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Clinging on for life after setting out to sea with Bimini smugglers, Juan survived.

His sister María perished with 39 others.

Read his story inside.

WHY CHOOSE FOREIGN FIRM REDUNDANT HILTON STAFF TO HANDLE LUCAYAN SALE? IN LINE FOR SANDALS JOBS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Real Estate Association’s president yesterday said it was “very sad and disheartening” the Government had seemingly “sidelined” the sector on the Grand Lucayan sale.

Christine WallaceWhitfield told Tribune Business the Davis administration needed to

provide full transparency and disclose whether Toronto-headquartered Colliers International is working alone or if it has partnered with a local realtor.

She said the government’s continued reliance on an overseas realtor to sell the property was “not fair” to the Bahamian real estate industry.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Keith Bell has announced the Department of Labour is partnering with the management of Sandals, specifically to ascertain how many of the 106 soon-to-be former employees of the Hilton can be hired at the resort’s properties.

This includes either the

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

Sandals Royal Bahamian resort in Nassau, the Emerald Bay Hotel in Exuma or the Fowl Cay Resort in the Exuma Cays.

It was anticipated that Sandals will require additional staffing to complement the 800-plus Bahamians who are presently employed at the Royal Bahamian property, according to the minister.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

PAGE 2, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Seven bids for Lucayan

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE GRAND Lucayan Resort.

THE offer process for the sale of the Grand Lucayan resort in Grand Bahama has started in earnest and seven serious

inquiries of the property have been made, Tourism, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday.

He told the House of Assembly yesterday that the offer process will close on March 2 at 5pm.

Interested companies will be required to provide proof of funding among other things.

Once this happens, the minister said offers will be subject to rigorous due diligence and vetting

by Colliers International and the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings.

Colliers is a worldrenowned real estate company with a vast professional network and is accustomed to handling large scale high-end tourism transactions.

It is the same company that managed the sale process under the former Minnis administration that ultimately resulted in Royal Caribbean/ITM being selected to acquire the property.

That deal was scrapped in December by the Davis administration.

“One of our most urgent areas of interest for investment growth is Grand Bahama and you would note the Prime Minister on an official visit there this week when he spoke to the need to get the economy going,” Mr Cooper said.

“One of the key components is the Grand Lucayan resort. It’s already public knowledge that the last sale agreement for the resort was not good for the administration and the agreements were mutually terminated.

“Therefore, to expedite now the sale of the resort with the best possible terms the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings Limited, the special purpose vehicle agreed to facilitate the sale of the resort has engaged the services of Colliers International, a world-renowned real

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

estate company with a vast professional network and is accustomed to handling large scale high end touristic transactions.

“Much of the Bahamian people’s hard earned tax dollars have been invested in this resort and we will not tarry in causing there to be as swift as possible a transaction on the best terms possible to move this investment along.

“We advised the former administration against the purchase of this resort. But in governance you play with the hand you’re dealt. Not the one you wish you had.”

He continued: “Therefore companies interested in purchasing the resort will at a minimum be required to provide proof of funding and a vision and a plan to revolutionise and help us open again the economy of Grand Bahama with a shared vision for the growth and development of this island.

“The offer process has begun in earnest. We will close at 5pm on Wednesday, March 2.

“Offers will be subject to rigorous due diligence and be vetted by Colliers and the board of Lucayan Renewal Holdings Ltd and we are seeking partners to invest heavily in the property.

“I’ve said before we’ve seen about seven serious inquiries about the property and we are cautiously optimistic that this process will help us to advance this part as swiftly as possible.

“As is the philosophy of our government we are encouraging the participation of Bahamian investors and bidders in this process and we ask them to participate and engage actively in the process.”

East Grand Bahama MP Kwasi Thompson said it was unfortunate the process of selling the property was starting from scratch.

However, he wished the government all the best in selecting a purchaser.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 3

Survivor tells of deadly voyage from Bimini with human smugglers

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO and PAULINA VILLEGAS THE siblings living in a small Colombian city hard hit by the nation’s economic downturn and decades of civil conflict first got the idea to reunite with their mother in the United States on the internet.

Travelling through Central America and crossing at the Mexico border was dangerous, they heard. But flying into The Bahamas where no visa was required - and then going on two relatively short boat rides to Florida offered a quicker, seemingly less risky route.

The smugglers offering migrants such as Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo, 22, and his sister María Camila, 18, a shot at the American Dream promised life jackets and a good boat.

“They tell you you’ll be in Miami in three, four hours,” Juan Esteban said.

“It’s all a lie.”

On Monday, the sole survivor of a doomed trip from Bimini to Florida achieved part of his dream. Immigration officials decided not to detain him, allowing him to join his mother in the United States while he seeks political asylum.

But with the relief was immense grief: The sister with whom he had hoped to start a new life did not survive the journey.

US Coast Guard officials suspended their search Thursday for at least 35 people believed missing after the boat capsized hours after departing from Bimini, 50 miles from Miami - one of the deadliest migrant disasters off the eastern Florida coast in years. Authorities found five bodies, but not María Camila. Her brother says they lost each other when the boat overturned and that she drowned. He managed to cling to the overturned vessel for two days until his rescue.

“I had to live, they had to rescue me, because I had to tell my parents what happened,” he said from a hotel conference room after his release, often holding his mother’s hand.

The ill-fated trip has put a spotlight on a brewing migration crisis in the Caribbean. US and Bahamian coast guard officers are finding ships on a weekly basis with as many as 200 people aboard - most of them from Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Many of the ships are overcrowded and in poor condition, and while a good number are caught, the United Nations estimates that at least 967 people have vanished into Caribbean waters between 2014 and 2021.

In a worrying sign, officers in The Bahamas are

JUAN Esteban Montoya Caicedo, 22, with his sister, María Camila Montoya Caicedo, 18.

JUAN Esteban Montoya Caicedo, centre, with his mother Marcia Giraldo, left, on Monday. now also finding people like Juan Esteban from as far away as Colombia - a nation that residents fled by the thousands during the height of the civil conflict, but usually by plane. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has opened a criminal probe to determine who was behind the operation to smuggle the Colombian siblings and dozens of others to the United States aboard a ship that lost motor power hours after departing.

“They’re victims,” Juan Esteban’s attorney, Naimeh Salem, said of her client and his sister. “These people put too many people on a boat, without life vests.”

Juan Esteban and his sister, he said, were lured by the promise that the trip would be safe. They had not seen their mother, Marcia Caicedo, since she left 11 years earlier. As the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, Colombia’s economy nosedived, contracting more than six percent. Despite a peace accord to end Latin America’s longest-running conflict in 2016, dissident guerrillas are still a powerful force in long-neglected parts of the country. The chief prosecutor’s office has issued warnings in recent years about rebel presence in the same region where the siblings lived.

Despite the distance, the siblings had daily contact with their mother. Most mornings started with a call or text message from Houston, where Caicedo

worked as a housecleaner and later got by cooking and selling Colombian food such as tamales. Their maternal grandparents took charge of raising them, teaching Juan Esteban and María Camila the same values as their mother.

Their mother helped them make ends meet by sending items to resell in Colombia - sought-after American clothing brands and sweets for a candy business.

María Camila wasn’t one to take risks, her brother said. Quiet, but charismatic, she was studying industrial engineering and “liked to do things right.” Juan Esteban helped his grandfather, who grew corn for a living, while finishing a degree in business. Still, they longed for three things they couldn’t find in Colombia: to better their lives, their safety and their mother.

“The situation in Colombia had them desperate,” Caicedo said.

The siblings were wellknown in their hometown of Guacarí, about 30 miles northeast of Cali, but they told few about their decision to try to reach the United States, Juan Esteban said. They confided in their father, who he said discouraged them from taking the risky journey.

But they were driven boarding a flight soon after to The Bahamas, intent on arriving in Florida by sea.

Landing in a prime Caribbean tourist destination was the first step in the journey.

From there, they boarded a

COLOMBIAN national Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo, who was the sole survivor of a capsized boat that left Bimini and was found near Florida’s coast. He said at least 15 other migrants tried to cling to the vessel after it overturned, but ultimately couldn’t hold on.

Photo: Cody Jackson/AP boat to Bimini. Citing security reasons, Juan Esteban declined to say how much the siblings paid or who promised to get them to the United States. The first boat ride was easy. The turquoise waters were warm, the waves small. They arrived in a couple hours.

The second ship, departing from one of the westernmost isles of The Bahamas, felt riskier from the start. Despite being promised a boat that would not be overloaded, Juan Esteban said, there were at least 35 people aboard the ship. Among them: men and women from Haiti, Jamaica, the Bahamas. Only the ones from the Dominican Republic spoke Spanish.

One woman carried a baby girl. The organisers did not provide life vests.

That seemed bad to me,” Juan Esteban said, his skin darkened by days under the sun. “But I had such a desire to get to the country.”

They cast off Saturday about 10pm, the siblings seated together in the crowded boat. Several hours later, Florida was still nowhere to be seen.

In the darkness, the motor stopped working.

The waves got bigger, crashing water into the boat.

The two huddled together, prayed to the Virgin of Guadalupe and a saint said to grant miracles in their father’s hometown.

If the vessel overturned, he told his sister, hold on to the boat.

The sun was beginning to rise when a final wave tossed them all overboard.

In the panicked moments afterward, he said the migrants tried to hold on to one another. He initially spotted his sister, but she was pulled under the water as he tried to get to her. He screamed her name. He swam under and around the boat. He could not find her.

“I looked and looked,” he said. “It was impossible.”

About 15 people initially survived, he said, and for a time they all held on to the overturned boat, finding it warmer to stay in the water than on the hull, where they were exposed to cold

air. Two of the smugglers - both wearing life vests were picked up by another boat, Juan Esteban’s attorney said. They promised to come back, but never did.

One by one, those left in the water began drifting away, some apparently dying, others so exhausted they didn’t have the strength to hold on any longer, he said.

By early Monday evening, nearly two days after departing, he was alone.

Famished, dehydrated and injured from being repeatedly smacked by the boat, he said he was barely conscious when a tugboat crew spotted him the next morning. He was seated atop the hull and didn’t see the ship until it was practically next to him.

“I don’t know who they are,” he said of his rescuers, but “they’re angels.”

An image of Juan Esteban perched on the overturned ship, alone in the rolling sea, soon began circulating on social media - making him a symbol of the dangerous quest to reach the United States. In the week since, most of his days have been confined to a hospital bed. But on Sunday night, Customs and Border Protection allowed

him to see his mother.

Before a framed image of the US flag, the two wept as they embraced.

Most of those caught at sea by the US Coast Guard or good Samaritans are deported to their country of origin or the one they departed from. Juan Esteban’s attorney said he was allowed to stay in the country while the case is sorted out - a process that could take years.

An ICE spokesman declined to comment on what grounds he was released, saying only that it is part of an ongoing investigation and that the agency is “focusing strictly on individuals who are responsible for this crime.”

For now, he’ll attempt to start a new life in Houston.

His mother wants the US Coast Guard to keep looking for her daughter. She can’t stand the idea that she is gone, and the thought of it is harder with each passing day. Juan Esteban, for his part, hopes others take from his story a message: Don’t flee by sea.

“It broke my heart in two,” he said. “And took part of it away.”

Reprinted with permission of the Washington Post

PAGE 4, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Drop in COVID cases - but nation not ready for future epidemics

By PAVEL BAILEY A LOCAL infectious disease expert has noted a continued downward trend in the most recent COVID cases, but also acknowledged the country ranks among the lowest in preparedness for future epidemics.

Dr Nikkiah Forbes, director of the National HIV/ AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme at the Ministry of Health, discussed how the country is currently experiencing a sustained decrease in cases in the ongoing Omicron wave.

While Dr Forbes noted there has been no noticeable uptick in cases among young children with the recent return of face-toface learning, she also said the recent decline in cases is “a good sign”. However, she cautioned this does not mean this signals the end of the Omicron wave just yet.

“When we consider the end of a wave, it usually, there’s a definition that implies or a definition that is that there is a sustained decrease in the number of cases over a sustained period of time,” she said yesterday.

“And it’s usually we would look at three or four weeks or more. So, what we can absolutely say at this time is that the cases are trending down. In the last full week that we. . .reported cases, there has been a significant decline and the lowest number of cases per week in the wave thus far.”

This comes as the Ministry of Health recorded 39 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and two additional COVID-19 deaths. The country has had 32,645 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 748 related deaths.

Dr Forbes advised the public to continue

UNDER-40S SLOW TO GET VACCINE THERE is a low uptake in vaccinations among people under 40 compared to the older population, according to health data.

While a panelist on a special Q&A about vaccines and boosters, former Special Health Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Merceline Dahl Regis presented a graph showing the percentage of population fully vaccinated by age for males and females in the country as of January 29, 2022.

The graph noted the age at the time of first dose.

“I think we have the solution in The Bahamas on how we’re going to manage this pandemic... and (I) think the young people hold the key to making it happen,” Dr Dahl-Regis said.

“We need the young people to step up with their vaccination rates.

When you look at the graph on the screen our aim is to get to 70 percent of the population.

Look at those under 40, the uptake is very low.

When you look at the difference between the blue and the pink, we need the young men to step up and we have implemented the public health measures and we have a tool, vaccines, to help us along.”

The graph shows that about 55 percent of women between the ages of 30-35 are fully vaccinated while about 45 percent of men around the age of 35 are vaccinated.

The figures drop considerably for men under 35.

This pales in comparison to the elderly population where both genders peaked around the age of 75 with a vaccination percentage between 75 and 80.

The panel’s host brought up the fact that the key is to get all ages over 70 percent vaccination and asked if that

was the target, Dr DahlRegis confirmed it was.

“If we do it quickly, I think we would see the response should another wave come you would have fewer hospitalisations, few cases - new cases… and fewer deaths,” Dr Dahl-Regis explained.

