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VOLUME:115 No.89, MARCH 29TH, 2018

OBITS OFFICIA

CLASSIFIED TRADER: CARS, CARS, CARS & MORE CARS

INSIDE

Oban refinery - ’It makes no sense’

Experts question economic case for $5.5bn project

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net AS the $5.5bn Oban Energies project forges ahead, some business and oil industry insiders are unconvinced a viable market exists for an oil refinery in The Bahamas and want to see the feasibility study conducted for the project.

Concerns have so far centred on the project’s environmental impact and the people behind the company, not so much its

economic viability.

The Tribune understands the Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Ltd, BORCO, explored the possibility of moving beyond its oil storage business into the oil refinery arena in the last several years but decided the market could not sustain it.

Developments like this are also being discussed in the region, with Sir Paul Collier, a prominent Oxford University professor of economics and public policy, SEE PAGE SIX

$1

L SOUR CE

LAWYERS’ CHIEF: WE’RE UNDER ATTACK

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

INCENSED over protracted delay in the appointment of a substantive chief justice, the Bahamas Bar Association yesterday suggested the constant undermining of democracy has pushed the country to an existential and constitutional crisis.

SEE PAGE TEN

WE’RE GOING TO NEED LOTS MORE FRIES

‘RULES ARE THERE JUST ENFORCE THEM’

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

SKY Bahamas CEO Captain Randy Butler yesterday cautioned the government over the proposed licence control regulations for small-craft pilots, claiming the new rules only “overregulates” an over-taxed industry currently fighting for survival.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Capt Butler,

pictured, cautioned Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar over the proposed regulations, insisting that the current regulations schedule already addresses the issues of “hacking” and illegal flight services.

Capt Butler said the issue with the current schedule continues to be the lack of enforcement.

SEE PAGE NINE

FISHERMAN Dudley Albury is pictured with a Moon Fish. Bahamians were busily making preparations yesterday for the Easter weekend. See page three for more photographs.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

RADIO ROW AS SEBAS’ LICENCE RUNS OUT

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SEBAS Bastian’s radio station has been broadcasting for more than a week without a licence, industry regulators admitted yesterday, after its temporary permission expired on March 21.

Stephen Bereaux, the

Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) chief executive, confirmed to Tribune Business that Paramount Systems, which is majority-owned by one of the Island Luck chief’s corporate vehicles, had yet to have its temporary licence extended.

He said URCA was instead working to deal

with the impasse that required the temporary licence’s issuance in the first place, namely the dispute with the existing operator of the 103.5 FM frequency that had been allocated to Paramount Systems.

“It has not actually been extended,” Mr Bereaux said of Paramount’s licence.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

BLAZE DESTROYS ANDROS PLAZA

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

A FIRE erupted at Butler’s Plaza in Andros Wednesday morning, leaving the building completely destroyed, police said.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known, head of Police Fire Services Chief Supt Walter Evans told The Tribune yesterday.

“We can confirm that it was

A PICTURE of the blaze as posted to social media. an early morning fire there,” investigation to determine he told The Tribune. “Offic- the cause of the fire.” ers from the Fire Services SEE PAGE SEVEN are en route to conduct an

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

WHAT WE FEEL WHEN THE FAMILIAR FADES

SEE PAGE EIGHT

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR READERS THE TRIBUNE RETURNS ON TUESDAY

PAGE 2, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

MARVIN DAMES

DAMES’ CALL TO COMMUNITIES MINISTER of National Security Marvin Dames was the guest speaker at the monthly Bain and Grants Town Advancement Association’s community meeting held on Thursday, March 22.

Mr Dames articulated the government’s development plan for Over-the-Hill, and stressed that in order for the plan to have the desired result, the communities must play an active role. He promised that community

programmes will soon be implemented, with community centres being on the drawing board, according to a press release from the association.

He expressed confidence in the police, defence force, and other law enforcement agencies that they are all being prepared for more effective service to members of the public.

Following a robust exchange with residents, Mr Dames pledged to return for a follow up meeting.

Ready for Easter

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 3

AS the Easter holidays arrive, Bahamians have been busily preparing - including by getting fish for Good Friday. Isaac Woodside is pictured with his fish ready for the day.

GARNET Sweeting and his sons are pictured preparing fish for Easter. The family traditionally catches and prepares fish before giving them to members of their community.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

...AND IF IT’S NOT FISH, IT’S EASTER BASKETS

J Adderley with his Easter basket, above, and, right, Karen Brown at her stall with Easter baskets for kids of all ages.

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

PAGE 4, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jrolle@tribunemedia.net

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

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

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

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PLP’s position of convenience on divestment of Crown Land IT WOULD seem these days that one is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Everyone seems to be crowing from different sides of their mouth.

A week ago, former State Minister for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez wanted to know if under the Minnis-led FNM government there had been a policy shift in the sale of land to foreigners.

It was not known, he said, whether Bahamian cays would now be leased instead of sold.

“If these are uninhabited cays, what is the significance of keeping it uninhabited? Why is that such a big deal?

They are changing the policy so why do they feel motivated to do this? When cays have been sold, in most cases the purchasers have developed the cay and created employment. There is that growth to the economy that you are now saying you are ending. That’s irrational.

“It doesn’t seem to be a scientific approach he’s taken. In general they seem to have a knee jerk approach to their activities. If I were him I would have given an historical overview of what was obtained from how many purchases in a particular year so the public would at least have an idea about the significance to the public treasury of abandoning that project and adopting a different one,” Mr Gomez said.

For the sake of Mr Gomez, we shall take a look at the position taken on this matter by his PLP party in 2002-2007.

For background, let’s flashback to July 22, 2009 when then FNM prime minister Hubert Ingraham – dealing with the same question – remarked that the Leader of the Opposition – at the time Mr Perry Christie – “seeks to have it both ways.”

“First he blames my Government for having repealed the Immovable Properties Act, which he claims was put in place to protect Bahamian land from unlimited sale to foreigners and replacing it with the International Persons Landholding Act. This action he claims facilitated the rapid sale of Bahamian owned land to foreigners,” Mr Ingraham told the House.

But, having condemned the Ingraham government for introducing a law that he claimed sold Bahamian land to foreigners to the detriment of Bahamians, Mr Christie on again becoming prime minister (2002-2007) admitted that his PLP government did not change the law that he had condemned because “in the furtherance of our effort (PLP) to drive economic growth we elected not to change the law.”

That’s certainly what one calls trying to eat one’s cake and have it too.

“Now, out of office again,” Mr Ingraham pointed out on the floor of the House in 2009, the PLP “are again claiming it was a terrible law enacted by us that caused them to do.”

