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VOLUME:118 No.40, JANUARY 21, 2021

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CL ASSIFIED TRADER: CARS, CARS, CARS & MORE CARS

INSIDE

‘ABHORRENT AND CRUEL’ Beatings video sparks demands for action to protect vulnerable kids

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Cabinet minister has urged Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell to move with haste to remove all those involved in the “abhorrent and cruel” beating of children at an emergency care home.

Glenys Hanna-Martin, the Progressive Liberal Party’s shadow social services minister, urged that a bi-partisan commission be appointed to formally investigate the matter and the general state of affairs

at the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

The Englerston MP said the vetting, training, management oversight and monitoring of staff in all children’s care facilities should be reviewed.

Meanwhile, children’s rights attorney Tavarrie Smith said the incident was appalling, adding that a mental health professional and a forensic interviewer should have been sent to the home to provide counselling and assessments to all of the residents.

SEE PAGE THREE

HOME WORKER TRIES TO DEFEND ASSAULTS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net A WOMAN who identified herself as an employee of the Children’s Emergency Hostel told a talk show host yesterday that “if you don’t beat, the children will beat you,” adding another layer of shock to a situation that has reignited

discussion about the use of corporal punishment on children.

The worker called into the Darold Miller Live show on ZNS yesterday and attempted to explain what transpired on the day a number of young boys were whipped by caretakers at the home.

SEE PAGE THREE

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‘RETAINING CURFEW IS FINE BY ME’

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

SUPER Value CEO Rupert Roberts says he feels much safer with the COVID-19 curfew in place and believes last year’s drop in crime is due to coronavirus restrictions.

Mr Roberts, owner of the food store chain and a victim of a home invasion, said he is not bothered by the curfew and any potential impact on business. He thinks crime will shoot up if the curfew is eliminated.

SEE PAGE FOUR

FRONT PORCH

TRUMP SKULKED AWAY BUT AMERICA’S DIFFICULT DAYS REMAIN

PAGE EIGHT

FACEBOOK ‘PREDATOR’ LATARIO CLARKE, 35, outside court yesterday. He is accused of using Facebook to lure underage girls to meet up with him to have sex. See page seven for the full story.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

NYGARD BATTLES FOR PRISON RELEASE A LAWYER for the Attorney General of Canada said yesterday former fashion mogul Peter Nygard can’t be trusted not to flee the country if he’s released on bail, and slammed a release plan put forward by defence lawyers as “utterly brazen and cynical.”

Scott Farlinger urged Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg not to grant Nygard’s bail application, after defence lawyers argued the 79-year-old must be released due to health risks from the COVID19 pandemic, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

“The COVID situation is not a get out of jail free

A SKETCH of Peter Nygard in court by Tadens Mpwene/La Liberté Manitoba. card,” Farlinger told court yesterday, the second day of a two-day bail hearing for Nygard.

Nygard has been in custody since he was arrested at a home in Winnipeg on December 14. He’s awaiting extradition to the US for allegations he sexually

assaulted dozens of women and girls over a 25-year period.

Farlinger argued the risk to Nygard from COVID19 is outweighed by the seriousness of the accusations against him in the US, and by Canada’s duty to uphold treaties related to extradition.

What’s more, he said, evidence before the court leaves it unclear how much money Nygard still has at his disposal, and there’s no guarantee he can’t access it from house arrest and use it to run.

Farlinger told court Nygard is accused of engaging in decades of predatory behaviour, using force and coercion to induce women SEE PAGE FIVE

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

CONSUMERS TO PAY FOR BUILDING PRICE RISE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

CONTRACTORS yesterday warned home building clients face “a hit to their pockets” in 2021 from an “on fire” construction materials market where prices have risen 10 percent since the New Year alone.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

STATESIDE

HONEST SERVICE OR A TIME TO FILL YOUR POCKETS? SEE PAGE NINE

PAGE 2, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Motorcade to be held in tribute to Bert Bell

BERT BELL, whose funeral will be held on January 30.

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A MOTORCADE and homegoing service in celebration of the life and legacy of swim coach Albert “Bert” Bell will be held in Grand Bahama next weekend.

Rashema Ingraham, part of a committee that is organising the events, said due to COVID-19 restrictions, they are requesting businesses to show their support by placing royal blue or aqua coloured ribbons on their doors to pay tribute and recognition to Bell.

The motorcade and t-shirt distribution will take place on Friday, January 29, starting at the Eight Mile Rock High School, where

Bell taught bookkeeping and physical education when he first relocated to Grand Bahama in the early ‘70s. He was a teacher and coach there for over 25 years.

“We want… to give respect to a great man who was beloved in the GB community,” said Mrs Ingraham.

“Mr Bell has put roots in the EMR community and so that is why we want to begin there with a motorcade celebration and move along the community of GB, reaching out to all of the schools and places he has been a part of.”

The motorcade will also pass by the Bishop Michael Eldon High School pool, where Bell coached athletes and taught in his final days as an educator.

Bell also worked with special needs students in Grand Bahama. He and his wife had organised the first Special Olympics Torch Run for special needs children many years ago in Grand Bahama.

On Saturday, January 30, Bell will be remembered and laid to rest during a homegoing service at the Grand Bahama Memorial Park at 2pm. Mourners will be able to gather in clusters of 10.

“We know he has touched the lives of cyclists, powerlifters, swimmers, and students. We are dealing with a lot of restrictions in terms of social distancing, but we want persons to be present to the work of a great man; this is our one opportunity to come together to say thank you,” Mrs Ingraham said.

Bell, a British national who hailed from Central

London, applied for a teaching contract with the Bahamas government. He was transferred to Andros, where he fell in love with the country, culture, and the people.

“He was the first white man there and so people were fascinated by him and he was very friendly,” Trudy Bell-Gibson, recalled of Bell, who taught and later married her mother.

Her father and mother, both teachers, moved in 1972 to Grand Bahama, where he taught at the Eight Mile Rock High School. She said her father became a part of the Eight Mile Rock community.

“He played with the EMR Crushers football team; he built a makeshift gym and he got many young men into powerlifting in the EMR community – it was the first gym in EMR and it was behind our house,” she recalled.

Mrs Bell-Gibson said that her father was also known as a disciplinarian. “His desire and his main goal was to impact and bring out the best in every person, and that’s what he did,” she said.

“For him, it was important for everyone to know how to swim, and to also survive,” she added.

YMCA executive director Karen Pinder-Johnson said Coach Bell was a pioneer in the sport of swimming.

“It is truly a sad day for the Bahamas to have lost Coach Bert Bell. He put his all into it and as a result of that swimming has grown by leaps and bounds on GB,” she said.

PLANS have been announced for a motorcade and homegoing service in celebration of the life and legacy of former educator and swim coach Albert ‘Bert’ Bell, who died on January 16 aged 75. From left are Rashema Ingraham, Trudy Bell Gibson, and Karen Pinder Johnson, executive director of YMCA.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, January 21, 2021, PAGE 3

THE BAHAMAS Children’s Emergency Hostel.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

Beatings video sparks demands for action to protect vulnerable kids from page one Officials were yesterday tight-lipped as to whether the workers were still employed at the hostel or remained involved with those children.

However, Mr Campbell told The Tribune yesterday he planned to give an update on the investigation into the incident tomorrow.

When contacted yesterday, police said that they did not yet have carriage over the matter.

This comes after the shocking video emerged on Tuesday showing at least 11 children being severely beaten and mocked by staff at the 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.

Following the release of the video, Mr Campbell warned “no stone will be left unturned” in a full, impartial investigation.

Mrs Hanna-Martin said: “It is totally unacceptable that children under the watch of the state are subject to abhorrent and cruel treatment. It is heartwrenching to watch the

video that was obviously secretly obtained and made publicly available by someone equally disturbed by these actions.

“The minister must move with haste and remove all who are in any means connected to this violent response to children whose lives have already been disrupted.

“Further, we ask that a bi-partisan commission be appointed to formally look into this matter and the general state of affairs at the Children’s Emergency Hostel and further, to review the vetting, training, management oversight and monitoring of staff in all children’s care facilities.

“We must guarantee that no child placed in foster care is ever again subjected to the horrendous treatment that is seen in this deeply disturbing video.”

In a statement to The Tribune, Mr Smith said the scenes in the video reinforce what children and youth advocates have long said – that corporal punishment is a form of abuse that sends a message that violence is acceptable.

Mr Smith said: “Appalling is how I would describe the video. While we do not have all of the details, there is enough in the video for the Minister of Social

Services and the administrator of the home to take immediate action. Those workers who participated in the egregious behaviour ought to have been immediately suspended pending the investigation announced by the minister.

Further, a mental health professional and a forensic interviewer should have been sent forthwith to the home in order to provide counselling and assessments to all of the residents.

“The video reinforces what children’s advocates and youth workers have long known, and that is that corporal punishment is a form of abuse which sends out the wrong message that violence is socially acceptable.

“Further, research has shown that that there is no evidence that schools or homes who use corporal punishment are any more safe or disciplined than those that don’t, the fact is the psychological affects it has on a child does more harm than good.”

Mr Smith went on to highlight Section 27 of the Residential Care Establishments Act, which outlines how people in residential care are to be treated.

It reads: “(1) No person shall inflict corporal punishment on a resident in a

AN IMAGE taken from video showing a child being manhandled by staff at the hostel.

residential care establishment.” It also states that “no person shall physically restrain another person for the purposes of inflicting punishment on that person in a residential care establishment.”

The definition of “residential care establishment” provided for in the definition of the act is “any charitable or non-charitable establishment for the provision of residential care services for children and young persons.”

Mr Smith continued: “While we are uncertain as to the date of the video, what is clear is that the video is of the Children’s Emergency Hostel, which is easily identifiable from the distinct mural on the walls.

What is even more grievous is the fact that the hostel was established to provide emergency and temporary shelter for abandoned, neglected and abused children.

“While no child should be a victim to what we witnessed in the video, these children in particular are already victims of their circumstances, suffering from any number of adverse experiences and to inflict corporal punishment on top of their trauma is an abuse of the trust that the staff at the hostel held. These are the same institutions that appeal to the public for support when they are struggling to ‘stay afloat’ and then we have to discover that this is how they discipline children behind closed doors.”

