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VOLUME:116 No.7, JANUARY 2ND, 2019

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JUNKANOO SPECIAL: FULL REPORT AND PICTURES INSIDE

Valley’s Victory

THE Valley Boys held true to its “take no prisoners” declaration at the 2019 New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade, taking the unofficial first place crown. See pages 2-5 for more. Photo: Donavan McIntosh

‘MARITAL RAPE ISSUE ARE ATLANTIS’ OWNERS MUST BE ADDRESSED’ LOOKING FOR A BUYER?

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE government can no longer ignore calls for martial rape legislation, Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell said yesterday.

In an interview with reporters at the 2019 New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade, Mr Campbell revealed a variation of the legislation will, in some

form or another, receive major attention from the government. He told reporters: “Owing to the delicate, sensitive nature of the matter, there needs to be more wider consultation.

But it is a matter that we cannot ignore.”

Mr Campbell added: “It is being advocated in the international community and we don’t exist in a vacuum so we have to continue to talk about it.”

He said the Ministry of Social Services continues to ensure that dialogue continues, but admitted that the country was not yet at a point where a decision could be made.

To that end, he explained: “(The Minnis administration) is not starting a conversation. We are continuing a conversation.

“The conversation has been SEE PAGE SEVEN

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

SIR Franklyn Wilson says there is “a high possibility” that Atlantis may undergo a change in ownership in 2019, describing this as a “significant” investment boost for The Bahamas.

The Arawak Homes chairman, in an interview with Tribune Business, said he had obtained

information that The Bahamas’ prime mega resort may soon be in new hands and receiving a “major injection of capital” to ensure it remains competitive with rival Baha Mar. Sir Franklyn did not disclose his information source, nor did he identify any potential new buyer or the rationale that current owner, Brookfield Asset Management, would have for exiting now after holding

the Paradise Island property for almost seven years.

Ed Fields, Atlantis’ senior vice-president of public affairs, could not be reached for comment last night. However, Sir Franklyn said the predicted Atlantis ownership change was one of three forces that could drive New Providence’s economy towards increased growth in 2019.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

MURDER TOLL LOWEST IN TEN YEARS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE country closed out 2018 with 91 reported murders, the fewest in ten years, according to The Tribune’s records.

Not since 2010, when 94 people were murdered, have fewer than 100 murders been recorded in a single year.

Eighty seven people were murdered in 2009.

A 2018 murder scene.

Authorities are now aiming to keep the murder tally

below 90 in 2019, National Security Minister Marvin Dames has said.

He and law enforcement officials have credited police actions for the murder rate decline.

Yesterday, Free National Movement chairman Carl Culmer tied the murder decline to the Minnis administration being in power. “I’m happy that the work of the FNM has paid

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ALICIA WALLACE HOW TO KEEP THOSE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Wednesday, January 2, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Victorious Valley

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net THE Valley Boys held true to its “take no prisoners” declaration at the 2019 New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade, capturing the unofficial first place crown under the theme: “We Give God Thanks and Total Praise”.

Behind strong performances in the best music, best lead costume, choreograph and free dance categories, the Valley Boys amassed an overall score of 86.95 points, narrowly holding off challenges from the Roots, which came second with 86.47 points, and the Saxons, which came in third with 86.43 points.

The group ripped through Bay Street around 8am yesterday, thrilling the Rawson Square crowd with creativity, energy and music.

The performance earned the group four top ten finishes in the free dance category, three top ten

VALLEY Boys on the way to victory.

Photos: Donavan McIntosh

finishes in the step down category and either first or second place finishes in four of other seven major categories.

One Family, the 2018 Boxing Day winner, and Genesis rounded out the top five, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Meanwhile, the Music Makers and Prodigal Sons were both disqualified for the second consecutive parade.

In the B category, Colours continued its run of sheer dominance, capturing the unofficial top spot with a total of 76.47 points.

Original Congos placed second with 74.17 points, followed by the Fancy Dancers, Redland Soldiers and Conquerors for Christ to round out the top five.

Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Lanisha Rolle, who was on hand for yesterday’s parade, applauded all of those involved in bringing all of the various groups to

Downtown Nassau, calling the respective efforts a true and valuable contribution to Bahamian culture.

Mrs Rolle went on to call yesterday’s outing a parade of a lifetime, adding that those involved refused to get discouraged by the shortfalls of the 2018 Boxing Day Parade, weather issues and other mitigating circumstances.

She added that revenue generating plans are being developed within her ministry, as a greater focus is being given to how groups can become more self-sufficient.

She said: “The government is continuing to commit to doing its part.

We’ve doubled the prize this year, so that adds to the pot full and acts as continued motivation for the groups. All we ask is that, on the reciprocal end, is that the groups come out and perform and give Bahamians and all of our visitors a performance of a lifetime.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 2, 2019, PAGE 3

marches to title Roots

Saxons Photos: Donavan McIntosh

One Family

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PAGE 4, Wednesday, January 2, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Colours

THE COLOURS Junkanoo group on the way to victory in the B category of the New Year’s Day parade.

Photos: Donavan McIntosh

Redland Soldiers Original Congos

Conquerors for Christ

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 2, 2019, PAGE 5

ASSORTED other groups also took part in the New Year Junkanoo Parade - including the Kalikers, the JunkaBrations, Sting, The Paper Boys and more - and Julien Believe also took to the streets with a performance.