“This is a new virus, coronavirus, and it is ever changing and our information is coming out all the time. We learn about the behaviour of this virus through the lab, genomic sequencing, and when Omicron the new variant came no one expected a subvariant of that that would try over take the B one, You now have a B2, so the virus adjusts to situations when it finds its unvaccinated host for the most part and it multiples very quickly once it gets in the cells. Because it’s spike protein, its conformity changes to adjust to being attacked by the body’s antibodies and defence mechanism.”

pandemics and there are a lot of gaps that exist for all countries in all categories.”

Considering this report Dr Forbes believes that The Bahamas needs to learn from the COVID-19 outbreak and seriously take into advisement the areas this report says a country needs to improve for pandemic preparedness.

“There are things that we need to do right, so if you take a closer look at this report it talks about the areas where a country should ready themselves for emergencies and outbreaks and those are in certain broad categories. Like being able to prevent it, detect it, respond quickly, have a robust health system

and being able to implement norms and have capacity and financing for such things. And so, we do all have to get ready, including The Bahamas, and we do all need to learn lessons from the COVID-19 outbreak.”

While she is encouraged by recent government efforts to increase the bed capacity at hospitals and boost the number of nurses in the healthcare system, Dr Forbes still thinks the country should enact some of the recommendations outlined by the Global Health Security Index here as soon as possible.

“We do have a national plan for emergencies and national disasters.

We

have to continue to build upon that. We have to budget for it, a national budget for security of the health system to respond to these threats and we need assessments. Some of this is ready in our National Emergency Plan but using COVID as an example we have to strengthen this now because there will be another pandemic, there will be future pandemics they do happen from time to time. So, it does call for labs strengthening, detection, reporting, being able to respond rapidly for example to protect the health system and workers and the vulnerable and that is outlined nicely in that report.”

in Abaco right now and I think we have met with principals and they have said what they need to say,” he said.

Earlier yesterday an official complaint was emailed to the Ministry of Education, a copy of which was sent to this newspaper, noting several schools on the island were still virtual and alleging these schools intended to remain that way until the end of the year.

In this same complaint, a person who said they were acting on behalf of a group of concerned parents, teachers and students claimed

many schools on the island have not yet opened even though they say the government has given the okay to get these schools inspected to get open. The person alleged that the government reneged on its promise to have these schools inspected on January 31 and that if they do not address this ongoing “disaster,” agitated citizens will follow through on plans to have a full demonstration march on February 5.

While Mr Taylor was unaware of this complaint - and had no specific knowledge as to which schools this

group of individuals claims are still unopened - he said he had no issue with their plans to peacefully protest so long as they clear it with the proper authorities beforehand.

“If they want to march then I guess they are free to march once they get the permission from the police to do so peacefully. We do all we can to do what we can. So, I’m not really aware of the concerns, the specific concerns so I don’t really know why they would be marching, but I mean I don’t have any real thoughts on it,” he said.

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

DR NIKKIAH FORBES to monitor the situation closely and do what they can to maintain public safety.

“We will need to watch and see if that continues to remain low because there are things that impact upon that, like gatherings, there’s travel, there’s socialisation. At this time it’s low and we’ll need to continue to monitor it. And again, this is impacted by personal responsibility and our personal choices and other things, and isolation, quarantine for example, other shared responsibilities. So, there is something that we all have to continue to do and that is to do what we know works to prevent COVID from spreading.”

Regarding a recent report by the 2021 Global Health Security Index that ranked the Bahamas 135 out of 195 countries in preparedness for a future epidemic, Dr

Forbes said that this ranking isn’t surprising as many countries are dangerously unprepared for a future epidemic. She said countries around the world had been reducing their epidemic preparedness in the lead up to the coronavirus and just like those countries, The Bahamas needs to now refocus energy into future pandemic relief plans.

“So, in this report it does say that all countries remain dangerously unprepared to meet future epidemic and pandemic threats and that’s really no accident. There has been a fallaway for preparedness for public health and pandemic threats for quite some time. “Overall, the average country score out of a hundred was 38.9 and this is actually worse than it was the year before.

And even the best prepared countries did not reach the top-tier of readiness for

SOME ABACO SCHOOLS YET TO RETURN TO FACE-TO-FACE LEARNING

By PAVEL BAILEY

DIRECTOR of Education Marcellus Taylor has acknowledged some schools in Abaco have yet to return to face-to-face learning amid growing concerns

from parents, teachers and students.

During an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Taylor said he is aware that some schools on the island still have issues that are being worked on.

“I think there are a couple of schools that have one or two issues that are being worked out and I don’t know what the specific concerns are that the parents and the teachers are lodging, but we are

NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS

The Board of Directors of Finance Corporation of Bahamas Limited hereby notifies its Shareholders that a dividend payment of seven cents (7 cents) per Ordinary share in respect of the Q4 2021 results will be paid on the 17th February 2022 to all Shareholders of record as at the 10th February 2022.

Corporate Secretary

®/™ Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 5

Cartwright dismisses concerns over parks

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net SHANENDON Cartwright dismissed concerns yesterday about how revelations about the operations of the Bahamas Public Parks and Public Beaches Authority under his tenure could affect his bid to become deputy leader of the Free National Movement.

The St Barnabas MP was nominated for the post hours before St Anne’s MP Adrian White was also nominated for the position.

Last year, the Davis administration announced that all contracts at the BPPPBA would be cancelled after external investigators found numerous lapses in internal controls.

The administration’s condemnation of practices at the authority has put Mr Cartwright’s leadership of the institution under the microscope.

Asked about this yesterday, Mr Cartwright said he has already addressed the matter in the House of Assembly.

He added: “We are very proud of the thousands of Bahamians, poor people, people of the middle class, who benefited from the many opportunities, that we were able to help, that they were able to pay bills, pay their school fees in a time in a global pandemic when a lot of Bahamians are hurting.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister and current Deputy Leader of the FNM Peter Turnquest supported Mr Cartwright’s nomination motion yesterday, as did Naomi Wallace-Whitfield, the former wife of the late FNM founding father Cecil Wallace-Whitfield.

“I come here today not (on) any ego driven trip if you will, not in any reach for any sort of entitlement but an appreciation of what it takes to serve others, to serve my party and to serve

SHANENDON Cartwright nominating to become deputy leader of the Free National Movement yesterday.

Photos: Racardo Thomas/Tribune Staff “I believe that my long the ability to bring people the Commonwealth of The making magnificent contriBahamas,” Mr Cartwright butions not only to the Free history in the party as a over to your side if you National Movement but soldier in the party from will, to convince persons it said at FNM headquarters.

Asked to contrast himself the Commonwealth of The very young to now, being a is the Free National Moveto Mr White, he said: “The Bahamas. Obviously, this is re-elected member of Par- ment that is best to govern Free National Movement as a democratic exercise and liament and the ability to the Commonwealth of The everybody knows is rich in everybody is free to offer transcend politics in a way Bahamas, I believe humbly talent, rich in contributions, what they think is best and that does not give up our that I am uniquely prepared convictions as a party, but to do that.” a rich legacy of persons who they think is best.

JOHNSON HAS NO ISSUE WITH SISTER SUPPORTING RIVAL

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ELSWORTH Johnson says he does not fault his sister, former Speaker of the House of Assembly Italia Johnson, for publicly supporting Dr Duane Sands in the Free National Movement’s chairmanship race even though he is also seeking election to that post.

Ms Johnson was Dr Sands’ most prominent and vocal backer when the former parliamentarian and Minister of Health was nominated for FNM chairman earlier this week.

ELSWORTH Johnson nominating for FNM chairman at FNM headquarters yesterday.

However, Mr Johnson, are not a topic for public who was nominated for the discussion. position yesterday, said the “All I will say is that decisions his sister made love is a many splendid

thing,” he added. “On preparing to come here this morning I read 1st Corinthians 13 and in reading that scripture, that chapter, I will say to everyone that I find no fault in my beloved sister. Let me say this. Do not bother with her because I will wrestle with you more vigorously than Jacob wrestled with the angels.”

Mr Johnson, former Minister of Immigration, said he believes the role of the chairman should involve wide consultation.

“The chairman and the role of the chairman is one that is consultative, one that

creates an environment where communications can be had, one that creates synergy in the party so that everyone in the party has an opportunity to participate in this constitutional environment provided by our constitution and there are certain realities that we have to remove from the FNM if we want to be a party of choice for the people,” he said.

“And that is, we’re a party that accepts all, not a party for the affluent and for the rich. Persons, a young man or a young woman, no matter their birth experience, no matter their social environment,

they must understand that this is the party for them and this is the party where they will have refuge. We must create the environment where Bahamians understand and know and accept that they have a stake in government. We must create an environment where the constituency associations and indeed the party headquarters are centres of excellence, centres of excellence where you don’t just go and have a talk shop on politics.”

Former Golden Gates MP Michael Foulkes is also vying for the post of FNM chairman.

BAGS WITH COCAINE FOUND ON BOAT IN THE EXUMAS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A DRUG Enforcement Unit officer yesterday testified about discovering three bags with suspected cocaine on a vessel captained by a Dominican and Colombian national in the Exuma chain last year.

Police Sgt Byron Brown, attached to the DEU, was giving evidence at the trial of Juan Cabrera, 56, of the Dominican Republic and Luis Colmenares, 26, of Colombia.

The two men are charged with conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply and importation of drugs.

The charges stem from allegations that they were found with 61lbs of cocaine, estimated to be worth $432,000, in Clarence Town, Long Island, and George

Town, Exuma, last August.

Officers further allege the men conspired to possess the drugs and imported them into the country the same month.

The men have denied the allegations.

At the resumption of their trial yesterday, Sgt Brown testified of his involvement in arresting the nationals following officers’ seizure of the cocaine.

He told the court that around 3am on August 30 he was on duty at the DEU when he received certain information concerning the accused.

The DEU officer said that after receiving that information, he and other officers went to the police marine base in Nassau and left by boat shortly afterwards for George Town, Exuma.

The police sergeant said upon arrival on the island, officers were given further instructions and later directed to a 44ft vessel that bore the name “Campbell”.

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The two men on board the boat gave officers their names, he said, and later told officers they were heading for Bermuda and had only stopped at Long Island on their way to refuel their vessel.

Sgt Brown said that a search of the vessel was subsequently conducted and resulted in the discovery of three bags containing suspected cocaine.

He said the drugs were found in the vessel’s lower deck in what, he said, appeared to be an engine room.

“(It was) behind a wooden compartment in the room,” he told the court.

After seizing the suspected drugs, Sgt Brown said the men were subsequently arrested and taken to New Providence for further processing.

During an interview with police, Sgt Brown said Cabrera, who was the captain of the vessel, strongly denied the drugs. “(Cabrera) said ‘I have done nothing illegal, nor will I do anything illegal,’” he said.

As for Colmenares, the DEU officer said he told officers he was uncertain how the drugs even got on the vessel.

According to the witness, the men also reported to police that they were hired by a company to transport the boat to Bermuda from Colombia and even showed officers their contract.

However, Sgt Brown said officers were unable to successfully reach company officials to verify this information despite several attempts.

Attempts to find the owner of the vessel were

also unsuccessful, he added.

During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Inspector Timothy Bain asked the witness if police knew how long the men had the boat in their possession.

Sgt Brown said he believed it was two weeks.

When asked by the magistrate if police took any photographs of where the drugs were found inside the boat, the witness said they did, but did not save them.

The case continues on February 17. Attorney Ernie Wallace is representing the accused.

PAGE 6, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

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

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Find the criminals behind human smuggling JUAN Esteban Montoya Caicedo didn’t know if he would live or die as he clung to the overturned boat he set out aboard from Bimini.

He was the sole survivor found by the US Coast Guard off Florida after the boat capsized. He survived by clinging tightly onto the overturned boat.

Those who travelled with him – including his 18-year-old sister, María, were not so lucky. Five bodies were found by authorities, but 35 people remained missing when the Coast Guard suspended its search.

The story of how Juan Esteban travelled from Colombia through The Bahamas and then on to the United States has highlighted the deadly trade in human smuggling taking place here in our country.

Too many people crowded too tightly on a boat with no life vests was a recipe for disaster – and a situation that happens all too often.

Juan Esteban said that among those on board the ship were people from Haiti, Jamaica – and The Bahamas.

A baby was among those on the overcrowded vessel.

After the boat overturned, about 15 people initially survived. Among those were two smugglers, who were picked up by another boat. That boat didn’t pick up any of the migrants, but promised to come back. It’s no surprise it never did.

Two days later, Juan Esteban was alone, the others having died or drifted away.

What this story tells us is that there is a well-established human smuggling operation that has been operating out of Bimini.

More, those operating it might as well have murdered these people when they took that second boat away and never came back.

Bimini is not a large island, nor does it have a big population. For a smuggling operation to be run from the island, some of the local community would more than likely know what was going on.

And yet, since this tragedy claimed the lives of an entire boatload of people, there has been no word of a heightened police presence to find the smugglers.

This should be an investigation at the highest level, spoken to by the Commissioner of Police and the National Security Minister and operated in partnership with our international partners.

We know that these operations more than likely involve those with significant resources to arrange travel across borders, hire boat captains and so on. This is organised crime, not just some opportunist with a boat.

At the political level, we should make clear there should be no harbour for anyone associated with human smuggling. No favour, no support, no enabling of this ever-rising body count of people who board a vessel seeking a better life but end up shivering in the sea with no hope of rescue. Or worse – do we need to be reminded of the charred corpses of three men and one woman found on Anguilla Cay in 2014 with tyres set alight on top of the bodies?

Time and again, we see stories of migrants dying at sea – most notably in 2019 when a sloop shipwrecked with the loss of 31 lives near Abaco in 2019.

There is too little mourning for the loss of these lives, as if they somehow don’t matter because they do not come from here.

But hearing the story of Juan Esteban, as he fought to survive even as he mourned his sister, it shows the human face of those caught up in this web of smuggling.

