03082023 NEWS AND SPORT

‘WAR’ IN FNM IF MINNIS SILENCED

Ex-PM addresses event amid claims leadership of party tried to stop him

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

MEMBERS of the Free National Movement said “it will be war” if party officials continue to try to block former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis from speaking at constituency association meetings.

Last night, Dr Minnis addressed a crowd of FNM supporters at a Garden Hills Constituency Association meeting despite reported attempts by the

FNM’s leadership to thwart him from doing so. FNM leader Michael Pintard addressed another crowd of party supporters at a Centreville Constituency Association Meeting last night — both meetings were held at the same time. When he spoke, Mr Pintard said even if he one day no longer enjoys the support of the party as leader, he would never behave in a way that would “damage” the organisation, adding “it’s bigger than any one

ABACO MP: GOV FINALISING PLANS TO DEAL WITH DUMP

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE government is “finalising plans” to address recent burning of debris at dump sites in Abaco, said North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish.

Mr Cornish expressed concern about the ongoing issues posed by the burning of debris at the Spring City Debris Management Dump Site and the Great Abaco Sanitary Landfill.

“The government is finalising plans to address all the debris sites on Abaco, as announced in Parliament’s last sitting. We look forward to correcting these vexing and regrettable conditions,” Mr Cornish said. “As an MP and Abaconian, I am very concerned about the effects the burning at the Spring City dump site is having on Spring City residents and the environment,” he said.

By JADE RUSSELL Tribune Staff Reporter jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE grieving mother of 32-year-old Patrickedo Rose, who was shot and killed on Monday, said despite her son’s criminal past she believes he was a “good person” in the end.

A distraught Wendy Knowles told The Tribune yesterday that her son had spent time in prison before, but eventually started making an honest living

BAY ST STORE RULED TO BE A ‘FRONTING OPERATION’

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE CHIEF Justice has ruled that “illegality was a major part” of a Bay Street retail ‘fronting’ deal involving one of Nassau’s most prominent Greek-Bahamian families.

Sir Ian Winder, in a March 3, 2023, verdict, found that ZRK Ltd, owned and controlled by the Skandaliaris family, had signed an agreement with two US investors that was designed to “circumvent” the National Investment Policy’s stipulation that retail businesses are reserved for Bahamian ownership only.

RCL’S $110M DEAL FOR PI PROJECT APPROVED

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE GOVERNMENt last night said it has approved Royal Caribbean’s $110m Paradise Island beach club project after negotiating greater Bahamian ownership and entrepreneurial participation in the development. Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister who also has responsibility for tourism, investments and aviation, said in a statement that the Davis administration believes it has resolved all “previous objections” to the cruise giant’s plans by ensuring more Bahamian involvement “at all phases” of its construction and operation.

for himself when he was released.

According to police, Mr Rose was one of two

men who were shot dead Monday night at Fox Hill Park. Mr Rose had been in and out of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and, according to authorities, was out on bail for several murders.

Officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigation

Department Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson said the man on bail was being monitored at the time, but the other victim

Flagraising ceremony held to mark start of Local Government Month

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A FLAGRAISING ceremony was held at the National Insurance Building Complex on Monday as part of activities to celebrate Local Government Month.

Administrator Kenwood Cartwright said that March has been proclaimed Local Government Month by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis.

During the ceremony, respects were paid to former local government officials, the late April Crowther-Gow, a former deputy chief councillor, and the late Roosevelt Curry, of Grand Cay. Councillors throughout the island attended a church service on Sunday.

Mr Cartwright encouraged local government councillors to continue to serve the people.

“They were elected by the people and are part of the people,” he said. “They are here to serve the people and they are the government that is closest to the people.

“I want to thank councilors, and also the general staff of the Administrator’s Office, and to let them know there is an ‘open door’ policy, and anyone who needs to see the administrator can do so.”

The administrator said local government has progressed over the years,

however, there are challenges with financing.

“The problem these days is finances and making the best use of finances. But whatever we have we try to make the best of it. It is up to us to see what the needs are and to decide what is priority and work towards those priorities. Today all

33 districts around The Bahamas are celebrating with similar events in the country,” he said.

Frazette Gibson, chief councilor for the City of Freeport District Council, said the flag is a national symbol of the country’s nationhood.

said it has flown in front of parliament, the courthouse, airport, schools, sporting arenas, police stations, hospitals, and at various buildings in the public and private sectors, since 1973.

“Today, this ceremony seeks to put reverence for our flag in its proper place in the hearts and in the daily lives of our people and to validate our

commitment to public service,” she said.

“More importantly, the flag beckons us to live a life of service to our community and to each other as seen for example in the work of the local government, the city of Freeport Council and even in our personal lives.”

Some of the activities planned for the month of March are as follows: East Grand Bahama Church Service on Sunday, March 12, at 11am at the Church of God in High Rock; City of Freeport Council hosts ‘The Great Debate’ for high school students on Monday, March 13, at 3pm, at Pelican Bay Hotel; Disaster Preparedness Training Session on Saturday, March 18, at 10am free of charge to the public; West Grand Bahama Clean-up Campaign & Staff Appreciation Day dates and times to be announced; East Grand Bahama Town Meeting on Thursday, March 23, at 6.30pm at St Nicholas Anglican Church, High Rock; Social & Grill Out on Saturday, March 25, at noon at East Grand Bahama Entrance (Gold Rock Creek).

SCENES from Monday’s flagraising ceremony in Grand Bahama.

Photos: Vandyke Hepburn

‘War’ in FNM if Minnis silenced

man, bigger than any one woman”.

Last night, Dr Minnis insisted “Mr Pintard is the leader and I respect leadership” on the sidelines of the Garden Hills event, but said he does not discuss party business when questioned if he ws blocked at other meetings

Asked about how he felt about speaking at the meeting, Dr Minnis said: “I speak in front of Garden Hills representatives and many others you know but if I’m invited to speak - I speak.”

During his remarks, Dr Minnis mainly took aim at the Progressive Liberal Party and their governance. Mr Pintard did the same as well, but also took time to speak about loyalty.

“We are asking you to value the opinion of each other. Everybody has something to contribute. We believe that we should use all the competent qualified people we can get. Competence is important. But what is also important is loyalty. We have to be more loyal to the brand and to the team than to our own personal ambitions,” Mr Pintard said.

He recalled how he previously had “two tough” runs in previous elections, once as the unsuccessful candidate for Centreville. He said he never doubted the value of the party’s then leader at that time.

“I never confused my personal situation with what is good for you, for us, for the brand. There are going to be some times when things don’t work out well for us individually and some days we got to suck it up because there are some crisis bigger than our personal situations,” Mr Pintard said.

Mr Pintard added: “Loyalty is important. I love this country, I love the Free National Movement and

the reality is the day you decide that our love affair is over, I’ll keep loving you even if it...(is) from a further distance. But I will never leave the organisation you and I have helped to build, not only will I not leave it, I will seek not to behave in a manner that I damage the organisation that we built.

“It’s bigger than any one man, bigger than any one woman,” Mr Pintard said.

Last night, former Fort Charlotte MP Mark Humes, former Minister of Health Renward Wells, and former Minister of Works Desmond Bannister were in attendance at the Garden Hills meeting. Long Island MP Adrian Gibson also showed up.

Mr Bannister told reporters voices need to be heard, Dr Minnis’ in particular.

“I grew up in a time when the airwaves were not free and you all (may) not appreciate it because you all are a lot younger,” Mr Bannister said. “The FNM opened that up so that we could have all these stations that we have so that all of you, young people, brilliant young Bahamian people can have the opportunities you have. So I can’t be part of something which tries to stifle any Bahamian.

“It’s important for voices in the FNM to be heard. Dr Minnis is a former prime minister of this country. He has made immeasurable contributions to our country and his voice should be heard. As a member of Parliament … every time he goes in Parliament... he makes contributions that the country needs to hear and what he spoke about tonight, he spoke about a number of issues that impact all of us. So it’s important for him to be heard.

“I think you’ll see Mount Moriah has invited him to the next meeting. I

think you’re gonna see a flood of those invitations. I know that Carmichael invited (him) next month, and you’re gonna continue to see the FNM being the FNM. When I spoke at Carmichael just a few weeks ago, I made a comment at the end of my speech. It’s very important that everybody appreciates that. You have to grow on the shoulders of the giants who came before you and if you don’t grow on the shoulders of those giants, instead of being a political party, you become a cult,” Mr Bannister said.

The party is already facing the perception of being fractured internally and suffering from infighting. Still, Mr Bannister said. the FNM is going to pull together.

“The FNM is going to pull together because we are the only solution for the Bahamian people. So you’re going to see the organisation pull together under the leadership that the FNM members support and the Bahamian people want to see,” he said.

He also said the FNM must not stifle free speech.

“First of all, the comments that I made were repeated in other forums. It gives an indication that there’s a concern about freedom of speech. We have to be able to have that in our country. We can’t stifle speech - that’s important. All of us want to hear what Dr Minnis had to say. We’re all here in support of him to hear what he had to say because of the contributions he’s made. If you’ve come in Carmichael Iram Lewis was, the deputy leader was there. Everybody wants to hear what the issues are and how the potential leaders of the country are going to deal with them.”

Zendal Morley, the chairman of the Garden Hills Constituency Association, also pointed to Dr

Minnis’ position and work to justify him speaking.

“Because he is a sitting MP of The Bahamas for Killarney. He’s a Bahamian and he’s FNM. So he has the right to speak to any meeting, any FNM meeting that anybody is invited to,” Mr Morely said. He claimed there were many attempts to stop Dr Minnis from being able to speak, adding some up to yesterday.

Peter Outten, chairman for the Carmichael Constituency Association, also made similar accusations.

“Dr Minnis will speak in Carmichael. Duane Sands cannot stop that, will not stop that or it will be war,” he said.

“Tell Duane SandsCarmichael, Garden Hills, Mount Moriah, Bamboo Town - we stand with the chairman of Garden Hills and the nonsense they coming on with, they think they can destroy the FNMit’s war.”

Probed about attempts to stop the former prime minister, Mr Outten admitted: “I got a phone call last night from one of the assistant chairman telling me if I bring Dr Minnis to Carmichael to speak I would suffer the same fate as the chairman for Garden Hills.

I said bring it on.”

Asked what was the “fate”, he replied: “They sent this good chairman a nasty letter trying expel him from the party. You’re gonna try expel me from the party, I’ll get the bell.”

FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands and deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright were present at the Centreville meeting.

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard accused the Davis administration of doing “everything to ensure” that its supporters who are accused of crimes “never come to court again” while alleging the government is targeting the opposition.

