December went out with a streak of dreary weather marked by sunshine-robbing cloudy days, bone-chilling nighttime temperatures and occasional light rains.

Chapala’s foreign community earned brownie points last week through the hand-out of 160 gift packages filled with pantry goods for employees of the municipality’s sanitation and police departments.

There is no question that the Lake Chapala area is suffering growing pains, attributed to multiple factors.

Jocotepec Mayor José Miguel Gómez López is sworn in as the new president of the Intermunicipal Association for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development (Aipromades), with Jalisco’s Environment Minister Sergio Humberto Graf Montero attending the ceremony as a witness.

The Jocotepec municipal government is progressively implementing strict regulation of motorcycle traffic, starting with a crackdown on the use of helmets and a limit of two passengers aboard each vehicle.

Children will be out on the streets of local neighborhoods to join in pre-Christmas posada processions held daily through Monday, December 24.