“I had to live,” he said, “they had to rescue me, because I had to tell my parents what happened.”

Juan Esteban urged others in his situation not to flee by sea, saying “It broke my heart in two. And took part of it away.”

These are brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers – and those who exploit them, take their money and leave them for dead are the true criminals here.

And they should have no place in our society.

Personal income tax EDITOR, The Tribune.

Great attorney Andrew Allen has responded to my response to his original proposal for increased Company Tax and new Personal Income Tax...he seems hell bent and strong that this is the better fiscal and financial policy approach... hang in, Mr Allen.

Ask any economist or financial adviser he will confirm in any tax system the tax is paid eventually by the consumer, Attorney Allen - fulI stop. In case of Corporate Business, tax usually, not here, the Corporation can take costs and the eventual tax is levied more fairly on net rather than gross.

100% charged in pricing of merchandise/product.

Personal income tax the

same in principle... if you have financing house, vehicle, overdraft, dependents, etc, you have an annual allowance that you claim again Income Tax personal can be PAYE - paid at source or like most subject to an annual declaration taking those listed deductions.

Attorney Allen is diametrically opposite to my thoughts as I think our experience is not conducive to personal taxes which have to be collected after the principle has been paid (the collection is virtually impossible).

Even NIB has serious difficulty in keeping up - forget property tax...

Personal income tax on hotel workers who get a minimum wage but they big pay comes in occupancy

performance and sales, they share in the gratuity one week to the next a different total... try Attorney Allen collecting that.

There is absolutely no reason to change what we have - but we have to stop avoiding not paying taxes - 20-25% of the more substantive persons who hold the economy-wealth are basically those not paying and it is the obligation of Revenue to go after these people and collect.

I accept Attorney Allen’s position and respect it, but I don’t think, and I don’t think the majority of Bahamians support his theories and financial tax policy.

G MINNIS Nassau, January 26, 2022.

...or property tax EDITOR, The Tribune.

SOMETIMES it is best not to comment when you have been fan-faring how good the property market is and who record high leveled sales.

So the experts at BREA accept property values have increased considerably sales of properties have skyrocketed, their members comment, values also, but for Property Tax values must not increase?

Zero logic.

We all know property tax valuations are very, very

conservative in fact 40+% under real value.

Go to Barbados... Google and check property valued at $225k Tax 0.10%... over $lm tax 0.75% Tax on Rentals from $1500.00 per month you taxed 10+%.... check Bermuda Over $22k 3.50% over $90k 17%... check Antigua basic property tax 0.2-0.30%, Rentals taxed here also 15% Foreign owned rentals taxed at 20%.

Don’t think VAT on AirBnB rentals on foreign owned properties are applicable.

Suggest a little more rationale and thought from BREA members... you seemingly have never had it so good - valuations skyrocketing - your commissions exploding. With valuations skyrocketing appraisal fees also skyrocketing.... for BREA members never had it so good… great, but how many of your clients are paid up on their Property Taxes?

J BURROWS Nassau, January 26, 2022.

Race issues in The Bahamas EDITOR, The Tribune.

THERE is not a single racist bone in my body. As a black Bahamian man many of my ‘best’ friends, personally and professionally have been and are white Bahamians. From my early days as an Articled Clerk in the chambers of the late Lawrence LPJ Trenchard, an expatriate transplanted Englishman, I came to know a ton of white/conchy joe Bahamians.

People like the late legal scholar, the Hon Eugene Dupuch, QC; the Hon Keith Duncombe, the Hon Reginald Lobosky; the late Geoffrey Johnstone; the Hon Peter Graham, et al, were my biggest benefactors and friends. White Bahamians like the Hon Godfrey Kelly have been pivotal in my career. I was educated at university level in the UK and spent extensive time in Belgium, France and Germany. I have fond memories of living up in New York and Montreal.

In the USA today a debate is raging as to whether or not whites have extraordinary privileges which other races may not have. As a student of history and a realist, I concur that racism existed from time immemorial and won’t be going away any time soon. It is also a given fact that racism is alive and well even among people of the same race. For instance light skinned Bahamians are regarded as superior and better than the jet black

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net ones with pronounced negroid facial features, such as a big nose!

The United Bahamian Party (UBP) held political and economic sway in our wonderful country for decades. That ‘party’ was comprised mostly of white Bahamians and as many blacks who were regarded as uncle toms, which they were not. Our first Premier was the late great Sir Roland Theodore Symonette, father of the Hon. Brent Theodore Symonette and former member of parliament, cabinet minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He had ambitions of becoming PM but, alas, that was not ordained to happen. He tried mightily, but a combination of factors dashed any such hopes which he might have had.

Allegedly in leaked “reports” highly placed Bahamian politicians opined that Brent could “never” become PM of The Bahamas. So opined, so did it turn out. Brent has now relinquished his long held St Ann’s / Montagu constituency to a man, the Hon. Adrian White, whom some say is Brent’s political disciple and favored successor.

Now White has announced that he will be seeking to become Deputy Leader of the FNM (the hybrid successor of the very much alive UBP). He brings little

political gravity, so far, in national politics. In my view, he is the “great white hope’’, hand picked by the real leaders of the FNM, inclusive of the money managers.

I am of the opinion that the current “leader” of the FNM is merely holding that position warm for the eventual and inevitable return of Dr. Minnis, who, if returned, will again be badly defeated and mauled by the Most Honorable Philip “Brave” Davis, QC, MP. In an apparent effort, which is doomed to fail, the handlers and financiers in the defunct FNM are going to project Adrian White as the great white hope for the restoration of that party to high office.

In two years or less, Pintard will be unceremoniously deposed. Minnis lurches back, but Adrian White, Brent et al will be the real power block within the defunct FNM. It does not take a rocket scientist to read the playbook, for that is what it is in my opinion.

Race baiting and nostalgia for political ascendency are very much alive in our wonderful nation. I predict that Brave will be PM for an additional term. White is still a mere youth so he, the Lord willing, has time on his side. This, however, is the era of Brave, like it or lump it.

Jr

ORTLAND H. BODIE, Nassau, February 1, 2022.

Wasted money EDITOR, The Tribune.

MINISTER of State Public Services seems to have a knack to being precise and concise and on the ball.

So we were paying rent on a lot of property and not using them... what only $12m... if for six years that’s $72m wasted - name the ministries - name when the properties were rented and who they were owned by?

This is public money a government is required to

be accountable.

Minister, hold off any salary increases please, Treasury close to empty we need to conserve every penny for now.

Promotions equals increase in pay.

What else will the inquisitive eyes find? Yes, the COVID Food programme must be audited who was allowed to tender? Were there limits as to who could?

Was there any control as to who received

the packages as number sense to suggest many double dipped or should never have been receiving packages?

Aren’t not for profits annually supposed to have audits and audit reports given to government... how many have never reported?

Kudos, Madam Minister of Public Service... dig, dig and expose.

M THOMPSON Nassau, January 22, 2022.

THE TRIBUNE

$400 FINE OVER MARIJUANA

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 44-YEAR-OLD man was yesterday ordered to pay $400 to avoid spending two months behind bars after police found more than five ounces of marijuana in his home last year.

Alexander Coakley was charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply after police found five and 5/8 ounces at his home on November 25.

The prosecutor told the court that sometime around 11pm officers armed with a search warrant went to a home in the Coconut Grove area where they met the accused.

Police conducted a search of the home and while searching the kitchen area, found a black backpack with packages containing suspected marijuana. The accused was arrested and taken into custody, where he told officers the drugs were for his personal use.

Coakley initially denied the offence during his first appearance before Magistrate McKinney, but changed his plea to guilty yesterday. In mitigation, his attorney told the court his client, a father-of-two, was extremely remorseful.

The attorney said Coakley had no previous convictions and was also gainfully employed.

After hearing the defence’s argument, Magistrate McKinney reduced the charge to simple possession

which he said are “expungeable offences”. He also told the accused the court will not be so lenient next time should he reoffend.

He was fined $400 or two months in prison.

Tamiko Lewis, 27, was also charged with drug possession after he was caught with 1.5 ounces of marijuana on January 31.

After Lewis pleaded guilty to the charge, Magistrate McKinney asked him if he had any previous convictions. The defendant replied “no” but this was rejected by the Crown prosecutor, who informed the court that Lewis was convicted in 2019 on a similar offence.

Asked how he forgot the matter, the 27-year-old said: “I smoke too much drugs,” prompting laughter in the court.

As a result, he was also fined $400 and told failure to pay the fine would result in him spending two months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Also appearing in court was Nicholas Johnson, 35, who is accused of being in possession of 44lbs of marijuana on January 31.

However, Johnson denied the offence during yesterday’s hearing and the matter was adjourned to March 28.

He was subsequently granted bail at $1,000 with two sureties and also ordered to report to the Cable Beach Police Station every Wednesday.

MAN CONVICTED OF RAPE

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A 28-YEAR-OLD Abaco man was convicted of rape and other serious offences yesterday at the Grand Bahama Supreme Court.

Cameron Roberts, of Sandy Point, appeared before Justice Andrew Forbes. He pleaded guilty to rape and to other charges, including assault with a deadly weapon and causing harm.

The matters occurred on November 2, 2018.

Roberts was remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until March 29

for sentencing. The court has requested probation and psychological reports before imposing a sentence.

In other court matters from Grand Bahama, two people were charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday with possession of drugs with intent to supply.

Tammyann Butler, 37, and Darren Butler, 21, both of Terry Town Drive, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Debbye Ferguson.

They pleaded not guilty to possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply, and were granted $500 cash bail. The matter was adjourned to June 28.

118 HAITIANS REPATRIATED THE Department of Immigration repatriated 118 Haitian migrants on Tuesday.

The group left around 8.30am on a Bahamasair chartered flight from New Providence bound for Portau-Prince, Haiti.

One hundred and four males and 14 females were among the group.

“The department’s deportation team led these escorts with all COVID-19 protocols strictly observed as the health, welfare, and safety of our officers, law enforcement counterparts, and migrants remain the highest priority in this COVID-19 environment,” a press release from the agency said.

TEMPLE CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2022-2023 Temple Christian High School will hold its Entrance Examination on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at the school on Shirley Street from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon for students wishing to enter grades 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Application forms are available at the High School Office. The application fee is twenty-five dollars ($25). Application forms should be completed and returned to the school

by Friday, February 11, 2022. .

For further information, please call telephone number: 394-4481/394-4484.

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 7

Redundant Hilton staff in line for Sandals jobs from page one The owners of the British Colonial Hilton Hotel formally advised the government of their intention to close the hotel indefinitely with effect from February 15. The Ministry of Labour and Immigration confirmed 106 Bahamians are expected to be made redundant on or before that date.

The minister advised that government officials have had discussions with the management of the Hilton and have been assured that redundancy pay will be paid immediately to the employees being made redundant.

He explained yesterday that a job fair will be held February 12 between 8am and 3pm at the Department of Labour’s headquarters located in the City Corporate Centre, Rosetta Street.

All of the 106 employees are specially invited to attend the fair and come prepared to be screened, interviewed and hired by Sandals for one of the three properties.

“Over the past four months, the Ministry of Labour and the management of Sandals have developed an excellent working relationship. In the spirit of partnership, therefore, we entered into discussions with the view to assist employees affected by the aforementioned closure,” Mr Bell explained.

“I am extremely proud to announce that the Department of Labour is again partnering with the management of Sandals, specifically to ascertain how many of the 106 former employees of the Hilton can be hired at either the Royal Bahamian resort here in Nassau, the Emerald Bay hotel in Exuma or the Fowl Cay Resort in the Exuma Cays.”

THE HILTON Hotel in Nassau.

Adrian Whitehead, Sandals’ general manager, said their intention is to hire as many of the workers as is “physically possible”.

“The employees at the Hilton have experience (within) the industry,” he said “They understand what’s going on. They understand, obviously, standards. They have a good grounding so it makes sense for us to engage persons that have already got a certain amount of training and a certain amount of initiative in the industry as well. We also feel that the size of that team has obviously been reduced over time given the occupancy. . .So we know that they’ve got to be the best people as well so we’d be crazy not to take up that opportunity.”

He added: “As soon as we can get them on board, we can engage them.

Obviously, there are certain pieces of paperwork that need to be in place, but we’ve already been refining our onboarding process to make it as fast as possible. We’re expecting to run good occupancy over the next few

weeks. The next few months we need people, so it’s a great opportunity to fill those gaps with people that have already got a grounding in the industry and understand it, we can bring them on board fast. If I can get them in before the end of the month, if I can get them before the end of the week I will bring them in. We are really looking to move them quickly.”

The general manager added that Sandals’ occupancy “forecast is strong”.

Meanwhile, Mr Bell expressed confidence that the employment woes with the Hilton will be resolved.

“I’ve been asked by the media this morning as I went into the House of Assembly, what are the unemployment numbers. Again we need to do the census, but in the interim what is happening here at Sandals is to ensure that there is not an increase as far as we possibly can in terms of the unemployment in The Bahamas. . .I’m certain that all of the employees of the Hilton hotel will be hired.”

‘I STOLE CONCH TO SUPPORT MY FAMILY’

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 35-YEAR-OLD woman who claimed she stole $100 worth of conch last month to make extra money to support her family was discharged with a warning yesterday.

Angelica Lundy appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn

Vogt-Evans accused of stealing 40 conchs from Conch Hill Restaurant on January 20.

The court was told the restaurant owner reported Lundy to police after another person saw her leaving the establishment with two buckets of conch.

After receiving information in reference to the suspect, police went to Super Wash on Soldier

Road where they arrested Lundy.

During yesterday’s hearing, Lundy admitted the offence and said she committed the act because she wanted to sell the conchs to make money for herself and her children.

After listening to the accused’s explanation, Magistrate Vogt-Evans discharged the 35-year-old with a warning.