“They are investigating every single thing except themselves and even where they have some of their own folks already charged, in my view, they are doing everything to ensure those folks never ever come to court again,” the Marco City MP claimed. “Meanwhile they are searching in every nook and cranny to find some FNMs, the more influential, you are a target.”

He said he does not have a problem with investigations into alleged wrongdoing but added “we have a problem with you cherry picking who lives or dies”.

He also said the Progressive Liberal Party has one rule for itself and another for everyone else, claiming that the Davis administration has illegally withheld information about public spending.

His comments came as he spoke to FNM supporters at a Centreville constituency meeting last night.

“They go to Central Bank, they borrow from the reserves of Central Bank claiming it’s not really the Central Bank’s asset even though it is a part of the Central Bank’s assets,” Mr Pintard said, outlining one of several instances he said

the government was not being forthright. “Only when they are discovered, they decide to say... we’re going to amend the law to say we are going to borrow this money which they have already borrowed and start to spend. Meanwhile, you have some relatives who are locked down in Fox Hill for similar action.”

Mr Pintard has previously said the government’s “breach of law” in borrowing $233m worth of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) from the Central Bank sends “a bad signal” to the international financial markets.

Last night, Mr Pintard also took aim at Housing and Transport Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis, who he referred to as “Lil Kim’s first cousin”, presumably referring to the American rapper.

“The Minister of Housing borrowed $20m, according to press reports. And we checked the law, we could not find in the Housing Act where she was empowered by law... to borrow this money,” he said.

The FNM has previously accused the government of carrying out a secret deal in relation to the borrowing for its flagship housing scheme.

Yesterday, Mr Pintard said the FNM believes the government acted illegally in this instance, adding there should be consequences. He also referred to the controversy surrounding Mrs Coleby-Davis’ refusal to state how many taxi plates have been issued by her ministry since she assumed office.

MUNROE: ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ SOMEONE ON SIX MURDER CHARGES TO BE OUT ON BAIL

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

AFTER a man, who was out on bail for six murders, was killed in a double homicide Monday, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said it’s unacceptable that someone accused of multiple murders can be released on bail and added that his ministry intends to push the courts to keep suspected killers on remand.

Mr Munroe said keeping alleged offenders on remand was best for the safety of all because he explained that there have been too many incidents where innocent people have become victims of gun violence due to their association with the intended target.

Mr Munroe was also clear that keeping them behind

bars does not mean the courts would be removing their presumption of innocence, adding “what we’re saying is you may well be innocent, but our history is showing that people are coming to kill you”.

“We are finding in this country that when you are charged, people come for you,” added Mr Munroe.

“When they come for you, they affect innocent bystanders so we are going to be urging the court that there should be (on) remand not only for the person’s safety, but the public’s safety.

“Because we’ve seen many incidents so far where other persons have been caught up.”

Mr Munroe said a prime example of this was seen just Monday night when two men involved in a conversation in Fox Hill Park were approached by armed

men who fatally shot them. One of those men was out on bail for six murders, while the other was not known to police.

“It is unacceptable that somebody could be on bail for six murders,” Mr Munroe continued. “Again, the second person who was killed, I have no adverse information about him in the quick briefing that they sent me, but that continues to highlight that your association could put you in harm’s way.

“There’s an old story in the royal readers about the parrot who goes out and hangs with the crows and is killed and the parents always tell you that if you were not with the crows found, you’d be home safe and sound. So, we need to start to harken (back) to the old messages.”

The killing of yet another man on bail has highlighted

the need for criminal trials to be held faster.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe conceded that officials are making headway to address the “vexing problem of moving trials forward”. One such way to help achieve this, he added, is finding lawyers to temporarily sit in for judges who are out on vacation.

“I noticed that the Supreme Court is asking to identify persons who may wish to serve in temporary services as judges,” he said. “This goes back to a point and the chief justice is clearly responsive to itthat if we have ten judges hearing criminal matters who have five weeks’ vacation in a year. That’s 50 weeks you lose.

“So, if we find lawyers to sit in those courts for those 50 weeks, then you get one year of trial time automatically. It’s like you get an

extra judge without actually having to appoint and find a new courtroom and so I’m happy to see that announcement and I’m happy to see that the chief justice is seeking to take steps to address this vexing problem of moving trials forward.”

Mr Munroe acknowledged that a lot of time was lost during the pandemic, but stressed: “We now have to make up time.”

Yesterday, the minister also gave an update on meetings held with the director of public prosecutions (DPP), saying issues discussed were related to the fast tracking of firearm matters among other things.

“I’m hopeful that we will get an assignment of magistrates to accomplish a turnaround time that we would wish to see, a disposition time of four to five weeks from arraignment

for simple matters,” he also said. “The other matter of highlighting for want of a better word, ‘slam dunk cases’, to move those through the system quickly. The police have in fact created a listing of those. “I would need to be briefed on how they’re progressing through the system because they would meet a docket that the judge already had, and they will be working through so how we come up with a system to try this list of cases that we can get through quickly because you have electronic monitoring evidence of where the person was committing the offence, CCTV footage, other forensic evidence is what we are seeking to do because those matters you should be able to move quickly.”

FNM Leader Michael Pintard struck out at the Davis administration for cherry picking who is accused of crimes.

Photo: FNM

PERSONS ON FOOD ASSISTANCE ROSE BY 3,000 SINCE FEBRUARY

By LETRE SWEETING Tribune Staff Reporter lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THOUSANDS of Bahamians continue to receive assistance from the Ministry of Social Services’ food programme, with the number having climbed by some 3,000 since February, said Minister Obie Wilchcombe.

His comments were made during his contribution to Parliament during the mid-year budget debate Monday night.

Last month, Mr Wilchcombe said the number of people receiving food assistance had grown by 1,000 since October, climbing to roughly 12,000 monthly.

In November, Mr Wilchcombe announced that more than 11,000 Bahamians had received food assistance, while also predicting that there will be more in need in the future due to inflation and other financial burdens faced in The Bahamas and worldwide.

On Monday, Mr Wilchcombe said: “I’m proud and I want to thank the minister responsible for finance (Prime Minister Philip Davis), because we came and we said listen, we have not increased the provisions we provide for those who are hurting since 2005. We did not assist as we should.

“I’m very pleased that as of last week, 15,008 Bahamians received assistance from the government and the assistance moved up by 10 percent across the board,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

“Because these are truly hurting people, we must reach out and cause for more to happen for them. That’s what I see, each time I am dealing with these individuals,” he said.

“The truth is we never have enough and we need more and more and more as long as we have the problems. We must find ways to help,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

Mr Wilchcombe also responded to comments made in Parliament last week by St Anne’s MP Adrian White, who mentioned the difficulties those disabled persons who aged out of certain homes were facing. Mr White said that Social Services was not ensuring that it was presenting a facility for these persons.

Mr Wilchcombe responded Monday: “What he did not know is that in 2016 a multi-purpose facility was to have been built. The land was left for it to be built and it was never built. I checked on the land since (being re-elected); I’m told that the land was subsequently given away.

“But he has a point and I’m with him. But the truth is St Anne’s, it was put in place, but something happened with the last administration,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

“I’m suggesting that

MUNROE WORKING ON LEGISLATION TO CREATE FORCE INSPECTORATE

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said government is presently working on legislation to allow for a force inspectorate for all security forces in The Bahamas, saying its job will be to do audit checks of the organisations, among other things.

“Currently, we’re working on legislation for a force inspectorate for all of the security forces,” the minister told reporters before heading to a Cabinet meeting yesterday.

it could have been relocated. I don’t know what happened to it. I don’t know. I have no idea. I’ve asked for a report, because I know full well that the land was given for a multi-purpose facility. But what’s happened to it? I’m trying to find out. Once I do, I will let you know,” he said.

“The truth is we are now seeking new land and we’re seeking to help those who you referred (to),” Mr Wilchcombe said.

Mr Wilchcombe added:

“When I went to the annual Christmas event sponsored by Rotary (Club of Nassau) what I found incredibly amazing was the children who were having such a great time. They had a performance of Junkanoo and they asked for additional land.

Mr Wilchcombe continued: “I had spoken with the honourable prime minister about providing additional land for their expansion and we will certainly be doing so. We’re going to help those people the same way.”

“The force inspectorate would be somebody who would do audit checks of organisations to seek to help the head of the organisation understand what structural weaknesses may be.

“When you get to be commissioner, commodore, commissioner of corrections, director of immigration, it is often useful to have an independent person come and have a look. We are now considering that body to potentially be like in Jamaica, that can investigate also fully the matters of serious complaints.”

His comments came amid continued public outcry over alleged police brutality in the country.

Several videos have circulated online in recent months, showing purported law enforcement officers hitting civilians.

Yesterday, Mr Munroe

said there are bad apples in every agency and stressed that this is why it’s so important for the public to file complaints on incidents of concern involving the police.

He was also clear that being a police officer will not stop a person from being prosecuted if they break the law.

“You have the Complaints and Corruption

Branch, and they have a cohort of inquiry for subordinate officers, contracted officers and if you don’t get satisfaction there, there’s a Police Complaints Inspectorate based in the Ministry of National Security which is civilian to whom you may complain if you say the system is not working properly,” he also said.

ABACO MP: GOV FINALISING PLANS TO DEAL WITH DUMP

from page one

was not known to police.

Chief Supt Johnson told reporters at the scene that sometime around 8.45pm police received information of gunshots being discharged in the area of the Fox Hill park. Ms Knowles was emotional as she remembered a gentler side of her son compared to others who knew him from his past.

“He was a good person,” she told The Tribune. “He had his ways and I had my ways too. But if you got to know him, he was really a good person.”

Asked how she was notified that her son was killed, Ms Knowles said she received a dreadful phone call that he had been shot, but was still alive.

“When I got the news, they didn’t say he was dead, they said he had been shot,” she recalled.

“I said okay I’m coming (to the scene) and then someone else called and he said he was dead.”

During the interview, the victim’s mother said she

doesn’t know what happened on the night of her son’s death. She and her son did not live in the same house.

Just recently, she said, she had taken Mr Rose to his job, as she said he was working tirelessly to make a stable income.

The victim left behind a son.

The double killing marked the 16th and 17th murders of the year, according to this newspaper’s records.

Last week, with repeated pledges to take policing to “another level,” Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said he intends to reduce the country’s murder count below 100.

Commissioner Fernander

revealed his 2023 policing plan at a press conference where he outlined six key priorities to impact crime trends.

