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The Tribune

Volume:117 No.48, JANUARY 31ST, 2020

Established 1903

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• Entry controls on anyone who visited China in last 20 days • Two local residents already in quarantine at undisclosed location • Bahamian mum on life under lockdown in virus-hit Wuhan City

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE government has banned travel from China because of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, the fastspreading epidemic that has killed 171 people and infected thousands overseas.

Top health officials said yesterday that non-residents who have visited China in the last 20 days will be denied entry to this country regardless of their nationality and returning residents will be quarantined and monitored for symptoms during an incubation period of 14 days.

Two residents have already been quarantined upon arrival here yesterday, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, pictured, said. However, there remains no suspected, reported or confirmed cases of the virus in The Bahamas.

The World Health Organisation declared the new strain of the

coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern yesterday but strongly discouraged countries from imposing travel restrictions to China.

Dr Esther de Gourville, representative of the Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation, said this country’s travel ban reflects special considerations.

“Sovereign nations can make decisions that protect the health of their citizens,” she said.

“Let’s say in the specific case of the Bahamas, there is concern about the ability to quickly diagnose infection and implement containment. The declaration of a public health emergency of international concern does not reflect any uncertainty about the ability of the Chinese authorities to interrupt transmission or transmission in other countries but several countries in the world are currently unable to detect and respond to the virus.

SEE PAGE THREE

pages 6-8

A COMIC’S VIEW I’M STILL COMING TO TERMS WITH KOBE’S DEATH

SEE PAGE EIGHT

TAX TAKE ROSE $92M IN SECOND HALF 2019

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE government’s sixmonth “fiscal snapshot” released last night showed total income for the 20192020 first half increased by almost $92m or 9.1 percent compared with the same period in the prior fiscal year even though Dorian took around 20 percent of the economy off-line for almost four of those six months.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

JUNIOR DELIGHT

THE JUNIOR Junkanoo parade last night delighted the big crowd. Above, a youngster from The Big Apple Academy. Picture Special - Page 2 Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

LAWYERS FIGHT OVER DOCUMENTS DISCLOSURE

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEYS representing the government in a judicial review centred on shanty town demolition have insisted the state “has nothing to hide” while asking the court to deny a request for numerous documents to be submitted, including those that could expose sensitive Cabinet discussions.

SEE PAGE FIVE

FOX LOSES BID TO END US CASE

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A FEDERAL judge has branded one of Island Luck’s co-founders a “fugitive” from US justice in rejecting his bid to have near-decade old human smuggling charges thrown out.

District judge Denise Cote said she would not consider Adrian Fox’s claim that his constitutional rights to “a speedy trial” were

‘FUGITIVE’: Adrian Fox being violated by the US government because he has remained in The Bahamas

and not submitted himself to the court’s jurisdiction.

She added that Mr Fox, who teamed with Sebas Bastian to create The Bahamas’ largest web shop chain with over $100m in annual revenues, was “flouting the judicial process” through having been aware of the charges against him since at least 2014 but deliberately remaining outside the reach of the US authorities.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

DIANE PHILLIPS DORIAN SHOWS WHY IT’S VITAL WE LEARN TO SWIM

SEE PAGE11

PAGE 2, Friday, January 31, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

PHOTOS: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Junior Junkanoo takes Bay Street by storm

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, January 31, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By LEANDRA ROLLE lrolle@tribunemedia.net LUANETTEE Colebrooke, a Bahamian student living in Wuhan in China, is in survival mode following the outbreak of the deadly new coronavirus, which has now been declared a global health emergency.

Giving an update on Facebook on how she keeps her and her family safe, Mrs Colebrooke says she and her children follow many safety measures to safeguard against contracting the virus.

“I place everything away in their right places and then disinfect. My number one choice of disinfectant is just normal white vinegar and distilled water.

It kills many things and is children safe. This is cleaning every other day,” she posted on Facebook yesterday.

“Once a week, I use the heavy-duty stuff such as Welch (equivalent of Dettol) to wipe down the counters and floors.

“I wash my dishes in warm soapy water and some white vinegar. I wash all food that is not in a can with a mixture of white vinegar and water and let it soak for about half an hour. Then rinse them thoroughly. We also peel the skin off of the fruits and vegetables that we can.”

Mrs Colebrooke also has strict rules for when she and her children leave home to visit the grocery store.

“First, we wear layered clothing. It is still winter, so it’s normal to wear layers.

Mother tells of her struggle to survive in virus-hit city Second, we then place our jackets and hats on.

Third, we put on our shoes.

Fourth, we place on our masks. They have protective masks for children and adults,” she said.

“So, I put one on myself first so they can see mummy wearing one, then I put it on them, so they feel safer and not pull it off automatically.

Fifth, I put on our winter gloves and place the little (ones) either to the baby strap on or in the stroller.

“The final and last thing we do is grab our bag with our reusable bags for any groceries I buy.

“These are only some of the precautions that I do with my little (ones) before we go outside.”

Since its outbreak in Wuhan, China, the virus has killed over 170 people and sickened thousands worldwide, with cases already found in the United States,

LIFE UNDER LOCKDOWN STUDENT Luanettee Colebrooke, living in Wuhan, has strict rules for when she and her children leave home to visit the grocery store Canada, Thailand, France, Japan, South Korea and Australia, according to international reports.

To date, there have been no reported incidences of the virus found in The Bahamas or among Bahamian students living in Wuhan.

However, according

to Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, a number of those students have since expressed a desire to evacuate the city. However the logistics of how this will happen have not been worked out.

There are currently nine Bahamian students studying in Wuhan, the epicentre

of the virus, but only five remain in the city as schools in China are on break, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Saturday.

Dr Sands has said the Ministry of Health is “building on the foundations” of its “preparedness efforts” for Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the H1N1 virus and Ebola to prepare for the new strain of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, speaking further on her preparedness efforts, Mrs Colebrooke added: “In all honesty, living in The Bahamas for a good part of my life has prepared me for natural disasters indirectly. I always have extra cans and dried goods at home such as pasta and rice, canned condensed milk, tea, crackers, extra water and gas to cook, flashlights for if power goes out and candles.

“Changing clothes is normal as well for us in The Bahamas because after coming home from school we were always told to take off our outside clothes, go get cleaned up (wash hands and face) and dressed. So, this reminds me of hurricane season.”

Travel ban on people coming from China from page one “The declaration of an international emergency of international concern really allows an opportunity for countries with weak surveillance systems, weak clinical management systems, to be assisted to respond to this virus.”

Dr Pearl McMillan, chief medical officer at the Ministry of Health, said: “Persons who must travel in that region must take precautions to protect themselves by avoiding direct contact with sick people and products that come from animals. Be diligent. Pay attention and equip yourselves with travel advisory information related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus before you travel. If during or after your travel symptoms are experienced, you are encouraged to immediately contact a medical practitioner who will guide you as to the next steps.

Be ready to give your full travel history to the healthcare providers.”

Explaining how quarantine works, Dr Sands said: “Quarantine is going to require separation of individuals. It’s very important for people to understand, especially as Bahamians return to the Bahamas, that you will not be allowed to interact with your family, your mother, grammy etc because if you do they will be put under quarantine as well. This is not going to be a situation where there is loose or flexible movement.

