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VOLUME:118 No.39, JANUARY 20, 2021

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EIGHT MINUTES PURE TORMENT Urgent probe ordered as horror video shows care home beatings

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

A SHOCKING video has emerged showing children being severely beaten and mocked by staff in an emergency care home.

In one particularly distressing moment in the video, a boy is forcibly restrained and pinned to a table by a caretaker as he tries to resist a frenzied whipping from a large woman holding what appeared to be a stick.

Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell yesterday warned “no stone will

be left unturned” in a full, impartial investigation.

The incident is said to have taken place at the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

Mr Campbell would not say whether any of the people involved had been put on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Yesterday, The Tribune contacted the children’s home seeking a statement from its administrator Sabrina Smith, but was told by her secretary she would not be making a statement.

SEE PAGE THREE

POLICE CHIEF BLAMES ‘PUSHY’ PRESS FOR SUICIDE BLUNDER

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle last night apologised for his comments about suicide victims, but claimed his remarks were sparked by questions from “pushy journalists”.

At a press conference on Monday, Commissioner Rolle said some of last year’s suicides were committed by “weak” men who killed themselves because they

were having problems with their partners. His remarks triggered outrage from people on social media, especially those who have worked for years with people struggling with mental illness.

Suicides increased by 38 percent last year. On Monday, Commissioner Rolle also said there was no evidence to suggest that 2020’s lockdowns were to blame for increased suicides.

SEE PAGE FIVE

IN these images taken from video, a number of adults are seen hitting children with canes, including holding them down on a table to do so.

PLANNING VITAL IN SUCCESS OF VACCINATION ROLLOUT

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

MOST regional countries are not ready to roll out COVID-19 vaccinations and should instead focus on preparation, a Pan American Health Organization

official said yesterday.

“I want to sound a note of caution to countries that they don’t rush their vaccination campaigns,” said PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne.

“Being ready is more important than being quick.

This is the time that the member states in our region

must act on being ready to distribute and to vaccinate.

From our assessment, most regional countries are not yet ready to roll out vaccines, but they do need to get ready very soon. So, we are urging them to take this time to ensure that everything is in place.

SEE PAGE FOUR

ONE IN FIVE DRIVERS NO INSURANCE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 20 percent of Bahamian drivers “are playing Russian Roulette” with people’s lives because they have no insurance protection, a top industry executive warned yesterday.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

BPL EMPLOYEE LOSES $6K AWARD

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AN EX-Bahamas Power & Light employee has been stripped of the $6,068 she was awarded after being terminated for “lewd sexual

activity” while working in the utility’s cashier cage.

The Court of Appeal overturned the Industrial Tribunal’s compensation for Sherry Jennifer Brown after finding BPL followed correct disciplinary procedures.

Ms Brown’s termination

arose after she allowed a male Post Office employee to enter the cashier’s cage and engaged in conduct including “bending over, spreading her legs and lifting her dress”.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

COMMISSIONER JUST PLAIN WRONG IN EVERY WAY

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Rotary launches Sweeting’s Cay repair scheme

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Rotary Clubs on Grand Bahama have embarked on the Sweeting’s Cay Home Repair project to rebuild homes on the cay, where residents have been living in tents and displaced for the past 18 months since Hurricane Dorian.

Nine homes will be constructed during the first phase of the project, which is being undertaken and spearheaded by Rotary through funding provided by a private donor, the TK Foundation.

Rotarians travelled to Sweeting’s Cay on Monday, January 11, to officially announce the project to residents there who were very excited and eager about it.

Nearly every structure was destroyed on the cay during the storm in September 2019.

Most residents who had evacuated before the storm are still displaced, living in Grand Bahama with relatives and in rental apartments in Freeport.

Chief councillor Gladstone Russell, of Sweeting’s Cay, said the community is very excited about the assistance the Rotary Club is offering. He said their prayers have been answered after some 18 months.

“Rotary has helped us with boat engines to get the fishermen back up and running, and now they are helping us rebuild homes,” he said.

The Rotarians will be staying on the cay, working 18-hour shifts six days a week until the project is completed.

They have enlisted the help of contractor Cyril Harvey of Utmost Construction.

According to Rotarian Darren Cooper, one of the project coordinators, they will build two-bedroom one-bath homes four feet off the ground on concrete stilt beams, with hurricane impact windows.

“We are working with a tight budget; our commitment and goal for the first phase of this

project is to construct nine homes, but these homes will not be 100 percent completed, it would be 80 percent completed,” he said.

Mr Cooper said they will also be putting in the sheetrock, and providing a functioning bathroom – toilet and face bowl, but residents will be responsible for the kitchen and installing the finished floor.

Rotarians will be staying in tents at the Anglican Church on the island.

“We are committed to the success of this project and building it within budget and on time,” Mr Cooper said.

Contractor Cyril Harvey said that he is happy to be a part of the project.

He said they will be using a two-bedroom government-approved floor plan.

“We made a lot of changes to it, and the houses will be elevated four feet, on concrete stilts and concrete beams, and we will lay a stronger foundation,” he said.

Rotarian James Sarles, of the GB Rotary Disaster Relief Committee, said that, since Dorian, Rotary has repaired over 1,000 homes from roof repairs to muck and gut, and sheetrock installation.

They have also rebuilt and repaired over 119 boats, and given over 60 engines in the east.

He said that the work continues through partnerships with private donors.

“We worked east to west since Dorian, but the one area that really was left behind by the NGOs and the government alike was Sweeting’s Cay. It is very difficult to get to the cay and those people, unfortunately, a year and a half later are still living in tents,” said Mr Sarles.

“Rotary saw the problem and evaluated needs and found a donor, the TK Foundation out of Nassau that wanted to do something for the east when they heard of the plight. So, Rotary put together a proposal and through funding provided by TK Foundation, we have launched a programme to build nine wooden hurricane-resistant

structures for the neediest and, following that, another nine homes and other groups out of Nassau are looking to assist us. We are going to help them get out of tents and into homes and get their lives back,” Mr Sarles said.

Peter Turnquest, MP for East Grand Bahama, said the project would bring relief and restoration to the cay.

“We are all aware that over the last 17 to 18 months that you have had to endure significant hardship as your lives would have been turned upside down as a result of Hurricane Dorian. We have been the beneficiary of much generosity from various NGOs who have come in to assist with food, medicine, and other services,” he said.

“But the final hump is to build homes for those persons displaced at the moment. And, we are particularly grateful to the Rotary Clubs on GB and their sponsors who have agreed to come along and partner with the community and the contractor to rebuild several homes on the island.”

MP Turnquest noted that the rebuilding of the clinic is also needed.

“Hopefully, as part of this overall effort, we will also be able to have that work done, simultaneously, so that persons who are coming back, such as the elderly, will benefit from the presence of the nurse,” he said.

“We know other works are being done with water and electricity, which we anticipate will be restored soon by the time the homes are completed. I want to thank Rotary for all it has done. You’ve been a fantastic support for this island, and I daresay we could not be where we are today without your support, from the water plant, food distribution, and clothing distribution. For all the things done over the last year and a half, we owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude.”

Mr Turnquest encouraged residents to assist the Rotarians by being an active part of the rebuilding project on that island.

THE TRIBUNE

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 3

Eight minutes pure torment from page one Instead, this newspaper was directed to the Department of Social Services.

“Last evening, I was alerted to a video that was circulating purporting to be children being abused at one of our children’s homes,” Mr Campbell said yesterday outside Cabinet. “As a matter of fact, it was suggested that it was the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

“As a result of that I caused some preliminary inquiries to be done and those inquiries suggested to me that it is necessary to launch a full investigation and so that investigation commenced this morning.

“I want to make it clear that in no way, form or fashion do we support any form of abuse against children, adults, girls, boys, (or) women. No form of violence or abuse, we do not support it in any way form or fashion. As the minister responsible for the eight children’s homes with approximately 150 children throughout the Commonwealth, including Grand Bahama and Cat Island, it is my job to ensure that those children enjoy the full safety and comfort and security that the state has to offer.

“So, I want to ensure the public who would have seen the videos, who out of concern would have shared them with me – I want to ensure those who are likely to start paging me that I am on the job as it relates to this matter. I want to thank all who have expressed genuine concern and to reassure the public that this matter would be properly investigated.

“It will be impartially investigated.”

He continued: “I have spoken to the chairman of the board at the Children’s Emergency Hostel and we are on the same page and so just want to ensure everybody that even prior to this we have been having regular meetings trying to put together management agreements because you may appreciate that all of these homes are not owned by the government. Many

VIDEO SHOWS CHILDREN BEING BEATEN BY STAFF

AN IMAGE from video showing a child being handled roughly by two members of staff before being hit with what appeared to be a stick. of them we are partnering thirty seconds into the video has transpired.” when a small boy begins to Regarding the investigawith.

“That notwithstanding walk to the centre of the tion, Mr Campbell said it the welfare of the chil- room for his beating, but was being handled by the dren is ours. The children then backs away in fear. At Child Protection Council are our children and so we that point, a woman in blue initially, adding: “If it warwant to ensure that in those lifts him up and attempts to rants anything more, we will go wherever we have management agreements subdue him.

The boy kicks and tries to go to ensure it is clearly that there is a protocol for discipline and there is a to free himself from her understood that we will not distinct difference between hold, but is thrown on top accept any kind of abuse discipline and abuse and we of a desk and pinned down towards our children.” while a large woman in a However, he said, he draw the line there.”

The alarming inci- dress beats him about the did not want the matter to dent was captured on the body as another caretaker suggest the ministry was home’s surveillance camera. looks on. After a strug- negligent in its handling of The video was posted to gle, he is able to get away children’s homes.

“I don’t want this to sugFacebook and went viral and runs out of frame. A second boy is also brought gest that the ministry is in yesterday.

The video begins with to the table before being any way, form or fashion a number of children and pinned down and beaten negligent, that the ministry caretakers in a room. A in similar fashion. He frees does not have a protocol in woman caretaker in black himself from the table and place. So, I don’t want to pants calls a boy to the falls to the ground several even go there at this time.

“I want to say to you that centre of the room and times while being beaten appears to admonish him by one caretaker and held a matter came to our attenbefore hitting him on the by another. The woman in tion and we are going to buttocks with what appears the dress is then seen going do everything we could to to be a stick. The child keels around the room hitting ensure that it is properly over in pain from the blows. seated children with her ventilated and if someone is culpable the chips will fall As he shuffles away, the stick.

Towards the end of the where they may.” caretaker follows him into The Children’s Emera corner out of the camera’s eight-minute-long video, someone in a wheelchair gency Hostel is a frame. short When she re-enters the also enters the room quasi-government frame, the caretaker is seen and hits another child as term residential child care facility that houses minors pulling the boy by his shirt well.

Asked how many people between the ages of 12 and hits him again several more times before letting were being investigated and months and 12 years old. him go. Several more chil- whether they were placed It was created to provide dren, who all appeared on leave, Mr Campbell said: temporary accommodation, to be boys, are called one “Well the investigation will food, clothing, medical care by one to receive lash- determine that and so I and other necessities to ings. Some children even don’t want to pre-preempt abandoned and neglected fall to the floor during the but I want to assure you children, until more permathat we will leave no stone nent arrangements could be beatings.

While this is going on, unturned. We will let the made for their welfare.

The government supports another worker in blue is chips fall where they may seen mocking the children and at the end of the day as the home, but it is managed I came forward to you this by a board of directors, and their cries of pain.

The incident climaxes morning, I will come back according to an online about five minutes and and update you as to what description.

IT’S supposed be a sanctuary for children desperate for help and protection, somewhere to feel safe and loved.

For precisely eight harrowing minutes and 14 seconds if you can stomach to watch it there is a glimpse of the hell these children have been abandoned to.

Thankfully the video is mute, hiding us from the screams of the children as they are whipped by the people who are supposed to be guarding them, women who we can see whooping with delight as the torture goes on.

It begins with children and adults sitting and standing together, a woman in the centre who is clearly in charge of proceedings.