He reiterated that police are focused on maintaining law and order, preserving the peace, preventing and detecting crime, apprehending offenders, and enforcing the law. The commissioner noted that this year, and specifically the month of March, police will “flood the streets” in an effort to upset crime trends and tackle gun violence in the country. Police said they are following significant leads into the Fox Hill murders. Four men who are regarded as “persons of interest” in the investigation were arrested yesterday.

Officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department are questioning the suspects who range between the ages of 18 to 25, police said.

Police added that they are conducting active enquiries into this incident and will provide further updates as they become available.

MINISTER of Parliament for North Abaco Kirk Cornish

MINISTER of Social Services and Urban Development Obie Wilchcombe.

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe spoke yesterday about creating legislation for a force isnpectorate.

IMMIGRATION

Min-

ister Keith Bell confirmed yesterday that officers are searching for a group of Haitian migrants who drifted in waters off the remote coast of Andros after avoiding capture by local authorities. He said officers were being sent to the island to conduct further checks and rescue the group who he said landed in a “very treacherous area”.

More than 100 undocumented Haitian migrants were apprehended on Sunday after their vessel was spotted off Andros on Friday.

The Immigration Department said law enforcement was carrying out routine patrols and surveillance on Friday when they discovered the Haitian vessel.

According to Minister Bell, the boat was reportedly en route to the US.

“This appears to be an

increasing trend to avoid interception by Bahamian authorities,” he added.

“A team from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Department of Immigration was immediately dispatched to investigate and apprehend the unlawful entrants. Initial aerial surveillance showed distressed persons seeking assistance.

“Given the remote location of the landing, the unlawful entrants were taken into custody on the 5th of March.”

Mr Bell said following an extensive search of the area, some 120 Haitians were taken into custody. These included 116 men, nine women and two children, he also said.

“I must indicate that information received up to this morning that there are a dozen or so more which have drifted in other areas in the cays and so we are now sending a team back in there to do a secondary check to make sure we rescue these

MOTHER OF SLAIN MAN SAID HE HAD CHANGED

was not known to police.

people.”

In the meantime, the minister said repatriations will continue, with $350,000 spent on the exercises so far this year.

He also continued his plea to people living illegally in The Bahamas and repeated his warnings for them “to leave”.

“I further encourage persons who may have family in Haiti, Cuba or elsewhere who may be contemplating entering The Bahamas illegally to warn them not to do so. Persons found illegally in this country or found attempting to enter this country illegally will be deported and placed on a restricted list which will completely bar them from any future entry to The Bahamas for any reason.

“The Bahamas maintains an organised system to allow for the lawful entry and orderly processing of applicants for entry into the Bahamas. This is the only process by which persons should enter the country.”

GROUP SPEAKS OUT AGAINST INCEST

LOCAL women’s groups have spoken out against acts of incest against innocent children.

“It is once again deeply distressing to learn of the ongoing onslaught of sexual offences even against blood relatives who are children,” the joint press release said.

“There must be unequivocal condemnation of these acts. There can be no halfstepping or parsing of words this time.”

The groups said that larger questions must be raised among men in every class of society, asking why is this behaviour acceptable?

“What personal action is being taken to speak out against these heinous acts and to stop them from

re-occurring? We commend those officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the director of public prosecutions and his hardworking team for conducting investigations as they should be conducted, that is, without regard or favour to the employment or status of accused persons.”

The groups said the public also appreciates the role that the magistrates and judges are playing in ensuring that, upon conviction, sentences that are appropriate for “these kinds of savage crimes are meted out to criminals”.

“These acts are evil and they are the highest betrayal of the most sacred duty,” the press release by

Zontal Club, CIWiL, Eric Brown Connects Disability Advocacy and Inclusion Management, and Women United said.

This comes after cases of incest were reported recently.

Last month a father was sentenced to 25 years in prison on two counts of incest for forcing his now adult daughter to have sex when she was still a teenager.

And last week a police officer was remanded after being accused of raping his young daughter over the course of almost three years, beginning when she was 10 years old.

YOUNG MAN ELECTROCUTED IN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT IN FREEPORT

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A YOUNG man is dead on Grand Bahama following an industrial accident at Freeport Harbour yesterday.

The incident occurred shortly after 11am at Executive Marine Management, when a 29-year-old employee was electrocuted when the vehicle he was operating came in contact with a power line. Police officials went to the scene to investigate.

Preliminary police investigations revealed that the employee was operating a heavy-duty forklift tractor when it accidentally touched the power line, which was

attached to the utility poles. Emergency Medical Services technicians were dispatched to the scene. They examined the victim, but found no sign of life. After conducting their investigations, morticians

arrived and took the body to the morgue at Rand Memorial Hospital. Executive Marine Management is a private company providing ship services for vessels calling at Freeport.

Chief Supt Johnson told reporters at the scene that sometime around 8.45pm police received information of gunshots being discharged in the area of the Fox Hill park.

Ms Knowles was emotional as she remembered a gentler side of her son compared to others who knew him from his past.

“He was a good person,” she told The Tribune. “He had his ways and I had my ways too. But if you got to know him, he was really a good person.”

Asked how she was notified that her son was killed, Ms Knowles said she received a dreadful phone call that he had been shot, but was still alive.

“When I got the news, they didn’t say he was dead, they said he had been shot,” she recalled.

“I said okay I’m coming (to the scene) and then someone else called and he said he was dead.”

During the interview, the victim’s mother said she doesn’t know what happened on the night of her son’s death. She and her son did not live in the same house.

Just recently, she said, she had taken Mr Rose to his job, as she said he was working tirelessly to make a stable income.

The victim left behind a son.

The double killing marked the 16th and 17th murders of the year, according to this newspaper’s records.

Last week, with repeated pledges to take policing to “another level,” Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said he intends to reduce the country’s murder count below 100.

Commissioner Fernander revealed his 2023 policing plan at a press conference where he outlined six key priorities to impact crime trends.

He reiterated that

police are focused on maintaining law and order, preserving the peace, preventing and detecting crime, apprehending offenders, and enforcing the law.

The commissioner noted that this year, and specifically the month of March, police will “flood the streets” in an effort to upset crime trends and tackle gun violence in the country.

Police said they are following significant leads into the Fox Hill

murders. Four men who are regarded as “persons of interest” in the investigation were arrested yesterday. Officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department are questioning the suspects who range between the ages of 18 to 25, police said. Police added that they are conducting active enquiries into this incident and will provide further updates as they become available.

POLICE inspecting the scene of the double murder in Fox Hill Park on Monday night. 32-year-old Patrickedo Rose was with a friend when the two were shot to death with a high powered weapon, according to police. The police say they are following significant leads and are appealing to anyone with any information to contact them.

Photo: Austin Fernander

SCENE where a heavy-duty forklift came into contact with elecrical lines leading to the death of a young man in Grand Bahama.

Photo: Vandyke Hepburn

The Tribune Limited

Biden weighs detaining migrant families

THE BIDEN administration is considering detaining migrant families who cross into the US illegally as it prepares to end COVID-19 restrictions at the US-Mexico border, according to US officials familiar with the plans. That would be a major reversal after officials in late 2021 stopped holding families in detention facilities.

Homeland Security officials are working through how to manage an expected increase of migrants at the border once the COVID-19 restrictions that have been in place since 2020 are lifted in May. Detention is one of several ideas under discussion and nothing has been finalised, the officials said.

If families were detained, they would be held for short periods of time, perhaps just a few days, and their cases expedited through immigration court, one official said. The officials were unauthorised to speak publicly about internal deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on “rumours” that the policy was under consideration. “I’m not saying that it is, I’m not saying that it’s not,” she said. She refused to say whether President Joe Biden believed that detention of families was humane.

Under current policy, families who arrive at the US-Mexico border are released into the US and told to appear in immigration court at a later date. During the height of the pandemic, few families were held in custody, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are now using those facilities to hold single adults who cross the border illegally.

But the US has increasingly moved to restrict migrants as it faces record numbers of people coming to the Mexico border seeking asylum and is seeing some success at bringing down the number of migrants making a dangerous and often deadly journey.

The suggestion to again detain families was met with disdain from immigration advocates, who point to studies that show how detrimental detention can be for children and families. Many said they were surprised to hear of the possibility because they had been told families would no longer be detained.

“The Biden administration is seeking to find a balance that protects the rights of those fleeing persecution and violence and the desire to enhance the orderliness of asylum processing,” said Sergio Gonzales, executive director of the Immigration Hub. “Detaining families has no place in this quest. We implore the administration to reject this shameful, retrograde practice.”

In 2020, Biden himself said in a tweet after reports that children were being released but not their parents: “Children should be released from ICE detention with their parents immediately. This is pretty simple, and I can’t believe I have to say it: Families belong together.”

A new poll by The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows some support for changing the number of immigrants and asylum-seekers allowed into the country. About four in ten US adults say the level of immigration and asylum-seekers should be lowered, while about two in ten say it should be higher, according to the poll. About a third want the numbers to remain the same.

Illegal border crossings plummeted after Biden announced January 5 that Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans would be returned to Mexico if they crossed illegally. At the same time, the administration announced that up

to 30,000 people from those four countries could come monthly if they applied online, arrived at an airport and had a financial sponsor. The Border Patrol stopped migrants 128,410 times on the Mexican border in January, down 42% from December, which was the highest month on record. February numbers have not been publicly released, but one of the officials told the AP migrants were stopped about 130,000 times.

Last month, the administration said it would generally deny asylum to migrants who show up at the US southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through, mirroring an attempt by the Trump administration that never took effect because it was blocked in court.

But most of these efforts do not include families, which are treated differently because of the children traveling. But parents who fear detention may also start sending their children alone, and the number of unaccompanied migrants is also rising.

“I’m alarmed by news reports that the administration is considering reinstating family detention policies,” said Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, the ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee. “Not only are these policies cruel and harmful to children, but they don’t prevent families from traveling to the United States.”

The administration has the capacity to house roughly 3,000 people in two family detention centers in Texas.

Both the Obama and Trump administrations detained families in those facilities until their immigration cases played out, though a court order prevents the government from holding children beyond 20 days. A third detention center in Pennsylvania was shut down a few months ago.

Jean-Pierre pushed back against criticism that Biden was reinstating some of the policies of former President Donald Trump, who, among the major changes he made to the immigration system, severely curbed asylum and forcibly separated children from their parents at the border in a policy denounced worldwide as inhumane.

“A lot of people have compared what the president is doing, is either extending what Trump did or being very Trump-like,” Jean-Pierre said. “That is not what is happening here.”

Administration officials are ending the national emergency on May 11 that was brought on by the pandemic. Because the border restrictions known as Title 42 are tied to the national emergency, the administration is also planning to end them on May 11. The US Supreme Court is weighing a Republican-led effort to leave them in place, but it has removed oral arguments on the case from its calendar.