Photos: Donavan McIntosh

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PAGE 6, Wednesday, January 2, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Now for the Trump of the Tropics BRAZIL’S new president Jair Bolsonaro, who took power on January 1, is often called the “Trump of the Tropics” for his law-and-order rhetoric, racist and sexist remarks, pro-business stances and outsider pledges to upend politics as usual.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among the right-wing world leaders who attended his inauguration in Brasilia, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Bolsonaro used a Trump-style populist playbook to win the Brazilian presidency in October with 54 percent of the vote. Spreading angry anti-establishment messages, he persuaded enough disaffected working-class voters to create a victorious if unusual electoral coalition of the working class and the very rich.

Unlike in the United States, however, where Trump targeted rural Americans left behind by economic progress, Bolsonaro’s working-class supporters mostly come from Brazilian cities – particularly the poor urban outskirts.

These areas, the focus of my sociology research on cities and democracy, have been hit hard by the severe crime wave and recession gripping Brazil since 2015, leaving a pool of precarious, disaffected voters ripe for Bolsonaro’s calls for radical change.

Paradoxically, many of the working-class Brazilians who voted for Bolsonaro against his progressive opponent, Fernando Haddad, had seen their quality of life improve dramatically under Haddad’s centre-left Workers Party.

New research from Brazil suggests that support for Bolsonaro among poorer Brazilians was driven in large part by high urban crime. Brazil has had one of the world’s worst homicide rates for over a decade. On average, 175 Brazilians are murdered every day.

Poor urban neighborhoods are hot spots in this national crime wave. Turf wars between rival gangs and police shootouts terrorise Brazilians daily in the slum settlements and shantytowns that surround even Brazil’s richest cities.

Even in São Paulo, where homicides have actually decreased since 1999, frequent armed robberies, particularly car jackings, have residents feeling perpetually unsafe. Bolsonaro’s crime-fighting plan is vague but forceful. It includes easing gun restrictions, instructing police to “shoot to kill,” battling gangs and using the military as law enforcement.

Economic troubles have also left Brazilian workers feeling endangered.

In 2015, Brazil entered a severe recession. Gross domestic product – which since 2004 had averaged around 3

percent growth every year – shrank by 3.5 percent in both 2015 and 2016.

Unemployment doubled, to over 12 percent. One in four working-age Brazilians suddenly became “underemployed.”

By January 2018, when the Brazilian presidential race began, it was clear that Brazil’s lauded “new middle class” had been hit hardest by the crisis.

President Bolsonaro, who wants to reduce the government’s role in the Brazilian economy, has few economic promises for the poor – especially compared to the Workers Party’s phenomenal track record of redistributing wealth.

His campaign made up for it with raw anger. As a candidate, Bolsonaro pushed a narrative that Brazil’s recession was caused by corruption in the Workers Party, and he promised to clean up politics. He said criminals should die, lauded military dictatorships and proposed jailing leftists. He used racist, sexist and homophobic remarks to blame minorities and political correctness for Brazil’s decline.

Nearly 58 million voters – both rich and not-so-rich, black and white, homosexual and heterosexual – thought this bombastic authoritarian strongman might be just the man to get Brazil back on its feet. Now they’ll find out whether they bet right.

Some political analysts reckon Bolsonaro’s policy agenda will actually hurt Brazil’s working classes. A plan to auction off Brazil’s state electricity and oil companies to the highest bidder, for example, may give the economy a shortterm boost, but economists warn that privatization won’t make these important sectors more efficient or innovative.

Bolsonaro’s promise to shutter the Ministry of Cities, which oversaw Brazil’s federal slum-upgrading investments under Presidents Lula and Rousseff, will hobble poorer cities. Programs for housing, sanitation and transportation are all under threat.

But that doesn’t mean urban working class voters will abandon President Bolsonaro. After all, Trump’s approval ratings among America’s white workingclass base have been relatively durable despite a 2017 tax reform that primarily benefited the rich and tariffs that hurt key sectors of the American economy.

Bolsonaro became Brazil’s president using the tried-and-true playbook of authoritarians worldwide. The resentments he stoked among poorer voters may continue to flourish even if their economic prospects do not.

By Benjamin H. Bradlow of Brown University. This article first appeared on The Conversation.

Moving in the right direction An open letter from the FNM government after its first full year in office.

AS 2018 comes to an end, the Free National Movement extends its gratitude to the Bahamian people who entrusted us to lead our country towards a stronger future full of opportunity for all. And, with 2018 serving as our first full year leading our government we are equally grateful for the tremendous progress we have made together as a united country.

Others are recognising the positive progress we are making with international credit agencies; giving our reforms and policies encouraging signs by maintaining stable and positive outlooks. We also sought to finally begin making meaningful steps to pay off debt while implementing stronger accounting practices to ensure that no government can ever hide spending from the

Bahamian people again.

We worked to start rejuvenating the Over-the-Hill community and we have seen a massive effort to clean up those affected communities. We are also working to ensure that both home owners and business owners have access to the needed permits, resources and finances to build and strengthen their local economies.

We have rebranded The Bahamas internationally, showing travellers and investors alike that we are a prime destination for recreation and business development. Record breaking tourist arrivals are the results of these ongoing efforts and just as encouraging, we saw double digit increases in visitors coming from countries other than the United

States, ensuring that our tourism market is not just based off of one country’s economy.

While we focused on rebuilding the tourism sector, after five years of neglect, we also worked to diversify our economy by hosting our second annual tech summit in Grand Bahama. These summits have led to an increase in direct investment and the creation of higher paying jobs that bring with them long term job security.

Since coming to office in May 2017, we have worked day in and day out to deliver on our promises to make The Bahamas a better place for all Bahamians. With a solid foundation to build on, we look forward to 2019 knowing more prosperity and opportunities lies ahead. Our goal remains to continue this progress for the country to ensure we are moving in the right direction next year as we continue serving you, the people.

depending on who you know, probably.”