The first child is told to come forward into the centre of the room, clearly knowing what is about to happen.

For a few seconds the woman is talking to him then suddenly she lashes out with a short cane, once, twice. The boy writhes in agony and tries to escape but is dragged back for another three lashes.

A second boy comes forward. Nine times he has to endure the searing pain of the woman’s frenzied swipes.

A third boy. Three lashes. A fourth, three lashes and he falls to the floor. On and on it goes and horrifically the children are clearly getting younger. Some can be no more than five years old but.

In all 11 innocent children are brought forward to endure this savagery.

When you think it can’t get any worse the women doing the beating is handed another seemingly longer and more flexible

weapon. The first victim is called back and whipped five times to his legs and buttocks.

In the background one of the onlooking women starts skipping and dancing in delight at the new pain being inflicted.

Another boy is returned for a second, double lashing.

It’s still not over as now other women join in.

A boy, perhaps seven or eight, is grabbed by two large women and as one pins him struggling to a table the other sets about him with her own lash.

He’s struggling throughout as she beats him, at least 20 times before he somehow manages to escape.

Another boy is grabbed, two women pinning him to the table as the third – now with a taste for the pain she is inflicting. The boy falls to the floor but still cannot escape as the woman pursues him as he crawls desperately across the room.

All the time the woman is lashing down on him until eventually he crawls to where the other children are sitting, all of them now being whipped by their frenzied attacker.

The women are now hugging and clapping, revelling in their brutality as if it’s some sort of game.

Their euphoria even sees another wheelchair-bound adult enter the fray and land half a dozen lashes on a child being held by the first main assailant.

Throughout it all two adults sat watching just feet away from all that had gone on.

At no point did they intervene, try to bring their colleagues to their senses.

How can people behave like this?

FEARS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES GO UNREPORTED

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

WITH police reporting a drop in incidents of domestic violence last year, some activists fear more cases of abuse and domestic incidents are going unreported.

Khandi Gibson, founder and president of the local advocacy group Families of All Murder Victims (FOAM), believes these incidents increased during COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

“Even our organisation had its fair share of people calling us wanting a place to vent and a place of refuge, to come and pick them up and get them out of their domestic situation,” she explained.

“Like I said it could even be more too (going unreported).

“They probably were ashamed. Persons were ashamed and embarrassed about what transpired with their situation.

“You can hop in your car and go anywhere before COVID-19.

COVID-19 came with lockdowns and curfews therefore you would’ve been confined to being in the same house or in an environment as someone who would’ve once made you frustrated or got you angry. You couldn’t just pack up and leave.”

On Monday, Commissioner Paul Rolle said overall cases where domestic violence was a factor decreased by 39 percent with 2,436 incidents reported compared to 2019 when 3,972 incidents were recorded.

Marisa Mason-Smith, director of Zonta Club Bahamas, said in many cases women are not empowered to leave violent relationships.

“They stay in the relationship because they have nowhere to turn. They have no resources. They cannot maintain themselves – they have children.

“So many times people stay in abusive relationships just because, and part of our work at Zonta is to advance and empower women so that they’re able to take care of themselves and their children.

“We’ve also seen last year several mothers who were killed at the hands of domestic violence and we are very concerned about….we are seeing an increased trend in Abaco just early this new year we’ve seen an increase in domestic violence in some of our Family Islands.”

On Monday a woman was found lying on the ground with blunt force trauma injuries sustained to the head. Assistant Superintendent Audley Peters told reporters it is a possibility that the incident may be domestic based on the evidence.

Earlier this month, 18-year-old Jilny Flereume was shot and killed at her home in Abaco.

Mother-of-seven Angelita Pritchard was killed during an alleged domestic dispute in Abaco on Boxing Day last year.

In another incident last year, a New Providence mother and her young child were killed in a domestic dispute.

ACP Theophilus Cunningham leads a RBPF walkabout throughout the Kemp Road community with help from the neighbourhood watch team yesterday.

Photos: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Task force chief denies claims of expired food vouchers

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

SUSAN Larson, head of the National Food Assistance Task Force, has denied claims in social media that the group has distributed expired food vouchers, but said officials have had to “tighten up” protocols due to people trying to sell or stockpile the items.

She said in a statement yesterday: “From the outset, members of the task force and countless volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide humanitarian aid in the form of food assistance to tens of thousands of Bahamians. Teams work 50 and 60-hour weeks carrying out our mandate in an open and transparent manner.

To suggest such an underhanded practice is in play

is not just false, it is a gross disservice to them.

“In the first months of our work, our vouchers had no expiration date.

Unfortunately, we found that people were stockpiling the vouchers and, in some instances, even trying to sell them. It is difficult to understand how someone presenting themselves as truly vulnerable and needing help could do either. If you need food assistance,

you need it now, not in a month or two. And if you need food assistance, why would you (sell) your voucher, a voucher you received at no charge, to someone else?”

Voucher misuse forced the task force to “tighten up voucher preparation, distribution, and follow up, adding unnecessary expense and time to the programme,” the statement said.

“Paper and electronic vouchers are issued to a named beneficiary. Expiration dates give recipients two weeks to cash in their voucher for food. With the tightened protocols, the voucher programme has been running smoothly.”

Noting the task force has spent more than $38 million on food assistance with help from non-governmental organisations and the government, Mrs

A HEALTH worker receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a government hospital in Hyderabad, India, on Monday.

Larson added: “It is, I guess, a sad fact of life that these days you cannot count on goodwill being ever present.

We have carried out this unprecedented national emergency programme in an apolitical manner. Our only agenda is to fulfil our mandate and help people in need. We have never distributed expired vouchers. To suggest that is unconscionable.”

Photo: Mahesh Kumar A/AP

PLANNING VITAL IN SUCCESS OF 8,068 175 VACCINATION ROLLOUT TOTAL CASES

TOTAL DEATHS

NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES MONDAY 1 CASE NEW PROVIDENCE

1

SUNDAY

10 CASES

NEW PROVIDENCE GRAND BAHAMA

from page one “First of all they need a clear understanding of which vaccine will be delivered to them and how to best adapt to the logistics they will need. They need to prioritise the vulnerable groups that need to get vaccinated first. Healthcare professionals that will be engaged in carrying out vaccinations that will need to be trained and prepared.

We cannot stress sufficiently the communication to the population so that people know when and how each group will have access.”

On Sunday, the Office of the Prime Minister said the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee is currently working to finalise an operational plan to distribute coronavirus vaccines to eligible residents in the shortest possible time across the country.

Vaccinators are currently being recruited, who will be among the first to receive the jab once the drugs are

available in the country.

Last week, Health Minister Renward Wells said the government had not yet decided what vaccine it was going to purchase and that it would work with PAHO/ WHO and directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers to obtain the vaccines.

Meanwhile, Africa and the United Kingdom have both reported a new variant of the COVID-19 virus in its citizenry. These strains are said to be more infectious, but not more deadly. Scientists have not yet totally confirmed whether these variants are resistant to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO’s incident manager for COVID-19, confirmed that these variants are now in the Caribbean.

He said: “There are two more countries in the region who have reported in recent days, detection of the variant that has been characterised in the UK. There are two countries that have reported that variant from South Africa. So the number of countries that are reporting variants is increasing.

“As of today, (Tuesday) we have agreements for a regional network with the Ministry of Health of the Bahamas, University of the West Indies in Jamaica, laboratories in Barbados, Dominica and Haiti.”

Dr Etienne told reporters that a startling number of new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the region over a short period of time.

She said: “In the last week we saw more than 2.5 million new cases of COVID-19 in the region of the Americas – more than half of all global infections.

In the same period, 42,000 people from the Americas have lost their lives to the pandemic.

“This sustained boom in cases is sobering proof that our region, and our world, is failing to control this coronavirus. In far too many places public policies are not congruent with the severity of the situation. And many of us have relaxed the control measures that we know work, which have helped us stay healthy and keep hospitals

TOTAL TESTS

57,017

9 1

HOSPITALISED

functional up to now.”

Although The Bahamas’ new COVID-19 cases seem very low and manageable, in the past few months, Dr Etienne did not have such a good report for the region.

She said: “In the Caribbean, the first week of 2021 saw the highest number of cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic.

Barbados had a 61 percent increase in new cases over the past two weeks, most among the local population.

And as cases rise, so does the demand for testing, severely stressing the laboratory capacity.

13

CASES IN ICU

0

“The new variants detected in the UK, South Africa and Brazil are also concerning, as they may be playing a role in accelerating new infections throughout our region. We are studying the affects of variants on transmission and our genomic surveillance network of 21 laboratories is tracking the emergence of variants in the region.”

The Bahamas’ Ministry of Health has not reported any evidence that the new COVID-19 variants are in this country. However there is no local capacity to test

RECOVERED

6,700

for the strains and if suspected, samples would have to be sent to a lab overseas for confirmation.

As of Monday, the country had 8,068 reported cases of COVID-19, with one new case reported.

One hundred and seventy-five people have died from the disease and currently there are 13 people in hospital infected with the coronavirus.

Dr Etienne urged the leadership in the region to continue to enforce COVID-19 protocols as, she says, this is not the time to let guards down.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 5

Police chief blames ‘pushy’ press for suicide blunder

from page one When contacted about the immense backlash to his remarks, he told The Tribune: “I was explaining that we did not do a scientific research on the cause and that really is not my specialty.

“I couldn’t say what was the cause, I couldn’t say COVID was the cause because the year prior, if you add the attempted suicide incidents, although in 2020 there were more suicides overall, there were more suicide attempts in 2019 than there were in 2020. The sum total of attempted and actual suicides were higher in 2019, so without scientific research I was unable to say that COVID was the cause.

“What I do know is that there were about three cases which we identified as domestic-related based on info we got from their friends or their family.

(The press) asked me, why is that and I said ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s just that you have weak men.’ That’s the context in which I said it. I apologise to those families and it was not intended to be that way.

This is what happens when you have pushy journalists who refuse to accept the explanation given. I issue my apology for those comments to those families, it was in no way intended to cast aspersions on them.

“I spoke with Dr (Wendy Fernander) this morning. She contacted me and expressed her concern with it. I took what she said and

so you have where we at now. She’s the chairperson of the Bahamas Psychological Association. I took the comment. I took my spanking and we move on.”

Earlier yesterday, local psychologist Christopher Huyler Roberts branded the comments “distasteful”.

“These comments by the COP are unfortunate and distasteful,” Mr Roberts said. “He is unqualified to make such assumptions and should apologise to the families.

“To equate mental illness or emotional distress to being weak is to downplay the seriousness of these issues and to make such a statement, as the senior law enforcer in the country, shows just how unlearned and insensitive he is to such matters.

“I am highly offended and disappointed.”

Meanwhile consultant psychiatrist Dr John Dillet said the police chief’s comment appeared to be insensitive to those with mental health issues.

He also said the COVID19 pandemic has had a negative impact on many Bahamians, while there has also been a rise in the number of mental health conditions around the world due to the situation.

Given the circumstances, he said leaders have an obligation to set a supportive tone.

“I want to start by saying that I believe the commissioner’s heart is in the right place and his wish is to enhance the safety and well being of the citizens of The Bahamas. So, I

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle.

PSYCHOLOGIST Christopher Huyler Roberts, left, and psychiatrist Dr John Dillet.

acknowledge the difficulty of it,” Dr Dillet told The Tribune yesterday. “I do believe, though, that leaders have a responsibility to set a supportive tone when it comes to mental health and the plight of many individuals struggling with mental health conditions.

“The comment did appear in some ways to be insensitive to the needs and the plight of individuals with medical conditions.

“I would encourage the commissioner to reach out to mental health professionals if he has any concerns or questions. I can say unequivocally that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of many of our citizens.

“We’ve seen a rise in the number of mental health

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames yesterday defended the efforts of police officers for their contributions in helping to reduce overall crime, telling critics there is no data to suggest the COVID-19 regulations had an impact on offences.

Speaking to reporters ahead of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, he said Bahamians should be celebrating officers for their hard work after the 2020 statistics revealed crime dropped by 16 percent.