The majority of migrants who come seeking asylum do not actually win asylum, according to data from the US government. Only about 30% are deemed eligible under US law, which narrowly defines who qualifies. Many people coming are seeking a better life and fleeing poverty and devastation in their home countries, but it doesn’t often mean they get to stay in the US.

The two Texas detention centres are in Karnes City and in Dilley. Families would likely be held again in Dilley, which was used to detain families during the Obama and Trump administrations. The New York Times first reported that officials were considering detaining families again.

By COLLEEN LONG and ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press

Supporters of Minnis in echo chamber

EDITOR,

I WAS not the least bit surprised at the many negative comments aimed at former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in the comment thread of an article published on the Our News Bahamas Facebook page last week.

What I have noticed since the September 2021 election is that many of Minnis’ detractors are young Bahamian voters who are nursing a grudge against him for the many lockdowns coupled with the arduous shopping arrangements enforced on us during the COVID pandemic.

Minnis also raised the ire of many within the Christian community because of the heavy-handed restrictions placed on houses of worship. Many of these churches have yet to recover amid dwindling church attendance by parishioners who have opted to watch Sunday morning services on zoom, Facebook and YouTube instead of attending church.

The consensus among the voting bloc of young voters is that the Free National Movement administration impinged upon their constitutional rights.

The Minnis detractors are not factoring in the global situation in 2020, when most nations were subjected to lockdowns in an effort to stem the rising tide of COVID-19.

They are also not factoring in Hurricane Dorian, the most devastating storm to slam into The Bahamas in modern times. Minnis was dealt a bad handsomething not one of the previous three Prime Ministers have had to contend with. What transpired under Minnis with the COVID lockdowns wasn’t unique, as the Minnis detractors would know, as many of them were announced by CNN, BBC,

Fox News and other international media houses. Only revisionists of recent history would attempt to argue otherwise.

Having said that, FNMs from the Minnis camp must come to grips with the reality that the low election turnout was an indictment on Minnis.

Of the 126,271 Bahamians who voted in 2021, the FNM only got 46,030 or 36.45 percent of the votes. When you take into consideration the 194,524 registered voters, the FNM only gained a shocking 23.71 percent.

The Progressive Liberal Party polled 23,377 more votes than the FNM, gaining 66,407.

It is safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of PLPs, smelling blood in the water, made it a point to go out and vote.

I am not prepared to interpret the electoral data as the FNM having less than 50,000 supporters.

What I believe occurred on election day was that tens of thousands of disillusioned FNMs chose not to vote because of Minnis.

Bear in mind that a staggering 68,253 Bahamians did not cast a ballot. What the foregoing suggests to me is that Minnis is a polarising figure, not only nationally, but also within the FNM. There has been much talk about the current FNM leadership not permitting Minnis to speak at constituency association meetings.

It is now being strongly hinted that the Killarney MP will challenge FNM Leader Michael Pintard for the top post at the next convention.

Minnisites, who have never given Pintard a fair

shake, seem to regard him simply as a placeholder. They have not supported him, using every opportunity to undermine him, while nitpicking at his flaws in the public domain. Based on what I’m detecting on the ground, Minnisites are living in an echo chamber. They sincerely believe that Bahamians are fully prepared, with many buckling under the weight of inflation, to hand their government over to Minnis again.

I personally don’t have anything against Minnis. But the electoral numbers suggest that he would be a huge gamble for the FNM moving forward.

Minnisites are only fooling themselves. I encourage them to walk the streets and talk to the young people.

I spoke with one 27-yearold swing voter, who, as far as I’m aware, does not keep abreast of current national news, yet he voiced his opposition to Minnis because of the COVID lockdowns.

The Minnis camp might succeed in convincing FNM convention delegates to unseat Pintard for Minnis, but they’ll face an uphill battle in persuading young swing voters to support Minnis.

Far too many young Bahamians, many of whom are swing voters, are simply not prepared to forgive him for the COVID lockdowns.

Moreover, the abysmal election numbers for the FNM suggests that thousands of FNMs have moved on from him. I honestly don’t think those within the Minnis camp appreciate just how unpopular he is and need to reconsider what they’re doing to the party - and to the country as well.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, March 7, 2023.

Spin and more spin

EDITOR, The Tribune.

SINCE September 2021 we have witnessed an extraordinary level of political spin… the vocabulary we hear has gone way beyond normal understandable level and spin… have to ask how can a dual carriage-way have resilience?

WATERSPOUT spotted in Bahamian waters on Monday at about 3pm at 25.19903 N, 74.14410 W, north of San Salvador. Photo: sailingthescarletibis (S/V Scarlet Ibis)

MAN

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was remanded yesterday in connection with the attempted murder of a woman two years ago.

Rashad Nesbitt, 28, appeared before Magistrate Shaka Serville on a charge of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

It is alleged that on November 27, 2021, in New Providence, Nesbitt while armed with a 9mm pistol attempted to cause the death of Shirleymae Laing.

Six Grand Bahama men granted $4k bail each on grevious harm charges

As this is an indictable offence, Nesbitt was not required to enter a plea in court at that time. He was informed that his matter would be transferred to the Supreme Court by a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).

The accused was also told that while the magistrate lacked the jurisdiction to grant bail, the accused could apply for it through the higher court.

Until he is granted bail, the accused will be remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Nesbitt’s VBI is set for service on May 3.

INAGUA MAN ON $30K BAIL FOR COCAINE POSSESSION

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $30,000 bail in court yesterday after allegedly being found with $100,000 worth of cocaine uncovered on a mailboat in Inagua earlier this year.

Cormardo Seymour, 24, of Matthew Town, Inagua, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson Pratt. There he faced charges of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply and conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Seymour’s co-accused, Clayvone Seymour, 57, and James Dean, 66, were previously arraigned on this same matter in late January.

It is alleged that on January 21 in Inagua, the accused men were found by police with 11.25 lbs of cocaine. A search of their mailboat uncovered the drugs, which have an estimated street value of $100,000, in a freezer box concealed under seafood items.

In court, Seymour pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutor ASP Davis had no objection to bail, but asked that conditions be attached.

Bail of $30,000 with

one or two sureties was granted to each accused on condition they sign in at Matthew Town Police Station every Monday and Wednesday by 7pm.

The accused are expected to return to court in Nassau for their trial dates on September 12, 13 and 14.

In a separate matter, Sylvano Georges, 42 and Charline Charles, 33, stood before Magistrate Samuel McKinney on a charge of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On March 5 in New Providence the two were arrested after Georges was found with 4oz of Indian hemp in his possession.

While Charles pleaded not guilty to the charge, Georges pleaded guilty to the offence and admitted to sole ownership of the drugs. The male defendant then begged the court for the opportunity to keep his record clean.

After withdrawing the charges against Charles, the magistrate reduced the charge to simple possession for the remaining defendant. As such Georges was fined $400 for the charge or risk three months in prison. He was further told the $265 cash seized during his arrest is to remain forfeited to the crown.

$6K BAIL AFTER WOMAN THREATENED WITH GUN

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was granted $6,000 bail in court after he was accused of threatening a woman with a shotgun late last month.

Rico Miller, 47, stood before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans on charges of assault and assault with a deadly

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

SIX male residents of Sweeting’s Cay, Grand Bahama, were charged in the Freeport Magistrate’s Court yesterday with causing grievous harm.

Eleanor Feaster, 28, Caltrico McKenzie, 28, Theodore Davis, 38, Fahron Feaster, 21, Fernando Feaster, 24, and Malik Thomas, 25, appeared before

Magistrate Charlton Smith. Nicola Knowles, a certified court interpreter with the Bahamas Disability Commission, was brought to assist with interpreting for accused Fernando Feaster, who is deaf.

It is alleged that on Saturday, March 4, at Freeport, the accused men being concerned together intentionally caused harm to Otis Palmer, Jr. Carlson Shurland represented the accused men. He informed the magistrate of his concerns

regarding an interview conducted by police concerning his deaf client without a lawyer or interpreter present.

“The police are abusing their authority and violating persons’ constitutional rights,” he claimed.

Magistrate Charlton asked each of the men how they wished to plead. They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Prosecutor Calsey Arthur did not object to bail, however, he requested that conditions be imposed

on the men, including signing in once a week at the nearest police station, not interfering with the virtual complainant, and witnesses.

Magistrate Smith imposed $4,000 bail with one suretor for each of the men. He also ordered them not to interfere with virtual complainants or witnesses directly or indirectly, through social media, or third parties. The matter was adjourned to June 12 at noon.

IN

weapon. It is alleged that on February 27 in New Providence, Miller assaulted a woman with a shotgun.

In court, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was granted $6,000 bail with one or two sureties on condition he sign in at his local police station every Sunday. His trial will begin on May 15.

TEEN PLEADS GUILTY, FINED $1000 FOR THEFT OF AUTO

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Court Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

AN 18-year-old was fined $1,000 yesterday after he admitted to stealing a woman’s car.

Geonourdo Phillippe, represented by attorney Milton Cox, faced Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on charges of stealing and receiving.

On March 3 in New Providence, it is said that Phillippe was found with Donna Culmer’s stolen grey 2009 Honda CR-V which was taken from her residence and valued at $8,500. When the accused was apprehended by authorities in a park on Sunlight Village off East Street, Phillippe claimed that he was just watching the vehicle for a friend who had initially stole it.

In court, after the accused elected to continue his case before the magistrate, he pleaded guilty to the stealing charge. This resulted in the receiving

charge being withdrawn.

When asked why he got involved in this crime, the teenager said he was peer pressured into it.

During his plea of mitigation, Mr Cox said that his young, gainfully employed client showed contrition for his actions and spared the court’s time with his early plea of guilt. The attorney asked for leniency for his client.

In view of this Magistrate Swain imposed a $1,000 fine on the accused. Failure to pay would result in a six-month prison sentence. In addition to stating that the conviction is to be recorded, the magistrate further ordered that the accused compensate the complainant $500 for damage done to her vehicle while it was stolen.

Before Magistrate Swain informed Phillippe of his right to appeal her sentencing within seven days, she also told him that she had spared him a two-year prison sentence which she had earlier considered.

The below listed APPELLANTS and interested members of the PUBLIC are hereby notified of a Sitting of the Subdivision and Development Appeals Board on Friday the 10th day of March , A.D. 2023 commencing at 9:30 a.m. at the Hearing Room, located in the Aventura Plaza on Bethel Avenue and John F. Kennedy Drive, New Providence.