Mr Ingraham said that Mr Christie at that time claimed that “the record will reflect that an enormous amount of Bahamian land throughout The Bahamas was sold to foreigners under

this process (that is as a result of the adoption of the International Persons Landholding Act) with the negative impact of driving up the price of land.”

“If truth be spoken, the record shows no such thing,” Mr Ingraham told the House.

“What the record shows is that between 1993 and 2002 under my Government’s administration as much as one half of all sales of land to foreigners in The Bahamas was between foreigners – a foreign owner who had bought land in The Bahamas before the FNM came to office, selling to a new foreign buyer.

“Indeed, on the watch of members opposite, reports made by them to this Honourable House claimed that their administration had approved the sale of more land to international persons in less than a single term than was sold in two terms under my administration.

“As to the rising cost of land, I believe the record will show that the enactment of the Immovable Properties Act (PLP) drove the real estate sector in The Bahamas into serious decline with plummeting land prices and a stagnation of development.

“The enactment of the International Person’s Landholding Act (FNM) stopped that downward spiral and turned the real estate sector around.

The Act facilitated many foreign land owners in The Bahamas in moving forward with long postponed developments on land already owned by them.”

In the House last week Dr Minnis said that in addition to ceasing the sale of Crown land to private people, his government will “preserve the seabed for the Crown, approving only leases of it.”

The government, he said, “will retain for the Crown a Crown reserve between ocean/sea, front/inland lake property, granted for private development where un-alienated Crown land exists at the seashore, to preserve windows to the sea and open green and beach front spaces for the enjoyment of the public.”

He also said the government will “regularise long-term occupation of Crown land developed or cultivated by individual Bahamians and/or families at concessionary rates” and make Crown land available to Bahamian nationals for residential, commercial and touristic development, particularly in the Family Islands.”

Former Attorney General Alfred Sears commended the prime minister for his commitment to increased transparency in dealing with Crown Land, but strongly recommended that Dr Minnis divest himself in his position as prime minister as being also the minister responsible for Crown land.

Mr Sears believed that to regain public trust all Crown land should come under a public authority guided by published policies from cabinet after consultation with civil society and an annual report of the lease and transfer of all Crown land should be gazetted and disclosed in an annual report to the House of Assembly.

Crimes and the solutions we need EDITOR, The Tribune.

CRIME — much of what we unfortunately experience is controlled by the Law of Averages.

A criminal decides to go on a run of robberies - murders - rapes the statistics fly off the chart… note this is common check back.

The police very rarely stop a crime, a perfect example was the very unfortunate murder-suicide this past week in Yellow Elder, it is alleged that fatal shots were fired with the police outside the home.

You call 911 to the scene of a crime.

Cleaning up of west side

of Arawak Cay? There probably is a link with BP&L - Fortress Energy and the development of LNG as the choice fuel for BP&L. Note the recent press release from APD CEO of an alliance between APD and Fortress.

By the way…who has a legitimate lease has a legitimate lease - I suspect most don’t and therefore are illegal - no rights, sorry fellas!

Pack up and vacate.

Hacking at LPIA - it is totally incredible to hear that it could take anything unto three-four months more before this could be under control for some feeble reason that the Civil

Aviation Authority, quote: ‘is busy’ - busy and lives are at stake? With or with our Regulations you surely can’t be flying without some sort of Licence. Not only for the aircraft but the pilot…Minister intervene today, NOW send the Inspectors to General Aviation on Coral Harbour Road and inspect and those not with Licences deal with them immediately - the aircraft owners also. By the way who did own the fatal aircraft that crashed off Andros - it was never disclosed?

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, March 28, 2018.

Support for Adrian Gibson EDITOR, The Tribune.

NOW, I read with interest on what is and has taken place at Water and Sewerage Corporation. An entity owned by the Bahamian taxpayers. Any government has a right to have an audit done, whether or not the Executives of that government-owned entity is appraised of it or not.

The government of the day has a responsibility to its people, and to know what is or has been done.

Based on any findings the person(s) who has been given the job to oversee the objectives of the government must know what they are up against.

Before anyone takes over such an organisation, would you not want to find out what has transpired during the running of an entity? If am taking over a store, I would like to know that based on my inventory sheet, this is what you say I have. So, you say it’s X but when I have my check complete I don’t have X. Now, where do I go from here because you said I have X. Based on the audit many discrepancies were found, and because the gatekeepers refused to be upright these wrongdoings were uncovered. Now what? Do I keep these individuals who have been exposed of

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net wrongdoing when in fact they are supposed to be the gatekeepers for the people’s money.

If the organisation is trying to rewrite the wrong and fix it to run professionally and to run as a profitable business, why should we, the people, be upset. I welcome the change that will come and that we can be very open and transparent.

For too long we, as a people, closed our eyes and folded up and said “I will not get involved”. Well the time has come, no more of my money as a taxpayer, so I support what has taken place at Water and Sewerage Corporation.

If you do nothing, you fear nothing, if you did your job without compromising yourself, you have nothing to fear. But knowing you sit in a particular drivers seat and did anything that compromised your integrity then, you can’t cry wolf now. You didn’t look around the corner, you couldn’t see what was coming. Well, now you see a new day has come, where corruption is being stamped out.

It’s happened all over the

world, we are not alone in this. Many of the staff said it was long over due and those whose morale is low are those who see nothing wrong with what was done. How can you see what has been exposed as that’s business as usual, really... You see you can’t send me home for lack of trust and confidence and you, the executives, get a slap on the wrist. You can be a developer of a subdivision, then another did the administrative work on the subdivision in which he also has shares and then turn around send out your billable fees to the company whose name the subdivision is in. How could I have respect for them really. My question, if the audit goes any deeper what and who else will be exposed for wrong doing?

My Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said at a rally if you are found doing anything that is corruption, whether PLP, FNM or anyone for that matter will be hauled before the courts. So now that transparency has come, there’s a problem.

Kudos to the chairman, Adrian Gibson, for taking a bold stand.

ANONYMOUS Nassau, March 21, 2018.

Minnis in a muddle EDITOR, The Tribune.

ISN’T a Minister supposed to have a hands-on knowledge of what is going on with at least the important projects in ones Ministry?

The Prime Minister took the legally unsupported BEST Commission into OPM so he is responsible but does not seem to know where basic issues are on the most important project that’s come through that office, if it did, and approved in a Heads of Agreement.

In the UK the Prime

Minister every Wednesday is in attendance in the House of Commons for Prime Ministers’ Question time…any MP on either side through the Speaker asks the hashish questions you wish to put.