He warned Mr Campbell and the home’s board of directors that they will not be able to sweep the matter under the carpet, adding that the public will be “waiting with bated breath” for the outcome of the investigation and for the appropriate punishment to be doled out.

“We want to know what is happening in all of the other homes and whether

HOME WORKER TRIES TO DEFEND ASSAULTS from page one As she tried to give an explanation, she told the show’s host she had been beaten and injured by a parent when she was a child.

“I calling you now because I work at the Bahamas Emergency Children’s Hostel, okay,” the woman said. “I work there

now let me tell you what happened.”

However, before she could continue, Mr Miller interjected saying he did not want to compromise what was an ongoing investigation. During his show, Mr Miller held a poll to capture Bahamians’ sentiments about physically disciplining children. At that point in the show, several people had phoned in to voice their

support for this method of discipline.

“Mr Miller, if you don’t discipline the children, the children will discipline you,” the woman continued, before telling a story of the beating she said she’d endured as a child.

Mr Miller then asked the woman if she was still in support of beating children after her ordeal, she responded: “If you don’t beat, the

children will beat you,” adding she had done nothing to warrant the punishment she received as a young girl.

Officials are investigating after a surveillance video from the home went viral on social media showing caretakers whipping a group of children with what appeared to be sticks.

Attempts to reach officials at the home for comment have been unsuccessful.

ENGLERSTON MP Glenys Hanna-Martin said it is “totally unacceptable that children under the watch of the state are subject to abhorrent and cruel treatment”. they also have surveillance systems in place so that we can monitor those in positions of trust?

“And to the public, I only wish to remind them that it is a criminal offence to not report information regarding any child who is

suffering or has suffered significant harm, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year,” Mr Smith said.

Representatives at the home would not comment when contacted yesterday.

PAGE 4, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

‘Health experts needed on vaccine taskforce’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE head of the Consultant Physician Staff Association believes more healthcare professionals should have been appointed to the government’s National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee.

The committee members were announced on Sunday.

It is chaired by special health adviser to the prime minister, Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis while director of business development of Nassau Cruise Port Ltd Ed Fields is deputy chair.

Other members are Bishop Delton Fernander, president of the Bahamas Christian Council; Dr Marcella Elliott-Ferguson, vice president of administrative services, University of The Bahamas; Stephaine Dean, public health nurse; Dr Danny Davis, consultant, Ministry of Health; Archdeacon Keith Cartwright, rector of St Agnes Parish; Viana Gardiner, Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, Office of the Prime Minister; and Erica Wells Cox, director of communications, Office of the Prime Minister.

CPSA president Sabriquet Pinder-Butler said she was a bit disappointed with the committee’s make-up.

“Certainly a bit disappointed that all of that information would not have been forthcoming and that the general main group does not have more healthcare professionals on that committee or something of this nature,” she said.

She added: “Well I thought that based on the composition there could certainly be additional physicians... Immunisation specialists, IV infections disease specialists, other persons that are involved with the healthcare team more intimately that sort of thing. You could’ve had experts from the various specialities of medicine including emergency medicine, family medicine.

“I expected more representation at that level on that committee.”

Although she is glad that the government has finally named a vaccine committee, she thinks it could have been done earlier.

“When we’ve been talking about vaccines roll-out I think from about last year and the government has indicated that they’re hoping by the end of the first quarter that they would have this in place, I would’ve expected that a committee would’ve already been formed even though it might not have been named.”

In a press release, the Office of the Prime Minister also 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.

As the government prepares for the arrival of World Health Organisation approved vaccines, baseline surveys have already been carried out among healthcare workers and the general public, OPM added.

The statement noted there also will be the formation of specific subcommittees made up of additional members of the public and private sectors for wider consultation and support where needed.

Ms Pinder-Butler is hopeful that the subcommittee would have a better composition of people who will be impacted in the first instance by the vaccine distribution.

She indicated the association has not been directly contacted related to doctors receiving the first vaccines, but they have received an email regarding a survey.

As for the feelings amongst her members surrounding taking the vaccine, she said: “Yes, there would be mixed feelings because you know the information like I would’ve said we’re still getting feedback from persons who have had the vaccine, persons who are having different types of vaccines.

“So you know when something is relatively new, usually wait to see how it impacts persons who’ve had it to determine if this is a vaccine that you would be willing to take. Certainly I think most persons are willing to be involved with things that would (safeguard) themselves, their

from page one

any and everybody can’t come to my bedroom with a gun again, the way they did before. The curfew is definitely helping to keep crime down. The curfew doesn’t bother us anymore.

“In fact, we found that customers are not shopping as late anymore – maybe due to a security problem so we used to close at 9pm, but now we are closing at 7pm.

Even on weekends. We are open from 7am to 7pm.

“People seem to want to get home before the cloak of darkness so the 10 o’clock curfew is not bothering us.”

Overall, Mr Roberts feels that COVID-19 restrictions put in place by Emergency Powers Orders, although seemingly constraining at times, should remain in place. He feels it keeps the Bahamian citizenry not only safe from COVID-19, but also from societal ills.

He continued: “I think crime has gotten less and I would hold the curfew responsible. Most businesses are closed by 10pm or 9pm. I think if we were to eliminate curfew, crime will multiply.

“I think we should hold on to the masks. I think it

TOTAL CASES

TOTAL DEATHS

8,075 175 NEWLY CONFIRMED CASES TUESDAY 7 CASES NEW PROVIDENCE PENDING

TOTAL TESTS

57,200

5 2

HOSPITALISED

family, and the greater population.

“However, we all know that it’s still a relatively new vaccine. There are a lot of

13

CASES IN ICU

0

different things that are being worked out related to the vaccine itself and so I think it’s fair enough for persons to have mixed

RECOVERED

6,720

feelings as to whether or not they want to take the vaccine should it be available and which vaccine it is that they will be offered.”

‘RETAINING CURFEW IS FINE BY ME’ His stores now close at 7pm, giving staff and customers sufficient time to go home before the 10pm curfew.

On Monday, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle revealed a 16 percent drop in crime last year, but credited good police work for the decline, not COVID-19 restrictions.

“I feel safe doing business up until 7pm,” Mr Roberts told The Tribune.

“I feel safe at home with the curfew, knowing that

St. Augustine’s College Principal Search

The Board of Members, Saint Augustine’s College, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau, The Bahamas, invites applications and nominations for the post of

Principal of Saint Augustine’s College (SAC or the College) The SAC Principal Search Committee is charged with identifying practicing Catholic candidates with experience and proven leadership qualities. Ultimately the successful candidate will be required to collaborate with all major stakeholders and will emphasize the delivery of a quality education which will enhance graduates’ success in the world. The innovative, dynamic, student-centred Principal will also ensure that students, faculty and staff are treated appropriately and that the school environment promotes a feeling of safety and security. To assist with the identification of potential candidates, a profile document has been published providing information about the College, leadership agenda, search process, and desired qualifications for the next Principal. It is envisioned that a finalist will be selected for the approval of His Grace Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D., C.M.G.,

by Spring 2021.

Applications, nominations, requests for confidential conversations about the position, and the detailed leadership profile should be sent to SACPrincipalSearch@cec.edu.bs Applications should consist of a detailed letter of interest, a current curriculum vita, and a list of five references with contact information and an explanation of the working relationship with each. At least one reference should be from the applicant’s pastor.

For full consideration, applications should be submitted by February 9, 2021. Additional information about the institution can be found at www.saintaugustinescollege.com/ No hard copy applications will be accepted.

helps stop the spread (of COVID-19). I think after this pandemic is over, I believe when I travel I will continue to wear my mask.

It’s something we have learned to use to protect ourselves and I think we should continue using it.”

In terms of personal prevention, Mr Roberts said: “On the advice of my doctor, I’ve been taking vitamin C, D and Zinc and of course I am getting my sunshine.

“So, I think that is a preventative and even if I were to get COVID, I don’t think it would be as bad as if I didn’t take those preventative measures.”

Mr Roberts said Super Value does its part in keeping its customers and staff safe from the deadly coronavirus by using plastic shields between customers and cashiers, enforcing mask wearing and most importantly, putting

RUPERT ROBERTS ultraviolet lights in the airconditioning system to kill any germs that may enter the store.

In November 2020, the country’s state of emergency was extended until the end of this month.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, January 21, 2021, PAGE 5

NYGARD BATTLES FOR PRISON RELEASE from page one

and girls to have sex with him and others.

Investigators in the US interviewed over two dozen victims, Farlinger said, including six individuals — one of them a minor — described in a bail letter from US officials. Nygard is accused of forcible sexual assault against some victims, and using false promises of career advancement or modelling jobs to coerce others.

Nygard is also accused of using his own companies and staff to recruit, transport and pay victims, Farlinger continued, with some “in-kind” payments such as paying for abortions, medical treatments or plastic surgery. “[There is] evidence that Mr. Nygard had his own corporation create almost an industry, which was created, basically, to feed predatory behaviour,” Farlinger said.

There are allegations staff and victims organised recruiting events called “pamper parties,” Farlinger continued, where potential victims were ranked by their physical appearances.

Nygard is also accused of restricting his victims’ movements.

“This is a pattern of conduct. This is a pattern

of using machinery of the Nygard group to generate victims for these sexual offences.”

None of the allegations against Nygard has been proven in court.

Nygard appeared in court via video link from Headingley Correctional Centre and appeared to take notes during the proceedings.

His lawyer, Jay Prober, told court on Tuesday leaving his client in the jail would be “nothing short of a death sentence” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, Farlinger argued that the two men who came forward as sureties for Nygard — Greg Fenske and Steve Mager, both former employees of Nygard companies — were unsuitable.

He told court that the $900,000 property offered

by Fenske as a surety — the same house where Nygard was living when he was arrested — was, in fact, paid for with funds belonging to Nygard. Farlinger argued that means Fenske, as a surety, “simply has no skin in the game”.

“The fact that the house … was paid for by Mr Nygard completely negates the value of the surety,” Farlinger said.

“It is an utterly brazen and cynical attempt to generate conditions that would be satisfactory for release on bail.”