Mr Dames said the situation was especially noteworthy considering the fact the successes were achieved against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A significant amount of our police resources went towards fighting COVID,” he said. “A significant amount of our Defence Force officers went to wars fighting COVID so those are officers you had to pull from the day-to-day management of crime to deal with this unexpected issue.

“So, you had less officers to focus on their day-to-day routine and you still saw a significant decrease in the overall crime measures.

That’s what we ought to be celebrating.”

On Monday, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle presented his annual crime report to the nation,

look at I guess anyone wanting to research and study this in future, then we’ll have to measure what impact you know these lockdowns and curfews would’ve had on our overall numbers. But, when you look at the trend around the world, it is not reflecting that that is the case all right.”

He also addressed the 54 percent increase in police involved shootings in 2020 compared to 2019. Overall, there were 20 incidents of police involved shootings last year, resulting in 11 deaths and 11 non-fatal injuries.

Mr Dames said while police involved shootings are always unfortunate, sometimes such confrontations cannot be avoided as officers have a right to protect themselves.

However, he acknowledged that there are some instances when officers are at fault.

“Unfortunately, it’s the world that we’re living in today,” he said. “And this is something that grieves me every day when a young man loses his life or is shot, all right. But the police officers are trained to defend themselves and they have to do it. This is the world that we’re living in.

We see it all over the world.

“And what I would say and caution our young men is that anytime you decide to take on the police, it’s a decision you will come to regret because police officers are trained for situations like this.”

In instances where police conduct is called into

conditions and it’s been proven by research in the world that persons who are already under enormous amounts of stress in our communities because of day-to-day responsibilities have seen an increase in those stresses as a result of COVID-19 because of many issues such as lack of access to healthcare, lack of financial resources, because of the pandemic and the strain it’s placed on the economy (and) the added stress of being on confinement and being isolated have all increased the amount of stress in our society. So, certainly it is something that we have to deal with and something that is real to people in terms of what they’re going through.”

Dr Dillet continued: “I

would encourage and I’ve always had a good working relationship with people in law enforcement - I think mental health issues affect almost every family in the Bahamas, our loved ones, our brothers, our sisters, our children, our grandparents, our colleagues, our friends. We all know someone probably with a mental health disorder and have struggled with it.

“I would encourage leaders to set a supportive tone in these public statements or public press conferences to remind individuals that we should reduce the stigma and stereotype of individuals that may have mental health problems that there are resources available to assist.

“I would like to say this: anyone under the

right set of circumstances can be depressed or even feel suicidal if we feel overwhelmed with life’s problems. Anyone of us no matter how strong we think we might be the right set of circumstances will push all of us to the breaking point.”

Dr Dillet said resources are available at the Community Counseling Assessment Centre on Collins Ave, the Crisis Centre, as well as the psychiatric clinic at some of the outpatient clinics such as Fleming Street Clinic.

There were 11 suicides in 2020, compared with eight recorded in 2019.

There were also 45 attempted suicides last year, a 20 percent reduction from the 56 attempted suicides in 2019, according to RBPF data.

MINISTER BACKS COMMISSIONER CLAIMS COVID HAD NO IMPACT ON CRIME LEVELS revealing that overall crime declined by 16 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 – a situation he also credited to the work of law enforcement.

Commissioner Rolle said murders declined by 23 percent, representing the lowest numbers recorded in the last 15 years. He said since reaching a peak in 2015, murders have steadily declined in the country over the last several years, with just 73 recorded incidents for 2020 compared with 95 in 2019.

However, some observers point to the COVID restrictions as the source for the overall decrease in crime.

Mr Dames did not share the same viewpoint yesterday and stressed there is no current data to suggest the COVID-19 regulations had an impact on crime.

Pointing to global crime statistics, Mr Dames said there are some nations worldwide where similar restrictions have been implemented which have experienced an uptick in crime.

“Listen, here’s the reality and I know there has been a lot of focus and concentration in this area. There is no empirical study to suggest how much curfews or lockdowns would’ve impacted our (crime) numbers,” he said.

“When you look at countries around the world, as was noted by the commissioner, shootings as well as murders climbed significantly right and so when you

question, Mr Dames said: “Well, we have a system in place that will determine.

Those who are at fault, well they have to face the consequences all right, but many

of the instances in the country are young men continue to challenge police officers.

“What we have done to ensure full transparency is we have introduced dash

and body cams so that the Bahamian people have full transparency so that no one, including police officers, are acting above the law.”

PAGE 6, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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Video shows a brutality that is far too common THE video showing children being beaten in an emergency care home is shocking in many ways.

The first is the brutality. When watching the video – and be warned, it is hard to watch – you can see the pain in the children’s reaction as full-grown adults take a stick to them. Some of the children look very young too – far too young to be able to resist the violence inflicted on them by these adults.

The second way is that you can see the children anticipating the pain. Some try to edge away or refuse to come close to the adults. It looks very much as if they know what is coming, because this seems so commonplace for them.

The third way is the apparent glee with which the adults treat the whole situation. Some seem to be laughing or clapping as children are brutalised in front of their eyes.

The fourth way is that not one of the adults in that room stands up for the children and says no, this is wrong.

Every indication in that video – even as you see two adults team up to hold a child down onto a table to beat them – is that this is nothing out of the ordinary for the adults in that room. This is the incident on video. There is no reason to believe that this has not happened before. If nothing is done, there is no reason to believe it will not happen again.

We applaud Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell in launching an investigation. We applaud him further for saying clearly that “in no way, form or fashion do we support any form of abuse against children, adults, girls, boys (or) women. No form of violence or abuse, we do not support it any way, form or fashion”.

The people in this video, whoever they are, carried out this action without fear of punishment. They did this because they could, and they did it in the expectation that they would face no repercussions.

We would urge Mr Campbell to ensure the investigation is carried out quickly and thoroughly. We would also urge him to ask why these people thought they could get away with this – and how many others in a position over children also think they can get away with such behaviour.

The issue of children being beaten is one we have never fully grappled with.

Even the Minister of Education, Jeff Lloyd, said back in 2018 that school beatings – corporal punishment - must be a last resort only, adding that “Unfortunately, as a society, that is the first option we run to”. He spoke again on

the subject in 2019, saying that Bahamians must decide what they want the government to do in relation to corporal punishment.

Is this the legacy we want to leave our children, that brutality is accepted, that there will be no consequences for such an abuse of children?

This is not one incident in isolation – this is an example of how too many children are treated. For their sake, that must change.

So easily pushed?

It’s hard to find words for just how pathetic the apology from Police Commissioner Rolle is for his statement that some of last year’s suicide victims were “weak men” who killed themselves because they were having problems with their partners.

He said sorry, but then he blamed his words on “pushy journalists”.

Just to be clear, the leader of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, in charge of a vast number of men and women and challenged with tackling crime levels, can be pushed into saying the wrong thing by a journalist asking a simple question.

He said: “What I do know is that there were about three cases which we identified as domestic-related based on info we got from their friends or their family. (The press) asked me, why is that and I said ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s just that you have weak men’. That’s the context in which I said it. I apologise to those families and it was not intended to be that way. This is what happens when you have pushy journalists who refuse to accept the explanation given.”

In a turn of phrase he might also regret given today’s lead story, he says he “took my spanking and we move on”.

He shows no indication in his apology of understanding the issues he treated so lightly, and no indication of changing anything about the way in which such cases are treated.

In other words, commissioner, it’s not just what you say, it’s what you’re going to do about it.

Meanwhile, Minister of National Security Marvin Dames has backed the commissioner in saying COVID had nothing to do with the drop in crime.

This comes despite Commissioner Rolle himself saying the spike in murders at the turn of the year could be related to factors including “loosening of restrictions”. If you think the commissioner is taking you for a fool over the crime drop, then the minister is too.

Travel rules too tough EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE COMMENTS by the Hotel Union President about the difficulties with lack of tourism are late in coming. Over the past several months there have been numerous letters to The Tribune about the difficulties with the harsh entry rules.

People have written from your three main tourist markets – The United States, Canada and the UK. They have been united in their calls to ease the rules so tourism can rebound.

All have complained that they cannot fulfill the onerous requirements. They have been winter residents with holiday properties such as our family, regular seasonal visitors and many with families in The

Bahamas. None can get to Nassau as a result.

Yet your Tourism Minister and his staff fail to acknowledge any blame for the collapse of your main economic sector.

The Bahamian medical people have successfully frightened the populace to believe that tourists bring COVID-19 and must be stopped or severely restricted. Yet the great majority of people here are well and are willing to travel.

They understand they must bring a COVID-19 test but the great uncertainties with the Health Visa and the short five-day rule to arrive have destroyed the tourist business. The Health Visa must be dropped immediately.

The business community

has also been mostly silent about the rules yet it is deeply affecting their finances.

Bahamian families, especially those in tourism jobs, are in a very serious situation. All local businesses are suffering from the lack of cash flow as a result. The mismanagement by your officials continues. Soon there will be a major crisis.

Will you ever recover as tourists find new destinations which are far more welcoming?

Having come to Nassau for most of my life I simply cannot believe what is happening. Please change things quickly.

MARK V JOHNSTONE Bedford, Massachusetts USA. January 18, 2021.

Ban oil extraction EDITOR, The Tribune.

IN A previous letter (published January 12th), I explained that a legal ban on oil drilling and extraction would not amount to compulsory possession or acquisition without compensation of BPC’s property under the Constitution. I also pointed out possible risks, but noted these should not deter Parliament from imposing a ban. Some argue that while a Parliamentary ban might be constitutional, it would be unfair to BPC – given that it has already relied on approved licenses.

I would like to suggest another approach – a path that allows the Prime Minister to lead Parliament in overriding the license agreements, despite the lost economic opportunity that this might entail for BPC. The crux of this argument rests on recognizing the categorical difference between a decision of the Executive to permit exploratory drilling, and a decision to permit oil extraction from our territory. The former would not require the same degree of consultation as the latter.

In the Bahamian context, the difference in magnitude of the respective decisions is stark, given all the reasons that have been articulated by objectors. It is worth listing some of these objections: (1) it would be incongruous with the country’s identity and best interests for oil rigs to endanger our natural heritage and tourist-based economy; (2) oil rigs would desecrate our precious seascapes – acknowledged as some of the most beautiful on the planet; (3) oil extraction might end up harming the environment of neighbouring countries; and (4) petrodollars would distort our democracy, which is already under pressure from foreign and corporate money. There are other objections, but I would like to add another.

The Bahamas faces an existential threat from climate change, and how could we find local and international support in adapting to this threat if we dig our own grave by encouraging fossil-fuel dependence?

Norms regarding national consultation cannot be found explicitly in the words of our Constitution.

But the very first Article of the Constitution states that “The Commonwealth of The Bahamas shall be a sovereign democratic State.” This most important of constitutional provisions does not just mean that there should be regular elections. It also means that elected political representatives are required to check what the people think about crucial policy issues. BPC shareholders and managers should have realised that any decision to stain the Bahamian

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net environment and diversify the Bahamian economy by jeopardizing its main revenue-driver would require intensive consultation with the Bahamian people.

Wide consultation on deeply important national issues is necessary when they involve fundamental national interests. At the very least, Parliament should debate the question at length. Sophisticated investors know this, sincere politicians understand this, and so will judges charged with judicial review of any administrative decisions or legislative ban.

If the governmentapproved licenses not only grant BPC exploratory permission but also extraction rights, elected public officials on both sides of the political divide will have miserably betrayed the democratic and rational ideals upon which our liberal democratic order rests.

No public official should have agreed to grant oilextraction rights without consulting the Bahamian people – either through a referendum or an extensive public inquiry.

Regardless, if the signed agreements include extraction permission, this does not discharge Parliament of its duty to correct the mistakes of the Executive.