Once you enter the country, there will be a 14 days of quarantine.”

TWO residents have already been quarantined upon arrival in The Bahamas, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands, centre, revealed yesterday.

Government officials are reportedly in close contact with Bahamian students in China. Unlike countries like the United Kingdom, which chartered a plane this week to evacuate more than 200 of its citizens from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, Dr Sands said there is no programme to repatriate the 160 or so Bahamians currently in China.

“Once they arrive, and typically they will travel through Canada, the United States, Great Britain or Cuba, once they arrive in the Bahamas starting today (Thursday), every person

STATEMENT CLARIFICATION

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands has asked us to record that in yesterday’s Tribune a quote attributed to him in the House of Assembly was not fully reported. The statement we carried quoted the minister as saying that as our neighbours in the US and Canada recorded more cases of the Chinese virus outbreak, then: “The further spread of the novel coronavirus to the Bahamas is a reality.”

This omitted two words which prefaced this quote, which were “concern regarding”.

“Concern regarding the further spread of the novel coronavirus to the Bahamas is a reality,” Dr Sands had said.

The Tribune’s headline on the story was: Virus reaching here ‘a reality’. We are happy to make this clarification.

who has been in mainland China, they will be quarantined,” he said.

Dr Gourville added: “(The countries evacuating citizens are ones) that are able to deal with the consequences of possibly infected persons arriving on their shores and certainly many of them are implementing the kinds of quarantine that’s being discussed when their citizens return. I don’t think that we should think that it’s a simple decision to take to just bring your citizens home. The responsible public health action also needs to be taken when

persons travel from affected areas into unaffected areas.”

Dr Sands was careful to emphasise that there is no ban on Chinese nationals and that such residents who have been here for more than 20 days have the privilege “to enjoy the Commonwealth of The Bahamas without restriction.”

Immigration officers apprehended some Chinese migrants this week. Clarence Russell, the director of immigration, told The Tribune after yesterday’s press conference that the migrants did not visit China within the last 20 days and were

screened for the coronavirus and cleared by PAHO. The WHO has declared public health emergencies of international concern only five other times: the swine flu epidemic in 2009, polio in 2014, the zika virus in 2016 and Ebola in 2014 and 2016. Bahamian officials say dealing with outbreaks like Ebola has allowed them to spring into action to promptly deal with the latest threat.

Common signs of coronavirus infection are a fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

In more severe cases, the

infection causes pneumonia, severe respiratory distress, kidney failure and death.

There is no vaccine or cure for the virus, but international reports suggest some people respond well to medical treatment.

Records show that those with severe symptoms and who have died from the virus had underlying serious health conditions like diabetes or heart conditions, according to Dr Gourville.

To date, there have been 8,235 confirmed cases of the virus, 8,124 of which have been on mainland China.

Editorial View - Page 4

PAGE 4, Friday, January 31, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

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

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

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

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The Bahamas needs you to play your part HOW concerned should you be about the coronavirus epidemic?

The latest step in precautions to prevent the spread of the virus may seem drastic – a ban on travel from China to The Bahamas – but the important word to bear in mind is that it is a precaution.

Let’s not play down this risk – the World Health Organisation yesterday declared the outbreak in China to be a public health emergency of international concern, after all. But at the same time, it is important not to overreact.

There are no suspected, reported or confirmed cases of the virus in The Bahamas – and with a lack of direct flights between here and China, we’re looking at a limited number of people coming into the country who may have been in an affected area, and to do so they will have passed through ports of entry in other nations who will also be taking their own precautions.

That said, two Bahamian residents have already been quarantined in order to ensure they have not carried the virus to our shores from their departure point, and such measures will continue to limit the risk of it spreading.

We are, of course, one of the top tourism destinations in the world, and with strong links to China these days, so it is inevitable that this is a risk we must confront.

And that’s where you can play a part. As the chief medical officer at the

Ministry of Health says, pay attention – take note of travel warnings, be cautious if you are in an affected region to avoid direct contact with sick people or products that come from animals, and wash, wash, wash. Use disinfectant, wash your hands often, and if you have a cough or a sneeze? Cover your mouth when you do.

A 14-day quarantine will be in place for people coming into the country from China – so don’t try and fool people and pretend you haven’t. Follow the rules and do what you can to stop spreading the virus.

So to repeat the question we started off with – how concerned should you be? If everyone plays their part, hopefully not too concerned. If all goes well, the quarantine and other measures will limit the likelihood of the coronavirus reaching The Bahamas and contain it if it does.

But out of an abundance of caution, everyone should take note of what can help and follow the guidance of health experts. Containing this virus is not just down to health experts – no, rather it is down to each one of us to do what we can to restrict its spread.

There’s no need for panic – just simple determination on our part to do what we can to stop it in its tracks.

There are no cases of the coronavirus here in The Bahamas yet – so let’s keep it that way.

What’s the emergency?

IT’S A daily ritual along Shirley Street and Eastern Road. The wail of sirens and the prison bus barreling past on the way to court, police escort in tow.

And that’s completely understandable. As we shuffle our cars out of the way, we understand the need to get prisoners – some of them dangerous – to court as swiftly as possible to minimise the risk of escape.

But… why do we so often see the same bus racing past with sirens blaring when it’s empty?

What’s the emergency there? Is the driver late for his lunch? Is he going to miss his favourite afternoon TV show?

Sometimes there’s barely a moment to get out of the way and it’s frustrating to look up and see you hurried out of the path for no good reason.

So we give Minister of National Security Marvin Dames a nudge – and point him towards the least urgent of emergencies. Tell the driver to join the traffic like everyone else, and save the sirens for when they’re needed.

Another generation ruined EDITOR, The Tribune THE Marijuana Committee did not have to complete their report as it is or was obvious what was the intent of the Prime Minister a long time ago…decriminalise and further expunge any criminal record for the use of small amounts of marijuana. Ex Asst Commissioner McCartney and Bishop Emeritus Simeon Hall really wasted a lot of time and probably money and now imagine after the Report was presented to the PM the Committee is going to test the opinion of the people? Why didn’t you do that from the beginning?

Surveys I have seen 70% are against this.

Practice I believe from the Magistrates for some years when a person comes before them for the possession of READERS have been posting their reactions to the stories making the news this week on tribune242.com After Fiscal Responsibility Council member Gowon Bowe said Bahamas is in “almost uncharted territory” over its unplanned post-Dorian borrowing, Birdiestrachan said: “‘Peace be

small amounts of marijuana they are never remanded to Fox Hill - a fine and required to keep the peace and have to go to a drug treatment centre…never prison.

How many persons are today, Prime Minister, in Fox Hill for possession of small amounts of marijuana?

Expunging record? Yes, if you have a record hard to get a job….yes you burn the bridge to enter the US and most countries, but the Prime Minister forgets to tell us that the US has access to the Bahamas Criminal Records that is how we can travel to the US on a Police certificate… you really think the US is stupid that days before the expunging becomes law they will not download the then current record?