He also argued that the plan put forward by the defence to monitor Nygard’s movements through motion-activated cameras and an ankle bracelet would do nothing to actually prevent Nygard from leaving the house, should he choose to do so.

“The chase is on, at that point,” Farlinger said.

Nygard has always maintained his innocence and has accused the women accusing him of lying as part of a conspiracy to tarnish his reputation.

Yesterday, his lawyer Prober reiterated his argument the defence’s plan for bail is “rock solid,” and said it would be dangerous and unfair for Nygard to remain in jail. A spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Justice said US authorities have until February 12 to make a formal request for Nygard’s extradition.

Then Canada will have 30 days — until March 15 — to decide whether or not to issue an authority to proceed, which authorises an extradition hearing.

Nygard will spend at least a few more days behind bars after his lawyers said they need more time to adjust their submission on why he should be released.

Another bail hearing has been set for Jan. 28 at 10am in Winnipeg.

PETER Nygard pictured at an earlier court appearance in The Bahamas.

‘DON’T BLAME THE VICTIMS, BLAME THE MEN WHO RAPE THEM’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A WOMEN’S rights advocate wants society to stop placing the blame on young vulnerable girls being lured out of their homes and becoming victims of statutory rape and hold the men responsible accountable for their actions.

Alicia Wallace, director of Equality Bahamas, told The Tribune yesterday there needed to be an open dialogue on the issue of the rape culture, one that informs and addresses sexual violence in its entirety.

Her comments came after Police Commissioner Paul Rolle revealed on Monday

that the majority of the people reported missing in 2020 were adolescent females “engaging in sexual intercourse”.

However, his remarks raised eyebrows in some quarters considering the fact that, according to the law, minors are incapable of giving their consent to sex with adults.

By legal definition, crimes that involve sexual contact with a person who is underage is called statutory rape.

The age of consent for heterosexual relationships is 16 while it is 18 for same-sex relations.

Noting there seems to be a common misconception about statutory rape victims in The Bahamas, Ms Wallace said there needed to be greater focus placed on the

men “preying on our young girls”.

She also called on police officers to crack down on these perpetrators who may have a history of targeting underaged females.

She said: “We often see that people blame girls for what happens to them.

We see the cases pop up, we see the flyers being circulated asking for help with finding girls, minors, people who are under the age of 18.

“And a lot of the social commentary around it is ‘why bother? She’ll come home over the weekend.

She probably by man’ and people behave as though these girls are at the age of consent when they’re not.”

She added: “They cannot

legally give consent and we’re ignoring the fact that the people who are engaging them and the people who are luring them out of their homes are adult men and these men, as far as we can tell, aren’t being held accountable. “(These men) know who has little money and who might be motivated by money and they know who may see their bodies as the only way to survive. These are predators and these are people who practice it and no one is safe from it.

“Why do you think they happen to find people who are 16 or 14? Do you think that they were not building these relationships years ago and were waiting? This is sexual grooming.”

Ms Wallace also said there needed to be more support given to vulnerable victims and also called for more research done into why female teenagers are leaving their homes.

She questioned: “What are the conditions in the home where the girls are leaving? What is the promise that is being made to them? Are they in need of certain financial resources that men are saying that they will provide? How involved are other family members in what’s happening to the girls?”

“And which organisations, meaning NGO’s, churches, after school programmes are actually paying attention and responding to the real needs of people in this

country so that they’re not running to predators and people who tell them ‘I can help you and your families’ or ‘I can help you to access meals everyday, but here’s what you have to do for me?’

“It’s an exchange and it’s not a fair exchange. These are cases of sexual violence.

These are cases of rape.

These girls cannot give consent and we consistently come down on them and they are in the wrong.”

According to data released by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, there were 100 missing reports filed last year. Of those figures, the police chief said, 88 of those required no further actions from officers, but added that 11 cases are still being investigated.

ORGANISATION CALLS FOR FULL FOI ACT IMPLEMENTATION

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

ORGANISATION for Responsible Governance has renewed calls for full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, insisting all available resources be committed to its enactment.

This week, a senior government official suggested to The Tribune the legislation had not advanced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited government operations.

When contacted for his views, Matt Aubry, ORG’s executive director, told The Tribune it was imperative the legislation advanced as the government has shown it can prioritise when needed.

Section 47 of the Freedom of Information Act 2017 (FOIA), which outlines protections for whistleblowers, was brought into force in 2018.

The previous Ingraham administration passed a FOIA shortly before the 2012 general election, however there was no date for enactment. The last Christie administration then overhauled the legislation, and conducted an extensive public consultation process.

The Christie administration passed a FOIA in Parliament in February 2018. However, aside from the whistleblower’s protection, only part one and sections of part five and eight of the legislation have been enacted, allowing for the appointment of an information commissioner and repealing the 2012 FOIA. “In the context of statements that there has been

a pandemic going on it is 100 hundred percent understood that that capacity to work on this has been limited,” Mr Aubry told The Tribune in a recent interview.

“At the same time, we have found as a country a priority to move forward with issues related to regulations that move us off of EU and FATF black and grey lists. The NPO Act (Non-profit Organisations Act) moved forward and they are now in the process of pushing forward with the commercial substance reporting legislation, both of which again put lots of emphasis on transparency and reporting but not necessarily for an internal purpose but external purpose.

“So, this then becomes even more important that this is an opportunity for not for profits and Bahamian businesses have had to stretch in a time that is challenging for them to complete these obligations.

“The government should also prioritise the full enactment of freedom of information.”

He also said: “If the logic is that the Emergency Powers are necessary in order to keep the kind of focus and direction going forward then there needs to be a check and balance and freedom of information is a key one of those. That again I think drives all of what we are doing.

“This is absolutely a priority and needs to be pressed for in many ways.

The funding is there, the identification of an information commissioner is something they’ve been working on for the better part of the year if not longer.

It needs to advance.”

ORG communications coordinator Chauntez Dillet-Wilson added that to fully enact FOIA would help restore citizens’ trust in government and the way it handles affairs.

Given that the government has set its sights on restoring the economy and rebuilding after Hurricane Dorian, there is no better time than now for the full legislation to come into play, she said.

She said: “It is a matter of ultimate urgency. Even before all of this was happening, we felt that it was a crucial part of increasing transparency within our nation. Something that not just us, but when you speak to the Bahamian people feel it’s very much lacking.

“The insinuations in regard to the pandemic, it (FOIA) actually gained a lot more importance in times like this. If you look at international expertise with regards to this in times when you’re consolidating power, in times of crisis, transparency is more important than ever. Something like freedom of information and all anti-corruption regime legislations is actually crucially important to ensure that our resources are being managed well in times where you see a lot of emergency spending. That level of accountability is more important than ever.

The people aren’t trusting the government to spend our money correctly or use our resources correctly.

“While we are in no way suggesting that they are not transparent, but transparency ensures that it appears to be being managed well and it is beyond doubt and reproach.

“At the end of the day we understand the position the government is in; we think there are some crucial steps that they can still make.”

She also raised concern about the government’s failure to appoint an information commissioner as is outlined in FOIA 2017.

“I also want to say if I’m not mistaken the main reason that a piece of legislation would be halted

at the time of emergency is lack of focus and lack of funding and I know that resources have been a strain for the government because of a lack of revenue,” she said. “But, the two biggest expenses for freedom of information would be a digitisation, which I am under the impression they are moving forward with because that’s being funded by the IDB and then the

information commissioner.

“The budget for that has already been put in a previous budget. As a matter of fact, we have been promised to have an information commissioner before Dorian ever hit and as far as we know one has not been selected or at least not publicly announced.

“Honestly once you have that person in place a lot of the balls can start rolling.”

PAGE 6, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

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No more violence against children THE video that showed adults at the Children’s Emergency Hostel beating the youngsters in their care was shocking enough – but yesterday added one further shocking twist to the incident.

A woman who said she worked at the centre rang in to a radio talk show and protested that “if you don’t beat, the children will beat you”. She added: “If you don’t discipline the children the children will discipline you.”

If indeed this caller was one of those workers, she is clearly unrepentant – and seemingly out of control of the children in her care if her only solution was to resort to violence.

Sadly, she also talked of having been beaten herself as a child, while protesting that she had done nothing wrong to warrant the punishment she received as a young girl. If ever there was an example of the cycle of violence that goes on for generations, it is right there.

Too many times, we hear people justifying the beating of children by saying it used to happen to them as a child and it didn’t do them any harm.

It’s even worse in this case, as it seems clear this woman still thinks back to the time when she was beaten and protests about how unjustified it was.

This idea that it is perfectly permissible to raise a hand – or a fist, or a stick – to a child is far too widespread.

Resorting to violence with a child isn’t a way to keep control, it’s a sign that you’ve already lost control.

We applaud Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell for his response in swiftly ordering an investigation. We also applaud PLP MP Glenys HannaMartin for her comments in today’s Tribune, in which she says “it is totally unacceptable that children under the watch of the state are subject to abhorrent and cruel treatment”.

In applauding both, we would agree with her suggestion of a bi-partisan commission. If both sides are already in agreement that this should not happen, then why not go one step further and have both sides working together to make sure this doesn’t happen again?

Any solution that only deals with this specific incident is not looking hard enough at the environment that allowed this to happen at all. If people charged with such care are untrained, unable or unwilling to

recognise that violence against children is unjustified, we need to know how they were placed in such a position of trust.

There’s no use removing them from a position if you only put someone in the same post that will do the same thing over again.

How are these staff trained and monitored? How is the health and care of the children assessed? Not just in this hostel, but in every child care facility across The Bahamas?

This is a time for a bi-partisan approach, and it needs to be guided by one goal – no more violence. If we teach our children that violence is acceptable, how can we be surprised that we have a society with violence that is far too commonplace?

This needs to be a line that we draw in the sand – and we can do that together.

Use our experts

It seems very obvious – but a question has been raised by medics asking why the vaccine consultative committee doesn’t have more healthcare professionals on it.

There are some leading lights of society on the committee – but not that many doctors. Church representatives, university representatives, people from the Office of the Prime Minister… but other than Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis, who leads the committee, Dr Danny Davis, a Ministry of Health consultant, and public health nurse Stephaine Dean, there’s a shortage of medical expertise.