In a separate case, Tenaj Thompson, 35, was charged with stealing from a vehicle after officers said he stole a battery valued at $98 from Violet Rolle’s black Nissan Sentra on January 6.

Thompson pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to two months behind bars after the magistrate found he had been previously convicted of similar offences.

PAGE 8, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Repudiating our culture of violence OVER the past few weeks the country has witnessed a number of murders, including of women, with the death toll steadily climbing.

The killing of 21-yearold Heavenly Terveus in front of her one-month-old son shocked the country and again raised disturbing questions about our culture of violence, including violence against women.

The waste of life is heartbreaking and many have offered condolences to those who have lost loved ones. A bewildered public is left traumatized and wondering about the nature and the degree of the violence.

In the case of Ms Terveus, there appears to be failures on the part of the police and the state to protect her from her boyfriend Fenron Ferguson, who was out on bail and who committed suicide after killing the young lady at the dawn of adulthood.

There are improvements that need to be made in the criminal justice system.

There is also the need for a new generation of domestic violence and gender-based violence laws.

But the ritual response by some politicians and religious leaders to enact harsher penalties for various violent crimes is insufficient. Such calls also ring hollow given the widespread misogyny in our culture and the failure to seriously address a culture and toleration of violence toward women.

LESLIE MILLER

The attitude was typified after then-Tall Pines Member of Parliament, Leslie Miller, stated in the House of Assembly in 2014: “That’s like beating your wife or your girlfriend every time you go home.

“You just beat her for looking at her. I love you.

Boom, boom, boom. I had a girlfriend like that. When I didn’t beat her she used to tell me I ain’t love her no more cause I don’t hit her.

But seriously I had one like

that. I had one. She used to tell me...”

Former House Speaker Kendall Major tried to interject: “We know that you are joking with that.”

But Mr Miller continued: “No, I serious with that. I tell her I get tired man. My hands hurting a little bit, While there may be the give me a break. I am telling you the truth. One thing need for certain legislation, there is a ritual response by I don’t do is lie.”

In damage control mode, some politicians and reliMr Miller later said he was gious leaders after various joking. To her credit, then- notable high-profile crimes Long Island MP Loretta that is part of a hollow, Butler Turner severely retributive and uncreative criticised the abusive and mindset in response to violent crime. belligerent comments.

There are To the disalready varicredit of his fellow parlia- ‘It may not have ous laws and dawned on the penalties on mentarians the books, a and others who president of number of often claim which require to be great the Bahamas greater enforcechampions of Christian ment.

The women’s rights, Council, but council’s statethere was a ment read in disgraceful col- The Bahamas’ part: “We are lective silence, lack of regard in a state of a toleration of for the wellcrisis and the this instance of misogyny at the being of females only way we can make a change highest politi- goes hand in is if we all take cal levels. The hand with the a stand — not silence sent a just to verbally chilling message level of genderexpress our to the society, based violence dismay but to including to in the country.’ take definigirls and boys. tive action that After the killing of Ms Terveus, the will result in meaningful Bahamas Christian Coun- change.

“We must amend laws cil issued a statement with domescalling for amended laws dealing and stiffer penalties in cases tic violence and stiffen the penalties for the of domestic violence.

HEAVENLY TERVEUS perpetrators of these heinous crimes. We hereby appeal to all relevant stakeholders to join forces to do what is necessary to ensure that these and all other acts of violence and crimes are minimised and eliminated from our society.

“The BCC strongly encourages all churches to make this a core focus — to sound the alarm from the pulpits, to open your doors to those in need of counseling and to speak truth to power.

“We must be sensitive to the emotional and psychological needs of our citizens and remove any stigma that may prevent an individual from seeking help.

‘BLIND EYE’

“We have turned a blind eye to the social ills plaguing our country for too long and ‘the chicks have come home to roost’. The deterioration of the moral fabric of our society is haunting us and creating hell on earth.

“The BCC stands ready to lead the charge in reclaiming our nation and working in tandem with law

enforcement to restore our country to law and order.”

These are fine words.

But if the BCC is serious about “not just…verbally express[ing] our dismay but to take definitive action that will result in meaningful change”, it might begin with a full-throated support for marital rape laws.

A consistent of ethic of life and a seamless commitment to the dignity of all women, who should not be victims of male violence, mandates that the leaders and members of the council demonstrate their witness in meaningful ways and not just ritual statements.

Religious leaders like to say that it begins in the home and in the family. Then why are so many of them opposed to marital rape laws, outlawing the rape of a wife by her husband?

Aysha Taryam, a journalist in the United Arab Emirates, offers: “If we are to fight discrimination and injustice against women we must start from the home, for if a woman cannot be safe in her own house then she cannot be expected to feel safe anywhere.”

The blind eyes and deaf ears include religious fundamentalists and clerics who fail to see and hear the needs of women within their own families and communions, which is an integral part “of the moral fabric of our society”.

Athena Damianos, a noted former journalist, put it succinctly in a recent letter to the editor: “It may not have dawned on the president of the Bahamas Christian Council, but The Bahamas’ lack of regard for the well-being of females goes hand in hand with the level of gender-based violence in the country.

“Ponder this, Bishop Delton Fernander: The

THANK YOU

Bahamas is one of only 36 countries that hasn’t criminalised marital rape – that’s out of about 197 countries.

“And, of course, Bahamian women don’t have the same right to pass citizenship to their children as males, in no small measure due to the discriminatory propaganda springing from certain misogynist members of the clergy.

“What sort of message does this send to messed up people prone to violence? So, it’s OK to rape your wife and it’s OK to discriminate against women, but we wring our hands in despair when yet another girl or woman falls victim to gender violence?

“It’s time to stop giving comfort to the monsters.

Outlaw marital rape and deal with the citizenship issue. Give girls and women the protection and respect they deserve.”

Crime and violence exists within a cultural context, the roots of which include patterns of misogyny and violence within a patriarchal culture, which normalises violence against girls and women.

PUBLIC SILENCE

This includes public silence by leading women in politics who fervently claim to be advocates for women’s rights but who often fail to publicly condemn the misogynistic and brutal language and attitudes of male colleagues. Such silence is a form of complicity.

A number of the current female members of the Senate and House have spoken of the need to address domestic violence and marital rape. But they have heavy lifting ahead because of the entrenched attitudes of misogyny in general in the country and in particular among their political colleagues and many religious leaders.

These women may wish to review various international reports on violence against women, including a 2017 United National Development Programme Report, “From Commitment to Action: Policies to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The report notes The Bahamas, along with other countries in the Caribbean, require concentrated action on many fronts, including: a new generation of laws, better practices and enhanced programmatic responses in the areas of prevention, care for girls and women and consistent punishment for offenders.

The report notes: “The levels of violence against women faced in Latin America and the Caribbean are unacceptable.

The region has the highest rate of non-couples related sexual violence in the world and the second highest rate of violence by partners or ex-partners (WHO, 2013); 3 of the 10 countries with the highest rates of violence against women and girls are in the Caribbean (Caribbean HDR, UNDP, 2012).”

There are many fronts on which we must address violence, including gender-based violence. This includes norms and practices such as “beating” children; the abusive language we easily hurl at others; the retributive mindset flowing from a deeply fundamentalist culture, and fostering in girls a greater sense of their innate dignity and worth.

If the BCC, political leaders and others who claim to respect women’s rights want to seriously address genderbased violence in action - and not just words in the moment - they should send the right messages and act to outlaw marital rape.

In failing to do so, their inaction and silence is a certain and egregious complicity, helping to perpetuate our culture of violence!

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 9

Has Putin played a masterful game or been forced into a corner?

T

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Skullduggery on both sides It’s become an article of faith in the mainstream American media that Biden and the Democrats will suffer significant losses in this November’s elections. Both Republican and Democratic strategists, mostly speaking on background, acknowledge the recent history of new American Presidents getting clobbered in the first by-election after their inauguration will continue this year.

Even prior to the 2020 general election, liberals were hand-wringing about how Republicans in a majority of statehouses across the country would “gerrymander” congressional districts to further strengthen their decisive influence on congressional district boundaries. Gerrymandering is a term used to describe one political party distorting census results to redraw congressional boundaries to ensure the job security and re-election of their incumbent state and federal legislators. The practice has persisted for over a century.

But the pundits are despairing because they say gerrymandering will only benefit the Republicans.

Only the nasty GOP would resort to such skullduggery.

But it seems both parties are guilty.

Since the 2020 census, 29 states have completed their redistricting process. Nine new congressional district maps - not all in Republican states - have been challenged for their lack of fairness and partisan tilt. So, while the irresistible urge to gerrymander is not limited to states where the GOP exercises political control, there are some pretty dramatic examples of raw Republican power.

Ohio is a good one. Buckeye State voters several years ago approved state constitutional changes designed to reduce partisanship. The idea was to empower an appointed bipartisan commission to “prohibit any district from primarily favouring one political party and to closely follow the statewide preferences of voters.”

How did that work last year?

Not so well. The state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, a Republican, joined the majority in striking down the commission’s GOP-led partisan efforts.

“Having seen firsthand how the current Ohio Redistricting Commission is seemingly unwilling to put aside partisan considerations as directed by the people’s vote, Ohioans may opt to

replace this commission with a truly independent one that distances the redistricting process from partisan politics.”

On the other hand, let’s consider New York state, where Democrats now control all aspects of state political power.

Their legislature, after failed attempts by supposedly bipartisan committees to redraw the state map fairly, has the responsibility to complete the job.

The result? Currently, the line-up of congressional districts favours Democrats by 19 – 5 with three fairly evenly balanced.

Under the new plan, with one fewer congressional seats due to census-confirmed population loss, will be 22-4 in favour of the Dems. None of the new districts is regarded as competitive.

In Maryland, where Democrats exercise even tighter political control, an effort has been well underway to “redistrict” the state’s few remaining GOP-leaning districts right out of existence.

Neither political party in the US seems to have gotten the memo that partisan selfinterest should no longer be the default method of serving the public interest. And that’s a shame.

No-one saw this coming Just a couple of weeks ago before the NFL play-offs started, you could have gotten really good, long odds on a Super Bowl match-up between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. But that’s just what lies in store for us in ten days time. First, we’ll have to endure endless detailed examinations of each team, with lots of human-interest stories on some of the players who have arrived on football’s biggest stage in unconventional ways.

There will be in-depth reports on how the front office and coaching staffs on the teams have intersected over the years of their NFL careers. Etc., etc.

As it is every year, it will be a relief for football fans about a week from now when the game actually is near. Meantime, both teams arrived at the big game as beneficiaries of rather glaring mistakes by their opposing quarterbacks in the semi-final conference championship games.

The Bengals began on Sunday looking like oddsmakers had expected them to look from the start in these play-offs. They were yielding on defence as the host Kansas City Chiefs rolled to a nearly three-touchdown advantage in the first half, and the Cincinnati offence did not look purposeful or potent against a Chiefs defence that had yielded a lot of points and yardage the week before to the Buffalo Bills. In retrospect, a key play in the game was Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ failure to deliver a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half. Star wide receiver Tyreke Hill was stopped on a swing pass at the one-yard line as time ran out.

The Chiefs only scored three points thereafter, allowing QB Joe Burrow and the Bengals to scramble back into the

game. In fact, Kansas City’s only secondhalf points came from a field goal as time ticked away that enabled them to force overtime.

As against the Bills, KC won the toss, got the ball and history would repeat itself as they drove to victory. Right? Wrong.

Mahomes was intercepted near midfield and the Bengals drove methodically down the field to set up a short field goal to win.

It was a huge upset.

Later Sunday afternoon, the Rams held serve at home to join the Bengals in the Super Bowl, where the Rams will play at their new home stadium again.

The Rams, who have added star players during the season like front-running NBA teams routinely do but NFL teams almost never do, stumbled often on their way to victory. But as in Kansas City, a key late interception thrown by the opposing quarterback, San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, was a critical element in LA’s triumph.

The Rams have had an up-and-down season this year, twice beating Tom Brady and the Buccaneers and triumphing over the Colts and Titans but losing to the Packers and twice to the 49ers. Much celebrated additions quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Lions, wideout Odell Beckham Jr from the Browns and defensive terror Von Miller from the Broncos were all hired guns imported to pursue a common passion of playing in and winning a Super Bowl.

The Rams are early 3.5-point favourites.

The Bengals have flummoxed prognosticators including this one for most of the play-offs, winning consecutive games on the road as solid underdogs. Will they continue? Stay tuned next week.

HE crisis over Ukraine grinds on. Is the world edging slowly but perceptibly back from the brink?

Maybe only Russian President Vladimir Putin knows. Pundits and commentators in the US seem divided on Putin.

Some think the wily autocrat has outfoxed and outmaneuvered his American antagonists again, putting the US in a thoroughly hapless, reactionary posture.

Others, though, think the prospect of tough Western sanctions against the families and allies of Russia’s super-wealthy oligarchs will squeeze Putin in the wallets of his most formidable and essential supporters. And while Russian troops are continuing to mass along Ukraine’s frontiers, the Ukrainian response, from its President to the man and woman in the countryside, seems calmly, almost serenely determined to resist Russian invaders to their last breath. The prospect of doing so in service of a likely futile military struggle does not appear to scare Ukrainians as much as one might imagine.

If that attitude continues to prevail, Ukraine could turn out to be a pretty indigestible conquest for Putin’s army.

And what if an invasion radicalizes vital Western trading partners, Germany in particular, against Moscow?

Russia’s inefficient corruption and unrepresentative, autocratic form of government might make it difficult to sustain its economy in the face of active German opposition and isolation from Western markets.

There’s a growing school of thought that sustained Russian-American talks over various contentious bilateral and multilateral issues might give Putin the face-saving exit strategy from the current military build-up that he may feel he needs. And there are areas where the two nations could craft agreements, such as in certain kinds of theatre weaponry

US President Joe Biden.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) and perhaps even climate change. As US President Joe Biden mentioned in his recent press conference, Putin and his advisers might usefully think about how to deal with a rapidly thawing Siberian permafrost before committing to a potentially ruinous occupation of Ukraine.