And if this means Parliament having to override the licenses, then Parliament should not be dissuaded by BPC objections that it was induced into making investments based on the word of the Government. BPC knew the risk if public officials within the Executive failed to ensure that the Bahamian public’s views on the matter were properly aired. It took an inordinate chance by investing without knowing the state of collective consensus on this matter. BPC cannot seriously have thought that a couple of environmental impact studies would be sufficient to discharge its own due diligence responsibilities to shareholders regarding the social and political dimension of the investment. Or did BPC’S managers think it could bypass the complex social and democratic issues? Any consideration by our Parliament on whether to ban oil extraction from our magnificent seabed must reflect that BPC ought to have known that any proper parliament would act to protect the democratic will of the people regarding such a momentous national decision about one of the most special places on this planet. But we all know the truth. BPC has little regard for our institutions, and holds them in contempt.

A final word regarding separation of powers. In reality, our Westminsterstyle of government is based

on a fusion of the Executive and Legislature. The Prime Minister and Cabinet sit in Parliament as law-makers, and the executive branch in Parliament mostly dominates the legislative branch.

By convention, the executive branch in Parliament will normally defend the actions of the executive branch of government, but our written Constitution does not require the executive branch sitting in Parliament to defend or support the actions of the executive branch of government. Such a requirement would be inconsistent with a fundamental feature of the Westminster system, which anticipates one of the functions Parliament should serve is to check and balance the power of the Executive. Good sense dictates, however, that the executive branch sitting in Parliament will want to mobilize political support in Parliament for the executive decisions it makes, but this norm, on occasion, has to be set aside. On questions of morality or where there is deep division or uncertainty within the governing party on a matter, the Prime Minister may remove the whip on a vote.

This means the Executive sitting in Parliament and backbenchers are allowed to vote in line with their conscience or their independent positions on the question. The important point here is that our system of government supports occasions for members of the executive branch of government sitting in Parliament (as lawmakers) to check and balance actions taken or contemplated by the executive branch.

These occasions should not be seen as setting up a contradiction, but as occasions that our system allows for self-correction and expressions of individual conscience and political independence.

Such an occasion is now upon us.

Both PLP and FNM administrations have led BPC to believe that it could just waltz into our country and extract oil from our seabed without Bahamians having a voice in the matter. BPC understood the risks. And, if a ban on oil extraction is ever constitutionally challenged, the Government and BPC should expect the courts to highlight their dereliction of duty.

It is highly likely, on the other hand, that any court reviewing the constitutionality of such a ban will have a great deal of sympathy for the constitutional checks and balances exercised by the members of Parliament, voting with their conscience, to correct the mistakes of the executive branch of government.

MICHAEL STEVENSON Nassau, January 19, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 7

Legislation being reviewed to bring in parole system

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said yesterday officials are currently reviewing legislation to introduce a parole system that will allow for the reintegration of offenders into society.

The Bahamas currently does not have a parole system.

However, the Parole Bill, once passed and enacted, will seek to establish one in hopes of improving the country’s rehabilitative justice system.

Yesterday, Mr Dames could not say when the bill will be tabled in the House of Assembly, but noted that a special committee under his ministry is doing its due diligence to ensure all the proper mechanisms are in place to support the bill once it becomes enacted.

He told reporters outside Cabinet: “Yesterday, (Monday) I met with chairman (Paul) Farquharson and he is the chairperson of the Rehabilitation of the Offenders Committee and that is the committee responsible for making recommendations to the minister on persons who actually have a police record and who have been reintegrated into society and now are

looking for that record to be expunged.

“We had a very good meeting yesterday because we’re trying to move now towards tabling the Parole Bill and developing a system of paroles and that will enable more persons to be given an opportunity to be rehabilitated and reintegrated.”

Asked if people could expect to see the bill being tabled in this parliamentary session, he replied: “Well, you know I’m hoping… we’ve been spending some time going through the bill. I have a committee that is reviewing the bill so they’re currently going through the bill because we want to make certain that at the end of the day that we can support whatever is in the bill.”

In 2016, the Christie administration appointed a Parole and Re-entry Steering Committee to propose a policy framework for a parole system and interventions for a seamless process to reintegrate past offenders into society.

However, legislation to establish the parole system was never tabled in Parliament by the former administration.

The Parole and Reentry Steering Committee was chaired by Paul Farquharson, the former Commissioner of Police and Bahamas High

Commissioner to London.

Mr Farquharson currently serves as a chairman for the Rehabilitation of Offenders Committee.

Yesterday, Mr Dames also gave an update on the work of the committee, telling reporters that officials continue to see increased requests for record expungement.

“Now, according to chairman Farquharson, we are seeing an uptick in persons seeking to have their records expunged and that is a good thing. I believe yesterday he told me they are reviewing somewhere in the area of 25 to 30 requests for expungements and that number has gone up,” he said.

“So, we continue to appeal to persons out there who feel that they are ready and who feel that they are properly reintegrated to submit a request. We have a very competent committee who is responsible for reviewing these requests.”

Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Amendment) 2015, people who have committed murder, manslaughter, treason, armed robbery, rape or possessed dangerous drugs with the intent to supply cannot have their records expunged.

But after five years, most others are eligible if they are first-time offenders or were younger than 21 at the time of their first conviction.

MINISTER of National Security Marvin Dames.

JAILED FOR INDECENT ASSAULT ON GIRL

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 54-YEAR-OLD man who indecently assaulted a nine-year-old girl was yesterday sentenced to two years in prison.

Alden Scott was arrested after the child’s mother told police he touched the girl near her private parts on

January 17.

The accused, who was previously sentenced to nine years in prison for a similar crime, admitted the offence during a hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The court was told that on the day in question, Scott assaulted the girl while they were sitting on a bed. The prosecution said

the accused had also told the minor she was a “tall and sexy young lady” a day before the incident. The complainant’s mother said she reported the matter because Scott’s actions made her daughter uncomfortable and afraid for her safety.

After she filed the complaint, Scott was arrested.

When he was interviewed in

custody, he claimed he only touched the girl because he was trying to help her get on to the bed. However, the court was told when officers visited the scene and examined the small bed where the assault took place, they concluded the accused would not have needed to help the little girl get on it. Scott was subsequently charged.

During the arraignment, Scott begged the magistrate for mercy. He said he had just been released from prison and would prefer “1,000 years of probation and community service” over a custodial sentence since he believed “going to jail again” would not help him.

However, Magistrate McKinney noted that Scott

had committed the offence just four years after he was released from prison also for sexually assaulting a teenager. He told Scott that he had to consider the young age of the child he has indecently assaulted.

“If you don’t want to go to prison you should abide by the laws,” he said before sentencing Scott to two years behind bars.

MAN IS FINED $1,500 FOR SELLING GAS WITHOUT LICENCE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A 32-YEAR-OLD man who was caught selling gas from his home without a business licence was yesterday fined $1,500.

Hughdon Bowe, Jr, was charged after police found him selling gas from his residence without the certificate he needed to operate a business. He was arraigned next to Kenvaughn Rolle, 24, who was charged for giving a false name to two police officers.

Both men pleaded guilty to the offences when they appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The prosecution said officers, acting on information around 6.52pm on January 17, went to a

Golden Gates residence where they saw a vehicle leaving at high speed.

Officers then knocked on the door of the residence and told one of the occupants, Bowe Jr, that they would like to search the home. Once inside, the officers saw several gallons of gas which the accused said he was selling to make a profit. When the police asked Bowe Jr to produce his business licence, he told them he did not have one. Rolle was also present during the officers’ investigation. When questioned, he told them his name was Kenvaughn Bullard.

Both men were then arrested and taken to a nearby station. In an interview with police there, Bowe Jr admitted his guilt. When Rolle was

questioned, he once again told officers his surname was Bullard; however, when he produced his ID, it was discovered that his last name was in fact Rolle.

Yesterday, Bowe Jr’s attorney told the magistrate his client expressed remorse for his action at his first opportunity and accepted responsibility for his wrongdoing. He also noted the accused was “working towards” a business licence, but said he was still in the process of saving money to purchase a gas truck which was an expensive endeavour.

As a result, Magistrate McKinney fined Bowe Jr $1,500 or three months in prison. Rolle was also fined $750 or one month in custody for deceiving two officers.

MAN THREATENED TO SPANK HIS NIECE WITH CUTLASS

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN who threatened to “spank” his niece with a cutlass during an argument was yesterday fined $500.

Police arrested Brentwood Stuart, 46, after he was accused of assaulting his brother’s child with a cutlass on January 18.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous instrument during a hearing

before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The court was told Stuart and the young lady fell into an argument at their residence. She told police her uncle then “pulled a cutlass” on her and threatened to chap her in her head.

After she requested police action, Stuart was arrested.

During an interview with police, he admitted he had a cutlass in his possession at the time of the disagreement, but claimed he only threatened to spank his niece with it.

During his hearing, Stuart told the magistrate his niece was in the bathroom and he was “six-feet away” from her in another room when he made the comments.

In response, Magistrate McKinney told the accused he did not have to physically touch his niece for his actions to be considered assault as he threatened her with a dangerous instrument. As a result, he fined Stuart $500 or nine months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Funeral Service For Mr. Redith Roosevelt Stubbs, 79 affectionately called “Smokey” of #35 Johnny Kemp Crescent, Freeport, Grand Bahama and formerly of Green Castle, Eleuthera who died at the Rand Memorial Hospital, Freeport, Grand Bahama on Sunday, January 10th, 2021 will be held on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021, 11:00 a.m. at The Chapel at Restview Memorial Mortuary Chapel 11-A Coral Road Freeport, Grand Bahama. Officiating will be Bishop Sobig Kemp. Cremation will follow.

Precious memories will linger in the hearts of his children: Keith Stubbs (New York) and Redith (Jason) Stubbs; grandchildren: Lakyah Stubbs (Dearborn, Michigan); Redith and Justice Stubbs; great grandchildren: Zion, Heavyn and Ariah Stubbs (Dearborn, Michigan); brother: Charles Stubbs; nieces and nephews: Meredith Henfield, Christine Stubbs, Brent Stubbs, Gena Stubbs, Juliea Rolle, Linda Rahming, Ron Brathwaite, R/N Christia Whylly, Clarice Hamilton, Shane Stubbs, Cleveland Stubbs, Michael Stubbs, Patricia Martin, Candi Smith, Janeille Brathwaite, Ken Stubbs, Omar Stubbs, Cheryl Strachan, Belinda Stubbs, Jamie Nottage, Julian Stubbs, Lucretia McQueen, Mark Stubbs, Pastor Cleveland Stubbs, Robert Stubbs, Nelson Stubbs, Apostle Stephen Stubbs, Charlene Stubbs, Shanae Stubbs, Kimberly Stubbs and Tinzlee Stubbs and a host of other relatives and friends including: Tino Rahming (grandnephew), Paulette Aranha, Robert Knowles and family, Freeport Starter family, Apostle Vince Gaitor and family, Donna Thurston, Melanie White, Benjamin Stubbs and family, Elder George Cooper and family, Rufus Anderson and family, Reginald Simmons, Retired Inspector Danny Wilson, Lisa Davis and family, Dorea Rolle, Nicholas and Yvonne Nadel, Swain, Johnny Kemp Crescent family formerly Gilbert Crest, Edwards, Hepburn and Smith families (Eight Mile Rock).

PAGE 8, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Just plain wrong from every perspective, Mr Commissioner

By Alicia Wallace THIS week, the Commissioner of Police reported there were 11 suicides in 2020, up from eight in 2019.

He said this was due to people — men, in particular — being “weak”. The suggestion is absurd, offensive and incorrect.

Suicide is an effect of mental illness. It may be that the mental illness is undiagnosed and untreated, it is not being treated with the right medication, or its treatment has been interrupted. It is also possible for medication to cause thoughts of suicide. Contemplating suicide is not, under any circumstances, a sign of weakness or personal failing.

We need to be able to recognise the signs of suicide. In some cases, the person talks about wanting to die or, more specifically, wanting to kill themselves.

They may start looking for ways to do it. There are more subtle indicators that a person is considering suicide including talking about being a burden to other people, having no purpose and feeling trapped, and increasing use of alcohol and other substances. They may have mood swings, seem agitated, be more withdrawn than usual, or behave in a reckless manner.