Meanwhile, the goal of National Security Minister Marvin Dames to reduce the murder count below 90 next year also brought a response. Tell It Like It Is said: “What they need to realize is that this problem must be addressed holistically.

“It’s not just stopping would-be criminals.... it’s reforming the justice system so they get the proper punishment for the crimes committed etc...

“Creating more programs for youth who feel disenfranchised... providing more drug addiction/ substance abuse programs... providing alternative educational solutions for the less academically inclined, more sex education programs in schools to help curb unwanted pregnancies...etc... and the list goes on and on.”

John added: “A murder count of under 50 is not impossible by next year, God’s willing. As the murder count and crime in general, decreases, the more resources and manpower are freed up to investigate and solve the crimes and murders that do occur and bring the offenders to swift justice.

The police must also target specific types of murders that are happening, like gang authorised hits and the retaliation that comes with them as well as drug turfs wars. Put more effort into identifying gang bangers and getting them off the streets along with gum smugglers and sale of illegal weapons. On the prevention side, more resources to educate young men about gang activity and the usual outcome of joining gangs.

More resources to provide wholesome activities for

young people including church oriented and civic activities. And job training and job creation. Opportunities for young people, men especially, to be gainfully employed and not turn to crime as a source of income. And yes more training, education and policing of the police.

“Young people must be allowed to move freely from place to place, especially to and from work.

Without being harassed, beaten or even falsely arrested by the police. The habit of beating suspects into submission or confessions or even a coma is old, antiquated barbaric and counterproductive. If police must injure verbally or physically, four or five innocent individuals together a crime solved then the police is doing more damage than good. Hurt people tend to hurt other people.”

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net

Is it legal for police to slap the people?

CONCERNS from residents about the reaction of police to being filmed by the public brought a lively response from readers of www.tribune242.com.

Godson said: “There is a need for national, and, institutional reforms; but, our present leaders cannot lead where they themselves have never been or gone before. They cannot provide what they don’t have: insight and intelligence and morals to accompany.”

Ondrap4 added: “Had it been me, i would not be recording anything. i might be exposed to lawsuits , court trouble, might become ‘known to police’ and, who knows ‘known to the criminals’ and, in cyber space there will be a permanent trace of me. And no, i do not fear crime.”

Chucky said: “When the police are out there conducting the business of

the people. Good quote Dames; except the reality is that public policing is only the secondary function of the police force. Any thinking person knows that the police is a tool of the ruling class. They exist to protect the ruling class from the masses, and to protect their revenue streams.

Public policing, commonly called law enforcement is a byproduct of this force, and only done with a couple of goals in mind. One is they need you to be able to bumble along reasonably safely so you carry on producing, so they can skim the fruits of your labour. And

secondly, they can’t allow to many to be killed or harmed. Lest they will have a shrinking pool of people to skim from.. It’s really no different than anything else, they need you educated enough to produce, and healthy enough to produce, but that’s it. Thus the crumby health care and substandard education. It’s just that simple folks.”

Licks2 said: “The recording device law only protects ‘private’ citizens...police are public servants... your employees. Now as for becoming ‘know to the police’ is a reality all over the planet when you ‘expose’ one of theirs!”

DDK asked: “Is it legal for THE POLICE to slap THE PEOPLE?”, bringing a response from Joeblow of “In a civilised, well ordered society, no! In a third world country where the laws are applied selectively

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 2, 2019, PAGE 7

‘MARITAL RAPE ISSUE MUST BE ADDRESSED’ from page one

started for a while, there is a view held by the religious groups, there is a view held by the legal community and then there is the average man on the street who has his own view.

“We have to find a way to marry all of those views to come with a bill that will be acceptable to all.”

When directly asked the role international groups like United Nations’ Committee to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are playing in pushing the legislation forward, Mr Campbell said communications are ongoing.

“Well, we just reported to CEDAW in October of last year.

We acknowledged that we are deficient in some areas, but we also acknowledged upfront that the road to the elimination of discrimination against women is a

journey and not a destination and we are committed to remaining on that journey.

“We are working with (our local) non-governmental organisations to ensure that there is collaboration, to ensure that there is input by the larger community,” Mr Campbell said.

The Tribune also spoke with former Bahamas Christian Council president, Pastor William Thompson, who warned the government to tread carefully with its plans.

Addressing the topic from his Rawson Square seat, he said any potential bill needed to be tweaked to ensure it didn’t “step into any grey areas”.

“We can’t slant this to any one side or any one argument, there is a lot to be said by every side here,” Pastor Thompson said.

When asked to clarify what he meant by “grey areas”, Pastor

MINISTER Frankie Campbell.

Thompson said: “The grey area is what is a man’s right or what is a woman’s right to their partner or their spouse.

“That’s the area those who construct this bill have to look at, to make clearer for all.

“There is a right they have, in Christ, we have to observe

that and hold that up ... so we that’s why I call for caution and understanding.”

Last July, Attorney General Carl Bethel said the government would likely not move forward with bringing a Marital Rape Bill to the House of Assembly until 2019. At the time, he said the government’s legislative priority was laws related to the financial services sector.

Amid public debate on the issue, the Bahamas Christian Council released its proposal for a companion bill to the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act that sought to establish an advisory council to set rules for Bahamian marriages, legislate counselling and effect tax incentives for married couples who live together.

The BCC at the time withheld its position on whether it would support proposed amendments, which would

criminalise marital rape, until after the final bill is presented by the government.

However, legal counsel Michael Allen explained there has been a general consensus from the body on the need for a legislative approach to abuses that can occur within a marriage.

Mr Allen said the council’s concerns centre on proving the abuse, and the strength and range of penalties; he added the council has suggested the sentencing tribunal is afforded the full range of options from counselling to life imprisonment.