A potentially implacable resistance to Moscow by Ukrainians, artfully assisted by the West, might bring back uncomfortable memories of what happened to the USSR in Afghanistan. It’s for sure that Putin remembers.

PAGE 10, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

GB airport’s $3.6m losses

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net SINCE the acquisition of the Grand Bahama International Airport, the government has seen $3.6m in operational losses a year, Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday.

He said very few repairs have been done since the airport was acquired under the previous Minnis administration in April 2021.

Due to the state of disrepair and the slow pace to complete the work, the minister said, the United States government has decided to cease pre-clearance operations at the airport.

“The sellers took the insurance money,” Mr Cooper, who is also Tourism, Investments and Aviation Minister, told the House of Assembly.

“We spent in the region of $1m up front and we inherited the ongoing operational losses to the tune of $300,000 odd of a total of roughly $3.6m per annum and since the acquisition very little has been done.

“One of the highlights of the Grand Bahama International Airport has long been its preclearance facility. Since the airport was destroyed during the storm the US has relocated some of its resources and suspended

pre-clearance at that location.

“We have recently been informed by the US government that given the ongoing indefinite suspension of pre-clearance service at Grand Bahama International Airport and the slow state of the reconstruction of the airport, that the US government has initiated a process to cease pre-clearance operations at the Grand Bahama International Airport.

“Our partners in the US government have assured us that it remains committed to the agreement between the government of the United States of America and the government of the

Commonwealth of The Bahamas pre-clearance entered in 1947.”

He said the US has advised they looked forward to upcoming preclearance consultation group meetings as an opportunity to further enhance the successful collaboration facilitating and securing travels between both countries.

In the meantime, the government would begin the remedial work at the airport.

This will include the reinstallation of generators to ensure instances of lighting delays at night will not recur.

“We’ll be investing in the elevators immediately

to ensure that our Bahamian citizens who work at the tower will be able to access their work space more efficiently. I had the occasion to walk these steps and I was exercised physically and mentally that our employees would have to do this. Sometimes two, three, times a day.

“We are gonna do something about it, Madam Speaker,” he continued.

“We want to assure the Bahamian people that we are building a world class airport in Grand Bahama and throughout the country.

In fact, and very shortly you will hear more about the possibilities of public private partnership also open

to participation for these airports and I say to the people of Grand Bahama, the Grand Bahama International Airport in this process of PPPs will be our absolute priority as we see it as significant in encouraging investment to the island and moving this island along back to its place of prominence.

“In the meantime, we’ll continue some remedial work to ensure that working conditions of Bahamians and residents will move Grand Bahama and it’s people along to better working conditions and a better environment on this airport for the travelling public,” Mr Cooper said.

BIDEN AIMS TO REDUCE CANCER DEATHS BY HALF WASHINGTON Associated Press PRESIDENT Joe Biden yesterday set a 25-year timeline to cut in half the cancer death rate, a lofty but perhaps unrealistic goal that is meant to “supercharge” an initiative started when he was vice president to eradicate the disease that killed his older son, Beau.

“This can really be an American moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, the world that we can do really big things,” Biden told a crowd of lawmakers, administration officials, researchers and others at the White House.

The new push, which comes without any new money, arrives more than 50 years after President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act and launched a war on the disease. The benefits of that

PRESIDENT Joe Biden speaks during a “Cancer Moonshot” event in White House yesterday.

Photo: Alex Brandon/AP act were also seen in areas reducing cancer risks such outside of cancer, such as as smoking and informing the vaccines developed to people about the best cancer combat the coronavirus. research could mean fewer Personal connections deaths. Brawley said one of to the fight against cancer his studies found that 130,000 were evident throughout the people die annually from White House event. First cancer because they do not lady Jill Biden spoke of how benefit from known science. the death of Beau from brain Dr. Barron Lerner, a cancer in 2015 had “stolen professor of medicine and our joy” and “left us broken population health at New in our grief.” Vice President York University Langone Kamala Harris spoke of Health, said “hyperbolic how her mother’s work as a goals” can help draw public cancer researcher had helped attention to the problem but “save women’s lives”. achieving the 50% reducThe American Cancer tion is “extremely unlikely”.

Society estimates there will “Similar past efforts like be 1,918,030 new cancer the ‘War on Cancer’ have cases and 609,360 cancer made gains, but they have deaths this year. Biden is been more modest,” said essentially aiming to to save Lerner, author of “The more than 300,000 lives Breast Cancer Wars.” annually, which the admin- “Cancer is many diseases istration believes is possible and requires very complibecause the age-adjusted cated research. Translating death rate has already these advances to the clinical fallen by roughly 25 percent setting is never easy either.” over the past two decades.

There were no new The cancer death rate is funding commitments currently 146 per 100,000 announced Wednesday. But people, compared with the administration believes nearly 200 in 2000. it can curb cancer through Dr Otis Brawley, a pro- efforts such as increased fessor of oncology and screening and removing epidemiology at Johns inequities in treatment.

Hopkins University and The coronavirus panformer chief medical and demic has consumed scientific officer for the health care resources and American Cancer Society, caused people to miss more said advances in medical than 9.5 million cancer research have led to a “better screenings. understanding of the biolPresident Barack Obama ogy of cancer and will do announced the cancer even more for us in the “moonshot” program future”. during his final full year “The progress in cancer in office and secured $1.8 research is slow — some billion over seven years of the fruits of Nixon’s to fund research. Obama 1971 declaration were only designated Biden, then his harvested with the devel- vice president, to run “misopment of the COVID sion control,” a recognition mRNA vaccine,” he said. of Biden’s grief as a parent Looking forward, better and desire to do something public health practices, about it.

SPORTS PAGE 18

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022

FLORES SAYS HE WON’T DROP LAWSUIT EVEN IF HIRED AS COACH

By TERESA M WALKER AP Pro Football Writer

BRIAN Flores says his lawsuit against the NFL over alleged racist hiring practices will continue even if he becomes a head coach again this offseason.

Flores has interviewed with the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints, who have yet to fill their coaching vacancies. If they call, Flores will listen, but he said the suit will go on because the league needs change.

“This is about changing the hiring practices in the National Football League, and that’s what this lawsuit is about,” Flores said yesterday on CNN. “I want to coach football that’s what I’m called to do.”

Flores said he knows others have similar stories and that it is hard to speak out. He called his potential sacrifice bigger than football or coaching. The NFL is at a fork in the road, he said.

“We’re going keep it the way it is or go in another direction and make some change where we’re actually changing the hearts and minds of those who make decisions to hire head coaches, executives, et cetera,” Flores said on CBS. “That’s what we’ve got to get to. We’ve got to change hearts and minds.”

Flores’ lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. It is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages from the league, the Miami Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants, along with unidentified individuals.

The NFL, Dolphins, Broncos and Giants have denied Flores’ accusations.

SEE PAGE 21

haven’t been getting 5-on-5 competition, this was my only competition so yeah I felt good,” Ayton said of his return to the floor.

“If you throw me out there mentally I’m ready and the rest will fall in line. I know the task at hand, testing your limits, all of that is easy.

Getting in shape is easy, just sticking to the script, sticking to things we practice and winning together.

That’s the things we do best, that’s the tough part.”

With Ayton sidelined, the Suns have relied on veteran centre JaVale McGee, new signee Bismack Biyombo and second-year player Jalen Smith.

“Them dudes are dangerous. I’m telling you the Suns frontcourt is different bruh,” Ayton said. “Biyombo gives a different look when it comes to defence. He’s pressuring the ball,

TAVARIO Miller and David Nesbitt continue to play key roles for their teams as the group stage continues in the FIBA Basketball Champions League Americas.

The second day of action tipped off for both Group B and Group C in the second stage and both players were in action.

Minas faced off against Obras and Quimsa faced a Sao Paulo team that had just won big against Nacional.

Miller and Minas are off to a 1-1 start. In game one he finished with 12 points and six rebounds on 5-5 shooting from the field in a 77-74 win over Obras Sanitarias. He followed with nine points and five rebounds in last night’s 96-91 loss to Bigua in Uruguay. Minas fell to 3-1 in Group C. In Brazil’s NBB they remain one of the top ranked teams at 13-3.

Minas led all BCLA teams in scoring per game in the opening round with an average of 95-points per game.

Since the first round, they defeated both Flamengo and Sao Paulo to win Brazil’s Super 8 Cup. Following two seasons in Argentina, Miller headed to the NBB last offseason.

In Argentina he spent 40 games with Boca Juniors. He averaged 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and helped the team advance to the semifinals.

SEE PAGE 22

SEE PAGE 20

PHOENIX Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) dunks against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half of an NBA basketball game on Tuesday night in Phoenix. The Suns defeated the Nets 121-111.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

P

hoenix Suns centre Deandre Ayton returned to the starting lineup for the first time since January 16 and the NBA’s No.1 overall seed continued its win streak.

Ayton was placed on a minutes restriction in his return from a seven-game absence and finished with 12 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of the Suns’ 121-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was the first time the fourthyear big had an opportunity to participate in five-on-five play for the first time since he sustained the injury. “It felt great, but can’t lie I was winded a little bit. I got my second wind in the third and fourth.

NESBITT, MILLER PLAY KEY ROLES IN FIBA BASKET CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AMERICAS

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Ayton back to work

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Jonquel, Page 22

Coach [Monty Williams] really managed the minutes for me to make sure I got back in rhythm,” Ayton said. “Sometimes you just got to push, you just got to feel your lungs and just feel the flow of the game.

My teammates were always talking to me, there was a lot of energy that kept me going so it felt like nothing changed to be honest, it felt like we got better.”

He shot 5-7 from the field as the Suns improved to a league best 41-9 and have now won 11 games in a row.

Ayton’s first basket was a jumper in the lane and in the fourth quarter he finished an alley oop dunk on an assist from Devin Booker to push the lead to 14 late in the fourth quarter. “I needed that, to be honest I was glad I needed that.

Once I took off I said ‘yep, I feel the strength, I needed this,’ because I’ve been working the whole time. I

BAAA to stage ‘All-Comers Track Classic’ on Saturday

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH their regular club meets being called off because of the rise in cases in COVID-19, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations has had to resort to staging a series of time trials or ‘All-Comers’ meets at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

With two limited meets already under their belt, the BAAA will stage its first full blown All-Comers Meet on Saturday, starting at 9am. The series is designed to get athletes prepared for the return of

the CARIFTA Games in Kingston, Jamaica, over the Easter holiday weekend.

One of the organisers of the All-Comers Meet said on Saturday they will feature all of the disciplines, but only for athletes from the 13-and-under division to open.

However, it was noted that only athletes and officials will be allowed into the stadium. “We are expecting some great performances as we contest all of the events,” the official said, asking to remain anonymous.

“This meet will be fully automated as the BAAA will be using this as a trial for CARIFTA.”

THE BAAA will be using this weekend’s meet as a trial for the CARIFTA Games.

While the previous two series of meets also served as a qualifier for the CARIFTA Games, the official said they didn’t have any athletes who attained the standards, but they

anticipate that there will be some qualifiers this weekend.

“We have athletes competing in events on the track and for the first time in this series of meets, we will have athletes who will be competing in the field events, especially in the throws,” the officials said.

“So we anticipate that there will be some qualifiers from this meet.”

Since the year got started, the official said the BAAA has been forced to postpone all of their club meets during the pandemic, but they have been granted permission to stage the small-scale time trials or All-Comers meets. “The

pandemic has had a major impact on the development of the athletes because they have not had the opportunity to compete in the meets that we had scheduled in January,” the official said.

“We’ve had to postpone the club meets and just go with the time trials. “This will be the first All-Comers meet where we expect the athletes to all come out and compete. So in compliance with the guidelines from the Ministry of Health, we will stage the meet without any spectators. That is why we are starting from the under13 division because we feel they are disciplined enough to compete without their parents in the stands.”

While all of the events will be contested in a bid to get as many athletes as possible a chance to qualify for CARIFTA, the official pointed out that there will be no relay events contested.

The idea is to simply concentrate on the athletes competing in their individual events.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity to engage the athletes in all of the events in one meet,” the official stated.

“This promises to be a very exciting BAAA AllComers Track Classic this weekend.”

The meet is expected to be concluded around 5pm.

EXPLAINER: HOW COVID TESTS, ISOLATION WILL WORK AT BEIJING OLYMPICS

By CANDICE CHOI Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Athletes and others headed to the Olympics face a multitude of COVID-19 testing hurdles as organisers seek to catch any infections early and keep the virus at bay.

A positive test could mean athletes sitting out the Beijing Games — perhaps even if they’re no longer contagious. Olympic officials say they’ll be flexible and review the need for isolation on a case-by-case basis.

It’s part of the complexities of staging a big event

in the pandemic, because organisers want to ensure they don’t fuel outbreaks among participants or the local population. Since early in the pandemic, China has taken a “zero tolerance” approach to the virus. Similar protocols to create virus-free “bubbles” were part of the Tokyo Games last summer and the end of the 2020 NBA season.

• Here’s how testing will work at the Winter Olympics: WHAT WILL TESTING BE LIKE? All athletes, team officials, staff and journalists

need to provide two recent negative tests before heading to China. They will be tested again at the airport before heading to their Olympic sites.

During the Games, everyone will get daily throat swabs for PCR lab tests, with results coming back within a day.

And most everyone will already be vaccinated, because those who aren’t have to quarantine for three weeks.

WHAT IF SOMEONE TESTS POSITIVE? First, there will be a confirmatory test. Anyone who has COVID-19 with symptoms will go to a hospital.

Those without symptoms go to a dedicated hotel for isolation. In both cases, they’ll be unable to compete until cleared for discharge.

