TRUTH SEEKER

doning both families and moving abroad. She has now managed to track him down to Fuengi- rola, where he moved nearly four decades ago. But unfortunately he refused to recognise that he impregnated Tamara’s mother, Barbara, in Baltimore in 1969.

EXCLUSIVE

By Walter Finch

FAMILY: Tamara is centre

BOSSES accused of wasting ‘thousands of euros’ at a bus depot have taken action after the Olive Press pointed it out to them.

Users of Marbella bus station noticed the exterior roof lights coming on during the day, as well as toilet cisterns flushing continuously.

The general state of disrepair, also including leaking pipes, was reported to Avanza, after drivers and cleaning staff agreed with us.

It came after an Olive Press reader contacted us about the lights coming on at 2pm ‘which are hard to see due to the bright daylight.’

When confronted in a WhatsApp message in November, his cur- rent wife told Tamara: “He has no recollection of your mother; he is old and forgetful.” She added: “He has no desire to speak to you nor meet you, and you cannot force him to.” Undeterred, she has since managed to get Fuengirola Court to order him to attend a paternity test hearing. However, the former doctor has so far dodged the summons, with his lawyers

SEARCH: Tamara thinks she has traced her father claiming he was ‘in hospital’ and dismissing the evidence against him as ‘insufficient’. But he has, at least, now acknowledged the authority of the court and a date for a hearing is currently pending.

Waste Management

“It’s a complete waste of money, particularly as I’ve seen them on many occasions like that,” said the reader, who asked to remain anonymous. Avanza promised to review the sensors and the lights are now coming on at 5.30pm, an appropriate hour for winter. The company also agreed to review the leakages in the bathrooms, which a spokesman put down to ‘misuse by some users’.

The move could save Avanza ‘around €1,368 a year’ in unnecessary bills for the light alone, claims electricity company boss, Martin Tye.

“It is criminal that any organisation wastes electricity because of poor management and laziness,” the CEO of Mariposa Energy told the Olive Press.

See Road rage, page 6

Her lawyer Federico

Bleckmann told the Olive Press: “The case is moving forwards.”

Tamara’s labyrinthine search took nearly two years and was triggered by an admission from her mother in 2020, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s in the last days of her life.

It has involved taking DNA tests, a lot of detective work and convincing long-lost relatives in the US and Pakistan to take their own tests. While Tamara would have a claim to an inheritance under Spanish law, she told the Olive Press that the case was ‘not about money’.

“I want to be legally recognised as his daughter. I have a right to know 100% who my biological father is. My life matters,” she said.

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

Voted top expat paper in Spain OPINION

Don’t hold your breath

WHILE the coast’s main bus operator Avanza confirmed that ‘if it was clear the demand was higher’, it would put on more buses. We sent them our survey results (with 87% not happy) and they claimed to have taken them on board.

A spokesman told us they measure demand daily by ‘registering ticket cancellations in our machine’.

This is surely an inadequate method to understand the true reality of how many people would use the bus service if it was fit for purpose.

This seems to be the case for our reporter Nadia McDonald (see right) , and the dozens of other expats and Spaniards we have spoken to.

Some might say it’s a chicken and egg scenario, others might quote Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams - ‘if you build it, they will come’.

With municipal elections looming in May, it is the perfect time to raise the issue of public transport with your local town halls. It’s time for politicians to get moving with a safe and sustainable mobility plan.

Shame or glory

THE bullfighting season is getting into full swing again. And with it comes the annual debate of its rights and wrongs.

To the critics, it’s a shameful blood sport, bringing pain and suffering to innocent animals, while to its aficionados, it’s a glorious cultural symbol, a bridge to our past and almost unique to the world.

Whichever side of the debate you fall on (and we know most of you are anti’s), there is little doubt the world of the corrida is very much part of the fabric of Spain’s identity.

Some of the country’s most impressive architecture is embodied in the magnificent bull rings, most dating back hundreds of years.

Through the centuries dashing matadors - and often their female admirers - have featured in the art and literature of Spanish culture.

Even the posters for bullfighters are iconic works of art, with even British architect Lord Norman Foster now designing them. But the question is: Does the corrida belong in the past or does it have a future?

While we don’t demand its end, we don’t expect it to last.

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

Anthony Piovesan anthony@theolivepress.es

Jo Chipchase jo@theolivepress.es

John Culatto

ADMIN Sandra Aviles Diaz (+34) 951 273 575 admin@ theolivepress.es