The Intended Sitting will be subject to there then being no prohibition against the said hearing taking place under any Emergency Powers (Covid 19 Pandemic) Order then in force Subject also to postponement in the event of the issue of any Bahamas Government Hurricane Alert for the Island of New Providence.

The following APPEAL will be heard in the sequence stated below:-

2

1. APPEAL No. 10 of 2022 – being an Appeal by NEW PROVIDENCE LIMITED ENDAULD LIMITED AND BRASS TACKS LIMITED by Notice of Appeal dated the 12th day of September A.D. 2022 .

APPEALING: from the decision of the Town Planning Committee made on or about the 24th August A.D., 2022 under Town Planning Application for Site Plan Approval No. SPA/2/2022 made by Alexiou & Associates on behalf of Eastmor Properties Limited for Site Plan Approval in relation to Lots 12, 13 and 14 of the Number Three (No. 3) Subdivision of Lyford Cay, New Providence.

Dated the 3rd day of March A.D., 2023

R. DAWSON MALONE CHAIRMAN, SUBDIVISION & DEVELOPMENT APPEAL BOARD

‘Embrace Equity’ as equal opportunities are not enough

IT’S International Women’s Day and the global theme for the day is “Embrace Equity”. The International Women’s Day website says this theme was selected to get people to talk about why equality opportunities is not enough.

Equality Bahamas launched its CEDAW (Convention) Speaker Series - which brings experts, mostly from the CEDAW Committee, each month to talk about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, one Article at a time - in April 2022.

In the first session, Swiss human rights lawyer and former CEDAW Committee member Patricia Schulz presented on Article 1 and 2. These Articles provide a definition for “discrimination” and require policy to eliminate discrimination against women, addressing seven specific areas, respectively.

The six areas are gender equality in national constitutions, adoption of legislation to prohibit discrimination against women, legal protection of women’s rights, refrain from discrimination against women in any practice, appropriate measures to elimination discrimination by any person or entity, appropriate measures to modify or abolish discriminatory law, and repeal of penal provisions that discriminate against women.

Schulz noted that discrimination is not always intentional, but the effect matters. Most of the genderbased discrimination that we talk about in The Bahamas, however, are intentional.

It was intentional to put “who is not his spouse” in the definition of rape in the Sexual Offences Act. It was intentional to prevent women from passing on citizenship to their children and to their spouses in the same way that men can do. There have been deliberate actions and inaction that result in gender equality.

In the same session, Schulz pointed out that ending discrimination is not

By Alicia Wallace

just about presenting equal opportunities. It is really about equality of results or outcomes. It is not enough to say, for example, that anyone can present themselves as a candidate to become a Member of Parliament. We have to consider that a candidate put forward by a political party is more likely to be elected, and if the political parties are patriarchal and misogynistic, women do not have the same chance as men.

If a deposit is required and we know there is a gender wage gap, women are less likely to be able to spare that money. The goal is to have equality in the results, and that means we have to make adjustments to ensure that there is access to the opportunity.

That may mean subsidising the deposit for women who present themselves as candidates. It may mean requiring political parties to have a proportion of their candidate rosters be women. The opportunity itself does not get us to equality as the opportunity is not equally accessible by women and men.

There are two approaches, Schulz pointed out, to achieving gender equality. The first is formal equality in which the law treats women and men the same. The second is substantive equality in which the situation of women and men will be the same in practice.

This is an acknowledgement that changing the law does not always result in equality in practice. There is often more work to be done.

One of the examples Schulz offered was the use of special measures, whether temporary or long-term, to change the conditions and conditioning of society so that equality can be become a reality. One of the most common special measures the political quota.

This spurs an immediate change in the way candidates are selected, and it helps people to see women as leaders and become accustomed to see women in positions of leadership, resulting in greater willingness to vote for women rather than refusing to consider them solely because of the idea that only men lead.

Achieving gender equality requires a focus on equity. This is the meaning of the theme for today. People often do not like it when they see actions being taken for equity. They often misunderstand it, seeing it as unfair or providing an advantage instead of what it really is — giving women the same opportunity as men who have had the advantage for a long time.

The move toward gender equality will continue to cause discomfort as it disrupts systems of patriarchy and capitalism among others.

That discomfort is nothing compared to the discrimination, violence, and injustice women face every day. We have to do what we have to do, and we have to be more resolute, and more swift.

INTERNATIONAL

WOMEN’S DAY 2023

MARCH AND EXPO

The annual International

Women’s Day March and Expo was hosted by Equality Bahamas on Saturday, March 4. The march came after more than 12 hours of sign-making and T-shirt printing at Poinciana Paper Press.

Founding director Sonia Farmer and screenprinting instructor Margot Bethel helped volunteers, march participants, and other community members to go through the steps of finding or creating a design, tracing it, cutting it into a stencil, placing the pieces on a screen, adding ink, and transferring the ink to the material.

Most participants were completely new to the process and, once they started, did not want to stop. Most people came with the intention of making one or two signs or spending an hour or two, but ended up staying to keep creating, share jokes, and enjoy each other’s company.

While there, I thought about the importance of community and what it means to truly build and sustain it.

In the Press, people felt welcome. They felt safe enough to push past fears of trying something new, and have people - most of whom were strangers - celebrate when they succeeded, and everything was a success. Even the mistakes were happy, quickly turned into something else. Nothing can replace community. There is no substitute for support and the feeling of belonging.

Equality Bahamas was fortunate to be welcomed into Poinciana Paper Press, and to be able to welcome others to be a part of the creative process.

One person made a design, another person added a word or two, someone else decided to add a little more, and brilliant signs and shirts came from this collaboration. One of the most fascinating things about the process was that the person who started the design did not have to be there to build on it and create something that made

everyone present cheer and take photos and videos of the result. This is what our advocacy needs to be like.

We need to have spaces to welcome people. We need to know that, no matter how we go about our work, we are all committed to the same outcome. When someone is tired or leaves, another person needs to be able to pick it up. We have to be able to celebrate our small wins. We have to cheer each other on. We have to own our strengths, be willing to try something new, and to recognize when someone else’s idea or strength can make ours even better or stronger.

There have to be people who understand how it all started and can tell the story of how we got to the place we’re in now. If you look at the signs and shirts and shirts we made, you would not know how they came to be unless you were there. There were numerous

SEE

people coming in and out of those doors, each sharing in a part of the process and, importantly, trusting the people they left to keep going.

On Saturday, we were all reunited with our shirts and signs. Some of us were surprised by what had been added and some of us watched other people’s reactions. Everyone was thrilled. We put on our shirts, we took our signs, and we marched with joy that was only matched by our fierceness as we called for women’s human rights to be upheld, for marital rape to be criminalized, for climate justice to be understood as gender justice, and for bodily autonomy for all.

As the march ended, the expo opened and we returned to our community, in poetry and zine-making workshops, in therapy sessions, in bush medicine tutorials, and in dance. This is a part of our vision - sharing space, sharing

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Support the #Strike5ive campaign to criminalise marital rape.

It calls for “who is not his spouse” to be removed from the definition of rape in Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act. It also calls for a statutory definition of consent and a clause of marital non-immunity to ensure that an offender cannot use marriage to the survivor or victim as a defense. It is clear that there must be no temporal limitation and the consent of the Attorney General must not be required for prosecution (as these were included in the 2018 amendment bill which was rejected). Marital rape needs to be criminalized because all forms of violence are wrong and there is no excuse for rape. There is no need for debate, and there are not two sides. The truth is that women have human rights, and that means women must be protected from violence, including sexual violence, regardless of marital status.

2. Join Feminist Book Club with Equality Bahamas and Poinciana Paper Press.

The next meeting is on Thursday, March 23, at 6pm. Join in person at Poinciana Paper Press, 12 Parkgate Road (between Kemp and Village Roads) or online via Zoom. Either way, register at tiny.cc/fbc2023 to receive more information. The book for March is Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux. In April, the club will read Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin.

The opportunity itself does not get us to equality as the opportunity is not equally accessible by women and men.

Chinese minister warns of coming conflict unless US changes course

BEIJING

Associated Press

CHINESE Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned Tuesday that Beijing and Washington are headed for “conflict and confrontation” if the US doesn’t change course, striking a combative tone at a moment when relations between the rivals are at a historic low.

In his first news conference since taking office late last year, Qin’s harsh language appeared to defy predictions that China might abandon its aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy in favour of more moderate rhetoric as the two countries face off over trade and technology, Taiwan, human rights and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Washington’s China policy has “entirely deviated from the rational and sound track,” Qin told journalists on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, when leaders lay out their economic and political priorities for the coming year.

“If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation,” said Qin, whose new position is junior to the Communist Party’s senior foreign policy official, Wang Yi. “Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity.”

Qin’s comments echoed remarks made by leader Xi Jinping in a speech Monday to legislators.

“Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to

our nation’s development,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

In the face of that, China must “remain calm, maintain concentration, strive for progress while maintaining stability, take active actions, unite as one, and dare to fight,” he said.

Asked about Qin’s and Xi’s comments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that US policy on China has remained consistent. “There is no change to the United States’ posture when it comes to this bilateral relationship,” Kirby said. “The president believes those tensions obviously have to be recognized, but can be worked through. And we again seek competition not conflict.”

US officials have grown increasingly worried about China’s expansive political and economic goals and the possibility of war over Taiwan — and many in Washington have called for the US to make a bigger effort to counter Chinese influence abroad.

In recent weeks, concerns about Chinese spying on the US and Beijing’s influence campaigns there have drawn particular concern, and

officials from the two countries have frequently traded accusations.

US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken cancelled a planned visit to Beijing after Washington shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over American territory. The massive balloon and its payload, including electronics and optics, have been recovered from the ocean floor and are being analysed by the FBI.

Then last week, China responded with indignation when US officials raised the issue again of whether the COVID-19 pandemic began with a lab leak. The Foreign Ministry accused the US of “politicizing the issue” in an attempt to discredit China.

And the two countries have traded angry words over Taiwan as China has stepped up its diplomatic isolation and military harassment of the self-governing island democracy that it claims as its own territory.

Qin — who briefly served as ambassador to Washington and gained a reputation for his cutting condemnations of China’s critics when he was Foreign Ministry spokesman — touched on all these topics on Tuesday.

He criticized Washington for shooting down the

balloon, repeating claims that its appearance in US skies was an accident.

“In this case the United States’ perception and views of China are seriously distorted. It regards China as its primary rival and the most consequential geopolitical challenge,” Qin said. “This is like the first button in a shirt being put wrong and the result is that the USChina policy has entirely deviated from the rational and sound track.”