HOW LONG WILL ISOLATION LAST? It depends. To get out of isolation, people generally need consecutive days of negative tests and no symptoms. They will be tested with PCR lab tests that can detect tiny amounts of virus. That means a test can come back positive long after a person is likely to spread the virus. The uncertainty over how long isolation might last is fuelling worries. Last week,

NBC said its announcers and many hosts would cover the Games from the U.S. ARE TESTS THE ONLY FACTOR? Organisers in Beijing say they’ll look at other factors in addition to testing when evaluating whether someone can leave isolation.

“What’s the person’s past history? Have they had confirmed COVID in the past? Have they been vaccinated fully?” said Dr Brian McCloskey, chair of the medical expert panel for the Beijing Olympics.

PCR tests work by copying the genetic material in a

specimen to detect a virus.

If a lab needs to run a lot of amplification cycles to pick up the virus, it could mean a person has low levels and isn’t likely to spread it.

This week, organisers said they would take a less stringent approach on isolation for those with low levels of the virus. They eased the testing threshold that requires isolation but said people with detectable levels of the virus still need to take extra precautions, such as limiting contact with others and taking two tests a day, instead of one.

SEE PAGE 20

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 19

Shortened Olympic torch relay starts for Beijing Games BEIJING (AP) — The three-day torch relay for the Beijing Olympics, shortened considerably because of concerns about the coronavirus, started yesterday with an 80-yearold former speedskater carrying the flame.

The relay opened at the Olympic Forest Park. Luo Zhihuan, the country’s first internationally competitive speedskater, ran the first leg.

The torch will be carried through the three Olympics zones, starting with downtown Beijing before heading to Yanqing district and finally Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province.

The Beijing Games have already been impacted on a scale similar to that experienced by Tokyo during last year’s Summer Olympics. China says only selected spectators will be allowed to attend events, and Olympic athletes, officials, staff and journalists are required to stay within a bubble that keeps them from contact with the general public.

Beijing, with its 20 million residents, has experienced only a handful of COVID-19 cases and reported just two new ones yesterday.

However, in keeping with China’s “zero tolerance” approach to the pandemic, strict rules require lockdowns and mass testing

when any real or suspected case is discovered.

The truncated programme seemed to have little effect on Luo, who after receiving the torch from Vice Premier Han Zheng said it was the realisation of decades-long aspiration. “I’ve never participated in the Winter Olympics, so I had hoped our country could host the Winter Olympics and I had the dream for nearly 60 years,” said Luo, wearing a red and white jacket marked with No. 1. “Today my dream has come true ...

How happy I am!”

The opening of the Beijing Games comes only days after the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s biggest annual celebration when millions traditionally travel to their hometowns for family reunions. For the second straight year, the government has advised those living away from home to stay put, and train and plane travel has been curtailed.

Participants in the torch relay have undergone health screenings and have been carefully monitored, starting from two weeks before the event.

Others among the 135 torchbearers heading out yesterday were Jing Haipeng, captain of the Chinese Astronaut Corps, Ye Peijian, a 77-year-old consultant to China’s lunar

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer

CHINESE Vice Premier Han Zheng lights the torch before the start of the torch relay for the 2022 Winter Olympics at the Olympic Forest Park in Beijing yesterday.

(AP Photo/Sam McNeil) exploration programme, some overseas stages. The urged anyone headed to former NBA player Yao Winter Games have been Beijing to take “burner” Ming, and Chinese film beset by similar political phones instead of their director Zhang Yimou, controversies, alongside personal devices because who will direct Friday’s medical considerations. of concerns their personal opening ceremony at the Six weeks ago, the information could be Bird’s Nest.

United States, Britain and compromised.

The scaled-down torch several allies said they The National Hockey relay is a far cry from 2008, would not send dignitar- League cited uncertainty when Beijing sent the ies to attend the Beijing caused by the pandemic to Olympic flame on a global Games as a protest against hold back all of its players journey ahead of hosting human rights abuses by the from the Olympic tourthat year’s Summer Games. Communist Party regime. nament. And American The relay drew protestAthletes have been broadcaster NBC said it ers against China’s human threatened by the organis- won’t be sending announcrights violations and poli- ing committee with “certain ing teams to China, citing cies in Tibet, Xinjiang punishments” for saying or the same virus concerns and elsewhere, leading doing anything that would raised when the network to violent confrontations offend their Chinese hosts, pulled most of its reporters and the cancellation of while several delegations from the Tokyo Games.

WASHINGTON’S NFL TEAM UNVEILS NEW NAME - COMMANDERS

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer WASHINGTON has some new Commanders in town.

The NFL team announced its new name yesterday, 18 months after fresh pressure from sponsors helped convince the once-storied franchise to drop its old moniker following decades of criticism that it was offensive to Native Americans. The organization committed to avoiding Native American imagery in its rebrand after being called the Washington Football Team the past two seasons.

Washington is the latest American major professional team to abandon its name linked to Native Americans, and it was considered one of the most egregious.

Suzan Shown Harjo, who is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, called the change “an amazing and a giant step in the maturation of America.”

The 76-year-old Harjo has been advocating for sports teams to drop Native imagery and mascots since the 1960s.

“That’s sort of our place in the world, Native people’s place in the world, to help the rest of the country come to grips with its past and to understand how to move on,” she said. “And, I hope, how to do it with grace.”

While Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians have changed their name, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and baseball’s Atlanta Braves have said they are not planning to make a change.

That doesn’t sit well with IllumiNative, a Native American woman-led

social justice organization, though founder and executive director Crystal Echo Hawk praised the move by the Commanders.

“Native mascots are inaccurate and stereotypical depictions of Native culture,” the Pawnee woman said in a statement.

“They do not honour or celebrate Native peoples but are rather a tool of white supremacy created to dehumanize and objectify us. Research has shown time after time that Native mascots lead to lowered self-esteem and self-worth, and increases rates of depression, self-harm, and violence against Native youth.

“The Washington Commanders are proof that ending the use of Native American imagery in sports is possible. The Cleveland Guardians are further proof.”

Washington owner Dan Snyder said the change that pays “homage to our local roots and what it means to represent the nation’s capital.”

“As we kick off our 90th season, it is important for our organization and fans to pay tribute to our past traditions, history, legacy and the greats that came before us,” Snyder said.

“We continue to honor and represent the Burgundy and Gold while forging a pathway to a new era in Washington.”

President Joe Biden welcomed the name change by posting a picture on Twitter of Commander, his recently acquired German shepherd puppy, in front of the White House.

“I suppose there’s room for two Commanders in this town,” Biden wrote.

From 1932 until two seasons ago, Washington had used the name Redskins

ATHLETES FACE MANY DOPING, VIRUS TESTS AT OLYMPICS

A WASHINGTON Commanders sign is shown as they unveil their NFL football team’s new identity yesterday in Landover, Md. The new name comes 18 months after the once-storied franchise dropped its old moniker following decades of criticism that it was offensive to Native Americans.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) — which offended Native Americans and others.

“Redskins” is the worst name that Native Americans can be called in the English language, according to Harjo. She said the word hearkens to a time when bounties were paid for the scalps of Native Americans.

While thousands of high schools, colleges and professional sports organizations have dropped Native imagery and mascots, she estimated about 1,000 remain.

“All of this cultural thievery really has to stop,” Harjo said. “What the Washington team and the Cleveland team have done is to remove two of the most grotesque and vile images and names that exist. They provided by example what can be done even if you’re making a fortune doing it.”

“Even if they didn’t think it was 100% wrong,

the owners, a whole lot of people did. And so they had to as well. So, good, as long as they can help clear the decks.”

Ray Halbritter, representative of the New York-based Oneida Indian Nation and leader of the Change the Mascot campaign, said the name change is “a victory for all of those around the world seeking to advance inclusivity and respect in our societies.”

“Yet, equally important is how we all choose to remember what was involved in getting the team to finally change its name,” Halbritter said.

As the Commanders, Washington keeps the same burgundy and gold colors that were around for the three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s and early ‘90s glory days. It follows the desire of team president Jason Wright and coach Ron Rivera for the

new name to have a connection to the U.S. military.

Commanders was chosen over other finalists such as Red Hogs, Admirals and Presidents. Red Wolves, an initial fan favorite, was ruled out earlier in the process because of copyright and trademark hurdles.

The rebranding process had been going on since the summer of 2020, when team officials opted for the temporary Washington Football Team name that lingered into the 2021 season.

The change comes amid the organization’s latest controversy: dozens of former employees describing a toxic workplace culture, which caused Snyder to commission an investigation that was taken over by the NFL. After the investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson’s firm, the league fined Washington $10 million and Snyder temporarily ceded day-to-day operations of the team to his wife, Tanya, while he focused on a new stadium agreement.

The league did not release a written report of Wilkinson’s findings, a move that sparked criticism. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform is holding a roundtable discussion Thursday with a handful of former team employees to discuss their experiences.

Getting a stadium deal done is next on the agenda for Snyder and his front office. The team’s lease at FedEx Field expires after the 2027 season and momentum is building for an agreement in Virginia, though sites in Maryland and the District of Columbia are still under consideration.

BEIJING (AP) — Alongside the daily collection of coronavirus samples, the athletes at the Beijing Olympics also have to contend with the usual doping tests — both in and out of competition.

The 2,900 or so competitors at the Winter Games have to make themselves available for unannounced doping control visits, putting them at greater risk of catching COVID-19 and possibly ruling them out of their event.

The International Testing Agency, which oversees sample collection at the Olympics, said yesterday the daily tests, which everyone in the Olympic bubble must do, add extra psychological weight and uncertainty.

“There is a lot of attention when they go through the doping control process to go through all the COVID measures,” said Matteo Vallini, the ITA head of testing. “It puts them under pressure.”

The ITA, which designed the Olympic athlete testing, and World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees the rules and the testing laboratory in Beijing, detailed their plans on the first day of competition, two days before the opening ceremony.

OMICRON CHALLENGES The wave of COVID-19 cases caused by the recent omicron variant has added to the ITA’s work.

Late and unpredictable team selections because of athletes testing positive meant their replacements were less of a priority in pre-Olympic testing plans.

The agency said yesterday it still hit a target of about 80% collected of the 5,400 samples recommended to sports bodies.

The ITA and WADA draw confidence in hoping for a clean Olympics after more tests were done on athletes training in 2021 away from their competitions than in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.

There were only four positive doping tests at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, though all samples taken four years ago are in storage. They can be reanalysed until 2028 if new testing methods or intelligence emerge.

BEIJING LABORATORY The WADA-accredited laboratory at Beijing Sports University will analyse about 2,900 blood and urine samples during the Olympics. It’s a different lab from the one in the city that had past issues with Olympic and pre-Olympic testing.

Errors during the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the National Anti-Doping Laboratory led to two hammer throwers from Belarus regaining their medals at CAS after being disqualified for testing positive for testosterone.

In 2016, WADA shut down the same lab for the four months prior to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for mistakes in analysing samples.

Now, the lab is part of a university instead of China’s anti-doping agency — a situation Niggli said “is always better because we like labs to be involved in research.”

Colombia further from WCup spot, Ecuador secures playoff

By MAURICIO SAVARESE AP Sports Writer SAO PAULO (AP) — Colombia started the South American World Cup qualifiers as a favourite for one of the region’s four direct spots in Qatar, while underdog Ecuador was expected to fail under coach Gustavo Alfaro.

Tuesday’s round ended with the Colombians in need of miracle after losing 1-0 at Argentina, and the Ecuadorians secured fifth place at least by tying with Peru

1-1, putting Ecuador in an international playoff against an Asian team.

A win would have put Ecuador in third place in the region and going to Qatar, but that seems to be only delayed to the end of March, when the two final rounds will take place.

Brazil (39 points) and Argentina (35) have already qualified.

Ecuador has 25 points, three ahead of Uruguay.

Peru is now at 21 points in fifth place, with Chile one point

behind. Colombia has 17. Bolivia (15), Paraguay (13) and Venezuela (10) have no chance of qualifying.

ARGENTINA 1, COLOMBIA 0 Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the match in Cordoba in the 29th minute after he was left alone in the penalty box by two Colombia defenders.

Goalkeeper Camilo Vargas made several important saves, including three shots by veteran Ángel di Maria.

Argentina did not count on superstar Lionel Messi, who is still recovering from COVID19. Colombia’s last rivals are less dangerous: Bolivia at home and Venezuela away.

Coach Reinaldo Rueda’s team will have to win both, overtake Chile and one other between Uruguay and Peru in order to get to Qatar. Colombia has not scored in the latest seven matches of qualifying. “This is not over, we want to go at it until the end,” Rueda said in a news conference.

“Maybe we need more clarity in the midfield and also in our finishing. We miss that energy.”

Argentina managed to get the best opportunities despite missing several defenders plus Messi and midfielders Rodrigo de Paul and Leandro Paredes.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez said the result proves Argentina has “more than 11 players.”

“This is to the credit of a team, the absences were not noted.

This team is getting stronger and stronger,” he said.

PAGE 20, Thursday, February 3, 2022

THE TRIBUNE

Dinwiddie has triple-double, Wizards beat 76ers 106-103 PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Spencer Dinwiddie scored the go-ahead bucket with 1:30 left and had a triple-double to lead the Washington Wizards to a 106-103 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers last night.

Dinwiddie had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points to help the Wizards snap a six-game losing streak.

Montrezl Harrell hit a 16-footer for 102-98 lead and blew kisses to the Philly crowd headed into a timeout.

The Wizards won with Bradley Beal sidelined at least a week with an injured left wrist. Joel Embiid had 27 points and 14 rebounds for the 76ers.

CELTICS 113, HORNETS 107 BOSTON (AP) — Josh Richardson made six 3-pointers and scored 23 points, Jayson Tatum hit two key free throws and finished with 19 points and Boston held off Charlotte.

Marcus Smart scored 22 points, and Jaylen Brown added 15 to help Boston win its third straight.

LaMelo Ball had a career-best 38 points for Charlotte.