In some cases, people have a sudden calmness. It is not uncommon for people to start making preparations when they have

decided to end their lives.

This may involve writing obituaries, giving away personal items, making plans to see people for what they plan to be the last time, and acquiring anything they may need to end their lives.

The risk of suicide can be reduced with appropriate intervention. People with mental illness, like people with physical illness, need specific kinds of support. They need professionals trained to help them manage the illness. They sometimes need medication which can be short-term or long-term, and we are already familiar with some of them such as Xanax, Zoloft, and Prozac.

Anxiety disorders are more common than many people realise. For some of us, the simplest tasks are completely overwhelming or our response to something ordinary suddenly changes and we don’t know why. We are so frequently told to “get it together”, “man up” and “put on our big girl panties” that we learn to see our struggles as personal failings or points of weakness.

Telling people to “be strong” is not helpful.

Making comparisons to people who seem to be managing their lives well is not helpful. What we often see as weakness or character defects are mental illnesses that have not been diagnosed and treated. People are not being diagnosed and

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle, who said that some of those who committed suicide last year may have been “weak men”. Yesterday, he issued an apology of sorts, blaming his words on “pushy journalists”. operators know what to treated because they truly we have made important intervention.

The comments by do when someone calls in believe they are the prob- steps toward normalising Commissioner of crisis? Sensitisation is an lem, so they do not seek mental health care. The the help. They may also want 24-hour hotlines (816-3799, Police suggest he does important first step, but to avoid the stigma that still 812-0576, and 454-2993 for not understand issues of we also need programmes exists around mental health Creole) have been helpful. mental health. Do officers and services to support We now need focus on sui- have training in suicide people in crisis. It cannot issues.

Since Hurricane Dorian, cide prevention and suicide intervention? Do 911 wait.

IT IS finally Inauguration Day in the US and there is, of course, both hope and fear. People do not

know what to expect today, especially after the white supremacist attack on the US Capitol on January 6.

On one hand many people in the US and all over the world are looking forward to the leadership of the

WISE WORDS WORTH REMEMBERING Biden-Harris administration. On the other, there are concerns about the way white supremacists will respond today and in the coming weeks, months and years.

There is no telling what will happen next, but expectations of the new administration are high and the optimism is cautious. Hope and fear are a strange, yet common combination.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and, of course, there was a lot of talk about his “I Have a Dream Speech.” In recent years, black activists have drawn attention to the fact that the MLK quotes we know well are the ones that make the powers-thatbe the most comfortable because they suggest unity and non-violence.

Yet MLK was more than the “I Have a Dream” speech, suits and respectability. More and more, people are sharing excerpts

from his speeches and writings to help us understand the movement for civil rights, the ways activists had to pivot and what kept them going.

MLK’s dreams, words and ideas are as relevant today as the time he shared them with the world.

He said: “I am convinced that if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

We continue to value things (and money) more than people. We communicate our values with every

action. States and people are profit-driven. Why else are countries refusing to implement more effective lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic? The economy is prioritised over public health.

The reasons aren’t as simple as they may seem.

Money, yes. Elections, yes.

There is also an obvious lack of interest in imagining anything better. Look at us, refusing to acknowledge that tourism isn’t what it once was and cannot carry us like it did before.

Further, we can see what we value as a country with a look at the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Who do they serve and what do they protect? Which people are considered valuable? What kind of property is important to protect? We need to prioritize the protection and care of people and understand the things we own as secondary to human life.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS TO SHARE 1. Eggplant parmesan.

Vegetarians, this is especially for you. Meat-eaters, if you like eggplant and you like chicken parmesan, this is a must try. There are many variations of this dish, so check out different recipes and decide which one you’re willing to try. It takes some time to make a good eggplant parmesan, but it’s worth it. With garlic bread and a salad, it’s a great meal and makes for good leftovers.

2. Get a jump rope. If you have been trying to be less sedentary, especially during work-from-home days, and you’re not managing to go for that run or do a full Zumba session, make it a little easier for yourself.

Jump ropes are inexpensive and you can put them to use right outside your door. If you find you can’t do it for

very long, work on building stamina, and remember you can practice multiple times each day. It’s also a great way to get some fresh air and sunshine.

3. Set a theme for the year. At Women’s Wednesdays last week, hosted

by Equality Bahamas, therapist Jessica Russell (Jessica The Therapist on Facebook and Instagram) suggested this alternative to setting resolutions. If you’ve already set resolutions or goals, it’s not too late to decide on a theme and use it as a guide to decision-making every day.

In addition to providing guidance, it puts less pressure on you to “achieve” which helped to make a lot of people feel like failures in 2020 when the unexpected kept happening.

A word or phrase may be

just what you need to stay motivated.

4. Therapy. You may not need to see a professional every week, and you may not feel like you need support, but it is a good idea to start building a relationship with a therapist. It can take some time to warm up and its best to be past the point if and when the time comes that you need help with a specific issue. Much of what we struggle with as adults is connected to childhood experiences, and we may not be able to see it for ourselves. When you start therapy early, your therapist can get to know you, stories from your past, what you believe about yourself, and what you are like when you are doing well. They are then better equipped to help you work through crisis.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 9

GENERAL MOTORS TEAMS UP WITH MICROSOFT ON DRIVERLESS CARS

By MATT OTT AP Business Writer

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — General Motors is teaming up with Microsoft to accelerate its rollout of electric, self-driving cars.

In the partnership announced Tuesday, the companies said Microsoft’s Azure cloud and edge computing platform would be used to “commercialize its unique autonomous vehicle solutions at scale.”

Microsoft joins General Motors, Honda and other institutional investors in a combined new equity investment of more than $2 billion in Cruise, bringing its valuation to about $30 billion.

Technology Cruise, which GM bought in 2016, has been a leader in driverless technology and got the go-ahead from California late last year to test its automated vehicles in San Francisco without backup drivers.

Auto companies have been joining forces and

self-driving technology company Zoox, which is developing an autonomous vehicle for a ride-hailing service.

Mass adoption of driverless vehicles — and profits — are still a ways off, said industry analyst Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse Insights.

“The reality is that the automated driving landscape is taking much longer to mature that had been anticipated a few years ago,” Abuelsamid said. “It’s probably going to be mid-decade before we start to see significant volumes of these vehicles.”

THIS image provided by General Motors shows the new company logo. General Motors is changing its corporate logo and starting an electric vehicle marketing campaign as it tries to refurbish its image from a maker of gas-powered pickups and SUVs to a clean vehicle company. (General Motors via AP)

bringing technology firms on board to try to spread out the enormous costs -and by nature, risks -- of developing self-driving and electric vehicles.

Honda is in on the Cruise project with GM, Volkswagen and Ford have teamed up with Pittsburgh autonomous vehicle

company Argo AI, and Hyundai joined with Fiat Chrysler last summer in a deal to use Waymo’s driverless car technology.

Toyota and Uber are also working together, while Amazon skipped over the automaker part of the equation and last summer bought

Data Abuelsamid added that the importance of adding a company like Microsoft to the mix is its cloud computing power and the ability to analyse data from the vehicles to improve the technology.

“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we drive toward a future world of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said GM

Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise’s all-electric, selfdriving vehicles and help GM realize even more benefits from cloud computing as we launch 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025 and create new businesses and services to drive growth.”

General Motors has been aggressively revamping its image, saying the industry has reached a history-changing inflection point for mass adoption of electric vehicles. The 112-year-old Detroit automaker this month unveiled a new corporate logo to signify its new direction as it openly pivots to electric vehicles.

It wants to be seen as a clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of cloud-spewing gas-powered pickups and SUVs. GM scrapped its old square blue logo for a lower case gm surrounded by rounded corners and an ‘m’ that looks like an electrical plug.

Shares in GM jumped more than 9% in afternoon trading, to $54.58.

RICHARD BRANSON’S VIRGIN ORBIT REACHES SPACE ON SECOND TRY

By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached space on Sunday, eight months after the first demonstration flight of its air-launched rocket system failed, the company said.

A 70-foot-long (21.34-metrelong) LauncherOne rocket was released from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft off the coast of Southern California, ignited moments later and soared toward space.

The two-stage rocket carried a cluster of very small satellites known as CubeSats developed and built as part of a NASA educational programme involving U.S. universities.

Launch The launch occurred after the Boeing 747-400 took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles and flew out over the Pacific Ocean to a drop point beyond the Channel Islands.

“According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!” Virgin Orbit tweeted later.

“Everyone on the team who is not in mission control right now is going absolutely bonkers.”

The rocket’s upper stage coasted for a period, reignited to circularize the orbit and then deployed the nine CubeSats.

The flight developments were announced on social media.

VIRGIN Orbit Boeing 747-400 rocket launch platform, named Cosmic Girl, takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port, Mojave (MHV) on its second orbital launch demonstration in the Mojave Desert, north of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Hartman)

The launch was not publicly livestreamed.

Virgin Orbit, based in Long Beach, California, is part of a wave of companies targeting the launch market for increasingly capable small satellites, which may range in sizes comparable to a toaster on up to a home refrigerator.

Competitor Rocket Lab, also headquartered in Long Beach, has deployed 96 payloads in 17 launches of its Electron rocket from a site in New Zealand.

Another of its rockets was nearing launch Sunday.

Virgin Orbit touts the flexibility of its capability to begin its missions by using airports around the globe.

Virgin Orbit attempted its first demonstration launch in May 2020.

The rocket was released and ignited but only briefly flew under power before it stopped thrusting.

The lost payload was only a test satellite.

The company later said an

investigation determined there was a breach in a high-pressure line carrying cryogenic liquid oxygen to the first-stage combustion chamber.

Virgin Orbit is separate from Virgin Galactic, the company founded by Branson to carry passengers on suborbital hops in which they will experience the sensations and sights of spaceflight.

Virgin Galactic expects to begin commercial operations this year in southern New Mexico.

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THE INSIGHT lander. The scene was assembled from 11 photos taken using its robotic arm.

(NASA via AP)

RIP: MARS DIGGER BITES THE DUST AFTER TWO YEARS ON RED PLANET CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA declared the Mars digger dead last Thursday after failing to burrow deep into the red planet to take its temperature.

Scientists in Germany spent two years trying to get their heat probe, dubbed the mole, to drill into the Martian crust.

But the 16-inch-long (40-centimetre) device that is part of NASA’s InSight lander couldn’t gain enough friction in the red dirt.

It was supposed to bury 16 feet (5 metres) into Mars, but only drilled down a couple of feet (about a half metre).

Following one last unsuccessful attempt to hammer itself down over the weekend with 500 strokes, the team called it quits.

“We’ve given it everything we’ve got, but Mars and our heroic mole remain incompatible,” said the German Space Agency’s Tilman Spohn, the lead scientist for the experiment.

The effort will benefit future excavation efforts at Mars, he added in a statement. Astronauts one day may need to dig into Mars, according to NASA, in search of frozen water for drinking or making fuel, or signs of past microscopic life.

The mole’s design was based on Martian soil examined by previous spacecraft. That turned out nothing like the clumpy dirt encountered this time.

InSight’s French seismometer, meanwhile, has recorded nearly 500 Marsquakes, while the lander’s weather station is providing daily reports.

On Tuesday, the high was 17 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8 degrees Celsius) and the low was minus 56 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 49 degrees Celsius) at Mars’ Elysium Planitia, an equatorial plain.

The lander recently was granted a two-year extension for scientific work, now lasting until the end of 2022.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PRESIDENT-elect Joe Biden speaks at the Major Joseph R “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center in New Castle, Delaware, yesterday.

Photo: Evan Vucci/AP

Biden’s time has come WASHINGTON Associated Press

JOE BIDEN swears the oath of office at noon Wednesday to become the 46th president of the United States, taking the helm of a deeply divided nation and inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors.

The very ceremony in which presidential power is transferred, a hallowed American democratic tradition, will serve as a jarring reminder of the challenges Biden faces: The inauguration unfolds at a US Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago, encircled by security forces evocative of those in a war zone, and devoid of crowds because of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stay home, Americans were exhorted, to prevent further spread of a surging virus that has claimed 400,000 American lives.

