read it in German? Click here.
+++
SATURDAY, March 26th: COVID PROTEST IN BITBURG
Covid Protest in Bitburg: Police Takes Stock
BITBURG. According to the Bitburg Police, a protest on Beda Square occurred today, Saturday, March 26th. Protesters gathered under the motto „Covid and Current Global Politics.“
Around 1.30 p.m., 160 participants gathered on Beda Square and marched on the authorized route towards the city center. At the following rally on Beda Square, several speeches were given. The rally was ended by the organizer on 4.35 p.m.
The Bitburg Police and local authorities accompanied the protest, ensuring that participants abided by the legal requirements. Individual participants repeatedly violated the mask mandate; other than that, the gathering remained peaceful and without incidents.
Wanna read it in German? Click here.