On Taiwan, Qin called the issue the first red line that must not be crossed. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. While the US does not advocate for either unification or Taiwan’s formal independence, Washington is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself if attacked.

“The US has unshakable responsibility for causing the Taiwan question,” he said, accusing the US of “disrespecting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” by offering the island political backing and furnishing it

with defensive weapons in response to Beijing’s threat to use force to bring it under Chinese control.

“Why does the US ask China not to provide weapons to Russia, while it keeps selling arms to Taiwan?”

Qin asked.

In Taipei, Taiwan’s Defence Minister said the armed forces weren’t seeking outright conflict with China’s military, but nor would they back away in the event of Chinese aircraft or ships entering Taiwanese coastal seas or airspace.

“It is the nation’s armed forces’ duty to mount an appropriate response,” Chiu Kuo-cheng told legislators.

Beijing has also accused the West of “fanning the flames” by providing Ukraine with weaponry to fend off the Russian invasion. China says it has a neutral stance in the war, but has also said it has a “no-limits friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize Moscow’s invasion - or even refer to it as an invasion.

A Chinese call for a ceasefire in Ukraine that has

drawn praise from Russia but dismissals from the West has done nothing to lessen tensions as US officials have repeatedly accused China of considering providing weapons to Moscow for use in the war.

“Efforts for peace talks have been repeatedly undermined. There seems to be an invisible hand pushing for the protraction and escalation of the conflict and using the Ukraine crisis to serve a certain geopolitical agenda,” Qin said.

Qin’s news conference came two days after the opening of the yearly meeting of the National People’s Congress, a mostly ceremonial body assembled to approve government reports and, this year, a new slate of top-level appointments. That is expected to include a norm-breaking third fiveyear term as president for Xi, who has eliminated all term limits to allow him to rule indefinitely.

CHINESE Foreign Minister Qin Gang looks on during a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, yesterday.

Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

FEMALE voluntary recruits attend a three month training programme at a military base in Bogota, Colombia, Monday. After a 25-year ban, the Colombian army is once again allowing women to join its ranks through voluntary military service, which is a requirement for men.

Photo: Fernando Vergara/AP

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2023

Let the GSSSA track and field championships begin

By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The 30th annual Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) track and field championships will make its return to the Thomas A Robinson stadium at 9:15am today. Despite the ongoing repairs to the country’s national stadium ahead of the April CARIFTA Games, the championships are expected to start bright and early this morning.

Day one of the 2023 track and field championships will feature a number of prelims and finals for both the track and field events.

Virginia Romer, president of the New Providence Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools, talked about the excitement surrounding the competitive nature of this year’s GSSSA.

“Excitement is in the air for the return of GSSSA, coaches and students are looking forward [to it] as well as our sports-minded parents,” Romer said.

In track action, GSSSA attendees can expect to see junior athletes go head-tohead in the prelims for the under 13 girls and boys 100 metre dash. The under 15 girls and boys will compete in the short race as well.

With 16 schools expected to battle in this year’s track and field championships, including eight junior schools and eight senior schools, Romer said A.F. Adderley and S.C. McPherson will look to dethrone the reigning champions C.H. Reeves Raptors. The Raptors won

Golden Girl Pauline Davis: ‘CARIFTA trials should take precedent over any track meet’

By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Bahamian

Olympian and sprinter

Pauline Davis-Thompson criticised the head coaches of the major secondary schools for overworking athletes at the 2023 BAISS Track and Field Championships.

Despite her praising the efforts of star athletes on the final day of the inter-school competition, Thompson was disappointed to see CARIFTA qualifiers and potential qualifiers competing in so many track and field events ahead of April’s 50th CARIFTA Games.

Thompson talked about her personal beliefs as a former Olympian.

“It is my belief that the Bahamas National CARIFTA trials should take precedent over any track meet especially now that we are going to be hosting the CARIFTA Games at home, there is no way that athletes should be running [in] these bunch of events for their high school, it shouldn’t happen,” Thompson said.

Thompson added that it becomes too much on the young legs of the athletes as they prepare for the CARIFTA Games.

The 2000 Olympic gold medallist also wished to see improvement in the technical work of young athletes as a big fan of the sport.

“There are a lot of things I can see that needs to improve.

I am a bit disappointed to see the technical work of the

athletes with the way they run and the way they walk,” Thompson said.

Thompson believes that a lot more can be done to improve the technical work of athletes ahead of the CARIFTA Games and moving forward.

SAC head coach Jason Edwards responded to Thompson’s criticism that athletes were overworked during the 2023 BAISS Track and Field Championships.

“Most of these kids that did these events were not forced to do these events, we spoke to their coaches and some of their coaches actually asked us to put these kids in these events,” Edwards said.

He added that although an outsider might look at it from a different perspective, the track coaches of the young athletes looked at it from the perspective of loading up and then offloading the workload of the athletes ahead of the CARIFTA trials.

Although Thompson had her criticisms about the way athletes were used ahead of the major track meet, she maintains that it was great to see them compete.

She was proud to see the future track and field stars and said she hopes to see a lot more.

The opening ceremony for the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) Track and Field Championships is scheduled to begin 10am tomorrow at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium.

Bayern to try to contain PSG in last 16 of Champions League

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Bayern

Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann wants his team to “get at” Paris SaintGermain in the Champions League. Kylian Mbappé wants to add more goals to his PSG scoring record.

They will get their chance today when Bayern tries to defend its 1-0 lead in the second leg of the round of 16.

Bayern won the first leg in Paris with a goal from former PSG player Kingsley Coman, but the team’s approach in the return match will be closely watched.

Under Nagelsmann, Bayern tends to defend one-goal leads by trying to score two or three more.

Keeping up the attacking pressure worked in the group stage against Inter Milan and Barcelona, neither of which could score against Bayern, but it could allow PSG opportunities to get back into the game.

“Both we and PSG have enormous pace in attack. We want to get at them when they take possession and be physically present from the first minute,” Nagelsmann said Monday. “What we need in the second leg is to prevent them from using their pace. If you give their attackers too much space and they can unleash their footballing qualities, it’s incredibly difficult to defend.”

Either way, one of the two teams will face its earliest Champions League exit since both were eliminated by English opponents in

the round of 16 in 201819. Bayern and PSG both expect to be in the quarterfinals at the very least, so a loss could affect the future

the last GSSSA track and field championships for the junior division and also captured the GSSSA basketball championships for the junior girls. The Raptors will look to crush the competition in the threeday meet.

Attendees can expect to see this competitive action on display in day one’s track event finals. The under 13 girls and boys will put up a fight in the 1,200m run bantam finals. Also, the juniors are

SEE PAGE 14

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NOT too many players leave the comfort of home and make the transition to playing at the high school level in the United States and go on to achieve any level of success.

Veronaye ‘Tweedy’ Charlton is one of the exceptions to the norm.

Charlton, who got the nickname ‘Tweedy’ from her former coach Terrance ‘Red-Eye’ McSweeney when she played for the Jordan Prince Williams Falcons junior girls’ team before they left the Bahamas, has led the Norcross High School Lady Blue Devils to the Georgia Class 7A Championships on Saturday against Brookwell, who stand at 30-1.

The 17-year-old senior left Jordan Prince Williams in the ninth grade to attend Tallulah High, where she was coached by Lowell Hamilton, before she transferred to Norcross for her senior year this season where she’s had a sensational spurt in helping the

SEE PAGE 14

Ja Morant sidelined as NBA investigates gun, strip club video

By TERESA M WALKER AP Sports Writer

JA Morant’s skyrocketing basketball career is on hold following a series of off-court decisions by the young NBA star involving a gun in a strip club, actions which have temporarily derailed his meteoric rise.

Morant is the target of a second NBA investigation in weeks with no timetable for his return to the Memphis Grizzlies. The two-time All-Star missed his second game last night when Memphis visited the Los Angeles Lakers. His benching after showing an apparent gun while at a strip club hours

after a loss to Denver comes amid a sealed lawsuit alleging he punched a teenager during a pickup game at his home last summer along with drinking and partying.

Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins says the 23-yearold Morant is a young man that has to “grow and get better.”

Morant is the face of a young team with no player 30 or older, in a city that has been the centre of the country’s gun issues.

In November 2021, a rapper who had performed at a Grizzlies’ halftime show was shot dead while buying

of Nagelsmann or PSG coach Christophe Galtier. Hiring Nagelsmann on a

FROM left, Bayern’s Benjamin Pavard, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry attend a training session in Munich, Germany, yesterday prior to the Champions League group round of 16 second leg soccer match against Paris Saint Germain. Bayern will face PSG today.

(AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

BAHAMIAN Olympic athlete Devynne Charlton, left, and former Olympic gold medallist Pauline Davis-Thompson share a special moment at the 2023 Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships.

‘TWEEDY’ CHARLTON LEADS LADY BLUE DEVILS TO GEORGIA CLASS 7A TITLE GAME

Hat trick hero: Marlon Barnes leads Mingoes to 3-1 win over Future Stars FC in BFA action

THE University of The Bahamas men’s soccer team captain Marlon

Barnes showed up big for his squad Sunday against Future Stars FC in Bahamas Football Association action at The Roscow A. L. Davies Field.

Barnes became the hattrick hero for The Mingoes by scoring three goals as the team won 3-1 to stay in second place overall with 31 points (10-3-1).

The Western Warriors lead the league with 31 points and a 10-1 record. Despite the same number of points, The Western Warriors have the first place designation because of less games and less losses.

Barnes started his hattrick campaign in the first half of the match. Barnes scored on a push-kick penalty shot in the right side of the goal in the 31st minute to put the team up 1-0.

The Mingoes’ defence came alive and keeper Antonio Beckford had six saves in the back half of the first half. The Mingoes took the 1-0 lead into the break.

Coming out of the break, The Mingoes were a bit lacklustre and allowed the Future Stars to score an easy goal in the 54th minute to tie the match at 1-1.

After the score, the Mingoes were determined not to fall victim to another draw. The Mingoes drew 1-1 against Bears FC on February 26 in the team’s previous match.

Midfielder Ronaldo Green was tackled in the

BAHAMAS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION REGULAR SEASON HEATS UP

THE Bahamas Football Association continued its regular season action this week at the Roscoe Davies Developmental Center.

The following results were posted:

Dynamos Fc U 18 VS United Fc U 18 (1) v(1): Friday under the lights, Dynamos FC under-18 boys played to a 1-1 draw with United in a highly anticipated match the last time these two teams met up there were fireworks. This time cool heads prevailed.

Dynamos WFC (3) VS Baha Jr WFC (0): Saturday night after the Bahamas COE team defeated the Turks and Caicos 2-0, Dynamos WFC took on Baha Jr WFC in a match which was postponed earlier this year.