As the head of the Consultant Physician Staff Association, Sabriquet Pinder-Butler, asks, where are the immunisation specialists, IV infections disease specialists, other members of the healthcare team, experts in emergency medicine, family medicine, and so on.

Indeed, seeing the involvement of the religious community and communications specialists, it almost looks as though the committee is there to convince people to take the vaccine rather than to plan how it will be distributed.

There is absolutely a place for wider society – we have said in this column that other countries have shown that casting a wide net in finding ways to distribute the vaccine quickly has paid off – but we have plenty of great medical minds in this country. Let’s use them.

Oil drilling EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE latest debate in The Bahamas has been whether or not an oil industry, which includes offshore oil drilling and extraction, would be good for the country. In this debate as well as every other debate about the future of The Bahamas, it’s important to, not only ask the right questions, but ask the right questions with an open mind regardless of whether you initially agree or disagree with the answers and arguments. In a debate like this, it’s also very important to review all of the facts and statistics, and view the matter from a wide variety of perspectives, for example; a legal, technological, governmental, environmental, economic and ethical perspective.

There is no doubt that diversity is needed in our economy, but the reason we need this diversity is so that we have something to fall back on in the event that the Tourism industry (our main industry) takes another temporary blow. In the event of an accidental oil spill not only would that put a halt on the oil extraction, but it can also possibly affect the tourism and fishing industries, and can also result in us having to contribute money to oil clean up efforts. We have seen some very devastating oil spills in the past that greatly damaged the surrounding

areas environmentally and economically, but with these accidents came a demand for stricter regulations and better technology to mitigate the risk of a spill happening in the future, ultimately making it safer and more efficient to drill for and extract oil.

In the event that there is oil found in The Bahamas in quantities worth extracting, it’s imperative that it is done so under the recommended regulations and we must ensure that they are fully enforced. We must also ensure that there are measures and systems in place to swiftly combat and quickly contain any accidents at a minimum expense to the country’s money and surrounding ecosystems.

Transparency should also be a key factor in this situation, any information regarding oil drilling in The Bahamas, that can be made available, should be made available for the general public to review.

If or when this information is available, the general public should review it so that any opinions one should have about the topic can be based on complete facts.

I personally oppose offshore oil drilling in The Bahamas at this present time. My opposition comes mainly from an ethical and environmental standpoint.

Climate change is a very pressing issue, an issue that directly affects us as a nation both in the immediate and

distant future. Climate change isn’t a topic a vast majority of Bahamians pay attention to, but sadly we are so often hit with the ramifications of it in the form of strengthening hurricanes. One of the largest contributors to the climate change crisis is the burning of oil. The oil may be extracted in a “responsible” way and may not necessarily be burned in The Bahamas, but at some point the oil will go through the combustion process one way or another, releasing carbon emissions into the atmosphere as a by-product, adding to this already out of control crisis. Climate change is a global issue, so just because the emissions wouldn’t be released from our dot on the map doesn’t exactly mean that we wouldn’t be largely contributing to the problem.

If we move forward with oil drilling we put ourselves at risk of having a weak and hypocritical argument when calling on other countries to drop their carbon emissions because climate change has such a detrimental effect on us.

Our job as citizens should be to not only progress but also preserve this land for future generations. In my view, extracting and exporting oil contradicts our very existence as a nation.

BRYANT LOWE Nassau, January 20, 2021.

Enigma - the leader of the opposition EDITOR, The Tribune.

ALMOST no Bahamian ever saw Dr Hubert A Minnis (FNM-Killarney) as prime ministerial material before the former second greatest and effective Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Hubert A Ingraham suddenly resigned as a member of parliament following the debacle of the FNM’s staggering electoral defeat in 2012. That was in my considered view a bad decision.

The rump of the FNM had little choice but to select Minnis as alternative leader as there were no other seasoned acceptable MPs for that party.

Hence the FNM was saddled with Minnis and, of course, when the electorate kicked out Christie and the old PLP in 2017, as was inevitable, he became Prime Minister unexpectedly. He was not prepared to nor did he expect to govern and it is showing big time.

Most politicians are like a deadly disease. You see the symptoms but cannot quite get a grip on a diagnosis. The Bahamian people bestowed a tremendous amount of good will on Minnis and crew in 2017.

Excitement and expectations were dangerously high on the part of the unwashed masses. Electoral promises made were not kept. With the political clock ticking, it is highly unlikely that any of the planks in the FNMs 2017 manifesto will materialise anytime soon.

Minnis, unfortunately, is not a good politician in my view. Yes, he appears sincere but his performance is another thing entirely. I suggest that he will at a somber and convenient point be jettison by the FNM and the upstarts without delicacy or mercy.

The road to this inevitable scenario started when Minnis declared, like a

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net fake Olympian demi-god, that the Ingraham era was over. His declaration caught many FNMs and Ingrahamities by surprise and came across as ungrateful.

Now a year or less to go before the next scheduled general elections, Minnis, in my opinion, is on the ropes and badly staggering. There are numerous self-inflicted facial cuts and his political legs are dead wobbly. He is squinting and nearly blinded by the pouring blood; sweat and copious tears. Who will deliver the knock-out punch and bring this painful and debilitating chapter in The Bahamian saga to a merciful end?

Many are surprised that Minnis lasted so long as PM with the number of political sharks who surround him. A dark winter season appears to be on the horizon for that party. Sir Cecil must be turning over in his grave. What are the alternatives?

The erstwhile and indomitably unquestioned leader of the New Deal PLP is the Hon. Philip ‘Brave’ Davis, QC, MP (PLP-Cat Island; Rum Cay & San Salvador) There are no challengers to his stellar leadership. Yes, some are saying that this one and that one will seek to overthrow him, but hell will freeze over at least a thousand times before that happens. Brave, God willing, will lead the New Deal PLP into the general elections, this will be his first time doing so as paramount leader. Will the first time be a charm?

The road for the New Deal PLP to emerge victorious is within the New Providence based constituencies. Garner sixteen seats here in the capital and six in the Family Islands and Brave could order his scissors tailed

suit. The arrival of a new political dispensation would be at hand.

Who and what is Brave?

He and I go back eons it seems. A quiet man not given to bombastic and stupid talk, Brave is a determined; focused and visionary individual. A family man and a fiercely loyal ally and friend.

Brave’s commitment and words are never able to be successfully challenged. He is an enigma to some, but I see him as that Joshua we have long looked for and expected.

We have had the original Moses in the form of a hybrid of the late Sir Pindling and Sir Cecil. Brother Ingraham was the second wave of the cult of Moses and he did a damned good job at imitating them.

Brother Christie, alas, with all due respect, was more of a song and dance man.

He came, he saw and he danced, but that was it. He had to go along with several others in leadership at that time.

Why and how do you think that Brave emerged as de jure and de facto leader of the New Deal PLP? This was nothing short of an act of God Himself, in my view.

In order for this to have happened several things had to be orchestrated.

Christie had to go. Minnis had to be elected as interim Prime Minister to pave the path for our Joshua.

The gilded era of Ingraham, according to some ingratiates may well be over, but the Davis era and golden years are just across the bar. The weeping is coming to an inevitable end and the best days of this wonderful nation are yet ahead of us. To God then, Who sets up; breaks down and removes kingdoms and principalities, in all things, be the glory.

Jr

ORTLAND H BODIE Nassau, January 18, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, January 21, 2021, PAGE 7

‘Facebook predator’ accused in court

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 35-YEAR-OLD man who was accused of using Facebook to lure underage girls to meet up with him to have sex was arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Latario Clarke, who is on bail for another alleged offence, appeared before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain charged with three counts of rape, three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, one count of child stealing and a single count of obstruction of justice.

The prosecution alleged that Clarke had sex with

MAN GUILTY OF HITTING VICTIM WITH CUTLASS

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A 21-YEAR-OLD man who was accused of hitting another man in the head with a cutlass during an argument last year was yesterday fined $500.

Mario Walkine was arrested after he assaulted Marvin Stubbs with the gardening tool on Christmas Eve. The prosecution said Mr Stubbs and the accused got into a verbal argument around 8pm on the night in question. The court was told Walkine hit the complainant in his head with the cutlass during the disagreement, causing him to sustain a second-degree laceration which required medical attention. After he reported the matter to police, Walkine was arrested.

When he was questioned in police custody, he said he was involved in an argument with Mr Stubbs, but claimed he hit him with a bottle and not a cutlass.

After pleading guilty to one count of causing harm, he was fined $500 and ordered to compensate Mr Stubbs $400 for his injuries.

Magistrate McKinney told the defendant he was also bound over to keep the peace for one year. He warned Walkine that if he failed to do so, he would be sentenced to six months behind bars.

a 17-year-old girl and two 16-year-old girls without their consent between June 2020 and January 9.

It is further alleged that the accused engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse with two 15-year-old girls and a 14-year-old girl between May and November of last year.

Clarke was also accused of stealing another 14-yearold girl from Super Value’s Nassau Street location on January 9 and interfering with the production of evidence in a judicial proceeding between July and October 2020.

Due to the nature of the charges, Clarke was not required to enter a plea and the matter was adjourned

LATARIO Clarke outside court yesterday.

TEENAGER WHO STRUCK CYCLIST WITH CAR IS GIVEN $1,000 FINE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A TEENAGER who struck down a cyclist with whom he had a dispute was yesterday fined $1,000 for the reckless act and ordered to compensate the victim.

Travis Moore Jr, 18, appeared before Magistrate Samuel McKinney after he was accused of hitting another man with his red Passo vehicle on January 18.

He pleaded guilty to a single count of assault with a dangerous instrument

yesterday.

The court was told the complainant was riding his bicycle in the Montrose Avenue area when Moore Jr struck him down with his car as he drove past. After he filed his complaint, the defendant was arrested. In an interview with police, he admitted the offence and said he was riding on Montrose Avenue when he saw the complainant and remembered they had issues, so he decided to knock the man down while he was riding his bicycle. The court was told that Moore Jr returned home after the attack.

The accused was represented by attorney Ian Cargill who told the magistrate his client admitted his guilt from the onset of the investigation and insisted he was remorseful for his actions.

As a result, Magistrate McKinney fined Moore Jr $1,000 or nine months in prison. He also ordered the teenager to compensate the victim $300 and warned him if he didn’t, he would be sentenced to a month behind bars.