Here usually in a term of Parliament there are hundreds of questions to the Prime Minister unanswered.

If it really is People’s Time let’s see every other week the Prime Minister will have to answer questions from MPs…this will be a start for a People’s

Parliament.

Forward all Heads of Agreements - MOUs have to be put online within 24-hours of their signing and tabled in Parliament within seven days.

I read Mr Coulson’s proposal for Agreements, etc…Investment Authority - taxes concessions, etc, are exclusively in the hands of the elected - Cabinet.

DOA Sir…your chooses surely conflict of interest inevitable?

W THOMPSON Nassau, March 27, 2018.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 5

Post office relocation ‘not as costly’ a plan

PHIL’S FOOD SERVICES, which will be the new home for the General Post Office.

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net THE government is satisfied the relocation of the General Post Office to an existing building on Gladstone Road will be “nowhere near” as costly as the previous options that were under consideration, Transport and Local Government Minister Frankie Campbell said yesterday.

Speaking to The Tribune, the minister who has responsibility for post offices, said its relocation to the old Phil’s Food Store building is a better deal than having to either spend $4.5m to fix the existing facility or allocating $2.5m to purchase the Independence Drive Shopping Centre. Work to convert this complex into a post office began under the previous Christie administration, but was halted once the Minnis government took office.

However, the minister was unable to reveal how much it would cost to renovate the new post office location to suit the needs of mail services. Mr Campbell also could not say how long the work would take to finish.

He referred The Tribune to Works Minister Desmond Bannister. When he was contacted, Mr Bannister said he was out of the country and was not in the position to answer specific questions about the post office.

“We are still waiting on the Ministry of Works to give us an accurate costing

but we are resolved and prepared to do whatever is necessary,” Mr Campbell said yesterday. “We are satisfied that its going to be no where near the $4.5m dollars that would have been allocated to be spent at the old post office or the $2.5m that would have been allocated to that property in the area of the roundabout.”

Asked about the choice of location he said: “The only thing in life which is constant is change.

“New Providence is 21 by seven and there has been a serious shift in the demographics where people live.

“When that post office was built, people didn’t live any further than East Street or any further than Robinson Road and now the southwestern district of New Providence in the last 20 years has seen a tremendous shift in the population but the location of this building is where the people are living.”

Press secretary Anthony Newbold made the announcement about the post office relocation on Tuesday during a press briefing.

Previously, the Christie administration launched a public private partnership (PPP) to relocate the post office to the Independence Drive Shopping Centre off Tonique Williams Darling.

However, the Minnis administration halted that project last year, with Mr Bannister saying it received the green light without approved plans or a building permit for construction.

He said though technical officers at the Ministry of

Works advised the administration a traffic impact study was needed, none was performed and nor did the government determine if ground contamination from the nearby gas station would occur.

Environmental and social assessments were also not conducted.

Yesterday, officials could not say what will become of that PPP arrangement.

“There may be other uses,” one official said, adding a determination has to be made.

Reporters asked Mr Newbold if the Gladstone Road location location is conducive for many of the people who will be accessing the General Post Office.

“Everyone will have to make a way to get to the post office,” he said. “We got to do something for those people in the post office. Right now that appears to be the best option and so the good thing about it is it’s on a major roadway. Buses run there for people who need to get there but it’s also a busy roadway. A lot of people coming from the southwest got to pass the post office either to go to work or to go home. How permanent it’s going to be I can’t say but at the present time that is the best option; good size, good space.”

For many months General Post Office workers have worked shortened shifts at their East Hill Street location because of the “hazardous” conditions, including a malfunctioned air conditioner and a mould problem.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

PAGE 6, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Oban refinery - ‘it makes no sense’ from page one

telling reporters in Guyana in the last week an investment in an oil refinery would be an unwise investment for that country.

“The whole oil industry is going to tether out in 2040,” Sir Paul said, according to INews Guyana. “You might be left with a great lump of technology off your shores which has no use.”

The British professor, who was participating in a special high-level Cabinet caucus on the development of the oil and gas industry in Guyana, told reporters there the margin on returns for refining oil is “very small”.

The Oban Energies project should be completed by 2030, according to the heads of agreement signed with the government. Two hundred and fifty people are predicted to be directly employed upon completion. By year four, the

project should encompass a 250,000 barrel per day oil refinery, a component estimated to cost up to $4bn.

The findings of a feasibility study for the project have not been disclosed to the public.

One local industry insider, who spoke to The Tribune anonymously, was dismissive this week over the environmental concerns that have persisted about the project, emphasising modern technology mitigates such problems. A greater worry, he said, is whether a market exists, especially its refinery component.

For an oil refinery to achieve sustained success in The Bahamas, Oban Energies must have already secured long-term contracts with credible customers, The Tribune was told.

“They must have seen something the rest of us haven’t seen,” the insider said. “I would ask them why

they see this as a profitable project to take on when it doesn’t seem like that to other folks in the industry and I would be curious whether they have contracts with people in the business that require refined barrels of oil and which areas of the world they plan to target for their business.”

BORCO, which has over 26 million barrels of storage capacity, closed its oil refinery component years ago, though this was not done at the time out of concern for its economic viability.

On its website, Oban Energies offers a short assessment of the market potential for its project which seems to concentrate on the market for oil storage terminals.

It says: “Oban Energies will target the market demand for storage of petroleum/liquid product and distribution of petroleum products for refineries and major trading

companies. The storage market is large – more than 500 million barrels in the US – and demand is growing as available storage capacity is declining. The market for storage of petroleum/liquid product and distribution products is large and growing, but is lacking sufficient capacity and state-of-the-art facilities with best-in-class location or management.”

The last refinery in the United States with capacity exceeding 100,000 barrels per day to be built was established in 1977. Smaller refineries have been created since, but the global trend has been for already established refineries to expand their capacity to address market demands as opposed to new refineries springing up.

Yesterday, Leslie Miller, former trade and industry minister in the first Christie administration, insisted no clear need for an oil refinery exists in the region.

“That proposed plan in Grand Bahama is not going to happen because the economics of it makes no sense,” Mr Miller said. “There’s no need for an oil refinery to be placed in Grand Bahama. If there was a need for a refinery on the eastern seaboard of the US, a consortium of wellknown companies would have gotten together to put that project in place. When you talking about $5.5bn, you’re talking about a plant that can refine 170,000 to 250,000 barrels a day of crude oil. When you think about the magnitude of that, the reason a consortium would be involved is they would get crude (oil) coming from the Middle East, from Russia, etc. Some basic questions were never asked about this project. To have the intention of creating a petrochemical institution, the first question you ask is, who are the players that will supply this complex with crude?”