The Dynamos rode a brace from Ashya Butler and got and insurance goal from Alexis Williamson to close out the entertaining match.

Sunday Matches: Dynamos FC (2) V Seventeen 17 (1): Whenever these two teams get together it is a dogfight, and this was no exception.

Going down a goal late in the match, the Dynamos got the equaliser from Brandon Adderley and the winning goals from Chad Russell to defeat Seventeen 2-1.

IM Bears (3) v Renegades FC (2): The Renegades have turned the corner and are finally putting out a quality product on the pitch. Sunday they ran into a Bears team who where coming out of hibernation.

The Bears got two goals from Stanley Joseph to put the game away. Jacob Charles kept up his scoring assault on the table with a brace for the Renegades. With the season rapidly coming to a close, one can expect tough matches ahead.

Five points separate the top four squads and this makes every game a do or die match.

Key matches this week:

Baha Jr VS Cavalier FC Battle of the cellar dwellers. Three points separate these two clubs and so the battle should be fierce to not be the last-place team.

box and the team awarded a penalty kick in the 63rd minute.

Barnes stepped up for the penalty and connected again on a right-foot pushkick in the right side of the goal to put The Mingoes up 2-1.

The Mingoes were not done. Off a free kick in the 65th minute, Jean Tilo fired the ball deep in the Future

Stars box where winger Morgan Wood controlled the ball just outside of the goal box.

Barnes took the Wood pass off his chest and fired the ball across the goal for his third goal of the day.

Barnes scored his first hat-trick of the season but was more concerned about the win than his personal success.

“I am just here for the team,” he said. “ I am here to give it all for the team. My heart and dedication is for the team so I am just happy for the victory.”

He added that the team’s game plan was simple.

“We wanted to stick to the middle and keep the ball passing and whatever chances we got we wanted to put it away and that was

exactly what happened here today,” he said.

“I must commend the boys today. They played very hard as we stuck to the game plan and we picked up the win. I am happy for the victory.”

The Mingoes next play United FC at 9pm on Wednesday March 15 at The Roscow A.L. Davies Field.

Western Warriors FC VS United FC United needs this win to create a three-way tie atop the table, while the Warriors need to create separation at the top. They have games in hand but creating a cushion would be nice.

Johnny Tinus and Stanley Pierre lead the United attack. Expect a hardfought match.

CONTE BACK FOR TOTTENHAM AGAINST MILAN IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

By DANIELLA MATAR AP Sports Writer

AFTER recovering from gallbladder surgery, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte will be back on the sidelines in the Champions League.

Conte’s return for the second leg of the round of 16 against AC Milan today, trailing 1-0 after the first game, is a boost for a team fighting to keep its season on track.

In three days last week, the London team was eliminated from the FA Cup by

five-year contract in 2021 was a statement from the Bayern hierarchy that they saw the then-33-year-old German as the architect of a long-term project.

He’s now facing a tough challenge from PSG and also a tight domestic title race, with Bayern even on points with Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga. Both teams are without key

second-division club Shef-

field United and saw its hopes of securing a Champions League qualifying spot in the Premier League dented by a 1-0 loss to Wolverhampton.

Conte, back after two-and-a-half weeks recuperating in Turin, is focused on the matches ahead.

“We live for this type of game. We live for this type of moment because when the pressure is going up, it means your level is going up,” Conte said yesterday.

“Don’t forget last season we play Conference League

players ahead of today’s game. Sadio Mané missed the first leg with the leg injury which previously ruled him out of the World Cup, but the Senegal forward has since returned to action and came off the bench in Bayern’s last two Bundesliga games.

Still, Bayern remains without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and defender Lucas Hernández, both long-term absentees, and fullback Noussair Mazraoui is in

and instead this season we are playing Champions League. We won our group, the first leg we lost 1-0 and we have possibility tomorrow to beat Milan and then to go to the next round.”

Conte’s burst of positivity could help lift the gloom over Tottenham after the disappointment of last week. But they will need more than just that against Milan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Tottenham had more than 20 attempts on goal at Wolves and will have to be more clinical against a

training but has not played since the World Cup. Another defender, Benjamin Pavard, is suspended after he was sent off in stoppage time in the first leg and is set to be replaced by Josip Stanišic.

PSG is without Neymar after the Brazilian was ruled out for the rest of the season on Monday with an ankle injury, but Mbappé and Lionel Messi each scored in the 4-2 win over Nantes on Saturday. Mbappé became the club’s

solid Milan team which has proved itself defensively strong of late.

“The pressure is normal and we have to live with this type of pressure,” Conte said. “Maybe if there is one thing that we have to try to improve, the whole environment here, is to live with the pressure. To live with the pressure means to sometimes be a bit stressed and not always to be in peace with yourself, but to stress yourself and to put pressure in a positive way.”

Milan also lost over the weekend — 2-1 at

all-time leading scorer with 201 goals, breaking a tie with Edinson Cavani.

Right back Achraf Hakimi is in PSG’s squad for the game after he was given preliminary charges in a rape investigation last week. The 24-year-old Hakimi missed the last three French league games with injury.

In the French legal system, preliminary charges mean judges have strong reason to suspect a crime was committed but are

Fiorentina — but had won its past four matches without conceding a goal.

The Italian champions also have Mike Maignan back. The goalkeeper was a crucial part of Milan’s Serie A-winning campaign last season but has only just returned to action — playing in the past two matches — after five months out with injury.

Milan, though, has struggled on the road. The team has won only one of its past five matches away from San Siro, losing three of the others. Last season, the

allowing time for further investigation before deciding whether to send a case to trial.

Speaking yesterday in Munich, both PSG midfielder Marco Verratti and Galtier said they expect a completely different match than last month when Bayern’s pressing suffocated PSG.

Verratti said the return to a tactical system with three defenders will certainly help, as well as the presence of a fully-fit Mbappé

team lost only one of its away matches in Serie A while winning 14 of them.

“We’re talking about a statistic that is punishing us a lot,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said. “It’s strange not managing to win away from home.”

Pioli said he already knows what team he will use “more or less,” but Milan could be without Olivier Giroud. The veteran forward missed Monday’s training session with the flu.

Forward Brahim Díaz, who scored the goal in the first leg, is also a doubt.

alongside Messi. “They are players of a huge experience, that is something that really helps us out,” Verratti said.

UB midfielder O’Bryan Hinds (blue 16) controls the ball.

UB midfielder Ronaldo Green battles with a Future Stars player for ball possession in their Bahamas Football Association match on March 5 at Roscow A.L. Davies Field. The Mingoes won 3-1. Photos: UB ATHLETICS

UB midfielder Morgan Wood heads the ball.

UB midfielder Ronaldo Green (11) tackles a Future Stars player.

WORLD JUNIORS TENNIS: BAHAMAS UNDER-14 GIRLS EARN FIRST WIN

THE Bahamas under-14 girls’ team recorded their first win at the World Juniors Tennis Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The team, coached by Ricardo Demeritte, won 3-0 over Suriname.

NPBA: ROCKETS, REBELS IN WIN COLUMN

In singles on Tuesday, Kaylah Fox won 6-2, 6-0 and the #1 Tatyana Madu won 6-0, 6-2. Briana Houlgrave and Kaylah would seal the deal

in the doubles, winning 6-1, 6-3. The Bahamas boys team, coached by Artie Johnson, lost a tough matchup against Curacao 2-1. The

team suffered a 3-0 loss to El Salvador in their first match on Monday. Reeves Mahelis played in the #2 spot and lost 0-6, 5-7 in his singles yesterday. No.1

Patrick Mactaggart won 6-2 6-4. Patrick Mactaggart and Chase Newbold teamed up for doubles in what would be a nail-biter but they lost in three sets - 6-1 , 2-6, 4-10.

Oubre, Rozier help Hornets stop Knicks’ nine-game win streak

NEW YORK (AP) — Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 27 points, Terry Rozier added 25 and the Charlotte Hornets snapped the New York Knicks’ nine-game winning streak with a 112-105 victory last night.

Gordon Hayward had 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and made the tiebreaking basket with 1:50 remaining as the Hornets won for the first time in four games since point guard LaMelo Ball’s broken ankle that required surgery. They trailed by 16 at halftime and were still down nine midway through the fourth quarter before surging past a Knicks team that appeared to lack energy, two nights after needing two overtimes to win in Boston.

RJ Barrett scored 27 points for the Knicks, who were trying for their first 10-game winning streak since a 13-game run late in the 2012-13 season. Julius Randle scored 16 points but shot just 5 for 17 from the field.

BUCKS 134, MAGIC 123

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Brook Lopez scored 26 points, Khris Middleton and Jevon Carter each added 24 points and Milwaukee beat Orlando for its 18th win in 19 games.

Bobby Portis Jr. had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Jae Crowder added 15 points for the Bucks, who shot 59% and ran their winning streak against the Magic to 14 games.

The Bucks played without All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo (non-COVID-19 illness) and Jrue Holiday (sore neck).

cookies in Memphis. In 2010, a 34-year-old former Grizzlies’ centre was found dead riddled by bullets in a swampy field in southeast of the city.

Morant and the Grizzlies provided a much-needed respite in January while Memphis grieved the death of Tyre Nichols following a brutal attack by five police officers.

All that made Morant’s Instagram livestreaming himself shirtless holding an apparent gun next to his left cheek in the early morning hours Saturday at a Colorado club simply stunning.

Reverend Earle Fisher of Abyssinian Baptist Church spoke at both Young Dolph’s memorial and funeral and has talked with Morant’s father since the viral video. Fisher said a broader conversation is needed about open carry gun laws with some cultural context applied.

“There are some ways to interpret what Ja did in a way that holds him accountable, but also gives him the grace and the space that’s needed to continue to mature as somebody who is the face of the franchise,” said Fisher. Morant has beaten the odds after being an

Cole Anthony led the Magic with 23 points. Franz Wagner added 21 points and Paolo Banchero had 20 points and five rebounds.

MAVERICKS 120, JAZZ 116

DALLAS (AP) — Kyrie Irving hit a clutch 3-pointer and scored 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, and Luka Doncic added 29 points as Dallas beat shorthanded Utah. Utah trailed 118-115 with 3.7 seconds to play when Talen Horton-Tucker was fouled and sent to the line for two shots. After sinking the first, his intentional miss slammed directly off the backboard and didn’t hit the rim, giving Dallas possession.

Tim Hardaway Jr. added 24 points off the bench, including 7-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc as Dallas finished a season-high six-game homestand 3-3. Lauri Markkanen returned to the lineup after missing a game with a low-back strain and scored 33 points to lead the Jazz. Horton-Tucker added 21 points.

