Train strikes, more wolf attacks and the verdict in the case of the so-called swimming pool murder. A lot happened in our province last week. In the weekly overview you can see the most important news topics of the past few days.
For example, Arriva staff went on strike on Monday. The strike in Southeast Drenthe was part of a larger strike in the Northern Netherlands, which had already started in Groningen the week before. Early on Monday morning, train drivers and stewards gathered at the station in Emmen.
Train staff went on strike due to stalled negotiations on a new collective labor agreement. Arriva offered the staff a 5 percent wage increase, but the unions did not agree. They want a 10 percent wage increase. The unions also want something to be done about the high workload.
After ten years of pleading, there finally seems to be clarity about the transferium at De Punt. That will not happen, if it is up to the province. The Provincial Executive put an end to the plans on Tuesday. The municipality of Tynaarlo also agrees with this.
The reason is a lack of support among local residents. At the end of October, the province and the municipality organized two residents’ evenings and a meeting for companies and nature organisations. Those conversations and surveys have shown that there is too much resistance to the transferium.
The number of wolf attacks more than tripled in the third quarter (August through October) compared to the second quarter (May through July), it was announced on Wednesday. This is evident from figures from BIJ12, the executive agency of the provinces that handles the damage.
In the third quarter there were 53 proven wolf attacks and in the second quarter there were still 16 proven wolf attacks. This is partly due to the higher food demand of the Drenthe pack now that it has cubs.
Two former directors of grid operator Rendo in Meppel have been convicted of fraud on appeal. The court finds that the directors “grossly enriched themselves” at the expense of public money. The directors had kept secret that they were shareholders of a company to which Rendo had provided money for years. That was intended for the construction of a power plant in Steenwijk. The directors diverted millions through this sham construction. Richard W. from Groningen was sentenced to 4 years in prison, Stephan V. from Meppel heard a suspended sentence of one year in prison.
The then partner and in-laws of Jan Elzinga were sentenced to twenty years in prison for provoking his murder in 2012. A fourth person, the weapon supplier, was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Elzinga was shot dead in front of the entrance to the swimming pool in Marum. Ex-girlfriend Monique H. from Hollandscheveld, her brother Marcel from Nieuw-Roden and their mother Coby van der L. from Roden ordered the murder, the judge ruled.
The court finds that despite the false statements of key witness Willem P., as a result of which the family members and Johan L. were arrested in July last year, sufficient evidence has remained for a conviction.