The accused was also bound over to keep the peace for a year. If he fails to do so, he could risk spending six months on remand.

TOURISTS ARE DETAINED AT AIRPORT WITH MARIJUANA IN THEIR LUGGAGE

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

TWO tourists who tried to go through the American customs station at Lynden Pindling International Airport with marijuana in their luggage were fined in magistrate’s court yesterday.

Justin Perkins, 28, and Elizabeth Peden Lea, 46, were arrested after US border control agents found marijuana gummies, cannabis oil and five grams of Indian hemp in their suitcase on January 19.

The pair pleaded guilty to three counts of simple possession during

CLUB DONATES TO CHILDREN

MEMBERS of the Lyford Cay Club donated Christmas presents to the Ranfurly Home for Children - and, for the second year in a row, to the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

In addition, facilitated by a direct donation of Christmas gifts by The Lyford Cay Club Charitable Trust,

to April 7 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

Clarke was denied bail and remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until then.

Yesterday, the accused’s father appeared in court and told the magistrate he wanted to withdraw as a suretor for Clarke’s bail for a charge brought against Clarke last year.

However, Magistrate Swain said she was not in a position to address the issue as Clarke had appeared before another magistrate for that matter.

As a result, she said she would make a note of his request.

the children of The Grand Bahama Children’s Home were also treated to Christmas gifts.

Janette Smith, director of member relations, and Karen Rahming, membership administrator delivered the gifts to the homes in Nassau on behalf of the members.

a hearing before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.

The court was told that the Tennessee natives presented themselves to US customs officers at the airport while attempting to travel to Atlanta.

The prosecution said after speaking with the defendants, the American officials decided to search their luggage. During the search the officers found a quantity of loose marijuana, 15 gummy candies and a lamp with hash oil in the bag. Perkins and Peden Lea were subsequently arrested and taken to the Drug Enforcement Unit.

During an interview with police there, Perkins told officers the drugs were his. He said he bought them when he

was in the US. Peden Lea also told the magistrate they had purchased the items legally in the States and did not realise they were illegal in The Bahamas. She said it was their first time visiting the country and insisted they did not do enough research on the local laws.

After listening to her explanation, Magistrate McKinney fined each accused $500 or three months in prison for being in possession of the loose marijuana. He also fined Perkins another $1,200 for the marijuana gummies and cannabis oil. Peden Lea, however, was discharged on those offences.

NINE HELD FOR DRUG POSSESSION

NINE men were arrested for drug possession in several incidents on Tuesday.

In the first incident, shortly after noon officers were on mobile patrol on Ole Boat Alley when they saw a man who looked suspicious. “When the attention of the suspect was drawn to the officers, he then fled on foot,” police said. “One of the officers gave chase and watched as the suspect threw a bag on the roof of an abandoned building. He was later caught and taken to the abandoned building.

The bag was retrieved, an inspection revealed a quantity of suspected marijuana.”

The man was arrested.

In a second incident, shortly after 4pm officers were on patrol near Lyon Road off Shirley Street when they stopped a man and conducted a field search.

The officers found a quantity of suspected marijuana in the suspect’s trousers. He was arrested and charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Sometime after 5pm while patrolling Williams Drive off Cowpen Road officers came across a group of men outside a wooden shack acting in a suspicious manner. A police search dog alerted its handler to a large black garbage bag.

On inspecting the bag, officers found a quantity of suspected marijuana.

The officers also found a large sum of cash. Six men were arrested and charged with being in possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply and possession of the proceeds of crime.

In a fourth incident, sometime after 1pm a joint operation consisting of officers from the Drug Enforcement, K9 Unit, and the Financial Investigations branch, executed a search warrant on a residence on Tundra Close.

While searching a shed on the property, a police dog alerted its handler. The officer found a brown box.

On examining the content, a brown taped package was found. It contained a grassy substance suspected to be marijuana.

A male suspect was arrested in connection with this matter.

PAGE 8, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Trump skulked away but America’s difficult days remain

PRESIDENT Joe Biden speaks “THE Civil War was still going on. It’s still to be fought, and regrettably it can still be lost.”

Historian Barbara Fields YESTERDAY’S inauguration of Joseph Biden Jr was welcomed by millions in America and around the world relieved and gladdened at the departure of the most vicious and divisive President in modern America, who incited, fuelled and epitomised the forces of white Christian nationalism, the great original stain and sin of the American Republic.

The purple tie worn by President Biden and the purple outfit worn by Vice President Kamala Harris, symbolised the blending of red and blue America, a political and moral aspiration for the incoming administration.

The images and pageantry of Inauguration Day were moving. They represented an America striving and groaning to be “a more perfect Union”. The world witnessed the first female Vice President, with Caribbean and Indian roots, sworn in by the first Latino Supreme Court Justice, who is also a woman.

Featured at the Inaugural, escorting Harris and her husband as a security official, was Officer Eugene Goodman. He was the policeman who heroically led a part of the Capitol mob away from the Senate chamber the day of the insurrection.

A young poet, 22-year-old

African American Amanda Gorman, shared her vision of her country’s promise, declaring America is not broken but unfinished.

Gorman enthused: “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy. And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated.

“In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.”

At a pre-inaugural memorial service at the National Mall in Washington Biden was joined by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the city’s Roman Catholic Archbishop and the first African American cardinal.

Before heading to the

during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington yesterday.

Capitol, Biden attended espoused and glorified by described Lady Liberty as mass at the Cathedral of white Christian nationalism. “a very bitter joke” to black St Matthew the Apostle, Donald Trump rep- Americans. “the patron saint of civil resented millions of A dear friend, an Ameriservants”.

Americans, including can educator for nearly 50 many current leaders in years, noted in response to Backlash the Republican Party, who last week’s column: We have been here though quick to decry so“The great apostasy of before. The inauguration called identity politics, [America]: exceptionalism of Barack Obama dazzled loath other human iden- carved into a constitution in hope, symbolism and tities and cultures while built on slavery as a founpromise. But we are now revelling in and endlessly dation. That is the deepest chastened. We are chas- promoting the identities of sin of our inception. The tened by the backlash to the white Christian America.

Civil War and Reconstrucfirst black President and by The aspiration of E tion attempted to reset the the explosive puss of white Pluribus Unum (Out of journey. The Civil Rights supremacy of the past four Many, One) is detested in movement was the next years. the hearts of supremacists part of the process.

Gorman noted in her who festered in Trump’s “Trump ripped all of that poem: “History has its eyes attacks on immigrants, to shreds and revealed the on us”. We must have our foreign nationals, black poison that is so deeply eyes on history. The master and brown Americans and embedded in the core of documentarian Ken Burns others who did not fit their our history. The failure averred: idealised racialist image revealed itself in the kind “The story of our dem- of what constitutes a true of delusionary passion ocratic experiment is and supposedly wholesome combined with religious perhaps best told through American. fervour.” our nadirs, of which there Most Americans, like “We’ve got some diffiare many. In order to truly most Bahamians, are a cre- cult days ahead,” thumped understand and appreciate olized and miscegenated Dr Martin Luther King Jr the promise of the coun- blend of cultures and blood- to a large church crowd try, still unrealised for too lines. The myth of ethnic or on April 3, 1968, at a rally many, we must explore the national purity is one of the in Memphis, Tennessee, points at which it was most great weapons of fascism after travelling to the city challenged, at times when and perverted nationalism. to revitalize its non-violent it appeared even to almost There are no “pure” Baha- civil rights movement by fall apart... mians nor Americans. Most participating in a sanitation “History does not unfold human beings are a mixture workers strike. in cycles. We are not con- of physical influences. demned to repeat what Ken Burns stresses: Depression we do not remember. Our “The American promise Dr King spoke of the world is too chaotic for has long been at odds with Promised Land of racial those simplistic ideas. What reality.” His works, includ- and economic justice he we recognize in history is ing his epic series on the envisioned. Yet he emphaa combination of fact and US Civil War, explore the sized: “I may not get there myth, often at war with one dissonance, divide and with you.” Reportedly also another.” gap between promise and suffering from depression, Many Americans and reality.

King knew his life was in Bahamians fail to appreEven as the Statue of peril. ciate the founding and Liberty has been a symbol He fully grasped that the recurring myths of Amer- of hope for generations of toxic combination of white ica, especially those immigrants, James Baldwin supremacy, economic inequality and militarism in America required unceasing struggle beyond his lifetime, which might cease at any minute.

Dr King noted of the Eastern Airlines flight the previous evening from Atlanta to Memphis: “As we got started on the plane – there were six of us – the pilot said over the public address system: ‘We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane.

And to be sure that all of the bags were checked and to be sure that nothing would be wrong on the plane, we had to check out everything carefully.

And we’ve had the plane protected and guarded all night’.”

While standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel less than 24 hours after his final sermon, waiting for a car to take him to dinner at Reverend Billy Kyle’s residence, King was felled by a single .30-06 bullet fired by James Earl Ray. “According to [Taylor] Branch, King’s autopsy revealed that his heart was in the condition of a 60-year-old man rather than that of a 39-year-old such as King, which Branch attributed to the stress of King’s 13 years in the civil rights movement.”

Like scores of others, including generations of black Americans from the inception of the Republic, King became a victim of the gun violence cum white nationalism that has shed blood like the tides of the mighty Mississippi River.

The barrel of white supremacy that murdered the 39-year-old Dr King is the same bloody force that

Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP exploded in the US Civil War, during Jim Crow and at the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

The fingers on the trigger of such unrelenting violence are white Christian nationalists, who believe they have instructions from God to keep America pure.

Sounds familiar?

Writing in The Atlantic, Emma Green observed: “The name of God was everywhere during Wednesday’s insurrection against the American government.

The mob carried signs and flags declaring JESUS SAVES! and GOD, GUNS & GUTS MADE AMERICA, LET’S KEEP ALL THREE. Some were participants in the Jericho March, a gathering of Christians to ‘pray, march, fast, and rally for election integrity’.

“After calling on God to ‘save the republic’ during rallies at state capitols and in DC over the past two months, the marchers returned to Washington with flourish.