Biden will look out over a capital city dotted with empty storefronts that

attest to the pandemic’s deep economic toll and where summer protests laid bare the nation’s renewed reckoning on racial justice.

He will not be applauded — or likely even acknowledged — by his predecessor.

Flouting tradition, Donald Trump planned to depart Washington on Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration rather than accompany his successor to the Capitol.

Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, stoked grievance among his supporters with the lie that Biden’s win was illegitimate.

Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanising a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy.

On his first day, Biden will take a series of executive actions — on the pandemic, climate, immigration and more — to undo the heart of Trump’s agenda. He takes office with the bonds

of the republic strained and the nation reeling from challenges that rival those faced by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D Roosevelt.

“Biden will face a series of urgent, burning crises like we have not seen before, and they all have to be solved at once. It is very hard to find a parallel in history,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “I think we have been through a near-death experience as a democracy. Americans who will watch the new president be sworn in are now acutely aware of how fragile our democracy is and how much it needs to be protected.”

Biden will come to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At age 78, he will be the oldest president inaugurated.

More history will be made at his side, as Kamala Harris becomes the first woman to become vice

president. The former US senator from California is also the first Black person and first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.

The two will be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony with few parallels in history.

Tens of thousands of troops are on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters, incited by the president, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.

The tense atmosphere evoked the 1861 inauguration of Lincoln, who was secretly transported to Washington to avoid assassins on the eve of the Civil War, or Roosevelt’s inaugural in 1945, when he opted for a small, secure ceremony at the White House in the waning months of World War II. Despite security warnings, Biden declined to

move the ceremony indoors and instead will address a small, socially distant crowd on the West Front of the Capitol. Some of the traditional trappings of the quadrennial ceremony will remain.

The day will begin with a reach across the aisle after four years of bitter partisan battles under Trump. Biden invited Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leaders of the Senate and House, to join him at a morning Mass, along with Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leaders.

Once at the Capitol, Biden will be administered the oath by Chief Justice John Roberts; Harris will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The theme of Biden’s approximately 30-minute speech will be “America United,” and aides said it would be a call to set aside differences during a moment of national trial.

Biden will then oversee a “Pass in Review,” a military tradition that honors the

SENATE Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

peaceful transfer of power to a new commander in chief. Then, Biden, Harris and their spouses will be joined by a bipartisan trio of former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony.

Later, Biden will join the end of a slimmeddown inaugural parade as he moves into the White House. Because of the pandemic, much of this year’s parade will be a virtual affair featuring performances from around the nation.

In the evening, in lieu of the traditional glitzy balls that welcome a new president to Washington, Biden will take part in a televised concert that also marks the return of A-list celebrities to the White House orbit after they largely eschewed Trump. Among those in the lineup: Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem at the Capitol earlier in the day.

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

McCONNELL: TRUMP PROVOKED CAPITOL SIEGE SENATE Republican leader Mitch McConnell yesterday explicitly blamed President Donald Trump for the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying the mob was “fed lies” and the president and others “provoked” those intent on overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s election.

Ahead of Trump’s historic second impeachment trial, McConnell’s remarks were his most severe and public rebuke of the outgoing president. The GOP leader is setting a tone as Republicans weigh whether to convict Trump on the impeachment charge that will soon be sent over from the House: “incitement of insurrection”.

“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the

president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

The Republican leader vowed a “safe and successful” inauguration of Biden today at the Capitol, where final preparations were underway amid heavy security.

Trump’s last full day in office yesterday was also senators’ first day back since the deadly Capitol siege and the House vote to impeach him for his role in the riots — an unparalleled time of transition as the Senate prepares for the second impeachment trial in two years and presses ahead with the confirmation of Biden’s Cabinet.

Three new Democratic senators-elect are set to be sworn into office Wednesday shortly after Biden’s inauguration, giving the Democrats the barest majority, a 50-50 Senate chamber. The new vice president, Kamala Harris, will swear them in and serve as an eventual tiebreaking vote.

The Democrats, led by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, will take charge of the Senate as they launch a trial to hold the defeated president responsible for the siege, while also quickly confirming Biden’s Cabinet and being asked to consider passage of a sweeping new $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet sent the sole article of impeachment to the Senate.

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 11

ZION TAYLOR, second from left, with Director of Education Marcellus Taylor and fellow junior golfers.

ZION from PAGE 16 “That was Zion’s introduction to the sport then.

Then, over the years, he did a little bit of golf and we encouraged him to stay in it. In 2018, his game was coming around a lot better and he got an opportunity to attend the academy at Albany.”

Having supported the move, Rolle said she felt it was the best and right fit for Taylor with all of the equipment to practice and the coaching expertise from John Hart, one of the top 100 instructors.

“We were happy that Zion was getting that

RILEY from PAGE 16 something that I’ve taken on and would expect a lot of challenges. I look forward to conquering it. It’s just another challenge that I feel I’m prepared for.”

In 1996, Riley embarked on her junior golf career and she went on to play on numerous junior Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships (CAGC) national teams. At the time, she attended Freeport Anglican High School until she graduated in 1999.

From there, she spent four years at Hampton University, graduating in 2003.

Like she did as a junior, she went on to represent the Bahamas at the CAGC and she was on the women’s team that won for the first time.

After winning the Bahamas ladies’ national titles back-to-back in 2000 and 2001, Riley turned pro in 2003 right after she participated on her final CAGC team with Jameica Duncombe when the Bahamas again won the ladies’ crown.

During her pro debut at home in 2015 when the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s Pure Silk Golf Tournament was played at the Paradise Island Golf Club, Riley had to withdraw for reasons she didn’t disclose then.

The 39-year-old mother said at the time, she was six months pregnant with her now five-year-old son, Riley Wells, but she didn’t want to pass up on the opportunity to take on the line when her name was called on the tee.

“It was a challenging pregnancy and a challenging delivery,” Riley recalled. “That’s probably not where I should have been, putting myself in such a high risk at the time. But I just wanted to do it so bad.”

Riley is now one of three Bahamian female pro golfers. The other two are Georgette Rolle and Alena Hutchinson.

Duncombe was also a pro, but relinquished her status after she switched to develop her new career in nursing in Florida.

“I hope to bring a higher level of respect for the

opportunity to be an inspiration to those youngsters who were coming behind him,” she stressed.

“He’s a great kid with a great personality. I think he’s going to be one of those who will put the Bahamas on the map. He’s good, he’s talented and he wants it.

He’s in a great environment to do it.”

While doing online classes at Windsor School during the day, Taylor is engaged in golf lessons at Albany from 1-5pm and then does gym workout between 5-6pm.

“It’s a different environment in terms of schedule and practice,” said Taylor, who along with Heathcliff Kane are the only Bahamian golfers enrolled,

along with more than 10 foreigners.

“It took a while to get used to it, but I got the hang of it.”

Although he remembers the exploits of his older brothers, Dante, 27 and Tre, 24, Rolle admitted that Charisma, 21, his only sister, was an “inspiration and someone to look up to and be like.”

Like the rest of his siblings, who all attended college (Charisma, now with the Lady Volunteers’ track team at the University of Tennessee), Taylor said he would like to eventually play division one golf and then become a professional player.

As a footnote, his father Dewey Taylor attended

office that I hold and for women in particular,” Riley said.

“We know that the association started off with a huge bang back in the 1960s with Roy Bowe and all those guys who blazed the way for us right now.

“And after a while, everything sort of fell off and it was revived back in the early 1990s and it fell off again. It was revived again in the early 2000s and now I’m hoping that we can stick around and see if we can get it right and be here for the long haul.”

Among some of her plans is to create a Golf Hall of Fame because she admits that there are a lot of great stories in the sport in the Bahamas that need to be told and legends who need to be recognised.

“We just had the passing of Jim Duncombe and even when I was a junior golfer in Grand Bahama, he had a huge impact on my career,” she lamented.

“Every time I saw him, he always had incredible words of encouragement, so he’s been a special addition to my golf career. So

we definitely want to highlight people like him and not let their stories die with them. We want to give them the flowers while they are alive.”

Another focus for the association is to get their pros the recognition that they need so that they can be respected around the world.

In November, the BPGA hosted its first National Championships, held in memory of Roy Bowe, at the Ocean Club Golf Club.

Riley was unclear when they will stage their next one, considering the challenges they are faced with the privately owned golf clubs in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco and Exuma.

“Golf has just kind of closed up on us in the last 10 years, so we have to work with the golf properties to get in some time to stage our events,” she summed up.

“We’re here to stay.

The BPGA is here to stay and we have a whole lot planned for the future. We want to make a statement this time around.”

Jersey City University and his mother Patrice Taylor went to the University of Mary Washington.

Dewey Taylor, now a certified official in swimming, said he and his wife feel so blessed to be parents of four children, who all have been so athletically inclined.

“Our family motto has been that ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,’” said the elder Taylor, who himself played all sports at St John’s College, but admitted that soccer was his first love with track and field being second. “He (Zion) knows that I expect him to put God first and acknowledge that God is where he gets his talent and gifting from.”

The only other request he has for the younger Zion, as he did for the other three children, is give it their all once they decide to do something.

“Give it your best and if you had a bad day to just regroup and go back at it again the next day,” he stressed.

“I have learned over the years that we as parents put too much pressure on our children and this is not good for them.

“We should just support them, chauffeur, buy equipment, pay for tutors if necessary, show up to events and encourage them, but try your best just to only guide them.

“Let them set their goals,” he added.

Having been down this road with all of his children, as a father, Taylor said he tries to just be there to hold them accountable to their own goals by reminding them when they fall short.

“I believe that if he stays focused and continues to keep up his work ethic and continue to have the favour of God, the sky’s the limit,” said Taylor of his youngest son, Zion.

Zion Taylor, making the adjustment from the soccer pitch, is expected to be in action from March 22-25.

This big date is when the inaugural National Interschools Golf Championships is staged at the BGF’s nine-hole driving range at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

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PAGE 12, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

Rahane was always thinking of victory in 4th test vs Australia BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Against all odds, interim captain Ajinkya Rahane managed to lead an injury-affected India to victory in the fourth cricket test and retain the BorderGavaskar Trophy.

India was forced to make four changes for the series finale after salvaging a draw in Sydney, and a draw in Brisbane would have been good enough to retain the trophy.

Turns out Rahane had a plan for victory all along.

“We knew if we wanted to win the test and series then five bowlers would be the key,” Rahane said after India’s three-wicket win yesterday.

“That’s why we opted for five bowlers. Washington Sundar got that balance for us. Mohammed Siraj had played two test matches, (Navdeep) Saini one, (Shardul) Thakur one, Natarajan also on debut. All credit to them.”

India’s bowling attack was decimated by the loss of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin, who could easily have been chosen as man of the series ahead of Pat Cummins if he played the final test.

But debutants Sundar and Thangarasu Natarajan played key roles at the Gabba, while recalled paceman Thakur starred with bat and ball, top-scoring for India in the first innings with 67 runs and taking seven match wickets. Rahane also praised

Rishabh Pant’s match-winning total of 89 not out.

Pant’s promotion to No. 5 in the order was a clear signal of India’s intention to complete a venue-record chase of 328, rather than bat for a draw.

“Rishabh was brilliant,” Rahane said.

“I don’t know how to describe this victory. I’m just proud of all the boys, each and every individual showed character.”

A captain’s century from Rahane for an eight-wicket win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, after the visitors lost by eight wickets in the day-night test at Adelaide, started the series comeback.

India lost regular captain Virat Kohli, who returned to India for the January 11 birth of his daughter, and Mohammed Shami with a broken right arm, after being bowled out for 36 in Adelaide, India’s lowest ever total.

“After Adelaide, we didn’t discuss anything about what happened in Adelaide,” Rahane said.

“We decided we would fight very hard, we just wanted to give our best and not think about the result.

We just wanted to express ourselves as a team.”

Next up for India is a four-test home series against England beginning February 5 in Chennai, when Kohli, who has been named in India’s squad for the series, will return to the captaincy.