Anyone who has applied

Still’ – God alone knows how soon a Hurricane will occur again and where.

Matthew was a four and less than three years later

for a US Visa knows under oath you have to say…I have not used drugs and I have not been charged and found guilty of a drug charge.

What the Prime Minister said on ZNS News was pure basic politics for the uneducated over the hill potential voter. PM looking for sliding vote for 2022.

As a retired medical practitioner he should know the damage the use of marijuana does to a young brain…even second hand smoke as does cigarette smoke, but with marijuana it affects the brain sort of an essential part of ones body.

Well another Bahamian generation ruined and cast to be drugees!

PAULA SMITH Nassau January 22, 2020 there was Dorian – a five. Ragged Island has not been restored. They deserve help. Caution, Caution.”

BahamaPundit posted this: “This country has been completely betrayed by the FNM. I am simply shocked at how little people are protesting what the FNM are doing to this country. ”

Hall playing interesting role yet again EDITOR, The Tribune PASTOR Emeritus of New Covenant Baptist Church, Bishop Simeon Hall has played a massive role in two watershed events in recent Bahamian history. In the lead-up to the gaming referendum in January 2013 under the previous Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, he, along with another Baptist minister, Rev Philip McPhee, campaigned incessantly on public platforms for the decriminalisation of web shop gaming. It was a move which sent shockwaves throughout the Christian community in The Bahamas. The campaign for web shop gaming was overwhelmingly rejected by the Bahamian electorate. Notwithstanding this rejection, however, the PLP would subsequently go on to legalise the industry in 2014.

Hall wholeheartedly supported this measure.

Interestingly, neither Hall nor McPhee, to the best of my knowledge, have exerted the same amount of energy in lobbying for the implementation of safety nets for gambling addicts – some of whom are churchgoers. Legalised web shop gaming has essentially undermined the financial viability of many small to medium sized churches, owing to members gambling away their tithes and offerings in the web shops.

As co-chair of the Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana, Hall is once again leading the charge for another groundbreaking change in the Bahamian moral fabric, if preliminary reports of the Commission’s recommendations for the decriminalisation of recreational marijuana are accurate.

As a seasoned churchman, Hall appears to be oblivious of ganja’s history in Hinduism that dates back to thousands of years.

In his partial autobiography titled Surprised by Joy, C S Lewis stated that there are only two possible answers either in Hinduism or in

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Christianity. Whatever the non-evangelical Christian apologist meant by that statement, Hinduism is flexing its religious muscle in a predominantly Christian society via the emergence of legalised recreational marijuana. Hall should’ve turned down the invitation to sit on the Commission. I appreciate him wanting to be civically engaged. Our loyalty to God must supersede all other loyalties.

In the US, medicinal marijuana is legal in 33 States, while recreational marijuana is legal in only 11 States and the District of Columbia. Coinciding with the widespread acceptance and legalisation of recreational marijuana in the US has been the formation of weed churches throughout the States of California, Colorado and Florida, to list a few. Sacramental Life Church, Hundred Harmonies Church, Jah Healing Church, First Church of Cannabis and International Church of Cannabis are pseudo churches catering to weed smokers who have no genuine interest in Christianity. The foregoing churches are all claiming that weed is just as much a sacrament as the Christian Eucharist.

Consequently, weed church leaders are adamant that they should be beneficiaries of tax exemption like legitimate churches.

In California, according to Rolling Stone, the state government in 2018 only took in $345 million of the projected $1 billion in marijuana tax revenue, owing to the existence of dozens of marijuana dispensaries claiming to be churches.

The fact that many of these “churches” are selling weed to their parishioners is a clear-cut indication that the analogy of weed and the Eucharist is a weak one at best, seeing that Christian churches don’t sell sacramental wine to those

partaking in communion. What’s more, according to a New York Times article printed in a November 2019 article, an audit conducted by a cannabis trade organisation discovered 2,835 illegal weed dispensaries compared to just 873 legalised sellers in the State of California alone.

This phenomenon means that with the regularisation of recreational marijuana in California, certain unscrupulous elements have simply gone further underground to continue their trafficking without the state getting a huge bite of their profits. In the aforementioned Rolling Stone article, the Rev James Young Phan of Hundred Harmonies Church told the publication that the state “shouldn’t be able to tax the sacrament.”

Bobo Ashanti Rastas of the Ethiopian African Black International Congress in Nassau are in all likelihood entertaining the same thoughts, especially given the fact that their theology considers all Western governments as being a part of Babylon.

Either before or after his interview, Phan would go on to lecture his parishioners on Martin Luther and the German Reformation.

Perhaps he views himself as a reformer in the tradition of Luther, albeit for the cause of recreational marijuana.

Bahamian weed consumers are probably seeing Hall in the same light. And with our penchant for copycatting our neighbours to the north, in the event recreational marijuana is ever green lighted, there will be weed church planters who will argue along the same lines as their American counterparts for tax exemption. It will be their loophole to avoid having to pay hefty marijuana taxes. One or two of these future leaders might be tempted to name their weed church New Cannabis Baptist Church.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport Grand Bahama, January 26, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, January 31, 2020, PAGE 5

from page one

Lawyers fighting over documents disclosure

Kayla Green Smith, on behalf of the crown, told the court this “global discovery” would amount to nothing more than a “fishing” expedition. It was also her position it could further prolong the matter, which has been ongoing since 2018.

Ms Green Smith made arguments yesterday before Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson where lawyers representing Respect Our Homes Ltd, led by Martin Lundy, argued there should be full disclosure of notes memoranda, discussions papers, press releases, consultations and other documents that would form the basis of government’s apparent policy to eradicate shanty towns in the Bahamas.

ROHL insists this policy is “ultra vires” and is outside of the law.

The discovery would also include papers relating to the Shanty Town Action Task Force and those that give evidence relating to the government’s title or

interest in the land where shanty towns have existed.

However, in submissions to the court, the government firstly maintained that in judicial review proceedings, a discovery is “very exceptional” and “limited”, stating outright that it was opposed to ROHL’s petition for such an exercise.

ROHL represents 177 residents and/or occupants of shanty towns in the Bahamas.

The discovery issue was just one aspect of yesterday’s proceedings, which included a re-amendment application to amend the case after the government submitted a new affidavit.

“We have nothing to

hide,” Ms Green Smith said, adding that the necessary documents to determine the issues in these proceedings were put before the court.

“Discovery should not be used as a fishing exercise and we contend that this is exactly what the applicants are seeking to do, seeking to fish.”

It was her claim that ROHL needed this discovery to ground its case.

In addition, Ms Green Smith said ROHL was seeking to amend and shift as the matter went along, saying: “We don’t amend based on what the respondents submit to the court and then shift.

“…You either have a case or you don’t.”

In closing her arguments, Ms Green Smith said affidavits from Labour Minister Dion Foulkes, who heads the SATF, and another from a building inspector were comprehensive and provided all the details the court would need to resolve this issue.