Mr Miller added: “There

has to be a need for this complex to be placed in Grand Bahama. Buckeye who bought out BORCO from the Petroleos de Venezuela SA, if there was a need for this refinery to be placed on the eastern seaboard of the US, you don’t think a company of the calibre of Buckeye, with the financial wherewithal and connections that it has would have been involved?”

In 2012, the Hovensa oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands closed after years of weak demand and high costs. Losses totaled $1.3bn in the three years before its closure, Hovensa said. The storage terminal remained open until 2015.

The project has since been taken over by Limetree Bay Terminals LLC, a subsidiary of ArcLight Capital Partners. The oil storage terminal is expected to reopen, but the future of the oil refinery remains uncertain.

FREE National Movement Chairman Carl Culmer touted the Minnis administration’s efforts on job creation yesterday, including the controversial Oban Energies oil refinery for Grand Bahama, saying the party will not let the “lies and political attacks” from the Progressive Liberal Party distract from the task at hand.

Mr Culmer boasted the Oban oil refinery and storage facility will create more than 1,600 jobs for Grand Bahama, however this figure does not reflect full-time hiring. According to the Oban Heads of Agreement, the developer expects to create 600 direct jobs plus 1,000 indirect jobs during the construction period and 250 direct fulltime jobs during operations.

The developer’s goal is to hire 80 percent Bahamians and 20 percent non-Bahamian workers during the construction period.

Despite the economic benefits touted by the

developer and the government, the project has faced strong criticism from environmental activists, general observers and the Official Opposition due to concerns about pollution, environmental degradation and whether Oban has the requisite financing to create the $5.5bn project.

There have also been concerns about a lack of transparency from the Minnis administration relating to the project and the background and qualifications of those involved in Oban.

“On May 10, 2017, the citizens of The Bahamas rose up with one voice and voted for change,” Mr Culmer noted in a statement.

“They wanted a government that was transparent, accountable and responsive to them. Part of that pledge our leader, Dr Hubert Minnis, made was to focus on creating stable and good jobs and opportunities for the long-suffering Bahamian people.

“Now Prime Minister Minnis is delivering on that pledge to make job creation a top priority. This is a marked departure from the woeful PLP’s tenure in government as its officials focused more on serving themselves and their families and cronies over the people they should have been serving.”

Mr Culmer referenced the Department of Labour’s ongoing job fair programme, which officials have said has helped more than 1,000 people get work, as evidence of the government’s success on the job creation front.

“Yet even as the initiative continues to provide opportunities for so many people, we have the PLP talking it down and attacking it, as they continue to put their political standing above the people,” he said.

“While the early results of these initiatives are encouraging, the prime minister and FNM are continuing to work towards creating new jobs and entrepreneurial

opportunities for Bahamians. The FNM government is creating jobs that will bring with them higher wages and long-term security. It is one of the reasons the FNM government is committed to ensuring that the vast majority of the 1,600 jobs the Oban Energies project will bring to Grand Bahama will go to Bahamians.

“The truth is our economy is growing, our workforce is growing and we will not let the continued lies and political attacks of the PLP distract us from the task at hand.

Projects like these have the ability to lift the entire community, providing many Bahamians an opportunity to open their own businesses to provide new services and support to workers and the growing economy.

“Change has come to The Bahamas, where we now have a transparent, accountable government responsive to the needs of the people. Prime Minister Minnis and the FNM know their job is to work every

day to create opportunities for Bahamians all across The Bahamas. Regardless of the woeful PLP’s continued nonsensical attacks on the progress the country is making, the FNM will continue doing the job the people elected them to do.”

Dr Minnis has faced repeated criticism for his handling of the Oban matter.

One issue has been the government did not reveal a Heads of Agreement signing in the Office of the Prime Minister in February with Peter Krieger was “ceremonial”.

Mr Krieger was Oban’s non-executive chairman at the time. It was later revealed he did not sign his own name on the document, but wrote Satpal Dhunna, Oban’s president, whose name appeared on the agreement tabled in the House of Assembly by Dr Minnis this month.

It has been previously reported the US Securities and Exchange Commission

filed a civil complaint against Mr Krieger, his father Sheldon Krieger and John Madey. Mr Krieger later told reporters he settled the claim.

It was also revealed that in 2006 he pleaded guilty to the first degree felony of organised fraud.

Last week, Dr Minnis told Parliament his administration made some mistakes in handling the Oban matter.

“The Oban Energies LLC project was intended to bring growth and jobs to Grand Bahama,” he said. “In our haste to boost the economy of Grand Bahama, we made a number of missteps in the Oban Energies Project.

While our heart was in the right place, these missteps should not have happened.

We must, we can, and we will do better.”

Dr Minnis said “more comprehensive due diligence” should have been done and “wider environmental consultation” should have been engaged.

FNM CHAIRMAN SAYS PARTY WON’T BE DISTRACTED BY ‘LIES’

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 7

ABOVE and below, images posted to social media showing the blaze in Andros.

BLAZE DESTROYS ANDROS PLAZA from page one Once it is complete, Chief Supt Evans promised that updates will be provided.

Superintendent Ricardo Richardson, officer-incharge of North Andros, reiterated that the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Supt Richardson told the Tribune: “What happened is about 2.30 this morning (Wednesday) the police received a call that the plaza was on fire. On our arrival the building was

engulfed in flames.”

Chief Supt Evans added that there are no trained officers from the Police Fire Services in North Andros.

To this, Supt Richardson said volunteers from the Mennonite community typically assist with fires.

Unfortunately, Butler’s Plaza was “completely destroyed” by the fire.

According to reports, businesses in the building included Aliv, The Flying Dutchman Liquor Store, and Butler’s Laundromat.

Aliv issued a press release regarding the

incident, announcing their store will be closed until further notice.

The company added: “We will be providing an update shortly and we stand in solidarity with the other tenants and the plaza’s owner.

“At this time, we are working with the authorities and hope to resume operations soon.

“Our mobile van, which was kept in a separate location, will be available for patrons and parked as close to the original store location beginning at 10am.”

PAGE 8, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

What we feel when the familiar fades away, even when you weren’t a fan

By Diane Phillips

O

NE day after what it was, being a non-fan a crowd of guns and never having of 800,000 given Remington a thought descended on prior to its threat to take Washington in the March itself out of the picture. for Our Lives demanding Before I analysed why I felt stricter gun control in the something about a company wake of the Parkland school I had no interest in whatsoshooting that killed 17 stu- ever, I Googled to see what dents, wounding another the most interesting thing 17, Remington Outdoor about Remington might be.