INDIA’s Rishabh Pant carries the trophy as he celebrates with his teammates after defeating Australia by three wickets on the final day of the fourth cricket test at the Gabba, Brisbane, Australia, yesterday. India won the four test series 2-1.

(AP Photo/Tertius Pickard) Kohli took great pleasure in congratulating Rahane and the team from his home in India.

“WHAT A WIN!!!

Yessssss,” Kohli tweeted.

“To everyone who doubted us after Adelaide, stand up

and take notice. Exemplary performance but the grit and determination was the standout for us the whole

JOKIC SCORES 27 IN 3 QUARTERS, NUGGETS ROUT THUNDER 119-101

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 27 points and 12 rebounds before calling it an early night as the Denver Nuggets routed the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-101 last night.

Clean shaven and sporting a new buzz cut, Jokic also had six assists before taking a seat on the bench with the other starters for the fourth quarter.

Reserve Monte Morris added 15 points and Paul Millsap finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Nuggets have won six straight over the Thunder at home. Luguentz Dort

kept the Thunder close early by scoring 15 of his 20 points in the first half.

The Nuggets began to pull away in the second quarter and stretched it to 26 in the third before Jokic and his fellow starters became spectators. It was a muchneeded confidence boost for the struggling Nuggets (7-7), who advanced to the Western Conference finals inside the NBA bubble last season. So much so that former Nuggets coach George Karl posted on social media leading up to the game: “It’s early in the season to say this but the Nuggets game against the Thunder is a ‘must win’ for Denver.”

way. Well done to all the boys and the management.

Enjoy this historic feat lads.”

NUGGETS centre Nikola Jokic, left, hangs from the rim after dunking the ball for a basket against Thunder forward Isaiah Roby, centre, and guard George Hill in the first half last night in Denver. (AP)

Nuggets guard Facundo Campazzo had the highlight play of the first half, throwing a backward, between-the-legs pass to Morris for a layup.

The Thunder played for the first time since an

OT win over Chicago last Friday. Their game against Philadelphia on Sunday was postponed because the 76ers did not have the league-required eight available players to proceed because of contact tracing.

TURNOVERS Jokic leads the league in assists, but also ranks among the leaders in turnovers. Coach Michael Malone understands it comes with the territory.

“You look at the list, the

guys who have turned the ball over are Nikola, LeBron (James), James Harden — players that are high quality and much is being asked of them,” Malone said.

FATHERLY ADVICE Malone keeps feeding the confidence of Morris.

For that approach, Malone credits the sage advice once given to him by his father, longtime NBA coach Brendan Malone.

“Some of the greatest advice he gave me as a young coach, the greatest gift I can give any of our players is confidence,” Malone said. “Monte knows he has my full confidence.”

MITCHELL SCORES 28, JAZZ BEAT PELICANS 118-102

By JOHN COON Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Donovan Mitchell had 28 points and seven rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans 118102 last night for their sixth straight victory.

Mitchell also made four of Utah’s 21 3-pointers.

Jordan Clarkson added 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists, and reserve Joe Ingles scored 15 points.

Rudy Gobert had 13 points, 18 rebounds, and three blocks.

Zion Williamson scored 32 points for New Orleans, and Brandon Ingram had 15. The Pelicans trailed the entire second half after allowing the Jazz to make more than 20 3-pointers for the fourth time in six games.

Williamson gave the Pelicans an early lift in the first half. He converted all five of his first-quarter field goal attempts and capped a 7-0 run with a layup that

put New Orleans up 20-18.

Mitchell matched his efficiency. He powered the Jazz offence in the first quarter, scoring 15 points while going 6 for 7 from the field. He converted a threepoint play to punctuate an 11-2 run that gave Utah a 29-22 lead.

Mitchell also had a key stretch in the second quarter. He scored and threw a one-handed wraparound pass as he was falling out of bounds out to Bojan Bogdanovic to set up another basket. The two plays bumped Utah back in front 55-49 before halftime.

The Jazz carried that momentum into the third quarter. Utah made 3-pointers on four straight possessions to extend its lead to 73-55.

Utah made eight total 3-pointers during the quarter. Clarkson and Ingles scored the final two on back-to-back possessions to push the Jazz lead to 91-69 heading into the fourth quarter.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 13

FAMILY and friends of the late Jonique ‘Mini’ Webb can be seen at her memorial yesterday.

Memorial held to reflect on life of the late Jonique ‘Mini’ Webb ONE year after her death, family and friends of Jonique ‘Mini’ Webb hosted a memorial to reflect on the life of the late multitalented, petite young lady.

The memorial was held yesterday at the home of her grandmother Deaconess Joanne Webb.

Among those present were her parents, mother Linda Forbes, father John Webb Sr (Kimberley), her siblings and other family members, along with her close friend, Valeska Thompson, her former coach Terrance ‘Red Eye’ McSweeney and Brent Stubbs, the director of the Baptist Sports Council, of which she served as the secretary.

They all reflected on the life of Webb, a versatile athlete who played every sport for the Lady Falcons,

graduating in 2006 as the best all-around female athlete at Jordan Prince Williams. She also played with the Golden Gates Native Baptist Church in softball, volleyball, basketball and track and field.

On January 19, 2020 at the age of 30, Webb died after battling lupus. She was an assistant manager at the Bahamas Securities Commission at the time of her death. She was also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., National Baptist Youth, National Baptist Young Women, Lupus 242 Association, St John’s Native Baptist Young People Union, National Society of Leadership and Success, Bahamas All-Star Band, Colours Junkanoo Group and the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants.

FRIENDS of the late Jonique ‘Mini’ Webb perform at her memorial yesterday.

JOSEPH FERGUSON NEW PRESIDENT OF BAHAMAS CHESS FEDERATION JOSEPH Ferguson has been elected as the new president of the Bahamas Chess Federation, replacing Elton Joseph, who served as the immediate past president.

Joining Ferguson on the executive team are NM Byron Small as treasurer and WCM Antoinette Seymour as the secretary.

“It is an honour to have been chosen as the next president of the Bahamas Chess Federation (BCF),” Ferguson said.

“On behalf of the newly installed BCF executive team, I salute outgoing president, Elton Joseph, and his team for the stellar work they have done.

“We hope to continue to build chess on the solid foundation we have inherited, and are all grateful to serve.”

Ferguson said while they are all anxious to return to face-to-face play, they are mindful that we are in a pandemic.

“The BCF will continue to abide by the strictest protocol measures to ensure the safety of all our members and friends,” he said.

“Therefore, face-to-face play will continue to be suspended until such time as COVID-19 is contained.

“In the interim, online tournaments will continue and we welcome any suggestions to encourage, enhance and promote chess during these unprecedented times.”

Ferguson revealed that the BCF currently has two executive vacancies for First Vice-President and Second Vice-President.

He said it is important that we fill these vacancies.

As per the Constitution, the BCF Executive Board invites all persons interested to submit their name via email to: info@bahamaschessfederation.org on or before Tuesday January 26, 2021.

All candidates must meet criteria, per recent BCF ruling: (1) be a full member of BCF, and (2) has not been suspended more than once by BCF. Based on the submissions, the executive team will proceed, as empowered by the Constitution, and advise the Federation thereafter.

The BCF monthly meetings will be held every third Sunday in each month, beginning February 21, 2021. Until further notice, these meetings will be held using a ZOOM platform.

Beginning Sunday, January 31 at 4pm, and every other Sunday thereafter, the BCF will engage in

a constitutional review.

Ferguson said this is of the utmost importance and most be done expeditiously. As such, members are invited to indicate their interest, via email/letter, in serving on said Ad Hoc Committee by Friday, January 22. Committee meetings will be held using

the ZOOM platform, unless otherwise advised.

As per the BCF Constitution, once a final version of an amended Constitution is ready, a special called meeting will occur for the approval of the same.

Ferguson advised persons to look out for further communications in this regard.

“Do know that during these unprecedented times, the new executive team does have some novel initiatives, which we hope will spur BCF full membership,” Ferguson said.

These include the following: • Fun matches with ‘retired’ players or those from yesteryear, including former national champions • Ongoing scheduled/ structured mentoring for beginners, e.g., one-hour chess exercises, facilitated by our national experts • BCF library and archive

Finally, I end with the answer given in an interview regarding my ascension to the post of BCF President: “The very unusual “Bird Opening.” It is not the tradition[al] first move

of many but it has been proven to be sound. My style of leadership may/will be different and go against the norm you may be used to in BCF. “I will listen, consult and lean on the wisdom of my team, former leaders and be guided by the Constitution of the BCF. If you love the game, we are asking you to consider coming back to it.

Let’s talk about what you don’t like, and why you left.

“The game of chess is way bigger than any peeve we may have with any individual. If we all just focus on playing the game, and leave the petty politics behind us, chess will grow and grow with leaps and bounds. I will find you, and I will bring you back.

Checkmate in 4 against any defence.”

Ferguson stated that their proverbial is always open and they welcome feedback and concerns from their members as they strive to build a better association and grow together in the sport.

“I’m humbled to have been selected and grateful to serve,” he said.

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PAGE 14, Wednesday, January 20, 2021

KEYSHAWN STRACHAN, throwing the javelin.

THE TRIBUNE

CALEA JACKSON, throwing the discus.

Blue Chips Throwers Club to stage its first meet Saturday, January 30

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH competitions limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Blue Chips Throwers Club is all set to stage its first throwers meet at the original Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium Saturday, January 30.

Club founder and head coach Corrington Maycock said there is a need for the throwers to have a meet to compete in so that they can remain in competitive form going into the season that includes the postponed 2020 CARIFTA Games in Barbados.

In December, the club hosted a meet where at least seven athletes from the Blue Chips (one of whom was too young) attained the qualifying standards for CARIFTA and Keyshawn improved on his qualifying performance in the under-20 boys’ javelin at the T-Bird Flyers Track Classic, the first meet held

in January at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium two weeks ago.

Maycock is anticipating that some competitors from the other clubs will surpass the standards in either the javelin, discus or shot put when the meet takes place from 10am to noon.

“The main thing I’m looking for is that other kids from the other clubs will come out and get better in the field events,” Maycock said.

“This is just to keep the flow going and to have such a long break in between meets. So this is like a filler.”

Based on the performances he saw in the last meet in December, Maycock said his throwers are back into the weigh-room, so he doesn’t envision any spectacular performances from them, but he noted that they will be in competition mode as they contest the four attempts in their respective events against their rivals from the other participating clubs in the

under-15, under-17, under20 and open divisions for male and female.

“It’s normally easy for throwers to qualify for meets like CARIFTA. That is why we have done so right at the beginning of the season in meets like these,” Maycock said.

“Track athletes have to run themselves into shape.

The throwers have a different level of competition and the more they throw, the better they get.

“So we can’t afford to take off the time like the runners. They have to constantly compete to get better.”

Like the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations has mandated for their meets this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the meet is off limits to any fans in the stands.

Only athletes and officials will be able to attend the meet.

Maycock said it’s expected to be short, so they are encouraging athletes who wish to participate to

be on time to register, warm up and compete.

So far, the throwers who have qualified for CARIFTA are: Under-17 girls - Calea Jackson in the discus with a heave of 37.34 metres or 123-feet, 6-inches (qualifying standard is 36.88m/121-0) and Kamera Strachan (although she’s too young to compete) in the javelin with 34.47m/113-1 (qualifying standard is 34.39m/112-10).

Under-17 boys - Kaden Cartwright in the javelin with 51.38m/168-7 (qualifying standard is 50.65m/168-7).

Under-20 girls - Rhema Otabor in the javelin with 47.15m/154-8 and Carniza Mackey in the javelin as well with 38.53m/126-5 (qualifying standard is 38.39m/125-11).

Under-20 boys - Keyshawn Strachan in the javelin with 66.77m/219-0 (qualifying standard is 60.94m/199-11) and Tarajh Hudson in the discus with 53.66m (52.13m).

TARAJH HUDSON, throwing the shot put.