GRIZZLIES 120, KNICKS 108 NEW YORK (AP) — Jaren Jackson Jr had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Ja Morant added 23 points and nine assists and Memphis beat New York.

Morant had some of his usual high-flying highlight

‘Buddy’ Hield scores 18, Kings top Nets

WIZARDS’ SPENCER DINWIDDIE, left, drives to the basket against 76ers’ Matisse Thybulle, right, last night in Philadelphia.

(AP Photo/Chris Szagola) plays, but shot just 9 for 27 in the opener of a six-game from the field, missing all homestand, their longest of six 3-point attempts. the season.

But the Grizzlies go well MAGIC 119, beyond their first-time PACERS 118 All-Star. Rookie Ziaire INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Williams scored a season- — Gary Harris scored 22 high 21 points on 9-for-11 points and Wendell Carter shooting, while Jackson, Jr had 19 points and 18 Desmond Bane and rebounds to help Orlando De’Anthony Melton all rally past Indiana. hit four 3-pointers. Evan Harris scored 10 points in Fournier scored 30 points the fourth quarter, includfor the Knicks. ing two key 3-pointers.

THUNDER 120, Caris LeVert led the MAVERICKS 114, OT Pacers with 26 points, and DALLAS (AP) — Lu rookie Terry Taylor had 24 Dort scored 30 points, points and 16 rebounds. including 14 straight for ROCKETS 115, Oklahoma City in overCAVALIERS 104 time, and rookie Tre Mann HOUSTON (AP) — added a career-best 29 in a Christian Wood and rookie victory over Dallas.

Jalen Green scored 21 The Thunder won their points each and Houston second consecutive game beat Cleveland to snap an for their first winning 11-game home skid. streak since taking three Cleveland rookie Evan straight Dec. 18-22.

Mobley had a career-high Luka Doncic scored 40 29 points and added 12 points for the Mavericks rebounds.

SACRAMENTO Kings’ Chavano “Buddy” Hield during the second half of the NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, on Monday night in New York. The Knicks won 116-96.

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig) KINGS 112, Harrison Barnes scored NETS 101 19 points and Haliburton SACRAMENTO, Calif. had 11 assists to help the (AP) — Tyrese Halibur- Kings stop a seven-game ton scored seven of his skid. Chavano “Buddy” 12 points in the fourth Hield and Davion Mitchell quarter on his way to a scored 18 apiece. double-double, and the Nic Claxton had a careerSacramento Kings handed high 23 points and grabbed the stumbling Brooklyn 11 rebounds for Brooklyn.

Nets their sixth consecutive James Johnson added 18 loss, 112-101. points.

Norway to top medals table in unpredictable Beijing Olympics

By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer BEIJING (AP) — The Beijing Olympics will be unprecedented when they open Friday in a tightly sealed bubble, replete with COVID-19 tests, extreme health precautions, and athletes fearful of testing positive before they leave home, or upon arrival in the Chinese capital.

The possibility of last minute-changes make

TESTS FROM PAGE 18 As scientists have learned more about COVID-19 and how it spreads, health officials in a number of countries have revised isolation requirements.

In the US, for example, people can end isolation after five days if they don’t have any symptoms — without testing to see if they’re negative. But they’re advised to avoid travel and others at high risk.

ARE MANY INFECTIONS EXPECTED? Positive cases are expected to pop up, with the highly contagious omicron variant fuelling infections in many parts of the world.

So far, organisers say there have been 39 positive results out of the more than 2,500 tests at the airport among those who arrived since early January.

Within the bubble, there have been 33 positives out of 336,400 tests.

None of the positives involved athletes.

The average time spent in isolation for most has been around six days.

predicting the final medals table more challenging than usual for US-based Gracenote.

Nielsen-Gracenote, which has been predicting medal outcomes for the last several Olympics, supplies statistical analysis to sports leagues around the world.

Its Olympic numbers are based off computer models that analyse the most recent results in major competitions — and smaller ones — in the run-up to the Beijing Games. Beijing is the first city to hold both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

“Due to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, there is potential for the Beijing Winter Games to be more unpredictable than normal,” Gracenote said in offering its final forecast.

“There is a high probability that some competitors currently ranked in our top three, will not be

A PERFORMER runs across the stage during a rehearsal for the medal ceremonies ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics on Tuesday in Beijing.

(AP Photo/Jae C Hong) able to compete due to failing a COVID test.”

Norway is the pick again to top the medals table with 44 overall and 21 gold.

That would top the 39 medals that Norway won in at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Gracenote predicts that 28 of Norway’s medals will come in cross-country skiing or biathlon.

Germany and the Russians, known at this year’s Olympics as ROC, are each predicted to win 30 overall.

Germany is picked to take 11 gold and the ROC 10.

The ROC must compete without its national flag or anthem, fallout from a state-backed doping programme and resulting coverups dating from the

2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Many critics say the punishment is negligible since athletes still compete in their national colours.

The next seven teams in the top 10 are very tightly grouped.

The United States and Canada are expected to win 22 overall medals with a slight edge to the United States with seven gold and Canada with six.

After this it’s: Switzerland (6 gold, 21 overall), Netherlands (8-20), Sweden (7-19), France (4-19) and Japan (3-19).

The second 10 are: Austria (3-15), China (6-13), Italy (2-13), South Korea (2-7), Australia (3-4),

New Zealand (3-3), Britain (2-3), Finland (1-3), Slovakia (1-3) and Czech Republic (1-3).

Simon Gleave, the head of sports analysis for Gracenote, said the goal is to identify the top 10 countries, and preferably in the correct order.

The Beijing Olympics have been shrouded in controversy with the United States and several other countries declining to send any high-ranking political representatives to Beijing.

At the heart are allegations of crimes against humanity that target mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the northwestern regional area of Xinjiang.

VALENCIA AND RAYO ADVANCE TO COPA DEL REY QUARTERS

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Valencia reached its second Copa del Rey semifinal in four years by defeating Cádiz 2-1 yesterday, while Rayo Vallecano made the last four for the first time in four decades by beating Mallorca 1-0.

Hugo Duro scored the winner for Valencia in the 79th minute after setting up the opener by Gonçalo Guedes in the 24th to lead the hosts to the semifinals for the first time since it won the title in 2019.

Cádiz scored with a penalty kick converted by

Lucas Pérez in the 55th at Mestalla Stadium. It played the final minutes of the game with 10 men after Juan Cala was sent off with a second yellow for a hard sliding tackle.

Valencia’s only two victories in its last six matches had come in Copa games — against Cartagena in the round of 32 and Atlético Baleares in the round of 16. It sits 10th in the Spanish league.

Cádiz defeated Levante before the international break to end an eightgame winless streak in the league.

Valencia’s three new signings — Ilaix Moriba, Eray Comert and

Bryan Gil — made their debut for the club.

RAYO MOVES ON Rayo continued its good run at home by defeating Mallorca to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1982. Óscar Trejo converted a 44th-minute penalty to send the Madrid club, which had not even made the quarterfinals since 2002.

Rayo had been unbeaten in its first 10 home matches this season before losing to Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league before the international break.

Mallorca, the 2003 Copa champion, gave debuts to

its three new signings — Giovanni González, Vedat Muriqi and goalkeeper Sergio Rico. American striker Matthew Hoppe came on early in the second half.

Rayo was missing striker Radamel Falcao, who played for Colombia in World Cup qualifying during the international break.

Real Madrid, which visits Athletic Bilbao in another Copa quarterfinal today, will also have players missing because of international duty, as will Real Betis, which visits 2020 champion Real Sociedad on the same day.

GREEN JR HELPS NO. 1 AUBURN ROUT ALABAMA 100-81 AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Wendell Green Jr scored a season-high 23 points off the bench as No. 1 Auburn cruised past rival Alabama with a 100-81 home win Tuesday night.

Green led the Tigers in scoring while also recording eight rebounds and six assists with only one turnover. Jabari Smith added 17 points as Auburn (21-1, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 18.

“I had a rough past two games, and I knew this was a big one,” said Green, who scored a combined eight points in his last two outings.

“So, I just wanted to come out here for my teammates and show them I could do what I do. They kept telling me all weekend to just get back to myself.”

After foul trouble limited him to only 12 minutes in Auburn’s first meeting with Alabama last month, Walker Kessler made his presence felt in the rematch with 14 points, 12 rebounds, eight blocks and four steals.

“I wanted this one, because I felt like, last game, I didn’t get the opportunity I wanted to against Alabama,” Kessler said.

“I was pumped for this game. I was amped, and I was happy the refs let me play.”

Jaden Shackelford led Alabama (14-8, 4-5) with 26 points and shot 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Jahvon Quinerly added 20 points.

Auburn led by as many as 19 in the first half, but Alabama answered back with three straight 3-pointers to gain momentum heading into halftime.

The Crimson Tide then opened the second half with a 18-6 run to cut the Tigers’ lead to two.

The Tigers hit five of their next six shots to reestablish a double-digit lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

“Obviously, Shackelford and Quinerly are special players and extremely, extremely, extremely talented — a handful,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said.

“But I think it’s the sum of our parts once again.

Alabama made a nice run to start the second half.

Our bench came in and got several stops.”

BIG PICTURE Alabama has beaten three teams currently ranked in the top 10, but several lengthy cold spells on offense limited its chances at another big win.

The Crimson Tide now has a losing record in SEC play and will look to finish stronger in the second half of the league slate.

UP NEXT Alabama: Hosts No. 5 Kentucky on Saturday night.

Auburn: Visits Georgia on Saturday afternoon.

FIBA FROM PAGE 18 Nesbitt finished with eight points and seven rebounds in last night’s 71-68 win over Flamenco.

He began the weekend with a game high 16 points in an 86-66 win over UDC. Nesbitt is averaging 13.8 points per game in BCL play.

Boca Juniors are at 3-1 in Group D after losing to Flamengo and beating UdeC. In the Argentine league they are at 10-4.

Nesbitt made the move to Argentina after a four year tenure in Brazil’s Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB). He spent last season with Minas.

In 31 games, he averaged 10.4 points and 5.5 points per game en route to being named an NBB All-Star.

THE TRIBUNE

IN this February 7, 2018, file photo, Connecticut head coach talks with his players during the first half an NCAA college basketball game.

(AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

UCONN PAYS OLLIE $11.1M AWARDED BY ARBITRATOR

By PAT EATON-ROBB AP Sports Writer

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — The University of Connecticut said Tuesday it has complied with a recent arbitration ruling and has paid former men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie more than $11.1 million.

Arbitrator Mark Irvings ruled last month that Ollie had been fired improperly under the school’s agreement with the American Association of University Professors, of which Ollie was a member.

He noted the school had past NCAA violations in the men’s and women’s programs without going as far as firing the coaches.

The school was ordered to pay Ollie $11,157,032.95. The payment represents what Ollie would have been due under the remainder of his contract had the school not chosen to fire him in March 2018, citing numerous NCAA violations in his programme.

“The university has serious concerns about how this ruling impacts UConn’s proactive efforts to run a programme with integrity and in full NCAA compliance,” UConn said in a statement.

“This is precisely why all of our coaches have employment contracts detailing their compliance obligations. The arbitrator’s reliance on the collective bargaining agreement in this case, rather than the contract, undercuts that effort.”

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 21

GO CRUSHERS, GO RAYS: COLINA SPONSORS TWO TEAMS IN JR BASEBALL LEAGUE OF NASSAU COLINA Insurance Limited (Colina) is a corporate sponsor of the Junior Baseball League of Nassau’s (JBLN) 20212022 season, with two teams – Colina Rays in the Coach-Pitch (ages 7-8) division and the Colina Crushers in the Girls’ Softball (under-21) division.

“Team sports is an important component of health, wellness and overall youth development,” said Maxine V Seymour, director of corporate communications at Colina. “We are happy to partner with JBLN to provide a means by which young boys and girls can stay active by joining one of the two Colina teams or any of the other teams participating in the upcoming season.”

“Kudos to JBLN for its unwavering commitment to advancing the games of baseball and softball and providing access and training to young people in

FLORES FROM PAGE 18

In its statement, the NFL said it will defend “against these claims, which are without merit.”

Flores, 40, was fired last month by Miami after leading the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over three years. They went 9-8 in their second straight winning season, but failed to make the playoffs during his tenure.

According to the lawsuit, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told Flores he would pay him $100,000 for every loss during the coach’s first season because he wanted the club to “tank” so it could get the draft’s top pick.

The lawsuit alleged that Ross then pressured Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of the league’s tampering rules. When Flores refused, he was cast as the “angry Black man” who is difficult to work with and was derided until he was fired, the suit said.

Flores said he had conversations with general manager Chris Grier that

SHOWN, from left to right, Maxine V Seymour, director of corporate communications, Colina Insurance Limited, Leotha Nixon, manager, human resources, Colina Insurance Limited, present payment to Jodell Roberts, JBLN board member. these disciplines,” said Seymour. “We wish them a fun and safe year and hope that the Colina Crushers and Colina Rays advance to the championship in their respective divisions.”

The league has experienced several delays in

Ross was upset that Miami was compromising its draft position by winning too many games. Flores said he also talked repeatedly with Ross, who said the team didn’t need to win right then and the coach was under contract.

“That’s not something you make up,” Flores said of those conversations.

What drove Flores to file the lawsuit was a string of text messages with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick three days before his scheduled Giants interview, leading Flores to believe Brian Daboll already had been chosen as the new coach.

“It was humiliating to be quite honest,” Flores said. “There was disbelief, there was anger, there was a wave of emotion for a lot of reasons. I think this is why we filed the lawsuit.”

Since the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003 to boost hiring of minority coaches, 27 of 127 head coaching jobs have gone to minorities. This year, white men have filled the first four of nine head coaching jobs.

The rule requires teams to interview at least two

starting its 2022 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The coronavirus pandemic has unfortunately impacted our organisation and our baseball and softball families financially, socially and emotionally,”

said Jodell Roberts, board member, JBLN. “We deeply understand these challenges and are strategically making strides to bring our programme back to the heart of our community, with the planned opening of our 2021-2022 baseball/softball season.”