In his reply, Mr Lundy said there had been no preaction disclosure in this case and despite this, the crown was refusing ROHL’s application for full disclosure. “In other words the respondents are refusing point blank to provide any disclosure except that which they have selectively exhibited to

their evidence,” Mr Lundy said. “Again unusually for judicial review the respondents appear to dispute the fact that the policy exists or that the possession decision and the utilities decision have been taken.”

Mr Lundy said against that background, the court was invited to view with suspicion the respondents’ claims that the requests for disclosure are too widely framed or not relevant, which seem to be the two overriding themes of the respondents’ submissions.

On the crown’s point that ROHL was seeking to ground its case, Mr Lundy said his side was asking for disclosure so that the issues

could be determined properly. “In judicial review, discovery will be ordered where it is required in order that the justice of the case may be advanced. The applicants are not seeking disclosure to raise their case – they have already done that at permission stage and in any event the documents already relied upon by the applicants are sufficient for that purpose. The purpose of asking for disclosure is to enable the issues to be properly determined.

“It’s not that we need to ground or substantiate, we have already done that at this stage,” he continued.

The matter continues next month.

THE CONTRACT signing yesterday for the new Glass Window Bridge in North Eleuthera

BANNISTER SIGNS $2M DEAL TO BUILD NEW GLASS BRIDGE

By SYANN THOMPSON Tribune Staff Reporter sthompson@tribunemedia.net MINISTER of Public Works Desmond Bannister signed a $2m engineering consultancy contract yesterday with Engineering Technical Services for the Glass Window Bridge in North Eleuthera.

During the contract signing, Mr Bannister told reporters that the construction of a new Glass Window Bridge is critical to Eleuthera.

“The Cabinet approved the recommendation for the award of the contract between the Ministry of Public Works and Engineering Technical Services for a VAT inclusive total of $2,040,840,” he said. “Also approved is a 20 percent contingency amount of $400,000 for any unforeseen or additional services requested.”

The Glass Window Bridge, in North Eleuthera, has been plagued for years with damage, causing blockages especially during hurricanes due to its location between the beach and

the Atlantic Ocean, forcing residents to either use Bahamasair or air charters to commute between North and South Eleuthera.

With the Glass Window Bridge being the only link between North and South Eleuthera, Mr Bannister said that a new bridge is critical to life on that island.

“The current bridge is in very poor condition and has a restricted load capacity of only 12 tonnes with single lane traffic only allowed to cross the structure.

“The bridge, in bad weather, is subjected to overtopping and sea surges from the Atlantic wave actions, referred to as ‘raging’ by the local residents. On these occasions, the waves over-top the landmasses and cause damage to both the north and south approach roads to the structure as well as existing utilities. The overtopping creates dangerous driving conditions and thus results in the bridge being closed for use. This has a severe effect of cutting North and South Eleuthera off from vehicular traffic. The replacement

of the bridge structure is long overdue,” said Mr Bannister.

The engineering consultants are led by Lambert Knowles and his Bahamian firm, Engineering Technical Services, in partnership with JV with Parsons Inc, Cummins/Cederberg and Ardaman & Associates.

According to Mr Bannister, the decision to hire these consultants was based on the fact that they “achieved the highest combined technical and financial score of 84.27”.

According to Mr Bannister, the consultants are expected to undergo four phases including a comprehensive feasibility study that will take four months; phase two, detailed designs over five months; the tender bid process, three months and the actual construction administration over 24 months.

He said, “The works studies are to take into account future demand; financial viability; climate impacts, including projected climate change and other environmental and socio-economic issues relevant to the site.”

ALL BAHAMASAIR PLANES NOW HAVE CORRECT NAVIGATION KITS ALL of Bahamasair’s planes are now equipped with the necessary navigational kits, as mandated by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, and are able to fly into the US without limitation.

Two of the airline’s three 737 jets that were affected by a January 1 deadline to have the navigational kits have resumed service into the US, the airline said in a press release. The third jet is undergoing “heavy maintenance” in Costa Rica and will be returned to service by mid-March. The

navigational kit is part of this maintenance, Bahamasair said.

Earlier this month, The Tribune reported how three of Bahamasair’s largest planes had been blocked from entering the US because they lacked surveillance technology demanded by the FAA. The FAA in 2010 issued a rule requiring aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B avionics by January 1 of this year. The technology improves safety and efficiency in the air and on runways through its

tracking capabilities. However, it was difficult for Bahamasair to secure necessary kits for the company’s 737-500 planes, an older generation of Boeing jets.

The company signed a contract in June for a supplier to deliver three kits in September, October and November of last year but that supplier reneged on its responsibilities, Bahamasair Chairman Tommy Turnquest said earlier this month. The airline had paid the company $200,000 of its $600,000 contract.

PAGE 6, Friday, January 31, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

$3M ALLOCATED TO RENOVATE LPIA FIRE STATION

By SYANN THOMPSON Tribune Staff Reporter sthompson@tribunemedia.net MORE than $3m has been allocated for the renovation of the fire station at Lynden Pindling International Airport in order to keep up with international standards, according to Minister of Works Desmond Bannister.

Yesterday during the contract signing, Mr Bannister told reporters that renovating the fire station

is necessary for the airport’s international ratings.

“The Lynden Pindling International Airport serves to provide firefighting protection and services for the airport facility and aircraft using the airport.

The Fire Services building is a critical factor in the rating of the Lynden Pindling International Airport maintaining its rating as an international airport servicing international air traffic,” said Mr Bannister.

The contract, totaling $3,868,660.07, was awarded to Inline Project Company which will be responsible for the building, structural, mechanical and electrical works said Mr Bannister.

“The Cabinet approved the recommendation for the award of the contract to Inline Project Company Limited in the amount of $3,313,327.34 VAT inclusive. Also approved is a 10 percent contingency amount of $331,332.73 and a provisional sum of

$200,000 for any unforeseen or additional services requested,” he said.

Inline Project Co Ltd was chosen as they had “the lowest acceptable tender, the most complete and consistently priced tender and best technical tender”, it was said yesterday.

Meantime, Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar praised the Ministry of Works for the renovations which he said are greatly needed.

Once the refurbishment is complete, Mr D’Aguilar said the fire department at LPIA will receive new equipment. He said, “As we all know, that structure was damaged in Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the firemen at the airport have been living in temporary accommodation since that time.

“So, I think they’re going to join in with me and say thank you minister and everyone here at the Ministry of Works.

Finally, there’s light at the end of the tunnel and that the environment they are working in and having to work is going to vastly improve. In addition to that the government is committed to buy 11 new fire trucks to really modernise our fire fighting capabilities. Once this fire house is completed, it will be outfitted with brand new fire trucks and the fire trucks that are at the airport will go to other airports within the archipelago.”

THE UNIVERSITY of The Bahamas held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for the institution’s residential and multipurpose complex. Pictured from (L-R) are: Judson Wilmott, construction engineer; Ken Kerr, Providence Advisors CEO and Chief Investment Officer; John Rodgers, UB Board chairman; Dr Rodney Smith, UB president; Dr Hubert Minnis, Prime Minister; Jeff Lloyd, Minister of Education and Julian Francis, Providence Advisors chairman.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

$95m groundbreaking ceremony at university

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net GOVERNMENT and University of The Bahamas officials broke ground yesterday for a $95m university residence and multi-purpose complex project that they hope will boost the university and surrounding communities.