Company, America’s oldest It was the shockingly masmanufacturer of arms and sive number of rifles and munition, announced it was shotguns and semi-automatic and single shot and filing for bankruptcy.

A gun manufacturer automatic and pump action shotguns and filing for Whether in the handguns bankruptcy had should not expected behaviour they produced have evoked over a 202anything but and standards of year history, a sense of leaders or in the a good porcelebration names and brands tion of which in someare probably one like me that make up the still floating whose only everyday world, around in sympathy we are far less reasonable would have been with adaptable to change enough condition to those who than we pride harm somemight lose ourselves on being. one if used in their jobs as a We like stability. such a way. If result. you stretched I have never owned a gun and the five million or more of couldn’t tell a Derringer one of its products, a Model from a Colt .45. But I have 700, stock to barrel, they been surrounded by people would span the Atlantic who are hunters and appre- Ocean from New York to ciate their Remington and London.

So while there is nothing Winchester partners in the sport that does respect the that binds Remington to natural habitat for obvi- my psyche and, in fact, any ous purposes, because a sort of gun or ammunition protected environment manufacturer to my avoidprovides the cover for the conflict-at-all-costs wimpish seasonal waterfowl they personality, the downfall of one of America’s oldest pursue.

Oddly enough, I did feel institutions did have an a small something about impact. Truth be told, it will the possible end of an era probably be sold and reapfor Remington, not sure pear under a slightly revised

FAMILIAR names in our world - from the Remington gun maker that is filing for bankruptcy to Melania Trump - much in the news of late herself. branding, but that is not the point. The takeaway here is that whenever something that was part of our world, even a subconscious part we never paid much attention or any attention to at all, we feel as though our world has changed. Even a slight change can make us stop and think. What is next, we wonder?

We humans like things the way they are. We say we want change and we mean it. What we really mean is we want the change we want, the change we are

calling for. We don’t want the change we did not ask for.

Like learning that baby powder is bad for you, that the sweet-smelling talc you dusted liberally on the babies you loved after their baths may have been a carcinogenic. A change in knowledge we had to swallow but wouldn’t life have been better if it weren’t true? Or that cleaning products may contain harmful chemicals hazardous to our health when all we were doing before we knew better was trying to keep our surroundings clean for our health.

We can label that uncomfortable reality or that learning that the president of the United States of America very likely had an affair with a porn star shortly after Wife #3 Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron. Who names a child Barron, anyway, but that is beside the point, the point being the fact Melania has been silent as if in denial.

At a time when the public wants outrage or pity or some type of reaction to signal there has been no seismic change in the expectations of morals for the leader of the Free World, the temporarily scorned but beautifully coiffed wife has let them down, neither declaring she is standing by her man nor dumping him in the nearest tweeter bin.

That is uncomfortable change because it invites fear that going forward this will be acceptable behaviour if there is no familial hubris about it now. At least when Bill Clinton

was doing whatever it was he was doing with Monica Lewinsky, the country sided with the hard done by wife, Hillary, uniting Americans in their holier-than-thou shroud of disdain.

Whether in the expected behaviour and standards of leaders or in the names and brands that make up the everyday world, we are far less adaptable to change than we pride ourselves on being. We like stability. We drive by a place where a building stood just the day before and cannot remember what it looked like before it was demolished overnight, but for a second we miss it.

There are only a few things I can think of that I don’t miss. One is carbon paper. Clearly, it was an invention by someone who worked in an office, hated office work and wanted to make sure everyone who did it would be as miserable as they were. The price of making a copy was walking away looking like you had been fingerprinted.

Another thing I don’t miss is the facsimile. Sorry, all you fax manufacturers out there still hoping for a comeback or distributors dreaming that worries about online privacy breaches will drive people back to the spamfree zone of fax life, we hope not. The fax machine was like the office gambling desk. Sometimes it would come through for you and sometimes the numbers just would not work and when you had the single most important document of the year to transmit that is exactly when it wouldn’t.

On a good day, you’d put a piece of paper on to a machine, dial a number, hold your breath waiting for it to ring and produce the magic beep beep beep so you could press send and if all that went through and the paper made it the 9 inches from top to bottom, you would breathe a sigh of relief because the machine designed to do what it actually just did really did work.

What was interesting in researching the fax phenomenon was how brief its popularity was relative to its history. The fax is actually more than 170 years old. A Scottish engineer and inventor named Alexander Bain patented the first machine in 1846 after working on the project for four years. It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that Xerox came out with a machine that resembled the fax we know. It weighed a whopping 46 pounds and because it was capable of handling documents from interests across the world, the United Nations set the first standards for its operation with the expectation that it would transmit one page every six minutes.

The concept of using a facsimile instead of overnight courier or regular mail for “rapid information dispersal” hardly sounds rapid to us now. So accustomed to instantaneous information dispersal we would probably pick up that 46-pound machine and use our very last ounce of strength to heave it through the nearest window. And smile. Some changes are for the better. They may just take a little getting used to.

IN this April 30, 1943, file photo, Mae Zelisnky shoots as Betty O’Beda feeds a 30-caliber rifle during an ammunition test at Remington Arms Company.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 9

‘Rules are there - just enforce them’ from page one

He accused Mr D’Aguilar of overreacting, saying his lack of expertise in the industry was showing.

“So your reaction to everything that has happened in recent months is to present a new list of regulations that does basically the same as the current list,” said Capt Butler. “The issue isn’t a lack of regulations, the issue is a lack of enforcement.”

On Tuesday, Mr D’Aguilar said the new regulations would restrict a pilot’s ability to classify flights as commercial or leisure, with that decision being made primarily by aviation representatives.

Mr D’Aguilar also said the proposed regulations will institute a service threshold that would automatically classify flights transporting a predetermined number of passengers..

Addressing these plans yesterday, Capt Butler challenged the Freetown MP to make clear how the current regulations fail to address the issues being raised.

“All this panic is for nothing, let’s be honest here. All you are doing with these plans is policing an already policed area. The police are out, there is just no enforcement. This proposal only over-regulates the industry.”

The current penalty for “hacking” is a fine of $10,000 and/or imprisonment of up to two years, in addition to the seizure of the aircraft.

According to Capt Butler, this punishment alone, if enforced, would send “shock waves” throughout the industry.

“See, this is my problem, the laws are already clear,” he told The Tribune.

“I am certain if you enforced them, the hackers would eliminate themselves.

“But now you’re running around screaming about doing more. All this is, is making it tough for legitimate operators that already follow the rules and operate within the correct channels,” Capt Butler said.