“On the National Mall, one man waved the flag of Israel above a sign begging passersbys [sic] to SAY YES TO JESUS. ‘Shout if you love Jesus!’ someone yelled, and the crowd cheered. ‘Shout if you love Trump!’

“The group’s name is drawn from the biblical story of Jericho, ‘a city of false gods and corruption,’ the march’s website says.

“Just as God instructed Joshua to march around Jericho seven times with priests blowing trumpets, Christians gathered in D.C. blowing shofars, the ram’s horn typically used in Jewish worship, to banish the ‘darkness of election fraud’ and ensure that ‘the walls of corruption crumble.’

“The Jericho March is evidence that Donald Trump has bent elements of American Christianity to his will, and that many Christians have obligingly remade their faith in his image.

“Defiant masses literally broke down the walls of government, some believing they were marching under Jesus’s banner to implement God’s will to keep Trump in the White House.”

The inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is but an opportunity. But the forces of darkness and hatred in America are unrelenting and powerful and must be challenged in every generation.

Dr King’s legacy and vision have often been romanticised. He understood America’s promise.

But he just as much understood - and was the victim of - the evils of America, which will not relent to symbolism and easy asides about the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice.

Donald Trump is not anomalous in terms of the white, Christian nationalists enraged about the dream of Dr King and the scores of Americans who share his vision of E Pluribus Unum.

Another Trump, perhaps one more competent, intelligent and strategic, is watching and waiting for his opportunity for power.

The survival of American democracy is not assured.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, January 21, 2021, PAGE 9

SEN. Mitch McConnell. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mitch played his own game – and won ON his last day as president, Donald Trump speaks to the crowd before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Honest public service or a time to fill your pockets?

B

E honest. What do you really think about government?

Is it a collective elected agent for the common good, chosen at its top levels no less frequently than every five years? Are those who toil in government offices our best and brightest, dedicated to public service and improving the lives of all of us?

Or is government at its senior elected levels simply a device for securing power and financial advantage for its leaders? Are government workers, often less well compensated than their comparably responsible private sector counterparts, really dedicated to our wellbeing, or are they looking for grift and graft to supplement incomes they know are not competitive?

Perhaps your view is somewhere in between, taking account of both the best and the brightest in government on one hand, and its lesser lights on the other.

By now, it has become abundantly clear into which camp US ex-President Donald Trump, his cronies, sycophants, allies and supporters fall.

They’re firmly in the grift and graft camp.

Trump has said repeatedly that he made generous campaign contributions to American politicians of both parties over the course of many years. Saying so makes him feel important, of course, but it also reveals his profound lack of distrust in the honesty, integrity or efficiency of government.

He clearly felt he needed to pay off officials and politicians in order to get done what he wanted to get done.

Like many thousands and millions of voters in The Bahamas, the US and everywhere else, Trump values money above everything else. Money makes the

world go ‘round. It buys for those who possess it everything they want and need.

It’s what is important.

For others, money is necessary to live a responsible life, but not paramount.

Some 75 million voters cast their ballots in America’s November election for Trump. The guess here is that almost all of them feel they know Trump. They know who he is. They know what he stands for. They admire his apparent business success. And perhaps most of all, they respect the fact that he seems to be largely without pretence.

He has never pretended to be someone other than who he is.

Remember when he said – well before he was elected President – that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York City in broad daylight and get away with it?

Trump said it because he believed it.

And now, with his shameful pardons and grants of executive clemency, he is revealing anew how little regard he has for government and its potential for good, or, as revealed in the Fifth Avenue remark, for its potential for equal justice and administration or accountability.

He thinks government influence and assistance can be purchased. Indeed, he believes it must be purchased, in order for it to be useful.

It is no great distance from that admittedly cynical notion to his reported present policy of selling pardons

to the highest bidder.

There are rumours swirling around of former presidential lawyer John Dowd offering pardons in exchange for either cash or silence about information that might hurt the President.

And America’s one-time hero, Rudy Giuliani, has been linked with reports that he would need $2 million to secure a pardon for one supplicant. It also emerged in recent days that Rudy’s claims for salary and expenses totalled a whopping $20,000 per day.

It all seems to originate from a jaundiced, cynical and doubtless sometimes justified view of government as a tool to be manipulated rather than a force for good.

Imagine for a moment that you are a farmer in western Kansas or a machinist in central Pennsylvania or a rancher in eastern Oregon.

Or even a retiree in southwest Florida.

You live hundreds or even thousands of miles from the seat of the central American government. You may never have had the means or opportunity to visit Washington, DC. Why would you necessarily have any faith in the positive power of the government? Why would you have any feeling of being connected to government in some way, other than the annoyance of having to pay federal, state and local taxes that may have become much more onerous in the dozen years since the Great Recession from which you and your family have not

NATIONAL Guards walk to the Capitol Building as events get underway for then President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, Wednesday, in Washington. (AP Photo/John

Thank God that’s over

W

hile pardons and revenge are high on the agenda behind the scenes in Washington, the central downtown area of the city was transformed into an armed camp reminiscent to some of the “Green Zone” in downtown Baghdad around the US Embassy there. National Guard troops, police and federal agents were visible everywhere from the Lincoln Memorial at the western edge of the city to Capitol Hill and beyond.

While the law enforcement response to the riots of January 6 was obviously inadequate and tardy, the US Secret Service, Department of Defence and a myriad of other military and law enforcement agencies were clearly determined to avert anything similar on Inauguration Day.

There is plenty of evidence that images of this transformation are profoundly jarring and unsettling to almost all Americans.

Responsibility for the situation is assigned according to whether or not a person still supports ex-President Trump. His supporters continue to complain to pollsters that fault for the present circumstances lies with Antifa, Black Lives Matter or the radical, socialist left.

Most Americans see the situation in a different light, and it is difficult to recall a situation in which a sitting President was held in such low regard by so many commentators and editorialists. And no President has ever earned such low overall approval ratings as he left office.

As Air Force One finally removed him from Washington yesterday, the sense of relief was palpable.

recovered?

Chances are good that Trump’s view of things corresponds pretty closely to your own view. And he’s honest and up front about expressing those views.

So, it’s no surprise that the polls tell us the now ex-US President still enjoys strong support from his base of fans and from the Republican Party. Hopeful liberal pundits point to some evidence that Republican support for Trump is eroding, but the continuing silence of many GOP officials indicates they feel the party’s core is still with the President.

O

ne place support for Trump is clearly waning, though, is the office of now former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.

It was never a secret that the wily, experienced senior senator from Kentucky knowingly made a deal with the Devil (Trump) in order to continue a pattern of behaviour he revealed with his refusal to grant a Senate hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s choice to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court in 2016.

McConnell’s grand plan has been to make significantly more conservative the federal American judiciary. In many respects, it has worked. That was McConnell’s end of the Devil’s Deal. Trump in exchange got a compliant US Senate Republican majority for the full four years of his White House tenure.

Now, though, Trump is headed for the exit door.

He is also clearly implicated in the January 6 riots that threatened the personal security of every US senator and congressperson in attendance at the Capitol that day.

On Tuesday, McConnell

spoke as the Senate returned to Washington after a brief recess and prepared for yesterday’s inauguration of Joe Biden.

McConnell said: “The mob (that stormed the Capitol) was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

McConnell has clearly had enough. Stories are circulating that he quietly favours the rapid House impeachment of Trump, and is quite open to supporting the effort when a Senate trial is held. He has reportedly said privately he believes Trump committed impeachable offences.

The obvious objective is then, after impeachment of a President who has left office, to schedule a further vote to preclude Trump from ever running for elective office in the US again.

That would be some revenge for all the rudeness, disregard, insensitivity and disloyalty Trump has so often displayed toward his Republican “colleagues” in the Senate. One can easily imagine Mitch McConnell smiling.

PAGE 12, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

Biden takes the helm WASHINGTON Associated Press

JOE Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that “democracy has prevailed” and summoning American resilience and unity to confront the deeply divided nation’s historic confluence of crises.

Denouncing a national “uncivil war,” Biden took the oath at a US Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier. Then, taking his place in the White House Oval Office, he plunged into a stack of executive actions that began to undo the heart of his polarising predecessor ‘s agenda on matters from the deadly pandemic to climate change.

At the Capitol, the quadrennial ceremony unfolded within a circle of security forces evocative of a war zone and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, Biden gazed out on a cold Washington morning dotted with snow flurries to see more than 200,000 American flags planted on the National Mall to symbolise those who could not attend in person.

“The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious and democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden declared in his speech. “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day in history and hope, of renewal and resolve.”

History was made as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president. The former US

JOE Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington yesterday.

Photo: Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP senator from California is also the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the US government.

Biden never mentioned his predecessor, who defied tradition and left town ahead of the ceremony, but his speech was an implicit rebuke of Donald Trump. The new president denounced “lies told for

power and for profit” and was blunt about the challenges ahead.

Central among them: the surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States, as well as economic strains and a national reckoning over race.

“We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain,” Biden

said. “Few people in our nation’s history have been more challenged, or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now.”

Biden was eager to go big early, with an ambitious first 100 days including a push to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass a $1.9 trillion economic relief package. It included a blitz of executive orders on matters that don’t require

congressional approval — a mix of substantive and symbolic steps to unwind the Trump years. On Day One, he signed a series of executive actions, including to re-enter the Paris Climate Accords and to mandate mask wearing on federal property.

“There’s no time to start like today,” Biden said as he signed the actions in the Oval Office. Then he swore in a group of aides — virtually — telling them, “You’re my possibilities.”

The absence of Biden’s predecessor from the inaugural ceremony underscored the national rift to be healed.

But a bipartisan trio of former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama — were there to witness the transfer of power.

Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, was at his Florida resort by the time the swearing-in took place.

TRUMP PARDONS EX-STRATEGIST AS HE LEAVES THE WHITE HOUSE PRESIDENT Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon in the final hours of his White House term as part of a flurry of clemency action that benefited more than 140 people.

Bannon was charged in August with duping thousands of donors who believed their money would be used to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border.

Trump did not pardon himself or his children or his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

The final list was full of more conventional candidates whose cases had been championed by criminal justice activists. One man who has spent nearly 24 years in prison on drug and weapons charges but had shown exemplary behavior behind bars had his sentence commuted. So did a former Marine sentenced in 2000 in connection with a cocaine conviction.