The facility will include a 1,000-bed capacity for student residents, 400 parking stalls, more than 50,000 square feet of common areas, including a fitness centre, study rooms, a 200-seat dining hall, a 500-seat ballroom and a spiritual life centre, a university village for leased retail commercial and business operations and faculty residences, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said.

He said: “Providence Investment and Asset Campus

International, an affiliate of the third-party student housing operator Asset Campus Housing, are designing, constructing and will operate this multi-purpose area.”

Providence Investment and Development Company Ltd says construction of phase one of the project is anticipated to be completed by June 2021 and phase two by November 2021.

“The university’s endowment will grow annually, given that the land will be leased for $100,000 annually, plus 20 percent of the annual profit will go into the university’s endowment,” the prime minister said.

Dr Minnis also said 2,900 of the 5,000 students enrolled at UB have benefited from his administration’s tuition-free access to tertiary education for qualified Bahamians through the Government Tertiary Education Grant Programme.

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt.

“Of that number,” he said, “178 are receiving the additional $500 per month residential grant to help defray the cost of housing for qualified students who must relocate to attend UB. I am advised that the university is planning for steady growth in student enrolment over the coming years guided by a recently approved strategic plan.

Many of those future Bahamian and international students will be residents of this university residence.

“An increase in student enrolment at UB means that the institution is positively impacting many more lives. It also means that communities and businesses nearby will benefit from a more vibrant residential life, a residential life which will have to be supported by a variety of services and amenities, creating more opportunities for Bahamian businesses and entrepreneurs.”

DR Rodney Smith and Dr Hubert Minnis at yesterday’s ceremony

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, January 31, 2020, PAGE 7

Pair accused of stealing $233,000 from ATM outlets

PRISON OFFICER DENIES MAKING FAKE SICK CLAIMS

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A 30-YEAR-OLD security guard was remanded to prison yesterday after denying allegations he used his job to steal $233,000 from multiple ATM machines over the last four months.

Travis Seymour denied stealing $233,100 from five First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB) ATMs scattered across New Providence from October 2019 to just last week via his job at a security firm.

And after doing so, it is alleged he laundered the thousands of dollars and ended up in possession of bedroom, front room, and dining room furniture, as well as three flat-screen televisions, all of which represent the proceeds of crime.

Samantha Gilbert, a 30-year-old banker, was also remanded to prison yesterday after she denied conspiring with Seymour to commit the offence of stealing by reason of employment, then stealing $62,790 from FCIB’s Harbour Bay ATM machine.

The pair further denied allegations they knowingly entered into an arrangement that facilitated the acquisition of the proceeds of crime by or on behalf of another person.

It is also alleged they laundered the $62,790.

Concerning Seymour, it is alleged that between October 22 and November 22, 2019, he stole $72,440 from FCIB’s Pirates of Nassau ATM. He also

ALEXANDER Cortez Burrows outside court yesterday Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

TRAVIS Seymour and Samantha Gilbert outside court yesterday Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff allegedly took $14,850 from that ATM between November 21 and December 10 of that year.

Then sometime between December 2 of last year and last week Monday, he allegedly stole $3,300 from FCIB’s ATM at the Shell gas station on the Tonique Williams-Darling highway.

It is also alleged that sometime between December 13, 2019, and last Tuesday, the Blue Hill Road south resident stole $73,670 from FCIB’s ATM in the Shell gas station on Prince Charles Drive.

Between January 3 and

January 16 of this year, Seymour allegedly stole $48,870 from FCIB’s ATM at the Straw Market. Sometime between January 9 and last week Tuesday, Seymour also allegedly stole $20,000 from FCIB’s Coral Harbour ATM. Seymour further denied three additional counts of money laundering. It is alleged that between October 22, 2019 and last Friday, he knowingly possessed one Sonos speaker system and one 75-inch Philips television that represent the proceeds of crime.

It is further alleged that between those dates, he

14 SMALL BUSINESSES IN GB RECEIVE GRANT FUNDS

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FOURTEEN small businesses in Grand Bahama received grant funding yesterday to get them back on their feet and reopen following Hurricane Dorian.

State Minister for Grand Bahama Kwasi Thompson said the grants were awarded in conjunction with the Small Business Development Centre, which was created to assist small businesses.

Two types of grants were presented. Eight businesses

were given hurricane relief grants, and six received the new technology upgrade initiative grant.

Mr Thompson noted that small and medium-sized businesses are the engine of economic development and cannot be overlooked. He said officials have been processing many applications for grant funding.

“We cannot forget (them), they are the lifeblood, the engine behind the economy,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in Grand Bahama, Mr Thompson

reiterated that the government has been focused on creating a tech hub on the island.

He said: “We have been focused on training young people; we have seen the ICT programmes at BTVI train well in excess of 100 people.”

Training was also conducted at the YMCA, and another session is expected to start soon, he added.

According to Mr Thompson, the government is also getting ready to launch an Urban Renewal technology programme, to offer training to the public.

MAN, 72, DIES WHILE DIVING

POLICE are investigating an alleged drowning that occurred in western New Providence on Wednesday.

Police were told that shortly before noon, a 72-year-old foreign national was on a diving expedition in waters off western New Providence, when he lost consciousness in the water.

He was rescued, taken to hospital by paramedics but later pronounced dead. Foul play is not suspected but an autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death.

TRIO ACCUSED OF STEALING

THREE men were charged in Freeport’s Magistrates Court yesterday for stealing. Jermaine Moxey, 43, of Watlins Road; Demri Charlton, 33, of Spoonhill Loop; and John Williams, 40, of Bass Lane were arraigned before Magistrate Charlton Smith on five counts of stealing and vagrancy. The trio pleaded not guilty to the charges and were remanded to prison until March 17.

Death Notice For

Mr. Vado Sherlin Bootle Sr., 49 of Murphy Town, Abaco and formerly Nassau, New Providence died on Abaco, Bahamas on Saturday, January 25, 2020.

He is survived by his wife: Jacqueline Bootle; sons: Basil Hall and Vado Bootle Jr.; daughters: Cordeisha and Jana Bootle; mother: Veronica Archer; father: Fritz Bootle Sr.; stepmother: Debbie Bootle; sisters: Alesla Wallace, Marva Archer, Wendy Curry, Annoushka Rolle, Holly Bootle and Shaquita Stubbs; brothers: Fritz Bootle Jr., Mario Bootle, Lamar Walkin, Bjorn Bootle, Anwar Bootle, Ahmad Bootle, Wes Bootle, Leslie Archer, Adrian Russell and Quinten Bonamy and other relatives and friends.

Arrangements for the service are being finalized and details will be announced at a later date.

knowingly possessed one 65-inch LG television; one 55-inch LG television; one dark-coloured front room set; one dining room set; and two bedroom sets that all represent the proceeds of crime.

Given their not guilty pleas, Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes adjourned the matters to Monday. Bail was denied and they were remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

They have a right to apply to the Supreme Court for bail.