BBC President Bishop Delton Fernander said the council believes its proposed companion bill, named the Sanctity of Marriage Bill 2018, will strengthen “God-ordained” marriages and offer corrective incentives that could prevent the incidence of abuse.

Bethel ready to take web shops to court

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net IF WEBSHOP operators were to proceed with their legal fight against the government over the sliding scale taxes imposed on the sector last year, Attorney General Carl Bethel said the government’s legal team is “ready to go”.

Addressing the dynamics of the latest round of discussions between the two sides on the sidelines of the 2019 New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade, Mr Bethel said his side remains ready to proceed in any direction web shop owners opt to go.

Mr Bethel told reporters in Rawson Square: “Let me just say it this way, I don’t like to talk about matters that are presently active, but I will say this, we are ready to go to court at a drop of a hat and they will know what I mean when I say that.”

He added: “We’ve had discussions, but I’ve said what I’ve said just now, I am ready, my lawyers are ready to go to court at the drop of a hat.

“That’s where we are right now.”

Early last month, Wayne Munroe QC, who represents the Island Game and Paradise Games operations, told Tribune Business that both sides had “identified one area where we have to go to court,” in a bid to narrow differences over the industry’s new taxation structure.

He identified this area as the sliding scale taxation structure imposed on web shop operators in the 2018-2019 budget, where it is proposed they be taxed at a progressively higher rate

the more “taxable revenue” they earn.

He added their most recent discussions had focused on trying to “limit” the areas in dispute while ensuring the government still received its due tax revenues from the sector pending the Supreme Court’s verdict in the litigation.

Nonetheless, Mr Bethel yesterday insisted the government was prepared to proceed as necessary whenever the time arises.

In addition to his commentary on the webshop sliding tax, Mr Bethel also responded to questions on the government’s views on the death penalty, its 2019 legislative outlook and recent criticism of the Minnis administration’s Senate agenda.

Of the latter, Mr Bethel said suggestions the government’s Senate mandate was failing to adequately address legislative demands, were only being made by an opposition party eager to critique the Minnis administration at every step.

He said the strategy was nothing new to local politics. “When we were in opposition we said the same thing,” Mr Bethel said with a slight smile. “The Senate is a subordinate body. It gets its lifeblood from the House of Assembly, so if the House of Assembly does not move as aggressively as we want or we can predict, we can’t set our own agenda.

“We can’t determine we are going to meet if there is nothing to debate. So the Senate depends on its lifeblood from the House and that is the way it has been.”

He was responding

A MAN was left in serious condition in hospital after he was shot while walking yesterday.

Police said the New Year’s Day shooting happened before noon when the victim, who was walking on Market Street with a group near C R Walker Senior High School, was approached by a gunman who shot him before running away.

Police have asked for anyone with information on this incident to contact them at 919 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 328-TIPS.

ARMED MEN ROB ABACO BUSINESS ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel is “ready to go to court at a drop of a hat”. directly to criticism levelled against the government by Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Fred Mitchell, who slammed the government last month for adjourning the Senate without a set date to return.

On the death penalty, Mr Bethel backed Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ position, insisting the laws of the land needed to be carried out.

“I am sure (Dr Minnis) looks forward to us doing everything we can to ensure

that law in the Bahamas is carried out,” Mr Bethel said.

“It is on the agenda for all Bahamian laws to be carried out.”

Lastly, when asked what he hopes to see occur in the New Year, Mr Bethel said the focus has to be a “stabilised, buffered and protected” Bahamian economy.

Referring to several legislative recommendations from “foreign powers,” Mr Bethel said the country has

to do what it can to move to a growth trajectory in all aspects of its economy.

He also said the country should look at creating avenues to encourage youth participation through technological advances.

The Bahamas recently passed a compendium of financial services legislation to bring it in-line with policies set out by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD).

MURDER TOLL LOWEST IN TEN YEARS from page one

off,” he told this newspaper, “and that the plans and work we have set (in motion) have paid off. It shows the FNM is living up to one of their promises.”

He nonetheless denied the party is claiming credit for the decline, saying: “We’re not claiming anything. We’re putting the tools in place. If you listen to the minister and commissioner, they say no one can predict when a murder is going to take place, but at the end of the day the most we can do is put the tools in place and talk about prevention. We’re not claiming victory. One murder is too many.”

Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson is expected to host a year in review press conference next Tuesday, where final crime statistics for 2018 should be presented. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is also expected to discuss the murder rate decline in his first national address of the year.

MAN IS CRITICAL AFTER HE IS SHOT

MURDER TOLL

POLICE Commissioner Anthony Ferguson is expected to host a year in review next Tuesday, where crime statistics for 2018 should be presented.

The final 2018 killing to be but classified it as murder classified as a murder was a after speaking to witnesses, December 21 death of a still Assistant Commissioner of unidentified man. Police Police Clayton Fernander considered classifying his said yesterday. shooting death near an ACP Fernander said people abandoned building on held in custody have been Hampton Street in Staple- released while police follow sigdon Gardens as self-defence, nificant leads.

ABACO police are investigating an armed robbery incident at Dundas Town after a business was robbed by two armed men early Monday morning.

Reports are that shortly before 1am, two men entered an establishment on Bay Street, brandishing firearms and robbed a man of an undisclosed quantity of cash and personal items.

Assistant Superintendent Terecita Pinder said the suspects were dressed in camouflage jackets and pants with hoods covering their faces.

Police are appealing to anyone with information that can assist to call Abaco police at 242-347-3437/347-2560 or call the Central Detective Unit in Grand Bahama at 242-350-3107 through 12; 911, 919, or call the nearest police station.