“We have operators that complete the correct paperwork and sign the right authorisations, now you are going to ask them to do more? They already have to

check-in with operators at multiple points, now they need to have someone out on the tarmac to look in the plane and say whether they believe the persons on that plane are being truthful about why they are there?

“Some of these pilots have customers that come to The Bahamas and want to see as many of our Family Islands as they can. These small aircrafts provide that possibility. Now, all of these new regulations will force more fees and expenses on them,” he said.

“You can’t do that. You can’t break it all down like this. The industry is already over-taxed and fighting for its survival. The industry is already over-regulated. If the regulators just do what they’ve been hired to do, we can truly say goodbye to hacking.”

“This isn’t something the minister has any expertise in and it is showing. He is overreacting,” he added.

Capt Butler’s sentiments yesterday were similar to what he shared back in January in the wake of a plane crash that killed six people near Andros.

At that time, Capt Butler told The Tribune that while existing regulations

CAPTAIN RANDY BUTLER, CEO of Sky Bahamas. governing the industry may airmen certificates which be stiff, they were being relate to the physical fitness inadequately enforced. of a pilot and aircraft mainHe suggested then, that tenance licences, among at least 28 planes operated others. illegal charters each day.

According to Mr Butler A number of certifi- and many other industry cations and licences are insiders, many of these required before a com- regulations are often overmercial flight can take off, looked or bypassed at including an aircraft air- airports in small Family worthiness certificate, valid Island communities.

PAGE 10, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Lawyers’ chief: we’re under attack from page one

KAHLIL D PARKER

In an article titled “Our Judiciary Must Be Unfettered,” BBA President Khalil Parker details a longstanding “insidious process” underpinned by sweeping abuses of power by the government, a sleeping legislature, and what he defined as “slow and steady” attempts to create a compromised and impotent judiciary.

Mr Parker characterised the delay as an assault on the rule of law that threatens to corrode the entire system of government, and called for those “charged with civic responsibility” to stand up for the preservation of rights and freedoms enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

“Delay in the appointment of the chief justice is corrosive of one branch and possibly the whole system of Government,” Mr Parker wrote.

“After every general election, we set about the business of ensuring the appointment of a prime minister with alacrity. We also set about appointing a Speaker of the House of Assembly with all convenient speed and no less enthusiasm. Are we to be content to await executive pleasure regarding the appointment of the head of our judiciary?

“While not the first

affront suffered by the judiciary in our country as a result of what many regard as executive overreach, it constitutes the high-water mark in the gradual undermining of the third, and for the average citizen, resident, or visitor, the most fundamental branch of our government. Without a fearless, independent, and impartial judiciary, the “lock box” which contains our constitutional, statutory, and human rights is left unguarded.”

Stephen Isaacs was sworn in as acting chief justice last December.

In his article, Mr Parker acknowledged the prime minister has constitutional discretion on the appointment, but noted the discretion is not unfettered.

He noted “practical and political expedience” did not give a blanket approval for a drawn out and potentially harmful delay.

This is the second public statement released by the legal body on this issue, and follows a small protest planned by a senior magistrate last month.

Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis had urged his colleagues to meet at the Supreme Court, abandoning their schedules for the day to show solidarity against the “ongoing disregard for justice, fairness and integrity.”

Magistrate Rolle-Davis

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was joined by a handful of attorneys as well as another magistrate in protest.

Mr Parker stressed a constitutional democracy was not an esoteric or abstract concept, yet Bahamians are again confronting a tragic constitutional narrative of “three broken constitutional branches of government.”

He underscored the need for constant vigilance against the “lowering of the image and importance of the judiciary in the eyes of the public which it serves.”

“Over the years the undermining of our democracy has been an insidious process,” the article read.

“It involved, at the very least, a three-pronged approach: a) callous and sweeping abuses of power by the executive against which we have continuously railed as a people; b) a legislature asleep at the wheel while democratic institutions and statutory bulwarks against abuses of power crumble; and c) slow and steady attempts to create a tame, compromised, and impotent judiciary.”

Critics say so long as an acting chief justice exists without a substantive officeholder, it raises questions about the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.

It can create the appearance that eligible candidates have to audition for the top role.

Last year, the president of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Sir Dennis Byron, criticised Guyana’s history of filling top positions in the judiciary with people in “acting” roles, arguing such circumstances are beyond “what ought to be acceptable in a modern democracy where respect for the rule of law is maintained.”

Mr Parker’s article continued: “The inexplicable and indeterminate delay in the appointment of the chief justice can be seen as having placed the country in an existential and constitutional crisis.

“The preservation of our collective rights and freedoms is guaranteed only by an abiding respect for the rule of law. This unprecedented and calculated assault on the rule of law renders such guarantees moot.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 11

DR PENNY RECHKEMMER, public affairs officer at US Embassy Nassau, attended the closing ceremony of the training alongside Customs Comptroller Dr Geannine Moss and Deputy Commissioner of Police Emrick Seymour, ATF special agents, and participants from the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Bahamas Customs Department.

ATF trains Bahamas enforcement officials THE Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives delivered a small arms identification training course for approximately 30 Bahamas customs and police officers from March 19-23 in Nassau. The training was funded by the ATF and was part of ongoing USBahamian cooperative efforts to curb the flow of illegal firearms into The Bahamas.

The week-long programme was designed to enhance attendees’ ability to recognise and detect concealed firearms and their parts. The interactive, peer-to-peer training was facilitated by a team of five US experts from ATF. The visiting ATF team provided reallife examples and hands on training for the law enforcement officials. In addition, workshop participants received a variety of materials including checklists, firearms identification information, and visual training materials.

Dr Penny Rechkemmer, public affairs officer at US

Embassy Nassau attended the closing ceremony of the training alongside Customs Comptroller Dr Geannine Moss and Deputy Commissioner of Police Emrick Seymour.

In her remarks, Dr Rechkemmer noted: “We work together to combat the drug trade, the gun trade, and other transnational crimes that threaten the security in both our countries.

Cross-training like the one held here this week not only invigorates our partnership, it also provides officers important skills and knowledge needed to make them more effective.”

She also commented on the importance of training customs and RBPF officers together. “(Customs) Comptroller Moss and Commissioner (of Police) Ferguson’s willingness to work together to tackle the issue of gun trafficking and partner with the US law enforcement demonstrates their commitment to addressing this problem. It also is proof their tremendous leadership.”

OFFICIAL FUNERAL FOR MOXEY-INGRAHAM THE Cabinet Office announced yesterday that an official funeral will be held for the late Theresa Moxey-Ingraham, former Cabinet minister, senator and parliamentarian, on Friday, April 6, at 11am at St Agnes Anglican Church on Baillou Hill Road.