A PRISON officer was remanded to his place of employment yesterday after denying allegations he defrauded the government of over $2,000 via a fake sick slip scheme three years ago.

Alexander Cortez Burrows entered not guilty pleas to allegations he swindled the government of three separate sums of money totaling $2,168.25 between January and November 2017.

Burrows was arraigned before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes on three counts of fraud.

Police claim that sometime between January 1 and January 30, 2017, he fraudulently obtained $607.11 from the government.

It is further alleged that between February 25 and June of that year, he swindled the government of another $520.38.

He allegedly followed that up by swindling the government out of $1,040.76 between September 1 and November 19, 2017, police claim.

Given his not guilty pleas, Deputy Chief Magistrate Forbes adjourned the matter to May 6 for trial. Bail was denied and he was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.

Burrows’ attorneys, of law firm Cash, Mitchell and Lewis, tried to get bail for him in the Supreme Court shortly after his arraignment, but were unsuccessful.

Tonique Lewis represented him in the bail application.

PAGE 8, Friday, January 31, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Funeral Service For Harold Audley Scott, 63

a resident of Adderley Street Fox Hill who died on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020, will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday February 1st, 2020 at St. George’s Anglican Church Montrose Avenue. The Rev’d Fr Scott O. Brennen assisted by other members of the Clergy will officiate.

Interment will follow in The Western Cemetery Nassau Street.

Death Notice For Dereck Poitier, 61 a resident of Stevenson, Cat Island, died at his residence on Sunday, January 26th, 2020.

Cherished memories are held by his wife: Erica; 6 Children; 1 step grand-daughter; 6 sisters, numerous nieces, nephews family and other friends.

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to THE NEW COMMONWEALTH FUNERAL HOME and will be announced at a later date.

MAMBA OUT! I STILL haven’t wrapped my head around the untimely demise of my favourite basketball player ever, Kobe Bean Bryant, aka “The Black Mamba.”

Maybe I’m still in shock, or I’m in denial, so forgive me if I ramble this week, my heart is heavy.

I have been and will always be, a Laker for life.

I have a healthy respect for Anthony David and Yannis (I’m not even trying to spell his last name).

I enjoy watching both of them play, but they are “bigs”, uber talented, but “bigs” nonetheless.

I’ve always rooted for guards, my favourite players early on were “Magic” Jordan, “Penny” and

then along came Kobe and it was over.

From the very first time I saw Kobe play in the McDonalds All American High School Classic, I was going to root for this kid, despite the noise in the market, Bryant had game, passion and work ethic, well begond his years.

It got even better he was traded to my Lakers on draft night in 1996, for Vlade Divac and it was on.

“Magic” was gone “Shaq” was arriving in LA and I was going to root for the kid fresh out of Lower Marion high school in Philadelphia, who would be ‘Robin’ to Shaq’s ‘Batman’ and lead the Lakers back to the Finals and more importantly Championships.

Kobe did just that and more, rewarding me and my fellow Lakers fans loyalty, with twenty seasons of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, records, championships and indelible memories in our minds of championships winning and greatness.

Not to mention the infamous 81 point game, and the 60 point performance as he was walking out the door, and into retirement.

Priceless memories captured in still frames in our minds and those priceless memories are something even death can’t take away.

I’ve learnt through the passing of my mother, aunt and “Big Cup” never to question God’s perfect timing.

However, I’m still deeply saddened to know his beautiful, talented, daughter Gianna, a basketball prodigy in her own right, also perished with her father, who she obviously loved and adored endlessly.

I feel cheated not to see her follow in her dad’s footsteps and dominate women’s basketball in the NCAA and WNBA. “Continuing to move the game forward @KingJames.

Much respect my brother” was Kobe’s last tweet to LeBronJames.

I hope LeBron does just that before he retires.

I feel like Kobe was

speaking to all of us, in regards to moving the game forward, so I will, my Laker allegiance and loyalty are undying and unquestioned.

But as I no longer have a “favourite player” to root for, and you all know Kobe is my all time favourite player, active or retired, even passing “Magic” which is a Herculean feat in its own right, and now he’s gone.

I will most certainly keep his legacy alive, I will also move the game forward, like he wanted, by embracing one of today’s young stars and root for him with the same conviction and passion I did for Kobe.

So with that being said, taking nothing away from Buddy Heild, who has a special place in my basketball heart, please meet – Ja Morant, G Memphis Grizzlies, he reminds me of a young Kobe and Iverson all in one, but he’s got that ‘Mamba’ mentality and his number 12 is half of 24 so he’s half Mamba for sure.

I will cheer him on to be MambaVersion2, even more so if Laker brass can one day land him and make a Laker.

Hopefully, Ja will reward me by helping me fill this gaping hole in my basketball heart left by Kobe and his untimely demise.

Ahhh Kobe, my Kobe, let’s go Ja!

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt.

A TRIBUTE mural for Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna in Austin, Texas

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt.

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, January 31, 2020, PAGE 9

WE’LL INVESTIGATE MISSING MONEY FOR NURSES, SAYS SANDS

By EARYEL BOWLEG ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Health Dr Duane Sands is looking into the matter of some nurses not receiving their promised “scarcity allowance” on Wednesday.

It was expected registered nurses and trained clinical nurses in the public

health sector would receive $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. Yet, Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams revealed to The Tribune that “a good number of them” did not receive the allowance.

The scarcity allowance is not mandated in the union’s industrial agreement, but is a benefit used by other

countries to keep nurses from leaving for other job opportunities.

When contacted yesterday, Dr Sands said he is investigating the complaints. “We’ve given an undertaking... (to look into) why it is that all of the nurses did not get the initial payment of the scarcity allowance. What we were

trying to do is get everybody started in January and then we will back-date accordingly. So, certainly if they haven’t gotten it and they’re eligible, they will get it.”

It was also reported by some nurses that after receiving last month’s $1,400 lump sum, that amount was deducted from this month’s pay. Ms

No one hurt as ‘tornado’ destroys mobile home

By LEANDRA ROLLE lrolle@tribunemedia.net A GOVERNMENT vehicle used to house its employees on Abaco was destroyed after bad weather hit the area yesterday morning, officials have confirmed.

“The trailer was on the Ministry of Public Works’ compound. There was no one occupying the trailer and it was destroyed. It was one of six purchased by the Ministry of Public Works,” works director Melanie Roach told The Tribune.

Pictures of the damaged recreational vehicle were posted on social media yesterday after Abaco resident Bishop Silbert Mills went on

Facebook live, confirming the incident.

Mr Mills said he believed a tornado had caused the RV to be destroyed.

The same sentiment was shared by Works Minister Desmond Bannister, who told The Tribune that officials were still trying to confirm the cause of the incident.

“I was awakened before four and five am and heard the heavy rain and winds coming through and this twister came through this area (in Marsh Harbour) and flipped the mobile home over that let me quickly say (it) was unoccupied,” Mr Mills said on Facebook.

“We have no injuries. We have no loss of life. This was

unoccupied here in Marsh Harbour… obviously, it appears to have been a twister that came through this morning. Now, there was a squall line… (and) this squall line was producing heavy thunderstorms and the strong winds, and this is not characteristics, as my weather memory reflects, of thunderstorms during this time of year.