2009........... 87 2010.......... 94 CAMILLE 2011...........127 JOHNSON 2012......... 111 HONOUR 2013...........119 2014...........123 2015......... 146 2016...........111 2017...........122 2018.............91

IN the December 31 edition of The Tribune, under the headline “Arise, Dame Janet” it was incorrectly reported that Cabinet Secretary Camille Johnson had been chosen to receive a Queen’s Honour for service to education and politics.

However, Ms Johnson received the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for outstanding services to education and to public service. The Tribune apologises for the error.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, January 2, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

THE RESOLUTION is just the beginning. Go to the gym. Own a home. Quit smoking. Save money...

W

E’RE only two days in, so of course excitement about the new year is still in the air. It still feels like we have a lot of time and can do anything.

Many of us have taken a serious look at 2018 — how we spent our time and energy, what we accomplished, where we went, who we chose to be around, what did and did not go well - and on and on.

It is easy to look back on a period of time and pick ourselves apart, bit by bit, both for celebration and admonishment. This, coupled with the hope that comes with a fresh start, makes the new calendar year feel like a good time to make resolutions. We identify areas for improvement, growth and change, and resolve to make them happen in 12 months. Knowing we do this with so many other people, often shared items on our lists, gives it greater magnitude, and may even bring competition. While it is good to see fresh starts — not only with new years, but months, weeks, days, and hours — it is at least as important to put thought into what we want to do differently, why, and how we can make it possible. The resolution is just the beginning.

Go to the gym. Own a home. Quit smoking. Save money. Get into a certificate programme.

These are the kinds of resolutions people make every year. They are as vague as they are common. The way they are stated may be enough to share with an acquaintance, but does not do the work of making them specific to you, your current life and the

Give yourself the best chance to keep those resolutions life you envision for yourself when you succeed.

What is the big picture?

You want to start going to the gym. That may seem like a good idea. Maybe you need a safe place for physical activity, but for what purpose? Do you have specific goals connected to developing the habit of going to the gym? It could be that you want to have a particular type of body — more toned arms, a flatter stomach. You may be more interested in fitness — a stronger core, the ability to walk up a few flights of stairs without getting winded, certainty that you can keep up with fastmoving children. The gym habit may have been recommended by a mental health professional to help with the release of endorphins, or a medical doctor as part of a regimen. Whatever the reason, you need to note it in your resolution. Don’t get stuck on going to the gym and forget why you decided to do it. This becomes even more important on the difficult days when you just don’t feel like it and can’t come up with a single reason to push yourself. It’s also important for times when the gym isn’t an option. Remembering the reason for doing it can help you to come up with alternatives instead of writing it off. There are other ways to get physical

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New Student Orientation Spring 2019 Wednesday, 3rd January 2019 Oakes Field Campus WELCOME CEREMONY & STUDENT SUCCESS SEMINARS Keva M. Bethel Building Performing Arts Centre

Check In 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Performing Arts Centre Campus Tours 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Oakes Field Campus Welcome Ceremony 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Performing Arts Centre Student Success Seminars 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Performing Arts Centre Spring Blue Fest 12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

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activity in, increase your fitness level and release endorphins. If, however, your resolution is simply to go to the gym, when you are unable to afford the membership, travelling, or have to move, it just doesn’t happen. When you remember why, it is easier to think of other options.

What are the factors involved?

Home ownership is a massive undertaking. It is not something you wake up one day, decide to do and tackle in a matter of minutes. It’s not one of those things you practise for a while, or change a habit to accomplish. There are numerous components to this resolution. Simply resolving to own a home does not give you much to work with from January to December. Do you want to build or buy? What is your budget? How much will the down payment be? Can you qualify for a loan? Writing the steps to home ownership and the requirements can help you to break it down into actionable steps and goals. Those smaller steps will be much easier to work through week after week than the idea of owning a home.

How does your resolution relate to your current environment and habits?

Getting rid of habits and breaking routines are difficult. You can have every reason in the world to quit smoking, stop consuming alcohol, or change your spending habits, but there are probably triggers all around you. There are things you do every weekend, on lunch break, in the company of friends, or when under stress.

Before resolving to end these practices, it is important to think about when you do them, what prompts you to do them, who is around at the time and what has kept you from changing them before. These all need to be addressed. It will not be easy to stop drinking beer if your friends buy rounds every time you go out. Your spending habits are not likely to change until you look at what you’re buying and why, and take a close look at your financial information to see the effect. Remember to create the environment you need to succeed, and to be realistic about changing your habits.

How many resolutions did you make?

Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves. We are seduced by the “new year, new me” refrain, and get anxious about the transformation we’re sure we can achieve. It’s fine to be ambitious. It is critical that we are realistic. How many changes can you make at once? Remember that, even if you resolve to make 20 changes this year, you

do not have to tackle them all at once. It’s fine — and often a good idea — to stagger them. Developing the gym habit may be a focus from January to March, and you may decide to wait until February to decrease spending and increase your savings, after recovering from overspending during the holidays. June could be the best time to register for that online course you want to take because it’s a slow period at work.

You don’t have to do it all at the same time.

Look at your calendar, think about your existing commitments, and spread those resolutions out so you’re not burnt out and discouraged by March.

What will keep you going?

Even the smallest of changes can be difficult to make. Change does not tend to be comfortable. You need to be prepared to combat your own desire to give up. Build a support network. Decide — carefully — who to include in that network. Remember everyone does not want to see you succeed and some well-meaning people will be too harsh, or give you far too many passes. While it’s important to have a supportive community, it is critical you do not hitch your wagon to theirs. Workout partners may be fun, but when they can’t make it, that can easily become an excuse for you. Don’t let companionship become your reason for working toward your resolutions. Company is great, but your resolution is personal to you and connected to something more. You may slip up and miss some days, make a ridiculous purchase or not quite make your monthly goal, but keep going. Progress does not go away. Having done it before is a testament to what you are capable of doing.