Interment will follow at Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleums,

JFK Drive.

Further, the body will liein-state in the foyer of the House of Assembly from 9am on Thursday, April 5, until the body departs for the church the following day.

Viewing for the general public will be from 1pm7pm on Thursday, April 5.

The general public is invited to attend.

PAGE 12, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

THE BAHAMAS Humane Society held an adoptathon last weekend - seeking to find homes for some of the animals in their care. With mny animals still needing homes, the society has extended the adoptathon over the Easter holidays.

Adoption hours are 11am4pm daily.

Give a dog a home

PM MINNIS TO ATTEND SUMMIT IN PERU

By MATT MAURA Bahamas Information Services

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has been invited to address the third CEO Summit of the Americas, scheduled for April 12-13 in Lima, Peru.

The CEO Summit, which will precede the two-day, eighth Summit of the Americas, is the most important business forum of the Americas. Leading CEOs and heads of state from the region assemble to analyse opportunities to promote economic growth and investment through unprecedented public-private

interaction under the Americas Business Dialogue mechanism.

The Americas Business Dialogue mechanism is a private-sector driven initiative facilitated by the Inter-American Development Bank intended to foster a high-level and open policy dialogue among the most important business leaders on the region’s priorities, challenges and opportunities for social and economic development.

Dr Minnis will be among dozens of Western Hemispheric leaders assembled in Lima for the eighth Summit of Americas which takes place April 13-14

under the theme: “Democratic Governance Against Corruption.”

The Summits of the Americas are institutionalised gatherings of heads of state and governments of the member states of the Organisation of American States (OAS) where leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced by countries in the Americas.

Dr Minnis will be attending his first Summit of the Americas as head of government of The Bahamas.

Press secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Anthony Newbold, said Tuesday that the summit – held every three years – allows hemispheric leaders to address a number of topical issues.

Mr Newbold said the summit’s theme and three identified themes of the Lima Commitment – democratic governance and corruption; corruption and sustainable development, and corruption, international institutions and public/ private partnerships – are of particular interest to Dr Minnis.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 13

Women’s Corona Society

‘The Bahamas’ own street philosopher’

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Women’s Corona Society.

- Julie Fellay generously opened her lovely home to host our March coffee morning. Our speaker was Victoria Allen from The Family: People Helping People. Victoria’s husband, Dr David Allen, is a Bahamian psychiatrist, founder and director of The Family.

There are currently 25 Family groups meeting in Nassau - free group therapy in the community, offering healing and support for hurting people.

Victoria was joined by Rita Thompson. Rita is a participant in The Family.

She spoke of her personal journey and how the program, especially her therapist Angela Ward, helped her overcome anger.

Members of the public are invited to visit any open Family group and see how effective it is.

For more information call the Family Office on 698-0155.

ATTENDEES at the Women’s Corona Society March coffee mornign included speaker Victoria Allen.

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PAGE 14, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Artist brings joy to church show

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

ARTIST Jé-Rome Harris Miller’s latest exhibition, “Liquid JOY 2018…A Glorious Expression of Colours,” will open on April 5 at the Christ Church Cathedral Church Hall.

Seven paintings by Mr Harris will be available.

Part of the proceeds from the show will aid the Winston V Saunders Memorial Scholarship at the University of the Bahamas.

Mr Harris is a Bahamian fashion designer, artist and hair and personal stylist.

He was born on August

ARTIST Jé-Rome Harris Miller.

Photo: Rosemary Hanna 31, 1956 in Nicholls Town, grandmother, Netta Riley, Andros and completed high with recognising and nurturing his artistic talent. school in New Providence.

He further honed these Mr Harris credits his skills through travel, gaining experience in cities such as London, Montreal, and Paris; as well as the United States.

Mr Harris went on to become a top Bahamian stylist and producer of “some of the most sensational” fashion events held in The Bahamas, according to a press statement.

He is a member of the school board of CR Walker High School and a patron of the school band, which is featured every year in the show.

Mr Harris is also on the Programme Advisory Committee at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and a dedicated member of Christ Church Cathedral.

Art teacher Joan Bethel, Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling, the late Winton Saunders and his wife Gail, and his rector Reverend Canon Patrick Adderley all encouraged Mr Harris’ talent in the visual arts.

Furthermore, Mrs Bethel helped Mr Harris develop his own style — abstract

expressionism. He primarily works in acrylics, using special textures and finishes.

His inspirations include Picasso, Rembrandt, and Auguste Renoir.

Mr Harris’ philosophy is “to not make my exhibitions commercial events, but an opportunity for patrons to come out and enjoy themselves in an atmosphere conducive to artwork”.

In this vein, Mr Harris’ works have been donated in support of many local fundraisers and charities over the years. His first show, “Bold”, was held in 2006 at the Azure Spa, British Colonial Hilton Hotel.

This was followed by the “Exuberance” exhibition in 2007. Mr Harris auctioned off his pieces during the event to raise funds for the Winston Saunders Memorial Scholarship at the then-College of the Bahamas.

Mr Harris has held exhibitions annually since then, and each year a portion of the proceeds are “earmarked” for the scholarship.

His works can be found in collections around the

SOUL Sistah by Jé-Rome Harris Miller. world, including Europe, and United States, as well as in private collections.

This year’s exhibition will explore the following themes: religion, life, the universe, nautical lifestyles, nature, historical Bahamas, Europe, and sexuality.

It will open on Thursday, April 5, from 6pm to

THE FRONT YARD, by Jé-Rome Harris Miller.

9pm. Christ Church Cathedral Church Hall is located on top of the hill, George Street.

After opening night, the exhibit will remain on display April 6 through April 8, from 2-6pm by appointment only.

For further information, contact 242-466-6996.

PAGE 16, Thursday, March 29, 2018

IRELAND TO HOLD ABORTION REFERENDUM

IRELAND (AP) — Ireland will hold a referendum May 25 on whether to lift a constitutional ban on most abortions.

Voters will be asked whether they want to retain the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution, which greatly limits abortion, or repeal it and make parliament responsible for making abortion laws.

The referendum date was announced Wednesday.

The 1983 amendment commits authorities to defend equally the right to life of a mother and an unborn child, giving the largely Roman Catholic nation the strictest abortion restrictions in Europe.

Abortion is legal only in rare cases when a woman’s life is in danger.

Several thousand Irish women travel each year to get abortions in neighboring Britain.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said he plans to support a repeal of the constitutional ban.

THE TRIBUNE

PORN STAR WANTS TRUMP TO ANSWER UNDER OATH WASHINGTON Associated Press

CRANKING up pressure on the president, porn actress Stormy Daniels wants Donald Trump to answer her attorney’s questions under oath about a pre-election payment aimed at keeping her quiet about their alleged tryst.