NETS 118, ROCKETS 96

HOUSTON (AP) —

Mikal Bridges scored 30 points, Spencer Dinwiddie added 23 and Brooklyn had a big third quarter to beat Houston for its third straight victory.

Bridges has scored 30 or more points in three straight games and five times overall since coming over from Phoenix February 9 in the deal that sent Kevin Durant to the Suns. Bridges also had five assists, two blocks and a steal.

Brooklyn has its longest winning streak since a

overlooked, faceless college prospect playing summer basketball, taking a road less travelled to become an NBA All-Star and league MVP candidate. Morant signed a five-year, $193 million contract last summer, but missing too many games this season could cost him a potential $38 million bonus.

This is only the latest in a series of questionable incidents involving Morant.

A close friend of Morant’s was escorted from the arena after arguing with Indiana Pacers’ players in January. Morant said the NBA banned his friend from the arena for a year.

Last summer during a pick-up basketball game at Morant’s home, a 17-yearold accused him of assault. Investigators said in January that “there was not enough evidence to proceed with a case.”

Of all the scrutiny, this video is the most serious threat yet to Morant’s career and the Grizzlies’ pursuit of their first championship. “I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being,” said Morant in a statement Saturday released by the agency that represents him. The young talented player with tremendous

season-high 12-game run from December 7 to January 8. The Nets also had their third double-digit win in a row. Jalen Green had 25 points for the Western Conference-worst Rockets, who were coming off consecutive wins over SA.

76ERS 117, TIMBERWOLVES 94 MINNEAPOLIS (AP)

— Joel Embiid scored 39 points, Tyrese Maxey added 27 and Philadelphia beat Minnesota despite playing without star James Harden. Harden, the team’s second-leading scorer and NBA assist leader, was held out with left foot soreness.

De’Anthony Melton scored 11 for the 76ers, who wrapped up a five-game trip with a 4-1 record.

Anthony Edwards scored 32 points for Minnesota.

The Timberwolves shot a season-low 39.5% from the field and were 11 of 36 from 3-point distance.

WIZARDS 199, PISTONS 117

DETROIT (AP) — Daniel Gafford converted a putback of Bradley Beal’s airball at the buzzer, and Washington handed Detroit its ninth straight loss. With the score tied, Beal drove to the baseline and shot a fadeaway floater that was too strong and missed everything. Gafford grabbed the weak-side rebound and banked in the winner.

Beal finished with 32 points and Kristaps Porzingis scored 24 before fouling out in the final minute. Washington (3234) ended a two-game skid and is 10th in the Eastern

Conference, in position for the final spot in the play-in tournament.

Jaden Ivey had 26 points and 12 assists for the NBAworst Pistons.

THUNDER 137, WARRIORS 128

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai GilgeousAlexander scored 33 points, Josh Giddey had the seventh triple-double of his career and third of the season, and Oklahoma City beat Golden State.

Giddey finished with 17 points, a career-high 17 assists and 11 rebounds as the Thunder won their third straight.

Stephen Curry scored 40 points and made a seasonhigh 10 3-pointers, Klay Thompson scored 23 points and Jonathan Kuminga added 21 for the Warriors.

THE Discount Distributors Liquors Rockets and the Rebels emerged as winners of the New Providence Basketball Association’s double header at the AF Adderley Gymnasium held on Monday night. While the Rockets dismantled the Rebels 109-81 in the men’s division one feature contest, the Rebels nipped the RC Liquors Eagles 86-84 in the division II opener. Rockets 109, Rebels 81 Chispin Gibson exploded for a game high 23 points to lead a balanced scoring attack as Discount Distributors Liquors pulled off another impressive win. Ryan Turnquest had 21 points, Bertrum Minns had 19 points with eight rebounds and a pair of steals, Dion McPhee had 15 points with six rebounds, four assists and three steals and Abel Joseph scored nine points, but he had 16 assists, 11 rebounds, three steals and two block shots.

In a losing effort, Edvardo Burrows had 15 points, four rebounds and two assists. Davon Adderley connected on 14 points with five rebounds and Johnley Noel also finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Rebels 86,

Eagles 84

Brian Carey Jr sealed the deal with a jumper with 34.20 seconds left on the clock to give him a total of 13 points with three rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Rebels, who got a game high 20 points with two rebounds and two assists from Marcian Pickstock.

Wilben Seraphin had 15 points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals, Kriston Munroe had 14 points, 26 rebounds (13 on both end of the court) with three steals and two assists and Andrew Strachan also had 14 points with six rebounds and a pair of steals and block shots.

Alexio Frances scored 22 points and pulled down a total of 29 points, 17 on the offensive end and 12 defensively, while adding a pair of assists and steals in the loss.

Vaushaun Bullard had 18, 10 rebounds and three steals, Devon Seymour also had 18 points with three rebounds and Mark Sawyer added nine points with eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Tonight’s schedule 7pm - Cyber Tech vs Mekaddish Millionaires (DII).

8pm - Zulu Media Marketing vs TMT Giants (D1).

during his two seasons at Murray State.

earning potential has plenty of support.

A screen grab of the livestream from the strip club showed Morant wearing the diamond pendant with his Ja 1 shoe logo Nike gave him at last month’s All-Star Game.

The shoe company is backing him for now, saying in a statement: “We appreciate Ja’s accountability and that he is taking the time to get the help he needs.”

Morant also has reached out individually to former coaches and teammates, including current LSU’s

Matt McMahon. “I love him,” said McMahon, who coached Morant at Murray State. “I, and my coaching staff, are always going to be there to support and help him navigate these challenging times.” Morant’s basketball prowess is unquestioned.

He was the No. 2 pick overall, 2020 Rookie of the Year and finished seventh in MVP voting last season.

He ranks ninth in the NBA averaging 27.1 points a game and fifth with 8.2 assists a game for a team second in the Western

Conference. Now the Grizzlies’ coach knows he may be without his best player for an extended period of time.

“He’s got huge responsibilities not just for the team, for the city,” Jenkins said.

“But I know how he’s built with that care factor and what steps he’s now taking.

It’s a step in the direction of really being the best version of himself.”

Morant appeared to have the perfect support system coming into the NBA with his parents repeatedly hitting the road to watch him

They followed him to Memphis from South Carolina, and now live near him. His father, Tee, became a postseason sensation last spring as he made bets and trash-talked with KarlAnthony Towns’ dad. He narrated his son’s new Powerade commercial that debuted just last week and refused to excuse his son’s actions in a Facebook post.

NBA investigators will want to know if that really was a gun and whether Morant carried it on the team plane. The league could suspend or fine Morant, and he also could face misdemeanor charges in Colorado if police find he was under the influence while holding a gun.

The Grizzlies aren’t saying what help Morant is getting, or how long he will be away from his teammates.

No one can at this point.

HORNETS guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (12) shakes hands with Kai Jones as they celebrate in the final seconds against the New York Knicks last night in New York.

(AP Photo/John Minchillo)

MEMPHIS Grizzlies guard Ja Morant reacts as the team trails the Denver Nuggets during the second half on Friday, March 3 in Denver.

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

THE BAHAMAS girls team of Tatyana Madu, Kaylah Fox and Briana Houlgrave with coach Ricardo Demeritte.

THE BAHAMAS boys team of Patrick Mactagart, Reeves Mahelis and Chase Newbold with coach Artie Johnson.

‘TWEEDY’ LEADS LADY BLUE DEVILS TO GEORGIA CLASS 7A TITLE GAME

Lady Blue Devils to get back to the state final. She had 18 points in their 61-53 win over Archer in their quarter-final and came back with a 19-point effort in their 58-46 win over Buford in their semi-final game on Saturday to push her team into the final in the state of Georgia.

“I felt great. My team kept pushing the ball to me to give me the looks that I needed and I just continued to take advantage of it,” Charlton said. “I just took advantage of it.”

As they prepare for the big dance on Saturday, Charlton said it’s a weird feeling, but she hopes that they can get the job done. She comes on a team that fell short of winning the title last year, but she’s confident that her presence this year will make the difference in them getting over the final hurdle.

The Blue Devils, coached by Ashley Clanton, are currently 29-2.

“My team was very welcoming knowing that I was a transfer and I was going to come in and take someone spot,” Charlton said. “They were very welcoming and I love it. Going into Saturday’s game, we know we have to play hard and stick together.”

What the diminutive 5-feet, 3-inch point guard lacks in height, she makes up in her speed as she runs

the floor for the Lady Blue Devils.

“I just go after my opponents,” said Charlton, who is thrilled to be holding her own among the taller competitors. “The team we are playing in the final, has a point guard who has committed to Ohio State, so it should be a good game when I face her.”

Charlton said she’s pleased with her progress made since her parents Christen and Vernon Charlton made the decision to send her to the United States to further her basketball skills.

“It was a little weird at first, but now everything is easy,” Charlton said. “I just want to work on slowing my pace down.”

Charlton, however, said she enjoys the company of her four sisters and the rest of her family to help her relax her mind and take away the pressure of playing basketball.

“I miss home every day,” Charlton said. “But I try to stay in contact with family and friends and I try to go back whenever I could on any breaks we have.”

After she graduates, hopefully after winning the state championship title, Charlton intends to continue her education with an athletic scholarship at college, but she said she won’t make that decision before she’s done at Norcross in May.

expected to fight to the finish in day one’s 100m dash finals for the under 13 and 15 girls and boys. Romer gave a word of advice to young athletes ahead of this week’s track and field events.

“My advice to athletes is to just go out and give their best. Ongoing training leading up [to] this event will pay off,” Romer said.

Athletes will look to give it their all in the under 17 and 20 girls and boys senior division of the 100m finals.

With athletes seeking to try their best on the track and field to qualify for Easter weekend’s 50th CARIFTA games, Romer added that she hopes to see athletes do just that.

Day one’s track event finals will also include the highly anticipated relays for the junior and senior division.

The CR Walker Knights, reigning GSSSA champs for the senior schools, will look to make a big impact on day one in the under 17 and 20 girls and boys 4x100m relays. GSSSA attendees can also look forward to competitive action in the 4x100m relays for the under 13 and 15 girls and boys.

The track and field championships are expected to begin with the under 15 boys high jump field event.

The ticket prices for this year’s GSSSA are $10 for the VIP section, $5 for the general public, and $3 for high school students.

The public is encouraged to attend as athletes will look to compete hard against each other in various track and field disciplines.

VERONAYE ‘Tweedy’ Charlton (11) in action for the Norcross High School Lady Blue Devils.