That said, you need a plan for dealing with guilt. That may be a progress chart you can revisit to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, a ten-minute allowance to wallow, a pep-talk from a supportive friend, or something. Whatever it is, plan it and use it when needed.

Resolutions are hard. There is the pressure of knowing a lot of people are doing it, ridicule from people who think they are silly or take pleasure in making social media posts in February about other people’s failures, and our own tendencies to judge ourselves harshly. Give yourself the best chance this year. Learn from previous mistakes and plan for the challenges you know will come. Connect resolutions to larger goals and break them down into smaller actions. Make sure your approach fits your lifestyle and environment.

If you have quite a few resolutions, stagger them over the next few months. Keep track of your progress, and don’t forget to reward yourself. After all this preparation and putting in the effort, you’ll deserve it.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 2, 2019, PAGE 9

Did 2018 usher in a creeping tech dystopia?

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer WE MAY remember 2018 as the year when technology’s dystopian potential became clear, from Facebook’s role enabling the harvesting of our personal data for election interference to a seemingly unending series of revelations about the dark side of Silicon Valley’s connecteverything ethos.

The list is long: High-tech tools for immigration crackdowns. Fears of smartphone addiction. YouTube algorithms that steer youths into extremism. An experiment in gene-edited babies.

Doorbells and concert venues that can pinpoint individual faces and alert police. Repurposing genealogy websites to hunt for crime suspects based on a relative’s DNA. Automated systems that keep tabs of workers’ movements and habits. Electric cars in Shanghai transmitting their every movement to the government.

It’s been enough to exhaust even the most imaginative sci-fi visionaries.

“It doesn’t so much feel like we’re living in the

future now, as that we’re living in a retro-future,” novelist William Gibson wrote this month on Twitter. “A dark, goofy ‘90s retro-future.”

More awaits us in 2019, as surveillance and datacollection efforts ramp up and artificial intelligence systems start sounding more human, reading facial expressions and generating fake video images so realistic that it will be harder to detect malicious distortions of the truth.

But there are also countermeasures afoot in Congress and state government — and even among tech-firm employees who are more active about ensuring their work is put to positive ends.

“Something that was heartening this year was that accompanying this parade of scandals was a growing public awareness that there’s an accountability crisis in tech,” said Meredith Whittaker, a co-founder of New York University’s AI Now Institute for studying the social implications of artificial intelligence.

The group has compiled a long list of what made 2018 so ominous, though many

are examples of the public simply becoming newly aware of problems that have built up for years. Among the most troubling cases was the revelation in March that political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica swept up personal information of millions of Facebook users for the purpose of manipulating national elections.

“It really helped wake up people to the fact that these systems are actually touching the core of our lives and shaping our social institutions,” Whittaker said.

That was on top of other Facebook disasters, including its role in fomenting violence in Myanmar, major data breaches and ongoing concerns about its hosting of fake accounts for Russian propaganda .

It wasn’t just Facebook.

Google attracted concern about its continuous surveillance of users after The Associated Press reported that it was tracking people’s movements whether they like it or not.

It also faced internal dissent over its collaboration with the US military to create drones with “computer vision” to help find battlefield targets and a

FACEBOOK CEO Mark Zuckerburg during a congressional hearing.

secret proposal to launch a censored search engine in China. And it unveiled a remarkably human-like voice assistant that sounds so real that people on the other end of the phone didn’t know they were talking to a computer.

Those and other concerns bubbled up in December as lawmakers grilled Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a congressional hearing — a sequel to similar public reckonings this year with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech executives.

“It was necessary to convene this hearing because of the widening gap of distrust between technology companies and the American people,” Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf said he and other engineers never imagined their vision of a worldwide network of connected computers would morph 45 years later into a surveillance system that collects personal information or a propaganda machine that could sway elections.

“We were just trying to get it to work,” recalled

Cerf, who is now Google’s chief internet evangelist.

“But now that it’s in the hands of the general public, there are people who ... want it to work in a way that obviously does harm, or benefits themselves, or disrupts the political system.

So we are going to have to deal with that.”

Contrary to futuristic fears of “super-intelligent” robots taking control, the real dangers of our tech era have crept in more prosaically — often in the form of tech innovations we welcomed for making life more convenient.

Part of experts’ concern about the leap into connecting every home device to the internet and letting computers do our work is that the technology is still buggy and influenced by human errors and prejudices. Uber and Tesla were investigated for fatal self-driving car crashes in March, IBM came under scrutiny for working with New York City police to build a facial recognition system that can detect ethnicity, and Amazon took heat for supplying its own flawed facial recognition service to law enforcement agencies.

STARTUP USES TECH TO HELP FARMERS COMPARE SEED PRICES HOPE, NORTH DAKOTA Associated Press

A COMPANY with roots in Silicon Valley is trying to shake up the farm economy — and hundreds of farmers in Minnesota and the Dakotas are dipping their toes in the waters.

The Farmers Business Network was born of farmers frustrated with opaque seed and chemical pricing, and tech guys who believe that data is the answer.

Its pitch to farmers is simple: Share your seed and crop data with us, and we’ll help you save money on seed and chemicals — and try to get you a better price on your crops.

That’s an unusual approach for an industry typically known for its opaque pricing.

Most of the farm seed and chemical market is controlled by a few huge companies — the newly merged BayerMonsanto, Syngenta and others — that closely guard their pricing, which means that farmers don’t always know if they’re getting the

FARMERS at work. best possible deal.