THEN Miami Dolphins’ head coach Brian Flores talks to Dolphins owner Stephen M Ross during practice before an NFL football game against the New York Jets on November 3, 2019, in Miami Gardens, Florida.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) external minority candidates for general manager/ executive of football operations positions, head coach and all coordinator roles. At least one of those interviews must be held in-person for any head coach or general manager opening.

Tony Dungy, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who was head coach of Tampa Bay and Indianapolis, told The Associated Press last month Rooney’s goal with the rule was to slow the hiring process down and investigate different

candidates instead of simply interviewing a minority candidate before announcing a hire.

“He wanted to create a process to search for candidates, not an interviewing quota,” Dungy said. “My hope would be for owners to spell out very specifically what they’re looking for and then have them really research a variety of people before making a decision.”

Teryl Austin, a senior assistant defensive coach with Pittsburgh with the NFL’s lone Black head coach in Mike Tomlin, has

Garoppolo to 49ers fans: ‘It’s been a hell of a ride’

By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Before Jimmy Garoppolo finished his 17-minute seasonending news conference, he wanted to deliver a message to the San Francisco 49ers fans who supported him the past five seasons.

“It’s been crazy, man. Just all the comebacks at Levi’s, comebacks on the road, ups and downs. It’s been a hell of a ride guys,” he said. “I love you guys.”

While Garoppolo’s tenure as quarterback for the 49ers isn’t officially over as he has one year remaining on his contract and coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch said no final decision has been made, all signs point to a trade being made in the coming months and San Francisco turning the team over to Trey Lance.

Lynch and Shanahan talked to Garoppolo on Monday after the Niners began their offseason following the 20-17 loss to the Rams in the NFC title game and promised to keep an open line of communication.

“When you have a quarterback who played like Jimmy did last year, we have a young guy waiting to eventually get an opportunity,” Shanahan said.

“There’s a lot of good options there and that’s why all cards are

on the table. It’s cool the Shanahan-Lynch that we’re in a place regime.

Garoppolo where all cards can be provided a late-season on the table, because spark with five wins usually they’re not in and signed a five-year, that situation.” $137.5 million conWhile the Niners tract that offseason. aren’t ruling out the He dealt with injupossibility of Garopries in 2018 and 2020 polo returning, a trade but helped San Franremains the most logicisco reach the Super cal scenario.

Bowl in 2019 where San Francisco gave they lost to the Chiefs. up three first-round Garoppolo’s limipicks to draft Lance GAROPPOLO (AP) tations and injuries third overall last led to the decision to spring and anointed him the trade up for Lance but Garopquarterback of the future. polo did almost everything the The Niners kept Garoppolo Niners could have hoped for this for the 2021 season because season as he helped them reach they felt Lance needed time to the NFC title game. develop after starting only 17 He said the trade for Lance games in college at FCS-level was difficult at times but also North Dakota State. allowed him to focus on enjoying Garoppolo said he appreci- the season with his teammates. ates Lynch’s honesty with him Garoppolo threw for 3,810 through the process and hopes yards and 20 TDs during the to be able to go to a contender. regular season and led a game“John’s been very clear with winning drive in the divisional it,” he said. “I think they’re round against Green Bay. trying to do the best for me. I’m But he struggled overall in the trying to do the best for them playoffs while dealing with injuand we’re working together in ries to his thumb and shoulder, that, really haven’t made too showing why the Niners looked much progress on it, but I think for his replacement last offseathings will start happening here son and now he heads toward an pretty quickly.” uncertain future.

The Niners acquired Garop“I knew this would happen polo from New England for a eventually, but you can never second-round pick in 2017 after be totally prepared for moments losing the first eight games of like these,” he said. “It’s just

weird. You put yourself through all these things, you put yourself out there as a player, you make all these great relationships and then you know, things come to a halt. But that’s just life. You’ve got to keep moving on, keep things rolling and enjoy the moment.”

The Niners also addressed several other topics: — Lynch said it would be a priority to lock up edge rusher Nick Bosa and receiver Deebo Samuel with long-term contracts this offseason. The team’s top two picks from 2019 are eligible for extensions for the first time.

“We fully understand these guys are pillars of what we’re trying to do here,” Lynch said.

— Shanahan said defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans sent him a text on the team bus after the game to let him know he was pulling out of the head coaching search in Minnesota and would return for a second season as coordinator.

“DeMeco is a stud,” Shanahan said. “DeMeco is going to be a head coach. He’s too good not to be, whether it’s this year, whether it’s next year, whether it’s anytime, but DeMeco’s going to be a head coach.”

— Shanahan said offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel will interview for the head coaching job for the Miami Dolphins today.

Following implementation of strict health and safety protocols, JBLN began practice on Monday, January 31, 2022 and plans to officially open the season on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at the Field of Dreams Complex in Nassau East.

been interviewed for 11 head coaching jobs without being hired. He talked to the AP in October about the NFL’s hiring pipeline and said the interviews are “invaluable experiences” and that the rule gets Black candidates in front of owners.

Flores’ lawsuit mentions Austin as someone who was “Never Given a Chance” among the coaches who have interviewed for head coaching jobs unsuccessfully.

Yes, Austin could tell when an interview was real or merely scratching the Rooney Rule box.

“I could tell when I was really in it,” Austin said.

“And so to me, that’s kind of worth it.”

Flores said he understands this lawsuit may keep him from ever coaching again. He’s being called the NFL’s Rosa Parks in taking on the league’s hiring practices, and Flores called that a humbling comparison.

“That gives me more confidence that we made the right decision here and that we need to continue to fight for that change,” Flores said.

NFL AWARDS $1M FOR 2 STUDIES ON CANNABINOIDS EFFECTS

By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer THE NFL is awarding $1 million in research funding to two teams of medical researchers to study the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players.

Medical teams from the University of California San Diego and University of Regina in Canada were selected from 106 proposals initiated by the NFL and the NFL Players Association’s Joint Pain Management Committee in June 2021.

“We’re always interested in trying to improve our approach and our treatment for acute and chronic pain in NFL players, and we always want to make sure that our players are receiving the most up-to-date medical consensus around any of these treatments,” NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills told The Associated Press.

“So, our burden of proof is really high for NFL players. Anytime we want to introduce a new therapy, we have to understand how that decision might impact their well-being and their performance. We know there’s been a lot of interest in this area, but we did not feel like there was a lot of great solid research on the benefits of marijuana, CBD and treating acute and chronic pain. So, that’s why we wanted to try to contribute to the body of science in this area.”

PAGE 22, Thursday, February 3, 2022

GILES STEPS DOWN FROM ENGLAND ROLE AFTER ASHES SERIES LONDON (AP) — One of the leaders of English cricket has stepped down following the humiliating Ashes series in Australia.

Ashley Giles, managing director of the England men’s team, is leaving after three years in the role. Former test captain Andrew Strauss will take over on an interim basis.

England lost 4-0 in the Ashes series.

“Off the back of a disappointing men’s Ashes this winter, we must ensure we put in place the conditions across our game to enable our test team to succeed,” said Tom Harrison, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive.

Under Giles, England won the 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time but has had a turbulent time in the test format, with the ECB’s focus seemingly having been on white-ball cricket.

“The past couple of years have been incredibly challenging and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to deliver in the toughest of circumstances,” said Giles, a former England test spinner. “This has undoubtedly protected the future of the game in England and Wales.”

Giles said he was “looking forward to spending some time with my family before looking at the next challenge.”

PHOENIX Suns centre Deandre Ayton (22) in action against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half of an NBA basketball game on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

The Suns defeated the Nets 121-111.

(AP Photo/Matt York)

THE TRIBUNE

‘JJ’ cans season high 28pts

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net JONQUEL Jones celebrated Tuesday’s new contract announcement with the Connecticut Sun with her most dominant performance on the FIBA EuroLeague Women’s circuit.

Jones finished with a season high 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead UMMC Ekaterinburg to a 93-67 road win over Perfumerias Avenida in the penultimate game of the EuroLeague regular season in Salamanca, Spain.

Ekaterinburg (13-0) looks to complete the regular season undefeated when they host MBA Moscow on February 23 at MC Sport Place in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

In 10 games, Jones averaged 16.4 points and nine rebounds per game while shooting 61 percent from the field and 48 percent from three-point range.

The Sun recently announced that the reigning WNBA MVP signed a multi-year contract to return to the Sun. “I am so happy to be back in Connecticut,” said Jones.

“This organisation has believed in me since day one and I definitely feel like we have unfinished business. The fans want it, the front office wants it and the players want it. So now we just have to go out and get it done and bring a championship back to Mohegan Sun.” Jones is one of five former MVPs in this year’s free agent class and seven of the 10 players from last season’s All-WNBA teams. The 2022 free agent class is also highlighted by Breanna Stewart (Seattle Storm), A’Ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces), Liz Cambage (Las Vegas Aces), Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota Lynx), Kahleah Copper (Chicago Sky), Jewell Lloyd (Seattle Storm) and Courtney Vandersloot (Chicago Sky).

JONQUEL JONES Sun captain Jasmine Thomas said: “Jonquel is the best player in the world, so of course I’m happy she’s back with the Sun. She’s the core of our organisation, and she’s an incredible teammate and person. JJ’s passion is contagious, along with her competitiveness and work ethic. I have no doubt she will lead us to a championship.”

In her fifth WNBA season, Jones received 48 of 49 first-place votes and 487 total points from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to win the league’s MVP.

AYTON

FROM PAGE 18 he’s doing something totally different from me and JaVale.

Obviously I can guard one through five. Biz puts it on you where he wants to strip the ball from you, he wants to guard you and harass you, hawking the ball. It breaks teams plays when centres are holding the ball all that time from all that pressure.”

Suns head coach Monty Williams applauded Ayton’s effort and productivity in his first game back while also noting his development as a playmaker.

“He’s been out for a minute, it takes you a while, he hasn’t had any 5-on-5 work so I tried to play him in shorter bursts tonight but I think he’ll get better as he gets more reps,” said Williams.

“We’re just at a point in the season where we can’t play 5-on-5 so you can get some real reps and lay that foundation for the game.”

She was unanimously selected to the 2021 AllWNBA First Team. It was the first time Jones received First Team honours. She was previously named to the Second Team twice. She averaged 19.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.26 blocked shots, and 1.26 steals in 31.7 minutes in 27 games.

The 6’6” forward led the WNBA in rebounding and defensive rebounding (8.7 per game) and ranked fourth in scoring and 10th in blocks.

“We are ecstatic about JJ’s decision to return and continue her career in Connecticut,” said Miller.

“She is one of the most versatile and talented players in the world. She has a burning desire to improve, and we look forward to building upon the momentum of her MVP season.

“JJ is an unselfish superstar and is driven to help bring a championship to Connecticut. This is a great day for the Sun.”

Injuries and illnesses have kept Ayton in and out of the lineup for 21 games this season and the Suns have gone 18-3 in those games.

Ayton has missed six games in the NBA’s health and safety protocols for COVID-19, he also missed three games with a non-COVID related illness and five games with a right leg contusion.

Ayton is averaging 16.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game on 63 percent shooting from the field. He has 16 double doubles in 29 games this season.

He finished 10th among frontcourt players in the Western Conference with 472,402 votes when the league announced the final fan returns of NBA All-Star Voting, He finished fourth among centres behind reigning MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets (4,132,522), Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves (1,195,004), and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz (583,976).

NCAA EARNS $1.15B IN 2021 AS REVENUE RETURNS TO NORMAL INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA generated more than $1.15 billion in revenue in 2021, returning to normal after the cancellation of the men’s basketball tournament because of the pandemic in 2020 cost the association and its member schools $800 million.

The NCAA released its financial records yesterday. Most NCAA revenue comes from its contract with CBS and Turner for the rights to televise the men’s Division I basketball tournament. That contract paid the NCAA $850 million in 2021 and is scheduled to pay $870 million in 2022.

NCAA revenues were $1.12 billion in 2019.

The majority of the revenue is distributed back to its more than 1,200 member schools.

The 350 Division I schools that can participate in the basketball tournament earn the bulk of it, mostly through shared payouts to conferences.

The NCAA distributed $613 million to its members in 2021 after that figure dropped to $246 million during 2020.

An insurance payout of $270 million in 2020 helped cover some of lost revenue from the cancelled tournament.

The NCAA received another $81 million in insurance to help make up for lost ticket revenue and expenses related to COVID-19 precautions for last season’s tournament, which was played entirely in and around Indianapolis.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 3, 2022, PAGE 23

BLTA ‘PLAY TENNIS BAHAMAS’ SPRING SATURDAY THE Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association ‘Play Tennis Bahamas” Spring Session is set to begin 9am Saturday, February 5 at The National Tennis Centre.

The programme is geared to introducing children ages 5-16 years old to the sport of tennis, teaching them the basics in a safe and funfilled atmosphere.

This programme is essentially free and all sporting equipment is provided by the BLTA - registration can be done via email.

Children from various communities have converged at the NTC to participate in this wonderful

programme, powered by volunteers who have given of their time and talent to reach and teach the next generation of tennis players.

President Perry Newton has coordinated the programme over the last four years. And he has noted an increasing interest in the sport as tennis is transforming many children’s lives and the programme has been very impactful.

Last year, the programme introduced about 200 children to the sport.

In addition, it has produced players transitioning to other developmental programmes.

Play Tennis provides a new crop of potential tennis athletes. The goal is to continue to widen the base and add to the pool of players by sparking the initial interest and being a springboard for development and growth.

This would not be possible without the Level 1 and PTC certified coaches and players who feed into the programme, which has also provided an avenue for tennis juniors to participate and thereby give back to the sport.

If you’re interested in volunteering your time at any of the sessions, confirm via email: pr@blta.net