Even so, prominent Trump allies stood out.

One pardon recipient was Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty in a scheme to lobby the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian wealth fund. Another was Ken Kurson, a friend

of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.

Hours later, the White House announced one last pardon, for Al Pirro, the ex-husband of Trump ally Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News Channel host. Al Pirro had been convicted in 2000 of tax charges.

Wednesday’s list includes high-profile defendants.

Among them were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida on weapons charges. Kodak Black, also known as Bill K Kapri, had his sentence commuted.

Others on the list included Death Row Records co-founder Michael Harris and New York art dealer and collector Hillel Nahmad.

Pardoned were former Rep Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican who was sentenced to three years for corruption, money laundering and other charges, and former Rep Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California, who was convicted of accepting bribes from defence contractors.

Trump commuted the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has served about seven years behind bars for a racketeering and bribery scheme.

SPORTS PAGE 13

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Sweeting signs with Padres

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

E

van Sweeting’s baseball journey will continue at the professional ranks with the San Diego Padres organisation.

Sweeting officially signed on to join the franchise before a group of friends, family, and baseball enthusiasts last night at the Bahamas National Trust’s Retreat.

The 6’1”, 185-pound right hand pitcher out of the International Elite Sports Academy credited his success to his foundation of a strong support system led by his family.

“I have to thank my mom, dad, and brother for the sacrifices they’ve made over the past 19 years and for supporting everything I’ve done. Thank you for helping to make dreams come true, I’m forever grateful and thankful for everything you’ve done for me - from taking me to practices early in the morning, picking me up late at night, flights hotels, and everything in between,” Sweeting said.

“To my coaches, thank you for believing in me, Thank you for pushing me to be the person and player I am today. Thank you for going beyond your means to make this possible.

Lastly, I’d like to thank the San Diego Padres organisation for seeing something in me and believing in a kid like me from The Bahamas.

Thank you for allowing me to pursue my dreams. I’m excited and ready to get to work.”

Bill McLaughlin, Padres’ international crosschecker and scout, said his organisation is constantly looking to retool with a new wave of talent. The Padres’ list of signees this year included three of Baseball America’s top-50 prospects. He considers Evan,

the organisation’s first Bahamian signee, as a part of that new wave.

“We are thrilled to be here and this is a big step up for us. We have been looking forward to signing someone from The Bahamas for a long time.

I’ve been coming here for 5-6 years, we have had an interest in players, things just didn’t match up but we are thrilled to be here and we are very happy for Evan,” he said.

“We saw him pitch at the New Balance tournament this fall and he’s a strike thrower, strong body, durable, smart kid and we’re looking forward to having him in the system. Evan is going to be a part of that next wave of talent, we look forward to seeing him on the mound and he looks good in that brown and gold.”

In September, Sweeting participated at the aforementioned New Balance Baseball Program 15 Future Star Series Showcase at Fenway, Park in Boston, Massachusetts, featuring elite international and American recruits.

He was highlighted by Program 15 for his command on the mound in a relief appearance for Team World when he struck out five of the seven batters he faced.

“Sweeting looks sharp on the mound ranging 88-91 mph while locating his effective 78-80 change

Knowles-Tener and Cavaliers to return to field in March

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net RONDRE KnowlesTener and his Virginia-Wise Cavaliers Football programme will return to the field in March in an amended 2021 season.

The 13 members in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) are preparing for a delayed season where teams will compete in a four-game conference schedule, including a conference championship game from early March to mid-April.

The football teams have been divided into two divisions based on geography.

The top team from each division will then play in a postseason championship game. All SAC teams can play a maximum of seven games to be determined at the discretion of each institution.

UVA opens the season March 13 when they host Carson-Newman University followed by matchups against Limestone College, Tusculum University and Mars Hill University.

The SAC Presidents Council had previously delayed the start of fall

NBA, PAGE 17

KNOWLES-TENER sports competition until September 26, but due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presidents announced the postponement to the spring of 2021.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to give all of our fall sports studentathletes an opportunity to compete during the 202021 academic year,” said SAC Commissioner Patrick Britz. “While it may not be the season we had hoped for, we have developed schedules for all of our fall sport student-athletes that we feel will allow them to

SEE PAGE 14

JONES AND FOXES ADVANCE TO THE FIBA EUROLEAGUE QUARTERS

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

was his size and the ability to throw. The ease with which he threw the baseball was a no brainer for me, but the question was how to get him the work he needs to become a pro baseball player.

“I introduced myself to his mom, Kim, and I gave her this crazy idea that her son would become a pro baseball player. She listened, but I had to find a way to show her.

“Evan played in tourneys all throughout the US. Whatever had to be done he was doing it. The sacrifices his parents made were not the norm. Their son had a dream and they allowed him to follow it,” Sands said.

JONQUEL Jones and her UMMC Ekaterinburg Foxes advanced to the FIBA EuroLeague Quarterfinals with another dominant performance as group play resumed this week.

Jones needed just 18 minutes to finish with eight points, seven rebounds and two steals in the Foxes’ 74-58 win over Beretta Famila Schio in Schio, Italy.

They improved to 4-0 in Group C and became the second club to clinch a spot in the Quarterfinals.

UMMC (Russia) continues in the group stage and looks to extend their unbeaten streak with matchups against Spar Girona (Spain) on January 21 and TTT Riga (Latvia) on January 22.

Through four EuroLeague games thus far, Jones is averaging 17 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. She is also shooting 78 percent from the field and a league leading 73 percent (8-11) on three-point field goals.

Jones opened EuroLeague play with 20 points, 6 rebounds on 8-10 shooting from the field in an 83-61 win over Beretta Familia Schio. She followed with a double double - 21 points and 13 rebounds on 8-12 shooting from the field and 5-7 on three-point attempts in a 94-67 win over Spar Girona.

Jones completed stage one with 19 points on 8-9 shooting (2-2 from three), nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

SEE PAGE 14

SEE PAGE 14

EVAN SWEETING, of the Bahamas, last night officially signed on to join the San Diego Padres baseball organisation. and 75-78 curve during,” Program 15 tweeted.

“Most impressive and quickest inning so far for a pitcher in the bottom of the fourth. His velocity jump this summer is real, and looks like he’s got more to come.”

I-Elite was founded by directors Geron Sands and Albert Cartwright. It provides an avenue for players between the ages of 11 and 17 years an opportunity to hone their skills with the view of playing at the professional level.

“I-Elite is one of the first academies of its kind in The Bahamas. We use customised and professional training to develop and assist aspiring professional and collegiate athletes to reach their goals,” Sands

said. “Over the past six years, we have been a part of helping over 20 young men fulfil their goals of making it to professional baseball with eight different organisations. While doing that we were able to secure college or high school scholarships for another 15 young men.

We believe that kids are the future of The Bahamas and investing in them is the only way to make our country a better place.”

Sands said Evan’s potential was evident almost immediately, but became the embodiment of the organisation’s motto displayed on its banners - “Trust The Process.”

“When I first met Evan he was about 13-years-old.

What attracted me to him

PAGE 14, Thursday, January 21, 2021

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

MILLIE Vlasov and Etoc HBC went double clear in the 1.40m CSI1* at the Oliva Nova Mediterranean Equestrian Winter Bronze Tour.

Photos: Clicphoto

VLASOV RIDES HIGH IN FIRST SHOW OF THE YEAR THERE was no brushing off the rust for equestrian athlete Millie Vlasov as she began the 2021 show season with a successful weekend of showing at the Oliva Nova Mediterranean Equestrian Tour in Valencia, Spain.

Vlasov competed in the Oliva Met Bronze Tour at the CSI 1* level with two of her horses, Gulliver du Chene and Etos HBC.

Vlasov was pleased with the performance of both horses. Gulliver, whom she affectionately calls her “pocket rocket” because of his small size and fast speed, completed clear rounds all weekend and was just out of the ribbons in the 1.30m class, finishing 13th out of 34 competitors. Competing at an even higher level with Etos HBC, Vlasov was thrilled to go double clear

over a 1.40m course, completing her jump off in a time of 37.78 seconds.

“He was so good. I’m so happy!”, said Vlasov.

As a result of the pair’s strong performance, this coming week Vlasov will aim to ride Etos HBC over more challenging courses at Oliva, possibly competing at the 1.45m level in a CSI2* Grand Prix Silver Tour competition.

MILLIE Vlasov jumps 1.30m with her “pocket rocket” Gulliver du Chȇne.

EVAN from PAGE 13 “Evan is a big leaguer.

With his work ethic, support system, the drive that he has, the non-stop work he is accustomed to is going to take him to the next level. The Padres organisation is one of the best in the world, one of the tops in the minor leagues, he’s in good hands when it comes to development and when it comes to getting a chance to show what you can do.

Now it’s all up to Evan to show what he can do.

Evan was the person who

JONQUEL from PAGE 13

The quarterfinals will take place in March and the season will conclude with the Final Four in April.

The FIBA EuroLeague continues its new modified format with a shorter competition system of four groups of four clubs playing in their respective hubs during the regular season.

The top two clubs from each regular season group

RONDRE from PAGE 13 play outside competition, compete for a championship, and have a meaningful student-athlete experience.”

These fall sports seasons will not interfere with student-athlete’s eligibility, as the NCAA issued a blanket waiver allowing all 2020 fall sports student-athletes to retain their year of eligibility, regardless of the

trusted the process the most because of the grind, the travel, the sore arms, being in uncomfortable situations and fighting through to get to this point.”

Evan’s mother, Kim Sweeting, spoke favourably of her personal experience with I-Elite and Evan’s progression within the organisation.

“I was very drawn to Geron and Albert at how they took these kids and it was the passion of the game that fed them. I was very proud when we moved Evan over to I-Elite and to see how they nurtured them and encouraged them.

There’s no truer statement for this organisation than

trust the process. Evan had to learn. He had talent but they had to teach him the proper way to pitch and to be a part of these tournaments. It was their drive that allowed our family to pursue this. If you’re a parent and you feel very strongly about your kid’s future in this sport, then I would strongly recommend I-Elite,” she said.