So, starting about four years ago, Farmers Business Network co-founders Charles Baron and Amol Deshpande built a database that compared the prices for seeds and chemicals, with information supplied by the customers themselves. That data got Kerry Baldwin’s attention.

Baldwin is a fourth-generation farmer in eastern North Dakota, near the small town of Hope. For years, he’s purchased fertilizer and chemicals from his local co-operative. But when he looked at the FBN seed database, he saw prices that

varied by as much as $100 for the same corn seed with different labels. Seed with the same genetics is often packaged under different names and sold at different prices.

Sometimes the same company charges different prices in different locations for the same seed.

“It was amazing to me that there was that much difference in the same seed, just across the state of North Dakota, I thought that was a crazy amount,” Baldwin told Minnesota Public Radio.

He decided to pay the $700 annual fee and give FBN a try.

Farmers who join FBN

share information about the seed they use, by sending in pictures of seed tags, which helps build the company database. They also share crop yield information, which gives farmers more data they can use to help choose seed varieties.

Last year, Baldwin said, his co-op couldn’t match the fertilizer prices offered

by FBN. So he ordered two tanker truckloads of fertilizer delivered to his farm, saving himself thousands of dollars.

This year, his co-op has a new supplier and offered a better price, so he’s buying fertilizer locally for next spring. But he’s still ordering pesticides for the next growing season from the FBN website.

“When we placed our order, there was one chemical where I think I saved $140 a gallon. You know, that was close to $4,000,” said Baldwin, who also likes the financing: Zero percent interest until next December. That means he won’t need to borrow as much money from a bank at four to

five percent interest.

Baldwin is one of more than 500 North Dakota farmers signed up with Farmers Business Network.

The company says it has nearly 750 members in Minnesota and about 7,500 across the US and Canada, still a small fraction of the farm market.

For context, there are about two million farms in the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Zach Johnson, a fifthgeneration farmer near Alexandria who also runs a popular YouTube channel on his life as a millennial farmer, recently signed up because he was curious. He was surprised by the disparities in what traditional companies charge for the same seed.

“I believe there’s definitely been a lot of secrets and a lot of things that they have not been transparent about,” he said. “Stuff that would have been useful information to us.

And I think that, at this point, it’s become obvious that they’ve kept a lot of secrets and they sort of kept us out of the loop on that.”

• THE US military has given a $2m grant to a University of Arizona research team developing bone regrowth technology, with the hope it could one day help wounded soldiers.

The five-year grant from the Department of Defense will fund the study of regenerating segments of missing bone through a combination of adult stem cells and 3D printing, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

John Szivek, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Tucson school and a biomedical engineer, is leading the group. Team members use a 3D printer to construct a piece of plastic scaffolding they designed. The scaffolding has grooves and small cavities and a sponge-like structure. It can be customised for each patient. The scaffolding will then be seeded with the patient’s stem cells and calcium to expedite the process.

“We’re trying to find a way to regrow that segment of bone using a person’s own living cells,” Szivek said.

Adult stem cells can evolve into bone cells that create bone tissue.

Currently, most boneshattering injuries are helped with a support rod and a cadaver bone. But the cadaver bone inevitably cracks and breaks within a couple of years, according to Szivek. Also, the living bone can connect to a cadaver bone at both ends but doesn’t connect across it to make one piece of living bone.

David Margolis, a coinvestigator on the grant and a doctor in orthopedic surgery, said most of the options out there leave patients disappointed.

“Nothing is guaranteed to work, and each one has different risks and benefits,” Margolis said. “None give you back what you had before.”

So far, the team has tested its methods only on sheep. But its members were excited by the results.

According to Szivek, there was a complete bridging between bone segments within two months. And within six months, they saw remodeling or the process of smoothing out the new bone.

“We really want to push the system to run as quickly as possible. We want it to form any kind of bone at all.

It doesn’t matter — it could be the crappiest bone on earth, but once it’s there, it will remodel itself,” he said.

The team also examined how exercise affects the recovery rate. Szivek wants to use the grant money to try placing sensors into a new bone so they can get feedback on the impact of exercise. He thinks one day they can have sensors that send updates to patients’ phones. They will know if they are running or jumping too vigorously.

The technology would also one day be made available to civilians such as people injured in car crashes or surgical cancer patients who had bone removed.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, January 2, 2019

THE TRIBUNE

Moxey: Lower bills due CANADIAN DENIES to using less electricity HEROIN CHARGES

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net IF CONSUMERS have noticed a reduction in their Bahamas Power and Light bills recently, it’s probably because they used less electricity not because the electricity provider did anything differently, BPL chairman Donovan Moxey told The Tribune.

“The fuel surcharge is still relatively the same,” Mr Moxey said noting he too had seen a drop in his bill.

He was asked about changes at BPL that could have prompted the reduction for consumers. “I would tell consumers to look at their usage rates because the fuel surcharge is still relatively the same.

For the most part, usage is a factor. We also know that temperature is also a factor.

When the weather is hot, we tend to use more. It’s cooler now so people are using less.”

Several BPL customers took to social media recently to report lower bills. One user said: “New light bill just came out seven days ago - $76...hope others has dropped since not much need for a/c during this cool period .. ‘cause that was the only thing keeping us over $200 (sic).”

Others said their bills were either significantly less than $100 or not much over that mark. “That’s a Christmas miracle,” another person posted.

In November, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said a company had been selected to probe the rising cost of electricity, but the details could not be made public because the matter had not yet gone before Cabinet. His comments

A CANADIAN man was charged with possession of 9.5 pounds of dangerous drugs in a Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Reginald Merritt, 54, of Montreal, Canada appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney where he pleaded not guilty to all four charges relating to heroin possession.