3 more COVID-19 cases linked to Australian Open arrivals

By DENNIS PASSA AP Sports Writer TWO players are among the three latest COVID-19 cases that have emerged from testing conducted on passengers who arrived on charter flights bringing people to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said the players weren’t considered to be contagious, though, and hadn’t been taken out of the regular quarantine hotels.

The first six positive tests were reported over the weekend and connected to flights from Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Qatar.

All passengers on those flights, including 72 elite tennis players, were classified by local health authorities as close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus and forced into hard lockdown. That means they’re not allowed to leave their hotel rooms for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. The six infected people, including a member of the aircrew on one flight and two coaches on different flights, were transferred to a medical hotel.

The Victoria state government announced three new positive tests yesterday, the first to involve players.

The Australian Associated Press quoted Tiley as saying the health department “will need to confirm that they are viral shedding but I can tell you that

they’re not in the medical hotel.”

Tennis Australia declined to provide The Associated Press with a list of the 72 affected players, but many have made their status known via posts on social media.

More than 1,200 players, coaches, staff, officials and media arrived on flights in a 36-hour period until Saturday morning to prepare for the Australian Open, which starts February 8.

Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said some of the cases linked to the tournament will be reclassified as “non-infectious shedding.”

But the state’s chief medical officer, Brett Sutton, later said the reclassification was unlikely to mean any of the 72 players in lockdown — meaning they’re not allowed to leave their rooms for daily practice sessions like the broader player group — could leave isolation early.

All people travelling to Australia for the tennis tournament had to return a negative test before boarding the charter flights, although there was at least one exemption in the case of the historic shedding.

Tennys Sandgren, a two-time quarterfinalist at Melbourne Park, originally tested positive for the coronavirus in November and the Victoria state health authorities determined after reviewing the American player’s medical records

NOVAK Djokovic stands on the balcony yesterday at his accommodation in Adelaide, Australia.

(Morgan Sette/AAP Image via AP) that he was no longer contagious, although still shedding viral particles. So he was given approval to fly to Australia last week.

“My two tests were less than 8 weeks apart. I was sick in November, totally healthy now,” Sandgren wrote on Twitter. “There’s not a single documented case where I would be contagious at this point. Totally recovered!”

Some players have used social media to detail their perceived hardships of being in lockdown, some saying they weren’t aware of the strict quarantine regulations.

“These are high performing athletes and it is hard

to keep a high performing athlete in a room,” Tiley said. “This is the contribution that they have to make in order to get the privilege of when they do come out to compete for $80 million ($62 million) in prize money.”

Organisers had a zoom conference with players on Monday night and Tiley conceded he had faced criticism, saying some of the advance warnings of the risks may have been lost in translation.

“There was some big hits that we took but there were also some compliments.

The most heartening thing at the end in the chat there was a scroll of thank yous

from all the stars and players,” Tiley said, according to AAP. “Sometimes the minority have the loudest voices.”

Tiley, appearing on Nine Network television yesterday, rejected calls from some men’s players to reduce Australian Open matches to best-of-three sets instead of best of five.

“We’re a Grand Slam,” Tiley said. “Right now, three out of five sets for the men and two out of three sets for the women is the position we plan on sticking to.”

He also defended Novak Djokovic for appealing to Australian Open organisers to ease restrictions in a

list reported on Monday, including a request to shift as many players as possible in Melbourne to private residences with tennis courts.

Djokovic’s requests were quickly refused by Andrews.

“In the case of Novak, he wrote a note, these weren’t demands, they were suggestions,” Tiley said. “But he, too, is understanding what two weeks of lockdown means ... every player coming down knew that if they were going to be close contacts or test positive that these were going to be the conditions.”

Djokovic is part of a smaller group of players who landed in the South Australia capital of Adelaide, along with Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal, and are allowed outside for practice sessions under bio-secure protocols.

Australia’s international borders are mostly closed, although there are exemptions in special circumstances. All arrivals must do mandatory quarantine. Each of Australia’s states and territories has its own border and travel restrictions, and those can change on very short notice.

Victoria state, which has Melbourne as its capital, accounted for 810 of Australia’s 909 deaths from COVID-19, most of those during a deadly second wave three months ago which resulted in curfews and lockdowns for the city.

THE TRIBUNE

SPORTS

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, PAGE 15

Leicester piles more misery on Chelsea to go top of EPL

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer FIVE years after achieving the unthinkable, Leicester is back atop the Premier League and making another improbable run at the title.

For big-spending Chelsea and its under-pressure manager, Frank Lampard, any ambitions of winning the league already appear to be dashed.

Leicester beat Chelsea 2-0 yesterday to jump above the two Manchester clubs, United and City, and reach the midway stage of its league campaign in first place.

Even if its latest time at the summit lasts just one night — City and United are both in action today, after all — Leicester is showing it means business again. Just like in the 201516 season, when the team managed by Claudio Ranieri famously delivered one of the biggest underdog triumphs in sporting history to win the league at odds of 5,000-1.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said it was “still too early” to talk about his team as a title contender.

“We’re at the top of the league because we work hard, we’re not there by fluke,” said James Maddison, who scored Leicester’s second goal.

“We’ll do our business in the background, let them talk about Liverpool, Man United and Spurs, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Wilfred Ndidi and Maddison scored in the first half as Leicester extended its unbeaten run in the league to six games, the last three all being wins.

Chelsea was carved open time and again at

LEICESTER’S WILFRED NDIDI, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match against Chelsea at the King Power Stadium yesterday in Leicester, England.

(Michael Regan/Pool via AP) IN-FORM the King Power Stadium “There was a period following a coronavirus ANTONIO and fell to a fifth loss in after lockdown when he outbreak in the ShrewsAs it stands, West Ham was very fit and look at bury squad. Its manager, its last eight games in the league, a run of results is heading into the second the goals he scored then,” Steve Cotterill, watched that leaves Lampard’s posi- half of its Premier League Moyes said. the game from the hostion precarious after the campaign with just one “We are looking to get pital as he recovers from club’s spending spree of senior striker. him back to his level of COVID-19.

Fortunately for manager fitness but he is certainly approaching $300 million GOALKEEPER David Moyes, that striker back to his level of goals.” ahead of this season.

SCORES “It intensified for me a is in-form Michail Antonio.

West Ham sold its other With a fair wind behind Antonio scored a match- senior striker, Sebastien him, a goalkeeper scored while ago,” Lampard said.

“Because the expectations winning goal for the second Haller, to Ajax this month. direct from a goal kick in a at this club, whether they time in four days, his 66thWest Brom stayed in fourth-tier match. are right or wrong, are minute volley earning West next-to-last place, five Newport County ‘keeper Ham a 2-1 victory over points from safety. always high.

Tom King booted the ball “It’s not my decision West Bromwich Albion.

SOUTHAMPTON into Cheltenham’s half, His winner against Burn(about whether he’ll stay THROUGH then saw it take a huge as manager). That’s some- ley on Saturday came on Southampton set up bounce and loop over thing that will always be his first league start since a fourth-round match at the head of scrambling recovering from a ham- home to Arsenal in the FA Cheltenham goalie Josh there.”

Lampard’s side dropped string problem, the latest Cup after beating third-tier Griffiths and into the net. to eighth place, nine points fitness issue to affect an Shrewsbury 2-0.

Newport’s social media behind Leicester, which is a injury-prone player who Goals by Dan team was caught out by was one of the league’s best N’Lundulu, one of the the feat of King, who point ahead of United.

“Yeah, I’m worried,” players after lockdown last many fringe players who was making just his third summer.

Lampard said. started for Southampton, appearance in the league.

If Moyes can keep Anto- and James Ward-Prowse “From the form we were “GOALKEEPER in to get so quickly into the nio fit — and that’s always a guided the Saints to victory TOM KING HAS JUST form that we are now in ... big if — it isn’t too fanciful at its St Mary’s Stadium.

SCORED FROM HIS we should be better than to see West Ham remaining The third-round game OWN AREA... We don’t that. “It takes character to in the vicinity of its current was rearranged from even have a GIF for him!” position of seventh. turn from that.” the start of this month the team tweeted.

US MEN TO PLAY TRINIDAD CHICAGO (AP) — The United States men’s soccer team will open its 2021 schedule with an exhibition against Trinidad and Tobago on January 31 at Orlando, Florida.

A roster missing all Europe-based regulars has been working out in preparation for the match, which is not on a FIFA international match date.

Fans will be required to wear face coverings to attend the game, the US Soccer Federation said today, and there will be at least six feet of space between each group of fans in the stands.

The US expects to have most of its regular starters available for a pair of exhibitions being planned in Europe for March 22-30.

The Americans return to competitive matches when they play Honduras in a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal May 31 to June 8. The winner plays Mexico or Costa Rica in the championship a few days later.

The US is likely to use a less-than-full-strength roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup that starts in early July, in which the Americans have group stage matches against Canada, Martinique and either Haiti, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guatemala or Guyana.

The US starts World Cup qualifying with three matches August 30 to September 7, three October 4-13 and two November 8-17. The Americans likely will open at Trinidad and Tobago or El Salvador, then probably host Canada or Haiti, then play at Honduras.

October will include a home match against Jamaica, and probably a match at Panama or Guatemala, followed by a home game against Costa Rica.

November includes a home game against Mexico and a road match at Jamaica.’

SPORTS PAGE 16

CRICKET, PAGE 12

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021

Riley first female president of BPGA

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

F

or the next four years, the Bahamas Professional Golfers Association will be headed by its first female president - Racquel Riley.

Riley, one of three Bahamian female professional golfers, was elected to the top spot on January 5 after serving previously as the secretary under the presidency of immediate past president Chris Lewis.

“We all had a change of direction for the BPGA and the other executives came together and decided to appoint me as the new president and secretary,” Riley said.

Already, her first vice president Lemon Gorospe, the director of golf at Albany, has demitted office for personal reasons. Glenn Pratt is executive director and Keno Turnquest is the treasurer. Riley, however, said they are hoping to add veteran Grand Bahamian Vernon Lockhart to the executive team.

“We’re here to stay and make it happen,” said Riley about the group of over 40 professionals, active and inactive, whom they will serve.

RACQUEL RILEY

“We believe we have the right team. We just have to keep moving. We have the right plans and we intend

to keep on moving and stick to the plan until we get it right.”

Riley, who for the past eight years has served as the assistant golf professional at the Bakers Bay Golf & Country Club in Abaco, indicated that she’s not going to let anything deter her from her historic role as the first female president.

“It’s definitely a momentous moment, not just to be a female, but to be the first female to take this step, is a little bit intimidating,” pointed out the native of Grand Bahama.

“I won’t be wrong if I don’t say it because we all know it’s intimidating being in what is called a ‘gentleman’s sport,’ so it’s

SEE PAGE 11

JUNIOR GOLFER ZION NEXT IN LINE

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net MEET junior golfer Zion Taylor, the latest member of his family that includes versatile collegiate track and field athlete Charisma Taylor and former soccer players and swimmers Dante and Tre Taylor.

The 16-year-old Zion, who hails from Tambearly International School, is now holding his own as a student at Windsor School and a member of the Albany Golf Academy.

While at Tambearly, Zion played soccer as a centre back for the Western Warriors in the Bahamas Football Association’s youth programme. He made the junior national team at the age of 13.

ZION TAYLOR But in grade nine, he left Tambearly after he earned a golf scholarship to Windsor School and the Albany Golf Academy. By then, he had already established himself as one of the top

junior golfers in the country, having made the junior national team at age 14.

“I chose golf because it started out as fun until coach Georgette Rolle saw something special in me and told me to start taking it more seriously,” Taylor said. “While I was playing golf, I was a member of the national team for soccer.”

Rolle, the director of the Fourteen Clubs Golf Academy, said she’s so proud of Taylor, who has emerged as one of the top three golfers in the 16-18 age group and one of the top five junior golfers in the Bahamas today. “I must have met Zion in 2014 when I did the Tambearly golf classes,” Rolle recalled. “We piloted the golf programme there.

SEE PAGE 11