If she’s successful, it would be the first deposition of a sitting president since Bill Clinton in 1998 had to answer questions about his conduct with women.

Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, is seeking sworn testimony from Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, about a $130,000 payment

made to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is seeking to invalidate. Avenatti filed the motion in US District Court in California on Wednesday.

Trump has kept a low profile all week, as has first lady Melania Trump, who is spending the week in Florida. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had denied the allegations and directed further questions to outside counsel.

Cohen’s attorney, David Schwartz, told CBS that the filing was a “reckless use of the legal system”.

Despite the pushback, the persistent focus on Daniels is a troubling distraction

STORMY DANIELS, left, during an interview with Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes”.

Photo: CBS News/60 Minutes via AP for a White House already team continues to negotiate refers to as a “hush agreestruggling with an exodus with special counsel Robert ment,” and if the future of top staffers, a floun- Mueller over the scope and president consented to it.

“We’re looking for sworn dering agenda and the terms of an interview with answers from the president looming threat from the the president.

A hard-charging attorney and Mr Cohen about what Russia investigation.

Avenatti is just one on maintaining a near-constant they knew, when they knew a growing list of lawyers presence on television news, it and what they did about looking to question Trump. Avenatti wants to question it,” Avenatti said.

While he noted that “in Attorneys for a former Trump and Cohen for “no “Apprentice” contest- more than two hours”. In every case you always have to ant have said they want the filing, he says the deposi- be open to settlement,” Aveto depose the president as tions are needed to establish natti said that “at this point part of a defamation suit. if Trump knew about the we don’t see how this case And the president’s legal payment, which Avenatti would possibly be settled.”

ANOTHER FIRING AS PRESIDENT OUSTS SHULKIN WASHINGTON Associated Press

PRESIDENT Donald Trump fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin Wednesday in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency, and nominated White House doctor Ronny Jackson to lead the agency.

A Navy rear admiral, Jackson is a surprise choice

to lead to succeed Shulkin, a former Obama administration official and the first non-veteran ever to head the VA. Trump had been considering replacements for Shulkin for weeks.

In a statement, Trump praised Jackson as “highly trained and qualified”.

Jackson has served since 2013 as the physician to the president.

A White House official said Shulkin was informed

of his dismissal by Chief of Staff John Kelly before the president announced the move on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.

Shulkin is the second Cabinet secretary to depart over controversies involving expensive travel, following former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s resignation last September. Trump said in a statement he is “grateful” for Shulkin’s service.

AS SEQUITA THOMPSON, centre, discusses the shooting of her grandson, Stephon Clark, Clark’s uncle, Curtis Gordon wipes a tear from her cheek during a news conference.

COMMUNITY MOURNS MAN SHOT BY POLICE SACRAMENTO, California Associated Press

A SACRAMENTO church is the latest site of mourning over the death of 22-year-old Stephon Clark at the hands of police last week, with family, friends and strangers gathering yesterday for his public wake.

Some attendees wore black shirts calling for justice, while one woman held up a clenched fist as she exited the church. Others cried and hugged.

“This feels like the 60s, it doesn’t feel like 2018,” said Cynthia Brown, who said she knows Clark’s grandfather. “We’ve definitely regressed.”

Brown said she’s already talked to her ten- and 15-year-old grandsons, who joined her at the wake, about ways to avoid getting shot by police.

“To me, those could be Stephon Clark,” she said.

Clark’s funeral will be

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STEPHON CLARK held today, and the Rev Al Sharpton plans to deliver the eulogy.

Clark was killed on March 18 when two Sacramento police officers responding to a report of someone breaking car windows fatally shot him in his grandparents’ backyard.

Police say they believe Clark was the suspect and he ran when a police helicopter responded, then did not obey officers’ orders.

Police say they thought

Clark was holding a gun when he moved toward them, but he was found only with a cellphone.

For all the angst, grieving and weary family members are skeptical any substantive change will result before the next young black man dies from police gunfire.

“So we appreciate the conversation, but conversation without implementation of some true reformation means nothing,” Clark’s uncle, Curtis Gordon, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. “It brought us to this moment, but what about tomorrow? What about next week?

“You know, sadly, I have no confidence in America and the fact that I will probably hear another story sometime this year of an innocent life lost over excessive police force. It’s so common, you’re numb to it.”

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, March 29, 2018, PAGE 17

CANCER SOCIETY FOUNDER A SHINING LIGHT SUSAN Roberts receiving the Point of Light award which was signed by the Queen. She is pictured with High Commissioner Asif Ahmas during the presentation.

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net CANCER Society of The Bahamas founder Susan Roberts has been honoured by the Queen in being named the 38th Commonwealth Point of Light.

Mrs Roberts was chosen for this honour due to her “exceptional” volunteer work supporting cancer patients and their families.

Her efforts to expand public education about the disease also contributed to her selection.

The Commonwealth Points of Light is a programme that recognises an inspirational volunteer from each of the Commonwealth countries in the 52 weekdays leading up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London on April 19-20.

Mrs Roberts was selected as the Bahamas representative. She founded the Cancer Society in 1976 and

the Cancer Caring Centre in 2004.

Over the years, the centre has housed more than 1,000 patients from the Family Islands who had to travel to Nassau to seek medical treatment.

Furthermore, Mrs Roberts is seeking to raise $3m to expand the centre so it can add a hospice and day care unit.

Along with her team of volunteers, Mrs Roberts has led national campaigns to encourage people to sign up for prostate and breast cancer screenings. She has also raised money for scholarships so Bahamians can study oncology-related research abroad.

As a Commonwealth Point of Light, Mrs Roberts received a personalised certificate signed by the Queen as head of the Commonwealth.

High Commissioner Asif Ahmad, CMG, British High Commissioner to Jamaica and The Bahamas, presented Mrs Roberts with

the award during a Commonwealth lunch in Nassau.

Of the remarkable achievement, Mrs Roberts said: “I am extremely honoured to receive the Commonwealth Points of Light Award as a volunteer working with the Cancer Society of The Bahamas.

“I accept this award on behalf of the many volunteers who work with our society and all cancer patients and family members on the difficult journey.

The society in its 42 years has achieved much but there is still so much to do.”

High Commissioner Ahmad praised Mrs Roberts, saying: “I am honoured to have presented Susan with this award in the Bahamas.

“Her service and dedication to the Cancer Society of The Bahamas is a true example of community spirit and volunteerism.

Having met Susan, I have no doubt that we have made the right choice.”

PAGE 18, Thursday, March 29, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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