“And so, we’re having some changing seasons and times and so it looks like the gods are not finished with us yet here in Abaco.”

Sharing her experience during the thunderstorm, another resident added: “I felt like I was in Dorian all over again… it was raining heavy with winds and lightning... thank God morning

was clearing... I pray for everyone in Abaco as I take a temporary leave.”

After the powerful Category Five storm devastated Abaco and Grand Bahama in early September, the government purchased more than 100 RVs to house some 300 government employees on Abaco to further the reconstruction and recovery efforts on the storm impacted island.

Fifteen of the trailers were assigned to the Ministry of Health, with 20 sent to security workers and six to the Ministry of Works.

The total cost of the trailers is valued over $200,000, according to Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness Iram Lewis.

Williams explained there was confusion surrounding the issue as there was an apparent glitch in the system. Dr Sands could not give an exact explanation for this concern.

“You know we have not changed any position or policy. The nursing union would’ve been written to

by PHA (Public Hospitals

Authority), would’ve gotten assurances by the Ministry of Health. That doesn’t change any individual circumstance. So you know there may be individual circumstances, that mistakes may have been made and so on and so forth. I don’t have the information in order to speak definitively on it. I will look into it,” he explained.

PAGE 10, Friday, January 31, 2020

By FARRAH JOHNSON fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A SEX crime workshop was held yesterday to address the challenges of child abuse and sexually-based crime in the Over-the-Hill area.

The one-day forum, which was held by the Over-the-Hill Community Development Partnership at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre, gave primary, junior and senior high students from public schools in the Over-the-Hill community the opportunity to voice their concerns on the issue.

Speaking on behalf of Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell, the ministry’s parliamentary secretary, Michael Foulkes, described the seminar as “timely and important”.

Presenting the minister’s speech, Mr Foulkes said: “In the early part of last year, I revealed to the public that for the year 2018, a total of 627 cases of child abuse were reported to authorities.

THE TRIBUNE

Sex crime workshop looks at challenges of child abuse “This reflected an increase of about 10 percent of reported child abuse cases which looked at 2017.

Of the 627 cases of child abuse, 213 of the cases or 40 percent of all recorded child abuse was classified as sexual abuse.”

Mr Foulkes said Mr Campbell’s heart went out to the 213 reported victims of sexual abuse as well as the victims from other child abuse cases that go unreported.

He also said the minister believed it was vital for adults to give young people an opportunity to express their views on the matter.

“Today represents the beginning of a new era in how we address and respond to sexually based

MICHAEL FOULKES, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Social Services, opening the Sexually-Based Crime workshop yesterday. Inset: Mrs Patricia Minnis at the workshop.

Photos: Lindsay Thompson/BIS

crimes for young persons,” Mr Foulkes said quoting the minister.

“We’re not here to just talk to you, we’re here to hear from you. We’re here to listen to you to determine how we can best address this matter based on how you feel.”

During the workshop, students got the chance to recommend things they believed the ministry can do to improve their services and make them feel safer.

Some were also given the opportunity to go into the studio and record public service announcements.

According to Mr

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt.

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt

Ellice Sallyann Lockhart Pratt

Foulkes, Minister Campbell looked forward to hearing the feedback from the students to learn how to support them better and further combat sexually based crime in the community.

“This intervention, bringing together local non-profits, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Services and the Office of the Prime Minister will support and guide you in helping your peers with not only addressing sexually based crimes in the community, but also the drugs gangs and other social problems,” he said.

THE TRIBUNE

Friday, January 31, 2020, PAGE 11

How many could have survived Dorian if they’d known how to swim?

TOP and right: Survival swimming lessons; above: Youngsters with their Eva Hilton Swim America certificates passes

THE enormous economic toll of Hurricane Dorian continues to shake The Bahamas with Finance Minister Peter Turnquest this week confirming we were borrowing hundreds of millions more to help rebuild our devastated islands.

Against this number though lies an even heavier burden and that’s the fact we will never know the exact number of people who lost their lives in Dorian, swept away by swift waters and raging floods.

One other thing we do know is that many of those who died might be alive today if they had known how to swim.

Research shows us what environmental science has been telling us all along – the Earth’s waters are getting warmer, seas are rising and ice caps are melting faster than our worst fears, all conditions that make for stronger storms.

Another Dorian or even a more powerful hurricane is likely and like it or live in denial, almost no place on this planet is as vulnerable as The Bahamas. With 97 percent of our ‘land’ not land at all, but water, we are in deep trouble. This is not something any political party can fix. Saving

ourselves, our children and their children as many of the low-lying islands or portions of islands become submerged, swallowed by those rising seas, is going to take courage.

Our sheer survival may spin not just on where we choose to live and build but our ability to swim and what are we doing about it? Except for proponents of national swim programmes like the anonymous gentleman in Grand Bahama who has funded the YMCA swim lessons for years and coaches Andy and Nancy Knowles who have taken their national programme Let’s Swim Bahamas to more than a dozen schools providing basic skills to nearly 5,000 students, we are doing very little at all.

That is not to discount what the Knowles’ have done – they deserve all the plaudits and praise we can give them and

probably ought to be awarded national honours for dedicating their lives to teaching swimming. Every time they start a programme in a new school, it requires six to eight coaches, a bus driver and a site supervisor.

While nearly 5,000 sounds like a lot of bodies to have taught how to swim, Andy and Nancy and people like Philice Albury, president of the 16-time national championship Barracuda Swim Club know that number is what they all call “a drop in the bucket.” With a student population of some 66,000 and an overall population of a little under 400,000 and estimates ranging from one to 10 percent of the population knowing how to swim, why is swimming not mandatory in a current curriculum?

That is the question Save The Bays Chairman Joe Darville asked this week. Waterkeepers Bahamas Executive Director

AND SPEAKING OF SWIMMING...

HERE’S Percy Knowles, father of Andy mentioned in the article above. He’s 82 in the photo on the left and today, at 89, he continues to swim every day, claiming it keeps him fit and who can argue with that? Son Andy says when they come through the airport and his dad is wearing

all the medals he wins in his age category at swimming championships around the world, he sounds like jingle bells. Not bad considering the fact that most people coming through Customs and Immigration at his age would be doing so in a wheelchair.

IT REALLY IS QUITE AMAZING OUT THERE

IF THE words It’s amazing Out There ring a bell, it’s because you’ve heard or seen them on The Weather Channel. All the talk of climate change, powerful storms and the need to swim drove me to refresh my memory on the channel to which we find ourselves increasingly glued especially as weather events like this week’s earthquake occur as we were to CNN during the no-oil-crisis of 1973.

Like others when The

Weather Channel first crossed our TV screens in May, 1982, I wondered “What in the world will they cover for 24 hours a day, seven days a week?”

Now we take it for granted that we can get up-to-the second weather any time of day by tuning in or going to weather.com or whatever app we choose. And we can’t get enough of it though I could never figure out who cared if it is one degree warmer in Eleuthera

than Nassau - no offence Basil Dean.