These included one count each of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply, importation of dangerous drugs, conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply and conspiracy to import dangerous drugs.

On December 27 at Lynden Pindling airport, Merritt was allegedly found in possession of heroin, which he imported, with intent to supply the same to another, according to the court particulars.

Prosecutors said sometime between December

19-27, 2018, Merritt, while concerned with others, conspired to import the drugs with intent to supply.

According to initial police reports, shortly after 3pm on December 27, Drug Enforcement Unit officers acting on information conducted a search of Merritt’s luggage at the airport and uncovered six packages of what was suspected to be heroin.

The drugs were estimated to weigh 9.5 pounds and worth $90,000.

Merritt pleaded not guilty to all of the charges on Monday. The matter was adjourned to February 5, 2019 for trial.

Magistrate McKinney explained to Merritt that his court does not have the jurisdiction or authority to grant bail. However, the magistrate noted Merritt does have the option of applying to the Supreme Court.

Merritt was remanded to the Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

TWO MISSING, INCLUDING CHILD, AFTER BOAT CAPSIZE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net RECOGNISING that many people struggle to afford the spike in cost, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said the government will do whatever it can to relieve this stress. came after the government tabled an amendment to the Value Added Tax Act seeking to temporarily increase the VAT-free ceiling on electricity bills to $300.

The amendment, which came into force on November 1, 2018 ensures the change does not expire until July 1.

Increased light bills have been a point of contention for consumers and were part of the reason for a large protest on Bay Street last November.

Recognising that many people struggle to afford the spike in cost, Dr Minnis has told reporters the government will do whatever it can to relieve this stress.

In November, Dr Minnis said: “We have committees looking at it. We understand that there are some people having challenges with light bills and we are cognizant of that and we will do whatever we can to try and relieve their pain and their stress.

“That’s what a good government does,” he said.

TWO people, including a nine-year-old child, are missing after their boat capsized during a journey from Freeport to Miami on Sunday night, according to the Associated Press.

The boat was carrying 11 passengers. It was reportedly spotted by a Good Samaritan who saw nine people in the water and called for help.

The US Coast Guard is searching for the two people

declared missing, the child, believed to be Haitian, and a Bahamian believed to be a migrant smuggler.

They were aboard an 18-foot vessel. The boat is believed to have capsized during an apparent migrant smuggling venture.

According to WPTV News, the US Coast Guard’s search is centred 46 miles east of Jupiter Inlet.

The Royal Bahamas Defence Force did not provide information about the incident before press time when contacted yesterday.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 2, 2019, PAGE 11

COURTS CHARGE 116 WITH ILLEGAL LANDING

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

HAITIAN migrants boarding a bus to be transported to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre last month.

Photo: Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Rolle/RBDF

16 Haitians held after wooden sloop found

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE Royal Bahamas Defence Force apprehended 16 Haitians after discovering a wooden sloop around 1am yesterday.

The officers, stationed in South Beach, first apprehended some migrants when they tried reaching shore in waters east of that area.

RBDF, police and immigration officers later found the wooden sloop in shallow waters about a quarter-mile off shore.

Authorities said they don’t know how many people were on board the boat. Yesterday the RBDF said the search is continuing in the nearby area.

This is the second group of Haitian migrants intercepted in less than a week. The RBDF apprehended 124 Haitian migrants on December 30 after intercepting a 40ft sail sloop eight miles south of New Providence.

The migrants – 107 males, 17 females – were turned over to the Department of Immigration officials for further questioning. The majority of them, excluding minors, have since been charged in court and await repatriation.

In November 2017, there was a significant public outcry after an empty sloop was found on the shoreline of Adelaide Village.

Then Immigration Director William Pratt said at the time he “had

no idea” how such a large sloop could land so close to the RBDF Coral Harbour Base and go undetected, but suggested the RBDF should perhaps “improve their surveillance”.

Authorities said they believed the immigrants who landed at the time had help from people already on New Providence.

And last May, a RBDF official said the agency was working on implementing a drone programme to improve its capabilities and combat the threat of illegal migrants.

Captain Adrian Chriswell, during a tour of the waters surrounding the Coral Harbour Base, spoke about a group of illegal migrants who had landed on New

Providence days earlier and the difficulties the RBDF face in preventing them from making landfall. He dispelled the notion that these migrants represent a security threat to the base.

“They come in waves,” Capt Chriswell said at the time. “It depends on the weather, the conditions in Haiti at the time – the political scene, the economic scene.

“So depending on the weather, if it’s looking good for the wind to bring them in, which happens a lot with these storms, they can follow the storm because it brings them up the northwest.

“You might get a wave of three, four come out at one time. Then you may go several months before the second wave comes up.”

ONE hundred and sixteen Haitian migrants appeared in a Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with illegal landing.

Magistrate Kara Turnquest-Deveaux released the majority of the migrants to the Department of Immigration for processing.

However, 12 migrants were also sentenced to a fine of $300 or six months in prison, and thereafter released to the Department of Immigration, after it was revealed they were repeat offenders.

An immigration officer later confirmed to The Tribune the migrants will be repatriated within a few days.

A total of 124 Haitian migrants were apprehended by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force on Sunday, however immigration officers reported that a few of them were minors.

“Sometime around 3am (Sunday), Patrol Craft P-125 coxswained by Petty Officer Patrick Donald intercepted a 40ft sail sloop approximately eight miles south of New Providence,” the Royal Bahamas Defence Force said.

HMBS Rolly Gray, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Stephen Rolle, also assisted with the apprehension. The group of migrants consisted of 107 males and 17 females.

The RBDF has apprehended or assisted in apprehending more than 400 Haitian migrants in 2018.

Those migrants have since been charged before the courts for illegal landing, the RBDF said.