“You can see their track record. It is shown every day, every year they have annual signings. It has been a process, it has been strenuous and emotional but I’m so proud to be a part of iElite and so proud that Evan has been a part of this journey with them.”

advance.

The quarterfinals will be played over two legs in single venue hubs and the winners will advance to the Final Four.

Last season, Jones’ first with the club, Ekaterinburg captured their second consecutive and fifth EuroLeague title with a 91-67 win over Dynamo Kursk in Sopron, Hungary. She appeared in eight games averaging

19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

UMMC has won five EuroLeague titles (2003, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019) and are perennial Final Four competitors.

In the Russian Premier League, the Foxes are the only undefeated team in the league at 12-0.

Nine games remain in the regular season which concludes on March 11.

number of contests competed in during the 2020-21 season.

As a junior with the Cavs last season, Knowles-Tener became a force on the defensive line. The junior defensive tackle led the team with seven sacks.

In addition to his career high sack numbers this season, he also reached several other career high marks this season with 38 total tackles, 10 tackles for a loss (54 yards) and a team leading four quarterback hurries.

He opened the season with one sack and four tackles, including one for a loss, against Chowan University.

In game two he had a season high two sacks and four tackles against Tennessee Tech. He also recorded sacks against CarsonNewman, Tusculum and Newberry (0.5).

After struggling to earn playing time over the last two seasons with the James Madison Dukes, KnowlesTener decided to leave the programme and transfer to the Cavs.

SPORTS

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, January 21, 2021, PAGE 17

Ayton has season-high 26, Suns beat Rockets 109-103

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Deandre Ayton had season highs with 26 points and 17 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns beat the Houston Rockets 109-103 last night to end a two-game skid.

The Suns won for the first time since January 9.

Between the two losses, they had three games postponed because of health and safety protocols after playing at Washington.

The Suns led by 20 points in the third quarter, but the Rockets used a couple of runs to get back in it.

A jump shot by Devin Booker, who had 24 points, pushed the lead to eight with less than three minutes to go.

But Houston scored the next six points, with four from Victor Oladipo, to cut it to 103-101 with 90 seconds left.

Ayton made two free throws and Booker added two more to push the lead to 106-101 with 45 seconds to go. Oladipo made a pair of free throws for Houston, but a layup by Booker sealed the victory.

Oladipo and Eric Gordon had 22 points apiece for the Rockets.

They have lost three of four since James Harden was traded to Brooklyn.

Chris Paul had 13 points for the Suns to give him 19,004 in his career, making him the 60th player in NBA history to reach 19,000.

Mason Jones made a layup for Houston to start

the fourth quarter and cut the lead to five before Ayton took over, scoring eight points during a 10-0 run to make it 99-84 with seven minutes to go. Ayton had two dunks and two blocks in that stretch.

A dunk by Christian Wood soon after that ended a scoring drought of more than five minutes and was the start of a 9-0 run that got Houston within 101-95 with about three minutes left.

A 3-pointer by Gordon cut the lead to 11 early in the third quarter before the Suns scored the next nine points to make it 74-54 with eight minutes left in the quarter.

Gordon ended the run

by Phoenix after that with another 3-pointer which was the start of an 8-0 run

by Houston that cut the deficit to 74-62.

The Suns were up by 14 later in the third after a tip-in shot by Ayton. The Rockets then used a 10-1 spurt to get within 82-77 with about 2 ½ minutes left in the quarter.

Phoenix went on a 7-2 run to extend its lead to 10 but a 3-point play by David Nwaba cut it to 89-82 entering the fourth.

TIP-INS Suns: Damian Jones and Dario Saric both sat out for a second straight game and Jalen Smith missed his fifth in a row because of health and safety protocols. ... Jae Crowder had 11 points off the bench.

Rockets: John Wall missed his fourth straight

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points, Paul George added 19 and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings 115-96 last night for their season-high fifth consecutive victory.

The Clippers handed the Kings a 38-point loss at their place last Friday.

A new week didn’t change anything.

Sacramento dropped its fourth in a row and sixth in seven games.

De’Aaron Fox scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half for the Kings. Glenn Robinson III added 14 points off the bench. Buddy Hield had 11 of his 13 points in the first half, when the Kings led by six.

UP NEXT Kings: Host New York Knicks on Friday.

SUNS centre Deandre Ayton (22), of the Bahamas, drives around Rockets centre Christian Wood (35) during the first half last night in Houston.

(AP Photo/Michael Wyke) game with a sore left knee and Danuel House (back spasms and self-isolation) sat out for the ninth game in a row. Coach Stephen Silas said he doesn’t expect either player to return until at least next week. ...

Wood had 20 points and 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT Suns: Host consecutive games against Denver beginning on Friday night as part of a four-game homestand.

SEXTON, CAVS SPOIL IRVING’S 1ST GAME WITH DURANT, HARDEN CLEVELAND (AP) — Kyrie Irving returned from his personal “pause” to score 37 points in his first game with Kevin Durant and James Harden, but the new-look, star-studded Brooklyn Nets gave up 42 to Collin Sexton and lost 147-135 in double overtime to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night.

Sexton scored 15 points in the second OT — most of them over Irving. Sexton made two 3-pointers and fed Taurean Prince for another in a span of 55 seconds to help Cleveland put away Brooklyn.

Durant led Brooklyn with 38 points and Harden added 21. But Brooklyn’s “Big 3” couldn’t do enough to outlast Sexton, who missed Cleveland’s last five games with a sprained ankle.

As he knocked down one big shot after another in the second OT, players on Cleveland’s bench were tackling each other in delight. Cedi Osman added 25 points and Prince — acquired in the four-team deal that brought Harden to Brooklyn — has 17 in his Cavs debut.

The Nets overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter and tied it at 113-all on Irving’s putback with 1:10 left. Brooklyn had a chance in the closing seconds after Sexton’s turnover, but couldn’t score.

76ERS 117, CELTICS 109 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid had 42 points and 10 rebounds, Tobias Harris added 22 points and Philadelphia beat Boston.

Embiid topped 40 points for the second time in three games. He shot 12 of 19 from the floor (one 3-pointer) and was 17 of 21 from the free-throw line.

He did it in 34 minutes and scored 20 points in a half (22 in the first) for the fifth time this season.

Ben Simmons had 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 26 points, and Marcus Smart had 25.

Kemba Walker scored 19 points in his second game of the season after he missed the first 11 with a left knee injury.

HAWKS 123, PISTONS 115, OT ATLANTA (AP) — Trae Young scored 38 points, John Collins had 31 and Atlanta rallied to beat Jerami Grant and Detroit.

Grant had a career-high 32 points, including all of Detroit’s nine points in overtime, to continue his hot start to the season. But the Pistons fell to 3-11, the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

Clint Capela had 27 points and a career-high 26 rebounds for Atlanta, the NBA’s first 25-25 game since Karl-Anthony Towns (27-27) on January 12, 2019.

MAGIC 97, TIMBERWOLVES 96 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Cole Anthony hit a hurried 3-pointer at the buzzer and Orlando stunned shorthanded Minnesota to stop a six-game losing streak.

Nikola Vucevic had 28 points and eight rebounds for Orlando. Evan Fournier added 24 points in his return after missing nine games with lower back spasms.

Minnesota led by 20 before the Magic slowly chipped away in the second half. Jarred Vanderbilt missed a pair of free throws with a chance to ice the game for the Timberwolves.

Anthony grabbed the rebound on the final miss, pushed the ball quickly up court and the rookie drained a contested 3 from the right wing to win the game.

D’Angelo Russell scored 19 points for Minnesota.

HEAT 111, RAPTORS 102 TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Kendrick Nunn scored 28 points and injury-plagued Miami pulled away in the second half to beat Toronto.

Nunn came off the bench and shot 9 of 12 and had eight rebounds in 35 minutes.

Kelly Olynyk added 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Bam Adebayo had 14 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

Fred VanVleet had 24 points and nine assists for the Raptors.

MAVERICKS 124, PACERS 111 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis had season highs of 27 points

CLIPPERS BEAT KINGS FOR SEASONHIGH 5TH STRAIGHT VICTORY

and 12 rebounds to help Dallas beat Indiana.

Luka Doncic added 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, and Dallas snapped its first three-game losing streak in almost two years.

The short-handed Pacers have lost two straight by double digits, their two most-lopsided losses of the season. Malcolm Brogdon had 26 points, and Domantis Sabonis had 25 points and nine rebounds, ending his streak of double-doubles at 13.

SPORTS

PAGE 18, Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PARTICIPANTS enjoy the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s “Play Tennis” programme, featuring an introduction to the backhand stroke. Play Tennis has welcomed up to approximately 20 participants since its resumption at the beginning of the year, keeping in line with social distancing and safety protocols.

BLTA’s ‘Play Tennis’ programme introduces the backhand stroke THE recent session of The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association’s “Play Tennis” programme featured an introduction to the backhand stroke.

The backhand can be a one-handed or two-handed stroke. Many of the kids prefer the two-handed backhand.

Play Tennis has welcomed up to approximately 20 participants since its resumption at the beginning of the year, keeping in line with social distancing and safety protocols.

The kids are very enthusiastic to learn the game of tennis in this safe and fun environment.

The classes require preregistration at pr@blta.net

and the sessions are structured in small groups.

The Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA) continues to add to the number of new persons coming into the sport by this service offering to the wider community.

The programme is essentially a free programme and is targeted to interested persons who have a desire to learn and play tennis.

“The goal is to get the kids to start playing right away. Some children ages 5-16 are picking up the racquet for the first time and loving it. We see the excitement and growth which propels us to continue to build on this foundation,” said a press release.

Volunteer coaches and assistants have diligently offered their time and talent to the programme.

This week’s session featured former top junior and 2019 Davis Cupper Donte Armbrister. Also on hand were BLTA President Perry Newton (Level 1 Certified), Barry Usher, Marva Conyers, Esther Newton (Play Tennis Certified) and Shayvon Clarke.

A similar programme is being offered by the Abaco Tennis Association (ATA) to the children in Abaco.

The kids are invited to learn tennis on the Dundas Town Court.

President Cameel McDonald leads this initiative for the ATA.

THE KIDS are very enthusiastic to learn the game of tennis in this safe and fun environment.