What still confounds me is the business of weather and why the value of The Weather Channel went from $3.5 billion in 2008 when it was purchased by a consortium of NBC/Bain and worldwide investment mogul group Blackstone, to $300 million 10 years later when it was re-sold, minus certain technology which went to IBM, to a Britishbased entertainment group.

Rashema Ingraham questioned it, too. Both read the newly published, highly anticipated curriculum and came away with heavy hearts. No mention of climate change. No classes in environmental science that could touch on rising seas and global warming or impact on The Bahamas, no mandatory learn to swim programmes.

After all, we are required to have a driver’s licence and recent strengthening

of the regulations now demands you present that licence and proof of insurance upon request any time you are stopped by an officer whereas in the past you had 24 hours to produce it.

Are we now to believe the law protects other drivers but does little for self-preservation?

Forgive us if swimming were once just for fun, for kids splashing in waters near the beach, for Family Island

teens who could not wait for the school day to end so they could get back in the water or a boat and go fishing. Forgive us if swimming were once the privilege of the elite in heated pools at private clubs. Forgive us for suggesting swimming is no longer just for fun or for competition or for sport.

Knowing how to swim will fast become a matter of survival and should be included in the national education curriculum.

PAGE 12, Friday, January 31, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Republicans could tip vote toward witnesses

WASHINGTON Associated Press KEY Republican senators who could tip President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial toward summoning more witnesses played an over-sized role in the final hours of debate last night with pointed questions ahead of crucial votes.

A vote on witnesses, expected today, could lead to an abrupt end of the trial with the expected acquittal. Or it could bring days, if not weeks more argument as Democrats press to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton and others.

Any four Republicans could join with Democrats to demand taking more time for testimony.

Sen. Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska drew a reaction when she asked simply: “Why should this body not call Ambassador Bolton?”

GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee captured attention just

before the dinner break when he questioned partisanship in the proceedings thus far. A spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that Alexander would announce his decision on the witness vote shortly after the end of yesterday’s questions.

Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican whose vote on witnesses was considered in the balance, wanted to know why House Democrats withdrew a subpoena for a deputy national security adviser they wanted to hear from in the impeachment inquiry.

In response to Alexander and others, Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a congressional staffer during Watergate and now a House prosecutor, told the senators that the Nixon impeachment also started as a partisan inquiry.

A bipartisan consensus emerged only after Republicans — including staunch Nixon supporters — saw

enough evidence to change their minds, she said.

“They couldn’t turn away from the evidence that their president had committed abuse of power and they had to vote to impeach him,’’ Lofgren said. Richard Nixon resigned before he was impeached.

While disappointed that House Republicans did not join Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, she said the Senate — “the greatest deliberative body on the planet’’ — has a new opportunity.

Alexander, after his question last night, consulted with a key staff aide to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. As the senators broke for dinner Alexander and Murkowski met privately.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is also among those being closely watched.

Trump was impeached by House last month on charges that he abused his power like no other president, jeopardizing Ukraine

and U.S.-Ukraine relations.

Democrats say Trump asked he vulnerable ally to investigate Joe Biden and debunked theories of 2016 election interference, temporarily halting American security aid to the country as it battled Russia at its border. The second article of impeachment says Trump then obstructed the House probe in a way that threatened the nation’s three-branch system of checks and balances.

Thursday’s testimony included soaring pleas to the senators-asjurors who will decide Trump’s fate, to either stop a president who Democrats say has tried to cheat in the upcoming election and will again, or to shut down impeachment proceedings that Republicans insist were never more than a partisan attack.

“Let’s give the country a trial they can be proud of,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead prosecutor for House Democrats.

EX-HUSBAND ACCUSED OF KILLING WIFE DIES Associated Press A MAN charged with murdering his wife who went missing amid a contentious divorce case died yesterday, his lawyer said.

Fotis Dulos, 52, had been hospitalized since Tuesday when he was found at his home in Farmington, Connecticut, following an apparent suicide attempt.

“It’s been a truly horrific day for the family filled with difficult decisions, medical tests and meeting the requirements to determine death,” attorney Norm Pattis said.

“To those who contend that Mr. Dulos’ death reflects a consciousness of guilt, we say no,” he added.

“We say it was more a conscience overborne with the weight of a world that was too busy to listen and wanted a story more than it wanted the truth.”

Dulos, a luxury home builder originally from Greece, was accused of killing Jennifer Dulos, who has not been seen since she dropped their five children off at school in May in New Canaan. Her body has not been found despite extensive searches. Fotis Dulos had denied any role in her disappearance.

The children, who ranged in age from 8 to 13 when their mother vanished, are in the custody of their maternal grandmother in New York City. “This is a horrific tragedy all around,” said Carrie Luft, a spokeswoman for the family of Jennifer Dulos.

Dulos insisted he was innocent in a note found near him, according to a court motion filed by his lawyers Thursday. In the note, Dulos “declared his innocence of the infamous and heinous crimes.”

ISRAEL PM BRIEFS PUTIN ON TRUMP MIDDLE EAST PLANS

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.

MOSCOW Associated Press ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a quick stopover in Moscow yesterday to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin on the new US proposal for the Middle East and to bring home an Israeli woman who had been jailed on drug charges.

Netanyahu told Putin that the visit reflected the ever-warming ties between the countries, and that he was eager to hear Putin’s insights on President Donald Trump’s long-awaited blueprint to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But it appeared the main goal was to shuttle Naama Issachar back to Israel. The 26-year-old backpacker was arrested in April at a Moscow airport, where she was transferring en route from India to Israel with what Russian authorities said was more than nine grams of hashish in her luggage. She was convicted and sentenced to 7 1/2 years

in prison. Her plight has resonated strongly with the Israeli public, which considered her punishment excessive and saw the telegenic Issachar as a pawn in world politics.

After lengthy negotiations, Putin pardoned her on Wednesday after receiving numerous assurances and gestures from Israel, including the transfer of real estate in Jerusalem.

Some in Israel also tied her case to that of a Russian hacker who Israel extradited to the U.S. instead of back to Russia, although officials in Moscow never publicly linked the two cases.

Israeli television channels went to special live coverage as she walked out onto the frigid tarmac in Moscow alongside Netanyahu and his wife, and then boarded the plane with them to return to Israel. She smiled alongside her mother but made no comment.

Speaking to reporters on the way back, Netanyahu said she was very emotional reuniting with her family

and being released from prison.

The detour to pick her up resulted in some criticism that Netanyahu was seeking to boost his campaign ahead of elections on March 2. In months of campaigning, through back-to-back elections that failed to produce a governing coalition, Netanyahu has portrayed himself as a master statesman, trumpeting his close ties to Trump, Putin and other world leaders.

Netanyahu, however, brushed away any talk of a political motive, saying Issachar’s case was special and required his intervention. “This whole affair took on such momentum that it threatened to damage vital Israeli interests,” he said on the plane ride home.

In his meeting with Putin, Netanyahu thanked the Russian president “on behalf of all the people of Israel for granting a pardon to Naama Issachar.”

“This moves all of us, and our gratitude is on behalf of all Israeli citizens, from the heart,” he said.